{Heart Day}

I think it is safe to say that Valentine's 2016 is going down in the books as one of the best ever!

As a teenager, I always had the stereotypical "Valentine's Day needs to include flowers, candy, movie dates, blah, blah, blah," but now that I am a grown, (at least I like to think) more mature person, I truly enjoy the simpler, more laid back things...

...and that's exactly what this Valentine's Day was!

Since Brandon works 10 hour shifts Sunday-Wednesday, we celebrated V-Day on Saturday by taking my Great Aunt Millie to mass, followed by meeting my parents and brother at one of our favorite restaurants. It was seriously no fuss and exactly what we all needed!

After dessert, Jackson worked on his selfie game...

...and then took this (surprisingly good!) picture of his Uncle Joe.

I regret nothing.

Since Brandon worked Sunday, Jax and I spent the day doing a little light cleaning, watching Netflix, crafting, reading, napping, making Lauren Elizabeth's fabulous buffalo chicken egg rolls and my famous fruit pizza, and then watching the Jimmy Fallon Valentine's Day special after Brandon got home. 

 

I hope your Valentine's Day was filled with everything your heart desires! Now please excuse me while I go scope out the clearance candy at King Soopers...

V-Day with the S-meiers

Is it just me or do holidays get to be more fun when you have kids?

I've never been a huge fan of Valentines (it's up there with Halloween) but since having Jax, I've been wanting to start fun Valentine traditions complete with decor, treats, and lots of love.

This year did not disappoint!

We started our Valentine weekend on Thursday with the 2nd annual tagging of Brandon's car--last year, tiny 2 month old Jax and I drove over to Brandon's work, found his car, and surprised him by hiding balloons, snacks, and love notes inside. This year, we did the same (only it wasn't really a surprise since I couldn't find his car anywhere and finally had to call to ask him where he parked, ha).

Surprise or not, we had a lot of fun picking out snacks, balloons, and decorated cards to give Brandon!

Gifts for my guys: Brandon gets the snacks, Jax gets the balloons.

On Friday evening, Jax & I ran over to Krispy Kreme to pick up breakfast, Brandon & I exchanged gifts (he gave me a beautiful mothers necklace and I gave him a nice frame to display his poker chips in), and then Brandon made a midnight run to Walmart to pick up some Children's Benadryl to give to our poor, congested allergy boy. Luckily, Jax was doing better by Saturday morning and we spent the day eating donuts, cleaning out & organizing the garage, attending church, visiting my brother at work, Facetiming with Brandon's dad & step-mom in Tennessee, pigging out on calzones & cheese fries, and laying in bed watching SNL. 

Can we start every Saturday like this?

 

Headed to church with Full & Fun Sized Brandon (Jax and I had to wear red!)

It was truly a perfect day and reminded me that I am so blessed to be living this life with my two guys (and kitty). I can't wait until next Valentine's when Jax is a little bit older and can get into the festivities a bit more..

..actually, I take that back! The time goes by too quickly as it is so I can wait until next year.

What I Wore Wednesday (& a Voxbox Preview)

Sooooooo...

I didn't really get out of my yoga pants this week..

I know, I know.

However, I did dress for the occasion on Friday (Valentine's Day) so I would like to share that outfit with you!

Isn't that shirt adorable and Valentinesy (yes, it is a word)?! Guess where I got it? Wal-Mart. Guess how much I paid? $1.50. Adorable, right? I actually found it in the Christmas clearance section and grabbed it with every intention of wearing it on V-Day.

I. was. psyched.

The jeans are another Gordmans buy (I'll wear them again next week and give the deets) and the comfy pink slippers were my Valentine's gift from Brandon.

So, yeah.. that is that. 

Anyway, switching gears a bit, I received my J'Adore Voxbox from Influenster yesterday--I absolutely love being an Influenster and receiving goodies several times a year to play with and review. This box was packed full of some of my favorite things (chocolate and tea, to name a few) and I made a video for the big open/reveal! So if you're extremely bored and have nothing else to do now for your viewing pleasure, I present the opening of my Voxbox (with special guest, Jackson)!

 Poor Jax.. he's so patient with me (and apparently doesn't mind me moving him around a bunch).

Be sure to come back in a couple weeks for my official J'Adore Voxbox review--I'm so excited to try everything out! 

V-Day Recap (or Jackson: the World's Grumpiest Valentine)

Happy President's Day, y'all!

Today is President's Day, right?

I just Googled it and it is.

So yes, Happy President's Day.

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day and weekend--Brandon and I had a very lovely V-Day (though our son wasn't too impressed with the whole hearts, flowers, and chocolates thing)!

Here's a peek at our day..

Prelude: Jax has been going through a bad growth spurt lately (though it's finally coming to an end, thank goodness!) where all he wants to do is eat, inconsolably cry, and sleep (but only if he's being held)--growth spurts apparently don't take holidays, so he was pretty grumpy the entire day.

I love holidays and birthdays and always wake up in a good mood the morning of--this Valentine's Day was no exception (even on little sleep).

I:

• woke up
• nursed the babe
• dressed Mr. Jax and myself
• put on makeup and did my hair (it must have been a special occasion!)
• had a yogurt
• prepared for Brandon's and my gift exchange
• stuck a mustache on my (almost) 8-week-old and took pictures

Jackson wasn't amused..

Once all of us were up and ready for the day, it was time to open gifts (which is really the best part of Valentine's Day, right?)!

I got Brandon a photo plaque for his desk at work (from Shutterfly) and assisted Jax with his Valentine's surprise for Brandon (more on that in a minute).

Brandon got me some super comfy house slippers (my old ones were in bad shape) and a massage--I CANNOT wait for my appointment on the 1st!

After exchanging gifts, it was time for Brandon to head to work and for Jax and I to execute our big Valentine's Day surprise! 

What was the big surprise? 

Well..

During our trip to the grocery store on Wednesday, Jax informed me that he wanted to surprise his dad with a bunch of snacks for Valentine's Day (Brandon never takes snacks to work with him and comes home starving), so we picked up Goldfish, beef jerky, peanut butter crackers, cookies, etc. for Brandon's desk. The plan was to drive to Brandon's work, put the snacks in his car, and wait for him to find them when he got off at 7--cute idea my little (almost) 8-week-old had, right?

As soon as Brandon left for work, I nursed Jackson and got us ready to go but the babe decided he no longer wanted to go through it and would rather just stay home than go in his car seat. 

Sorry bud--not an option. 

He. screamed. the. entire. time. 

We stopped by Party City to pick up a few balloons to put in Brandon's car and he screamed. 

We drove the 15 minutes to Brandon's work (and made a few wrong turns) and he screamed.

Mr. Grumpy finally fell asleep right around the time we arrived at Brandon's complex and began cruising the parking lot in search of his car (it's a big company so I figured it'd take awhile to find). After only 10 minutes of searching, I spotted a KU plate--it was my husbands car! As luck would have it, there was an open spot right next to his car so I quickly parked, jumped out, put the snacks and balloons in the passenger seat, and got back into my car to find an angry, screaming infant who woke up and realized that he was still in his car seat and that the car had stopped. 

Hell hath no fury like a baby in a car that isn't moving..

Not the greatest pic (I was in a hurry to get back to my car) but you can kinda make out the balloons!

After leaving Brandon's work, we drove over to Whole Foods to pick up Valentine's desserts (Jax screaming all the way) and then home to nap. 

We sat in the backseat of the car and cuddled a bit before going into Whole Foods.. it helped a little.

Once we were home, Jax and I watched an episode of "Breaking Bad" (well, I did--Jax was busy eating and sleeping), took 2 1/2 hour naps, watched an episode of "Petticoat Junction" (we don't have cable, remember?), and awaited Brandon's arrival home. Once B was home, it was time to continue our first Valentine's Day as a family of 3 (4 if you count Bitsy) with pizza, wine, desserts, and a movie ("The Wolf of Wall Street"--we couldn't even finish it because it was so long, boring, and just plain stupid!). 

We're so happy to live in a town with (multiple) Papa John's!

#pumpanddump

I think it's safe to say that we all had a wonderful Valentine's Day (Jax included)--it was a nice, fairly laid back day with the guys (and cat) I love the most! I hope that all of you had a special day with your loved ones as well! 

P.S. Thank you to everyone who sent Jackson Valentine's cards and gifts! He is such a blessed little boy to have such wonderful people in his life (as are his mom and dad)!