Weekending (Late): Easter Edition

I'm recapping our weekend a day late, which is pretty much my norm lately anyway, but I had my TBB Asks post yesterday. If you missed it, check it out!

This weekend was a lot of fun and seriously flew by!

The highlights included:

~My one SIL, youngest niece and MIL getting into town late Thursday night, and staying up much later than we should have!

~A low key, fun morning all together, then meeting MG for lunch since he'd taken a half day. Followed that up with a trip to Mount Vernon since my SIL and niece had never been. The weather started off suuuuper warm and nice and then clouds and wind rolled in, so this smart girl with her short sleeves was a liiiiiiittle chilly.

Ella giving Martha Washington the side eye--especially when she told us that 18 month olds used to be put into corsets!

~MG and Ella left after about an hour and a half since it was chilly, starting to rain, and Ella needed to get down for a nap, while the rest of us stayed and toured George Washington's house, and the museum afterwards before heading home.

~Went out to dinner at Clyde's that night and Ella was a riot! She ate probably a grown man's portion of food (I don't know how!) and was begging for french fries (squealing with her little fists all tight). It was hilarious! The whole meal was delicious and we had so many laughs that by the end of it, we were all saying how our faces hurt!

~Put little miss to bed once we got home, and then rented Jumanji which all of us had already seen with the exception of MG. It was still hilarious the second time around!

~Saturday morning Ella slept in a little bit and apparently all of that extra energy encouraged her to start dancing anytime she hears music. If you saw my instastory, you saw our girl getting down with her bad self. Now, she wiggles to any music that she hears which is freaking adorable.

~Everyone left mid morning to head back home and MG and I ran some errands with Ella and then went for a family walk since the weather was nice. A low key pizza night in for dinner was perfection to wrap up the day.

~MG and I binged some more on Poldark (Obsessed!!)

~Sunday morning was Ella's first Easter. She had her first little Easter basket of things, and enjoyed pulling everything out of the basket haha.

~Ella happily represented some Easter bunny ears (for the photos before pulling them off), and there are about 6 different photos that were all too adorable for words:

this one ranks up there with the reindeer antlers from Christmas--I can't help but smile when I look at it :)

~That afternoon my mom came and our neighborhood had a little Easter egg hunt for the kids, that we went to. Ella found her two eggs and was happily content to sit and put them in her mouth while the other kids ran around collecting the rest. 

~MG made Creamy Shells and Beef  in the InstantPot for dinner, which was delicious.

~Ella spent some more time with my mom before bedtime and then my mom headed home too.

~More Poldark was watched and then we wound down for the evening before gearing up to head back to work this week.

I have to say, the past week, especially this weekend, Ella's little personality has just been coming out more and more and it's so fun to see. She's so interactive with other people, and the dancing is just the cutest thing ever. As busy as she was last week, and it was tiring, I miss being at home with her and seeing that personality blossom every day!

Hoping your weekend and Easter, if you celebrate, was awesome too!

{WHW}: Winter Break 2017

It's been so long since I've been here because I was soaking up my Winter Break and enjoying baby snuggles and play time, not working, visiting family, and Ella's first Christmas!

Here's what we were up to (be prepared for pics and cuteness):

~HH with my friend--so nice to get out of the house, and MG handled bedtime alone, like a champ!

~Before the weekend, my mom came over and we did an early Christmas with her including opening Ella's presents and going out to dinner. Someone was very excited about her new toys, and the new chair she got from us (so cute)!

#likeaboss

~Saturday we drove up to PA in the morning. Luckily it was overcast which made for good napping weather for Ella.

~On Christmas Eve we had lunch with MG's good friend from HS and his son, and found out that they are expecting their second in June!

~That evening, we attended Christmas mass, and Ella managed to keep it together for the whole thing, and then we headed to MG's aunt's house for a short bit just to see some extended family, but we pushed Ella's bedtime and she was letting us know about it haha.

~Christmas morning was so fun--we woke up and went over to my SIL's house and opened presents. Ella was wide eyed at everything, and enjoyed opening her presents (read: attempting to eat the tissue paper lol). She got a lot of cute outfits, new toys, and books! Spoiled for sure!

~We came back to my SIL's that night for Christmas dinner with the rest of our family and opened more presents, played, ate (my BIL is an amazing cook), and then we had to head home early because of Ella's bedtime. She also started having separation anxiety so I had an extra 16 pounds on me the whole night lol

~We stayed in PA until Thursday morning. It was nice to casually hang out with the family, run errands, go see a movie--my first since before Ella! (We saw Jumanji and I we all really liked it). All too soon, we were packing up our car (to the gills because of all the stuff!!!) and heading home. 

~MG took off the whole week so we got 10 whole days together which was incredible. We had a dinner time playdate at my good friend's house, and went out to dinner with our friends who have almost 2 year old twins on New Years Eve (it was a 5pm dinner lol).

In between all of that, Ella turned 8 months old. Not sure how that's possible, but she is starting to make moves to crawl, eating 3 meals a day (now that I was home to try and do it, and she wasn't sick), rolling around, smiling up a storm, and just being the best little baby we could ask for.

Otherwise, we've just enjoyed our time away from stress, work and sicknesses! Hoping we can keep the sickies at bay for a while!!

Link up with Jessi and I and share what's been hap-"pinning" with you lately!

{WHW}: M.I.A. edition

Wow, I didn't anticipate being away for as long as I have, but illness took over last week and I ended up home several days of the week with Ella because she was refusing bottles...so being the only other source of nutrients, mama stayed home.

What else has been hap-"pinning" over here?

In addition to Ella's virus (the fever came back last week and ended up going away Thursday late at night), MG and I both came down with colds, too. So this weekend was spent getting us all on the mend.

Thankfully on Sunday we were all feeling eons better than we were on Saturday, including little miss, and we found a place with a free Santa and no line (doth such thing exist? It does!), so Ella got to meet Santa for the first time and she did SO well, just as I thought she would (but was totally prepared that she may freak out).

Her outfit was courtesy of my SIL and was the perfect one to meet Santa in

I may be biased, but gosh I think she's adorable :)

We got a little family photo action with Santa, too.

my whole heart in one photo

Monday started my first day of 2 straight weeks at home with my girl, this week being completely me and Ella since MG still has to work and it's been so fun! The days go by so quickly, but it's been nice to spend the extra time with my girl.

She also apparently decided to save up starting to attempt to crawl for when we were together, which started Monday night. We haven't gotten a full crawl yet, but we've got butt in the air action, and some forward scooches. Occasionally she ends up going backwards, so we're still working on it haha

Ella and I had a little mommy daughter lunch date with my friend Mary Katherine and her daughter yesterday. It was so fun and strange to see them both in high chairs at the table next to us. It was also a LOT more work than it's ever been before. Ella had a sample of chicken, mashed potatoes, ravioli, and peanut butter baby puffs. She probably was like "this is the best day ever" because we've been doing a lot more purees than solid foods since she has been choking/gagging a lot with her cold and it's terrified me to feed her at home when I'm by myself in case something happens (this weekend she gagged on something and ended up throwing up. This did NOTHING to help quell my fears).

It was also 60 degrees yesterday, so we took a walk together and it was so nice not having to worry about it being too cold for us to get out of the house.

She's all "mom, that's not a good angle to take our photo" haha

Tomorrow I've got happy hour plans made, and Friday MG gets out of work early, my mom's coming, and I've got a massage booked! The week is already shaping up pretty nicely.

Today, though, Ella gets round 2 of her flu shot and I'm not looking forward to the impending fever that will likely accompany it like the first dose. I've had about enough of fevers for a while thank you!

So, that's basically what I've been up to in my absence. I'll be honest, I may not be around much, or at all, over the next 2 weeks because I'm really going to be soaking up this time with my girl. It's few and far between and I've just loved this extra time together--kind of a special early Christmas gift to me (even though it's work, but I'm reminded more of just how much I miss my baby during the days).

So, please don't stop coming by, I just want to maximize my time with this little girl who is quickly becoming less and less little with each passing day.

Hoping your holiday prep is coming together smoothly and no stressing!!

Now it's your turn to link up with Jessi and I and share what's hap-"pinning" with you!

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Holiday Card || 2017

I'm ahead of the game this year and ordered my holiday card yesterday! Every year I search around for a great deal and every year I come back to SimplyToImpress because they have a HUGE selection of cards to choose from, and their prices and discounts are always better than any other website (I got 40% off  and free shipping when I ordered yesterday).

This is NOT a sponsored post, I'm just letting you know where I got my cards (that I've paid for in full, with my own money) because I know everyone likes a good deal! They adjusted two photos that weren't where I wanted them within the window pane, and gave me a digital proof within 2 hours of me submitting my order before I approved it. Easy peasy!

As I predicted last year, our card has a slightly different focus this year than in years' past (and I couldn't be more excited about it!)

Don't mind the watermark--I dont want anyone stealing my precious girl's face and using it for their own creepy devices

For those of you getting our card in the mail...pretend like you haven't seen this already (it will also be Watermark-free haha)! :)

Now, I just need to get these and get all of the envelopes printed and mailed, but at least the first step is done!

On another note, Ella is 7 months old today. Where oh where is time going??? Don't mind me, I'll be off in the corner sobbing quietly....:)

{WHW}: Thanks-giving it up!

Hey friends, sorry I was MIA at the start of the week--we were coming off of a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend, and also battling a stomach bug with our little Ella on Monday so it was just kind of a rough start to the week! But I'm back with a recap of our Thanksgiving--Ella's first!

~Wednesday late afternoon, MG's parents got into town and we headed out to eat for the most tasty dinner! Ella enjoyed eating pieces of bread and mashed potatoes, and sucking on our water glasses on the outside (super funny video of that which I can't seem to get to upload)

~Woke up Thursday morning to the cutest Turkey on the block! I could have eaten her up, she was so adorable!!

~We decided to slow cook our turkey this year so MG got to prepping that while we watched the Macy's Day parade and had some play time in the morning before little miss went down for her nap.

~She got dressed in her Thanksgiving outfit and was the model for my FIL's iphone photos

I smell a Christmas card photo!!! lol

~My mom came over early afternoon and we ended up sitting down to dinner around 4:30. Ella even got a seat at the table and enjoyed trying out some pieces of turkey and sweet potato from my plate (everything always tastes better off of someone else's plate, doesn't it?).
P.S. slow cooked turkey is freaking delicious!

(thanks to my pal Lynn for the adorable Thanksgiving/turkey bib!)
~We ate so much good food, and spent some time just hanging out after eating. Then we engaged in some apple pie (we aren't huge pumpkin pie fans at our house)

~The next morning my FIL went to Costco in order to see if we could get me the iPhone8 Plus. We'd tried Target the day before but they didn't have the 64 gig that I wanted and Costco had a much better deal. Well, surprise surprise, my FIL got one (they didn't have the color I wanted, but oh well)...as in, he got it FOR me for Christmas! Such a super sweet and totally unexpected surprise!!

 I, of course, took full advantage of the Portrait mode immediately (90% of the reason I wanted the phone)

~My in-laws headed back up to PA in the early afternoon which we were bummed about, but were so glad to get to see them and spend time together.

~That night for dinner, MG and I decided to FINALLY get my sushi fix and went to one of our new favorite places and ordered away! It was everything I'd been missing over the last year.

~Saturday morning we set out to put up our Christmas decorations. MG worked on the lights outside while I put up our little tree on the inside. This is likely the last year that we'll be doing this tiny guy as our main tree, but it was fun looking through all of our ornaments that we've collected over the years, especially the ones we got for little miss last year

~We met up with some friends and their son for lunch Saturday afternoon and Ella got herself cute for her lunch date haha

Well this outfit got ruined towards the end of lunch when someone got a mad case of diarrhea...all over mommy's legs (and then my shirt...and sleeves...). The stomach bug had gone through two other kids at daycare and Ella had stayed home from daycare during the week, but apparently it caught up with her. She seemed fine otherwise, but we headed home since one of us (me) didn't have a change of clothes in the diaper bag. Luckily we were done with lunch and with friends who totally understood.

~We had a low key afternoon at home, took Ella for a walk since it was nice-ish weather out and just enjoyed the day/evening....and Christmas lights!

~Sunday we ran errands and had another low key day together, watching football, and spending time with our girl (who was still battling the 'rrhea....)

~We busted out Ella's high chair to try and start doing some more solids with her. I think we're leaning towards doing Baby Led Weaning since she is NOT a fan of purees it seems. We stuck to teething crackers Sunday night which she enjoyed, despite gagging throughout (and giving me a heart attack)

So that was our weekend in a nutshell. Family, food, and fun--just what we'd want out of a weekend (minus the poop hahaha)! Hoping your Thanksgiving was perfect and poo-free! haha

Link up with Jessi and I to share what's hap-"pinning" with you!