5 on Friday

Today I am linking up for 5 on Friday. My brain is a little fried from last week of school things so I thought this would be a fun, easy, post!

1. I get an entire weekend with my kids. These two have been sooo super fun recently. The other night I sat on the floor in their nursery out of sight and just watched them babble back and forth with each other before falling asleep.

2. Today is the second to last Friday of school. So ready for summer and being home with the kiddos everyday. 

this made me laugh :)

3.  Shrimp and Grits is having an amazing kids clothing sale. My shopping cart is full. 

4. Have you seen "prancercising" on youtube? My kids did this for bonus points in class today (you can tell we're in the last week of school!) I was dying laughing. 

5. My husband's cousin got engaged! Since my husband is mostly an only child, his cousins are like his brother and sister. We are super excited for Jenna and Adam and pretty stoked their wedding will be in the Dominican! Yay for destination weddings!

what a pretty ring! He did well!

The Engagement & Planning Part 1

After getting engaged on October 1st, 2006, we started planning our wedding! I knew I wanted a summer wedding and I started stalking wedding pages on the knot.com. The funny thing was that I had not been to a wedding since I was a junior bridesmaid in my aunt's wedding in 1994. I had no CLUE where to begin! Lucky for me, Whose Wedding Is It Anyway and A Wedding Story were all over TV and cluttered up our DVR senior year. My poor roommates had their share of wedding! 

We started the planning by hiring a wedding planner to help guide us through the process. I am the first girl to get married and my Dad was trying to keep this process stress free for my mom... haha. I just went to look up my wedding planner's website and it looks like she is no longer in the business. I would highly recommend having a wedding planner if you have no experience with weddings. We did a partial package, where Terri and I each but in equal time during the planning phase vs. a fully package where Terri planned everything and I just said yes or no. The most important part to me would be having a day-of-wedding planner. Terri took care of EVERYTHING on the day of the wedding and it was fabulous. I'll write more about that in a later post. 

I knew I wanted a vineyard vines inspired preppy, nautical wedding. We decided that Lake Norman, one of our favorite summer spots, would be a good venue. I searched the internet for several lakeside venues that would accommodate 300+ people. We were close to booking the Pennisula Yacht Club but they lacked separate spaces for the ceremony and reception. That's when we decided to hire Terri and upon our first meeting she suggested The Point Lake and Golf Club (Now Trump International). My mom and I took a drive over there and decided it was perfect! 

 (all stock images via) 

The Ceremony Site

Cocktail Hour

Lake Club Entrance

The Reception

They only had 3 available dates and for some reason that I cannot remember now, I chose the date in September. This date was a conflict with my sister and my aunt and really I should not have picked it but hindsight is 20/20!

Wedding planning was STRESSFUL. I was uptight and navigating foreign waters. I wanted things to be perfect but couldn't decide was perfect was. My mom and I fought a lot. She tried so hard to help me figure it all out but it was difficult. I remember obsessing over every knot board looking for wedding ideas. I couldn't believe my mom wasn't as obsessed as I was about creating the perfect event :)

Terri gave us a list of vendors and we used most of them making some of my decisions easier. I wanted a lot of personalization and learned how to do a lot of designing using publisher. 

Here is our planning timeline:

October: Got engaged, hired a wedding planner, and photographer (Walters & Walters), chose our venue, our friends hosted an engagement keg party for us (what? you didn't have a keg at your engagement party?)

Jay and his boys

late night karaoke party

November: Took our engagement pictures on my 22nd birthday! Sent our save the dates. Booked our band, Spare Change- they were awesome!, I found them on another bride's knot board and booked them through their myspace page! They are still playing all over the Carolina's and I highly recommend them)

Once we set the date we sent out our save the dates. I'll have to go raid my mom's computer because I have NO pictures of them! I designed them myself and had them printed on trifold brochure paper. In the middle we glued on a DIY magnet photo strip of us holding signs that said "Save The Date". We hand tied them all with navy ribbon and I have clear memories of my family sitting around the kitchen table assembling them. They turned out beautifully and I hope that I can find a picture! 

December: My parent's threw us a holiday engagement party at their home as a place for all of our friends and families to meet. We had the best time celebrating!

(i know... faux pas putting our married monogram on anything before the wedding... we lived and learned!)

This takes us through the beginning. Spring was the crazy time for me! New post tomorrow with more!

Weddings

I've decided to back track around 6 years and do a few posts regarding our wedding. We got married before I started blogging and before pinterest and I've just decided I'd love a place to record the details. I'm going to do a few wedding posts scattered here and there.

The Proposal

I'll be totally honest. I knew the proposal was coming. We had talked about it for at least year. Jay and I started dating as 18 year old freshman at NC State. We got engaged at the ripe age of 21 as seniors in college. My Mom's original diamond was given to Jay to use in my ring. I helped pick out the setting. Jay's mom, my mom, Jay and I all went to Schiffman's jewelry store in Greensboro to pick out a ring. I wanted a classic Tiffany setting. Simple and elegant. Jay bought the ring sometime in September of 2006 and I waited and waited (for what seemed like forever) for him to give it to me.

On Sunday night, October 1st, 2006, Jay called me and asked me to stop by his house on the way to my weekly sorority meeting. I stopped by and he asked me to go out back with him. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was simple and sweet just like Jay. I said yes and just like that we were engaged. I left soon after and went to my sorority meeting. Jay picked Sunday night because our sorority does a sweet little ring ceremony for girls that get engaged and its a surprise for the rest of the chapter. Our ritual chair tells that chapter that we are going to have a ring ceremony and everyone gets excited and starts guessing which girl got engaged. Jay knew that I would want to wear the ring right away and knew that I wouldn't be able to keep it a secret from my friends for very long!

After I got back from chapter, a bunch of us went back to Jay's house to celebrate. Soon after, a bunch of his fraternity brothers came and hog tied him up and took him to the lake nearby campus and threw him in! I guess it was some type of tradition! Here are a few pictures of the night!

 

11 Months

Emma Cate and Holden,
You are 11 months old. It feels like time has flown by and I'm excited for our adventures in toddlerhood!

What our life is like:

Our routine has changed a little as you've both grown and are becoming toddlers. The biggest change has been with nursing and eating. Holden especially has started to drink less and less breastmilk and is all about the finger foods! We still wake up around 6:45 and Daddy takes care of the babies while I get ready. I am still pumping in the morning but am getting ready to slow down the pumping soon.

We just switched to 6oz bottles with 1.5 ounces whole milk and 4.5 breastmilk and you each have one for breakfast. Around 8:15 you eat your solids. Usually you have yogurt mixed with fruit, toast or waffles, and an egg. You are hungry babies!  Your solid meals are at 8:15, 12, and 6:00. You are still eating a variety of foods and you both always try it even if you don't like it. Pesto pasta has become a recent favorite. Its funny how you will eat something one day and then act like you both hate it the next. Holden is definitely the eater and can put down some food. He had probably also gained 5lbs this month! Holden, you like to shove a TON of food in your mouth and cheeks and then pretend to choke. Emma Cate, you are much more dainty and it takes you forever to finish meals. You pick up each piece individually and chew.

Holden's developments this month have pretty much stayed the same from last month. You continue to crawl like a mad man, and pull up and cruise around furniture. You have let go of the furniture and stood alone before but not for long.  Emma Cate has taken off this month and had almost caught up to Holden. You crawl like a crazy woman and are a complete wiggle worm. You pull up and cruise and also like to walk behind your push toys. You've gone from seated to standing and just recently learned how to sit back down from a standing position. This took about a week and it was tons of fun when you would stand in your crib at night and wouldn't know how to get down... you would cry for us to come help you. We are glad you mastered that new skill.

Naps are a changing! You still generally take a good morning nap from 9-11 but you are both having a rough time with the afternoon nap. I think we'll start switching your schedule this month or maybe wait a bit and see how the summer goes. I hate to say that it might be time to switch to one long nap around 1pm...

Bed time is at 7pm and most of the time you are ready then but lately you seem to want to stay up later. Hopefully this summer, you'll stay up till 8 and sleep till 8 :) Can you tell Mommy is already planning summer vacation! You both love talking before bed. Its fun to watch you look at each other through the cribs and jabber away.

Holden has been a little cranky this month and I think its because his teeth are finally getting ready to come in. He's woken up in the middle of the night crying twice this month and that's unusual for him. Emma Cate now has 4 teeth and knock on wood, the teething process hasn't been too tough on either of us.

You both continue to play together more. You follow each other around and it is the cutest thing to see two speed crawlers coming towards me. Luckily, we are moving out of the bumps and bruises phase and you are both able to catch yourselves when you fall. You like to sit and look at books, push your walkers, ride on Sheldon the turtle, and explore. We often head down to the basement where are your toys are and we just watch you go from toy to toy. You are both little explorers and watching you crawl, explore, and learn is so much fun.

Emma Cate:
Nicknames:  P (daddy's nickname for you), Emma Tate, Taters (we use this one the most), Cate, Tatie Boo.
Weight: ?
Height: ?
Hair: It keeps growing (especially in the back) and we think you'll have dark hair
Eyes: Blueish grey
Clothes: 9 or 12 month. You are petite and the 12 month smocked dresses are a little long on you
Eating: 6oz bottles 3 times a day and nursing before bed. Eating full meals three times a day.
Likes: her bottle, being tossed in the air, being tickled on the neck, shaking her head no, cuddling at night, playing with elmo, going for walks, being in the baby bjorn, pushing her walker, shaking her egg shakers, any type of music.
Dislikes: mommy walking out of the room, being set down or left alone
Development: You are all over the place! You crawl, pull up, and cruise. You also clap and have started to wave bye bye
Words: hey, dada, ata, heard mama once but I think it was on accident :(
Teeth: You've got 4 teeth! You got your bottom two first and then the upper two. The upper two aren't all the way in yet but are looking really big. We might need braces sooner than later! Ha!

Sleep: You have started sleeping on your tummy and always have your paci in your mouth when we wake you up. We took off one bumper so you could talk to Holden during the night!

Extra: You continue to develop at warp speed. We think we've figured out your personality. You are cautious and timid until you feel like you can do something and then you do it quite well. You do not just jump into things carelessly. You are a quick learner and once you decide to learn a new skill, you do it quickly. Your crawling happening in about 2 weeks. Your first crawl was this hilarious slither across the floor before you learned to crawl all the way. Remind me to show you the video! You are verbal and like to bang your hands on things to make noise. You are the most adorable little girl :)

Holden
Nicknames: Holdy and Holds, Spatcho, Den Dens and Ho Ho. You go by Holden most of the time.
Weight: ?
Height: ? but much taller than EC
Hair: blond. It continues to grow and you a definitely a blond!
Eyes: Bright blue
Clothes: Mostly 12 month but you are starting to outgrow those and are getting into 18 month 
Diapers: Bumgenius 4.0 and freetime and KaWaii at night.
Eating: 6oz bottles 3 times a day and lots of finger foods at meal times. You are a BIG eater and a growing boy! 
Likes: dancing, being naked, standing up, you love exploring. You love your lovie and holding blankets up to your face. You love your tambourine and any toys that make noise. You love to steal toys from your sister. You also love to pluck her hairbows from her head and chew on them. You also love the remote and Mommy's iPhone. Shiny toys are your friends. You also love to crawl to the baby gate and pull up.
Dislikes: being hungry (boy likes his bottle!), being tired (you are a bear when you are tired), being held still. You love to explore!
Development: crazy toddler here we come. You can pull up, cruise, and crawl. We are waiting on the walking to happen. You are working on standing up on your own.
Words: not yet!
Teeth: not yet!
Sleep: You always have blankets by your face. You like to crawl in to the corner and scrunch your head up to the bumpers to sleep. 

Extra: I think you may have settled down a little this month. You are getting used to the new freedom that crawling brings. You are starting to obey boundaries more and you are definitely learning the term no! You are a lazy bottle drinking and like for someone to hold your bottle for you when you drink. You do not like the sippy cup! You are flirty and bat your eyes at everyone. You give such big smiles every morning. You are the cutest little boy!

Monogram Cloth Diapers

I just got these new cloth diapers in and I am so excited! I LOVE a good monogram and love a good cloth diaper. Aren't these too cute? 

Bottom Bumpers Monogram Cloth Diapers

$26.95

Available at Tender Love and Cloth

Radiation Hungry Caterpillars Mother's Day

Starting Tender Love and Cloth has definitely taken a lot of my time recently. Owning a business is a lot of work. I've been missing blogging and am glad to have a chance to sit down and record some memories. This will be such a random blog posts covering everything we've been up to!

My mom finished up her 6 weeks of radiation and my sister and I (and the babies) surprised her at the clinic with flowers and cake. Emma Cate was babbling non-stop the entire 20 minutes that we waited for my mom to come out. We thought she was going to blow our cover.

I have all sorts of mess regarding my teeth. I have bonding on the top four teeth and unfortunately after a few years stains develop where the bonding meets the tooth and the bonding has to be replaced. My stains are out of control! I haven't ever bleached my teeth because the bonding parts won't take the bleach and I'd end up having two different colors but since they are so messy right now anyway I decided to bleach them before I got new bonding in hope that all my teeth would match and be sparkly white. This bleaching stuff is terrible! My teeth are in so much pain. Anyone else have this problem?

I mailed my first package for Tender Love and Cloth. I am learning so much about how this all works. Did you know Fedex is like 1000% (really) more expensive than USPS? I've learned my way around the post office recently!

We just finished up extending our patio. We are trying to make at least one home upgrade each year and we selected the patio and a retaining wall this year because the twins birthday party will be held outside. It took them less than a week to complete and we're happy with the results. Jay is building us a fire pit and there is a little more work do to to finish it up but here's a few in the process pictures. 

We've been hanging out outside a lot more now that the patio is done. I can't wait until the kids are able to ride their toys on i.

guess who is crawling?

date night with the partially completed firepit

Saturday night, my college friend Jess was in town and we met up with some friends at Selwyn for a drink

Despite my whiny mother's day post, we definitely had some great times sprinkled throughout the day.

brunch at 131 Main

gift giving :) Jay is pretty awesome at this!

please just feed me mom!

My "Mother's Day" photo

On Monday afternoon I picked up my mom and sister's dog from the boarding facility and her pup deacon insisted on riding behind me sandwiched between me and the seat.

I've been working HARD creating the twin's first birthday party. Amazon is my bff and packages have been arriving daily. I know they won't remember this party but I hope they'll look back at the pictures from the day and know how much they were loved and celebrated! Jay and I are not big birthday people but I want to be sure my kids are celebrated on their special day! 

(wow I need to fill my planters!)

Our theme is the very hungry caterpillar and I'm headed out to get invitations printed after school today! So excited!!! 

Our photographer hasn't taken pictures of the kids since they were 7 months so I had to break out the camera and with a little help from my mom, jay's mom, my sister, and jay we were able to have little mini backyard photo shoot one afternoon. ***Added- So picasa (my photo organizer of choice) started uploading these little gif files to my web albums. I thought they were funny and gave you a really good idea of what trying to take a picture of two squirming babies looks like!

this is the picture I used in on their card