ansley mary, seven months!

ansley mary, six months!

the colors, duke, the colors! [easter egg dying]

i love my holidays. and my traditions. and my people. it's so important to me that austin and i both continue these traditions with ansley. with Easter around the corner we really needed some colorful eggs around here, especially with all the dreary rain that we've had over the past few weeks. i couldn't resist then (hey, 2012! thanks for the reminder, blog) and obviously not now that i have my little partner by my side. this makes me so happy!! i came across a super easy way to go about dying eggs that i love so much!! the colors are so great! so much better than anything you can buy in the stores. i mean its MESSY and sure my hands are a bit stained despite the attempt at wearing latex gloves but loooook how pretty!!

you will need:

• hard boiled eggs
• shaving cream 
• food coloring
• vinegar
• latex gloves (or sandwich bags would work!)
• paper towels (!!!) 
• muffin tin 
• a tiny assistant (optional)

how to! 

• let hard boiled eggs soak in vinegar for about five minutes
• fill the muffin tins with shaving cream 
• put on your gloves!!
• place several drops of food coloring in each cup
• swirl food coloring around in shaving cream
• dip/roll/submerge :) egg in the cream
• wipe off the excess with a paper towel 
• put on a paper plate to dry
• display! 

ansley mary, five months!

 

our life via shadows ;)

girl! 

girl meets boy! (and he allows such pictures. thanks stone!!)

girl and boy get puppy! (hi chuckie!)

girl and boy grow their family by one :)

girl and boy and BABY! puppy not pictured :)

and on the 14th of february....

happy THURSDAY! hi valentines day, bye valentines day! i know it gets some slack as a holiday but i love it. and a big big reason is because it brought me my brother!! his birthday falls on the holiday  (colintines day to my family) and it all feels very appropriate. he is one of my best best friends and the most loving and hilarious person i know so its so easy to get in the spirit and celebrate not only him but the ones in our lives who we love the most. (plus, how much do i love sending valentines from ansley? so much.) so valentines day, year one with baby ansley and year eleven with my boyfriend! wait. pause. how has it been that long?!! i do not know. pretty sure we were just in college and i was headed over to austin's apartment all dressed up where he gave me roses for the very first time. it's so fun to see how life has changed and with that our valentines day celebrations. sometimes fancy, sometimes at home, sometimes very very bittersweet knowing he would leave for baseball two days later. geez i forgot about that tidbit (selective memory) it makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it!! moving right along...

we made our cards this year which i think needs to be a tradition forever and always because i will never tire of seeing what austin comes up with. (as for mine, in college i was 'chel-say' to him and he was my stone - short for austonian - sexy nickname, why yes, yes i agree- which i still call him to this day. and i figured v-day would be a good day to throw it back ;)) him and ansley exchanged cards and he gave her flowers and i busily snapped the moment because he will always be her first love and it needs to be properly documented! in fact!! last year on valentines day we went to a concert with some family and there we shared the news that we were pregnant! <3

earlier that morning we headed off to ansley's four month pediatrician appointment to check on our growing girl. it had been since december since she had been and i was definitely ready to get a weight on that girl to make sure everything is a-okay since we are nursing and thankfully, we got that report! later that night we put our tiny sleepy valentine in her car seat and cruised on down the street to our favorite pasta restaurant. so good!! so good. we had a table in the corner, ate some ravioli, cheersed some wine and all was right in the world. it was a happy v-day and a happy B-DAY for that brother of mine (who is 30 !!!! what?!!) and all in all a success.

...past v-day's!

2017

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

diy: heart mobile!

ans and i were in pottery barn kids the other day when i saw the cutest little heart mobile hanging from their ceiling, getting into the february month of love valentines spirit and i thought yes. she needs this and i shall make it! so one rainy day, a trip to hobby lobby and a little afternoon craft session later  and waaaa-laaa! it's festive and fun to look at for her and for meee :)

you will need:

fishing line

wire

steel ring 

red hearts 

scissors

hole puncher

how to:

• take steel ring and wrap two pieces of wire across the inside of the ring
• cut four long strands of clear string for hanging the mobile and attach to ring
• hang mobile in place (i hung it from the light in the middle of ansleys room)
• hole punch three hearts and tie string in each hole and then connect to make a garland of string hearts 
• hang string of hearts around the ring and one from the middle 
• the end!