happy 2nd birthday eloise!!!

Eloise turned 2 on Saturday!!!

I had to work the weekend so Elle and I went to the pet store on Friday to get some birthday surprises. Patrick played with her all day Saturday. We sang her happy birthday that night and gave her a lot of treats..

here are the baby eloise pictures

medium eloise picture

and 2nd birthday pictures

she was NOT enjoying being held for her photo shoot...as you can see

here she is posing, much more comfortable on the ground than being held like a baby :)

and she even posed with her presents! the pink baby was destroyed within 30 minutes, the tennis ball survived until last night!

We have decided in 2 more years she will finally have calmed down - we are half way there!

borrowed recipe :)

Recipe: Pam’s Pineapple Upside Down Biscuits

Prep Time: 10 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 20 Minutes  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 10

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Ingredients

• Pineapple
• ¾ cups Packed Brown Sugar
• 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 1-½ cup Chopped Fresh Pineapple (I Used Chopped Peeled Green Apples)
• Biscuits
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• ¾ teaspoons Salt
• ¾ sticks (6 Tablespoons) Unsalted Butter, Frozen
• 1 cup Buttermilk, Plus Extra If Necessary

Preparation Instructions

*From “Perfect One Dish Dinners” by Pam Anderson.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees.

Pineapple: Heat brown sugar and 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat to a spreadable consistency. Pour into a 9-inch round cake pan, tilting to coat pan bottom; top with pineapple.

Biscuits: Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt with a fork in a medium bowl. Using a box grater, coarsely grate frozen butter into dry ingredients, mixing quickly with fingertips to evenly blend. Stir in buttermilk with a fork, adding extra droplets of buttermilk over any dry patches, if necessary and mix until dough just comes together.

Turn dough onto a floured surface. With your fingers, pinch dough into 10 rough rounds and arrange over pineapple. Bake until biscuits are golden brown and pineapple topping is bubbly, about 20 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate and serve immediately with vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream.

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I do love the pioneer woman blog. So I borrowed this recipe to share!!

I haven't made this yet, but thought it sounded easy AND delicious!!! If you make it before me, let me know how it is!!

28 weeks

28 week ultrasound...

no you don't usually get one at 28 weeks - but we did!

She said "well the baby's not scrawny!"

2lb 12 oz so far, which is in the 65%

Alright...

let me start with this picture and just say I debated whether to put it on here or not. She was getting measurements, making sure everything checked out okay and all of the sudden switched it to that 3-D or 4-D stuff they do. Now - I am not really a fan of these. I kinda find them a bit creepy. Well, maybe a lot bit creepy. I just think they look all bumpy, like play-doh or something. To each his own - I know that 99% of people pay extra money for these ultrasounds ---- not this girl..

So here it is - and my opinion is maybe slightly changed - probably because it's our baby and I think it's real cute ;)

And now to the 'normal' ultrasound pictures of B

She squeezed us in for a quick look because B was kinda acting up the other day, not really moving......at all - okay that may be an exaggeration. But I really did get nervous because I noticed a big decrease - Pat tried to agitate B and we felt a little wiggling so I figured everything was fine. We mentioned it today and ta-daaaa - an ultrasound. Just to be cautious I guess? We are thankful that everything looked normal!! 

visit back home...

Last week we made a planned trip to Birmingham for the weekend to celebrate the marriage of my cousin Mary Rebecca in Pine Mountain, Ga. Sadly, we also spent a few extra days in town after the tornado swept through Birmingham and a friend of mine passed away. As shocking and heartbreaking as it all has been I was so grateful and thankful to be able to attend her funeral while back home...Carrie will be missed by so so many people, which was evident by the crowded church, testimonies and tears.

here is a link to the local news story I saw while sitting on the couch over the weekend in Birmingham

the story of Tucker's rescue

And this is my beautiful friend Carrie - her husband Josh - and sweet baby Tucker

It's baffling to watch the local news and see all of the devastation. You really can't wrap your mind around it all. A friend of mine and I were talking about how we have this one connection to the storm, this loss of life, and to think that there are hundreds of others missing, killed, injured...it's overwhelming. Keep them all in your hearts and prayers.

Our trip to Georgia started bright and early so we could make it to the Country Store in Callaway just in time for breakfast...or so we hoped! With time change and a long drive included we somehow squeezed right in the restaurant just in time!! We even had almost 5 whole minutes to spare before breakfast was over...  phew. 

Since we had the afternoon free we went to see the butterflies in Callaway Gardens, walked around a while and got to visit with our family (which was so nice :) )

Mary Bec and Jason got married at the cutest chapel, on a hill, in a field, surrounded by nothing at all but grass, trees and hills. It was beautiful!!

My dear sister and Patrick used their fans the entire service to keep the pregnant chick from having a melt down. A for real one. My body temperature felt like it was 1000 degrees... but thanks to my dedicated fan waving sister and husband I survived :)  -- we were reenacting as you can see...

Here's Mary Rebecca and Paw Paw, aka the dancing machine.... ;)

 Pat got Gee Gee out on the dance floor too - all I have to say is that I was sober -- but 99.9999% of the rest of my entire family was some form of sober-ish. 

Pure. Entertainment.

And this is a must...

Here's Emily's dog.

I want him.

He is a mastiff basset hound mix.

I love this dog.

Eloise is being replaced. 

just kidding...maybe...

And last but NOT least

Look at my little Callie, all bundled up in her red puffer suit...my all time favorite picture of her

ps. please dont kill me :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALLIE

 to my BFF of ohh you know, a measly 20ish years ;)  you are fabulous. I don't know what I would do without you. I must agree - you are my soul friend - as always it doesn't matter how long it has been since I have seen your face or even heard your voice - it's like we just fit together. Through all of these years, I couldn't have asked for a better person to be by my side - you're so special to me - I LOVE YOU!!

And maybe...if everyone is lucky...I will post the pictures of our photo shoot at her house from the weekend. It will give you a glimpse inside our friendship and either make you wonder what goes on in our heads, or it will make total sense to you and you will not be surprised by our beautifully posed pictures.

For now - pictures from our trip to the oh-so-delicious Doodles

me - aka the doodles double fister

callie - with the 'big boy' doodles (to her defense it was not actually for her)