Leekley Weekly

Hearts

2012-02-13T14:18:00.001-05:00

Dillon and I have been talking about hearts, family and love for the past couple weeks in preparation of Valentine's Day! I already know how much he loves his mommy and daddy (the random "I love you, Mommy"s and sloppy kisses are the best!) and I wanted him to make some art projects to display around the house, which is my favorite part of holidays and "kinda sorta holidays" now...decorating so Dillon gets excited! A new tradition we started recently is to decorate the vase on our kitchen table to go along with the holiday...like at Christmas, it had red and green "ornaments" like a tree, hearts for Valentine's Day, shamrocks for St Patty's, eggs for Easter, etc. That way, when we sit down to dinner, we can talk with Dillon about what's on the "tree." We made a felt heart garland and stamped some hearts onto paper with a toilet paper roll. Dillon insisted we make all color hearts too, not just red! Tonight we are going to make heart cookies and then tomorrow, I am going to make salmon, asparagus, red potatoes and a lemon raspberry cake for a family Valentine's Day dinner(excited to be staying home and not going out...we have had plenty of dates lately and I want to include D man!) Dillon may get lucky with some goodies in his little robot heart felt bag (dollar section of Target, whoot!).

Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!
(ps-ignore all grammatical errors in this post, I am typing this after having my eyes dilated and can't see, lol)

Potty Time

2012-01-29T19:58:00.001-05:00

We have been "potty training" for about 2 weeks and things are going along slowly. I don't know if its me that's not ready or him that's not ready but I think we are just going to take it one step at a time and see how it goes. I am definitely not going to push him if he is not ready. We bought a couple books and this potty...

D likes sitting on the small potty/vs big potty and likes to dance along to the music, but he doesn't actually use the potty yet. Right now we are at step one of just sitting on the potty and eating M&Ms for sitting for a long time. Tonight he dropped one (an M&M) in the toilet and picked it up and ate it when I wasn't looking...oops. At least he didn't pee in it! Ha! If we get desperate, we might try the "run around in just underwear at home all day" method and see how he does, with a towel in each room ready to wipe up pee. Oh the joys of potty training! :)

Bowling!

2012-01-25T23:48:00.001-05:00

We took Dillon bowling for the first time on NYE with our friends and he had a blast! He also loved the arcade! I love how he excited he was even though he didn't knock down the pin...and I'm pretty sure he had a better score than I did.

Head-Shots for Website

2012-01-18T23:08:00.000-05:00

My photography website was in need of some updating so I asked a friend from high school, who is also a photographer, to take some head-shots to put on my welcome and bio page. This was something I am not use to and definitely felt weird being on the other side of the camera! We had a blast exploring downtown Cary as we tried not to freeze to death! Here are a few pictures I plan on using! Chris did a great job, you can find his website here!

(photos are copyright of Chris Winstead Photography, please do not copy)

Dillon turned 2!! (in November!)

2012-01-15T21:40:00.000-05:00

Birthdays are fun and they only come once a year, so why not have big parties?! I planned a big party for Dilllon's first birthday and the second one was not as big, but definitely put some planning into it. This year is probably the last of the crazy parties for a while, the first two were awesome but I might not have as much time as I did for those. Party planning is fun but can stressful. Especially when you plan for an outdoor party the end of November and do not reserve the shelter. Talk about an ulcer. Luckily, we had perfect weather (sunny and 70's) and no one was at the shelter when I arrived 2 hours early to set up! Yay! Dillon had a choo choo train themed party and enjoyed all of it...except the cake again. He just didn't want to destroy daddy's awesome creation. :) All of the cute labels, banner, cupcake toppers, etc came from Etsy, which was super easy because all I had to do what print and cut with a puncher and paper cutter! We had a great time with friends and family and Dillon got some fun gifts, lots of train stuff which he loved! Here are some pictures from his special day!

Catching up and Fresh Look

2012-01-15T20:48:00.000-05:00

Please excuse me as I post about things that happened about 2 months ago...I am way behind and need to catch up! Also freshened up the blog with a new header and picture! One of my New Year resolutions was to blog more often so here I go!

Dillonisms

2011-12-07T22:43:00.000-05:00

If I don't write down these cute little sayings that make us smile, I will completely forget...I am going to start posting Dillonisms each month on cute or funny phrases we hear around the house!! :)

Talking about climbing up stairs- "I uping!" or "Go up, up, uping!"

Almost every day, he tells me something he likes- "I like choo choos" or my favorite- "I like cupcakes!" with a mouth full of cupcake :)

One night while taking a bath- "I poo-pooed...yucky!!!!" Luckily, he didn't actually poop in the tub :)

He is always telling us to sit down-"mommy sit, daddy sit, Dillon sit" He wants us to all sit together on the couch or on the floor to read.

Before we leave the house, he tells the dog " Doggie, go poo poo."

New Ride

2011-11-26T21:33:00.000-05:00

Taking his cousin out for a cruise in his new car!

Mother-Son Date night!

2011-10-03T20:57:00.000-04:00

Chic fil a never ceases to amaze me. Tonight they had a mother- son date night where you signed in, were sat at a table, had menus and were waited on like a restaurant. There were lights hanging, violins playing, free gifts, roses for the moms. Dillon loved the classical music and even jammed out with it. This boy can dance to anything! Loved my date with my sweet boy! Thanks CFA for being so awesome!!

Gettin Messy

2011-08-27T20:48:00.001-04:00

We love getting messy at our house so we tried homemade gak for the first time! Just cornstarch, water and foodcoloring. Dillon requested purple and green, his favorite colors. He had a blast and did not want to clean up. I think the best part was watching his face when the gak would ooze through his fingers and toes...hilarious!! This is such an easy clean up too, rinses right off skin and we just rolled up the tablecloth and sprayed it outside!

Easy Peasy Yogurt Pie

2011-08-27T20:14:00.000-04:00

Today was a good day for baking since we were stuck inside from the yucky hurricane (even though we did go out to the grocery store and mall). I wanted to make my favorite summer dessert one last time before summer is over and the warm comfort foods take over the kitchen! My mom made this pie many times when I was growing up and it didn't last long!! Basically, all the pie contains is yogurt and cool whip! See, so easy! I use the small pre-made graham cracker crust, one small container of lite cool whip and two containers of yogurt. My mom always made blueberry or raspberry flavored with real berries mixed in. This time I made a berry and a key lime. I wanted to try something new and see how key lime yogurt would taste! Its pretty good and satisfied my key lime craving, but I still think berry is my favorite! Once you mix the yogurt and coop whip together, pour into the crust, cover and freeze for a few hours. Enjoy!!

Earthquake!

2011-08-23T15:51:00.000-04:00

Aftermath from the quake we felt in Durham today!!!! Oh wait...no, that is from two tornadoes named Dillon and Zoey :)

The Cupcake Truck

2011-08-13T16:08:00.000-04:00

Durham is well known for their food trucks and Daisycakes is probably my favorite! Who doesn't love cupcakes on your way to the farmer's market?! They are opening their storefront in Oct which is pretty exciting. Speaking of food trucks, we are going to Durhams biggest food truck roundup on Sunday at Durham Central Park. There will be 15 trucks ranging from The Grilled Cheese Bus (um yes please) to Locopops! I love Durham!!

My Handsome Boy

2011-08-13T15:56:00.001-04:00

Dillon was such a stud in his tux and converses at my Brother-in-law's wedding! So proud of him and Stella for making it down the aisle!

Blueberry Picking

2011-07-08T17:48:00.000-04:00

Some of the moms in our play group met the other day to go blueberry picking! I have been so excited to take Dillon since he LOVES blueberries and I really wanted to make blueberry muffins, pancakes, pie, etc. (I didn't make any of the above, we ate them all already, ha!)
We headed out to Patchwork Farms in Chapel Hill, which is a great family owned farm with very nice owners, lots of blueberries and the best part...its fenced in with play structures for the kids! It was a soak-through-your-shirt-with-sweat kind of day so we didn't stay long. Dillon had fun stuffing his face and helping me put a few in the jug.

We will probably go back and bring Evan this time so we can bring back triple the amount and have enough to freeze!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T15:08:00.000-04:00

Dillon has the best daddy any kid could ask for...he looks up to him so much and they have such a special bond. I hope they are always close and have a great relationship as Dilly grows up!
This year, daddy got a new lawn mower a few weeks ago and Dillon made him a cute framed picture of his hand print inside of daddy's and a card with his hand print painted on. I was impressed he actually sat down with me and helped traced his hand, glue on the hands and paint the card. He was so excited to give it to him!

We love you, daddy! Thanks for being such a wonderful hubby and daddy to your little family! :)

Water Fun

2011-06-09T22:56:00.002-04:00

Don't know if you've noticed, but its been pretty hot lately. Shoooooweeeee!!! Trust me when I say we don't do well with the heat. Us pale folks (not Evan, he has nice tan skin) can't be in the sun long without turning into lobsters and poor Dillon gets so over heated. The only way to stay cool is with a constant stream of water or just a whole crap load of it...like a pool! This week, if we have been outside, we had water there as our friend. Dillon's baby pool on the deck, the spray ground at the park (lots of fun with his play group!) and his first trip this year to the big pool. He loves the water but takes a little while to warm up to the big pools. We jumped and swam and tried to kick but he wanted to cling onto me for a good 20 minutes and told me "all done" about 20 times. I ignored his objections, telling him he really loved it, he just didn't know it yet and he eventually figured out mommy was right. haha. He just didn't want me throwing him up in the air quite yet. Once we found some toys, he loved scooping the water and splashing with his cousin. What he doesn't know is that he will be a little fishy soon and swim like his mommy. :) I think our next water adventure will be the au naturale route and we will visit Jordan Lake (or is that a man made lake? I haven't a clue) then maybe a water park? And the beach! Fun summer plans ahead to keep us from passing out!!!

Dillon {18 months}

2011-06-02T22:37:00.000-04:00

We are at the half way mark to two years old!! It will be here before we know it, and so will the attitude...which I am a little afraid of since he is starting to show his "true colors" haha. He is still my sweet boy though!! Here is a quick update on our Dilly...

Evan took D to the doctor by himself for the first time and they came back in one piece. D weighs 24 1/2 lbs and is 35 inches tall!!!!! I think basketball may also be in his future if he keeps growing like this. Man, no wonder he can reach EVERYTHING. And no wonder strangers think he is two...until he opens his mouth, haha.

Speaking of speaking, he is talking non stop all day. Well, I take that back. He is either talking or laughing, one of the two. Some new words are: Thank you (he is getting very good that this without me asking him to say it!), right back, dada's truck (he's a little obsessed), lap (to read books), yellow, purple, blue, Elmo, wubbie (his blankie), poop (he points to his butt), yucky (he also points to his butt) and a lot of stuff we have no idea but he sure does! He knows the animal sounds for the dog, cat, cow, duck, elephant, goat and sheep. He can also count to one! haha

His stranger anxiety is gone and he is back to being Mr Social while we are out. His favorite thing to do is say "buh bye" and a big "muuuuuaaaahhhhh" to people when we are leaving.

Our garbage disposal has become a pickier and lighter eater, which I am hoping is just a phase. I think he would rather be playing than eating these days.

I think he has figured out that not everything in life is funny like...eating dog food isn't funny, thats gross. Rolling around while I change a poopy diaper isn't funny...thats messy and a big no no. Daddy farting isn't funny...its stinky...well, that's still funny to him. lol

Some of his favorite things are books, puzzles, the pool, anything outside, riding in the car, his wagon and trike, daddy's truck and bubbles.

He continues to be our happy, crazy (mama's) boy with a big heart. :)

Curtain for the Kitchen

2011-05-30T14:21:00.000-04:00

We have finally finished our living room/dinning room flip! Yipppee!! ( I will post those pictures later) I wanted to make some cute pillows for the couches to match the green and yellow theme in the kitchen. I found some really cute fabric and it just sat in my sewing room for a while. I just haven't had the energy to make pillows (even though pillows are super easy to make, I just haven't felt like it). One thing I was excited to make was a curtain for the window above the sink. We haven't had anything on that window and it sometimes freaks me out at night, you know, peeping toms and all that (would have to be more like a jumping peeping tom, our window is really high)...so I decided to finally make a curtain! This was probably the easiest curtain ever. I just hemmed a piece that I measured to fit the window, stuck a rod through the top and attached green ribbon to tie the curtain up in a cute little drape. Here it is...

New Lens

2011-05-09T18:16:00.002-04:00

So excited about my new lens! I just bought the Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 and it is awesome and so sharp! I had to test it out on my favorite subject and here is an example of why I am in love (with the lens and the kid)...

Don't forget to check out my photography website for more pictures from my latest sessions!
www.heidijoyphotography.com

Crash Pad

2011-05-03T20:25:00.002-04:00

Dillon loves his new crash pillow! He is always rolling around on the floor like a crazy person and loves to jump and crash into our pillows on our bed, so I thought I would make him his own. The Cookie Monster fabric is a plus, too! Sometimes I will catch him relaxing on his pillow reading a book. Its a miracle to see him still for that long! And by long, I mean a few minutes. :)

Easter and Bow Ties

2011-04-27T23:28:00.004-04:00

This was last Easter...

Aww, cute. This year...

He definitely knows he's cute...and he was workin the bow tie. This was so simple and fun to make! I had all the supplies I needed at home, and just followed this tutorial. I think every toddler boy should own a bow tie!

The cousins last year...

So precious! This year, they had so much fun hunting for eggs and playing together. They even held hands and did some smooching. Okay now, probably not okay later.

Playing at the park...

I made these Easter egg oreo balls as a ~~appetizer~~ dessert and we could not stop eating them before dinner! I don't think Dillon likes chocolate, isn't that sad?! Even after forcing him to try it, he said no. Oh well, more for us!

So easy to make! Pretty much just oreos, cream cheese, vanilla and white chocolate. You can find the recipe here. I won't even mention the carrot cake and the leftovers D and I have had each day for lunch this week. Ha!
Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!!

A video for Mimi

2011-04-21T21:01:00.001-04:00

Dillon wanted to show off for Mimi before going night-night :)

Party Time!

2011-04-18T23:08:00.002-04:00

Someone special had her 2nd birthday this weekend! My niece turned 2 (can't believe she's 2 already!!) and we had so much fun celebrating with her on Saturday. She was looking mighty cute in her red and teal tutu that matched her Olivia themed party! Dillon helped her open some gifts but they mostly wanted to play in the big present...the playhouse! We had to intervene during fights for the phone and the broom. I think Dillon was a little too excited about the broom. Oh well, nothin wrong with a domestic toddler boy!

Last week, we had a spring party at Oval Park (note to self...no more parks with stairs leading to busy roads) with cookies and Easter eggs filled with snacks for the kids. Dillon shared eggs with Collin, modeled his bunny shirt and ran away any chance he got. This kid is all about going in the opposite of mommy at all times...especially at parks!! Oh well, his cuteness level is still helping him from getting in trouble, haha!

Easter Bunny Shirt

2011-04-10T21:50:00.004-04:00

Time for another holiday appliqued shirt! I haven't made one since Thanksgiving so I am due for another one Easter will be here before I know it so I whipped up an Easter bunny shirt for Dillon. I even managed to take pictures for step by step instructions. This is so easy and fast to make, especially during a long nap time. :)

*please excuse my crappy pictures, the lighting in my craft room is horrible and I didn't feeling editing

First, gather your supplies- shirt, fabric, erasable marker, scissors and applique pattern. For the pattern, all I did was search for pics of bunny appliques online, enlarged it in Word, printed and cut out on cardstock. You can find an erasable marker at any craft store. The fabric is by Michael Miller. Love his fabric!!

Next, trace your bunny on the back of your fabric with your marker. Don't worry, the purple will fade :) Cut out carefully with some sharp scissors.

How you attach it to your shirt is up to you but I find the easiest way is with fusible interfacing (I recommend Heat and Bond or Wonder Under). Iron on your interfacing and then iron your applique to your shirt. I have also used a spray adhesive, which is very easy. You just spray it on the back of your fabric and then press it on. An easy way if you want to avoid getting the iron out.

Now, sew either a zig zag or straight stitch around the edges of your applique to give it a finished look.

and......BAM you're done in around 30 minutes with a super cute Easter shirt! I'm thinking about making some little shorts to match!!

An Easy Dinner

2011-04-08T10:00:00.001-04:00

These days, I'm all about easy and fast dinners. I wanted to try something new and found this yummy recipe for Honey Mustard Chicken....

*4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
*salt and pepper to taste
*1/3 cup honey
*1/3 cup prepared mustard (I used half yellow, half Dijon)
*3/4 teaspoon dried basil
*3/4 teaspoon paprika
*1/4 teaspoon dried parsley

Preheat oven to 350.
Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper to taste, and place in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. In a small bowl, combine the honey, mustard, basil, paprika, and parsley. Mix well. Pour 1/2 of this mixture over the chicken, and brush to cover.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Turn chicken pieces over and brush with the remaining 1/2 of the honey mustard mixture. Bake for an additional 10 -15 minutes or until no longer pink.

I served ours with rice and veggies. It was a hit and so easy to make!

*photo courtesy of allrecipes.com

Catchin Up

2011-04-01T22:27:00.002-04:00

Its been a while since I posted, so here is one loooooooong post about what's been going on...here it goes, don't hold your breath cause we've been busy!!

I started nannying a little girl back in February and its going so well! Her name is Zoey and she is 6 months old. SUCH a cutie pie with her little rolls and chubby cheeks. Dillon is SO good with her, its just melts my heart. He gives her hugs and kisses and tries to share with her. He even cheers for her when she does something new like eat a puff or sit up on her own. I think this is preparing him for a sibling in the not-so-near future! haha! These two are so much fun to be with during the week and we enjoy our playdates and park visits! This is Zoey..don't you just want to eat her up?!

Since The end of January, we have been working on flipping our dinning room and living room....this has been a big pain in the tush(mostly in mine) with two babies at home but somehow we managed not to go crazy and we now have a living room right next to the kitchen!! I am soooo happy and so grateful for my wonderful, hard working hubby who ripped out the carpet and put down new floors. He did everything by himself...the only thing I did was pick out the new couches, ha! (Thats a whole other post for another day...I will post before and after pictures on that one)

This is one of Dillon's best buddies and probably his BFF if he could tell me that. Collin and Dillon hang out about 2-3 times a week at playdates and such. They are a month apart and have become a lot more aware of each other and love to play together. They are quite the pair...Dillon is way taller than Collin but Collin is heavier and could take Dillon down any day. haha. I love this cute picture of them ~~beating each other up~~ playing...

Dillon and I took a long awaited trip to Greenville and stayed with his Godmommy and my BFF Jenna. It was nice to get out of town for the weekend and hang out with friends. We met some friends and a buddy of Dillon's for brunch and we caught up on life and had a great time. I have known Beth and Ashley since we were in elementary school and I can't believe how grown up we all are now!

Have you ever been ziplining??? If you haven't then you need to go...like this weekend. It is so much fun, especially when you go with all women who are all crazy and love to have fun! We went to Richland Creek Zipline Canopy Tours in Asheboro. Not too far but you still feel like you are getting away.
They are family owned and super nice. You get your helmet, harness and gloves...then climb up to the first one and off you go! It takes about 2 hours to complete the tour with a nice stop in the middle to climb the rocks to the river.

Evan has been coaching lacrosse again for Riverside High School and they are doing pretty good this season...much better than last year! Dillon went to his first game of the year and once he warmed up to the loud (and I mean LOUD), crazy, overzealous lacrosse moms and dads who also wanted to ~~steal~~ hold him, he was fine and clapped every time he heard the yelling or clapping. It was more a reassurance for himself. I could see it in his facial expression "Im okay, Im okay, just keep cheering, Im happy, this is okay, everyone is happy." Poor kid. He also wanted to go hang out with daddy when he spotted him but that obviously wouldn't work out so well. Sooooo after about 5 minutes, we left. haha. Okay maybe not five but no more than 15 minutes. It was also bedtime so that right there was his ticket out. One day, he will be on that field playing but he just doesn't know it yet. :)
*Pictures of Evan back when he played for Riverside-here Love you, Honey!!!!! hehe

Last but not least, another wonderful girls night with my Mother in Law, and Sister in Laws. We drove to Raleigh to see Idina Menzel, who you may know from Broadway shows like Wicked, Rent and she guest starred on Glee as Rachel's mom. Oh and she's married to Taye Diggs...just sayin.
Her website-here
She is pretty awesome, not only a phenomenal singer but she is hilarious! She gave a great concert and I loved the songs/lullabies she wrote to her baby boy. :) There was a really sweet thing that happened while we were there...she said while on the plane from Chicago to Raleigh, she met a man who was in the military and she really connected with him. He gave her a special coin that had a lot of meaning. She invited him to the show and she didn't know he was there. All of a sudden, he stood up and walked up to the stage and gave her another coin. Awesome moment!

Okay, thats all. Im done for another couple months, haha. Just kidding...Easter will probably be next!

Dillon {15 months}

2011-02-25T15:02:00.004-05:00

Seriously...where did my baby go?! I just turned around one day and he was gone. Now, in walks this toddler who thinks he is Mr Independent and Mr Comedian. These days are probably some of the most enjoyable though, since I am home with him now. He is learning so fast and picks up on so much. I love being able to do fun things with him during the week like go to the Museum of Life and Science or to the park to run around! Dillon is definitely all boy and wants to be outside 24/7 if we let him. We have to bribe him with food to come back inside, haha. You wouldn't think that's the case though because he is still our little string bean!

Dilly boo, here is what you have been up to lately:

You just went to your 15 month check up. You have been so calm and "whatever" at the doc up until today(your stranger anxiety has kicked in for the first time). Blood draws, shots or doctors never use to scare you. But today, you did not want him to poke you or listen to your ears. You were clingy to Mommy and told him "Bye" and blew kisses like "get the you-know-what away from me!" in the nicest way possible. :)

You gave Mommy a little scare because Dr Clark and I noticed little tiny spots all over your body that we never noticed at home. They look like little freckles but are reddish toned. I can't remember everything the doctor said but he said something about probably nothing but could be low platelet levels, sometimes can be an indicator of things like leukemia. Mommy didn't freak out too much, said a little prayer and we got your blood drawn for a quick check. Everything came back normal, thank God.

You are 22 1/2 pounds and 34 1/2 inches long. I would give anything to have your gnat-like metabolism. NO FAIR. As much as you eat, its amazing how skinny you still are! You are still in cloth diapers all the time and seem to be over your eczema. You have some dry patches on your legs but they don't itch. Your red hair is still red and its not going anywhere! It is getting curlier by the day and mommy doesn't want to cut it for a long time! You wear size 12-24 month clothes and even some 2T pants! Thank goodness for adjustable waistbands!

From 12 months on, you have taken off on your walking! It is so fun to see you walking around everywhere. I still can't get over how cute it is! Your favorite thing to do is run around outside at the park! Sometimes you try to jump and its so cute.

Some words you are saying (or approximating) are- Mama, Dada, doggie, book, baby, hi, bye, hot, light, please, help, done, rock, ball, shoes, sock, bubble, diaper and hurt. You still use your signs to communicate a lot and it is very helpful to let mommy know what you want!

You are such a sweet, loving child. Yes, you have your moments just like a normal toddler, but you have such a loving spirit and we enjoy your hugs, kisses and cuddles. You know how to be sweet to the dog and to baby Zoey, you new friend. Your first two word phrase was "Hi baby" to Zoey. You love being out looking for kids to say hi to and older ladies to flirt with. My favorite thing you do when we are out is your fake sarcastic laugh. You might hear a group of people laugh and you will laugh at them as loud as you can (almost like mocking them) and it cracks mommy up!

Sometimes mommy and daddy talk about something you did or said after you have gone to bed and it makes us laugh so hard. We have so much fun with you and couldn't imagine our lives without our little ray of sunshine!!! We love you so much!!!

Mommy's little helper

2011-02-08T21:02:00.001-05:00

No Bake PB, Chocolate, Oatmeal Cookies

2011-01-21T19:51:00.002-05:00

Growing up, my mom made these a lot and we loved them in our house. Now, my boys love them too! They are so easy to make...and so easy to eat a bunch at a time, so watch out! I have a feeling I will make these again soon b/c most of the ones I made were for play dates and a potluck!!

Peanut Butter, Chocolate, Oatmeal No Bake Cookies:

½ cup (1 stick) butter
2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup milk
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
½ cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups quick-cooking oats

1. Add the first four ingredients to a 4-quart saucepan.

2. Bring to a rolling boil and let boil for 1 minute *make sure to do this pretty exact for the right consistency!!

3. Remove from heat.

4. Stir in the peanut butter, vanilla and oats until smooth. I let it sit and thicken just a smidge (couple minutes) before I continue.

5. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto wax paper-lined baking sheets. You can really make them any size you want.

6. Let cool until set. I put mine in the fridge to set, so I can eat them as soon as possible!! :)

*photo from www.browneyedbaker.com*

New Photography Website!!!!

2010-12-28T22:40:00.004-05:00

Just launched my new photography website/blogsite!! Go check it out!!

www.heidijoyphotography.com

Santa told Dillon that bananas were extinct....

2010-12-21T18:01:00.002-05:00

Santa! I know him!! But don't like him right now!!!

2010-12-17T11:15:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, we took Dillon and Stella to go see Santa. We got there at the perfect time because Santa was on break, but on his way back, so hardly a line! I guess Santa has to pee too.(the mom next to us told her daughter he was parking the raindeer and sled, good one) Stella went first and did great, no tears!! Dillon went next and had an entire range of emotions and he showed them all...first he was smiling and happy. Then he saw who was holding him and looked shocked. After that, he just stared at Santa so confused. Once Dillon turned to look back at us, he was scared and started to cry. I was laughing...bad mommy. Then for the finale, we put Stella back on Santa's lap and they were both crying and mad...I think overall it was pretty successful, haha! They still love us and we have some funny pictures to show them when they grow up. We bought the classic "first visit to Santa picture" which I will post once we get it scanned. Its pretty awesome. :)

Dillon is pointing at Daddy like "you did this to me!!!"

A gift for Baby P

2010-12-17T10:58:00.001-05:00

This was an order for cute baby Parker...his mom wanted a Christmas onsesie and a baseball letter P onesie. I love making these onesies, so much fun!(I forgot to take a picture of the P onesie). Here is the Christmas tree shirt with a matching burp cloth.

Dillon {12 months}

2010-12-10T13:57:00.003-05:00

One year....12 months....gone! How does the time go by so fast?! Baby Dillon, I don't want to stop calling you my baby yet, so I wont. :) You are ONE! What a great year you've had with mommy and daddy. You have had so many great experiences(and some bad ones, but we don't need to mention those!) and you have just developed into this wonderful, funny, spunky, smart, sweet, loving, strong willed boy who we hope will continue to be all these things. Here is what you have been up to lately...

Your big one year check up went great. You are still our little string bean not matter how much we feed you fat. You are just not made to be chunky and that's okay, because that's who you are! You are 20 and a half pounds and 32 inches long and on the same growth curve since birth. We will see if this string bean-ness continues! You took your shots well and you also had to get some blood drawn for allergy testing...you rocked it! Only a few tears!

You are cruising around like crazy and sometimes standing on your own without holding on. You might be thinking about walking but you prefer to crawl really fast to something that you want.

You love to sit and figure things out, you are so good at opening containers and figuring out how toys(and non toys) work. Some of your favorite toys are cars/trucks, basketball hoop, lacrosse stick, random objects found by accident, puzzles, books, the ipod and ipod dock, anything with buttons to push.

You try so hard to tell us what you want! Pointing has been your favorite way for a while now, once you figured out how to train mommy. You will point to things you want and nod your head yes or sign please. You are still signing but you love to point. You say a few words...or try to say them. Its so cute! You can say dog, daddy, cheese(this is new), hot, bye bye, up, mama, yes and hi. You will blow kisses when we say give kisses or I love you...its mommy's favorite! You also will lay your head down and say "awwww" when we tell you to be a sweet baby...even on the kitchen floor, haha!

You have the best personality, even though you like to throw tantrums sometimes...we just ignore those. You are so happy and love to be silly and make funny faces at us. You have started rolling your eyes and making this face that says "I'm up to no good but will try to get away with it b/c I know I'm so cute." You still love to dance and will dance to any music you hear around the house.

You eat everything mommy and daddy eats now and drink whole milk! You are doing well with your sippy cup and you don't really need your bottle anymore, maybe once or twice a day.

Well, little one year old...you won't be our baby for long but we enjoy watching you change and learn every day. You will soon be our little toddler!

We love you, Dillon Thomas! :)

Dillon's First Birthday!

2010-12-10T13:18:00.001-05:00

I know this is really late but better late than never! Dillon won't know the difference!

Dillon had such a wonderful Birthday and party with all of his family and friends. He is definitely loved by so many people! His birthday party weekend was the weekend before his birthday and the weather turned out to be perfect...so glad it wasn't 40 degrees like now! We had his party at Little River Park(great place for a party) with a stressful start because we were throwing things together last minute that morning and running late as usual! Ha! I probably over did myself a little, but it was worth it in the end! Thank you Evan(and Paula Deen) for pulling through on the Mac N Cheese, it was soooo good....and we ate it for about a week afterwards, haha! Besides the wind(does not go well with tissue paper pom poms and light weight decorations) everything went smoothly! We sang to Dillon and he "smashed" his smash cake with some help from mommy. He didn't know what to think but he did try it! He loved hanging out with his buddies and seeing his uncle Peter for the first time since last Christmas!
On his actual birthday, Evan and I had off, so we spoiled him all day and let him get away with whatever he wanted...just kidding. We did start his birthday tradition(same one Evan had) of putting his presents under his bed while he was sleeping and then the next morning, he found them, pulled them out and opened them all with such excitement! NOT! We pretty much had to do it all for him but it will be a fun tradition when he wants and can actually participate! :) Nicole came over to give him(and mommy, lol) a birthday present, his super play yard! Thanks, Nicole! We did some more cake smashing out in the leaves and then went shopping at Buy Buy Baby. That evening, we took him to Red Robin and then Local Yogurt for dessert. He loved his pumpkin frozen yogurt...and so did I!
Here are some pictures from his party and birthday. Enjoy!

Dillon's Birthday Pictures

Starting a New Thanksgiving Tradition...

2010-11-23T21:12:00.000-05:00

Baked Pumpkin French Toast for breakfast.....YUM.

I will post the recipe after I try it out :)

Getting crafty for Saturday!

2010-11-18T17:30:00.000-05:00

Bib and shirt are done!

Dillon {11 months}

2010-11-02T21:13:00.001-04:00

Hi sweet boy, you are almost ONE! We are so excited to celebrate your birthday with family and friends real soon. You are changing so fast before our eyes, we can hardly keep up! It seems like you learn something new every day! Here is what you have been up to the past month...

You are still about the same size and wearing the same size clothes. You, Mommy and Daddy all had a stomach bug and lost weight from being so sick. You are back to your normal self now and are making up for the weight you lost with all your eating!

You love to point to everything...lights, fans, the dog, mommy, daddy, baby and pictures in books. You are also starting to point to body parts. You can point to your nose, hair and ears.

You are cruising a lot more around furniture and will stand with out holding onto something for a few seconds. You aren't close to walking yet, but that is okay with us!

You are drinking whole milk now! Bye bye formula! You love milk and have mastered drinking from a sippy cup. You love to try new foods and are not afraid of a little spice! You've tried some chili, spicy italian sausage and a Hot Tamale(this was all daddy's doing)! Your all time favorite foods are bananas and yogurt.

Some of your favorite activities include...turning off the lights, opening your drawers, pulling out your clothes and then putting them back in, trying to plug anything into the wall, feeding mommy and daddy, feeding your doggie, throwing tantrums, talking back and playing with your friends and cousin.

We love you little one, thanks for making these past 11 months the best 11 months of our lives! :)

photo contest-let your friends know!

2010-10-29T20:22:00.000-04:00

Check out my photography page for details about a photo contest that includes cute kids, cute costumes and free photography! If you are local or have friends in the Raleigh/Durham area, let them know they have a chance to win a free photo session! Details are also on my Facebook page. :)

My photography blog
My Facebook page

Pumpkin Farm

2010-10-19T21:42:00.001-04:00

The family headed over to Ganyard Hill Farms in Durham on Sunday for a fun family day with Mormor, Aunt Megan, Uncle Mike and cousin Stella! The babies had so much fun and were mesmerized by everything around them.
They both really enjoyed the hayride after warming up to the hay....just look at their expressions, too cute!! I also made their matching shirts...

Dillon and Stella talked to the goats and pigs too. I think Dillon has perfected his goat noise!

Everyone gets to pick a pumpkin to take home and the guys did a great job hunting for the best ones.
Next year, the babies will be old enough for the slide and corn maze! Definitely a fun place to take the family, we will be back!

Dillon {10 months}

2010-10-05T22:43:00.002-04:00

Well little cute face, the countdown has begun to your birthday! We can't believe it is coming up so fast. I wish I could push a pause button on your growing up. Here is what you have been up to the past month:

You are growing like an out of control weed and there is no slowing you down! You keep growing up but not out. You might always be skinny but maybe you will chunk up when you are a toddler. Either way, you are still perfect!

You have been waking up at night every now and then because you are teething, poor baby. You usually go back to sleep on your own at night but are fighting your naps during the day. Sometimes you take two naps, sometimes one. You still hang in there for the most part. :)

You love to eat big boy food now like mac and cheese, hummus, peas, sweet potato fries...pretty much anything you can pick up. You have mastered your sippy cup and you love to toss it on the floor over and over again!

You love to show off your tricks like a little circus monkey. Your favorites are "Can you clap?" " "Can you say no?" "Can you dance?" Your new favorite thing is to say "up" and point up to the fan or the sky. You are also saying "mamamama" now and "dadadada" is getting jealous. haha just kidding.

You are still your happy self 90 percent of the time but are showing your "not as cute" side with tantrums when you don't get what you want. Most of the time, we can distract you out of them...but we will see what happens when you get older! Ha!

You are crawling around like crazy and pulling up on everything. You will sometimes cruise along the couch but we don't think you are close to walking yet(which is fine by us!).

We love you, sweet boy!

A Birthday Gift

2010-09-25T20:09:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine has a daughter who turned the big one in July. I haven't seen her since the end of July and am now just giving her a present! Hope she still fits into it! This was fun to make and I love the large single letters on shirts. This was my first time making a headband...its a little messy but it works. I saw an idea from my friend's craft blog Something Wonderful for a fabric rosette pin and just adapted it for a headband. Here are some pictures!

This thing is cool...

2010-09-24T22:44:00.001-04:00

Photos without the Lightscoop....

Photos with the Lightscoop....bright colors and no shadows!

New Gadget

2010-09-19T16:31:00.001-04:00

Just ordered a Lightscoop this weekend...can't wait for it to get here! I saw it on a blog I keep up with and her indoor pictures looked really nice. I will post some before and after pictures soon. Hopefully it is as awesome as it looks!!

Sunday Night Football

2010-09-12T19:15:00.005-04:00

GOOOOOOOO PANTHERS!!!

Dillon {9 months}

2010-09-06T20:53:00.002-04:00

Dilly Dilly boo.....where to begin with you? You have blossomed so much over the past month and are turning into a little smarty pants! Here is what you have been up to...

You went to the doctor for your 9 month check up and got a "he's perfect" from the doc. You weigh 19 pounds and are 30 and 3/4 in long!! We knew you were long but didn't expect that long! Time for a big boy car seat!

You still sleep well at night and take two naps during the day. You like to sleep with your paci and your wubbi but will go to bed without them, thank goodness.

You are on the move even more and you are getting into everything! You like to crawl around the house and explore. Sometimes you and your doggie like to play together but we have to remind you to be nice to him. You also like to open drawers and cabinets and empty them out. What a fun game! You are pulling up on everything now and have had some of your first boo boos.

You are a smart boy and understand some words without any hand gestures. You know clap, milk, eat, more, all done, "where's your doggie", night night and no. You have been really into clapping your hands and dancing to music.

You finally have some teeth! Two on the bottom and I'm sure more are coming because you always have your fingers in your mouth!

You have been eating some new foods like cottage cheese, hummus, spaghetti, and cheddar cheese. You are starting to like table foods a lot more than baby food. And you love to feed yourself! You also drink some water or juice from a sippy cup sometimes.

Some of your favorite toys are your basketball hoop, cell phones, remotes, anything that plays music, and laundry hampers.

You took your first trip to the beach with mommy and daddy. You had a blast and loved touching and eating the sand. You weren't too sure about the big waves at first but once you knew you were safe, you loved the water too!

You have such a sweet spirit and we love your big smile. It just melts mommy's and daddy's heart. You better use it to your advantage while you can still get away with stuff! ;) We love you, Bubee!

Yummy Colors

2010-09-05T23:13:00.002-04:00

When my friend asked me to make some unisex burp cloths for a friend of hers, the first colors that came to mind were bright greens, oranges, reds and browns. I love this color combo and I think they would look good for a boy or girl!

Next project is for Evan...the Panthers start their regular season next weekend so he wants Dillon to be dressed in his Panthers gear! Now if only the shirts he bought would just shrink from toddler size to infant size...

What we've been up to...

2010-09-02T20:59:00.001-04:00

We have been busy, busy bees the past couple weeks. I had the last week of Aug off so I packed as much as I could into that week, so it felt like 2 weeks off! Here is a quick update with pictures(duh) of what's been goin on!
-We went to the beach for a mini family vacation, Dillon had a blast in the sand and water. He also loved the aquarium!
-Came home and had a visit from Jenna and Mike. Dillon loves his godmommy!
-My mom came into town the next day and brought the best cherry tomatoes from her garden. We went to a Pampered Chef party that night at my friend Nicole's and had some good laughs with everyone!
-The following day, Dillon and I got together with his buddies and my friends, Amy and Teri. It was fun to catch up with them and chat about mommyhood.
-I started doing some photography on the side at Duke, taking pictures of newborns on the L&D ward. It is exciting and I just love seeing all those little itty bitty babies(I know what you are thinking...no, it does not make me want a second one quite yet, haha)!
We had some family time over the weekend at the park, Dillon LOVES the swing...maybe he will get one for his birthday, but don't tell him. ;)

New Blog

2010-08-28T14:01:00.001-04:00

Photography is a big passion of mine, if you can't tell. Ha! I decided to create a photography blog for just pictures. I am starting to do some photography on the side, nothing too crazy( Duke Hospital, family/newborn portraits) so those shoots(not the hospital shoots) will also be on my blog. Hope you enjoy!!

www.heidijoyphoto.blogspot.com

Why Buy It

2010-08-15T09:48:00.003-04:00

Goodbye ugly camera strap...

Hello pretty camera strap cover!

This was one of those "why buy it when you can make it" projects I have been thinking about doing for a while now. I saw some on a blog and decided to whip one up yesterday while the boys were playing. Here it is in use...excuse the crappy cell phone pictures....

All I did was sew some quilted batting to my fabric, sew it together inside out then turn it. It was JUST wide enough for my strap to fit through!

Jammin' Out

2010-08-14T09:43:00.001-04:00

I decided to be DJ Mom and make a mix cd for us to jam out to on our rides around town. Mr Baby loves music and loves to groove to the music so I wanted some songs we could play at home as well for our dance parties in the evenings. I searched through the children's music on itunes and found a bunch of great songs. My favorites are by an artist I came across called Caspar Babypants....

His songs are folky popish and not the typical sing-song annoying kids songs. His website is simple and kinda plain, so he might be an up and coming new artist(or they just don't want to put money into a "fancy" website, haha) but the music is fabulous and so cute! I think D will like these songs when he is older too! Some more artists on our mix cd are Laurie Berkner, Raffi, Peter Himmelman, and Genevieve Jereb. Of course, I also included some of my Zumba songs like Big and Chunky because D likes to dance to these at home. I caught him on video dancing to some heavy metal so I will have to post it, pretty darn cute if you ask me!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-11T21:13:00.001-04:00

We now have...

2010-08-08T15:43:00.004-04:00

A pretty guest room! I felt so bad for my mom, Jenna or anyone else who has stayed over in our guest room...it was straight up ugly. We never got around to painting it(now we just have the office/playroom to paint) and it became a storage room for the multiple baby items we have accumulated. I don't have a before picture because frankly, you don't want to see a before picture. Yuck. Just imagine off white walls and a bunch of stuff in a room. I painted the walls and cleaned up all the stuff on the floor. We also have some exercise equipment so it doubles as our exercise room. Here are the after pictures-

We had a twin bed in the room when I took this picture but this weekend we switched it out for the queen bed that was in there before.

Viking pictures-a ship and a shield

There are still a few things to finish up the prettiness- a mirror above the bed and some shelves on the wall next to the bed. I may steal an idea from my neighbor and spray paint a bunch of old frames white for a collage. It is starting to look like a guest room now, but I will post a picture of the finished room when everything is up!

Dillon {8 months}

2010-07-30T20:24:00.002-04:00

Where to begin? 8 months already?? The little baby we once had is not so little anymore! Dilly boo, you are quite the character and so much fun to be around every single day. Here is what you have been up to the past month:

You weigh around 20 pounds(a guess since we haven't been to the doctor in a while, thank God) and feel like a brick with all your big muscles and big head, haha just kidding. Almost time for a big boy car seat!

You are doing so well with your cloth diapers! You have been eczema free since you started wearing cloth diapers. Mommy and daddy are sooooo glad we found what was causing you to be so itchy and unhappy!

You are sleeping 11-12 hours at night and take 2 naps a day. You love your sleep!

You went on your first trip with just mommy to visit Mimi and Papa and the rest of your aunts, uncles and cousins. They spoiled you and said you were such a well behaved, happy baby, which you are!!

Here is what people have been saying about you lately- "What a good baby, is he always this well behaved?" "He is such a happy baby!" "Look at that beautiful red hair and big blue eyes!" "Where does the red hair come from?" "He is such a long baby!"

You are such a little ham and love to laugh at mommy and daddy. You also like to make mommy and daddy laugh by being a silly little boy. You love to talk to us and your doggie and you make the funniest expressions.

You show some attitude sometimes when you don't get what you want but you are learning you can't have everything you get your hands on!

You are moving a lot and need to expend a lot of energy during the day. You like to roll around, scoot/crawl and play on the floor. You get into things you shouldn't so we need to baby proof some more!

You love to wave and give mommy kisses, which just melts mommy's heart. :)

You are getting really good at feeding yourself snacks of cereal or small pieces of fruit.

We love you so much, little one and we are amazed at how much you are learning and growing every day. You make mommy and daddy so proud! :)

Chicken Enchilada Ring

2010-07-27T21:41:00.001-04:00

I wanted to try something new for dinner tonight and I've had this recipe on my mind for a while. It turned out great and Evan loved it too!

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked chicken
1/4 cup chopped black olives
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 small can chopped chilies, undrained
1/2 cup sour cream
1 package taco seasoning
2 rolls of crescent rolls
1 small chopped tomato
1 lime (juice)
2/3 cup finely crushed tortilla chips

1. Chop chicken and add olives, cheese, chilies, sour cream and taco mix. Seed and chop 1 tomato and add 2 tablespoons lime juice; add to chicken mixture. Reserve 2 Tblsp. crushed chips and add remaining chips to mixture.

2.Unroll crescent dough and separate triangles. Arrange on round baking stone or cookie sheet making a circle with wide ends OVERLAPPING in the center and points toward outside. ( I did lightly spray oil on the cookie sheet I used). There should be a 5 inch diameter opening in the center.

3. Spread chicken mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle.

4. Bring points of triangles up and over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at the center of the ring.

Sprinkle with 2 Tblsp. crushed chips. ( I put shredded cheese all on top!)

5. Bake @ 375 for 20-25 minutes. Garnish with tomato and serve with salsa and sour cream.

*(Recipe and photo courtesy of Kelly's Korner blog)

Giggles and Legwarmers

2010-07-23T22:56:00.000-04:00

In the crafting mood

2010-07-11T16:07:00.002-04:00

Over the past few weeks, I have had the craft bug. It only comes at certain times and when it does, I just can't stop!! I find myself sewing buttons or cutting patterns for hours and next thing I know, its 1am! For this round of crafts, I wanted to try a couple new things, baby things of course, what else? I really need to expand from baby crafts, but they are just so cute(and usually easy)! The first new craft on the list is shortalls. Who doesn't love a little baby boy in his summer Jon Jons? Mr Baby is growing fast, and his lower half is larger now because of his cloth diapers so I figured I would make him some cute summer outfits he can grow into for August and September. There are no baby model pictures since he needs to grow into them, but here are the two I have finished so far...

( Ignore the wrinkles, I ironed them about 10 times and they are still wrinkly!)

They definitely have their flaws, but that just makes them unique! As long as they don't fall apart, we should be okay, haha. I have some blue seersucker material left, so there is one more to make. I also want to have them monogrammed, appliqued, or both.
The next project was a simple solution for toys or cups that fall on the nasty floor at restaurants or on the ground. A Velcro strap to attach a toy or cup to Mr Baby's stroller or high chair while out and about. I haven't tried it out yet, so hopefully the Velcro will hold! I saw one of these at Buy Buy Baby and thought it would be easy to ~~steal the idea~~ create myself....

(Once again, not very pretty with the stitching, but hey, it took about 5 minutes to make!)

And last of all, just a cute bib for the cute baby....

I love big single letters and might try some on shirts and onsies too! Other than a couple presents for a baby shower and birthday, I think I will be done for a while!

4th of July Weekend

2010-07-07T22:52:00.002-04:00

We had a pretty low key holiday weekend with friends and family. The weather was AWESOME and Mr Baby was praising Jesus for the very low humidity for a few days! Since it was nice out, we took advantage of the pretty weather and joined some friends at their pool for a birthday party cookout. It was so nice to be outside and not sweat. Pretty rare for June! We took Mr Baby for a little swim and he loved waving to kids who swam by. I think he would float all day if we let him!

For the 4th, we cooked some burgers at MorMor's and I made my favorite 4th of July dish-
Layered Jello Yumminess. I just came up with that name because it doesn't have one, haha. Here is the recipe:

1 cup crushed pretzels

2 tbsp sugar

3/4 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

8 oz cream cheese(light or reg)

9 oz cool whip(light or reg)

6 oz or 2 small boxes of rasberry or strawberry jello

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 large pk frozen strawberries

4-5 ice cubes

~Mix pretzels, 2tbsp sugar and butter in 9/13 in pan. Bake at 375 for 8 minutes.

~In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup sugar and cream cheese, add cool whip and spread over cooled crust.

~In a separate bowl, mix Jello and hot water. Stir until dissolved. Thicken with frozen berries and ice cubes. Once thick, pour over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate and enjoy!! :)

Thank you for my balloon, MorMor! It keeps me entertained for a long time! :)

For the Sake of his Bum

2010-07-04T22:06:00.002-04:00

Our poor child has had some major skin problems these past few months thanks to his mommy and her not so nice genes. The first time he had a "break out" was around 4 months old and the docs said it was baby eczema, told us not to worry because a lot of babies and grow out of it. We sure hope he grows out of it because it has only gotten worse, especially with the #$%* weather this summer!!!! The flare ups usually start with bad diaper rash or on his legs and quickly spread to the rest of his body. A couple weeks ago he even had it around his eye. It keeps him up at night and he is constantly scratching his skin. Some preventative measures we take are keep him moisturized, not bathe him as much, keep him cool, and keep him from scratching. During his last flare up, his cute little hiney was bright red and peeling for a good 4-5 days. We have tried numerous things like changing his diaper brand, cutting out fruit, changing his laundry soap, etc but none of those have really "helped" a significant amount(and by helped I mean reduce the number of flare ups and lessen the severity). SO....for the sake of the poor baby's butt, and ONLY for the sake of his butt(sorry, Earth) we are now using cloth diapers. I never thought we would ever use cloth diapers, I am just not the cloth diaper type of girl. BUT I will try anything to help Mr Baby's skin. And go figure, it is a lot easier than I thought( of course, we haven't had a big blowout in one yet, so that might be a different story, haha). If you are interested, I recommend Fuzzi Bunz, they are so easy to use!

Who does D look like??

2010-06-28T17:21:00.000-04:00

Mommy? or Daddy?

When there's Itchin' there's B____n'

2010-06-26T23:00:00.000-04:00

Oh NOOOOO....... don't tell me my eczema* is back again??!!!

PUHLEASE God, make it stop itching!!!!!!!!!!!

*This is how he felt last week with a really bad flare up...he is back to his normal self at the moment :)

Dillon {7 months}

2010-06-24T20:35:00.003-04:00

Oh Mr Baby...if only you knew how cute you were at this age...actually you probably already know because you sure know how to work it to get what you want! You have been changing and growing so much over the past month, mommy and daddy can hardly believe it! Here is what you are doing these days:

You weigh 17 pounds 6 ounces... Mommy only weighed 18 pounds at a year!

We had to take you to the doctor recently because of your horrible eczema. Poor baby, we feel so bad when you are itching and sad. You still manage a smile when mommy comes to pick you up after a rough (skin) day.

You learned how to feed yourself with your fingers. It was so fun watching you figure it out. You like to pick up diced bananas and your puffins cereal.

Mommy taught you how to sign more. You are pretty good at when you want to be!

You can sit up all by yourself and play for a long time before falling over! You love to sit up and take everything in.

You have tried to clap a couple times! You love to give Mommy and Daddy high fives... you are probably giving yourself a high five since you only move one hand, haha.

Mommy and Daddy love you, little one. Spending time with you is our favorite part of the day!

Father's Day Weekend

2010-06-21T21:12:00.001-04:00

Dillon and his daddy, who he just adores! :)

We spent Father's Day weekend down in Charlotte, one of my favorite places to visit in NC! Evan was playing in the State Games for lacrosse and he pretty much cooked himself outside all weekend. It was so hot, Mr Baby and I could only watch 30 min of the first game on Saturday before we said buh bye! I was dripping in sweat and the poor baby had rosy cheeks. We decided to go visit a friend in SC(just over the border) who met Mr B for the first time, while I met her hubby for the first time! It was a lot of fun catching up and seeing her new house. We went out for dinner and strolled around uptown later that night. Mommy even had a couple peach martinis...yummy! It was another hot day on Sunday so instead of cheering on daddy(he said it was okay) Mr B and I stayed in the ac and had breakfast together.

Then we took daddy out for Fathers day lunch. And of course, you can't leave Charlotte without going to Ikea!

ps-not a fan of the high chair...he said he wants a comfortable one. We agreed.

Chillin in my Pool

2010-06-13T18:54:00.001-04:00

What a HOT weekend it has been....I'm ready for the fall already! The only way to beat the heat is to stay inside all day(not good with an active 6 month old) or to cool off outside..in the pool!

We bought a little baby pool from Target and tried it out last weekend. Mr Baby didn't like sitting down because it was too cold. He just wanted to jump. We were too busy to wait for the water to warm up, so this weekend we had time to cook the pool for a while before getting in. What a difference! His BeBe Pod chair worked wonderfully as a pool float for him. Since he isn't heavy enough to weigh it down, he was floating around bobbing up and down. He loved chillin in the water splashing his hands and feet. The only thing he was missing was an ice cold Corona....haha!

This Friday, Mr B and I are going to a friend's neighborhood pool and I think he will LOVE kicking around in the big pool. Now its time to find a real pool float!

Chocolate Goodness

2010-06-13T16:46:00.001-04:00

What do you get when you combine chocolate with sugar, butter and crackers? The best toffee crunch bars EVER.

This recipe was made three times in the past week at our house. Once for a lacrosse picnic, next for Evan and I and then last for our friends we went to visit, who just had a baby. I made it different each time. The first time was with chocolate/peanut butter chips, second time was just with semi sweet chocolate chips, third time was with heath bar toffee chips. I think the best one was the first with the peanut butter. :) Here is the super easy recipe:

Yummy Toffee Crunch Bars

*2 sticks of butter

*1 cup light brown sugar

*1 column of Saltine crackers

*1 package of your choice of chocolate chips(milk chocolate and peanut butter were my favorite!)

-Melt butter and brown sugar together on stove, bring to a boil for 3 minutes

-On a 10x15 baking sheet lined with foil(with edges is helpful) spread out crackers in rows

-Pour sugar mixture over crackers and bake at 400 for 5-7 minutes

-Once baked, spread chocolate chips on top and spread evenly when melted.

-Cool in fridge for 30 minutes or more, then break into pieces.

ENJOY!!

Cuteness

2010-06-05T20:32:00.001-04:00

Since I am out more with Dillon at play dates or the gym, his bag has a higher chance of getting lost or someone not knowing which bag is his(especially at places like the nursery) so I decided to order him a cute little bag tag from where else...etsy! I just got it in yesterday and love it! The designer is Oh Suzy Q Designs and she makes some cute stuff at a great price!

I like that it is a hard plastic case and not flimsy

The back has our names and phone number that I cleverly blurred out so my number isn't floating around the internet!

On the bag!

Dillon {6 months}

2010-06-04T20:29:00.002-04:00

Sweet baby, stop growing up so fast! Mommy and daddy do love the grown up baby you are becoming though. You have changed a lot over the past month! Here is a little about your life right now as a 6 month old....

You are 16 pounds, 6 1/2 ounces and 28 inches long, still our little string bean! We try to fatten you up but you just keep getting longer!

You eat 8 oz at a time now(and you know the sign for milk!) and eat solids at dinner. Your new favorites are squash, sweet potato, vegetable medley and green beans(notice their are no fruits because they give you a HORRIBLE rash!)

You sleep 11-12 hours at night and take two or three naps a day. You were sick a little while ago so it took what seemed like 10 years to get you back to sleeping through the night again.

You wear size 3 diapers and size 6-9 month clothes.

You are getting so close to sitting up on your own without toppling over. You can prop yourself up for a little while and are so proud when you do!
Your favorite toys are anything you can chew on! Those teeth must be coming soon...we hope!

You are always happy. You wake up happy, you go to bed happy. We love what an easy going baby you are and hope it will stay that way at least until you are 18, haha.

You love to get our attention by screeching, fake laughing, clicking or even yelling! You love to "talk" and tell us all about it! Your little conversations make us laugh! You sometimes talk to the dog and he likes to give you kisses...even though you smack him in the face!

The jumper is your favorite place in the evening to get all your energy out...and wrestling with daddy.

You are half way through your first year of life and have already filled our house with so much joy. You are a FUN little boy and can't wait to see what new things you do next! Mommy and daddy love you so much! :)

Show Us you Life: Things that make you happy :)

2010-05-28T20:52:00.004-04:00

This friday's SUYL on KellysKorner is things that make you happy. There are many things that make me happy...too many to name them all so I condensed my list down to my top favs.

Of course the obvious ones- my hubby(what a hunk!)

and baby boy

Then there is my family

and friends

~chocolate makes me pretty happy(especially if it is paired with peanut butter!!)

~I love all things that relate to fall-leaves changing, crisp cool air, etc

who doesn't love fresh strawberries?

~And what about the smell of the beach and breathing in fresh mountain air

~Most recently, my favorites have been sleeping in, snuggling with my two men, Mr Baby's laughter and breakfast in bed!

~I love laughing so hard I almost pee in my pants(I wouldn't be so happy if I actually did pee)

and being goofy

~Taking pictures makes me really happy

~Holidays and traditions give me the warm and fuzzy happy

Toes in the grass

~Cant forget Target!!!!

~Hot chili on a cold day,

cold lemonade on a hot day...its the simple things in life that make me my happiest! :)

Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition

2010-05-24T21:22:00.001-04:00

As you can tell, my blog has had a bit of a face lift. For a long time, I have come across so many cute blogs with the cute little headers and cute little post dividers and thought...hmm maybe I will just pay someone to make me a cute little blog. I found some designers who do it for 60-70 dollars and some who do it for 20-30. Then I came upon the websites where all the cute little blogging graphics are sold. Digital scrapbooking is the new fad these days and there are TONS of websites to find cute little graphics. I thought to myself "maybe I can spend too much time figuring out how to make a cute little header and such, and buy the graphics myself." Well, that is pretty much what I did over the weekend after the cute little baby went to bed. I stayed up way too late figuring out how to layer, resize, crop, merge, import, flip, flop, stretch, etc. I learned about pixels, transparency, guides, grids, blah blah blah. It took me forever since I would start something and then not know how to start over if I messed up. I found those cute little buttons, ribbon, paper and frames from GottaPixel. They have "packages" of scrapbook graphics you can purchase for anywhere between a dollar(whoop whoop!) to 20 dollars(um no thanks). I found a package with just the right about of graphics and the colors I wanted for only a dollar! If you are not familiar with how digital scrapbooking works, you purchase a package of graphic images and download the zip file. Once you upzip your file, the next step is figuring out how to layer them with pictures to create a collage, or header in my case. A lot of people use Photoshop but I downloaded a free program called Gimp. It is awesome and works a lot like Photoshop. If you are willing to give it a try(it is a lot of fun!) there are plenty of websites where you can find free graphics or tutorials on how to add a post divider or change your margins. HTML scared the begeezes out of me when I first started messing with it, but now, I have learned a little about what all that nonsense means. A great website I found for blogger tutorials is BlogBulk. Let me know if you have any blog makeover questions, I will be glad to help as much as I can now that I "sorta kinda" know what I'm doing! Haha!

Show Us Your Life: Your Hometown

2010-05-21T20:55:00.003-04:00

This week on KellysKorner SUYL is all about your hometown. I am proud to be a southern girl born and raised in NC, Greenville to be exact. Went to school in Greensboro and then moved to Raleigh for my first job. I haven't lived anywhere else so I sure know my way around this beautiful state and love to brag about how it's a great place to visit! Friendly people, the best food, great shopping and gorgeous weather. One of the best things about living in the middle of the state is-moutains are 3-4 hours west and the beach is 2 hours east. What more could you want? We love our hometown of Durham and here is our mini tour around the town~~~

Home of the Blue Devils, go Duke! We love all things Duke, especially basketball. Such a great hospital and school. Mr Baby and I love to take walks around the lovely campus and we visit Duke Gardens quite often too!

Another favorite about this part of the state-gorgeous leaves in the fall, my favorite time of the year! :)

(These are trees in our front yard)

Eno River State Park is a beautiful river practically in our backyard. We walk down there quite often from our house but there are many different access points of the River and tons of great trails.

Museum of Life and Science and butterfly house-I can't wait to take Dillon here in a few more months! I haven't been since I was a kid

Durham Performing Arts Center-broadway tours, comedians, singers. And such a pretty building!

American Tobacco District recreated into restaurants, shops, exhibits, baseball stadium, offices, etc. Lots of history here and a fun place for weekends! Also home of our Farmer's Market.

Brightleaf Square-great historic area of downtown. Old warehouse buildings turned into restaurants and shops

Durham Bulls Baseball Stadium(the original stadium was the location of the movie Bull Durham!) This is also where we watch the awesome fireworks display on Forth of July!

Skyline of downtown

And of course, I can't forget to mention that Durham was voted the 5th best place to live by US News and World Report in 2009! Whoop Whoop! We love this town!

Strawberries and Such

2010-05-16T19:17:00.003-04:00

This weekend went by too fast, but it was a nice one! Friday Mr Baby told me get my butt out of bed and go to Zumba(which is a crazy booty shakin workout class if you are not aware). I am usually not one to exert that much energy in the morning but I am determined to get back into shape, so I did it. I sweat more in that class then I did while pregnant in August, ha! Saturday we woke up early to beat the heat(yeah right!) and go strawberry picking at Waller Farms.

I forgot my camera so I didn't get any of Mr Baby's first strawberry picking....not like he could pick or eat any! He was strapped to Evan in the Bjorn while I picked in record speed in order to avoid heat stroke. We got enough to freeze and snack on, but not enough for me...I will probably go back by myself to get some for cooking!
Lunch on Sunday, we went to Doc Greens with some friends from Raleigh, who we don't see enough! It was fun to catch up and for Laura to hold Dillon now that his head isn't "floppy" anymore, haha!
And finally, here are some pictures of the Mr B just cause he's the cutest little thing I ever saw!!

Favorite Children's Books

2010-05-13T23:57:00.004-04:00

This week on Kelly'sKorner Show us your Life is favorite books. I decided to think back to my childhood when I REALLY enjoyed reading books and remember the ones that stood out the most( I had a lot of favorites). Right now, I don't really have time to read so I don't have any current favorite books. Thinking back to my favorite books as a child brings back the warm and fuzzy feelings of innocence and care free times when there were no worries, just fun books to read and being read to by mom and dad. I want to make sure Dillon knows what his mommy's favorite books were and hope he will enjoy them as much as I did!
Here are just a few of my favorites-

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T22:37:00.002-04:00

My mom is a neverending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune. ~Graycie Harmon

Mother's Day was special this year with my sweet boy. Last year, I was 2 months pregnant and could only imagine was it would be like to become a mommy. Now that I know what it's all about, it is way better than I ever imagined! It is such a wonderful feeling to have a child who loves you unconditionally. The giggles, smiles, hugs, and snuggles make any day better and I could just hold him and kiss him all day long!

We had a mommy/baby photo shoot at Duke Gardens, which was a lot of fun. Mr Baby had a great time and enjoyed posing with mommy. He is such a happy baby lately(if you saw us a week ago, it was a totally different story!) and I just love his smile and cuddles! We decided a mommy/baby photo shoot on Mother's Day, then a daddy/baby photo shoot on Father's Day will be a tradition every year.
Here is a slide show from our photo shoot~

A free slideshow design by Smilebox

Snoozin'

2010-05-08T12:50:00.001-04:00

Mr Baby enjoyed his nice long walk yesterday! He was napping so nicely, I just parked him in the shade and let him sleep for another 30 minutes!

Show Us Your Life: Kid's names

2010-05-07T21:05:00.005-04:00

Time for another Show us your Life from Kelly's Korner blog, names of our children or future children. It took us a while to choose our son's name. For some reason, girls name are so much easier to come up with and Evan wanted to make sure his son's name was macho enough, haha. He shot down about every name I threw out there for about 5 months. Some of his ideas were Nathan and Robert. Some of my ideas were Patrick, Preston and Max. None of those stood out with flashing lights and sirens so we moved on. Evan's family is Norwegian so we had a thought of naming our son a Norwegian name. Well....most of the names we either couldn't pronounce, his teachers/friends wouldn't be able to pronounce them or he would just be made fun of. We thought about family names, looked at thousands of names online, bought a couple baby books and had some input from my co worker who loved coming up with cool baby names.
Finally, our precious boy's name:

Dillon Thomas

Dillon: Like a lion, loyal Thomas: Twin

When we found Dylan in a baby book, we both liked the name, which was a big ding ding ding! Evan doesn't like y's in names so we changed the spelling to Dillon. That is pretty much why we chose the name Dillon. Thomas is Evan's brother's middle name and his Uncle's middle name. We want to include a family name in all our children's middle names. After we decided on his name, we found out Dylan Thomas was a famous poet and writer in the 1930's. It was quite fitting since we both have a lot of writers in our family-published and non published.

Our girl's name was easy to decide on: Carly Anne We both liked Carly because it not very common and sounds like sweet little girl who would never yell at her mommy and daddy, haha. Anne is my mother's middle name. Lets hope we have a girl next, considering how hard it was to come up with a boys name! Or we will just name him Carly! haha!

Sick Baby

2010-05-02T21:24:00.001-04:00

Sick babies are not fun. That's all. They are still cute and you still love them just as much...but they sure aren't fun!!

Loco for...

2010-04-25T19:59:00.002-04:00

Locopops! I will explain later.

We had a nice relaxing weekend of family time and just being lazy(especially baby D, he took a 3 hour nap today and I had to wake him up!). Baby D turned 5 months on Saturday! Such a big boy. I'm not going to do a milestone post this month since I feel like I just did one so I will save up for a big 6 month post. He is changing every day and I love having the blog to save these memories before I forget them! Just a couple key things...his "talking" has exploded over the past couple weeks and he can sit up propped with his arms for about 10 seconds!
Evan had a lacrosse game on Friday night so my mom, Dillon and I went out for dinner at Elmo's. This was her first Elmo's experience and she enjoyed it! We took a stroll down 9th st(good thing the toy store was closed, haha) and went over to Ben and Jerry's for ice cream. We made cottage cheese pancakes(yum!) for breakfast the next day and did some sewing. I made a bunch of burp cloths and bibs and finished some up to sell to a couple people. I will post pics later.
We also went to my new favorite place...Locopops!!!! We always drive by it on the way to the 9th st area and just now went for the first time. They are "hand-crafted, locally-made gourmet frozen pops." Since we were hot from taking a long walk, it was a perfect treat. Evan had cookies and cream(a milk based popsicle, pretty much like ice cream) and I had a pomegranate tangerine. Dillon was so jealous, looking at us with those puppy dog eyes and opening his mouth. He grabbed for mine a couple times so I let him have a taste since they are all natural. He LOVED it! The coldness didn't seem to phase him since he pretty much had the entire top in his mouth sucking on it. I told him he had to wait until he was a little older to have his own. :) I have a feeling we will be frequenting Locopops a lot this summer!
I hope you all had a great weekend!

If this doesn't make you smile....

2010-04-18T20:59:00.001-04:00

then I don't know what will! :)

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Duke Gardens Stroll

2010-04-11T22:38:00.002-04:00

What a gorgeous weekend to be outside! We were pretty much out and about all weekend and today we(and about all of Durham) ventured over to Duke Gardens to see the flowers in bloom and visit with Evan's Aunt who was visiting from out of town.
Tulips are my favorite flower.....

And this is my favorite person..... :)

Easter

2010-04-11T22:09:00.002-04:00

Our families came over after church for Easter dinner at the big round table. We had a yummy feast , including Honey Baked Ham and fresh steaks from a farm near my mom and dad's house. And of course, a photo shoot of the babies outside. It was such a beautiful weekend! It hasn't been this hot Easter weekend....ever! I heard on the news it has never been this warm the first week of April after 1940. Crazy! I accidentally deleted all the photos from the day so I took D outside to torture him some more in the basket, haha. We didn't do a family shot over again, I was a mess by the end of the day, ha!

Fingers in the mouth in almost every picture

The Easter Bunny brought me an exersaucer!

Cousins playing outside...whats this green stuff?!

ooo these look like fun!

4 Months

2010-04-05T20:31:00.005-04:00

Happy 4 Months, Mr Baby(a little late, haha)! You are growing so fast, we just can't keep up! We also had to wait until your Dr appt to see how much you have grown. Well, you sure grew like a weed! You are.....

14 1/2 pounds and 27 inches long! That is 95th for height!! Daddy is hoping you will be a beast on the lacrosse field. You are in size 2 diapers and wear 6-9 month clothes.

still sleeping well at night, 10-11 hours and sometimes you skip your evening nap.

laughing up a storm, especially at funny noises mommy and daddy make. You make funny noises to get us to laugh as well. You love to cuddle, sing with mommy, dance with daddy and have such a laid back personality. We hope you stay that way!

eating some solids like rice cereal and applesauce, you love apples!

trying to sit up when you are in your swing so we bought you an excersaucer. You love to play upright so you can see your environment. You notice the doggie and laugh when he licks your face. You love to play with your toys and chew on EVERYTHING!! You might be teething or just love to chew. You like to play with your feet and bring them to your mouth.

getting over some eczema/dry skin from diapers and wipes your skin did not like! It looks much better now. Looks like you have mommy's sensitive skin.

growling,"yelling" and spitting is so much fun to you, especially in the morning and evening.

Mommy and Daddy love you, sweet baby D!

Solids!!

2010-03-28T19:39:00.001-04:00

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Weekend Updates

2010-03-28T18:50:00.001-04:00

The Leekley household has been busy the past couple weeks...we have been go go go non stop and I haven't been able to sit down to blog! This will be a quick update post of what we have been up to lately....Went to Greensboro to my college roomate and her cute baby Brayden. Dillon tried to munch on his head but Brayden didn't seem to mind since he tried to eat his finger. They are best buds! The next weekend, the fam headed up the the mountains to see my parent's new house, finally done and all moved in! It was nice and homey with some awesome views. Sherman loved the mountain air and Dillon did too! Then, this past weekend, Dillon and I made a trip to Greenville for a good friend's baby shower. Beth and I have known each other since we were 4 and we use to play all the time with our baby dolls! Now we are both mommies and can't believe it! She is also having a boy. :) Gotta love all these boys being born!! Dillon is 4 months old, it crept up on me too fast! I need to do his milestone post but we haven't been to the Dr yet so we don't know how much he weighs or anything! ha! I'm guessing 13 and some change for weight and 25 1/2 for length.

3 Month Photo Shoot

2010-03-14T21:40:00.001-04:00

We had Mr Baby's pictures taken at a studio in Cary last week. He did awesome considering how much we cut into his nap time. He was all smiles and laughs for the photographer, and such a flirt! We have so many favorites, it will be hard to narrow it down on ones to buy!
Here is the website to view the photos- Revolution Studios
click on client access at the bottom right and type in the password 2197-dillon
enter your name and email
enjoy!

Back to Sleep....

2010-03-14T16:29:00.001-04:00

does not apply to us anymore.....unless we want to hold the poor baby down all night. The past couple weeks, Dillon has been developing a dislike to sleeping on his back. We have swaddled him for 3 months every night and he has pretty much stayed on his back. Recently, he will not stay in his swaddle(unless he is REALLY tired) and will go from sleeping on his side to rolling onto his tummy. He didn't like it the first few nights and would cry, bury his face into his sheet and freak his mommy out. I went in and would turn him over and he would go back to sleep. For a while, I would turn him like a flap jack every time he rolled onto his belly, but now I'm over it. There is no forcing him when clearly, he would much rather be on his tummy. I have stopped worrying(kind of) and now he is much happier....

Mr Baby sleeps like this pretty much all night. And he looks darn cute doing it. :)

A Girly Craft

2010-03-14T15:47:00.002-04:00

I haven't made something girly in a while so I was excited to whip up some cute things for a baby shower we went to on Saturday night. I don't have pictures of all the things I made, but here is one set so you will get the idea....

I made two sets of matching burp cloths and bibs. This is one and the other was pink and black ribbon layered down/across the middle of each. I also monogrammed the bibs, an H on the one shown and the baby's name on the other. They turned out cute and oh so girly!! Now its time to make some more boy things for a shower at the end of the month!

Our Typical Day

2010-03-05T23:51:00.002-05:00

I am participating in Show Us Your Life:Your Typical Day, at Kelly's Korner. She is an awesome blogger to follow, by the way. She has over 6,000 followers!

As a working mom who is just part time, My M-TH schedule is all the same and Fridays are my days to ~~be lazy,~~ clean, craft, spend some qt with Dillon or to schedule appointments/playdates.
A typical work day looks like this....
6:00am wake up to eat and get myself ready.

6:30 wake up the sweet sleeping baby to feed him, then he hangs out with daddy who is slowly waking up to like 5 alarms.
7:00 I finish getting ready for work and give the boys their kisses before I'm rushing out the door by 7:20-7:30.
I turn on G105.1 for my 35-40(depending on my road rage) minute drive to work for some laughs to wake me up.
8:00 to 3:00 I am at work, then head over to pick up Dillon by 3:30, who is with Evan at work(so thankful for this!)
I get some good smiles from my sweet boy and we head home or to the grocery store. If its nice, we take a walk.

He naps from 4:30ish-6:00ish while I wash bottles and make dinner.
I feed Dillon when he wakes up and he plays on his playmat while we finish dinner.

8:00 is bath and bedtime for baby. After he is out for the night, I facebook/blog/email, watch my tv shows(if I can stay awake) and then I get everything ready for the next day(lunch, pumping stuff, etc)
9:00-10:00 I am usually half asleep on the couch!
Then it starts all over again in the am....and the best part is my happy baby I wake up to every morning! :)

Poor Baby....

2010-03-03T21:52:00.001-05:00

Was scared to death of daddy's fart last night. I almost peed in my pants(which is pretty easy to do these days post baby) laughing so hard, even though Dillon didn't think it was funny. He was sitting in my lap, facing out and looking around the room. All of a sudden, Evan let out a loud, high pitched toot. Dillon almost jumped out of my lap and instantly started to wail. For some reason, this particular kind of fart scared the boogers out of him. He usually doesn't mind when daddy lets it rip .We couldn't help but laugh. Poor baby.

3 Months!!!

2010-02-24T19:24:00.005-05:00

You are 3 months old! Mommy and Daddy can NOT believe how fast you are growing and changing every day. You have many new expressions and are developing quite a cute little personality. Here is what you are up to these days.
You are....

about 12 pounds and 24 1/2 inches long, still a little string bean!

wearing size 1-2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes.
sleeping 10-11 hours at night and mommy is so thankful for that.
getting my hair back in on the sides, still strawberry blonde!
smiling and laughing at mommy and daddy. My favorite game right now is to bounce and then fly in the air! It gives me the giggles! :)

still rolling from my tummy to back and am now trying to roll from my back to tummy. I like to twist my body like a cork screw right now.
looking around my environment. I love to look at everything and take it all in.

reaching for my toys and bringing them to my mouth. My moose is my favorite toy right now.
kicking my feet like crazy. It is so much fun to see how fast I can kick my feet! I also like to grab them when I can get a hold of them!

talking back to mommy and daddy. I love to "talk" in the evening and get it all out before I go to bed.
We love you, Dillon!(aka Mr Baby, Dilly, Dill Pickle)

Dillon's new buddy is here....

2010-02-21T20:27:00.005-05:00

Brayden has finally arrived! Jenna, one of my college roommates, had her baby boy a couple weeks ago and Nicole and I recently visited her in Greensboro. We had a great time catching up and sharing our baby stories. I think we scared Nicole and Erin into never having kids with some of the details we shared....sorry girls!! He was so small and so sweet! I loved cuddling with him....it made me miss that new baby stage already! Isn't he a cutie?!

Free Canvas

2010-02-21T20:17:00.003-05:00

My good friend Nicole called me the other day to let me know of a website called Canvas People where you can get a free canvas picture and just pay shipping. With my love for taking photos of a certain someone, I figured why not get one of my favorite pictures made into a piece of art for our bedroom. Hopefully it will turn out great...too bad it is only one free canvas per household. Hmm, there might be some ways around that!

He's a love machine!

2010-02-21T14:48:00.006-05:00

Dillon and I decided we wanted to be crafty for Valentine's Day(well, maybe just me) and make daddy a cute picture thingy to hang up at work. We went to Jo Ann's, gathered our materials and spent the afternoon modge podging. I forgot how much I love modge podge.(There are tons of craft ideas using MP swimming around in my head so I will be sure to post when I complete them!) Here is the result of our work...pretty easy craft. Wood plaque, cute paper, even cuter picture, stickers and modge podge! Daddy loved it!

Back to work

2010-02-05T09:50:00.004-05:00

My sweet and oh so thoughtful hubby made me a cake for my first week back at work after being home for 12 weeks. He knew I needed a little cheering up. :)

Let it Snow!

2010-02-01T14:40:00.004-05:00

What a pretty winter wonderland we had over the weekend and still today! I was suppose to go back to work today, but due to the dangerous roads, I get one more day at home with Dillon. We went outside to play in the snow on Saturday and Dillon got the feel of his first snow. Next year, he will be all ready for sledding, snowman making and snowball fights with daddy. For now, he can just stare at it and enjoy not having snow in his boots and mittens!

mommy and Dillon cuddling outside

"Okay, take me inside! I'm over it!"

"What is this stuff?"

Happy baby

Q-pon Mom

2010-01-28T11:29:00.004-05:00

"Q pons?" you might ask? Evan makes fun of me because I pronounce coupon with a q sound. I have always said it like that so it sounds right to me! Evan would probably chalk it up to growing up in Pitt County but that's another story. I have decided to start couponing in a more serious manner. And by that, I mean using more than one or two at a time because lets be real now, 75 cents off a 100 dollar grocery purchase doesn't scream savings to me. I don't really know the true art of couponing yet and I don't think I could ever get to the point of getting everything for free(true story, some people can do this). I am still learning things like double coupons doesn't mean you need two copies of the coupon. Haha...yikes. I would have been in trouble when triple coupons came around! (Thank you Honey for getting me two copies of the the Sunday paper but not asking why even though you probably knew I didn't the other copy :) )My friend was trying to explain the basics to me the other day and I think I got what I need to at least start somewhere. Now that I've figured out when the coupons are in the paper(first step, collect coupons), I can start organizing which ones I need and planning some meals around them. I did a trial run the other day and saved 30 dollars at Harris Teeter. Not too shabby for my first go at it. I found a good website where the lady lists the coupon schedule and pretty much everything on special at the HT, which coupon to use and how much it will be after the coupon. Yay, less thinking for me to do! I also figured this would be a good way to save money on diapers(we are still truckin with all the diapers from my baby shower...I'm interested to see how long I can go without buying any!) and wipes(we go through A LOT of wipes), since both are expensive but always needed. Now that we have a printer at home, I can start printing coupons from the web too. Okay, now lets see how this couponing thing goes. Hopefully it all doesn't fizzle to the back of my mind and disappear once I go back to work...

Buying this for Dillon....

2010-01-21T22:12:00.003-05:00

haha, love it!

Renovating!

2010-01-21T20:02:00.004-05:00

The blog is under some major construction right now. I'm becoming kind of a geek and learning the tricks of coding and trying to do some fancy things on here....well, fancy for me. haha! Wish me luck!

More Pictures....

2010-01-16T19:55:00.002-05:00

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6 weeks!

2010-01-08T11:21:00.007-05:00

This blog is pretty much all about Dillon these days, but hey, he is our whole life right now so there really isn't much else going on, right?! Mommy and Daddy did get a chance to go on a mini date the other week to see a movie(Up In The Air) while MorMor babysat. A few hours is as long as I want to leave him before I start missing my boy. I'm sure down the road we will gladly be dropping him off at the Grandma's houses for a weekend! :)

Mr Baby is 6 weeks already! Why do babies have to grow up so fast? I want him to stay this age forever!!! Okay, maybe not. But I hope he always sleeps as well as he does now(that might be asking a lot) and stays his happy, baby self. Dillon is doing lots of new things developmentally, and we just love to stare and laugh at his funny expressions and noises. Some of the new things he is doing....

~Stare at his hands, those are his two new best friends who amaze him...then disappear....then come back again...then disappear. haha.

~Smile! Lots of smiles for mommy and daddy. He is gazing more into our eyes and smiling, which melts my heart!

~Sleep 5 hours at night most nights.

~Roll over! We caught him rolling over one evening during tummy time and he was so proud of himself.

~Explode out of his diaper multiple times in a day(this is probably not one of our favorites...or his). I had to cut two onesies off of him this week due to the large amount of poo on his back that I really did not feel like cleaning out of his hair!

Here are some pictures from his 6 week photo shoot....