We Couldn't Be More Thankful...

We couldn't be more thankful...For each other, for our families, for our health, for our safety in all our travels (especially around the holidays), for the joyful kicks of Nugget & of course for this mischevious little one...

A Heavenly Jolt

For those who don't me...I am NOT a morning person. In fact, I chose my career based on the option of having a flexible schedule. Particularly one that would not require me to arrive at a specific, predetermined time every day. However, having a child means that I am no longer on MY schedule! Nolin is a very routine child and an early bird. Every morning he wakes up jumping in his bed & takes off running as soon as his feet hit the ground!! That being said, clearly I need some instant caffeine to keep up with him!

As anyone who has a toddler may know, having a piping hot cup of coffee is a pretty far-fetched dream. I either spend so much time keeping his grubby little hands from dumping it and burning himself  or I spend so much time keeping his grubby little hands out of everything else (ie the trash &, dog food) that by the time I have a chance to sit down & enjoy my coffee...Its cold. Introducing the concept of iced coffee!! And I have become extremely tired of paying over-priced coffee houses and fast food joints for my morning jolt! I tried several recipes before I found the PERFECT one. Since many of you have the same morning obstacles...I decided to share. This recipe came from Pioneer Woman (whom my friend Katie speaks highly of and has been encouraging me to use for a year now) but required some tweaking on my part due to my lack of oversized kitchen containers. The original recipe can be found here.

You will need:
Your favorite brand of ground coffee
2 large containers (1 with an airtight lid)
Water
Measuring cup
A fine mesh strainer
Cheesecloth (or paper towels work just fine too!)
An airtight jug or pitcher for storage
Any "fixing" your little heart desires

Make:
I used a cheap brand of 5 O'Clock coffee with a net wt of 11 oz. Pour 1/2 of the bag into a large container with 1 1/2 qts of water (I prefer my coffee to be pretty strong. Adjust the water to your desired level. But you can always adjust the strength later with ice) & stir to make sure all of the grounds are saturated. Seal with a lid & set aside for 8 hrs.

Once your coffee has "brewed" place your fine mesh strainer over another large container. Line your strainer with cheesecloth (or paper towels) & slowly begin pouring your ground coffee mixture into the strainer. Don't shake the paper towels or they may rip...As the grounds collect, the liquid will drain slower. Just be patient! Once you have drained all of the heavenly goodness out, gather all 4 ends of your paper towels & toss your coffee grinds. Pour the coffee into your airtight pitcher or container (I use a dispensing jar for quick, spill-proof dispensing lol) & chill overnight.

My new morning routine now includes filling an insulated cup with coffee & ice! Individualize it as you prefer, but my favorite is an iced mocha with a Vietnamese twist! I use 1 T of raw organic sugar, 1 T of homemade chocolate syrup, 1 T of vanilla rice milk & 3 T of sweetened condensed milk. Obviously, you don't have to use organic & homemade syrups but they ARE healthier! Of course, I'm pretty sure that they are cancelled out by the sweetened condensed milk (aka heavenly goo lol). Stir it all up, sit back & wait for your jolt to kick in!! Enjoy a little taste of heaven :)

Happy Father's Day!

I've decided to quit apologizing for being behind in my blog...I'm a mom. And I'm Lindsey. If you don't know that I run on my own time, you don't know me very well :) Once we get settled into our new home next month though, hopefully things will slow down & I'll have a little extra time to devote to this!

We spent Father's Day in Louisville since Nolin's 1st birthday party was the day before. We started off the morning like any other Sunday by heading to church with my family. To give the guys the day off from cooking, Mom & I made my famous meatloaf, hashbrown casserole & green beans. A good 'ole Southern meal :)

For dessert, Jamie & I made "Grill Cupcakes" with brownie batter & candy. They were absolutely

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! I had trialed them at work the week before with my friend Leah & they were a huge hit...

Unfortunately, I had forgotten my camera so I was not able to get a good picture of Nolin & Adam for Father's Day...So neither of us had a picture this year to celebrate :( I was able to capture this cute pic of Nolin playing outside after we ate though!

After all of the festivities, we gave the Fathers' their cards & gifts...

The SUPER easy, SUPER cute cards I made for Adam, my Dad & Donny. I loved how well they turned out! Inside each card was a poem specific to each father.

Adam, Jamie & I helped Donovan & Nolin make these for the new section of Poppy's garden.

Happy (Belated) Father's Day out there to all you Dads! Especially to mine who has always guided me & been supportive even when I've disappointed him. And to Adam who never fails to make our lives sweeter. Thank you for all of your hard work & dedication to our family baby! We love you both Daddy & Poppy!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Porkchop!!

Yes I know its almost 1 1/2 months since his actual birthday but true to my nature, I'm running behind again!!

On June 12th my little porkchop turned 1. I still can't believe its been a year already!!! Despite the fact that he decided to hit his "Terrible 2's" the week before his 1st birthday, he's still Mommy's sweet little boy (when he wants to be of course!) To celebrate we held 2 parties: One in Cleveland on June 5th & one in Louisville on June 18th. Both were a rock star theme to celebrate his love of music (& of course to stay in tune with his attitude!) We are SO thankful for all of the friends & family who came out to celebrate with us & spoil our little monster rotten!! Especially everyone in Cleveland who witnessed the horrible display of attitude & crankiness!! Since I can now look back on that day & laugh...Maybe its a GOOD thing that my blogs run behind!! Nolin received so many fun gifts...One of my favorite things about him is that he plays with EVERY SINGLE TOY he has every day. He has his favorites but he is very good about enjoying & discovering each one. While it can be frustrating to clean everything up at the end of each play time, its worth it for him to get as much use out of them as he does since I'm everyone put money & thought into them! Here's some of my favorite "Birthday Boy" pictures...

Nibbling on the drumsticks to his cake!

My friend Tricia took this one...He was very intrigued by all the other kids at his party in Louisville. He just sat back & watched every thing they did.

Once he had his nap in Cleveland, he was in a GREAT mood!

This is how our little Rock Star spent most of his party in Cleveland! He missed visiting & meeting so many important people :(

Thanks again to everyone who came to celebrate the BEST year of our lives!!

A Mother's Love

Its about time I got around to this post! I really am running behind! But this time, the weather was to blame! With all the rain & humidity we weren't able to complete our Mother's Day gift for Adam's mom, Debbie! And this post simply would not have been complete without it!!

In case you haven't noticed, I have an obsession with projects that involve Nolin's prints...Thumbs, fingers, hands or feet...I don't discriminate! So here is the cheesy but adorable Mother's Day cards we made using his thumbprints as "petals". I just loved the little poem inside!

Best friends forever, Mom & me

Picking flowers & climbing trees

A shoulder to cry on, secrets to share

Warm hearts & hand that really care

Now for my mom's gift, Jamie & I collaborated with Donovan & Nolin. Since we were in town for Easter, she received her gift early. We're pretty proud of our creativity on this one! It turned out better than I had even hoped!! The blue & green "dots" are the boys' thumbprints. Nolin had ZERO interest in this until he saw his big cousin do it! Donovan absolutely loves crafts & was so intrigued by everything. And of course their Mimi loved it :)

Isn't it adorable?!?! I wanted one too! I wish that our project for Adam's mom had turned out as well! Nolin was a little stinker during that one! He was so confused about the concrete & kept grabbing it. Which of course meant that we had to keep re-setting it. By the time we were finally able to get a solid print, the concrete had already started to set & we ran out of time to place our design. Its definitely more bland than I had envisioned but I still think its cute. And the most important part (his hand) turned out well! Besides, as long as Grammy likes it, that's all that matters!

My 1st official Mother's Day was a pretty great day...Adam's mom & grandmother drove down to spend the day with us so that was nice. With his crazy work schedule, Adam did not have time to take Nolin out to get me a present but that's okay. He cleaned the house later that week & surprised me with flowers the next week! He prefers to be thoughtful "just because" rather than because Hallmark told him to anyway haha! Besides, the best, most perfect gift I could have ever been given on Mother's Day is the gift of a Mother's love...Being a mother to such a sweet, adorable little boy has showed me the true meaning of love! Although he can be a handful at times, I wouldn't trade a single moment! All the tears & frustration are worth it every time I hear his cute little chuckle or see that big ol smile beaming my way! God has blessed my life in ways that I never dreamt were imaginable...These 2 boys are all I need in life to be satisfied...

Happy (Belated) Easter!!

So I realize that I am incredibly behind on my posts (again)! Apparently I will now be blogging holidays about a month late :)

Nolin spent his 1st Easter with Mommy's family in KY. We kicked off the weekend by having studio pictures done of he & Donovan. They turned out better than I could have EVER imagined!! There were so many to choose from, but I'll just give you my favorites...

I mean, really...How cute are they?! They were so good even though it was hot & noisy & we had a ridiculously long wait. But it was worth it :)

This is my absolute favorite picture!!! It just shows so much of his attitude & personality!!

After all of the excitement with the studio pictures we decided to stay home that night & just hang out with the family. Easter morning we decided to wait & give Nolin his basket til after lunch so that he & Donovan could open theirs together. Nolin had a basket from Mommy & Daddy as well as Poppy & Mimi. Of course they both mostly consisted of toys :)

What a lucky kid!! He loved his little music player! And his Spiderman dishes made him feel like a big boy...So much so that I had to go get more! We're still working on liking the books though :)

Final pic: The super cute card we sent out to family. Thumbprint bunny! And it had the cutest little poem inside :

That cute little bunny has hopped all day

delivering baskets for the holiday.

His paws are so tired & his nose how it itches...

He left you something special to fulfill all your wishes -

Lots of cute little Easter bunny hugs & kisses!!

We had such a wonderful time eating dinner & visiting with family for the holiday. We even got to see Uncle Tyler & Aunt Gabrielle on Sunday! We hope that you enjoyed your Easter Sunday as much as we did! See you in June for a belated Mother's Day post :)

Forever will never be long enough for me....

Oh gosh! I can't believe how far behind I have become! So much for keeping everyone informed! I simply MUST get better about this! My goal from the beginning was to post an update at least once a month so I will strive for that from here on.

Now, on to the main point! I'M MARRIED!! Adam and I tied the knot 3.19.2011 in a very small, intimate ceremony. For financial reasons, we decided to move up the date of our wedding (despite the fact that many people thought it was because we were pregnant again lol!) We ended up having only 2-3 weeks to plan everything. Because of this we decided it was best to just have immediate family. The son of a resident at my work graciously offered us the chapel at the cemetery where he is the groundskeeper. Strange, I know but it was beautiful! And FREE!

My friend Leah made my gorgeous bouquet of peonies (my absolute favorite!!) and I was able to locate coordinating strands of peonies to intertwine with tulle to mark the aisles.

I chose "Marry Me" by Train to walk down the aisle to. The title of this post is the opening line..."Forever will never be long enough for me to feel like I've had long enough with you" to which Adam immediately teared up! We chose to write our own vows to customize them for our relationship. Since Adam barely made it through his in one piece, I've asked him to write them down for me so that I can have them as a memento (and remind him of course!). Once he does so, I will pass both sets on to you guys :) Aside from being pronounced husband and wife, the best moment of the ceremony was Nolin deciding to speak up & babble on when the officiant asked if there was anyone who objected to our union!! Silly boy...But he was so handsome in his suit that all was quickly forgiven!!

Although our wedding was last minute and small...It was PERFECT. It was simple, beautiful and most importantly...us. We are so thankful for our families who came to celebrate with us and continue to support us in our journey together. Since there were only about 15 of us we decided to reserve the hibachi grill at Osaka Japanese Steakhouse where we celebrated Valentine's Day the month before. Nolin LOVED the fire & of course the food! His nickname isn't "porkchop" for nothing!

The staff at the restaurant were so excited to have us there! We were their first wedding reception. They really catered to us and did a fantastic job! They did not charge us to reserve the grill, gave us a free dessert & even included a HUGE elegant Sensu (Japanese folded fan) as a wedding gift! We could not have asked for better service. And true to his nature, Adam made our wedding cake. A Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake...It was like heaven throwing a party in my mouth! By far the best cheesecake that I have ever tasted! I am so lucky to be married to such a great chef ;)


I truly feel blessed every day to have these 2 men in my life. I am finally married to the love of my life, the man of my dreams and my best friend. My life is everything I could have ever imagined and more. God certainly has a way of taking 2 faltering lives and bringing them together for amazing things! I can't wait to see what the future holds for us...