nuby monster snack keeper

It's been a while since I've done Pearson Approved post, but Nuby just gave me the perfect opportunity to do one again!!

Nuby recently sent me this super cute Monster Snack Keeper to try out with Pearson and we couldn't be happier with it.

I'm a huge fan of Snack Keepers.  But I have to admit they are a little boring when it comes to colors and design.  When I saw this Monster Snack Keeper, I just knew I had to have it!!

Snack Keepers are a great way for kiddos to eat their snack independently but not make a huge mess.  It's amazing how quickly they figure out how to use these. 

 I love that the Nuby Monster Snack Keeper has a fun little look for my little Monster. 

So.......I think you should go get your little Monster one of these cute Snack Keepers!!

You can find these at Buy Baby Direct, Burlington Coat Factory, Amazon, Buy Buy Baby, Baby Haven, or Cookie's Kids.

10 on 10 {january 2013}

10 pictures on the 10th day of the month!

{Document a snapshot of your life & find beauty among the ordinary things in your day!}

Every morning the first thing Pearson says to me is "Nuh, Nuh, Nuh, Nuh, Nuh" and he doesn't stop until I give him his milk.  He loves his milk first thing in the morning.  And yes, we are still sleeping in Christmas PJ's because they still fit!!

My SIL and I went to our Step Aerobics class this morning at the Rec.  It wore us out!!  

And after my workout I had the extremely healthy lunch of Ramen Noodles for lunch......don't judge!!  I didn't feel like fixing anything. 

 At 1pm Pearson had a major meltdown and made it very clear that it was nap time.  I'm so thankful that he takes great naps these days.  He's so busy during the day that it's nice to get a 2-3 hour break to get things done.  

 While Pearson was napping I cleaned out the panty.  It needed it so bad!!

When Pearson woke up we took a trip to Sonic for Happy Hour.  I couldn't get Pearson to put his toy up so we just took it with him.  I can't even begin to explain how much this kid loves this $1 garage sale toy. 

I didn't get around to taking a shower until late this afternoon so Pearson while I was getting ready Pearson hung out in Izzie bed while playing with his favorite toy!!  

 Late afternoons have been a challenge for us lately.  Pearson has been getting bored with his toys and nothing seems to entertain him.  I'm excited about getting together my Busy Bag Swap this month because this is when we could really use some little activities to give us something to do until Daddy gets home. Lately, we've been resorting to one TV show in the afternoon.  He doesn't always sit still for them, but this one really gets his attention because he loves trucks!!

We went over to my parents house for dinner.  We had homemade pizza and Caesar salad.  Pearson ate a little pizza, but he also had some leftover beans and rice with veggies, pineapple and a ton of salad. This kid is a bottomless pit.  After we thought he was done he climbed up in Pops lap and asked for more salad.  I'm pretty sure he ate more salad that I did!! 

Happy 10th!!

"pappi"

**Don't forget to check our my latest giveaway for a 

FREE mini session with Sarah Huffman Photography.  

On the day that Pearson turned 18 months we decided to take his paci away from him when he was out of his crib. He has never been completely dependent on it, so I'm ready to start getting rid of it before it's too hard.  

Every time he wakes up from bed or his nap, I ask him for his paci and he shakes his head "no" really big, gives his paci 4 or 5 real big sucks then reluctantly hands it over to me.  It makes me laugh every time.  And when he chews on it like the picture below, that's when I really know he doesn't even need it anymore.

The funniest thing about taking his paci away is that now that he doesn't get it anytime he wants he has a name for it......"pappi".  I guess it's true.....absence makes the heart grow fonder.  When we tell him it's time to go "night, night", he happily goes to his room, looks up at his bookshelf and says, "Pappi, Pappi, Pappi".

My goal is to have his paci completely taken away by his 2nd birthday.  

So, Mommies......any tips on doing doing this?  Did you take it away from them at bedtime first and then naptime or naptime first then bedtime or did you just take it away cold turkey?  How did you tell them you were taking it away?  Just curious to know what worked and what didn't work when taking away the paci.  Pearson could very likely be just fine when we take it away, but I want to be prepared just in case it's a little battle.

sarah huffman photography {giveaway}

Oh y'all.....I am so stinkin' excited about this giveaway.

Remember when I posted theses sweet pictures of me and my baby love.  

Well, it's time to share the rest of the pictures she took!!

About a month ago Sarah Huffman did this fun little photography session of Pearson and my sweet nephew and niece, Carson and Olivia.  We gave these pictures to my parents a Christmas present and they absolutely loved these pictures of their sweet grandbabies. 

We definitely gave Sarah a run for her money in photographing these busy little ones.  I wish we had a video of all the crazy things my sister in law and I had to do to get the kids to look at the camera.  We didn't really get any smiles from my little guy, but I think the pictures still turned out pretty darn cute. 

Sarah was absolutely amazing working with them.  She has a little one herself so she was so patient with them and would even do silly things to get them to look at the camera too.  

Not only was she great with the kids, she was so great to let us use some of our props and some of our ideas for poses.  And the best part about Sarah was that she was incredibly fast getting our pictures back to us!!

I'm so glad Sarah was able to capture these sweet pictures of our little ones and I know Lolly and Pops couldn't be happier with the pictures that we gave them.  Thank you Sarah!!

So here's the deal......

Sarah Huffman Photography is graciously giving away a 

FREE mini session {a $100 value} to one of my readers.  

This mini session will be a 30 minute shoot 

with a CD of 10-12 edited images. 

Here's how you can enter to win the FREE mini session......

{You have SIX chances to enter, so make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry}

**Please note that this giveaway is for DFW people only (unless you are willing to come to Sarah).  Please see her location fees on her Facebook page as these will apply to your session. 

**You must be an official follower through Google Friend Connect to enter this giveaway.

1st Entry: Like Sarah Huffman Photography on Facebook and leave a comment telling me you did.

2nd-6th Entries: Share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Blogger.  For each social media that you share it on, you can come back and leave a comment telling me you did.  

**Be sure to the picture below when you share it!

The giveaway will close Wednesday, January 16th at midnight.

The winner will be announced on Thursday, January 17th. 

And if you can't wait until the giveaway is over you can always schedule a photography session with Sarah Huffman Photography now!! Just shoot her a message to get your session on the books!!

Good luck!!

weekend wrap-up

I wasn't around here on my blog this weekend, but I've found a new love for Instagram in the last few weeks so that's where I've been on a daily basis.  My new iPhone 5 takes even better pics than my old phone so I'm lovin' getting lots of fun pictures of our everyday life without having to haul around my giant DSLR.  So if you ever want to catch me on Instagram you can follow me @katylink.

We started off our weekend with a sick Daddy on Friday.  Me and P spent lots of time together playing on Friday while I took care of Matt.  We even had a little FaceTime with Pearson's cousin's to wish Aunt Ashley a Happy Birthday!!

Pearson loves his new toy that Nonnie gave him for Christmas.  He could race these cars forever.  

While Matt continued to rest I know this probably isn't the best thing for my toddler to be playing with (so don't judge), but he found this pill box (that doesn't have any pills in it) and was entertained with it for a good long while!!  He loved opening up and closing each of the lids. 

I've determined that our little guy is definitely left handed.  He always does things with his left hand.  If I give him a writing utensil, I always give it to his right hand and he always switches to his left hand.  I'm pretty sure Matt is thrilled to have a little lefty for sports reasons.

 Pearson always surprises me with what he eats.  I made Chicken Caesar Pasta for me and Matt for dinner.  I just gave him some of the chicken, some plain pasta with parmesan on it, and some Edamame.  He would not touch his pasta and all he wanted was the Caesar Salad off my plate!! He loved it.  

 Last night we had a dinner party with our Small Group.  The other three girls that have babies brought theirs because they are 2, 4, and 6 months old.  We left crazy busy Pearson home with a babysitter! The girls wondered why I didn't bring Pearson and I just said, "You'll understand when you have an 18 month old!" None of their babies move yet!!

 One of the little girls that I babysat when I was a teenager babysat Pearson while we were gone! Crazy!! He had such a fun time with her.  When we got home he looked at me and Matt then went right back to Amy and asked her to pick him up.  I think he made a new friend with Miss Amy!

 And even though I didn't go back to work today, I'm still working on getting back into the swing of things.  Over the "Christmas Break", I kind of slacked on my chores, stayed up too late, and slept in a little too much.  This week I will be working on getting back into our normal routine!!

Happy Monday, y'all!!

meal planning monday

Took a little blog break this weekend, but I'm back!!   

Monday Dinner: Chicken and Dumplings

Tuesday Dinner: Fish & Chips

Wednesday Dinner: Swiss Stuffing Chicken, Broccoli Bake, and Rolls

Thursday Dinner: Toasted Ravioli, Green Beans, and Garlic Toast

Friday Dinner: Date Night w/ the Hubby!!

Saturday Breakfast: Homemade Donuts

Saturday Lunch: Sandwiches & Chips

Saturday Dinner: Baked Wings and Fries

Sunday Lunch: Fish Tacos

Sunday Dinner: Pizza

how to plug your bath toys

While Pearson was bathing a while back I noticed these dark spot on a few of his toys. 

 I cut them open to see what was really inside and this is what I found. 

I whipped out my handy dandy glue gun and put a little bit of hot glue in the holes of each of his toys to plug them up so no more water could get inside.  I did this back in September and only one toy has lost it's glue since then.  No more mold in our toys!!

You can read more about how to clean your bath toys before you plug them in the original post I pinned on Pinterest here. 

january desktop

2013 resolutions

Matt and I had a low key NYE last night. We stayed in, cooked a yummy Pioneer woman dinner, put the babe to bed early, made Chocolate Cherry Brownies and watched a movie.  We watched the ball drop in NYC then headed to bed. We didn't even make it to midnight! 

We did have our black eyed peas for lunch though. We should be good to go for the year!

I debated on whether I would bother making new years resolutions or not this year but I decided I would go ahead and do it.  I like to use my resolutions more as a goal list or a to do list for the year.  All of my goals are totally attainable so hopefully I will do well this year. 

Here's what I hope to accomplish this year.......

1. Quit biting my nails (once and for all).

**This is my main resolution. Silly, I know, but I'm 28 years old.....I should not be biting my nails. It's such a bad habit and I have got to quit.  I've decided that if I quit, I'm going to treat myself to a manicure a month. 

2. Do a Busy Bag Swap with my Mommy friends.

3. Save more, spend less.  

4.  Drink more water and less Diet Coke.

5. Go on at least one kid-free date night a month.

6.  Start "teaching" Pearson and doing age appropriate activities with him during the day.

7.  Comment more on blogs I read. 

8.  Participate in the Bible Reading Plan that our church is doing this year.

9.  Learn to shoot my camera in Manual. 

10.  Digital scrapbook 2013.

2012: a year to remember

This year was full of lots of first for our baby boy, lots of fun, lots of laughter, lots of love and lots of memories.

We started off the year with a belated Christmas celebration with Matt's family because Matt's grandma was sick over Christmas.  Sadly, she passed away in February.  We spent a few days in Arkansas with all of Matt's family remembering the life of Matt's sweet Memaw.

Pearson started crawling.

We dedicated Pearson to the Lord at our church. 

Pearson celebrated his first Easter

We had family pictures taken in the Spring.

I celebrated my first Mother's Day and it was an unforgettable one!!

We had a big birthday bash for Nonnie's 80th birthday!

Pearson took his first steps 2 days before your 1st birthday and now he is running!!

Pearson turned ONE. 

We celebrated his birthday with a pirate party with all of our family.

Pearson got his 1st haircut. 

We spent LOTS of time at the pool this summer. 

 Matt celebrated his second Father's Day.

Pearson had some July 4th/One year old pictures made.

 We spent three weeks glued to the TV watching the Summer Olympics. 

 Pearson started a one day a week Mother's Day Out Program.

I celebrated my 28th birthday and Matt celebrated his 30th birthday!

 We celebrated 4 years of marriage!

Pearson and I took a trip to the fair with my Mom and Grandma!

 We had our annual family trip to the Pumpkin Patch. 

 We were Crayon's and a little golfer for Halloween.  And Pearson won his first costume contest!!

 Pearson had his first babysitter. 

We had fall family pictures made. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Matt's family. 

We watched Pearson change and grow all year long.

And we had a wonderful Christmas with both of our families. 

Hope 2012 was a great year for you!  

Happy New Year!!