SLACKER.

Hi, I'm Katie and I'm a slacker.

I have so much to recap/share/discuss and all I am currently capable of telling you about is how much of a slacker I am. Ugh. I promise to get back in the swing of things and dish all things land down under, packing, moving, Bennett, and a little extra hooplah sprinkled in. But today, this is all I have.

Bare with me, K?!  Love you lots.

November's Five on Friday

One: Cookies. Stars. And my toddler.

Cookies or "CoCo" is a hot hot hot item at my house right now. Bennett is OBSESSED with any and all things "cookie". Lucky for me, in toddler world a cookie to him is anything that comes from the magical place we all know and love aka the pantry. My child will stand and repeat over and over and over and overrr "CoCo" until the adult in charge opens the magical doors and gives the poor child a snack.

But in all seriousness, I wanted to share the real "cookie" he's asking for. I am able to skirt him with healthier options that reside in the pantry some of the time, but here's the sweet nectar he's really after: Trader Joe's Yogurt Stars Vanilla Crisp Cookies.  Holy woah, they're so good they make you starry-eyed :). But really though. They're sweet and fruity, and you can eat 8 cookies for only 150 calories, and the sugar content is relatively low compared to other cookies on the market (AMEN for toddler-hood). I wanted to pass along this fabulous treat to any mommas out there looking for a new fun snack for your kiddos (here's a cute post I found where they're used them in a TJ cake)!

Two: New York City Circus

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and its a NYC year!! Since I've been a little kid, my fam and I head to NYC every other year to celebrate Turkey Day. We don't have any family there, it's just a tradition my parents started ages ago and we've kept going ever since. The trip has evolved over the years and our experiences are always different, but this year will be my first year as a parent!!  Just a mere two years ago when we headed up north I told my brothers we were expecting on the plane ride, and this year Baby B will be tagging along!

I think I'm most excited because when I was a kiddo we used to see the Big Apple Circus every year. But, obviously we grew out of that and our interests took us on new adventures. But this year, with a little one in tow, hubs and I are skipping out on the Broadway performance (which 100% transparency really sucks because it's Cabaret and Emma Stone is making her Broadway debut, FAIL) ... but we'll get to see our little guys eyes light up at the Circus! Hehe!

Three: Layering. 

Natasha talked about it today, and I'm obsessed with how simple this look is. Not to mention who doesn't have almost every single one of these similar pieces in their closet. I plan to try it out. I'll report back and let you know how much I failed (because every time I try to replicate an online look it seems atrocious on me).

Four: Books.

I recently posted how Momma and I saw Gone Girl, after we both devoured the book. Now, I'm onto needing a new read. I've got a few trips coming up and that means travel time and lay low time (well it used to, circa pre-baby vacations), but I still plan to try to get a little downtime and I'm looking for a good book. I was indulging in this list and think I may choose one of these bad boys. Any other recommendations I should know about?

Five: Nashville. 

I guess it's time to spill the beans. Family knows, friends now know and today I'm telling you. The hubs has an opportunity to jump start an emerging market in Nashville, TN and we're taking the plunge and moving to good ole' rocky top.  Yeaaaa .... I'm still trying to let that sink in too. Maybe I'll finally wrap my head around that this weekend. Hopefully I'll share more details soon.

Signing off, as a soon to be Nashville Mommy - WOAH :)

Happy Birthday SDBU!

Whew, quite a lot has changed in such a short time. Just last year I was wishing my hubby and soon to be daddy a happy birthday and celebrating sans baby. This year however, things are a bit different with a little dude running around. And by that I mean, it couldn't be more perfect (aside from the fact that I took pictures and there was no SD card in the camera so I had to retake all of them and the cheesecake is half eaten ... FAIL).

Watching the man you love become a father has been one of my greatest joys to date. I love my husband, like love, love my husband … and have for nearly 8 years (GEEZE, that seems like so long). But seeing how incredibly amazing he is with our son makes me love him even more.

Don't get me wrong -- we've been at it this parenting thing for a little over 10 months and figuring out our "roles" and how we can help each other and who is better at which task took some time, but we're finally getting there.  We've worked our way patiently through it, and his composure, strength, and talents in areas I lack make us the perfect team and more thankful for him in our lives everyday.

Ya'll real life -- when Shane walks in at the end of the day Bennett LIGHTS UP.  BUB grins ear to ear to see his daddy and crawls or walks as fast as he can to give his big daddy hero a hug. My heart bursts at 5:30 everyday. But, don't get me wrong. They're still boys … and all boy. They giggle at each other when they fart … and if there are no real ones they make sure to make the noises with their mouths, which I roll my eyes and continue on. But they are buddies. The best buddies.

My my what big shoes Bennett has to fill one day. He has such an incredible role model in his father to teach him the ropes of life and I feel 100% content in knowing that if Bennett turns out to be half the man his father is, we're doing okay!

We love you Shane. Now, have a good time in Chicago (he's on his buddies bachelor party this weekend … I'm sure he's so sad about having to spend his birthday that way *sarcasm*). Bennett tried his best to get a good picture … but he was so excited he couldn't stop clapping :)

Happy Birthday!!!

Over the Easter Limit

Okay, okay, I realize I'm over the Easter limit and this is my second post about Easter and our baby. I also know I will be posting a fabulous picture on Easter Sunday to wish all of you a Happy Easter, so I am certainly going to be over the posting about Easter limit.  But, I'm back in blogging mode and feel compelled to share. Sue me.

So, while I was at the grocery store last week I spotted the Easter aisle. Of course my baskets for Bennett and the nieces and nephews have been complete for weeks, but I felt a yearning to walk down the aisle just ONE more time to make sure I wasn't missing anything fabulous. It was at that very moment I completely forgot I have a 9 month old who has absolutely ZERO clue what the heck is going on; and instead thought I had a 4 year old who was all excited about Easter. Clearly it was me who was excited, but that's neither here nor there.

That brings us to the check out lane: two different packages of egg dye (just in case one worked better than the other), two cartons of eggs, a Happy Easter banner, a new egg carrier to store died eggs, a fancy plate to display them, and two bottles of while distilled vinegar later and here we are.

For future reference, or if there happen to be any parents out there who may be reading this in the future and considering taking on the task … let me give you a word of advice: DON'T. Simply DO NOT. I was all "this will make for some adorable Easter photos" and "Bennett will be so happy to look back at these pictures one day and remember how much fun his parents were when he was a kid" and "it will be fun for me and Shane too". Ha, right. Wishful thinking Katie, wishful thinking. More like DISASTER. Flipping DISASTER.

The staged pictures make you think we were having a good time and everything was great:

Grandma, don't be alarmed … Hubs is hiding behind him, safety first folks.  

 Of course he needed to try and eat the eggs, it wouldn't be any task without it.

It was right about this moment right here when we said "maybe we should take his clothes off in case things start to get messy …?" So, now we have a not only a baby dyeing Easter eggs, but a naked baby. This has to end up fabulous, right?

Here's right about where the fun, free loving Easter egg dye went south … starting with Bennett realizing hard boiled eggs are indeed NOT indestructible.

Yep, that's right you can break them open buddy. But, OH SHANE STOP HIM! … you cannot eat that shell mister.

Okay, Bennett - reroute and distract. Let's color some of the eggs buddy. First pick your favorite color and drop it in here like this….

Then, let's have great manners and be real neat and tidy and wipe off our fingertips on a paper towel. 

 Now, smile at the camera for Daddy and get a really cute picture. Oh this is funnn!!

Okay, you want to try one more? Alright! Let's make a pink one for …. OHHHHH SH*****T. No no no no don't grab it. You'll knock all of them over .. ohhhhhhh boyyyyyy

Bahahhahaaha. Shane, you're going to need more paper towels.

Uhm, and maybe grab those Clorox wipes while you're at it … it kind of looks like it's staining the white cabinets.

Fail. Epic fail. We got three eggs and one with splattered speckles. I now have 21 hardboiled eggs chilling in my fridge just waiting for some color love. I guess we'll just have to eat them instead.

Well, there's always next year. Maybe it'll be better next year right?

Bennett's Baptized!

November 10, 2013 ... our little guy was wrapped in the an all white Christening sweater and we started him on his faith journey and vowed to bring him up in a Christian home. Such a great day!

One little personal problem, I was so wrapped up in all of the excitement I was a COMPLETE blogger failure when it came to picture taking and took ZERO pictures outside of the actual Baptism itself. UGH, and I had SO much I wanted to share. Ugh again. I was so sad when all of the excitement had finally died down, the last visitor left my home, I sat down on the couch to relish in how great the day had gone and it dawned on me ... I didn't take a SINGLE picture. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

I also failed to get a photo of him in his little Baptismal outfit ... GET IT TOGETHER KATIE ... but I got him in all white, right before we put him in it :)

And his little feetsies were adorned in these OH MY WORD adorable baby moxies I found on Etsy. Such a great little idea for gifts or any special occasion.

Luckily though, I did get some great photo ops from the actual Baptism (thanks baby bro), which really is the most important part. But, ALL of our family (extended included) was in town and there were so many great details I wanted to document and family photo ops that were missed, so I could show BUB one day ... since let's be real, the child had no idea it was even happening ... but nope, nothing to show for it. Not even a single selfie on my phone. Nada.  Alas, I must move on.

Bennett did great! No tears, just antsy feet and a tongue that never stopped moving (nothing new here).

 It was such a neat experience, and Father Steve also baptized Shane when he was a wee babe, so that made it extra special!

Nearly my ENTIRE family showed up and I was filled with warm fuzzies to think of how much support we have. What a testament to Bennett and how special he is. My cup runneth over.

So, now would be the portion where I dish the details of the after party with pictures to match, but we've already hashed that out ... After the baptism we invited the entire family to our house for a brunch (shout out to my momma and my momma in law for helping me prep the food the day before!) and just a fun get together to see everyone and celebrate the little guy.

Our menu included (yep, that would have been about 3 months full of recipe Monday's if I would have managed to take photos ... cool Katie):

• Honey Baked Ham
• Poppyseed Ham and Cheese Sliders
• Apple Snickers Salad
• Biscuits and Gravy
• Cinnamon Rolls
• Breakfast Egg Casseroles
• Fruit Salad
• Hashbrown Casserole
• Cheesy Grits

And the infamous Snickerdoodle cake by Ashlicious Cakes, that were in cupcake form and looked a little something like this with blue icing and Bennett's name & the baptism date included. It was a hit. She does SUCH a great job. Recommendations for days y'all!

We had such a great time, and it's always such a great feeling to have your entire family in the house. It's good to catch up with everyone and see all of the little ones. We've got babies on babies at family functions now and it makes everything infinitely more fun! Bonus! Even the Dykstra's made the trip down, and the twins are getting so big you guys .. not to mention Maebyn is over the top cute. Bahh! (real tears about the missed photo ops.)

And last, but certainly NOT least, I leave you with the greatest Godparents that ever did live: Chris and Laura. Bennett's such a lucky little guy to have these two in his life.

 And check out his sweet new threads. Ha. Hysterical. I love it.

I may or may not have ended both my Sunday and Monday with leftover cupcakes. I'll let you decide. Diet Shmiet. 

Proud of you BUB. And thank you so much to all of our family who made time to be a part of Bennett's special day. We love you so so much!

Dirty Little Secrets

A few weekends back Penny and I took le' baby to Cincinnati to visit with family and we made a pit stop to see baby bro on our way.  

Before I get started I feel as though I need to mention, although I'm not sure it's truly a secret ... there is not one single day in the past 5 years that for just 1 second I haven't wished I was still in college.  Don't get me wrong, I love where I am in life right now, but college for this gal hung the moon. In a big way. My friends and I did it right and I will FOREVER cherish those four years. 

Like all things in life however, with the good comes the bad ... but looking back I feel like I automatically forget anything bad and it's completely overshadowed by good when it comes to college. It's all bliss. 

BUT ... it took a flight of stairs and three steps into baby bro's apartment for me to remember some of those "not so great" dirty little college life nuggets. 

Exhibit A: That moment after a long night when everyone in your house completely forgets garbage cans exist. In addition, beverages are considered gold, and if you made poor choices at your morning speedway stop and ran out of your diet coke and Gatorade too soon, you were SOL. You can also be sure your roommate was NOT sharing. It was in this moment I was for the first time thankful for my dual operating trash and recycling cans that luckily hubs and I have a habit of using. I also pictured our garage beverage fridge with gleaming light shining down from the heavens to highlight it's glory.

Exhibit B: The dreaded dishes. Although dishes never truly get better and you never WANT to do them, there is something about college and roommates that makes dishes terribly despicable. More than likely everyone has that one roommate that NEVER does the dishes, regardless of the fact that 80% of the items in the sink are theirs. Moreover, after a long night and perhaps a pregame .. the stench that comes from that sink along with the fruit flies that stay around for the next week is enough to make me gag while typing this. Que thankful moment for my empty sink at home and my fancy dishwasher that is constantly going. Whew!

Exhibit C: Communal bathrooms. Barf. Vomit. Kill me dead. ARE YOU SERIOUS!? From memories of common dorm showers to mixing drinks near the frat house sinks ... Oh. Em. Gee. Do I even need to share my thankfulness sentiments on the fact these days are behind me regarding this topic? Didn't think so.

Exhibit D:  The messy roommate. The getting ready with 45 girls in a sorority house, swapping clothes and then trying to find the ones you loaned later (although I do miss all those options).  The waiting until nearly every item of your wardrobe was dirty or worn twice to do your laundry. Or worse, having to pile up all of your clothes in a mesh bag and drive home to do your laundry. Ugh. Thank you front load washer and dryer that runs almost daily. Thank you.

Welp, there you have it. DIRTY little secrets inside college living. Dirty.