Family Pictures {November 2012}

After a few cancelled appointments due to weather then sickness, we were finally able to have our family pictures taken on November 5th. We used the same photographer that did Maeva's newborn photos, Susan from Tulip Tree Photography. She always does such great work! Unfortunately the temperature dropped drastically the day of our shoot, so our outfits (particularly MB's) were not necessarily the best choice. And by that, I mean she shivered like crazy. On the bright side, she was so cold I think she was too shocked to cry. So while we didn't really get any smiles, at least she wasn't screaming her head off. Manny, on the other hand...well let's just say he was thisclose to working on his backstroke in her pond. Sweet memories. :)

We chose the four pictures we'll use on our Christmas card, so I thought I'd share some of our other favorites today. Enjoy (or not) the picture overload! :) 

Free Christmas Printable {A Child is Born}

I haven't had much time to blog lately (said Captain Obvious) but I wanted to go ahead and share this Christmas printable I made before it's Valentine's Day. 

I did one in some fun non-traditional colors at the request of my friend Megan, and also made one that will match my Christmas decor.

To download the red version, click here.

To download the pink version, click here.

These are sized 8x10. Just download and print at home (I prefer matte presentation paper) or send it to a photo lab like Wal-Mart, Walgreen's, etc.

As always, this is for personal use only. Please do not resell or claim as your own work.

Merry Christmas! :)

Project 366: Week 45

Beach Trip 2012 {Part 2}

So over 3 months ago we went to the beach. And I first posted about it here. And made an empty promise (to myself) that I would post pictures from my camera soon. I guess it's about time I actually get them posted because if I don't before the holidays? It will never happen. So these pictures aren't necessarily anything exciting; I just wanted them included for the blog book. And maybe one day? I'll be comfortable enough with the fact that this is my blog and not feel stupid posting millions of family pictures and justifying it. But I digress.

I wanted my mom to take some beach pictures of us, which of course, is easier said than done. Finding the right time and actually being presentable and not in beach clothes posed a small problem. But we managed to pull together one morning, and had a very quick photo session. Manny was only interested for about 3 whole seconds, then ran off. But we did get some good pictures after all!

I also took some pictures of my mom & dad right after our photos. Unfortunately it was getting too bright by that point so it was a little challenging to take them. They are the cutest though...love them so much!!

And that night, I took some pictures of my sister's family. It was a last minute decision but I think they turned out great...such an adorable family!

My dad arranged for some kayak rentals, and we had so much fun playing in them. Manny wanted to go for rides all day long. 

Manny really enjoyed checking out the seagulls and also playing on a wake board.

Just some random pics from the trip. The two on the top right where the night we got there. My dad took Manny down to the beach but Manny did not want to come up, so dad had to carry him up against his will. You never know with that kid. :)

This is from the day we went to Apalachicola. I cannot get over how much Maeva has changed in 3 short months!!

And a few others from playing in the fountain and posing (or trying to pose) for a family picture that day. Never a dull moment.

And with that...I'm finally done with our family vacation recap. :)

Project 366: Week 44

Manny's School Pictures {2012}

Manny's school pictures were a couple of weeks ago, and we just got them back. This is a picture of a picture, so not great quality, but I cannot get over how big he looks!! I had a cute outfit picked out for him, but as usual, he begged for a Thomas shirt. So I decided to let him have his way and wear a Thomas shirt because this truly is what his life is about right now. (And lucky for me his SheShe Made shirt makes Thomas pretty darn cute.)

They took them on a day Manny doesn't go, so I took him up there just for pictures. I was surprised that he actually sat down and posed. But I'm glad he did! Pretty sure I'd never have it quite that easy if I tried to photograph him.

I'd set Maeva down to help Manny get situated for pictures, and when I turned back around she was surrounded by a bunch of little boys. As soon as Manny noticed this, he ran over there and started shouting, "No! My Bebe Sawyer!" (yes he still calls her that) I told him we needed to be nice and not yell. Well now during his daily ritual of looking at pictures on my phone, this is one he almost always pulls up and says "Be nice to Bebe Sawyer." He's such a mess. But I do have a feeling he might be an over-protective big brother!

Next was the group picture, and oh my word...his class has 10 kids in it and you should've seen them trying to get them all to cooperate for the picture. Herding cats? Is that the phrase? I was so proud that Manny stood there quietly waiting. I looked over at one point and he was HOLDING HANDS with the little girl next to him!! I couldn't get over it. They held hands for at least a few minutes and I'm not going to share the crazy mom flash-forward moments wedding day that went through my head. 

 

Needless to say, one minute he was hand holding with this sweet girl and the next moment? He had dropped to the ground and was flailing around like he was being stabbed with needles. NO clue what triggered it - probably my previous proud moment that he wasn't acting a fool. His teacher was like, "Wow, I've never seen him do this!" To which I didn't know to be proud or ashamed. I mean, I'm glad he doesn't normally act like that at school but man...there's nothing like not being able to calm down your raging toddler. That being said...I have no group picture to show because we left. I didn't want to hold things up and I wasn't able to bribe reason with him to get him to cooperate for the picture. Disciplining in public places is so hard for me at this age. But that's a whole different bag of issues. Love this kid and his strong spirit...we're too much alike!! :) 

Project 366: Week 43

The Proof is in the Pin {Volume 3}

Well the past month flew by, and yet (again) I didn't have as much time (or any really) to craft as I'd like to. However, I did complete some pins, so that's all that matters. Though I do miss "crafting", so hopefully next month I will get to include some actual crafts. I've had a few questions about what this link-up is, and there are no rules really...but this is the general idea, and hopefully answers some of the questions I've been getting.

• Share any pins you've completed lately - 3 is how many I chose to do each month, but it's up to you how many you share. 
• They can be successes or fails...aka warnings not to waste your time. We all appreciate a good heads-up.
• No, you do not have to write a tutorial. If you changed something or want to modify it, a tutorial is a great idea. But if a good tutorial already exists? No need to re-invent the wheel. 
• Regardless, always link to the original source of the pin, as that's just good etiquette. :)
• No, I will not delete your link if you don't include my button. You can if you'd like to, and it's nice to link back here just so others can find the link-up list if they're interested. But if you don't take the time to link back I understand.
• Bottom line is this: my goal in doing this was to keep myself accountable to "try" the things I pinned. Pinterest is a huge awesome place and it's always great to know if the pins are all they claim to be, so that's why I love seeing stuff others have actually tried too. Now on with the show!

Pin #1 - Coloring Sheets from Photos: I'm always pinning things to distract do with Manny. I pinned this a long time ago (45 weeks to be exact - thanks Pinterest for that friendly reminder), but per usual, hadn't done it yet. However, with colder weather upon us, I've been searching for more indoor activities. Manny LOVES to color and we're always looking for new things to color (besides chairs and walls. You'd think those would be as old and boring as his coloring books by now, but for some reason, they're still rather enchanting to him.) Anyway, he asks multiple times a day to look at pictures on my phone, with his favorites being the day he met Thomas and riding the horse at the pumpkin patch. So I thought it'd be fun to turn those photos into coloring sheets! It was super simple, and worked great for our purposes. I didn't pay for the subscription service because I don't care if it's high resolution. I just right clicked on the image after it was rendered and saved it to my computer, then printed it out. The website is here. (and please remind me not to use the word "rendered" again.)

image via

Pin #2 - Two Ingredients Pumpkin Cake: I've seen this on Pinterest probably over a thousand times. Not kidding. If you're on Pinterest, you've seen it too. I finally decided to give it a try the other night. It was very easy to make, and they were really good! That being said, Patrick and I both agreed it definitely needs the apple cider glaze on them or else they're kind of bland. So with the glaze, you're now looking at five ingredients instead of two. Whoever said I don't do complicated recipes can eat their words thankyouverymuch. Recipe is here.

image via

Pin #3 - Melt in Your Mouth Chicken: This is another super popular pin that I finally tried, and am so glad I did! Stephanie linked it up a couple months ago, and it has since made it's way into our regular rotation. Stephanie mentioned this, and I'm so glad she did because I was confused too. The caption below the pin said to use Greek yogurt instead of mayo, but when you click through to the recipe, it calls for mayo. So this really was someone's recommendation to replace the mayo with Greek yogurt. Now I've never tried it with mayo, but it was really good with Greek yogurt, and obviously much healthier! (Can I talk about being healthy when my previous pin had to do with cake?) I agree with Stephanie in that mine looked NOTHING like the picture so I was thinking it was going to be a fail. But luckily it still turned out okay, and everyone loved it! Original recipe is here - and again, the way I made it was instead of 1 cup mayo, use 1 cup plain Greek yogurt. Oh, and Stephanie also shared this tip that I thought was worth passing along: I read somewhere recently that if you cook with Greek yogurt, you should do it in ceramic or glass pans, not metal. The acidity from the yogurt reacts with the metal and creates a bad flavor. Not sure if it’s true or not, just throwing that out there.

Well that's all for today! If you have anything to share, you can grab the button if you'd like and link-up below...it should be working this time. :) 

Random Things

--Hi, I'm Sarah and seeing whereas I am pretty much the lamest blogger these days, I'm not sure why I thought it'd be a good idea to start a monthly link-up. Oh wait, yes I do - because I needed accountability to actually do some stuff I was pinning. Which has been good for me. But honestly? I suck at hosting link-ups. As was evidenced last month when it didn't work, and I never had the time to try to figure out how to fix the code because I was in over my head with 3 million other things. So yeah. Take this as your reminder that the Proof is in the Pin link-up is this Tuesday, the 13th. Join me. Or don't. There's a 50/50 chance I'll have it up anyway. Kidding!! Get excited!! Be there. Or else. (On this note I should step away from the computer. Do y'all feel my posts are progressively exposing my crazy more and more?)

--Family pictures for our Christmas card were on Monday. Which again would explain some of the crazy you've been seeing. We did survive, but our photographer's poor cat might never be the same again after Godzilla chased her around cackling like a mad scientist. This was the 3rd time we'd rescheduled, and the weather had gotten considerably colder since our original date 3 weeks ago. That being the case, the outfits might not have been the best choice for the weather that day. But if you've ever coordinated picture outfits for a family of 4? You know once it's set, you're not about to go through the stress of changing things again. The kids only shivered for a little while after we were done. I'm anxious to get them back and see if the teeth chattering is evident.

--My personal beauty guru Andrea shared with me the greatness that is Benefit Erase Paste after I shared with her my woes of sleepless nights and midnight black circles under my eyes. I picked some up at Sephora (she said it's at ULTA too) and I will say it's pretty much a miracle worker!

Well that's the best I've got for today. Have a great weekend friends...and get your posts ready for Tuesday!!

Maeva Beth {5 Months}

Dear Maeva Beth,

You are already 5 months old sweet girl! While I'm late getting this recap posted, I did actually take the pictures a couple of weeks ago...so that's progress, right? 

I  just can't get over how the months are flying by. You are definitely growing and changing, but I don't realize how much you are until I see old pictures. You have your 6 month appointment next week and I'm anxious to see what you're tipping the scales at.

You are officially a full-time crib sleeper now - or maybe I should say crib "resider". You are waking up more again and I need to stop with the excuses and do some sleep training! It's just that you've been sick, your brother hasn't been sleeping good, and well...you're so darn cute that when you smile at me it's hard not to pick you up. You're definitely a charmer and you know it. It seriously blows me away that you straight cheese at me when I come in you're room in the middle of the night. You are such a silly girl!

You like to scrunch your nose up and make gasping noises. Which is awesome when I'm driving down the road and think you're choking in the back seat. Not funny sister. Let's try a new trick please.
You are a giggling fool! Mostly at your daddy, but Manny has figured out how to make you giggle now too. He makes monkey noises or tickles your belly and you just love it.

In fact, the day I was taking your pictures your brother caught us in the act and decided to join us for the photo shoot. I love this picture of him tickling you...you really just adore him. Most of the time, anyway. This picture makes it look like you have teeth, but you don't have any yet. You do seem to be showing some pretty serious signs of teething, so maybe soon?

You have really started interacting and playing this month. You grab everything you can get your hands on and we've officially entered the stage where it's challenging to eat or do anything with you on my lap. Sometimes when your brother is smothering you as usual, you like to pull his hair or grab his cheeks. He gets so mad but I can't help but laugh. I predict quite a few scrap sessions in the future.

He does love you so very much though. He talks about you all.of.the.time. He is a bit extreme in the "ways" he shows you he loves you, but for the most part he's pretty nice...I think he just doesn't know how to control his excitement sometimes. You are such a good sport. And you are most DEFINITELY always Bebe Sawyer. I'm sorry sister, but even your daddy and I have picked up on that nickname from your brother. He actually likes to say it in a sing-song voice, and well...it's just catchy. Your cousin Livvy likes to call you Mavie-girl, so I've taken to calling you that some as well.

Here is the monthly comparison. I've said it before and it still holds true this month...you look more like Manny does right now than when he was the same age as you. You guys are definitely looking more and more alike each day. 

We sure do love you baby girl! I can't believe 6 months is just around the corner...I hear that's when things with 2 kiddos will really start to get interesting. Take it easy on me, okay? :)

I love you baby girl!

Love,

Mommy

Saying Good-Bye to the Crib

A couple of weeks ago our world changed in a big sad way. I was just settling back in from a 3am feeding with Maeva (I know, ridiculous) when I hear Manny start SCREAMING his head off suddenly. It wasn't a cry, it was a scared scream. I went into his room, and he was standing there with tears running down his face trying to climb out of his crib. I asked what was wrong, and he said he was scared and wanted me to hold him. (or hold you as he actually says.) It was so sad...I really could sense the fear, and am pretty sure he'd had a bad dream. It absolutely broke my heart. So we finished the night with him in our bed - which basically means sleep for nobody. Amazing.

The next day, I went to put him in his crib at naptime and he started panicking wanting out and saying it was scary. I felt so bad for him and just let him nap in our bed by himself, and he went right to sleep no problem. And that's basically what happened for the next week. He'd brush his teeth, and before we could even do anything else, he'd run and get in our bed and go right to sleep. A couple of times we tried putting him in his crib, but he still seemed really scared, and not like he was faking it. So we let him fall asleep in our bed, then we'd move him to his crib. He'd still wake up screaming crazy around 5 or 6, which was early for him.

So after a week, we decided to transition his crib to a toddler bed. This was harder for me than I anticipated. I just wasn't ready for him to be out of his crib! He slept so great there (not always, but we eventually got to that point) and I just wasn't ready for this move. But it definitely seemed to be the time for the change. So Patrick transitioned the crib, and I also took Manny to Target to pick out some new bedding. We thought maybe a change would make things better. He was excited at first, but that lasted all of 7 minutes. We could still get him to sleep in there with a little work, but it was exhausting. We knew we needed more changes, so the hunt for the perfect bed began.

And don't kid yourself - I was totally stalking Craigslist for a Thomas bed. Yep, it might be a bit much but if it meant he would go back to sleeping good? I would embrace that bed as if it was made of gold. There was no way I was buying one of these new, but I never found one on Craigslist for a decent price, so I guess it wasn't meant to be after all. 

The more we talked about it and looked around (and the less we slept), we decided he needed a regular twin bed rather than a toddler bed. He'd just gotten too big for a toddler bed and would wake himself up moving around at night...and once he woke up? Well then he'd end up sleeping in our bed in the shape of the letter T. Again...amazing.

Somehow in all our searching, we came across fort beds...and I'm pretty sure I haven't seen Patrick quite this excited about something in awhile. We stumbled on this particular fort bed on craigslist for a fraction of the price, and Patrick was giddy. We had decided we'd probably do it, when we had the foresight to actually measure how it would fit in the room. Yeah, not so much. So as sad as it made me, I had to crush Patrick's hopes and dreams and say no to the fort bed. Maybe one day.

We had seen this bed at IKEA awhile back and thought it was cool. However, we don't feel comfortable with Manny sleeping up top just yet so filed it away for another day. Then I was looking on the IKEA website, and saw that it's actually a reversible bed, and the bed can go either high or low. I was headed to Dallas that weekend anyway, so we decided to go for it!

And a million pieces and a few hours later, the bed was ready to go. He was SO SO excited about it...he actually gasped and started clapping when he saw it. It was so cute!

He was ready to go to bed and kept telling us bye so we'd leave the room. He looked like such a big boy!

Annnnd this is what I found when I went to check on him later that night. I mean...at least he's sleeping, right?! He's such a mess. Thankfully we've come a long way since then and he sleeps great in his bed now. Or I should say WAS sleeping great. Then Daylight Savings Time happened, and we're back at square one basically. So amazing. Except not. I'll sleep one day, right? And that would be the end of the longest most rambling story ever. Can we blame the fact that this doesn't make sense on sleep deprivation? :)