Amazing Anniversary Trip

This has been such an amazing anniversary trip so far! We started oir trip off with some pool time, of course. The hotel we're staying at has complimentary cocktail and appetizer hour every day, so of course we participated (and will do so today too!). After spending a few hours out by the pool, we went to our room and got ready for our anniversary dinner.

We ended up going to this delicious Mexican food restaurant--had a yummy dinner and a few Dos Equis Ambers to boot--and then we did some shopping! I got a new pair of shorts, a shirt, a dress, and 3 new sweaters. SCORE! After we finished shopping, we found this packed bar that ended up being a blast! The bar itself was gorgeous, and the food was delicious too. We had worked up a little appetite from shopping, so we got some fried calamari then finished the night off with a shared tiramisu and some mojitos. Walking back to the car, I just had to snap a picture of the gigantic Marilyn Monroe statue.

Overall we are having a BLAST here on our first trip to Palm Springs. I slept in nice and late this morning and am getting ready to go enjoy my complimentary breakfast out by the pool! I hope you all have a terrific Saturday! (It's Saturday today, right?!)

5 Years Already?!

5 years ago today, Joe and I were in Vegas saying "I do!" It's crazy how fast time flies... 5 years, 2 kids, 2 apartments, 1 condo, 1 house, 7 cars, and 1 cat later--and here we are! These past 5 years have honestly been the best years of my life; I have loved every second of being married to you and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us. Here's to 5 years and counting--cheers to us! I love you Joe--now lets get on the road to Palm Springs! <3

November 2010--7 month pregnant with Madison

6 years ago--before we were married!

Last year, summer 2012--family vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Triple Chip Cookies

Remember those triple-chip cookies I told you yesterday that I was going to bake? The ones with the chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips in them? Well they turned out amazing. AMAZING. They are SO good--and they're absolutely my new favorite go-to recipe. Enough with the intro--I'm going to jump right into the recipe:

Ingredients: 

2 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tsp. Baking soda

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 cup of butter

3/4 cup of sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

2 tsp. Vanilla

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups of white chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups of butterscotch chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt with a wire whisk and set aside.

Using a mixer, mix butter and both sugars for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined.

Mix chips together in large bowl and stir into the cookie batter.

Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop cookies out onto baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes and cool on wire rack. Makes 5 dozen cookies. Enjoy!

How freakin cute is my new cookie jar?! Thanks Julie!

Bring on the Christmas Shopping!

I can't believe that its already halfway through August... next month I start Christmas shopping! I know you're probably thinking that I'm a crazy person--but I wasn't the one running around like a chicken with it's head cut off last December. Starting your Christmas shopping early is a great thing for two reasons: 1). You aren't stressed out shopping with the crowds and standing in crazy long lines on Christmas eve, and 2). You aren't strapped for cash at the end of the year. A lot of people take time off at the end of the year--so that they can sit around at home and do nothing because they're broke? Heck no! If you start shopping in September-ish, you can buy a couple presents with every paycheck.  You're never broke, you're never stressed, and if you're like me, you can be excited to have a ton of presents under your tree by the time you put it up.

This year, Joe and I decided that we are going to buy the kids each one big present and one present from Santa; between my parents, my sisters, my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law, and my sister-in-law, these kids get a TON of presents. The last thing they need is 30 different new toys that won't get played with. We decided that we are going to buy both of the kids their own tablet. I know what you're probably thinking: a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old with their own tablets?! I get it. BUT we've done our research. Apparently there are tablets out there that have some pretty cool features; you can set a time limit for games. Say I set it at 30 minutes for the day. Once they use those 30 minutes up, it won't let them play anymore. I won't have to be the bad guy at all! However, they can read on the tablet all day long if they'd like;  once their game limit runs out, they'll still want to play with their tablets, so they'll read! I plan on loading up their tablets with tons of fun books before Christmas morning so that when they open it up, they'll be able to just start using it right away. 

I can't wait for the next couple of months; I'll be kicking my baking into full-swing (I actually feel like baking today so I'm going to whip up some triple chocolate chip cookies that I'm pretty excited about--they call for chocolate chips, white chocolate chips,  and butterscotch chips--YUM!) ...if they turn out as delicious as I'm hoping they will, I'll post the recioe on here tomorrow :).

I'm off to go get ready so that I can run to the store to pick up the ingredients. Happy Wednesday everyone!

Sleep Training?!

Back when we lived in apartments (and even in our tiny condo), I would put the kids down for naps or bedtime with their bedroom door shut and a lullabye cd playing softly on repeat. Living in apartments, your space is limited; and with limited space, noise travels fast. I started the "closed door" rule for obvious reasons--so that it would block out whatever noise we were making. I noticed that that wasn't 100% working, so I started playing the lullabye cd on repeat so that there was some sort of constant noise in their room--so that if we laughed at a tv show or talked to eachother, it wouldn't startle the kids. 

Little did I know that having that music playing everytime they went to sleep would serve as the mother of all cues that it was time to go to sleep. Once they got used to it, as soon as I would turn that music on, they would fall right asleep. This turned into the most effective way to 1). get the kids to go to sleep, and 2). get them to stay asleep. I never had to try a "cry it out" method because this solved it for me.

And that brings us to now. Maverick is 4 1/2 years old and still naps and goes to bed with his music on. We are now in a big house so noise traveling doesn't seem to be an issue; he now sleeps with his door cracked instead of fully closed. He wants to sleep with it fully opened, but I don't know if I'm ready to do that yet. Madison still sleeps with her door closed because she would guaranteed leave her room if that door was open. Maverick, however, knows that bedtime is bedtime--and he won't leave his room. 

How do your kids sleep? Door opened? Cracked? Closed? I understand that this is totally not a big deal--I'm just curious to see how your guys' kids sleep. What methods, other than 'cry it out,' did you have success with? I have so many friends and family that are delivering their babies now and over the next couple of months--I'm sure this info could help them out! :)

Bad Mom?!

I am SO excited for my upcoming trip to Palm Springs this weekend with Joe. I can't believe that we have already been married for 5 years... I guess what they say is right: time flies when you're having fun! We're going to spend 3 days, just the two of us, relaxing by the pool and just enjoying each other's company.

But that brings me to a dilemma: I want to get a poll started. How many of you would say that I'm a bad mom because I go on vacations without my kids? I know there are some of you that may think that way--and I'm really curious as to why. I obviously know my reasons for vacationing without them: 

1. I'm with them 24/7--3 days away from them will not do ANY harm
2. Joe and I need "our" time to keep our relationship strong. We have a very strong marriage and I believe its because we haven't centered our relationship around the kids. 
3. It isn't that we don't like vacationing with them; we had an amazing time in Myrtle Beach last year with the kids--we're actually planning another vacation for sometime this year WITH the kids. Its that not everything is kid-friendly and they don't need to come on every single trip.

I know that as a parent, you may think that my life revolves around my kids--but it doesn't. I may be a mom--but I'm still a human being: I have hobbies that I like to do, movies that I want to see, and trips that I like to take. In a sense, my life revolves around the kids on a day-by-day basis.. that's my job. It doesn't mean that I have to do EVERY SINGLE THING with them for the next 18 years. My parents used to go on vacations without my sisters and I--and guess what? As a kid, I never felt left out or like they were bad parents. They will be celebrating their 29th wedding anniversary this coming October--so they must have done something right.

This blog isn't pointed at one specific person: I just know for a fact that there are people out there that feel differently than me. I really don't see their side of the fight, and I'm really curious as to what it is. All I know is that I can't wait for this weekend alone with Joe--and the kids are so excited to spend some time with grandma and grandpa. Without these trips, I would probably lose my mind. These trips keep me sane--and that's a good thing for all of us. So really--if you think I'm a bad mom because of this, comment here, send me an email, shoot me a text: I'd LOVE to hear your point of view on this :)

Best Birthday Ever!

The other night I had my 25th birthday, and to celebrate, we threw a big party! So many of my friends showed up and I had so much fun. I never drink, of course I ended up drinking way too much: and I definitely paid for it yesterday morning! Although I was out of commission for the day, I wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the night--some are a little blurry--but you understand why, I'm sure ;)

I crack up every time I look at this picture--hahaha

Joe was like "holy crap, you guys look like sisters!" ...I told him we've gotten that our whole lives :)

Lmao--I love this face Kailey

I'm diggin the tan, Tim ;)

Haha, photo bomb :)

cuuuuute <3

hahaha

Yesterday morning when Joe and I were looking through the pictures, he was like "I was wondering why the bike was out!" haha

I LOVE this picture. Hahaha

Chubby bunnyyyyyy

Thanks for helping me blow out all of the candles in my house before I passed out :)

The aftermath: took a few hours to clean up, but I didn't mind one bit :)

haha, thanks for trying to clean up my kitchen before leaving, Kailey

...best birthday ever. Thanks to everyone who came out--we'll have to do this again!!