New Year's Weekend

Obviously the post is a little late but I wanted to put up some pictures from our fun weekend in Orlando. We spent a few days in Florida over the New Year's Eve weekend. And yes, we made it to DISNEY WORLD. I actually felt a little guilty because we didn't take Harper with us. I was advised by several mamas to wait a little while longer until I bring him with us. I was beyond surprised by the large amount of babies I saw at the theme parks that day! We even saw a few newborns.  It made me miss my little munchkin.

We happened to go on a VERY CHILLY day. I didn't realize it got down in the 40's in Orlando but it does and it did on the day we decided to park hopping. The great thing about cold weather in Orlando, apparently it keeps more people out of the parks. We didn't have to wait in line at all! We could walk right on to any and every ride. So we were able to try them all out and it was worth dealing with the cold.

We started off at Animal Kingdom. I grew up in Florida but never made it to Animal Kingdom... we always ended up at Magic Kingdom, Universal, or Busch Gardens. I am so glad we decided to go. It was INCREDIBLE. We really had the best time. There were a ton of great shows, fun rides, and even one awesome roller-coaster "Everest."

One of my favorite attractions was the safari ride. Here are a few photos from the adventure:

Then we headed to Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom is my absolute favorite! It was still FREEZING when we arrived but once again... NO LINES! Yes, we even managed to go on Splash Mountain when it was 42 degrees outside. Not the smartest idea but I couldn't go to Disney and not ride Splash Mountain. So I persuaded Erik to go with me and we had a log all to ourselves. We got splashed but it wasn't too bad and I think it was worth it. The people that worked at Disney thought we were crazy! Erik had a photo shoot in Greenville the next day. He was a little stressed because he didn't have a chance to get his hair trimmed before we left for our trip. We would have never guessed that Disney has a barber shop! But we spotted it right when we walked in the park so Erik went in and got a nice trim! 

We ended the night with Space Mountain, hot chocolate, and cinnamon buns. It was just as magical as it was when I was 10 years old. I can't wait to take Harper one day!

It was a Very Merry Christmas (only a month late!)

December went by so fast! And now it is almost February. I think time goes by twice as fast when you have a baby. I never attempted to blog the week of Christmas. I just uploaded a ton of photos off of my camera and decided to go ahead and post some from the holidays.

We had a wonderful Christmas. We slept in... even Harper! We had so much fun watching Harper open up his gifts from Santa. After we showed him how to unwrap one gift, he helped unwrap the rest! It was adorable. And every time we pulled a gift out of the paper he would chuckle. It was one of the cutest things I have ever witnessed. We got it all on video, I am going to have to share that this week!

Erik's parents came over and had an early Christmas dinner with us. We had a wonderful time. Then we headed to my parents house and had another Christmas meal. The food was so incredible that we managed clear our plates twice! 

Here are a few photos from the day. Harper seemed to love all of his gifts. And boy was he spoiled. One of his favorite gifts was the Rock n' Roll Elmo. He still plays with it on a daily basis. 

Our tree. It has such a pretty shape it almost looks fake!

His new Pottery Barn chair and doggy puppet. 

With "Mimi and Papi"

He just started feeding himself with the fork recently...talk about a mess!

Loves to sing and play the keyboard with Elmo!

He always gives me sweet kisses. Love that baby boy!

These were the overflow of presents from his stocking from Santa.

Not Trying to Cause a Fight but....

I saw this and thought I should share. These statistics are SCARY! And I think it is important that we start focusing on improving our country's economy during this election and focus less on the "social issues." Honestly I think most social issues should be voted on at a state level anyway. If I can't spend more than I make, then the government shouldn't be able to either.

What are your thoughts? I think this chart is a great piece to share on Facebook. Feel free to save it and share it if you like. 

Guest Room Makeover

I love the feeling when you finish decorating a room in the house. Right now our home is pretty plain. It is sill beautiful and I love it but I want to add my own personal touch to each room. Harper's nursery is almost perfect. Every time I walk in there it makes me happy. It is so soft, soothing, and adorable. Now that it is done it is time to move on to the next room. Originally I wanted to do our master bedroom first. But it is going to take the most mula. So I decided to go with the guest bedroom instead. Since we are on a tight budget I am going to try some DIY projects and shop at IKEA for most of the furniture.

In our last home I had the guest room decorated with a "shabby chic" look. I bought old antique furniture and sanded them, painted them, and distressed them. It looked incredible. But I decided to sell all of the furniture on Craigslist. It all sold in less than a week! And now I am left with just a mattress and box spring and a white room.

Last night I spent a few hours on Pinterest coming up with ideas. Here are a few of my favorite room ideas:

As you can see, I am all over the place. Which one do you like the best? What color scheme do you think works best in a guest bedroom? 

Holiday Traditions

I browsed through my photos on my laptop and noticed how many important blogs I skipped over during the holiday season. Recently I started to feel like I don't have time for anything. And I am pretty sure most mother's feel the same way. Being a mom is incredibly challenging and I feel like you constantly have to figure out how to balance your life and your time. I am still learning this balancing act! Do any of you all have any tips or pointers? How do you have time for cleaning, cooking, working, your hubby, your baby, and even yourself? I think I need to start waking up SUPER early. But I am not a morning person, never have been and never will be. So I am sure my husband is totally down with my idea of waking up early... as long as he doesn't have to be around me! Haha!

I want more time to work out, read the Bible, have a girl's night, pull Harper around the block in his wagon.... yes it looks like a 5AM wake-up time might be inevitable.

One thing I really missed out on this holiday season was time for traditions. We really wanted to make our way to the NC Mountains and cut down a tree like we did last year. It did not work with our schedule so we ended up going somewhere local, which was still fantastic but I want to start traditions that we do with Harper each and every year.

What are your favorite holiday traditions? Which ones do your kids seem to enjoy the most? One thing we managed to do this year was bake Christmas cookies! I am so grateful that the Boland gang invited us over to bake with them. The babies had a blast and made a complete mess. By the end of the day they were down to their diapers because their clothes were covered in red and green icing.

Here are a few photos from the day:

Curious George First Birthday Party

I was looking through my blog and I realized I never did a full recap of Harper's first birthday. It was on September 18, 2011 and we had an absolute blast! We had a Curious George theme. I need to find his invitation and take a picture to show you all! I designed his invite in Illustrator and then I made the envelopes with my Cricut Machine out of old vintage Curious George books. I even found Curious George stamps on Ebay! Cute, Cute, Cute!!!

My sweet friends came in town for the day and they were a HUGE help! Thank you Cissy, Brooke, Marisa, and Bri for all of your help! And Kent and Brice too... they were quite the little helpers!!! 

Here are some photos from the big day:

At the last minute we decided to get a bounce house. I am so glad we decided to go that route. All of the kids loved it and it kept them occupied for hours. Even our dog Fender loved the bounce house! He literally ran up the ramp then started running around inside the bounce house with all of the kids. We decided to buy Harper a swing set for his first Birthday present. It was a hit too!

Harper absolutely loves going on the swing but it seems to put him right asleep. He passed out within a few minutes on the swing. It was so cute.

And then there was cake! We decided to get a chocolate miniature cake for Harper to destroy. He took it out. That cake had NO CHANCE!

Crazy Beautiful Life

How many mom's wonder on a daily basis how other mothers do it? Sometimes I feel like I am a complete train wreck in comparison to the "super-mom's" out there. Then I had an epiphany. Someone asked me, "How are you so well put together all of the time?" HA! But they were not joking. Apparently when some people read my blog and check out my Facebook I trick them into believing that my life is organized and perfect. Man did I fool you guys. It is not. Not even close! I can't complain because I am beyond blessed but we are not living this fairy tale life...

Erik and I both work and work hard! Both of our jobs require extensive traveling. So we are constantly on the GO! If our house is clean and organized it is because it has been a week since we have been home. For the most part, my monkey destroys the house. His favorite activity is standing at the top of the staircase in front of the safety gate and chucking all of his toys over the gate and down the stairs. Crap everywhere.

Yes, I will admit, our jobs are pretty darn cool. But they can still be very stressful like every other profession. When people hear that Erik models they tend to be envious but let me tell you there is a whole lot more to modeling then standing there and looking pretty. Erik constantly watches what he eats. We go out to dinner and I always order a steak and pototo. Erik orders salad and chicken. The food runner always gives me Erik's meal first... yes my husband has to eat like a woman! Not to mention he is on a strict work out regimen. He has to deal with rejection on an every day basis. Can you imagine going to castings where you are up against 20 other highly attractive people? And when you don't get booked they don't give you an explanation. You just have to wonder, "Why didn't they pick me?" I couldn't do it. When Erik lived in NYC and modeled full-time with FORD I would get pissed. In my mind, he should get every job. And when he didn't I would wonder why. He was used to it but it bugged me every time. Not to mention he has a "real job" too and he is taking a full load of classes. His life is insane...far from "perfect."

We all know the saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side." I am convinced it is true. We all struggle in our own lives. Some people are just better at hiding it than others.

Here are a few more photos from Pasha's shoot!  This guy has MAD photo skills!