here we are at beer hoptacular in chicago. we were quite excited to attend! we had purchased tickets along with my sisters, brother in law, hc, and miss dana. we also had other friends joining us there as well.
it was a cooler, rainy day. we {me, hc, and dana} grabbed a taxi and headed on our way to the event. we shuffled along with everyone else in line, stoked to get inside the big black tent to start our beer tasting adventure. when you get there, they give these cute little shot glasses to use. inside was a mecca of beer vendors ready to pour copious amounts of samples for you! it was beer heaven! we skipped from one beer vendor to the next, sampling all sorts of yummy beverages.
it was cute and fun because they also handed out little mustaches to the patrons to wear. uh, hells yes i put a mustache on! i rocked that thing like a champ. it also had free a photo booth that we totally took advantage of! on top of that, they were also giving out chip and stuff…score! tasty snacks to munch on!
after a couple hours of us beer tasting, we were dunzo. we grabbed a cab back to our place and hc and dana passed. out. on the couch. it was too cute. they were both out cold on the couch while, of course, i was a busy bee…cleaning, crafting, and doing random things i needed to get done, waiting for them to get up. it’s so me…i can never sit still or lie down for a nap, even if we were drinking for a few hours. call me cray!
it was a spectacular time, attending beer hoptacular. it is definitely a fun event everyone should at least try once, or twice, or three times 😉
olive is really loving any push toys right now. she will grab anything on wheels and roll it all around the floor. well, it doesn’t have to have wheels. she will just push it across the floor if she can. so, this little wooden taxi is a favorite. it’s actually a substantial size. it’s sturdy, bright, and easy to play with. it’s so cute to watch her roll it across the floor while she does her gimp crawl {it’s an interesting combo of moves that gets her across the room}. annndddd, like i have said before, i love wooden toys. i love the texture of them. i love that they are environment friendly. i love that they are made with non-toxic paint {cuz everything goes into her mouth!}. i love that they are so aesthetically pleasing as well!
i love, love these moccasins from stitches and soles. they are too cute and so easy to put on olive. they have elastic hidden bands and they totally stay on her feet! her shoes are top notch in quality and design. these shoes add total oomph to any of olive’s outfits. they come in lots of fun colors and she offers two cute styles in ’em. i can’t wait to add more colors into her collection and dress her up in my love {all over, all over}. yeah, madonna fans…ya got that one?
hats. hats are a must right now. i think my problem is finding hats that fit olive’s noggin. okay, she doesn’t have a huge head but it’s near the 80th percentile on her chart {so, she has outgrown some cute hats i have gotten her a few months ago!}. i love fun little hats like this babygap one. it’s good to have a few neutral ones available that can go with any outfit she has or any coat. the weather is so unpredictable, so it’s imperative to have warm hats on hand to protect her little, presh noggin.
this push car is one of olive’s favorite. it’s at my parent’s house and olive loves to push it around. she is such a strong little girl that she can push it when her cousin reagan or auntie kim is sitting on it {or both at the same time!}. it is hilarious to watch…and ya kinda feel bad for her at the same time. olive loves to push people around on the car {so cute} but yet, it melts your heart she is working so hard at it. a determined little gal.
she’s such a snuggle bunny now. she loves her little blankies or anything soft, so she can rub her little cheeks and lips onto them. she loves this soft owl blankie {courtesy of auntie carol} and has become so attached to it. she loves to sleep with it. she loves to watch tv with it. she loves to crawl around the house with it. it comforts her. it calms her down and i’m totally into it. it’s so endearing and heartwarming to watch her snuggle her blankie {her new bestie}.
boogie wipes are a lifesaver. seriously. olive went through a week where she had a bit of a runny nose {poor babes!} and she did. not. like. it when i tried wiping her nose. it finally dawned on me that i had a stash of boogie wipes in her diaper bag! hallelujah. it saved me. she totally let me wipe those icky boogs off her face with these wipes! no problem. no fussing. no tears. i just pulled out a wipe, cleaned up her nose, and she would hardly flinch. thank goodness! she didn’t have to look like a kid whose parents would let their boogies run down their face {yeahs right…like i would ever let that happen!}.
well, those are olive’s eleven month loves! can you believe she is eleven months?! oh em gee…it’s cray to think about it. she is so amazing. i love her sooooo much and every minute i have with her just melts my heart to a mushy, puddled mess. she brightens up our world and sometimes i think my heart might explode with love. *sigh*
i’m a bit obsessed with baby moccasins. yes. yes i am. i am loving those cute little shoes for miss olive. i’ve seen a few brands around {some that are really expensive!} and have fallen in love with these cute, little, sweet shoes for miss olive.
they are from this etsy seller, stitches and soles. they are well made, constructed, and sturdy. i am in love with them! they come in so many different colors and she makes them with hidden elastic sides, so it’s easy to put on and take off. plus, they stay on her feet {even when the little bugger tugs and tugs at her toes}! bonus. that’s why i love them so much!
i have already complied a list of colors to purchase for olive. a girl’s gotta have a slew of choices to match her wardrobe! natch. the leather is buttery soft and the platinum color goes with everything. it also comes with the cutest little muslin bag to store it in.
our first run with the shoes was a trip to ikea to pick up some knick knacks. hc was like…”what are those?!” i said, “her new shoes!”. he was not impressed. psh. men…what do they know about baby style?
anyhoozle, as we were cruising around the store, olive received plenty of compliments on her awesome shoes. customers were loving her and loving her fun shoes. hmph. that showed hc up! ha! he knows better than to question mine or olive’s choice in fashion {she’s a fashionista in training}! snap. 😉
[a shopping trip to ikea…the other consumers would compliment her on her ‘fancy’ shoes. olive was like “yeah, i know”]
so, these are my current obsession. i am soooo loving these chic little moccasins for our baby girl. such a cute addition to any outfit she sports! yay!
soooo, long story that i will try to make short {cross your fingers!}. i met abbey more than ten years ago. we crossed paths and instantly became close friends. we had so many crazy moments together. she was my partner in crime. we went out all. the. time. fashion show nights in the city. bars in the city. art shows. dinners. fancy dinners. super, super fancy dinners. eve of the eve parties. shopping dates. pool time. brunches. lunches. you name it, we did it. anything in the city was game.
after years of being close friends, life sometimes takes you down different paths and those paths are not parallel anymore. they veer off into different directions and you loose touch. mine and abbey’s path veered off. seven plus years went by.
last year, abbey reached out to me and i reciprocated. we started to talk via fb and then by phone. we’ve exchanged communication here or there and moved our friendship along. well, abbey contacted me a few weeks ago to let me know that she would be in chicago {she lives in missouri} and wanted to meet up! i was totally game, i was excited to see her. i was glad our schedules worked out perfectly for us to meet up.
i chose for us to brunch at little goat. i was a little nervous it would be super crowded {it usually is and a very long wait} because it was a very, very nice day! warm and sunny. as i walked towards the restaurant, i saw there were no patrons standing outside {a total sign it wasn’t crowded} and was relieved.
i walked in with o and ran right into abbs! it was pretty awesome to see her. she looked great! we hugged and were so excited to see one another. she was so happy to meet olive! she is so great with babies. her sister val just had a beautiful baby boy, lake!
we were seated right away {woo!}. of course abbey and i started gabbing away. i told her, “we better choose what we want to eat or we will never order!”. so, she decided to go with the apple pancakes and a small side of biscuits and gravy. i chose the tuna melt with a side of smoked fries.
[um, it really wasn’t this empty…this space happen to clear out]
[she’s got her other bottom toof coming in!]
[smoked fries]
we gabbed and gabbed and gabbed. there was so much to talk about. we had such a great time catching up. so much has changed! at the time abbey and i were friends, i was ‘single’. not married. still living in chicago. no children. and now all that has changed!
abbey tried her best to get on olive’s good side. olive was being shy. it was too cute to see. i would slide her over to abbey and she would crawl back to me. i would slide her back again, and she would wiggle back to me. the only way abbey was able to get her to stay be her was to feed little o. ha!
[she was being shy]
[tuna sammich]
[yum, yum…the only time olive felt comfortable, when abbey fed her!]
after we finished our meals, we stayed awhile to continue our gab fest. abbey for sure wanted to take pictures in the photo booth. of course! i’m all about photo booths! i love ’em! we wriggled our way in and our bottoms shared the tiniest little round seat. abbs put the money in and we were like…uh, when does the booth take a photo {it was definitely an old school machine}?? duh…as you can see in the first shot, we were soooo caught off guard! but then we got it!
[before we left, we had to participate in the photo booth!]
our day was so fun! it was fabulous to see abbey again after all these years. we had such a good time catching up and i was super happy she was able to meet little olive. i hope our future visits are in closer proximity and we can’t wait to see her again. it was awesome seeing girl!
ohhhh. how i love this baby girl. one night, it was just me and o, we were playing around on the floor and having fun {in our coordinating pajamas]. i decided to plop down in her chair. she found it so amusing! she wanted to crawl up onto my lap, and so she did. oh my goodness. we had the best time snuggling. the best. she sat in my lap and watched her favorite sing along songs by baby genius.
[pj tiiiiime]
we chilled and cuddled together. we were loving life. little o kept on leaning back and giving me little hugs. i was in heaven. she is so sweet and adorbs. so, i said to her, “kisses!” and she would turn around and give me a peck on the lips! she would actually pucker her lips and give me sweet kisses every time i said kisses. i was loving it!
[this was the best. each frame was a separate time olive would lean back and give me a bisou]
we sat there contently, watched her favorite sing along nursery rhymes, and had the best momma daughter time together. just me and o, all alone. missing daddy, being away on a work trip. although, moments like these makes it all so much better.
i love her to bits. i absolutely have the best time with her. life is so much sweeter with this cutie around.
so, this past summer, i was all about making some s’mores. well…summer came and went and i had not made any s’mores. well, i think fall is a great time to make some. heck, anytime is a great time to make some s’mores!
i grabbed this recipe from a site called the bean town baker. it is super easy and quick to make!
[some of the ingredients]
i started out with beating together the sugar and {room temperature} butter. then i whipped in the vanilla and eggs. in a separate bowl, i mixed together the dry ingredients {flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powered, and salt} and then mixed it into the butter mixture. i separated the dough and lined a glass pan {8×10} with it. i then broke apart the hershey’s bar and placed it all along the dough. i also spiced in some godiva’s salted caramel chocolate {it added in some yummy goodness}.
[graham cracker crust]
after i placed all the chocolate, i then spooned out the marshmallow fluff and spread it across the chocolate {be careful to not pull up the chocolate pieces}. i then took the leftover dough {roll it into a ball and then flattened it out with your hands…it makes it easier to spread} and evenly spread it out over the fluff. i popped it into the oven for 30 minutes and ta da! we had ourselves some delicious s’mores bars!
[marshmallow fluff layer]
i definitely recommend to use more graham cracker crumbs than what the recipe suggested {maybe a cup or more} and i only used one king sized hershey’s bar peppered in with a few of the godiva squares. it perfectly balances out the taste. it wasn’t too chocolately, which is my preference…i like more crust and fluff.
we had a grand ol’ time consuming this sweet, delicious, decadent dessert. it goes perfectly with a tall glass of cold milk! i am super happy to have crossed off a fun ‘to do’ from my list! it was so easy to make and i see another batch of goodness coming into fruition in the near future!
olive received another gift in the mail! the beautiful carol, ted, and kids sent olive such a cool gift! we were super excited to open the package when it arrived and it was…a little push van! the toy is from plan toys…a wonderful company that manufactures sustainable wood toys. they use organic rubber wood and non toxic paint {safe for baby, since they put their mouths on everything!}.
i have mentioned this before and again, i love wooden toys for miss olive. this van is so stinkin’ adorbs. hc immediately put it together for her and she stood up and started rolling the van along. she was a bit wobbly {she fairs better with heavier items} but nonetheless, she wibble wobbled her way across the floor with the van. it was too cute to see.
my girl carol is obsessed with vw’s. obsessed. so anything in a form of a vw van, is game. i chuckled when we opened the package, it seriously put a smile on my face to see the present. now every time i look at it, i think of my dear friend carol and that’s a very good thing. it was the perfect present…a combo of my love for wood toys, olive’s love for pushing things, and carol’s love for vw’s.
[amazon’s quirky gift wrap]
[i got super excited when we unwrapped the gift!!]
[so stinkin’ cute]
[olive checking out her new toy]
[annnddd there she goes!]
well, as you see above, olive was loving it. success! plus, it’s like a cart, so little o can put stuff inside and push it around. and lemme tell ya, the little babes loves to put things in bags, boxes, crates, you name it! she puts stuff in, she takes them out, she leaves toys everywhere she goes. the joys of having a little one and a messy place {well, we keep neat here in the household…natch!}.
thanks carol and famille! we love you guys, we miss you and we hope to see y’all soon!
we were so excited. we started out the afternoon by heading over to my parent’s house. we undid the bags of candies to get ready for the trick or treaters. olive helped. actually, olive loved taking all the candy out of the cauldron and throwing it everywhere! the faster i picked them up, the faster she grabbed for them and tossed ’em all around the floor. it was quite the amusing game for her.
oh, how i love halloween. it has always been a favorite of mine. i love decorating for it, i love watching fun programs celebrating the holiday {hello…charlie brown’s it’s the great pumpkin anyone?!}, my favorite movie by my favorite director: tim burton’s sleepy hollow, lots o candies, and trick or treaters! i love trick or treaters. i love, love to give out candy. it’s so much fun for me. it’s hard to explain. hmmmm, maybe it’s because i loved trick or treating so much as a kid, that i find it gleeful when they come to our door. how excited they get, how fun it is to drop bundles of goodies into their treat bags, the smiles that they give, the cool costumes that they have on. there is so much coolness about it and every year, every single year i look forward to it and have the best time every time.
[helping momma get the candy ready // gap baby one piece]
this year, being mostly a new family of three…i wasn’t as creative with our costumes as i should have been. or lack thereof. i love themed costumes for families but this year, it’s kinda been hectic leading up to that point, i totally let it slip. it wasn’t a priority in the moment but looking back, hc and i should have farmers with olive being a lamb! pshhh, c’est la vie!
anyhoo, so we got olive all bundled up {oh em gee it was soooooo cold and windy}. did i mention that it snowed that morning?! yes, it snowed! so, with that, we dressed olive in a onesie, footed pj’s, and her fluffy lamb costume over it all. we put {sock}mittens on her hands and then socks over her footies. she was ready to go! she seriously could not move. she was so thick with layers she was literally the kid from a christmas story!
[all bundled up! momma, i can’t move my arms!]
we put a cushy warm blanket under her in her brand new wagon and her cute little cat trick or treat bag from pbk. we were ready to go! we rolled on out to the next door neighbors house. my nephews were so excited, they ran from door to door in lightening speed.
[ready to go!]
[trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!]
we pulled olive along. she was quite content. people in their houses were so sweet, most doors, we couldn’t get up to because of their stoop. so we rolled up close, my nephews would ring the bell, and we would say hello and roll away. most people would actually run out to give candy to olive, knowing she couldn’t come fully to the door! they were so thoughtful!
we probably hit around five houses. we were lagging behind. my nephews were running and plus, it was sooo cold out. the wind was so strong and her hood kept on blowing off her head. so, we called it quits for miss olive. she had candy in her bag, she had on the cutest costume, and i’d say it was quite an awesome first halloween for the little babes. the boys all went ahead and i turned around with olive.
as i was heading back {a short little walk}, i had to pull her hoodie back on at least five times! the wind kept blowing it off and i didn’t want her to get cold. so i would stop the wagon, pull up her hoodie, and then begin pulling her again. so, the last time i did it, i was almost in front of my parent’s house. i pulled up her hood and proceeded to pull the wagon. i must have not noticed how hard i pulled the wagon, because baby girl totally fell back. oh it was too funny and cute. she was so layered with clothes, she couldn’t move! so she just laid there. i got to my parent’s house and turned around and laughed so hard at how cute she looked. she couldn’t get up but seemed so content. her look was kinda like ‘mom, i fell over and i can’t get up. help me’.
[my little lamb fell over in the wagon and couldn’t get back up.]
once we got back inside, we just chilled. my sisters were actually cooking up some chili for dinner while olive and i played around upstairs. i tried to put her down for a nap but that was a no go. after a bit, the boys came home and reveled in their loot. we all played around and had a lot of fun giving out candy to the trick or treaters. bennett was my partner in crime, we were stalking all the trick or treaters through the windows upstairs. if we saw any coming, he excitedly ran downstairs to hand out the candy {awww, a little mini me}.
[the boys did a wardrobe change]
all in all, it was a wonderful first halloween for miss olive and a fantastic halloween for us all. it was a spooky, cold, treat filled holiday! muwahahahaha!
we were sooooo delighted one day to see the ups man walk up to our doorstep and drop off a large package. i wasn’t sure what it was…i knew i hadn’t ordered something recently and something so large!
i pulled the package inside and we were delighted to see it addressed to miss olive! it was her first birthday gift!!! we love packages. we love gifts. we love surprises! we knew dick and jane wanted to get this for olive but didn’t expect it so soon.
gramma and papa gifted olive with a pottery barn kids chair! sooooo awesome! it’s the washed grainsack anywhere chair. olive loves it, i love it, we love it so!
[ooohhhhh, a package!]
[oh my gosh! olive is my name]
jane had it personalize with olive’s name. even better. i assembled the chair {oh my, i broke a sweat doing so}, you wouldn’t think putting a chair like this together is hard but it kinda was! i smushed it, pushed it, and finally wrestled the zipper shut. wowza. the chair almost won but i conquered it. i plopped it down in the living room and olive immediately beelined for it.
oh, just watch her in the play by play down below. it’s too adorbs. she is so amused. she crawled up onto the chair and started to jump up and down {so excited}!
[here we go]
[jump! jump! jump!]
[cheeeeese]
although, she was unsure of how to get off the chair! so head first she dove. she made it down just fine. hey, whatever works for her right now!
[annndd this is how i get off the chair // still learning]
***
the sweetest part of the day/evening?? when we came home from my parent’s house, i placed her down on the ground. she crawled over to her chair, settled in, snuggled her bear(s), and was mesmerized by the tele. it was the cutest moment. i was so in love with it all.
dick and jane, thank you soooo much for olive’s birthday gift {we love you guys so!}. it is her favorite item. she loves to sit in it everyday and we love watching her sit in her chair. she is way too cute when she does. seriously, best present ever! she is such a little girl now with her big girl chair.
the famille got together to take some fall photos. i now sound repetitive but for reals, the weather was ah-mazing!! it was sunny, beautiful, and the temperature was perfect.
we met up at the ‘red barn‘. the famille was already there, olive and i came a little bit later than them. we drove through the narrow and very long parking lot. i pulled up to the barn {also, after seeing their cars} and parked. from afar, i saw a little figure by the barn {call it intuition} and i knew it was the clan. i pulled olive out and we started walking towards the barn. yup, from around the corner they all appeared and came towards us.
from there, we started to pose, take pictures, and get creative with the photos we wanted to snap. we definitely wanted cousin photos and it was such a challenge to get little o to sit still. we would get a few snaps in before she boogied in some sort of direction. overall, we were pretty successful!
we just played around. posed. enjoyed the weather and captured some great memories. it was short and quick but fun. i tried my best to match olive to me and to the boys. i knew they were going to sport red, so i had a bit of red on o. we both wore the same colored jeans and both our shirts had some sort of print and little tabs that held our sleeves up. she’s my mini me!
[super auntie thuy]
[hanging out]
[look closely, we almost having matching shirts…natch]
[where’s waldo]
[cutie pies]
[olive! look at the camera…um, nope]
[olive giving bennett a kiss!]
after lollygagging around some more, we called it a wrap {that’s a wrap!}. we all popped into our cars and skedaddled our way home. as you can see above, we got some great, sweet shots in {although they would have been sooooo much better if my brother huy took them!}. happy fall y’all!
