A piece of perfect

The weekend has been simply divine. 

...And perfect I might add!

Girls Night Out

Thursday night was Girls Night Out!  My friend Amy, Amanda & I all had plans to meet up at Ruth Chris but then Amy decided not to come because her little Cruz was getting tubes today- which we TOTALLY understand!  Amanda & I decided to go anyway, & when we got there some of our other friends were there so we just made it a girls night on the patio!

 I love having nights that aren't planned that end up being super fun!

{We were all sweating to death}

Our weekend started early with the hubbs getting off early to spend time with us!  Im really looking forward to a fun weekend which includes another baby shower at my home for our friend Suzette!

Who loves BIG BROTHER?

Guess who was a happy lady today?  ME ME ME!  We had rain & the temperature went down amongst a few other happies today here in Arkansas.  I wrote out some things to share that made me smile today.

  Most important though, the rain!!!

Another happy, it's BIG BROTHER night.  Who LOVES Big Brother as much as I do?  I want to hear from you.  I am going to be doing posts every week on the recaps.  Not sure when since it airs 3 nights out of the week.  But, I love hearing feedback & what people think on game plays.  It's the best show!

Avery was loving wearing her super hero shirt today, she picked it out by herself & demanded to wear these shoes with it.  I about lost it when she came running into my bathroom & said, "this"!

  At least I got dibs on the bow! (hehe)

And since the rain kept us in most of the day, I decided to make use of those letters I bought for her 2nd Birthday, remember these?

I decided to add them to her room today for fun!  I put them above her door as you leave the room, they are so cute!

{The "Y" keeps turning, Daddy is working on that for us}

My good friend Kim painted this "A" for her awhile back so I hung it too with her cute mirror, (that needs cleaned).

This little zebra is normally in her arrangement but I decided to take it out & hang on the wall since her room is starting to turn into a toddler room.

I have had several e-mails on hosting some AWESOME giveaways that you guys won't want to miss out on. 

...STAY TUNED- here is a peek!

Cousin Love + Bandaids ='s SMILES!

My big girl is growing up before my eyes.

It was a great summer day with Avery.  Hot, but great!  We woke up this morning & headed out to the gym.  We came home & decided to stay inside all day because it is so hot we could hardly stand it.  We spent most of our day playing inside; we played with puzzles, sang songs, danced, watched Dora, painted, & a few other things while Mommy cleaned up the entire house today.  It needed it!

Gotta love the hair rollers...

Tonight we headed over to Stella's house to play for a cousin playdate!

These 2 girls are best friends.  They love playing together, making messes together, & hugging on each other.

We tried to take a few pictures, of course mine was acting silly!

And a little better...

My sister in law is a rockstar.  I need to take a second and brag.  She is well worthy of a little bragging I think!  Kara is a single Mommy to Stella.  For personal reasons I will not explain in detail the reasoning but for what it is, it's life & we all go through "life". 

For 2 years since Stella was born, Kara has raised her by herself.  Kara works full time as management for the Wal-mart Home Office & holds a very high responsibility job.  She works long hours, some days doesn't get lunch breaks, jammed packed days with meetings, all while carrying the responsibility of a job & then coming home to be a single parent.  There have been some evenings that myself or her parents have picked up Stella because of a long work day- but you know we gladly do it! 

My friend Melissa has been doing some great posts on "Mommy's that work".  I have loved reading them & have even been able to apply them in my own life although I stay home with Avery.  But, I have to say, I have a lot of respect for working, (in office), Mom's because it's alot to handle & I have seen it first hand with my sister in law who is a single parent.  The most amazing thing about Kara is I have NEVER heard her complain.  Not once.  I am so proud of her & all Mothers whether working in an office, single parenting, working from home, being a Mommy during the day or night at home.  We are all deserving of a big pat on the back!  Wow, life just isn't easy sometimes,  but like I said, it's life.  We just all need to SMILE!

Anyway, so while I was at her adorable home tonight, I had to share some beautiful pictures of where she lives & raises my precious neice!  Some days I think she has it together better than me!

I will steal her zebra chair one day.  My name is on it.

After a long play evening at Stella's we came home to take baths & get all of the marker off.  After baths we were all watching TV in the living room & Avery noticed that Chad had a Dora bandaid on his hand & immediately started searching for a "boo-boo" all over her body.

{The reasoning for Chad's Dora bandaid}

Chad is in a very hardcore workout program called, "Crossfit".  He is working out like crazy & the results are amazing.  But, with great results comes pain.  He has ripped his hands up from the bars & weights.  

Anyway, the only bandaids we had in the house were Dora.  I find this to be stinking HILARIOUS!  He will never hear the end of it.  Avery happened to see it on his hand & had a fit for her own searching for a "boo-boo" to put it on.  We got a kick out of it. 

So here is her special bandaid that matches Daddies. 

Good Night!

Sunglasses

Today was, perfect!

 

Happy Monday!

Weekend Dates & Baby Shower!

I loved our Saturday.

Chad & I had the privelage of spending the entire day alone on a date together on Saturday.  We needed it.  His work load has been unbelievable lately & he has been putting in some long hours which has pushed him to not be home several nights in a row until LATE!  It's been tough.   So after several days of hardly seeing each other, we went on a day long date while my sweet in-laws offered to watch Avery.

But first, the 3 of us went to lunch at our favorite spot in town.

Afterwards we enjoyed a little park time, just the 3 of us!

I loved this picture of Ave looking at the airplanes!

What else went on this weekend?  Well,  I have started my summer table & put up all my red/white/blue.  I will post the finished product next week.

Sunday brought a baby shower for my friend Serenity! Four of us girls hosted it for Serenity & baby Cailyn who is scheduled to arrive next month.  Serenity already has 3 girls!  We can't believe it!  The shower was just precious!

We all enjoyed hosting together!

Mommy to be of 3!

We made a beautiful table for Serenity.  There were fresh cut hydranga flowers in a beautiful vace with candles around the table.  We added a few extra touches with her invitation framed as well as a zebra "C" for Cailyn.  We also made some of Mommy to be's favorite foods.  Amy made an amazing punch that I can't wait to post the recipe for!



















This was on our main table, but also our hostess gift to Serenity.  We got her 3 boutique outfits that match for her 3 girls to all wear!



We had some little finger foods to serve that were some favorites,  but since it was after church & at 2 we wanted to keep everything very simple & light.  I made some delicious chocolate covered strawberries! 

These are my favorite new things to do for showers!

We also served some chicken salad sandwhiches along with some adorable cucumber sandwhiches!

Who can forget the delicious petifores?

We also had a set of diapers that everyone had to write a note on so that when Serenity is up with Cailyn in the middle of the night exhausted, it will bring a big smile to her face!

We made a special little area for Serenity to open all her gifts.

Everyone enjoyed talking & watching her open some fun gifts!

We all had such a great time celebrating with Serenity!

Serenity gave us all hostess gifts, it was so sweet! We each had something different, that matched our personalities & of something that we each love!

I loved my Starbucks coffee gift with a cute cup & Starbucks gift card, it was precious!

THANK YOU, Serenity!

So that pretty much wraps up a great weekend.  Im happy, that's all I have to say. =)

On to a great week of eating lots of protein.  Chad has been pre-cooking our meals for the week so we have chicken galore on hand.  We are working hard on a new program to whip these bodies into muscle condition shape!

And this is how we spend our Sunday nights!

Happy Week!