Four Years in Pictures

So hard to believe that four years have gone by! Brandon & I met on a blind date during my junior year of high school.. August marked TEN years from the day we met. I guess they say, time flies when you're having fun! Here is a fun look back at the best four years of my life.

Our wedding day, October 11, 2008

The traditional Village People (made up my my four brothers, dad & the groom!) dance to get everyone on the dance floor.

Obviously it worked! :) Our wedding was SUCH a blast!!

 We already lived in Florida at the time, so we spent the next few years making our families very jealous of our warm weather. 

Went to a lot of fun events around the Tampa Bay area!

 Ran our first 5K!

 Took lots of trips back to the midwest to get snowed on.

Then quickly remembered why we loved living in the south. Celebrating "Christmas in July" with a Swimsuits & Santa Hats party at our pool!

Played sports, watched sports, got our pirate on at Gasparilla & jammed out to ZBB live!

Shortly after we moved to Georgia in Spring of 2011, we found out there was a bun in the oven! It was crazy to imagine the journey that was in store for us... how things would change... how crazy it sounded to have a baby and be responsible for another human being. Everyone tells you about the crazy love you will feel once you have a child... but you can never, ever imagine until your day comes. The next nine months flew by, filled with worry, excitement & CHALKBOARDS! You all know what happened from there so I won't bore you with more pictures :) Our lives changed forever the day sweet Harper Eve made her arrival.

My whole life I dreamed of this life. Having extravagant, festive holidays with family, making our house come alive with kids toys scattered everywhere & goodies baking in the oven, and sneaking outside at night for a beer with my man after the kids are in bed. 

So here we are four years down the road. We are older (and therefore much wiser!), dorkier, sillier and sappier but have more fun & more in love than ever. 

Halloween Costumes Are My Thing.

 Everybody has their thing. Maybe you make a mean Chili... have the best Christmas light display around (your name better be Clark Griswold)... or dominate at knowing "what other movie" that actor or actress plays in. But dressing up for Halloween is my shit. The excitement is overwhelming.... that is where my eve's of holidays first began. I can't even fall asleep the night before Halloween because I am too giddy about the festiveness that awaits me in the morning.

So, my friends, a little flashback of my favorite Halloween costumes over the years.

My first, and most favorite costume of all time, the Muffin.

This was 2006, my junior year in college. I had it in my head for the longest time that I wanted to be a muffin... well before Pottery Barn had "cupcake" costumes. This puppy is made up of a hula hoop, packaging paper, loads of duct tape, some fabric & hot glue. I don't know how to sew.

Brandon was Waldo. Looking back, he totally should have been the Muffin Man.

Not pictured, because I literally cannot find one, I was a troll doll. Flourescent purple hair sticking straight up, nude body suit stuffed in the belly & the hips and a jewel in my belly button. Would be a hilarious kids costume.

The next year, I was a witch. I was obsessed with this costume, not necessarily for it's creativity, but probably because of my super duper obsession with Hocus Pocus. The skirt, legs & shoes were the best. I am obviously beer-bonging with one of my best friends (she was Glenda the Good Witch) because Brandon had a lame pirate costume that gradually fell apart through the night. I still have this costume.. dare me to wear it to the grocery store on Halloween day.

The next year I was a peacock & Brandon was a lumberjack. While I do love couples costumes, sometimes you gotta do your own thing so you can both be what you want! :) I'm guessssssing it was Brandon who desperately wanted to be a lumberjack this year.

Next up, Zack Morris & Kelly Kapowski. Ironic, since my brother's real name is Zach Morris. This one got us first place in a costume contest (whoop!) likely because of the giant cell phone. This was made up of an old cordless phone stuffed into a computer speaker. Craftsmanship right here.

Temporary spray hair color turned this dude blonde for the night. Sorry for the blurry pics, apparently I only took them on my phone rather than using a real camera, such a shame.

 

And last year's costume, the Home Alone Wet Bandits. I was pregnant with Harper here. If you remember from my Halloween post last year, I complained about how much it super sucked being pregnant in a bar (especially dressed like a fat old man) with all the half-dressed-playboy-bunnies running around. But it was Halloween, so it was worth it.

 

Hope you've enjoyed all of this nonsense... I certainly have. I secretly wish I could be the muffin every single Halloween.

I can't wait to share our costumes for this year, which we finally just decided on, along with Harper's adorable Tinkerbell costume! :) I will leave you with a pic of this little pumpkin.

 Carter's Halloween Outfit

Halloween Baby Favorites

 I never could have imagined how much more fun the Fall season & holidays would be once we had a baby. If you remember from posts way back when, before little Harpie Doodle was born, my excitement to "decorate the baby" was overwhelming! Here it is in action! :)

 

JamesonMonroe Headband, Mud Pie Halloween Skirt/Tights, Gap Halloween Onesie from last season

I believe in celebrating holidays all month long!! :) I have to share some of our favorite Halloween items that Miss Harper will be rocking this season!!

Mud Pie Halloween Skirt Set - Would like this in my size please. I die over this outfit.

Boo-ti-Ful Shirt - Love that it is just black & white so you can pair it with anything!

It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse! & Little Spider Finger Puppet Book - Thanks Uncle Zach for the cutest Halloween book (written by the author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie)! And the finger puppet book is just endless baby entertainment.

Halloween Baby Legs - Love these for cool weather & to put on with any onesie, whether it necessarily matches or not :)

Mud Pie Halloween Bow - over the top festive cuteness!!

Candy Corn Pajamas - as a compulsive candy corn snacker, I just had to have these!

PS. Have you ever mixed candy corn with peanuts?! You'll never want to eat either alone ever again. It's the most delicious combo EVER. We have refilled this jar three times since September. File this under how not to lose baby weight.

Orange Mercury Glass Owl is from HomeGoods, Glass Canister from Target

While we were in Iowa two weeks ago, we had the most adorable photo shoot of Harper playing in the Fall leaves. She was on cloud nine!! Her face in this pic seriously cracks me up. I swear she was thinking that I was crazy for sitting her right on the ground with access to so many things she could put in her mouth!

And of course, her sweet little boyfriend, Talan! Could this kid be any cuter?! 

These two are so cute together, that we have decided to dress them up (hundreds of miles apart) together for Halloween. May I introduce to you................

PETER PAN & TINKERBELL!

Pajama Party

We have a serious jammie obsession in our house.

 

 Printed Footed Sleeper

 I sometimes don't change her out of her pajamas.... or sometimes I change her into a new pair for her to wear all day. I think it might only get worse as the weather gets cooler.

 

I actually have a pair of baby blue jeans that are 0-3 month size. Tags still on of course. What was I thinking? I don't even like wearing jeans. I wish it was acceptable for adults to run around in cute footed PJs.

Big Fox, Little Fox Pajamas

I am in love with these little fox PJs, of course she has to tote around her little stuffed foxes when she wears them too. We found these little foxes at Ikea, so stinking cute! They got to come home with us instead of the smiling stuffed broccoli.

 I swear I black out online shopping sometimes, one minute I am working on etsy orders or paying bills, and the next minute I'm knee deep in a baby gap shopping cart buying Christmas pajamas. Don't even know how I got there! Does this happen to anyone else? :)

Such an insightful post here today. Happy Friday, friends!<-- Whoa, I actually typed that, however, it is THURSDAY! This cold bug has definitely got the best of  me.

The Diaper Bag

One of the first things I was most excited about when I got pregnant was picking out my diaper bag! It's like for the first time ever, you're allowed to buy an expensive, really large purse... and be totally justified.

I remember how much I loved reading what everyone put in their diaper bag, and since I get a lot of emails asking about mine, I wanted to share! Here is a breakdown of everything I have, I consider them all essentials, but tried to split the items depending on how much room you may have or how old your baby is.

The most important items of course are your diapers, wipes, diaper creams, changing pad (should come in your diaper bag), extra change of clothes, burp cloth, bib, feeding essentials & a few hundred pacifiers.

The diaper bag that I have is the Storksak Tania Diaper Bag and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! It is my favorite color (grey!) and has endless compartments & pouches. I am somewhat disorganized when it comes to the big black hole that is a purse... so I love how this bag makes it easy for me to keep everything in it's spot!

Here is a list of the "extras" that can be found in my diaper bag:

Aden+Anais Swaddle Blankets - not only to use as a blanket, but great to throw over a carseat in case of rain (or nosy, germey, touchy, feely strangers in the mall)
Sophie the Giraffe Teether & Vulli Pie Teether - Both are obviously just too cute for words. And I love Sophie's little head sticking out of the side pouch like she is along for the ride :)
BabyGanics Hand Sanitizer - Just go ahead and buy this in bulk, especially for the newborn days
Johnson's Hand and Face Wipes - not just for hands & faces, but for pacifiers, tabletops, eating hot wings, etc.
Aveeno Baby Sunscreen - You never know when you'll need this, so great to have on hand just in case (even if you need to use it for yourself!)
Dwell Studio Bib & Burp Cloth - Save the cute ones for the diaper bag to use in public, the carrot stained cloth diapers that we all actually use can be saved for home :)
Itzy Ritzy Wet Bag/Snack Bag - These are not only perfect for the occasional wet/messy outfits but I love them for additional diaper bag organization! I have one with all of the first aid stuff, another with socks/headbands/accessories & another for pacis/spoons/teethers. They are so cute & make diaper bag contents so much more fun.
Itzy Ritzy Cart and High Chair Cover - The pattern stole my heart, but I actually love this thing so much. It is so easy to put on, holds her in place very well & I love how padded it is. But seriously, the pattern... omg.

Don't forget about your baby daddys! Brandon rocks the Diaper Dude Bag since he thinks my bag is too girly (what??? It could have been so much worse...) and he loves it! It is especially awesome for travel since it is so easy to carry, and again, has a ton of pockets. Good for guys since I think inner-bag-digging might be intimidating, so the outer zippers with the essentials might go over better :)

I hope you find this helpful! And of course, I can't leave without some Harper Doodle...

 Not sure if she is showing off her teeth or acting like a pirate... but this kid's personality is SO silly and adorable... I can't even take it sometimes.