Category Archives: Mary Kathryn

Marking things off my to-do list

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Oh how I love the holidays! No lie: I have stayed up late practically every night since November 1st watching Hallmark Christmas movies. Most of those nights I’m one or two in the morning before going to sleep. Am I tired the next morning? Absolutely. But there is something about sitting in my living room with the only light coming from my Christmas tree and the glow of the tv that just makes me happy.

Oh, did I mention?

My Christmas tree went up the very first week of November. See? I’m a holiday fanatic.

I like to enjoy the full two months of the season. I like the house to be decorated and ready to go on Thanksgiving day when my girls wake up to watch the Macy’s Day Parade and the yummy smell of Thanksgiving dinner is wafting into the living room.

It makes us happy. So, why not?

On the Friday after Thanksgiving we decorate the outside of the house. I’m totally respecting the feelings of those that like to enjoy one holiday at the time 😉  So, I do wait on letting my Christmas joy spill outside until the day after, haha 🙂

Things I have marked off my holiday to-do list?

– Christmas tree up and decorated

– Major Christmas gifts purchased

– Christmas gift buying list made and ready

– Outdoor decorations purchased

– Christmas Cards ordered!

Here is a sneak peak of the cards I ordered. You have no idea how difficult it was to get this picture with all three girls looking into the camera! I have so much respect for photographers!! This was the best of about fifty duds.

christmas card picture 2013

I was happy with the final product though! 🙂

And for the close family and friends that receive one of these there is a surprise pic on the back and a note from us!

To my blog friends reading this: I wish I could send each and every one of you this card! Thank you for taking the time to follow our story. We hope you have a magnificent holiday season filled with lots of love, laughter, and joy!!

 

P.S. Stop by Bloglovin and visit me :).

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XOXO,

Erika

 

 

~Part II of photo catch up~

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Well, It’s midnight and I have just gotten home from a very busy night at work with some very sick people. And it’s a good thing that I am way too wound up to sleep, because I am baking 3 dozen cupcakes for Mary Kathryn to take to school for her birthday tomorrow. And what do I notice on the kitchen counter when I get home?? Krispie kreme donuts, that’s what! How in the world am I supposed to ignore those when the smell of cupcakes is making me want something sweet??!:) I”ll let you guess whether I ate one or not….:)

So before I ramble on anymore in my sleep deprived state, I am going to go on and post the pictures we took Easter Sunday:) Unfortunately, Michael had to work that weekend, but the girls and I went to church and then to my sister and brother-in-law’s house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. It was a gorgeous day and Crystal and Chris are excellent cooks, so we all had a blast and brought lots of food home for Michael to eat when he got off work.
I could not, for the life of me, get all three girls to look at the camera, but this one is the best of all three that I could get.


The girls and I

So now I am off to bed to get a few hours of sleep before the girls wake up. Luckily no work tomorrow yay!:)

Is it really November???

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So true to my promise to myself, I am doing my Halloween post right on time. Whoohoo!! I really can not believe it’s November already! That means in just a few short weeks we’ll be dragging out the Christmas tree and decorations for a marathon day of decorating. Usually we do it a week or two before Thanksgiving, but I am thinking of doing a bit of a tree overhaul this year. And I’m planning on using all of those wonderful black Friday sales to stock up on the new decorations:) Can’t wait!!

But getting back to the reason for this post, we ended up having a great Halloween despite the horribly cold, rainy weather. The girls were SO disappointed when they realized it was pouring rain right at trick or treat time. But we ended up going to Aunt Crystal and Uncle Chris’ neighborhood and trick or treating with Aunt Crystal in the rain. Hailey and Mary Kathryn were completely unconcerned about getting soaking wet and ran from house to house. And believe it or not, there were plenty of other trick or treaters out and about, so it ended up being lots of fun. Bella was not really into some of the scary costumes but she laughed and laughed at Hailey and Mary Kathryn running from house to house in excitement. Here are some pictures from last night…..

And these are pictures from the day before Halloween. The girls dressed all up in their costumes and headed out to a carnival. Unfortunately Bella had a vomiting episode on the way that completely covered her and Hailey and cut our plans short. But we all headed home to cuddle by the fire with hot chocolate and some family time instead. Can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing!

Hope that everyone had a fun-filled and safe Halloween….Now on to Christmas!!!

Things I am loving right now…

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Right now I am enjoying a big cup of pumpkin spice coffee (my fave) and attempting to catch up on this blog that has totally taken a back seat to life lately. I am making a promise to myself to be more diligent about keeping this up to date from now on!!

So moving on to what I am loving right now….

Besides the obvious….The Loves of my Life…

(courtesy of my iphone:)

I am really loving this yummy coffee creamer

This equally yummy nail color from Essie

These ADORABLE leg warmers for Bella

Cuddling up with the loves of my life by this

And last, but not least, the only way we have a nice hot meal on the days my husband and I are both working. I LOVE my crockpot!

Oh, and I am practically salivating over this mixer!

A girl can dream can’t she??

We also have an exciting new addition to our house in the works and I will have a post about that coming up soon:)  And of course Halloween is tomorrow and I hope to get that post up Tuesday. ( Heres hoping that since I put that in writing, I will stick to it!;)

Happy October!!

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Around our house we are super excited to see October usher in cooler weather and all kinds of fun carnivals, fairs, and fall outings. This is one of our favorite times of year!

The girls and I were really excited to decorate our pumpkins. It’s just not October at our house without pumpkins sitting out;) I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin carving since it really doesn’t last, so we used gold vinyl to monogram the large pumpkin and sprayed the small pumpkins with adhesive and sprinkled with gold/orange glitter. We were quite pleased with the end result pictured above:) The only downside…glittery hands to contend with whenever Bella picks them up:)

Another perk to fall… Caramel apples! Here’s a picture of the girls helping Bella eat her first caramel apple.

Someone’s loving this perfect fall weather…

And this October, a common occurance around here has been lots of dancing in the living room. Hailey is wearing an aircast in this picture. She is supposed to be staying off of her feet due to a torn ligament in her ankle from cheerleading, but it is like trying to hold back time to get the child to rest!

Speaking of which, even with an injured ankle, Hailey has finally learned this…!!

Hailey is beyond excited!!

And lastly, a video of Bella doing something she shares in common with her sisters…playing Barbie:)

Happy October until next time~~:)

So, what have we been up to??

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Well, we have been busy as can be around here! Since my last post these two girls have started their school year….

They both LOVE their classes and have enjoyed being back into a routine. And of course I sent them a note in their lunch to remind them how special they are to me.

After the excitement of the first week of school we were paid a unwelcome visit by Irene….Maybe you’ve met her??

These pictures were taken from my husband’s patrol car the day after Hurricane Irene made landfall…

Thank the Lord, we only had minor damage to our home and property. And most importantly we all came through safely.

And something else that has come since my last post…September 1st, which to me equals ‘time to put up my fall decorations’:):) If you can not tell, I do not procrastinate when it comes to celebrating the change of seasons!

~Picture catch up~

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While going through the 12 month pictures I took of Bella, I found these random few taken recently of the girls. There is no running theme, but I just couldn’t let these go without being saved to our blog to look back on:) Tomorrow’s post is a collection of pictures I took of Bella outside to serve as her “1 year pics”. Far from professional, but they will do! Check back tomorrow for those:)

~Sisterly Love~

This is one sweet pile of sugar:)…

Just another bookworm! All the girls in this house love to read. Bella is definitely “just one of the girls” in that respect. Her current favorite is a glittery book about fairys. She even says “fairy” when she points at the fairy pictures 🙂

Big sister, littlest sister

And just in case you are thinking we are all smiles around here, this is a little behind the scenes picture to relieve you of that idea!LOL:)
Both of their faces are priceless.

Mary~Kathryn

Check out this sneaky Bella making her way up the steps as fast as she can!

This last picture just tickles me. Mary Kathryn made this pyramid with her babies. She sees plenty of this every week so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me!

In other news, Hailey is starting 4th grade tomorrow and Mary Kathryn is starting the 1st grade. They both love school and have missed both the schoolwork and friends. We are all excited for their first day! Update on that to follow soon:)