mr. man

my little mister man...oh how we adore this little guy

{& could kiss on those cheeks all the live long day!}

~a

Read more...

holiday madness...

we started our holiday on tuesday with a dinner over at bo's grandparents house. it was really nice {no pics of that one...} and so fun to spend the evening with the family. wednesday we headed over to my mom and felix's house to spend some time with them and felix's daughters & their families. We spent the day visiting, playing, parkin' it, oh yeah...and eating!

bo, hollis, & janda {felix's daughter}

grams, felix, & ava 'trying' to fly a kite...
manda & janda...yep, their twins.

bo, felix, & hollis relaxin' in the sun.

ava, jake & john swinging {my girl loves to swing!}

felix, grams, john, jake, ava, & hollis {only missing kaitlin & jack :( }

hollis loving all the attention from manda & janda!

it was a great day and so nice to see felix's girls!

thursday we headed over to donna's {bo's mom} for thanksgiving with her and bo's brother ricky, and his family {i had pics, but for some reason, they didn't upload...maybe later!}

then friday we headed out to "cabin south" {my dad & maryann's in granbury} they finished remodeling their lake house a while back and this was our first trip out since they comleted it. it is totally gorgeous, they did such a beautiful job! i should have taken pictures of the house and done a whole other post on how much i {heart} it! we had a fun day eating soup, hangin' out, going for boat rides {hopefully maryann will send some of those pics my way so i can share them with you!}, and then finished off the evening with the parade of lights around the squre in granbury! a great ending to our crazy week!

my handsome guy.

poppy & hollis

ava playing with her cars {her favorite thing...right up there with princesses!}

zack & zoe

such a fun week full of family and love. i wouldn't change a thing!

i hope all of you had a great holiday! ...now for christmas decorations!

~a

Read more...

miss ava lee

oh how this little wild thing brings sunshine to my life...

xoxo, mommy

Read more...

ashlee the senior...

my niece Ashlee...isn't she gorgeous?! i met this girl when she was ten {she is my husband's step sister's daughter} & can't believe she is graduating this year! i feel sooooooo old! we had such a fun afternoon running around taking pictures and i felt so special she asked me to take some for her. there are so many more, but these are a few of my favorites from the day...congrats ashlee! oh, to be 18 again...if i only knew then what i know now....

cousins, Ahlee and Kaylin {both super gorgeous!}

yes, i know we are on railroad tracks...yes, we were careful! {believe me, growing up in a railroad family and hearing all those stories...we were very careful!}

xo,

a

Read more...

TodaysMama: sleighfull of gifts!

TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleigh full of gifts this year! so in order to enter, i am sharing this meme with you all!

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?
one of these new and fancy camera bags!
anything from this gorgeous lady!
a clean house {yes, i know, this is something i'll have to do, but i know it would feel oh-so-good!}
reapeat viewings of this movie!
& just more happy days with my kiddos and husband.

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?
lately, my holiday brooch from jen! it suprised me in the mailbox one day and i have loved wearing it this fall!

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?
always wanted to tackle an "all handmade" christmas...where i handmake gifts for everyone...has yet to happen {i need to start creating during the summer. the closer it gets to christmas, the more overwhelming the task becomes for me!}

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?
my american girl doll! i remember how much i wanted one and when she was under the tree christmas morning i was way excited!

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year?
anything disney princess for ava and well, hollis would just take any baby toy at this point!

6. What is your favorite holiday food?
has to be pumpkin pie! can't get enough!

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?
knitting up some scarves for gifts!

8. What is your favorite holiday movie?
has to be "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" {the cartoon or jim carey version...i have loved that story since i was little!}

9. Favorite holiday song?
probobly "silent night"

10. Favorite holiday pastime?
i just l.o.v.e. spending time with all of our families over the holidays. it can get busy and hectic, but we just try to go with the flow and enjoy all we can!
xo,
a

Read more...

help a girl out!

Help my girl hollie win an ipod nano HERE! it only takes one second to vote!she is listed as 'a giveaway every day fal - hollie...at the top} she is a true sweetheart and doesn't even know how much she blessed me when she picked me to become a givewaway gal! i am so thankful, it was just what i needed!

she is always giving other people stuff...it would be so nice for her to win something, right?!

head over here to read about extra entries in some giveaways if you vote for her...nope, we're not above bribery folks!

thanks friends!

Read more...

a day with the grams...

we spent a lazy sunday over at grams house. we played outside, dug in the dirt, watched a movie, watched football, took a snooze {well, i snoozed...ava never fell asleep}, ate some pumpkin pie...such a perfect day! {the only thing missing was the daddy...his new work schedule is crazy.}

ava riding on her skitter car {this is one of the items i get to review for a giveaway everyday {be watching out for the giveaway coming up in the next few weeks!}...i heart this toy for ava! so fun she can do it all by herself, because we know all two year olds want to do everything by themselves!

the girl loves flowers and everywhere we go she must pick at least one {working on teaching her that not everyone wants their flowers to be picked!}

hope you all had a great weekend, too!

~a

Read more...

my lipgloss is poppin'

the weather was gorgeous today so we spent some of the afternoon outside. i had big intentions of taking ava to the park so she could burn off that toddler energy, but waited too long, knew it would be getting dark sooner, so thought we would just play in the front yard. she loves outside and today she spent most of the time picking flowers and running around like a wild thing. hollis and i sat on a quilt in the front yard and we all just had a nice relaxing time!

My boy...he's getting so big.

Grams stopped by after she got off work and of course ava went rummaging through her purse searching for some sort of present...and of course, grams always comes through. this was ava's face when she found out there was lip gloss in that big magical bag! {seriously, grams is like mary poppins!} - i hate that the pic is so out of focus, but i snapped it so quickly, i didn't have time to mess with any settings...oh well, you can still see the excitement oozing from that face!

aaaahhhhhh, the "lips".

i <3 this one!

this was what she did in response to me asking to see her pretty lips.....so silly.

oh, she makes me happy!

i think this was layer 50ish....

~a

Read more...

"how can you say you have too many children? that's like saying there are too many flowers." ~mother theresa

...if we won the lottery we would have soooooo many more....

~a

Read more...

check out these super cute heels i found at old navy! i had to get them...not sure when i'll wear them...maybe vacuuming around the house! ha! no, the holidays are coming up and i thought they would be a fun shoe to have for parties and get togethers! love that littel peep toe!

~a

Read more...

sweet sugar

this is one of hollis' favorite places to sleep...he's right...his daddy's chest is the perfect place to rest your head...i may just go rest my head there now...i've been missing that...

xo,

a

Read more...

the simple life...

one of my favorite blogs, the creative mama, had a great post today about technology in our world and how much of an influence it has over us. i have recently been dealing with this balance between family and tchnology after realizing how much time i was spending on the computer and not being present during some of the amazing moments with my family. i love blogging, reading others blogs, shopping online, talking to the girls on my photog. forum, keeping up with friends on facebok, playing in photoshop, all that fun stuff, but i definitely needed to work on the balance. I decided that i wouldn't work on the computer when my children are awake or my husband is home {except on a few occasions when i need to get actual "work" done {not just play} and he can help me}. this basically means i have a lot of late nights after the babies are sleeping, but i have found it working so much better for me. i know i am giving my children & husband "all" of me and i still can make time to do the things i want to do after the kids go to bed and bo goes to work. i feel so much more connected to my family without the distraction! next project...turning off the t.v. i have actually already started this one. we had gotten in a terrible habit of keeping the t.v. on even if we weren't watching it and just letting it play in the background...noise. one day i turned it off in the afternoon while ava and i were coloring and talking and i was shocked when not ten seconds later she went and turned it on {even though we weren't watching it at all}. this was a problem. so i have been turning off the t.v. throughout the day {she still gets her sesame street...how could i deprive her of elmo and friends...she absolutely loves them!} and the quiet has been so nice. i have been making it a priority to get the kiddos outside {which ava has always loved} now that the weather is cooperating again {the rain finally let up }. we have always loved playing outside, but all the rain kept us in for a few weeks and we kind of got stuck in a rut. well, the days are too beautiful to waste and this time with our family is even more precious. i have been given this amazing gift to be able to be home with my children and i will not waste it.

this was the paragraph that really got me on the creative mama:
"With the social avenues of facebook, twitter, online forums, etc. we often feel connected with people we do not even know.Unfortunately, at the end of the day, we sometimes have tuned out the people who are sitting right beside us on the couch. So often every machine we turn on in turn tunes someone out. A part of me wonders if the disconnect we feel in our communities isn't a symptom of us forgetting how to interact on a face to face basis with people in our own homes and communities." ~Tisha
{the whole post is wonderful and if you have a moment i would head over there and read it...made me think}

anyway, that's it for now...sorry for the ramble...
~a

Read more...

playin' at the park

today was way too beautiful to stay inside! we went up to nonna's salon this morning to visit. she has been wanting me to bring hollis up for a visit for quite some time now, but it took me a few months to get comfortable with taking him out into a bunch of germs. we had a good visit and i know nonna had a great time showing off her new grandson to all her friends and of course, supergirl! she just acts like she owns the place! & ava had to get her nails painted, which lasted all of 5 minutes, but is fun & has become a necessary event on any visit to the salon! all i have to say is nonna has the best clients in the world! they put up with our shenanigans on our visits, wait for nonna to paint ava's nails in the middle of their appointments, and all that good stuff. ava does have the best nonna in the world! after ava's nap we headed up to our neighborhood park. ava had a blast. when we got there, there were no other kids, but as soon as a few got there, she was all over them wanting to play! so cute! i love to watch her. she loves to play with 1 year olds and she can hang with 7 year olds! the world through her eyes right now is a beautiful place to be!

priss pots painted nails...

little miss sassy pants...seriously!

finally...she looks at the camera!

and then it turns to this....

i'ts been a beautiful day in our world!

xo,

a

Read more...