8 years of marriage (and a giveaway)

8 years ago on the 28th of December I married my soul mate. We were 20 years old and dumb. We sure have learned a lot in 8 years and we sure have grown up. We have moved well over 10 times (with another one to come) and have been through 3 year long deployments. We now have two beautiful children and a crazy dachshund and I wouldn't change a thing.

My amazing husband send me 24 long stemmed red roses. We weren't able to be together since right now we are living apart until we buy a house.

In honor of my anniversary and me just wanting to pay it forward I am giving away a $10 dollar Starbucks gift card. It's not much but it's enough to get you a couple of drinks!!

To enter:
You must be a follower of this blog through Google Friend Connect and you must comment and tell me what your favorite drink from Starbucks is.

For one additional entry you can tweet about the giveaway and comment here with a link to your tweet! That's it!

The winner will be drawn at random on Friday, January 4th.

CLOSED

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This picture is about as good as it gets nowadays! haha!!

Newtown, CT

Twenty families sent their kids to school on Friday. They made them breakfast, got them dressed, got them on the school bus or dropped them off at school. They gave kisses and promised that they would be right there to pick them up. They never got to. Twenty families of little boys and little girls forever changed. You don't send your child to school and think that you may never get to pick them up. It doesn't work like that. It shouldn't work like that. The world we live in today is a sad and scary one. As much as we want to protect our children from every single thing, we can't. I wish I could put my kids in a bubble and never let them out, but I can't. I can't promise tomorrow. I can only promise to love them today.

Twenty six families whose lives are forever changed. I can't even fathom the grief those parents feel. It's unimaginable. There are just no words for this horrible tragedy. My heart goes out to the family of the teachers and administrators who tried their best to save those children. They are true heroes. May they all rest in peace.

This evening I lit a candle for the 26 victims in Newtown. I am going to love on my kids and count my blessings and pray for a better, safe world. A world where we don't have to worry about our children being shot in school.

Inappropriate Elf on the Shelf

I think Elf on the shelf is more fun for the parents. At least for me it has been fun. I can't wait until night time so I can move our elf Stu.

My most favorite thing is not what I plan for Landon & Harper, but what I do for myself. Because the inappropriate Elf is hilarious.

With that I bring you... Charlie Sheen Elf... duh WINNING!

He's got the sports car, his goddesses, tiger blood, drugs, and he's WINNING at life people!

A little tiger blood with the goddesses.

And of course here are the ones I've done for the kids so far:

 Sick Stu

 Ninja Stu

Beach Bum Stu

I'm entering the first picture in Baby Rabies 2nd Annual Inappropriate Elf on The Shelf contest! Check it out here!

28 years old

Today is my 28th birthday. There is only one hour left of my special day. I thought I would share 10 things I've learned in 28 years. I'd do 28 but I'm tired and I still have a lot to learn.

1. Tomorrow is never guaranteed. This especially rings true after the death of a dear friend and her unborn son in October.
2. Not everyone is going to like you. And that's okay.
3. When all else fails take a nap.
4. Enjoy the small things. Get on the floor and play with your kids. Watch the sunrise. Stay in bed on a rainy Saturday.
5. Take care of yourself first and foremost. Because if you are down then how can you take care of the kids or anyone else?
6. Sometimes it just takes a manicure and a pedicure to make yourself feel good.
7. Don't forget to pray. Everyday.
8. Pay it forward. Because what goes around comes around.
9. Remember to breathe. God won't give you more then you can handle.
10. Love unconditionally.

I had a good birthday surrounded by my little family. I have amazing friends and an amazing family. I'm looking forward to the next year and making it the best yet. Time to get healthy and put down roots.

Because number 8 is important to me I'm going to pay it forward with a giveaway at the end of the week. So stay tuned!

Happy 1st Birthday Harper!

 

A year ago today at 4:41 pm you came into this world screaming, crying and peeing all over the place (according to your grandma). The little girl that I had so longed for, but wasn't sure would ever come to be. You were perfect. Seven pounds and fourteen ounces of pure bliss.Your daddy was half a world away in Afghanistan, but with us in heart. As soon as I saw you and the nurse said you had my dimple I was in love. A love so grand and instantaneous. Your brother was the first to hold you, and he loves you so. Nowadays you follow him around and bug him, but I know that the love you two will have will last forever. 

The last twelve months have been amazing. I worried if I could ever love the second child as much as the first. I found you can. Your heart just grows in size to fit all the love. You amaze me every single day. You love to chase the dog while screaming Ellie at the top of your lungs. Your laugh is infectious, and I love watching you learn. I know that the years to come will be just as amazing. I can't believe you are one today. Time goes by too quickly. 

Dearest Harper, your daddy & I love you more then words can express. One day when you become a mother you will understand. You are my sunshine and my heart and soul. You make every day so great. I look forward to many more years of birthdays, hugs and smiles. Happy 1st Birthday baby girl. I love you.

Mommy

Oh Christmas Tree

 

Beautiful tree and Harper sneaking in the picture

I put up our tree today. Actually I put it up yesterday and it was the leaning tower of Treeza (my husband named it that). So we had to take it down and go buy a new base today. So I wrestled the tree back up today and finished decorating it. It was a good idea to buy plastic ornaments because Harper just LOVES to take the ornaments off and throw them. Oye. It is Beautiful though and I love it. I think we should have a Christmas tree up year round.

Cake smash

I decided to do Harper's cake smash pictures today. I picked up a little white cake from the grocery store and moved furniture in the kitchen so I could capture it.

It was a total fail. After about five minutes she was over it. She didn't really like eating it. She only liked rubbing her hands in it. A lot of the pictures are out of focus and blurry. It's ok though. I got a few pictures that I will cherish forever.

I can't believe she will be 1 on the 21st. It is bittersweet.

New job, stress and moving

This post may be all over the place. I apologize in advance.

Josh is getting out of the Army. He is currently on terminal leave. He got a job in DC and he started today. I am so very proud of him and his accomplishments. He has worked his ass off to provide for our family and I am forever grateful.

The thing is we live 66 miles from DC. We need to move closer. We have been looking at houses right outside of DC and in the panhandle of WV (which is just as far). Pretty much any where around DC we are trying to find a house. We are first time home buyers so this is so foreign to us. We. Are. Stressed. He had to get up at 3 in the morning to catch a train so he could be at work by 845. That's a lot of commuting and very tiring.

I've always known it is expensive as hell to live in or around DC. Did you know that 200,000 dollars will get you a 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 450 square foot condo?! Holy crap. So basically the further out we go, the more bang for your buck. But the commute sucks. So downsize and pay a ridiculous amount of money for no space but the location is amazing, or go further out and have 3,000 square feet but a ridiculous commute? It's stressful. Plus figuring out when to put in 30 days notice here so that it coincides with moving into our new house. Oye. Big decisions for us. We also have to make sure we are in a great area with great schools.

Until we figure everything out he will just take the train. I don't think we will see much of him during the week which sucks, but I'll take it. We've been through 3 deployments so we can stand not seeing each other much during the week. We just have a lot of thinking to do and searching.

Halloween and a hurricane

Hurricane Sandy blew in this past week as I'm sure you all know. We are located in Northeast Maryland so we definitely felt the hurricane's effects. Luckily, we never lost power and only had a few issues with water coming in the front door. We lucked out. I'm praying for all those that lost their homes and businesses due to the storm.

Halloween was a success. Harper & I went as Pebbles and Wilma. Landon was a dead ninja and Josh was a redneck (or I don't even know what he was.. he definitely was embarrassing). I made Harper's costume and while the storm was going on we carved pumpkins. Unfortunately my laptop took a huge fall this past week and my card reader is now permanently residing way up in my computer so I only have iPhone pics to share.

I hope everyone had a wonderful, safe and spooky Halloween!!!

Happy 11 Months

Harper is 11 months old! She turned 11 months on the 21st. I'm a little late because we have all had the plague and are still suffering.

My sweet girl,

You are almost a year old. It's hard to believe how fast time goes by. I feel like you were just born. This past year has been challenging but very rewarding. You are now taking three to four steps at a time before you fall over. It will not be long until you are fully walking. Gone are the days of baby hood and into toddler hood we go. It is bittersweet for me since you are my last baby.

You are always all smiles. You have the biggest, greatest smile ever. You are a happy baby for the most part, but you still hate riding in the car. I hope you grow out of that. Your daddy & I love to always be on the go and that's been difficult with you hating the car so much. You adore your brother and follow him around as much as you can. I know that one day you both will be the best of friends. You are also daddy's girl. You brighten up when he walks through the door, and he adores you.

You are the puzzle piece that completes our little family. I look forward to the years to come. I can't wait to watch you grow and learn. You are my sunshine.

Lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Mommy

Pumpkin Patch

We pumpkin patched it up this past weekend. It was crisp and windy on Saturday and we got together with our friends and off to the pumpkin patch we went.

Landon had a blast (Harper could care less ha). We got him some cotton candy and went through the corn mazes. Fall is the best season EVER. I know everyone says that, but it's freaking true. Who doesn't love Halloween, pumpkins, hayrides, cider and the cooler weather?! If you don't there is something wrong with you.

Here are some obligatory photos from our weekend. Other then the pumpkin patch it was pretty uneventful. Landon now has a cold and I'm hoping we all don't get it!

 Landon's painted pumpkin

Family pic! (you know you need to do laundry when your daughter has to wear Christmas socks with her Halloween outfit.)

Hi!

Hi! Long time, no blog. I had to switch back to blogger because godaddy.com will NOT let me into my account. That is a LONG story. So I guess so long loveandlattes.com for now (even though I'm still getting charged for it). To say I'm frustrated is an understatement, but I'm back to blogging again because I really missed it!

Landon is now in first grade and doing so well. He is thriving and loving his teacher. My husband has decided to get out of the Army so we are in the process of going through all of that. It's been pretty stressful around here. All we've ever known is the Army so this is a huge change for us. Harper will be 11 months old this month. I can't believe it! I'm starting to plan for her first birthday party.

I'm still trying to get everything set up and give this blog a makeover. So until it's all ready here are some pics from the last few months.