$125 CASH VISA GIFT CARD AND $50 TOWARDS toADORN GIVEAWAY!

Good morning everyone! I'm excited to be teaming up with some amazing bloggers to give away a $125 Visa Gift Card & $50 towards toAdorn. One winner will be chosen on December 23rd at 11:59pm  just in time for a perfect Christmas present! 

I haven't participated in a giveaway in a long time so I'm really excited about this one. I think I have entered almost every giveaway I've seen and have won a lot of amazing things so I'm glad to finally be able to give back a little to all of the support I get from all of my readers who are have been/still following me after all the breaks I take. 

So go check out all the beautiful ladies below who are also participating & enter the giveaway through Rafflecopter below! Good Luck! 

Put A Bird On It | The Salty Mess | North Carolina Grown | Modern Day Mom | White Stag Blvd

Auteur Ariel | Showered in Sequins | Love & Such | Isabella's Array

Recently Roached | Liberate Normal | Blonde Bellezza | Letters to Sophia | Cella Jane

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OUR WEEKEND

Hope everyone had a good weekend! Ours was cold, but relaxing and nice. On Saturday we pretty much spent the whole day inside just lounging around and of course cleaning. It rained ALL day so I did not want to go outside at all. It would've been nice if that all that rain would've turned into snow. 

Sunday morning we woke up and got ready and headed to Cracker Barrel. Gary wants to go there every Sunday so I guess this is our new Sunday tradition. I don't mind at all because Sophia loves it there and the food is delicious! 

After Cracker Barrel we passed a tree farm on the way home. I have never been to one before and wanted to just stop by and walk through. The guy that owned the place was very nice! If we ever plan on getting a real tree we will be getting it there. But the farm was so pretty! I never realized how beautiful a Christmas tree is until I was standing in a field with hundreds around me. And it smelled amazing! I wanted to get some pictures of Sophia with the trees but poor thing was freezing. She wouldn't walk and she kept saying her eyes were so cold! Looking back at the picture of me and Sophia, it looks like my eyes were cold too with the look on my face, ha! & Sophia in that picture, she was not happy! I would love to go back but I don't see it getting any warmer anytime before Christmas.

We headed home after, put our pajamas on (even though it was like 2) and put a Christmas movie and drank some Cracker Barrel coffee out of a snowman mug that we bought there last week. 

Now to another 4 day work week that hopefully goes by very fast! I'm ready for my little Christmas vacation next week! And to all my readers ... tomorrow I will be participating in a cash giveaway so head back over & enter! It will be the perfect Christmas gift! 

MY FRIDAY'S

It's finally the weekend for me! I started working 4 10 hr shifts Monday - Thursday at my job so I could have Friday's off. I love having Friday off but I am so exhausted Thursday evening. Having a three day weekend every weekend makes up for it though.

The first few Fridays that I was off I enjoyed being home all day with Sophia. We played, watched movies, left the house for lunch and took naps. By the end of the day on Friday ... the house was a mess and I didn't get anything done. I also started to notice that Sophia wouldn't let me do anything but be with her so I really couldn't get anything done.

A friend of mine has a little girl that is a year older than Sophia. They were at the same daycare (my mom's daycare) since they were babies! She was in need of someone to watch her daughter on just Friday's. I know Sophia loves playing with me and I enjoy having time just me and her but I know she wants a friend to play with all day. And I also want to get things done. So, I offered to watch her.

Last Friday was my first day watching her and had SO much fun. I got to play with them but was also able to get some stuff done around the house while they played. We all ate lunch together, drank hot chocolate and watched a movie together. They also spent most of the day playing dress up.

I think it's going to be good for Sophia to have a friend over. I think they are both going to have so much fun. I just need to get them to nap together and that would be perfect!

I always say I want to be a stay at home mom. But just those few Fridays at home alone with Sophia was a little difficult. I know that it's something that I would eventually get used to and would have scheduled days I'm sure but I really don't know how all my stay at home mom friends do it. 

So this is what I will be doing on my Friday's. My new goal for Friday's now are trying to get a work out in at the gym before Sophia wakes and her friend comes over ... and not just Friday mornings ... every morning. I'm going to give up a few hours of sleep each morning but I guess I'll just add another cup of coffee to my day.

Have a good Friday everyone!

THANKSGIVING

I finally have some time to post and figured I'd post about our Thanksgiving. 

We had our Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncles beautiful home. She cooked everything so I lucked out on not having to bring anything. I can cook but I've never cooked anything for Thanksgiving. I'd love to host Thanksgiving one year though. 

We all had a good time just eating and talking. My uncles parents brought their dog - an old english sheep dog - and I fell in love. Such a cute and sweet dog. Sophia loved him too. We also LOVE my aunts home! She has it decorated SO beautiful. Everything I pin to Pinterest looks like her home. And it's in the middle of the woods so it's perfect! They have chickens and Sophia has been trying for SO long to pet one and she finally got to while we were there for Thanksgiving!

I'm so thankful for my family and being able to spend time with them on Thanksgiving! I wish Gary's family was closer so we could all celebrate together but we will get to spend Christmas with them this year!

(These were all taken with my phone so the pictures are a little grainy. I took my camera, just never used it. I need to start using it again!)

SOPHIA'S 3RD BIRTHDAY PARTY

I know it's been a month since Sophia's birthday party but I am finally finding the time to start blogging again. Sophia has been/and still is obsessed with Play Doh. When I asked her what kind of birthday party she wanted she immediately said Play Doh!!

I wanted to plan this perfect birthday party where I had her party look just like a party you'd see on Pinterest but a week before Sophia's party I had nothing planned really. I didn't even have invitations made or even know where I was having the party. It was bad. I just wasn't having a good few weeks up to her party. Since nothing was planned I decided to just have her birthday party at our house and invite just a few family & friends.

We had her birthday party the day before her birthday (the 10/19). Last year we had it on her actual birthday, it was fun, but I would like to spend her birthdays just us three as a family. 

I ordered a birthday cake and balloons and just had one table set up in our kitchen. I bought pizza and some finger foods. Laid some play doh out for the kids and put the TV on for the parents. It actually went really good and the best part was I didn't stress out as much as I did with Sophia's other two birthday parties. I may continue to keep it simple from here on out. 

And the most important thing was .. Sophia had a great time! She played with all her friends and was so sweet with sharing her toys in the house. She even let one of her friends leave with butterfly wings but she wanted them. AND we bought Sophia a car for her birthday and she got in it... not even three seconds later another little girl was wanting in and Sophia's car. She got right out of her brand toy and let the little girl and everyone else played. I was SO proud of her.

Now we have LOTS of play doh in our home. And it gets everywhere .... every day. I don't think we will be adding anything Play Doh on Sophia's Christmas wish list this year.

MORNINGS

I used to HATE mornings. I would literally moan and groan as I would get out of bed. I would wait until last minute to get up to get ready for work and that led me to be late for work almost everyday. Because I was in such a bad mood just to wake up it seemed like I made my day seem worst than it really was.

I needed a change. I needed to wake up early enough for me to be able to relax (not rush) before my day started. Well, about two weeks ago I started waking up around 4:30AM. Instead of moaning and groaning, I just wake up and head downstairs and start a cup of coffee. I turn on country music videos, or nothing at all, get cuddled up with a blanket and just sit ... and drink my coffee.

Just adding this simple routine each morning has made my days seem to go a lot better. I don't feel rushed or exhausted as I'm walking into work. And I get a little "me time" while everyone else in the house is sleeping. 

Now I'm the weird one saying mornings are my favorite time of the day. 

I found this quote on Pinterest & this is exactly how I feel in the mornings.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

FALL PICTURES

A couple of weeks ago my friend Jesseca and I took our babies outside to take some fall pictures. I'm so glad we did because it was one of our last weekends of fall. The trees outside have no more leaves. This to me means fall is over. I guess I could say fall was over when we had our first snow fall of the year at the beginning of the week. Now to looong months of cold weather & snow. Is it just me or does the winter months seem to last SO long?

I know I've said this before but I would so happy to live in a place where it's Fall all year long. The weather, the colors and everything pumpkin. PLEASE let me know if there is such a place!

Have a good Friday everyone!

HALLOWEEN 2013

Sophia and I dressed up as Frida Kahlo for Halloween. I laughed so hard when I looked at our unibrows. I wanted to skip out on it but my mom wanted us to do it SO bad so she drew them on us. We put our Spanish dresses on and added flowers in our hair and we headed outside to trick or treat. None of our neighbors knew who Frida Kahlo was. So we just looked like Spanish girls with unibrows to them. 

We didn't trick or treat for a very long time. It was cold and raining so we went to maybe 5 houses which was enough for Sophia. Last year it rained & was cold so I'm really hoping next year will not rain and just be perfect!

Sophia had a Little Bo Peep costume that she wore the night before to a Trunk or Treat that they had a church & I was just going to have her wear it again for Trick or Treat but I had bought two Spanish style dresses from Instagram and my mom kept insisting that we wear them. I think she just wanted us to wear them so she could see us walk around with a unibrow. 

I'm glad we did.  I just hope Sophia doesn't hate me when she gets older because I gave her a unibrow. I think she looks beautiful with one.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. I hope to be back to blogging more ... I hope!

TEA PARTY

Last weekend I could tell Sophia wanted something different. She had played with everything in the house and just wanted more. She loves playing with her little tea party kit so I decided we'd have a tea party. I asked her if she wanted to go outside and have a tea party. You should've seen her face. She yelled Yes! with the biggest smile on her face. 

I explained to her everything that we would need to have this party. She just nodded her head and looked so determined. We got her dressed into a pretty little dress and went into her room to get everything we needed. I let her pick out which "friends" she wanted to bring as I grabbed her tea party set. 

We headed outside and borrowed the perfect tea party table and chairs from my parents porch. Sophia even helped me carry one of the chairs. We found a perfect spot in the backyard and started to set up. I let her decide where her friends would sit. I brought a floral tray outside that I found at an antique store for her cups and tea kettle. I also brought a mason jar so we could fill with some flowers. 

We walked back over to my parents and asked my dad if we could pull some flowers out of this huge pot that he and Sophia planted flowers in earlier this summer. He of course let us and Sophia got to pick the ones she wanted. We put them into the mason jar and she was all set for her tea party.

She poured each cup with tea (water) & placed the cups on the chair beside each one of her friends. She was so serious but also so sweet. I sat in a chair away from her so I could take some pictures and every now and then she would look over at me and just smile.  

After about 20 minutes her tea party was over. My sister is staying with us and she has a dog named Penelope who was outside during her tea party. I think she had a lot to do with Sophia's short tea party.

I just love seeing her imagination as she plays. I loved everything about being child & I want to make sure Sophia will too. My parents did everything thing they could to make every day fun ... & I will do everything I can to do the same for Sophia.

TERRIBLE TWO'S, OR THREE'S?

I know they say to watch out for the terrible two's. Well, Sophia did pretty good up until now & she's almost three! I mean she's thrown fits before and has been but that was just randomly. Here lately she has not been listening like she used to and I find myself feeling more and more exhausted each day. We went on vacation two weeks ago and she started Pre-school right after so I don't know if it's because she has a new schedule but my gosh ... it's been rough. And I think it's just with me because her teacher said "Sophia is such a doll". 

She doesn't want to nap anymore or go to sleep at night. She is doing everything she can to stay awake so I'm guessing that's where most of this behavior is coming from. She will still have some of her good moments but here lately we're seeing more of the bad ones. She's been whining a lot too. I'm hoping that she will get used to her new schedule or get out of whatever mood she has been in because it's really wearing me out. I'm not used to this. 

See, I'm even getting attitude in these pictures. These were taken after she through a fit for almost 20 minutes straight. She kicked and screamed and threw herself onto the ground while all I could do was  watch. She ended up trying to pull a blanket off of my bed and her hand slipped and she hit herself in the lip.. and busted it. I wanted to throw myself on the floor and cry too. 

After I cleaned her up and held her for a little she was all happy asking if we could go outside. I gave in ... because I did not want her to throw another fit. Luckily this bad girl attitude has only been going on for about a week or two so I'm hoping maybe by the end of the week she will be fine. 

I'm just going to cross my fingers & breathe .... and maybe drink some wine.