Heyo!

Hello. Hi. Welcome.

Did you miss me? I missed you. Sorry I've been so very lame and haven't posted. I could come up with a million reasons as to why I haven't done anything on here for three months, but it doesn't matter. I'm back, bitches, so buckle up.

I should probably stop listening to rap music while I'm typing on here. Sorry mom...forgive me for swearing.

We have lots to catch up on. So much has happened since I've gone M.I.A. My son had a birthday, my husband came home from a two month trip, I about damn near lost my mind with stress (oops...no more, I promise!), and then there was the whole Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year extravaganza. Have mercy it's been a busy time in my life. Fun, but busy.



He's two now. He informs me quite often that he's a big boy now and doesn't need to eat his dinner, get dressed, brush his teeth, or go to bed. He forgets I'm bigger.



Thank you to all of our family and friends who gave him presents for his special day. Daddy made it home just in time to celebrate with us, and I think that may have been the best birthday present of them all.









And back-tracking just a bit, I went to my friend Karen's house for Thanksgiving dinner this year. She's like a sister to me, so it's always so fun to hang with her and our kids are like besties, which makes it all the more great to go over. She invited friends and family and it was really a great evening. There was only one mishap. And I feel like I can blog about it because I totally did the exact same thing two years earlier...



The marshmallows got a little crispy. We were all standing around the kitchen when we see flames shooting up from the top of the dish. As she opened the oven door, she started yelling, "WHAT DO I DO?!!!", and I'm so busy laughing and trying to grab all the kids that are now running in to see what's going on that I couldn't get a word out. Someone else yells, "Where's the baking soda?!" and Karen in turn yells, "NO!!! It will ruin the dish!". So she braved the flames and pulled it out and smothered the dish. I'm still laughing as I type this because this all happened in about twenty seconds and everyone was totally fine...except the marshmallows.

But, look at the pretty table setting she created! (Love you, Karen! The potatoes were still very delicious.)



Moving on.

Christmas was super awesome this year. Tristan isn't quite into yet, but his mama sure is. We started off the celebrating with a trip to see Santa. Our neighbor transforms his garage every year and allows the neighbors to bring their kids by and take pictures with Santa while the adults sip on the provided hot chocolate and take turns laughing about how each of our kids are either chatting off Santa's ear with present ideas, or scared out of their ever-loving mind to be siting on a strange guy's lap.

My kid was the latter. This is the best picture of the bunch. He was not thrilled.



I couldn't stop laughing.

Christmas morning was great. Tristan opened his gifts, Chris and I drank coffee, and I put about a million awesome memories away in my heart.











I'll leave you with some pics from my new iPhone. I know...don't be hatin'. It's the free upgrade option, which means...it's used and the very first edition. But, heyo! I have an iPhone! Holler!



Have a bad-ass week. It's good to be back.

Lions & Tigers & Bears...and a two year old

For my 27th birthday I decided we should visit the zoo. In honor of living in what feels like a zoo for the last year, I thought this little outing might give me some perspective on reality.





It was tons of fun, and the perfect 80 degree weather was exactly what we needed.



No joke...this Tiger wanted to eat Tristan. The second we put Bubby up by the glass, the Tiger charged at him. Tristan laughed. Go figure.



Life with Tristan is really fun. He's comprehending things around him, interacting with us on a whole new vocabulary level, and most days we only have one meltdown instead of five. Life is good.















Sometimes playing in the dirt is more fun than watching animals. Who knew?





















Today's post is short and sweet. I'm hoping this weekend promises lot of great pictures. I'm sure it will...wine night with some of the girls will be happening on Saturday. Holler!

Enjoy YOUR weekend!

New York City

I'm sure you've heard many times that New York is the best city ever. I mean, who wouldn't love all the lights, sounds, hustle & bustle, and food on every corner? Chris and I escaped for a few days to the peace and quiet of the 8 million people packed East Coast hot spot. While it was a fun filled few days, I will probably never go back. Not because we didn't have a blast and made some amazing memories, I'm just sort of stuck in my ways of not bumping into people every three minutes and not coming two inches shy of meeting my maker every time I try and cross the street.

The first night we were there we hung out in New Jersey. There was a super cute common area with lots of restaurants and shopping spots so we grabbed a few beers at the bar and then headed over to the hibachi grill for dinner. We sat next to a family who swore up and down that Jersey was way better than New York. They also informed me that they saw a "really cool car fire just a few blocks from their house", so I wasn't sure if there opinion counted on the score book of New York vs Jersey.

The next day we hopped on the bus and rode into the city. We spent the entire day there walking, talking, taking pictures, trying not to die in the street, avoiding the Occupy Wall Street peeps, and overall just trying to take in the city. We walked along this super cute cobble stone path garden and viewed the Statue of Liberty from a distance. That may have been the best half hour of my life. What a view...



We stopped for a little photo-op and I think this may be my absolute favorite picture of my handsome hubby.



Later that day we viewed the 9/11 Memorial. It was very pretty, and I'm so glad we had to opportunity to view it. Chris said he was glad to view something like this to put into perspective what he's been fighting for over the past ten years.



We finished our trip with a viewing of The Book of Mormon on Broadway. This was the best part of the trip as it was a surprise birthdy present for the hubs. If you're i town and can get tickets...go see this show. Totally worth it!

Here is the link to the rest of the pictures from our trip. I hope you enjoy them!

Happy Monday...to you, and you, and you.

Nailed It

This weekend totally delivered.



It was a gorgeous 80 degrees outside, but I totally faked Fall by closing the windows, cranked up the AC, and got into the kitchen to bake. I didn't have much on hand to create something super spectacular, like cupcakes that look like pumpkins or bread that was lovingly slaved away over in a hot kitchen.

I totally settled on cake from a box. Go me.



And because I'm really awesome at this stuff...I almost forgot to add the eggs.







Thank goodness I recognized my error. I don't even know what eggs do for cooking (see, again...I'm awful at baking), so I can only imagine how bad of a disaster this would have been had those three little eggs gone a missin'.





And how did it taste?



I totally nailed it.



While I was waiting to stuff my face with my newest creation, I enjoyed my flowers and iced chai latte. I do believe that checks "drink a chai latte" off my list. Delish.





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Remember how I told you it was beautiful this weekend? I'm pretty sure we lived at the park. I never get tired of watching my little one run off energy and make 30 trips up to the big slide and squeal with laughter as he slowly makes his way down to the ground.





Seriously. It never.gets.old.









Sometimes I get out from behind the camera for a few shots just to make it into the family album. These were so worth it.







And sometimes Bear Bear needs some extra attention and lovin'. Tristan gladly obliged.





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I love him.



Our date night on Friday consisted of s'mores in the backyard. Best idea ever. I may have eaten three. And I only lit two of the marshmallows on fire. I'm really bad about that. I'm so impatient that I stick it way to close to the flames and the whole thing goes up in smoke.




Wow he's handsome!

Speaking of things going up in smoke...my poor plant didn't make it. Proabably because I forgot to water it. Fail.



Happy hump day. Don't let your week go up in smoke. Take some time for yourself and do something you really enjoy. And take a picture of it. Sweet memories are good memories.