Valentines Day

We had such a WONDERFUL Valentines Day weekend! Trav and I decided to celebrate on Friday night so that we would miss the crowds on Saturday. He took me to one of my favorite restaurants...Zanatas! The food was so delicious! We had a yummy salad to start off with... it had spinach, dates, grapes, pecans and gorgonzola cheese. It's my favorite! Then Trav had the Surf and Turf (steak, Crab cake and another salad) and I had Honey Rosemary Salmon. Mine came with the cutest little potatoes that were purple and pink. I had never seen such a thing! For dessert we had flourless chocolate cake... another one of my favorites!!! After supper we went to see, "He's just not that into you." It was so cute! Any movie would have been fine with me... it was such a treat to just spend time with Trav!
Saturday I fixed Travis and Emma a Valentines breakfast of orange rolls and fruit salad. Around lunchtime Emma and I headed over to Melissa and Macey's for a baby Valentine party! It was SO much fun to visit with all the moms while the babies played! She had the yummiest lunch for us... chicken salad on croissants, spinach dip (courtesy of Amanda!), pink lemonade, chips & salsa, chocolate fondue (courtesy of Taren!) and coconut cupcakes! It was all SO good! Each babe had their own Valentines Box to put Valentines from one another in :)
Saturday evening Emma went to bed nice and early and we had Burger King for supper! Baby #2 can't seem to get enough Whopper Jr.s, fries and Dr. Pepper!!! :)Valentines morning!


Valentines Box

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Today is my mom's birthday! We love her so much! Have a great birthday Mom! Wish we could be there to celebrate with you:)

Maternity Swimsuits...seriously?!

Since I found out I would be pregnant through the summer I have been on the hunt for a cute maternity swimsuit. Before I started looking I had visions of cute swimsuits in my head. Little did I know that the words Maternity Swimsuit and CUTE do not and will not ever go in the same sentence. I don't know if designers think that once you become pregnant all of your fashion sense and style goes out the window or what? Each swimsuit has a different problem... follow along and you will see a few examples of what I mean...




Swimsuit #1 - My number one maternity swimsuit pet peeve is "The Tent." May I point out that you already feel big and whale-like when you're pregnant... so why would you want to pitch a tent over it?









Swimsuit #2- Take a good look at this beauty. Does anyone know where I'm going with this? Once again you feel big and whale-like... why would anyone in their right mind want to add layers and layers of fluffy ruffles over your belly? This swimsuit makes me laugh every time I look at it:)





Swimsuit #3- First I'd like you to notice the tent-like action going on above. And second... the print and color. Now you've heard the rule, "prints make you look larger," right?! So if this is true... (which it is) why do ALL maternity swimsuits have humongous and hideous prints all over them?


These are the main 3 problems that I've come across while maternity swimsuit shopping... Tentage, Ruffles and Prints.

I did stumble across one LOVELY swimsuit... it's normal! There is no tentage....there are no ruffles and there is definitely NO prints on it!


Isn't it great!? I've already ordered mine... I wasn't about to take a chance at it being sold out. Then what would I do? :) I'd either be a whale with a tent, ruffles or a lovely Hawaiin print:)

Farmers Market

On Saturday we headed downtown Dallas to the Farmers Market. It is one of my favorite places to go as a family! The weather was gorgeous...in the 70s! Before we hit the market we ate lunch at a yummy Mexican restaurant right across the street. Emma was still a little fussy from being sick all week... hence the majority of the pictures where she's scowling:) I took a picture of what I bought... peppers, a pineapple, limes, a grapefruit and strawberries... all of it for $9.25... not to shabby! And every single piece of fruit was SO fresh and yummy! One of the last pics I posted is of later in the day when we got home. We were laying with Emma on the bed and Trav would tell her to pat her little toad belly... she would giggle and pat pat pat! :)
We are feeling SO good this week! After being down and sick for a week you have a new zest for life! We have been busy cleaning, organizing, throwing away and simply getting our house in order! There's nothing like a good spring cleaning:)
I'm really looking forward to this weekend... Trav's sister and her family are coming up for a visit. I've been dying to try a new dessert recipe that is WAY to big for just the two of us so this is the perfect opportunity! It's called Cream Puff Cake. My mom and I make yummy cream puffs but those can be somewhat time consuming.... so it's basically the same recipe but you make it in a pan and cut squares for everyone. I've been craving it since last week!
Have a great Wednesday and weekend everyone!

The Sickies

To say that we've been a little sick over here is a HUGE understatement! The Howry Family had the flu bug and we had it worse than I have EVER had it in my life! It started on Sunday night with Emma being up all night with a tummy ache...then Monday night with her throwing up...then Wednesday Trav and I both came down with it... and now it is Friday and I do believe that we are all on our way to feeling MUCH MUCH better!
As for the picture above... please don't look at me... but take a good look at Emma's face:) This is at 11pm when she is supposed to be in bed sleeping but is instead staying up watching a movie with us because she kept crying and waking up in her bed. I had thought she was sleeping.... but then Trav showed me the picture and she's grinning from ear to ear behind her binky:) little stinker!
I am really looking forward to our weekend! The weather is supposed to be in the 60s and beautiful! The only plans we have are a few walks to the park, grilling, going to the Dallas Farmers Market for some fresh fruit and veggies and church! Oh and of course fishing for Trav:)
Have a great weekend everybody and make sure to wash your hands thoroughly so you don't get the flu:)

Emma Kate is ONE!!!:)

Look at the difference a year makes!!!
The birthday girl is ONE! We had the best weekend full of celebration! Friday was her birthday. We started the day by having breakfast together... all of Emma's favorites... blueberry waffles and peaches. After her morning nap we headed out to Tom Thumb to buy a cake for her birthday supper. I LOVE Tom Thumb! I seriously could live there! :) Everyone was very helpful and pleasant! We ended up eating a birthday lunch there... turkey sandwich and fruit salad. Travis came home from work around 4 and shortly thereafter Grandma, Auntie Bekka, Auntie Kaitlin and Uncle Tim came from Missouri! The weather was beautiful so us girls went for a walk before supper. For supper we headed over to Hank and Tricia's for pizza and to set up for the party the next day. Emma was SO funny when we sang happy birthday to her... she acted very bashful and shy but smiled from ear to ear the whole time! She LOVED her chocolate cake...she nibbled politely at it for awhile with one hand...after a few bites I guess she decided that wasn't enough... so she took both hands and picked up all of her cake and shoved it in her mouth:) funny girl!
Saturday was Emma's birthday party. We had it at her Nan and Pop's house. It was a simple yet fun party! We had grilled burgers, baked mac n' cheese, fruit salad, baked beans, potato salad and chips! For dessert my mom, sisters and I made Key Lime Cupcakes with Cream Cheese icing and Strawberry Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting. From what I hear they were very delicious! I didn't give them a try... Baby #2 would rather have real food than sweets... perhaps it's a little boy?! :) After lunch we opened presents.... everyone was SO generous! She received lots of clothes, toys, books (my favorite!!!) and a precious princess backpack from her BFF Macey Butler that has her name embroidered on it! Thankyou everyone for all of the wonderful gifts and for making Emma's birthday so special!
As if the weekend couldn't get anymore busy... Sunday was Emma's Baby Dedication at church. It was very special to have both of our families there! Emma did a pretty good job... she started to get a little fussy since it was naptime. :) After church we came back to our house for a delicious lunch of Chili and French Bread.
We had such a wonderful weekend! I can't believe that my little baby is ONE! I love her SO MUCH! :) It's amazing to me how much she's changed in just one year. I can't imagine what she'll be like in another years time!
Just a little update on Baby #2! Baby is growing nicely:) My stomach has begun to stick out a little bit. Not enough to look pregnant...just chubby:) I've been feeling fantastic...just a little tired. We should find out in about a month what the sex of the baby is! Some days I think it's a girl and others I think it's a boy. Trav is just sure that it's a little boy:)
Have a great Tuesday everyone! I promise I'll be more faithful in keeping up with the blog!







On her birthday morning reading her cards:)
Enjoying our time in Tom Thumb
Sweet Birthday Girl!
"Happy Birthday Dear Emma.."
Miss Bashful
The Birthday Cake aftermath
Princess Emma on the morning of her party! :)
The birthday decorations
Strawberry Cupcakes
Chocolate dipped cookies
Emma with her Aunties
Watching for the guests to arrive
Opening her presents
I could just kick myself... we didn't take a family picture on Sunday from Emma's Baby Dedication. This is the only one I have...it was when we got home and she was fussy and ready for her nap:)

Still here:)

There IS a reason haven't been posting since Christmas! And here is that reason.... I left my camera cord at my parent's house in Missouri. Therefore I have no way of uploading pics to my computer...and personally I think that posts without pictures are a snooze:)

My fam will be down next weekend for Emma's birthday... and with them will come my camera cord... which means I will return to the blogging world!


Besides all of that we are doing great! Emma will be ONE next week! And Baby #2 is growing nicely! Have a great week and stay updated for a new blog makeover and new postings WITH pictures!