chapters of our life

it's a love story, baby just say yes...

2012-02-08T10:46:00.000-08:00

i have jumped on the band wagon to link up with becky over at frommrstomoma!!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

billy and i started dating 6 years ago...

{our first picture together}

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

billy and i actually met at a bar! i went with a friend that i hadn't ever gone out with before and she introduced us. for me it was love at first site, something about his smile and eyes caught my eye instantly! even before he walked over! and he was so sweet, he bought us all shots, ha! us gals had gotten to the bar really late as it was a last second casual night turned into a lets go to the bar night. we were only at the bar an hour before close so i wasn't intoxicated at all, my mind was clear as could be. on the way home i asked my friend for his number when we left the bar and i texted him that night! we texted back and forth for quite a while and we decided to hang out the following night! he came over to my house to watch a movie {little miss sunshine} and we had wine {from a box}. i can still remember exactly what he was wearing when i met him at the bar and i remember what he wore the first time he came over! he came over an hour later than he said he was going to so i was all worried but everything worked out perfect. from then on we we were official, we hung out every single night! :)

3. How long have you been married?

we have been married for a year and a half - august 14, 2010

{our wedding}

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?

we were married in my parents backyard! it was a very small wedding with only both of our immediate families. my parents and siblings and his parents and his sister and her family. the wedding was short and sweet AND totally perfect! i couldn't have imagined it to be any better {except having my nephew there}. one of billy's great friends married us, he got ordained just for the occasion. we all hung out for a few hours after the 5 minute ceremony, had dinner and a few cocktails.

{cheers to spending forever together}

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

i almost always call billy honey, or daddyB, BB, daddy bear.....billy doesn't really have nick-names for me, sometimes he calls me momma bear and once in a great while calls me baby.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

1. he is the best daddy i could ever ask for for cullen, i completely admire him for how he is with our baby boy.

2. he is a dreamer {me a realist} and i think this really balances us out. if it weren't for him being the dreamer that he is i wouldn't be a stay at home mom right now. he works so incredibly hard for our family and i will be forever greatful for him! i think along with being a dreamer another word that would describe him is confident, if he wasn't confident in himself he wouldn't be running the business he is running right now. i believe in all he does as well and i think he does everything he does for us which shows me and reminds me daily just how much he loves us.

3. his sense of humor! billy can always make me laugh and smile! i absolutely LOVE that about him! he is silly and goofy, he dances and sings, he is just a fun guy to be around. and it also doesn't hurt that he isn't too hard on the eyes....i will forever be attracted to my husband. love his face {and butt}!

overall, billy's personalty and my personalty work out just great. do we have a perfect relationship, no but who does! we know how to push each others buttons but we know how to have fun and appreciate and respect each other!

7. Tell us how he proposed?

billy proposed to me in our basement! billy went to my parents house and asked for permission while i was out running errands, he had my mom, dad and sister all in tears. of course they approved. i had no idea he went over there or was planning to ask for permission. i got home around 6 and him and I talked and had a drink and snacks until about 8 and then he brought me downstairs where I have a "vision board" which is a poster board of a collage of pictures of the goals and dreams you want in your life. he talked about it and how thankful he was to have me all the while fighting the tears, it was very emotional, then he got down on his knee and i started crying, then he asked. i, of course, said yes ;)

it was very sweet and couldn't have been more perfect in our house. we are home bodies and we put pretty much everything we have back into our house so there was no place better for him to ask me. after we went to my parents house for champagne. my mom met me at the door right when we walked in. everyone was there to congratulate us. the night was perfect!

{my original engagement ring, i had a few tears trading it in}

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

neither....last year he got me a gift certificate to get a pedicure! he gave me so much of a gift certificate to get the pedicure that i was told to bring my mom and sister with! here is the sad part, i still have not gotten said pedicure!! :( i have the gift certificate upstairs. maybe i will go with my mom and sister this weekend!!

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

we are for sure home bodies! billy is gone so much that when he is not working we like to just be at home, especially now that we have our culley! billy loves being able to just hang out and play toys with C! if we do go out to eat it's usually us meeting at buffalo wild wings, wings are billy's favorite and bw's is the perfect place for us to go with cullen. he loves all the tv's! always entertained :)

back in the day pic, see we love wings...

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

we would love to go on a vacation!! we have never left minnesota together! neither of us have been on a vacation in years. we want to go to turks and caicos and hopefully some day take cullen to the do most magical place, disney world! we always talk about taking a trip so hopefully we will be able to some day!

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

as of right now, we have no plans. i'm guessing we will have a dinner night at home with our culley bear. we are all about being a family and spending as much time together as we can, our time always seems so limited and c bear is almost ONE!

{our lil family}

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

nope, just time with my two valentines daddyB and sweetC!

{my loves}

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

in my opinion, showing affection is a major thing! if you are in a relationship with someone and never kissing, hugging, having "fun" in the bedroom then why be in a relationship? that along with supporting each other, being each others best friend and of course always remember to say, i love you...

{my best friend}

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

{melt my heart}

{and they lived happily ever after forever and ever}

thanks for hosting this fun link up ms. becky!!

who cares what punxsutawney phil says....

2012-02-06T15:25:00.000-08:00

i'm over winter and ready for spring! i shouldn't complain because minnesota has so far had a mild winter. that being said, our winter doesn't end until march/april. it really doesn't matter what that little gopher (ground hog) thing says because in minnesota no matter what we will have another 6 weeks of winter.

BUT i'm just ready for spring!

i want to play outside with culley!

i feel like we are cooped up 5-6 out of the 7 days a week. it's time to get out and have fun! speaking of getting outside and playing, momma's what outdoor toys do you recommend? we do not have a yard but we have plenty of safe play area out front of our home for cullen to play. we will be going to the park a lot for swinging and sliding!

now, back on track to why i even started writing this post...

SPRING COLORS

(according to pantone)

i am LOVING all these colors!!

i went to the mall over the weekend and i found a couple items in some of the above colors. i really like the cockatoo and margarita colors so i need to find some clothes in those colors. i didn't see anything in those colors out yet and i also didn't see this chart until after i went to the mall but i did happen to buy a few things from the pantone spring colors. i actually looked up the color chart up on sunday trying to decide on what nail polish colors to buy ;)

keep in mind now that i'm no fashionista nor do i claim to be. like most girls, i just like to shop!

here are a couple things i found at francesca's and express...

(this shirt is more of the cabaret color)

apparently i'm not good at photographing clothes, ha!

tango and driftwood

tango

i'm not sure what this fabric is but i love it, so soft

driftwood mixed with white

again, that soft fabric

this green color isn't on the color chart but i think this color is so pretty, i'll be wearing both the below shirts still this winter.

emerald green

fern green

lastly, staple colors in my closet, white and black.

i have worn this already with leggins, it's long and very comfy.

majority of my closet is black and gray. i need more color!

now, how come i have never heard of francesca's?

i must live in a bubble.

do ya'll shop there or have you at least heard of it?

i just happened to go in there and they have the cutest tops and their prices are awesome!

i was just there and can't wait to go back! so many cute shirts, dresses, bracelets....everything, adorable!!

express has always been a staple store in my book. only thing i don't like about express, everyone shops there (at least in MN). i don't really have other set stores i shop at, if i go in somewhere and i see something i like and it's reasonably priced, i'll get it. i have some boutiques in my area as well that i love to shop at.

what are some of your favorite places to shop?

since i plan to get out of the house a lot more once the warmer weather comes around i decided to be prepared and grab a couple cute shirts. i wear a lot of tanks in the summer as well so i'll be stocking up on those soon.

i live in comfy clothes all week, including leggins or yogas and a cami on a daily basis.

thankfully hubs is in his hockey warm ups almost daily so i feel like we are even when it comes to daily wardrobe, ha!

i'm not sure what i want to buy for bottoms when it comes to pants, jeans, jeggins, leggins, shorts for spring/summer....

i have no idea what is in style?

i would LOVE an awesome pair of white jeans/pants but with having a one year old (OMG, can you believe cullen is almost ONE!!) i don't know if that's such a great idea.

i also know floral patterns are big for this spring as well! i saw some at express but nothing really caught my eye.

i didn't leave culley out from our shopping trip either.

he got some new stretchies!

children's place always has the cutest jammies!! a lot of cullen's pj's are carter's fleece and he gets way too hot in them so we had to stock up on some lighter weight CP's stretchies. too cute...

p.s. after reading this post do you think i'm as scattered brain as i think i am?! ;)

and what was up with all the hyundai commercials during the super bowl? are they taking over the world?

Sneakpeeq GIVEAWAY!

2012-02-05T08:10:00.000-08:00

I have been contacted by sneakpeeq to start working with them! I checked out their site and was surprised by all the fun products! It seems like everything goes quick though! I saw something I wanted and went back later in the day and they were sold out. If you see something you want I would suggest grabbing it up right away!

Sneakpeeq came to me with an opportunity to host a giveaway for them for ya'll!!

For this sneakpeeq giveaway everyone is a winner!

Sneakpeeq is giving away 20% off your next purchase just for entering!

The Grand Prize: one winner will receive a $15 gift card to use on your favorite food, style and home products—that goes a long way in sneakpeeq’s amazingly low-priced boutiques!

Come see all the things you love but haven’t discovered. Sneakpeeq only has new products that you have never seen before! Hurry on over and enter the giveaway by clicking on this link: http://bit.ly/yddyMA and joining sneakpeeq!

If you enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on my blog so I can pick the winner. You are required to go through the link to enter as well because that is how you sign up for sneakpeeq!

The winner will be announced on my blog on February 20, 2012!

Best wishes to all!

our little stud...

2012-02-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

I think you all know by now we are a hockey family! I'll probably be a crazy hockey mom some day, at least that's my plan ;) I already have a hand painted wine glass that says "hockey mom".

Also, pretty sure you all know we own our own hockey business, that hubby runs, hockeyshape.

SO, of course we had to get Cullen in skates! Even if they are just crochet skates! He actually wore them first for his newborn pictures! The pictures above were taken on his 9 month birthday. I can't believe how quick time goes :( Cullen is at such a fun age right now though and he is still just the happiest baby ever!!

Want to know where you can get adorable skates and hockey pants for your little one?!

Sue, the owner of Irish Hooks & Yarn sent Cullen the adorable pants!

We had previously bought the adorable crochet skates!

Sue makes TONS of other adorable items and she is offering free shipping to all of you! Promo code is FREESHIPPING.

Here are a couple items she makes...

That is just a sneak peak! Head over to Irish Hooks and Yarn to see what else she has to offer!

Happy Friday!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

cute shirt alert with free shipping...

2012-01-30T06:02:00.000-08:00

Valentine's day is February 14th which is only a little over 2 weeks away! I found a cute shop on Etsy, of course, that had lots of adorable designs! Once specifically caught my eye because I hadn't seen it anywhere else. The store I found is...

Autumn at Cutesy Custom Kids makes "personalized and embroidered apparel for kids of all ages. Our goal is to make a quality product at reasonable prices so that EVERYONE can afford that cutesy boutique look".

She made Cullen the most adorable Valentine's Day shirt! I can't wait to get it! Here is the design I choose...

here is the back of the shirt....

how cute is that?! i LOVE it!!! i can't wait for it to arrive and for C to wear it!

So here is the good news for YOU, she is offering FREE SHIPPING!! I recommend that you "like" her Facebook page and go check out all the adorable, fun and unique items she has! There are only a few items in her Etsy store but don't let that fool you! She has so much more to offer!

Valentine's Day shirt for girls...

AND there are many others for little ladies! here is another option for boys...

Momma's if you want a Valentine's Day shirt for your little one or any other shirt or item from her go to her Facebook page and pick out your favorite goodies and send Autumn a message! The code for FREE SHIPPING is "shipfromannie". Now hurry and go place your order especially if you want a Valentine's Day shirt for your little one in time for Valentine's Day!

Here are a few more adorable items she has to offer...

or be unique and create your own ideas and Autumn will create the shirt!

She also has big/little brother/sister shirts!!

Autumn also makes these ADORABLE pillow case dresses....

She has hooded towels, baby shoes, burp clothes, koozies....seriously, anything you could ever want for your little one!!

Rush on over and check everything out from CutesySKDesigns and don't forget to use the FREE shipping code "shipfromannie".

Have fun shopping!! :)

baby C thinks a yarn ball is hilarious....

2012-01-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

I gave Cullen a yarn ball to play with the other day for something new to do and my sister was over today and started playing with it with C. It bounced on the floor and he thought it was the funniest thing ever. We started bouncing/rolling it back and forth and C thought it was hilarious! My sis is holding C in the video. Ellen came on TV and Cullen recognized her voice, can't wait until the day he starts dancing with her! haha!! Any day C is not napping during Ellen he watches with me while we play toys on the floor.

Enjoy the Culley giggles!!! He was a hoot to watch! Happy Friday everyone, have a good weekend!! :)

p.s. HUGE blowout sale on TOTSY today!! 90% off tons of item and there are so many cute things, i got a coat and some goodies for cullen!!

waterpark weekend...

2012-01-24T05:57:00.000-08:00

we had one last family christmas, with my mom's side of the family! we went to a new hotel with a waterpark and it was so much fun! my relatives had never met cullen so there was lots of culley lovin' in the air. we had such a great time visiting with everyone. time goes way too quick and then we don't see them again for a year :(
here are some of the pictures i have....

that night at the hotel was the first and only night cullen has slept through the night!! he slept a full 12 hours! wish i would've gotten in on his sleepy time ;) i think i slept 4 hours....but one night a year out with family that you never see, sleep doesn't matter! we needed all the fun time we can get!! :) some were up much later than myself....

it was such a fun weekend with my mom's side of the family!! it was about 100 degrees by the pool so if we appear warmish....red/sweaty, that's why! ;) it was a nice change from the minnesota temps outside though! i was the only adult that ended up under water, thanks to my brother who pushed me in the hot tub! ha! cullen got so many awesome gifts and billy and i walked away with great gifts ourselves! i already am looking forward to next year! wish we had these types of family get togethers multiple times a year!!! too bad we live so far apart :( i'm thankful for the fact that we do stay in touch, the internet makes that easy!! next year my only goal is to get more pictures of EVERYONE! there were 25 of us and i need pics of everyone!

p.s. giveaway winner posted on my giveaway info page!

haven't done this in a long time....

2012-01-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

i'm referring to linking up with someone....

BUT, i have a few free minutes and this link up just happened to sound perfect at the moment....

SO....five question friday here we go!
(i jumped the gun and posted thursday, bada$$)

1. where do you hide the reeeally good snacks?

no where, B doesn't like snacks! i have no need to hide them. this is NOT a good thing! anything i buy snack wise, i know i eat ALL alone! B does not help with this is as he is frequently bringing me home skittles and starbursts in any and all flavors. that man has a different soft of way of showing affection, filling my heart with sweets ;)

2. do you keep your vehicle clean?

YES, i can't stand messy. period, end of story.

3. have you ever been to vegas?

youbetchayourbottomdolla...

holla...

annie as a blonde! i kind of miss being a blonde but the upkeep, no thank ya!

4. warm room light blankets or cold room warm snuggles?

i am in between on this one.

cullen is my beddy buddy and he is a sweaty little man. so, we turn the heat down at night and it's still warmish upstairs. i used to LOVE being cold so i would turn the ceiling fan on high and hide under the blankets but babies bring priorities...

he is numero uno and needs to sleep comfortable :)

he has a blanket and once he falls asleep i swaddle him with it and he's right next to me. i'm the lightest sleeper ever, during the day i'm a walking zombie....

who wouldn't want to sleep right next to this sweet boy?!? ....

vegas to baby...total 180 BUT i love my life RIGHT//NOW! :)

wouldn't trade it for anything.

i'm just waiting for the day...

hubby and i get to go to vegas together!!

5. worst airplane ride?

i don't think i have a WORST plane ride but probably my first plane ride i would consider my worst because i was in 9th grade and i was 14. i had never, ever been on an airplane before and i was flying with my two best friends at the time. my parents let me board an a plane and go to florida with my two best friends for spring break! it was so much fun! we stayed with my friend's aunt. i think i acted very goofy on the plane, due to the nerves.

ya know in tommy boy when he says "there's a fat whale on the boat" well.... us gals had watched tommy boy a million times that year so i started "there's a fat wale on this plane". gave all of us girls the giggles, nervous giggles....

inside joke, had to be there ;)

p.s. happy weekend to you all!!

all kinds of random...

2012-01-17T10:09:00.000-08:00

i love my iphone except the typing part. i've never had a touch screen keypad and i don't care for it all that much. i know eventually i'll get used to it though. the only other complaint i have is that i hardly ever use my camera anymore! :( the phone is so much more convenient to just grab and it takes pretty good pictures. i just think my camera takes much better pics but i'm all about convenience. the phone makes sharing pics with others a lot easier as well. last month i had well over 400 pics of C on my camera and this month i've only got about 50 so far and those are almost all taken with my phone. i need to and want to be better about taking pictures of him with my normal camera instead of my phone camera.

i do have to say i love instagram and sharing pictures on twitter with all of you ladies. i also love looking at everyone else's pictures :)

here are some pics from my phone....

i made another wreath for my cousins....

This wreath is HUGE, I think it's the biggest one I've made and i LOVE how it turned out. We have Christmas with my Mom's side of the family this weekend. I can't wait it's always so much fun!!

culley in his new monster hat!

from BeeBeeKins Etsy store!

probably looking out the window at gussy...

daddy's bf....billy loves tom brady ;)

cullen's goodies from trader joes...

those yogurt starts are delicious!

momma's snack from trader joes...

i have to say, i hadn't been to trader joes in a LONG time but i love that place!

i plan to start going more often.

they have such a huge selection of yummy stuff that target/other grocery stores don't have.

i got all kinds of goodies i can't wait to try out!

and that corn salsa is scrumptious, i'm addicted....reminds me of the corn salsa from chipotle.

super sweet baby C....

i don't have any pictures but i recently made a crockpot recipe i had seen floating around on twitter, cream cheese chicken, it was a hit in our house and beyond easy to make! here is the recipe, i made a few changes....

3 lbs chicken pieces (i used 2.5 pounds of frozen chicken breasts)
1 (2/3 ounce) package Italian salad dressing mix (i used the zesty mix)
4 tablespoons melted butter (divided) (i only put in 1 tbsp of butter)
1 small onion , chopped (no onion, added minced onion)
1 garlic clove , chopped (i used garlic salt)
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of chicken soup (i used low fat cream of celery)
8 ounces cream cheese (i used light cream cheese)
1/2 cup chicken broth (i used bullion cube and 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup of skim milk)

Directions:

1
Place frozen chicken pieces in crock pot and sprinkle Italian seasoning over chicken. Add everything except the cream cheese.

Cook on low for 4-5 hours.

Shred the chicken with two forks and add cream cheese and cook for an additional hour.

Ha, I pretty much did everything differently from the actual recipe BUT it was still delicious and so easy to just throw everything in the crock pot. We had it over bowtie pasta and we both had two servings and there was more than enough leftover. It is a meal we will be making again and again!

Tonight I'm making stuffed peppers! I've never made them before but I've eaten them a few times and I think they are so good, I can't wait for din din. If they are a success I'll share the recipe ;)

p.s don't forget to enter my most recent GIVEAWAY and if you haven't already shopped cullen's closet, be sure to check it out. i can't believe how much i've sold already! thanks so very much ladies!! :)

Ruby Jean Designs - GIVEAWAY & Review

2012-01-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY CLOSED - WINNER WILL BE POSTED 1/23

When I started blogging I was introduced to customized/embroidered items. I've been obsessed with all things embroidered and customized ever since, especially cute kid items! Over at Ruby Jean Designs you will find all sorts of adorable baby/toddler/kids customized items!! I think you will definitely agree with me.

Here are some of my fave's:

burp cloths

from monkey's to robots to owls!
melissa might even do customized pieces for you, so ask if you see something you want!!!

neck tie shirts....

I'm loving these necktie onesies and shirts! Cullen still does not have one of these but every time I see a little guy wearing one I think he MUST have one! They are adorable!!

how precious is this....

& the price, totally awesome!!! Cullen needs one of these ASAP!

personalized pillow door hanger

lastly...

My favorite item from the store, HOODED TOWELS and they are PERSONALIZED!

love at first sight

Melissa was so kind to send Cullen a towel! My little monkey loves bath time and this monkey towel is perfect for him! Babies in hooded towels = adorable! What do ya think...

This towel is big, super soft and cozy! Perfect for baby C! Cullen will be able to use for many years :)

I can't wait to bring it to the hotel with us next weekend and to the pool this Summer!

One lucky reader is going to get an awesome prize!
Melissa is going to give one if you a personalized towel!
Really, Really.....

TO ENTER:

1. Be a follower of my blog

2. Visit Ruby Jean Designs Etsy Store and let me know what you would pick!

3. Heart Ruby Jean Designs on Etsy

4. Follow me on Twitter

5. Tweet about the giveaway
6. Include the giveaway info in a blog post

ONE ENTRY PER COMMENT

LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENTS PER ENTRY

(otherwise they do not count)

GIVEAWAY ENDS - 1/21

GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

p.s. don't forget to check out the new items i added to SHOP CULLEN'S CLOSET :)

favorites...

2012-01-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Cullen and i went to BuyBuyBaby.

That place was like heaven for Momma and Baby C!

dreamy...

Yeah, i took a pic ;) I was so excited when I found out MN had one of these stores!

We found lots of fun stuff!

I have seen some other Momma's sharing what their favorite things are for themselves/their babies so I thought I would do it as well.

I like reading what other Mom's/Baby's like, gives me ideas on stuff that we might need ;)

I would say Cullen's favorite thing to do right now is take a bath!

He LOVES bath time!

This chair makes bath time so much fun for him!

I would recommend it to anyone.

We got these new organic toy cars for bath time at BBB.

soft, colorful and chewable ;)

When it comes to eating Cullen is a disaster area!

I found these bibs at BBB.

No idea why I waited SO long to get water proof bibs!!

They are awesome and they catch all the food that misses C's mouth. They don't need to go through the laundry, just a quick wash them in the sink.

We have found these cups to be C's favorite!

For the longest time we only had the orange cup but I found another one at BBB so he had to have it. Cullen drinks water out of them throughout the day.

Some of Culley's favorite snacks...

The organic puffs from Babies R Us are on sale a lot of the time 3/$5! Such a good deal! The Earth's Best Pop Snax are like mini rice cakes for babies. I break them up a little and Cullen really likes those as well.

My bloggy bestie recommended this product...

Definitely a must have and new favorite item.

Love these 3 items and I use them countless times a day...

I wash my hands, then use the disinfectant and then the lotion.

Not exactly a favorite thing but it works like a charm and I still use it 3 times a day!

medala pump in style

Ladies i'm not sure if you know this but if you need to buy a pump check with your insurance company first and see if they will cover some of the cost. My insurance company covered 80% of my pump! I only had to pay $50 for it!

All my twitter friends recommended this car seat...

we got ours in all black

Cullen outgrew his baby carry cradle (weight wise) when he was 6 months old and this car seat has worked perfect for us. I would also recommend it! It does take rocket science to get it all put together and installed in a car though ;)

Cullen's new walker/activity station from his Grandparents...

So much fun and much safer than a walker, our doctor told us no walkers.

Mesh Bags...

I've filled Cullen's with bananas, peaches, frozen peas, frozen carrots.

The bags flip inside out for easy emptying and washing.

Those are just some of our favorite things that we use on a daily basis! I'm sure there are many things I left out ;)

p.s. don't forget to SHOP CULLEN'S CLOSET

thanks to the ladies who already made purchases!!

p.p.s. i have a GIVEAWAY coming up on friday!

what the...

2012-01-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

we have another christmas coming up in 2 weeks. we all play a gift exchanging game so we have to each bring a gift that costs $25 and it needs to be for anyone there, guy or girl.
i googled unique gifts to attempt to get some ideas because i'm fresh out of ideas. we all almost always bring something kitchen related so this year we said no kitchen appliances, mini donut makers, coffee makers...none of that stuff ;)

here are some of the unique gifs that google came up. none of which i'd gift to anyone but had to share these wacky things with ya'll....

giant gummy bears on a stick, num!

this gift is kind of neat actually but i'm not a fish gal...

a seat cushion that you can fill with beer....or vodka ;)

really, really??

seeing a theme here...

whoever made this list likes to drink ;)

weird....

fancy wine glass ;)

you can flip it upside down and take shots!

all sorts of wrong....

a giant gummy worm! it looks disgusting!

so friends, i need your help...

any $25 gift ideas??

wait a second, you did what....

2012-01-09T05:29:00.000-08:00

yesterday we went to my parents house around noon to have lunch for my dad's 50th birthday! it was a beautiful day, sunny clear skies and above freezing. so not an average minnesota january day. my parent's house smelt delicious right when we walked in the door. there was a big roast and all the fixings along with it in the oven cooking. i recognized the smell, i didn't need to ask what we were having.

not only was it my dad's 50th birthday, it was also my grandparents 50th anniversary! they got married in the afternoon and shortly after my dad was born! they were 16 and 17 then. i think it's amazing that they are 66 and 67 and have been married for 50 YEARS! :) i love them so very much. my grandma and i email and text at least once a week, pretty awesome if you ask me! :)

the only pic i have from yesterday. my dad with his two grand babies....

dominic was being shy and cullen was just about to turn his head.

pretty good pic for having two small children ;)

cullen wore his "grandpa's little helper" shirt for bumpa's bday.

bumpa is what dominic calls my dad, it was how he said grandpa when he started talking and it has stuck, that's what i think culley will call him too :)

also, i think it's funny how cullen looks to be about the same size as dom and he is 4.

anywho....we all hung out and enjoyed our delicious lunch. after lunch we were all in food coma's ;) rob (my brother) and gina left to go check out a little wedding chapel, as they have been talking about wanting to get married after being engaged for over 5 years. i sat at the table and chatted with my mom while culley slept in my her arms, my sis fell asleep, b and my sis's bf were watching football and really getting into it ;), my dad and dominic were outside playing. cullen slept for about an hour and we decided to leave when he woke up. billy loaded him in the car and as he was doing so my brother and gina pulled up. i asked them what they found out about their wedding plans and my brother threw his hand up and said "we just got married"! wait a second, you did what?!? then they told us the short story ;) it was all of 3 minutes. papers signed and it's official! we congratulated them and went on our way.

they have been engaged for over 5 years and baby number 2 is due in march! they are having a boy, holden! dominic is 4 now! i know we all say it and think it too often, time goes SOOOO quick! i'm so glad cullen has cousins to grow up with. i'm still close to some of my cousins and i grew up with them, we always spent a lot of time together.

my family along with gina's family will all be going out to celebrate next weekend! i'm happy for them and i know they are happy to finally feel like they are a complete family. they bought their first house together a few months ago and baby holden will be here before they know it and dominic will be going off to kindergarten next year. wow....

p.s. if you haven't already checked out shop cullen's closet be sure to! i will be adding a bunch more clothes today! if you ordered something it is being shipped today :)

phone photo dump....

2012-01-06T09:47:00.000-08:00

cutie pa-tootie...

sweet C face at bed time!

C falling asleep at night holding momma's thumb, love my C boo...

bubble bubble bubble, guppy, guppy, guppy...

what it might be like to have twins....

baby C and baby A, doin what we do all day. play toys!!

favorite thing to do right now....BEAT on momma's macbook! nothing brings him greater pleasure than getting his sweet little fingers on it....

peas in a mesh bag! he won't eat baby food peas but loves them out of the mesh bag!

made my first ever omelette for billy last night...it was HUGE! he must've liked it, it was gone this morning.

again, holding momma's finger to fall asleep :)

lastly, love his silly faces....poor thing always get blinded by the flash

identity...

2012-01-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

these days being a MOM is who and how i am categorized as. i'm not annie, i'm not billy's wife, i'm no longer an emplyee, i'm cullen's mom. i feel like my identity has changed so much in the past year that i can hardly keep up. sometimes i struggle with this.

my life as a "stay at home mom" isn't all glitter and gold. i've recently started watching another baby, she is 6 months old. i never thought i'd be be a stay at home nor an at home mom watching someone else's baby. i'm very thankful to be able to spend my days with cullen though and i wouldn't change it!

my identity went from billy's girlfriend, to fiance, to wife, to the prego, to cullen's momma, to at stay at home mom, to a stay at home mom who is also caring for another baby. on top of doing everything else around the house....all those changes happened within a year and a half. i loved every step along the way.

i worked at the same job, a law firm, for 9 years. i liked my job. i never called in "sick", i actually didn't mind waking up and going to work. i enjoyed the people i worked with and just my job in general. btw, that job is where i got into blogging! anytime i happened to have free time or a break i would read blogs and comment like no other ;) i LOVED reading blogs. i was able to develop a lot of friendships through blogging. these days i turn to my favorite blog friend before i even do my "real life" friends. sometimes it's just easier that way, she doesn't judge and if we ever got to actually hang out you'd find us with a bottle of vodka, probably watching trash tv. haha!!

i read blogs for about a year before i started my own and once billy and i were engaged i decided to start my own. that was a whole new chapter in my life, one i would be enjoying with another and spending my life with and it was the perfect time to start my own blog. never did i think anyone would read it.

we've had our ups and downs just like any other couple. i'm sure i've blogged about some of them. life isn't all peaches and cream. life is real, it's hard and difficult and blissful and full of love all at the same time. every day is different, at least for me, no matter what. i'm grateful i have cullen's sweet face to looke at, he is my sunshine and i couldn't imagine my life without him. nor could i imagine my life without cullen's daddy, billy has stood by me always.

i gave up a job that i really enjoyed after 9 years for the next and best chapter of my life, to be an at home momma to our CULLEN. he is my life. my whole life. i haven't been away from cullen for more than 5 hours and that was only because my kidneys were failing me. had there been an open hospital room i would have been away from him much longer....everything happens for a reason.

life is so incredibly different these days. i knew i was giving up a lot yet gaining a lot by being a stay at home mom but i don't think there is anything that can prepare you for it. i have been a full time working gal since i was 16, a lot of the time working more than one job and always babysitting in my free time. i have always worked and made money and have always had pretty much anything i felt i needed. not too the extreme though, i don't buy much name brand clothes, shoes, purses or makeup. i have always been a bargain shopper, target was my favorite place to shop. i knew staying at home i'd have to give up any and all of my shopping habits, including my guilty pleasure, TARGET! i haven't been to target in over a month! i used to go 2-3 times a week. looking back i wish i would've stayed out of that place ;) can't believe how much money we would have saved. life is a lot different going from two salaries to owning your own business.

things have gone differently than planned but tell god you planned your life and he'd probably just laugh ;) billy has new clients all the time and an awesome following of people who love what he does and who believe in him. makes my heart happy, my husband has a following of people who believe in what he does, how awesome is that?! i'm a proud wife. billy is an entrepreneur and he is determined to make it. he is always coming up with new and better ideas on how to run the business. i love his dedication to work and to making things work.

life is different but it is still good great i miss billy a lot of the time, i wish he were home more with our culley, i miss having a job some days, i miss being a "professional".....BUT the bottom line is, I AM CULLEN'S MOM, a professional momma :) and i feel i deserve this position in life and it is the best thing ever. it is hard on B and I. especially since he works so much and we usually don't talk during the day. but it's what we decided TOGETHER. you never know what life will bring, negative or positive. you must take each day as it is given to you :)

i think this post probably bounced all over the place but i didn't type it all at once and my thoughts are always all over the place! ha!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2012-01-01T08:33:00.000-08:00

I am a bit behind on blogging. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! We certainly did, it was so much fun to watch Cullen rip into all his gifts! Here are a couple pics...

our attempt at a family pic....

I created a new page - SHOP CULLEN'S CLOSET - the prices are all reasonable and I am willing to take offers! If you know anyone with a baby boy or having a baby boy make sure you pass along the word! I have a ton more clothes to add so check back often :) A lot of the clothes were worn once or not at all.

I have some fun giveaways coming up this year! I'm going to attempt to post more often and start reading blogs again as well! I miss keeping up with everyone!

I'm spending today and tomorrow with my C boo and then baby A comes back full time so I need to soak up all the alone time with my C that I can right now. I love our alone time and miss the days of just him and I.

Best wishes to everyone for 2012!!!

photos on friday....

2011-12-23T07:36:00.000-08:00

my pops got me the new iphone last week!! i'm so thankful to have such loving and generous parents! they do SO VERY MUCH for us, i appreciate them so very much!! that's a lot of "SO's" but i really mean it!

i have been taking more pics than normal since i have this fancy new phone ;) i love instagram and the different ways you can edit pics! so much fun!! here are some pictures from this past week that i've taken....

i finished wrapping all the presents, they are pretty much ALL for culley! the rest of the gifts are on the other side of the tree.

i took pics of culley with lights. i kept seeing others do this so i had to!!

culley and i haven't seen much of billy lately. he has been working extra long hours almost every day. we miss our daddy bear oh so much but of course appreciate all his hard work. one of his games was actually in our city on saturday! culley and i went to the hockey game and after we went to lunch with some hockey family friends. C played some skeeball, i guess he was just giggling like crazy because of all the fun red balls but of course once i went over by him with the camera he stopped ;)

me, just hanging....i have a lot of alone time so i get bored sometimes. i share what's on my mind with my twitter friends ;)

Culley turned 8 MONTHS on Wednesday!!! my how time flies! he is constantly on the move, he rolls everywhere...he was ready to get going right here hence the blurry pic ;) he leans to the side and boom, he's down and rollin...

this little toy plays christmas music & cullen is terrified of it!! especially the tail! he literally screamed at it the second he could see it. i found it humorous, that might make me a mean mom but come on, it's a cute stuffed animal. we only showed it to him a few times...

and now our poor lil culley bear has either his first cold or his teeth are really bothering him. stuffy nose, slight cough and he is just not a happy camper. wish i could take away his pain. it's so hard to see your baby suffer. he is happy one minute and crying the next. right now he is sitting next to me eating puffs and just hanging out :)

lastly, my ginger bread baby's cute lil booty....

love him to pieces!!!

well, christmas vacation just started and it is about C's bedtime so we are off to do jammie time and hop into bed for lots of cuddles!

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you ALLLLLL!!!

i am starting a 10 day "vacation" ;) woo hoo!

wordless wednesday....

2011-12-21T05:36:00.000-08:00

what we've been up to wednesday.....

2011-12-14T08:37:00.000-08:00

life sure is different these days, especially when compared to last year, to last month, to last week....

not all that much to say but here are some pictures of sweet culley bear!!

wearing some of his christmas jammies!

and of course cullen is on the nice list!

cullen (my little elf) and i before running errands...

that closet above is indeed the slimmest linen closet ever although it does surprising hold A LOT!! ;)
such a big boy....

we went to gma and gpa's on saturday evening to make cookies, have dinner and hang out...

some of our undecorated cookies...

dominic was there too!

on sunday we went to daddy's teams hockey game and had some bw's for din...

on monday culley was a hungry dino ;) he was even wearing dino shoes!

cullen seems to be over the cuddly phase already :( the past two evenings he was all about only sleeping on me i took advantage of cuddle time while my sweet boy slept!! :)

cullen is not into fruit, he only likes certain veggies so i decided to introduce him to 'meat', he had this jar of chicken and sweet potato baby food and it was definitely a winner, winner chicken dinner meal!!! :) i keep trying fruits and different veggies with him but he is so picky. he will purse his lips, scrunch his face and look down. it seems to be hit or miss on when and if cullen will eat anything but his momma's milk. i did just recently introduce him to veggie puffs, yogurt melts and veggie crunchies (cheetos). he loves them all!! :) and i love watching him eat everything.

i'm attempting to get more into the christmas spirit and wrap presents today. i am so excited for billy and i to celebrate christmas with cullen! we've wanted a baby for as long as i can remember so it makes this christmas all that more special.

tonight we're going to my parents house to decorate all those cookies we baked. i can't wait to eat some ;) hope everyone is having a great week!

p.s. if you follow me on twitter you've probably already seen most of these pics ;)

** did you all see the awesome deal on Plum District today?! For $25 receive a $50 gift card to resturant.com AND a $25 giftcard to TARGET!! http://www.plumdistrict.com/d/tdazMn?ref=ub3bc8896fb8&ref_deal=tdazMn - you should also be able to get an additional 10% off with the code 'fabulous' and if you are new to Plum District you can get $5 off!!

ginger bread baby...

2011-12-05T06:18:00.000-08:00

oh the faces culley made when touching the tree for the first time....

so in LOVE with this sweet face :)

culley likes his singing santa! i can't wait to see if he likes the real santa!

Chirp & Bloom

2011-12-04T07:40:00.000-08:00

My friend Jenn has started a new business, Chirp & Bloom! You should all go check out her blog today and enter her fabulous giveaway!!! :)

Jenn is so creative and has all kinds of fun designs!

I love everything :)

Oh, Jenn also has an ADORABLE baby boy! Reminds me of my Cullen, especially since they pretty much have the exact same wardrobe ;)

wordless wednesday....

2011-11-30T08:37:00.000-08:00

gobble gobble...

2011-11-28T06:19:00.000-08:00

here are some pics from our turkey day weekend!

sweet baby blue eyes...

is a lil turkey butt...

he's also the happiest baby....

cullen eyeing his feet, deciding which toes he wants to eat..

turkey day table at my parents house...

i forgot to take a pic of our delicious meal, oops...

nephew dominic with a turkey....

my brother, gina and dom....they are expecting baby holden in march!!

sweet boy...

my mom and culley, i love this picture. wish it wasn't blurry...

it was a beautiful day outside, usually by thanksgiving in MN we have LOTS of snow...

cousins - dom was playing the piano for cullen. C was fascinated with him, he kept touching him...

my sis and her bf....

my dad playing with the boys while the rest of us played a game....he is known as the baby stealer ;)

culley enjoyed his thanksgiving feast. sweet potatoes and bananas...

C had a few outfit changes, haha. end of the night jammies....

we had a great thanksgiving :) hope ya'll did too!!

WINNERS!

2011-11-27T15:13:00.000-08:00

The winner of the Wild Juniper giveaway is:

PattyAnn

The winner of the 4 coupons for Hormel coupons (for free side dishes) is:

Little Woman

CONGRATS!!

I have more giveaways coming up after the holidays!!!
So be sure to come on back and keep on entering :)

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!!

fakesgiving....

2011-11-23T14:11:00.000-08:00

i've never cooked a turkey before.

i really have no desire to.

digging guts out, finding an animals organs...gag me.

on that note, i do love to eat turkey. ha!

i just like it best when my mom cooks it ;)

that being said, i decided to have my parents over for a fakesgiving last wednesday night.

a fakesgiving including some thanksgiving day faves and a ham!

wednesday is our family night to watch survivor and i had a quick and easy meal planned thanks to hormel!

here are all the goodies i had...

everything was so simple to throw together!

i threw the ham in a crockpot and let it slow cook for 3 hours.

i kept coating it in brown sugar..

every time i would lift the lid, the smoke would come out and the smell was amazing!

to go along with the simple prep of our meal, hormel was kind enough to send me coupons to purchase their country crock side dishes!

in the first photo the 4 tubs in the right are the dishes i chose.

i made the 2 tubs of loaded mashed potatoes.

just pop the tubs in the microwave and heat up for 5 minutes.

they tasted homemade!

i saved the two other country crock side dishes to bring to my parents for our actual thanksgiving meal!

the side dishes just have to be kept in your fridge and they have a shelf life of over a month.

whipping together green bean casserole is so easy as well...

2 cans of green beans

1 can of cream of celery

splash of milk

mix together and bake for 20 minutes at 350

sprinkle on onions and cook another 5

i made some rhodes frozen rolls as well.

these rolls were so strange, well to me at least.

i've never bought them before and i'm so glad i read the package when i got home.

they are frozen rolls and they have to sit at room temperature for around 4 hours to rise.

easy enough though!

can you tell which one cullen touched ;)

before i popped them into the oven to bake for 25 mins i put some butter and garlic salt on them!

everything is better with butter and garlic!

the meal was very easy to make and there wasn't hardly any prep!

once everything was baked we had a buffet style line and we all dug in.

everything was so yummy and just a tease for thanksgiving feast!

i had apple pie and blackberry pie but we ate too much dinner to have dessert.

i can't wait for turkey day!!

big THANK YOU to hormel for allowing me to cook this quick and easy fakesgiving!!

culley hung out with us in a pair of his gooble gooble jammies, just for the fakesgiving occasion ;)

Hormel wants to lighten the load of your holiday food prep as well and offer ONE of YOU coupons for their yummy side dishes!!

Four $3.50-off Hormel™ Country Crock® side dishes coupons to help make your holiday meals a cinch to prepare – valued at nearly $20!

*leave a comment below to be entered*

winner will be picked in the next few days!
CLOSED

i hope you all have a very happy thanksgiving!!!

[i received four coupons for the country crock side dishes and a $25 gift card to buy the ham and some of the other goodies]

well, it finally happened....

2011-11-22T06:19:00.000-08:00

it was inevitable...
i mean, we do live in the frozen tundra...
yep, i'm talking about snow...
we had our first snow fall of the season on saturday.

i dislike snow...
i dislike being cold...
i dislike wet socks from stepping on melted snow...
ya know, right after you take your shoes off from coming in from outside...
ugh, wet socks are icky.

i can say one positive thing about the first snow fall of the season....
i know this cute baby...
cute baby's, handsome daddy got him all bundled up in a snow suit...
then put a red and white striped hat on his head...

put the cute baby in the snow pile....

happy cute baby in the snow...

makes his momma smile :)

on saturday morning when tiny flurries were falling C and i went to the mall...
we got there right when it opened...
there was not even a line for santa...
as we walked past i so badly wanted to let C visit him...
but that is one of the "firsts" that daddy has to be with us for...
we both just took in the scenery...
we went to the few stores we needed to visit...
christmas outfits were bought...
and we were on our way...

we headed home as the snow was really starting to come down...
while at home all nice n' cozy in our comfies...
i got a call from B that his car wouldn't move on the road...
having performance tires on slick roads don't mix...
said car had to get towed....
boo.

sunday the sun was shinning...
the snow not melting...

we spent all day inside in comfies...

well, until we went to my parents for family dinner...
wouldn't want to miss that, family time is the best.

monday...
oh monday, november 21st...
said cute little baby mentioned above...
he turned 7 months old...

time, please slow down.

now its tuesday...

i received my first tasks for my part time job....

time to brew up some coffee...

and get to work!

p.s. don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY!!

Wild Juniper - GIVEAWAY, Discount and Review!!

2011-11-21T06:22:00.000-08:00

CLOSED
I came across Wild Juniper when I was looking for some winter onesies for Cullen. I fell in love with so many of the items in their store. Erin and Rachel are the Mom's who run Wild Juniper, here is a little bit about them in their words...

We are first-time moms who are figuring out how this whole mommy thing works. How can we live in a way that inspires our kids? We want to live fearlessly and creatively, while still honoring our families. We love our kids and can't believe how great this adventure is (though it can sure be stressful!) Not only do we love our new role as "momma", we love to create. Creating gives a sense of purpose. As my hands move, my mind rests. There is an amazing sense of accomplishment in seeing what can be created from an old t-shirt, that pre-baby skirt, a beautiful yard of fabric, an old frame, a chair found at a thrift store....

We want to add embellishment, creativity, and originality to our lives, and we want to share it with you!

Now onto the fun goodies in their store....

[for the boys]

[tie and suspender onesie] ~ [mustache onesie]

handsome little stud

[for the girls]

[felt flower headband] ~ [3 flowers headband] ~ [holiday outfit - tutu, onesie and headband]

pretty little princess

[for the nursery]

[moon print] ~ [owl print]

[for the home]

[wreaths]

Erin and Rachel also have a Vintage Store on Etsy that deserves a visit as well.

These two kind ladies sent Cullen a snowman onesie!
Perfect for Minnesota winters!
Cullen and I adore it :)

[Our little Frosty the Snowman]

The ladies of Wild Juniper are extending a discount to all my readers! The promo code for the discount is ANNIE15, it is for 15% off!! This code will work for one week.
They are ALSO offering one of YOU a $35 gift certificate to their store!! They have more than just baby stuff in their store so be sure to check it out!

Mandatory entries...

1. Follow my blog

2. Visit Wild Juniper and let me know what you would pick with the $35 gift certificate!
Additional entries...

3. Heart Wild Juniper's Etsy Store

4. Follow Wild Juniper on Facebook

5. Follow Wild Juniper's Blog

Their blog has all kinds of fun projects on it!

6. Follow me on Twitter

7. Tweet about the Giveaway

8. Follow Chapters of our Life on Facebook

Time for ya'll to go do some Christmas shopping!!

Giveaway and discount will end a week from today!

GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!

p.s. For more gift ideas check out PlumDistrict! Just for signing up you get a free $5 and there are all kinds of great deals --> click link below to accept my gift of $5 to spend at PlumDistrict & today only you can get an EXTRA $10 if you enter enjoy10! that's $15 FREE dollars!! https://www.plumdistrict.com/?ref=ub3bc8896fb8

Lions and Lily Pads - WINNER

2011-11-20T15:17:00.000-08:00

Lucky #13 is the winner!

Mandy over at Mommy Musings

CONGRATS!!

p.s. new GIVEAWAY will be posted tomorrow! :)

worcestershire, what....

2011-11-17T05:59:00.000-08:00

1. first things first, i'm adoring this sweet boy....

2. i made another ornament wreath. just for fun, they are fun to make. takes up time while baby C is asleep and hubs is away. i think i will be adding more to this wreath, like my B said.....how do you know when to stop, it seems like you could just keep going and going.

3. another thing i made....fakesgiving....without the turkey and not on thanksgiving. your mind may be wandering right about now which is why i have a post all about FAKESGIVING coming up soon ;)

4. when it comes to me and working out, i did it. once, monday....since then i've been so sore. my entire body feels bruised. maybe, just maybe, i'll attempt the shred today.

5. worcestershire sauce. i love it and add it to anything that i can. i also eat just worcestershire sauce on rice, instead of soy sauce. it's so yummy.

6. have you all started decorating for christmas?! i put our halloween decor away and left out some of the fall decor. i'm planning to put up cullen's tree in his room today!

7. did i mention i LOVE when babies, mine in particular, grab their feet! too flippin' cute!!!

8. we finally have coffee in our house again after not having any the past two weeks. i'm so thankful, this is just the morning for it. cullen was up a lot last night and woke up for good at 6:30, i feel like i didn't sleep a wink.

9. have you entered my giveaway for Lions and Lily Pads yet?? if not, you must! i ALSO have more giveaways coming up from fun boutiques! i just love boutiques, what can a momma say?!

10. i actually have to start "working" soon. which is so weird. this has been put off for a while but i'm ready for this new endeavor. the past 7 months my only job has been to take care of baby C and now i am adding real work into the mix. i'm nervous but also excited. it's work i can do from home and i can still be with C while making money. i don't know if i'll know exactly what i'm doing but i'm up for the challenge.

now i'm off to enjoy the day with my sweet c-bear, starting with coffee for me and breakfast for him :)

Lions and Lilypads - GIVEAWAY!! & Review

2011-11-15T05:45:00.000-08:00

CLOSED
[winner will be posted tonight]

Thanksgiving this year has an all new meaning for us. We have the biggest blessing ever to be thankful for, our sweet baby boy! Cullen is always dressed for holidays and the days leading up to the holiday, Turkey Day is not going to be an exception! The talented ladies from Lions and Lilypads have so kindly sent Cullen a shirt to wear just for the occasion!

How cute is our little turkey in his turkey goobler initial shirt!!

we just LOVE this shirt!!

You must head over to Lions and Lilypads to see all the cuteness in their shop!! Their prices are very reasonable. You will be impressed with everything!

Thanksgiving!

Holiday!

All FOUR are adorable!!

planes, traines and automobiles!

oh and personalized initial shirts!

I think by now you all know I'm slightly obsessed with customized clothes. I suppose I should share some of the other adorable items from the Lions and Lilypads shop! If I didn't I'd be cheating ya'll because there are other cute items!

see for yourself.....

rompers, dresses and super cute outfits

seasonal bows!

Be sure to check out the Lions and Lilypads store to see the other darling items they have!!

ONE of YOU lucky readers are going to win a shirt of your choosing!
Remember, even if you don't have kiddos, you can gift the shirt to family or friends kiddos!

MANDATORY ENTRIES:
1. Follow my blog
2. Go visit Lions and Lilypads and let me know what shirt you would choose from their store
ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:
3. Heart Lions and Lilypads Etsy Store
4. Like Lions and Lily Pads on Facebook
5. Like Chapters of our Life on Facebook
6. Follow me on Twitter
7. Tweet about the giveaway

Be sure to leave SEPARATE comments for each entry to count!
This giveaway will end next Monday, the 21st.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!

p.s. I posted a pic of my ErinCondren labels the other day on FB and twitter and had a few questions about them! there's a deal on OKL now for labels! https://www.onekingslane.com/invite/anniebellmore - click top left pic once on site!

spaghetti for breakfast....

2011-11-14T05:57:00.000-08:00

don't mind if i do! ha! wait...actually, i do mind a little bit ;) i tweeted last friday about how i had spaghetti for breakfast and how i want to start being better about my health. i like to snack on doritos and cheez-its during the day, amongst many other things. when i'm bored i eat, when cullen is asleep i eat, when i'm waiting for billy to get home, i eat. then i even might again once he is home. ha! my tummy has grown, i'm just always hungry. i nurse so i know some of you might say that's why i'm always hungry but i don't think that's an excuse to eat the way i do and as often as i do.

i can't say that my weight has changed much, which is weird BUT i do notice my tummy and bum changing. i want to start working out to tone up, i want definition. i miss running, i ran almost every day for a few years straight and then a few months into my pregnancy i stopped working out all together. i preferred the couch ;) especially since i was prego in the winter, i never wanted to leave the house once i was home. after i had cullen i worked out a few times at the gym while billy was still able to be home during the day. then i quit going altogether and then i canceled my membership.

i want my legs toned, my tummy toned, and my arms. my left arm is quite toned because that is the arm i always hold cullen with and the side i nurse him on. i don't understand that, i'm right handed but when it comes to cullen i'm left handed. anyone else out there like that? my mom also prefers to hold cullen with her left arm and if she is feeding him a bottle, holds him with her left arm and feeds him with her right. then it kind of makes sense i guess.... anywho, i want my right arm to be toned like my left. maybe it's just in my head and both my arms are the same ;)

i miss that feel good feeling you have after working out! even if it's only for a 20 minutes intense workout, it gets your juices flowing and endorphins on the rise!

my NEW plan....every day before lunch to work out. either doing the 30 day shred level 2 or biggest loser cardio max. i love both and i've seen results with both as well! bonus, they are only 20 minutes. i have no excuse not to take 20 minutes to work out. i can do this while cullen is asleep or awake. he is fine to play in his pack-n-play now for a few minutes and he'd still be right next to me. i am also going to attempt to start making better use of my time. not just stuffing my face when i have nothing to do. there is always something to do.

when i mentioned on twitter asking who would hold me accountable there were quite a few ladies who said they would! just asked the same in return. i was thinking maybe we could all hold each other accountable and have a fit friday to check in and see how we are all doing, if you are not already doing so. one of the ladies said she was going to start a weekly post with a linky so once i have that info i'll share it with you all. i'm not promising i'll link every week or even post every week but i am going to try. more for myself just to keep track and hold myself accountable of actually working out! i figure if i tell you all i'm going to do it, i need to ;)

hope you all had a great weekend!! we just hung out at home, had some family time and played lots of toys! couple of pics from saturday...

nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby

C in his new mickey outfit

ma, is that mickey on my shoes...

of course he has matching mickey shoes!

i love when culley plays with his feet

sweetest smile, ever

me with the adorable little guy in the mickey outfit....never thought i'd buy our baby character clothes but this disney store outfit was too cute to pass up! i might even buy more ;)

p.s. today is day one for working out!

SHUTTERFLY CARD WINNERS...

2011-11-13T15:16:00.000-08:00

Lucky winners are...

#55 Sarah over at Nearly Newlyweds

#19 Anonymous - Jannie

#42 Kristi over at As Iron Sharpens Iron

I will be contacting the three of you soon with your promo code for 25 free cards!!

I have more fun giveaways and discounts coming up soon and with the holidays right around the corner you will want to get in on them!! :)

baby sock monkey...

2011-11-10T05:53:00.000-08:00

i remember a year ago when i bought all cullen's sock monkey clothes at old navy and now a year later we have our own baby sock monkey ;) billy and i sure are lucky to have such a handsome baby boy!! :) i'm having a great week with C, B is working late nights with his hockey teams and not getting home until C and i are in bed. stinks but it's the sacrifice we make so i can be home with C every day. we sure miss him though. i hope you are all having a great week! sorry i have been a bit mia. i can't keep up with ya'll. i have some more fun reviews/giveaways coming up soon so watch for those!

enjoy the rest of the pics of our sock monkey...

our typical day...

2011-11-09T05:19:00.000-08:00

when i think back over the past 6 months it seems like mine and cullen's routine changes about every 2 months.

right now our typical day goes as follows...

7:00-7:30 cullen wakes up and he always has a smile on his sweet face, we usually chat for a few minutes and cuddle then it's diaper changing time.

7:30-8:00 i get cullen set up on the bed with all his toys and he watches mickey mouse clubhouse while i pump and check emails.

cullen in bed watching mickey, playing toys

[yes, he is #1]

(i turned around and he was sitting against the pillow with a toy on his head, ha!)

8:00-8:30 cullen goes into his highchair once we are downstairs and i get all the dishes soaking in the sink and prepare his breakfast. cullen has baby food mixed with cereal for breakfast. between C smiling at daddy and trying to follow gus around, eating now takes around 20 minutes.

where the toys are stored

8:30-9:00 if billy is home he'll play toys with cullen. i wash dishes from breakfast and bottles from the night before. we have a dishwasher, i just choose to hand wash all of cullen's dishes and bottles. after dishes diaper is checked and changed if needed.

this is cullen's side of the living room...

can you tell who rules this house

9:00-10:00/10:30 we play toys, read books, sing songs, watch cartoons, sometimes i'll do a little cleaning while cullen plays alone or i'll fold a load of laundry. cullen is pretty good about sitting alone and playing toys for a few minutes. he is so interested in his toys these days and it's fun to watch him play :) or watch his face light up with a huge smile when mickey walks over the hill on MMclubhouse.
every other day we also use part of this time for bath time. C still enjoys bath time.

notice melvin the monster hooked on his arm, ha!

10:15/10:30 diaper check, then i nurse cullen and he goes down for a nap and sleeps for an hour or so.

11:30 diaper checked and then it's play time, we hang out in the living room pretty much the entire day. if i have something to clean or clothes to put away cullen is always right next to me. he plays toys in his pack-n-play really well while we are upstairs and sometimes we use the moby wrap. the past few days during cleaning time we listen to christmas music! also, if we are in the basement to do laundry i have a place for cullen to hang out down there as well.

we keep some of our book collection in the living room

12:30 nursing time again and then cullen usually goes down for a nap around 1:00.

sleeping baby perfection

1:00-2:00 cullen sleeps (i typically sit next to him the entire time he sleeps, i'll go on my laptop or watch tv)

2:00-4:00 playtime, again. thankfully cullen really LOVES toys! he likes his jumper and playmat still as well so those are incorporated in our play time as well. i nurse him within that time as well.

4:00-4:30 cat nap for C.

i love taking pictures and editing them during nap time.

4:30-6:00 we play, again! ha! i nurse C in there for the last time of the day usually around 5.

6:00 cullen eats his baby food dinner.

yay, cullen likes peas

6:30 we watch wheel of fortune, while playing on the floor!

7:00-8:00 cullen has a nap. his last nap of the day is anywhere from 30-60 minutes, once he is awake he has a 4 ounce bottle. billy usually works late so once cullen wakes back up he has daddy time. daddy B does pj's and then they have play time until 9:30 or so then C has another 5 ounce bottle and him and i are off to bed by 10:00. i know most babies go to bed for the night at 7 but that's not what works for our family. billy needs his daddy time with cullen. it's important and they have a love for each other that's just amazing. i love watching them play.

all smiles for daddy

cullen has been waking up around 2:00/3 to eat and then again around 5:00/6 in the morning. so, only twice a night. i, on the other hand, still wake up ALL the time. it has to be a mom thing. i wake up, usually with some type of anxiety, heart pounding then i check cullen and he is fine and i'm right back to sleep. so, nice for cullen to only wake 2-3 times a night, i still wake up 5-6 times. ha! at least our baby is safe and i have peace of mind. i might wake up in the morning feeling like i didn't sleep at all but it's worth it for his sweet face!!

that face and smile mean the entire world to me

now all that being said, should i be doing something more during the day, i mean what do you do with a 6 month old immobile baby besides play toys, read books, sing songs, watch cartoons, listen to music, nurse, pump, feed? ;) typing this out and reading it makes me feel like we don't do all that much during the day BUT our days go so quick and we smile and giggle together all day long. i love our days.

we also have random days when it's warm enough out to go for walks and we also run errands a few times a week. leaving the house always takes at least 1-3 hours, depending on where we have to go. those days go extra quick! also, i pump at least 2-3 times during the day on top of nursing. i'm sure i missed typing out diaper changes too ;)

cullen loves these sensory balls and doesn't he look like a mini billy!

l.o.v.e.

funny how looking at these pictures i realize i can retire a few items, the bumbo and the swing!! soon enough it will be the playmat. cullen loves sitting up, he sometimes whines on his back and freaks out on his tummy. haha! we're just taking it day by day. we know when he is ready he'll be on his tummy to push up with his arms and get around and eventually crawl. for now he really dislikes tummy time.

big boy, he was watching gussy

go figure i type this and then we have a time change and cullen's sleep schedule is thrown off. he skips his afternoon nap and his evening nap. we have not yet figured out this new routine. ha! also, cullen is THEEEE lightest sleeper, ever! he wakes to me typing, billy coughing, gus walking on the wood floors....oh well :)

p.s. someone has TWO CHOMPERS!!!

i think he thought he was going to get to bite me, that's how i got the good pic ;)

he chews everything and has for a while and then bam he has two teeth. time can slow down right.about.now!!

*you can still enter for a chance to win 25 free shutterfly cards!*

That time of year....

2011-11-07T05:29:00.000-08:00

CLOSED!!
The most wonderful time of the year that is! Which means its time to start thinking about holiday cards!
Last year Shutterfly ran a promotion for 50 free holiday cards for bloggers.

Here is our card from last year!

I loved our cards last year and I was very impressed with the quality of the customizable cards and the speed in which they were delivered. The hardest part about using Shutterfly is that they have so many cute designs to choose from. I was contacted recently by Shutterfly as they are running the promotion again. This year they have offered me 50 free cards AND gave me codes for 25 free cards to give away to 3 lucky readers!

Some of my favorite cards this year are....

string of snow flakes

Couldn't you see Cullen's cute face on this card?! :)

spot the snow flakes

confetti

I can't wait to get Cullen's 6 month/our family pictures back! Praying there is a good one of the 3 of us. If there is I want to just do a single photo for our card. We wore black and gray so I want to have color on the card :)

To enter:

All you need to do is leave a comment!

I will post the 3 winners this coming weekend.
If you have a hard time leaving a comment while logged into blogger you can leave an anonymous comment, just be sure to leave your email in the comment.

Baby Wild[e] Boutique - WINNER

2011-11-06T15:54:00.000-08:00

There were 82 entries and the lucky winner was....

#52 - Virginia!

I will be contacting you soon! :)

Ladies, go say hi to Virginia, she is newer to the blogging world! I just recently started following her and she has an adorable little boy! :)

Giveaway for tomorrow is for Shutterfly cards!

my wittle moose and i...

2011-11-03T06:56:00.000-07:00

last friday cullen and i needed to get out of the house so i decided to take him to the mall of america. i also need to get out of comfy clothes at least one day a week ;)

[classy toilet pic]

btw, where are all of your favorite places to buy comfy clothes?

snowy season is right around the corner and i doubt i'll be leaving the house much, i'll probably be living in comfies/yoga pants every.single.day :)

check out our adorable baby C in his moose outfit!!

look at that cute moose hat!
and that smile and those baby blues...

and cute little moose slippers!

[aw mom, do you have to take so many pictures?!]

i just love dressing our little man! he looks so stinkin' cute in anything :)

last time we were at the mall it was so busy at the disney store and the line was so long we didn't get a chance to buy anything. cullen loves the mickey mouse club house. it's the one cartoon he actually watches and smiles at the characters. while we were in the disney store the hot dog dance song came on and cullen was all smiles. it was so cute! i got plenty of chuckles myself watching the employees do the "hot dog dance" haha!!

culley got two new babies that day, a little mickey and a little pluto.

mickey's ear tastes so good! ;)

i found cullen a couple outfits on sale for this winter. his 9-12 month clothes are too short on his legs. he's still wearing them all at least once but there will come a time when his high water pants become capris...not cute ;) and not good for our cold winters. his moose outfit is 12-18 months! momma's in cold temp states, do you bundle your little ones up in coats or snowsuits in the winter??

also, would anyone be interested in me doing a blog sale of cullen's clothes? he has only worn each of his outfits once. there are a few with tags still on as well that he never wore. let me know! :)

i hope YOU are ALL having a great week!!!

lastly...

i've added new pages to my blog, the links are on the top left.

GIVEAWAYS and SHOP MY CLOSET

go enter the latest giveaway, $35 to Baby Wild[e] Boutique!!

cullen's first halloween!

2011-11-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

halloween, in pictures...

cullen and his cousin dominic

my brother and dominic :)

our first halloween with baby C! :)

sis, being silly...

culley the bull...

grandma and grandpa with their grandbabies

love this picture :)

jammers for beddy-by time...

can't forget gussy the chicken!

p.s.

these in your mouth at the same time...

tastes exactly like this....

ADDICTING!!!

my momma always has a couple dishes of the mix sitting out, get in my belly!

& don't forget about the Baby Wild[e] Boutique GIVEAWAY i have going on!!

so many super cute baby products to pick from if you are the big winner! :)

AlphabetEmporium - WINNER!

2011-11-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

The lucky winner is....

entry/comment # 45

(i took a picture of the computer screen because i could not drag and drop the generator pic)

Ashleigh from Life as I know it!

CONGRATS

I will be sending you an email soon.

p.s. I'm hosting a Baby Wild[e] Boutique GIVEAWAY now!! Go enter if you haven't already, super cute items to choose from if you win the gift certificate! Giveaway ends November 6th and winner will be picked that day. Good luck to all! :)

nummers....

2011-10-31T21:14:00.000-07:00

cullen turning 6 months old meant heading to the doctor for another round of shots and a check up.

baby C (my monster) and i on our way out the door to the doctor appt....

my go to outfit...leggings with anything ;)

cullen's appointment went so well and he took his shots like a champ! i'm so glad, i was worried because last time he cried and cried. i almost did too. this time he just fussed a tiny bit and we were out the door! :)

back at home, happy monster baby!

i was excited for cullen to turn 6 months old since that meant he got to start eating baby food!

we started on squash and i really had no doubts of him liking it or not ;)

cullen eating his first delicious dinner...

i'd say it was a hit!!
we've since tried sweet potatoes and those go down in about 2 minutes flat.
when it came time to cullen's second meal i found a piece of plastic in his food! it was gerber baby food. i'm just glad i found it before it ended up in his mouth. i will be contacting gerber about this. i was not a happy momma.
we have quite a stock pile of gerber food and we will still be using it. i know it will go quick.
we also have some other plum organic baby food and some other brand of organic food (kitchen something or other?). we'll be using it all.

once it's gone i might start making his food myself. my grandma sent me a book on how to make baby food.

our delicious dinner from that same night....

potatoes, onions, green peppers, lean turkey keilbasa.

all mixed together with olive oil and some seasoning.
baked for an hour at 350.
super simple meal for fall with lots of leftovers!

p.s. I posted an awesome GIVEAWAY yesterday!! $35 to Baby Wild[e] Boutique!! Super cute items!! Go enter! :)

Baby Wild[e] - GIVEAWAY!

2011-10-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

CLOSED

I love baby boutique items. You really can't go wrong with one of a kind adorable baby goodies!
One boutique I recently came across is Baby Wild[e] Boutique! Megan makes all kinds of adorable baby products. I loved her sensory monster's and Megan was kind enough to send Cullen a monster to adopt and review!!

Here is Cullen with his Melvin the Monster!

Cullen loves crinkle toys, stuffed animals and his lovey blankie and Melvin is the perfect combination of the three!!
going in for a kissy...

coming up all slobbery...

exploring the taggies...

I think it's his new favorite stuffed baby!!

Megan is one talented lady! She also makes.....

Lovey Blankies

Burp Cloths

Nursing Covers

This design is my favorite one and look how soft and cozy the inside of the cover looks.

Bibs

How stinkin' cute are the western bibs!?!

She also has a couple other cute accessories including pacifier clips! Be sure to check out her store to see what all she has!

GIVEAWAY!!

Megan has offered a $35 gift certificate to her shop for one lucky reader!!!

Even if you don't have a baby/kiddo of your own you can always buy gifts for friends or family!! Christmas is right around the corner! :)
Megan has also offered free shipping for all of you through December 1st!
Just use the code CHAPTERS at checkout!

Mandatory:

1. Go visit Baby Wild[e] and let me know what you would choose with the gift certificate!

2. Be a follower of Chapters of our Life (if you already are, just let me know)

Extra Entries:

Like Baby Wild[e] on Facebook

Follow Baby Wild[e] on Twitter

Tweet about the giveaway
Like Chapters of our Life on Facebook (if you already do, just let me know)

*Leave separate comments for each entry*
THANK YOU MEGAN!
Winner will be posted November 7th!

p.s. The AlphabetEmporium giveaway ends tomorrow, the winner will be posted on Tuesday!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

6 months....

2011-10-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

i really can not believe it has been 6 months since we had our sweet baby boy!

6 months since i took my last maternity picture!

39 WEEKS

my water broke that night....

the past 6 months have been nothing short of amazing!!

our family grew, our hearts grew, love became so unconditional its unexplainable...

bringing baby home, testing out the swing...

so tiny, C didn't fit into newborn clothes!!

cullen is our everything!

of course, as everyone says, our life has changed....FOR THE BEST!!

this is what perfection looks like, for us....

it's like life before cullen didn't exist, our life is now all cullen, cullen, cullen.

and we're all smiles about it!

everything we do is for him, everything is about him.

L.O.V.E.

he is the greatest thing to ever happen to billy and i.

we truly couldn't be happier.

i think we were both meant to be parents....

billy is an amazing daddy.

the second he walks in the door, his eyes scan the room for cullen. the second he speaks, cullen's head whips around and he can't take his eyes off his daddy. he smiles and smiles. billy looks at him with a smile and cullen returns the smile. it's all they need. they have a connection and a bond that i hope all fathers and sons have.

cullen is...

21 pounds 6 ounces (95th percentile)

27 inches long (70th percentile)

sitting up (with a little boppy help)

rolling over (from back to tummy)

despising tummy time (we're working on it)

playing toys, he likes rattles, sophie, his play mat, sensory balls, jumping in his jumper

eating cereal and just started on squash

fond of his swing

following gus around like he is some sort of alien

enjoying being outdoors (stroller walks are always a hit)

never getting enough of his daddy

visiting gma and gpa twice a week and getting spoiled like any grandchild should

sleeping in his pack-n-play, still waking 2-3 times a night (to eat)

giggling over auntie's songs (jump, shake your booty)

watching mickey mouse clubhouse

and always soaking up mommy cuddles

[i could go on and on]

i am so incredibly thankful that i'm able to stay at home with cullen every day. i honestly couldn't imagine being away from him. he makes my world go round. i stare at him while he sleeps. i fall asleep with the tv on but turned down so low i can hear him breath. he still sleeps right next to me, in his pack n play. since he is up 2-3 times a night this is just what works for us.

our days and nights are filled with giggles and toys.

i can't [but can] wait to see what the future holds for cullen. i love watching him develop, it seems like every day he is learning something new. time goes so quick but at least we're having fun!!

happy 6 months to our sweet baby boy!

[almost] wordless wednesday - cullen's adventures....

2011-10-26T05:37:00.000-07:00

landshark...

i shared these on facebook a while ago but never on here, so i had to!!

my sis and i created these fun little scenes for cullen :)

p.s. i'm having a giveaway for $50 to the AlphabetEmporium!!!

the day we met the wonder pets!

2011-10-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

we went to mall of america over the weekend.

my cousins and their friends were in town so we met them for lunch.

then me, C and B walked around the mall for a while, it was a mad house!

billy and i have been together for 5 years and we live 15 minutes from the mall but we had never been together. so it was fun to just wonder around and check everything out with C.

we are all people watchers ;)

i forgot my camera so all pics are phone pics.

daddy B and C

we went to the disney store where cullen wanted one of each stuffed animals.

he smiled and reached for every single one, it was so cute!

[mishka mushka]

give goofy to me...

daddy gave C a lollypop...

C met lego woody, he was fascinated!

[there's a snake in my boots]

we got to meet the wonder pets!

[the phone, the phone is ringing]

daddy won cullen two sensory balls playing carnival games!

he loves them!

such a fun family day!!

i even got in a lil shopping at carter's.

cullen needed a couple christmas themed clothes! ;)

p.s. i posted an awesome giveaway yesterday!!

$50 for one lucky reader to use at the AlphabetEmporium!

AlphabetEmporium - GIVEAWAY!!

2011-10-24T05:19:00.000-07:00

GIVEAWAY CLOSED
I recently came across an adorable store on Etsy!

AlphabetEmporium!

All of the products from the AlphabetEmporium are handmade from the best eco-friendly products out there!

The pretend felt food is my favorite!

How fun are these....

magnetic apple and banana!!

strawberries!

hot dog lunch set!

breakfast with tiffany anyone?

what about arts & crafts!

beeswax crayons

emporium dough set in sherbert

Danni over at the Emporium is offering one of my lucky readers a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to her store!!

How awesome is that!!!
All the prices at her store are so reasonable, you will be able to get a few things!!

To enter the giveaway:

Mandatory

1. Visit the AlphabetEmporium and let me know what you would choose!!

2. Follow my blog

Extra Entries

1. Tweet the giveaway including me in the tweet, you can use:

Check out the AlphabetEmporium giveaway over @Annie0720 blog!

2. Go "like" Chapters of our Life on Facebook!

3. Blog about the giveaway and let me know you did!

Leave a separate comment for each entry!
I will chose a winner November 1st!

Best wishes to all!

(The AlphabetEmporium offered me a $25 gift certificate for this promotional post)

p.s. Erin Condren deal going on again! $50 for only $25! Plus if you sign up you should get $5 more off! Just click the link below!
https://www.plumdistrict.com/?ref=ub3bc8896fb8

fun stuff...

2011-10-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

first off, happy 6 months to our sweet cullen!!
i can not believe it's our baby's half birthday today!
so incredibly crazy how fast time flies and i'm so thankful i've gotten to spend every day with our little guy!

i've always been a sucker for etsy! i just can't get enough of all the monogrammed cute clothes on there!

i ordered cullen's pumpkin shirt from etsy here --> StaSweet

after i had ordered cullen's shirt i found another shop on etsy that sells appliques and she customizes them for free! so i could order an applique for a third of the cost of the pumpkin shirt and i just iron the appliques on shirts we already have! i was so excited!! i ordered 4 appliques on etsy from here --> CrumbCakeBelle

when i ordered wait time was 2 weeks, it took 4 weeks for my appliques to arrive. it was worth the wait, i just wish the site would have been up to date when i ordered. i see now she is on vacation to catch up on orders! i can understand why she is busy though, her products are so super cute and she does a great job on them AND the price is right!

i also ordered 5 paci clips. cullen doesn't take a paci as much as he used to but he still likes them to fall asleep sometimes and other random times for a few minutes. i kept losing them around the house or when we were out and about and i couldn't find any paci clips in stores. i found this etsy store --> ClassyPaci

you can pick 5 clips for $16.50! i thought that was a great deal! we have the dots light and dark blue, rockets, cars and a blue and green design. they work perfect! if i have the clip on cullen he tends to like sucking on the ribbon ;)
*cullen does NOT sleep with these on during the night. he does sometimes have them clipped on his shirts during the day for naps, he naps in his swing and i'm always right by him. lately, i have only been using them when we leave the house. so no, he won't get strangled by them. they aren't long enough to go around his neck either.

i don't know how but i was on a winning streak for giveaways!!

my bloggy friend cole started her own etsy store, you must check it out!

i was instantly in love with so many of the cute hats, i want one of each for my little guy (ok maybe not the cupcake and other girly ones but they are super cute).

anywho, i happened to win a giveaway that andrea over at my chihuahua bites hosted of a candy corn hat cole made!

looks too cute on culley, huh?!

also, AP over at ILYMTC hosted a giveaway that i just happened to win as well!

another super cute item for my little guy from jennifers's etsy store brayla bee's!

i picked the argyle airplane with cullen's name on the shirt!

once i have the shirt, i'll post a pic.

lastly, a blogger friend of mine, crystal, recently started her own boutique with her mom!
LilStarBoutique
they sell all kinds of super cute items! she was kind enough to send me a cuff to review! i chose one for our niece for her birthday but it didn't come in time so we are saving it for her for christmas! i love the colors and the flower, it's so girly and fun!! i just hope it fits her. i thought it looked a little small so we attempted to try it on cullen and it didn't fit his wrist. haha! it's super cute though and i know our niece will love it! i can picture lauren putting it on her dolls too! make sure you check out crystal's shop to see all her other fun goodies!!

see it's not fittin culley's wrist....ha!

in case you don't know, all the navy words are links!

sometimes i get emails requesting links, i always try to link sites when i post.

p.s. i keep seeing bloggers selling their clothes on their blogs, i want to give it a try! my closet is over flowing! prices will be low! :)

lately, in phone pictures....

2011-10-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

last saturday billy had a 15 hour day so i knew i needed a project/craft to work on.

i decided on a button craft....

it took forever to hot glue all the buttons but it was the perfect project for me and i love how they turned out.

cullen cat naps, usually an hour here and there so i was able to do this while he slept.

our washer and dryer are in our basement and our basement is not finished.

our basement actually kinda creeps me out, haha!

i spend a lot of time doing laundry though so i thought this would spruce the space up a bit.

only thing is i have no idea how i'll hang them to our cement walls.

i'll be asking my pops for a hand, he's a carpenter and i'm sure he'll have a solution!

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billy worked at home one day last week and he needed a little bit of help from me.

he knows i'll work for candy....

ha! i ate almost all of it that day...

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last thursday the fire station had an open house.

we had to go, the fire station is directly across the street from our home.

we hear the fire truck all too often....

culley in his fireman hat!

with daddy B in the fire truck!

i got new fuzzy boots and some leg warmers and i tried to get a pic of them...

phone pic fail!

but i did love my comfy fall outfit!

oversized, long hoodie

leggings
(i live in leggings these days!)

black fuzzy boots

leg warmers

that evening my culley and i had some cuddle time...

he is such a SWEET boy!!

lastly, i made C bear two shirts with appliques!

(post coming soon with where i got them!)

random post, yeppers....

it's tuesday night (pre-typed post), we are watching christmas vacation and just finished tator-tot hotdish, so yummy!!

now onto double stuffed halloween oreos!

they have 5 boo-rific shapes, how could one not eat one of every shape ;)

wordless wednesday - our little rockstar

2011-10-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

splish splash!

2011-10-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

culley loves taking a bath!

nothing in the world is cuter than our chubby sweet baby!!

chubby baby in a shark towel is just about as cute though...

pretty sure that was our last sink bath but at least daddy got to be there with us for it!!

i ordered cullen a chair that sits in the bathtub! i can't wait for it to arrive (funny what makes me excited these days!). cullen loves the water and sitting up but bath time has been challenging for me (us). a heavy, wet, slippery baby makes a momma nervous. cullen has been having to lay down flat in the bathtub on a foam mat and he doesn't seem to care for it much. i have a feeling if he can sit up and play in the water and with bath toys he will be a much happier baby! i think it will be easier for me to pick him up out of the tub while he is sitting up as well.

can't wait for our new chair to arrive!!!

pin cushion...

2011-10-12T06:24:00.000-07:00

about a week ago i thought my mind and body were playing tricks on me, i was getting the chills and then i'd have a fever of 102. i didn't know if i was all there, i knew i for sure didn't have the strength and energy that i normally have and i was in pain. the previous week billy had a cold, it was mostly congestion and he still has it a little bit. i had been feeling off since that previous weekend so i figured i was just getting that same cold as well. i hadn't been sick in 10 years.

last wednesday when i woke up i forced myself to believe that i wasn't as sick as i thought i was and i drug myself out of bed. my sister had spent the day before with cullen and i, i thought if i was getting a cold and i was so tired i could just sleep off what i had. she watched cullen while i napped through the day. back to weds morning, i attempted to pump without much luck. i think i got an ounce or two when i can normally pump 7-8. i then went and made half a bagel and forced myself to eat it and then i laid on the floor with cullen and tried to entertain him. i just didn't have much energy, thankfully he doesn't crawl yet. i propped him up on his boppy and laid next to him on our foam floor mat and we watched some mickey mouse and both fell asleep. i woke up feeling like i had a tiny bit more energy so i decided i should at least get cullen out for a walk. i bathed him and then we walked to the park to swing. once we were at the park i sat in the swing with my baby on my lap just thinking how i wanted to feel like my normal self wondering if i had the energy to push cullen all the way home. we made it, thankfully. i spent the rest of the night on the couch and was in bed by 8:30.

thursday morning i woke up exhausted and barely had strength to pick up cullen. i remember getting to the stairs and taking the first one and thinking wow my legs are so weak i better sit down. i sat down and slid down the stairs with cullen on my lap. when we got downstairs i laid cullen on his playmat like i always do and i sat next to him and cried. i felt helpless. i collected myself and went to the kitchen to wash bottles and clean up. i checked my phone and i had 2 missed calls from billy. i called him and he told me i was to get ready and go to the doctor, he had made an appt for me. i think my adrenaline kicked in at that point, i knew i had to get ready and get cullen ready and get out the door. i went to see the doctor that i saw while pregnant with cullen, he also delivered cullen and is a family friend. he thought i just had a UTI and gave me antibiotics. cullen and i spent the rest of the afternoon playing on the couch together, i had no energy. i had one pill at 6 when billy got home, ate dinner and went to bed.

friday morning i woke up even worse, pain in my stomach and sides, no energy and totally exhausted. slid down the stairs again with cullen on my lap. i knew i couldn't spend the day by myself with cullen, i had no energy. thankfully my mom had an at home office day and she came over and helped me, well she did everything. i had given up on pumping by this day because i had nothing. thankfully i had a stock pile of milk in the freezer. my dad came over in the evening so they could both be with me until billy got home. i had told billy during the day that i had been worse and he must have made a phone call to the doctor. he came home around 7:30 that night and said we have to go get your appendix checked out.

friday night we went to urgent care where the tests began. you know the drill temp, blood pressure, pulse, pee in a cup and giving blood. doc came back and said well you're not pregnant (okay....) and there is definitely something brewing inside you, you're a sick girl. he said my white blood cell count was extremely high and he knew it had to do with my kidneys. next on the list was an ultrasound which didn't show much so i was off for a cat scan. all of this happened over 6 hours, i had watched shrek 1 and 2, checked in on our sweet baby a few times (my parents and sis were over at our house taking care of him) and billy had run home to grab a few essentials for an over night hospital stay. around 2 in the morning the doctor came in to tell me i had accute kidney failure and a kidney infection with cloudy fluid surrounding my kidneys. this all came on from the UTI, i had no idea i had it (until thurs) and the infection quickly spread through my whole body, attacking my kidneys. hence being sore and completely worn out. the doc said he wanted me to go to the hospital so i could be monitored since my kidneys were shutting down. turns out doctors orders can't always be fulfilled....the three surrounding hospitals were full. no beds! billy and i were kind of thankful for this though, this meant we got to go home to our baby and we got to eat! neither of us had eaten since noon that day and it was 2 in the morning now. before i left i had to get an iv treatment of antibiotics. the doctor told me i'd have to return to get 3 more treatments, getting an iv and giving blood. we got home friday (with our mcdonalds) around 3:30, ate and then cullen woke up ;) we visited him a little and all went to bed.

saturday, sunday and monday i went to urgent care to have my treatments. the nurses joked on saturday that i was 'their little pin cushion' because they had to prick my arm 9 times to get the iv in! i was so dehydrated my veins were not cooperating. now, i'm so pumped full of fluid it's crazy! i gained over a pound a day the past few days and i ate a lot less than i normally do. my milk has slowly came back in! now i need to start another stock pile, just in case. now, not only can i lift my own arms above my head, i can lift our 22 pound culley above my head!! :) i have my 'mom' strength and energy back! so thankful! i think my hubby is my guardian angel....i had been laying in bed on wednesday night praying. i didn't tell billy to call anyone or do anything, he just did it on his own. had he not i probably would have let things continue the way they were, i'm stubborn sometimes.

in the end, i'm thankful all is okay, we're just waiting on a call for my blood results for the while blood cell count and hopefully i get confirmation all is good. i feel a million times better. it was a whirlwind of a week.... i'm also so very thankful for my family, we'd be lost without them. they took care of cullen a lot over the past few days. and of course i appreciate and thank my hubby for taking the steps he did to take care of me and always being by my side.

now i'm sure many of you are thinking 'why didn't you go to the doctor sooner'.....and i didn't know if i wanted to share or not but i do not have health care insurance. when i became a stay at home mom/business owner billy and i applied for our own family insurance policy. well, billy and cullen got approved and i got DENIED because of an abnormal pap. i know i have read on so many blogs in the past year about many of you have them as well, could you imagine if you got denied health insurance because of that?! my doctor is going to help me try to appeal Medica denying me but as for all the treatments, ct scan and ultrasounds i had over 5 days we're going to be paying for all of it out of our own pocket.

i am staying positive, i have my health and i'll never take it for granted. i have a loving hubby, sweet baby, happy family, awesome support and i just love all the people i'm surrounded by....including all of you. i could not believe how many of you reached out to me on twitter. thank you, thank you, thank! i'm sure i missed some details in those 5 days, there was a lot of couch and floor time ;) and texts with sweet pattyann! thanks friend!

p.s. culley bear says hi ;) from the day at the park, swinging!

p.p.s. awesome deal going on!

Join One Kings Lane. There's an instant $15 credit! that means you can get a $50 erin condren gift card for only $10!

https://www.onekingslane.com/invite/anniebellmore

a lot of foodie this, a lil of random that....

2011-10-06T07:09:00.000-07:00

beef enchiladas - for 6-10!

2 pounds ground beef

two giant onions

2 cans of enchilada sauce

1 bag of cheese

2 packets of taco seasoning

cook ground beef and onion

mix together beef, onion and taco seasoning together

stuff tortillas with mix and add a little cheese

add some enchilada sauce over top

bake at 350 for 10 minutes

top with 1 more bag of cheese, bake for 10 minutes

serve and top with black olives and sour cream!

for side dishes we had mexi rice and beans mixed with cream cheese! so yummy!

we also had chips and salsa as apps ;) there was plenty leftover of everything!!

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B and I went to ColdStone a day last week, it was the first time I'd ever been there.

For six bucks of candyland ice cream in a chocolate coated waffle cone with sprinkles, I think I'll be perfectly fine if I never have it again. haha!! I might have had 5-10 bites, it was super sweet!

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crack flavored oyster crackers!!

half packet of ranch dip seasoning

pinch of onion salt

pinch of garlic powder

triple pinch of dill seasoning

3/4 cup of oil

1 package of oyster crackers

mix all together in a baggie and bake at 215 for 20 minutes

you will be addicted!!

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greek "dip"

i found a very similar recipe on pinterest and HAD TO HAVE IT!

one giant cucumber

3 roma tomatoes

lots of EVOO

pinch of greek seasoning

pinch of garlic powder

pinch of onion salt

( i prefer "pinches" over measuring)

couple of green onions chopped up

container of feta cheese (reduced fat)

chopped up flat bread (sea salt/rosemary)

these pics were taken after we all had dived in ;)

we had unexpected company that night so i threw it together, they loved it and so did we!!

it was filling, i had it as my dinner.

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a lil of that.........

how cullen and i spend some of our days!

sweet sleepy baby boy :)

btw, for those of you that support(ed) our business hockeyshape.com, thank you!!

you are true bloggy friends and i appreciate it! :)

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and leaving you with the cutest baby ever!!!

look at that smile!!

if it doesn't melt your heart, i don't know what will.

his face is my world :)

truly, being a mom is the best ever!!

our culley bear is the just amazing!!!!

fall-en' for you...

2011-10-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

we went to an apple orchard on saturday, it was a beautiful 70 degrees out! it was the perfect day, cullen LOVED it there, he is such an angel baby!

culley got to take some fall pics by pumpkins! of course he was dressed all festively.

daddy B picked apples for us all to sample. we had applesauce mini donuts, so yummy!

we got to weigh our little pumpkin!
22 big ones!! :)

i got to wear a cute fall dress i'd been waiting to wear and a pair of my new boots.

toilet pics! ;)

we had lunch at a dive type place, good food and different atmosphere. then we headed to target. we so rarely get full family days, i think the 3 of us were just soaking it all up!

at target billy and i were looking at car seats for cullen since we realized our 22 pound big boy has maxed out the weight on his car seat already. some of the car seats, while in the front facing position, hold up to 65 pounds and others up to 100. without really thinking about it i said we should probably get one that goes up to 100 pounds. billy then says to me, ann he is not going to be in a baby car seat until he is 100 pounds, you weigh a 100 pounds. ha! silly me....ok, i suppose we don't need a car seat that holds up to 100 pounds. & i don't exactly weigh 100 pounds but around there ;)

if any of you have a recommendation for a car seat, i'm all ears.
right now it's between a britax and a safety first air protect 65.

pretty tree in front of our home....

lastly, attempting to support our MN vikings on sunday - our little vike!

we actually had almost 2 full family days in a row, that's what weekends should always be about. i'm so thankful when we had them. time to go grab our sweet boy, he tends to bounce non-stop in his bouncer until he falls asleep! and then continues to randomly bounce every few seconds after he falls asleep. haha!

p.s. i have a review post combined with an etsy post i'm planning to do as soon as the etsy stuff i ordered over a month ago arrives! i'm growing very impatient.

none of your business...

2011-10-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

Oh just kiddin' - What I really mean is I want to tell you about our business!

Billy (and I) run a hockey training gym, HockeyShape!

HockeyShape is a 30,000 square feet hockey training facility!! Billy pretty much does everything little thing from setting up clients and the training (working his magic) so I don't like taking any credit for anything but it is technically "our" company :)

Billy strength trained Nick Klaren all Summer, he plays hockey for the Mississippi Surge!

At the end of the Summer they put together a video of everything they've been working on.

Nick is doing the strength training and my hubby is doing all the hockey shooting/stick handling!

check it out!!

Pretty talented men, huh?!

It's always fun for me to watch Billy with his hockey stick, it's just his thing and he's so good at it.

I wish I could've seen him play back in his playing days!! :(

Now, if ya don't mind pretty please do me a favor and go and "like" HockeyShape on facebook!!

just click this ---> HockeyShape

I hope everyone had a great weekend!!

We did, I'll post some pics tomorrow! :)