Long weekend festivities

The weekend went by too quickly! I thought we'd spend most of it indoors relaxing but as is typical of our weekends now, most of it was spent doing different fun activities.

On Wednesday, we were given a 2 hour early dismissal so I came home and hung out with baby girl. Here she is making her cheesy face while I was trying to watch a movie 😄.

We were playing peekaboo. She loves that came and it always gets her smiling I think it's cause she is so curious.

On Thursday, hubby and I went for a walk. We also celebrated her first July 4th. She enjoyed her walk so much, she slept through it :-).

We are getting a patio put in but since it wasn't ready, we used the George Foreman grill for our burgers and hot dogs. They turned out quite yummy!

On Friday, while hubby went to help a friend move and JOE was out, I decided to finish up my first DIY sewing machine project. Here is a dress I made for J. It isn't the best but it is wearable. I think I need to view a few more You Tube clips to get a better handle of the sewing machine. The thread kept breaking. THAT in itself was frustrating and annoying. But it is done now :-). Perhaps I should read the manual it came with. Hmmm...perhaps...

Here she is trying to get up the stairs. So glad she isn't coordinated enough yet to climb the stairs. We are still debating on whether or not to put a gate here. We have one at the top of the stairs and I slipped on it this morning. Almost broke my neck. Not sure it is safe for adults!

In the midst of all the festivities, my baby girl turned 8-months yesterday! I can't believe how quickly the time is FLYING by! I love her so much and now can't even remember what life was like prior to her. I truly do feel blessed to have this happy baby in my life. Even on her worst days, she's still smiling. Love that about her!

Turning 8-months was quite a milestone. JOE made her first trip to the Baltimore Aquarium. We had a blast. She enjoyed looking at the fish and tapping the glass. My social butterfly wanted to chat with them but they weren't very chatty!

Here she is being carried around by her dad.

We went with JOE's second cousin (hubby's first cousin). Here are the dads carrying their babies. The baby on the left is a couple of weeks older than JOE. We think they'll get along great once they are older. For now, they were both kinda figuring out why there was another little person in the mix :-).

We found Nemo! Yay!!! I was more excited than JOE. 

Sleeping shark! Yes I know...turn off the flash next time :-). I just got so excited, I didn't want to miss the shot.

And here we are. We have matching hair styles. Yes, that was done on purpose. I braided one side of my hair and left the others side alone with some waves. Then put one side of JOE's hair in a clip since she wouldn't let me braid it :-).

After all was said and done, we went out for frozen yogurt. YUMMY!!! Now, that's how I like to cool down. Its been sweltering HOT here.

Long day and good baby equals sleepy baby. Overall, an awesome weekend that went by too quickly. 

Hope you had a nice weekend!

Swimming and a DIY project

I often spend all week looking forward to the weekend and it feels like the weekends are gone in the blink of an eye!

Last weekend was another busy one. JOE had her first swimming lesson on Saturday and she did great! She was actually the only kid that didn't cry while in the pool or even when we did a dip! She did have a surprise look on her face after dunking her in the water. Considering this was her first class and she missed the first session the weekend before last, I was quite proud of my baby.

In other news, I completed our family wall of pictures. I love how it all turned out. I am thinking of getting different frames for the smallest ones (5x7) because I am not really feeling those frames. Other than that, we plan on swapping out the pics over time as our family grows.

Here is my little happy girl after she pulled herself up andmade her first attempt to stand on her own. Next stop...walking...can't believe how quickly time is FLYING!

Weekend festivities

J, JOE & I went to J's cousin's wedding this weekend. It was in Norfolk, VA. We had a blast but the journey to and from was NOT fun. We spent 8-hours on the road trying to get there on Friday. Needless to say, after 6-hours strapped in a car seat, JOE got very cranky! Then there was the explosive diaper incident that required us to pull over on the side of the road. I now have a whole new appreciation for my sister and her husband who have taken several road trips from GA to MA for the holidays with 3-kids in tow!

Here is JOE on her first road trip. She did GREAT!

The groom's cake was served at the rehearsal dinner. It was quite tasty! That sounds so wrong saying that :-). Oh and to cut up the cake, they beheaded it first. Yeah...not cool. I cringed even knowing it wasn't a real dog.

My loves looking quite handsome and beautiful. I <3 them!!!

The couple and the back of the bride's dress. She looked ABSOLUTELY perfect!

J & I did a reading at the ceremony. We each got roses. This was mine.

My 3rd drink since I got pregnant. First one was on mother's day. Second one was a glass of wine the night of rehearsal dinner and then this one. I had to plan my pumping accordingly. Thankfully, it didn't affect my supply.

I love their wedding colors. It was cream and green. Very pretty. We got seed packets as favors. A pretty green idea! Love it!

Beautiful and tasty cake! I loved the "We Do" love birds. Very sweet. 

Brothers. J & his brother.

The view from our room. There was a mall right around the corner. Yes...we visited :-).

It was a fun wedding but more than that, J & I felt really honored to have participated in their wedding ceremony. We truly wish them the best and look forward to many more future celebrations with them as they eventually build their family.

I hope you had a lovely weekend as well. 

The beginning...Our wedding day

Yay!!! My 100-th post! In honor of that, I will be blogging about our wedding. 

I have been busier than usual so I apologize for not getting a chance to blog this as promised a couple of weeks ago.

J & I were officially married on a fine spring day in April 2011. The day after our Nigerian ceremony.
Funny enough, J & I got into an argument the night before because he was "complaining" about having to entertain his family while I was working hard to clear up things after our Nigerian ceremony. Mind you, by entertainment, I mean drinking with his friends and family...oh the horrors! He has since repented and besides, I knew he didn't mean it :-). Anyways, I digress...
I found out the day after we were married that J wasn't sure of what state I'd be in (mood-wise) on our wedding day. I on the other hand was completely sure I would be having a fabulous day. 

It was a fabulous day indeed...if you don't count the very very very slow hair stylist. We got there at 7am and I didn't leave until after noon! I had to rush to shower and have my makeup done before the photog got there. My sister took this pic cause at this point, I was PISSED!

Then it was on to makeup. I think she did an awesome job! My makeup held up the entire day/evening. 

Me in the limo with my dad and mom.

The girls all wore different shades of red shoes. They looked awesome in the actual professional pics.

Having a quiet moment before walking down the aisle.

Both my parents walked me down the aisle. I am so glad I made that decision to have them both do that. I figured since they both had a hand in raising my, they should both be there to "give me away". My mom was really honored by that. Side note: I made each and every one of those pew pomanders! That was definitely a labor of love :-).

The back of my dress. It was a cathedral length train. That dress was HEAVY! At the end of the night, my stomach felt tighter! I didn't even have to wear a girdle or do sit ups for that :-).

Both sets of parents praying for us.

I am officially a Mrs!!  Yes, I was dancing and hubby as usual was smiling at me. This was pre-goatee...look at my very hot hubby! :-). He looked so dapper in his tux.

Ceremonies over. Now time to PARRRR-TAY!!!

My father/daughter dance. I enjoyed dancing with my dad. 

Yes, we had a change of clothes. It was time to dance dance dance!!!

The cake was DELICIOUS! The top layer was carrot cake. My favorite. It was GONE by the end of the week. Considering we got back from our mini-moon that Wednesday, ummm...it took me 2-days to eat the entire thing. YES I know, gluttony is a sin. The cake was sinfully goooooodddd :-).

DIY ITEMS:

Like I said earlier, the wedding was a labor of love. As most of you know, weddings are EXPENSIVE and since we had 2, it was twice as expensive. So to ensure that ALL of our vendors were paid before or on the day of our wedding, I took on the task of making a lot of items myself. Hubby helped quite a bit but we weren't living together so a lot of the work fell on me. I don't mind though cause I got a lot of back and feet rubs :-). 

Our party favors. I made all 160 boxes! First, the rhinestone buckles arrived sans rhinestones. I had to individually glue the stones on there because the eBAY ad failed to mention that. Needless to say, when all was said and done, I had inhaled A LOT of glue! 

The boxes had biscottis since hubby's family is Italian. Hubby and I spent 2 days baking each and every one of the biscottis. They tasted FABULOUS but ummm...I haven't had biscottis since then. I don't plan on baking them anytime soon. 2-years later and I am still traumatized. See the end of the wedding pics for my DIY items.

The ring bearer's pillow. This was one of the easiest ones to do.

Flower girl's baskets. I made 2.

One of the pomander's.

Using PowerPoint and wax paper, I made these. They actually turned out OK.

Did the menu cards. Some were blue base with white menus and others were white base with blue menus.

The table numbers. I had to cut out each individual number and then glue the blue card stock behind them. This took some time but it wasn't hard per se.

Our signature cocktail drinks display. This was another easy one.

Wedding activity books. I made bags for the kids with crayons, glow in the dark sticks, candy and these books. The books were for drawing and coloring. 

If you haven't already guessed it by now, our colors were Tiffany blue, Silver and White with red accent colors. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed re-living the day. 

Father's Day

Happy Father's day to all the awesome dads out there who work each day to provide for their kids and family.

J celebrated his first father's day and I think he had a great time. Since Pinterest is now an obsession for me, I got a few ideas from there.
In addition to going to Bertucci's (J's choice...NOT mine :-)), J got the following items from JOE (well, really me) and from me :-).

Pinterest Inspiration:

My DIY:

 Finished product.

Also, I put together a photobook of all J & JOE with little commentaries on each picture. I figured he'd get a kick out of them.

Also, since we are always complaining about not having time for ourselves, I got this for J so that he can use them towards paid child care and be rest assured that he'll have my undivided attention :-).

How did you celebrate your father's day?