MLK day

When I was growing up, in school today was a really big deal. We spent a few weeks preparing plays, songs, poems- we're talking literary works of art here people! Then the entire school would come together in the afternoon (of the Friday before) and put on one of the best tribute shows to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that you would ever see!


Now that I'm a lot older (and no longer have my days planned out by school administrators)

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has been so much fun this year. With my little guy getting more and more into it, the Halloween celebrations have gotten more and more fun.

I have been debating for over a month now as to what he was going to be. I had come up with three really good choices for him and just needed to narrow it down and choose one. Shortly after I published that post someone asked my son what he was going to be for Halloween and he replied. I initially didn't think anything of it. I thought he just gave a random answer and went on about his merry way. That was until someone else asked him and he gave the same response. So I thought, he might really have a clue and may have chosen his own Halloween costume.

I will admit, i was slightly disappointed because I thought my choices were good. I mean really good. But, I wanted him to be happy and begin to exercise his opinion. And just for good measure I asked him one more time before I purchased his costume and he stuck with his answer.

The day before Halloween our city had their first annual Halloween parade. I was super excited because I thought it would be so much fun. I wanted to make a little variation in his costume just for variety and so it wasn't the same exact thing two days in a row (not that there is anything wrong with that).

The day of the city's parade, I registered him the costume contest. I did it on a whim and didn't actually know that I was doing it- I thought that I was more so just registering him to walk in the parade. They had 7 categories, 0 to Pre-K, K to 2nd grade, 3rd grade to 5th grade, 6th grade to 8th grade, 9th grade to 12th grade, family, and group. Within those seven there were prizes for cutest, scariest, and green (made from recycled materials). It was a lot of fun seeing all the costumes people came up with..



 And guess who one first place in the in cutest category in the 0 to pre-K age group??!!!!!!

I was so excited! He just wanted to eat all the candy. And to think I didn't even know there was a costume contest. I think this turned pretty well considering this is not what I had in mind for his Halloween costume. He just wanted to be Superman so I obliged. At least I did get to have a little fun with it.

Today, he went on to school and marched in the school'sHalloween parade as Superman. He's just so darn adorable in his cape!

I can't wait to take him trick-or-treating tonight. He's been asking about it for a while. My husband and I will have to tag team. Our blocks get very very busy during Halloween. Most of our neighbors just sit on the porch and hand out candy because there is no use going inside. It'll be cold (and probably snowing *gasps*) but you don't really have a choice, People drive in from all over to drop their kids off plus we have a lot of little ones on our street. Our block stays jumping for about 1.5 to 2 hours full of trick-or-treaters. Despite the madness it's actually kind of fun! I hope to get some good pictures too. Our plan is for me to take our son up and down one side of the street and hubby will stay home and hand out candy, then we will switch. 

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your Halloween!!!!

Happy Halloween!

He was so excited about his costume he wouldn't stop jumping up and down. So a fuzzy picture it is! Wishing you a safe and fun-filled Halloween!

Memorial Day Weekend

Just in time for the 4th of July holiday- here is our recap of Memorial Day. And now I can come to expect that this weekend's holiday festivities will be ready in time for... Labor Day!

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I always enjoy a long weekend. Long weekends are a time for family get togethers, laughing, reminiscing, eating, and plain old good times. My parents and brother came to visit us and let me tell you- I was excited! We normally go back "home" but to have them visit us is always heartwarming to me. Anyway- we went craft beer tasting, wine tasting, ate, laughed, and just relaxed. Relaxing is a very important thing we often don't have time to do.

 Here is my recap in pictures:

Easter Weekend

For the past 4 years my Easter weekend has always started with Maundy Thursday and Ended with Resurrection Sunday. I worked at a Catholic institution and while I am not Catholic 'Holy Week' is one of several things that the two sectors of the Christian faith share.

This year is different. I am now at a public institution so religion has nothing to do with anything :( I did however, at the last minute, decide to shift my schedule around and have Good Friday off.

WW: good times

Merry Christmas!

WW: Thanksgiving Day

Sadly, this is the one and only picture that I have from the Thanksgiving festivites.

WW: Independence Day

Father's Day

I have a secret: the only reason I remembered to post about my Mother's Day is because I realized I never posted about Father's Day!

So here is our Father's Day re-cap photo dump. Now normally we would spend the day before Father's Day with hubby's family but we had a lot going on that weekend so this time EVERYONE headed over to my sister-in-law's for dinner which included my mom, dad, and brother =) It was so much fun spending time with everyone all together.

I feel bad that I didn't have the time to make hubby Father's Day breakfast- so I owe him one. But this time we made it to church on time. The problems started after church and the length of a meeting that I got sucked into. I'm not sure why the committees at my church INSIST on holding meetings on days like Father's Day I know these people have Father's in their lives to celebrate. So dinner was off to a way late start. But we all made it- and the rest of the evening looked like this...


Dads are in the pool while moms are on the grill...

I must note that my sister-in-law's pool is heated. So although it was 75 degrees outside it was 80 degrees in the water.

So my husband has this shirt that says "have you seen my zombie". Whenever you ask him this question this is the outcome...

The little guy had macaroni and cheese for the first time. I swear this is his "i like it' face!

Quality father son time

Trying not to burn dinner

This was me and the little guy's first time having s'mores! Yea, you read that right...

I love ending nights like this

And better late than never but Happy First Father's Day to my hubby...

And Happy First Grandfather's Day to my dad...

Mother's Day

I recently recieved the pleasure of celebrating my very first Mother's Day. If you know me then you know I was emotional all weekend! I can't believe that I am now a part of this elite group :)

My weekends are usually pretty hectic. And this particular weekend was no different. We had just gotten back into town (which I'm still not able to blog about just yet) so I was what you call 'travel tired'. You know that type of tired you get from slinging suitcases, travel documents, and sitting for any number of hours in kind of closed quarters. But I still got up at 7:30 am to make it to my Zumba class that's being held at my church. Zumba starts at 8 am every Saturday for 13 weeks (I miss sleeping in). After Zumba then men of my church hosted their annual Mother's day breakfast. Let me tell you- those guys can throw down in the kitchen! We had everything from fish and grits to turkey sausage and salmon cakes. I basically undid any progress I made at Zumba, lol! We had so much fun stuffing our faces! Plus I was able to catch up with a few people that I haven't been able to have a pow-wow with in a while.

We always spend the Saturday before Mother's Day with hubby's mom. She was extra excited this year because she had another grandbaby to celebrate with. We all met at hubby's sister's house for lunch. It was a perfect 80 degrees outside.

Isn't this awesome?! They have an in-ground heated pool so it really wasn't ridiculous that we went swimming! This was baby boy's full on first time in the pool. The last time we went "swimming" he just put his feet in because I forgot his swimmies (swim diaper). This time I remembered everything- sunscreeen, swimmies, and the most adorable new swimmer ever! Im not sure who had more fun- him or his dad! As long as dad was holding him- he had a blast!

He even got to play 'ball' with the big boys

After loads of good times, eating, and laughs, we ended the night. But not before enjoying some time by the fire.

Sunday morning, I was greeted by the best Mother's Day smile ever! I really enjoy waking up to my guys everyday. We headed off to church- really, really late. We did manage to get in some whole wheat pancakes and sausage for breakfast. But being late for church really threw me off because- my little guy and I performed for Mother's Day!

I did a poem about a Mother's Love:

Oh my little one I love you with a Mother's love

I pray my Mother's love will understand your tears
will soothe your disappointments and calm all of your fears.

I pray my Mother's love will share the joys you feel
When something you  have dreamed about quite suddenly becomes real.

I pray my Mother's faith will help you on life's way
And inspire you in confidence you'll need from day to day.

For a Mother's heart, and a Mother's faith, and a Mother's steadfast love
were fashioned by Angels and sent from God above

~author unknown


We both did pretty well- but I think he stole the show :) Everyone thought it was so adorable that all he wanted to do was play with the mic.

After church we headed over to my parents house for Mother's Day dinner, which I have absolutely no pictures. And since it took me forever and a year to post this I have absolutely no idea what we even had for mother's day dinner :(

I'm still in awe that I am now able to celebrate Mother's Day as a mommy :) It's a good thing that I wrote down last year's pre-mother's day celebration because my memory clearly serves no purpose.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year folks!! I wish you all many many more years of blessings.

To start of the New Year, here are my top 10 posts (by page views) from 2011.

#10. Packing while pregnant

#9. My early Christmas gift

#8. My favorite Christmas gift

#7. Happy Halloween

#6. My first blog tag!

#5. The nursery reveal

#4. The breastfeeding campaign

#3. Baby's first Halloween

#2. The day my son was born

#1. My DIY makeover

That list was unexpected to say the least. I'm surprised the birth stories didn't make it and I can't believe the Happy Halloween post actually made it. My tracking skills are really lacking but this is still interesting to say the least. 

I hope that in 2012 my blog continues to grow in readership and content. Most importantly my blog will continue to be my personal documentation to through motherhood. I look forward to what 2012 brings - hopefully good things just as 2011 did :)


Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

From our house to yours!