TheJavaMama

Dallas Aquarium

February 23, 2011

While my parents were in town we visited the Dallas aquarium on Sunday afternoon. It was a lot of fun looking at all the birds, fish, and sharks. Terence and I had never been, but had always wanted to go so this was a great time! The weather was perfect and it was actually quite warm this past weekend. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and it was SOOOO good as always! Here are some pictures of our afternoon together. Miss you already Mom & Dad!

It’s a SLOTH!

This little feller moved incredibly s-l-o-w….

“Crikey”

Men…clueless….ha..ha..

Cute manatee

Me with the manatee

I am wearing my new Stella & Dot owl necklace I got from Kim. I love it!

Go visit her HERE

“What are those things Nana?”

Penguins! My Nana LOVES penguins, they are her favorite animal!

Sharks!!! Ahhhh!!!

It’s an OWL! This was my favorite 🙂

Thank you Nana & Poppy for such a great weekend and helping with my birthday party!

We love you so much and miss you like crazy!

xoxo- Connor

First Haircut

February 22, 2011

Connor had his first big boy haircut today. His curls were getting a little afro-ish so we decided it was time for a cut. He looks so much like his Daddy now it’s crazy! ha..ha..

I would like to think something looks like ME in this child! We went to Kool Cuts 4 Kids and he got to sit in a taxi while he got his hair cut. He did pretty good, he did cry once but I think it’s because she knicked his neck a little bit so she didn’t charge us for the haircut 😛

Getting ready….

Nana would have been so excited your wearing PENGUINS!

There it goes…..

Sniff…sniff….

He looks like he’s aged 5 years for goodness sake!

My baby boy is looking more like a little dude every day.

Back to work tomorrow and I don’t think we get another holiday until May!!! Sigh…..

Connor’s 1st Birthday

February 21, 2011

We’ve had a great weekend! Connor’s 1st birthday party was yesterday and we had so much fun! Thank the Lord my Mom and Dad were here to help…it’s been such a blessing! We had lots of friends and family here to celebrate with us. I took about a million pictures, it was hard to narrow down which ones to share but here are some of my favorites 🙂

Almost time for cake!

Treat bags for the candy buffet

All the food was so good! Thanks Mommy 🙂

Pizza dip is one of our favorites

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup pizza sauce

2 tablespoons chopped green bell pepper

2 ounces pepperoni sausage, chopped

Directions

1.In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, oregano, parsley, and basil.

2.Spread mixture in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate, or a shallow microwave-safe dish. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese on top of the cream cheese mixture. Spread the pizza sauce over all. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, then top with green pepper, pepperoni and olive slices. Cover, and microwave for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Party punch

We asked everyone to bring their favorite book for Connor. He got lots and LOTS of new books to read for his birthday! Thank you everyone!!!

Aunt Bonnie and cousin Jarrett got to be there via Skype

We love you and wish you could have been here sister and Jarrett

Cake time!

Connor did not like his cake at all!!! 🙁

I think the singing and the anticipation freaked him out a little bit.

We had a meltdown and then we were fine.

Thanks for coming to my party ya’ll!

Connor we love you so much and God has truly blessed us with your sweet life.

You will always be my baby boy no matter how many birthdays we celebrate over the years!

“OWL” ALWAYS LOVE YOU SWEET BOY!

Cool Stuff

February 18, 2011

Well….after all this planning tomorrow is the big party day! I want to thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and advice through this crazy time. It’s been a lot of fun for me! I think things will turn out great and the most important thing is memories are made and fun is had!

Connor’s actual birthday isn’t for a couple more weeks. I have a three day weekend this week and it helps because my Mom and Dad are able to come in from Arkansas and this gives them more travel time and more time to spend with us! Yeah! They are on their way RIGHT NOW and I hope my Mom knows I am going to put her to work helping me when she gets here 😉

I was trying to get a few photos of Connor in his birthday shirt he’ll be wearing tomorrow. Ashley at She She Made did a FABULOUS job and it’s exactly what I envisioned it would look like. Thank you Ashley we LOVE IT!

It’s so hard to take a picture of this booger right now!

These are some things I am loving right now…

If I ever throw another party these are some fun things 🙂

Here

Love this bookshelf – Just because….

Paper Straws Here

Initial Lollies Here

After this past year I have promised myself to give up on the owls. I know Connor will probably not be into them as he gets older and as I start to think about a “big boy” room I’m sure it will completely change. Whether it’s airplanes, dinosaurs, sports, or whatever….I just hope it’s not Yo Gabba Gabba or Barney…Lord help me! He’s really starting to talk more and babble and it’s so cute! He is standing now, but afraid to take that first step. He just freaks out when you let go of him!!!

Last night my boys took me to dinner at Red Hot & Blue. Poor Terence is a big blur. I HATE MY CELL PHONE CAMERA!!!! We had a good time going out together and Connor enjoyed his Cheerios while we ~~devoured~~ ate our BBQ. Oh! And we also hit up Braum’s ice cream for $1.50 double dip ice cream cones! I’m really enjoying this 70 degree weather this week….it’s such a nice change from the winter weather we’ve been having.

I hope you all have a great weekend and I hope to come back on Monday with lots of party pics to share!

Oh-and I took down the Disqus comments….it was getting on my nerves!!!

Getting Ready to Part-ay!

February 16, 2011

OMG ya’ll I’m going to go flat out broke planning this party! Well, I’ve tried to remain within a budget so my husband doesn’t kill me….but still it’s hard because I am so excited. I’ve actually never thrown a party and I don’t know how this is all going to turn out. Sometimes I just look around and I don’t have a plan, but I think it will be fine in the end. It just gives me something to do and I love to be creative and crafty!

See all these owls I’ve tediously cut out???

I have no idea what I am going to do with them???

Owl trees

Ooops! Ignore the glue that dried WHITE on that left hand corner! gah!

Candy!!!

Toppers for something I dunno….not cupcakes though???

Okay-that is all I am sharing until the party day…I’ve pretty much shown everything!

I need help with party food, Hors d’oeuvres , punch…suggestions PLEASE???

Email me (at) beckylbranch@gmail.com

if you have recipes

AND

In the spirit of birthday week I thought I would share some fab old photos of me and Bonner!

I love you sidder…I can’t believe WE shall be 30 this year!!! gasp!

“Oh my! A Light Bright!”

Hope everyone is having a good week!

And here’s hoping my head doesn’t pop off before Saturday from all the craziness!

My Mom will be here Friday to help THANK.YOU.LORD!!!

Valentines Day 2010

February 15, 2011

Connor we are so blessed to have you our little cupid!

Terence got me my “annual” Godiva treat 🙂

I always say I enjoy chocolate waaaaay more than flowers!

Thanks honey 😉

I LOVE YOU!!!

I got to do some of this too….

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……………….

Until someone wanted to play that is!

Question: totally random….should I cut his hair? It’s outta control frizzy sometimes!

Connor is loving his new big boy chair from Inglesina. He now gets to sit at the table with us. I like this chair a lot better because he was getting out of his bumbo chair and tipping over. This chair is very easy to fold up and take with us to restaurants, it’s easily collapsible, and comes with a carrying bag. It’s compatible with most types of tables, leaving them scratch-free.

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