Snow Day

Just my luck my camera would be dead the only day it snows here in Charlotte right?? Right. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of myself in my hideous thrown together snow get up or any pictures of Aidan eating the snow because he really didn't know what else to do with it. I did however get a few pictures of us taking a walk with my parents on my mom's birthday just to prove it did actually snow (and that I am capable of charging my camera).

Getting ready to head to Nana & Grandpa's to have dinner for Nana's birthday.
Nana & Aidan getting ready to go on a walk in the freezing cold.



Grandpa pulling Aidan in his wagon...on the ICE!

Daddy (With his eyes kinda closed) pulling Aidan in the wagon.

Someone jumped out of the wagon and wanted to walk with Grandpa. He is on a Grandpa kick these days. Everything is about Grandpa.

Walking home with Nana & Grandpa. Daddy is pulling the wagon and mommy is being the paparazzi as usual. It was a nice winter walk. Haha. So now you can believe that we did actually get snow in the south.

It's My Mom's Birthday!!! A Little Letter to Her.

It's my mom's birthday today and we are basically snowed in. Luckily, we live close enough that we were still able to celebrate with her. Aidan and I made her cake and we ordered Chinese food for dinner. My youngest brother Jordan couldn't make it because of the weather. =( . We missed you J! We bought her two new pair's of PJ's from the Victoria's Secret Soft Collection and a new pair of sunglasses.

Just wanted to share a little letter I wrote for her ...

Dear Mom,
Happy Birthday. In case I don’t tell you enough, you are amazing. As a mother now myself, I can look back at my childhood and at your actions and decisions you made and marvel at how you did it and how you are still doing it with so much grace and dignity. You make being a mom look so easy. But it isn’t easy. Being a parent is a life-long, full time job. And here you are, still parenting me and teaching me now how to parent my own child. The words “Thank You” won’t ever be enough. I hope that I am taking in everything that you are and everything you do and putting it away for when I need to pull on it for myself. If I end up being HALF the mother you have been to me, to my own children, and if when they reach adulthood they can feel HALF as loved as I do by you, then I will feel like I will have thanked you properly. I am honored to be your daughter and it is a blessing to have you as my mom. You make me a better person and you mean more to me to me than you will ever know. I love you with all my heart and soul. Happy Birthday Mom. April

Show Us Your Life Fashion Tips

I have been wanting to get back in to the blog hops over at http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ but I haven't really had much to share the last few she has done. This week is no exception. She is doing a blog hop on Fashion Tips. I honestly went from being semi stylish to having a child and now I feel like I am lucky to get out of my pj's most days. Hahaha. Ok. That's not entirely true. My style is very simple. Since we have been in a recession, I have cut back on buying things unless I cannot live without them. I buy a lot of things at outlets. I suppose my fashion tip (which is probably an obvious thing for most people) would be to buy things that are flexible. Pieces that can be dressed up and down.



Here is an example of what you would most likely see me in if we ran in to each other in public:


I have a ton of solid colored long sleeve T's. The great thing about them is, they are affordable and can be layered with just about anything. I don't think I own anything but trouser jeans. I love Banana Republic's trouser jean. I think I am drawn to the trouser jean because that style evens out my bottom half. They also look super cute with flats and a pair of pumps.



It is rare that would catch me in anything but a flat shoe. I am already 5'9" and so wearing heels makes me feel like the Jolly Green Giant. The past two years I have collected about 15 pairs of flats. Most of them have come from TJ Maxx/Marshallsbut I will buy at Nordstrom if they are on sale. Target runs sales on their flats OFTEN. I bought three new pairs for $7-$10 each over the holidays. I knew when I bought them they wouldn't last very long but for the price, if I got to wear each pair 10 times, I got my money's worth.

I have more earrings than I will ever be able to wear. I am the queen of inexpensive earrings. I quit spending money on earrings because I would loose them. Now, if I spend 10 or 15 bucks on a pair and I loose one, I'm not upset about it.

I wear this ring, this purse and my wedding ring everyday. One thing I do spend money on is designer bags and so when I feel like branching out, I have some good options to switch it up. Most things that are trendy, don't look good on me, so a nice purse makes me feel good.

One little fashion tip, that I live by... If you have a nice pair of pearl earrings, they will even make sweatpants look good. Not to mention they just make you feel pretty. If you don't have the money to buy a real pair there a gazillion places you can find artificial pearls and no one will ever know the difference.

So that's all I've got for you. Sorry ladies, I am not much of a fashionista. I have been looking through other's posts and some of you have really great tips!!! Happy Friday!!!

Just a really, really good day (From Thursday)

Aidan was perfect today. The morning started off a little rough because he was EXHAUSTED from the circus last night. It was "Wear Your Jammies to School" day and so I don't think that helped because once he got out of bed, I put him in a new pair of pj's and then we had to leave. When I dropped him off he screamed bloody murder and honestly I would have just let him come home with me but I had an appointment this morning that I wouldn't have been able to do with him in tow. I picked him up at 1 and he was in the BEST.MOOD.EVER. Apparently he only cried for 30 seconds after I left (what a blow to my mommy ego) and thoroughly enjoyed his day. He passed out (as usual) in the car and I decided to stop off at my mom's to say hey. I carried him asleep inside and laid him on her sofa and he slept there for an hour and a half. When he got up he wasn't cranky at all and was super snuggly. I kept thinking to myself "Ok when are we going to throw a fit or something". It never happened. We headed to Target and he got his usual ICEE but this time it occurred to me that it might be easier for him to use a spoon than a straw. I felt so smart. He was thrilled!! That kept him occupied the entire trip. We found two plastic horsies in the $1 bin, one made a horse noise and I also bought some of those little capsules you put in water and they grow in to an animal or shape. We used to do them when I was a kid and I just knew he would think they were fun. He was hugging and kissing me all day and he kept saying "I love you Mommy (that is my official name now)". Still waiting for this great day to all come crashing down. We got home, I made him dinner. He ate his mac and cheese out of his tiger cup from the circus and then we sat on the floor in the kitchen to watch the capsules grow in to animals. He thought it was the coolest thing. Adam got home in the middle of the animals growing and Aidan was so proud you would have thought he made the sponge animals himself. We shared a bowl of ice cream and I put him to bed. No crying or whining, he just laid down and went straight to sleep. It was a perfect day. Here are some pictures of us doing the capsule animals. They are from my Crack berry because my camera was in the car.....

Getting ready to put in his first capsule

Watching & Waiting

It's a Turkey!!!

Capsule #2

What's it going to be?

A duckie!!!

Aidan thinks the wet sponge feels gross.

The Greatest Show On Earth

Prepare for the most pictures you have ever seen in a Harvey family blog post.


We made it home from the circus. Barely. Haha! No really it was a lot of fun. We took the light rail uptown at about 5:30 in time to see all the animals before the show started. The second we walked through the door, Adam was buying Aidan everything in sight...Snow cone in a tiger cup (he also ate fruit loops out of this when we got home), a light up spinney thing (I am sure that is their official name too) cotton candy with a hat attached (did I mention it lit up?), nachos, a bottomless bucket of popcorn (that's right free refills) and an apple juice. Then he proceeded to hand it ALL to me as we walked to our seats. I was cracking up at how much fun the two of them were having. Of course we didn't make it down to the floor to see the animals because Aidan and Adam were to busy packing their mouths full of sugar and smacking the people in front and back of us with the light up spinney thing. It was the best time. Here are some pictures of our night...

Leaving the house...someone was excited.

Chelsea, Mike, Adam & I
Ryland & Aidan

The upside down ticket to his first circus ever.
Getting situated eating his snow cone in a tiger.



He's got it all going on.


Napkin was in place to try and save his shirt from the snow cone. Lost cause.

It took a few minutes to process everything that was going on.


Ryland with red lips from a snow cone.

I see you cutie!

They loved these things. The best $22 bucks (each) I've ever spent. Right.

Just eating some popcorn watching the show.

And then the spinney light up things became something they could fight with.

More popcorn eating.



At this point he was over it. Luckily the circus ended 5 minutes later.


Riding on Daddy's shoulders. Daddy looks exhausted. He's been up since 4am.

I did take about 30 pictures of the animals but I am sure it's nothing you haven't seen so I'll save you from those. =)


Hope everyone is enjoying their week. <3

New Pics of the Little Guy

I absolutely promise to post more pictures of Aidan this year. I need a new memory card for my camera. Actually, I need a new camera all together. When you are taking pictures of someone this cute, you need a nice camera. The Nikon d5000 is on my wish list.

Aidan sitting in the front seat of my car ONLY because we were in the car wash and he gets a little nervous when we go through.

This was earlier today right before we took the light rail uptown to buy our circus tickets for Wednesday. That's right we're going to the circus. Aidan has no idea what that means but he is very excited.


My sweet Aunt Karen sends Aidan box loads of Gap Kids stuff for Christmas and his birthday. This is one of the shirts he got recently and we just think he looks so handsome in a button down. I think he agrees!!!


xoxoxo

How Aidan got his name....

I needed something new to blog about so I thought it would be cool to tell my readers things they probably don't already know. So maybe every week I will tell you something new about us/me. This week you get to hear the story of how Aidan became Aidan.

Truth be told there is little to tell. The moment I discovered I was pregnant (that fateful October night...right girls?) I knew it was a boy. I didn't dream it was a boy, I wasn't drawn to blue, I just knew it was a boy. One day, I just started saying Aidan instead of baby. Adam and I were in bed one night and he said "so Aidan it is huh?" and I replied "Well I like that name a lot, what do you think of it" and his response was "Well you have been calling the baby that for a long time now I wouldn't want it to be confused. You just better hope if it's a girl, she doesn't mind having a boy's name". Aidan was named. We found out the sex (which we already knew) and Aidan was permanent. Luckily, our entire family loved the name as well. I was out with my parents one day and my dad said to me "What's his middle name going to be?" and I said "well we have decided on William, after you dad." A long pause. "I have one request since the kid is being named after me." I am thinking to myself oh jeese what is he going to say. "Can you spell his name A I D A N that's how we Irish spell it." Done daddy. So Aidan William it was. From that point on everything made it's way to the monogram shop. Haha! I never second guessed the name once and it fits him perfectly. We never get tired of saying it. It means "Little Fire" and well that about sums him up. Hahahahaha. So now you know....

Decorating on a Budget

Recently, I told you I was in project mode and boy was I serious. This weekend I devoted myself to getting our guest room/Aidan's playroom redone. I didn't take any before pictures because I was too anxious to get started. I am really regretting that now. I will tell you that there was a TV in here, a tan sofa and the walls were a periwinkle blue color.

I started by listing the sofa for sale on Craig's List on Wednesday night. I figured whatever I made off the sofa would be my budget for the room. That's right, sell on piece of furniture to redo an ENTIRE room. I am known for my bargain shopping so I wasn't really worried about it. One thing I knew was that whatever I bought, had to be functional. We have visitors regularly and since this is technically our guest bedroom not only did I need seating in there but a bed of some sort. We unofficially had also turned this in to Aidan's TV room. SOOO...I listed the sofa for $600 late Wednesday night and by the time I got up on Thursday, I had 7 new emails about it. The first person who came to see it, bought it.

$600 bucks. That was now my budget. Adam was out of town for work so I figured I could paint while he was gone. I headed to Lowe's and stood in front of the paint colors for about 30 minutes and then I picked the Valspar color Milk Chocolate. I came home and painted. I was so proud of myself because I never paint anything. Adam does all the painting.

Saturday morning the sofa was picked up and with cash in hand, I headed to Ikea. I already had my heart set on the Meldal iron daybed. I picked out the mattress to go with it and then started cruising through the Marketplace and picking up little things here and there.

This is my finished product:

Day Bed

Window Wall

Day Bed again

TV Wall


For some reason I can't get the pics to upload any bigger!!! Here's a little breakdown of what I spent my money on.

These pictures are much bigger. Anything that doesn't have a description on it, I just took from other places in our house and re purposed here. I am really happy with how it turned out!

(Don't know what happened to the pic about the bed)

Ikea Meldal Day Bed Frame $99.99
Ikea Plush Mattress $179.00 Ikea Sisal Rug $149.00

Grand Total: $604. 36. Adam gave me $5 bucks. What a nice guy. Haha! Pretty good huh?

P.S. I bet all of you that knew what the room looked like before are in shock aren't you???

I'm Still Here

I haven't posted in a couple days because I have two sick boys in my house and I have been doing some redecorating. Pictures to come soon. I hope everyone had a great week and is looking forward to the weekend.

P.S. Did anyone watch Grey's last night?? Who in their right mind would choose a job over love? I'm with you Izzy.

Meals

Just for myself I have to post my meals for the week. If I don't post them, I don't hold myself to making them every week. Or at least that's what I think would happen. I haven't actually not cooked yet.

Saturday-Hibachi Steak
Sunday-Cheeseburgers and Fries
Monday-Soup and Sandwiches -April/Tuna Bagel; Aidan/Tuna on Crackers & Adam Grilled Cheese
Tuesday-Asian Pork chops
Wednesday-Home Made Pizza
Thursday-Taco Casserole
Friday-Rotisserie Chicken and Salad

Project Mode

So I am in project mode. Well a third project mode. The first project was Aidan's room and that still isn't complete. Oops. Then there was the dining room. CHECK! At least that is done. Now, I am on to the kitchen! SCAAARRYYY. I have decided one thing. Well two things. The first being the color must be green. The second being I need new things to hang on the walls/window treatments! I know this sounds silly, but I feel like I want to make our house more "adult". That's a theme I made up. When I moved in here, I was single, and I decorated around my life at that time. As years have gone by, I've outgrown things and it's time for some changes. Here are some things I am working on: (Sorry for the pics via my Blackberry)

Window Treatment Options:

Number 1

Number 2

I bought this sign at Hobby Lobby to hang over the electric box. Ha! It hangs from a rust colored ribbon. I think I will change it out with a thick black satin one.

And Paint Colors. The big white strip at the bottom is where I decided to prime the wall so I could see the color better. We are leaning towards the color on the very bottom right.

I need a little help. If anyone has any good suggestions for green paint let me know please!! I am still not 100% sold on this color! Have a Happy Monday everyone!