What mom really wants for Mothers Day

Alright ladies... and gentlemen I have it right here for you a few things mama just can't live without, your ultimate gift guide this upcoming holiday.

1) A day ALONE not on actual mothers day (but hey that could be the case) but a full on day alone, sometimes in the house to stay in jammies all day drink copious amounts of wine, watch trashy t.v and have no diapers to change.

2) For someone else to do everything while you tell her she's pretty. Sure the day alone would be nice but hey if you a nursing mama and or she just can't swing it with nap time then do it ALL for her. I'm talking meals, diapers, feedings, you name it. When the kiddos need something mama doesn't do it.

3) Possibly a new bag or piece of of jewelry. Hey no-one is insulting the macaroni necklace or diaper bag but this is your time to shine. Buy her something that screams "My kids can't touch this!" or "I might have a social life outside of playdates" you can thank me later as I am sure she'll be smitten to have a purse so tiny it only carries things for her.
Also here are a few suggestions *wink wink

4) A handmade gift from the little ones. You guys this gets my every time, go for that handprint or hand painted cup she'll love it. It also wouldn't hurt if that coffee mug came with a fresh cup of coffee she didn't have to make herself.

5) Let her pee in piece! I know sounds odd but this gift might actually make me cry. Each and every time I have to use the ladies room, my daughter yells "I coming! I coming" just once I would love a day heck a weekend where I don't have a audience while I pee. Same goes for the shower, you know what the bathroom is off limits while she's in there on Mothers Day!

6) Oh and while we are one the subject of taming the little ones can you please handle all meltdown for the day? The kids loose their sh*t, you take them ok?

7) Last but not least in fact it may be the most important one! Tons and tons of love and kisses and not just from the kids. Hey this woman does a lot for the family, make sure to tell her. It can be in a mushy card or straight from your mouth just make sure today of all days she knows how much you appreciate her and how fabulous she is. Oh and how pretty she is, don't forget she's pretty spectacular.

XOXO

Easter Weekend

We had a fabulous weekend! C was in her glory, she literally loved each and every minute of this weekend. I loved how much she enjoyed it and it was so cool watching her get so into it this year. She is still talking about the egg hunt and reenacting it for us which is quite possibly the cutest thing ever. 

Dress Similar here | Bag from two years ago but its pottery barn kids

On Saturday our neighborhood had an adorable egg hunt, we went last year but this year was way better mainly because C was so much more into it. She immediately got the concept and went straight for as many eggs as she could have. She filled up her whole bag, Steve and I were every impressed with her egg seeking skills. After we wrapped the egg hunt there was a petting zoo, pony rides, bounce house, games, a balloon artist, face painter and a photo booth. We didn't do everything but we did what we could and she loved it! 

Sunday morning started off with out own little family egg hun thanks to the "Easter Bunny". C made out like a bandit, she was so impressed by her basket and her pink puppy her immediate reaction was "I can't believe it" we spend the rest of the morning playing with her new toys and hanging out. Sunday was beautiful outside we had brunch with a bunch of friends, it was so fun and yummy. C was a real trooper since it took 3 hours to eat and it was way past her nap time. All and all it was a lovely day just a little long for a 2 year old. 

C dress | C Sweater | C shoes | C headband | Steve Shirt | My Dress 

xoxo 

Valentines Day with Kiddos

One of my favorite holidays is right around the corner and I can't wait! Yes folks you heard that right I love Valentines day. I have loved this holiday for forever, maybe its the chocolate, candy or love in the air that does it to me but I am an fan.

Our tiny Valentine | Newborn Photos 2014

Things change after you have kiddos and its no longer about all the champagne you can drink and finding the hottest restaurant it eat at. Honestly I would be happy with a good burger and a movie date with my husband. Which is exactly what we are doing tonight! Yay me!  I wanted to do some fun things to get the peanut excited about Valentines day. So here are some fun kid friendly activities and outings to do.

Valentines 2015

1) Send Valentines, super fun even though we didn't get around to it this year. There are so many fun DIY valentines. I linked a video to my favorite ideas here. We also made this super cute Valentine day hug for Daddy.

2) Heart shaped snacks
We are all about anything food related over here, it gets her so excited and is pretty simple to do!

3) Go out on a "date" with your kiddos either together or just with mom or dad to make it special.
We are planing on taking the peanut to u-pick some oranges this weekend (on Valentines day) She loved picking the pears so much we thought it would be a great Valentines family activity. I read all about it here.

Valentines 2016

Whatever you decide to do or however you spend your Valentines Day I hope it's filled with lots of love!

XOXO

A Week Away

Well we are back! We were in TX for a week hanging out with family, celebrating halloween and taking peanut to her first Baylor game. We taught her how to "sic em" with the best of them, and now every time she sees a BU she goes "GO BEARS", yup I'd say we are raising her right. 

It was awesome we had so much fun and I loved watching her play with her cousins. Halloween in particular was a BLAST. She totally understood it this year and would go up to peoples houses and say "or treat" completely omitting the trick part, this girl knew what she wanted. Her costume if you didn't see on Instagram was a HUGE hit and handmade by her grandma, lucky duck and she became obsessed with Monster inc. just in time for the holiday. We also got to meet our new little nephew who is adorable. 

Peanut did really well traveling considering she's been on a plane 22 times, she a trooper. I let her have the iPad this time around and she looked like such a big girl in her own seat eating her snacks and watching a movie. 

She had a hard time adjusting sleep wise this time around, but I enjoyed the extra cuddles that come from sleeping with her. Things are back in full swing before we gear up for the next two trips, yup you read that correctly the next two trips. I have kind of come to terms with the fact that Steve and I are crazy, oh well we are just raising a seasoned traveler.

 She kept running around telling us "I Boo, I Boo mama" My Mother in-law nailed this costume! 

I'll be back with way more blogging soon, until then hope you all had a fantastic halloween. I cent believe Thanksgiving is around the corner. Aunt Shell is coming and Auntie Em and I are cooking I can taste the turkey already its going to be a good one. 

XOXO

Dear Summer

Dear Summer,
       You can leave now. Pumpkin is in the stores and officially the sent of our house so please feel free to vacate the premises. Here's the thing we both know you and I were never close, to be honest you're not exactly my favorite season. Sure I loved you when I was a kid and your arrival meant no school, but now you make me hot and cranky. Listen I love your barbecues, pool dates and sure the fire works in July are pretty incredible. But if I am being honest you are just a stepping stone to one of my favorite seasons. I love the crisp fall air, the apple picking, carving pumpkins and the boots oh the boots. Fall colors and pumpkin spice lattes, you see they just get me. I enjoy a good cardigan and a cute burgundy top. I need to hold a warm drink with cool cold air blowing in my hair. Summer your great you really are, I'm just over you.

A photo from pumpkin picking last year, can't wait to see her pick out a pumpkin this year. 

Sincerely Yours,
Nicole

Weekend Recap

Better late then never right? Because I know you haven't been able to sleep without knowing what we did for the 4th, or reading the hilarious banter I call my blog. 

Only kidding of course...

Isn' t this how everyone wears their hats? 

We had a really productive weekend. Did I jet say that? But seriously we did. Steve and I sat down and organized our life while the peanut slept and Mr. Selfridge was on in the background. Friday we all had colds so Steve stayed home lounged, and we made that awesome stop motion video. By the way of anyone has any ides for more stop motion videos you would like me to attempt, please leave them in the comments. I'd love to do more! 

Loves to walk the dog, then they stop for kisses 

Then saturday we had some hight hopes for the 4th, little lady did not make it too fireworks, sad day. She doesn't know what she missed though so next year its happening! We went over to our friends house and barbecued, while we watched peanut interact with the baby. Our sweet friends had a little girl and few months ago and by golly our daughter was smitten. She did however try to hang out in the infant bouncer and be the baby, but you choose your battles right? My guess is when the time come for her to be a big sister (no I'm not announcing anything) she'll do great, but may have an issue or two in the sharing department. 

Then sunday we headed to the farmers market and had lunch. While the peanut slept we organized our life. What I mean by that is we made set days for laundry, who does the dishwasher, meal planning and so on. It's only been a few days of the new system and I think it's going great. I'll update you at the end of the month and show you the super cute planner I bought for the occasion. 

Then yesterday Steve got to fly a plane! I got him this awesome thrill ride from SkyThrills for fathers day and he went yesterday. So cool! If you're in the LA / orange county area you have to check them out, what an amazing experience! 

XOXO

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th everyone! Just wanted to wish you a safe and happy holiday! I hope you eat lots of yummy food and get to watch the fireworks. 

 Dress on sale! | Shoes I got them on Zulily they are hide and squeak | Hair Clip 

 My Dress (old) similar here | Shoes (old) similar here | Top forever 21 (old) similar here 

Have a wonderful holiday! 

XOXO

Simple 4th of July Dessert

Happy July 3rd everyone! 

We are super exited for all the festivities tomorrow. We are heading over to a friends house after nap having an early dinner and keeping our fingers crossed we make it to fireworks! 

I wanted to bring over something special, so with the help of this pintrest inspiration, I got to work. 

I used boxed ingredients for the cake mix and thanks to pintrest again adjusted a few things to make the cupcakes taste more homemade. I used butter instead of oil and doubled it, milk instead of water and added one more egg then what the box called for. Normally I would whip up some frosting myself but decided on a mom friendly version this time. 

Then arranged all the cupcakes in the shape of old glory and added fruit. Voila! A simple and delicious dessert that will leave your guest or hosts plenty impressed.

I will admit for product tasting purposes we did nibble on one or three today, and boy oh boy were they yummy! 

Have a happy and safe 4th everyone! 

XOXO

July 4th Style preview

4th of July is one of my favorite holidays, it was and is a big deal in my hometown. There are a ton of fireworks, yummy food and parties that last all day long. The best part was the fireworks were literally right in front of my house. So needless to say it holds a special place in my heart. 

This year we will be home for it so i'm determined to make it as fun as possible. One of those ways to do that, dress for the occasion! 

Here's a little style preview 

Honest Diaper | OshKosh Outfit (no longer available but patriotic here)  | Miss America Tee | Joes 
Jeans Shorts | Bows

Happy Early 4th!

XOXO

Our Weekend

Happy Monday! We had a lovely Fathers Day weekend! As usual we both had an extra hard time letting daddy leave this morning for work. It's always the hardest part of sundays right? Knowing that in the morning you start the week all over again and have to wait another 5 days to play. Someone needs to work on the whole 4 day work week thing. Just saying. 

We had a very low key fathers day weekend, which is exactly what he requested. 

Saturday was spent hanging out and going out for a yummy lunch. Then it ended with a super cool dinner with friends. We went to a "speak easy", like need to know where the entrance is to get in kinda place. For all you locals, we went to the Blind Rabbit. The friends we went out with suggested it and it was sublime! The food and drinks were amazing and the ambiance was fantastic, but the company and adult conservation was my favorite. We all shared a few of their dishes so we could try a bunch. The duck confit mac and cheese, and street dogs take the cake in my book! If you live in the OC totally check it out. 

Then sunday was wonderful. 

I made steve buttermilk french toast in the morning, if you follow me on instagram I'm sure you saw (@bumpsbabesandbellins). He loved the video by the way, which made it a total win for yours truly. 

We visited the farmers market and watched peanut twirl around in her dress. That was by far one of the best moments for this girl mom, seeing her grab her sunglasses, purse, and kiss the dog goodbye, then twill. My heart melted! So sweet. 

We had lunch at a food truck, one of Steves favorites. Went to home depot, because really where else do you go on Fathers Day? Peanut had a melt down while we were there, luckily we live close so we rushed home and put her down for a nap. When she woke up we had a mini water balloon fight, which I of course neglected to take photos of. Then played in the water table till bath time. 

All and all it was a perfect weekend, as many of them are. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend celebrating dad! 

XOXO

Fathers Day Gift Ideas

With fathers day quickly approaching I thought I would share some quick last minute gift ides. The best part is I found them all on amazon. Can you say prime 2 day delivery? 

1. Wallet Ninja ,this thing is pure awesome I put it in my husbands stocking this year and he LOVED it. It's a one stop shop and best of all it fits right in his wallet! Just remember to take it out in the airport we've been stopped a few times. 

2. Best. Dad. Ever t-shirt, I have to say any dad would probably love to rock one of these sweet tees or any cute and funny saying shirt. I know my husband is going to be pretty happy I added to his ever growing t-shirt collection. It's comfortable and from his kid. 

3. For the sophisticated papa, I thought a Moscow mule cup would be in order. These are a great gifts and pretty classy if you ask me. Plus side for mamas they look GREAT on a bar cart. 

4. Ok so I didn't buy into the whole Fitbit thing awhile ago but I recently got this Fitbit charge HR and I LOVE it! So for the fitness lover in your dad or husband I think this is a must! It tracks steps, calories, heart rate, sleep, distance and floors climbed. 

5. The iGrill mini, this baby has saved so many chickens in our house. It's fantastic you can place it in your meat and walk away. It alerts you on your phone (or apple watch) when dinner is done! Doesn't get any easier then that. The best part once my husband bought this he was super excited to grill for awhile to keep trying it out, which meant a whole week of no cooking for yours truly. 

As another suggestion you can always do something homemade and creative. I did pictures of the peanut holding the letters D-A-D last year and framed it, he loved it! This year I made him a movie of him and peanut on my phone set to the song "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis. There won't be a dry eye in our house on sunday. 

I hope you all have a wonderful fathers day! 

XOXO