Goodies Galore!

I have been meaning to post this...but seem to get tied up with other things.  Or wait maybe it is my forgetfulness that keeps getting in the way! I swear every day I lose more of my memory, how can that be! Just Friday I was busy working in my room on something when I wanted to clean off the poster....but by the time I got my Clorox wipe I forgot what I was going to do with it....ahhh sorry I derailed a bit here.

Okay so one to the goodies part!  My mom spent the week with my sister and co in Florida about 2 weeks ago.  Well thankfully I am the half way spot on the drive, meaning mom has to stay with me for the night!   On her way home she brought some goodies from my sisters house back for Baby R and myself.   There were many wonderful things but one that really pulls at my heart.

My sweet niece Little Bear who I love with my whole heart sent a special gift for the baby.  You see she loves, loves, loves baby dolls.  When I say she loves them, well that really doesn't even express the true love there is for each one.  She has named all 37 (that was the last count I can remember) of her dolls and ACTUALLY PLAYS with each one. Click here to see a little view of them!  She is the most creative child I know when it comes to playing.  They will have birthday parties, play school, oh and her all time favorite Jon and Kate plus 8!  She brings them all out and lines them up ready to go....here is the point to my story!

Little bear sent the baby a special gift:

She included a note...thank goodness because here Auntie can't keep up with the names like she can!  I can't believe she was kind enough to send our baby some of her very loved and cherished babies.  

Here is the whole crew ready to be loved on by Baby R!  Of course she will have to come down and makes sure I have them all set up correctly.  When I talked to her on the phone she was so sweet about it, because this really is a huge thing for her to do.  I confirmed that she was okay with our baby using her babies.  "She said yes, Auntie plus when I come to visit I will check on them to make sure they are okay.  But if you do have a boy...I may need to take them back until he gets big enough to really love them."  She melts my heart that girl, who's brother recently has begun loving his baby...read about it here!

 On top of the wonderful box of babies from Little Bear, my sister sent some great goodies too!  She is letting me borrow her Born Free bottles to see if Baby R will like them.  Also she sent some diapers that never got used (that saves some nice money there...promise neither are cheap).

She also sent us our ONE YEAR wedding anniversary gift that is absolutely adorable! I love these two things so much...A) They were hand made!  B) They are our wedding colors and C) They remind us of the beach were we said I DO!!  LOVE them!

I have the best sister and little niece anyone could ever ask for.  Baby R is very luck to have a great Tia and Cousin who share so much!  Thanks Abby and Little Bear!!

Changes...are happening

at our house that is!  Well should I begin, oh last Wednesday is when this GRAND CHANGE occurred.  Little did I know what an affect it would have on my life! Ha  Last Wednesday we had like 3 boxes on our front step.  I always love getting goodies...especially when I know nothing about them.   One of the boxes was full of some new cleaners for our house.  Chris' mom had sent us some samples a while back and we really enjoyed them.  She is so sweet because she let us get some more!!!  Yipee new cleaners and bubble bath for me!

The next box is when life changed at our house....this box was from Chris' family as well.  His dad sent us an amazing new TOY!  But first let's talk about me...they sent me a super cute tennis shirt and very glam pen!  I love them both and will use my tennis shirt a ton since we just won 3rd place at playoffs this weekend.  Oh sorry I got a little sidetracked..

What was that grand new toy that has TAKEN OVER MY HUSBAND!  I no longer can speak with the man he is so obsessed with it.  He comes home from work, greets the dog, throws a hello at me, changes clothes, and then is in the ZONE!  If I had only know that this is how I could get my peace and quite I would have done this many moons ago (kidding really, but he does get hooked).

We even go the super cute white one....I love the look! 

You guessed it folks the new IPAD!!  Holly cow do we LOVE, love, LOVE it! Chris is uber in love with it! However, I have gotten to use the IPAD I think um twice....one to Skype with my sister and brother in law who are in Jamaica (so jealous of them).  Then last night I stole it for just long enough to download a blog reader app so I can read my blogs when I do get my hands on the Ipad! HA, I am so not kidding about his addiction.  This weekend he carried it with him everywhere he went.  When he came to watch my tennis matches...he had it!  What a mess he is?

Thank you Steve for making my husband the happiest man on Earth!  We are now an official APPLE FAMILY over here, and well it is pretty stinking awesome! 

Birthday week...and gifts

Well Chris' birthday week has been going on for a bit!  Last night we headed to his favorite place for dinner, Benihana.   Not only did Chris and I get to enjoy his birthday dinner, but my dad was in town too!  It was super fun, Chris even did a little dancing!!!

Oh did I mention that he got his birthday gift from me too!!!  Sadly I had to give it to him a bit early due to the size.  I mean how do you hide a box the size of your love seat??  Kind of tough!  Here he is opening it up.

 Here is what his gift will look like once it is put together.  Isn't it so CUTE!!

I don't want to forget to mention his gift from the Goerig's that he got  while we were with them.  He loved it...it is a new weed eater (in a Home Depot gift card, HA)

Thanks to all who helped make his BIRTHDAY WEEK wonderful.  HAPPY 30th Birthday hubby...hope you had a blast!

Birthday-Palooza!!

Yes, it has arrived!!! Birthday-palooza….it begins with me, which I quickly went past.  I tired not to even stop and celebrate but with my family that was hard.  Needless to say I begin the BiRtHdAy MaDnEsS! 

October: Next up is Timmy my new brother in law!  His October 16th!    The following day is my brother in law Brian’s birthday, on October 17th.   Then we have off about a week and a half before my sister’s birthday.  She is a “SPOOKY” baby, October 31st.  Holly cow this is just OCTOBER! 

Moving in to November, the 1st would have been my grandpa’s birthday.  Chris will be joining me in the BIG 3-0 LAND on November 9th!! 

Then we hit up sweet B’s 3rd birthday on November 21st.  He can tell you all about it, a TRAIN party!!  How perfect for him.

Not but a few days after B is my wonderful mom. 

December: we have Little Bear!  I can not believe she will be 7!! Wow how time flies.

After Little Bear is the FATHER of the BRIDE’s big day. 

Then it is one of my new sister in laws, Melissa’s birthday. 

Finally the end of the month we have Chris’ father Steve!

Wheewwww I am worn out just typing all that.  Can you tell that my next 2 1/2 months is going to be crazy.  I didn’t even mention that Chris and I have to start figuring out Christmas gifts for family members and so much more!  Do y’all have any crazy birthday madness?  I have kind of already predetermined, WHEN (and no TIME SOON) Chris and I start working on a baby we will MAKE sure it’s not in the crazy BIRTHDAY season.  That is if we get a say in things, ha.

WELCOME BAG GODDIES

As promised from my “lazy" post….here is a look into our welcome bag goodies.  First of all I think welcome bags are what you want to put in them.  I did much on-line research for some good ideas and tips.  I walked away with a few extra pointers.  Mostly mom and I just grabbed things we thought would help or work well in the Dominican.  Each couple, family, or single person got a bag of goodies.  That way if 2 singles were rooming together they still got their own goodies.

• BAG: First of all we began by looking into different bag options: a woven bag with monogramming, a cheap bag with no other purpose, or a reusable bag.  I opted for the reusable one that was not covered in our names or anything.  I mean I do want my friends to maybe use them again.  Mom and I both hit up Pier One and together found enough bags.  Another bonus was that the bag was plastic like material, thus allowing sand and water to stay off!
• 22 0z mug…. for each person, even kids!

Now this I did plaster our names and such on.  Since we were at a “hot” location with free beverages, I wanted our guest to have a larger insulated cup to use. The mug has both Chris and I’s first initial and then our last initial. Then we placed the shells from our wedding invitation on it too.  On the back is a little info on how we met…with our wedding date.  Just something fun for all.  Chris Wilson made our wonderful mugs….click here for his goodies.

• Flip Flop luggage tags: I picked this up at Michael’s with their coupon.  I used these to help name the bags…if you note from the picture above.  Then after the wedding the guest could use them for their luggage if they wanted to.
• Bride on the beach invitation: Luckily I have a great sister with super friends.  My sister and her friend found these at a shop going out of business so they were more of a normal price, ha.  I used these to put all the welcome info on.  Things they needed to know about the resort and such! Also these were tied on the bag so guest would see them first. (also they were in wedding colors, aqua and yellow…perfect)

•  Hand written note:  Chris found cute blue notes with a shell on them.  I used them to personally write each guest a note welcoming and thanking them for coming.  Chris and I really wanted everyone to understand how grateful we were.
• Food: each bag had food for all….we put in fruit snacks, granola bars, cheese and peanut butter crackers, m&m, animal crackers, and much more.  Basically we wanted to make sure there were some snacks around for the guest; the guys used them when golfing too!
• Body Scrub: everyone needs a scrub for their shower! Mom really insisted on this one because in the Dominican wash clothes are hard to find. 
• Water toys: everyone needs a water bomb to throw and play with in the pool or ocean.
• Water: Personalized water for each guest to enjoy. I used the Michael’s printable labels.  No we did not pack 50 bottles of water…we got those from the resort thankfully!

• Texas Pecan Praline:  these were a little piece of Texas.  Chris’ friend owns this amazing nut company so I couldn’t resist putting in a goodie. Check out his stuff here

  
• To much Funitis kit: I found this in a magazine and loved it….basically I made a little bag of individual Advil, Imodium, sanitizer wipes, band-aids, and alkazelser.  All things one may need if not feeling so well after a long night.
• Nail file: you never know when you will have a nail break or something else….plus they were cute!
• Bath fizzy: to help you relax and enjoy your vacation.
• Deep Aqua body lotion: I loved this one!!! Bath and Body has been having 1 dollar promotional lotions for their new scents.  I picked up 30 of these for my bags…I mean after all our wedding colors were AQUA and yellow.  Plus it smelled great and was in a travel size.

• Picture Card: This was a HOW TO card for all the guest.  I created a photo share site at shutterfly prior to the wedding.  This card gave the step by step directions on how to upload and view photos from all guest.  Now if guest want copies of these they can download them or click and print.  Everyone wins from this; and you don’t have to worry about those disposable cameras on your wedding tables.  (Thus far many guest have use this too….its super I love seeing all the pictures)

• Kid items: in the kid bags we put extras like….jump ropes, kites, water toys, pads to write on, sand toys, and other fun things to help keep them a little busy!

Here is a view of just part of one of the family bags with kids….they got 2 bags to hold all items.

Okay so I am sure there are some items I forgot to write about….but honestly I just can’t keep up with it all! Ha, I try!  If I forgot anything I will try and up date later. Okay now the wedding day post can be done……dun dun du dunnn dun dun du dunnn….

It’s becoming REAL!

Okay planning the wedding for the girl makes the whole thing REAL; you know the fact that you are getting married.  However, for the guy it takes a little more….Since Chris went to his bachelor party this weekend he has seen the light…you know that he is ALMOST married!

Yesterday was the biggest, “THIS IS REAL”, moment though.  We went to the court house and got our marriage license!!!  Chris is so cute, he printed up our form online and we just took it with us to save time.  We had to wait about 15 or so minutes to meet with a clerk.  Once we met with her, we showed our id’s to prove it really is us “getting married”.  Then due to the fact that we did marriage mentoring or state offers a discounted license rate.  Instead of paying 78 dollars we just paid 11 dollars, that ROCKED!!  We both held our right hand up and swore all our info was true and we wanted this marriage…blah blah blah…and at 3;00 pm yesterday we were given our license!  Yippee!!!  As soon as we got home I of course packed  it up so we wont forget it! 

In other fun news I WON another BLOG giveaway!!  I am so stinking excited!!!  I won the giveaway from one of my FAVORITE blogs ever POB, Letters from a Pissed Off Bride!   I love this site because different brides can write in and well……….release all that pissed off energy from the horrible things that happened or made them so angry on their wedding day.  Really it is some good reading!  Anyways I won a set of six Go Against The Grain custom note cards and envelopes! I will use them for our Encore Celebration in August! She has some super cute products you should check them out!  Yippee what a super day we have had!!!  First the marriage license and now a blog winner!!  Okay so I must run to do some errands and check of my list….just wanted to share our big news! HA

Contreras Wedding Shower!!

My team and I 

My wonderful First Grade Team hosted a wedding shower for me today!  They are so sweet....I knew they were working hard on it for the past 2 weeks.  I only know this because I would randomly be the only one in the copy room at planning, it was like they all disappeared!  If you know me I am not much for sitting around and letting others do things...so it was killing me that I couldn't help out in some way.  I mean I hate to not help if I can.  However, they were wonderful!

They took my whole destination wedding theme and transformed our school library!  It really was too much...I mean I never expected such an amazing shower.  Well I knew it would be good because my team does things 100% always.   They even had pool lounge chairs brought in for Chris and I to sit and relax in.  I know I keep saying this but is was too CUTE!!  Oh and the food, man the food was wonderful.  The girls even made me some cute little flower coconut shells to wear with a "grass" skirt!  I know Chris and I were very thankful for everything that they did for us; and I believe the whole faculty enjoyed the shower.  Thank you isn't enough but THANKS FIRST GRADE. YOU ROCK!!!  We got many lovely gifts.  Chris couldn't believe all the goodies we brought home. Once we got home and were walking the dog he kept commenting on how super that shower was.


Here are a few of the many pictures:

Did I mention that I LOVED the cake, too!!!

The girls getting all the food ready to go...what a spread.

Chris and I chill'n

We had a great system; I read the cards, he opened the gift!

Cutting the CAKE! I hated to cut it because it is was so cute.

and here we are after it...back to my normal clothes!