It's Friday, Y'all!

Happy Friday!! I can't thank you enough for the encouraging words/support from my last post. I always want to blog, but want it to be something I enjoy. I'd been feeling so overwhelmed with life that the blog was just adding to the stress. As I mentioned, I do plan to blog some, just not as frequently (at least until I get things back under control).

That being said, here is a quick Friday Faves post!

~ONE~
We were able to enjoy one last pool day last weekend to celebrate one of our favorite little friend's birthday. This group is our "cul-de-sac crew" (minus one little girl). Can't wait to add 3 more kiddos to the crew this winter.
 

~TWO~
I mentioned awhile back that I had been wanting a fire pit. I'm not sure if I ever told you that I finally found one and ordered it with my birthday money. This week my two favorite men put it together for me. I can't wait to make some smores in the very near future! Just hope the weather cools off!

~THREE~
With the babies coming, we've been talking a lot about changes that need to be made to make the most use of space in our house. I loved my previous bar cart, but it was pretty big and took up quite a bit of space in our dining room. My mom recently found this pink one and bought it for me. It's significantly smaller and seems to work out great in a corner of the room.  I decided to "jazz" it up a bit with lining each shelf with some of my favorite gold dot paper. I still need to tweak the lights, but so far it's working out. And yes, the top has become a designated snack/treat section for the kiddos. And the cocktail section has been pushed to the bottom (not that I'm able to enjoy any adult beverages at the current moment). But I did LOVE picking up the cute set of beverage napkins that say "Enjoy a Brew".

 ~FOUR~
This week I bought the ingredients to make my FAVORITE fall mix. A good friend introduced me to it a few years ago, and we all love it! But warning - it is VERY addicting. (M&M's, candy corn, and dry roasted peanuts)

 ~FIVE~
The hubs has been working so much OT lately that a date night was very much overdue. Fortunately we were able to enjoy an early one last night (before any football games started). We ate a delicious meal AND did a little baby registering. It was SUCH a fun night. But then again, any time we spend together is always fun!

As I'm finishing this post, I'm realizing that today is 9/11. I still have a very vivid memory of sitting in the classroom during Pharmacy school when this occurred. It always brings up a lot of emotions.

I hope you have a great wknd!!

Linking up with:

 Liz

Erika, Narci, and Andrea

 Hill Collection.

Slowing down...

Hey guys! I just wanted to pop in and let you know that my blog posts will be slowing down for awhile. As I've mentioned before, the Fall is a really busy time for us (with the holidays, family/friends birthdays, etc). And then there's the tiny fact that we're having TWINS and haven't done ONE.SINGLE.THING to prepare. I've been feeling very overwhelmed with it all lately. So needless to say, I really need to spending any extra time/energy (while I'm still feeling good) to prepare for their arrival and tend to family priorities. That being said, I will try to post every now and then, but please be patient with me! :) Once everything is set for the sweet babies and I feel more prepared, I'll be back on a more regular basis.

It's Friday, Y'all!

Happy Friday!!! It's seriously crazy how fast the weeks fly by now that we are back in school. Despite my efforts to want to believe that Summer is over, we are going to the pool (for a birthday party) one last time tomorrow. Then I hope to pull out all of my fall decor on Sunday. If you are fortunate enough to have Monday off, I hope you enjoy your long weekend!

This week's post is a simple "favorites of the week" post.

Favorite Quote

Favorite Purchase
I doubt I will be purchasing too much clothes this Fall/Winter b/c of my baby bump, but I knew when I saw this tunic I had to have it. I knew it would work now and also in the future. 

Favorite New Recipe
Y'all! I happened to stumble across this image and recipe on IG a few days ago and immediately went to the pantry to gather the ingredients. I LOVE chocolate/peanut butter ANYTHING and the fact that is no-bake made it that much better. Warning - they are seriously addictive!

Favorite Song
With my musical background, I have always enjoyed listening to a cappella groups. So when I first heard this group, I immediately fell in love with them.  My daughter and I discovered OMI's "Cheerleader" over the Summer and played it nonstop. So naturally when I heard the Pentatonix version, I loved it even more!




Favorite Verse

 I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!! I don't get the hubby back until Monday, but we'll still try to make the best of it! :)

As always, my fun link ups:

 Liz

Erika, Narci, and Andrea

 Hill Collection.

Football Season!!

As soon as we crossed into September (well for me as soon as we went back to school), I started thinking fall thoughts. And with the Fall comes football! We love watching football in this house (although I only really prefer to watch college, I'm not really that into the NFL). And to kick off the season our Virginia Tech Hokies play Ohio State next Monday night.

Let's take a second to remember our last meeting with them. ;)

That being said, it's fun to start thinking about tailgating and also just enjoying yummy snacks at home (while watching the game).

My (extended) family has always purchased season tickets to the VT football games. So I grew up going to every home game. Then when I moved to my current city (which is MUCH closer to the college), the hubs and I purchased season tickets. But once we had kids, we decided it was better to give up our tickets. That being said, I've always tried to take the kids to at least one home game just for the tailgate to visit with family and enjoy the ambiance.

Although clearly Cate has always been terrified of the Hokie Bird! Ha!

And when we're not going to the tailgate, you can better believe we are watching from home (or the beach b/c we used to always take our family vacation during the Fall). Even though my alma mater (JMU - GO DUKES!) doesn't have a big football program (although it's getting bigger each year), I still enjoy dressing myself and the kids in the gear.

And also reminiscing about that ONE time my Dukes played the Hokies and we actually WON!

No matter what team you cheer for, it's always fun to pull out your gear (or purchase new things) to prepare for the season!

And let's not forget all of the delicious food that comes with it!

Our #1 favorite dish to enjoy during the games is Sausage Dip. I fix a big crock-pot of it and we indulge during the entire time.  If you haven't tried it yet, you seriously need to. It's super easy (with just 3 ingredients) and oh so good! Here is the recipe I use. 

via

Some other appetizers I'll fix include buffalo chicken dip, 7 layer mexican dip, and chicken chili.  

Are you big football fan? Do you prefer college or NFL? What's your favorite dish to prepare for tailgate/home?

Now, let's hope our Hokies are prepared for the big game next week!

Gender Reveal Party!

Happy September! I honestly can't believe August is over! The Fall is my favorite time of year but also very busy. Not to mention, we have lots of preps to do for our sweet babies. But before I start rambling about everything I need "to do", this post is about our big party over the weekend!

We finally spilled the beans on the genders of our two sweet babes over the weekend. We were given "a guess" about their genders at our 12 week appt, it was confirmed at 16 weeks, and again at 20 weeks. Needless to say, it was a tough secret to keep for over 8 weeks! But I knew all along I wanted to have a gender reveal party (as I wanted one with William, but it never worked out). I planned a very simple, low key party with our families and everything turned out perfectly!

We went back and forth about how we would actually do the "reveal". We decided to purchase two black balloons filled with blue confetti in each one. We wanted to include C&W, so we figured each child could pop a balloon for each baby. 

I kept the "meal" very simple so I could focus on a few simple desserts. We really wanted the focus to just be on the babies but also on C&W. It's hard for me to keep things simple, but I am so glad I did.  The party was everything we could have hoped it would be and very low stress for me!

I created a chalkboard to keep a tally of everyone's votes.

And I printed off "team" stickers for everyone to wear.

I made two tassel garlands to use with the balloons, but the original ones made them too heavy so we had modify them. With the leftover tassels, I quickly turned them into a banner to hang on the deck.

Cate loved being in charge of writing down the votes and passing out the stickers.

After we ate and before the reveal, we took pictures of each "team" (+ me)

Team BOTH

Team BLUE

Team PINK

Cutie cousins!

Almost go time!

1st balloon = BLUE!

2nd balloon = BLUE!

We were thrilled to announce we would be welcoming TWO more boys to our family!

After the balloon pop, Cate didn't really say much. William just asked to pop more balloons! Ha!

We had family videoing the pop from the deck, but my hubs also set up another video tripod where we were for a view of our guests. It's been really fun to watch it back and watch everyone's reactions!

After the initial excitement, we came back inside for desserts. I fixed a BLUE cake to add to the BOY excitement!

 

We couldn't be more excited about these two sweet boys and our growing family!!