a month of celebrations

June is one of our busiest months since we have lots of reasons to celebrate all throughout the month.

We started the month off with National Donut Day!   Did you get yours?

My better half turned the big 3-0!  I made this cake/pie for him since we're making it an annual tradition to have it on his birthday.

Our little man hit 18 months!  He is babbling non stop and can say up to 19 words (and counting).  Although he is a lot of fun these days, we're also dealing with a lot of fits and tantrums lately.  No one told me the terrible twos start a lot earlier!  I pray for patience every. single. day!

Our Father's Day celebration was very low key.  Poor Paul.  H was in the worst moods that day.  I wish we can have a do-over.  There is always next year.

Celebrated our fourth anniversary on the 19th.  I'm thankful I get to share the rest of my life with this wonderful man.

Bailey turned 7 and has entered her "golden years."  She's a little plumper, a little older, but she is more fabulous than ever!

And of course, summer has officially started!  What are your plans this summer?

june highlights

Hello, friends!  Sorry for the month long absence.  I've been trying to survive live life day by day and these summer months sure are flying by fast.  Let's get caught up, shall we?

Our little man turned a half a year old!  The biggest milestone this month?  If you look closely you'll see them.  Give up?  

Our baby's got some chops!  Currently, he's sporting four baby teeth and they have completely changed his smile. 

Here's a great pic of three generations on Father's Day.

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary by going out to Rick's in downtown McKinney.  This was our second time there. Over dinner, we decided on making it a tradition to celebrate future anniversaries there.

And speaking of weddings, we went dress shopping with my sister and future sister-in-law.  After visiting several places, my sister finally said yes to the dress!

This little lady turned 6 years old!

I've got a few more to update you on, but thought I'd break it down into a few posts to get things rolling again on this sad and neglected blog.  See you very soon, I promise!

around here

I'm still trying to juggle this whole Mom thing.  I have such a small window of "free time" in between feedings and naps.  I'm lucky if I can even turn on my computer.  Thank God for smartphones or else I'd be completely out of touch with the world.  Here's what's been going on these past two weeks:


On January 10th, I celebrated my 29th birthday.  Man, that sounds so old, I might as well be 30!  My Mom offered to look after the baby while Paul and I went out for dinner to celebrate.  It felt so good to be dining out again.  I had my first margarita in 9 months.  I think I got buzzed just staring at it!

{PS.  My Hello sweater was purchased here, although it was cheaper when I bought it about a month ago.  If you follow them on Instagram @helloapparel, they have sales every now and then.}

This guy turned 1 month old on January 11th.  I can't believe it!  He's got quite an appetite.  In fact, just this week, he graduated from newborn diapers to size 1!  I'm looking forward to his two-month well visit to see how much he's grown.

Bailey feeling right at home.

As if we didn't already have a lot going on, we officially moved to our new house last week.  I thought we'd be buried in boxes for at least a month but we've managed to unpack everything.  Now I can start decorating Little H's nursery!

I have so many things to write about, but so little time.  Once I get into the swing of things and find some sort of order again, I will hopefully be back with regular blog posts for you.  Thanks for hanging with me!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to catch up on my blogs until the Little Man wakes up!

homeless

We said our final goodbye to our first home on Sunday afternoon.  I didn't think I was going to cry because I was so exhausted, but I did choke up as we drove off.  We tried to clean up the place as much as we could for the new owners, hoping that they'd fall in love with the house all over again.  I hope they will share many memories in their new home and enjoy it as much as we did. 

Above is a picture of Bailey that I took on Friday, her last full day at the house.  She was completely stressed out over the weekend and had no idea what was going on.  She didn't even have a proper goodbye!

"Homeless" is a bit of an exaggeration.  We're temporarily living with my Mom until our new house is finished.  They are promising us that it will be done by the end of December, but that does not really sit too well with us knowing that my due date is December 20th.  We would love to bring our baby boy home to a finished nursery.  We're praying that all goes well and that everything will work out in our favor.  FYI - we signed on this new house a month BEFORE we found out I was pregnant!

We're all still adjusting to our new living situation, especially Bailey.  Every now and then, she stares at us and/or stands by the front door, like she's asking to go home.  It's a little cozy with all our stuff crammed in my old room, but we're thankful that we have a place to sleep and we're able to save during these next few months.  All the sacrifice and waiting will definitely be worth it once we have the keys to our new home, and Baby T will be a sweet icing on the cake to top it all off!  It's like we're having two babies at the same time!

Here's to surviving the next couple of months.  Wish us luck!

a week of celebrations

Last week, we celebrated two special occasions.  On Tuesday, we celebrated our second year wedding anniversary at Rick's Chophouse in downtown McKinney.  It was pretty packed for a weekday.  I guess this was surprising to me because we rarely eat out on weekdays.  I wish I knew how big their portions were.  I ordered their ribs, and it was probably bigger than both of our heads combined.  We had salads, calamari for appetizers and even ordered a side of Cajun style Mac and Cheese (I did not regret this), and I was way too full to eat my ribs.  At least I got a week's worth of lunch though.

They gave us our own desserts, on the house, with the usual "Happy Anniversary" written on the plate.  I ordered their apple pie with ice cream and bourbon and Paul had the creme brulee.  Yum!

Since we didn't take a picture at the restaurant, I wanted to take a picture at home to document the day and to keep the tradition going.  I set up the timer on my camera and had Bailey join us.  After a few attempts, here's one good shot (and enhanced via Instagram). 

On Saturday, Bailey turned 5 years old (35 in doggie years).  According to sources, she is no longer considered a puppy =(  She'll always be a puppy forever and ever. 

For some reason, she had attitude that day.  She must have realized that she's getting older.  I had to force her to take a picture with me!

We gave her a Frosty Paw to celebrate.  She loves the Peanut Butter flavor. 

We gave her lots of treats throughout the day and let her pretty much do whatever she wanted.  This was only supposed to last until the end of the day, but it seemed to have continued through Sunday.  We hope she will be with us for another 5 to 10 years.  Can't imagine life without her.

lately on instagram

{This one is obviously not from Instagram}

On Thursday, we celebrated Paul's birthday.  My sister baked him a delicious carrot cake, as requested, although he had no idea my sister was making him something.  We ordered chinese to go and had a quiet dinner at home.  We're wild!  There's Bailey eyeing my fortune cookie. 

We had sort of a last Girls' Night Out on Friday for our friend Nicole, who will be leaving us for sunny San Diego.  She just graduated from medical school and will be doing her residency there.  So sad that she's leaving us, but happy that we have a nice place to visit!  Good luck Nicole!  See you at your wedding!

{also not instagrammed}

We continued Paul's birthday celebration at La Duni on Saturday.  He ordered the Carne Asada Arrachera (pictured above), which is a 10 oz steak, and it was orgasmic!  I had their Flautas De Pollo Con Ensalada, which came with 4 flautas,  their roasted salsas and avocado for dipping and a salad.  For an appetizer, we ordered their famous Queso Verde.  It was stringy and melts in your mouth, the perfect consistency. 

My grid frames are finally up!  More on this on my next post. 

snapshots

I've been experimenting with my new camera over the past few months.  Here are a few that I've taken.  Sorry if they're lame, but I thought it would be neat to see my progression. 

 Christmas morning with our princess.

Here's my model, Bailey Bear.  She's so photogenic!

This is my attempt at the Bokeh Effect.  It's still a work-in-progress.

At my sister-in-law's baby shower.

As you can tell, these are very amateur.  I'd love to hear your feedback, good or bad.  And if you have any pointers or advice, I'd appreciate it!  I'm still learning how to use the camera and the different lenses and settings.  I can't wait to take it out on our next vacation! 

I can't believe it's already March!  It's looking like Spring outside.  Hope you guys have a great weekend!

some murder, pjs, and hunting

This weekend....

I went to my very first Murder Mystery Party.  It sure was different and a lot of fun.  I got to play

Cha-Cha Merengue, "the beautiful and intriguing ballroom dance instructor who never stops dancing!"  I got really into it, and I guess it paid off because I won a bottle of wine! (don't mind the fat cheeks!)

We forced Bailey into her Christmas pajamas to show off to our guests this weekend.  I guess you could say she wasn't too thrilled about it.  But doesn't she look cute?!  I'm not being biased (maybe a little). 

This is just me being silly while I was taking pictures of our decorations for a future post.

On Saturday, we went house hunting with my brother-in-law and his wife.  We're so happy that Paul will have some family close by.  And they're having their baby boy next April so we'll have a baby to play with.  Whoohoo! 

We stopped by a show home, and I couldn't help but take pictures.  Of course I forgot my phone in the car, so I had to borrow Paul's.  Here are a few that I shot.

I love the dark brown kitchen cabinets against the light colored granite countertops.  This is what I'd like for our kitchen, if and when we ever get around to painting the cabinets.  Love the white subway tiles on the backsplash as well.

The breakfast nook was dressed up in these bright yellow curtains.  They really make a difference.  And I love that rug from West Elm (seen in the first picture). 

The living room was just as cheerful, with the bright yellow accents.  Grays and yellows are pretty popular these days, especially with weddings.  And a sunburst mirror, like the one above the fireplace, is on my list of future DIY projects!

They kept it simple in the master bedroom.  I'm thinking about gray walls in our bedroom, so this was a great example.  I love the three windows with the white floor-to-ceiling curtains, and a seating area right in front of it. 

I thought this was a simple DIY project that I could maybe replicate with square frames and patterned scrapbook paper.

I wish I took more pictures, but I didn't want to be creepy.  Show homes are such a good inspiration.  I'd love to stage one someday.  How fun would that be, to decorate a home, and not have to use your own money!  ONE DAY - hey, a girl can dream!

And that's my weekend for you.  How was yours?