It's July!

How is it already July?? Time is flying by.... And every day with this girl is better than the previous.

Laura designed a cute cute desktop for July... and I might just recruit her to keep doing them! Thanks friend! Click here to get it.

One of our family's favorite holidays is this Friday - Independence Day - and I can't wait to share it with our little bug.  I think she's going to like it!

June... is a little late!

Whoops!
 I'll post up a July desktop ON TIME :)

We went on a little vacation with my family and it was so so wonderful.  We stayed in Watercolor on 30A, but were so close to Seaside we got to experience both areas and we loved it! Biking, walking over a lake, and enjoying some sand in our toes was good for the soul.  And watching our little Jane bug experience it all for the first time was even more good for the soul.  She had a great time and we did too!

life is happening...

And it's busy - but I love it.

Summer is quickly approaching and I'm excited about all that comes for Jane's first summer.  We are already loving the chunky exposed thighs when she's wear a bubble.  She is really coming into her cute little personality and I can't wait to see it even more over the next few months.

She's already 6 months old (tomorrow) and I can't believe it!! Time is flying.

I'm slacking on creating my own desktops these days... but here is one I am enjoying.  Maybe one day I'll start creating my own again... I chose the one with the flowers in the corners.

Happy May! Get outside and enjoy the new blooms of the year!

april desktop

Life is happening.... I'm enjoying every minute of it and my new role!

Here is an April Desktop I've been enjoying. I know.. I just totally skipped March. Whoops!

4 photos and a desktop

It's true... once you have a baby the only photos you take are of the baby... she's just so darn cute! I can't help it.

Hello there... She's getting good at holding that head up!

My friend Allison gave Jane this hilarious octopus toy (and coordinating fabric book) called "Captain Calamari" and I refer to him as The Captain.  She is much more alert in her seat these days (eventually falls asleep), so I thought she might want something to look at and brought out the captain to see if she would be interested like Allison said her daughter was.... and sure enough, she immediately started talking to him! It was hilarious.  The start of a long friendship I'm sure...
(oh, and yes, her paci is HUGE... that is the ONLY brand she will take and that's the next size... at least she will grow into it!)

My sweet Aunt Gail sent Jane a package last week with the most adorable outfit and this necklace.  It's a single pearl necklace that was my Granny's. Aunt Gail said she knew I would find the perfect time to give it to Jane.  Tears were flowing.

Today was a big day... Jane started going to "school." She will go three days a week so I can go to meetings and work, and my dear friend Amy is the director at the school and I have a friend who is a teacher, so I know she is in great hands.  Jane of course did wonderful and didn't cry at all! I only cried when I got back to the car as I was headed to work.  I'll miss my little sidekick these three days, but I know she will love being around the other kids.  She already loves watching her cousins and older friends!

I couldn't get her to look up...

You can go get the February desktop over here... Maybe I'll be back again before it's time for another desktop. ;)

the honest company

A year or so ago (can't remember exactly when it happened), I saw Jessica Alba on the Today Show talking about her company, The Honest Company.  The organic/all-natural company selling products for families.  Diapers, home products, skin products and more.  I immediately checked it out and read all about the products.  I was sold and couldn't wait to try them for our baby on the way.  I couldn't handle how adorable the diapers were and Dudley and I did a comparison and they are close in price to Pampers.  Bonus with Honest, they ship straight to your house and come with wipes too!  I love the wipes.

Our recent monthly shipment of diapers and wipes!  So far the numbers they have allotted for the diaper size has worked great for us.

These little diapers are just too cute for me and they have kept her little booty free from diaper rash!

We have loved these diapers for little Jane.  The newborn size diapers were a little longer in the front than pampers, so we used those for awhile.  Since we are a monthly bundle subscriber we were offered a free product, so I chose the lotion.  Jane had some serious dry skin and no lotion we had was helping.  I thought I'd give this a try and sure enough it has made her skin just perfect!  I'm definitely sold on this company and the next products I want to try are the shampoo and body wash and the conditioner.

eeeh hem... is this thing on?

2014.. Here we are!  I've been enjoying my days at home these past 2 months with the happiest, sweetest, and cutest little Jane bug you ever did meet.

We are just smitten with this little girl. She is just such a treasure.

On another note... Leslie and I designed a planner (with the help of Laura) and they are available for purchase!  At first we were just going to make them for ourselves, but then we started hearing from friends that they would be interested, too.  We couldn't find a planner that we loved, but had aspects from different planners that we loved... So we thought we would put them all together!  Plus it's really cute thanks to Laura's cover!

It has a laminated cover and back.

Month at a glance.

Weekly spreads.

Tons of notes pages in the back.

If you want your very own, head over to Leslie's page and purchase one!  We decided we would sell them for $22 (including shipping), or if you are in Memphis and want to coordinate meeting Leslie or me you can choose the $18 option.

And in honor of our cute planners, I am back with the January desktop calendar! Go here to get it.

Happy New Year everyone!

Jane bug

Our little Jane bug arrived a week early on November 9.  She decided it was time for us to meet her and now we can't imagine life without this little joy.  She's sweet and cuddly and at 3 weeks old is getting more alert and playful!

A quick story of her birth...

Friday, November 8, Dudley and I decided to go out on a date.  We wanted some place casual, but delicious.  Las Tortugas was the choice and on the way there I mentioned, "there aren't going to be many more times for these easy dinner dates."  He smiled and when we got to there I said how it was funny the last time we ate there was the day we found out we were having a little girl.  Maybe it was a sign, I thought...

We enjoyed a lovely dinner and then went and got a redbox movie (Django Unchained).  We called it a night around 11 and went to bed, and the next day we were planning to watch the Ole Miss/Arkansas game and grill these delicious burgers with some friends.

Around 4:45am I woke up to go to the bathroom, and then got back in bed.  I laid down and felt two sharp abdominal pains and thought to myself, "is that a contraction?"  I dozed off a little and then another one came a few minutes later.  I rolled over to get up to go to the bathroom again.  When I stood up I felt something abnormal.  I got to the bathroom and there was a lot of liquid and thought, is this my water breaking?? I don't know?  I woke Dudley up and he immediately got in the shower.  I finished up packing my bag, and then as it got closer to Dudley being ready I started having more contractions.  They weren't unbearable, just uncomfortable.

We got to the hospital around 6:15am and the nurse checked to make sure it was my water that broke, and sure enough it was!  We were going to meet our little lady Jane that day!

Around 7 we got to our room and met our awesome nurse, Jenny.  Literally the best nurse.  We loved her so much.  We then found out that my doctor wasn't on call that weekend, so we would be meeting a doctor that I hadn't seen/met before.  The epidural team came in and got that going and then we just progressed through contractions and visited with family while we waited.

At like 11ish Jenny checked and we were at 7cm, so we thought we had at least 2-3 more hours (I'd progressed about 1cm/hr at that point... so it was just a guess that it might be 2-3 more hours...)

Dudley was kicked back watching the Ole Miss/Arkansas game, I was visiting with my mom and sister, and then doctor came in to meet me/check my progress.  She sat down and checked and said, "yeah you're about 10... let's try and push once."  My mom and sister just stepped behind the curtain, and then after that push she said, "yeah you're ready to go."  Jenny said to my mom and sister it was time to go out to the waiting room, and then the rest of the delivery team came in.  It all happened so fast and then about 30 minutes later I hear "Happy Birthday Jane!" from everyone in the room and then my tiny little girl was laying on my chest!

This little joy was 6lb 11oz and 20 in long.  Our hearts were so full and tears were just flowing.  It was an amazing moment.

Jane Frances Carter

November 9, 2013

She is named after both her great grandmothers (and mommy).  Dudley's Granny Ree (Jane) and my Granny and me (Frances).  What a wonderful day.  What an amazing experience and in the blink of an eye we became parents forever to this girl.  How lucky and blessed we are!

Another special photo to share... My niece Molly was born in March and her middle name is Frances.  So now there is Martha Frances, Molly Frances and Jane Frances (and Jane wrapped in a blanket made by Granny Frances).  Full hearts and Granny is smiling down on us!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year and are extra thankful for our little Jane bug.  She's just a growing and we are having the best time being her mommy and daddy.  Her daddy is sure smitten with her and it is killer watching him love her!

My loves.

I can't believe it's already December!  We are getting out all our Christmas decor and going to pick out our tree today!  Here's to our first Christmas with our Jane as family of 3!

December desktop here thanks to my pal Laura!

baby month!

Wow.  We have made it to November, and I can't believe we will welcome our little baby girl into the world this month.  It's kind of crazy.  It's very exciting.  So many emotions!

Speaking of emotions, I just saw this story on the Today show and tears were flowing!  Now that fall is here I'm craving a run outside and watching this thinking about my marathon run.. wow!  Too much with pregnancy hormones also.

The last few days as a family of 2 and a dog.  It's surreal.  We are both so ready to meet this little girl, but I'm trying to soak up the moments that it's just the two of us.  The moments we just sit around and chill.  Moments we just talk to our cute dog and spoil him.

This is our life....

And we love it and can't wait to throw our little lady Jane into the mix!  It's going to be so fun.

So a best buddy of mine has agreed to make some monthly desktops while I'm transitioning into mommy-hood, and she started this month.  Thanks to Laura for the fun November desktop!  Click here to go get it.  She has been designing some awesome things lately and paints, too!  If you want to enlist her services or inquire about an idea for a project, email her at lalstephens (at) gmail (dot) com.

happy happy fall!

How is it already October? How is it only 6 weeks until our little girl could make her appearance?  Eeee!

So I've just not had time to fit in to sit down to do a desktop for the month of October... but I will send you here and show you one I've been enjoying.. Click here to check out this awesome artist and her lovely desktops.  I might just be taking a break from making these for a few months, so enjoy Rebekka Seale's!

I'll be spending this month soaking up every moment with this guy (my main squeeze)... 

And snuggling as much as I can with this cutie pup...

I love these two guys, but we all can't wait to add our little girlie to the Carter mix!

peach pie

When we were buying the green egg, the lady who was selling us on it talked about how she had just thrown a peach pie on it the night before with peaches from the farmers market.  This thought has not escaped my mind since, and I have wanted to make one for the last year of having this egg.

The wedding I was in a few weekends ago in Alabama was in Loxley, and we were told there was an excellent farmers market there with the best peaches.  We googled and ventured over there and hit the jackpot of big juicy peaches.  I snatched up a big bag of them and Dudley was like, "you'll never eat all those before the go bad..." and I quickly thought, "we can make a peach pie on the egg!!!"

So that's what we did...

I found this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and put together a delicious peach pie, and then my guy fired up the green egg.  It was delicious!!  Oh and ps, her method of poaching the peaches and then putting them in an ice bath to get off the peeling was perfect.

Peach Pie

[If you feel like making a homemade crust, her recipe looks great! I was in no mood for that, so I used pre-made...]

Filling:

About 3 1/2 pounds peaches (approximately 6 large, 7 medium or 8 small)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, from about half a regular lemon

1/4 cup granulated sugar (see note up top; use 1/3 cup for a sweeter pie)

1/4 cup light brown sugar (ditto)

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Few gratings of fresh nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon table salt

3 tablespoons cornstarch

To finish:

1 tablespoon milk, cream or water

1 tablespoon coarse or granulated sugar

Prepare your filling: 

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Prepare an ice bath. Make a small x at the bottom of each peach. 
2. Once water is boiling, lower peaches, as many as you can fit at once, into saucepan and poach for two minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to ice bath for one minute to cool. 
3. Transfer peaches to cutting board and peel the skins. In most cases, the boiling-then-cold water will loosen the skins and they’ll slip right off. In the case of some stubborn peaches, they will stay intact and you can peel them with a paring knife or vegetable peeler and curse the person who made you waste your time with poaching fruit.
4. Halve and pit the peaches, then into about 1/3-inch thick slices. You’ll want 6 cups; it’s okay if you go a little over. 
5. Add to a large bowl and toss with lemon juice. I
6. n a small dish, stir together sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cornstarch until evenly mixed. Add to peaches and toss to evenly coat.

Preheat: Green Egg to 425 degrees.

Assemble your pie: 

1. Roll your dough to a 12- to 13-inch circle, transfer pie dough to a standard pie dish. 
2. Trim the overhang to one inch.
3. Scoop filling into bottom pie dough, including any accumulated juices (they contain the thickener too, also: tastiness). 
4. Roll out your top pie dough until it is 12 to 13 inches in diameter. 
5. To make a lattice-top pie, cut the pie dough into strips anywhere from 1/2 to 1-inch wide with a pastry wheel, pizza wheel or knife. 
6. Arrange every other strip across your pie filling in one direction, spacing the strips evenly. 
7. Fold back every other strip gently on itself and add the longest remaining strip in the other direction. 
8. Fold the strips back down, repeat with the other strips until a full lattice-top is formed. 
9. Trim the lattice’s overhang to the diameter of the pie dish’s rim. 
10. Gently fold the rim of the bottom crust over the lattice strips and crimp decoratively.

To finish: Brush pie with milk, cream or water and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake pie: 

1. For about 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the crust is set and beginning to brown. 
2. Reduce the egg temperature to 375 (well, get Dudley to do that) and bake pie for another 30 to 40 minutes, until filling is bubbling all over and the crust is a nice golden brown. 
3. If the pie lid browns too quickly at any point in the baking process, you can cover it with foil for the remaining baking time to prevent further browning.

Cool pie: 

1. For three hours at room temperature before serving. I know you won’t do that, we didn't!
2. If you’re concerned about the runniness of the pie filling, keep in mind that the pie filling does not fully thicken until it is fully cool. 
3. Pie can be stored at room temperature or in the fridge; from the fridge, it will be even thicker.

Enjoy!

august recap

If you still come around this sad and neglected blog to find a desktop calendar... well you're in luck now for September.  For all you school people out there, pencils!  I used to LOVE buying school supplies.

September desktop can be found here.


How is it already September though?  This little baby girl is growing rapidly and time is going by so fast.  I'm treasuring every minute I have with just Dudley.

We spent the weekend in Mobile.  I had the honor of being in a beautiful red-headed friend's wedding. Driving down to Mobile we were driving right past Scooba - the town where Dudley's mom is from and where his Granny Ree lived.  We hadn't been there since her funeral, so we stopped to visit the grave.  We are naming our baby girl Jane, after Granny Ree.  So Jane got to visit Jane, too...  We sure do miss Granny Ree!

The next day was sort of a whirlwind being in wedding mode.  Katie was the most stunning bride... like she stepped out of a magazine.  Wish I'd captured a full-length shot of the two of us so you could see the full dress. I'm so thrilled for her new journey - she's going to have a blast!

My hottie date and I at the wedding....

After the wedding we ventured up to the Alluvian in Greenwood for some R&R and just Dudley and Martha time.  It was awesome.  I loved every second of doing absolutely nothing but eating a delicious meal and lazying around with my guy.  We won't really get to celebrate our 5th anniversary at the time it takes place (baby girl is due the day after), so this was our 5th celebration.  Beautiful lobby of this swanky hotel in the middle of the Mississippi delta...

We have a packed September... starting this weekend celebrating a birthday (in Oxford) for our one year old niece, Madi (Dudley's sister Katy's daughter).  I can't believe she's already 1!

We picked up some DELICIOUS Alabama peaches on our journey - be back with a peach pie recipe!

how?

How is it already August?? Where did the summer go? Dudley asked me this just the other day, "where did the summer go? I feel like it was just May yesterday....

I can't believe it either.

We are now to 26 weeks of growing this little peanut and so far I have been blessed with feeling good and a summer that hasn't been a usual Memphis summer.  This is is really the first week it's been miserably hot.

August for us this year is bringing lots of celebrations that we are excited about... Jules is turning 2, Mom is turning 60, baby showers to attend and a wedding to attend.  The next thing we know it will be September and we will be saying this same thing, where did August go?  Crazy how time just flies!

I'm pretty excited about celebrating mom's birthday.  Our dad has put together a big shindig, all her siblings and mom are coming in town, and lots of friends are joining to celebrate her being 60.  She deserves the celebration as she is the most giving and loving person I know.  I want to grow up to be just like her, and I hear I already kind of look like her!

Sorry for the delay on getting together a desktop calendar for August, but click here if you're still interested!  My sweet and super talented friend Laura painted those flowers and we used them on a baby shower invite and I just love them.

baby girl

That's right. We are going to have a little baby GIRL!  She is healthy and growing right on schedule, which is what we were most thrilled to hear.  We thank God daily for this blessing and pray for this little peanut.

My guy used his archery skills to tell our families about this little baby girl and had so much fun doing it.  He (apparently) thought baby peanut was a girl this whole time, just didn't tell me that until the day of this ultrasound.  We knew about her a whole day before we told any one, and I'll never forget that time.. Just the two of us, knowing about our baby girl and thinking about her future.

We just can't wait to meet this little girl, and I hope for some curly blonde locks!  ;)

Halfway there...

Go get the July desktop calendar (if you're interested)!

the exterior

We have been enjoying our summer in Memphis, and thankfully it hasn't been TOO hot until this past week.  There have been quite a few nights that we have enjoyed sitting on the patio and there was a light breeze!  We know the humid summer is coming, so we definitely enjoyed those nights while we had them.

So far it has been quite eventful at our house... The roof project finally took place and our house looks like a brand new house.  So thankful that project is finally behind us.  Here she was before (with the roof color samples up)....

And here she is now.  The final phase of the exterior updates.

We are so pleased.  Feels like a brand new house!

Just for fun... Here's the house when we bought it.  We have come a LONG way!

This place has been a labor of love for T and I, and we have enjoyed every minute of it.  It really feels like home and I can't wait to start our family here and share it with this little peanut.  We are so blessed.

A few other projects have taken place this spring summer... I'll be back with those!

lots and lotts and lots

Lots and lots of happenings around our house lately...

Dudley's brother graduated from high school (kind of weird considering I've known him since he was in the 4th grade!! He's so old...) and we had a fun celebration in Oxford with the Carters.  T's sis Katy took lots of pics of us all and I took zero. Whoops!

We headed to Shreveport for our annual Memorial Day weekend with the Lotts... It was extra fun this year because we got to FINALLY meet their sweet and precious and did I say sweet little Jewel.  She was such fun to play with... We lounged at the pool... ate... had some more pool time... watched our husbands make a hilarious video... played with Jewel... ate some more... It was just what we needed and with some of our best friends...

Gibson was extra exhausted from his weekend following Biscotti around (and following me wherever I went)!

I've been craving fruity drinks... This was a new (to me) drink on our road trip home... Hit the spot.  I hear next time I need to try green machine?

While we were gone some of our other bests had their first baby girl, so when we got back we went to finally meet her and she is just so so sweet and snuggle-y.  Look at that precious little face!

And today... well it's a big day at our house.  Ever since we moved into this place we've known that a new roof was (desperately) needed.  Today is the day.  They are already hard at work up there and we are relieved to finally have this project behind us.  Can't wait to see the final product!

Bye bye old roof!!

And on the baby front... little peanut is just growing away!

Oh, and I posted the desktop calendar for June right here...

my sweet granny

It's May 8... Lots has happened in the first week of May around here.  On April 28, my sweet sweet Granny passed away and we all miss her.  She peacefully went to sleep on Saturday night, and is now enjoying seeing her George and other family and friends.

On Thursday before she passed, I pulled up to pick her up from the beauty shop and said, "Granny, I have a surprise for you."  She was so confused as to what kind of surprise she could be getting and stood there and tried to figure it out.  I said, "come on to the car and I'll show you.  I have Leslie with me!"  Her face just lit up and she said, "Leslie!  Does that mean MOLLY is here too??"  I said, "Yes!" She just got so giddy and couldn't wait to get to the car to see them.  She peeked in to see Molly in the back seat and then asked Leslie if she could sit back there with her on the way to lunch.  Leslie rode up front with me and it was so sweet to hear her talking to little Molly in the back seat.

We enjoyed a delightful lunch at Panera, where she got to enjoy one of her favorite things to eat.  Soup in a bread bowl.  She LOVED this.  She told us she remembers the first time she had one and thought how it was the best thing she had ever eaten in her life.  :)

As we finished up lunch she just kept saying how this was just the best surprise and she was so excited to see Molly.  She looked at me and said, "now in this life I just need to see a little Dudley."  I just smiled at her and said, "I hope you do too, Granny!"

So, if you follow me on instagram you might have seen our big news...  Grizz playoff grind...

New parents grind... Baby Carter due November 16, 2013!

I didn't tell Granny that day because it was just a few days until my next appointment and she would have been so excited she would have told everyone our secret!  I thought to myself (and told Leslie after she said, you should have told her), it's just 3 days away...  

She knows now though... :)

So last week was a week of sad times, but also very happy times being with all of the Guinn family and sharing our favorite and special memories of this dear Frances Guinn; mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and loving friend to many.  I'm blessed to have shared her name (Martha Frances), and to have been called her golden-haired grand-daughter (the others were brunettes).  

If you got to meet my Granny you know her sweet spirit and loving heart and I hope you treasure your memories with her like we are.

May desktop found here.

april showers

Boy have we had a lot of showers... and cooolddddd... It might be the coldest I can remember it ever being in April. Sheesh!  Our azaleas haven't even bloomed yet, and our new little cherry tree has JUST started blooming this week.  T is hoping for our azaleas to be in full bloom during the Masters (next weekend).

We had a lovely rest of March... celebrating T's bday, March Madness, Easter, and finally getting to spend time with T after a long busy season.  It's been so nice seeing his face around 6:30 or so!

And a few photos for your enjoyment.... plus April desktop is up!

 Happy Bday to my favorite guy!

Our rebs were in the NCAA tournament this year. Our good friends, the Turmans, do this awesome bracket and little Tuck drew Ole Miss. We supplied him with the necessary gear to cheer on the rebs.  Sadly our rebs lost, but Tuck was the cutest little fan I ever saw!

We had the traditional bunny cake on Easter and my little bunny Jules could hardly contain her excitement.

 Our little cherry tree finally blooming (on a typical gloomy, rainy day we've been having).

April desktop found here!

merry birthday

I have an awesome family and set of friends!

My birthday came and we celebrated and it was so fun.  To start off a fun weekend, my new beautiful little niece joined our family on March 8 (day before me!) and she is a bundle of sweetness.  My birthday was filled with breakfast and spending the day with my favorite guy, going to eat dinner with great friends (and my little bro who was in town from sunny LA), a grizz game with a win (and getting to sit on the floor for a quarter), and lots a fun family time and memories thinking about my last year.  It was full of blessings and growth.

 

(my little snotty face Jules is a little cutie big sis!)

I'm so thankful for this life.  Our little family is so blessed and my heart is so full every day.  I can't wait to see what this next year has in store for me!