Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

Life has been happening lately.

Here's a few highlights from the past month:

• Aubriella started pulling herself.
• Aubriella started crawling on her hands and knees (no more army crawling).
• My parents visited from Florida for a few days.
• Adaleigh has pretty much perfected writing her name.
• Aubriella turned 9 months.
• We got a new washer, dryer, and refrigerator.
• Alex planted a million plants in our backyard including a beautiful vegetable garden!
• I've reduced my hours at work from 35 to 20 per week.
• We paid off my medical debt and some of our credit card debt.
• I battled with anxiety for the first time in my life for one very long week. 
• We've updated and added new decor to our home.
• I passed two pretty tough online classes... 5 more to go!
• We're planning a trip to Jackson Hole, WY in July for my cousin's wedding.
• Adaleigh had her Easter Egg Hunt at school.
• It's Adaleigh's Spring Break! :)

The list could probably go on if I sat here and thought about it. I'm so fortunate to have such an awesome family. I absolutely adore my girls and my husband. 

Lately I've been thinking about where I want to be in 5 years. My sister's just celebrated their 30th and 32nd birthdays this past week, and it's got me realizing that I'm not too far behind. I'm very happy with where I am now, but I'm curious to see where the future may take us. I am beginning to set goals again. 

A few goals that I'm willing to share:

1. Finish my degree.
2. Pay off ALL credit card debt by using Dave Ramsey's debt snowball.
3. Get Adaleigh involved in sports and activities. She'll be doing swimming lessons and ballet this summer. Possibly tennis, tee ball, or soccer.
4. Attend church regularly.
5. Lose the 15 pounds I gained when I was preggo with Aubriella and still haven't lost.
6. Sell our house and move to a nice, well-established neighborhood in a good school zone.
7. Possibly add another little one to our family. 

That's all for now. I'm off to watch a movie with my hubby. <3

Owl Be Your Valentine

This year I had 3 special Valentines... Alex, Adaleigh, and Aubriella. My three favorite people in the entire world. I am really not a Valentine's Day advocate at all, but this year was by far the best and for that, it deserves a little recognition.

I always enjoy spending time at Adaleigh's school. Seeing her in her element is so fun. Plus, getting some one on one time with her teachers to talk about how she's doing is great too. By the way, they say she's one of the sweetest girls and always does what she is told or asked of. Haha. Funny since sometimes it's a battle at home, but I'm glad she's good at school. :)

Of course Adaleigh picked out the Strawberry Shortcake Valentine's for her class that we found at Walgreens. I opted for this cute bouncy ball idea I found on Pinterest instead of a sugary candy for the kids. Good thing I did because her class gave out so much candy... she'd probably has enough for every day of the year. But Alex and I helped her eat some and we tossed the rest in the trash so we wouldn't be tempted.  (The Girl Scout cookies I keep buying are tempting enough.)

Adaleigh enjoyed those cheese puffs and pretty much neglected everything else on her plate. We even brought the popcorn and she barely touched that.

As soon as she was done eating... she threw her mess in the trash and ran to play legos with the kids. I should've known that's where she was headed. Adaleigh is an avid lego builder!!!

Going through her goodies in the car was fun too.

After school, Valentine's turned into what I thought was going to be a normal day. I was headed to work and Alex was off for the day so he stayed home with the girls. I literally thought my husband was going to do nothing all day by the way he was acting. Boy, was I wrong. He played me well. At work, we were so busy I didn't even get a chance to take a break or eat dinner. I'm glad I didn't though because little did I know Alex was cooking up some deliciousness.

When I got home, I was greeted by him saying, "don't go in the kitchen, just go straight to the bedroom." Well to get to the bedroom, I have to pass the bathroom... look at what I found!!!

Ahhh! Swoon! What a sweet sweet husband I have. This has to be one of the most romantic, unexpected things he has ever done for me. Oh, but it gets better!!!

Wine was included, too! 

After my amazing and relaxing candlelit bubble bath, Alex had set the dining room table for a candlelit dinner and dessert. He made a yummy chicken parmesan pasta and delicious chocolate and strawberry truffles. Following dinner we spent some quality time playing a board game and then watching a movie. Even though I fell asleep on the couch in the middle of the movie (c'mon, it was like 1am and I had just worked all day lol), it was still a fabulous night.

Not only did my hubby do these sweet things, he also had time to clean the house, do a load of laundry and dishes, re-paint our dining room table (the one he handmade 3 years ago... did I mention he's amazing?), and do some landscaping in our backyard. Oh yeah,... he also had time to take care of both the girls during this time. Feeding them and putting them to bed. Ahhh. Best Valentine's Day ever. I love my husband. I love how far we've come in such a short time. This stage that we are in right now in our marriage almost feels like the honeymoon stage. I know... mushy gushy, right? lol. I just couldn't let this day and time in our lives go undocumented. <3