classy affair

We are hosting a Classy Cocktail Party for New Year's Eve

(so classy it requires capitalization)

 Mr. Henry is not invited....

....although he does enjoy a good party. 

I've been trying to decide on what hors d'oeuvres to serve. 

I'm thinking definitely this.

And perhaps something with figs....I can't remember ever having eaten a fresh fig, nor do I know when they are in season, but they always look delish.

PS: sweet photo of Henry by my sister....she is so good

it never fails....

i grab the shopping cart with the bum wheel.

you know, the one that pulls left (or right) and fights you the whole time you're in the store.

yup.  that's the one i always seem to pick.

PS: i think i might need these...just sayin

(from here)





things i heart right now....

*These disgustingly delicious chips have changed my life for the better....they are that good

*This dress I just got...I think I might rock it out on NYE 

*When this boy gets angry he stomps his feet and it never fails to make me chuckle...he really knows how to throw a fit!

PS: to add to the list of things I don't heart right now....car commercials where someone receives a car as a christmas gift.  does this really happen?  do people really put the giant red bow on top of a car and literally surprise a loved one with it?  not in the world I live in...just sayin



the busiest of days.....

Today was a busy day for our wee little family.

The Highlights:

*Henry and I went to his first music class

*While waiting in line for Henry's picture with Santa.....'Santa' checked is mobile.  I guess he had an important text from Mrs. Claus?

(as you can see.....Henry found Kris Kringle to be highly suspect)

*Had a seriously delicious chocolate shake from (where else) Steak-N-Shake.

The Lowlights:

*We drove to 4 stores in search of lights for our tree...apparently you must purchase these a year before you actually need them!

(thanks Madre for finding them at the store near your house!)

*Found out our computer crashed yesterday and may or may not have lost every picture we have ever taken of Henry.  Fingers crossed the professionals can recover them!

dance pants?.....maybe

(found here)

I bought these pants last night. 

I fear they might look better on the toothpick that is the model than on me and my post baby hips.....

but they ended up only being $11 (gotta love a surprise coupon code....on top of a sale!) so obviously I couldn't pass them up!

It may or may not be 'hammer time' wihen these little gems arrive!

PS: watched Black Swan for the first time the other night.  um yeah......so about that.......



randoms from today

*I went to the eye doctor this morning.  He put a dye in my eyes to 'verify the new contacts were sitting properly on my eye', and then he put drops in my eyes to 'check for allergies'.  He failed to tell me my eyes would go numb after the allergy drops....no thank you doctor!  Nor did he give me a heads up that the yellow dye might come out of my nose whilst I am bebopping around town with Mr. Henry. 

No thank you indeed!

 

*The fire alarm went of while Henry and I were at the mall today....and people just kept on shopping.  Apparently holiday shopping trumps smoke inhalation/burning alive.


* I would love to have this little diddy around my shoulders this holiday season, but at $118 it is a little too salty for this gal.

Light Posy Shrug

Dear Anthro,
Please get real.  You and I both know those beads are going to start falling off after the third time I wear it!  Go ahead and lower the price down around $50....you know you are going to do it eventually!



what i do.....lately

 have spaghetti and scrabble night with friends

drink really really really tasty wine from said friends

(thank you katie jean & babs!)



use this apple butter spread....as a dip

is that wrong?  it's so good i can't help myself....and neither can henry

whimsy

Something about the winter,

the cold, the short days,

the blue and purple colors of the evenings.....

I don't know, but something always makes me nostalgic.

It makes me sappy about the year that has past.

About my family and friends.

Oh how I get weepy when I think of them in my winter wonderland.

Every year, without fail, I am drawn to read His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.

The books give me hope.

Hope for life

and love and all things good.

I'm looking forward to losing myself in the pages again this year.

don't turn your back ....

not even for a second.

when i turned back around, this is what i found.....

i think he is thinking, 'who me? this isn't ok? really? really? are you sure? even if i'm really cute?'

Kissable

A Cup Of Jo asked a funny question a few months back that got me thinking.

'Do you kiss your baby on the mouth?'

My answer:

Um.....YES! Of course!

I hadn't really thought about it until I read her post. I just figured everyone kissed their babies on the mouth....I was wrong.

Stone doesn't. He said he'll 'stick with the ol cheek or forehead smooch'.

Henry has a juicy bottom lip that makes my heart ache it is so cute! I can't kiss him enough!

PS: Henry has his dad's lips....no wonder I think they are so sweet!

comfy cozy

I've got beef & noodles cooking in the kitchen

and my sweet strawberry haired boy sleeping in my arms.

Our bungalow is comfy cozy at the moment....

and I love it.

(Henry wearing the mane to his lion Halloween costume for his 1yr photo shoot)

He turned 1....O-N-E!!!!!!!

We had our Mr. Henry's 1st birthday party at home in our backyard.

Mother Nature was a peach and made the day crisp and sunny.

BBQ, cupcakes and pumpkin cheesecake parfaits were on the menu.

We are so lucky to have amazing family and friends.....I hope Henry knows how much he is loved.

(photos by my amazing sister)

pardon my french.....

holy shit, I have a one year old!!!

more on Mr. Henry's happy birthday (and party) tomorrow.....

(the birthday boy checking out his 'hidden cupcake surprise' at the breakfast table)

one year ago today

One year ago today my water broke while I was at work.

(and by 'broke' I mean burst and by 'burst' I mean literally burst....as in my leggins ballooned out and there was a splash)

So yeah, one year ago today my water 'broke' while I was at work.

Did I ever tell you that?

Well it did, and it was hilarious.

Shocking....but hilarious.

Twenty or so hours later, Henry was born.

H E N R Y

My sweet boy who I can't imagine my life without. The boy I know, with every fiber of my being, I was born to be his momma.

Tomorrow he turns one.

(2 week old Henry)

brrrr....and it's only the beginning

It's turned cold here.

Cold and rainy....never a good combo.

I know it is coming every year, and every year I act surprised. As if by some miracle one year it will stay 75 and sunny throughout the entire winter. (wouldn't that be lovely)

All I want to do is snug-a-bug with my boys, drink hot tea (or a skinny vanilla latte if Stone is so inclined to go pick me up one), read my favorite books, snug-a-bug with my boys, watch movies and cook home and heart warming foods.

Did I mention snug-a-bug with my boys? That Mr. Henry is one super snuggler and I love it.....so is Stone, but he tells me my hot body (not 'hot' hot, but temperature hot) makes him overheat. The nerve!

PS: check out this big boy.....he was sneaking a peek at the peeps on our block getting ready for 'Blocktober Fest'...the block party our street has every year. this year the weather was beautiful!

universe...throw me a bone

with this yellow vintage biergarten picnic table attached to it

please and thank you.

PS: seriously....if anyone by chance has one laying around or knows where I can purchase one (for under $499...no thank you NapaStyle) I would be over the moon

why i love him?....because he makes me laugh

stone when we were in italy...ages ago

i bought a bunch of black grapes the other day. i washed them, took them off the stem(s) and placed them in the fridge....all set to snack upon.

i was munching on a few of said tasty grapes, when the following conversation happened.....

court: i like these grapes, but they kinda leave a film in my mouth

stone: those aren't grapes

court: um, yes they are....they're black grapes

stone: well that explains a lot. all week i've been trying to figure out why those big blueberries taste like grapes

he is just so utterly absurd sometimes it makes me fall for him all over again.

no photo for this post, because it would be....weird

the scene: CVS Pharmacy

the why: waiting on Henry's antibiotic to be filled (double ear infections)

begin scene:Henry had a seriously pee'd up diaper so we meandered on in to the restroom to change it. After said diaper was changed I realized I was about to have some seriously pee'd up jeggings if I didn't take care of business.

dilemma: no where to put the Mr. while I take a tinkle

The baby changing station was outside of the stall so I couldn't leave him on it, which honestly I wouldn't do if it were in the stall since he is on.the.move and would bust his head.

There wasn't a purse hook in the stall and call me crazy but I am 100% anti putting my person on the dirty public restroom floor.

SO.....there I am holding the baby, who I am using as a sort of 'damn' to hold back the rather large suitcase heaved on to my back that I call a purse, hovering taking a tinkle. (sorry for the visual, but that is what this post is about and I don't put these buns on a public toilet!)

moral of the story: pee before you leave home....or find a way to always have mi madre with me. not only would it be a blast, but bathroom breaks would be a breeze!

random thought....

Stone, Henry and I were lounging around the other day, chatting about a little bit of this and that, when I had a thought...

there aren't really a lot of old ladies named Courtney

at least that I know of.

So am I gonna be one of those old birds with a child's name? Like Gracie or Lizzie or Maggie.....

the goings on in our bungalow

Oh hey there.

Nothing major going on over here....

unless you would considering HENRY TAKING HIS FIRST STEPS major!!!!!!!

(which I do!)

He has been cruising around the furniture in our bungalow for probably the last month

and yesterday while at my sister's house he decided it was high time he took four to five steps!!!

She of course got it on video....because she is awesome like that.

He walked for Stone and me a bunch last night too!....only as long as we had a treat in our hands though. I guess teaching a baby to walk is like training a dog?....or maybe that's just our silly child? Either way we'll take it!

We are so proud of our Mr. Henry!!!!

(photos by said awesome sister. check out her website www.hrwphoto.com .....if you live in Indy you should probably have her take some family photos for you because you.will.love.them.)

a few things....

1. I think tartar sauce is the worst

2. my 'secret movie' is Waterworld starring Kevin Costner

3. I'm pretty sure I have an addiction to cute dishes

4. I sometimes get nervous I am not a good momma

5. my husband is my light

6. The Shawshank Redemption, Titanic, The Notebook and The Last Samuri are 4 movies (that I can think of) that I seriously balled my eyes out while watching....might've even sniffled while in the theater for a couple

7. I only wash my hair twice a week (Tuesdays & Fridays)

8. I miss the weight of my pregnant belly

9. I cry at commercials all.the.time

10. I love to have my arm tickled

11. if I were a bird I would be a hawk...because my dad loves them and always spots them

12. I like the smell of skunks....not in a oh I want my house to smell like that kind of a way, but in a if I'm driving down the road and get a whiff for a few seconds it doesn't bother me kind of a way

don't look under the cup

See that flipped over cup?

Well actually it's a tea light holder....but thats neither here nor there.

See it?

The world's biggest wasp is under it. Wait. Let me rephrase.

The wasp with the world's biggest stinger lives under there.

It got under that tea light holder after I swatted it with one of Henry's bibs...failing to kill it, only managing to stun it long enough to flip the cup over onto it.

I haven't touched it in three days.

Last night Henry was leaning over the back of the couch starring at the bookshelf.....the bookshelf with the flipped over cup.

Stone looked at me and said, "He knows what lives under that cup....."

*sigh*

Sometimes I get lost in my 'bad place.

The place where I focus on the negative. The place where I become a version of myself I don't especially like.

solemn

needy

sad

moody

I forget to focus on, and be thankful for, all the lovely day to day bits happening around me.

Henry, using his little hands to pick up a cheddar goldfish and place it into his hungry little mouth.....listening to the sound of his five little teeth working away.

Having parents who I love because they are my parents, but also because they are truly and honestly people I would choose to be around if they weren't my parents.

Friends who I can call and talk to, who understand me and don't think I am a nutter (most of the time).

It's so silly for me to waste time (precious time) lost in my head....when it is so much prettier out here.

(check out these twins....)

summer rudeness

While walking into the house this evening, my hands full of this and that, I watched a mosquito sting me.

That's right...I watched it, and frankly I'm rather upset about it.

That little bug didn't even have the common courtesy to fly away once it was spotted! Bold I tell you. BOLD!

I can handle the phantom mosquito bite. You know....like when you are dining al fresco for dinner thinking to yourself how lovely it is to eat outside and then twenty minutes later you are a giant itchy and scratchy show thinking how lovely dinner inside could have been too????

But sting me right in front of my own face? I'm offended!...and itchy

(braving the bugs at Easley Winery's "Groovin in the Garden" Night)

his face

Henry was napping in my arms this morning. My most favorite place for him to nap.

I found myself starring at his face.

His nose.

His eyes.

The soft strawberry hair on top of his head.

When I was pregnant, I wondered what our baby would look like.

Like me?

Like Stone?

A perfect mix of the two of us?

This morning, while watching him sleep, I realized I've always known him.

His face....His nose. His eyes. His sweet strawberry hair.

Since the beginning of our time (Stone's and mine), he was meant to be ours.

I find peace in these thoughts.

In knowing our world is just as it should be.

It's funny because it's awkward

Saturday took us two hours north of home for Stone's sister's engagement party.

Good food and an open bar were to be enjoyed....

and enjoy we did!

But let's get to what this post really is about.

BEHOLD!.....

the toilet paper stuck to Stone's shoe on his journey back from the loo.

Yes, I laughed out loud when I saw it

and then I took a picture of it, so I could laugh about it later.

shopping....at home

This past weekend I had to go on a little shopping trip....in my guest bedroom closet.

It's a wondrous thing....that closet.

Housing all sorts of goodies (both purchased, gifted and given) that have not found a home in our home yet.

The shopping trip was due to our little "Summer Nights" party (more on that later), which required the use of our mega speakers. Said 'mega speakers' are in fact not that mega, they are just a whole lot larger and uglier than I would like and are usually housed in our armoire on the shelf above the TV. But like I said, the "Summer Nights" party required them in a desperate way.....which left me with a barren shelf.

That's right...barren. Positively lonely. Void of anything and in desperate need of some sprucing.

So, take a trip I did into the guest bedroom closet. And here is what I came up with.

I like it.

It's simple/random/silly/totally me.

And best of all I didn't leave the house to shop....or spend any (more) money!

three peas in a pod

My amazing sister took our first real family photos for us last week.

I fall in love with my husband and son over and over again every time I look at these.

(I seriously turn to mush when I look at this one)

dog days

our bungalow doesn't cool down so well

(especially in 95+ degree weather)

which means it's slumber party time!...off to the (downstairs) guest bedroom we go

check out snoozefest 2011