Ford's Baptism

Our sweet baby boy was baptized at St. Patrick's Catholic Church on Saturday, November 17. We had a full house of friends and family that joined in the celebration and Father Joeseph DeAurora led the service. Just like we did with Annalee, we decided to have the baptism on a Saturday, so it was just a special service for us, and there would be plenty of time for celebration after.

Ford's godmother is my best friend from home, Amanda. Al and I have been buddies since softball days at West Mobile County Park. Her dad was our All-Star coach and she went to school with my middle brother Rob.  We immediately hit it off and spent countless weekend, summers and evenings at each others' houses. She was a year older (and wiser, ha). We were besties though high school and when she went to Auburn her freshmen year, I quickly followed. We did our own thing on the plains - she pledged ZTA and I pledged AOII. She studied Business and I was in the College of Liberal Arts. But we were Dunkin' Darlings together - hostesses for the Basketball team - and spent almost every game day together.

Her parents are like my second family, and mine just the same and I couldn't have imagined a better god mother for our sweet baby boy! Amanda is full of laughter, love and had the biggest heart. I have always known Al would be one of my children's god mommas and I just knew that Ford would be the perfect match. She and her husband flew up from Mobile for a fun weekend in Lex.

Ford's godfather is a dear friend from Virginia, Matthew. Matt and his wife Megan instantly become some of our best friends when we met shortly after I moved to Lexington in 2009. They had just gotten engaged and we followed just a couple months later. That same year they moved within a block of both of our houses and we spent almost every day together - cooking, eating, drinking, volunteering, going for runs, etc. We were spoiled to have each other and I will forever cherish that year of fun we had! Matt is a fraternity brother of Jesse's - from a different chapter - but they were instant buds. Matt is an amazing father, devoted catholic, and the ultimate example of a true gentleman. We know he will be an amazing role model for our sweet baby boy.

Ford wore Jesse's baptism outfit from when he was baptized in 1979.

It was our first real party at the new house, and it was AMAZING to have so much space to spread out! Here are a few pictures from the day.

CHEFS Catering delivered a beautiful spread and Sweet Treats Bakery made an amazing cake for us - there wasn't a slice left come Monday morning. We had little chocolates from Cocoa Mill for everyone as the left and University Florist and The Jefferson delivered beautiful flowers for the day. It was a very "local spread" if I do say so myself, and made this Chamber lady very happy! 

Proud Papa

Also, I used Photo Affections for the invitations and they turned out beautiful. 

It was such a perfect day with family and friends. We are so lucky to have a wonderful catholic community here in Lex for our children to grow-up in. Feeling very blessed! 

December One

I made a promise to myself to get back to the things I love the most this December. We've been gearing up for the holidays, decking the halls, penciling in lots of time with family and friends and starting a few new traditions of our own.

 I have also taken a good long break from blogging and I miss it. Here's to hoping this December I slow down and take time to document all the fun we are having.

Happy December 1!

"Jingle" - our Elf on the Shelf - came to visit this week and Annalee is thrilled! She runs downstairs every morning to look for Jingle and make sure he came back from the North Pole. We weren't sure if she would really "get it" yet, but she proved us wrong. Our big girl is full speed Christmas all the way... just like her Daddy!

I may have mentioned this before, but J LOVES Christmas. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do to - but he really LOVES it.

We have a new house to "Deck the Halls" and it has been SO much fun!!

We trimmed the stairs with Magnolia garland, which I love! It may be my favorite decoration.

Making the garland last week - with a beautiful bolt of plaid ribbon I scored at TJMaxx for $11.

We also discovered Annalee dolls, and Mom bought one for Annalee this year. A fun new tradition to start. This is our cute little Santa Annalee doll. I had never heard of them before, but a co-worker of J's told us about them after Annalee was born. Last week Mom and I stumbled upon them in TJMaxx and they are so cute!

We added one more stocking to the mantle this year - a train for Mr. Ford. We get our stockings from Lands' End and they are great quality needlepoint at an awesome price point.

We also started our advent calendar that my sister-in-law made for us years back. However, this was the first year we added a special treat to the day for Annalee to find. She was SO excited running out the door to Mimi's this morning.

Cheers to a great Christmas season and seeing the joy through the eyes of a child. It's so amazing to remember how special this time of year is and be able to share that with our little ones.

We have our local Christmas parade tonight and are making Gingerbread houses tomorrow. Then it's time to cheer on my Auburn Tigers in the SEC Championship game. War Eagle, friends!!

Samford Walker | 3 months

Three Month Highlights:

• 14lbs, 12 ozs., 25 inches long, 16 1/2 in head circumference (at 9 weeks)
• Dark blue eyes and a little bit of dark hair
• Wearing 6 month clothing and pajamas \\ Pampers Size 2 diapers 
• Nicknames: Little Man, Baby Ford, Brother Bear
• Firsts: Plane Ride, Trip to the beach, swim, and Mangofest
• Tricks: laughing, smiling, grabbing toys to play
• Food: Just Momma's milk
• You made your first trips to MiMi's, the Gulf Coast, GranDe's, the beach, Mango!
• You got the honor of attending your first Mango with my girls! 
• We had visits from Stu, Mere and Baby Eli. 
• We said goodbye to our dear friends, the Hastings and wished them well in ATL. 
• You started at your sitters on the 24th... just shy of 3 months old. I miss you already!
• You love playing on your playmate/gym and it's our favorite activity at the moment
• We are still going strong with no paci... however, we did try one out for a short stint at Mango and you finally took it. We'll just be saving that one for emergencies. 
• We made it to church again this month! Ho-rah. Maybe next month it'll be twice! haha

One Month Favorites {Items We Couldn't Live Without}:

Boppy Newborn Lounger \\ Bassinet \\ Boppy (for mommy) \\ Swaddle Blankets \\ Sleep gowns \\ Bob Stroller \\ Play mat \\ Burp clothes \\ Copper Pearl Multi Use Cover \\ Ergo 360

Pictures from this month:

Uncle Stu and Eli

You're pretty cool, bro!

Storytime

First trip to the Florabama!

Remembering Papa Sam... first trip to GranDe's

With my boy cousins... well, some of them. 

Visiting with Paw Paw

And with Uncle Pat - your mommas godfather

Mango 2017!

Beachin

Mango Babies!

Auntie Syd

On the flight back to VA

Riding with Sissy in the Cozy Coup

Getting ready for Halloween!

We have loved watching you grow baby boy. Thank you for bringing us such joy! 

Welcome Baby | One Month | Two Months | Birth Announcement 

Samford Walker | Birth Announcements

Today I wanted to share a sneak peak of Mr. Ford's birth announcements. 

Isn't he the sweetest little thing! I'm a little biased I know... 

I found a great deal on Groupon through Photo Affections. My first time using  this site and I was very pleased. They have a great variety of options, they are all easily to customize and great quality! They also had one heck of a deal on Groupon that I couldn't pass up, 40 cards for $17.99! I was surprised at the quality of the paper, the beautiful image quality, and the easy online tool for editing. I will certainly go back. Especially with a few more coupon codes in hand.

Visit Groupon today and snag your deal. They come in quanity options of 40, 70 & 100.

They may have gone out a little late... but at least his name is spelled correctly. Sorry Big Sis!

Back to Life

Who else watched Monday Night football for the first time last night just to see the Star Wars trailer?  Yes, maybe this gal. I love me some football... but I'm a college football gal. Welcome to small town in the south livin'. But last night we actually watched football... so the hubs could watch the Star Wars trailer. Not gonna lie, it looks pretty good. And this is coming from a gal who can barley get through a simple chick-flick. Movies and me just are friends. I get board, or maybe just can't sit still long enough to enjoy. I need to get better... I am certainly not your person when it comes to celebrities and any sort of movie news. I'm more often than not asking, who's that girl again?

I digress... this story is just to say hi! We have a short week on tap... still enjoying our meal plan, in hopes of making it two more days before we head south.

I am dreaming of white sandy beaches... sunshine... and shrimp!

Today I dropped Ford off for a full-day at his sitters and went to work for the day. I miss those baby snuggles already... and my workout clothes... and not pumping...

I need a lil vacation before it's back to work for good.

I did order the most adorable birth announcements. Maybe I will share those soon.. and the great deal I got via Groupon.

Peace out for now my friends... I will be back to share some spooky Halloween decor and costumes...

Until then, cheers from the coast!

Annalee takes Ballet

It's time for ballet!

We decided that it was time for Annalee to have some after-school social time to get her used to other kids, instruction, group activities and the like. I found a 'creative movement' class at our local ballet studio that allows 2 year olds to participate, so we signed her up and just like that, we have a little ballerina on our hands.

Hadley and Annalee watching the big girls!

We have a ways to go before any actual ballet instruction takes place... but they do cute little walks and dances. They learn how to sit and listen, play with props, etc.

tu-tu cute!

We are still working on the sit and listen part, but every week we get a little better. We are on week 3 and this time she actually participated in the dancing portion of class, wore a tutu for a little while, and did a curtsey at the end of class for a sticker.

Bonus - I only had to chase her out of the room once!

At least we have some cute pictures to show for it, right?

Fall Meal Planning

meal planning worksheets via.

Meal Planning. O what fun it is! We are headed to the coast in 9 days, so my meal planning for this week was actually for a week and a half. Hoping we can actually make it 9 days without another grocery run.

We try and stick to a $100/ week grocery bill. This trip, I spent $213, for two weeks... and that included a couple outfits for Mr. Ford too.

For grocery planning purposes, we usually both eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at home and pack Annalee's lunches and snacks every day too. Occasionally we will order a pizza or eat out for lunch - so I plan for one lunch and one dinner out every week.

Also, we still have a local catering delivering a meal to us once a week as a gift from my Board of Directors from when Ford was born. Best gift ever - delicious, healthy meals delivered to my door step for 12 weeks. Amazing!

We are by no means on a diet or anything like a 'Whole 30' kick, but some of the recipes below are actually whole 30 and most are pretty healthy too!

So what are we eating this week and next??

  Monday - Pork Tenderloin with roasted red potatoes, onions and baby carrots {whole 30)

  Tuesday - Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta w. salad and garlic bread

  Wednesday - Chicken Soup from Jenny, the Caterer, w. biscuits

  Thursday - Pizza and salad. {I keep a frozen one on hand, in case we don't have time for delivery}

  Friday - Brats w. a corn, black bean and avocado salad {whole 30}

   Saturday - DATE NIGHT IN - Steaks on the grill w. loaded baked potatoes and spinach salad

   Sunday - Acorn Stuffed Squash {whole 30}

   Monday - Turkey Taco Sweet Potatoes {whole 30} 

   Tuesday - Delivery from Jenny!

   Wednesday - Shrimp Fried Quinoa {whole 30} w. Eggrolls

   Thursday - Off to P'cola we go!!

For lunch I keep deli meat and rolls/bread handy, bagged salad w. chicken or shrimp, or leftovers.

___________

And for those of you that are curious about our snacks and toddler selections, keep reading...

Annalee staples - applesauce (pouches too), whole milk, yogurt, frozen veggies, chicken, cucumbers, peppers, cheese, raisons, fruit and avocados.

Snacks for us - whole gain nabs, apples, yogurt, Cliff Bars, nuts, veggies and dip.

Happy meal planning my friends... it's a constant circle for us. Trying to find new dishes to try. I'm open to all your suggestions for healthy and easy weeknight meals. Do share!

Samford Walker | Two Months

Two Month Highlights:

• 14lbs, 12 ozs., 25 inches long, 16 1/2 in head circumference (at 9 weeks)
• 12 lbs, 3 ozs., 23.25 inches, 15.75 in head circumference (at 5 weeks), 
• Dark blue eyes and dark hair... or what is left. Sporting a great old man cut at the moment
• Wearing 3-6 month clothing and pajamas \\ Pampers Size 1 diapers 
• Nicknames: Little Man, Baby Ford, Brother Bear
• Firsts: Your first smile, first tractor ride & fall festival, first bottle, first real bath
• Tricks: Holding your head up, following us from side to side, recognizing voices
• Food: Just Momma's milk
• You made your first trips to Great Valley Farm Brewery (twice), Rocca, Southern Inn, King Family Vineyard, KA, DBB, Don T's and Sweet Things
• You celebrated your first Rockbridge Community Festival on August 26 and Rockbridge County Fair on Sept 8
• We had visits from the Hollomon's, GranDe and Gia this month!
• Made an appearance at BAH and went to work with Mom a couple days
• You love playing on your playmate/gym and it's our favorite activity at the moment
• You are not a fan of the paci, so we are going to try and go without 
• We made it to church as a family of 4 for the first time! 

One Month Favorites {Items We Couldn't Live Without}:

Boppy Newborn Lounger \\ Bassinet \\ Boppy (for mommy) \\ Swaddle Blankets \\ Sleep gowns \\ Bob Stroller \\ Play mat \\ Burp clothes \\ Copper Pearl Multi Use Cover \\ Ergo 360

Pictures from this month:

After church snuggles with Dad

First real smile!

Playtime with Sissy

GranDe snuggles

Hollomon's visit - August 27

Rockbridge Community Festival - August 26

One Month Highlights