Sunday Snaps

This weekend was amazing weather-wise ... no need for bulky winter coats and we got to be outdoors. I am NOT a winter person at all and neither is J ... give us spring and summer all year long and we are happy campers:) This past weekend was a wonderful foretaste of spring and we couldn't have been happier. I am so glad I didn't have to hear any whining from Javan about wearing his jacket or about hating winter. We took full advantage of this unusually warm weekend!

here's a few pics from sunday morning

 I have no clue why Ria was sporting a puffy face but she was all about it for some reason!

 I usually don't workout on Sundays but I couldn't resist this perfect 'running' weather so I went out on the Greenway and enjoyed a leisurely 45mins run ... I can't wait til its warmer so we can all go every afternoon/evening. Later that evening I met up with my girlfriends for a fun time at Panera ... there's nothing more therapeutic than just chatting with your girls:) perfect end to a perfect weekend.
~V

Weekly Round Up

I realize I haven't updated the blog all week ... all with good reason ... but I know my grace period with family will start running out within a day or two so I guess I might as well do a weekly dump of pics tonight before we head into a new week:)

This week has literally zoomed by:
Monday - gym, grocery shopping, cleaning
Tuesday - gym, playdate
Wednesday - gym, babysat Vivian ( Ria was in HEAVEN!), church
Thursday - cleaning (where's that laundry fairy when I need her most???)
Friday - gym, errands

and of cos the usual school pick up, cooking, daily cleaning etc etc etc ...

But the main reason I haven't blogged this week is cos I have spent a lot of time with my new baby:

Oh how I love her ... I think I need a name for her:) I've been pouring over tutorials (thank God for blogging gals who share their fun ideas for FREE), saving tons of links with patterns/ideas and now I have a slew of things I want to sew. I am ready to make over my house too!

Here's a few pics from this past week:

Sunday Sweetness ... Jermaine takes these 98% of the time

Brotherly Love ... helping Ria get buckled up and ready for supper

(don't ya love how their clothes just 'match' so perfectly! My independent little ones ... love them!)

Little Model ...Ria showing of a little something I made for her

In the Buff

So Tuesday night (the 25th) will go down as a first for us ... J and I were watching tv and I could hear something that sounded like someone on our back deck. J checked but it was nothing, probably the wind. When the noise didn't stop, he decided to check on Ria and the minute he walked into her room, all I heard was hysterical laughter. I had to check out the commotion. Ria had taken of her clothes (diaper still on) and was dancing in her bed. Silly girl. We got her dressed and put her back to bed. She wasn't happy and screamed on and off for over an hour. 

Just before I went to bed, I checked on her. This time it was me who was laughing hysterically ... here's what I found:

that would be her pj's AND her diaper lying on the floor 

and this is what I saw when I peered into her crib

cutest little tushie blurred out cos her daddy will have a fit ... he might make me take this down too ... oops!

I guess she likes a little breeze sometimes ...

we got her cleaned up and dressed (footed pj's from now on!), sheets changed and back to sleep. 

what a night!

We had a really fun day out today. It's really great when J doesn't work on a Saturday and we actually get to enjoy a whole day together. And the weather was wonderfully warm which was a great bonus (now that's a ton of W's in that sentence!)

Tomorrow we are having a potluck at church to celebrate the end of a 21 day fast .... I decided to prep everything tonight to save time in the morning so all I need to do is throw it all into a casserole and stick it in the oven. I did bake a cake and it looks delicious BUT it will not make it to the potluck.

Boston Creme Fail

When I put the top layer over the filling, the stupid cake split in half. I'm still puzzled as to how that happened. I tried to fix that split by added a little filling in it but it made it worse. At this point I was so frustrated that I just dumped the whole tub of chocolate frosting over the cake HOPING it would at least look pretty and fix the problem ... no such luck. It started sliding so I just cut the cake in half and put it in the fridge. 

We'll enjoy it at home tomorrow night. 

 Thankfully we do have a back-up dessert ... an (early) birthday cake J got from his co-workers:)

not homemade but its cake and I am sure someone might enjoy a piece of it:)

so that's a little recap of a few of the happenings this week.

~V

Pieces Of My Heart

I got this photo from my dad the other day ... 

I am guessing its from the 1930's but I'm not 100% sure. I don't know all the people but my eyes instantly gravitated to the left, particularly to that pretty young lady seated far left. My grandmother. I miss her dearly and I can't help but smile every time I see an image of her. She had such a sweet spirit and I am so glad I have even sweeter memories of her. Some day I will be able to share these stories with Ria and she will come to understand why her name has such special meaning. 

I am so grateful that my dad has always made the effort to capture memories for our family ... I know my love for photography came from him. He rarely left home without his camera and because of this we have lots of photos of my grandparents and other family members. Photos to me equate memories; memories of when you'd like time frozen. Its a way of holding on to the things you love and the things you never want to lose.  

My parents were here for such a brief visit last month and I held on to that time (and my camera!) capturing every moment I could, freezing those memories for my kids. I wish my kids could enjoy their grandparents in every day life like I did growing up but until they can, we'll make each moment count and capture those memories the best we can. 

Some of the sweetest memories we captured were at Ria's 18mth 19mth/family photoshoot with Meghan at the Chattanooga Choo Choo on a VERY rainy afternoon. What could have been a very stressful time cos of the rain actually turned into something very playful and fun. So what if I didn't get to do all the outfit changes I had planned and Ria's tights got ruined and she wouldn't let me fix her hair and she kept running in and out of shots? All that mattered was that we laughed a ton while standing in the rain allowing Meghan to hopefully capture just the right shots. No easy task with an active toddler and pre-schooler. Throw in their parents and beaming grandparents and its one big circus:) 

I laughed and cried when I saw these images ... you probably won't but that's ok! This session had the most memory attached to it. It captures my parents first visit with Ria, Javan's love for trains and his adoration for his grandparents, Ria's carefree spirit but most of all ... my joy.  Jermaine and I just took it all in ... it was a very special time. I know my parents are really proud of their grandkids and I think its easy to see that in these images.

So enough of my rambling .... here's a fun slideshow:

Ria/Family Photoshoot - Dec 2010

and if you aren't able to view the slideshow here's an overload of images:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope in the years to come, when Javan and Ria look at these images, the same kind of warmth and emotion I feel when I see pics of my grandparents, will be felt by them.

and for a little trip down memory lane here are some Ria's past sessions with Meghan

Newborn

Six Months

One Year

~V

Build n Grow

It's been a while since we've gone to Lowe's for their Build n Grow workshops so we decided to start our morning there today.

We decided to let Ria in on some of the fun and she enjoyed hammering away, with Daddy and big brother's help of cos!

I forget to get a pic of the finished project but they both made a ball toss.

~V

Celebrating ...

Our anniversary celebration was a low key but oh so fun night out. After J got of work, we dropped the kids off with some friends and headed downtown Chattanooga to Sushi Nabe.

  Jermaine loves sushi. I like it. 

This was our first time here 

 and definitely won't be our last.

It was my first time eating sushi as my meal (I had the Philadelphia and California rolls)

I normally just pick a piece or more of his plate

but there were so many different kinds that he convinced me to try something and I am glad I did ... it was DELISH! 

If you in Chattanooga and love sushi (or even if you have never had it), this is the place to go.

Jermaine got his pick for dinner so my pick was dessert and I chose the Melting Pot. 

We ended up getting a spinach n artichoke pot and a smores one for dessert ... no words ... just divine!

I wish we could go back every weekend just for dessert! 

We had a really fun night out. Our goal this year is to really make more of an effort to make time for each other. We rarely ever go out just the two of us. Its not that we don't want to, it's just not that easy to do so when you don't have family close by and would rather not inconvenience friends to watch the kids. To get a babysitter plus do something fun and have dinner out  .... well, it would break the bank:) We're going to have to get creative!

~V