Black Friday and Football!!!

So as my vacation comes to a end, I feel like I have gotten alot accomplished. The first part of my vacation was spent deer hunting, then with family to celebrate Thanksgiving. Yesterday I spent the afternoon taking advantage of black Friday discounts.


After I found out that we were expecting our first baby, I realized that we did not have a good camera. My wonderful and talented sister-in-law is very camera saavy so I went to her for advise. She recommended the canon rebel. So when Black Friday rolled around, naturally I looked to see if this camera was on sale. To my surprise they were, around $150 off the retail price. After discussing this with my husband he finally agreed and let me buy it.

Can I say Bling, Bling!!!

A camera was not the only thing I bought, I also got half of my Christmas shopping done along with my hostess gifts for my baby shower this coming up Saturday. So as I said earlier, I feel as though I have accomplished alot.

Because of my accomplishments, I felt that I needed a break and a day of fun. We had tickets to the Arkansas vs. LSU game and we decided to take advantage of the nice weather. We spent the afternoon with family and friends tailgating and just catching up.

Chris and I tailgating

Me and two of my best friends, Autumn and Jessie

The boys: Jacob, Chris and Wes

We had a blast and Arkansas won. Sugar Bowl here we come (hopefully).

Tomorrow, Chris and I are hoping to finish our Christmas shopping and decorate our house. Next weekend is baby shower #1 and Chris is going to paint the nursery. Will post pictures soon. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.

Start of the Holiday Season: Thanksgiving !!!

When Thanksgiving roles around, it always makes me realize how blessed I am. I am so thankful for a loving, supportive husband and a caring family. I am especially thankful for Maddox. I know that he isn't here yet but knowing that he is coming and that everything has been great so far has been a blessing.

We always spend Thanksgiving day at our Aunt's house. This was our contribution this year.

Chris and I prepared jalapenos filled with cream cheese wrapped in bacon and deer meat with onions and peppers wrapped in bacon.

Close Up! Yum !

And I couldn't help myself but I made this center piece because Walmart was having a sell on all their fall flowers. I could not find a fall looking vase so I knew I had a pumpkin in our yard and this is what I came up with.

Thanksgiving was great this year. We had a blast with our family and consumed way too much food.

Christmas is right around the corner and it is making me stressed but excited at the same time because that means Maddox is almost here. My schedule for the next couple of weeks are booked: baby shower, helping brother and sister-in-law move then Christmas at our parents along with getting a nursery together. Due to all this craziness I might not be able to blog for a couple of weeks but I will try to keep everyone up to date.

Updated pregnancy picture (29 weeks )

****Halloween****

If you didn't know, Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love scary movies, seeing the kids dressed in their costumes and the nice weather of October.

I also love decorating my house for this magical, spooky and scary time of year. I had so many ideas but I was only able to complete a couple of projects due to being 5 months pregnant. Preparing for Maddox takes up most of my time now.

I wanted to make sure at least my mantel was decorated and this is what I came up with.

My sofa table. I could have done better but like I said preparing for a baby is time consuming.

The first project that I worked on was the terracotta mummies. They were featured on many blogs that I follow and they seemed so easy to make (and the were).

First thing you do is get 2 terracotta flower pots and paint them white and hot glue the 2 bottom ends together.

I bought about a yard of light tan fabric and cut it into strips. Then I hot glue them around the pots making sure to leave open spots every couple of rolls.

This is what it will look like.

Once I finished wrapping the pots with the fabric I took brown paint and lightly painted the edges of the fabric to make it look authentic. I then took the eyes and glued them into place.

This is the completed project.

I then decided to paint and glitter some of my pumpkins. I painted this pumpkin black and before the paint dried I applied black glitter. I also did a couple of pumpkins like this with orange glitter.

I painted this pumpkin white.

The next Halloween project I worked on was the subway art canvas. I painted a canvas black and used grey paint to make spider webs on the corners of the canvas. I then used my cricket to cut out words the words EEK, scary, Halloween, Trick or treat, scary and pumpkin. I glued the letters down using mod podge.

The finished product.

Despite not getting all the Halloween decorations up we still had a fantastic holiday. We spent the Friday before Halloween at our best friends house. They had a party and it was so nice to catch up with some friends that we haven't seen in a while.

Chris and I. His hunting clothes made me look so big.

But the highlight of the evening was our friends Wes and Autumn getting engaged. It was their 1 year anniversary and Wes surprised her with the best gift ever. I am so excited for them.

I hate to see October go because I am not a big fan of Thanksgiving but it puts us 1 month closer to meeting Maddox. My mother is coming down this weekend to make sure I register for the right stuff for Maddox. Chris and Wes are going to rearrange our furniture because our nursery furniture came in. Looks like I will have another busy weekend. I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Preparing for Maddox!!!

So, I know it has been a couple of weeks since I have blogged but preparing for a baby is time consuming. Chris and I are trying to get the bulk of everything done since the holidays are coming up. We recently decided on name: Maddox Ryan Leonard. Maddox is my maiden name and Ryan is Chris's middle name.

25 Weeks and counting

Chris and I have been looking for nursery furniture for about 3 months now and this past Saturday we came across a set that we liked. We tried to find something that would be both good for a boy and girl since Maddox is our first child.

The Crib

The changing table/dresser.

Now picking baby bedding is harder. Girls have alot of cute patterns and designs to pick from but there is a limited selection for boys. Most boy bedding consist of baby blue, baby animals or baby sports. Nothing really looks boyish. Despair was starting to overcome me then I walked into Pickles and Ice Cream which is a baby boutique in West Little Rock. There they do custom bedding. All I had to do was pick out the bumper design I wanted and then the color palate.

These are the colors I chose.

I am wanting to do his room in old sport and hunting gear. The rustic / vintage look.

So as you can see I have been busy. I promise here soon I will blog my Halloween decorations soon. Until then, bye.

A Puppy and Turtles:

Being pregnant for the first time has been an adventure. Feeling my son move and kick is amazing. As if I wasn't busy enough deciding on baby names and picking out nursery furniture my cousin decides to give my husband a present.

This is Dixie our new chocolate lab puppy. She is so cute. She has green eyes and is full of energy. Now I can't picture my life without her. Chris is so smitten.


At first her and Chloe (our mini Schnauzer) did not get along but now they have become the best of friends.

They play in the backyard all day. I am really excited that our little boy will have a hunting dog. I can hear him now yelling for Dixie.

On another note, October is my favorite month of the year. Leaves start changing, cool weather starts moving in, deer season opens, my birthday, Terrapin Derby and my favorite holiday, Halloween all happens in October.

The 80th annual Terrapin Derby was the past weekend. It always happens on the first Saturday of October (rain or shine) in my hometown of Lepanto. It is so much fun.

Chris and I before we went out and enjoyed the events.

I'm sure everyone is asking why is it called Terrapin Derby? All one has to do is look at the picture above. We race turtles and who ever turtle wins gets the prize money which ends up being around $500.

We also have a parade. This is the pee wee cheerleaders.

The Lepanto Red Hatters.

This is my little cousin Drake who is riding on his kindergarten's class float.

But the best part of Terrapin Derby is that Main Street is covered with food and craft booths. All we do all day is eat and visit with friends who came to town for the festivities.

The night life at Terrapin Derby is also a blast. All the bars down Main Street are open but there is also a street dance so the party just moves outside. Sorry there are no pictures of this but I'm pregnant so I went home early this year. Sometimes it gets a little crazy .

Tomorrow I am going shopping for Halloween decorations. I will post pictures as soon as everything is up.

Our Baby boy!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't complaint, I have had a wonderful pregnancy so far. For the first 2 1/2 months I did experience some nausea and fatigue but as I hear some women have it alot worse. Another thing I really had problems with was heat. Arkansas had a heat wave this summer. The temperature 90 % of the time was in the 100's. Thank goodness fall weather has come.

19-20 weeks pregnant

We also found out about a week ago that we are having a little boy. The ultrasound went great. There's no words to describe the feeling you get seeing your baby move and their heart beat. Chris and I could not stop smiling.They said that the baby looked healthy, active and that I should be able to start feeling him move soon. I can't wait.

Our little boy doesn't have a name yet but we are working on it. I will keep everyone posted on how we are doing and nursery ideas.

Sharing the Baby News!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris and I found out this June that we were expecting our first baby. We were so excited and couldn't wait to tell our friends and family.

We already had plans to visit my parents that weekend to celebrate Father's Day so we had to come up with some way to tell them fast. We decided to buy baby cloths that said, "I love grandpa" and give it to my father as his present. Lame, I know but it was all we could think of on such short notice.

It was funny watching my dad open his presents. His face went from confusion to excitement so fast and all he could say was, "No way!".

I had a little more time to decide on how we were going to tell the in-laws. We are due February 19th so this is what I made.


We also bought a card that said, "Happy Father's Day Grandpa". When I wrap the present I put the card in last so that Chester would see the picture frame first.

It was also funny watching Chester as he opened his present. As he looked at the picture frame he kept saying, "This is nice!". Chester had no idea but I could see Cindy counting the months. As Chester read the first line of his card Cindy jumped up and said, "Are you pregnant?". I'm sure you know what happened next; hugs, kisses, congratulations.

I know it was Father's Day but I decided to make something for Cindy and this is what I came up with. I found this cute little poem online.

I do not have a face to see,

or put inside a frame.

I do not have soft cheeks to kiss,

I don't yet have a name.

You can't yet hold my tiny hands,

nor whisper in my ear.

It's still too soon to sing a song,

or cuddle me so near.

But all will change come February

when they say I'm due.

I'm your new grandson or granddaughter;
I can't wait till I meet you.

All I ask between now and then

is your patience while I grow.

I promise I'll be worth the wait,

because of all the love we'll know.

So as you're waiting patiently,

please pray lots of prayers for me.

I cannot wait to be a part

of this wonderful family.