June Quarterly Top 5

It's time to share my top five photos of Brennan from the past three months! I love looking back through my pictures and trying to decide which are my favorite! I sure do have one photogenic little guy! Most of these I have already shared on the blog at some point, but I hope you like seeing them again. As I always like to mention, I am not a professional photographer. I only shoot on auto and simply try to capture some of the fun memories of B's childhood. With that being said, enjoy!

{one}

Brennan loves his Daddy and I am happy I was able to capture a picture of him smiling at his Dada.

{two}

This one is still my favorite from the past three months! Since snapping this beauty, I have been obsessed with taking outdoor pictures because the lighting is so nice.

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I think it's funny that I'm including this one in my top five, but I LOVE it. It's the simple things in life that make kids so happy. This was the first time I let him play with spice containers and he got so excited!

{four}

I like this one because you can see his teeth! And because he has a little curl on the left side of his hair!

{five}

I wanted to include a "post-buzzed haircut" picture in my top five because I think he looks so grown up!

Make sure you head over to one the following blogs to see everyone's top five photos!

• Amber's Articles
• Click It Up a Notch
• Naptime Momtog

Head on over and link up your five favs too! There are some awesome prizes, so be sure to check it out!

WILW

Linking up again with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

{one}

Better late than never, I am loving Pinterest! I seriously have to limit my time on there because the minutes turn into hours! You can check out my page here.

{two}

I got my first ever spray tan yesterday! My friend, Amanda, has a friend with a mobile spray tan business and hosted a spray tan party at her house! It was set up in her garage and we let the kids play while the mommas took turns getting their tan on. I've always been a tanner; even though I know it's not good for me. Now that I'm a momma, I find it a lot harder to find time to just be laying out, so this was a perfect (and healthy) solution!

{three}

I always watch "The Bachelorette" on Monday nights. This past Monday was extra special because Val and Kathryn came over to watch too. To make it a little more interesting, we played a drinking game while watching it. These were our rules which we adapted slightly from another group of Kathryn's friends.

• Any time you hear the word "amazing" take a drink
• Any time she kisses someone take a drink
• Any time a helicopter makes an appearance take a drink 
• If a guy picks Ashley up, take 2 drinks
• Any time you hear the word "journey" finish your drink
• Any time you hear the word "Bentley" take a drink

We added the last rule because we knew Bentley was making an appearance last night. There was no helicopter in last night's episode, but they did say "journey" three times. We ended up not following that rule because it was just too much to keep up with and Val and Kathryn needed to drive home afterwards.

{four}

Brennan got his 2nd haircut! I think he looks so handsome!

{five}

On Sunday, we had an outdoor church service. Our church is blessed to have a large outdoor area (in a separate location from our church) with a lot of land and a big pavilion. We will have several Sunday morning services up there this summer. It's always fun to be outside knowing the surrounding residents can hear us worshiping! 

{six}

I had a mommy day on Saturday! Those don't happen very often, so I was very thankful to get one. Saturday morning I went to church for our Secret Sister reveal. For the past six months, we have been giving notes of encouragement and small gifts to our Secret Sister, but mostly importantly we have been praying for them. It was a neat way to get to know some more of the wonderful ladies in our church.

{seven}

My mommy day continued into the afternoon. While Brennan was napping I went out shopping. I have a birthday coming up and treated myself to some new clothes at TJ Maxx. I find TJ Maxx very hit or miss for finding things, but this was definitely a hit. I came home with 2 pairs of capris, 2 dresses, and a shirt. I'm sure I could've found more, but I thought I better stop there!

{eight}

That still wasn't the end of my mommy day! Saturday night after I gave Brennan his bath, I headed off to a girls-only game night with girls from church. It was a lot of fun. We played "The Game of Things", which is pretty hilarious. We also played "Last Word" and "Scattagories". 

{nine}

I'm loving this guy, who made my mommy day possible! 

{ten}

And I'm loving this guy who brings me so much joy each day!

What are YOU loving today?

2nd Haircut

Brennan had his first haircut a few months ago. It's grown quite a bit since then and I have felt for a while now that it was time for another one. After dinner tonight, the whole family took a walk and Kyle said he would cut B's hair when we got back to the house. I was a little nervous, but Kyle does a good job cutting his own hair, so I decided to let him try.

We came home, sat B in his highchair, put a video on the computer, and started trimming. At first Kyle was using scissors, but I wasn't really happy with the results. He decided to just bust out the clippers and give it a good buzz!

Here are some BEFORE shots:

Trying to rock a mohawk just yesterday!

Playing this morning.

And some AFTER shots (please excuse the chocolate ice cream on his face):

\

 

Doesn't he look like a big boy now? I think it's perfect for the summer!

Tot School - 16 . 5 Months

Yet again it's Sunday and I find myself with very little to show of our Tot School this week. I think I'm in the summer mindset and just want to be outside and running around as much as possible.

Ok. Time for a little rambling...

I am very thankful that Brennan is such a good sleeper. Most days he doesn't get up until at least 8, sometimes even later. I like to get out of the house in the morning with him (it helps break up the day) and we usually try to leave around 9:30. Our morning time is usually spent letting B play in his room a little as he continues to wake up, getting B dressed for the day, and B eating breakfast (I try to get ready and eat before he's up). Honestly by that time it is usually already close to 9:30 and time to head out somewhere.

I like to be back home by 11 to feed B lunch. After lunch we usually do have a few more minutes of playtime before he goes down for his nap at 12. Naptime usually lasts until about 3:30ish and hopefully by then Daddy might be home and we can all play together before dinner. 

In other words, I am having a hard time fitting Tot School into our schedule. Writing it down like I did makes it seem like there is more time available than I feel like there is during the day. I think my difficulty also has to do with the fact that I have not been planning out any activities ahead of time. I also feel like all my Tot School ideas are the same for someone B's age. I have tons of things bookmarked or pinned to my Pinterest that will be great for when he's older, but not a lot for right now. 

I think I just need to keep the purpose of Tot School in mind. As Carisa says,

Tot School isn't really school at all!  Don't let the name confuse you!  Tot School is basically a focused time each day on the tot in your family.

I do certainly spend lots of time focusing on the little guy and I can tell he's learning a lot from what we do together.

I apologize for my rambling and my lack of Tot School lately. But here are some pictures of what we were up to during the past week. I hope you enjoy!

The hose brings this little guy SO much joy!

Brennan continues to excel at cruising, but hasn't take any more steps since he took his first three last Monday. We work daily on his gross motor skills here at home and he attends PT once a week.

These star boxes were perfect for doing a quick nesting activity.

And we also smiled a lot this week! Loving this happy face!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Make sure you head over here to see more Tot School ideas.

Five Question Friday

Thanks for stopping by for Five Question Friday!

{What is your current favorite tv show?}

l have three favorites right now: The Voice, So You Think You Can Dance, and The Bachelorette. (Addicted to reality TV much?!?!?!)

On The Voice I am really liking Javier Colon. Plus he's from CT, so I like him even more! I also like Dia Frampton. I am really hoping one of them wins. 

I think my favorite on SYTYCD is Melanie.

Did you see her statue dance with Marko?!?!

Every season I say I'm not going to watch The Bachelor(ette) anymore, but every season I end up getting sucked back in again. I don't know what it is. My favorite on The Bachelorette is JP. He's a hottie, but also seems sweet.

{What's the worst haircut you ever got?}

I'm not really sure. All my pictures from when I was younger are at my parents' house in KY. My senior year of high school I decided to go really short and took this picture of Martina McBride to my hairstylist for inspiration:

At times I liked that haircut, but other times I didn't.

{What was something you did as a child that you thought you were so cool for doing?}

Hmm....

• I had super tall teased bangs
• I tight-rolled my jeans
• I tied up my shirt on one side; even had a little plastic tool that helped hold it there
• I wore overalls with only one strap hooked 
• I went through a cussing phase when I was in middle school - that was SUPER cool - ;-)

{Do you have any GREAT frugal family fun tips?}

You can click here for 100 free things to do with your kids this summer. Brennan and I have been hitting up our local library a lot. They have a small children's play area there and giant stuffed giraffe that he loves. They also have a great selection of children's DVDs. We just checked out two Elmo movies yesterday. Libraries often have passes for other local fun too. For example, our library has a free pass for the local children's museum. 

{Would you drive across country if you had the money to fly?}

I am very thankful that Brennan has always been a great traveler, but a cross-country trip with a 16-month-old doesn't sound like much fun. The longest trip he has done so far was a 10-hour road trip. The nice thing about driving is that you can stop anytime you need to. Obviously if you're on the plane, you're stuck there until it lands no matter what happens. No I'm not sure what is better with a baby.

I am definitely interested in doing a cross-country road trip some day. Have you ever seen the movie Elizabethtown? It's a pretty quirky movie, but some of it was filmed in KY, so I'm partial to it. Anyways, Kirsten Dunst's character makes this awesome road trip scrapbook/map for Orlando Bloom's character. It tells him to stop at certain locations along the way and it has a soundtrack to go along with it. I'm doing a terrible job of explaining it, but I want someone to do that for me!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Gotta add a few pics of the little guy for the fam, or I get in trouble!

WILW

Hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday! I'm linking up with Jamie again for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

{one}

I'm loving that I got a haircut. I've been wanting to get it chopped again for awhile now, but it's hard to do when you have a baby. I'm not picky at all about my hairstylist, so when Kyle ended up coming home from work earlier on Friday, I just ran over to Cost Cutters and got a $15 haircut. Just a little bob. Same as always, but it makes me happy.

{two}

Kyle has been having some easy days at work and coming home early. It's always a nice surprise, although yesterday he caught me napping. Ooops! I guess I am loving naps too!

{three}

It's officially summer! I am loving our weather lately. Highs in the mid-upper 70s. Pretty amazing!

Fun in the water hose!

{four}

Since the weather has been nice, we've been able to hit up our local Splash Pad a few times. It's hard for me to get pictures of Brennan enjoying it because I have to be right in there with him helping him walk. He has NO fear. He LOVES the water. I did manage to snap this picture of him starting to dry off and enjoying some fruit snacks.

{five}

The most exciting news for the week is that my non-crawling, non-walking sixteen-month-old took his first three steps on Monday. We were at his weekly physical therapy appointment and at the very end, Ms. Jen wanted to see if he would walk to me. Sure enough he stood up from sitting on her lap and walked the short distance to me. No steps since then, but it's exciting (and scary) knowing he'll be a walker before too much longer!

Poor quality, but I just love this one. He looks like a big boy!

{six}

I do not have a green thumb. AT ALL. All of our landscaping has been done by the hubby. I love pretty flowers, but just don't like the upkeep. However, a local greenhouse was a having a 50% sale this past weekend and I decided I wanted to go check out their hanging plants. They have HUGE plants there! They're expensive, but for half-off, I thought it might be worth it. We went to check it out (there's amazing ice cream there too!) and ended up buying two plants. Let's see how long I can keep them alive!

{seven}

I am not much of a reader. Growing up I loved reading. I still love reading, I just don't make time to do it. As a kid and teenager, I loved fiction books. The only books I find myself reading now are marriage and parenting books. Before Brennan was born, I read Babywise. I became a fan from the beginning and have been reading books in that series since. I just bought Toddlerwise this week and I am excited to start reading it. I also bought Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood. I am looking forward to reading both books and to discussing them with Kyle, so we can be on the same page about discipline and other parenting issues.

{eight}

I am loving the Silhouette! Well I am loving the thought of owning one! I want need one of these machines! My birthday is coming up. Hint, hint!!!

{nine}

Of course I am loving these handsome guys!

What are YOU loving today? Head over to Jamie's blog and link up!