TN Trip

It's been way too long since the last time we visited "the farm"  I will admit, I was a little nervous about a 5hr drive with the kids.  We've never driven that far with both of them before.  We were packed to the gills and left Friday evening.  Ally was not fond of the drive down but maybe it was Benjamin's choices of Frozen and the Lego movie that upset her :) She's more of an Elmo fan these days.  

I had grand plans of taking all sorts of pictures outside for practice but

the weather definitely didn't work in our favor the majority of the weekend.  Thankfully there were a few rain free pockets that allowed us to get outside for just a little bit.

 

It was pretty awesome to look outside and see the horses against the fog Saturday morning.   Here are some of my favorite horse shots.

Dad brought out some peppermint treats and the kids got to check out the horses up close and personal.  I think Ally was more interested than Benjamin.  And apparently Ally now refers to all animals by the name "Maddie" :)

It was a fun weekend, but went by way too fast :(

The Start of Something Fun

With a lot of support from David, I have decided to try out a little photography :) I definitely have a ton to learn, in the meantime I'm going to practice my little heart out.  David bought us a DSLR Nikon D3200 along with a 35mm lens and so far I'm pretty impressed in it's ability.
The first assignment of the photo club I'm in is food related so I made up a batch of cookies this weekend and played around the with the camera settings. 

Hungry yet?

And then on to moving subjects :)

Favorite shot of the day

Ally Girl with a single lonely tear

Don't be surprised if I hit you up for some practice sessions too - especially once the weather starts cooling down :)

Ally Girl

She's got some serious moves

Happyt 4th Ya'll

So much fun this year.

I know I said it last year but I still can't believe the level of fireworks the regular public can buy these days.  It's crazy how big the fire works were in the neighborhoods last night.  We loved it :)

Ally's 1st Birthday Slideshow

School Carnival

TeddyBear Academy put together a school carnival for the kids last weekend.  We stopped by just before the rain.
I didn't get too many pictures of Benjamin.  He was super tense the whole time we were there because Spider Man made an appearance (I'm talkin full body suit costume) and Benjamin was TERRIFIED.

But at least we got him to sit down for a few minutes for a sno-cone, we can get him to do just about anything for food :) Although he was looking over his shoulder the whole time making sure the scary spider man didn't sneak up on him.

Ally started off in a much better mood - she loved the animals

But she was not happy about Anna and Elsa

Target does it again

This is not the first time I've googled a Target commercial to find out who sings the song for it.  Whoever is in charge of the music for their commercials is awesome! I love this song - it's been all over TV lately for Targets new Style commercial


Just in case any of you love it as much as I do - it's called Forever by HAIM...you're welcome :) This song makes me want to drive around in this awesome 70 degree weather with the sun roof down.  I am beyond excited that it's going to be 75 tomorrow but don't even get me started on Wednesday's high of 37! C'mon Mother Nature - give us a break.  We've been thru enough this year.  I'm ready or flip flops and maxi dresses!

Sometimes you just feel like baking

I saw a pretty good looking chocolate cake recipe on pinterest and figured...why not. 

Especially since I already had everything needed to make it.
(ignore the crazy two tone wall - this was taken before the backsplash was done) 
  

Ally checking it out

Iced and looking pretty

YUM!

Happy Valentine's Day

We usually don’t do much for Valentine’s Day, but I had a lot of fun putting together a few fun things for the kids this year. 

Ally and Benjamin were dressed in red and Benjamin woke up to a fancy breakfast

 It was really cute to see all the decorated Valentines Boxes in Benjamin’s classroom – I bet he had so much fun passing out cards to all his friends.   It has become a nightly routine at bedtime to name every single one of his “friends” from school.  After we’re done listing all of his friends he moves on to the teachers.  And on more than one occasion this week David and I have been witness to good bye hugs & kisses at school.  It’s cute to see these toddler friendships developing.

I put together Love baskets with a couple of fun little presents to open after school.  I found the baskets at goodwill a few months ago, they’re really sturdy so I’ll be able to use them for years to come. 

 Last weekend we put together a few cookie bags – does anyone else love these wafer cookies?  I remember eating them as a kid, they sold them in packages with strawberry, chocolate and vanilla flavors.  I found a package with nothing but the strawberry and saw an idea on pinterest to dip them in chocolate and sprinkles so Benjamin and I had a little fun last Saturday morning while Ally and David were still sleeping.

 2014 Valentine’s Day was a sweet success

Case of the Giggles

Benjamin is usually the only one that can get Ally to laugh like this But David really got her tonight!

Microsoft Brought IT!

I saw this commercial for the first time last Sunday during the Grammy's and LOVED it.  Now I'm even more pumped to see what kind of creativeness unfolds this Sunday during the Super Bowl.


GET IT GIRLS!!!

Major Kitchen Make Over

David and I decided to re-do our kitchen last year sometime in the Fall.  But we knew it was going to take a lot of time and we didn't want the kitchen in complete chaos around the Holidays so we waited... until the day after Christmas to dig in :)
This is what our kitchen looked like Before (which has the new stove and dishwasher already)

Then it looked like this

And then this

David sanded the cabinets and then we primed (2 coats) and painted (another 2 coats) We didn't want a bright white, but didn't want a yellowish white so it wasn't as easy to pick out a paint color as I thought it'd be.  We ended up going with Martha Stewarts Glass of Milk and so far I think it's perfect.

Still on the to do list

• Granite Counters (we checked out our slab last week to make sure we liked it and now it's being sent to the contractor for our exact cuts)
• New Sink and Faucet 
• Back splash tile (we still need to pick out)
• Paint the walls (Gray)
• Faux white wooden blinds in the bay window

 David and his Dad installed the new lights on Saturday morning.  We thought we were going to do under cabinet lighting but the new ceiling lights are way brighter than the old stuff so I think under cabinet lighting would be major overkill. 

I'm most excited to see the counters.  They are scheduled for Tuesday 2/04.  More pictures to come!

BenJAMMIN

Benjamin's love affair with Mumford & Sons continues...

PS
Don't mind the weird thing he does with his eyes at the end - it just shows he's SUPER into it :)

Let Me Count the Ways...Vol. 3

• You're doing an amazing job on our DIY extreme kitchen makeover.  
• I didn't have to go outside to shovel snow one time in the past week during our snow apocalypse

 

•  My Orange is the new Black partner in crime, can't wait for season 2 to start so we can continue our nightly episodes. 
• Watching your old family movies was super cute and made me want to start recording our own little family all day long.
• This picture pretty much says it all...