More LOVE for Shutterfly!

I know I recently posted about my love for Shutterfly, but I can't sing their praises enough. We got our photo books from our honeymoon and one year anniversary in the mail last week and I LOVED them so much that I ordered two more--one for our two year and one for our three year anniversary. They should arrive this week and I keep checking the porch every day to see if they're here. It's safe to say that I'm addicted to Shutterfly photo books!

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Photo Book Tip: Create an adventurous travel photo album at Shutterfly.com.

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The new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.

Just another day on the job...

I would've never guessed that I'd be good at assembling a model aircraft! Guess I've learned a few things working for an airline :)

I LOVE Shutterfly Photo Books

I absolutely love Shutterfly!  They've really revamped their selection and I have ordered several items as gifts from them recently.  I gave both sets of our parents a Shutterfly photo book of Cole for Christmas and it was such a hit!  I've been working on a photo book of our first anniversary since 2008, but just never got around to finishing it (are you shocked?!).  Well--I finally sat down and knocked out the last few pages and ordered that bad boy.  And while I was at it, I ordered one from our honeymoon too!  I can't wait for them to get here!!  We will finally have our very first photo album!

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Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

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You'll love award-winning Shutterfly photo books. Start your own today.

Testing 1, 2, 3!

Ok so this is my first attempt at blogging from my phone with the new app, Blogger. I swear this must be a new addition to the app store because I vividly remember setting out on an all out search to find an app that allowed me to post pics to my blog right after Cole was born. But my searched proved unsuccessful until yesterday.

Kudos to you if you made it to my blog today through the flood of emails that went out yesterday afternoon letting you know this blog is now private. Oh don't you just love a learning curve?

Anyways...on to my post. I had a wonderful Mother's Day on Sunday!! I'll do a complete post on that in a minute, but I wanted to share these fun pics we took of Cole after playing with Kelly's hair gel. Look out, Hollywood!!

Going Private

Well--the time has come for me to make this little blog of ours private.  But have no fear!  If you would still like to keep up with us through these (very infrequent) posts, just shoot me an email or send me a Facebook message with your email address and I will add your name to the list.  You will be sent an invitation from blogger with instructions on how to login to read the blog.  If you currently read these posts from an email sent to you from Feedblitz please note that once the blog goes private you will no longer receive those emails. 

Hope your Monday is off to a great start!!

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a breakthrough?

This little angel slept for 8.5 hours the past two nights!!  I could hardly believe it and woke up in a panic both nights, but I hope we've turned the corner on the late night feedings!  Sleep in peace, little Tootie!

New Year! New Me!

{pinned here}

This sign says it all!  I love that the New Year is a blank canvas full of promise.  It's a time to start over, recommit, and reevaluate the important things.   It's been awhile since I've done any sort of New Year's resolution list, so I thought I'd take a stab at a list of 12 things I'd like to focus on in 2012.  And since it's still January I'm getting my list in just under the wire!

1-Dive into God's Word

Now more than ever before I desperately want to be in and surrounded by God's Word.  Kelly and I have a huge responsibility to "train up a child in the way he should go" and it is my duty as a mom, wife, and follower of Christ to make sure we are intentional in providing a biblical foundation for Cole to grow on.  And in order for me to instill strong biblical principals in his life, I need to recommit to making it a priority in mine.  When my brother and I were growing up my Mom always had a biblically based answer for any of our trials or tribulations and I want to have those same answers for Cole as he grows up and begins to experience all the things this world has to offer.  I am joining a women's bible study at my office and today we are starting Beth Moore's series Believing God: Experience a Fresh Explosion of Faith (study of Isaiah). I'm so pumped!!  I also bought the daily devotional app, Jesus Calling, and plan to read it daily.

2-Volunteer at Church

For the past several years (yes, YEARS) Kelly and I have talked about volunteering at church.  We've tossed around a few ideas here and there of where we should get plugged in, but have never fully committed.  Well--here's my chance.  I'm making it a goal for 2012 to find a way to get involved.  I think I would LOVE to teach Kindergarten Sunday School {I think I missed my calling early on to use my creativity in early elementary education} or possibly volunteer in the nursery (now that I have a little in the nursery it would be nice to spend time with him). 

3-Stick to the diet/exercise plan!

I think this goal is directly in line with the title of this post!  2011 was one for the record books--a record breaking weight, that's for sure.  Yes--I know I was pregnant and I couldn't help the majority of the weight gain, but now that Mr. Man is here, I have no excuse (or desire) to let this weight just hang around.  I remember sitting on the couch when I was about 7 or 8 months pregnant and I couldn't wait for the day when I could get up and run a mile.  I wanted to get my heart rate up.  I wanted to break a sweat.  I wanted to have a red face!!  But, since I couldn't raise my heart rate above 150, I made myself a "motivation" board on Pinterest {found here}.  Here are a few of my favorite reminders.

So here's to an active and healthy 2012!

4-Train for and complete a 5k

In light of the previous resolution I felt the need to put a goal in front of me to jump start my weight loss/gym going journey.  A few of the people I work with signed up to participate in The Color Run on February 19, and I thought--why not?  It's soon enough that I won't lose sight of my goal, but far enough away that I can start training and not completely fail at running 3.1 miles consecutively.  I'm pretty proud of myself--day one of training is already complete!  WHOOP!  Here are a few more motivational posters from Pinterest:

5-Blog more

See my previous post for a little more insight into why I haven't been posting more frequently.  Now that I have a little one I want to remember all his cute antics, smiles, memories and milestones!  I want to blog.more.often.  I also want to learn how to make creative pictures.  Here are a few examples of what I'd like to be able to do.  Anyone out there want to teach me??

6-Redecorate my work office

I will dedicate an entire post on this once I know how I'm going to decorate, but in light of a "New Year! New Me!" I'm ready for some change.  Picture: modern glam (with some chevron pattern, of course)!


7-Buy what I love
Over the years I have earned the nickname "coupon queen" and I wear the title with pride!  I don't think there's anyone out there that loves a deal more than I do.  I've been known to buy something just because I can get it for a great deal or because its on a super sale.  However, this year I'm vowing to only buy something if I truly love it.  AND to not settle on a purchase just because it's cheaper.  If there's something that I absolutely love and I really want it, I'm not going to buy a different, but similar item just because it's on sale.  Don't get me wrong--this doesn't mean I'm turning my back on a great deal, I'm only vowing that I'll buy the shirt I really want rather than two that I only half way want.  :)


8-Be intentional with fashion

In my quest for a "New Year! New Me!" I want to step it up when it comes to my fashion choices.  I work in an office where "casual Friday" is "casual everyday" so I've gotten away from wearing (and buying) dressier clothes.  However, I feel better about myself if I take a few extra minutes to accessories or look a little nicer, so I'm aiming to be intentional with fashion.  I have a drawer full of scarves, a jewelry armoire with necklaces I've forgotten about, and earrings galore.  I just need to pull them out and wear them. 

9-Finish decorating the downstairs bath

Oh the poor downstairs bath!  I started redoing the half bath in the kitchen almost a year ago.  Then I stopped when I was pregnant because I was too sick and tired (literally) to finish it.  Then...when the nesting phase of the pregnancy kicked in, I wanted to get it finished before the baby came.  Thanks to the help of my wonderful parents I was able to get the majority of the bathroom put back together.  However, it still needs a little TLC and a decorative touch.  We'll see what I come up with!

10-Complete 5 of my "pins" from Pinterest

It's official.  I'm addicted to Pinterest.  I love having a virtual pin board where I can keep all my ideas organized by category :) But I actually want to find the time to complete some of the "pins" I've found.  There are so many crafts, recipes, decorating and fashion ideas I want to try.

11-Read 4 books (from start to finish!)

I have a bad habit of starting a book but never finishing it.  The cover catches my eye, and with each book purchase I vow to read it cover to cover.  So, I hope that I can carve out the time this year to actually finish some of the books I've started (some I've purchased and never even started!!):

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Lineage of Grace: the five stories of unlikely women who changed eternity by Francine Rivers

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp

And the jury is still out on the 4th book.  Any suggestions?

12-Create a 2012 family photo album

This year is sure to be an exciting year of firsts and one of the family traditions that I want to begin is a Family Photo Album.  I'm horrible about printing pictures and keeping photo albums up to date, but for Christmas I gave the grandparents a photo book of Cole's first month and it was a HUGE hit.  I was a little jealous that I didn't have one for myself.  I have a plan in place to download all our iPhone photos each time I take his monthly photo so that I can start working on the book early enough in the year and not wait until the last minute.  It's going to be tough to pick my fave photos--I just love them ALL!!

So there you have it.  My 12 in 2012.  What are your New Year's Resolutions?

go confidently in the direction of your dreams...

The weather outside is so gloomy and nasty!  We definitely needed the rain but I absolutley HATE it.  Kelly says I react to rain like it's acid coming down from the sky.  To some degree I think he might be right.

I hate driving in the rain.
I hate walking in the rain.
I hate when my pants get wet because of the rain.
And today I figured out (and it comes as no surprise) that I hate carrying the car seat in the rain!  Forget using an umbrella. 

But in light of hating the weather today, I did find a bright spot in my morning trek into the office.  I wore my rain boots in anticipation of the walk from my car through the lake parking lot and when I came to a big puddle I took a step off the curb and landed right in the middle of the standing water.  I felt like a kid again!  And then the quote "go confidently in the direction of your dreams live the life you've imagined" popped into my head." 

And that's exactly what I did!

Happy Wednesday!

xoxo

‘tis better to post something than nothing at all

I started this blog almost 4 years ago with the idea in mind that one day when I had kids it would be the perfect place to update everyone (i.e. grandparents) and store all of our pictures, stories, and memories. I started out with a bang and was so good about updating about the littlest thing that happened. Then life got busy as we welcomed our first pup into our home, and I started slacking on my updates--I went from 119 updates in 2009 down to 32 updates in 2010. Life got even busier as we welcomed our second pup into our home and my postings dropped from 32 down to 14 in 2011! And now, we have the most precious gift of all and I haven’t made a single post in 2012! 

Sometimes I don’t post because I feel like I have too much to catch up on between posts and I don’t have time to sit down and type out all of life’s happenings at once. Then there are times when I get lazy and don’t want to go all the way upstairs to post from my computer (I wish there was a way to post pics from my iPhone or my iPad because that’s where all my pictures are and I LOVE a post with pics!!). But alas, I have come to the decision (and made the New Year’s Resolution) that ‘tis better to post something than nothing at all :)

So here’s to an exciting year of postings—may they be frequent…whether or not they are in sequential order and with or without pictures ;)!

{This pic was taken Sunday after Papa dressed him!  Our big boy is growing so fast!}