Showing posts with label celebrate. Show all posts

Saturday, December 26, 2020

Chef Lois turns 4

Chef Lois Turns 4| Picking a theme that specifically tailors to your child.

A party fit for a gal who loves to cook, and EAT!

Minka's Newborn Shoot + Christmas 2018 Family Shoot

If you're not over the baby spam, well here's more to feed your need! Minka's newborn shoot was done at day of life number five. Her shoot was not the easiest as she would not fall into a deep sleep for at least the first two hours. None of my girls have ever taken a pacifier and Minka is no different. We tried it and she was just not into it. She has been an awesome sleeper from day one but not for our shoot. She already looks so different now!! Ahh my baby <3

Lo's TWO year update!!

Lo is two and boy are we in for some fun!! She is officially the dancing queen but prefers to get down to the most ratchet rap music around. Noelle asked me to play princess music and Lois immediately screamed out "NO"!!

Just in time for her birthday, Lois is now allowing me to style her hair without going completely nuts. I can still hardly believe it. She looks so cute with braids.

Noelle's 4th Birthday

We decided not to have a party for Noelle this year. We toyed with the idea but in the end decided to take her Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs, CO. She was not very happy about not having a party. She woke up couple mornings before her birthday and asked me why I hadn't started decorating yet. I tried explaining but she wasn't having it. The day before her birthday we took her to her school to celebrate with her classmates. They sang happy birthday and ate the cupcakes we brought.

New Years 2018

Ok, I'm still catching up in order to post new content so bare with me. I had just a couple days off for New Years so we hopped a flight to ATL to bring in the new year with Tj's family!! Traveling with these chicks is never boring and always unpredictable. The trip was smooth (after missing our first flight and leaving 5 hours later than planned) and once we landed, we wasted no time. We played games and laughed until our sides hurt.

Christmas 2017

Now don't laugh at me but yes I am posting Christmas post. I have vowed to start blogging again after taking a much needed break. But I have an issue with leaving out important holidays and events. I use this blog not only to share our lives with my friends and family but to serve as a reminder for me as well. It's so easy to scroll my blog to find past updates about the girls as babies and what happened two Christmas' ago. So here I am, posting these important events in our lives. You can read them or skip on to the new stuff. Thanks for coming back!! Xoxo

Christmas was incredible!!! My mother visited for nine whole days and I was ecstatic. The only bummer is that my dad was working and unable to accompany her. We did Elf on a Shelf with Noelle this year and it was a blast. We started ended Christmas Eve by making rice crispy treats for Santa Claus. Noelle claimed that "baking was much harder than she thought it was". HA!!

Christmas Shoot 2017

So excited to share our 3rd annual Christmas shoot! I'm not sure if we'll do this every single year but I love looking back at our last two shoots and seeing how our family has grown from three to four and how big the girls are getting. This year we took our photos inside the beautiful Union Station. It was crowded but we made it work! These girls can't stay still to save their own lives so it was hard getting a photo with everyone looking. Everyone smiling wasn't much of an option as Lois was not in the mood for smiles and giggles. She gave a couple smirks but that's about it. Our beautiful friend Jessica of Sarah Jessica Photography shot us.

Halloween 2017

Noelle had to have changed her mind about her Halloween costume at least 4 times. Her final decision was My Little Pony. And she insisted that Lois and I dress up as ponies as well. Tj was able to get out of dressing up for another year. I recently took Noelle to see the My Little Pony Movie and she loved it, I also did this to make sure she wouldn't change her mind because my purchase was made and I was NOT returning the costume. It worked because she loved the movie and was even more excited about being Rainbow Dash. I was in complete shock that Lois kept on her headband the entire night. Lois was Pinkie Pie and I was Twilight Sparkle.

Our neighborhood shuts down a street and all the businesses pass out candy. It's a one stop shop and we love it. The surrounding homes go all out with their decorations, so we stopped and got candy from a few more houses before heading home.

Lo's 1st Birthday Celebration

This girl is loved by so many and we are so grateful to God that we get a front row seat to watch her grow. Loving on her this past year has been amazing. The snuggle is real!! By the way I had no clue what I was doing but threw together this floral headband the morning of the party, surprisingly she kept it on for a little while.

31st Birthday Celebration

I have to admit, turning thirty one felt a little strange. For all of your life you get use to celebrating milestone birthdays pretty often. The earliest I can remember making a big deal about a birthday was ten years old. I was double digits and it was my "golden birthday"! Then comes becoming a pre-teen, then a teenager, then sixteen....you get where I'm going. But after thirty, there's only the decades! How crazy and who says?! Another year that God allows us to breath ought to be a big deal. Though there was no big trips to Key West like last year or parties I really wanted to make the day special. My husband is not huge on his own birthday (he even often forgets his age), he always goes along with my plans because he knows I love birthdays. He had to work because it was, well Monday but me and the girls headed out for brunch. The plan was for breakfast but I have got to be the worst at getting these kids out of the house!!

We went to a neighborhood gem we had been wanting to try for awhile. I hate the name of this place and I rebuke it in the name of Jesus Christ but the food was heavenly.

Year 7 Anniversary Trip| Belize Part 2

We usually jump around on our vacations to keep from getting bored. We boarded another puddle jumper and headed to Placencia for our last 3 days. Placencia is becoming more and more popular for tourism but it is not yet over crowded. There is a village with great restaurants and lots of shopping. We were met at the airport by one of the managers of the Caribbean Beach Cabanas and the place was just as beautiful as the pictures.

Year 7 Anniversary Trip| Belize Part 1

Ok guys, I'm finally sharing pictures from our trip to Belize. Many of you know that Tj and I take a trip together annually to celebrate our Anniversary. We've been doing it since year one and it is something we look forward to every year. Picking the destination and planning the trip always builds lots of excitement. This was our first time leaving Lois and it seemed like a very long 8 months. So much has unfolded since her birth and it was a much needed getaway for us. Our actual anniversary is not until the 26th of this month but we were due to be in Orlando for my brother's graduation so we planned the trip around this time. We left the girls in Florida and kept it pushing. We made this a shorter trip due to the fact that I was still breastfeeding, which meant lots of pumping for me. Not how I prefer to spend my vacations but nothing could put a damper on this trip.

I can't tell you why we chose Belize but I'll tell you that it should be on your list! It was absolutely beautiful!! Our first couple of nights were spent on a private island off the coast of Dangriga or Stann Creek Town. This place was INCREDIBLE!!! The island is 9 miles of the coast and is only accessible by boat. The travel it took to get there was quite interesting. We took a puddle jumper from Belize City to Dangriga and then a very bumpy boat ride to the island.

Noelle's 3rd Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to our Nelly, our sour patch kid is 3 years old today!!! To celebrate I'm sharing the pics from her princess themed party this weekend. Noelle has recently been certified princess crazy and is all about the crowns, gowns and shoes that come with playing dress up. So when it was time to search for a theme, the choice was pretty obvious. Obvious like being asked to have a princess party several times over. After spending hours on Pinterest, I was able to turn our living room into a royal dress up party with princess popcorn to match the occasion.

The red carpet idea from Pinterest was just too much to pass up, I had to do it. There were stations for the kids to go around and pick up all their necessities to become royals. I made sure to provide the guys with swords and gliders to keep them busy as well.

Christmas 2016

A first Christmas for Lo and a super exciting one for Noelle!! This Christmas was so special with our family in town two years in a row and the first in our new home. Noelle and I made cookies for Santa and she was so excited that they were Trolls! Tj and I were super unprepared this year, going shopping just days before Christmas. But thankfully we found everything we wanted to get for Noelle. It was so much fun shopping for her. We were both giddy thinking about what her reaction might be. I wrapped all the gifts Christmas Eve and we got in all under the tree just before midnight.

Halloween 2016

Decorations this year came in the form of a few pumpkins on the inside and some spider web outside. I wanted to do so much more but time just didn't permit. Also because I thought I had a lot more stuff in storage. Next year I'll do better!

The B I G 3-0 in Key West

Thirty!! Wow! It seems pretty surreal that I'm here. When I think about all the life I've lived it makes sense but it's still a bit strange. I am so grateful to God to be here and living the life He has blessed me with and no wrinkles! I know I wanted to do something big with friends and family to celebrate. We actually did this resort with a group of our friends and family for my 25th and we've always wanted to come back again and this was the perfect excuse. My family has always loved Key West and we vacationed there when I was I child pretty often. It is a long drive from Orlando but totally worth it.

In The 6 For Our 6th {Anniversary}

Yay!! Finally sharing our anniversary trip to Toronto!!! These last few weeks have been completely bonkers with packing, unpacking, washing and repeating on the to do list. We had never been to Canada and with Zika ruining most of our travel plans, we decided to head north. We started our trip in Buffalo, NY with a visit to Niagara Falls. With such a short drive into Canada we figured why not fly into Buffalo and see the falls. It was breath taking and my pictures do it no justice. It was crazy to see Canada just across the water.

Father's Day 2016

These last two weeks have been hectic between work and travel with no end in sight quite yet. I can't wait to share our anniversary trip to Toronto with you guys but first things first. I had to post about how we celebrated Tj on Father's Day! This man is such an awesome husband and Noelle agrees that he is a exceptional father as well. I thank God for him and I am so grateful for how well he cares for us.

We started the day with taking Noelle to see Finding Dory! This was her 3rd movie and she did so great even though it was around nap time. She held out and watched the entire movie. Can I just say that I am so excited to blame her for movies I really want to see? "Oh I think Noelle would love that movie, we have to take her!"

That night I took Tj out on a date! Our first stop was the restaurant Gumbo's, which I had heard a lot about. Well it lived up to the hype, it was really good. Prepare to drool!

Fried green tomatoes!!!

Tj was so sweet to take me to a play for Mother's Day and though I know he enjoyed it as well I knew it wasn't his idea of the perfect date. So it was my turn to do what I knew he'd really enjoy and that was easy, beer! Although brew hopping had nothing in it for me, it was cool just hanging out with him none the less.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Mother's Day 2016

My Mother's Day consisted of praising God, good food and a date night with the hubs! Don't know how much more I could have asked for. I really wanted hibachi so after church we went to Benihana. I gotta tell you, my Mother's day could have been much better if they didn't decide to switch their signature white sauce to a mustard sauce. What were they thinking? How could they?

Despite this horrible business call, the food was great and it was so much fun watching Noelle experience her first hibachi style meal.

She wasn't sure at first.

But then the tricks started and she was blown away!!

After I was as full as a tick, I decided to take advantage of Noelle's nap time and lay down with her. Who am I kidding? These days I'm taking advantage of every nap time and laying down myself. Our sweet baby sitter brought me flowers and Tj and I headed out.

The play was downtown and though we've moved, we still live downtown but it was not an option for me to walk all that way in heels. So I paired my H&M maxi dress with a leather jacket and some black Doc Martens. For my makeup I went dark on the eyes and lips!

The one thing I could have done without is this huge outie of mine. UGH!!!

The play was hilarious, I really enjoyed it and my shirley temple.

Hope you all had a great one as well!!!!

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Noelle's 2nd Birthday

The day came and went and it was amazing!! Our Nelly had a great day and we loved seeing the excitement on her face as she experienced The Magic Kingdom for the first time. She'd met Mickey and Minnie once before at Hollywood Studios Disney World but this was even better!

I'm TWOdles shirt

We were on our way through Epcot headed for the monorail when Noelle spotted Pluto. She waited in the line as patiently as she could but once we got close she couldn't contain herself and was trying desperately to separate from me.

Headed to Magic Kingdom after meeting her favorite pup!

We made it to the park just in time for the show!

We met up with our friends The Khuus and Nelly and Carise got their dance on.

Character meetings were next and these girls were too cute!!

She was not feeling Goofy in his dare devil attire.

Dumbo ride wait.

It was a great day at the park. We didn't spend as much time as we would have liked. Getting in and out of the park takes a tremendous amount of time by itself. It was much more rush than I would have hoped but we had a party to make! We made a wrong turn on the way back to the car and we paid for it with an extra 45 minutes. I was a mess, if you know me well than you know I hate being late especially when others are waiting on me. Thank God my mom reassured me that it was going to be fine and it was about Noelle. After arriving fashionably late to her own party we cut cake with close friends and family and sang happy birthday.