Thursday, January 22, 2015

meal planning monday

I'm late getting around to posting this so I went ahead and planned for the following week too!

Monday: Pork Chops, Swiss Potatoes, Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Tuesday: Flying Fish w/ My Parents

Thursday: Chicken Rice Soup & French Bread

Friday: Pork Fried Rice & Egg Rolls

Saturday Breakfast: Sausage & Cream Cheese Twirls

Saturday Lunch: Steak Fingers & Tator Tots

Saturday Dinner: Leftovers

Sunday Lunch: Frito Pie

Sunday Dinner: Planning Mtg @ Church

Monday: BBQ Chicken, Roasted Potatoes, & Broccoli

Tuesday: Sausage, Red Beans & Rice

Wednesday: Small Group Potluck

Thursday: Taco Bueno 49¢ Tacos

Friday: CAMPING

Saturday: CAMPING

Sunday Lunch: Out after church

Sunday Dinner: Super Bowl Party @ The LeBlancs

Friday, January 16, 2015

pearson {3 years 7 months}

  • You always request to wear comfy clothes….AKA not jeans or jeams as you still call them. 
  • Before we go out somewhere you remind me that you need your spikes! You love to have your hair spiked up!
  • You have a bladder of steel.  I think most days you only go 3 times a day.  
  • One morning when you woke up and I asked you to go potty, you told me "But I went yesterday!"
  • You love to go to Wal-Mart and Target with me to get a cookie!
  • One time I put on red lipstick and you looked at me when the funniest look and said "Did you put wips (lips) on your mouth?"
  • We finally moved you to a big boy bed and you are doing awesome!! You took a nap the first couple days but every since it's kind of been a battle.  
  • You call girls….."gores".
  • You love to do puzzles on the iPad on an app called Jigsaw Puzzles.  It amazes me how quickly you can do the 25 piece puzzles.  They are pretty hard.  
  • Nash and I had the flu so everyone was on Tamiflu.  Every morning when we made you take your medicine, you would ask, "Am I sick?" You were so confused!

Thursday, January 15, 2015

#thelinkhomeeveryday2015 {week 2}

{Day 8}
The best smiles are the ones where your eyes disappear!
{Day 9}
Date night with my handsome man at Geisha! So good!!

{Day 10}
The boys actually let us "sleep in" a little bit on Saturday!!

{Day 11}
I moved this piece of furniture into the living room from Pearson's room to give him a little more play space in his room.  I think I'm really going to enjoy the toy storage in our living room.  I should have done this a long time ago. 

{Day 12}
MOPS Mondays are our favorite.  It's always so refreshing to hang out with other moms for 3 hrs without kids!!

{Day 13}
Black beans and avocados always equal bathe night!!

{Day 14}
We earned this bundt cake after dealing massive fit by Pearson.  Whew!!

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

fall at the arboretum

Taking it back a little further day, back to when my Mom and I took the boys to the Aboretum.  I really really really wanted some super cute picture of my boys in all the pumpkins.  But we all know taking picture of two little boys in quite impossible, so I set the bar pretty low.  I don't think I got a single picture of them both looking at the camera but I love them all!!  

If you haven't seen the pumpkin display at the Arboretum, you've gotta go see it!! (next fall that is) It's amazing!! Enjoy these pictures of my sweet boys!!
I'll be back tomorrow with our family trip to the Arboretum last month!!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

the big guy 2014

**I know, I know, Christmas is over.  It's so over that most stores don't even have any Christmas clearance stuff anymore.  But, I'm STILL playing catch up on my blog.  Two kids hav really been kicking my butt these days, and I just can't get my act together to get totally caught up!!  I think this is the last of my Christmas posts and then I still have a pumpkin patch post I need to whip out along with a whole DOC Band experience post (which was way back in August)!!  So while I know most of you have moved on to 2015 and Valentine's day, I'm still hung up on 2014.  I'll eventually get to 2015!!  But for now, enjoy these pictures of my boys when we went to go see the big guy!!

For the past 3 years we have gone to see Santa at Northpark.  The Northpark Mall is such a fun mall to go to during the Christmas season.  Plus, I think their Santa is the best looking Santa in Dallas.  
We always go see Santa on a weekday the first week after Thanksgiving.  This has always worked well in the past because we don't have to deal with it being over crowded with school aged kids because they are all still in school! I think it was a little more crowded than in the past because we went on a Friday.  I'll have to remember to avoid going on a Friday next year.   My Mom came with me this year. We arrived at the mall a little after 9am to get our ticket.  We were number 82 and told our picture would be taken around 3pm but could come back earlier to see how things were going.  Their system is so confusing!! I used to like it, but now it's just plain confusing.  We strolled the mall and did a little shopping until Santa's Storytime at 10:30.
Pearson is still singing the little jingle that Santa sang in his story…..
"With knock, knock, knock and a stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp.  Santa, Santa, Sannnnn-ta-Clause!!"
During story time, I strolled around with Nash and got him to take a little nap.  
After storytime, we had to kill some more time so we walked around and looked at all the sights to see! We LOVED looking at all of these gingerbread houses.  
I was loving our morning at Northpark until it was lunchtime and the holly jolly spirit in me just flew right out when the crowds came.  We grabbed a bite at Chipotle then went to check in to see if we could squeeze in before Santa's break at 2pm.  
We got lucky and we were able to get in the line because there weren't any people with lower numbers waiting.  We quickly texted Matt to come join us.  He at a work Christmas party at Maggiano's.  
Pearson was really excited about Santa this year.  He knew exactly what he was going to ask Santa for.  
It worked out perfectly that Matt was able to join us for this fun little event!!
When the boys first go into Santa's lap, Nash couldn't take his eyes off of him.  
When Santa started talking to Pearson, he got a little shy and wouldn't look at him.  He quickly told him that he wanted a bike for Christmas.  
I love how Santa takes time to talk to the kids (as long as they aren't screaming) and doesn't just take the picture and move on. 
Since it was Nash's first Christmas I wanted to get a few quick shots of him all by himself with Santa.  I was pretty sure Nash wasn't going to scream because he is a happy little guy.  I was just hoping to get a few of his sweet smiles out of him.  He was mainly just in awe of the big guy!!
I'm wondering if next year will be a screaming picture!! I wouldn't be sad if it was.  I sure do love a good screaming Santa picture!!
Of course, every year I splurge on the $21.95 professional picture because it's just so much better than the ones I take.  

Here's a look back at our Santa pics over the years!!

Monday, January 12, 2015

meal planning monday

Monday: BLT's & Chips

Tuesday: Brisket Tacos & Black Beans

Wednesday: Hamburger Soup & French Bread

Thursday: Chicken Parmesan w/ Spaghetti & Garlic Knot

Friday:  Mississippi Roast & Carrots & Mashed Potatoes

Saturday Breakfast: Hobo Pancakes & Bacon

Saturday Lunch: Leftover Soup

Saturday Dinner: Brisket Quesadillas, Guacamole & Black Beans

Sunday Lunch: Sonny Bryan's Giftcard

Sunday Dinner: Roast Beef Sandwiches w/ Au Ju Sauce & Chips

Thursday, January 08, 2015

#thelinkhomeeveryday2015 {week 1}

Last year I successfully took a picture everyday!!  I've tried a few time but never been successful.  I posted all of the pictures on Instagram (@katylink) with the hashtag #thelinkhomeeveryday2014.  I started out the year posting them weekly on my blog as well, but when life got crazy and I kinda quit blogging, I got really behind.  I tried to catch last week but somewhere in the middle my numbers got all messed up and I can't figure out which pictures go with which week.  This year I plan to stay caught up on the blog and make sure I stay on the right number so there is no confusion!!

If you want to follow along on Instagram, the hashtag this year is #thelinkhomeeveryday2015!!

{Day 1}
Thankful for a little boy who will play Candyland by himself since I woke up New Year's day feeling like death. 

{Day 2}
Officially diagnosed with the flu. 

{Day 3}
Nash and I are recovering from the flu while Daddy and Pearson go on a chilly bike ride. 

{Day 4}
What a stressful game! So glad the Cowboys won the playoff game!

{Day 5}
Having fun with our Christmas present from Ethan……a stomp rocket!!

{Day 6}
This big boy had his last night in his crib. 

{Day 7}
Brrrr…..it was way to cold and windy for us to get out today.  Shoulda thought twice about getting out, but our free pizza for Ashley's birthday was worth it!!

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

big boy bed

After three and a half years of being in his crib, last night was FINALLY his last night to sleep in his "baby bed".  I honestly can't believed he has stayed in it this long.  
 He has never, not once, tried to climb out of his crib.  I have never even seen him hike his leg up to try to get out.  When he was about 18 month old, he accidentally lifted himself up over the top and fell out (at least that's what we think he did) and scared himself to death.  He did that again.  
 Shortly after he turned three, we tried to convert his crib into a toddler bed but it was missing a piece so we put off a big boy bed a little longer.  
It was definitely time for us to let our big boy be a big boy and sleep in a real bed!!
Over the holidays I found the perfect bedding to match his room from Zulily.  I had about $45 in credits so I only had to pay $25!! Score!! New Year's Eve we finally broke down and went mattress shopping.   
We were told the mattress would be delivered sometime between 4-7pm today.   I told Pearson his bed would be here after nap time. The second he woke up from his nap, he asked about his bed.  He asked all afternoon long too!! 
 It finally got here right at 7pm.  We quickly put the baby to bed so we could get to work on converting his crib!!  Pearson was an eager little helper.  
 He was so excited he could hardly contain himself.  
 I have never seen him so excited to go to bed.  
 I think the thing I am most excited about is being able to lay with him while we read our bible stories and say our prayers.  
Our big boy went right to sleep and hasn't moved a muscle.  Now let's just pray he stays in bed all night and still calls for us in the morning.  And most importantly, let's pray he will still take a nap!!!