Eleven

First came friendship. Then came love. Then marriage. Then two baby boys in a baby carriage. Today, Adam and I celebrate our eleven year, yes you read that right, ELEVEN year dating anniversary. So much has happened in that time, it's hard to believe that two 16 year olds could have made it in this crazy world. Graduating high school, moving away to college, Adam taking a semester to study abroad in Germany, Graduating College, Moving to Pennsylvania, Getting Pregnant, moving back home to Texas, having said baby, Mom dieing, Adam finally getting a job, getting pregnant again, having this baby, Two under two. Two boys. The two lights of our life. Adam and I have beat almost every statistic.


Adam, ( when you get around to reading this)

I'm so lucky to have found you so early in life. I couldn't wish for a better husband or father to our two boys. They love you so much, and so do I. Thanks for putting up with us!:) I hope we have many more 11 year anniversaries!

My 1st Baby Mamma Day!

My First mothers day, while bittersweet, was amazing! It started out with Adam getting up with Dylan ( it happened to be his day anyway, but oh well!) Adam made me breakfast, only a small one though because we were supposed to meet his parents for brunch. Then I got TWO, count them, not one but TWO HOMEMADE cards!!! They were soo cute, and Adam worked hard on them I know! Before we left, he gave me Dylan's gift to me. JUST what I asked for. A blue topaz something... It's Dylan's birthstone. Which also turns out to be the state gem of TEXAS!!! Am I the only person who didn't know that? I must say my son already knows a way to a woman's heart... farting, and giving jewelry for gifts!

As we were leaving, I got another gift. This one was for our anniversary, which is in a few weeks, but it was matching earrings, to the necklace that Dylan had gotten me! He said he couldn't wait.

We were planning on doing brunch at Urban Crust, but they( Adam's parents) got there and there was a 1.5 hour wait. I GUESS we weren't the only ones who thought that would be a good idea! So we had to come up with something else. We didn't have a plan B. We ended up doing Brunch at a Mexican restaurant right here in Murphy called Amado's. It was actually really good. We got there right before the crowd and it was nice. Dylan didn't even cry at all!

The day was completed with me taking a nap, my sister and Michelle coming over and playing games. They even fed Dylan, gave him a bath, AND put him to sleep! So I got a break from that. Adam made me a yummy lamb dinner, and I am pretty sure we were in bed asleep by 10:30!!! lol... But I would have to say, despite everything, I had a wonderful day! Thanks to my two men!!

" I don't wanna miss a thing..."

Yup, I sure did... I quoted an Aerosmith song. You all know which one it is! As I sit here waiting for Dylan to wake up from a nap, I was taking some time to reflect on the last 4 and half months ( Geez, he's growing up so fast.. stop it dammit!) I was thinking about how lucky we were to have an easy pregnancy, delivery and over all, easy baby. How everything that I've ever imaged happening, happening with the greatest of ease. Though I suppose it would be more conventional if Adam had a job;)

But being unemployed has been the greatest blessing in disguise. I always knew that I wanted to be a stay at home Mom. Adam knew early in our relationship that was what I wanted also, and well, he stuck with me so I guess he doesn't mind it. But little did I know that he was going to get to be a stay at home dad, for at least a good portion of our son's infancy. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Luckily we like each other, because well, we are with each other twenty four hours a day, most days!!! I feel so lucky that we have both been able to see Dylan's " firsts" Smile, laugh, cereal feeding,rolling over and all the many more things to come. Like I've said before, those first few months are kinda boring, all Dylan did there was lay there, eat and pee! But now that he is almost 5 months old, he is a joy. He wakes up with a smile on his face all the time, he laughs, has learned to roll over. We get to hang out outside in our shades and enjoy the beautiful Spring days, and go on walks with the doggies every night. I just think about how he did all these things during the day, and how I would have missed them had I been at work. Being a stay at home mom is tough, as I'm sure being a working mom is. Granted I know I've had it easier because Adam has been here to help, but I am pretty sure it would be so hard for me to leave my man during the day, we've grown so attached to each other, being away for a few hours is hard enough! It just reminds me every. single. day that I am so lucky to be able to stay at home with my little monkey man, and I don't take for granted one smile, laugh, scream, or cry. He is the light of my life, my greatest accomplishment, and of course I couldn't have done it without Adam. The other man in my life, who I don't know what I would do without! I Love you both!

Most Addictive Sounds ever?

So, being a stay at home mom means you start to watch all of those " daily shows" well because it's routine. Since moving back here, I have started to watch Rachael Ray, followed by Price is Right, then Jeopardy! Though most times I find her completely annoying, and can't stand to watch any of her shows on Food Network anymore, I do find myself interested in her morning show.


Anyway, back to why I bought it up... So yesterday they had the author of "Buyology" on and he was talking about how marketers are now using sound to draw consumers to their products. I'm not exactly sure how they came to the conclusion, but he was saying there are sounds that are the most addictive, and do you know what number one was? A baby laughing Which is soooo true! Hearing Dylan laugh, no matter what mood I'm in always brightens my day. So I don't find it hard to believe one bit. The number two most addictive you ask.... AN ATM MACHINE!!! Yes you got it, the noise the machine makes when you take money out. Maybe it's because in 3 years of marriage I haven't pulled money out of an ATM ( I can't seem to remember the code, it's some obscure code that Adam uses all the time.. I THINK it was his elementary school lunch line code... ( remember those??)) Anyway, I just don't get how that can be the number two. But like I said, I don't pull money out of an ATM, just Adams wallet!;)

Moral of the story, the quote I believe goes..." Laughter is the best medicine" But I'm going to change it too... "Baby laughter is the best medicine"

Almost a decade...

Yesterday Adam and I celebrated our NINE year "dating " anniversary. By celebrated I mean, I got breakfast in bed, and we went out to dinner. Nothing fancy:) So I thought that I would do a post based on the last nine years. I scanned all kinds of pictures ( because digitalis were a thing of the future back then) So you'll have to forgive the poor quality!!! Let me start of by saying, that we have beaten the odds. We have been together thick and thin for these past years. Not a day broken up, as was a popular thing to do in high school. Adam asked me out February 9, 2001 and we have been together EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. since. Though he was in Germany for a few months studying abroad ;) So lets get started shall we? And again, sorry for the poor quality of images!

This here is the VERY first picture ever taken of Adam and I once we were officially " going out"

Here we are at Putt Putt, sometime early. I'm not exactly sure when. But I actually developed this picture in my photo- Journalism class, so it was sometime during Junior year!:)

Homecoming 2001. Mum exchange at Liz Russel's house. Funny story ( Sorry Adam) So we were doing this " mum exchange" and Adam shows up at Liz's house late, and WITHOUT my mum. He said he didn't know that he was supposed to bring it!;) haha, so he had to run home and get it during rush hour traffic. We missed all of the group photo's because of this. Needless to stay, the next year he didn't forget it!

At dinner before the homecoming dance. Ruggeries ( or something like that) in Addison. It's no longer there!!!
Medieval Times. Senior year homecoming. This was the night that the girls took the guys out. It was a really fun time. All the boys got the little light wand things...:)
Mum exchange! He brought it this time! And it even had lights and a cow bell on it!:) It was so heavy I had to wear a rope around my neck to school so that it wouldn't pull my shirt off!
Professional picture taken at the dance. I loved my dress. It's funny looking back on it now, how I could have ever thought that I was " fat" in high school. I would KILL to look like this again!!! Maybe some day!
Prom 2003. We had just finished pictures and we were in the Escalade Limo heading to dinner! We look pretty happy to be going to PROM!!!
The first vacation that I ever went on with Adam and his family. Skiing in Colorado. Little did I know that there would be MANY more vacations with them!
Skipping ahead a few years here, because of pictures being lost... Christmas Party 2006 with Adam and I's friends from A&M!!

So I know I'm missing lots of pictures from our engagement, and our three week trip around Europe, but there are too many to put on here. Though here is one of us in Barcelona!

Skip ahead, we're Mr. and Mrs. Fenner, May 2007!!!!
This is self explanatory! I gave Adam that onesie along with a positive test as a way to tell him about, who is now, Dylan!!!

Adam graduates!!!! We move back to Texas!!!
Where we are living happily ever after !!!! ( Cheesy I know!)
So there you have it. Adam and I over 9 years. Hope I didn't bore you too much. It was fun for me to look back through all of our old pictures and remember the things we have done!!!

Where do they go?

My days. They seem to just slip by so fast. Did you know that when babies get older they like to take shorter naps, and are awake longer, therefore allowing me to get less and less done? I guess I knew that, but still!! We are still hanging in there. Not much has happened since my last post. I've worked out a few days ( I still hate to do it) we've gone on a few walks since it was like 70 here this past week. Adam and I went out to dinner last night, thanks for Aunt Erin for wanting to come and baby sit:)

Dylan update:

It was a big day in the Fenner house on Thursday. I put pants on Dylan and then picked him up and THEY DIDN'T FALL OFF. He's getting so big. We weighed him with our " at home baby weigh er" ( a kitchen scale with a decorative bowl on top of it!!) and he weighed in at 9 lbs!!! Chunky Monkey.

He is holding his head up a lot more now. He can only do it for about a min or two before you can tell it starts to weigh 10 pounds. Then he slams it into our chests or shoulders or wherever it might fall!

He liked to hang out in just his diaper.

He likes to be held looking out. He is starting to look around and not just stare at the wall, so he gets frustrated when he has nothing to look at.

He is going to have a little temper. When we are giving him a bottle and take it away to burp him, he lets out the cutest, most annoyed whine, a person will ever hear. haha, we figured he would have gotten the routine down by now, but apparently not!!

We've gotten a few smiles out of him, they don't come on a regular basis, but in the mornings is our best shot

Today is the day!!!

YEY!!!! Adam will be home today!!!!! Yippie!

Hanging in there...

So we are on day 7 of Adam being gone. I've done a GREAT job keeping myself busy somehow, though I can't really say I've done much of anything. I guess it comes from getting up at 7, not getting home until about 5:30, letting the dogs outside. By the time I'm in with them and sit down it's already about 6:30. So I get dinner ready, I made a huge pot of spaghetti and some sloppy Joe's over the weekend that I've been eating, and sit down and get ready for my TV!! I have been going upstairs to get ready for bed at about 10, which is a little old lady like, but I read until about 11 or 11:30!!!

I haven't accomplished much on my list that I made last week except for:
Mani
Pedi
DSW didn't want my money last week ( didn't have the shoes I wanted ) so I might try again this week.
I DID take my jeans, but the lady that alters them is out of town for 10 days!!! That's just bad timing!:)

I haven't done a whole lot around the house like I was SUPPOSED to do, but I plan on devoting Saturday to cleaning so Adam THINKS I did something!!!

Tomorrow I'm going to spend the day with Janelle and Aubrey, and we're heading to shop. Hopefully I'll be able to find me a new wallet that I need to go with my purse I got for my birthday!

Adam will be home on Sunday, I can't wait. I was fine for the first few days, but it really starts to wear on me. I'm so used to spending the evening with him watching TV, and hanging out, and now all I got are the dogs. But since he's gone I have to take them out. You don't realize how important your second half is until you, yourself have to take the dogs out!!! I'm just kidding, KINDA, of course, because he does usually take the dogs out at night, but I misses his kisses ( Cheesy) and can't wait to have him home again!

Home Alone!!!!

But it's not because he forgot me ( as in the movie, Home Alone:)) . Adam left for Bangladesh last night, so I have been left to fend for myself for the next 10 days. But I'm prepared, I have created a " To- Do " list if you will, of things I want to accomplish while he is gone. Which include, but are not limited to: Mani, Pedi, shopping for cute new sandals, and taking those organic cotton jeans ( remember that post) to finally get hemmed!!! Tonight I went and ran some errons to prepare me for this weekend. 3 bottles of wine (we already had the Malbec), and a library book, and the newest issue of Food and Wine came in the mail today, I think I'm ready.



I am starting a new book seires that has all the names of dessert. The first one is called Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, I'll let you know how they are!!
I read online about some wines that I wanted to try. 7 deadly Zin's I really wanted to try, but I really can't pay twenty bucks for a bottle to drink alone, so I went with... Zen of Zin, Gnarly Head Red Zin, and Folie A Deux- Menage a Trois. Tonight I am drinking Zen of Zin, and if I do say so myself, it is quite tasty. I wish that I could give you a better description than that, but I can't. I know what I like and don't like when it comes to wine, but can't tell you the flavors or anything.I guess I need to go to some wine tastings!;) I suggest you try it. If you have any other suggestions of wines I should try let me know. I got a wine journal for Christmas that I'm trying to fill!

I'm off to finish my bottle of wine, and watch Ghost Whisperer. Does it get any better than that? I think not!!! Tomorrow I will post my pictures of our snow storm from the beginning of the week. 9 Inches I think was the total.

CONGRATS to Becca and blogger friend Natalie P. for getting the news that they are both having little baby boys:) So EXCITING!!!

Busy weekend!

This weekend flew by faster than any I can remember in the past. Maybe it was because we actually were productive and didn't just watch TV. I like my old weekends. Though our "Kids" were not any help during out very busy day! ( click above picture to get a good view of our helpers!)
This weekend started off with another BYO fantastic meal. We have made it a goal to go to one new restaurant in the city every week until graduation. We of course won't hit all of them we want, but oh well... we would probably be close to broke if we did anyway!!

Saturday morning started off bright and early with the tile guy coming to fix the bathroom!
And it's a good thing, because it was getting to be really gross, and every time we would turn the handle more little bits would fall into the tub! Yucky!! Here is the finished product!


After they left, I was feeling like we needed to do some stuff around the house, seeing that it was supposed to be listed this week, so we got to painting. The realtor suggested we paint our bedroom wall a neutral color instead of the fabulous tealish/ blue we had painted it. And although she loved the orange ( I never really liked it, but never wanted to repaint it) bathroom, we decided we should paint it too. So we got to it. The following are before and after pics.
This isn't a very good pic, but you can at least see the color!



I thought that I had a picture of the wall finished, but I guess I was distracted by my Hubs, hotness!;)


Priming the bathroom, please excuse me, I had been up a long time!:)


And last but not least one of the two of us, hard at work!:)

A little late, but Valentines day recap!

It was soo nice to have Valentines day on a Saturday this year. A great time to just spend some good quality time with Adam. ( Not that I don't do that all the time, but ohh well!) So it actually started out on Friday, I came home to beautiful roses, which opened up very nicely. And we just kicked back and watched some TV. We also started making homemade Cinnamon rolls for V-day morning. I woke up, popped them in the oven and the smell alone woke Adam up. We ate those in bed while watching our beloved Food TV!! For lunch/brunch we had chicken salad with crackers and MIMOSAS!!! That's right, when my hubby bought me flowers he also got a couple bottles of Champagne to enjoy. So we had one bottle for brunch, then saved the other for after dinner ( which we didn't drink) Dinner consisted of prime fillet, shoestring french fries, and broccoli. Followed by Ina Gartens Brownie Pudding. Which I highly recommend! It was DELICIOUS. Days like that remind me how much I love my husband, and how good he is to me.

didn't they open up nicely?



Though we don't "celebrate" Valentines day with gifts( other than flowers) anymore, it is a great day for some couples to reconnect. I hear a lot of girls say that Valentines day is a "Hallmark Holiday" and it just makes me sad. Because as much as ANYONE wants to think that they don't care about the " Hallmark Holiday" or Valentines Day, a piece of them wishes that someday, someone will do something special for them. I've been lucky enough to find that person when we were very young, and also fortunate enough to know that he will also never completely disregard any special day.

Next up: Birthday events!

Husband, Family and pets, does it get any better?

Do you think he was sharing or stealing?

I know that I said I probably wouldn't post until I got back from skiing, but we had such a FANTASTIC Christmas I felt the need to post. I guess you could say that Christmas in the Fenner home started last night, well evening really. We had a fantastic meal, complete with turkey, stuffing, rolls and all the sides you could think of. Following that, we headed off to church. ON our way out we hear the Catholic church playing Christmas carols from their loud speaker, it really just set the mood! After church we came home to pumpkin cheesecake and presents.:) Who wouldn't like that, come on now!

What was left of the cheesecake on the plate!
Between, both sides of parents and Adam's sister, we made out like bandits, we got EVERYTHING on our list. We couldn't be thankful enough. We really do have so many people in our lives that love us. But I would have to say that MY most exciting gift, is my new CAMERA. I got a Canon Rebel XS. It is pure bliss. I had a Canon Rebel 35 MM back in high school, where I took three years of Photography, so I'm REALLY looking forward to playing with my camera and learning it again. The poor dogs have had their picture taken so many times since last night, they probably want to eat the thing. We got so much more, we got a stick blender, that has all these cool attachments, Gift cards galore, I got a heart rate monitor, to make my workouts more productive, A subscription to Food& Wine, because Adam and I DEFIANTLY need more recipes and wines to try;)

Well we left some of the gifts to open this morning, following the family tradition of Creamed turkey and eggs which was delightful of course. To days big gift was for Adam ( and me of course) and it is an HD canon video camera. We had been wanting one since last year, and this was the year. It's pretty cool, because it's HD so when we play it on our TV, it will be just as clear. With that came a Tripod, and a disk maker thing. I'm not sure what it does, but Adam does. It makes it where we can Easily make CDS of the videos, and I can even make slide shows of my pictures and put them on the disk. Haha, Adam's comment was " Oh yea, we get to become those people that make people watch their slide shows." We're getting so old. I guess being together for almost 8 years will do that to you. We had MANY years of pictures we can put into slide shows, it's going to be cool. So I'm going to go and eat my turkey pot pie now, but I'll leave you with some of my pictures. Keep in mind, I was just playing with all of the settings on the camera!:) Have a good rest of Christmas:) And have a HAPPY NEW YEAR

They love each other!




Louie, " getting some love"

He turned 24!

As promised, though late, here is the post about Adam's birthday which was December 9. Unfortunately for him, it always falls right in the middle of exam week, so nothing too exciting happens. But this year, a few good friends were able to tear themselves away from the excitement that is finals to join us for a birthday dinner! On a recommendation, we went to Marrakesh. It's a Moroccan food place. It was a lot of fun, and good food. When we first got there, we were the only ones, so it was nice and quaint. The deal was it was a set price per person and they just brought stuff out. I think it was 7 courses or something ridiculous like that! And there was no utensils. They didn't even give you a napkin, just a bath towel!!! You really have to like the ones that your with, because everyone is just sticking their hands in. The food was different, but excellent. Of course, the company was what made it a special day for Adam! Thanks to David, Johnny, Jake and Leslie for taking time out to go with us! Here are some pictures!


Smiles for everyone!



The guy that looked like he should have a monkey on his shoulder was pouring our green tea!






After dinner we went back up to school, because I had made birthday cupcakes for Adam, and Leslie ( Her birthday was the 11th) So we went up and passed them around his studio, and sang to them both! I think everyone enjoyed them! Because they were ALL gone, I didn't even get one!



Everyone looked happy with the cupcakes!


AW, my husband, and the BIRTHDAY boy!!!