Sic 'Em

Anyone that knows me at all knows that I bleed green and gold. I can't help it. I love my alma mater and hardly miss an opportunity to cheer on my Bears. And it's not always easy being a Baylor fan. In fact, it's rarely easy. Although our number one ranked Lady Bears Basketball team suffered a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking loss in the Elite Eight this week, it wasn't "hard" to be a Baylor fan. At least not for me. It was brutal to witness the loss first hand, especially surrounded by another Texas school that we had already beat 3 times this season. I won't get into my opinions on the fact that we even played them for a fourth time in that round. What I will say is that my take away from Tuesday night as I left with my twinkie for the night and dear friend Furr, was I was super proud to be a Baylor fan. There was definitely more green and gold at the AAC than that other un-mentionable, eighties-tastic color. And despite a lack luster performance from our beloved Bears, I know I left still feeling proud of our team, proud of our coaches and really proud of our university. I'm a sap and I'm cheesey. I'm aware of this, yes.



Reason no. 267 why I love Justin: As long as we're not playing TCU, he'll cheer for BU until he's hoarse! Really. This pic is from Sunday night's Sweet 16 game. It's in black and white because it was rainy and we were sweaty and sick. And Justin was wearing part of his dinner. Trust me, you don't want to see any of that in color people. I didn't get any pics on Tuesday night for obvious reasons. Furr and I went to the game and ended up in the exact same outfit, completely unplanned! We were decked out in our Baylor gear. I love it. And her. Just not that game. Anyway, I did snap this pic on Sunday night. Check out this sweet little uber-Baylor fan. She was at least mid sixties and had her Baylor scarf, earings, necklaces a purse and this little gem of a sunflower accesory. A glimpse into my future? Unlikely, I've never been a daisy fan. I do imagine I'll still be cheering on my Bears! Sic 'Em!

now that's team spirit

WE Did It!



Us

WE did it! We meaning Justin, myself, Curtis and Shevin. And thousands of other people for that matter. You might recall that earlier this month I ran my first 5K. It was tough, but fun and I did pretty well for my first time. And for being a faux runner. And for being out of shape. Just saying. Anyway, I started the whole "training" thing to kick start my "get back in shape" campaign. I only participated in the first 5K because it was a fundraiser for my brother in law's youth group and less than a mile from my house. When I finished it and met my goals I thought, "check." Meaning I didn't have to do another one. Weeell, my better half reminded me that I had planned on running at the end of the month with our friends Curtis and Shevin. Long story short, I decided last Monday to go ahead and do it. Make that WE decided to go ahead and do it. Justin decided he'd run it with us. Although we weren't completely prepared (I've been obsessing over my nieces and Justin's been studying since my last 5K), we were both so glad we did it! It was a fun run for a good cause and it was really fun to do it together. We also loved getting to do something with the almost Russell's! (They're getting married in July and we can't wait for the BIG day)!



For those curious, I was two minutes slower than my last time, but we ran a super fast first mile (9 min) and suffered the consequences the last half of the race. We finished and were proud of ourselves. It was special getting to do something side by side with the man I love. I'm thinking this won't be our last race either. If there is another one, hopefully we'll be a little more prepared! Here are some pics from the day:



5k runners moments before the gun went off!

 

Curtis and Shevin

 

this guy meant business



Ballerina in the Making

Keira loves to spin and twirl. Especially in a tutu. Can you blame her? Here's my little niece the ballerina in action:

Weekend Recap

toasting to the weekend!

I'm always glad for a weekend re-charge, but I was especially glad when the clock hit 5 p.m. last Friday. I think my body still needs a Spring Break. We all deserve a Spring Break, right? I think so. Anyway, that's not the point of this post. The point is we had a fantastic weekend. We kicked off our great weekend with a fun date night to one of our Fort Worth favorites, Tillman's Roadhouse. Mmmm. If you haven't been, make reservations now! It's a must. We don't get to go here often. (It's a little pricey), but we enjoyed a fun and affordable night out thanks to Groupon! Justin also let me indulge my sweet tooth and ordered tableside s'mores for us! My favorite. He even had some, which if you know Justin, means it must have been good. He's not a really a sweets kind of guy. Anyway, take my advice and make reservations at Tillman's. Then order the tableside s'mores. You won't be dissapointed!

tableside s'mores

pure heaven

Saturday morning I met the cupcakes for brunch and then ventured over to the Cowtown Indie Bazaar at Will Rogers Coliseum. It was basically a craft fair with all local etsy vendors. I was disappointed to be honest. I guess my best etsy finds are usually not local. Oh well. I did buy my nieces cute matching dresses. I support local crafters! I met my friend Shevin for yogurt and a little antiquing later that afternoon and then Justin came over to help me make dinner for my sister and brother in law. We made Pioneer Woman's Simple, Perfect Enchiladas. Ours weren't perfect, but they were delish. We took them over to Matt and Aimee's on Saturday night. We LOVED getting to play with Keira and see sweet five-day-old Micah. I held her for a few minutes, but she wasn't too happy about it. She really just wanted her mama. Justin wanted to hold her since he was still feeling a little stuffy at the hospital, but a screaming tiny baby was a little scary. He told me last night he was going to wait a few weeks for her to be more "stable" before he held her! Ha. I must admit, it was a little intimidating holding a newborn. Especially when she wasn't happy. Anyway, we had a great Saturday night.

After church Sunday we tried a new little pizza parlor by my house and then headed to Lowe's, per Justin's request. A couple hundred dollars later we walked out with a new area rug for the living room, a new disposal (mine broke last week) and a new light for my closet (that's been broken since I don't know when). I made Southern Living's Key Lime Pound Cake while Justin installed the new disposal. (Can I just say I love that man)?! I glazed the cake while he installed the new light in my closet and then we headed back over to Matt and Aimee's with the cake. We played with Keira for a while and visited with the tired parents. Micah slept and ate most of the time we were there. We hated to leave, but had to get home. We went back to my house with dinner, watched the Amazing Race and kissed the weekend goodbye.

Whew, that was a long post. It felt like a long weekend and for that I'm grateful. Happy Monday friends!

so sad leaving this little face on Sunday night

Micah Rose

8 lbs 7oz and 19.88 inches

Allow me to introduce you to Micah Rose Ybanez. Isn't she beautiful? She arrived at 8:19 p.m. on March 15 in dramatic fashion. After a long day of my sister laboring with not much progress, Micah was delivered by her daddy, i.e. my youth minister brother in law. That's right, she came too fast for any doctor to get there! And yes, they had been at the hospital since 7 a.m. Mom, Dad and baby are all doing well. They went home today to join Big Sister Keira as an official family of four.

The jury is still out on who Micah looks like, although most say Matt. She doesn't look much like Keira (who looks a lot like Aimee). How cute would it be to have one that looks like Matt and one that looks like Aimee? It will be fun to watch Micah grow! For those that I told that Micah had dark curly hair, I was wrong. That was because she hadn't had a bath yet. It's darker than Keira's, but it's a lot lighter than I originally thought. She's perfect. Here are some pictures so you can see for yourself.

yawn!

sleepy girl


me and my newest niece

Big Sister Day

Yesterday was officially "Big Sister Day" in case you didn't know. It was also Micah Rose Ybanez's birthday. More on that later. I took the day off yesterday to spend time with Keira while Matt, Aimee, Mom, Dad and Matt's parents were at the hospital. I got to their house before the sun came up, waited for Keira to wake up and thought we'd have a morning of play time before heading to the hospital to meet Keira's new baby sister. Let's just say things didn't go according to planned. As if you can really plan things like that anyway.

When Keira woke up we ate breakfast, "colored" baby Micah a pretty picture, read lots of stories, played with all of Keira's "babies" and, after a nap, got ready for Big Sister Day. I explained to Keira that she was going to be a big sister today and we put on her special outfit, complete with a tutu and hot pink shoes and her first pigtails! She didn't end up getting to meet her baby sister yesterday since Micah was born after her bed time, but here's what she did get to do on Big Sister Day:

Special Big Sister Lunch at Celebrity, where she sat in a big girl chair all by herself First manicure. She was perfect! Just sat and observed. We even taught her how to "dry" her nails.
Trip to Bebe and Dede's
Trip to Target to pick out flowers for Mommy
Movie date at my house watching Toy Story 3 (her fave)
Two trips to the hospital to see mommy and daddy
Dinner at Chili's with Justin and I
Special bed time stories and songs with Justin and I
Her first slumber party with me!

Here are some pics from our day:

Our Afternoon With Keira

First of all, how cute are they? Ah. Love. Our Sunday morning started off as usual. Well, kind of. I thought I would surprise Justin and make these for breakfast. I anticipated him coming to pick me up around 10:40 and thought he would be so impressed that I was ready, had made a fun breakfast to go and was on time. It didn't quite go as planned. The recipe took a little bit longer than I thought and Justin showed up around 10:29. Geez. I can't win. Kolaches were delish and we were late to church. Anyway...

We hung around Fort Worth after church because we were supposed to go to Justin's family card game in Benbrook at 2. (They do this every month and it's so fun). We had just ordered when my mom frantically called and needed us to come watch Keira while she met Matt and Aimee at the hospital. I burst into tears instantly. We got our food to go and raced to Bedford. I was so worried and Justin was such a comfort to me as we hurried to Matt and Aimee's. I'm so lucky to have him by my side. We had a lot of fun with my beautiful niece. We read stories, ate lunch and played outside. The afternoon was made even better when we found out everything was fine with my sister and the baby. She's still scheduled for an induction tomorrow morning, so niece no. 2 will definitely be here this week! Although the afternoon didn't go as planned, we are both thankful that Micah is fine and that we were able to spend some time with Keira. Please pray that everything goes well tomorrow. Can't wait to show off my second niece!

me and my favorite girl

Clean Up On Aisle 7

Justin texted me the other day out of the blue and asked if I could make him stuffed shells for dinner. It was out of the blue because we don't get to see each other a lot during the week, much less for dinner. He was (is) battling a cold and is in the midst of a tough week. Of course I happily obliged. Anything I can do to see my man and help him feel better ;) I tried a PW recipe since the last stuffed shells recipe I made was kind of bland. The PW version called for a lot of parsley. I didn't have any at the house, so I picked some up on the way home. You can see where this is headed.

In my new found bargain shopper way, I was comparing the Target brand to a name brand. Who really needs name brand parsley anyway? Well, somehow I let the GLASS Target brand jar slip out of my hands and naturally it shattered into a zillion pieces and parsley flakes went everywhere, including down into my shoes. Sick. There were also what seemed like a billion people on the spice aisle who just stared/laughed at me. I waited for a while, took the blurry picture below and finally darted off to find help. I know people thought I was just breaking and running, but I found a red-shirt-khaki-pant-guy to help. Ugh. How embarrassing. And I swear I can still smell parsley! Seriously.

exhibit a

And in case you're wondering The Pioneer Woman's stuffed shells were better, but not her typical wow recipe. Still searching for that...

Plant Markers Re-worked

Like a lot of women my age I have an affinity for simple, fresh and inexpensive decorating ideas. I'm fairly certain that a good percentage of us are also blog stalkers and love borrowing fun ideas that allow us to tap into our creative side. (How many truly original ideas are left in the world anyway)? That being said, this post is merely a pass along. I copied it from a blog that I love, although I don't actually know the author of it. She's a friend of a friend, so that counts right? You've probably already read it, but just in case you haven't, you should. She posted this idea a few weeks ago, so you can search her blog for the original post, but here's mine:


First, go out RIGHT NOW and buy these. You can find them in the dollar section at Target.

And while you're out, if you don't already have some at home, swing by a craft store and buy some chalkboard paint and a paintbrush.

The plant markers are a great buy in and of themselves, the chalkboard paint just adds a fun touch. And it's quick and easy, even for non crafters. Just paint the message area of the plant markers (I used two coats) and voila. I think these little signs are perfect for showers to label food and drinks. They're also cute added to arrangements or seasonal decorations around the house. I put one in this little dish of bird egg soaps my friend Kelly gave me a couple of years ago. Get it? Fresh eggs. Ha. I humor myself.

That's pretty much it. Just wanted to share my fun little find. Happy crafting.

I Did It!

I finished my first 5k on Saturday morning! I didn't set my goals too high, but I accomplished them. My first goal was to not come in last. Check. My second goal was to run the entire thing. Sort of check. (I ran 95% of it, but I'm not sure I can count the last hill as true "running"). And to finish under 40 minutes. CHECK! My time was 35:35, which is not fast, but I considered it a victory. For a faux runner like myself, finishing the race under 40 minutes was an accomplishment, but it felt like an even bigger accomplishment when you throw in lots of hills (5), strong winds and chilly temps (28 degree wind chill). So, there you have it.

Dad texted me a photo of my 2nd place ribbon!

A little added bonus was finishing second in my age division! I don't know out of how many yet, but my dad assured me it was more than two. Ha! I didn't get any pictures because no one was there (sad), but my dad and brother in law were working the event, so they were at the awards ceremony. I didn't stick around for that. I had a Chick Fil Chicken biscuit and a warm blanket calling my name. I'm happy to report I'm not too sore and didn't turn too purpley red on Saturday morning. Victory.

Hopefully the next post will be a little more exciting and feature another cute March baby. As of this morning, my sister is still pregnant. Today's her due date, so we'll see how much longer baby Micah waits to make her appearance. I'll keep you posted ;)

And so it begins

Trace Campbell Weegar

March 2011 is going to be a banner month for two reasons. One: January was a terrible, awful, no-good month and February wasn't much better. Two: (and most importantly) Three very special babies will be welcomed into the world. Trace Campbell kicked off the month, born at 11:30 a.m. on March 1. My life-long best friend Kinsey made me an "aunt" for a third time with the birth of her second son. I'm already smitten. I was greeted with this little face in a text this morning. Love.

My sister Aimee is due with her second daughter, Micah _____, due any day now. We are all anxiously awaiting THE call. I get to keep my niece Keira when Aimee goes into labor, so I'm especially anxious. I have lots of fun things planned for my favorite girl, including her first manicure. Ha! Good times ahead.

Last, but not least, my childhood friend Rick and his wife Bethany are due with their first son, Francois, at the end of the month. (His name isn't really Francois, that's just what they're calling him until they meet him. I love it). I'm obsessed with his nursery. You can see pictures here. Bethany has fantastic taste.

So that my friends is why March is going to be the best month. Babies, babies, babies makes for one happy aunt/"aunt".