Taking a Break

I’ve enjoyed a little break from Facebook. I’ve been off of Facebook for about a week and a half now, and I have to admit that not only have I not missed it, but I haven’t been missed. I think this is a great thing. The only reason some people even know I’m gone is because they have to call or text me instead of messaging me or writing on my wall. This is wonderful and more personal to me. I do still use InstaGram and probably more now than ever. I am thrilled with this little break and plan to continue it for quite some time. I have to admit that there are a couple of things I miss from Facebook. The number one thing is that now it's November, I love everyone's Thankfulness each day posts. I miss reading those. However, now instead of participating I write them to Annabelle instead of posting them for everyone. What I’ve been doing with my extra minutes (okay, probably hours!), include a lot of snuggling, writing to Annabelle, reading, cleaning, and party planning and online shopping for my almost one year old! I'm not going crazy with her first Birthday in the party-planning department. I plan to make her some decorations including a ONE sign for her highchair, a board of her favorite things and details, a purple, sugary cake for her to make a mess of, and a boa to drape over the fireplace with her monthly pictures. But that's about it. I'm not going to do too much. I want her to be surrounded by her family and our closest friends and take a minute to all celebrate what a gift she is to us, but not get pinterest-obsessed and bogged down by silly details. I have some fun things I am looking forward to creating and doing for her and I will post those after her party is over. Tonight is Family Date Night – just like every Wednesday. I so look forward to this time. We make dinner and try to do something special. Tonight we are going to go look at getting one of our family pictures framed for over our couch in the living room. I have a lot of work to do for decorating our house. I’m so excited to spend these cold nights on house projects. Sorry this was so random! I have a lot of snippets of things going through my mind since I'm not posting them on Facebook. :) Happy Wintery Wednesday!

November 1

I am still on a high from last night and Annabelle's first Halloween! She was such a joy and I think had the best time! I picked her up from daycare and took her to my office to see everyone. She loves other kids so much. When another kid is around she gets all smiley and wiggly. Of course she also needed to sit in Grandma's chair while we were there.

After that we stopped by Sister #1's house to see her cousins. We tried to get some good pictures but five kids make that quite a task. She adores her cousins so much!

It's the first Halloween for these three!

And then we came home for dinner and handing out candy. We were going to take Annabelle around the neighborhood but she has such a great time seeing everyone that we stayed in instead. Every time the bell rang she would take off to see who was there and giggled and danced around. 

She zonked out around 7:30. It was definitely the best Halloween ever!

Fall Goodies

Here are some Fall goodies I am keeping my eye on for our house.

This is from hayneedle.com

And these are from tag2u.com

And wayfair.com

Bella's First Halloween

Happy Halloween friends!

Ergo

Yes, my daughter is almost 11 months old. And yes, I am just now getting this. And yes, I plan on wearing her until about 3rd grade.

No Spend November

My husband is a fabulous financial advisor. This is wonderful for someone like me and horrible. Wonderful because he does such a great job providing for and planning for our family. Horrible because sometimes I don't like to admit how much I spend and really take a look at my spending - both things he has to call me on.

Lately we have been spending more than is necessary. You've seen my wish list posts. I try to do a good job, but sometimes my desire for cute little nutcracker cheese knives or Halloween Jammies for Belle get the best of me. :) 

So we are challenging each other to a little project in preparation for December which is Belle's birthday and Christmas. We are going to do a No Spend November. This does exclude certain things like gifts for others and my Fall decorating budget. Mainly this is a challenge for things like clothes and trinkets and excessive treats (I am addicted to ice cream!). 

I will keep you posted on how I am doing. 

Any suggestions? 

Sunday Morning

This morning our Davey is duck hunting so miss Belle and I had a morning together. We had breakfast, colored some Fall pictures, and played and played. Now miss B is down for a nap and I am sitting here with my coffee and devotional. I love sleepy, Fall Sundays.

Fall With Her Boys

Annabelle absolutely loves her cousins! She now has five and one on the way! I love seeing her with her cousins. 

Yesterday we had two of her cousins over for the day for some Fall fun. We painted pumpkins in the garage, played cars in the driveway, grilled hot dogs and made bumps on a log, and went to the orchard. 

It was one of my favorite days.

(Belle doesn't understand "rest time")

Bella's First Birthday

For Belle's first birthday we are throwing "It's a ONEderful Life" party filled with bells and snowflakes.

I have even thinking about this for a long time but still haven't sorted out all the details. What I'm obsessing over this week is her first birthday dress. I really want to find a purple one, but these are some fun ones I love.

Pottery Barn Halloween

I love personalizing Pottery Barn trinkets. I am obsessed with Annabelle's stocking (that I had personalized and ordered before "we" had decided her name for sure :) ) and we love her Easter basket that we've used all year to hold some of her blankets and toys - it sits in her room year round.

Here are the items that I love for Halloween. And how perfect that one says Belle in the example? I think she needs two treat bags - one for her Princessy side and one for her spooky side.

I plan on buying a personalized holiday plate for every holiday. I think this one is so cute for Halloween week. Do you know of any Etsy stores or anywhere that has cuter ones to personalize? When she's a little older I will take her to paint her own for each holiday.

Also from Pottery Barn are these two cute Halloween books.

Since we moved into our house this summer, we don't have very many seasonal decorations. Acquiring these items is a process. I plan on shopping the sales after each holiday for the next year's decorations. It's crazy how quickly each little ten or twenty dollar trinket adds up! 

Of course, my favorite Fall decoration is anything that includes Belle:

Work Nook

Over the next few weeks I am going to be working on getting my little work nook just how I like it. I love working from home every once in a while. I get so much more done than when I'm in the office. I am free of distractions except for the great ones; I can look right out my window at the beautiful Fall sunrise, or shuffle downstairs in my pajamas to refill my coffee. 

I love my work space, but I need to freshen it up a bit with drawers and space to really sprawl out the contracts.

Here's the before. Admittedly, very boring.

Growing My Own Grass

Last night one of my favorite people came over. My little sister is so much fun and in the past few months, we've re-grown closer. Sister #4 and I grew up very close, and for the most part, we've stayed that way. We have been sisters, classmates, roommates, and friends. In the past few years we've gotten busy (insert any huge, dumb excuse here) and I would say grown a part just a tad. The last few months have been great and I feel like I have one of my best friends back! Last night she came over and we sipped a Fall beer and got on the topic of reading as we so frequently do. (I know, we are wild.) She asked me if I'm reading any good books right now. I perked right up and said "Yes, I'm reading a really interesting one." Now it's time for my confession. This book that I proceeded to tell her about is the same one I committed to reading sometime back in, oh let's just say, July! Seriously. I started rambling about the historical fiction book I started...one of five...and haven't gotten even half way through. Then we started talking about books I've read in the past that should be on her list. I was browsing through some old posts and couldn't believe how much I used to read. I know I have a daughter now, but come on! Somehow I still have time to watch all my favorite (stupid) shows and read all my favorite (stupid) magazines. But I don't have time to read books that I love? Odd. As I was perusing Facebook early this morning (again, stupid), I found this little gem of a post that one of my friends found and so graciously shared. I read it and was pretty convicted to sign off of Facebook, like for a good month or two, and dive back into other things that are much more worthy of my time. http://www.beginnerbeans.com/2013/10/epic-comparisons.html You might argue that I could just control how much time I spend looking at Facebook, and you should be right. But for some reason, I cannot turn that silly little piece of technology off once it's right in front of me. Do you know, I used to carry a book with me at all times? I'm serious. Not an iPad or tablet. A real, honest to goodness, paper book. My mom would love when I'd come to visit her classroom. She would make a point each time to ask me in front of her students what was in my purse. She knew I would pull out a new book and she would take a minute to encourage her kids to always carry a good book with them. Have you looked around lately when you are waiting somewhere - a doctor's office or grocery store line? I honestly couldn't tell you when the last time I saw someone holding a book, or in fact, not holding their phone. As I'm settling into this beautiful Fall, my daughter's first experience with my favorite season, I am going to turn off my Facebook for a bit, pack a good book, and read something worth reading. Happy Fall My Friends.

Working

I love working from home. Bo loves it even more! Happy Fall Friday friends!

Go Griffs!

This coming weekend is MWSU Homecoming and Belle's first Griffon's game. We are just a little bit excited, if you can't tell.

4 Years

Four years ago David and I re-met. Four years ago David and I were flirting a little through Facebook and some texts. In four years we have dated and got engaged, got married, both quit our jobs and moved cities and started new jobs. We have bought two houses and our baby was born. I can't believe all we've done in four years and how much fun it has been, seriously each month is better than the last.

But rewind to that weekend four years ago. I was a girl at a Chiefs tailgate, partying with my friends, and blushing because the coolest guy said hi to me. The Chiefs played the Giants the last weekend in September. You won't believe me but four years ago I knew I wanted to have a life with that cool guy. 

This past weekend, the last weekend in September, the Chiefs played the Giants. David and I packed up and headed down to that (almost the same) tailgate. I was anxious because this was the first time I left my baby for someone else to wake up to in the morning. I wasn't sure how my day would go without snuggling her first thing, and believe me, I missed her and couldn't get home fast enough. But while I was there at that tailgate, watching that same cool guy, I couldn't help but be completely overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. 

I had the very best day. 

I totally had a Bella sock in my pocket that day. What? It had a football on it.

Go Chiefs!!

Swoon

These little beauties are 40% off right now at Ann Taylor Loft. Don't mind if I do...

Sweet Potato Bites

I am trying a new side for Belle today. I'm hoping this is one that I can use for a staple to send with her lunches. It was super easy.

I peeled and cut two sweet potatoes.

Then tossed them in olive oil and baby cereal. Now they are in the oven for about 20-30 minutes.

I found a recipe somewhere that said you can freeze them. This would help me to be able to plan ahead and add a new side to her lunches! I will let you know what she thinks.

Bella Bug

I just ordered Belle's first Halloween costume! She has a really cute Halloween outfit (tutu and striped tights and all) to wear during the day, but I've had a hard time deciding on her first costume.

I fell in love with this one today and ordered it. I can't wait to see it. And after Halloween she can pretend her red-soled tights are Manolo Blahnik :)

Through Bella's Eyes

I love being with Annabelle because I see everything in such a happier, shinier way. This baby girl loves everything, especially everything outside. We are loving this warm Fall weather. From the minute we get home we do everything possible outside. Tonight we ate dinner on the front porch while David mowed the front and then switched to the back to eat strawberries when he was in the back. She points to things and I tell her the names and sometimes I think she's trying to repeat them. She giggles and giggles when David pushes the mower by. I just love love love this little girl who loves everything! I wish I had her attitude and view.

Dove

There's a Dove commercial that I almost have to turn off every time it's on. It's the one that shows little girls and talks about how they will quit things they love because they are self conscious. It makes me sick to ever think about Annabelle like that. (That's why I tell her how smart, kind, beautiful, and funny she is all day every day.)  Anyway, this company totally got me. We now buy Dove body wash :) Thanks Dove, for doing something to increase the self esteem in young girls.

Cheapie Find

Okay so has anyone ever bought anything from Sophia Vergara's brand? This is crazy, but she has a brand at Kmart I guess and I'm seriously considering ordering one of her dresses. I absolutely loved her dress on Kelly and Michael today so I decided to take a look at her brand. I am kinda in love with this one...

Get this. It is $35. 

Baby Animals

I follow a girl on Instagram who received her prints from a company called The Animal Print Shop. Have you seen these? I want to redo Annabelle's room with these adorable finds!! Check out their website - it is so cute! I hope Annabelle loves animals someday as much as I do.

9 Months

Annabelle is just the happiest, sweetest, best little baby ever. I had to post some of these cute 9 month pictures. I can't get enough of this little belle.