happily busy

for lack of ideas on what to blog about, here is a look into the happenings that have occurred over this past month. as the title of this post states, our little family has had a lot keeping us busy, which i thrive on. as a stay at home mom and in-home child care provider, i count on weekends and evenings to remind me that there still is a world outside of my living room.
so for those of you who would like an insider view to my happily, busy life....here is a peek:

february 5th and 6th
february kicked off with some more home makeovers. my mom graciously came over on saturday the 5th and helped me paint our guest bedroom. the room went from a fluorescent, pale lavender, to a much more appealing neutral beige. (shoot! forgot to take a before and after pic....you'll just have to take my word for it:)) we knocked it out in about two hours. my mom is the world's best painting buddy, because she prefers to do the trim and doesn't like to roll. don't understand it, but i'll take it! thanks for all your help, mom!

the 6th was spent cleaning and prepping for rachel's birthday/ superbowl party at her mom's house. brandon spent the weekend with friends, so peyton and i made our appearance at the party. it was fun to be with rach on her actual birthday and to spend time with her friends and family. here i am with the birthday girl, herself....happy two-five, rachel!



february 9th
had a girl's night with my two wonder women. we celebrated rachel's birthday at Red, the chinese bistro on ingersoll. SO. GOOD. in fact, it was that delicious, that i talked my husband into taking me there for valentines day! more on that later...

february 12th
while my mom and i were out gallivanting at hobby lobby (LOVE that store), my dad and brandon spent the morning finishing up our bathroom makeover. they installed a new faucet to match the rest of the hardware that we purchased a few weeks back. i plan on doing a separate post to show off the new bathroom....complete with before and after pics. get excited:) brandon and i also took peyton sledding for the first time in our backyard. she was adorable....and now points to the door all the time and signs "please", asking to go outside. how can we say no?


february 14th
ahhh....v-day. gotta love it. my guy went shopping and bought me a new dress and some matching jewelry from White House, Black Market. i was stunned. and he did great! i love both the dress and the bracelet! if you knew brandon, you would understand that this was a big step for him. he despises shopping of any sort, so i felt very flattered. he even braved the weird looks from teenage girls and walked around Forever 21 to find me a cute shirt, "just because." love that boy:) we dropped peyton off at the grandparent's house and had a romantic date at Red (the restaurant i mentioned before). you just can't beat free babysitters, who will watch your kid overnight on valentines day...wink, wink:) this is the only picture i got of us before our date. i am notorious for not keeping my camera battery charged and having it die on me right before an important event. sigh....



february 18th
my dad's birthday! my parents, brandon and i had a double date at The Longest Yard, a sports bar in Valley Junction and then headed back to my parent's place for cake (which i baked! who would have thought? and it turned out perfectly!) and presents. brandon's mom took peyton off our hands for the night, so we had two nights that week that we could pretend like it was just the two of us again. after you have kids, it's easy to forget what life is like before kids. like remembering what it's like to sleep in:)

february 19th and 20th
spent the weekend up with brandon's family and attended our first Daytona 500 party! brandon's mom and step dad are big NASCAR buffs and they love to host events at their home. why not have a party to watch the Daytona 500? it's kind of like a super bowl party...except for NASCAR! this is the 10th year they have hosted this party and it delivered. jenny and kevin out-did themselves with smoked pulled pork, hamburgers, potato casserole and tons of appetizer-like foods. it's safe to say that we'll be back next year:)
here are a few pictures from that day (sorry their so random...i was busy stuffing my face.):

couldn't have a post without this sweet face:)

blair (brandon's sister) and i

having fun with some krispy kremes. blair's idea.

and the month isn't even over yet! i'm sure there will be lots more excitement to come. thanks for tuning in for my random post...leave a comment if you liked it!:)