Vacation 2011 - Part 1

I am finally getting around to posting our pictures from our family vacation. I've been in such a blogging slump for the last week. Not alot is going on in my life and sometimes I feel like I blog about the same things over and over and over. And for the few readers I have I feel like that gets a little boring.

Anyway, on to our vaca! This year Clay and I decided we wanted to go back to Gulf Shores and stay in the same condo as last year. We love Gulf Shores and have gotten to know our way around pretty well. Plus there are several restaurants that we love eating at :)

I have to warn y'all there are a tone of pictures. If you don't make it through the entire post I completely understand. Ha!

We left our house on Saturday morning and got down to the beach around 4pm. The traffic on Gulf Shores Parkway was a little more crowded than what I remember from last year.

When we got to our condo Bryson went straight to the glass doors wanting to look outside. It was so much different with him this year. Last year he couldn't even walk.


He loved being on the balcony. Me, not so much. I was so terrified that he was going to fall. It was funny listening to him say "Wow momma! Wow!" That's one of his favorite sayings right now.

It turned out to be a little more crowded than we thought, so we ate in and then took our trip to Wal-Mart. We ended up having a a melt down in the middle of Wal-Mart and on top of that Bryson had a huge blowout and for the first time ever I did not bring his bag with the diapers. Needless to say I will never do that again.


Our first day at the beach was pretty good. Bryson did really well. He wasn't wild about the sand, but I ended up buying a blanket to lay out and from then on he was pretty content. I was so proud of him for getting his feet wet! This was something we were not able to do last year.


I was getting some really good pictures of him standing by himself, but my camera started fogging up and this is the best one that came out.


We didn't spend alot of time on the beach that day. So we went to the next best place, the pool! Bryson had the best time. I found myself being that mom that would say "Bryson, don't run." "Bryson, don't touch that. It doesn't belong to you." I think I was getting on Clay's nerves. Ha! I just don't want to be that momma that has the unruly child that everyone talks about.


We had dinner at one of my favorite places, LuLu's. I normally order their crabmelt, but ever since Mary and I took a day trip down this past May, I am addicted to the Blackened Fish sandwich with fried green tomatoes and LuLu's Wow sauce. Yummy is all I can say!!


Our family of three!


Me and my little man!


Me and my big man! I think this is one of my favorite pictures of Clay and I.


This was our view off our balcony. I was disappointed that the lounge chairs on the balcony were not that comfortable.


I just love this picture and had to put it in here. I can't believe how much he is growing and becoming such a big boy.


We pulled out all the stops on our second day at the beach. The blanket and DVD were lifesavers.


You really can't tell from this picture, but we were kinda' far out. Clay was getting so mad at me. He kept saying, "Jennifer, that's too far you need to come back!" But Bryson was loving it and we were having so much fun.


Of course we only last about an hour at the beach and then it was time to go to the pool. I'm sure in this picture I was telling Bryson not to run.


That night we had dinner at another one of our favorite places, Bahama Bob's! They have the best crawfish po-boy I've ever had. Can y'all tell in this picture that Clay was thrilled to be getting his picture made? Ha!


My two boys! I could just eat them up :)


This was Bryson in the middle of watching Cars. He has what some would call a bit of an obsession with this movie. I think we watched this movie close to 100 times while we were on vacation. And I'll admit, it's one of my favorites. If I think about it I'll try and get him on video saying all the names of the cars. He is such a ham when he says their names.


Bryson got very attached to my iPhone during this trip. I can't wait for y'all to see the one picture of him with the headphones in. So cute!


We ate breakfast at Tacky Jack's on Wednesday morning. This is where I discovered that my son loves orange juice. I've offered it to him before and he took a sip and immediately scrunched his face and told me "All done momma!" Ever since we've been back home he's asked for it every morning. Just goes to show this momma that taste buds can change at any given moment.


I know I've got way to many food/restaurant pictures. But who doesn't go on vacation to eat? I mean that's why I go. Ha!! These are fried pickles from Bubba's House of Seafood. I think this is probably Clay's favorite places. He ordered their fried shrimp this time and said it was the best he's ever had. I got the stuffed crab like I do every time I go. I'm not very good at branching out.


I knew this year would we wouldn't be able to get a picture of all of us out on the beach, so I settled for one on the balcony. We are going through the terrible two's and meltdowns could happen at any given time of the day. Plus Bryson isn't keen on getting his picture taken these days.

We took a lot of trips down to the pool in the evenings. It definitely wore Bryson out and let him get out some of that extra energy. And there were not as many people there around that time. So there were a few times he had the pool all to himself.

Oh Happy Day!!!!!!

Do y'all notice anything different????????????????????

We've been pappy free for ONE MONTH!!!

It was not near as bad as I thought it was going to be. After asking several other mother's and co-workers I decided that the best way for us to get rid of it would be to just throw it away. So on that Friday night right after dinner I let Bryson watch me throw it away in the garbage can. He cried for a few minutes then went about his normal night routine. I had heard from a friend earlier that week to let him stay up past his normal bedtime that way he wouldn't cry for it as much. The little monster didn't go to be until 10:30pm! YIKES!!!

He asked for it a few times, but we kept reminding him that he was a big boy and that he didn't need it anymore. He slept great that night :) And he did good again on Saturday night, so we got to go to church which was something I hadn't planned on since I thought we would be up all weekend. Sunday night was not so great! I think we were up for close to 3 hours off and on. We held our ground and Clay only went in there once just to make sure he was okay. We just had to keep reminding ourselves that he has got to learn how to get himself back to sleep.

It has been great these last few weeks and I was so proud of myself that I got to go into his 2 year checkup and tell our pediatrician that he didn't have the passy anymore. Hey, momma's got to brag on themselves every now and then! HA!

Hope y'all are having a great Thursday. I've been in a little of a blogging slump the last few days. I promise to get our vaca pictures up and then post about my Home Organization Notebook.

Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes

I despise having to buy Bryson shoes! Number one, his feet are extremely wide (which he inherited from mine and Clay's family), number two, boy's shoes are just not as cute and fun to look at like girls shoes are and three, they are ridiculously EXPENSIVE!!!

I must talk way too much to my mom about my frustation with shoes. Because last week she offered to take Bryson and I out today to go look for him a pair. She told me that was one thing she hated to buy when it came to me and my brother. So I must get it honestly. Ha!

I thought it was very sweet of my mom to offer to do this. And I'm so grateful to her and the rest of our family to help out so much when it comes to Bryson. Money has been extremely tight since Clay went back to college to finish his degree and our families have helped out in so many ways I don't know how we could ever repay them! We are just so thankful to them!!!

We went to a little town not to far from where we live to this children's shoe store called Sikes Children's Shoes. I adore this store and this is where we've gotten most of Bryson's shoes. They are a little more expensive, but I realize how important shoes are for his feet and that he at least needs one good pair.

I was a little dissappointed that they didn't have the New Balance's in grey and white. That's what we got for him last year and they lasted almost an entire year :) So these are the ones I got instead...

I wasn't wild about them looking at them in the box, but once he had them on they looked really good.

When I first moved to Auburn there was the sandwich place called Momma Goldberg's. They have one of the best sandwiches and these nacho's that are to die for. Well they built one in Homewood so I told my mom we had to eat lunch there today. I ate there almost everyday I was at the hospital after I had Bryson. It's that good!!!

Bryson was looking for a flower to give to Grandmama. I felt so bad for him when he picked up this dead stick and handed it to her. I think he thought it really was a flower. I didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't.

And I just had to put this picture on here. I can't believe what a big boy he is becoming!

He's growing like a weed!!

Random Weekend Wrap-Up

Not a whole lot going on in our house this weekend. It's my work week, hence the blogging break. I had intended to post about our vacation from last week, but I took WAY too many pictures. So between the ones from our phones and the camera I have a lot to sort through and pick out the best ones to post.

I don't have any pictures to share of Bryson from this weekend. He and Clay pretty much stayed at home and relaxed. Bryson started running a fever on Saturday (I think he might be cutting his 2 year molars). I felt so bad though, because I'm pretty sure he'd been running a fever for a few days and I just didn't know it. He's always been one to never act like he feels bad even when he does. So it makes it hard for me to tell. And makes me feel like a bad mom :( So course church was out for today. I absolutely hate when we miss church. And with my job I miss every other Sunday, but thankfully Clay and Bryson still go. I always just feel so refreshed and ready to start a new week.

On a different note...

Twitter has become an amazing resource for me. I have found so many awesome blogs (i.e. Blue-Eyed Bride, Life in the Green House and According to Nina.) These are some amazing women and mothers. They share so much wonderful information and it always comes right at the time I need it.

Last week According to Nina. blogged about these cute Mommy Calling Cards from minted.com. Check out her blog post on how you can get 25 FREE Calling Cards, all you pay is shipping.

I finally decided on a design and ordered mine tonight. These are actually the SAHM cards, but I was able to personalize them just for me! I loved the colors of this card!

I also ordered some more stuff from erin condren. Y'all I can't get enough of this website. I think I would buy one of everything if I could.

So ALOT of retail therapy went on this weekend. Ha! I'm excited to be off for a week and start finalizing my home organization notebook. I can't wait to blog about it :)

Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend!!!

Can't Believe I Forgot to Post This

I can't believe I forgot to post Bryson's "First Day of School" picture. He started back on Monday. He was so excited to get back since he missed the week we were on vacation. His teacher is Ms. Ashley again and we both are thrilled! She is just wonderful with Bryson and loves him like her own. I couldn't ask for a better person.

I am so thankful that Clay and I can provide Bryson this opportunity. This is not something that we "HAVE" to do; it's not a must. But, we both strongly desired for Bryson to spend time with other children other than just Sunday School. Because I work every other week on night shift I can't be at all the play dates that the other mothers have, so this MDO has allowed us an option for Bryson.

He has learned so much this past year and I can't wait to see what this year brings!

I found this on pinterest the other day and thought this would be so much fun to do with Bryson.

I want to try and cross off everything on this list by the time Bryson turns 3.

There are several things we have already done since he turned 2 so I got to go ahead and cross those off.


1. Color
2. Blow Bubbles
3. Play Hide-and-Seek
4. Peek-a-Boo
5. Play Chase
6. Do Finger-plays
7. Sing a Song
8. Collect rocks in a basket
9. Make an obstacle course out of cushions and/or furniture
10. Make a fort out of cushions and sheets
11. Go for a Walk
12. Make a Car out of a Box
13. Read a Book
14. Go to the park
15. Finger-paint
16. Play with Play-Dough
17. Toss Bean bags into a Bucket
18. Play the shell and pea game
19. Dance to Music
20. Download games for toddlers from the Internet
21. Practice putting things in and taking things out of boxes and bags
22. Make a temporary slide out of a table leaf and your couch
23. Roll a ball back and forth on the floor
24. Scoop dirt or sand into a child's bucket (or use a serving spoon and bowl)
25. Practice climbing by stacking boxes on top of each other (only with adult supervision)
26. Put on a puppet show
27. Go fishing with a yard stick and yarn
28. Make a Horseshoe game
29. Make a Shape Puzzle
30. Play paper basketball
31. Run through a Sprinkler
32. Play with a bucket of water and a sponge (PLEASE WATCH CHILD AT ALL TIMES!)
33. Make a Drum out of an oatmeal box
34. Play with a kazoo
35. Wash windows together
36. Bang on Pots and Pans with a spoon
37. Brush each other's teeth
38. Play dress-up with stuffed animals and your child's clothes
39. Stack canned or boxed food on top of each other
40. Let child stack mixing bowls inside each other
41. Make a playhouse out of a large box
42. Let child play with a sticker sheet (make sure your child doesn't eat them!)
43. Put stickers on fingers for finger puppets
44. Play a musical instrument together- i.e.recorder, piano, etc.
45. Go on a Smelling Hunt
46. Frost Cookies
47. Plant a flower or vegetable plant together
48. Roll a tennis ball into an empty trash can or bucket
49. Draw on a mirror with dry-erase markers
50. Play hide and seek together- trying to find a stuffed animal or other object
51. Have a splash party together in the bathtub
52. Put a leash on a stuffed animal and walk around the house
53. Record each other on a tape recorder (great for scrapbooks or journals!)
54. Make and try on paper hats
55. Give a piggy-back ride
56. Play "Horsey"
57. Talk into an electric fan (it distorts your voice)
58. Play tug-of-war with a blanket
59. Collect flowers (felt, artificial, real...)
60. Make a camera and go on a Safari
61. Play games with frozen juice lids
62. Disconnect your phone and pretend to make phone calls to relatives
63. Leave your phone connected and really make phone calls to relatives- let your child talk too
64. String large beads onto or along a shoelace
65. Squirt each other with squirt bottles
66. Glue shapes onto paper
67. Make sock puppets
68. Make paper puppets
69. Fill an old purse with toys
70. Use a paper towel tube as a megaphone
71. Make binoculars and go "Bird Watching" or "Stuffed Animal Watching"
72. Put snacks in different fun containers (paper sacks, empty canisters, etc.)
73. Act out a story from a book
74. Walk on a balance beam- use a 2x4 placed on the ground
75. Draw with chalk on the sidewalk
76. Sketch an outline of your child on the sidewalk or paper with chalk
77. Paint child's palms with tempura paint and blot on paper. Makes a great card for loved ones!
78. Put lipstick on child and kiss a mirror
79. Make a puddle on cement and splash barefoot in it
80. Let child decorate and eat an open peanut butter sandwich
81. Make a toilet paper barricade for child to go under, over, or through
82. Do the Hokey Pokey
83. Make a super-hero costume out of household items
84. Do Knee-Bouncing Rhymes
85. Play "Red Light, Green Light" saying "Go" and "Stop"
86. Make a shoe-box train for stuffed animals
87. Make a pillow pile to jump on (keep it clear from any hard surfaces, including walls!)
88. Make an easy puzzle with felt and Velcro
89. Make bracelets or collars for stuffed animals out of pipe cleaners and jingle bells
90. Learn numbers from a deck of cards
91. Play the matching game with a deck of cards
92. Make a domino chain
93. Have a picnic in the park, backyard, or living room!
94. Play dress up in Mommy or Daddy's clothes
95. Make a tin cup telephone and talk to each other in it
96. Make a nature collage
97. Mirror each other
98. Make a "Mummy Mommy" with toilet paper
99. Make a tape recording of short music selections and instructions to move in different ways
100. Make and walk along a toilet paper trail
101. TAKE A NAP!

Weekend Recap

For those of y'all that haven't already figured it out....

We've been on vacation this past week! We had a wonderful time and I hated to have to come back :( I'll try and have a post up by Wednesday and Thursday.

Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend also. And Happy First Day of School for some of you!! Can't imagine how I will be when we are there.

pinnable me: picture frames

This is my first time linking up with Stefanie from Paw Prints & Pastry Bags.

I'm newbie to Pinterest. I don't have time to get on there as much as I would like, which is probably a good thing. But whoever created this site is genius.

This week I'm loving picture frames. Well, I love picture frames all the time. Ha! You could say I'm kinda' obsessed.

Source: etsy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: shopriffraff.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Flashback Friday

Look at that sweet face and those cubby cheeks :)

I never imagined how quickly he would grow up. What am I going to do when he turns 16???

SYTYCD - My Top 8 Dances - Part 2

Here are my last 4 favorite dances from the show!!!!!

From Season 4...
This is another one of my favorites from season 4. Twitch and Katee's performace of "Mercy" choreographed by Mia Michaels.

From Season 5...
I loved watching Jeanine and Brandon. I watched this dance over and over and over. Laurie Ann Gibson did an amazing job choreographing "Battlefield."

From Season 6...
Kathryn was my favorite dancer from this season. When she was paired up with Legacy to perform a Stacey Tookey routine I was a little skeptical. But the B-boy did an incredible job!!

From Season 7...
Travis Wall out did himself with his "Fix You" routine. Robert is an amazing dance and along with Allison did a fabulous job

So there y'all have it. My top 8 dances of SYTYCD. Of course there are a few more I could add (like Twitch and Alex's "Outta Your Mind" routine). Getting ready to watch tonight's episode. Have no idea who I'll be pulling for.

Hope y'all had a Wonderful Wednesday :)

I Heart Erin Condren

Ever since I read Blue-Eyed Bride's post on her home organization notebook I've been borderline obsessed with everything at erincondren.com. If I had enough $$$ I would probably buy everything on her website. But since I don't, I thought I would share a few of my favorite things...

I love these gift labels. These would be cute to stick on goodie bags or any homemade gifts. Our SS class takes meals to all the new parents, these would be perfect to use for that.

Now I did order this Life Planner! I can't wait to get it. It should be here sometime this week. I hope to have all my "home organization notebook" stuff printed out and then I will be ready to blog about it :)

I've always been terrible about not writing "Thank you" cards/notes as much as I would like too. Handwritten notes are so much more personal and appreciated more than a phone call or e-mail. I thought about ordering some of these to keep on hand.

These photo trays are just adorable! Such a cute idea to use on a baby's changing table or to use in the office as an inbox. Definitely something to keep in mind for next Mother's Day.

Are any of y'all like me...never have any return address labels. I literally get writers cramp having to write out my address. Not to mention I'm not that wild about my handwritting skills. Ha! I thought these circles were cute and would be just right on the back of any envelope.

I could go on and on about all the things I love about erincondren.com! She just has some of the most cutest things. I have a $50 credit that I got from PlumDistrict.com that's burning a hole in my pocket.

Happy Tuesday! Hope y'all are having a great week so far :)

SYTYCD...My Top 8 Dances - Part 1

I don't know if y'all are as obsessed with SYTYCD as much as I am. But in my almost 30 years of existence, this show will go down as one of my favorite top 10 shows of all time. Each season seems to get better and better and so do the dancers. So, in honor of the season finale this week I thought I would share my top 8 dance performances from each season except from season 1 (that's the only season I haven't watched).

Here are the first four...

From Season 2...
Who doesn't love the famous "Park Bench" performed by Travis and Heidi. Mia Michaels is one of my favorite choreographers on the show. She has amazing talent.

From Season 3....
Neil and Sabra's "Sweet Dreams," choreographed by Mandy Moore. Neil is A-MA-ZING! That's all I can say. Ha!

From Season 4....
Chelsea and Mark are my favorite two dancers, ever on this show to date. NappyTabs (Napoleon & Tabitha D'umo) are another one of my favorite choreographers. "Bleeding Love" is my favorite performance of any season!

From Season 5....
Another NappyTabs routine "Mad" performed by Jeanine and Phillip. Always thought they would be cute together in real life :)

Well...there are 4 of my top 8 so far. Which ones are your favorite? There are so many I've probably forgotten some of them.

Can You Guess Where We Are?

Can y'all guess where we are vacationing this year????

Flashback Friday

I have done several of these posts over the last few weeks. It's so fun to look back on the exact day one year ago and remember what he looked like and what he was doing. It really makes me cherish these days that I have with him.

Bryson was just a few weeks shy of 14 months in these pictures. I had to post all of them. I couldn't pick just one. I remember this day like it was yesterday. I had just gotten home from work and Clay and Bryson were already up. So he and I got to walking around the kitchen. He wanted to do several laps :)

This all lead up to him walking on the day he turned 14 months. Now he's into everything and running everywhere instead of walking. I can't believe what a difference a year makes!

Two Year Check-Up

Oh my word, where do I begin. Today was probably our first BIG experience with the Terrible Two's. We've had countless meltdowns at home, but for the most part Bryson has always been great when we got out in public; that is until today.

I'm not going to lie, I was somewhat embarrassed of how Bryson acted. Especially when he pitched a fit getting onto the elevator (which he usually enjoys) and going down the hallway to the pediatricians office, but I do know that this is just a phase and I HOPE that he grows out of it soon.

Once we got in the room Ms. Adrienne gave him some stickers for being good while she got his weight and height.

Weight - 30 pounds (70th percentile
Height - 36 1/4 inches (95th percentile)

I had no idea he would be in the 95th percentile for his height. I have so many people tell me how tall he is, but I guess since I see him everyday I don't notice it as much.

Daddy on his phone. Probably on Twitter if I had to guess. Ha!

Can you tell the stickers didn't occupy his attention very long. He was definitely ready to get out of that room.

Thankfully I had these flash cards I downloaded a few months ago on my phone that he hasn't been interested in until today. It's so funny watching him play with our phones. Gone are the days when we used to play with Cabbage Patch Dolls, Micro Machines, Roller Racers, Lite Brite, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Where has the time gone???

Overall our check-up when great. Our pediatrician was pleased with where Bryson is at physically and reassured Clay and I that his behavior today was completely appropriate for his age. I can't believe we are now at the point where we only will go for yearly visits. For me, today was a huge milestone. It just solidifies that my baby isn't a baby anymore. I have to remind myself each day to make it a point to remember and soak in every ounce of what that day brings. Before I know it he will be going off to college and then getting married and having children of his own.

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!