Marriage is about compromise...

I remember adjusting to married life...
My husband was a bit more OCD about clutter than I remembered and I was perhaps more messy than he remembered through our dating years.
I quickly learned that for that battle I would be the one to change!

Our recent move made me recall other territorial battles that we had settled early in our marriage...for instance, magnets/pictures/stuff on the refrigerator.

I remember begging Chris to let me put up magnets and pictures on our fridge when we first got married. He didn't want it to get cluttered, so he graciously sectioned me off a small portion of refrigerator real estate where I could neatly place a few pictures. Eventually I took over both doors and both sides!

As we were moving I began to take down all of our pictures and trinkets on the fridge. Guess what Chris said... he missed all of the pictures! He thought that everything looked bare!

I guess 5 years of marriage can really wear a man down! HA!



Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:


I am slowly adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom; the transition was a little more difficult than I was expecting, but for the most part I am happy staying at home with Eli. Honestly, some days I feel like it would be easier to just start working again! Everyone told me that I would love to be at home with our children, but they neglected to tell me just hard it really was. I honestly don't think that I have worked this hard at any job I have ever had!

Here is what my day looks like! This was taken the first official day Chris went to work. Two needy puppies, boxes everywhere and that little man in the back following me all over the house! (He had crawled from his room to find me in the kitchen!)

I also over-flowed the dishwasher that day...ah, life lessons...

Here is our family's new breadwinner! Look at him! Isn't he cute in his shirt and tie!?! Chris really loves the people at the firm. I have to say too that it is an adjustment for him to be going to work everyday. I am very thankful for everything he does for me and our family.

We are loving being back home in Texas, but we do miss our OU days! We are going to visit this weekend! Super exciting!!!

FAIR!

We were so excited to hear the fair was in town! Memamaw and Grandpa asked if we wanted to go with them this weekend and of course we said yes! The weather was perfect and we had a great time!

I am trying a little something different with the pictures here on our blog. Let me know what you think!

Chris entered a few pictures in the professional division photo contest. He didn't bring home a ribbon this year, but it was fun to participate and try again next year! Can you find Eli's picture in the picture of pictures?

Chris had to have Cheese on a Stick. I am a little leery of pretty much anything at the fair- from the food to the rides, I am a little questioning about the quality of the product. I just love to go walk around and watch people!

Memamaw found this awesome stroller for $2.00! It was perfect for wheeling Eli around at the fair- much less bulky than the huge Chico stroller...I have a feeling that we will be taking it on all the trips we go on this year.

Grandpa took Eli on his first tractor ride! They had so much fun!

Look what Grandpa won for Eli at the Fair! He was a little proud and even challenged Eli's daddy to win him something bigger! Wisely, Chris didn't even try...

Fiesta!

We love to entertain. We love to have people over with tons and tons of food. One of the things that we really missed through the "law school years" was having the funds, family and friends close for us to entertain.

This last Saturday we decided to host a fiesta for our family to show them the house and just have time to enjoy one another. It was a blast! Thank you to everyone for coming and we hope that you had fun and will join us again.

Here is Eli and his Mamaw...


He really enjoyed everyone coming over...I think that he was tired of seeing his mommy all day.

In my family, when everyone gets together we celebrate the birthdays happening around the time of the party. It was perfect timing because we had all kinds of birthdays to celebrate! Here is the cake that I made...it was divine...seriously. Want the recipe? Stay tuned- I will put it up on the ol' blog soon.


*yummo*

On to other things because I am already wishing for another piece of that puppy...

Here is Eli and his cousin Emma playing in his room. We showed off Eli's robot/rocket themed room to everyone for the first time! We still have work to do, but we are loving the direction of the theme for our little rocket scientist.


Here is Uncle Baff babysitting...

Like I said...Eli was really excited to see everyone.

Eli and Aunt Lori...

Tim, Gloria and Addy...

Amber was helping me in the kitchen!

Here are the young ladies celebrating their birthdays! Happy birthday to Madison, Nanny, Teresa and Gloria!

Mom got the honors of cutting the cake...

Kaci, Robin and Nanny...

Papaw Britten...

Nelson and Tim chatting outside on the patio...

Addy and Peyton playing with Eli...

Thank you again to everyone that came! Sorry Grandy, Alison and Aunt Linda, I didn't get a picture of you...you all did a good job of hiding from the camera!

Finally, of course here are a few more pictures of "E".

When Chris was growing up he had an imaginary friend...Who happened to be Jerry the Mouse. To this day his brothers love to remind him of his childhood "friend". Jacey sent this little treasure to us a few weeks ago...

We thought that it was hilarious! Thanks, Jacey!

I will say that I read a study a few years ago about how little kids with imaginary friends are smarter and more creative, so I don't think that Chris has anything to be ashamed of! I had imaginary puppies when I was little- I don't necessarily think that I am smarter or very creative either though.

And finally, here is a pic of the little man trying to pull up on our ottomans...

Red River

For Labor Day, we took a much needed trip to Red River per my dad's suggestion.
The last time I was in Red River I was a sophomore in college, planning to ski with my then boyfriend. Well, during the lunch break between my ski lessons, said boyfriend and I hit the bunny slope...where I fell and torn my ACL. I vowed to never go skiing again.

This time in Red River we had a blast. Oh, the cool mountain air and crisp breezes coupled with the smell of people burning their fireplaces makes me ready for fall to get here!

Here is E and Grandpa when we arrived. Eli was GREAT in the car. I couldn't have asked for a better baby! Secretly, I was dreading the drive with a 7 month old. (After the trip that he and I took home from Norman while Chris was taking the Bar, I have been a little hesitant to keep him in the car for long distances. We normally make the 4 hour trip with no stops, but this particular time we stopped 6 times and he was still screaming almost the entire time. It was awful.)


Kaci came too!


T-rex and Kaci...


Me and Dad...

We hardly have our picture taken alone any more! I was so proud of Chris for wearing his OU sweater even after the big loss.

Our family of three...

Eli with his Grandpa and Memamaw...

and Aunt Kaci...

We ventured around to all of the shops...

We had to get some fudge...

And we played air-hockey. Just so that everyone knows, I am still the queen of air-hockey.

After our mad games of air-hockey, we happened upon this really awesome store/cafe with some live music...

That night we ate at the steakhouse and heard more live music...

After dinner, my parents and I took Eli home while Chris and Kaci ventured out to check out the night life. After Eli was asleep I joined them. We ended up around a campfire listening to music outside a local bar. It was so awesome.

The next morning before we headed back home, Chris and I got up super early to go take pictures at the river. It was freezing, but a lot of fun.

I really wanted to see how cold the water was. Yes, I am in flip-flops.

Yellow Texas Bindweed...(just for you, Kaci)

8 months!

Eli is 8 months old today!
In celebration, here is his 7 month scrapbook page!

It was a huge month for our little guy. He now is eating sweet potatoes, acorn and butternut squash, green peas, pears, apples, bananas, and avocados. He also cut two teeth this month, started waving "bye" and pulled up a couple of times. He is also "army crawling" everywhere! He just recently started sleeping in his own room too! Sadly, he has started weening himself off of breast milk in favor of other foods, except during the night (Hey, we will take what we can get!). We are just thankfull that we were able to breastfeed him this long and we will continue to try for as long as we can.

He is just amazing and such a joy! We are so thankful that he is in our lives and we can't imagine life without him!