My Very First Picnic...

Today was a beautiful Saturday, the high was only around 86 degrees!  Much cooler than the 110 degree temps this summer has brought us.  We're so ready for Fall! 

We usually go to Mimi's for brunch every Saturday, that's our thing, but since it was such a beautiful day we decided to go for a picnic at the park. 

It was one of the things we put on our summer time list and had yet to do!  Looks like the only thing left now is story time at the library. :)

We picked up boxed lunches from Jimmy's and headed to the park!  Amelia had a hot dog and fruit...her favorite thing in the world.  I had the turkey swiss guac on a wrap with a twiced baked potato...YUM!  Alex had some sort of man sandwich, it contained lots of beef tenderloin served on a hoagie roll. Sydney had her favorite, 6 ounces of Gerber Good Start, stirred not shaken.

Amelia was so excited.  She kept saying, "this is my very first picnic!"  We pretend to have picnics at home every day but we've never actually gone somewhere, put down a blanket and had a meal.  Which is why we put HAVE A PICNIC on our summer time list. :)  We'll definitely be doing this more often once fall weather is here. 

We let Amelia pick the perfect shade tree and then started in on our lunch!

She enjoyed watching the cars drive by and rolling all over the blanket. 

She would also say, "I hear birds...I hear birds!" (LOL)

Smiles all around!

As Amelia says, "this is our fam-a-wee."

Me and my girls.

Our Sydney Faith.

It's near impossible for her to smile without her mouth being wide open.

I love this baby so much.

We headed to find a fishin' hole after lunch.

The only way to fish is with a pink barbie fishing pole. 

Amelia caught a big one!

Telling her sister about her ginormous catch!

We ended the day at Haagen-Dazs. 

We were hot and in need of some ice cream.

It was a lovely day.

Love to all,

Back from the beach...

We just returned from our annual beach vacation. We were gone for a total of 10 days/nights.  Seven of those were spent on the beach, the other three were spent in hotels in Alabama (business trip) and Mississippi. 

The girls were AWESOME.  I wasn't worried about Amelia but wasn't sure how Sydney would like being in her seat for such a long road trip.  She did great.  They were the best little travelers and we were so proud of them. 

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon.  This was our back yard for the week.  We literally walked out onto our patio and onto the beach.  This is the first year we rented a ground level condo - it's the best way with little ones.  You don't have far to go with your stuff or if you need to grab something and head back out to the beach. 

We were there with my family but spent lots of time as a family of four as well. 

This is one of our favorite places to eat breakfast in Destin.  They have the best cinnamon roll I've ever eaten.

Sydney enjoyed eating out on the patio as well.  Who wouldn't with a view like this? :)

We spent time with our cousins.  Amelia was so happy that Kandace came this year.  They played well with each other and their conversations with one another kept us laughing the entire week.

The girls slept until at least 9 A.M. every morning and some days until 10 A.M.  It was glorious.



I have lots of pictures to go through but wanted to post a few that I took with my phone. 

As we were driving home, I told Alex that even though vacations are different with little ones, I would choose a vacation with them vs. without them any day.  I loved waking up every morning to Sydney's big smile and taking her to my parent's condo for my Mom to feed her a morning bottle.  I loved waking up to Amelia's excitement to go to the beach or play with Kandace every morning.  

Do I get as much beach time with little ones? 

No.

The day will come when I will get my beach time back but in the mean time, we're making memories that we'll never forget. 

Memories of my babies at the beach. 

Their first time to see the ocean. 

Their first time to play in the sand (and maybe eat a little too). 

Their first time to actually play in the ocean. 

Their first time to taste the salty ocean water.

Their first time to go crab hunting at night on the beach.   

Their first time to watch the sand move out from under their feet when a wave comes in. 

Amelia actually looked up at me after walking out onto our patio one morning and said, "there's just nothing like the sound of the waves, Mama." I started laughing because she obviously heard someone say that, but she's right.  There's just nothing else like it.

Memories that we will cherish forever. 

I'm thankful for this time that we had as a family.

Today is definitely a pajama day. I did laundry all week while at the beach but we still brought home one bag of dirty clothes, so we're washing those and unpacking the rest of our things.  I'm getting Sydney back on her napping schedule that she was off of while at the beach.  She took a 3 hour nap this morning.  I think she's happy to be home. :)  Alex left this morning for a week in Virginia.  It's back to life...back to reality.

Love to all,

A baby shower for Nathaniel...

I wanted to share the pictures from a baby shower I hosted for my friend, Niki, a few weeks ago.  I had a lot of fun with this one.  I haven't thrown a shower for a baby boy in a long time. :)  Niki mentioned they were going to add airplanes to the room so I decided to go with that for a "theme."  I didn't go over the top with airplanes but added them here and there. 

I started with the invite.  My favorite etsy seller for invites is Natalie at NattyMichelle.  She does the artwork by hand and I think it just adds a special touch to the invitations.  I've used her for several showers (bridal and baby) and she always comes up with something that I just love! 

I wanted to do something special that Niki could save for Nathaniel.  One of the things I've seen on Pinterest is where the guests write a special blessing or wishes for the baby.  I went with Wishes for Nathaniel.  I ordered the cards from this etsy shop.  The guests filled out a card for him and then I displayed them on bakers twine with little clothespins.  I gave Niki an album with Nathaniel's name on it to hold them.  Some of the things people wrote were so sweet and some were so funny!

A picture of the Mommy and Daddy along with an u/s picture of Nathaniel.

My sister-in-law, Elaina made this airplane and banner for me to hang on the mantle.   I thought it turned out really cute!

Niki is a vegetarian so I was determined to only have a vegetarian menu.  It was pretty easy since we were having brunch. She has also developed several allergies while pregnant, bless her heart, so I did my best to not serve anything that would send her straight to the hospital. HA!  I think she enjoyed the menu and as far as I know, she didn't break out in hives from anything I served!



My sister, Joy made all of the food.  I decided I would rather hire the Catering Girls (our catering company) instead of making it myself. HA!  Best decision ever.  I didn't have to stress over anything that morning!  Everything my sis makes is delicious so I knew my guests would be happy. 

She made blueberry scones, tomato pie, hashbrown casserole, and donut holes (the only thing she didn't make).  The tomato pie was a hit.  It's one of my favorites!  I found the little berry baskets at this etsy site.  They added some color to my table and I thought the scones and donut holes looked sweet in them.



Sour cream biscuits with jam and honey.

I love mason jars so I had to use them somewhere in the shower.  I decided they would make great containers for our fruit cups.  We had yogurt and granola to go on top!

We had Ed's petit fours with airplanes and Nathaniel's initials. 

The drink station had brunch punch, caramel coffee, iced tea, and blueberry water.  I learned something about infusing water with blueberries.  You need to do it about two days ahead of time for it to really taste like blueberries.

I served the drinks out of these glass milk bottles.  They were so cute.  I'll be using these a lot at future parties.  Niki said folks were asking where to find these.  I ordered the glass bottles from here and the straws from here.

Niki received some of the cutest personalized items!  I love seeing a new Mama open gifts with her baby's name on them.

Some of the guests who came to love on Niki and Nathaniel. :)

Niki with her Mom and Grandmother.



It was a joy to host a shower for Niki.  She and Tyler will be wonderful parents. I just can't wait to meet their sweet boy next month!!

Love to all,

All About Sydney - 5 months!

Sydney, you're 5 months old!!

I'm not sure how much you weigh but I'm guessing a little over 15 lbs.

We don't go to the doctor again until next month. 

You're wearing size 6 month clothing.

You wear a size 2 diaper.

You're taking mostly formula now and love it.

You sleep through the night.  Thank you for that. :)

You've started breaking free from your swaddle.

You sleep in the pack-n-play next to Mommy's bed.

You love to give kisses.

Your feet are one of your favorite things to play with.

They seem to always be in the air and you love to grab them.

Your sister is your favorite person.

You just love for her to entertain you and she is more than happy to do it.

You spent your first night in a hotel this month.

You're a great little traveler!

You sit up in your high chair like a big girl.

You have the prettiest blue eyes!

I love to see you and Amelia together.

There's nothing like the friendship of a sister.

We're beyond thankful that you're ours, Sydney Faith.

Love you so much!