checking in...

Hey everybody!!  I'm alive!! 

I just flat out haven't felt like blogging this week so I haven't!! 

It's my blog and I can do that, right? 

I still don't really have anything to blog about so I'll just tell you some random things!!

And show you a picture of these sweet cheeks.

1. We got our family pictures back so I'm going to working on our Christmas cards this weekend! I can't wait.  I love sending out Christmas cards and I LOVE checking the mailing in December and receiving Christmas cards!!

2.  Tuesday night Matt and I were bored so we played a random game of Gin Rummy. I don't think we have ever just played cards by ourselves unless we were on a trip. It was fun!! 

3.  On Wednesday, Ashley kept Pearson while I went to the doctor.  They had a fun time playing and they even had a cousin lunch together.  While I was over there picking him up, we found all three of them in Ashley's room with the TV blaring on a music channel. They were all dancing around having a ball. It was hilarious.  It makes me so happy that Pearson has cousin's close by and close in age to grow up with.  I never had that, so I'm glad he does!!

  

4.  I saw a preview for the new season of The Biggest Loser starting in January.  I'm super excited about Jillian being back.  It just wasn't the same without her, although, I don't know how I feel about her now that I know she is a lesbian.  Am I the only one that didn't know that?  I really had no idea until last summer when I heard that she was adopting children with her partner.  I always had a feeling that Bob was gay, but I had no idea she was a lesbian.  It's just weird. 

5.  Last night we went to the new Dairy Queen for a little dessert.  Matt got a blizzard and I got an Orange Julius.  I hadn't had one in years, so I was thrilled to see that they sold them there.  We used to beg my Mom to get us one all the time when we were kids when we would be at the mall.  It tasted just like I remember it, although I kinda wish I would have gotten a blizzard!! 

6.  One of friends is hosting a giveaway on her blog for her cute new shop she opened up.  She is giving away one of these precious mini signs.  Go check her out here!!

7. I went to a Step Aerobics class for the first time in probably 3 years.  I forgot how much I love doing Step.  I will definitely be going to the class more often.  I just wish I didn't have to pay extra at my gym for classes.  

8.  Today we had a playdate with Stephanie and Ethan.  It's so fun to see him play with other kiddos. These two little boys had a good time in the kitchen.  

9.  And don't forget to enter my Hilly House giveaway that is going on right now!! You can check it out here.

And that's all I got for ya!

hilly house {giveaway}

Hi friends!!

It's time for another giveaway!!

This month's giveaway is brought to you by Hilly House.

Hilly House is a cute little Etsy Shop full of felt accessories and decorations.  

She makes birthday hats, birthday crown, and medals.  My personal favorite though, and what I'm giving away today, are her precious little tooth fairy pillows!! They are all customizable with a long list of different colors of felts and threads. 

Pearson is still working on getting all of his teeth, so he isn't quite to the "losing tooth age" but we'll be ready when he is!!!  Look at his super cute little pillow!!

I love how it matches his little room perfectly!! 

Amy was great responding to my Etsy convos and was super speedy with sending Pearson's pillow.  These little pillow would make a perfect little stocking stuffer for the little one in your life. 

Here's how you can enter to win a tooth fairy pillow......

{You have 4 chances to win. So make sure you leave 5 separate comments!} 

1st Entry:  Follow my blog, and leave me a comment telling me that you do! 

*If you are already a follower, just let a comment saying "I follow!".

**If you are a new follower, I would love to know how you found my blog.

{You have to be an "official follower" through Google Friend Connect.  All you have to do is click Follow on the left hand side of my blog and log in! You will not be eligible to win if I don't see you as one of my followers.}

2nd Entry:  Like Hilly House on Facebook and leave me a comment telling me that you did. 

3rd Entry:  Facebook or Tweet about it with a link to Hilly House's Etsy Shop or Facebook Page and my blog, then leave me a comment telling me you did! If you tweet it, be sure to add @katylink so I can see it!! Feel free to use the picture below in your facebook post or tweet as well.

4th Entry:  Blog about this giveaway and leave the link to your blog post in a comment. Be sure to include the picture below in your blog post. 

The giveaway will close on Friday, November 16th at midnight!!

I will randomly select a winner and announce it Saturday morning!!

And if you just can't wait until the giveaway is over you can always go to 

Hilly House's Etsy Shop

and place your order now!!

meal planning monday

Monday: Tortilla Soup & Cheese Quesadillas 

Tuesday: Poppyseed Chicken Casserole, Cranberry Almond Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette 

Wednesday: Cranberry Brie Stuffed Chicken, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli, & Rolls

Thursday: Swiss Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Green Beans & Rolls

Friday: Shrimp Fettuccini Alfredo with Veggies

Saturday Breakfast: Sausage Balls

Saturday Lunch: Fish & Chips

Saturday Dinner: Ham Rolls

Sunday Lunch: Leftover Ham Rolls

Sunday Dinner: Out to Eat after Small Group

10 on 10 {november}

10 pictures on the 10th day of the month!

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

I love it when Pearson "sleeps in" on Saturdays.  He normally wakes up at 7:30ish, so anything after that is always a treat!!  Lately he's been reading his books in his bed before he let's us know he's awake. 

I made Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels with icing this morning for breakfast! So yummy!!

Pearson and Daddy had some puzzle time this morning. He was so cute because every time he would put a piece in he would look at Matt and start to clap. 

 I was a part of a research study this morning.  I taste tested this granola bar and got paid $25. Can't beat that!!

After we ate a quick lunch at home, we put Pearson down for a nap.  Matt watched football on the couch which means Pinterest, Blogging, Twitter, & Facebook for me!!

After 2 hours and 45 minutes had passed I decided to go check on Pearson. It always makes me laugh when I see how he is positioned.

 For dinner we went over to my parents house.  My Dad is going to fry a turkey for Thanksgiving this year, so he decided to do a trial run tonight for some of their friends.  

 We are celebrating with Matt's side of the family so we got to enjoy the trial run since we won't be in town for the real deal.

 Dad did a really good job, because it was super moist and tasty.  

 Dinner was supposed to be at 6:30 but we ended up eating around 7:45 because it just took longer than he though.  Can you tell everyone was hungry?? 

We've got an early morning at church tomorrow so we will probably be hittin' the hay really soon! 

countdown to christmas

Last night my friend Julie and I went to a women's event at our church call Countdown to Christmas.

{Wow, I look like a GIANT next to you, Julie!!}

We ate a delicious dinner catered by Cafe Max, shopped around at different "Canton-like" vendors, enjoyed worshipping/listening to a concert by Jeff Johnson & Jordan Burks-Johnson, then we shopped some more.  I got a scarf for myself and a little beanie for Pearson.  I also won one of the door prizes and got 10 super cute handmade cards!!  It was a nice night to getaway and have some girl time.  Julie and I are definitely going to talk some more of our girlfriends into going with us next year.  

And the best part of being away was getting this text message from my sweet husband. 

He is SUCH a good Daddy!!

And just incase you were wondering......the countdown to Christmas is officially 45 days.  

I better get going on my shopping, I don't have much done.  

mustard, grey & brown

I haven't done a Pinned There, Done That in a while!! 

One of my favorite blogs, The Larson Lingo, did a cute post called Pinterest Told Me To.  She posted pictures of outfits that she had pinned and then posted a picture of herself in her version of that outfit!!  I loved one of her outfits so much that I pinned it myself and decided to wear it to an event I have at church tonight!!

 I would never think to put together mustard, grey and brown, but Pinterest said I could, so I am!!! I don't really feel like I'm all that stylish of a person, so I love that Pinterest can give me ideas of outfits that I wouldn't normally put together. And I absolutely love that the style right now is very mix and match-y.  As long as you have some staple clothing items it makes it really easy to recreate outfits I see on Pinterest!!

Do you like to get inspiration for outfits on Pinterest?

sick boy

Not much going on over here because my little man is under the weather.  It's not normal for him to snuggle so even though he's sick, I'm enjoying all the sweet snuggles I'm getting.

This kid never sits still to watch TV and he didn't budge from the couch this morning.  He can't normally climb up on the couch, but we have a cushion missing because we were spot cleaning it and he found a new favorite spot on the couch.  It was just his size to crawl right up.

I knew it was time to finally call the doctor when he I found him just lying on the kitchen floor.

He hadn't really eaten for 2 days, so of course when we got to the doctor he ate almost an entire snack bag of cheerios.

He also perked up a little bit when he saw this cute boy in the mirror.

Wouldn't you know that just a trip to the doctor would make him feel better? Isn't that how it always goes? 

He's still not totally well, so we are going to do a starchy diet, probiotics, and no milk for a few more days and hopefully this little stomach bug will be gone.  I'm so ready for my baby to be feeling better. As nice as the slowed down version of Pearson is, I miss my busy little boy!!

shirt makin' and playdatin'

This morning we had a Holiday Onesie/Shirt making playdate at Jennie's house.  Kristin brought all the supplies including fabric, head n bond, and iron and more.  She was so sweet to coordinate everything.  She had already made Myla's little onesie so she helped watch the babies and helped everyone out in making their shirts.  

I kind of cheated and halfway made my shirts at my Mom's house.  I already had plans to make shirts with my Mom so I picked out all the fabric at her house, traced it and then just cut out at Jennie's house.  I was afraid I wouldn't have time to do it all since my little guy is so much busier than everyone else's little babies.  

And just as I suspected, I didn't have time to finish mine because Pearson was desperate for a nap.  I still need to iron mine on then have my Mom stitch them on.  I'm also going to ad a little puff ball on the alligator's hat and a button for his eye.  On the truck, I'm also going to add two buttons on the little wheels.  I just can't decide if the truck should go on the red shirt or the white shirt.  I'm so pleased with how my shirts turned out.  I can't wait to see the finished product!!

Pearson was showing Beckett how to mess with the door stops.  He might already know how to play with them, but it was so cute watching him watch Pearson.

 Anna and Courtney making shirts!!

 Anna didn't have her little guy with her so she was able to get 3 shirts done.  She made an acorn a little W turkey and a snowman for Westin.

 Courtney made a cute little turkey for Jack!

Amy and Julie ironing on their shirts.

 We had to keep the iron in a separate room so Pearson would stay away from it.  

Amy made a fall acorn for Brody.

 Carissa made a little Christmas tree for Landry and Julie made a stocking for Knox.  Jennie made a little stocking and a tie for Beckett but I didn't get a picture of it. 

 We all had such a good time chatting, eating lunch and making our shirts and I think all our boys (and Myla) had fun playing together.  

Thanks Jennie for letting us come over and thanks Kristin for getting all the supplies together!! I can't wait to see all of our little ones in their holiday shirts!!!

meal planning monday

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Roast, Carrots, & Potatoes

Wednesday: Chili & Cornbread

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Ravioli w/ Sun Dried Alfredo Sauce, Roasted Green Beans, Garlic Toast

Saturday Breakfast: Cinnamon Roll Pretzels

Saturday Lunch: Paninis & Chips

Saturday Dinner: Dinner @ My Parents

Sunday Lunch: Fried Rice & Egg Rolls

Sunday Dinner: Pizza

this weekend......

We had such a busy weekend!!  I didn't have a spare moment to sit at the computer this weekend, so the blog has been pretty quiet the last few days!!

We started off our weekend by meeting this little guy.  Parker is the newest little guy in our ABF at church.  He's a healthy little guy weighing in at 9 pounds.  I just love his little cheeks and the little rolls he already has!! Pearson's newest work is "gah-ker" (cracker), so we we asked if he wanted to go meet Parker he said, "gah-ker".  So for now, Parker is a cracker to Pearson!!

After meeting Parker, we dropped Pearson off at the church for Parent's Night Out.  Our church does an amazing thing on the first Friday of every month.  For only $11 ($20 for 2 kids, and I think $25 for 3 o more) you can drop your kid of at the church for childcare from 6:30-10:30 so you can go on a date with your spouse!!  We were given a certificate for my birthday from our Preschool minister, so we put it to use and went on a date to Saltgrass!! We even had a gift card to Saltgrass so we had a really nice cheap date!!

 Saturday morning we got up early and had family picture done!!  Our photographer posted these two sneak peeks!

I'm in love!!  I can't wait to see the rest!! I'll have to keep the rest in hiding because we are going to use these pictures for our Christmas Cards!!

 We were planning on having a relaxing day at home on Saturday, but a friend from church had two free tickets to the Baylor football game in Waco.  I swiped them up because my hubby is a die hard BU fan.  When we got into Waco, we ate lunch at Health Camp.  We also got a Orange Dreamsicle shake and it was the best shake I had ever had in my life!!

I was going to be crazy and take Pearson to the game with us, but luckily I got out of it last minute!! Our good friends, The Hoopers, just moved away from Dallas but were also in Waco for the day.  Jonathan ended up going to the game while I hung out with Tammy at Chelsea's house.  Tammy is friends with Chelsea in real life, so she introduced me to Chelsea's blog.  We read each other's blogs, so we are "blog friends" but we had never actually met.  It was so nice to be at someone's house that was set up for a toddler.  She has a little 15 month old, so Pearson had a ball swinging in her swing and playing with all of her toys.  

 

I'm sad Carter was with her grandparents for the day because I think Pearson and Carter would have had a ball together.  

Thank you SO SO SO much Chelsea for letting us invade your house for the afternoon. Especially even after you left!!  You are so sweet!!

While Tammy, Pearson and I were playing and catching up on life Matt and Jonathan were enjoying the game with some pretty close seats!!

 I am SO thankful that Pearson and I ended up not going because after half time there was a lightning delay and it sprinkled for a little while.  Lots of people left so Matt and Jonathan upgraded their seats to the 50 yard line!!

 After the game we had Ninfa's for dinner and then headed home.  We had such a great day in Waco.  It was so good to have an unexpected day of fun with The Hoopers!! 

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