Snapshots from our life lately

It's hard to believe we have a one year old in our house. The amount of growth and change that one year brings is really amazing. Here's a look at some pictures from our last two weeks!

My cleaning helper... of sorts. ;) Trash bags are super fun we learned, so I let him go to town while I cleaned. It's a pretty easy cleanup for the amount of entertainment it provided!

These two follow each other around all day long. They are such sweet buddies. Ryan's new favorite thing is to go snuggle on Tally's bed with him. I was a little grossed out by it at first (that bed is covered with dog hair!), but it's just too cute to not let it happen.

sweet boo.

Ryan loved his birthday celebration at Mimi and Papa's house! Mimi worked really hard on cleaning up the swingset at their house, and it did not disappoint!

Birthday cake, banana pudding style :)

Ryan's first batch of banana bread! It look a little longer and was definitely messier, but this boy loved helping me bake! Recipe here.

First haircut! I love how little he looks in this picture. :)

This sweet buddy has been requested lots of outside time recently. He loves climbing these steps outside of our house and playing with his new car and water table. 

(btw, that's a piece of a toy, not a sucker- ha)

I love watching these two buddies play kitchen together. ;) They are 6 weeks apart to the day and are starting to (sort of) actually play together, ha. Love watching them!

This is Ryan's new car that my friend Andrea gave to him. But before we took it to our house, the kiddos made a carpool line through Andrea's house. Somehow Ryan got the best end of this deal. ;)

Big buddy getting ready for his dinner at Nonna's house and sitting at the big kid table for the first time! I couldn't believe he was actually big enough for it already. And oh that face... this boy loooves him some meal time.

First birthday party! Photos from the day here.

First trip to a Japanese steakhouse! He got a little nervous when the big flame went up but recovered quickly!

Sweet buddy :) Love experiencing these "firsts" with him!

He is loving his new legos that he got for his birthday. I love watching him figure out how to stick them together. This is such a fun age- so much to figure out!

Buddies at the park :)

Snuggle time with Mimi in the pool! I joked with Mimi that Mama was getting a little jealous of those snuggles! They lasted for a good 1-2 minutes! haha.. I'm glad I got a picture of the sweetness while it lasted.

When my mom came into town last week, she let Matt and I have a breakfast date before work- breakfast dates might be my new favorite kind of date!

Oh man I love these pictures. I love having a video monitor mostly because I like watching what Ryan does before he falls asleep and when he wakes up. He loves looking through his books and will chatter through the pages... and then sometimes, he falls asleep in the only space he has left after spreading everything out! Sweet buddy!

If you'd like to keep up with us on Instagram, you can find us @hmnelsen or click here. 

Have a great week, friends!

August's Mid-Month Confessions

It's Friday! Yay to all my teacher friends who made it through their first week! The beginning of the school year is so much fun but I remember feeling that things were always a bit easier once the everyday routines started. 

Today, Elizabeth and I are sharing our Mid-Month Confessions and would love for you to join us with some confessions of your own!

If you have a blog, you can enter the link-up below, or if you're a reader and want to confess in the comment section below our posts, that works too. :) And don't forget to check out E's confessions here!

Also, if you do decide to link up your own post, we'd love for you to include this button somewhere in the post. It will allow your readers to link back to the main page that has all of the other blog link-ups. Thanks, friends!

<a href="http://notesfromthenelsens.blogspot.com/search/label/Confessions"><img src="http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz49/tricia_nae/Clients/MidMonthbuttonFinal_zpsf70f331f.png" border="0"></a>


And now, a look at my confessions for the month:


1. 
On the school note (sort of), I have loved loved loved being at home with my little man this past year, but I realized recently that I kind of miss being in charge of things (there's probably a less controlling way to say that) and I also (sometimes) miss having a busy schedule. Yes, it sounds a little crazy, especially the busy schedule part, but I'm so used to a go-go-go lifestyle. So while a big part of me has really enjoyed the every-day-is-different life we're leading right now, I think I'm ready to add in a few set responsibilities and be used in a different capacity in addition to being a mom and wife. So when our MOPs coordinator asked me to be a table leader this year, I felt really excited about the opportunity to serve and lead. We have our leadership meeting next week and then start with our first MOPs meeting on September 8th, and I can't wait! If you are a stay-at-home mama and are looking for a great spiritual outlet for yourself, check out the MOPs website and see if their is a meeting near you. It meets every other week and is a great way to connect with other moms in your area.

2.
Y'all were so sweet and complimentary on Ryan's party posts, and some of you emailed or commented about all of the creative/crafty things that were a part of the big day. And as I responded to those of you that commented or emailed, I had a LOT of help getting his party together. So just to give you an idea of my lack of on-my-own craftiness, I texted some of my girlfriends the week before Ryan's party with this question:

"I made a pennant banner thing for Ryan's party (okay ordered and printed) and am now wondering how one gets the triangles to hang after they are cut out?"

And then my next question involved how to get the water bottle labels to stick to the water bottles (this is a really bad one)... to which I asked if hot glue would work.

One of my friends responded really nicely that the hot glue would probably melt the plastic, so double-sided tape might be a better option.

Duh.

3.
Elizabeth emailed me this week and shared a podcost link with me that she said reminded her of our partnership and friendship (side note- we've never actually met in real life!). It was then that I realized I have never listened to a podcast before and wouldn't actually know how to go about doing that if she hadn't sent me a direct link. Be honest, am I the only one?! ...Remember, I still don't download music and buy CDs for my car when new albums from my favorite artists are released, so this is probably not surprising.

4.
Last week, I had a dream that Ryan was in the bed with us (I honestly have NO idea why Matt and I take turns having this dream. Ryan has never slept in the bed with us, yet we each take turns catching him from falling off the bed in the middle of the night and scaring the other person half to death when we grab them in the middle of the night) and this time, he had large piece of something in his mouth that I didn't want him to choke on. So I proceeded to reach my hand over to Matt's mouth and repeatedly tried to swipe inside his mouth to get whatever it was out. And when Matt started moving his head to get me out of the way (as Ryan always does when he gets something in his mouth that shouldn't be there), I proceeded to hold down his head and try again to remove the item from his mouth.

Finally, Matt responded in a super frustrated tone (which, y'all, if you know Matt, you've probably never seem him frustrated so it's hilarious when he gets annoyed in the middle of the night),

"HEATH! I'M NOT RYAN! You've done that like FIVE times!"

Hahhahahha. Woops!

We both cracked up in the morning. First at my ridiculous dream, and then at Matt's super irritated response.


That's all I've got for this month! Now it's time to see what you guys have to share! Add your link below and check out what the other bloggers in the link-up have to share.

Have a great weekend!!

Favorite Finds & Ten on the 12th- PARTY Edition

I usually save my Favorite Finds posts for the end of the month, and I usually post my Ten on the 10th posts on the 10th, but I had too many fun things to share from Ryan's party to wait 'til the 31st and couldn't pull myself together to post this on the 10th. ;)

So today I am sharing my:

...and I happen to have ten of them. :)

(But P.S. I'll still have my regular Favorite Finds post with Elizabeth on the 31st of this month so stay tuned because E will be hosting a fun giveaway along with her faves from the month!)

We went with a golf theme for Ryan's first birthday and honestly arrived at that decision because my mom found this super cute golf outfit when we were shopping a Hallmark sale together 3-4 months ago. Standing right there in the Hallmark I got all excited at my sudden stroke of creativity (I can count on one hand how often these moments have occurred in my life) as I said out loud, "What if we did a 'Hole in ONE' party for Ryan's first birthday?!" 

Come to find out a million other people already thought of this genius idea of mine, but let's be thankful they did, because I got just about every idea for the party from those creative people. Thank you Pinterest.

(side note, the other side to this outfit is the one he wore for his flight on our first family trip... gotta love a great deal and then a two-for-one outfit on top of it) 

So Ryan's Bailey Boys outfit is my favorite find number one- thanks mom!

Favorite find number two is this great seller on Etsy called areUin where I bought  a package of basically every crafty thing we would need or want for Ryan's party.

The owner, Jen, was super quick to respond to my emails and even personalized some of the items for me.

This frame is now sitting on a dresser in his room :)

Since crafting is not my forte, but I love to cook and bake, I knew I wanted to make Ryan's birthday cake and cupcakes for the party.

The cupcakes got a little droopy in the heat, but I have all sorts of favorite finds to share regrading these two baked goods:

Favorite find number three is this cake pan that I bought off of Amazon.

The cake came out perfectly! I am feeling super tempted to replace all of my bakeware with this Fat Daddio's brand after how well this cake turned out.

Favorite find number four are these bright-colored cupcake wrappers- 300 for $6 is way cheaper than the grocery store!

Favorite find number five- Carrot Cake Recipe

I chose to make carrot cake for Ryan's birthday cake and for the cupcakes using this recipe (for some reason the recipe in the book is slightly different- I used 2tsp baking powder and 3/4 oil) from one of my favorite cook books- The Better Homes and Gardens NEW Cook Book

Favorite find number six- 

Annie's Eats cream cheese frosting recipe

She says the single recipe will generously ice 24 cupcakes, but I would disagree- make at least a double batch to be safe. I iced the cake and then added food coloring for the decorative part of the cake and to ice the cupcakes. Which brings me to my next two favorite finds:

Favorite find number seven-

 gel food coloring

Call me crazy, but I did research on food coloring and found this brand that I ordered off of Amazon to have the best reviews for color and ingredients and the outcome did not disappoint!

Favorite find number eight-

Love2bake Cupcake Decorating Tips

This kit came with these four tips, 50 disposable icing bags, and one reusable icing bag. The instructions for using the tips and the tips and bags themselves worked great! I felt quite fancy and professional making my cake and cupcakes for the party. A small and worth-it investment for sure if you like to bake!

Favorite find number nine-

Golf Ball Rings and Cupcake Toppers

What a simple and fun little topper for a golf-themed party, right?! And way cheaper than other cupcake toppers I was looking at. $5.99 for 24 works for me, and the little rings can be party of the party favors if you want them to be.

And speaking of party favors, that brings me to my last favorite find:

Favorite find number ten

Party Favor- Golf Sugar Cookies from pfconfections

These cookies came in a pack with 24 golf ball cookies and 12 flag cookies with flavor options in vanilla or almond. They also offer a gluten free option. The best part was that I ordered them on a Thursday and they arrived at my door the following MONDAY!

We then packaged then in little clear bags with blue crinkle paper and used the favor thank you tags from the areUin shop.

So that is IT! My top ten favorite finds from Ryan's first birthday party. If you missed Monday's post with the rest of the pictures from his party, you can find that post here.