Waiting.....

Easter morning and Daddy was mowing the grass.  So, Blake went to the window to watch and wait....

Happy Valentine's Day!

I have been on the ball this Valentine's day! I bought all the kids stuff last week. I got valentine's Chinese take out boxes and filled them full of goodies for the kids. I also got my husband a nice bottle of wine and a lovey dovey card. I woke up at 2:30 this morning to put everything out. I wanted my daughter, who wakes up before me, to have hers waiting for her. I even facebooked my hubby happy valentine's day before going to bed. At least my hubby noticed. He even pointed out that I was on the ball. Here's some photos from the morning:

My cutie pie, Blake, he has morning allergies so his eyes are always puffy in the am. But he is still cute as hell.

When Devon got out of the car when I dropped him off at school he wrote I love you on my window. He's a sweetie!

Then when I got to work I had these lovely tulips waiting for me. They are from a co-worker that says I'm always a nice friend to her.

I hope your Valentine's is going well also!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I still have every intention of doing a 2010 recap, but I got a little busy. Last night I went to dinner with a few girl friends, it was long over due. After dinner, we went back to one of their house and played dance party on the wii. I LOVED IT! Needless to say, I will be purchasing that game!

Tonight we are having a party at our house with a few friends and family. I have tons to do but wanted to take a minute to wish my blog family a very happy new year! I was hoping daycare would be open today so I could clean the house with out watching over a 11 month old. No such luck. My hubby is work which sucks for me and him. He will get off at 5, party starts at 7. Awesome.

I plan on being a better blogger next year. I need to take more pics...in case you haven't noticed, I don't blog without a picture. I'm OCD like that.

I have a few things in mind for next year. If any of you have some ideas for me as well, feel free to share. Any help is wonderful!

I hope everyone spends New Years Eve the way you want. (even if it isn't a big party just a nice dinner with a lady friend...talking about you Simple Dude).

Love you guys!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my Blogger friends!

First Christmas Photo Shoot

An awesome friend of mine, Stephanie, was sweet enough to do Blake's first Christmas photo shoot yesterday! I loved the way they turned out!

Look at those teeth!

He was over pictures and started to cry. See his reflection in the ornament? (His finger is only in his mouth because I gave him a goldfish cracker to eat, lol)

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

The Weekend

I had a wonderful weekend. Friday, I got off at noon! At 5 I went on a photo walk (see pictures here).

Saturday morning I had to work but I was off by 1. At 4 was my company Christmas party. I brought all 3 kiddos, the hubby was at the deer lease.

We sang a little karaoke. And then we danced! It was awesome...one of our best parties by far.

I ended my weekend with this little guy. He is really starting to move around the house now! How did you spend your weekend?

Photo Walk

My weekend started of amazing! A local photography teacher was doing a free photo walk on Christmas lights! How awesome, right? It gets better....I was the only one that ended up showing up! Everyone was texting her they were busy and what not. So I got some tips for free and she showed me how to use my camera a little more...I was stoked to say the least. Here are a few from our walk.

I hope every ones weekend was wonderful.

Christmas decor

This weekend, in between playing with my kiddos, I decorated for Christmas (with the help of my mom). Last week Thrifty Decor Chick had the beautiful post about her dining room Christmas vignette. Please go check it out! I loved that it was so simple to do and looked beautiful. She also talked about how cheap it was for her to do it. She got most of the stuff at Wal-mart. Awesome. Well, I'm a little poor these days so I had to use what I had. This is what I came up with.

Here is it all lit up and fancy like. Here is with the lights on.

The clear vase was a wedding present (2 years ago) and the pine cones my mom had brought over. The snowman I bought from Avon a few years ago. The pretty red vase, full of lights, is from my hubby. He sent me 3 dozen roses in it at work the day he proposed. He is romantic every now and then.

The JOY words I bought from some kids fund raiser a few years back and the cake dome is another wedding present (this is the first time I used it). My mom had brought over two bags of different ornaments.

These two vases are just random vases around. One is filled with garland that I've had for years and the other one has ornaments in them. The snowman is a gift from a friend a few years ago and the large nutcracker was a table center piece we won from my hubby's company Christmas party several years ago.

We don't use our fireplace. So I added a few candles and my mom put in the Christmas swag and Ta-da!

A few Christmas splashes here.

This is the little tree in Alexys' room. It is purple with green lights. The bulbs we got out of the dollar bin at Target. See the picture to the right of it. That's Devon. Alexys loves her brother!

Here is another vase with ornaments and lights for Alexys' room.

While I know my mantel is nothing special to most...my Grandma painted the sleigh and reindeer and she is no longer with us. I love it. I didn't have any fake snow. My mom asked if I had tissue paper, I did but it said Macy's all over it, owell, it worked.

It's not done yet. If you count, we only have 4 stockings. Since Blake was born in January I guess he needs one too, haha! I need to go see if Target still carries them and then get it embroidered.

Here is the pretty wreath on the front door. It is a gift from a friend a few years ago.

Sitting here doing the post I realize...I didn't take a pic of my tree. I'll work on that. Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Great Weekend

The rest of my weekend was wonderful. Saturday Blake and I woke up and snuggled on the couch. I made us a big pancake and we shared it. Usually I don't let the kids sleep real late, but it was our relaxing weekend so I didn't care.

My mom came over around 8. She painted my bathroom for me and then helped me decorate for Christmas (that is another post, with pictures). Alexys left for a "date" with her boyfriend and it was just me, my boys and my mom. She wanted to leave before it got dark so my house was still a mess. We had decorations up, but boxes every where. We stopped alot to play with the boys, after all...to me, this weekend was about me and my kids. We stayed in our jammies ALL day! It was awesome. We did leave and get dinner at Taco Bell...in our jammies, but we just did the drive thru.

Sunday was much of the same. Trying to go through all the boxes. Blake and I played alot. Devon played with the neighbor's girls and Alexys had stayed the night at a friend's house. My house looks good. I'm not "lovin" my tree, but it will work this year.

I hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend.

Dust Bunnies

via

I didn't realize how bad it had gotten. I haven't really done a "deep" cleaning since Blake has been born (keep in mind he just turned 10 months). Since my hubby and I got all the Christmas stuff out of the attic I thought it was a good time to clean the floors good before any Christmas stuff goes up in the house. We have wood floors, which I've learned to hate. They are just there so dust bunnies can easily collect now, this was never a problem when we had carpet. So, I got the vacuum out so I could start with the baseboards. Normally this would be an easy, quick and simple job....not so much when you have to watch your baby and this is his first time hearing the vacuum cleaner (Alexys normally vacuums before we get home). He screamed bloody murder, so I did it in spurts. I even flipped the couches and vacuumed under there as well. After all that was done I put up the tree. No ornaments, but the tree is up with lights and the room is clean.

Tonight Devon and I will put the ornaments on the tree. I like to do this as a family but I'm over "making" them do it. I shouldn't have to pull teeth to do traditions so I'll do them without them. Robert does at least put the angel on the tree for me but Alexys is just over the whole thing. Whatev!

This will be Blake's first Christmas! And our first Christmas as a happy party of 5! I want to decorate big this year and enjoy time with friends and family.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving its self was good for me but the days after and what not were a little emotional for me, but maybe I'll talk about that another day. I just wanted to pop in and say hi and not avoid my blog for to many days. Please check out my Introduction and let me know if you would like to guest blog for me so I can try and increase my number of followers.

Christmas Traditions for Two (or more)-guest blog

Hello!!! This is April, aka Beauty Sale Shopper, guest blogging on my good friend Shutterbug Mama's blog today. The two of us have been talking in the office lately about how we want to do certain things with our kids this year, maybe start some activities that will become traditions in the years to come for each of our families, for example;

* Pictures with Santa - now I've done this sporadically over the years, but if Phoebe and I didn't happen to be at the mall, and there was no line, and she was wearing an appropriate outfit, then it just wasn't going to happen. I have little (no) patience for lines, screaming toddlers, ect. This year, though, I will MAKE AN EFFORT to do this.

* Christmas Crafts! - SB Mama and I will hopefully do this one together... our kids get along, and while they work on their Gingerbread House or ornaments or whatnot, we can do some crafting of our own? That should be fun!

* Cookies - making and decorating cookies would be a nice way for mom/daughter to spend time together and they make excellent, inexpensive gifts for teachers, coworkers, etc!!!

* I'd also like to go look at Christmas lights one night, as well as decorate the tree together, visit the tree farm, sing carols, and maybe even go to a Christmas Eve service. Also, I need to remember to relax and enjoy everything, not just be there for it but be a part of it.

Here's hoping for one of the most fantastic holidays ever, just making sure we spend some time together having fun, relaxing, and making memories with friends and family that will last a lifetime.

Please feel free to pop in and show my blog some love.

April

Thanksgiving-Topic Part 2

Family Traditions. We all have them. We have always celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom. But a few years ago we started additional Thanksgiving traditions. We all get together at my moms, my little family, my aunts family and my cousins. It's always the same. The guys chill outside and the ladies are inside. My mom always makes the most amazing dinner that I probably eat all year long. Honestly, the stuffing and sweet potatoes are to die for. My mom's sweet potatoes can easily be mistaken for pie, they are so good. When dinner is done we do a bonfire in the backyard and sit around and chill. We all stay the night! It's so much fun. Last year was the first year us ladies lost our minds and went shopping on Black Friday. Shopping when you are 8 months pregnant with crazy people was NOT pleasant. Many are lucky I don't carry a gun, just saying. I know all the deals are amazing...but no reason to act like a psycho.

Christmas-topic part 2 or 2

I'm only going to assume since my Christmas-topic part 2 post has been the most viewed post this week that someone I know and love is getting me something on this list, otherwise, that's just mean. But now...should I add more sensible gifts? Like ones people could actually afford? We don't really exchange gifts with the adults in my family, so I won't worry about it. I just found that stat funny. Have a wonderful day!

Thanksgiving-Topic

Here's another topic post. What is my favorite Thanksgiving memory? This was a few years ago. My sister was there (at my mom's house) and I think it was the one year that my dad's daughter actually came. After eating my mother's AMAZING Thanksgiving feast we did gingerbread houses with the kids! I think my mom and my sister did one, Devon and I did one, and my dad's daughter and her son did another. It was so much fun (even if mine did look the worst). I think we might have to do that again this year.

Christmas-topic, part 2

I think most of you remember my other Christmas post here. Here are a few things I would like for Christmas. Please someone, alert my husband! I'm joking....we don't exchange gifts anymore. With the lack of funds we would rather spoil the kids on Christmas then stress about getting one another gifts. But, if I did make him a list this year this is what it would look like. (Honey, don't forget, my birthday and our anniversary is in March!)

The Miss Me jeans that I have talked about before in my Fat Tuesday posts. I told my self if I went down 2 pant sizes I would buy myself a pair (if done my Christmas) but I don't know if that is going to happen. A pair of Cruel Girl jeans. If I go down two pant sizes....I can fit into my old Cruel Girl jeans and will not need a new pair. I haven't worn my old ones in at least 2 years so they would feel like new again.

I would always LOVE to have a new cartridge or two for my Cricut machine!

I would be in HEAVEN if I got a new camera. It doesn't have to be the one pictured above, but a new one would be delightful!

I think ever since my husband has known me I've wanted a silver Chevy Tahoe! Some things just don't change. When we traded in my cavalier (back in the day) I didn't have the money to make notes on a Tahoe so I got a silver Impala instead. I still don't have the money for a Tahoe note, but that doesn't stop me from wanting the damn thing. My family has grown and the Impala, while we do look damn good pimpin' it, doesn't seem so roomy these days.

This ring, like the Tahoe, is also something I have asked for for years! This isn't near as expensive as a Tahoe but some how my husband never seems to think I need this. He is right, I don't need it! I just desperately want one! I want everyone to know I'm a mom and damn proud of it and I put my heart and soul into all three of my kids! Besides, it is pretty.

Regardless of weather or not I get the above new camera, I would love to take another photography class with Deb Evans. She is my friend on facebook and sees the photos I've taken since her first class and always comments. We now know what I need to work on and I would love to take a private class with her to do just that.

Oh....to have a girls weekend! Not just a sleep over at one of our houses! I mean lets rent a hotel room by the beach, or in San Antonio, or even Austin and forget we are moms in our 30's and just have fun! We are a good group of girls who rarely get embarrassed but try our hardest to do so.

But in reality, my favorite gift right now would be to have a date night with the hubs! It doesn't have to be an expensive dinner. (Although when we went to Perry's Steakhouse for our one year anniversary it was some of the best food ever.) I would love it if the house was kid free and my husband made dinner (all of it) and we ate by candle light with a glass of wine. That would be a little slice of Heaven on Earth.

What is on your wish list this Christmas?