Smile Fridays - week 41

This week for Smile Fridays, I am going to post some of my favorite new things!  I love nothing more when friends share a new shopping website, etsy shop, restaurant.  Enjoy!!!

Maggie introduced me to Mix & Match Mama.  She is Bachelor Sean's sister and has a great food blog...nothing fancy but some fresh ideas on what to serve your family.  I have made several of her recipes, made one of our new favorites last week.  You can see her blog here, http://mixandmatchmama.blogspot.com and the specific recipe pictured, here Coach's Stack.  Yum! 

My new favorite flats!  I had never heard of this company until Stella & Dot sent all stylists attending their annual conference with a discount.  I had $100 off any pair of shoes...which is a good thing because I wouldn't have bought them full price.  You all know I am cheap, right?  In fact, my parents covered the difference for my birthday so they were free!  Thanks Mom and Dad (and Stella & Dot), I love them!  I got mine in camel (being practical, boo) but I really wanted the clover or cobalt blue!  Super comfy and fold up for easy storage in your purse when you need to ditch the heels!  And the packaging was icing on the cake!

I LOVE a good Etsy find!  I was in need of a banner for my sis' baby shower and stumbled upon this site, Sutton and Co.  She had a generic It's A Girl banner.  I emailed her our invite and she did a great job at matching it up, just love it!  Seriously, this would have taken me hours!  

Another great Etsy find!  This camera case is my new BFF!  I often leave my big camera at home because I don't want to haul around my big camera bag and I don't want to ruin it in my purse.  There are 4 hands that like to dump their cups, half eaten cereal bars, suckers into it.  Well, this new case is perfect!  It protects my camera in my bag and while carrying it across my body (definitely softens the blow of hitting my kids' heads when I lean down to pick them up ;)).  I have already started carrying my camera more! Check her out here, Pampered Paparazzi.

Ok, not the best pic but I am officially in love with ruffle wide leg pants for little girls.  I would die for them in my size and not look ridiculous.  I originally saw them thru Instagram and started following.   Of course I didn't buy any, just drooled...remember, I am cheap :).  But then Memorial Day weekend they were 50% off and I felt totally justified!  And the shirt she is wearing with them was a $1 from Target!  Then they were featured on Zulily last week in red/blue stripes, hello KU colors!!!!!  Check them out here at Taylor Joelle Designs.

Wanna know every pregnant girl's best friend?  A maxi dress in the summer!  This isn't the best picture and I have worn this so many times I can't believe this is the only pic I have of me in it! 

 I was so excited when my one of sorority sisters, Cara Ingram (now Appleby :)) had opened an online shopping boutique.  If you knew Cara, you know that she has amazing style and she always looked great!  I originally bought these state pillows in KS and MO which I just adore.  I bought this dress pictured and this one too.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!  Go check out her site, I promise you will find lots of pieces to drool over...treat yourself!  I can't wait to purchase some non-maternity pieces next Spring/Summer!  You can shop it all at http://www.blueskiesshop.com.

Ok-let me know if you love any of these already and fall in love after looking online!  

A quick pit stop at the lake

In between our visits to Wash, MO and Kansas, we made a pit stop at the Lake of the Ozarks.  Aaron and Cami were at their place for the week so we just had to visit and they happily took us in!  

Who knows what these 2 were chatting about?? 

 Love this!

 Laney was ready to rule the water!  She slept like a baby on our boat rides!  She isn't the best cuddler so I adored her time sleeping on my lap.

 Laney wanted to get on their with her dad but he didn't even leave the cove, she wasn't a fan of the reality of it :).

 Braeden and his friend were so good with the boys!

 Perhaps the biggest shocker of our trip...Cooper asked to go tubing!  What??  This is an unlikely request from our non-adventurous kiddo.  He did it a few times and just loved it!  Here he is with our friends that live here in Texas with us but also have a lake house, he loves these girls!!!

Baby Quincy was there and just a dream.  She is a pretty perfect baby!  

More fun memories made even though it was a quick 48 hours!

More from Wash, MO

Ugh...here it is, another week and I haven't posted!  This time it's a nasty 24 hour flu bug and a fun trip to Vegas for Stella & Dot to thank for that!!!  On the plane home last night, I made a list of all the blog posts I need to catch up on and the list is at 15!  

Starting back almost 3 weeks ago, I still need to wrap up our trip to Wash, MO!

 Mamaw taught the kids and played many games of war with them.

 Laney reading to Hadley.

Cooper getting his turn, Hadley seems impressed.  Hadley is at the best age, sitting up but not mobile!  

 A patriotic uncle and niece.

 Aunt Tanya got some quality Super Hero playtime with Cooper.  

The girls made my favorite, cookie cake, to celebrate my birthday early.  Emily did all the decorating, so sweet and cute, I loved it!

Love this collage of the girls that Maggie put together.  They are all 6 months apart, here they are youngest to oldest and wearing their red, white and blue!

Here they are...minus the Kansas Jones' kids.

Funny faces!

Such a great few days, we are ready for our next visit, just not the hours it takes to get there!!!

3 amigos minus 1

The 3 amigos of the Jones' crew are Cash, Kellen and Cooper.  Cash was missing this weekend, but we met up with him later on our Midwest tour.

Wanna know the beauty of cousins?  They can go months without seeing each other and when they reunite it's like they saw one another yesterday.  We arrived Friday night and the boys were instantly off and playing together, only to be seen for meals and bedtime...not really, but that's kind of how it felt.

  They were busy fighting the bad guys most of the time.

 Adam treated them to quite the bubble bath in Mamaw and Papaw's tub.

Kellen played hooky from school to spend the day with us.  The weather was beautiful so we spent some time at the park...trying to wear them out ;).

Road Trip - part 1...a slight detour

We headed out for our Midwest Tour with the first stop being Wash, MO.  We left a little before 7 and when we reached Norman, OK I mentioned to Adam what good time we were making so far.  Uh oh...should have known that was a curse!  

We were off bright and early!

We stopped off the Moore exit to see some of the tornado damage.  Then I wish we hadn't because I felt helpless.  So darn devastating.  

While driving thru here Adam heard a dragging sound.  Uh oh.  The plastic protector across the bottom of his car had come unhinged and was hanging down dragging along road.  Not good considering it could come off and fly across highway or who knows what else.

 So we stop at gas station for duct tape because that fixes everything, right?  Please notice the car pulled up on the curb so Adam could shimmy under.  I should also mention it was already about 90 degrees and probably 10 degrees hotter on the concrete Adam was sprawled upon.

Well, the duct tape didn't work.  Round 2=zip ties.  My husband can be rather resourceful when needed!  I was impressed.  Cooper was very intrigued by that cigarette butt on the ground.

We parked near a big grassy area.  The kids were a dream!  Car problems didn't bother them, they were just happy to be out.  We all raced from tree to tree, tried to tire them out but I was the only one exhausted.

 Back on the road!  Well for about 10 minutes before we heard the protector dragging again.  So we stopped again and Adam re-ziptied.  At this point we realized we were going to need a more permanent fix.  Luckily we were near Tulsa and not in the middle of the Flint Hills.  We found a dealership that would fit us in so we picked up some lunch at Chick-Fil-A and headed there.

Well, we were quite the sight!  We were picturing a typical dealership waiting room with chairs and Jerry Springer on TV.  Uh, no.  There was one glass table in the middle of the place!!  And here we were...family of four, with a tag along shih tzu, a boy still in his pjs, a pregnant lady carrying 2 bags of Chick-Fil-A and a very loud little girl.  We got lots of stares...I mean, who brings their dog to a car dealership!  Well, they fixed us right up in less than 30 minutes and didn't charge us!  Incredible customer service!!!

The rest of the ride was smooth, thank goodness!  Not too many road trips left in Dad's small car...can't get 3 carseats across the backseat and I can't handle many more on the lap diaper changes with my almost 2 year old!

Believe it or not, this was the first real car trouble we have had in all the trips we have made in the last few years.  We feel pretty lucky and were laughing most of this mishap!  In the end all it did was make our trip to STL 12 hours instead of 10.  

Lots of fun posts to come about our visits!!!

Souders Grandbaby #4

It's a GIRL!!  A few weeks ago, Bryson and Tara welcomed a sweet baby girl into this world.  Landree Michelle is here and sweet as can be!!

This is one of the many pics family sent to me.  I was so wishing to be there but so thankful for FaceTime!

Catching Up

Holy smokes Batman! It's been 2 weeks since my last post, I have so so much to catch up on!!  A 2 week hiatus can only mean one thing...we have been on our midwest tour visiting family.  It was crazy, so fun but very busy!  I thought I would stay caught up on blog and even brought 2 books thinking I would finish them.  Ha!  I didn't even start either! :(  I will be catching you all up on our fun soon.  In the meantime, here's some random pics leftover from June.

 Cousin Cash introduced Cooper to tic-tac-toe a few months back.  Since then, it's been a restaurant fave while we wait for our food.  Adam took this pic (and prob sent to my family and his :)) because Cooper had just legitimately beat me!

 Last month Laney had her first ice cream cone from McDonalds.  Think she enjoyed it??  This girl usually misses dessert because she goes to bed early. Poor Doodles.

 Creepy ice cream cone eater

 Laney loves to crawl in our bed, specifically Adam's side.  She smiles real big and says, "daddyyyyy."

 First of many bloody noses I am sure.  This girl is always climbing on something and usually falling down as well.

 These 2 occasionally dine on their own.

 Laney got these blocks for her first birthday from our friends, the Stauffers.  She still plays with these almost daily.  Lately she really concentrates on building and is so proud of what she accomplishes.

These 2 are wrestling all.the.time.  And now sister has joined in!  Tonight Adam and Cooper were at tee ball practice and all she wanted to do was tackle me.  Clearly, a girl with an older brother.