Five on Friday {July 11, 2014}

Happy Friday, friends! I hope y'all have had a great week! We've had a pretty low key week here which is really nice from time to time. Other than running a few errands, we've been home most of the time. We have big plans for this afternoon, though. It's Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A and I have every intention of dressing Emery up like a cute little cow. Honestly, I've been waiting a few years to do this because I felt like just Daniel and I dressing up like cows would be ridiculous. It makes so much more sense to do it now that we have a baby...especially since she can't eat Chick-fil-A. Makes perfect sense, right? ;) I will definitely be sharing pictures of Emery, but that's probably where the pictures will stop!

Anyway, here's what's been going on in our little corner of the world for the past week... :)

One.
Emery had a great first Fourth of July. We had plans to go to a barbecue and fireworks show in my parents' neighborhood, and I have to admit that I was a little nervous about how she would do. She's gotten overstimulated pretty easily in the past, so I really was thinking that we probably wouldn't even last long enough to see any fireworks. She certainly proved me wrong! Shortly after we got there, she fell asleep in her stroller and slept the entire time we were eating. Then, she woke up to take her bottle and was perfectly happy for the rest of the time. The best part? She fell asleep *during* the fireworks. For real. She's just getting more and more laid back.

3-1/2 months old

I know she looks less than thrilled in a lot of these pictures. She smiles all the time during the day, but hardly ever when a camera is out. I'm really hoping that changes!

Two.
Daniel has been dying to do some work in our back yard ever since we moved into our house. I've been a little hesitant because, well...I don't do well with plants. I kill everything. Part of the problem could be that I hate watering them. Actually, I guess that's probably the entire problem. I just hate dealing with that darn hose and sweating within five seconds of stepping outside. Anyway. My mom is an expert in all things plants. {Why did I not inherit this?} They got to talking about the yard and got a plan. My parents came over on Saturday and Daniel, my mom, and my dad literally transformed part of our yard. I did very important things like getting everyone food and water and taking care of the baby. {In my defense, I did help unload all those stones from the truck.} I'm loving how everything looks and am so excited to work on the rest of the yard!

Here's the before...

And after...

Emery enjoyed a little sun that day, too. This is a rare occurrence for her due to her mother hating being in the Alabama summer heat.

Three.
Although we were incredibly productive this past Saturday, our typical Saturday includes a lot of HGTV. See, usually we just *talk* about all the things we want to do with our house, yard, etc... Last weekend, we actually *did* some of them! One of our favorite HGTV shows to watch is Fixer Upper. These people do *amazing* things with the scariest houses and they are so totally fun and cute to watch. I would be totally fine with buying the worst house imaginable in a heartbeat as long as Chip and Jo Jo were going to renovate it! And I actually want to be friends with them in real life.

I mean, just look at this before and after!!

{via}

Four.
Emery's nursery is coming along! I know, she's nearly four months old and it's not done. {Knowing me, I'll *never* be able to feel like it's completely done.} My mom and dad bought us a precious lamp to go next to the glider. It makes that corner of her room feel so cozy. I love it as much as you can possibly love a lamp. And that base...so pretty. I feel like it's so classic and that Emery will be able to keep it forever and use it in her own house one day with a different lamp shade. And now that I said that, I want to forget it because I don't want to think about my baby growing up and having her own house. As fast as time has been going, that day will be here in what will feel like approximately two weeks.

Five.
We're going on a date night tonight! Yippee!! We haven't gone on a date just the two of us since our anniversary, so I'm super excited. We're going to see a movie and I considered The Fault In Our Stars. But after everything I've heard, that one will be a Redbox. I prefer to ugly cry in the comfort of my own home, thank you very much. I think we're going to go see Tammy. Yep. I wasn't so sure about it, but we watched the trailer the other night and I died laughing 30 seconds in and told Daniel to stop it because I didn't want to ruin any of the movie. Seriously, Melissa McCarthy is just ridiculously funny. This SNL pizza skit owns me every time!!!

Whatever you end up doing this weekend, I hope y'all have a wonderful one! :)

  

Five on Friday {January 17, 2014}

Happy Friday! Oh my goodness, I am so happy that Friday is finally here!! Fridays before three-day weekends are always the absolute best!! :) Whatever you end up doing this weekend, I hope it's wonderful! :)

I'm linking up with Darci today for Five on Friday! You can definitely tell by my list today that I have a serious case of baby brain. That's pretty much all we're thinking about these days. Only a little over 8 weeks to go!

One.
This is what my a small part of my Etsy favorites list looks like right now. I'm really wishing I wasn't *so* indecisive! Obviously, I'm struggling with picking out some frames. ;) We have all of the big things for the nursery, but we really haven't put much on the walls yet. I know it doesn't have to be completely done when she gets here, but the planner in me would really like it to be. My mom is going to help me pick out some things next weekend, so I know that will help! She helped me *so much* with our office renovation, and I'm much more likely to pick something out if she's with me! She has a way of helping me picture how things would look in a room! :)

Two.
I mentioned in my weekly pregnancy update this week that we had our maternity pictures taken this past weekend. We *loved* our photographer! I was a little nervous because I was hoping she wouldn't be one of those who just tells you to walk around and pretend she wasn't there, and she definitely wasn't. I mean, that is so awkward! There's something about *trying* to act natural that is so unnatural! Anyway, she already gave us a sneak peek! I'll share more when we get the rest of them back. :)

Three.
We booked our babymoon a couple of months ago and now we only have two more weeks to wait until we head to the Opryland Hotel in Nashville! We went for the first time last April and absolutely loved it! It's such a beautiful place and you really don't ever have to leave the hotel. Also, here's a tip for my fellow teacher friends in the area. Opryland has a teacher's appreciation rate of $99 per night for certain nights! They fill up fast, so if you're planning to go, you'll want to make your reservation a couple of months in advance.

This was the view from our room the last time we went.

Four.
My mom and sister have started planning my baby shower {cannot believe it's time for that already!} and I just love the invitation they decided on! It goes along perfectly with my weekly chalkboard updates. :)

{via}

Five.
So...I need some help. We're in the process of packing our bag for the hospital, and I'm finding it to be a little overwhelming. I'm pretty sure that I make every task more overwhelming than it should be. I've searched Pinterest and have come up with a pretty long list {right down to the command hook for our door hanger}, but I'm still scared of forgetting something or wishing I would have packed something. So, any advice? What is something that you packed that you were so glad you had, or maybe something you didn't pack but wish you did? Any help for this first timer is appreciated! :)

Have a great weekend!! :)

  

Pre-Christmas Memories 2013

How can it be December 23rd?!? This business of there being less than four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas is just NO GOOD. I feel like everything was so rushed this year. Anyway, we've still managed to squeeze in quite a bit of Christmas fun in these few short weeks.

Last weekend, some of the girls {and most of the boys stayed this year, too!} in my family got together for our annual cookie baking day. This is when we all go to my mom's house to bake and decorate {and eat} *tons* of Christmas cookies.

I'm pretty sure that in this picture I was laughing at Daniel's interpretation of a gingerbread man. Think red polka-dotted pants and purple puffy boots. Yes. :)

Christmas cards are another thing I love about the holidays. I decorated our mantle this year, so I had to come up with another place to display them. I printed out my "Joy" burlap banner, hung it on our pantry door, and added the Christmas cards as we got them. I love how it brings a little Christmas cheer into the kitchen. :)

Here's our Christmas card this year. I am already excited about adding cute baby pictures to our card for next year!

We also celebrated the five year anniversary of our first date last weekend. We went to this little Italian restaurant in Homewood called Gianmarco's. We went to a place called Leonardo's on our first date and went back for our first three anniversaries, but they closed a couple of years ago so we had to find a new anniversary spot. Gianmarco's is definitely our new place! It's small and family-owned, and the food is amazing {the SAUCE!!}.

One of our Christmas traditions is to buy a special ornament. I love remembering all the special moments when we decorate our tree every year. This year, we ordered this sweet "expecting a miracle" ornament from this Etsy shop. I just love it. I know it will make me smile {and knowing me, probably cry} every year!

Tonight, we're planning to cross another tradition off the list when we do our annual "Jammy Cocoa Christmas"! We've done this for a few years, but decided to call it "Jammy Cocoa Christmas" after reading this fun post over at Mix and Match Family. I mean, how cute is that name? I can't even imagine how much more fun this tradition will get in the next few years when we have a sweet baby with us!!

{via}

Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with your families!!

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

  

Christmas Mantle Decor + Free Printables {Noel, Peace, Joy Burlap Banners}

Christmas was in full swing around here this weekend...and I loved every second of it! On Friday night, we did some Christmas shopping, checked out Santa's Wonderland at Bass Pro Shops {can't wait to take our baby there next year!} while Daniel added to his Christmas list ;), and had peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes at Chick-fil-A. That milkshake will definitely not be the only one I have before Christmas. Wow. SO good.

On Saturday, we wrapped some presents, I worked on addressing our Christmas cards {I finally decided on Snowy Window from Shutterfly, by the way}, and we did a little more Christmas decorating. I've never decorated our mantle before and I really wanted to this year. I kept it simple, but I think it turned out pretty cute.

I printed this cute Christmas subway art on eighteen25. They have several other colors to choose from, too.

I've seen a lot of Christmas burlap banners used on mantles on Pinterest and I really liked the look, but I didn't want to buy any more decorations or supplies this year, so I just made one on the computer and hung it up with some red tulle. It doesn't have the exact same look, but I'm happy with it for now.

I also made banners with the words "Peace" and "Joy" on them. I think I'm going to put one of those in our kitchen and display Christmas cards around it. Click the links below to download printables of your own! :)

"Noel", "Peace", and "Joy" in black

"Noel", "Peace", and "Joy" in green

"Noel", "Peace", and "Joy" in red

Also, if you don't have a Christmas to do list yet, check out my Christmas bucket list post! Have a wonderful week!! :)

  

Weekend Rewind {November 11, 2013}

Three day weekends are the best. It just makes the whole weekend better because you know that you have an extra day! That carefree "I can stay up late" feeling on Sunday night is just *the best*.

We had a wonderful weekend...it started with me telling Daniel that I wanted to put the Christmas tree up this weekend. Yes, really. I promise I don't ignore Thanksgiving...I'm just so ready to get started on all the Christmas cheer! :) At first he was totally against it...he's an after Thanksgiving kind of guy, but I convinced him to at least go and look at the Christmas stuff at Lowe's on Friday night.

While we were there, we look at paint swatches for the baby's room. We're I'm still torn between light pink, light aqua, and light gray. After looking at samples, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to find a light aqua that I like. Daniel is ready to paint the room gray today! I'm so glad that he cares and has an opinion on these things! I think it's so sweet! :)

It was a cold night so we went to Starbucks after Lowe's and got our first red cup of the season! There is just something about those red cups. {I was also hoping this would help in my Christmas tree plans!}

On Saturday morning, we went to Vanna's fifth birthday party. She had a princess tea party and all of the little girls dressed up in princess outfits. My sister did an amazing job with everything! All the little girls *loved* the tea party. And just look at this castle cake she and my mom made! Vanna loved it!

After the party, we went and did a little shopping at Hobby Lobby...both for the baby's room and for Christmas stuff. ;) Daniel found this adorable canvas that we ended up buying. It makes me lean more toward the pink and gray color scheme. The tree looks brown in the picture, but it's more gray in person.

I also did a little damage in the Christmas department. I absolutely love that Hobby Lobby pretty much always has their Christmas stuff 50% off!

After having my new favorite lunch, a veggie sub at Subway, and finishing up our shopping, we headed home and project Christmas tree began! Squeal!! :)

After finding out that only about 5 of the 1,000 lights already on the tree still worked, Daniel set to work removing all the old ones and putting new lights on the tree. Pre-lit trees are not worth it. Those lights were not easy to take off! This is about as far as we got on Saturday.

Sunday was another busy day with church in the morning, Christmas angel shopping in the afternoon, and finishing up the Christmas tree on Sunday night. This sight makes me a very happy girl. I absolutely love going through all of our ornaments every year when we put up the tree! So many memories...

We hung an extra special ornament this year with our sweet baby's ultrasound picture in it.

This is another one of my favorites that I made last year. I cut our wedding invitation into strips, curled them, and put them inside a clear ornament. I did one for our save the date card, too. Of course I found the idea on Pinterest! :)

Here's what we ended up with. It just needs the topper and some presents underneath which will come another weekend!! I'm just so glad we get to look at it for the next six weeks! It makes me so happy!! :)

Whatever you ended up doing this weekend, I hope it was a wonderful one!! Y'all have a great week!! :)