Weekend Wrap Up & Updates

As you can see my site got a little makeover! I love it and I think it’s cleaner and easier to navigate.  We’ve had a lot going on lately.  I’m still doing photo shoots on the weekends and loving it!  Working a full time job, trying to feed our family a decent meal, and keep my sanity together….ha ha!

We are hoping to get our house on the market soon.  We have so much CRAP!  It’s amazing how much you accumulate over the years.  We are trying to move closer to T’s work and find a middle ground between my job and his so we don’t have crazy commutes.  What can I say?  That’s DFW for you.  The market has totally changed and it’s definitely a seller’s advantage again.  We’ve found some houses and they’ve sold within a day or two above asking price.  It’s crazy!  Hard not to get your hopes up about something…so I’m trying to not get emotionally attached to anything we find.  In the end I think this move will be great for our family and we’ll have more time together 🙂

My sister’s wedding is in a couple months and thanks to the German Deli I’m not doing so hot!  These Kinder Easter bunnies are the BEST.  My Dad used to bring us Kinder eggs when he’d go overseas in the Army and we have such fond memories of Kinder eggs.  This is the closest I can get in the states…so it’s hard not to eat every bunny in the store.

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I shared this blush from Clinique awhile back and someone asked how it looked on so I tried to take a picture.  It looks really bright in the container, but goes on really soft.aete

This is the best I could do taking a picture of myself.  But you can see it’s a very subtle hint of pink.  The other cheek is bare.  Although because of my awkward camera angle you can’t really see that.D7K_7595My friend Ellen and I were out shopping and I saw this Easter egg wall. It was so cute I had to take a picture. The lady was saying that most plastic eggs already come with little holes at each end, so all you have to do is string them and they make a really cute garland. How cool is that?

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I love my coffee and especially when they accidentally make a sweet tea and give it to me for free 🙂 What would we do without our coffee?

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When I dropped Connor off at school today he realized he left his favorite stuffed animal at home. Queue the fit throwing!  So he really wasn’t into our #selfieaday post today.  Oh well…you win some you lose some.thrtu

I’ll also have to tell the story about why I was at Whole Foods for over 2 hours last night & Terence thought I may have been kidnapped or dead.  My ringer was off!   I met and Indian woman and we had a looooooong conversation I’m sure you’ll just love to hear about 🙂  Oh people…..you never know who you’ll meet!

Happy MONDAY folks!

Connor & Ellie’s Backyard Circus 4th Birthday Party

Yesterday we had a circus birthday for Connor and his cousin Ellie. They both turned 4 within a day of each other and they’ve always shared a special bond. The kids wanted to do a backyard circus party so that’s what we did! Big shout out to my sister-in-law Rebecca & mother-in-law Sherry for making all the costumes! Everything turned out so good and I think all the kids had fun participating in the circus. We had perfect weather yesterday too….I was actually sweating! I can’t believe these two are already 4 years old. My baby is growing up too fast!

Most of this post is going to be pictures of the party. Hope you enjoy Connor & Ellie’s backyard circus 🙂

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We rarely get a family picture together so I was happy to get one

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Yummy popcorn cookies my friend Addyson made
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Welcome to the circus!

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The lions and tigers have SHARP teeth and claws

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They do tricks like rolling and jumping
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For the final act…jumping through the RING OF FIRE!!!
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Connor was “The Strong Man”

He lifted a MILLION pounds!
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Butterfly ballerinas were a site to see!  They dance and jump all over the stage 🙂
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Ellie climbing high above the crowd to walk the tightrope
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Nell & Granddaddy
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Thank you to all our friends and family who came to celebrate!

We love you all & happy birthday to the cutest 4 year olds I know!

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Five on Friday

Happy Friday everyone! It’s about time!!! I am so excited for the weekend. We are going to have sunny skies and the circus birthday party is HAPPENING. I’m also shooting a wedding on Saturday evening & I’m so excited about it 🙂

1.  I shared this on Instagram.  When my sister was in town visiting she told me about Teez w/Eez.  She got hers from a salon and I got mine from Amazon.  It works amazing!!!

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2.  Here is what it looks like….Give it a try and let me know what you think.

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3.  My BFF Ellen is in Dallas for vacation this week.  We’ve been friends since middle school and I love her to pieces.  I’m on a mission to get her to move here.  She loves DFW, now all we have to do is find her a job!  Anyone hiring for someone with management experience and a degree in fashion merchandising???  Let me know!  We went to California Pizza Kitchen, did a little shopping, and then ended the night at Sprinkles for ice cream sundaes.  They are to die for….SO GOOD!

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4.  My friend Heather sent me some Jamberry nails to try.  I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never tried them before.  They come in so many cool colors and designs.

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5. Here is how I styled my Jamberry nails.  LOVE.  They were super easy to apply and I can tell they’ll last for a while.  For more info on how to order these beauties contact Heather for more information.

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HAPPY WEEKEND!!!

Weekend Wrap Up & Twinkie Time!

Well, this weekend went a little different than planned.  Connor and Ellie’s 4th birthday party was supposed to happen, but due to forcasted rain (that never happened) and my sister in law’s impending labor (which also never happened) we rescheduled for next Sunday.  My sister and her fiancé Vinny came to visit with cousin Jarrett.  Connor and Jarrett just adore each other.  We had a nice visit and got to catch up.  Bonnie’s getting married in June and I had the pleasure of taking some engagement photos of them too 🙂

We did some retail therapy at the mall and went to QT for iced coffees and scratch offs.  That’s just something we always do when she comes to town.  QT is a gas station that has a heavenly beverage bar.  We didn’t win on our scratch offs…poo poo 🙁  But we did have a good time!  Ate good Mexican food, watched movies, and just caught up on life.  It’s hard living away from home, but that just means you cherish the time you have with family a whole lot more.10151778_10153919957160125_679943871_n

Our boys adore each other.  They love, then they fight, tattle, and whine….but at the end of the day they are BFF.  They are 2 months apart and my Mom sent them matching shirts for spring so we dressed them alike.
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I promise to post pictures of the circus birthday party coming up next weekend!

Connor had his 4-year check up today and he’s 90% in height and 80% in weight!  I can’t wait until he’s a teenager…ha ha!  I can just imagine our grocery bill 🙂

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Look at these AMAZING cookies my friend Addyson made for the party?  I’m hoping they are still good next weekend.  They sure are delicious.  If you live in DFW and need a cake or cookies for anything I highly recommend Addyson.  If you need her contact email please email me at beckylbranch@gmail.com
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Here are some photos from Bonnie & Vinney’s engagement session. You can see more on my PHOTOGRAPHY SITE.D7K_6284
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Happy St. Patty’s Day 2014

Hope everyone is wearing their green today or I’m going to jump through this screen and PINCH you!!! If you’re looking for a fun place to hang tonight check out the new Bar Louie at North East Mall! We went on Friday night and it was excellent.

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I cherish our pictures before school. Connor turned and kiss me on the cheek this morning & I didn’t ask him to. He’s such a precious boy!

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Today at work we had green bagels from Einstein’s and they were so good!

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And of course…..YOU KNOW WHERE I’M GOING….Starbucks is GREEN! So I had to visit the mermaid lady today and get some crack. Gulp.

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 HAPPY ST. PATTY’S DAY 

MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOR…

#CelebrateFirstFlush #Sponsored #MC

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for Pull-Ups. I received product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

So, I’ve talked about potty training before and I wanted to update on our progress.  We’ve always used Pull-Ups® and I can’t say enough about how much I love them.  They are great at stopping leaks and not to mention the fun designs are an incentive for Connor.  He can easily pull them up and down, plus he’s officially moved into “big boy” status.

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Connor can easily tell the front from the back because of the design.  One side is the front of a car and the other is the back.  This visual definitely helps him he’s so proud when he puts it on by himself!  I mentioned before we are 80% of the way there.  The only issue we have is bed wetting at nap time or at night.  Other than that he does pretty well during the day.  We are working on ways to help him get through the night without accidents and always praise him if he wakes up dry in the morning.  He loves that feeling!

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Pull-Ups® training pants are designed to look and fit more like underwear and work with your child’s potty training learning style.   He definitely enjoys wearing his pull up and the feeling of independence it gives him.  I like not having to wash pee soaked sheets and clothes every day.  It’s a win/win for everyone!

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I love seeing my child happy and independent and I know all Moms out there feel the same way. Keep encouraging your kids. There is no “one way” to potty train. It’s different for every family. I’ve never seen a kid go off to high school wearing diapers! You will be fine and eventually it will just click.  On a happy note….we’ve had a lot less accidents at naptime!!! Yay!!!

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The Pull-Ups® website offers a lot of different tools and resources, available on the Big Kid Academy via the Pull-Ups website, Facebook page, and Twitter page, that make it easy to start potty training and celebrate milestones.  There is also a Big Kid App available on Apple and Android smart phones. The app offer videos and songs and a Big Kid checklist to help your little one in his or her nighttime routine. Go check it out HERE!

I’D LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR POTTY TRAINING JOURNEY. 

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE OR ASK QUESTIONS FEEL FREE TO LEAVE A COMMENT!