Second Birthday!

Oh how I have so much to post on. I have had such a wonderful weekend of birthday fun. But, for now, I will say this:

Happy, happy, happy Birthday Josh and Jules! You are my sunshine on the cloudiest of days. Your personalities make my life brighter. I adore both of you so much, and thank God every single day that I finally got my miracles I hoped and prayed for. I am so very, very proud to be your Mommy, and I love watching you grow and leave babyhood behind and turn into this amazing, wonderful, beautiful, funny, smart little boy and girl. I hope you have had a wonderful weekend of family and friends, and have had a wonderful birthday. I know I will remember it forever. I love you both so very much!!

Love,

Mommy

2012 - Resolutions and Goals

Well, here is it. The annual resolutions list. Will I keep them all? No, probably not. But, it's something to shoot for, and a goal to set, if you will. They are all actually pretty similar to last year's, because (ahem) I didn't really stick to them very well. Again, they are goals people. - GOALS.

1. Money. I am just going to title this one money. I have got to do better with this. It's a MUST. Why am I so terrified of looking at my balance online? Why should I let my money control me? It should be the other way around, right? I have enough, I get by just fine, but why am I always worried about it? We are going to end this in 2012.

2. Eat more local and organic. (again, this was last years). We did go to the Farmers Market more. But, I am still wanting to cook WAY more vegetables than I do now. And luckily, my 5 year old husband is now branching out a bit more and is willing to at least take bites and maybe even eat some, which makes it easier. I just wish organic living wasn't so darn expensive. I am thinking of enrolling this year in E-mealz. I haven't done it before, but they started a Whole Food plan that looks pretty neato. If you have never heard of it, it's like $5 a month and they plan your menus out weekly depending on what is on sale.

3. Photography. I really want to get better at this. I got some classes for Christmas, so hopefully I'll knock this one out.

4. Sewing. Yes, this was as well on my list last year,and I went to one lesson and then nada. Sigh....And I love my machine, I just need to devote time to it.

5. Devote time to me. I have GOT to get over feeling guilty about being out of the house in the evenings. I feel like I have to be home on the weeknights and feel so guilty if I have something to do (which I never do). Does Jake even care? Probably not. But, I feel bad when I'm not there. Why do I do this to myself? I have no clue. So, this year I am going to get out more - because there are lots of things that need to happen on weekday nights that I need to do for myself:  such as exercise classes (I love Zumba, but never get to go), or just a workout, sewing classes, photography classes, seeing friends, etc. Its my goal this year.

6. And as a side note to number 5, when we are at home, spend time doing stuff together! The kids go down between 7:30-8, and what do we do? Jake watches sports and plays on his ipad, while I am on the computer. Now that is communication at its best! So, I vow this year to do more - whether it be playing games, watching a movie, etc - I want to make our evenings together better spent - so if you have any ideas - send them my way.

7. Daycare - not really a resolution, but a goal. The babes are turning two, and they need to be in a more school type setting now I think. They need to be around other kids more, and really do want it. They are both so smart and just eager to learn as much as they can. And when it's one on two with 2-two year olds, its hard to do much teaching. You are more just maintaining :)

8. Classes for the babes. Again, just a goal. They are two now, so I'm doing some research and seeing what kinds of fun stuff they can get involved in more. I cancelled our Gymboree Membership yesterday, so I think they are ready for older things that they can get involved in.

Any others??? probably. What are yours?

WW - Future's So Bright....Gotta Wear Shades

And if you must ask why a set of sunglasses appeared on Christmas morning...Well, I have no clue.

PLEASE!!!! Please...no pictures.

Rockin' with Rudolph

2011 a year in the life of the Fabulous Baby Striblings

I have seen this over at Mandy's Blog, and thought it was pretty neato, so I decided to copy it. Plus, it WAS a great year. My babies went from one to almost TWO!!! It's kind of neat that they use their whole year as their age year as well (they turn two on Jan 8).

Anyway, here is a look back at our uber fabulous year:

JANUARY
January was a fun month for us! We turned one, and had a super fun Elvis Birthday party. I ended our monthly pics (sniff), I made some New Year's Resolutions, and we played in the snow!

FEBRUARY
In February, I started doing Weekly Photo Projects, couldn't figure out what to feed my "now toddlers", had my peeps help me with what to do with all my pictures, and started getting super excited about consigment!

MARCH
March was fun! It was starting to get warm again! We started doing Mommy and Me Mondays (which I need to start back), I posted about consignment sales, celebrated St Pattys Day, and I did a DIY tutorial on photo canvases!

APRIL
April was Easter - yay! We met the Easter Bunny, and I did my first Steppin Out Saturday. We got our one year portraits back, we went to the Masters, and I did another DIY on Bow holders.

MAY
Shoo - I have a super cute little boy. I realized poor Jules will forever be my little mini-me :). I celebrated my "line-aversary", and  we celebrated my second Mothers Day!!










JUNE
In June, I posted about a "day in the life" with the twinnies, and decided it was time for a bigger car.We surprised Jake in his office for his birthday, which was fun, and we also looked back on his 30th birthday! Jules wanted to be a diva for lunch, and she is also a super cutie. We celebrated Father's Day, and I started having to think about outfits for their 18m photoshoot. Worst thing? My harddrive crashed and I lost everything that was on it.

JULY
I went to the super-awesome U2 concert, and discovered how awesome the Dollar Store is when you have 18m olds. Josh and Gus became BFFs, and we had a pretty fun 4th of July. I remembered when I was really cool and ran the Country Music Half Marathon and also blogged a bit about what it was liking owning your own business.  

AUGUST
We hit another milestone and moved up to big girl and boy car seats.I pondered if I was a photogaholic, and  the little blog was a favorite over at Circle of Moms! Jake's sister got married, and I flashed back to lots of pictures from my past. I also went to the beach, and also participated in another surprise wedding!

SEPTEMBER
Football season kicked off, and I had a birthday! I talked about how I am obsessed with Musical Theater, then wrote a bunch more posts about college football, which I'm sure noone really cared about, lol. I also looked back on my maternity fashion, and we got our 18 Month photos back.

OCTOBER
The Nashville Heart Walk happened, and was fun. Jules cracked me up. We went to many more football games. I did a tutorial on a DIY growth Chart, and looked back on my trip to Paris last year. We celebrated another anniversary, and I looked back on our wedding! I started posting about decisions I have made as a mom, and I also did another DIY tutorial on Tutus! Um, and the babes were Mickey and Minnie for Halloween, and super cute.

NOVEMBER
I traveled to New York and to Las Vegas in November, so didn't post as much. I was super thankful for lots of things, and also did a Holiday Home Tour of La Casa


DECEMBER
I started a 25 days of Christmas posts (although didn't quite make it, oh well) Among the fab ones were The DIY tree topper, the Advent Calender,The opryland Hotel, and  my Christmas Card Display. I also showed off my Christmas Cards. I also recapped on Christmas in these three posts. It was SO MUCH more fun this year with the babes!

I hope your 2011 was as much fun as ours was! Thank you so much for reading my blog and keeping up with the Fabulous Baby Striblings! we love sharing our lives and our journey with you!

Steppin' Out Saturday - NYE

Saturday was New year's Eve, of course, so it fell on a super fabulous Stepping Out Saturday! Ok, so ya wanna know my thoughts on New Years Eve? Its is beyond a doubt, the most overrated holiday on the face of the planet. I always get super excited about it, and get something fun and new to wear, only to be let down and grumpy, and this year was no exception.

We had the chance to go to Flyte, the restaurant my brother-in-law owns, (Carrie Underwood was there!!), the the other couples we went out with wanted a more "normal" menu (their menu is a bit frufru, but fabulous), so we made reservations at 1808 Grille, a hot spot type of place in the Hutton Hotel. we got there,. and the atmosphere was great and all, then they seated us - by ourselves in the back in a completely private room. Huh? Normally this would be fun, but it's NYE,and you really want the fun energetic crowded atmosphere, ya know?? I was highly disappointed and asked to switch tables, but that was all they had for a party of 6. Hmph. Oh well, live and learn. Jake and I decided to do something low key this year and have a really fun New Years Day instead. Thats when all the fun happens anyway, right?? Any fun New Years out there?

The Happy New Year's Couple - ready for a night out on the town
On Moi: Dress: Burlington Coat Factory (no joke - a hidden jem for dress shopping)//Cardigan: HandM//Shoes: Aldo//Belt: Target

Babies in their PJ's ready for night-night

The girls in the group - Me, Tina, and Andrea

Us again!

Tom and Andrea

This was uber yummy

Isn't he super cute with his winter beard??? :)

Linking up with Harpers Happenings and The Pleated Poppy

Christmas #3 - Santa's Visit *Collage Style*

We came back home to Nashville on Christmas Eve and had Jake's Mom and Dad and my family come and stay. So, JV, Vicki, my sister Ginny, her hubs Jason, my Mom and Dad, my sister Leslie, and her boyfriend Shawn were all around for Christmas cheer! Isn't family fun over the holidays? Although chaotic at times, its sure is lonely now that they've left (and yes I'm serious!)

JV, Vicki and Jules with her new American girl doll - Jason and Josh playing on the ipad - we love our new baby "Emma"! - Josh though, loves her too - Rock Star Josh - new train table - playing with an octopus - Trains - more trains - fun Yo Gabba Gabba toys - Foofa and Broobee! - Jules - Foofa - More trains

Christmas #2 - A Small Town Christmas *Collage Style*

Christmas #2 took place in Waverly, TN, the small town where Jake is from. usually we come here on Christmas Eve, but not this year, because we wanted the babes to be home on Christmas morning for Santa's visit :) So, we moved it up a day. Christmas Eve is met with Jake's mom and dad, his sister Jen, and her hubs Scott. We drink champagne and open all of our family's presents and end the night by watching Darlene Love perform "Baby Come Home" on the David Letterman Show. (it's her 25th year performing, and our fifth making it a tradition)

The next day we welcome Jake's aunts and MeMaw and Grandad and cousins. We exchange names for presents and eat a fab lunch, then on to home. A quick but super fun trip!

Julesy posing (she figured out she can pose, then see herself on my camera afterwards, so we did this about 10 times) - Jules and cousin Sherry - Josh and a large present - opening many, many more - Sweet Charlie - J.V. and his new favorite headband - Jules! - more presents - Josh and granddad - Vicki and Jules - JV and Josh on our new powerwheels! - Whee! - Traffic jam!