HOCKEY!

Liam has figured out what hockey is and how to say it. With the snow this weekend leaving a fresh slick surface every morning, he has wanted to go outside and "play hockey". This consists of Keith holding Liam's hands from behind and pushing him as he glides on the surface of the snow.

It might have all stemmed from Thursday night at Grandpa's house....
I mean who doesn't put on hockey skates and gloves while running around the house in your diaper in the middle of a snow storm! Think we need to get this kid to a skating rink soon.

Happy Birthday Liam!

Liam turned two on the 2nd (golden bithday)! I can't believe the little stinker is two already; although he does act 100% a two year old. (I will save that for another post).

For his actual birthday, we didnt do much. We had swim lessons in the morning and that was about it. He actually had a sitter Saturday night and Keith and I went to dinner and then to my brother's crawfish boil for a bit.
We had a small party on Sunday with just family. Ordered pizza and a cake and that was about it.

I really get irritated when I look at other mom's blogs and they have perfectly captured pictures of each perfect moment of their child's different life events.
I am horrible at this. A lot of it is my fault... we are halfway through an event before I realize I haven't even pulled my camera out. Or I am running around trying to make sure everyone else is happy and has a drink in hand that I barely have a free moment. Some of it is my damn cameras fault (or this is still my fault because I haven't learned how to use it!) And then there is the fault that I place on my squirmy, active, crazy little two year old.

So with all that being said, the pictures below are awful. But it was his birthday so pictures are necessary.

Dont know why Keith is sad here...

Liam loves Brittany!

Liam was so happy with the 1st present he opened, we probably could have stopped after that. The majority of the rest of this presents were opened by me and his cousins.

He moves so fast...

Singing Happy Birthday.

Not so sure about the candles...

He did end up blowing out the candles though.

He wasn't satisfied with the one piece on this cake, so he reached in and helped him self to another.

Blue icing face!!

And no family picture again! :(

Fireplace Transformation

So a couple of months ago, I posted these pictures on Facebook...

Shortly after, I got a text from my Aunt Ellen saying she had a really great and easy project for my brass fireplace...

Well that put the wheels in motion. I was never very fond of the fireplace but really never thought of it as something that I could DIY. The more I looked at it after that, the more I hated it.

Then I went to my friend Denise's and saw how gorgeous her house and mantle were decorated and knew something had to be done.

It started with finding a boxwood wreath at Target and then shortly after an awesome mirror for an awesome price at Homegoods!

Next with Keith's help (since I didn't want to be pregnant inhaling paint fumes) we did Aunt Ellen's project and spray painted those ugly brass doors.

Well once that was done, I realized just how ugly (and tarnished) the brick was. So Keith took a day off work and tackled that.

I love the end result and it really was not that expensive at all. With the new mantle dressings, I am pretty sure everything was less than $200.

So the big reveal... (please ignore all the toys in the picture I was clearly too lazy to move)

And some detail pics.



Change is Coming...

Liam turns two tomorrow. I can't believe how fast two years have gone by. Time really does go faster when you have a little one reminding you of just how much has passed.
And as Liam turns two, he also has come change coming. On Monday, he will start daycare full time. I am so excited (and nervous) for him to start this new experience. He has been with family and a sitter the past two years where he got almost all one on one attention. Moving to a room with 8 other two year olds might be a little shock for him.
Ultimately I know he is going to love it though. And it is going to be a great experience for him. He is going to learn so much (much more than Keith and I ever knew at that age probably!) and will prepare him for kindergarten and all his future schooling.

I will hopefully have some more pictures next week of his birthday and his party. As for now, here is just a random cute one that was on my phone.
Happy Friday!

2012 Goal Recaps and 2013 Resolutions

It really seems like just yesterday I was writing my resolutions for 2012. And what a shame because most of them did not get accomplished. Here was my 2012 list.
-Make sure we are maximizing our 401K opportunities.
-Start making monthly contributions to Liam's college fund.
-A healthier lifestyle. Not sure what that all includes yet, but maybe a work out plan would be nice as well as eating at home more.
-Vacation. Hopefully a long weekend away for my 30th and a trip with friends and their children.
-Baby #2.
-Which means we will need a new house. Or at least get ours on the market in 2012.
-Get organized!

And here are the results:
-Don't think I did one thing as far as our 401K goes... We did save a lot in 2012 though which will put a small dent in a down payment for a new house if that ever happens.
-Didn't make one contribution to Liam's college fund! What is wrong with us?! Oh right, we were saving for a house per the note above. :)
-I had about a 2 month period where I woke up early every morning and went for a jog. That ended pretty quickly once I got some good news (cliffhanger I know, but just read like two more bullets down). We have been eating in more often but still don't have a very good plan in place to get dinners made quickly, healthy and cheap.
-We went on vacation. Keith and I had our mini staycation downtown for my birthday. We spent 4 days at Table Rock with Keith's family and 4 days at the Ozarks with our friends. Also Liam and I got to spend a couple days in North Carolina.
-Baby # 2 is on the way!! Due date June 3rd. That is why my work out plan went out the window. I am 10x more tired with this pregnancy than I ever was with Liam but I guess I can contribute most of that to the fact that Liam is around now. :)
-Our house went on the market for a few months but we didn't even get a nibble. We decided to take it off the market and make do for now. We will obviously live there for a little while with 2 and see how it goes. Hoping maybe we can be in a new house in 2-2.5 more years.
-Organization is slowing happening. More things are happening now that we have the baby on the way. I think it is going to be a never ending process.

With all that being said, here are my goals for 2013:
-Bring a healthy newborn baby boy into the world.
-Make an impression at work. Yeah that is pretty vague, don't have a clue what that looks like yet.
-Vacation. I think this will be a lot more lofty this year once the baby gets here. My maternity leave will be over summer though so maybe we can go somewhere then.
-Money. We will have two in day care so saving might be a thing of the past and the future. But I would like to make sure we are cutting back and saving where we can. And that pesky college fund should probably finally get some attention.
-Make sure Keith and I make time for each other and ourselves in the midst of this upcoming craziness.

Again, I am sure there are more but this is the list for now.
Here is the New Year's card we sent out this year:

It Was Only 4 Weeks Ago...

Christmas that is. But never too late to post I guess. :)
We had a great Christmas with lots of family time and LOTS of presents (well for Liam at least). The kid got spoiled. He also got the hang of it all. "Ho, ho, ho" ing as he tore through all the wrapping paper. It was usually pretty hard to tear him away from the most recent open gift to open his next one. He also had a ton of fun with the boxes and wrapping paper of course.
And although he could recognize Santa this year, the concept was still a little beyond him. I know next year that will change and Santa will for sure be visiting us.
So a picture recap of Christmas below: