Perhaps I Should Put on Some Makeup

Today is one of those stay at home mom days I had hoped to somehow avoid once I actually became an SAHM. I went to my usual 6 AM Pure Barre class, am still in those clothes, have on no makeup, and my hair is in the same bun I threw it in around 5:40 AM. It was bound to happen eventually. We have, however, been to HEB, done some laundry, eaten lunch, done some laundry, and played. It's been a productive day, but the race will be on this afternoon to make myself pretty before my husband arrives home from work.

But for now, I blog.

I had a really wonderful weekend. It started out at Pure Barre (which always makes me feel good), progressed to breakfast on the back porch, and moved on to a facial and other upkeep at a local day spa. The facial was a birthday gift from my best friend. Along with the gift certificate, she included in her birthday card a schedule of dates when she was available to keep my kids so that I could go enjoy said facial. Because she is that thoughtful and genius all the time. I wish I could always be as thoughtful as she is!


I got to catch up with my sweet friend, attend the Pure Barre grand opening party (I spend a lot of time there, don't I?), head out to the national launch party for Dr. Smith's diaper ointment at the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas, come home, watch it rain, eat pizza, go to church, play with 12th graders and preschoolers, eat more pizza, and wish I hadn't eaten so much pizza.


From my instagram feed, it would also appear that I ate a lot of branded cookies. I do not regret those at all.

Have a great Monday!

Five on Friday - Volume 6

It's a gorgeous morning here in Texas, and I'm blogging from our back porch. These kinds of mornings are few and far between so I'm loving it. I was up and at 'em for Pure Barre early this morning again, and tonight is the official grand opening party for the studio I attend, so I'm looking forward to that. And also pretty pumped about doing a massive clean out of our attic this weekend. My age is showing on that one.

I'm linking up with The Good Life blog for another Five on Friday!

ONE
I made no serious attempts to give up Diet Coke this week. One day I switched to Dr. Pepper, but that's only because the Taco Casa doesn't carry DC, and I am firmly opposed to Diet Dr. Pepper.

TWO
I absolutely LOVE two years old. I wish I could just bottle this time up with our little guy. Everyone tells me the terrible twos are a fallacy--that it's really the threes that are nuts. I would love for anyone to chime in and tell me their child's threes weren't bad either. Anyone?

THREE
I finally made an attempt at decorating for fall and put out my Bronwyn Hanahan front door decor. If you're looking for something fun for your home, she has super cute things. I'm thinking of getting a Happy Birthday cupcake since February will be such a big birthday month at our house! Both my kids were born in that month.

FOUR
My church is having a Pinterest craft day, where several ladies pick out a craft, and others sign up to come make them. You pay $10-15 and all materials are purchased and ready to go that morning. I'm leading a craft, and we'll be making a burlap wreath. I started making my mock up last night, and I'm pumped about it! I think we'll be adding some Christmas decorations to it, but ultimately, I want it to be re-usable for all seasons.


I bought too big of a wreath form so I don't have the finished product yet.
FIVE
I got a Vox Box from Influenster this past week and will have some reviews coming up. I was really impressed with the first product I tried! If you haven't signed up for Influenster, check it out!

Random Naptime Updates!

My kids are down for a nap, my house is clean, and currently, I'm having a new air conditioning installed. It's a little sad to need a new air conditioner right here at time for the weather to cool off, but it must be done, and besides, we're likely to still need AC during the day for several more weeks around these parts.

I would take the opportunity to decorate for fall, but seeing as I don't want to interrupt the action in the attic, I thought I'd update the blog!

Sunday, the three of us were dressed in Aggie maroon. It just happened. Mr. G dressed Jack, I dressed myself, and when I went to pick out Annabelle's clothes, I felt like it was too early for pumpkins, and she had worn pink like 3 weeks in a row, so I grabbed the Aggie dress. We bleed maroon around here, so it was bound to happen. I'm surprised we weren't all 4 matching!


Ahh, taking pictures with young children.
I have a post going live on Fort Worth Moms blog later this week regarding routines for babies and how that resulted in a solid nighttime sleep schedule for our kids early on. And of course, as soon as I turned in that blog post, Annabelle decided to become a night owl. Isn't that how it always happens? Anyway, after a rough few nights on my girl and me, I think we've figured out the source of the waking.

We're late for her 6 month check up--it's tomorrow and she'll be 7 months this weekend--and I'm dreading the immunizations. After her 4 month shots, she ran fever, and a little higher than I would've expected, at that. So I'm praying that the Lord will keep my sweet girl happy and feeling well. There is no more powerless feeling than watching someone else be sick, especially your child.

I've been watching the stats on my blog lately, and surprisingly, my most viewed post is the review of the UppaBaby Vista. It's a great stroller and is holding up really well with my second baby. I'm really putting it through its paces now, simply because I'm home with my children, and we go somewhere nearly every day where I pull it out. I plan to update soon with my thoughts on the Vista Rumble seat.

Yesterday I ordered two Christmas gifts. I think this is the earliest I've ever started Christmas shopping, but, why not? At least I haven't started playing Christmas music, right?

Five on Friday - Volume 5

Good morning! It's a deliciously-close-to-fall rainy morning here in Cowtown. I kicked off the day with a 6 am Pure Barre class, and I'm looking forward to spending most of the day in my comfies with my sweet littles before a date with my husband this evening.

And it's the perfect morning to list out the randomness on my mind, so I'm linking up with The Good Life blog for another Five on Friday!

ONE
Sitting next to me is an adorable strawberry blonde blue eyed girl wearing these precious, ruffled Carter's pajamas. Normally, I would have her in footie pajamas, but these were just too cute to pass up. Now if I could just get her to keep her socks on overnight.


TWO
I'm thinking of giving up Diet Coke. Altogether. I drink two a day: one in the morning and one at lunch. Have you done this? It's mostly for the aspartame and NOT the caffeine. When it cools off more, I probably will start drinking Starbucks Awake tea as my caffeine source. I'm not completely committed, but I'm exploring my options here. I like carbonated drinks so I need another low-cal replacement.

THREE
This weather has me ready to decorate for fall, but I'm conflicted on changing out the Aggie sign on my front door for something with a pumpkin on it. Shopping for fall decor, I came across these adorable owl salt and pepper shakers from Pottery Barn. So cute!


FOUR
J. Crew is having a 25% off sale right now. Everything is on sale, so it's a great time to grab some fun fall pieces! We were in our local store earlier this week and had such a great visit that I e-mailed their Customer Service Team to tell them what a great experience it was (and they responded!) They were awesome with my kids, which I ♥. Great experience = fun new closet additions. Am I a nut for sending a Customer Service e-mail? In my former life, I loved reading what Customers sent in, giving our Company a pat on the back, so I figured, why not?

FIVE
I had a post on packing a preschool lunch earlier this week on Fort Worth Moms Blog. If you're looking for some lunch ideas for your littles, click on over there! And feel free to leave me some comments with some successful lunch options you've tried!

Have an excellent weekend!

Grace for the Meal Plan

Immediately following Monday's meal planning, I had a child projectile vomit on me (and I do mean on me) at a playdate, just prior to us leaving for the grocery store. So you can imagine how that went.

The sickness was an isolated incident, thankfully. Sensitive gag reflex is my current possible suspect.


So we had pizza on Monday, and last night we hit up Chick-fil-a since Mr. G was working late. We needed something to break up our evening. Our dining experience led me to send the above tweet. With Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary close by, we live in the absolute buckle of the Bible belt. And, being Cowtown, we even have the cowboy boots and hats to go with it! It's a huge blessing and encouragement to be surrounded by so many devoting their lives to studying God's Word and taking it to the ends of the earth. I love it and love the ways we get to be part of it because we live here.


Today we hit up the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Due to a mild summer and the baby elephant boom, we've spent most of our spare mornings at the Zoo since we're in love with trains right now. But now we're in those super hot, dog days of summer, then it will turn straight to cold, so it's time to fall in love with the museum.

I'm trying to do better at taking more pics with my DSLR, but I didn't think to pull it out until lunchtime. There is beauty in the mundane though. I will look back and love these days. I want pictures to accompany the everyday memories.

These are sweet times at our house.

Mama Monday: Scheduling Your (Food) Week

I mentioned in my last Mama Monday that I was attempting to meal plan and would report back if it worked or drop the subject entirely if it didn't. Well I'm pleased to report that it actually did work. It kept me on track with my grocery list-making, shopping, and otherwise with our healthy eating goals for the week.

And then I totally dropped the ball for the next two weeks. These things ebb and flow, and I'm certainly not one to get down on myself for something as flexible as deciding what the fam will eat for supper each night.

We've been busy having friends and family for supper and otherwise socializing. But not this week! This week I'm back at the plan. Here we go:


Monday: Homemade pancakes with scrambled eggs and fruit.
Tuesday: Baked chicken, potatoes, and a green vegetable.
Wednesday: Chick-fil-a
Thursday: Either a freezer meal or we may have friends over.
Friday: Leftovers, out to eat, or a chicken and rice skillet standby.

Side note: We love a good breakfast for dinner, but I refuse to call it brinner. That makes me think of something like spaghetti mashed into an omelet, which is digusting.


Also, here's the chicken and dressing recipe I mentioned last time. It's delicious and great as a freezer meal. I cut down the amount of chicken stock it called for because I like my dressing a little dry.

Have a happy week!

Five on Friday - Volume 4

It's a quiet nap time at my house after a busy, fun morning filled with friends. I should be cleaning my house for visitors this weekend, so why not sit down and blog instead?

ONE. This was Jack's first week back at school. He did awesome! When we got to the door of his classroom and dropped off his bag and nap mat under his name, there were kids crying. I stayed for a couple of minutes to take some pics of him by his name, and as I was leaving he started looking apprehensive. I whispered in his ear, "This is nothing to cry about. You're going to have a fun day!" About that time, his teacher told him they would be going out to the playground. That was all he needed. He didn't look back as he walked in the door. I was so proud!

(I'm pretending like it was my pep talk that made all the difference.)


TWO. I don't know why I ever stray. Plain ol' regular M&Ms are my favorite candy. I decided this after my family finished off a two pound bag this week that was leftover from a party with our 12th grade Sunday school class. Needless to say, I'll be counting my WW points next week.

THREE. If you are a lover of Lululemon, they have some ridiculously cute things online right now. We're talking ruffles here, ladies. I bought these wunder unders. I'm a shorty, but they weren't too long. This is my mom uniform for fall.

FOUR. Tonight we're taking Jack to his first high school football game. We'll see how that goes. I may be walking under the bleachers with him the whole time. Aledo versus Stephenville. That's a big game in this part of Texas.

FIVE. We actually just got back from the Doc McStuffins Doc Mobile. It was a nightmare. First and foremost, it's 100 degrees in Texas, and this was an outdoor event from 10-4 which was not under a shaded area save for a few tents, like the kind you would use at a tailgate party. Secondly, strollers were not allowed in, so I attempted to wrangle a two year old while holding a baby, not in the shade, in 100 degree heat. Now doesn't that sound like a beautiful morning?

On a day in October or even an overcast day, this would have been a great event. Seriously, it was super cute.


After we got our Doc swag, we went inside the museum and played in the AC instead!

Weekending with my Little Aggies

This past weekend was fairly busy. Everyone (except Annabelle and therefore me) crashed out during nap time today. Saturday we had friends over for the first Aggie football game so we indulged in plenty of football food and yelling at the tv. Just as a Saturday in Texas should be spent.

We will not discuss Johnny Football here today. Although I did enjoy this article on Outkick the Coverage on why your opinion on Johnny says more about you than him.

That's enough about that. Sunday was full with church and an all-day event with our 12th graders. They're an awesome group of kids who no doubt will do big things in the future. I know this because they are already doing big things now! Last night we had Brad's parents over for dinner. Fajitas, my fave. I have had a lot of guacamole this weekend, but the avocados are so delicious right now. You need some!

Today my oldest starts back to preschool. He has sweet teachers, and I know he'll have a good year. The question is what will Annabelle and I do with ourselves? Because we are not sitting home and doing housework!

Have a great first day of your week, wherever that may be!