Olivia's First Birthday Party

The day after Christmas we hosted Olivia's first birthday party at our house. We went with an Olivia theme. How fitting, right? I especially love that Tori just kind of let me do whatever I wanted. I promise I wasn't too much of a stage mom with the party planning.

Here are some of the details:

I especially thought these coffee stirrers with the Olivia image were super cute.

I put this in the wreath outside.

A party wouldn't be complete without a banner.

And the birthday girl herself! I think she was a fan of the cake!

And the presents! One lucky baby.

Get Organized

A few weeks ago when we went to Shreveport for the weekend, my mom, sister and Aunt Linda decided that as a gift they would organize my Aunt Pam's pantry. (Where was I? Well someone had to take the pictures....and watch Finley.) As a person who loves a before and after, I thought I would share this with you.

This is Aunt Pam's pantry before:

This is Aunt Pam's pantry after:

Pretty amazing, isn't it?

Finley rocking her 1st pair of RayBans

Her dad is an eye doctor ;)

Santa Picks

Santa was very good to Tommy and I this year. We had a great Christmas and were very blessed to spend it with all of our family. It was so fun to see the nieces and nephews open their gifts. Max was especially fun! He is so talkative and was very grateful for all of his presents. (Which were a ton!)

One of the very coolest gifts we got was from my sister. She had a print (and tiny print) commissioned (ha - sounds soooo very important) of our babies!!!

The artist, Geoffrey Benzing, did an awesome job capturing our two angels. (I use that term loosely.) See them below.

Carter - he is our miniature Pudge.


And Pudge is our big boy weighing in at 95 pounds.
Thank you, Allison & Kyle. We absolutely love our gift. It means so much to us. I will let you guys see it when I get it framed.

This year Tommy actually bought me clothes. We have been together over 7 years and I swear this is the first attempt he made. He did a great job. However, the pictures I took of myself in them was pretty much an epic fail and they do not exist online anymore. He got me this purple top and I love this necklace from my mom.

And he got me this white top. While it looks like I am wearing a v-neck t-shirt in this picture, I am actually wearing a silk top with ruffles.
Mama also got a brand new bag! I love it! (Tommy, quit reading.) I actually threw away my old bag, which was falling apart and probably two and a half years old. My mom also got me a new wallet and the infamous iPhone gloves, which are pretty much awesome.
We also scored a new Keurig. We love, love, love it! Who knew making coffee could be so easy? I am especially in love with the reservoir and that making coffee now takes zero effort. I will do whatever I can to save five minutes.
My inlaws got us our fireplace screen. It is a perfect fit and I think it looks great up against our fireplace.

Tommy also got me the CUTEST swarovski bride and groom cows. I collect the miniature collection (go figure) and these are so adorable.

We are very blessed and so thankful for all of the love we receive!

I would love to know what Santa brought you guys this year! I love hearing about people's favorite things. Do tell!

Facebook Update

Today I am going to share some of my favorite Facebook status updates.

First, Finley and Cate (Emily's daughter who is five weeks older then Fin) met Santa today. Clearly, they loved him.

Finley is normally oh so happy! Like this. (This is honestly 100% what my sister looked like as a toddler. It is so weird. In a good way.)

In other news, Iris ran into someone "famous" at Utica Square. Can I get any guesses?

Hint #1 - She referred to him as "Mr. Drummond." (For the record, Iris' grandfather was his doctor, so I guess the formality was warranted. He now also knows that her son's middle name is his first name - Ladd. :) I think she will soon get us an invite to the ranch.

Hint #2 - You might recognize him better from this angle.

In non-Facebook related news, I appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers for my PawPaw. I really appreciate it.

Now, off to wrapping. Sigh. My least favorite Christmas chore...it ranks right up there with putting up all of the decorations.

Oh and if you still haven't figured out who Iris saw today, click here.

Misc.

If you waited until the last minute like me to think about Christmas cards, I have a solution for you. I love, love, love these newsletter cards from Plaid. Go to Merry Newsinator to create your own...and be sure to send me one! I've only done about 8. You can see the link in my twitter feed (or click here) for another one that I created. (Kelsey, not sure if you can see it, but you totally have a shout out on this card.)


I have also been starring some fun blog posts in google reader the past few days. Here are my Top 3 that you must visit:

1- Sarah at Life {Sweet} Life posts about how to make your blogger blog cell phone compatible. For all of you reading this on your phone, you should be pleasantly surprised.

2- You will LOVE these cute New Year's Printables showcased at Stem. They are free download, but ask that a donation be made to Operation Give Thanks so that they can continue their mission of providing baby showers to military families. Now I just need to find myself a New Year's party to be invited to. Iris? I think you should have one! : )

3- If you are like me and need all the gift wrapping inspiration you can get, check out Tip Junkie for some great ideas.
Lastly, in not so fun and festive news...my aunt emailed us tonight and my sweet PawPaw is not doing so well. If you guys could keep him in your prayers, I would really appreciate it.

Isn't he the cutest? This was taken last year on his 95th birthday!

It's in the Details

I went to lunch with my friend Lou Ann today and I had to share her clever packaging with you guys. I love a cute presentation (though I am totally guilty of not always wrapping my gifts cleverly). She took a simple bottle of wine and made it really special with a custom label her boyfriend made. (Also, she used my favorite type of wine - Riesling!)
In addition, she attached a little ornament! I love how a simple gift that we all give and get at the holidays was custom and unique.

And because I cannot leave you hanging like that, I did a little search and found this really cute (and free) printable label from Better Homes and Gardens for you guys to use on last minute holiday bottles of wine! So you can feel as special as Lou Ann made me feel!



Let me know if you have any other last minute gift ideas!

MIA

Um, anyone else totally busy? Or perhaps I am just too lazy to blog. Either way, I have still been keeping up with everyone else's posts. And have even won a contest. Check out Maddycake's Muse - she has some a great 12 days of Christmas contest going on and I am now a recipient of Sprinkle's cupcakes. Yay me! I cannot wait to make them.

This weekend I went to Louisiana for the weekend and have some fun pictures to share with you guys. It was a lot of fun to see my family! More on that later this week.

Tommy had the pad to himself this weekend, so nothing really happened on the housekeeping front, so we are taking care of that together right now - he is vacuuming as I type. (It is a Christmas miracle.)

My Go-To Appetizer

As you guys know, cooking isn't really my thing. However, I have one go-to appetizer that I always bring to parties that gets rave reviews - bruschetta. I searched my pictures and it seems that it isn't exactly something I have photographed at said parties, so this is as close as it gets.

The bruschetta is on the far left. Yeah...I know this is a stretch. :)

Of course, the recipe is very, very easy. Trust me, if I can do it, you can too. This recipe was adapted from this one from Kraft foods. So I am not that original. :)

Recipe:

Chop 8-10 roma tomatoes and put them in a bowl

Create the Good Seasons Zesty Italian Dressing according to the directions on the packet. (I use a Good Seasons Cruet that I bought on the salad dressing aisle.) As a side note, I also make my dressing with the low-fat directions on the packet. It basically is substituting half of the oil with water.

In the cruet add about 2-4 tablespoons of parmesan cheese.

Pour over the tomatoes and top with more grated parmesan. I usually use most of the dressing, but probably have enough left over for two small side salads.

If you have no idea what I am talking about when I say "packet of dressing," here is an image. The packets are usually on a high shelf on the salad dressing aisle.

Since I am too lazy to bake baguette slicess (and honestly, they can get soggy in transport), I buy boxes of Old London Melba Snacks. They work perfectly. Maybe even better than a baguette.

Thanks also to Lindsey for reminding me to post this! Hope you guys enjoy!