Charlotte's Magnificent Month of May Giveaways

Tomorrow is May 1st and with the first day of May comes the beginning of Charlotte's Magnificent Month of May Giveaways!  I am so excited about this because I have asked some of my very favorite vendors to share their products with you.  I can't wait to show you what all I have lined up!  But before they start with the very first giveaway tomorrow I wanted to run over some things first.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE comment to win! These giveaways are open to ANYONE who reads my blog.  The more people that comment the better because the more stores get publicity from this the more willing they might be to do more giveaways in the future.  So please comment and enter to win!  Share the news about the giveaways on Twitter or Facebook or through email and get lots of people to enter!

Please know that I am not getting anything for doing these giveaways other than joy at sharing things I love with you.  I contacted all of these vendors, I wasn't solicited by anyone for these giveaways.  I am not receiving any compensation, products, or discounts to share these items with you.  These are things that I truly love and vendors that I have enjoyed working with.  I wouldn't share something with you if I didn't use it or love it.

I will be having a giveaway every Saturday and Wednesday throughout the month of May.  I might throw a few more giveaways in too on other days, we'll just have to see!  Each giveaway entry period will last for one week.  I'll use Random.org to draw the winners each week and will post the winner in a new post.  I will also email the winner if they have an email attached to their user that they enter with or include one in the comment.  If I don't hear back from the winner within 24 hours, I will draw again.  Being a member of my family or a close friend doesn't exclude you from entering and it definitely doesn't increase your chances! :)  These giveaways will be as fair as I can make them!

I have a giveaway page with a link right under my header if you have questions or need refreshers on the rules as the month goes on.  The rules are as follows:

1. You can enter each giveaway up to four times.
2. To enter each giveaway you must first check out the vendor's site and follow the instructions detailed on the giveaway.
3. For an additional entry you can become a follower of my blog (click 'Follow' on the left sidebar above all of the pictures of my lovely followers).
4. For an additional entry you can blog about the month of giveaways (once you've blogged once you can enter this additional entry for all subsequent giveaways without having to blog again).  Just leave a link to your blog post in the comments.
5. For an additional entry you can tweet about each giveaway.  Please either include my twitter (@TalesOfAPeanut) in your tweet or leave a link to your tweet in your comment.

The whole purpose of these giveaway's is to celebrate Charlotte's first birthday and to introduce you to items that I love.  I hope that you enjoy this next month as much as I do!

Cooking through The Pioneer Woman's Cookbook

I haven't made a ton in the past few weeks.  But what I've made has been good!

Cowboy Calzones

Very good calzone's.  They could also serve as a breakfast burrito because of the sausage.  I just used store bought refrigerated pizza crust but if you do that make sure you get enough.  One pizza crust container made four calzone's which was more than we could eat but it only used maybe 1/3 of the filling.  So we'll be having calzone's this weekend too!  I couldn't find the recipe online so email me if you want it.

Flower Pot Desserts

These aren't in the cookbook but they're a PW recipe so I wanted to include them.  These desserts are so easy and super cute!  I made then when I took dinner to my aunt and her family.  The thing is try to find smaller pots though because I think they're still eating the ice cream out of these three days later!

Since we haven't been having any takers in joining in on this recently I'm not going to add a MckLinky.  But feel free to comment if you've made a PW recipe recently!

10 Things

My friend Heather posted a meme about "10 Things You May or May Not Know About Me" and I decided to play along. 

1. I always wanted to be a stay-at-home Mom.  I didn't always know if I would be able to be a SAHM but that was always my dream.  While it is A LOT harder than I thought it would be, I wouldn't trade this job for anything in the world.

2. I love politics.  I worked in Washington for one of our Senator's the summer after my sophomore year and I loved every second of it.  However, a lot of times I have to act like an ostrich and ignore what's going on because I get too upset/worked up/frustrated/emotional if I pay a lot of attention to it.

3. I LOVE to read.  I can read almost a book every other day even with Charlotte taking up most of my attention.  The Kindle app on my iPhone and the free book downloads that they have have been something that I've really loved.  Because, in case you haven't been to a bookstore recently, books are EXPENSIVE especially if you read 3-4 a week!  So if you're ever looking to buy me a gift and you're stuck a gift card to a bookstore is always one of the most appreciated gifts!

4. I get very overwhelmed making decisions.  I am such a Type A person that I overanalyze and think too hard about things.  For instance, the other day my Mom and I went to a plant sale and I almost left with nothing because I was too overwhelmed with all of the options.  Thankfully she took over and guided me and we left with beautiful plants.  But don't ask me to pick a restaurant or you will be eternally frustrated with my lack of decision making ability!

5. I am a TV addict.  I correlate it to my love of books and stories but regardless I have a long list of shows that I MUST watch every week.  We rarely watch in real time any more but the shows get dvr'd and we watch them later.  My list of Must See TV has decreased since Charlotte arrived, you should have seen me in college.  I had to make out a schedule of what was taping on which tv so that I wouldn't miss anything!  Ok, I'm embarrassed that I just admitted that.  Ignore this point! :)

6. I have decided that there is no better feeling than having your little girl lay her head on your chest to give you a hug.  Just holding her and smelling her sweet baby scent and hugging her makes everything better.  It was wonderful to hold her when she was little but it's extra special now that she can purposefully do it.

7.  I am neither a night owl or a morning person.  If I could I would go to sleep early and sleep late.  Back in high school Jason and I would talk on the phone at night until 9 or 9:30 and then I would go to sleep and he would go do his homework.  In college he would leave my house pretty early and then tell me the next day that he stayed up playing xbox with his roommate until 1 am.  I think the first year of our marriage was tough because he had to learn how to go to bed early! 

8.  While I am a big fan of Alabama I get bored at football games sometimes.  I am definitely not like Kelly who stands and cheers and yells the entire game.  I've fallen asleep in the middle of games before -- yes, some of those times I was pregnant but I've done it when I wasn't pregnant too!  I would rather be there for the beginning of the game and the end of the game and then go hang out somewhere inside for the middle of the game.  I envision that's what Charlotte and I will be doing for most of the next few seasons!

9.  I am a big online shopper.  To me, especially with a small child, it's just so easy and it's nice to usually have a full selection of items/colors/sizes to choose from instead of a limited selection in the store.  It always kind of made me laugh when people would say that they didn't shop online because of fear of identity theft.  Then our credit card number was stolen and until we traced where it was stolen (we still had the card in our possesssion) I didn't really purchase much online.  But then we found that it was stolen at our hotel in California along with almost everyone else's in our group.  So, really, online shopping is probably more secure than handing your card over to a sketchy desk clerk even if it's a really nice hotel!

10.  The songs to children's shows are annoyingly catchy and get stuck in my head.  I walk around for most of the day singing, "La, la, la, la Elmo's World" or The Wonder Pets song.  It's times like that when I actually feel like a Mommy.

If you need something to post today or just want to jump in I tag you to play along!

Quack! Quack!

We've had quite a week this week!

Charlotte has really mastered clapping and is LOVING being able to clap.  She is so cute just clapping away! This morning I looked on her at 7:30 (30 minutes before she's supposed to be up) and she was sitting in her crib clapping.  I'm not sure what she did that she thought was so funny but she was so cute!

AND this week Memma taught Charlotte what the duck says!  Now when you ask her what the duck says she says, "Quack! Quack! Quack!"  She's not great at quacking in front of other people but she quacks ALL THE TIME around here!  Yesterday she was quacking instead of going to sleep for her nap. 

And here are some cute pictures Jason took last night of Charlotte with her crazy hair after her bath.

Charlotte is also getting a little more steady on her feet.  She has started walking with her walker all over the house.  She just walks in circles around the stairs.  She is pretty fearless and even when it gets ahead of her a little and she falls she don't get upset and just gets back up and keeps walking.  Her steering is a little iffy and she gets upset when she runs into something and can't get back on track.  But it's so cute watching her wobble on her feet!  We'll see if she's close to to walking soon or not.

Recipe Wednesday - Parmesan Chicken

I took dinner to my aunt and her family last night and made double so that we could eat the same thing.  I made Parmesan chicken and eating it again reminded me how good it is.  This was one of the first recipes that I posted and I know I have a lot of new readers since then so for those of you who don't search for recipes on my recipe blog I thought I'd share. 

Parmesan Chicken
Preheat the oven to 450
Serves 4 - 6

1 clove garlic, minced (you can substitute garlic from the spice aisle if you want)
1 c dried bread crumbs
2 T chopped parsley
1/4 t garlic salt
1/8 t ground black pepper
1 stick butter, melted
1/3 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 t salt
Large pinch Italian Seasoning
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins (1 lb feeds Jason and I fine)

1. Preheat oven to 450
2. Cut chicken into pieces no larger than 2"x2"
3. Combine garlic and melted butter in one bowl
4. In another bowl, mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and pepper.
5. Dip chicken into garlic mixture and then coat in crumb mixture.
6. Place coated chicken pieces into a 9x13 baking dish. Drizzle with remaining garlic butter and sprinkle leftover bread crumbs and/or more cheese on top of chicken pieces.
7. Bake uncovered for 15 min or until chicken is cooked through.

I love Publix

Today I encountered some people who are truly working to serve others.

I have always liked Publix, they have quality products, decent prices, staff that helps you to your car, and clean facilities.  But if I found myself in Target near grocery time I would get my groceries there because it was easier.  I didn't shop at other grocery store's only because other's were farther away.  In other words, I was a good customer but not 100% loyal across the board or determined to shop at Publix no matter what.  But I think that changed today.

Two weeks ago I was in Publix and noticed their seasonal display at the front of the store had thick plastic colored plates, glasses, bowls, etc.  They looked almost like melamine.  I had been trying to decide what to use for Charlotte's birthday party and decided that these plates would be perfect.  They had four colors: pink, green, yellow, and blue.  So I bought the four packs of pink and green plates and hoped that they would get more pink and green in if I bought all of the existing pink and green.  Two weeks go by and no new plates.  So today there were two assistant manager's standing nearby when I checked and so I asked them if they were going to get any more in.  They said probably not, but offerred to call around to the area stores and see if anyone else had any pink or green plates.

The offer to call other stores and let me know where I could find others was extrememly generous and I thanked them profusely for doing that.  I was just starting my shopping but they got my cell number to let me know in case they found something out after I left.  One aisle over one of the manager's, Stephanie, came up to me and told me that they had four sets of plates at a store a few minutes away and she was going to GO GET THEM for me and bring them back before I left.  I was stunned.  And she did.  She got back right before I started checking out and handed me two sets of pink plates and two sets of green plates. 

This kind of customer service went above and beyond anything they were required to do.  She made it a priority to make sure the customer was satisfied and I am so appreciative of the effort! I will be writing their management a letter to let them know of their staff's exemplary service but I wanted to share with you also.  I will now only be doing my grocerfy shopping at Publix.  If they're willing to go to so much effort to help me out it's the least that I can do to continue to patronage them.  I hope that you'll check out your neighborhood Publix too if you don't already shop there!

And a little Charlotte fix from last Friday when it was hot as opposed to today when it's cold!

Charlotte has become a MASTER at climbing stairs! Over the weekend the gate wasn't shut all the way and I found her on the third step! She wasn't afraid at all, just working her way up!  And, don't worry, Jason was right behind her in the last picture and I was quick on her tail over the weekend.  She's very safe!

Eleven Months

Eleven months.  E-L-E-V-E-N M-O-N-T-H-S! How has it come to this, the last monthly update before one year?!?! I'm afraid for May 22nd to come because I'm getting teary just typing this post! :)  I know each  month I talk about what a fun age it is but I think this is, so far, my favorite.  Charlotte has just developed such a cute personality and I LOVE getting to see it each day.  Yes, some days are loooong, but most days are wonderful and I'm so thankful that I'm getting to witness each one of them! 

This last month had some not so fun things.  Like our first ear infection and trip to the sick side of the doctor's office.  But this month also had lots of fun things like Easter and my birthday.  And all but one of the weekends this month we spent at home which meant lots of Daddy time!

Charlotte is still a hilarious eater.  We are still on our "gain weight" plan and so we let her eat -- a lot! -- at each sitting.  She eats a lot of table food...well, maybe I should phrase it as we give her a lot of table food.  She refuses to eat "real" veggies which baffles me because she loves baby food veggies.  But when we try and give her real veggies or sneak them into her mouth she simply opens her mouth, reaches up, and pulls them out.  Not even slightly interested.  It would be funny if they didn't usually end up in her hair after that!  She is a VERY messy eater and loves putting her hands in her hair when they have food all over them.  But she does still love to eat.  Some of her favorite things are yogurt melts, lil crunchies, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, most meats, most fruits except bananas, goldfish, and strawberry/banana cereal bars.

Charlotte has become much more aware of her people and who she knows and who she doesn't.  She still smiles at most people when we're out as long as she didn't just wake up from a nap, but she knows who her family and friends are.  She amazed us last week when we were at dinner for my birthday by pointing to my brother, Uncle Charlie, every time someone asked her where Uncle Charlie was.  She does still prefer me if I'm around and when I'm holding her and someone else holds their arms out to take her a lot of times she turns in to me giggling playing a game with them.  But she loves her DaDa and says DaDa a LOT during the day.  It's probably her favorite word!

Charlotte has become quite the mover these days as well.  She's been pulling herself up on furniture since January but now she's standing by herself for a few seconds if we're holding her up and then let go or if she doesn't notice and she's let go of something to move on.  If she notices that she's standing by herself she immediately sits down.  We're trying to encourage her to walk (although I'm not sure why since it's so much easier with her a little slower getting around!) but she won't take more than a step and fall in to me from Jason.  She does "surf" the furniture very well though but isn't really interested in trying anything else. The funniest development movement wise this month has been the introduction of her new favorite pose -- she is already working hard on her hurkey for cheerleading tryouts by practicing them on the floor nearly every time she sits down! It looks painful when she brings her leg back to the front of her from her side but she doesn't seem to mind!

Charlotte has grown this month.  At the doctor on the 15th she weighed 17 lbs 14.8 ounces which is over a two pound addition since her nine month checkup.  She is wearing almost exclusively 12 month clothes now although she can still wear 6-9 month pants (12 month pants fit too).  And she's wearing size 3 diapers.  I am so excited for the weather to get warmer because she has such cute 12 month clothes for warm weather and not too many for cooler weather.  Hopefully it will stay warm from now on. 

She is still nursing four times a day (8 am, noon, 4:30 pm, 8 pm) and sleeps from about 8:15 pm until about 8 am.  She eats three meals a day and might get a snack if we're out and about and I need a distraction.  But since she eats exactly halfway through her time between naps there's not really another opportunity for snacks.  Charlotte takes two naps a day for two hours each (10-12 and 2:30-4:30).  I am SO THANKFUL that it appears that she loves sleep as much as I do.  Hopefully that love will continue!

Charlotte has become more vocal this month.  She discovered that she can scream and does so in delight a lot more than I would like.  She is saying DaDa regularly and says MaMa occasionally.  She also says yesh/yeah some also but never on command.  Earlier in the week she was playing with my belt loops and I told her to stop it and she almost perfectly mimiced "stop it".  She did it once more that night but I know she was just saying what I said and didn't really know what it meant.  We are impressed though with the number of words that she knows.  I knew she knew words we use all the time like our names and Luca, etc but we love asking her for something (her piggy, her toy bag, her passy, Luca, her bunny) and watching her either turn and point to it or go and get it.  It is so much fun watching her grow and learn!

I'm sad that this year is coming to a close.  This has been, by far, the best year of my life.  I have so loved being with Charlotte all but a handful of nights.  I will be thankful that some things of this year will be over soon (nursing namely -- what a blessing but also what a committment!) but I will be sad to see things go.  This week Charlotte found the poles for her activity gym that I had disconnected from the mat to wash it and store it and she wanted to play with it with the music on for a little while.  It brought back so many memories of days when she couldn't even roll over and would just lay on her back and stare at the sun and toys above her.  Sometimes its hard to remember her being that little and helpless when I look at her now always moving and crawling all over the place.  I know she'll always be my daughter and she'll be little for a few more years but I have so loved these first months with her. 

Happy eleven month birthday baby girl! In one short month you'll be eating cake with the rest of us and probably toddling away from me as fast as you can.  But know that I am loving every minute of being your Mommy.  I am the luckiest person on earth for being your Mommy.  You are SUCH a blessing to your Daddy and me and we love you more and more each and every day!

love Mommy

Recipe Wednesday - Pork with Veggies

Since we started participating with Grow Alabama in January we have been eating a lot more vegetables because we are getting them weekly.  The past two weeks we have gotten squash and root vegetables and so I decided to come up with a recipe to use them.  This recipe is my creation....it was very good and very, very simple.  The beautiful thing is that if you don't like the seasonings that I used you can vary them to suit your tastes.  This would also be a great recipe with chicken instead of pork or if you wanted to eliminate the meat and just cook this as a side it would be wonderful.  I will list the recipe as I made it but feel free to substitute out veggies for ones that you like.  Although, I will say, turnips are the forgotten vegetable! They taste very similar to potatoes and are very good!

Pork with Veggies

One container thin sliced pork chops (mine had 5 small chops in it)
5-6 Small to medium sized Squash
2 large Turnips
6-8 medium sized carrots
Olive Oil
One small box of chicken broth
Onion Seasoning Packet
Salt
Pepper
Italian Seasoning
Garlic Powder

1. Trim fat from pork and lay on the bottom of the slow cooker.  Season meat with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder (lightly coat tops of meat).
2. Cut vegetables into bite sized pieces (peel turnips and carrots first if fresh).  Throw veggies in plastic bag as you are cutting them.
3. Mix 1/2 cup olive oil with packet of onion seasoning.
4. Pour onion mix over vegetables and move around in plastic bag to coat all of them evenly.
5. Pour veggies over meat in slow cooker.
6. Add chicken broth until meat and veggies are covered.
7. Cook on high for 3 hours (or low for approximately 6 hours).

Randomness

Right now I have about a million things buzzing around my head and I'm not sure how to form them into one coherant post.  Therefore, I will go the lazy route and put them into list form.  Excuse my lack of blogger creativity.

1. Charlotte is slowly getting better and I am so glad.  Her ear stopped hurting her for the most part on Sunday and we haven't had to give her the ear-numbing drops since then.  Her cold has finally abated some today which I'm so thankful for also.  A child who doesn't know how to blow their nose and pitches the grandest fit imaginable when you try and suction their nose but who can't breathe out of their nose is no fun at all.  We've just been hanging out at home the past few days playing.

Checking out Daddy's flight simulator game

And pulling her bugs out of her bug jar

2. I am in a frenzy with all that we have going on right now.  I'm hosting a gathering at our house TWO WEEKS from today and they are expecting around 150 people! We have a lovely home and I don't mind sharing it for such a worthy event but I'm kind of going crazy now trying to get it "show worthy" at least in my mind.  I know that our house is beautiful and is fine just how it is, but you know, I would love for it to be perfect for all these people.  So I'm trying to add odds and ends here and there to make it feel more "put together" -- at least in my mind.  Thankfully the ladies organizing the event are basically only letting me get the house clean and I don't have to worry about anything else so that is such a blessing!

3. In addition to this event in TWO WEEKS at our house we are also smack dab in the middle of re-doing our master bedroom.  I have some wonderful posts to share with you about this because we worked with one of my favorite people to get a design and now are implementing it but I'm going to wait to show you that until we are mostly finished.  But as for now the painters are coming on Thursday and we're trying to move things out of the way for them even as we keep getting new pieces for our room delivered.  Because of this we currently have a huge floor mirror still in its box leaning up against the wall in the dining room.  This craziness is only adding to my stress about the event in two weeks!

4. I'm also in denial that I'm about to have a one year old.  How did my baby gets so big?!?! I'll have her 11 month post up on Thursday, her monthly birthday, but right now I'm trying to finish implementing her birthday party.  I made all of these plans and came up with general ideas back in February but I realized the other day that I'm at the point where I need to start executing those ideas!  I did get the invitations in the other day and I LOVE them.  I can't wait to show you all about her party! Hopefully it will turn out as cute in real life as it is in my head.

5. Since it's almost May I'm finalizing the details for

I am really excited about the products that I have lined up to show you so be ready.  I'll have the first giveaway up next Saturday, May 1st! Yay!

I hope you're having a good week and it is less random than mine has been! 

Cooking Through The Pioneer Woman's Cookbook

I made some progress these last two weeks! I made some REALLY great recipes too!

Cinnamon Rolls

So, I made them.  I was so scared because they look SO hard but I bit the bullet and gave them a try because I know that if there is one breakfast food that my husband loves it's cinnamon rolls.  They actually weren't that HARD just very time consuming.  But they were so worth it!  And the recipe makes tons of cinnamon rolls! I was able to give a lot of people in our family that we saw over Easter pans and we still have two pans in the freezer.  So good but definitely something I'll only make for special occasions just because of the time involved.  It took me two two hour nap times to make them from start to finish.  But, can I say again, so good!

Rosemary Potatoes

I made these potatoes when the Dixon's came over to watch the final round of the Master's.  They were really good potatoes and I enjoyed reheating leftovers for lunch on Monday.  My new, huge food processor that Jason got me for Christmas made slicing the potatoes easy peasy and with that done the rest of the recipe was a piece of cake.  I will definitely make these again since Jason has already requested some more!  The recipe link goes to her Herbed Potatoes recipe which is the same recipe as the Rosemary Potatoes only the herbs that you use are Rosemary and Green Onions.

Angel Sugar Cookies

I had big plans to cut out these cookies with my new golf bag cookie cutter and decorate them in green and yellow icing in honor of the Masters, but time got away from me and simple circle/squares had to do.  These cookies are really good, but, to be honest, the batter is probably better than the cookie!  And her recipe in her cookbook says that the recipe makes 18 cookies but I probably made closer to 50 so I'm not sure if my cookies were just really small compared to hers or what but my batter went a lot farther than hers did.  I got my cookies out using my medium scoop from Pampered Chef so maybe that's why mine were smaller.  Couldn't find the recipe online so email me if you'd like it!

Sick little girl

Charlotte has been teething for a while and the last few nights it's been hard putting her to sleep.  She would cry for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour trying to fall asleep but she wouldn't do it during naptime so we thought it was just teeth.  Then yesterday she woke up with a stuffy nose and last night wouldn't go to sleep even with hours of rocking and soothing.  She finally went to sleep about 10 but woke up this morning with a cough and when I saw her touch her ear this morning I immediately called the doctor. 

This was our first visit to the sick side of the pediatrician's and throughout our wait I kept kicking myself for bringing her and exposuing her to more germs.  She acted perfectly happy in her stroller and only sneezed once and didn't cough at all.  I felt kind of silly when the nurse started asking me about her symptoms -- she's teething and has a runny nose and a cough and touched her ear once with no fever -- but I was so relieved that I followed my Mommy instinct when our doctor confirmed that she has an ear infection in her left ear.  Poor baby, I hope that she hasn't had it long!

She's still asleep now after her first dose of antibiotic and the wonderful drops that numb her ear drum.  I hope that her medicine will help her feel much better quickly.  At least she isn't really acting very sick when she's awake and other than when we put her to bed at night she's not really having that many problems with it.  I guess it was bound to happen sometime but I hope she feels better soon!

Final Round of the Masters

When we moved to our city a few years ago we were really praying for couple friends.  We both had friends from high school and college but not really any who were married and both of us were friends with both of the other couple.  We joined a Sunday School class and found some couple friends in Kelly and Tripp.  We are so blessed to have them as our friends because we all get along so well.  We laugh because it seems like Tripp and I are very similar and Kelly and Jason are very similar and so I guess that explains why we all complement each other so well.

Anyway, when we met Jason was ecstatic to learn that Tripp enjoyed golf as much as he did.  They have been golfing buddies ever since.  And when we were lucky enough to get practice round tickets the first spring after we had met them we knew we would ask Kelly and Tripp to join us.  We had a blast and Kelly was the biggest trooper in the world since she was weeks away from giving birth and didn't complain once about walking all over Augusta! We had so much fun!

So, that was a long tangent but that was all to say that since then we haven't been lucky enough to win practice round tickets again although we try every year, but we try to get together and watch some of the tournament if we can.  This year we got together to watch the end of the final round.  It was different with two little ones -- the boys had to fast forward through some of the holes because they had Daddy duty -- but we had so much fun watching the tournament and eating dinner.  We only took pictures of the girls once but we got some cute ones.  I'm hoping Kelly got one of both girls actually smiling AND looking at her!

These two are so cute together! Kelly told me that she asked Caroline who her favorite person was and the first person was, rightfully so, Kelly, but the second person was "Char-lick".  I hope that they grow up to be good friends! It is amazing looking at them now to believe that they're just 364 days apart.  I'm sure this time next year they'll look closer to the same age as opposed to looking years apart like they do right now!

Garden with Friends

On Saturday morning Jason and Tripp played golf so Kelly and I  made plans for a girls morning taking the girls to a nearby garden.  There was a treehouse exhibit that we wanted to see so we made the plan and took the girls.  It was a beautiful day -- not too hot and not too cold -- which made our morning even more fun.  We enjoyed strolling the girls around to look at the treehouses and Caroline had fun playing in a lot of them.  It was a wonderful way to spend a morning!

The girls in front of their monkey

Charlotte loved watching Caroline play!

This treehouse had a wheelchair swing which we thought was neat.

Already BFF's.

Our favorite (my favorite) treehouse was the Wizard of Oz treehouse.  The Wicked Witch's legs were under the house and there were flying monkey's in the trees.  So much fun!

It's so nice outside....

If you follow me on Twitter you saw on Friday that we got new patio furniture.  We decided to go ahead and get some nice furniture since we found a really really great sale at the beginning of March.  We were super excited and couldn't wait for our furniture to come in.  Don't you hate it that most fun, furniture-type purchases you have to wait a long time for after you  make the purchase.  Frustrating!  But, Friday was the day that our new furniture was coming in so we were excited.  And you wouldn't believe how much we've already enjoyed this new furniture.  It has comfy pillows instead of just plain metal and a chair that rocks....it's lovely! And the weather has been just perfect for enjoying it (other than the yellow layer of pollen that was covering all of my wonderful new furniture about, oh 5 minutes, after it was delivered!). 

Friday after Jason got home I took some pictures of he and Charlotte on the new couch...

Look at that face.  What's she so excited about?!?!

Luca's coming!!

And Luca is probably enjoying the new furniture the most.  He loves having a new, comfy nap spot!

Doodle Bugs Paper

Have you checked out Doodle Bugs Paper yet?? Such cute items and EVERYTHING is 10% off now through Sunday with the code jespring.  Get to shopping!

 Gifts for baby showers....

Or for your little girl or Charlotte's birthday... :)

Or for when you move...

Or making paying your bills a little more fun.... (or a little fun at all!)

Or teacher gifts...

Or for luggage or baby bags...

There are so many other cute things too! Don't forget to shop by Sunday in order to get the discount!

*Disclaimer: I'm getting a discount too for telling you about Doodle Bugs but I would tell you about them anyway because I LOVE all of the things that I've ordered from Kacey! Great products at great prices and you're supporting a Mom in the South!