Where has the time gone? I swear I forget I even have a blog sometimes and then it hits me and I feel awful for not updating it in so long! So what have we been up to?

Well, last I told y'all, Violet turned 2! And since then, she has been very. much. a. two. year. old. People weren't kidding with all the talk about terrible twos ;) The tantrums have been upped, her stubbornness is holding strong (Thanks, Ronnie for passing on that gem! ha) and she is just totally fearless! But it hasn't all been terrible, not even close.

She's sillier than ever and has so much more energy! She makes the funniest faces, learned to stick out her tongue (because I showed her how I curl my tongue one time and it stuck!), talks so so much, laughs at eeeverything as if she even understands our jokes, dances constantly and she wants to hug and kiss us all the time. She loves hugging and kissing so much that she's even started her dolls on doing that with each other and it melts my heart. Violet has really taken after me with the feistyness and bit of attitude (whoops) but she's a total sweetheart, too. We're amazed at how smart she is and she leaves Ronnie and I looking at each other like "Did she really just do/say that?" nearly every day. Two really does have its terrific moments as well :)

On the Ronnie end, he's doing SO well at his job and is even considering taking a full time position. It would be great for him but it's also a huge bummer because it means putting off school yet another year. (He's having a ton of issues with his school. Of course it's not the case but you would swear they've chosen him out of their 30,000+ students to pick on and make it difficult to get back into school after his last year off. Don't even get me started.) On the weekends he's been spending a ton of time on our yard and it looks mighty pretty, I must say. We still need new grass and some other landscaping but he is well on his way with that! We had a date night a couple weekends ago and that was our first one since September! I cherish that alone time with him and hope we can make date nights happen more often. We so need it!

As for me, I'm still on the forever hunt for a fun hobby (besides drinking and social media). I'm just not creative and not sure what I can get into. Things at work are the same (good!) and I'm now prepping for my annual Spring work trip. We're going to Orlando at the end of May and our event will be held at a Disney Resort! I'm pretty excited about that! Can you believe I've never been to Florida?! I've been to airports there but that doesn't count. I wish Ronnie and Violet were going with but it's not currently in our budget and honestly, I'm not ready to spend a ton of $$$ on taking my 2 year old to Disney. I'd rather save that for when she's 4 or so. Ya know? Plus, I'll be so busy during the event, it wouldn't be fair to leave them on their own. 

So that's that! This is actually a really exciting and hectic week for us with something super fun coming up but I'm being super secretive and no one will know until it's happened. I'M EXCITED! Stay tuned ;)

All of these pictures were posted on my Instagram. Follow me there if you're not already! 

Violet lately.

So, I have an almost 2 year old now! And to be honest, the past two months have seen the most change we've ever seen in her. She's talking like a mad child and she's now just flat out repeating what you ask her to repeat. Before it would take some coercing but now she just says it back to us immediately! I knew the time would come to get our cussing under control and that time is here - before you know it, we're gonna have a potty mouth on our hands if we don't chill with that stuff. It's so hard though! ha

Newest words for Violet: "Milet" (Violet :), book, slide, "shhh" (finger in front of her mouth and all) "ock" (sock), diapey, chippey (girl loves her chips), "cheeeese" (and it gets the biggest, cutest smiles outta her), hi and bye bye (not a big deal to some but she's refused to say those two forever! ha) and she no longer says "key" for kitty, she now says cat. I know there's more that I'm not thinking of right now - Ronnie, I know you're probably reading, help a sista out?

She's still as goofy and hyper as ever and seeing her play with other kids recently, I see what a calm, sweet demeanor she really has. She's very independent and plays well on her own but when she sees other kids, she's very chill around them. Sure, she's stolen a toy out of their hands before but she's not once been rough or mean to other kids. If another toddler has a huge tantrum or screams/cries a lot, she just kinda shrugs it off. A few months ago that sorta thing may have set her off and caused her to freak out, too. lol While she does make her messes, put things in her mouth that she shouldn't, pulls down my purse from the table making junk fly everywhere and reaches for everything she shouldn't, that's typical - she's really well behaved otherwise and we've lucked out with that. I am so thankful for her and her sweet personality in our life.

Thrifting with mama!

A breakfast date with Daddy on a gooorgeous day.

Seriously, this kid. Reading with her breakfast. The cutest!

A Starbucks date with Daddy before he left out of town.

"Colll kawhy" - cold outside :)

Making a mess of her room and looking oh-so-sweet while doing it.

It doesn't get any cuter than a bundled up Violet.

Yup. And I posted about it here. 

My current favorite picture. I wish she could stay this exact age.

In between the cold days, we've had some really gorgeous days, too.  

Play date with Ayden

Saying cheese as she proudly holds her measuring spoons, wearing a hat and my necklace :) 

Playground cutie at Ayden's 2nd birthday party

With Ayden at his party - both begging for soda!

With Violet getting close to turning two, we're really getting the question a lot about a second baby. We have always said we were one and done (and might still be) but the older she gets and the more she begins to understand things, I find myself dreading her ever feeling lonely and bored. Both Ronnie and I have multiple siblings but we also know what we can handle and right now, one babe is perfect for us. I do find myself daydreaming about another baby sometimes but I'm still mostly in that place of just wanting to focus on her and not share my time. Maybe when she's older I'll get there but right now, I love things just as they are :)

And back to that two business - Violet turns 2 in 23 days. I can't even begin to process it. TWO! 

A Photo An Hour - Ice Day

It takes a link-up like this one to show me just how boring my life really is. Like, hilariously boring. ha

I figured the only time I'd remember to take a photo every hour would be on a weekend but I got the chance  to do it last Friday when my office closed for an "ice day". Let me tell you, I absolutely live for the days where I can pretend to be a SAHM! I wasn't sure I'd taken enough photos that day but surprise surprise, I did! Shows you how many random pictures I take of my day anyway. You're welcome for not posting them all on Instagram! ha We had a great day but it was nothing mind blowing or exciting so thanks for humoring me by reading along ;) 

As soon as I woke up, I went outside to see what ice we'd gotten. Not all that much, as you can see. But still, bosses said to hold off on coming into the office until they texted us. I had my fingers and toes crossed. I was desperate for a day off! So I waited...

I got the text an hour later that the office was closed. Hurray! Ice day! It was then that I decided it was a must to climb back into bed. Too bad my child didn't get the memo that you're supposed to sleep in on really cold days. She woke up 5 minutes later. And so really began our day, doggy kisses and all :)

I decided to forego coffee that morning (WHAT?) but really it's because I'm obsessed with my new mason jar cup thing and wanted to use it. So lots of Coke Zero, it was. There was nothing in the cup at this time because obviously I drink fast. I went through two big cups, too. I seriously love this cup and grabby toddler over there loves it, too.

After we ate a late breakfast (she never wants to eat as soon as she wakes up), Violet proceeded to tear apart my kitchen cabinets, her favorite thing in the world. I should've taken a picture of that but it might have caused y'all OCD'ers to to have a heart attack! It was nuts. And then we took a selfie because she's cute and I'd much rather do that than clean the mess.

In my temporary state of SAHM-ness, I decided to bake cookies. A good idea gone bad. They were smelling so heavenly when the timer went off but I had to tend to a toddler tantrum at that exact time, leaving the cookies an extra few minutes. So they burned. BAD. I'm usally a decent baker in real life :/

After playing inside for a bit/airing out the house, I decided we needed fresh air. So we bundled up (minus mittens. whoops. #momoftheyear) and braved the cold! V got to play in the "no" (aka snow. aka it's just ice) for a bit but it was so.damn.cold. It was in the low 30s y'all and I was crying frostbite! (And yes. We need to clean up those damn leaves.)

Back inside, we finally changed out of our jams, ate lunch and read some books and colored. Then Violet got stir crazy. She really really wanted back outside but I refused so she moved on to destroying my kitchen for the second time of the day and did things like scoot herself around in a strainer for a while. Girl's creative, I'll give her that!

But then she moved on to destroying the rest of the house. And that's when my nerves set in. I mean, how do y'all Northerners deal with being stuck inside a lot? I had cabin fever after one day! We both did! So she got put down for the nap that she'd been trying to avoid. It was time. I then proceeded to watch my favorite, Roseanne and respond to work e-mails. PEACE. QUIET.

Then because I'd been working so hard, I decided I'd try and nap a little too so I got back into my jams (duh) and hopped in! But this is the view from my bed. I can't close the door during a nap because the cat always wants in/out so the bright light kept me up and also reminded me that the kitchen window NEEDS a curtain. And so began my running 24/7 brain. I wasn't able to nap after that :/

Since I couldn't nap, I had a little more "me time" (aka Twitter/TV time) and then V woke up and I was back at it. I started on laundry and cleaning the mad house. Ronnie was arriving back in town that night so of course I had to make the house look like I'd kept up with it all week, right? The cleaning lasted a couple hours but I won't bore you with another picture from that fun fest. What - you're already bored?!

Then it was 6:30! The time I'd been looking forward to for an entire week!! I got myself ready and we headed to the airport to pick up my bearded man!!! It was still so cold outside but thankfully the roads weren't bad anymore. Otherwise, he would've had to cab it home!

Then because I'm an awesome temp-SAHM that didn't make dinner, we went to our fave Corner Bakery. We ate quickly, talked each other's heads off and then headed home. Ronnie was beat from a long week of training and I was beat from a long week of single mom'ing it. I was just ecstatic to have him back!!

The entire time at the restaurant and once we got home, this is what V did. She was probably the most ecstatic to have her daddy back. My heart was a pile of mush all night with her sweetness. They really are the best daddy/daughter pair I've ever seen. No bias here of course.

Finally to wind down, in her sleepy-but-dont-wanna-sleep daze, she watched a little bit of a movie, I got caught up on The Following (gah I'm obsessed with that show!) and Ronnie? Who knows. I was too tired to pay attention. ha Thirty minutes later, I put her to bed and knocked right out, too.

That was our day! Thrilling, huh? :) 

One day I might try doing this again but on a work day. I think I'm much more productive when I'm forced to shower, look presentable and go to work! I'm much too lazy when left to my own devices. ha!

some lately pictures + giveaway winner!

I feel like at every stage of Violet's life, we say that THIS is our favorite one. We've been saying that for months now but it really is hard to decide a true favorite. She's just such a silly, ridiculous child that you can't help but enjoy all of what she's doing. She's even sleeping pretty well nowadays, even with her molars coming in. And I KNOW it's her molars coming in because poor child has been in pain for almost 2 weeks now. The first week, her sleep was awful and she did nothing but whine in her sleep. Now, she whines during the day :( Teething is the WORST.

And for even more randomness today, this is life lately...



Wild child // Happy Hour with a friend // Parentals' 32nd Anniversary!! // Loreal Greycian Goddess. Still love it.
V was on local TV!! // Day date to Sea World // Baby Shamu! // Cutie booty
Disturbing my work at home plans // Why does she look so big?! // Neon at Target // Walking's lame, I'll crawl.

I'm so excited for tonight - Ronnie and I will be real-life adults! I won tickets from my friend Megan of Mean Baby, to a local event called Cocktail: The Event. I really wanted to go but it wasn't in the current budget so I was supa excited to win! Eleven of the city's top bars will be competing for the best cocktail, some of the top chefs will be serving food and there will be a couple live bands and a burlesque troupe. And we'll get to hang out with Megan and her baby daddy too. Definitely a fun night, eeek!! :)

Oh and before I forget (sorry to keep y'all waiting), the winner of the $20 credit to Brittany Garner Design is....

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats, Ricky!! I will have Brittany get in touch with you :)

You might remember Ricky from my last giveaway, her Etsy shop was my April sponsor! SO fun.

Happy Friday, people. Have a fun weekend!

Lately.

Life has been nothing short of crazy lately. But just some things to get ya caught up around here! ;)

--We picked up Niles this past Saturday and while he's not walking yet, they said it should take a week or so. He has a good appetite again and gets excited to be taken outside the 2-3 times he's allowed so that's a positive! We just hope he gains enough strength back soon to start walking. Thanks again for keeping him in your thoughts!

--Ronnie started back to school a couple weeks ago and he's already crazy busy. But I have to say it again, I am SO proud of him because he busts ass every day, all to better himself and to take care of his family! He takes the long drive out of town to school, spends all day there, then picks up V and takes care of her until I get off work. Then once I'm home, he still wants to cook dinner (he's the future dietitian, he can't help himself!) and then he's off to study and do homework. He's pretty much a rock star! 

--As for me, it's the same old working and feeling like a horrible mom for being away from V all the time! However it's starting to pay off (only because this job is what our family needs right now!) and I was asked a few weeks ago to work on a new project which also means possibly going along on a trip to the UK in March! Of course I don't want to leave my babe for a week but if the plans work out, it's a great career opportunity that I can't pass up. Thankfully Ronnie understands that and we're just gonna make it work if have to go. 

--Violet is 11 months old on Monday. Como what?! I truly can't believe it. She's crawling up a storm (and is super fast and sneaky now), getting into everything she shouldn't be and sometimes even standing alone for a couple seconds. She LOVES mirrors and we fear we might have a Diva on our hands because she is in love with checking herself out and then smiling at herself. ha She loves music and has some pretty cute dance moves (video coming soon). She babbles all the time and I'm pretty positive she's mimicked my "oh wow" saying a couple times now. ha. She's a wild child and whether I want to admit it or not, my baby's growing up and the first birthday party planning has commenced!

Just some pictures from the past few weeks!!

1. Girls day with my sis and mom // We've created a pasta lover // Cutest little kitty ever!
2. A pissed picture to show her one day // Girl's hair is getting outta control! // "Reading"/tearing up a magazine
3. Uhbsessed with my necklace from GroopDealz // Working hard in the new year! // Mini Kramer hair

I received my Erin Condren planner last night. Freaking finally! And you better believe I'll be posting a review on that bad boy because just holding it, I can already tell the quality has gone downhill from last year. Boo!

I'm super behind on my blog reading but I'm trying to catch up slowly but surely!!
I hope y'all are doing well. Have a happy day!

funkalicious

I'm not sure what's up with me lately but I have fallen out of my blogging groove!

I am ridiculously busy at work with our huge event being two weeks away but I'm also overwhelmed at the thought of leaving V next week for 10 days. Bleh. I'm in a funky funk mood.

So instead of talking about whiney/unimportant things, I'll share some pictures. I take a million of them and never print them so I should probably do something with them, right? So blogging is how I do!

Oh and if you're one of the fabu ladies guest posting for me starting next week, send me your posts by this Friday, please and thank you :)


1. Beer thirty during a rain storm // 2. Winding down for the night // 3. LOVE
4. Deep thoughts during dinner // 5. Or not so deep after all // 6. When do we leave??

1. Aunt Jeena visited from college! // 2. It was hard but I sold some baby clothes //3. Love my girl!
4. So lady like this one // 5. Crawling is coming and I'm scurred! // 6. My fiance is an embarassment to us all.

And I have to clarify, he did NOT go out in public like that.
Nor would I ever ALLOW him to go out in public like that!

 

Linking up with my frand Jenn for her new Instagram linky party!

Photo Catch Up!

happy monday, my friends!

I wasn't kidding when I said I was going to overload this place with pictures from the past couple of weeks. Sorry if you're sick of looking at my kid but I'm not. (obviously.) ha! I even had to hold myself back and leave out quite a few pics so you lucked out that I'm only posting these! ;) Most you've already seen on Instagram if you follow me there (jeyreycupcake).

This Little Miss Bobcat shirt is size 6 months but clearly it's made much smaller because this girl could barely even fit in it and she still fits in most 3-6 months clothes! But since Ronnie bought this for her while I was preggo, I knew I had to squeeze her into it for some pictures. She's gotta rep her daddy's school! (Texas State). I think she looks pretty darn cute in her little jeans too.

Now, for the random stuff :)

1. Out to dinner with my loves before surgery/ 2. Liquid diet after surgery/ 3. Baby girl wearing her baby legs
4. Finally eating solids! Fish & chicken taco wraps/ 5. Backseat diaper change/ 6. Dogs being ridiculous

 1. Miss talkative/ 2. My new absolute favorite snack/ 3. So happy to have this boy back home!
4 & 5.  Random pics of me and V - funny how much we look alike/ 6. Seriously? So cute. I love Big Lots. and slippers!

How's that for random? :) Hope y'all have a great day!

Linking up with my faves Ashlee & Savanah!