- Christmassssstime is here... -

.....so fa-la-la-la-laaaaa, la-la-la-LA!

Newsflash: I'm super behind on archiving life [I know, so shocking!].   But Harper jetted off to "Coddo-rado" for a couple days with Grammy and Papa, so today's shaping up to be the day to catch it alllll up; and FREEDOM OF SPEECH be mine!!! And just plain ole' freedom, too. Current situation: lounging at Panera with a steaming latte, feeling a tiny bit guilty that I'm not home washing newborn clothes ...or furiously deep cleaning the house before baby arrives ...or tying all the final strings on Christmas plans/gifts/festivities ...BUT, I realized that this is my first full day to myself [I mean, not working at the hospital or hanging out with Harp...like legit .T.O. .M.Y.S.E.L.F.] in 2.75 years and will probably be the last full day for another 2.75+ years so! I think I'm about to order a couple boxes of newborn diapers via Amazon Prime and call it a wash.  Bring on alllll the guilty pleasure, 'cause I'mma soak it up rull good.

[[And welcome to the motherload of my long mother-effing posts... You're a saint if you survive this one!]]

Thanksgiving came and went and we hopped right into the Christmas spirit! Black Friday shopping is/was a thing of the past [because I become extremely short of breath just moving from the recliner to the kitchen table and SO ...regardless of the killer sales... busy stores and pushing/shoving to the hottest items and long lines did not appease this year], but off to a local Christmas festival we went! Uncle Mo had his petting zoo here, and Harper lovedddd feeding the goats! 

Decorating the house for Christmas was soon to follow! Harper was a very good helper this year, although she refused to change out of her mismatched pajamas all weekend! :) 

 ..."Oh come let us adore ...and adore and adore and adoreeeee... Him, Chriiiiiiiist the Lord!"  And even a generous portion of birthday cake and a bottle of milk for Baby Jesus!  Holidays with toddlers: my absolute favorite!!!

Next up: Wild Lights at the Zoo!  Continuing the Christmas festivities in spirit and style AND not complaining about the typical 50-degree midwest winter weather... Thanks for the invite, Kate!

And then came the Croatian Lodge Christmas party + annual pics with Santa Claus:

...which was a HUGE improvement from the Santa pics last year! :)

Happy birthday, [Great] Grandma!!! We hope this year will be your best one yet! 

Let's see; what else, what elseeeee??? Oh, yes, the POLAR EXPRESS!!! Allllll aboard the choo-choo train!

This was soooo much fun; I wondered if Harper would maybe be too little to enjoy it or understand the "ride" to the North Pole, but I'm so happy we ordered tickets. The cast on the train was amazing and kept us laughing and singing and on our toes for the entire ride.  Highly recommend to any family looking for a fun Christmas adventure!!!

Factor in a little Christmas season crafting...

 ...and Christmas season baking...

...and it'll lead ya' straight to some Christmas season exhaustion! 

^^ This is juuuust about my current mood, too, so signing off for now!  It seems so crazy that Christmas Day will be here in T minus SIX days; wishing you and yours all the joy and peace and love of the most wonderful time of the year!!! :-*

- ...thankful...grateful...blessed... -

Extra extra THANKFUL this year for family and health and faith and memories friendship and love and tradition and ...the best is yet to come and I just can't even fathom all the undeserved blessings I've been given.  Thanksgiving is quite possibly my favorite holiday [even though I feel like I probably say that about every holiday]; but really! I love our laid back morning ritual: Black Friday ads and Starbucks and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Excitement and caffeine and relaxation with my two favorite people in the entire world; can't beat it!!!

[FLASHBACK FRIDAY of a #thenandnow, because why not?]

At lunch time, we headed down to Brian's uncle's house...

...and then spent dinner at my aunt's house!

It was an amazing day jam-packed full of food and family and all things I want to always cherish and never take for granted! 

Happy Thanksgiving! #thankful #grateful #blessed

- When your FRIENDS become FAMILY... -

...you throw a nice little pre-Thanksgiving party called "Friendsgiving!"

Love this crazy bunch of peeps that I am so very lucky to also call "coworkers" and "friends!" Thankful for all of you!  :-*

- LGB! -

Yeah, LGB!!! We screamed it at the top of lungs from the snack bar, because....... Well, here's the story:

Brian scored some last minute, all-inclusive, FOURTH ROW tickets from his work. We immediately secured a babysitter [thanks, Aunt Laura!] and then began searching for a couple of friends to head to Scottrade with us. It was only a 3-hour notice, but who could turn down these tix?! Surely no one.

Long story short? 

Everyone and their dogs turned down 'dem tix, so Harper and Aunt Laura eagerly agreed to the change of plans and got gussied up to go. :) #donedeal The four of us got there a little early to take advantage of the free food/drink spread [chicken breasts, nachos, hot dogs, pasta, deli-meat trays, popcorn, the list goes on and on!]. 

Then!

Right when the game started, we headed down...down...down...down to the ice and parked it in our high class, [baaaasically] front row seats. 

Forty seconds in, three players [AKA three 300-lb full-grown-ass men with no teeth] skated/slammed rightttt into the glass in front of us. A few seconds later, a drunk man behind us was screaming profanities at the players.  And then right after that, one of the teams scored [not even sure if it was the Blues or our opponent because I was distracted by a mortified monkey trying to climb up my person] and that obnoxious honking horn went off x 3.  And that was it.  Harper isn't a fan of loud noises, and three minutes of her screaming her head off and soaking her shirt with ginormous crocodile tears was enough for this momma! :/  She and I retreated to the hallways to "take a break"...

...which turned into my midget bee-lining back to the free food bar and parkin' it rull good. 

I gave her another plate of food ...and popcorn ...and water ...and then asked if she was ready to go back into the game and sit by Daddy and Laura.  Nope! Not a chance. We watched the rest of the game from the snack bar, and Daddy and Laura came to visit us in between periods!

...For sh*ts and giggles, we went up to the window to collect her "My First Game" certificate. Ha...ha...ha... So classic; can't wait to tape this one in her baby scrapbook.

Harp was very proud of her certificate, though, and was all smiles on the way to the car. Although she did say next time she'd rather stay home and play with Aunt Laura.  Crazy little missy! :)

- What's up, WITCHES? -

How's that saying go? 

Oh yeah...

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER.

So what's up, witches?! Seems to me that we just celebrated Thanksgiving and are moving full speed ahead into Christmas; so why not use today to rewind it back to Halloween?!! #letnothinggoundocumented

The beautiful fall weekends slipped right through the cracks of our fingers this year, so [on October 29] we settled for a cute little family-farm pumpkin patch on the side of the road on our commute home from Mass. ...And it was sprinkling/misting that day, so it was a rushed "hurry-up-and-find-a-pumpkin-that-isn't-rotting-and-get-back-in-the-car" type of experience...

...but we landed the most perfectly lopsided punkin; and Harper and Daddy went to town carving!

Later on, we took a stab at some pumpkin sugar cookies...

...which turned out looking like saggy male reproductive organs [IMHO]; but Harper didn't seem to mind...

We crafted some cards to mail out to friends and family...

...and then it was time to dress up and hit the road for trick-or-treating! 

^^ We visited aunts and uncles and then Grammy and Papa before calling it a night.  Our cute little witch had an absolute blast ringing doorbells and collecting candy! :))) 

On Halloween Eve, we stayed home to hand out candy at our house...

...and finally it was the REAL Halloween Day. We learned all about pumpkins at library class!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!!!

...Now onward to Christmas! 

- WOOD you believe it?! -

...We made it FIVE YEARS! 

Yep, this weekend marks 1,825 days...43,800 hours...and an un-countable amount of seconds from the day way back yesteryear when we said, "I do!"  I don't even think we knew what, "I do," really meant back then; but with each day that has passed, we've embraced the joys and tackled the challenges. ...And we've done it together and come out even stronger, so I think that's actually what, "I do!" is all about! 

Our special day fell on a Friday this year, so we celebrated that evening with a nice [adult-only] dinner at Popeyes Chophouse! Yummmmmm.  The next morning was the annual unity candle lighting...

...and that night was dinner with Fr. Meconi -- the one that helped us tie the knot and officially wrapped us up in this beautiful mess!  We love you, Fr. M!!! ...SO much that we resurrected the selfie stick for your visit! :)

Wood, wood everywhere!

Harper [sort of grudgingly] agreed to take these pics in my wedding dress so we could make Brian's gift:

...and they're just plastered allll over 'dis blog, because howwwww could I choose just one?????

[Thanks, Grammy Resa for all your behind-the-scenes work!!! Lol!]

I/we love this sweet little lady so much and will cherish these photos forever!!! 

And finally...

To Brian: I love the life we've made together, especially the beautiful little soul[s] God is trusting us with!!! I never could've imagined this life we live today when you first put a ring on it... And the best is yet to come! You are the best husband and baby daddy; we are so very lucky to call you ours!!!  

Five years down and forever to go...  And every day, I still "do!" :-* 

- M-I-Z-... -

...Z-O-U!!! 

Brian and Harp are knocked out together for a little Sunday snooze sesh, so I'mma sit here in peace and go reminiscing right down memory lane! 

Eight years ago this weekend [if my old lady memory serves me correctly!], my best friend Sara invited me to a Mizzou football weekend to tailgate with her family ...and go to the game ...and then party hardy around the campus all night afterwards with her new friends.  I was a crazy college girl interested in nothing but crazy college shenanigans, so of course I immediately closed my nursing books and eagerly packed a bag for the weekend! To save time and beat the traffic and decrease detours on the roadtrip to Columbia, Sara's parents asked this nice skater boy named Brian to swing by SLU and pick me up after he got off work in downtown St. Louis. He agreed ...and got my numba ...and found me later that afternoon standing on the street corner with my suitcase.

...Annnnnnnnd y'all know how the story goes from there; the rest be history! 

Eight years passed in the blink of an eye; and this first weekend of November found us where?!

...At another Mizzou football game, of course!  Except the skater boy ^^ is now my husband, and the "college shenanigans" got put on the backburner because.......pumping out the energy to chase a 2-year-old and gestate a 31-week fetus is just about all this momma can do these days!  My cousin Sydney is a Mizzou cheerleader, so we were all there to see her rock it ...and rock it she did! :)))

Go, Tigers!!!

Harper wasn't too sure of Truman up close, but I'm thinking by the constant cheering and pom-pom waving that we may have a future Mizzou tiger on our hands! #mizzourah

 So much family fun!

Loved watching the cheerleaders, especially Sydney!!!

After the game, there was dinner and drinking...and [sooo very luckily!] daylight savings time!!! Extra hour of sleep, yes please! Harper's, "I wan' go hotel!" wish came true!

Thanks, Sydney, for inviting us down for a great weekend! Mizzou will always be a special part of our love story, and it was so fun to be back! And Harper has been running around all day today yelling, "Z-O-UUU!" and waving her black and gold pom-poms!  She can't wait to see you again [and the tiger sticker on your face!] at Thanksgiving! :-*