Busy Body Book review

Anyone that knows my in real life knows that I am the *queen* of calendars.  I have on on the wall in our kitchen, one in our office, one in my purse, and Skip has one he carries everywhere as well.  It may seem a little overkill, but if you saw my husband's rotating shift schedule, you would totally understand why.  Add to that places I have to go, play dates, vacations, and Little M's doctor's appointments and I barely know where we are all supposed to be everyday!  I don't just want to be organized, I *need* to be organized.

But recently I was given an opportunity to review a product that has revolutionized my organization skills in only one week!  Busy Body Books sent me an organizer...the most amazing organizer I have ever seen, truly.  I got the August 2010-August 2011 organizer and it looks like this

Isn't it pretty?  They are also available in a calendar year as well.   The revolutionary aspect of these organizers is that each week has "5 spacious columns to schedule organize and coordinate up to 5 individual family members, side by side."  I obviously don't have 5 members in my family, so I use one column each for me, Skip, and Little M.  The other two columns I use to write down our dinner plans and ideas for that night, and the workout I'm going to do that day.  

The organizers also includes all these other features:
2 Monthly Planners
Full Page Months-at-a-glance
Key contact pages
Removable shopping lists
2 pockets
Bookmark
Notes
Sturdy, clear plastic covers!

I only started using my organizer this week, and it already has been a great help.  This is my year to be completely organized!

So head on over to Busy Body Book and order one for yourself!

Disclaimer: I did receive a free organizer from Busy Body Book to complete my review.  I was not monetarily compensated for this review at all, and these opinions are all my own.

Five Wonderful Years

Today Skip and I celebrate our five year wedding anniversary.  FIVE YEARS!!!  I cannot believe.  I honestly can't believe it has been that long.  It feels like just yesterday.  What's the saying?  Time flies when you're having fun!

We were just babies when we got married, I was 22 and Skip 23.  We had known each other for less than two years.  He had been home from Iraq for only a few months, and I had just graduated from college two months prior.  But we were in love.  Deep, passionate, real, forever love.  I honestly did not think I could love him more than at the moment I said "I do".

But the crazy thing is, I love him so much more now than I did July 29, 2005!!  Every day I find another reason to fall in love with Skip.  He is my husband, my love, the father of my child, my best friend.  There is no one else in the world I love more.  My favorite thing is just hanging out with him.  He brings out the best in me, and I hope I do the same with him.  He takes care of me, of our family.  He is better than any man I could have ever dreamed of.

Happy fifth anniversary Skip.  Here's to the next 75 years!

And now for some picture overload of our wedding!

Waiting at home

Being silly

My family

My dad walking me down the aisle

Taking our vows

First kiss

Love this one

Mr. and Mrs.

First dance..."I'll Stand By You" by the Pretenders

Cutting the cake

My girls

The boys singing "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" to me

Forever love

My favorite picture of us {even if it's blurry!}

An Evening Apart

Tomorrow night I will not be doing this with my little girl.

She will instead be spending the afternoon, evening, night, AND Friday morning with my big sis L.  Tomorrow Skip and I will be celebrating our five year anniversary {wahoo!!  Mushy, lovey dovey post to follow tomorrow} and in honor of the special day, we will be spending our first night away from Little M...sniff sniff.  I'm happy, excited, and thrilled to be spending almost 24 hours alone with the husband.  Something that has not happened since November 2008.  But I will not be going into this without just a little bit of sadness.

I know Little M is in great hands, and I know she will have a wonderful afternoon, evening, and go down to sleep pretty easily since she has been put to bed by several different family members.  But for the past 20 months, I have always been there for her in the morning.  It's just a big step for this mommy!

So to all you moms out there, when did you first leave your little ones for the whole night?  And how did they handle it?

I promise a recap of how she did on Friday!

Wordless Wednesday

Having a wonderful time at the beach!!

Mommy-Free Time

Today was a wonderful, wonderful relaxing day.  Since Skip spend most of Saturday on the boat with my dad, he told me I could take a day to myself this week, and I chose today.  I got up early and headed off to the beach...by myself!  No diapers, wipes, epi-pens, or water toys were in my beach bag.  Just some tanning lotion, a diet coke, and the book Eat, Pray, Love {totally behind everyone else on reading this, but I *love* it so far!}

I laid on the beach enjoying the sand and surf until about 11:30 when I had these guys come join me

Did you really think I could go the whole day without them??  We played on the beach for a little while and then went to lunch together..complete with the three of us sharing an ice cream sundae!  After lunch Skip took Little M back home for her nap and I headed back for some more beach time.

I came home in the afternoon to a happy husband and baby playing.  And then....Skip made us all dinner....and did the dishes!!!  Not sure what I did in my earlier life to deserve such an amazing family...but I surely thank God every day for them.

As moms we are constantly giving all of ourselves to our kids and our husbands, and this day of relaxing was greatly appreciated and needed.  I'm now refreshed and ready to face another day of chasing after my little girl!

Big Girl Stuff

I swear I don't know what happened to my little baby.  Every day she seems to be getting big and more mature.  And even though we're on vacation, she refuses to stop growing!  The other day we had to go make a few purchases for Little M.  Here is the first.

Yup, that's my girl sitting at the table, eating dinner in her BOOSTER SEAT!!!  We have a portable high chair that my parent's bought that we bring down the shore with us.  We brought it down this time too, but the first few meals times, Little M would not stop screaming when we put her in it.  So my big sis L and I headed out to Target and picked up this booster seat.  We brought it home and Little M immediately loved it! Meals times have been so much more relaxing and she could not be more well behaved.  She sits and eats even better now than she did in her high chair!  I had planned on still using her big high chair at home for a little while longer, but I'm not sure she'll even sit in it after experiencing the booster.

We also picked up this cutie the other day for Little M.

 

Her very own step stool!  She loves being able to {almost} reach the bathroom sink to wash her hands {her new favorite thing} and brush her teeth.  

Skip and I were also talking today, and we think we are going to flip Little M's car seat around to forward facing.  As you know we've previously talked about it here and here.  We were hoping to keep her rear facing until 2 years old, but she has been screaming ALOT recently in the car, and mainly because she is not getting much of the A/C back there and it is so hot for her.  She'll be 20 months on Thursday though, so if we do switch her, I'm happy we have lasted this long.

Lots of big girl changes around here!!

I Should Have Played the Lotto...

....because apparently today is my lucky day!  I won not one, but TWO blog giveaways!!!  Thanks so much to Trying Our Best and Marriage Confessions for hosting these giveaways...I can't wait to receive my prizes in the mail!

Now I am off to finish packing because we are headed off to the beach AGAIN tomorrow....this time for a whole week.  Wahoo!!  I promise lots of posts and pictures of all the fun things we're doing.  And a special post next Thursday dedicated to my husband on our five year wedding anniversary!!

Random Post

I took this from Ciera over at Mommy Madness.  Go check out her super fabulous blog...it's one of my new favorites!

Outside my window:  It's total blackness!

The time is: 11:13 pm

Today I feel {felt}: not so good.  Day started with my dog have a bathroom accident EVERYWHERE. Smell was the worst thing I have experienced.  And then Little M decided to just scream and throw tantrums all.day.long.  Oh, and it was 85* in my house because I had to leave all the windows open to help eradicate the smell from this morning.  Tomorrow is another day, right?

I am thinking: of all these other things I need to blog about

I am going to: have a productive day of packing for our weeklong beach vacation tomorrow!

I am wearing: white shorts and a black t-shirt that says 'Cherish Your Freedom? Thank a Soldier' that I got from my big sis

I wish: for summer to never end!

I am reading: Nothing but blogs and magazines...no more time for anything other than that

I am working on: Tons of house projects!

I am hoping: Little M is in better spirits tomorrow

I am hearing: The movie 'Invictus' that Skip and I are watching

Around the house: Everything is so clean and nice!  Bonus of having guests visit the other day

One of my favorite things to do: Spend the day at the beach with my little family

Join the fun!  Copy and paste on your blog...and let me know so I can check it out!

Daddy's Girl

Little M refuses to say 'Momma' 'Mommy' 'Mom' or anything else like it.  Just simply refuses.  She says 'Elmo' so I know she can say the 'M' sound.  She just doesn't want to say my name.

On the other hand, 'Daddy' is everything.  She calls to him, says his name when he's not home, and excitedly yells 'Daddy' whenever she sees a picture of him.  And the icing on the cake?  As I was changing her diaper yesterday, Little M said, clear as day 'I love Daddy'.  That little stinker.  She can say 'I love Daddy' {and repeated it a few other times later} but will not say 'Mommy'.

I told Skip he's having the next kid.  And I'm changing my name to Daddy.

Best Pals

Little M and our bulldog Mr. B are just the best of friends!  She loves her 'little' buddy so much.

Picture FAIL

While we were at the beach last weekend, I wanted to take a nice picture of me and Little M in front of the ocean.  This is what we got....

Picture FAIL....oh well, maybe next time!

Getting to Know Me!

1. If you had to choose a country to live in besides the USA (or the country you live in) which would it be?

France.  I absolutely LOVED Paris.  There was a ton to do, it was so gorgeous, and it didn't feel like a crazy congested city the way NYC does.  

2. Which would be worse, wearing flip flops in the snow or wearing gloves in the summer? 

Flip flips in the snow....I HATE being cold!! 

3. Fried or Baked and why? 

Really depends on what it is.

Chips - baked

Chicken - baked

Fries - well, fried

4. If you were an entertainment reporter, which celeb would you love to interview and why? 

Patrick Dempsey...because I love him.

5. What was your favorite book as a preteen/teenager?

Little Women.  I was also heavy into anything by Earnest Hemingway when I was in high school

6. List your top 3 guilty pleasure television shows:

Secret Life of the American Teenager

Pretty Little Liars

The Hills {sniff, sniff}

7. What bumper sticker slogan best describes you/your attitude/your life?

I Support Our Troops

8.If you were to join a circus- What performer would you be?

I have no idea!  I don't want to join the circus!!  haha

Where Does the Time Go

Phew!  Somehow this summer seems even busier than the one I graduated college, moved home, bought my first place, got my first job, and got married, haha.  I have been MIA from blogging because I just don't seem to have time to sit down at the computer and put together a coherent thought.  We were at the beach, I've been working on some home projects, there has been some pretty heavy family stuff going on, and I had a wedding to go to tonight.  Tomorrow I have to do a major clean of the house, go food shopping, and get the guest room all set up because a friend of mine is coming to stay with us on Monday.  And the husband pulled a muscle in his back yesterday.  Oh right, and I have this little toddler to run after all day.  So things have just been a little busy around these parts.  But I have lots of pictures and stories {and TWO blog awards!} to share so I will try and get back here soon.  Miss you all!

At the Beach, At the Beach, It's a Great Day at the Beach

I made it!!!  Little M and I successfully made it to the beach and had our first overnight visit sans Skip.  We missed him a lot but were too busy having a wonderful time to get too sad.  It was so wonderful to spend so much time with my big sister L.  We relaxed, played, and spent some time on the island.  We got to go to a huge craft fair, eat my favorite pizza in the world for lunch, pick up some *amazing* fudge, and of course take a walk on the beach!  It was really cloudy so we didn't stay long, but my sis {the best photographer I've ever seen} did manage to get some awesome shots of me and Little M before the rain came down.  I'll let them speak for themselves!

Smiles for Aunt L

Think she's having fun?

My beach girl

She loved playing in the water this time!  Can't wait to get her in there in her bathing suit!

And the best part of all this?  We are still down the shore until Tuesday with the husband.  Loving all this relaxation!

First Overnight Take Two

Tomorrow morning Little M and I are making a second attempt at our first overnight visit away from Skip. We're heading down to spend the night at my big sister's place.  Then Saturday night Skip is going to join us and we'll be spending the rest of the time at my parents house.  I'm confident we won't hit five hours of traffic this time and we'll be able to enjoy a relaxing night with my sister!  It will be nice to finish out the weekend at the beach with Skip as well.  I hopefully will not be blogging from my house until at least Tuesday!

Wordless Wednesday

First time fingerpainting!!

New Paint Color

When Skip and I first moved into our house a little over two years ago, none of the walls had paint on them...just primer.  I was ecstatic because I am crazy and I just love painting a room!  The only overwhelming part was picking out what colors I wanted.  For our room we picked a nice bright yellow.  I'm not sure why we picked it, but it was a nice color and we liked it.  For awhile.  But recently I decided I don't like it as much as I used to and am ready for a change.  Our curtains are red and we have two sets of bedding, one red and one white.  So I decided grey would compliment those really well.  I've also heard that grey is a really relaxing color to have in a bedroom.  I just can't figure out which grey I want!  I brought home some samples today and put it up on the wall.  I would love your input on which you think is best!

Here are the before pictures of my bedroom...please excuse the mess!

Here are the samples on the wall

Option 1...not quite as dark as it looks

Option 2

Option 3