Goodbye 2013!

I feel like each year gets better in life, and 2013 did not disappoint. How could the world be wrong when we are happily employed, happily married and have a wonderful toddler? It sure was busy though! Drew turned 2,  I challenged myself to complete 28 random acts of kindness, Derek was appointed an awesome position within his company, we traveled to Kansas City a few times, took a mini-vacay to Vegas, spent a few days in Buffalo and Hocking Hills, moved into our new home and got a new car! On top of all that, we hosted family in our house about 6 different times. Whew!

I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store for us, but I couldn't resist posting my last pictures from 2013. (Sorry for my friends on IG who've already seen these!)

The last day of the year started off with a yummy lunch date with the hubs followed by a milkshake and pedicure.

We then picked Drew up early from school and got ready for a delicious Mexican dinner with our friends. There were 10 adults, 10 kids and plenty of beers and margaritas going around. Needless to say, we had quite the loud and messy group! The two in the right-hand side picture are my dear friends Lana and Lauren and I just adore them. They are beautiful on the inside and out and always make for the best nights out! Thanks for putting the evening together Lana!!

I love that this is my very last picture from 2013. The little man was doing everything he could to stay up later than normal, but I couldn't say no to that face. I feel so very blessed to have Drew as my child and although we probably have a trying year ahead of us with a 3-year old, I still look forward to it as I know the good times will far outweigh the bad.

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.” —Neil Gaiman

Quick Holiday Recap

I think this is the longest I've ever gone without posting and have been itching to get a recap up!

This year, instead of going back and forth between Derek and my parents houses, we spent a few days at his house and then a few days at my house, with Christmas being split between the two. It was SO nice not having to go back and forth every day and felt much more like a 'vacation' with lots of traditions sprinkled in.

We attempted to see Santa again and it went WAYYY better than a few weeks ago.

Photo by Derek's brother, Matt. He even let Santa pick him up and put him on his lap!

It was nice spending the week with all of these faces. We went to a trampoline park, ate at our beloved Fritz's, decorated cookies, baked cupcakes and did what we do best; lounge around in comfy clothes. Drew loved being spoiled by his grandparents, aunts and uncles and Derek and I enjoy handing him over to a Grandmother if a tantrum begun. 

Photo by Derek's brother, Matt

And we did a lot of opening and playing of course. We weren't able to see Derek's extended family thanks to the ice-storm that hit, but we were able to make it to Lawrence to see my extended family.

I'm enjoying so many wonderful gifts in which we feel truly blessed and thankful to have received, but the most time was spent using my new Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 lens that Derek got me. I'm still learning the ropes a bit, but my friend Alina convinced me this is a great lens and so far, I'm loving it!

Our time in Kansas City ended with my fathers 70th Birthday and Retirement Party. Around 60 of our friends and family showed up for the fun and who doesn't love a room full of oldies-but-goodies enjoying shots like they are 23 again?

By the end of the week we all looked like this. Wrinkly, dead and with a bit of extra weight thanks to my moms banana bread and Derek's moms company potatoes.

Hope you had a wonderful Holiday break as well! 

See you next year!

Merry Christmas!

Sending you warm Holiday greetings 

wherever you may be!

My Carpenter & My Cutie

My Carpenter

I've mentioned a few times before that my husband isn't the 'handiest' out there. Personally, it's adorable that I have to fix the fireplace or figure something electrical out. But he actually did something over the past few weeks that knocked this issue out of the water!

You see, our basement was a cluttered mess with boxes and bins all over and it was starting to drive me crazy! Ultimately, we'd like to finish it, but for now just needed to clear some room. It's winter people. Drew needs a place to ride his tricycle when it's 9 degrees outside!

Check out this studly handyman...

And now checkout my awesome shelving unit which houses a lot of my bins and boxes now...

I guess this means someone's honey-do list should be increased a bit!

My Cutie

Drew had Christmas PJ day at school on Friday and looked so adorable in his reindeer pajamas....

Cookie Exchange

You know that double edged sword when consuming too many cookies? It's like your taste buds are saying 'AMAZEBALLS', but your stomach is saying 'shoot me now'. It's like wonderful and disgusting at the same time? That's how I've felt over the past week after consuming wayyyy too many cookies from the Ohio Blogging Association's cookie exchange.

I ended up making these cookies which turned out both pretty and yummy!

And then brought home a smorgasbord of goodness in which quite a few were devoured before I could even get a picture.

A big thanks to Jen from Why CLE? for hosting this fun event! I had a great time catching up with and meeting new faces!

Drew's First School Program

There's a reason why I still have Drew's baby picture over on the right side of the blog. I'm terrified of him growing up and I hold onto that picture as a reminder that no matter how old he is, he's still my baby.

Well my baby had his first program at school last night and you can bet your butt I was the mom holding up the 18 recording/picture taking devices all at the same time while holding back tears and waving with the biggest smile on my face. In fact, I almost broke down in full nasty cry when I read the notice outside his classroom last month and envisioned him standing on a stage singing songs. Isn't that for like kindergartners or grade school kids? Surely not little soon-to-be 3 year olds.

And although my fears of him fleeing the stage the second he locked eyes with me or Derek didn't come to fruition, my insides were bursting with pride exactly like I knew they would. His class only sang two songs by themselves, but then sang two more with all other students. It's a hard pill to swallow when you realize this is the first time where I will watch my baby in an organized group get up and do something he's been practicing all by himself. For decades to come there will be plenty of times performing on a stage or playing in a sporting game, but I will never forget his first.

Luckily, since he was in the youngest group, he got to be in the front!

They made little red noses for the Rudolph song....

Then all classes stood up and sang two songs....

And of course, the best part was the punch and cookies after.

Snowy Times

I've been itching to get outside with Drew and enjoy the snow and Saturday was the perfect day. It was 33 degrees, sunny and the snow was just beautiful. We had his best friend over and the two giggled their heads off making snowballs, running around and sledding down our hill in the backyard.

Can we first admire how adorable my son is in his snowsuit? The hands in the pocket and his adorable smile just make me melt.

Once we were bundled, I made the boys stop for a quick picture and then it was time to hit the snow!

The boys absolutely loved being pulled by their daddies.

And although they are small and kinda grainy, these iphone videos were too fun not to post. Jack's laugh in the second one is just priceless.

What's better than some yummy lunch with your bestie after playing in the snow?

Fall Picture Session

I can FINALLY post these since we've sent out our Christmas cards for the year! As I've mentioned many times before, we love our photographer, Tess Smith, and the gorgeous work that she does. She truly has become a friend over the years and I'm so lucky to have such a talented lady in my life!

And just a few others for your viewing pleasure... you can click to make larger!

I adore my family.

Albino? Piebald? Odd-ball?

Happy Friday the 13th! In honor of this creepy, superstitious day, I had to post about our new, odd neighbors.

The area of Cleveland that we live in has some weird characters. Have you ever heard the term 'piebald'? I hadn't, until I posted a picture of this guy in our backyard on our neighborhood facebook page. Apparently there are 3 of these deer in Cleveland with one of them being completely white. I think they are gorgeous and hope we see them more often!

But what's creepy is the random white (or is it albino or piebald also?) turkey that roams the area. I've seen a group of about 20 turkeys around the area a dozen times and a couple times have spotted this white one with them. 

But then just the other day, I looked up at a flock of black geese flying overhead and one of them was white also! I didn't get to snap a picture of the flock, but it kinda looked like this...

via

Crazy right? I'm now waiting for an albino-looking squirrel to run in our yard or a white bunny to hop through and then I'll officially be creeped out.

The Struggle Has Begun (& I Need Your Help!)

Let me preface this by saying Drew is an angel. He always has been, always will be and I love him whatever challenging time we go through. The reality is, things could always be worse whatever situation you're in. Period. I just had to document this stage for memories sake. And because our world isn't always peaches and clouds.

We never really had the 'terrible twos' until about a month ago. But now we are starting to see what our friends have spoken of forever. However, now that Drew turns 3 in just a month, we're going with the 'trying threes' instead.

For the most part, this kid truly is wonderful. I've always admired his laid back approach to life, but lately he's been acting out more and more. Anything can turn into a tantrum and although we're learning ways to deal with them, sometimes they are completely uncontrollable. When it started, Derek and I were pretty much clueless in how to handle them. I'll admit I yelled at Drew a couple times and I hated myself for it. Those times were generally when Derek wasn't around to help and I was at my limit.

We had a long conversation the other night about how we've done good these last few weeks with remaining calm and talking to him like he's an adult. He's so intuitive that often just talking to him or changing the subject works, but when the bad ones hit, there's no going back. We just have to ignore him or wait it out. Sometimes I'm not sure how we can get through another year of this. We will, though, just like everyone does. It's a phase, and that's what we tell ourselves everyday. Just like his excessive slobbering or his nail biting. It's just a phase.

Picture taken by  my beautiful and talented friend, Virginia.

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And just for shits and giggles, I need your help on another challenge. But a far more fun one at that. We're going to have backsplash installed into our kitchen in January and we're stuck on which one to get! 

Click to make larger if you'd like to see a bit closer......

Option 1 is a normal travertine rectangular tile that's in the subway pattern.
Option 2 is a mini subway tile that's always in a subway pattern.
Option 3 is a travertine square tile that is turned on the diagonal.

Keep in mind we have very dark granite and cabinets most similar to those in option 3.

THANK YOU!!!

Drew the p-i-m-p

This past weekend was quite busy for us. Besides having to get a hole patched in a tire on our car with less than 1400 miles (ugh), we spent time with old, new(ish) and newer friends!

On Saturday night, our friends invited us over for some YUMMY chilly, beers and a crackling fire while the kiddos played. They actually told us about our new neighborhood while we were looking for houses this summer and now we're one block over for them! Drew loved playing with Hayden and Harper (don't you just love their names?) and when we were leaving completely gave Harper an unsolicited kiss on the cheek. Ladies man right there.

Then on Sunday, we met some new friends (and Jayhawk fans) at Brio for brunch. Have you had brunch there before? We hadn't and it was phenomenal. I had french toast with cream cheese and fruit. Who would have thought cream cheese would make it so tasty! Drew sat like a champ next to Maggie, their 1 year old darling little girl, and she couldn't stop staring at his handsome looks. Future Cleveland Jayhawk buddies right there.

Then yesterday, we ventured on a near 6-hour outing (we thought it would be like 3) with a friend and her daughter down to meet her friends in Medina and visit Castle Noel. All 4 kiddos did awesome throughout the 2-hour walk through Christmas attraction and Drew even gave Santa a high five before going down the slide with daddy. My friends daughter, Layla, is the cutest thing you've ever seen and Drew couldn't stop hugging her.

And if you're keeping track, Drew now has 4 girlfriends. One in Buffalo, one in Florida, one in our old area and now we have Layla in our new neighborhood. What can I say? The ladies love him.

Oh, and on another note completely unrelated, did you know The North Face has lifetime warranties on their zippers? The one on my huge, long winter coat that I've only had a few years broke and alterations people wouldn't touch it because of the down. I called North Face for help and found out I just have to mail it in and they'll fix it! Unfortunately it could take 8 weeks (which is super fun during the winter), but at least it will be fixed!

Jolly the Elf

I jumped on the bandwagon. Drew is almost 3 and I figured he could finally understand the concept of an Elf watching him and reporting him to Santa. We're seeing more and more of the 'trying threes' and I was really hoping this thing would help his behavior.

We've read the book, discussed the Elf, named him Jolly (Drew picked it out) and fingers were crossed his magic would bring us a household of no tantrums.

6 days in, however, I've realized that it's not working. Jolly sucks. Perhaps I'm not putting enough effort into it (sorry you pinterest worthy mothers with awesome Elf ideas), but I think it's just that he's too young for it to actually work. Oh well. I've started this tradition and I'm not giving up on it now. Next year will be better, so this year I'm just enjoying his face when he spots Jolly each morning. 

Here are my attempts to be cutesy with Jolly. Don't judge. I don't have time to set up an entire hollywood stage each morning for this overpriced felt figure.

Day 1: This was Jolly's introduction into the family. Dump truck, 'snow' balls, a new book for Drew and a note from Santa who has exactly the same handwriting as me. Odd.

Day 2: He rode the train right in from the front door.

Day 3: He brought Drew a shaker that sounds exactly like Santa's sleigh.

 Day 4: Sneaking nillas from the cookie jar.

Day 5: Hanging from the chandelier. Real original right?

Day 6: Reading to all of Drew's animals.

Don't worry, you won't get a daily post on Jolly, or even weekly for that matter. I'm Elf the Shelfed out from people's pictures on Instagram and FB and refuse to bore you any further with ours.

Have a great weekend!