My First Pinterest Project

Now that we're about to have TWO boys, oh my goodness :) I been thinking that it's time to make Bryson's room into more of a big boy room. I can't believe my baby is growing up and is almost 2 1/2! Where has the time gone?

Since we'll be getting another room ready for baby W #2 I wanted to leave Bryson's room as it is (like the paint and some of the decorations), but add a few Big Boy touches. Right now he is soooo into Cars and Toy Story and that will probably be the base for his bedding.

The other day I was looking around on pinterest (y'all I just love this website) and found this adorable little reading area and thought it would cute to add something like that to Bryson's new room.

So after work on Monday I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased a few things to make the letters. Y'all this was so cheap to make and so simple to do.


For this project you need whatever letters you plan to use, scrapbook paper, mod podge, pencil, paint brush, and scissors. I already had everything except the letters and the scrapbook paper. And y'all it took me for-e-ver to pick out the paper. Way too many choices! Ha!!

The first thing I did was trace the letters onto the paper. Then cut out each letter. After that I put the mod podge on the back of the paper and on the letter itself; that way I new it would stick and stay on. You do this for each letter.


Once I finished painting on the mod podge I let it dry for about 15-20 minutes then I went back and painted the mod podge on top of the paper. This kind of gives it a glossy look. If you've never used the mod podge before don't freak out when you paint on top of the paper because in some places it might look white. The mod podge dries clear, so no worries!

After I finished all the letters I let them dry overnight (you don't have to wait that long, but it was getting late and I was ready for bed. Ha!), I put one more coat of the mod podge over the letters.


And here's the finished project. I thought they turned out so cute! I can't wait to hang these up!!

All in all this project cost less than $15 dollars
Scrapbook paper (4 sheets): 1.18 (were 1/2 off)
Chipboard (4 letters): 7.16 (got one letter 40% off with coupon)
Mod Podge: 4.47
Foam Brush: 1.99

I can't wait to do more fun things for Bryson's room!

19 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 19 Weeks
Size of baby: Baby W is the size of a large tomato
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 3 pound!
Maternity Clothes: This weeks it's been all scrubs (due to my work week)! They are so comfortable right now :)
Gender: It's a BOY!
Movement: He's been pretty quiet again this week. Some days that makes me nervous, I think because Bryson was so active very early on. Maybe this is a sign of a much more timid child. Ha!!
Sleep: Not so good this week, but that's mainly due to me working.
What I miss: Same as last week...just being to eat. Nothing ever sounds good. Hoping that changes soon.
Cravings: Anything savory. Thank goodness for Thanksgiving food! I gained 2 pounds during this short holiday!
Symptoms: I think they are gone :)
Best Moment this week: Enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday with our families and realizing that next year we will have TWO little boys to celebrate with!!!

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving fell on my week to work again this year. The holidays are always hard when I am working. It always seems I miss out on so much and its just another ordinary day. But I try and remind myself how blessed I am to have such a wonderful job that I truly love and a family that understands my working schedule and realizes I might not always make it to every holiday dinner.


We really had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We went over to my parents house Thursday night. Everybody else had eaten around lunch time, so I was the only one who was eating. Ha! The life of a nurse working the night shift!


My little Turkey!


This was my mom's first Thanksgiving to host and her first time to cook the ENTIRE meal. Oh y'all, I can't describe how yummy everything was. There was so much food! I even had enough for another meal that night at work. Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal! From the turkey and dressing to the green bean casserole and cranberry salad. :)


Bryson was all about his Aunt Michele. She getting some good practice with this little man!


Grandma and Pawpaw


I had to bring Bryson's dvd player with us because he rules the roost at Grandma's house and I new all the guys would be watching football and not be excited about watching Veggietales on the big TV!


Uncle Tommy and Aunt Michele


Me and Michele. I can't believe we will be adding TWO babies in 2012 to our family! I am so excited for my brother and SIL and cannot wait for Anna Katherine to get here in just a few short weeks. That girl will be spoiled rotten with all these boys around.

I have so much to be thankful for this year! The Lord has blessed me and my family beyond imagination. I cannot thank Him enough!! Hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!
From Our Family to Yours!!!

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Tiny Prints Review

If you know me then you know I'm slightly obsessed when it comes to Christmas cards. It usually takes me several weeks in not longer to find one that I'm really in love with and will commit too. Ha!

This year was no different. I fall in love with so many cards that I can never make a decision. And this year was the first year that we've had professional pictures made, so I wanted to make sure I chose the right card.

After looking at several places I came across Tiny Prints Holiday and Christmas card selection. Y'all they have just about every design imaginable and I fell in love with several right from the start!

I have no idea how I'm going to choose!


Simply Merry
I am in love with this card! It's simple and I love the rounded edges. It's one of my favorites!


Swirly Plates
This is another card I think is just precious. And how adorable is this baby?


Peppermint Streamers
I love the colors and the font in this card.


Sheer Collage
This is another one of my favorites. So cute!

I love that with Tiny Prints you can customize your card however you want it. From the rounded corners to differnt photo layout options.

I can't wait to mail out our cards this year. So y'all go check them out! I promise you won't be disappointed!

(I was given 50 cards in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own. I would never promote a product I didn't love or believe in.)

A Day in the Life

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've done "a day in the life" post. The last post I did was on my week off, so this time I thought I would do one on my week to work. I love writing these kinds of posts because I can look back and see what our life was like during that time. Ya'll can completely skip over this post. It will probably be boring to most of you. Ha!


I usually leave work sometime around 7:15-7:30am and get home around 8am. Today I left a little earlier because on Tuesdays Clay has to leave for school first thing in the morning.


On these days I will get Bryson up and get him ready to go to my parents house. Ya'll can see by this picture that I will let Bryson stay in his pj's. And I know I've said this a million times, but Clay and I are so blessed to have our families close by to see about Bryson. We are extremely lucky! I don't know what I would do without any of them!!


Of course he immediately goes straight over to where his toys are and starts dragging out everything he can. Typical little boy! He'll usually ask my mom or dad if he can watch "Veggietales, Finding Nemo or Toy Story." Those are the ones on rotation this month. Ha!!


Breakfast has always been my favorite meal of the day. Ya'll I could literally eat it for every meal. Since I've gotten pregnant I don't have much of an appetite except for in the morning. Whether it's my week to work or my week off. So today I stopped by Hardee's and grabbed a biscuit and gravy to take to the house.

Once I get home if it's not too late I'll watch a show on the DVR. I'll start the dishwasher or the washing machine and then get my shower and try and get as much sleep as possible. These days it's not very much, especially on my work week. I will usually fall asleep around 9:30 or 10.

Naturally I woke up at 3:30pm and laid there for-ev-er and could NOT go back to sleep. So I sent Clay a text to pick us up something to eat for dinner and went and picked up Bryson.

When I went to pick Bryson up he was in the living room dancing to the Veggietales. I thought I had taken a picture of it, but I can't seem to find it. It was so funny!! He was singing the "Belly Button" song and swaying back and forth with his hands over his head. This is such a fun age!!!


We got home around 5:30pm. Clay was there and we had Firehouse for dinner. It's a sandwich place Clay and I found a few years ago and love it. They just built one about 15 minutes from us. Do ya'll see all the stuff this child is carrying? I think he picked up everyone of his toys to take over to see Pawpaw and Nana.


A lot of Tuesday nights Clay will take Bryson over to see his dad and step mom. This way I can go and lay back down or do a couple of things around the house.


Tonight was one of those nights that I really wanted to go and lay back down, but I have this mound of laundry that I needed to start on. These days I can't seem to stay caught up on the laundry.


Clay has the next 3 days off from school and basketball practice so he and Bryson got to spend some time together when they got back from Pawpaw's. Bryson is so excited to have his daddy around to play with! I just hate that it's my week to work and I have to spend most of my time getting as much rest as I can.


Clay is always sweet to give Bryson his bath. Tonight he was in the tub for a good 45 minutes. He loves bath time.

Around 8:30pm we will put Bryson to bed. This is something Clay and I always do together as a family. With him in school and our crazy schedules we always try and make time for this. We swap up reading and rocking (the rocking is only if Bryson is in the mood) and for the first time in months, Bryson asked me to rock him and fell asleep while we rocked. Ya'll know I ate up every minute.

A little after 9pm I went and tried to lay back down for a few more minutes. Sometimes I will lay on the couch and watch something on the DVR with Clay, but the last few weeks all I've wanted to do is sleep. I think night shift is getting to me. I've been doing it for almost 5 years and it's beginning to wear on me. I hope to one day decrease the number of days I work after Clay graduates.

I finally rolled out of the bed around 10pm and got ready for work.


This is what I get to see when I walk into the lobby. They've had it decorated since the beginning of November with all the Christmas tress. One of the many reasons I love working at a Children's Hospital!!


So that's what life is like for me just about every other Tuesday. Sorry to bore you will all the random pictures and details of my day. But this will also remind me what life was like before two kids! Ha!! I seriously can't wait to meet our newest addition. And I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for my family in the years to come.

18 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 18 Weeks
Size of baby: Baby W is the size of a bell pepper
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 1 pound!
Maternity Clothes: I'm living in my leggings right now! They are SO comfortable!!
Gender: It's a BOY!
Movement: He's been pretty quiet this week. Even during the U/S he doesn't move alot. He's just enjoying where he's at!
Sleep: Much better these days. Yay!!
What I miss: Being able to just eat. I know that probably sounds crazy, but nothing ever sounds good. Hoping that changes soon.
Cravings: This week it's been Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich and fries. Ha!
Symptoms: I think they are gone :)
Best Moment this week: Finding out Baby "W" is going to be a BOY! Now I can get on pinterest and start planning the nursery!!!

It's A...........................

This sweet face is all smiles today because he just found out what his little baby brother or sister is going to be.

So are ya'll ready to find out??????????????????????

It's going to be....................




Little Baby......................




BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


We are thrilled!!! He looks healthy and measuring right on schedule! I can't wait to meet him. I'm so happy for Bryson to have someone to play with :) We haven't decided on his full name, so that will be another blog post.

The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Psalm 126:3

Big Day!

It's been a busy, busy week at our house. Blogging has taken a back seat this week which I'm disappointed about because I have so much to blog about. I'm getting ready for my SIL's baby shower on Sunday. I'm so excited and hope she loves it! It's been a lot of fun to plan!! I can't wait to meet Miss Anna Katherine in January.

Here's a sneak peak at what's been going on...



My mom bought a Cricut from my cousin and I have been loving it! I think it's going to be used a lot in the future!!



This is the start of making tissue paper pom poms. I've learned to get in touch with my creative side this week. I always have a good vision, but I have a hard time with the end product.

After hanging out at my mom's house all day, Bryson and I headed out to watch Clay's 8th grade basketball team's game. Bryson can be a handful when we are out in public, so I made sure I was prepared. I had my iPhone charged, something in the sippy cup and something good and fun to snack on. With Bryson you can never go wrong with food and an iPhone. Ha!



He broke into the snacks pretty early.



It was fun to see Bryson watching his daddy coach and the basketball game. It's one of Bryson's favorite sports! Bless his heart, he didn't understand why daddy couldn't sit with us. Ha! At one point Bryson started yelling "Hey Da-da" several times. Ya'll it was soooo loud! Clay told me at the end of the game he could hear Bryson yelling at him. :)



He was so excited to get out on the court after the game was over.

On another exciting note, tomorrow is the BIG DAY! We will find out in baby W is a boy or a girl. This is such an exciting time for our little family. I can't believe it's already that time. I feel like we were just finding out what Bryson was and that was two years ago. We could care less what he/she is, we just hope he/she is healthy. To be honest, I have no feeling as to whether it's a boy or girl. My co-workers think it's a girl and our families are saying boy. So will see........

17 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 17 Weeks
Size of baby: Baby W is the size of a turnip
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 1 pound! Yay! I know more will come soon!
Maternity Clothes: Maternity jeans and Leggings. I think I'll be wearing a lot of those this winter.
Gender: We find out on Friday! I can't wait!!!!!!!
Movement: Feeling more and more movement everyday  
Sleep: It's getting better. No more getting up to the bathroom in the middle of the night :-)
What I miss: Being able to just eat. I know that probably sounds crazy, but nothing ever sounds good. Hoping that changes soon.
Cravings: Mexican food, of course and my mom's hot ham and cheese sandwiches. I ate 4 of them last week. Ha!
Symptoms: Much, much better
Best Moment this week: Bryson blowing a kiss to my tummy and saying "I love you baby!" Such a sweet moment!!


This picture of me with this pregnancy is dreadful! Clay took it my last night of work and I was just exhausted after working 7 straight night shifts.

I've got a very busy week this week! I'm planning my SIL's baby shower and I'm really excited! Clay's basketball teams are playing this week and I'm hoping to get to make a few of those. And something I thought I would never do, but this will make 2 years in a row, I've got to start putting up the Christmas decorations. Working the week of Thanksgiving, I never have time to put everything up, so I don't think 1 week is too early!

Fall Friday Recipe

I know it's been a few weeks since I've posted a Fall Friday Recipe. To be honest, I really haven't felt like cooking these last few weeks. Between pregnancy, having a VERY active toddler and working night shift every other week, I've been a little worn out and have probably taken too much advantage of the term "Take-Out!" Ha! I hope I get over this hump of nothing sounding good too eat. I ready to get my appetite back.

Sunday I finally got in the kitchen and fixed dinner. This recipe is a twist on Seasoned Ranch Potatoes  that my grandmother used to make me and my brother. This is such a simple and easy side dish. It's one of my go to recipes.

Spicy Potatoes



Ingredients:
4-6 medium potatoes (this is enough for Clay and I, but if you are serving more people just add more potatoes)
Olive Oil
1 packet Grill Mates Zesty Herb Seasoning



Cut your raw potatoes into half moon shapes. I cut mine into 1/4 or 1/2 inch pieces. Once you've cut up the potatoes, coat them with the Olive Oil. I don't have an exact measurement. This is one of the few recipes that I don't have to measure anything out. After coating with the Olive Oil pour the Zesty Herb packet over the potatoes. Mix it up real well making sure the potatoes are good and coated with the seasoning.



Put potatoes in a greased baking dish (any size). This Corningware Stoneware is my favorite baking dish. I got this as a gift at my bridal shower and just love it! Bake potatoes at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to an hour. I will turn my potatoes half way through so they get brown on both sides.



And here's the finished product! Let me warn you they are very spicy. But y'all these are so delicious!!

Pumpkin Patch 2011

I have been terrible at blogging these last few weeks. And it's not because I don't have stuff to blog about. We've been a busy little family, but I would just rather take naps than be on the computer. Ha! But if I don't get myself back in the habit of blogging I'm afraid I'm going to forgot this time with Bryson.

A few weeks ago I took Bryson to our local Pumpkin Patch. Clay wasn't able to go because of school, so my mom was sweet enough to go with us. I was so mad at myself when we got there to find out they would be closing in an hour. Last year we went on a Friday around the same time and they were open til 6pm, but on Thursday's they closed at 4pm. They had already put up the animals from the petting zoo and the only thing we could really do was they hayride over to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. Y'all I felt SO bad! But we ended up having such a good time watching Bryson try to find his perfect pumpkin!



These were the pumpkins they had sitting outside the barn. I think he touched every pumpkin they had!



Grandma and Bryson



It took us a few minutes to pull him away from those pumpkins and get him on the tractor. This was him seeing the pumpkin patch for the first time. He was so excited to see all those pumpkins!



I think if I would have let him he would have taken every last pumpkin home with him. Y'all I have never seen a little boy who loves pumpkins as much as he does. Just watching his face light up at all the hundreds of pumpkins was worth every penny.



He was determined to pick up a pumpkin on his own.



Me and sweet boy!



We had such a good time, even if we only got to pick out a pumpkin and missed out on the rest. I'll know to make sure to check the closing times before we make plans to go next year. 



And just for fun I thought I would put a picture from last year. I can't believe how much he has grown. Oh, I just LOVE that boy!!!