Monday, January 30, 2012

He's a Dancin' Machine

This child loves to dance. I mean really loves to dance.
 
Every Sunday after church we meet all of our friends in the sanctuary after the service. Ed and I alternate taking Deuce to the nursery and TJ is finally going to children's church. One of Ed's best friends from college, Will, plays the bass guitar in the church band and they usually play for a little while as people are gathering their things and socializing before leaving. We always go up to the first pew and listen to the band play while Deuce dances. No joke. People love to stand and watch him. He goes through periods where he gets really into it and then he's mesmerized and he just stares.
If you listen hard you can hear him saying, "TJ! Wat, Wat" which means TJ, watch!! 
He's not shy or anything.... 
Tim is his favorite person in the band. Tim in maybe 20-something and plays the drums. Deuce loves the drums so he loves Tim. One Sunday Tim was trying to be sweet and gave Deuce his drum sticks. I had to promptly trick my child into giving them to me so I could proceed to slip them back to Tim. {I thanked him for being so generous but explained that I would like to keep my walls hole-free and my window panes in tact. I know my boy. And he is rough.} Every Sunday we have to wait for Tim so Deuce can give him a fist bump. Who knows, maybe we'll have a future rocker in the family.
I didn't have my camera in church this time...

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Double Digits.

Remember when "Double Digits" was all you looked forward to? As though it made you somehow seem as though you aged tremendously overnight? You were that much closer to middle school, dances, parties, talking on the phone, your first real special someone. I specifically remember standing in the kitchen at our house on Thomas Lane and telling my mom, "only 6 more years until I can drive!"
Dude, that was 20 years ago....

Well, TJ turned 10 last Thursday and amazingly I don't think he aged a single bit over night....
It's funny how our perspective as adults is totally different than that as children.
But when I look back at the fact that I have now spent half of his life with him I realize that he is that much closer to middle school, puberty, maturity and responsibility.
circa 2007 - 5 years old
So on his birthday, I made cupcakes in ice cream cones and took them to his school. I brought him Wendy's for lunch and Ed met us there. The four of us sat at our own little lunch table (Deuce looks like such a big boy sitting at those cafeteria tables. I forgot my camera.) and we ate our lunch while the rest of his class had the silent lunch time while the elevator music played. How they don't fall asleep everyday I have no idea.
Happy 10th Birthday TJ!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes
I knew I was going to have to transport all of these bad boys to school so I needed an effective way of moving them without knocking them over. Enter pinterest and the aluminum baking pans. Turn the pan over and cut holes in it just big enough for your cone to go through. Mine were totally not perfect, it doesn't matter.
Mix your batter according to the package instructions. Pour the batter into each cone to the top of the base. If you put too much in it don't worry. The cupcake will most likely cook over the sides of the cone and then you can scrape it off before you ice them. Not that I did that or anything.
I was able to make 24, just as you would regular cupcakes in liners.
Bake them according to the package instructions, remove them from the oven and let cool in the pans. Ice them and decorate! I whipped up some toppers real quick while they were cooking and TJ was so excited to see his picture on the cupcakes, lol! One of my next investments will be some piping bags and tips so I can properly ice the cupcakes instead of using a knife!!!! But hey, they all go down the same way right?


Monday, January 23, 2012

Brrrr.... Let's Shoot.

Who says you can't play in the cold?
Two of my baby's favorite things. Basketball and his Crocs.
Practicing your bike riding on the carpet in the house just doesn't cut it. So we practice outside. For about  10 minutes. Because we still need help. And we are very independent and don't like help. Then we move on to the basketball.
And after shooting around for a little bit, we put the ball down and practice jumping to touch the rim. And we get really excited when we touch the net.
Then we venture out into the yard to play with sticks and trees.
Then we're officially cold and look like Rudolph and we head inside for some milk and snuggling.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Fall Photo Shoot

We were lucky enough to have Regan take our family pictures for the 2nd year in a row back in November. The weather was perfect and we met on a Sunday afternoon in Chapel Hill. We met on campus and started out at the Arboretum, where Ed and I had our engagement pictures taken. Deuce was NOT feeling it. All week leading up the the shoot he had been saying "cheeeeeeeeese" every time I took a picture of him. I just knew we were going to get some great shots of him. But as soon as Regan pulled her camera out he refused to look at her, much less speak. I was so sad. I don't think he smiled for one picture all day. And if she did happen to capture a smile it was because she was awesome enough to chase him around when he was playing football with himself. We brought the football thinking it would be a good distraction while we were taking pictures without him but he wouldn't put it down and it became the all important prop. And when we went to the stadium, the football team came out to practice so Deuce wouldn't take his eyes off of them. The photo in the blog header, yeah, he's waving to the team...

I was a little worried that there wouldn't be one good picture but I was wrong. They turned out so much better than I expected because Regan, well..... she's pretty much the best evahhhhhh! And the football, I love having it in the pictures because it represents our family so well. Enjoy. 



Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Leigh Anne is Getting Hitched!

I went wedding dress shopping with one of my best friends/old roommates a few weekends back for her upcoming May wedding. I hadn't been dress shopping since my own wedding so I was excited to go and be a bridesmaid and not the bride. Leigh Anne's wedding will be a very small outdoor event tailored towards the vintage, shabby-chic style with lots of burlap and crisp whites.

The first place we went to was called Bridal World in Raleigh. Okay, it was a little weird. The store is basically split in half by the 3 dressing rooms (yes, there are only 3) and while one side of the store is wedding dresses, the other half is consignment. And I don't mean wedding consignment. I mean PTA thrift shop kind of consignment. Leigh Anne immediately freaked out when we walked in to this place. Me and Kelley (the other bridesmaid) were trying to keep her calm and convince her to go on with the appointment and just see what she could find. Their method is to take different colored shower curtain rings (yes, you read that right) and place them over the hanger of the dress you were interested in trying on. Then a  consultant would bring them to you in the dressing room and help you try them on. Nobody was allowed in the dressing room except the bride and the consultant. You were most definitely NOT allowed to take pictures (Hello? How are you supposed to compare to make the right decision??) and if you were going to go anywhere near a dress you had to constantly wipe your hands with baby wipes. I mean, I get that part but still... Plus they only had one riser, which was super small, so you had to wait your turn to see yourself in the insanely small mirror. The consultant was very nice however the old lady that owned the store was not (plus she was wearing one bedroom slipper and one sandal. Really? I would prefer to make one of the biggest purchases of my life from someone semi-fashion conscious but that's just me.)

Anyway, I'm glad we made Leigh Anne stay and try on the dresses because they did have a pretty decent selection. They were a little pricey but she narrowed it down to 2 that she liked. They were both a few hundred dollars over budget so she decided to hold off while we went to lunch to discuss. We went to Red Bowl to eat and had a really nice lunch. Leigh Anne was convinced that the appointment was a bust and Kelley and I did our best to change her mind. We had accomplished a lot in that 2 hour appointment. She tried on a good 7-10 dresses and she really figured out what she liked and what she didn't and what she looked good in and what was not so flattering. I thought the appointment was a huge success. That was the only appointment she had scheduled but I convinced her to let me call David's Bridal down the street. Kelly was in from Charlotte for this and I had come from Greensboro so why not try to hit another store while we were both in town. I called David's and they said there were no appointments but we could walk around and look. So I convinced Leigh Anne that there was no harm in going to walk around and see what they had in comparison. Well, within 20 minutes she had a consultant and was headed to the dressing room.

While we waited during those 20 minutes, Kelley and I took off throughout the store and picked out every single dress that we thought she might like based on the dresses from earlier. We hid them in one section (which we later found out was against the David's Bridal law) but it sure did make life easier on our consultant. Leigh Anne had really opened up at this point because the selection was so much bigger, the prices were way better and she really felt like a bride with all of the mirrors and lights. She was pretty much willing to try on anything that we suggested. I should have prefaced this post by saying that Leigh Anne started off the day saying: "NO Lace, NO Flowers, MUST have sleeves, NOTHING FANCY." So when we convinced her to try on that stuff anyway, she was pleasantly surprised.

The consultant's name was Jamie and she was AWESOME! Leigh Anne walked away from David's Bridal with her dress in her hand. And seriously, we had one of those "Say Yes to the Dress" moments. She tried on a bunch of dresses. Some we really liked. A lot. But when she came out with the one, the tears were flowing. From all of us. Everybody knows I am pretty much the sappiest person on the planet and I was holding myself together pretty well. But when she came out with that dress on my heart started beating so fast. And then I made the mistake of looking at Leigh Anne's mom (who was sobbing) and I couldn't hold it back. Then we were all crying. And at that moment, she knew she had found it. She tried on her other favorite but it no longer compared. The day was awesome.

Here are some shots from some of the dresses Leigh Anne tried on. I won't be posting pics of the dress until after the big day so you'll have to hold off until then. The only thing I will say is that she ate her words on a bunch of the "NO's."

Monday, January 16, 2012

LIfe in Phone Pictures

Time for a photo dump session from my phone. I don't think I've done one since I got this phone back in the fall after I destroyed my other one... I need to do this more often in case something happens to this one.

reading his TarHeel Monthly.
McDonald's play date with mommy.
oh lord...
reading Thomas
eat. sleep. football.
TJ's old outfit.
I know this is super blurry but he busted through the door like this and i had to grab my phone quick! he got himself dressed and was so proud!!
Kenan Stadium sure is beautiful!
I could watch him sleep all night long.
Wearing mommy's sweatshirt.
Fresh haircut, with clippers.
he got this horse for his first Christmas and he loves to ride it now.
A little Southpoint Christmas shopping.
Shooting hoops on his new goal from Santa.
Carolina v. Elon
Hanging out in the kitchen on his new skateboard.
TJ celebrating New Year's with his sparkling cider in his "fancy glass."
Putting on daddy's shirt.
He wanted it to have a hood so he pulled it up on his head.
We love to brush our "tee."
Relaxing all on his own.
He was literally giving Big Bird a high five and saying "fye."
First night in the toddler bed.
Watching toodles in his hat.
We love Olivia!
Reading Twinkle, Twinkle from Nana.
Reading a bedtime story to Elmo.

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