Simply the Smith's

I like the idea of a new year. It's a fresh start (even if it's only in my head) to do things you want to do. My goals this year are of a variety. My mind frame has changed since last year. I'm working toward a different goal than I was 365 days ago. So with out anymore blah blahing here is what I'm focusing on in 2015 Soaking it in. I want to take in every little thing. I want to remember how G's nose scrunches up when he fake laughs at a joke he doesn't get. I want to remember it all. God willing we will have another child at some point and so I want to get all of these special moments burned in my brain of just Grayson. Write in a happiness journal. I bought a 5 year happiness journal a long time ago. It sits in my drawer untouched. So I want to write every night before bed. I have moved it to my bed side table and put a cute pen with it. I'm going to write one memory or thought of happiness. Get healthy and fit. I'm still lugging around

There are less than 24 hours left in 2014? I mean how is that possible? This year was full of ups and downs but it was really a wonderful year January We changed daycares and watched our sweet little boy flourish at his new home away from home.   February We celebrated Valentines day and survived some pretty cold days, and had a few birthday parties.  March My fat boy turned 1!!!! We celebrated with a party (that I never blogged about oooops!) We also had a great time just watching this little man grow   April Birthdays,Art Shows and Easter (Oh MY!) May Wedding fun and spring weather! We ate ice cream and played outside     June We celebrated my birthday and Father's Day Oh yeah and my husband went and bought a 4-wheeler on a whim.     July  Was a whirlwind and we made huge strides with our Spring to-do list.  August We celebrate

Friday Favorites and this list includes all of my favorite holiday traditions and products!!! Happy Holidays and don't forget to link up with Andrea for today! One Cookie Exchange We did this this two weekends ago and I love it. The kids really get into decorating and it's nice to only have to make one or two kinds of cookies but get 6 different to take home. Plus I'm a sucker for good memories and anytime we are with family that is what happens. Two Two Christmas' Okay so this started when my niece was born but we do Christmas with my brother and his family the Sunday before Christmas. This gives us a ton of time with them and it is just more relaxed. Plus we have so much yummy food. I love this time with them and the kids getting there gifts and enjoying them because they don't have to rush to the next place is the highlight for me Three Just the 3 of us.  Once we had Grayson we decided to do Christmas morning at our house and

So it's been one month and I'm so proud of where we are in our debt journey. I laid it all out here and if I'm being honest that post was hard to write. I didn't know how people would react. But I really just wanted to have a way to check in, keep myself accountable and be able to look back and say look at what we did! So just a quick refresh we are in Baby Step#1 and well we are doing great. We have saved $650.00 towards our $1,000.00 goal.Over half way there!!!! I'm beyond excited. This month though was not without challenges. We had a car repair that came up and had to be done, as in Michael had no heat in his car and well it's winter here! Thankfully my company owns a repair shop so we got it done for just the cost of labor. Now old us would have charged that baby and made plans to pay it off over the next x amount of months. This time? We used out emergency fund. We were well over $750 in our Emergency Fund but chose to use that cash to pay

This weekend is what holidays are made of. It was amazing and I had the best time, plus spending all of that time with my boys makes me beyond happy. Friday it was grocery shopping (which I will NOT be doing on Friday's anymore. It was awful I'm switching to Monday's), take out and movie watching. Saturday- Grayson and I got up and then once we finished breakfast we went right to the kitchen to make cookies. We had our cookie exchange the next day so I had 6 dozen to make. I ended up making 8 so that we had a  few dozen for our house. We made M&M cookies. Grayson was so good and after 2 hours in the kitchen,making 8 dozen cookies, eating a few handfuls of M&M's, eating a cookie and getting all the dishes done we relaxed until lunch time. Once G ate and went down for his nap I ate really quick showered and got ready for the Michael's work party that night. They have it at this awesome restaurant and it is decorated so beautifully for the hol

First thing's first my November Progress 1- Have a date night with Michael.- We don't go out to dinner just the two of us very often so I'm hoping that we can venture out for an early dinner the day before Thanksgiving. - Done and Done!!! We went to the gun range and then out to dinner at Olive Garden then home for ice cream and a movie perfection! 2- Bake Pies- I love baking and I love making pies. This one is kind of a give in because I'm in charge of dessert for Thanksgiving but I'm still working on what ones to make - I made a chocolate and lemon meringue pie!!!  3- Get Grayson's picture taken for our Christmas card. I always take this myself. I plan on getting this done this weekend - Got this done and love it! I will be doing a whole post on our cards since most people have already received them!!! 4- Start T-25. I'm hoping to start this program this weekend and keep it going 5 days a week all month. - Fail just plain fail 5-Send out m

I'm breaking my week long break from the blog to talk about our mini-Thanksgiving vacation. It was glorious Wednesday I left work an hour early headed to Home Goods and snagged a few little Christmas decorations. Then I headed to pick up my sweet boy from daycare. He was still sleeping, must have been the big Thanksgiving feast they had that day. Then my Mom came and picked him up for an overnight. Then it was date night for me and the hubby. We don't get to go out just the 2 of us very often but when we do we enjoy every second. It was nice one on one time. We went to the gun range and shot a couple rounds and then went to dinner at the Olive Garden. I stuffed myself so full but I enjoyed every bite. Then on the way home we stopped and got ice cream and headed home for a movie and some cuddles. We were out by 10:30. Thursday we got up I made breakfast, Michael got down the Christmas decorations and out tree. Once we finished eating we got our house all decorated and

This past week/weekend has had a little bit of everything. Tuesday night I got whatever Grayson had. It was awful. I woke up Wednesday not feeling much better so I went into work for a few hours and then came home and slept. It was wonderful. Thursday Michael called to tell me that he had gotten Sunday off for our family Thanksgiving. I was so excited. I love having days off together since it is such a treat. Friday we had Papa Joe over for his birthday dinner. We splurged and got steaks (fillet Mignon) and they were Divine. Michael makes the best steaks ever.We put G to bed visited with Joe for a little bit and then headed to bed ourselves. While all of this going on just to the south of us was getting nailed with the biggest snow storm ever. I work about 20 mins from where the destruction happened. And let me just say I'm so proud to live in WNY. I'm also very thankful that we were safe and that all of our loved ones were safe. My brother did get stuck at a Tim Horton

Yeah and the weekend. So Friday we had leftovers. Since we are on a budget we decided to save our takeout budget for this week and next and have a date night the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so leftovers it was. I was ok with it because I didn't have to cook and on Friday the only thing on my mind is getting into comfy clothes and drinking a beer. Once we were done with dinner the boys went upstairs to play guitar and I watched Parenthood which is starting to bug me because every week the previews get more and more vague and intense!!!! Ahhhh so sad it's the last season! Saturday- it started of wonderful. As in G woke up at his normal time 5:30 and we went downstairs and snuggled and watched "Icky Ouse" Then after breakfast we got ready to head out to a craft show with Gigi, Trace, and Marie. I had my mind set on only spending $40.00 well I spend $41.04 so close enough. I got the cutest coat rack. The picture below is not the best (because Michael took it) bu

It's Thursday and it is the month of Thanksgiving so here are my tops things I'm Thankful for. My husband- This man I mean. First of all gorgeous. Second of all one of the best people I know. Listen I can fully admit that I'm bat ish crazy and I'm okay with it and the best part is? He is too. He loves me for me. And I love him for him. Nobody is perfect but we are so perfect for each other. I have never laughed so hard as I do with him and I love it. This little man- This little man is just amazing. He has such a sweet heart and a kind way about him. He walked up to me last night grabbed my hand kissed it and then patted my leg. I melted! He is very genuine and shows his feelings. He is very guarded but once he lets you man you just won the golden ticket and he will love and kiss on you like crazy. This Dog- Weird that I'm listing my dog? Well we went through a learning curve when Grayson first came home. Liiiley (Riley) was very nervous abo

This post is long long overdue. The Wednesday before Halloween my little sister got engaged. But first let me back up. Sunday after the wedding I was sitting on the couch trying to work through my hangover and my phone rang and it was my sister's boy friend. He never calls me so I figured it was a pocket dial and didn't answer mostly because I was stuffing my face. I know I know I should have answered but I figured he would leave a message and then I could call him back. I blame the hangover. Well anyone who is a Mom knows how distracted we can get in a 10 min period of time and I forgot to call him back. So 6 at night I get a call from my Mom that Ryan called her to say I hadn't called him back and that he needed to talk to me. I'm super oblivious and thought it was something to do with Christmas. When he told me that he was going to propose I was super shocked. He had already talked to my parents and had it all planned out with my Dad to put the ring in her p

So this weekend? It was amazingly unproductive. The time change and all the craziness of October has taken us sometime to recover from and I think this weekend was just what we needed. Friday- I left work ran to the grocery store solo! I can breeze in and out so much faster than without Grayson. I normally always take him with me but with the weather getting colder and his coat getting bigger I decided that since I had a big(ger) trip to make that it would be best to leave him at daycare until I was done. Plus he got to watch the full episode of Veggie Tails instead of having to leave halfway through. Once I grabbed him We grabbed takeout for dinner and headed home for comfy clothes and time with daddy. The rest of the night was spent relaxing. Saturday- I got up and decided that I just felt like relaxing that day. My house was destroyed but I just wanted to hang out with G so we did just that. My sister came over and we tried to get a picture for the Christmas card that was a b

Well since it is the first Friday of November I'm going to list some of my favorite things about this month Linking up with Andrea !!! One- Of course Thanksgiving!!!! I love the food, family, and football that happens on this day. We have 2 Thanksgivings because it's crazy with a big family so we do one the Sunday before and then on Thanksgiving day. We get our fair share of turkey!!! Baby Grayson last year were does the time go?!?!?!?! Two- We take family pictures on Thanksgiving Every. Single. Year. So I'm really digging this shirt for G to wear! I also like this one too but my husband said I can only get away with Thanksgiving shirts for the first year! Three- It's acceptable to wear Christmas pjs in November because really there aren't thanksgiving jammies. Here are some that I love love love for my little man I already have these for him   I have my eye on these ones as well  I'm loving the deer on the pants and even though