Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to this man! 

He's a pretty special daddy... one that loves spending one on one time with each of his boys; enjoys his 'boys' night's where he keeps the kids (and lets me have some 'me' time); can't wait until they are old enough so he can take them to the golf course and teach them his favorite sport; sets a great example by being a hard worker; always puts his family first; every Sunday morning, he gets the kids fed, bathed and ready for church and gives me a break from doing it; isn't afraid to keep the boys overnight/for an extended period of time by himself; works hard to allow me to stay at home because he believes its whats best for the kids; reads them books and gets down in the floor to play with them; bathes the boys every evening before bed; is proud of our boys; is encouraging and loves to give praise when they learn or accomplish something new; hugs, kisses and gives them lots of affection; loves them unconditionally; makes going to church a priority and wants our children to be raised in a christian home. 

He's a pretty GREAT dad and Noah & Collier are very lucky and so blessed to have him as their dada!

And I'm lucky and very blessed to have this man as MY dad!

Summer Days...

My kids have kicked summer off with a bang and we've kept pretty busy the past few weeks!  First things first, with hot weather it's a must that you get a summer haircut.  So I took both boys to their barber for haircuts.  This was my first time to take both of them without Jamie's help, but I must say, I managed quite alright.  Noah used to be completely traumatized every time we attempted a haircut but he's gotten used to it finally and even sits in the chair by himself... although he still freaks out whenever they pull out the buzzer to trim his side burns and the back of his hairline.  He HATES the way the hair tickles him when it gets all over him so I always have to give him a bath as soon as we get home.  This was also a special day for Collier since at 19 months and 1 day, it was his first 'official' haircut (May 23rd).  I've trimmed his hair a few times, but never done an all over cut.  I didn't necessarily plan on it, but when we got there I asked if she could fit him in so it was sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing.  However, I'm not real sentimental when it comes to hair so it wasn't that big of a deal for me.  He was such a big boy and sat in the chair all by himself enjoying a sucker, while Jewel trimmed him up.  He even scored a First Haircut Certificate to document this momentous occasion.  They both look so cute with their new 'do's!

We spend one evening strolling the streets of downtown Florence perusing through arts and crafts from local vendors at First Fridays.  The boys favorite part was the listening to the band and dancing in the streets! The first week in June was Vacation Bible School at our church.  Collier technically isn't old enough yet, but since I was helping in the 3-4 year old class, he got to participate with our group.  At one point we had 11 kids ranging from 19 months (Collier was the youngest) to 3 1/2 years old.  It was tiring! But both boys had a great time and I enjoyed helping out and having adult time with all the other girls that were also helping. 

On Wednesday night, we had our VBS wrap up where the kids sang all the songs they had learned that week and then we had an ice cream party where they were also able to play on a huge inflatable waterslide.  My boys didn't go down the slide (Collier was too young and me or Jamie would have had to help Noah get up the slide and I didn't want to put on a bathing suit in front our church group!) however, they stood at the bottom of the slide and loved getting splashed as each of the bigger kids would come down!

And what's summer vacation without a few days of lounging around the house enjoying doing absolutely NOTHING?  Thank goodness my boys and I have the same frame of mind when it comes to taking it easy every once in awhile!  We made a big pallet in the den and watched movies until daddy came home from work.

A Simple, Beautiful Life

Jamie and I headed south for some fun in the sun, sans kids this past weekend.  It was every bit as glorious as it sounds.  Don't get me wrong, I love my boys, but it sure was nice to have several days of just one on one time with my husband!  I personally, think couples NEED to connect with one another without their children whenever possible.  It's nice to be just a couple and focus on one another, rather than to be parents consumed with changing diapers, breaking up fights over toys, feeding this one, and helping that one (most of the time all at once!)  It had been a long time since it was just the two of us for more than one night so to say we were excited was an understatement!  The funny thing is once we left, we felt like we were missing something because we didn't have our little people in the backseat to look after. 

We left Thursday afternoon and stayed the night in Montgomery, where we enjoyed exploring their downtown area and dined on steaks on the outdoor patio of the Renaissance Montgomery. The next morning, we hit the road so that we would arrive in Sandestin around noon.  We checked in to the Sandestin Hilton at 1:00 pm, changed into our bathing suits and were outside lounging by the pool with frozen drinks in hand 30 minute later! We didn't waste any time.  And the greatest part was that we didn't have to worry about nap times or anyone getting burnt!  That night, we ate at my absolute FAVORITE restaurant, Louisiana Lagniappe where I had my usual, Grouper Pontchartrain. The next few days were spent the same way... sleeping in (well, I did), spending all day at the pool, getting showered/dressed, doing a little outlet shopping then enjoying a yummy seafood dinner, go to bed and repeat the next day.  It was a tough few days. :)
One morning, I was woken up pretty early by someone knocking on the door to our hotel room.  I assumed it was Jamie since he was at the gym, but since I was dressed in only a tshirt, I checked the peep hole. On the other side of the door was a big guy (I wasn't wearing my glasses since I was half asleep so I couldn't really make out what he looked like, other than he wasn't Jamie), I told him he had the wrong room, to which he giggles, then to my complete surprise, raises his shirt up and begins wiggling and shaking his belly! If I hadn't been asleep, I know I would have laughed but at the time I was out of it.  I said, "No REALLY, you have the wrong room!" to which he replies, "Oh crap, I do!!!!" as he takes off down the hall.  Of course, I got straight back in the bed and fall asleep.  Once I woke up later on, I laughed hysterically while retelling the story to Jamie! 

On our last night, we made the short drive over to Seaside to do a little walking around, sight-seeing and shopping.  I know I blogged about Seaside last year (it's the location in which the Truman Show was filmed), but I'm just as amazed at this idyllic little town each year we go there.  It's an adorable community with gorgeous, brightly painted beach houses surrounded by wrap-around porches all within walking distance of the town center.  Its a common occurance to see people riding their bikes up and down the sidewalks and to see families all headed to the busy town square.  An ampitheater on the grand lawn is surrounded by quaint little shops, art galleries, outdoor seafood restaurants, ice cream parlors, and clothing stores full of beach apparel.  Every year, I buy myself and the boys a Seaside t-shirt so I made sure to stop in Seaside Beach to see which brightly colored shirts are available for that year.  This year, Jamie and I walked around taking it all in and enjoying the slow pace of life that seems to be a common theme in Seaside.  It's simply gorgeous!  I think that got it right when they dubbed Seaside's motto to be : "A simple, beautiful life!"

After our excursion in Seaside, Jamie and I headed back to Sandestin to get some ice cream from the frozen yogurt bar, 32 degrees.  While we were waiting to pull out on the Hwy 98 (the main road in Destin/Sandestin), we were behind a truck that kept acting like it was about to pull out but then would hit the breaks, repeatedly.  We both were frustrated that they wouldn't pull out into the open lane of traffic, but then Jamie said outloud, "Oh my gosh, they are fighting!" at the same time that I see the driver of the car slam on the breaks and repeatedly punch the passanger over and over.  It was the scariest thing I've ever seen! Based on the passenger's size, we assumed she was a girl but when he kept punching her, she sunk down in the seat out of sight.  The driver then pulled out onto the highway, but continued to hit his breaks and punch her over and over.  We pulled out right behind them, because we needed to take the very next turn, however the truck stayed in the turning lane while he continued to hit her.  He literally was beating the crap out of this girl!  I called 911 to report what we were witnessing as we finally were able to go around them and turn back into the parking lot that we intended on being in.  That's when we notice that they also turned in behind us.  We headed off in one direction toward the yogurt shop and the truck headed off in the opposite direction of another parking lot. We lost sight of them about the time that we heard the sirens from the police that had been dispatched.  The 911 operator wanted us to follow them but we were scared they might have a gun.  You never know! It was absolutely crazy.  I was so shaken up that it bothered me the entire night.  I just kept picturing that guy punch the girl repeatedly in the head.  I don't think the police ever found them but I just pray that she's okay.  Jamie saw more than I saw and he said she actually threw the first punch but the guy definitely finished it.  Based on the way he was so quick to hit her back, it didn't look like his first time to hit a girl.  It just made me so sad to witness something like that.  I'm just so thankful that I wasn't raised in a violent home, nor do I have a violent husband!  It was quite a dramatic ending to our otherwise perfect vacation.
The next morning, Memorial Day, we headed out bright and early to get home to our boys!  Although Jamie and I appreciated the time that we got to spend with one another, we were relaxed, rejuvenated and ready to resume our roles as parents!

My Preschool Graduate

Back in May, Noah's preschool, Handy, held their End of the Year Fun day for all the kids and had a little graduation ceremony where they received certificates and released a balloon as a class.  Unknowingly, we scheduled to show our house that morning, so my dad came with us to allow Jamie to meet with the prospective buyers. Noah loved having his Poppa with him at school and I know my dad thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet Noah's teachers, aides, and classmates. It was a fun day for everyone with face painting, inflatables, and a fire truck that the kids got to tour!

Noah loved having Poppa at school!

Ms. Perkins, Noah's aide is the BEST.

Collier joined in on the fun too!

We LOVE Ms. Mobley!

I'm just shocked at how quickly the past few years have flown by and that my little boy will be a Kindergartener come August 20th. It feels like just the other day that we began the process of Noah going to day care, then preschool. As a child with special needs, you are entitled to receive free therapy from the state, in addition to any private therapy that the family chooses to do. We do private therapy but we also want to take advantage of any and all therapy that Noah can receive, so as a 9 month old, he began going to the UCP Center. It is a great facility where they offer Physical, Speech and Occupational therapies to Special Needs kids, but they are also a day care for typical and non-typical kids. I fell in love with their program and grew close with all the teachers and therapists there. So once Noah turned 3 and could no longer go there to receive his therapy, I was so upset. Once a child turns 3, therapy is provided by the school system and since we live in Florence, Noah would have to go Handy Preschool to receive his therapy. I'll be honest, I was very hesitant because Handy is located in a sort of dangerous part of town...very close to Mobile Street on the 'west side' of Florence. Everyone from Shoals has heard to avoid Mobile Street at night!  I definitely wasn't comfortable leaving my child on the 'west side' but didn't want to rule it out before even experiencing it.  Since he would be getting therapy from Handy, we had the option to enroll him in their preschool program, that way he would be there all day and receive therapy all throughout the day. His first year there, we decided not to and just took him there 3 days a week for 2 hour therapy sessions. The first day I dropped him off for therapy, I cried, well, more like boo hoo'ed. I was so nervous leaving him there. It turned out to be just fine, and in fact, the therapists and everyone he worked with were great and their program was wonderful, so I grew much more comfortable with him there. However, a few months later Collier was born and I began to realize how hard it was caring for a special needs child AND a newborn all day long. I called around to see what preschool options were available for a child that (at the time) wasn't walking or talking, and surprisingly, only ONE day care, a local church, was willing to take him. After discussing it with Jamie, we realized that Handy preschool would be very beneficial for Noah because it would get him prepared for Kindergarten, he would go to full time daycare AND get therapy all day long. So we decided to enroll him the following year, once he turned 4. Again, I was nervous, but I knew that if we didn't like it, we could always remove him from the full time day care and allow him to just receive his therapy there. It turned out to be the greatest blessing in disguise. Noah has come so far in the past 9 months, his teachers, aide, and therapists were AMAZING, he made so many friends and he ENJOYS being in a school environment. He used to cry every time I would leave him, but by the end of the year, he was excited every morning to be joining his friends. All the kids would run up and hug him when he walked through the door into his classroom. His teacher told me that all of his classmates loved him and would argue over who got to hold his hand and help him walk down the hall. :) He began walking on his own while he was there. He's gained independence and more confidence.  He's much more comfortable playing with other children his age now.  Everyone knew his name and were so friendly; we even quickly became friends with the janitor, Mr. Baugh. Mr. Baugh and Collier developed quite a friendship!  The experience at Handy has been invaluable. It just goes to show that you absolutely can not 'judge a book by it's cover.' Handy may not look like much from the outside but great things happen there! I'm forever grateful to all of the wonderful people that loved and cared for my little boy while he was there and am sad that our time with them has now come to an end, as well. I just hope and pray that the next chapter for Noah as he begins Kindergarten is just as rewarding as this past year has been.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I love exchanging favorite products, beauty tips, new clothing discoveries and great accessories with all of my friends, so I was inspired by a fellow blogger to put these down on 'pen and paper' and share!  Might as well share the love with others, right? And what better time to share this mom's favorite things than right before Mother's Day.  So here goes!

I discovered this little gem of a product about 8 months ago... it's Miracle Skin Transformer by Sarah McNamara.  It a tinted moisturizer, primer, skin enhancer, and has SPF protection all in one little bottle.  It can be worn alone (for light coverage) or under your foundation for extra coverage.  It really does give you the smoothest, even, air-brushed like appearance when worn underneath your foundation.  I actually had someone tell me that my makeup looked like Kim Kardashian's on her wedding day (as in the 72 day wedding to Kris Humphries).  Now, this was at Halloween party where I was wearing more makeup than the norm... and I KNOW that I don't apply makeup comparable to the likes of Kim K's makeup artist but I'll still take that complement any day over a ruddy, uneven appearance.  It improves your skin's texture, reduces the appearance of pores, smooths and minimizes the appearance of fine lines, and reduces hyperpigmentation.  And I can vouch that IT WORKS!  And here's a little secret, a normal bottle is 1.7mL for $48 (which lasts about 3 months) HOWEVER, I just recently discovered that Sephora has smaller, travel bottles at their counter that are 0.85mL for $18.  So you can buy 2 travel bottles, which are the same amount of product for $12 less than buying the regular sized bottle.  Thank you, Sephora sales lady for sharing that little secret with me.  And you can thank me later. 



Next up on my list of must-have's is a Lenny & Eva cuff bracelet.  For someone that changes my jewelry up daily, I can admit that I wear one (sometimes both) of the 2 bracelets that I own daily.  I adore the vintage-y, rocker look of these accessories.  The bracelets are totally customizable with wide leather cuffs, skinny leather cuffs, braided wraps and more;  you can add charms, small and large sentiment plates, as well as other embellishments to your bracelet.  The plates are available in an assortment of different metals with fun and inspirational quotes.  I've lately become a fan of mixed metals and the 'homemade' jewelry look so these have climbed their way to the top of my favorite accessory list!  Locally, they can be found at Market House in Florence or you can find them online at Lenny & Eva.

{My silver braided wrap with a dove charm and brown leather wide cuff

with sentiment and butterfly charm}

I'm the first to admit, I'm no chef when it comes to the kitchen.  In fact, I really dislike cooking.  I have a few entrees that I've got down, you know, my 'go-to' meals but I'm definitely not creative with my culinary dishes.  I just recently discovered Kraft Fresh Take seasoning mixes.  They come in a variety of flavors (umm, Southwest Three Cheese mix, yum!) and can be used to spice up chicken, fish or pork.  We tested out the Chili Lime and Panko mix on Tilapia fillets and it received 4 thumbs up... as in all 4 of us scarved it down!  Especially Collier, my pickiest eater. Success! They can be found in the dairy aisle for $2.09 each (and kraft has a $0.50 coupon online for all of you couponers.)  I'm sure all of you religious PW readers and cooking show devotees can whip up seasonings and mixes like this on your own, but for mommas like me who prefer the easier method, this takes the cake! I really do aspire to become a whiz in the kitchen but for now this will have to do! 

         

My name is Whitney and I'm a Diet Coke Addict.  I can go through a 2L a day.  Seriously.  Lately, I've been trying to cut back on the Diet Coke and drink more water. But plain water just doesn't do it for me. I feel like what I'm drinking, especially when it's with a meal, needs to have a TASTE.  That's why I LOVE AdvoCare's Spark!  With Spark added to my water, I actually ENJOY drinking water.  Especially the Mandarin Orange and Grape flavors.  It's like insta-energy in a bottle.  Long, LOONNNGGG-lasting with no jittery, crazy side effects.  It's packed full of vitamins, especially B-6 and B-12, amino acid supplements and is sugar-free, with MUCH less caffeine than regular sodas, energy drinks, etc.  Coming from a girl that used to down Diet Coke all day long, I have WAY more energy from just one Spark a day than I did when I was on a Diet Coke 'binge'.  Oh and I'm a distributor for AdvoCare so message me if you are interested in trying it!

I don't think you'll be sorry. 

Being the mom to boys, you are pretty limited when choosing their clothing options.  Sure I can get away with cute jon jons and one piece appliqued outfits on Collier for now, but those days are limited.  All too soon he will join his Daddy and brother as a polo shirt and khaki shorts wearing little boy.  Not having a girl to shop for, I've never been to a Matilda Jane trunkshow, the clothing company known for their adorably matching mommy and me clothes.  I've always admired their pieces but didn't know how to acquire one without going to a trunk show (nor did I know all the lingo, with dresses called The Cupcake, Stillwater, not to mention the numerous 'Bird Dresses' and ordering through a TK?!).  I recently figured out how, got in contact with a Trunk Keeper (or TK, told 'ya I'm down with the lingo now) and I am hooked.  BAD.  It's become an addiction!  What's even crazier is there is a group on Facebook for these MJC lovin' women where they buy, sell and trade these coveted pieces.  Women treat these clothes with such TLC that they hold their value even when they've been (very, very gently) worn by someone else.  They are viewed as collector's items to these women. Even the pieces that were released seasons ago, still hold their retail value.  Some of these items sell on eBay for a hundred dollars a pop! It blows my mind!  Some things seem silly to me, such as their plain tanks.... I'm not one to purchase a plain tank for $30 JUST because it has a MJC label on it, however, I have fallen in LOVE with several dresses that I've purchased.   And I have several items that I'm looking for that I can't wait to add to my closet! My all time favorite MJC purchase (quite possibly my favorite dress all together) is my Hammond Bay Teary Bluebird dress.  Is so cute and comfy with a fun combo of navy and white polka dots and colorful floral fabrics.  It has a loose style to it so it's perfect for running errands with a pair of flip flops or can be dressed up for dinner out with friends. As silly as it all sounds, I've definitely gotten caught up in the MJC craze.  If we ever were to add a girl to our family, our checkbook would most definitely take a hit from this newfound love!

I have very thick, although fine hair and it takes FOREVER to blow dry. No lie. Ask my hair stylist; she has been trying for years to get me to wash every few days to save myself from the agony of blow drying my hair every.single.day.  My hair "holds" water thus equaling at least 25 - 30 minutes of actual drying time. Talk about annoying.  I've come to HATE getting ready, especially now that I have kids because I'm crunched for time as it is!  I've bought every different brand and feature on the market but none have made any noticeable differance in my drying time.  I've been known to blow up a blowdryer or two each year but I've never been able to bite the bullet to invest in one of those really good, stylist grade blowdryers. I recently discovered the Conair Infiniti Pro.  This thing is amazing! It's light-weight but powerful and blow dries my hair in half the time it normally takes. It comes with 2 different concentrator attachments that really work their magic in helping me to straighten my naturally curly hair.  I've only had it for a few months so I can't vouch for it's motor life but I'm a HUGE fan of it already. And the best part is that I didn't break the bank to get a great blowdryer.

So there you have it...my spring favorites!  Now I know that you may not all agree with the likes of my list, however, maybe you will feel compelled to try a new product or two out for a test run. As quickly as my tastes change, this list is sure to be full of all new things in the next few months but for now this is it. Now put your thinking caps on and share YOUR favorite things with me!