Five on Friday

Two posts in a row! Look at me go!! ;) I think I might be getting back in the saddle after all! I've been missing "seeing" all of you for Five on Friday. In addition to my writing hiatus, I've also been missing out on reading all of your blogs. Hope you'll forgive me?

{one} My Temple girls had a little "going away" party for me the weekend before we left, and it was SO FUN!! Roxanne hosted a dinner and painting party in her adorable new home, and I had a blast spending quality time with my friends. We painted until ONE in the morning, and I'm so thrilled with the pieces we created! I've only painted a handful of times, most of which have been under the guidance of Roxy, but it is so relaxing and enjoyable. Maybe I'll have the courage to keep creating!

In the midst of our painting party, we decided shopping was definitely in order for the following day, so we made the trek to Ikea for even more fun! I didn't get a ton since I'd only have to pack it all up, but I did get matted frames to create a gallery with my freshly painted pieces which will go in J's next room. EEEEEK! Cannot wait to hang them up.

Thank you again, my friends, for making me feel so loved! I miss you already.

{two} I made this Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken this week, and it was SO YUM! Incredibly easy to put together, and you probably have everything you need in your fridge/pantry! I served ours with coconut rice & stir-fried veggies.

{three} West Texas welcomed us home with a snow storm! Schools were closed yesterday, and we've got another snow day to enjoy today! Truth be told, the roads were really not that bad yesterday, but hey, we'll take it. Jaqs had so much fun playing in the powdery goodness and was not thrilled when it was time to come in. Luckily some hot chocolate remedied that little meltdown quickly.

Our little lady had to work from home yesterday! Her phone conversations are SO ANIMATED. It cracks us up.

Ohh, my little OCD child...here she is dusting the snow off the bushes. Y'all, I'm not even kidding. She is so my kid: she can't stand for things to be out of order! I love it.

{four} Whew. I came across this little quote on Pinterest, and I have to say, it totally made me feel better about myself. Is that pathetic? That I'm getting my life advice from Pinterest?? Actually, don't answer that...

ANYWAY...sometimes I feel like I'm supposed to have everything "figured out" now that I'm a mom, but the truth is that I don't have a clue what I'm doing with myself. Some days I can't imagine doing anything other than what I'm doing right now while others I feel like I'm supposed to chase after some (hypothetical) dream job/career. So, if I'm allowed to be a mess in my twenties, then I have 4 years to figure it out. What happens when I'm 30? Ha!

source

{five} How can it be that Valentine's Day is in a week?? Obviously since we don't exactly have a house right now I haven't done any decorating or crafting (tear), but I can still totally get down with some Valentine food! Here's what I'm thinking for breakfast...

Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend! Stay warm!

happenings + random update

As I mentioned in my last post, we had a puny baby on our hands the weekend before last. She spiked a fever one evening, and went from bad to worse in a matter of hours the next day. The pedi said she had an ear infection, so we all suffered through that over the weekend, but thankfully my parents were here to help! On Sunday morning, Jaqs woke up with a new tooth in her mouth, and suddenly, there was relief from the crankies! Naps and sleep in general was still difficult to come by, but thankfully she is 100% back to normal now! Praise the Lord!

 This was the only way to get anything done...poor baby! If she wants to be constrained, you know she doesn't feel good.

Also over last weekend, we got word that Rob's uncle had passed away. We had to make an impromptu Abilene trip to attend his funeral and be with the family. Since we had already hoped to see Rob's cousin who would be in Abilene the NEXT weekend, Jaqs and I stayed there while Rob came home to finish his work week as to avoid 2 road-trips with a baby that doesn't enjoy sleeping in her car-seat ;)

My dad was also working while we were there, so it was just the girls. Jaqs and Grammie had so much fun together, as always!

 I also got to have an unexpected girls' day with my bestie Julie! Of course, we forgot to take a picture together, so we took a couple of selfies, and Julie sent me this:

 HA! We had to have proof that we both got dressed in REAL clothes, right?! Love that girl.

For the first time in 10 (whoa) years, Rob and I were apart for Valentine's Day, but I still had our girl, so she was both Grammie's and my Valentine! We went to visit her at work, and we had a lunch date, too :)

We received these beauties from Daddy that afternoon!

 Jaqs got herself a REAL crib at the GG's house...what a lucky girl! Think she was excited about it?? What a little acrobat!

 The little toot found her camera & had it in bed with her one afternoon. Good thing it's mounted on the wall and out of reach at home!

SATURDAY was the day we got daddy back! Jaqs had to get 'fancy' for lunch and errands with the girls before daddy came, so she had a little baby bracelet stack going on ;)

Rob came in after his powerlifting meet in Temple, and we were so excited to see him! We went to visit with his family then brought baby home for bed while we went out to dinner with everyone. Can I just say that eating out without the girl in tow is about 25x easier? Ha! Thanks, Grammie!!

best we could get out of several tries ;)

 Rob's cousin Kathy and her husband Mike are making a cross country move and made a stop in Abilene to visit everyone, so we got to have a fun night with them since my mom had the pea, and it was so much fun! After dinner, we took them to the classiest place in town, Guitars & Cadillacs! Where else? Mike is ALL about Texas and wanted to experience it all, so we did what we could to deliver! 

 Love, loved getting to catch up with them and wish we could do it more often!

 We had to get one last NFC lunch in before we left...

 It was delicious as always, and we got to spend a last bit of time with Rob's sweet grandparents :) They love that baby, let me tell you!

Also before we left, my dad got to have a quick visit with J. He came in the night before we left, so they got to have a quality evening and morning together! Play-mates, these two!

Now we're home again, home again and getting back into the swing of things today!

I think I'm all caught up on 'lately' now...whew! 

Kudos to you if you hung around for this one :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy day of love, friends!

We keep it pretty low key for Valentine's Day these days, so I'll mostly be spending my day covering this sugar baby in kisses! Doesn't get much better than that!

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Things have been cuh-razy in the last week, so I'll have to update on that very soon!

Let's just say, ear infection + teething = misery for everyone involved. We're all on the up and up though, so we can get back in the swing of things and back into our routine...yippee!

Back soon. Love, love!

X's & O's: Valentine Door Decor

Y'all know I love seasonal door decor, right? I'm not even sure how many wreaths I've made in the last year...it's kind of become an obsession. Of course, I couldn't leave one of my favorites, Valentine's Day, out! I came across this little cutie on Pinterest and decided I wanted to make it my own. Side-note--I get so annoyed when pinned pictures don't go to an actual website. #PinningProblems

Apparently I'm no good at step-by-step crafting pictures...too in the zone I suppose ;) 

Lucky for you, this one is pretty self explanatory. 

I purchased my X's & O's at Hob Lob for $1.25 each and picked up some Valentine ribbon for about the same price, so this baby was less than $10 since I had all of the other supplies.

I did 2 layers of acrylic paint on the letters then let them dry over night before hot gluing them all together. I also put some tape (fancy, huh?) in the center of the backside to give it a little extra security. To hang, I hot glued ribbon to each side of the back then tied it up on our door hanger! Very, very simple, and darn cute if I do say so myself!

Paint Colors: X's-Metalic Bright Red; O's-Baby Pink with a VERY light layer of Metallic Pure Gold over it.

Oh, I almost forgot, my football coaching hubby was sorely disappointed to find out the X's & O's were for a Valentine door instead of a Super Bowl door. Sorry babe, football already stakes its claim in our home from July-December ;)

I'm linking up with Katie & Stephanie for Saw It. Pinned It. Did It.!  Go check out all the great ideas!!
Also linking up with "The Dog Days {of Winter} Are Over" linky party! :)

2 FN 2 B 4GOTTEN

like that title? a little reference to those conversation hearts we love ;) i'm a nerd.

Valentine's day is usually pretty low key around here...we don't brave the restaurant crowds or get each other expensive gifts anymore. For us, it's just about being together and getting one another sappy cards! Perfect! Although, Rob has gotten me red roses every year for the past 9 v-days, so he kept that tradition alive and added some Reese's hearts this year. Why are holiday Reese's cups SO much better than the regular ones?! Yum.

woke-up to that sweet set-up & some muffins i made.

valentine sprinklings around the house

more valentine cheer

mushy cards: ALWAYS "sealed with a kiss"
every card. every time. love it.

 This year we decided to have a little Valentine pot-luck dinner with our friends!

It was so much fun, and we all left miserably full. Success.

valentines for friends

the spread: brown sugar-balsamic pork tenderloin, twice baked potato casserole, strawberry and spinach salad with feta and almonds plus gluten-free fudge brownies for dessert. oink, oink.

Left: The Dunnam's, Right: The Berna's
love these people.

all the girls!

I hope your day was as full of loooove as our's was!