just keep walking

what a mess!

below, you'll see the normal monthly photos. what you don't see is that most of the photos turned out a little something like this:

geez! now that this kid can move wherever he wants, getting a photo of him sitting in a chair is somewhat complicated. only one more month of these. & thank goodness! i suppose after he turns a year, the photos will all be action photos. cause little dude does not like to sit still any more. & that's ok.

eleven months

custom name & birth date

now available in the etsy shop! get one for you, your kids or your grandkids...

busy, busy

we actually had a pretty busy weekend. we had a birthday party to go to. errands to run. anniversaries to be celebrated. rooms to paint. and a concert to go to. whew.

our dear friends jodi & jason were celebrating their little guy's third birthday. it was at a local park {complete with great playground}. we all had a great time. thankfully, the weather held out and it wasn't too hot. balin received a TON of presents {i don't think he'll run out of monster trucks any time soon}. and he was loving every single minute of his party.


cayden with his new girlfriend, baker:

on sunday we decided it was time to bite the bullet and paint cayden's room. i'd say we're about 75% done; we have the ceiling left to do and probably one more quick coat everywhere else. i'm excited to get it put together and share with everyone.

sunday night, we went to see one of our favorite bands play {thrice} at probably one of the best venues in birmingham {workplay}. we had an awesome time. at one point, jeremy leaned over and whispered: we're parents and we're at a rock concert. so cute. & so true. the night would not have been possible without the help of both our sisters {my sister babysat the little guy, while jeremy's sister got us in the concert FOR FREE!}. many thanks to rachel and jenny for loving us in their own little ways...

today we celebrate this guy's 11 month day. which means one month until his first birthday. oh, the party... i've got invitation design ideas. and a couple of ideas for some food... but decorations? i'm at a loss so far. hoping something hits me soon.


oh, and this is how cayden looks when he's walking. notice the look of concentration. and the hands? omg, the hands. love them.

peeping tom

so, a couple of weeks ago, there was talk of a twitter home tour, on well, you guessed it, twitter. and since i love looking at other people's homes, i thought it was only fair that i show my digs as well. unfortunately, the rooms aren't anywhere near where we want them to be. but hey, this is a great starting point and i can use these photos in the future to show our progress.

without further ado {haha, what a funny saying}, here's some photos.
{also, a small disclaimer: we just moved in three weeks ago. that should explain the lack of decorating. i promise, we don't love naked walls, and they will eventually have something on them. one day.}

{FLOORPLAN}
first, a floorplan. because really, i love looking at everyone's photos, but if i can't figure out the floorplan, i sometimes tend to get frustrated. but that's just me.


{FRONT VIEW}
and here's a view of the front of the house. look! we have a garage!


{NURSERY}
next up, we have the current nursery. yep, it's plain. & it's also soon to be the new guest room. cayden will be moving to the {current} guest room. a step up for him. it's a little bit bigger {and has a ginormous closet}. we already have plans for the room and are really excited about it. it'll feature robin egg blue walls and have hints of orange around the room. in my head, it's gorgeous; let's just hope it turns out that way. {there's no photo of the current guest room. it's a storage room at the moment.}


{GUEST/CAYDEN'S BATHROOM}
in between the two guest rooms is the guest bathroom. again, all we've done is hung a shower curtain. not entirely sure where we're going with this room, but it'll be better than this. across the hall from the guest bathroom is the laundry room. if you really want to see it, click here.


{FAMILY ROOM}
here's the family room. we plan to paint the walls a light gray {cause i really think it'll make that gorgeous rug pop!}. again, there's no artwork hung in here yet. we plan to do a collage of frames on one of the walls. and eventually get a new sofa {the one in here will make its way to the bonus room}.


{BONUS ROOM}
from the family room, you can head upstairs to the bonus room. it's a mess, i know. see those white shelves though? they will go across that entire wall eventually. it's going to be a craft/art/playroom when it all comes together. i think i'm most excited about this room.


{KITCHEN}
also from the family room, you can access the kitchen. i love this kitchen. love it. at first i was worried about how dark it was... but once we get in there and add some paint {that's not builders beige}, i really think it'll come together. the eating area is on the other side of the counter.


{MASTER SUITE}
and again, from the family room, you can reach the master suite. at first i didn't think this room was any bigger than our last house. but it definitely is. i don't think we'll buy any more furniture for it, but there's one wall that's completely blank. thinking that might be a great place for some artwork.



{BACK VIEW}
and here's the view from the back. we plan to eventually expand the deck area and you know, add some furniture to it. but for now, this is what it is.

hope you enjoyed a little peek into our home. i promise to give updates as rooms get their final touches. thanks for stopping by!

Once upon a time, @MomNom, @jennandtonica, @emmie_bee, @heirtoblair, and @ColeEmmett were talking about home decor on Twitter. We thought it would be so great to be able to see each other's homes! A *bunch* of other tweeps joined in, @Alena29 put together a terrific button, and #twitterhometour (or #twitterhouseparty) was born! Feel free to join us - add a link to your home tour post (pictures, video, or both!) below.

five years {& counting}

today, my husband and i celebrate five years of being married. five years! that's crazy talk. we've been together for almost nine, so five really shouldn't seem like such a big deal. but it is.

i remember on our honeymoon that we agreed that on our fifth anniversary, we would come back to the exact same spot {windjammer landing/st. lucia}. well, times have definitely changed. we were blessed with cayden last spring AND we were finally blessed with a new home just a little under a month ago. so suffice it to say, we didn't exactly have the funding to go on a big trip this year. but that's ok {we have a small beach trip planned for end of the month}. we love where we are in life and look forward to hopefully saving up for a big trip on our tenth anniversary. {who knows what might happen between now and then though.}

instead, we're going out to dinner – just the two of us. it'll be nice to relax for a couple of hours and talk about how we've come to be where we are.

sweetheart, i can't wait to spend the next five, ten, even fifty {if we're lucky} years with you. you make life so wonderful for us all...

{and a few photos from the big day. we look like babies!}

me walking in for our first "look" at each other. & our very happy exit.

all the grandmother's at the ceremony {one of my favorites}

a couple of kisses in the garden at the reception

jeremy embarrassing his mama

our beautiful mamas at the reception

edited to add: i originally posted this on our five year anniversary, but wanted to join the twitter june blog hop... so here ya go!

future racer?

looking for trouble

my boys & their hats

jeremy loves hats. l-o-v-e-s them. seriously. he has a ton. so why wouldn't our child have a ton too? the strange thing? lately, he won't leave a hat on his head. you put it on, and he takes it off almost immediately. this hat? he kept it on all morning. {& i have to admit that it's pretty stinkin' cute on him.}

bass pro shop

since we were in leeds over the weekend {for the indy race}, we decided to stop in at bass pro shop and see what all the fuss was about. ok guys, the place was huge. seriously, HUGE. and it smelt a little funny. like a big poot. and well, there were lots of dead, stuffed animals.

jeremy: "seriously, what did you think would be in here?"
me: "well, i don't know... but i wasn't expecting this!"

but it was all good. cayden was really enthralled by the place. from the {again, smelly} fish tank to all the stuffed animals. my nephew on the other hand? he couldn't get away from the stuffed bear quick enough.

while we were there, we picked out a four wheeler, some hiking shoes, and i think two or three pontoon boats? maybe it was just two. there were signs everywhere that says: "we take trade-ins." no lie, i asked jeremy if they would take my saab. i think i'd much prefer a pontoon boat on a lake to driving a car everywhere. anyway, there were some really nice things in there. that we can't afford. but we dreamed. {& i'm still dreaming of one of those boats.}

made with love

when i was little, my grandmother made all of her granddaughters a quilt. each one of them was different. and i think most of my cousins would agree, that it's one thing we'll always have to remember her by.

for years {and years and years}, my quilt has been stored away. i've never once used it on my bed because it doesn't really fit my/our style. yesterday, we were heading out to barber motorsports park to watch alabama's first indy race. and i had one of those eureka! moments. why not take my grandmother's quilt out and actually enjoy it? i'm pretty sure she'd rather it get dirty and all worn instead of it just sitting in our attic somewhere.

and can i tell you? it was perfect. the ground was damp, yet our backends stayed dry. it was awesome, and i can't wait to get out and use it more. it'll become a great memory for cayden one day by using it this way... and you know, i'm hoping i'll be able to pass it down for someone else to love someday too.

a toddler?

i definitely think this is considered a toddle, no? we're in trouble.

easter sunday

hey all. hope everyone's easter was as beautiful as ours. our alarm clock didn't go off the same time as usual sunday morning, so we were running a little behind. {and by alarm clock, i mean cayden. usually he's talking to himself by 6:30ish or so. sunday morning? um, 7:45.}

by the time we got cayden to the nursery at church, the traditional 9:45 easter service was packed. so we decided to try out the contemporary service. and loved it. i was moved to tears during one song. and pastor jack, wow, he's such a motivated and spirited speaker that i think we might have to visit his service more often.

the easter bunny wasn't able to come visit until about 1:30 or so {remember, running late that morning, and by the time we got home from church and grocery shopping, our little guy was napping}. the easter bunny wasn't real sure what to bring cayden, but i think he did pretty good. he brought yogurt melts, a bath toy, a book and a semi-real set of keys.

here's a few photos of cayden with his easter basket. the photos of me and him? well, in the first one, all he wanted were his easter goodies which were on the ground in front of us. in the second one, everybody's happy...

sunset

driving home friday afternoon and this was the view at the entrance of our neighborhood. gorgeous.

for the fellas

and by fellas, i mean my hubby. and cayden. cause you see, jeremy sometimes gets flustered when trying to think of things to get me. and to be honest, i'm probably not the easiest person to shop for. i never really need anything, and when i think of something i want, if i think about it long enough, i decide i don't need it.

march, april & may are tough for him. in march, we had my birthday. in april, we're celebrating our fifth anniversary. and well, in may, there's mother's day. three months in a row that he's buying something for me. he did great on my birthday. and from what i know about our upcoming anniversary, he's doing pretty good in that area too.

so, instead of just leaving it all up to him for mother's day, i thought i'd help him out just a bit by giving him a couple of ideas.


{image pulled from ripe goods}
first up, this necklace from ripe goods. it's gorgeous. and i'd love to have it with cayden's initial 'c' with his birth date {5.20.09}. we do plan on having other kids one day... which would make this necklace obsolete at some point {as i wouldn't want to show favor to one kid over another}, but that's not for a while yet... so i'm thinking i'd get some pretty good use out out of it.


{image pulled from gussy}
my other suggestion? completely different. i'd love a bag from gussy. particularly the bag shown here. it's completely girly with its {adorable} ruffle, but i'm finding myself drawn to these type of accessories more and more often. it's meant for a laptop, but surely i could get away with carrying it as a regular bag? perhaps a diaper bag even. either way, love it and think it's gorgeous.

jeremy, i hope this helps you out. it might even help other people out too. {other mama's, just point your husband in the direction of these sites!}

the laundry room: phase 2

omg. the washer and dryer are in! not only do they look gorgeous, but they work wonderfully too. they're oh-so-quiet while running, and when they're finished, they play you this little tune to let you know. no loud annoying beep or anything like that. i'm in love!

stay tuned for even more finishing touches in here. one room down, a few more to go...