Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is my absolute favorite day of the year! The mimosas are flowing, the house smells so good and our home is filled with the sounds of family and friends laughing and talking. I don't think it gets much better. This year I have so many things to be thankful for!

1. My amazing husband. What a wild ride we've been on, Mr. Wilkinson. I cannot imagine doing this with anyone else. I am so thankful for your compassion, patience (especially when I get into my deep cleaning, furniture moving moods), generosity and love. You are an incredible husband and an even better father. Natalie and I are so lucky to have you. You are the peanut butter to my jelly and the champagne to my mimosa :)

2. My spunky, sassy, two year old.  I gushed about her a couple weeks ago on her birthday and I am just so lucky to be her mama.

3. Our home. We have only been in our home since March and it is amazing the number of memories we have already made. I am so excited for our first holiday season in the house and am looking forward to one day bringing home another Wilkinson there. Brandon and I agree, it is absolutely the house we were meant to be in.

4. Friends. I really do have the best ones around. From my work friends, my high school girlfriends, my college loves and my mom blog/small shop friends - I am blessed to have some of the most compassionate, supportive, hysterical and genuine people in my life.

5. Family. I lucked out when it came to family. They are all a little weird but I am lucky that they are mine. I wish I got to see my parents more but it makes our visits that much more special. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder :) and me more appreciative of the time I get with them! This year, I am particularly thankful for my brother in law, Evan. He is easily one of our favorite visitors we have. Not only does he make us laugh until our sides hurt, he loves doing yard work and DIY projects with us and this year he has done 99% of the work on my car from oil changes to replacing my serpentine belt. I am lucky to have him! We really love having him around and Natalie really loves her time with Unkie :)

6. YOU! I am so thankful for this little blogging community. I have learned so much from the mamas whose blogs I follow. I have gotten so much support from people who follow my blog. And this year, I have made a few more blogger friends and I am so thankful for that.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! 

May your blessings be plenty!

the guys behind the blog: November 2015

Y'all, I am WAY late to this party, but I am sure that's not going to come as much of a surprise. I talk about Brandon all. the. time. I even made him do a guest post on the blog when we were engaged. Heaven help us. Elizabeth from Chasin' Mason and Amanda from Tickled Pink link up with Betsy from Heavens to Betsy for her The Guys Behind the Blog link-up and I have finally decided to join in on the fun!  

Those who know Brandon can imagine how thrilled he was with this idea... probably as thrilled as the fact that I opted to use this five-year-old picture from our engagement photo shoot :) but I promise, it's just for this month! I stumbled upon it and couldn't resist!

1. What sports did you participate in as a child? What sports did you watch growing up?

As a child, I played organized baseball and basketball. I even played soccer for two or three years. However, my friends and I were always organizing a game somewhere. I also had a go-cart growing up and my father and I would enter various car-show contests.

Baseball and football were the two sports I mostly remember watching. Also, prior to Dale Sr.'s death, we watched a lot of NASCAR. My dad believes the new guys are too soft.

2. If you could line up your ideal Super Bowl, who would be facing off, where would they play and who would win?

Cowboys beating whoever, in my backyard as I sit and watch from my deck. I find going to major sporting events to be a hassle and can take the fun out of the experience/game. Traffic, high prices and long lines deter me from wanting to go.

3. Do you prefer the Summer or Winter Olympics?  If you could participate in one Olympic sport, what would it be?

I do not have a preference. There are events I like in both. Eight years ago I would have participated in basketball. Now that I am not in basketball shape, I guess... you know, I have wondered how far I could throw a javelin. 

4. What is your favorite food to eat at a sports party? (ex World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, etc.)

Wings and my mom's corn dip, no matter the event.

5. Who is your all time favorite athlete and why?

This is a really tough one. But I have a small collection of Mickey Mantle books. My Pop used to tell me all these larger than life stories about "the Mick". From 500 foot homeruns to drunk stories, the stories sometimes seem unreal or "no way that could have happened". No way would Mantle survive in today's era with social media.

There you have it, from the mouth of a babe :)

Oh TWO-dles

I have been planning Nat's second birthday party since the day after her first birthday party. I kid... kind of. I love party planning for that little peanut. She brings so much happiness to my life and I love to plan ways to celebrate her. This was no exception.  

B and I were torn on what the theme should be - Minnie, Sofia, Doc, oh my! Then I saw Chelsea's pictures on instagram from Emerson's 2nd birthday and a theme was decided: Minnie Mouse/oh TWO-dles! It could not be more clever or more perfect!  And in the last month, Natalie has become even more Minnie-obsessed which reaffirmed our decision to go with this theme.  Pinterest was a wealth of incredible ideas and her party came together quickly and super easily!  Prepare for a picture stuffed post!

I was excited to create her invitations and milestone board this year.  I outsourced those things last year and while I love the shops that I used and working with them, I wanted to do things myself this year - especially since I have discovered picmonkey.  I was so thrilled with how things turned out! With everything going on with Thanksgiving prep and party planning, I didn't get the chance to print her milestone board. Total fail!

The menu came together more easily than any other party we've ever had. Since we went with the Minnie theme, we rolled with the hot diggity dog bar. It was super easy, super inexpensive and fun! 

PS - how cute are these Minnie ears complete with pink bow from Big River Crafts? 

The decorations were exactly how I envisioned them.  While some (Brandon) may say that I went a little over the top, I had so much fun crafting for her party.  I died a little bit when the Minnie/Mickey ears from Favors and Crafts arrived.  Too stinkin' cute.

I did quite a bit of research on toddler party games and found some super fun stuff. I was a little nervous about finding fun age appropriate things but was pleasantly surprised with what I came up with! I put Brandon to work to make my dreams come true and he far exceeded my expectations! He made a super cute Minnie themed bean bag toss game! I found these great cornhole bags from the Crazy Cornhole Company on Etsy (shocker, right?) which were super fun and while a bit themey, I love them anyways :) The kids played with it a little bit but overall just played with Nat's toys. Either way, I think they had fun!

The birthday girl's outfit was so fun to put together! Last year I crafted her tutu myself, this year I opted to shop Etsy. I didn't want my living room to look like a stripper slept over again. I am pretty sure the new owners of the townhouse are still finding glitter! Liz from My TuTu Cute Boutique had the perfect Minnie themed tutu and I could not pass it up! I paired it with the TWO shirt I already purchased from The Blue Envelope and it was perfect!

Overall, I think the birthday girl had a great day :) I know we did!

To see more party inspiration, check out my oh TWOdles pinterest board!

FRI-YAY

Y'all, to say that I am happy it's Friday is a total understatement. 

Here's a little this and that from the week:

1. Costco has Hunter boots. I heard the rumbles of this on different blogs I follow but I finally logged into my Costco account and saw it for myself. I am in shock and awe. I have been eyeing Hunter boots for. ev. er. I mentioned wanting a pair on my mama wish list back in August. It has been hard to justify spending $150 on boots but $80 is far more reasonable, especially for quality boots! I have to go to Costco today to pick up party supplies for this weekend and you can be sure a pair of Hunter boots will be making their way into the cart as well!

2. Picking battles. This week I have been letting Natalie pick her outfits as a means of getting her out of bed and functional faster. While she has put together some truly cringe-worthy outfits, like Tuesday's purple shirt, leopard pants, brown boots and pink tutu, she makes me laugh and she is getting dressed without much fuss. Plus, we don't venture out into public together (minus the walk from the car to the Cheryl's front door) during the week so it's moot that she looks like a crazy lady :) She is so proud of her choices and she stands by them 100%.  This week we only had a couple days that she did not request demand a tutu of some kind. Whatever floats your boat, kid. 

3. My friend's husband, Nick, published a book titled the Best in Me.  It's a guided journal focusing on self-motivation and obtaining your goals. The other night I was having a rough go of things and I picked it up and read some of it, as I do from time to time, and it refocused me and re-energized me to be the best me possible. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who needs a little motivation and encouragement!

4. It's party weekend! If you follow me on instagram then you already know I have been crafting quite a bit leading up to this party. I am so excited to see everything come together to celebrate my little babe turning two!

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! I can't wait to share all the details about Natalie's 2nd birthday party with y'all come Monday!

thoughts for Thursday: Thanksgiving prep

We are one week out from my all-time favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. I am a firm believer that Thanksgiving is what Christmas is supposed to be. A day full of food, family and football without any worry about spending money on gifts. I don't know what could be better?  I recently read this article on Buzzfeed about 17 Thanksgiving turkey mistakes people make and instead of being like "crap, I do all of these" I was reassured that I am kick ass at hosting Thanksgiving... or at the very least making a turkey! Nothing like a little ego boost the week before hosting a cozy 12 person Thanksgiving feast :)

free printable from Creations by Kara

I decided that today I would share a little Thanksgiving pinspiration to help everyone get into the mood for the best holiday of the entire year!

I usually make this super simple gingered orange cranberry sauce but this year I think I might give this orange bourbon cranberry sauce a try! I think to try new things while keeping things traditional for Thanksgiving dinner.

I don't really like stuffing (I know, I know I am a savage), but in watching Brandon's Thanksgiving plate over the years I have found that it takes up a lot of room. It's one of his favorites and a couple years ago I saw this space saving idea on pinterest and it has been a huge success at our house! I follow the directions on how to make the stuffing that is right on the bag, but stuff them into muffin tins instead of a baking dish.

I am a traditionalist when it comes to mashed potatoes (since they are one of the only things I really care for at Thanksgiving dinner), but I like to mix it up with the other sides. I try to stick to conventional, but it's too much fun to step outside the box :) These are some of my favorite side dish recipes, although I do add my own flare to all of them!

roasted brussel sprouts // coconut sweet potato casserole

roasted garlic mashed potatoes // green bean casserole

As Natalie and Tim get older and we add more tiny humans to the mix, it's nice to have something special for them to make holiday memories. I cannot wait to tackle some of these fun craft ideas with the kiddos :)

thankful thumbprint tree // place mat

handprint turkey // coloring pages

Can you tell that I might be a little bit excited for Thanksgiving this year? What fun traditions do you have? What part of the day are you most looking forward to?

Roar for FOUR!

It is hard to believe that my little friend Tim is FOUR! He has grown up and learned so much in the last two years and I am so proud of Michelle for stepping in and doing the best she can for our nephew. She is such an incredible aunt mama. 

Tim is obsessed with dinosaurs. I use the word obsessed because there is not a bigger word to use but even still, it feels like a bit of an understatement. He told my mom the other day he "had a dilemma", he didn't know if he wanted to be a paleontologist or an ornithologist when he grows up. What a nerd :) Given his love for dinosaurs (and my terrible fear of birds), it was an absolute no brainer that we would do a dino theme for his 4th birthday party. He knows more about dinosaurs than I do most things so you can imagine that he was VERY excited when we told him all about our plan. Dino theme in mind, I turned to pinterest for invitation and party inspiration. Duh. 

a tori wilkinson original :)

I found so many great ideas but between work and Nat, I knew I didn't have time to be doing too many craft projects. I recently "met" the super crafty Kelsie, owner of the sweet Etsy shop Little Michael's, and I knew she would be an invaluable resource.  She is so much fun to collaborate with! I sent her the invitation I had created and she quickly came up with the cutest centerpieces! Overall, I think his decorations were a hit :)

centerpieces by Little Michael's

The next big question was: how do you entertain 10 preschoolers?  I took to pinterest once more and found a TON of things to do! Michelle opted to throw organized games out the window and went for organized chaos. It worked out really well :) The kids played with bean bags and balloons and really wore themselves out! Tim made sure that he always included his little cousin Natalie and it was the absolute sweetest. He is such a caring little boy! I found free dino-mask printables so Michelle had the kiddos decorate dinosaur masks and it was super cute to see their creations and how proud they were! The party closed out with a pinata which was a big hit (no pun intended).  

Overall, I think my small friend might have had the best birthday ever :)

Happy Birthday, Timothy Nicholas! 

Uncle B and I are so proud of the little man you are becoming!

For more Dino party pinspiration, check out my Roar for FOUR pinterest board!

happy birthday, sweet Natalie

Today, I woke up with a two year old in my bed.  I guess technically she won't be two until 6:18 tonight so I can hold on to her being under two a little while longer :)  Where did the year go? Better yet - how have the last two years gone by so quickly?!  I feel like I blinked and she is this sassy, smart, walking, talking, functioning human being. She is compassionate and sweet. She is funny and goofy as all get out. She loves with her whole heart. She is brave and adventurous and more independent than I am ready for her to be. She is serious but silly. She is polite and thoughtful.  Even when sick, she always wears a smile on her face. 

There are a million words to describe that little girl and soon little won't be one of them.  This mama needs time to slow down because I am just not ready for her to be so big. 

Happy Birthday, Natalie Grace.  Mama and Daddy are so proud of the little lady you are becoming and we cannot wait to celebrate you next weekend!

but I'm not ready for Monday

I am most definitely not ready for it to be Monday. Not a little bit. Not at all.

Saturday night, Brandon and I went to see one of our favorite bands, the Turnpike Troubadours, with our friends Caitlin and Scott. If you're into red dirt bands from Oklahoma, I highly recommend checking them out! Before the concert, we grabbed dinner at a local pub and ran into the lead singer, Evan Felker. He is super dreamy and Brandon made a point to tell him I thought so. Talk about embarrassing... But, as Brandon pointed out, he probably gets that all the time! The Black Lillies, an Americana band from Knoxville, opened for the Troubadours and it was our first time hearing/seeing them and I really enjoyed them. Excuse the red eye, not really sure what that's all about...

It was my first night really going out since Natalie was born and it was a big lesson in "mama can't hang like she used to".  On Sunday, I thought I might die from my hangover but Natalie had a little hangover of her own from playing so hard with Nanny and Farge so our day was full of pajamas, tutus and snuggles. I could not have been more thankful for that. 

We did manage to make it outside to play and the kids from the neighborhood all ran around in our backyard. It was the first time that had happened and Natalie was so excited! It was precious to see her play and make new friends. Not sure her introduction of "hi. I'm me!" helped her out, but it was cute nonetheless. After everyone went home, Nat wasn't ready to go in so we colored with chalk on the deck for a little bit.

This morning, none of us were really ready for the weekend to be over.  I am not even sure that my hangover is 100% gone just yet - like I said, mama really cannot hang like she used to! Nat wasn't up for starting the week either and when I went to get her up she kept saying "no no Mama, we snuggle".  The only way to get her up without a fight was to ask her to help me in the kitchen.  She loves pulling up the step stool and helping us cook.  So Nat helped me prep the chicken noodle soup in the crockpot before we left for daycare/work. She really is the best little helper :)  

Here's to hoping we have a quick, easy week leading up to Nat's big day!  I cannot believe we're in her birthday week! Eek!

happy Friday y'all

Hallelujah! It's Friday! Sweet sweet Friday. This was the kind of week where I thought it was Thursday on Tuesday. Woof.  Here are my Friday favorites...

1. Starbucks red cups are back! Bring on the holiday season :)

2. Speaking of the holiday season... this post from Happily Ever Parker had me feeling all the feels this week.  Everything seems a little brighter when you're a parent - especially holidays. I have always loved Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I feel like I enjoy them even more now that we have Nat to make memories with.  I loved making pumpkin cookies with her last weekend and I cannot wait to decorate Christmas cookies with her in a few weeks :)

3. Lunch dates with friends. I made some incredible friends when I was working at SGF and it's a bummer I don't get to see them as much as I want to. This week I got to have lunch with one of my absolute favorite pharmacy reps, Brian. It was so good to see him and make him look at 5326 pictures of Natalie while we got caught up :) He is such a good sport.

4. Gymnastics continues! Last week was the last class of the fall gymnastics session. We are so excited to have Natalie signed up for the winter session.  This term will last until January 23rd. Nat picked things up so quickly in the first session and I have no doubt that this next session will be just as fun!  We love Ms. Tammy and Nat really responds to her!  It will be so much fun to see how much she learns and grows over the next 12 weeks!

This weekend we are going to see the Turnpike Troubadours in Silver Spring :) I am so excited to be seeing them for the fourth time and I am excited to be dragging my friend Caitlin to see them for her first time. She'll be in love in no time.  Brandon's friend, Scott, is coming down for the concert and Brandon's parents are coming down to watch Natalie.  All in all, I think we have a fun weekend ahead of us! 

Hope y'all have safe and fun filled weekends too!

team no-sleep co-sleep

Before I jump into the nitty gritty today, I have to share a picture of my little Princess Sophia :) She totally rocked Halloween this year and we all had a blast!

Ok, so now that we have that out of the way. I want to start this post by saying I am not a fan of co-sleeping. I am in absolute awe of the people who can do it. How are they not total zombies? Have y'all seen that Buzzfeed article about the woman in Dallas who had the ultimate Ikea hack to help her and her husband co-sleep with their five children? No? Check it out here... I'll wait.  Complete awe. That is dedication to the cause.

My reasons for not liking co-sleeping are two fold. (1) It's scary. What if you're a restless sleeper? What if you injure the child? What if you roll over and...? Yikes. Let's not go there. (2) I need my sleep. I need tiny terrorist free sleep. I need time to re-charge my batteries so I can be a good mom. Needless to say, we've been co-sleeping for about a week now and I cannot wait until Natalie gets it together and gets out of our bed. She has always been such a rockstar sleeper that this has really come out of left field and I am wondering what we have done wrong. I will share my woes and hope that someone out there reading this can provide some insight into how I can fix this situation because it has been brutal. 

Let's start at the beginning, which was a little over a week ago. It was a Sunday night, I was cleaning Natalie's ears and the dogs were trying to lick her face and she pulled away and then screamed in horrible pain. I consoled her. We finished cleaning her ears, got some tylenol and went to bed. She slept through the night but woke up at 4:50 Monday morning (an hour and a half earlier than I usually have to begrudgingly wake her up) crying. I went in to get her and she touched her ear saying "ouch mommy". Once she was up, she was totally fine.

The entire day at daycare she was totally fine. Not a cry. Not an ouch. Not a peep about her ear. And then Monday night she refused to sleep in her crib. She cried and clung. We slept on the couch. And by couch, I mean futon loveseat. And the only way we both fit to sleep there is to take the back cushions off which makes it a bit brutal. But we made it work. It would only be one night. HA! Tuesday we took her to the pediatrician. I had bruised her eardrum when cleaning her ear. I was reassured she would be just fine but to never use q-tips again. Noted.

Tuesday night she slept in her crib all night and was fine. Progress.

Wednesday night I was putting her to bed and she kept asking for "circle".  After a forty-five minute struggle, she was put to bed without "circle".  She was so upset about this she threw up. I got her cleaned up and we were back on the couch.  Thursday night I learned that "circle" was really "snuggle" and she again refused her crib without a fight.  After twenty-five minutes of crying it out, I broke and again we slept on the touch. Team no sleep. According to my fitbit, I got all of 17 hours of sleep between Monday night - Friday morning. That's an average of 4 hours and 22 minutes of sleep. How did I do this when she was a newborn? 

Friday, Saturday, Sunday she slept in our bed with us. We all slept reasonably well.  At some point in the near future I will again try to put her in her crib but I am so scared to do it. I am scared of the fight and the tears and the toddler vomit. I just don't have the energy for it. 

I am just a girl... standing here... asking a toddler to sleep in her own bed. Please.