Looking back at 2011's To-Do List

I wonder how much I actually completed?? I can always carry them over to next year's list... sounds exciting. (not)

Here is last year's list... read the post here!

I am sad to say that I accomplished only about 7 of the 20 items on my list. What a bummer... I will definitely be carrying over a few of those tasks into my 2012 list of To-Do's. I claimed 2011 to be the year of organizing, and indeed it was! Our house has come a long long way in 2011. My kitchen is beyond organized, my bedroom has made strides, the bathroom cabinets have been cleaned out about ten times, the kitchen sink area has been fixed and the entertainment center was a major project... cords drive me crazy!

This year, I am scaling down on my list. I believe in a more do-able list rather than an overwhelming list. I will have a baby this year, so there is no need to go overboard!

My To-Do's for 2012

1. Health: Let's face it, I will be needing to lose a few (25+) pounds this year and that will take a lot of work on my part!

2. Organization: I want to always be on top of laundry and dishes. My goal is to never let things pile up to the point of stressing me out.

3. Stress: Speaking of stress, my last goal is to keep myself in line and focused on what really matters in life. Being a teacher, at least to most people, seems to be an "easy" job. I beg to differ. My job is hard and I want to great for the kids so there are a lot of days that it gets in the way of my life at home... not this year or any other year, I will be focusing on my family solely.

I am ready for 2012 and I think it is going to be a year full of blessings!

Cannot wait!!!

Week 32 and Christmas

Christmas is gone... boo! Taylor and I had such a great time with all of our families and enjoyed the break. We are now busy working on our annual New Year's Eve party, it is going to be great! Thanks to Pinterest, my ideas are endless!

The best gifts of the year were:

My favorite gift this year was my MUCH MUCH MUCH needed iphone 4S

(Thanks Honey)

and the super cute Claire Bella monogrammed cover

(Thanks Mom)

Taylor's best gift in my opinion, not his...

Closet Maid Garage Shelving System

and a custom J. Hilburn Shirt

Here is one family shot... with a clear view of my 32 week belly!

Week 30 and an Anniversary

Tomorrow, December 12th, is our wedding anniversary!

Taylor and I are celebrating 2 years of wedded bliss :).... Time sure does fly!

We celebrated with a steak dinner at Bob's and a movie. I talked him into seeing

"New Year's Eve". It was a cute movie!

A trip down memory lane...

Baby Luke Update

Week 30... total weight gain 20 pounds!

Best news this week is that I do NOT have gestational

diabetes, that was a relief! We bought Luke's crib today and

hoping to get that set up this week!

Week 29 and Christmas Decor

Taylor and I have been so very busy... last weekend we started painting Luke's nursery and we are still working on it. SLOWLY.

Then, we finally tackled our Christmas decorating this past weekend... It was fun and we knocked it out in a super speedy fashion! Got the mantle done, the tree done, the entertainment center done and the kitchen all done in one night. Onto baby updates... I have been bad about taking a picture each week, so I made myself get one in this week in front of the tree so we can always this Christmas!

So here are all of the pictures...

My cake plate

Our mantle, without the stockings... they'll come soon

Our tree

Our festive Kitchen

Our dining room chandelier

Here we (me and Luke) are at 29 weeks!

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

Boy oh boy am I glad to have Thanksgiving over with... I could not possibly eat another food item this weekend if my life depended on it! Taylor and I had a great time visiting our families but we are also so grateful to be home and resting now. Traveling across the state (Texas-- huge) is tiring. I wanted to share a couple of highlights from the weekend!

Best Recipe: Pioneer Woman's Scrumptious Apple Pie

Recipe and picture via pioneerwoman.com

I made this pie with the help of my mom for Taylor's family's Thanksgiving. It was delicious and pretty easy to make! It is pretty deep, so I would recommend making it as a deep dish pie or even in a square dish.

Greatest Black Friday deal: Pottery Barn's Small Arm Comfort Glider

picture via potterybarnkids.com

Taylor and I were crazy Black Friday shoppers and we hit the outlet mall around 11:30 pm on Thursday night. I was thinking how out of my mind I was being, but all in all it was not bad! Taylor dropped me off at Pottery barn at 11:35 or so (they opened at midnight) and I was 6th in line! We were in hopes of a crib-- but they did not have a single one in the store! However, Taylor came across the best deal of all!!!! He found the Comfort Arm Glider, without a slipcover, for $99.00! The chair is regularly $819.00 + $99.00 delivery from the store or catalog.... we paid $90.00 total. The chair was priced $99, then we were given 10% off for being early birds! Well worth the 10 minute drive from my parent's house and waiting in line for about 15 minutes! Needless to say-- we were pretty excited about that find and saved ourselves a big chunk of change!!!

One holiday down, one more to go! We are getting geared up for Christmas around here! Check back soon for decoration ideas, gift ideas and recipes for Christmas!

The greatest Thanksgiving story

Have you ever heard of Sarah Hale?? Chances are, you have not... this is my favorite part of the "history" or lesson behind Thanksgiving. I loved reading this story to my class and was shocked myself, because I never knew about this woman until a few days ago! My students had never heard of her either...

Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (October 24, 1788 - April 30, 1879) was an American writer and an influential editor. She is the author of the nursery rhyme"Mary Had a Little Lamb". She famously campaigned for the creation of the American holiday known as Thanksgiving, and for the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument.

via wikipedia

I just wanted to share the highlight of my Thanksgiving week so far!

25 Weeks and a CELEBRATION

This week marks our 25th week in pregnancy and a big ol' celebration for Taylor who was sworn into the State Bar of Texas... because he did indeed pass the bar exam!!! Here are a few pictures of our weekend!

No belly picture this week, but trust me... it's growing at a rapid rate! Luke is still very very very active and now we can see his movement and not just feel it! According to my app he is 131/2 inches long and weighing in at over a pound and a half!

24 Weeks

Halloween came and went... here are a few pictures from our little gathering at home with my friend Courtney. I loved having trick or treaters. This was our first year to be able to pass out candy. We had a great time!

This week, we are 24 weeks along! Mr. Luke is active, but I can tell when he is asleep (at least I think so). I am growing rapidly these days. All of a sudden my belly popped! I am now wearing maternity jeans and have been for a couple of weeks. I did buy some tops this week, they are much better! All of my other tops were becoming too short!

This week was also the first time I was asked about being pregnant in public... It was from the man doing my pedicure, a little odd, but he asked my due date! So funny to me that it was a man because I always thought it would be some cute mom in Target with advice for me. ha ha!!

So here it is... the bump at 24 weeks!

p.s. This weekend I baked one recipe from pinterest. I am sure you have seen them... smores crescent rolls! They were delicious! I highly recommend you try them out asap!!

23 weeks and a little organization

Taylor and I were extremely productive this weekend and got our kitchen

O-R-G-A-N-I-Z-E-D!

I do not have before pictures to you because it was bad, very bad. Needless to say, we spent some money and a lot of time tackling this project. It feels so much better. We are little by little making room for our little man and all of the things he will need.

We did some nesting this weekend and shopped for Luke! My grandma sent us a package of some goodies. I loved it all and it is in the washing machine as we speak. A closet full of clean clothes and blankets sound like a perfect plan. I know we still have plenty of time.... but I am planner!

Tomorrow is Halloween and we are having my friend Courtney over. My one project for that was this pumpkin cooler. I am sure you guys have seen it on Pinterest. Taylor cut off the top of a pumpkin and ripped out the guts. I lined it foil to keep their beer from

feeling slimy! Hopefully it stays cold for a couple of hours!!

via Pinterest: Nicole Anderson

This is my 23rd week... and here is a picture. Luke is active, very very active. Taylor was able to feel a little movement this week as well. I wish he could feel everything that I feel!

(not sure why my picture has such a shadow)

Happy Halloween!!

22 weeks

I am falling behind on my weekly posts! Taylor and I have been so very very busy the past couple of weeks and are finally relaxing! Just to fill you in, this is now my 22nd week! I have officially gained 10 pounds as of last Friday! That is much better than my 5.5 pounds in a 3 week period!

My glucose test is coming up and I am a little nervous about that! If you have any advice or tips on that orange drink, please let me know!! I do not have a picture from last week or this week, but next week I will make up for it! I have definitely started to feel Little Luke moving around, that is such a cool feeling!

On another note... Have you guys seen Stove top potpourri on pinterest?? Well, I have pinned it on my DIY board and I made it yesterday! Our house smells a lot like the holidays and I love it! Here is the link to the blog with the recipe:

http://www.make-it-do.com/make-it/the-smells-of-the-season/

You've got to try it! I love it!!

20 Weeks and little Halloween Decor

The weather is beginning to feel more and more like fall... it's so enjoyable! Since I was in the "fall" mood, Taylor and I went to the local Farmer's market for some pumpkins! I have found so many cute Halloween ideas on Pinterest and decided to remake my own version of this...

Of course my version is just as gorgeous as this... yeah right! But, it is my style: simple! We took some plant urns that we have had for a few years and spray painted them black. We had to stuff the planters with newspaper to lift the pumpkins for a better view! Then Taylor cut holes into the bottom of the pumpkins so that they carefully stacked on top of each other!

And then we had these simple and cute little Halloween Decorations for our driveway!

Next week, I will have to share a better picture-- outside of my dirty garage!

Onto more important topics... Baby Luke is now 20 weeks along! He is the size of a banana; which is really for me to grasp because that is pretty big to be inside of my belly! He is about 10 inches from head to toe and is weighing about 6.5 ounces. I am not sure how much weight I have gained, but I did cave and buy some maternity pants for work. They are so comfy! I look so different in each outfit so it's funny but, my belly looks a lot smaller this week than it was looking last week!

Have a great week!

19 Week update

Today, I am actually 19 weeks and 6 days... after a visit to the doctor I learned that I was a little off on my calendar! I cannot believe that I am sharing this with the blog world, but I have officially gained weight! 5.5 pounds in 3 weeks to be exact. YIKES! Although, I was not a Skinny Minnie before-- I still feel like my body looks "regular" and my face is holding the weight! ha ha ha. Here is my 19 week picture!

If you follow me on Pinterest, you might notice all of the boy stuff I have added to my Baby A board. It is so much more fun knowing the gender and being able to specific when shopping and planning the nursery!

On a side note, I am getting the house decorated for Halloween... a little at a time! Here is a sneak peek at our mantle!

I love Halloween & will hopefully get around to adding on just a bit to the decor!

Well...

I am a boy and my name is Luke!

18 weeks!!!

Today, we are 18 weeks along! The big gender reveal appointment is on Wednesday and we are soooooo excited! We also went nursery furniture shopping today and here is what we like so far...

This is the all around theme I am hoping for in a nursery. The above dresser and crib can be custom ordered in many finishes. We plan on going with an eggshell white, then adding color with the decor and bedding.

images via pinterest

On a side note here are our top name picks:

Boy:

Luke

Avery

Girl:

Emma

Ava

We are still on the hunt for names, so I will update the list as needed!

Here I am at 18 weeks

We are growing!

Where do you Shop?

Kelly @ Kelly's Korner is hosting a link party this weekend on shopping! The big question is where do you shop online??? I am partial to a certain boutique-- Bedazzled Boutique, my mom's store. I practically own everything she sells. I love it all. Her website is www.buybedazzled.com, or you can find more items on facebook at Bedazzled Boutique.

Here are a few items that my mom carries:

Check it out! I do not know where I would shop otherwise!!!

17 Weeks...

This week, we are 17 weeks into our pregnancy. So far, so good. Nothing major to report... no weight gain, belly looks the same and I am still eating just like I always have. People that I know who are just as far along as I am, having the cutest baby bumps and look pregnant. So, I am waiting for that still... My picture this week is BAD. I look big all over and I am not really looking that way at all. Funny how the camera adds pounds so generously :) I guess I am gaining it all in my arms, booty and legs. lovely.

The baby is weighing around 3.5 ounces and is about 5 inches long. That's about as big as the size of the palm of your hand. I am ready for our gender appointment, on the 28th! I am thinking the baby is a girl. Taylor is thinking the baby is a boy. We will see!

Baby A 16 weeks

As you all know, Today is the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Taylor and I have been glued to the TV all morning. It has all been so moving. My favorite scene was watching people at Ground Zero trace their loved ones names. My 2nd most favorite thing about today was this commercial, paid for by State Farm insurance. I love it!!

And a little Baby A Update:

Today we are 16 weeks along! The baby is about the size of an avocado and weighs 3.5 ounces. My total weight gain is 1 pound so far! So, I am feeling great. We are scheduled for a gender revealing ultra sound on September 28th. I cannot wait for that appointment!

Baby Bump so far...

Doily Table Runner

Wayyyyy back in July I did a simple project for a birthday gift.... My

friend Sarah posted this picture on her pinterest and I loved it so I was on a mission to A.) buy this table runner or B.) Make it myself if I could find enough doilies.

image via pinterest.com

Pretty cute, huh?? I sure thought so.

I headed out to one of my local/ favorite antique malls an

d in one of the booths was a huge basket of doilies. Each one for $1... a buck... a single... uno dollar! So, I stocked up and grabbed as many different patterns and sizes as I possibly could!

We laid out all of the doilies and tries to create a good pattern for a table runner. Here is the final product. We ( My Sewing helper, Kathy) hand stitched the doilies to each other on the corners. It was quite the fragile thing, so I tried my best to be gentle.

The picture is so dark, but trust me...

the table runner turned out to be one cute little project!

Linking up to: