Fun with Friends

I feel very blessed to have such sweet friends. I work with these two lovely ladies Jennifer (left) and Amy (right). We came up with an idea about 9 months ago...we felt like since we love each other so much, we need to get our families together and hang out on a quarterly basis.

So every three months we pick a date that works for everybody and get together to hang out and eat...of course. Since it's been so cold we have been indoors mostly, but the first meeting we had, it was still summertime...we busted out the baby pool and let the kiddos play in the water while the guys cooked hamburgers on the grill and the girls chatted it up....fun times

Here are a few pics to capture the memories...


This is everybody eating and having a good time. We joke...thank goodness our husbands have learned to love each other too. They have all been good sports about participating in our quarterly get togethers and I do think it's fair to say everybody has genuinely been having a good time.


This is actually our third time to get together. I was a bad girl and didn't take pics of the other two times...but we decided we were going to start at least taking pics of the kids so we could see how much they change...since we will be doing this for a long time :)


Brayden is Amy's little stud on the left, then Briggs (who is the baby), and Jennifer's two little beauties are Bella and Olivia.

Jennifer and I were both pregnant at the same with Briggs and Olivia. It was fun to have a pregnant friend who I saw every day at work. She was about a month ahead of me so she was a good source of knowledge and would help prep me for what was to come.

Amy was probably officially my first friend in Birmingham. When we moved here 5 years ago, she was my supervisor when I started with this job. Since then, we have ended up working at the same facility...roles changed and I eventually became her supervisor. We have been through many life events together...her meeting and marrying her best friend, getting to add sweet little Brayden to their family, Jason's (her husband) deployment to Afghanistan for almost a whole year and much more...Now we are just coworkers and good friends who love our babies and our patients.

I have a special connection with both these ladies and am very thankful for both of their friendships.

Saying "No"

Thought I would share this video. I've watched it at least 30 times a few times...and I laugh so hard EVERY. SINGLE. TIME...enjoy :)

Tulip Update

Back in October I had made a post (click here to see the first post) about planting tulip bulbs and was a little leery if they would turn out. Just wanted to update what they look like now...

I'm so excited they are blooming! I think it's actually early for them to bloom but since the weather is so warm...

I went ahead and snapped a shot of them, since the weather keeps changing...I wasn't sure what those cold nights might do to them. There are still a lot more bulbs to open up...I can't wait to see how they all look together!


And then of course...had to put a picture of my little buddy in front of them :)

Happy Valentine's Day

As we all know...today is Valentine's Day. Just wanted to share a pics and ideas from our house.

Briggs attends Mother's Day Out two mornings a week and today they had a Valentine's Day Party (yes...I know...for an 8 month old!). One thing I like about his school...no matter how old or young you are, they want you to be included in all the fun.

Here is a picture of Briggs with all his valentines from his friends...I think that face is so cute...he kind of looks like he is getting into something he shouldn't :)


I had been wanting to make some valentines for the grandparents and great-grandparents. We had to do two rounds of cards. I didn't have the right color of paint for the first round. I was wanting the traditional red and pink, but all I had was was purple and yellow...GEAUX TIGERS! So we just went with it...made a few purple and gold valentines while we had some help and then later Briggs and mommy made some red and pink ones together.

One day when "Aunt" Celeste came to visit, she helped us with the first round of cards. I can say from this little project...it was much easier with a helper. Either way, it was a fun idea that I got from another blog that I follow.


Here is Briggs with all his finished Valentines...he was so excited, he was squealing...you can probably almost hear him through this picture :)


And here is our finished product. This was the one we made for Daddy and slipped in his car last night so he was surprised when he left for work today.


Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Donations

Tis the season for cleaning out around the Poland house.


Got an old laptop that is ancient and barely works?...I never knew what to do with these things until my grandpa informed me...


Just drop it off at Best Buy. All I had to do was go to customer service and sign a piece of paper saying I was dropping it off to recycle the parts...and they take care of the rest...



And I'm a firm believer in cleaning out the house and closets at least twice a year. When I go through our closets..if we haven't worn it in a year...OUT OF HERE...

I know a lot of people would say have a yard sale...we have done that...it's just so much trouble and you might make $100 after sitting outside for 5 hours. Then I can barely handle people haggling you for a $.10 item...trying to talk you down to $.5....JUST GIVE ME THE DIME ALREADY...IT'S A DIME FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Anyway...we just call King's Home. All you do is sit your stuff out, labeled KH, they pick it up and you get a donation receipt to use on your taxes...win-win for everybody.


Just wanted to get the word out on some things you can do with your gently used items. And another idea...IF you are a yard saler...we have always just bagged up our unsold items and called KH to pick up.

Happy Donating!

Big Boy

Thought I would share a few of my recent favorite pictures of little buddy...

Briggs and Daddy...guess I should mention...Briggs' new favorite thing to say is dadadada...we are working on mamamamama...but it does make my heart melt when I see how much he loves his daddy.


Guess who is sitting up like a big boy!...and here he is playing with his favorite toy...Mr. Duck


Wanted to make sure everybody knows what team we are for :)


Briggs in mommy's favorite hat...with his favorite girl in the world :)


And here is Briggs' new trick. He likes sitting up so much that he doesn't like to sit back in his stroller


or in his bouncy seat...


My baby is growing up. This past weekend he learned to crawl and clap. It's been an exciting weekend and lots more fun things to come.

Oooey Goooey Cake

I had this dessert not too long ago..and it was SO YUMMY!...thought I would share it.

-Devil's Food Cake (make it like it says on the box)
-Poke holes on it when it comes out...like below (I used a toothpick)


-Pour a jar of caramel (ice cream topping) over the top of the cake while it's still a little warm
-Put it in the frig to cool everything down
-When it's cool...spread cool whip on top of the cake
-Bang up 3 butterfingers (I used a meat tenderizer) and crumble on top
-Store in the frig covered so the cool whip doesn't dry out