Happy 33rd!

This past week we celebrated Debra's 33rd birthday.  She is not too particularly happy to turn 33.  Actually, she is downright depressed!  But what can you do, right?!

Alain really spoiled her this year!  {The last 3 years of birthdays have sucked...BIG TIME! Alain admits, this too.}  So, the Saturday before her birthday Alain set up a little bit of "girl time" for Debra.  She was able to go and get a pedicure {only the second in her life!!} and go to a sushi restaurant after with a couple of her friends.  Debra <3 it!!  When she got home she was surprised with 2 bags of Sonic ice {her fave!}.  The fun didn't stop there!  Wednesday night Debra and some of her friends went to a restaurant in town that she'd been wanting to try.  It was delicious!  Debra got a fish taco and a lamb taco.  {First time she'd had lamb, and she liked it!}

On the actual day of her birthday, Debra had to teach preschool but didn't complain one bit!  She had also got to go to her favorite donut place for breakfast.  For lunch she took the kiddos to Panda Express and stuffed herself silly.  Alain and Debra had found a real Mexican food restaurant in New Mexico {no small feat} and so that's where she went for her birthday dinner.  It was supposed to be a family affair, but the boys didn't want to go, so it was just Alain and Debra.  {She didn't mind the quiet :)}  Before going to dinner they stopped by Costco to get the best chocolate cake ever.  You know, the one that weighs as much as a toddler?  It is soooo good!!

When they got home the singing, cake eating, and present opening commenced.  Debra got a slew of books that she had been wanting, a bed skirt {since in their almost 14 years of marriage they have never had one} and a detachable flash for her camera.  The cake was delicious, the company was fantastic, and the birthday celebrating was unbelievably enjoyable!  Debra would like to thank everyone for making her birthday a ton of fun, and for making her feel so special.  Here's to another 33 + years :)

 See that mother-lode of a cake? It's fab-u-lous!!

{thanks, Chelsea, for the candles}

Mr. Studly

Mr. Chub-a-Lub

Mr. Loud-Mouth

The Two Love Birds

Mr. Sexy

"I Really Do"

If any of you have watched this season of "The Bachelor" you know exactly what this blog title means.  That's right, Brad Womack.  I don't know if any of you noticed, but after almost every sentence this man utters are these 3 magical words: I really do.  

A group of us have been congregating together for this season's Bachelor, and we've had a whale of a time.  I don't know that we necessarily "watch" the whole thing because we're usually yelling talking at the TV for the whole episode.  One of my friends mentioned that she has to go back home and watch the episode again because we miss so much! {Sorry Chelsie!!}

I thought I should give a shout-out to all of my lovely friends who I've had so much fun with these past few Mondays.

 Not everyone is pictured because they were out of town for Spring Break.  What's up with that?!

Thanks Steph for hosting, and thanks Taylor for putting up with us week after week until all hours of the night.  {Don't worry, Taylor..."circle of trust."}

These girls have truly made watching "The Bachelor" a whole new exciting experience.  I can't wait until "The Bachelorette"!!

I Love Laundry!

Can anyone sense the sarcasm in that title?!  Hmmm... I can!!

Has anybody ever come home from a seven day vacation only to find that your washing machine is broken?

I have!

Has anyone ever not been able to fix said washing machine for another five days??!!

Yep, that would be me.

It's seriously just my luck, though.  If it would happen to anyone it would be me.

So, for the last two days I have done countless loads of laundry.

Washed.

Dried.

Folded.

Hung.

Am I finished yet?

Hells to the no.

Of course not!

This is what I have left to do:

 No big deal, right?!

So in between all of the other countless things I have to do, I still have about EIGHT more loads of craptastic, funnerific, most favoritist-thing-for-me-to-waste-my-day-with laundry to finish.

Someone help me....

Ty's 2nd Birthday

It's hard to believe that our little boy is already 2 years old!  It seems like yesterday that people were standing on my pelvis to get him out {yes, they really were!}.  

He has been a stinker from the moment he was born, and boy is he a tough one {hardest child by far}.

Even though he is quite a challenge {ask anyone in our ward who heard him today (sorry nursery leaders, you're the best!)} we love him and are thankful that he has completed our family.

We had a joint celebration today, even though his actual birthday was yesterday.  He didn't know/care!

It was fun seeing him open his presents.  It's amazing to see how much his present-opening skills have grown just since Christmas.  He totally got it today!!

 See, he gets that there's something in a bag this time around.  

Yes, totally proud mother ;p

 The "Handy Manny" hat went straight to his side-kick, Mickey.

 He has not left this toy alone.  It's great because it's got a button that he can press and they tools will sing to you.  Can you sense the sarcasm?!

 It's not enough that we have a butt-load of Thomas trains in our house.  The next generation of "cool" trains is Chuggington.  Now the new collection begins! Yay!! {sarcasm anyone?}

 My mom made him the coolest quilt.  He loved it, can you tell?!  It's a Noah's Ark quilt.  Every square has a letter and an animal to go with that letter.  It is totally adorable! {Thanks Mom!!}

 The loot.  Can you see a theme here?  If your brain is not working I'll give you a hint:  It rhymes with wisney.

 G-H-E-T-T-O cake :(  I'm sorry boys.  I'll do much better next year, I promise!!

It was awesome because he actually understood how to blow out the candle.  Adorable!!

A few tidbits about Ty:

* He S-C-R-E-A-M-S!!!  And I mean ALL day.  If he doesn't get what he wants it's an ear-piercing scream that comes from that little guy.  I shouldn't be surprised, though, because he has had that same scream since the moment he came to this world.  It has just gotten significantly louder!!

* He loves playing with his brothers.  He is a great wrestler, and Cole is brave enough to get taken down by his little brother.  Logan is so sweet and will talk and play with him when Ty is interested.  It's really cute.

*He has this little bear that he has cleaned the stuffing out of.  He just dug his little finger in there and gutted it like a fish.  I'll have to take a picture and post it one day.  We literally find the bear's stuffing everywhere, and in the darndest places!

* This kid will eat anything.  Can you tell?!  Where Cole lacks in the eating department, Ty makes up for it tenfold.

* His favorite shows are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Oso and Chuggington.  Whenever his TV time is up he pitches a fit, but he gets over it fast.  {He kind of pitches a fit for everything he doesn't want to do, which is often.  Does anyone feel sorry for me yet?}

* We can't take him to the park anymore because he likes to walk off the openings that are in the second story.  Still doesn't get that yet.  Hopefully he will soon.  Park time is NOT relaxing for mom!

* Everyone thinks he is the cutest thing.  I tell them all that looks are deceiving.  

* Since Ty has started to talk it has been really cute.  Not everyone can understand him, though.  Usually Cole and I will have to translate for Alain or other people. 

*Even though he can't talk, he for sure knows what he wants.  He will say the same thing over and over until you finally get it :)

* He has started doing this little shoulder slump when he gets in trouble or does not get what he wants.  It's quite cute. 

We have thoroughly enjoyed having our little Ty-guy in our family {even though I often want to give him away ;)}.  

We love you Tyler Tre!!

Cole's 5th Birthday

Unfortunately, Cole turned 5 while we were on vacation in D.C.  Luckily my lovely parents were here to celebrate with him and make his day special.  After we got home we had a joint celebration with Cole and Ty since their birthdays are only 6 days apart.

Here are some photos of the celebration:

 He had already opened some of his presents on his actual birthday, but I had to have him open some for me to witness :)

 He has been asking for a gumball machine for as long as I can remember.

 Spiderman DS game (one of his fave superheroes).

 Had to get right to it!!

 I went a little ghetto for cakes this year. 

{Can you tell?!}

He knew just what to do.  ;)

Now for some reasons why we LOVE Cole:

* He always wants to help, especially with his little brother.  He shows so much love for him and for all those around him.

* He is our only child who will cuddle, snuggle, and give me loves.  I love it!

* His nighttime routine has not changed in over a year, maybe more.  He has to have tickles, loves, and kisses.  It is so adorable and endearing.

* He is our pickiest eater by far! If it's new he definitely will not touch it.  An example: Just last week when we were gone Grandma and Grandpa took the kiddos to McD's.  I didn't tell them that you had to order a plain cheeseburger.  So what did Grandpa do? Wiped that sucker clean until there wasn't a trace of onion, ketchup, or mustard.  It had to meet Cole's seal of approval.

* All video games are a piece of cake for Cole.  Uncle Michael introduced them to him a little over a year ago, and we are sad to say that he excels at them.  The second Alain gets in the door, he asks to play "Black Cops" with him.  He eagerly waits for Alain to get home every night! {Yes, we get the Parents of The Year Award for letting our 5 year old play Black Ops.  Thank you very much!}

* He never wears pants at home.  It's underwear 24/7.  When I tell him to go put pants on he gripes and complains.  What am I going to do when he goes to kindergarten?!

* He has been reading for a while now, and truly enjoys it.  We especially enjoy the spit that flies on us when he's very carefully sounding out a particularly hard word.

We love having Cole in our family.  He has been such a joy and blessing since the day he was born.  

We love you Cole!!

Flower Necklaces

I just put up my flower necklaces in my etsy shop.  

{Sorry it's taken so long (to all those who have been asking).}

Please feel free to order through my etsy shop, but if you'd like a discount {or if you live in ABQ and don't want to pay shipping} please just email me at hautedebdesigns [at] hotmail [dot] com with your order.

Here are the specials I'm running:

*BOGO 1/2 off {discount off lowest priced item}

*Buy 2, get a third necklace free {lowest priced item}

*Buy 3, get a free subway art {of your choosing} free

*Refer a friend {and they make a purchase} get $2 off your next order 

I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of your support and accolades.  I have such a fun time doing all of this.  And you know what makes it even more fun?  Doing it for people like you :) 

**If you find fabric that you'd like a necklace made out of, I'll make each one for 1/2 off** 

 

I Love Days Like This {psych!}

So for the last many, many, few days this is what I get to deal with all day:

Isn't life so hard?!

{Maybe for the mom!?}

Where Am I Going?!

Can anyone guess where I'll be in less than 4 hours?

Have no clue?

Do these colors help you any?

I'll give you a hint:  It's a play!!

Yep, you guessed right. It's WICKED!!!

One of my awesome friends had an extra ticket and she told me I could trade it for some of my necklaces.  Hello? Am I stupid? Of course I accepted.

Thanks a ton Wendy!!

{Another super duper plus to tonight:  PF Chang's for dinner :)  Yippy Skippy!!}

Oh, I Love This! {Scarves}

I guess I should explain my title for this blog.  This is a saying that my husband and his brothers (all 4 of them) say.  They got it from their funny father who one day in church went up to the pulpit and said, "Oh, I love this!" {For those LDS stalkers readers out there, it was for fast and testimony meeting. You also have to imagine him saying it in a funny French-Canadian accent ;)}  So of course all the boys in his family have a hay-day repeating this saying when they really like something.  Being the wonderful daughter-in-law that I am, I have also stolen this awesome phrase for things that I love, ie: my scarves!

My husband and I were asked by our very good friends in LV to go with them on a vacation to D.C.  What?!  D.C?!  Um, yes.  The only problem?  It's in February {only 3 1/2 weeks away!} so it is going to be C-O-L-D!  Does a girl who has lived in LV for the last 12 years have freezing cold weather clothes?  Yeah, that would be a big fat NO.  So, I decided to make some more scarves out of knit. {All you cold weather people are probably thinking, "Yeah, she thinks that's going to keep her warm!"  I know it's not going to keep me warm, per say, but they're really stinking cute, kay?!} I knew there had to be a better way than adjusting the tension on your sewing machine.  {That didn't work as well as I'd have liked it to on my ancient machine.}  Of course my brain muscles were working, and I remembered that there is a thing called elastic thread.  Boy, oh boy, did it work a lot better!  They came out all cute and ruffly without having to change tensions a million times and resew down the last seam in the exact same spot.  

 Anyway, enough of my rambling....

 

 blue and grey (goes with anything)

 this actually is 2 different colors of pink-striped

(gotta love the hand-raising)

 black and white: <3 it

 had to show you  the $1 socks I am rocking today

they'll be a nice barrier between my jeans and my chicken-skin pokey leg hairs when we're in D.C. ;)

Hope you enjoyed them as much as I do!

{even if you didn't, keep it to yourself -JK!! ;)}

Goody Plate

Look at my new V-Day goody plate!!  {I just love my new Silhouette :)}  I did this in about 5 mins.  My kind of craft ;-)

The only problem now is deciding what to put on it.  YUM!!

Friday Confessional

I love linking up with Glamazon Mom and Mamarazzi on Fridays because it's like free therapy.  Oh, and they are seriously hilarious!  You should do it to.  Come one, everyone else is ;)

-I love having girl time

-Last night was no exception

-Every girl that was there I love to hate

-There are skinny girls (you know who you are ;))

-There are talented girls

-There are totally better than me in every way girls

-I love to hate them all :)

-No, seriously, I do love them

-I just am so insecure about myself

-There, I said it

-I never feel that I can measure up to anyone

-I'll never have the "guns" (arms people!)

-I'll never not have the muffin top

-I'll never be skinny-minny

-I'll never have flawless skin

-I'll never be super-duper smart

-I'll never be a "molly"

-I'll never be able to have an adorably decorated house 

{-I'm so not creative in any way

-I just stalk copy other people's creativeness

-Why not?!

-I give them the credit :)}

-I need to learn to be okay with who I am

-I need to be able to know that I am accepted for me

-I guess I should work on that

-Sometime

-In the future

-Right now I'm secure with being insecure

-How sad is that?!

-Every time I try to think about accepting who I am I have an anxiety attack

-Once again, I'll work on that

-How seriously serious was this confessional?!?!

-This was not the way I was going to go with today's confessional

-I guess it just needed to come out :(

Valentine's Day Decor

Seriously!  How cute is this?!

(sorry for the crap pictures!)

I stole this off of a blog I stalk read.  Can't remember where, but thank you for the idea!

I would've rather had red glitter hearts, but I think the pink turned out cute, too.

If any of my ABQ friends want to do this, I still have some glitter hearts left over. :)

1st Basketball Game

Cole's first basketball game was on Saturday.  He did a great job, and we are so proud of him!  We were really nervous because at practice he just stands around the court with his arms open wide saying, "I'm open, I'm open!"  He doesn't quite get how to play the game yet.  Nevertheless, we were excited to see him play his first game.  He can only get better, right?!

 Most of the time he was picking his fingernails.

 SO excited to get the ball!  Still doesn't know what to do with it ;)

 This is the, "Dad, leave me alone" look.

 I'm open! I'm open!

 Eye on the ball, but ever so cautious.

I'm still open!

Good job Cole!  We love you :)