JAM-PACKED

We had a slam packed weekend that was just so much fun.  We travelled back to Memphis and pretty much tried to squeeze everything we wanted to do in a time span of three days.  Thursday night I arrived in to town in time for a doctors appointment and then a loooooong girls dinner that was sooo needed.  Have I mentioned I miss my friends?

Friday morning I woke up bright and early to meet my friend Lindsay and her trainer to work out.  I knew there was going to be lots of indulging this weekend so I thought getting a workout in would only help.  Later that morning Elle and I went over to Lindsay's house to have a play date with Loftin.  It is crazy how much Elle and Loftin have missed each other and we were so happy that Lizzie and Mollie could come too.  It is just a huge bonus when you can hang out with your friends and catch up while your kids wear themselves out. 

After they played for a loooooong time and got totally filthy, Elle and I met Kenny for a quick lunch and then we ran to the Cottontails because Elle needed several pairs of new shoes. Then it was time for a nap.  

Getting in some hugs and "cheese" before we went bye bye.

Friday night, Kenny and I had a date night.  We went to dinner at the Majestic and then to see Memphis the musical.  I was dying to see this one and Kenny was so nice to buy me tickets for Valentine's day.  Dinner was fabulous and the play was so good too.  The music was upbeat and catchy and the talent was some of the best talent I have seen on a touring production.

We finished up dinner with mini desserts and a fancy cocktail.  I love date nights.

Waiting for the show to start.

Saturday morning Kenny, me, my sister and my mom who was in town all weekend too just relaxed around my sister's apartment and did some work and watched movies.  Then my mom and my sister and I went to Sephora because I was needing all new makeup.  I went and had my makeup done which I was very pleased with and then bought a bunch of stuff.  So fun and needed.

Bag of goodies.

After my Sephora run it was time to get ready for dinner and drinks before the Dave Matthews concert we were so excited to go to! We met a friend at a fabulous Mexican restaurant and then it was time for Dave.  Even though Kenny and I just saw him.  He never gets old!  Plus the weather was supposed to be terrible and rain the entire thing and it never rained a drop.

Kenny and I laughing at the ENTIRE orange they put on his glass to accompany his Blue Moon.

A couple of blurry pics from the concert.  

It really was such a fun weekend and Elle was so happy to spend some time with her CeCe and Nannee and her friends.  I was so incredibly happy to get some girl time and a couple of date nights with Kenny.   Of course Sunday we were all totally beat.  It was all so worth it.

DAYS AROUND THE HOUSE

We have been feeling a little under the weather (Elle has a ear infection) this week and the car has been at the shop so we are being homebodies.  Being at home with an active two year old can be hard because they are always going and things don't hold their attention very long. 

I decided to pull out another Pinterest idea.  This one is pretty simple. Tub, beans, scoopers, and container.  I also ended up getting some of the animals from her Noah's ark toy and throwing those in there too.  She really enjoyed playing with this and even exclaimed to me "mommy this is fun!" So I consider this a success.  Extra points for it not smelling liking baby oil like the moon sand did and she can continue to play with it over and over.  She asked to play with the "beans" several times just in that one day.

We recently discovered that Elle loooooooves Chex Mix.  Her grandparents keep it at their house all the time and she eats it all the time over there.  I bought her a few bags here to put in her Starkville but it is kind of messy and high in sodium.  So I decided to make my own Chex Mix.  I think it is just the variety of different things in her cup that she likes.

The home made Chex Mix ingredients: Wheat Chex, Butter Snap pretzels, Golden Grahams, raisins and just a a few handfuls of Teddy Grahams.  (not the entire box)

I thought I could just dump it in the container and shake it up to mix it but there wasn't enough room so it wasn't much of a mix, So I dumped it all into a bowl and mixed by hand.

Ah, here we go.  Much better.  So far she is really enjoying it.

Just had to include this picture.  Kenny came home on Monday after being gone to market for a week.  We were so excited to have him home. I think Elle was extra happy.

WEDDING BY THE BAY

This weekend while Kenny was in North Carolina for furniture market, Elle and I traveled down to Fairhope to celebrate a friend getting married.  We spent Friday night in Hattiesburg to visit CC and then drove into Fairhope Saturday morning.  My friend Megan also drove over that day.  We went and pampered ourselves with manicures and pedicures.  It might of been the first time we have hung out child free in a long time.  Then we headed over to the hotel to see our friend Rachael's baby who is one month old.  Rachael was a bridesmaid so her mom was keeping the baby.  I am so glad we got to visit because he is just so adorable!

Megan and Randall.  Isn't he cute!

After getting some newborn snuggles we stopped in a cute shop and headed back to Kenny's parents to get ready for the ceremony.  The ceremony was in this beautiful old chapel on the water and the weather was absolutely perfect.  

This was the view when you came out of the chapel doors.

The reception was at this beautiful bed and breakfast called Emma's Bay House that was actually right across the street from a restaurant Kenny and I eat.  I always assumed it was just a house but it was a dream reception site.  I don't think Valerie (the bride) thought it was going to be freakishly cold for this time of the year but it really wasn't bad until later in the night.  

My date for the night since her husband Patrick decided not to come and Kenny not being there either.

The dance floor setup.  They had a great Motown band!

First dance.

So excited to see Tracy since we both moved away!

Obviously Tracy and I spent a lot of time together that night ha!

While I was off having fun and freezing my hiney off Elle was spending time with Gramma and Pop Pop.  She doesn't even care when I am gone because she is getting spoiled rotten the entire time.  That is what grandparents are for though right?

Stropped down and eating spaghetti for dinner.

It was a great weekend and a beautiful wedding.  I am so glad I made the trip down and got to see some of my closest friends.  It was a happiness boost I needed!

STOP TIME - BOTTLE IT UP

This past week I have been spending time with Elle and just enjoying her so much.  That is not to say goodness gracious is parenting hard.  And this age is so hard too.  But as I type this I know that I will think EVERY age is hard.  Especially with my first.

I think I have decided that I would totally be okay with her staying this age forever.  (again, keep in mind I don't know much about the future and those ages) But this age is FUN.  Here are some reasons I want her to stay this age forever.

Doing her best cheeeeeese with her art project after school.  I make her do this with every single art project so i can ArtKive it. 

-SIZE -  She is still small, but big enough to play outside at the park and do things for herself.  She still has tiny little feet and legs and toes but she isn't a breakable baby anymore.

-COMMUNCATION- She is talking so much more.  Full sentences, sometimes paragraphs and we understand what she is saying!  The things that come out of her mouth these days are hilarious!  Not to mention her new favorite phrase is "whats that?'  We have to tell her what everything in this world is.  And she repeats every word after we tell her.  That little brain is just soaking it all in.

- ATTITUDE - She can have an attitude. But for the most part she is a happy go lucky little girl that is pretty willing to let me make most decisions for her.  With the help of some "simmer time" what we call time out everything is manageable and I have full reign over what we do, what she eats, what she wears...you get the picture.  I know this will not be the case as she grows.

-THE CLOTHES - No big girl clothes! She still looks cute in a bubbles, dresses, smocked little bathing suits and other things.  I love baby/preschooler clothes and never want them to go away. EVER.

-DEVOTION - She is so devoted to Kenny and I.  We are her world.  Along with our family we are what matters most to her and I know eventually other things will be important to her.  I am okay with that.  But nothing makes you feel as good as you do when you see their face light up at the sight of you or her little hand in Kenny's.

-THE GLIMPSE OF THE TEENAGER WITHIN - More and more she will do something or have some kind of mannerism and I am like "woooooah!!"  This can't be happening. I can see her 12 years from now doing those same things.  So if she stayed this age I would just see these glimpses and not have to deal with the teenager. Ha!

Okay, okay enough rattling on.  I think sometimes I refrain from blogging more these days because I used to get so annoyed with other blogs who only talked about their kids. And here we are.  But I am starting to think who cares.  I blog to remember these days.  And these days I am just so in love with our daughter.  So now if I could just figure out a way to keep her from growing up.

I WANT TO BE A BRAVERMAN

If you follow me on twitter then you know I have been tweeting a little bit about a new obsession.

Parenthood.

Yall.  I cannot remember the last time I loved a show like I am loving this one.  I am a little late to the game.  I am almost finished with Season 2 and I am pretty sure the show just wrapped up their fourth season.  But I have been watching episodes on the treadmill and I swear it is one of the main things that keep me motivated on the treadmill at least because I get so bored.

A lot of time with dramas I start out loving the show and then they tend to get to depressing for me.  Like Grey's Anatomy.  So whiny!!!!  But this show makes me laugh and makes me cry and gasp all in one episode.  I look like a lunatic at the gym.

I want to be part of the Braverman family so bad. I love how supportive they are but how they drive each other crazy and have had their shares of ups and downs.  I wish they would just adopt me.

The other day I was watching an episode and was trying to figure out which character I identified with the most.  And my decision was mostly Christina and a little Julia.  I know some people find Christina to be annoying but I get her.  She loves her family sooooo much.  And she obsesses over her kids and wants to micromanage things so that they will be perfect and sometimes that messes things up and sometimes she ends up helping.  She wears her emotions on her sleeve often because of the intense love she has for her family. I really like her character.  And then I identify with Julia mostly because she has a little girl closest to Elle's age and she and her husband are on the younger side of things and in the season I am watching right now they are trying to have a second child.

Yall.  Especially if you are a parent.  If you are not watching this show.  Start now.  It is just so good.  I do know a few things that are going to happen in future seasons just by seeing commercials and bits of pieces of it when would air and I cannot wait to get deeper into this family.

So anyone else watch?  Obsessed? Hate it?

LIFE ACCORDING TO INSTAGRAM

We had a wonderfully simple weekend that didn't really involve a whole lot but family time. If you follow me on Instagram you most likely saw all of these pics.  But if you don't here is a recap of our weekend through the Instagram filters.  

This picture wasn't actually on Instagram.  But my mom scored this for me at an estate sale this weekend and I am so excited about it.  I am not sure if I will refinish it or keep it the way it is.  But either way I feel like there are so many ways I could use it!

I have been using My Fitness Pal a lot for controlling my diet and on Saturday Kenny and I were planning on eating crawfish for dinner.  I knew I was going to retain some water from the sodium intake but I had no idea how much sodium it would be.  Blows the daily goal out of the water!

Friday afternoon I sent Elle and Kenny off to get some ice cream and he came back with her passed out at 5:00.  Never a good thing.  She was not happy when we woke her up!

Saturday morning donuts with Daddy while I went to the gym.  I want a donut too!

Saturday was a beautiful day so we decided to take Elle to the drill field to play outside.  

We had the best time and the campus looked gorgeous!

Sunday morning Kenny and Elle layed on the floor and watched Toy Story 2.  

They were so sweet.  Giggling and laughing at different parts.

Sunday night I made these southwest stuff zucchini boats and they were amazing!  Like crazy good and easy to make.  They will be staying in our dinner rotation for sure.  Here is the LINK to the recipe if you want to make them for yourself!

THIS AND THAT FRIDAY

This week seemed to fly by but some of the days seemed long.  I am not totally sure that Elle has noticed but I am desperately missing our music classes and story times in Memphis.  They have those things here but they are all on Tuesday and Thursday. Which is strange to me because those are the most common PDO days.  Anyway, I have been trying to keep us somewhat busy with things to do when Elle is not at school. Elle is also in a stage of wanting someone to play with her all the time. 

Anyway, here is a little of what we had going on this week.  

 It was finally warm enough and dry enough at the same time to bust 

out some cute new spring clothes and got to the park!

About midweek I went through all the things I had pinned on pinterest to do with Elle and made a grocery list and bought some things on Amazon.  I had those pins for a while.  It was finally time to do something with them!

This was moon sand.  You make it by mixing 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of baby oil.  It is fun to play with because you can pack it and it will make shapes and things like that.  Please note the broom in the background.  It is a little messy with a two year old but easy enough to clean up.  She played with it for about a half hour and then was over it.  But then I still had it sitting on the counter and she asked to play with it again.  So I would say we got an hour or so out of it.  I consider that a success.

 Covered in flour!

 Our Amazon haul.  None of these things were very expensive.  All of the activities I purchased the items for are Pinterest inspired or I found on Amazon by searching toddler learning in toys and games.

And I jumped on the bandwagon and bought one of these.  I have seen a lot of these on blogs and Instagram.  I was really interested to see how many calories I was burning each workout.  I knew it would help a lot with watching my calories intake.  So far I love it!! It isn't uncomfortable to wear (you have to wear a heart monitor around your chest) and I like having all the info and the boost of confidence seeing how hard I am working.  Two thumbs up!!

And finally.  I found this recipe on Pinterest from the Skinny Mom for Chicken Florentine and made it this week.  It was excellent, very filling and a large portion size for the calories.  Kenny liked it too. Just thought I would pass along the link.

Have a great weekend!!

WEEKEND GETAWAY

This weekend Kenny and I were so lucky to be able to have a night away.  Friday night Kenny's parents came into town and we all went out for dinner and took them on a little driving tour of Starkville.  They have not been to Starkville since Kenny was in school.

Saturday morning, Kenny and I hit the road for Pelham, Alabama to see Dave Matthews Band play at Oak Mountain. Elle was more than happy to stay in Starkville with Gramma and Pop Pop. She has the best time when we see them.  We arrived early afternoon and Kenny booked us a room right next to the venue AND right next to a wonderful Mexican restaurant.  It was a perfect set up!  After getting settled in the room and freshening up we headed over to the restaurant for some margaritas, guacamole and cheese dip.  The weather was perfect and we scored a table out on the patio.  Kenny and I have been so busy that it was so nice to just relax and talk over drinks and yummy food and really talk to each other.

Then it was time for the show.  Kenny's favorite type of music is southern jam bands (I guess) and I tend to lean more towards pop and musicals.  But Dave Matthews is one thing we agree on and we love going to see him in concert together. Oak Mountain is an amphitheatre and the weather was perfect.  Not too cold.  The show was a ton of fun and we can't wait to see him again in Memphis in a few weeks!  

Kenny likes to take concert pictures with his cell phone.

Maybe one day those front cameras will get better on the iPhone but here 

is a grainy pic of us from that night.  At least we took one!

More Dave!

Elle having fun with her Gramma back at home and living 

her pajamas all day.  Is there any other way?

They put clothes on Elmo and that is funny to a 2 year old.

It really was so nice to get away and spend some time with Kenny.  We are so grateful to our family that are always so generous with their time and their gas money that allows us to do these things together.

GRAPPLING

This post might be all over the place and make no sense but lately I have had all kinds of things swimming around in my head and I thought writing them out might help plus I always like looking back at these types of things going on in my life.

So I am grappling.  Do yall use that word. Definition: the action of gripping, seizing, as in wrestling.  Yea that wrestling part.  That's what I am talking about. Here are some things I am wrestling with right now.

- My age.  I turn 30 in a few months.  And it is not so much that I am turning 30 but just that I am getting older in general.  I seriously cannot believe that I am about to be 30.  I literally feel like I was just starting college.  And let me tell you. Moving to a college town does a WHOLE lot of things to your psyche. I feel so much older (and fatter) than these kids.  It is weird to return to the town where you went to school, met and fell in love with your husband and used to have a lot of really good times and now I am driving around with my toddler getting really excited over school bus sightings. It just feels weird and I just feel old.

-Spin off of the whole age thing.  What am I doing with my life?  Overall I am really happy with my life.  But I remember back in the day watching all these Oprah shows when I was a teenager about what was your "calling" and your "purpose" and I got so tired of those women talking about that all at the time.  Now I get it.  I find myself asking myself these questions all the time.  Why am I here? Am I a good mom?  Am I a good wife? A good daughter, sister, friend?  What do I need to do to answer these questions?

- Mommy Guilt- let me just say that I think that mommy guilt is something that will never go away.  I seriously do not think there is one mom who doesn't have a single bit of mommy guilt.  But why does mine feel constant?  Do I play with her enough? Does she know how much I love her?  Is it wrong that I am putting her in the gym's childcare room while I go work out? (so dumb but this has been a constant worry lately)  Why is she throwing occasional temper tantrums at school? Why hasn't she learned her colors yet?  What am I doing wrong?  Grapple grapple grapple!!!

- Friends - I miss my friends in Memphis so much.  I miss Elle's friends in Memphis so much.  Moving to a new place is hard and I am having to adjust to not as many girls nights.  I am so lucky to have a husband and friends that I can talk to when I am lonely but I am ready to look back on this part of my life and be happy that I have made some good girlfriends.  Making friends is so hard. I feel like I am really friendly and social and I literally want to ask people who I meet and like "will you be my friend?" except then they would think I was psycho and runaway. So I just have to be patient and keep being friendly and hope that friendships eventually form naturally.

Alright, I could probably keep rambling and blurting out all the things in my head but those are just a few things going on in my head right now.  Thanks for bearing with me.  Have a great weekend!  Kenny and I are getting away for a fun little date night trip so tune in next week for those deets!

EASTER BUCKET LIST

I mentioned in my last post that I had been a little bit of an Easter slacker but we managed to jam some fun things in for Elle over the Easter weekend and have a great holiday.  

Friday morning Kenny and I took Elle to the park and we all just had the best time.  Kenny had mentioned driving to Birmingham and going to the zoo but Elle loves being outside and going to the park just as much if not more than anything so we decided to stay home and she was so happy.  

My sister arrived that afternoon and by that time it was kind of yucky outside so we dyed some Easter eggs!  It was a little bit stressful with a two year old but still lots of fun.

Please note Kenny's fancy egg.  He did this with the Christmas cookies too.  

He goes all in and takes it so seriously!

The rest of the weekend was spent just relaxing.  My mom came in town and we went into a few stores and out for an early dinner and some yogurt Saturday night. Then it was home to put Elle to bed and let the Easter Bunny stop by.

The beginning of Elle's Easter basket. She is obsessed with the Shoe La La book. Sleeping Beauty who is not Ariel, some new silverware and what is an Easter Basket without a chocolate bunny?

Then some finishing touches.  Some pink Keens for this summer.  I think little girl in sweet dresses and Keens are so cute.  Some baby sunglasses, M&Ms and the softest and cutest stuffed bunny with her name on the ear.  I am kind of obsessed with that bunny.

Sunday morning we all gathered around to watch Elle come out and see what the Easter Bunny brought her.  She loved everything and we put Sleeping Beauty in immediately.  That movie is a little slow. Ha! Then it was time to get ready for church. The weather was total yuck but we all managed to get into the sanctuary before it poured.

Elle checking out her goodies.

Some bunny love.  She has been sleeping with it and carrying it around. So sweet.

Trying on the new kicks.

Cuddled up watching a princess movie.

Headed out for church.  We all look a little wind blown but this picture was the best we could get before my hair started frizzing as the raindrops fell.

And because the weather was so yuck we couldn't let Elle hunt for some Easter eggs I stuffed.  So we totally had a post Easter egg hunt on Monday.  Elle was so excited and couldn't of cared less that the "official" holiday was over.  She was really good at spotting eggs and we had a lot of fun.

 Found one!

Opening it up to see what was inside.