day 3: my first love

it's merely a coincidence that i'm blogging about my first love
on valentine's day of all days.
ok so i fell off the 30 day challenge wagon over the weekend.

jarred really was my first love.
i've told him many times that i imagined myself
marrying him from about 8th or 9th grade on.
we had always known each other since we grew up going to the same church.
we started being friends in 6th grade.
we started emailing each other novels in 7th grade.
it was kind of a game to see who could send the longest email.
i know, we were adorable...
in 8th grade, i knew for sure that i wanted him to be my boyfriend.
he pretended like he was just my friend because he was too shy
to admit that he liked me.
at least that's what he tells me.
9th grade, we flirted like crazy.
10th grade he transferred to the same private school that i went to
which allowed us to hang out all the time.
*in 10th grade jarred's mom also invited me to his birthday party (which was a
paintball party) without jarred's knowledge. he was pretty embarrassed.
in 11th grade he finally asked me out.
we've been together ever since.
i've been so fortunate to have married my first love.
and i love him more now than ever!

sugar and spice

i figured i would take advantage of the 70 degree january weather
and take some 7 month pictures of rylee!
she's getting so big!

i hope to have more time to visit bloggington in the next couple of months.
but hopefully great things are coming my way soon!
i've got a great teaching prospect and i'm really hopeful about it!
so fingers crossed!
God's got a funny way of opening doors just in time.

see ya real soon!
i promise.

thankful.

i have so much to be thankful for this year.
a new baby
a healthy and happy son
a wonderful husband who takes care of me
great friends
great family
a home...
i could go on.

i love thanksgiving
mainly because it's an excuse to see family
but also because it means the official start
of the christmas season.
and i'm unashamed to say that we've actually had our tree
up for weeks.
judge me if you want,
but if target can do it, so can i.

happy thanksgiving!

i don't even like pumpkin

at least i thought i didn't.
that is until i decided to bake these
pumpkin bars for my wonderful husband.
because he likes pumpkin.
and i like him.

ok so it's really more like a thick pumpkin cake.
with homemade icing.
yuuuummm!

pre-baking

post-baking

it's kind of like cinnamon roll icing.

it was really good guys.
i promise.
the pictures don't do it justice.
because i need a new camera.

i think this will have to make a reappearance
for thanksgiving!

cutest dinosaur i ever did see.

well i'm back from my hiatus.
actually i finished re-reading "hp and the deathly hallows"
a week ago.
and i've been slightly more than harry potter obsessed
since.

in other news, we took corb and rylee to
knock knock night at church on wednesday
and corb had fun as a dinosaur.
it's not the costume that i would have picked...
but he really wanted to be a dinosaur.
pretty cute though if i do say so.

roar!

rylee really wanted to be a pirate.
we said no.

so she was a turtle instead.

she was happy with this decision.

back for round two of candy gathering this weekend!

10 things i've learned in 3 years

1. it doesn't matter how early i wake up to get ready...i will still be late.
2. having children is like having pets in more ways than one.
3. the person who coined the term "terrible twos" must not have had a child live to see three.
4. sitting on the couch and watching tv while children sleep is, for all practical purposes, "a date".
5. i can feel every emotion within a 30 minute time span when i'm with my children.
6. fat cheeks are the best ones to kiss.
7. the freedom to go to the bathroom in privacy is often taken for granted.
8. jesus built the ark. not noah. (believe me i've tried to convince him otherwise)
9. every letter is the letter "m".
10. being a mom is the hardest thing i've ever done, but the most worth it.

30 from the last 24

1. i have blonde eyelashes
2. i hate having blonde eyelashes
3. i don't floss everyday
4. i bite my nails
5. i used to cry if something in my room was moved even an inch
6. really i did. ask my parents
7. i got married when i was 19
8. i love to bake but i actually own no mixing bowls
9. how did this happen?
10. i love oprah even though she annoys me to no end
11. i'm afraid of the dark
12. i had 3 different majors in college and it took me 6 years to graduate
13. that's ridiculous
14. swishy jogging suit material, satin, and silk make me gag
15. this is a problem for an interior design major
16. and for someone who grew up in the 90s (jogging suit fad)
17. i pretended to hate my brother growing up but i really wanted to be just like him.
18. don't tell him that.
19. really don't. it will give him a big head
20. i seriously considered joining the navy instead of going to college
21. i'm glad i chose college
22. i hardly ever cry
23. i never wore my retainer in high school
24. big mistake
25. i really like being alone
26. i had a crush on Raphael from the live action teenage mutant ninja turtles movie
27. he was the red one
28. my brother and i played x-men together even though he was much too old to be playing x-men with his little sister
29. i used to say i never wanted children
30. i now have 2 and i wouldn't change that for anything

he's here!

yesterday, my best friend Erin gave birth
to her precious, perfect baby boy
Devin Bradley!
i just love him.
and i just love her.
and i know Erin's going to be a great mom!

if i could...

from modcloth

yes please.

monetary donations welcome.

look at those cheeks

when i look over and see this face
i just can't resist.
i picked her up.
i'm holding her.
she's sleeping.
sleeping and snoring a little.
i love it.

all is right in the world.

in the mean time...

so i've been faced with the fact
that my daily activities don't lend themselves
to riveting blog posts.
what? i know.
so while you wait for me to come up with something
worth reading, enjoy this collage of my beautiful
family.

finally!

after months and months of trying to
potty train this boy, it's official.
he's been wearing big boy underwear
for 2 weeks.
it's about time!

one down...one to go.

is 2 months too young to start potty training?
darn.

GOOP

i love goop.com

and i love gwyneth paltrow for creating it.

actually i just love gwyneth paltrow.
it doesn't hurt that she's married to chris martin.
i love chris martin.
in a non-crush kind of way.
more like in an "i love coldplay" kind of way.

ok that's all.

time flies.

it really does.

he loves me

last night, i may or may not have had a melt down. so today, my wonderful husband came home on his lunch break and brought me this beauty.

if you can't tell it's an amazing chocolate cupcake from sara sara bakery.
delicious. i couldn't even finish it.
yep. he loves me.

the perfect equation

so i'm not a math teacher, but i do know that

this...
plus this...
plus this...

equals this...
yes i realize that i'm drinking coffee in the middle of the afternoon. it's not really because i need it, (although waking up three times a night every night is tiring) but more because i just LOVE it. it's something i'm trying to enjoy thoroughly before i begin my much needed diet and exercise program. that's right folks, for the first time ever i'm going to get into a workout routine. my personal trainer (aka my dad) is putting together a workout for me to start on and i couldn't be more excited!
crazy? maybe.

different

well we've been home with rylee now for a week and a half. this is my first week to be home alone with both kids and so far so good. nobody has died so that's a plus. actually it's been much easier than i had expected it to be. rylee is such a good baby. she really never gets upset and she sleeps alot right now, so that makes things a little easier. it's such a crazy feeling having two kids and knowing that i don't plan to have anymore. having a little girl is so different from having a baby boy. i feel so much more protective toward her already. it may be because she is so much smaller than corb was or it may just be that she seems so much more fragile than corb was. i don't know. but i do know that there is nothing like having a brand new baby girl and a now 3 year old self-proclaimed "big boy". i am so exhausted, but i love every minute of it.
if you had asked me when i was 18 what i would be doing at 24 years old, i would have probably told you that i would be married and working and probably thinking about buying a house. i might have even told you that i would be thinking about having my first child. but i know that i never would have told you that i would be a married mother of two with a college degree and a house in oklahoma city. it's so weird how we all try to plan out our futures and we think we know exactly where we are going to be (or hope to be) by the time we are 2o, 25, 30, but how often does life work out like that? while i never would have guessed i would be where i am by 24, i would not change a thing about my life. i have the most beautiful children and the most loving and supportive husband i could have ever asked for. i guess that just goes to show us that no matter how much we try to plan out our futures and take control of our lives, they really aren't our lives to take control of to begin with. God has had this plan for my life all along and i just thought i was in control. i'm okay with it though, because what God has had planned for me so far has been so much better than anything i could have planned for myself. my life is so far from perfect, but i love it because it's my life. thanks to all of you who are a part of my life and contribute to making it what it is.
and now for a couple of pictures of our latest family addition. isn't she just the cutest? i think so too.

my favorite

so it's naptime for the beast. it's one of my favorite times of day. it's a nice time for me to relax and do whatever i want for an hour and a half (2 if i'm lucky). thinking of my favorite time of day made me start to think about my other favorites. everybody's got them and my list is extensive, but here's a little taste of the things that i love...

naps
mint gum
shoes (oh boy this is a big one)
hazelnut coffee with two spoons of sugar and milk
reading good books while it's raining
hugs from the cutest 2 1/2 year old i know
perfume
camping and campfires
autumn
cleaning/organizing
being a college graduate but not having to work yet
wedding photos
traveling
eating
marriage proposals from my 2 year old son
spending time with family
holidays (all of them)
haircuts
high heels (even though i rarely wear them)
teaching
children's books
going out with friends
my mom's photos
dates with jarred
getting dressed up
laughing
bulldogs
decorating
working out (not really but if i tell myself that i love it, maybe it will come true)
my beautiful nieces
and
i love the fact that i only have about 4 more weeks of being pregnant!

there is so much more that i love, but that list could go on forever. take some time today to think about the things that you love. it can change your whole day!