first snow of 2016

theres not much that i love more than a good snow. i pray every snow will be like the blizzard of '93. i remember my brother and i making a bobsled course through the landscaped hill that was TO DIE FOR. we had gone over the same exact spot so many times that it was a sheet of ice. we even built an igloo. our parents say we lost power and stuff like that, but i only remember how much fun we had. one  of my best childhood memories…but alas, every snow is always only about 3" or less. its always lame, but i take what i can get here. 

so anyways, cal was supposed to be going to kentucky the day we got our first little snow. first snow in our new house, i should add. i was so disappointed. i HATE when cal has to be out of town and was begging friends to come over and drink rosé with me. haha. he ended up not being able to get to kentucky because of the weather and i was THRILLED that he turned around and came back. we all rejoiced because now i didn't have to take the kids out to play one at a time. hahaha. simms LOVED the snow. ellis LOVED the snow. vance touched it and cried for about 15 minutes. good ole vancearoni and cheese. cal claims he's just like me but um.. i love snow.

last night, winter storm jonas was supposed to hit us. the weathermen didn't seem to know what it was going to do, which always makes me nervous…so of course we stocked up on THE TO DIE FOR moonshine mountain cookies (if you live in knoxville, its brand new and in the shopping center by doc's all american grill) then ran to the store so we wouldn't be stranded without lunch and dinner. i kid you not, there were maybe 4 loaves of bread left in the bread aisle. so we got what we needed, grabbed some chinese food, and headed home to watch the revenant and the h8ful eight (shout out to aaron for loaning them to me!)

we hardly got a dusting this round, while literally everywhere around us got POUNDED. but again, i take what i can get around here. we were supposed to be heading to the moon taxi show tonight, but it got moved to tomorrow because of the "snow." so heres a "non fashion" outfit as cal calls it…."non fashion" is apparently his favorite :| hopefully i can redeem myself with a "fashion" outfit for the concert tomorrow.

snow #ootd details:

shirt- craft and commerce t-shirt *MAJOR SALE*

sweater- patagonia from a couple years ago

coat- green is sold out now, but white is on sale!

jeans- mother skinny jeans in the looker or without rips here

boots- a couple years old, ugg becloud boots... similar here

bracelet- full moon bracelet by annika kaplan 

sunglasses- ray ban erika

earrings- cloverpost mountain studs from obligato & peace sign studs from kimball's

ya'll shoot me any questions or suggestions about what the hell i should write about!

My new default outfit...

yes i have one. for the days i don't want to think. the days i have a mount everest of laundry to do. you know the days. it used to just be leggings and a tshirt….but i've learned that makes me feel like crap about myself. I WANT TO FEEL PRETTY. even if i don't look it. ha! So if its above 40 degrees or so… heres my uniform:

So first off the leggings. I ordered a pair of faux leather leggings from zara a while ago and they are so damn hot (like temperature wise) and they kind of make me feel claustrophobic. so i'm saving them for going out…you know the 3 times a year we're out sans kids. so i was keeping my eyes peeled for a more comfortable/less hot pair. Stumbled upon these gems at target one day when i ran in for baby spoons. they're $16 and heavenly. i even wash AND dry them.

outfit dets:
jacket- forever21. its sold out now but they have this similar one
sweater- vince. it was splurge but its on sale here now
vegan leather leggings- target
shoes- nike
bag- celine mini luggage in black. they don't sell online :| consignment here
sunglasses- miu miu noir catwalk
earrings- dior knockoffs
watch- the horse
bracelet- miansai screw cuff or similar here


And if its really cold out. i swap jackets for my moncler bady puffer and throw on this $8 target beanie













ps. i will ALWAYS hate this side of the camera. but thanks to my sweet huz for the pics.

ELLIS & VANCE TURN ONE!

i absolutely cannot believe its been a year since the boys were born. 3 months in the nicu and 9 months home. they still really feel so young to me though since they are so small and still pretty behind compared to other, full term, one year olds. they're acting like 9-10 month olds.. which is fine! i felt like i was missing out on having babies since they were in the nicu so long. but its actually the opposite because preemies stay babies longer! they are babbling allll the time. ellis talks more than vance. vance never sits still and is crawling everywhere. ellis army crawls or just lays around playing. they are both starting to pull up on things. they both are working on getting their 8th tooth, and all of their teeth have come in at the same place at the same time. pretty crazy. ellis wants real food. vance wants baby food. so alike but so different. ellis is social and vance is more reclusive. they can still wear 3-6 month clothes, if they aren't long sleeved. their arms and legs are really long though, so they need 6-9 months for long sleeved clothes. i can't wait to see what they weigh at the doctor this week. they've been in size 3 diapers for what seems like forever. they go to bed at 7:30 pm sharp (they're serious about their bedtime) and wake up at 8:30 am. they're sleeping champs and only cry if they've lost one of their pacis. they love each other and are always looking to find where the other one is. its really sweet. i love seeing their bond. heres a photo from the morning of their first birthday!

and holding their first photos from the nicu:

we had their party yesterday at the house. cal always says my parties are "over the top" but i just really like party planning and if you start planning it enough in advance and do little bits each day, its really not a big deal. i wanted to do a noah's ark theme since noah had 3 sons and loved the idea of "2 by 2" for a twin birthday party.

the happy birthday banner and gold pumpkin were from our local target. white pumpkin and gold skull were from home goods (similar skull here) 

God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all the creatures on earth." Gen 9:17

the party favors were jars that i picked up at hobby lobby (buy them online here for $1.49 each) and glued these baby zoo animals (i bought two packages) on and then just spray painted metallic gold. the sour rainbow bites were from kroger (similar here) and i used about 19 ounces for 10 party favors and just one 10oz bag of marshmallows.

i made the animal garland with the $1 plastic figurines from kroger and screwed in a screw eye bolt and spray painted them. the rain clouds were from tissue poms from hobby lobby and i cut some rain drops and threaded them with a thin string.

i iced animal crackers for toppings on our cupcakes. DISCLAIMER: this is SO MUCH harder than i thought. hahah!

for their birthday guestbook i got a vintage noah's ark book from etsy. 

their primary nurse in the nicu, stephanie, came and i totally cried when i saw her. she was such an angel during a really difficult time. we love you stephanie!

in typical fashion, ellis loved his cake and vance wasn't interested… probably one of the many reasons that vance is still so much smaller than ellis. big boy ellis LIKES TO EAT!

annnnnd you know who was caught stealing cupcakes… the one and only big brother simms...

their favorite part of the day was definitely getting cleaned up after the cake smash. these boys love water!

THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us in so many ways during this last year. it truly takes a village and we couldn't have done it without our village. i never thought 3 boys would be so much fun, but i can't imagine anything else! PRAISE BE TO GOD.

one month old!

ok. so. they were technically one month old yesterday but we were caught up in an amazing open house shower for the boys for most of the day... so today we did their official one month pictures:

vance is in the white and ellis in the gray. they're still in mostly preemie clothes. ellis can't fit into the really small preemie clothes anymore, which makes sense since he is 6 lbs 8 oz and vance is 5 lbs 10 oz today. they look much more like full term newborn size in pictures, but still look super tiny in person. they are doing absolutely amazing. the ONLY thing keeping them from coming home is their feedings. last week they would offer them the bottle every other feeding (and feeding tube the others) and whatever they didn't finish in their bottle they would put in their feeding tube. this week they are offered the bottle for every feeding and then what they don't finish is put into their feeding tubes. ellis is on 52ml and vance is on 48ml. i would say that they average half a bottle per feeding, sometimes they take the whole thing, sometimes they take a like 5mls, and then the majority of the time they take half. so they are progressing, but it feels so slow. of course no one knows for sure when they will come home, because it all depends on them eating all their bottles, but most are guessing a week or two.

on another note i want to thank everyone that came to our shower yesterday, especially those that threw it for us. it was such a gift in so many ways. we absolutely loved seeing everyone! one of my nurses (barb) even stopped by! we really just needed the big ticket items like carseats, strollers, bassinets, etc and so my mom, stepmom, and best friend had it be a cash/gift card shower (plus we got some awesome gifts too!) its obvious how loved these boys are by so many and i can't wait for them to be able to meet everyone that has prayed for them and supported them along the way (even though it may take a while for that to happen with rsv/flu season)

besides feeling like i am running on all cylinders, i am doing pretty well! still some sore from surgery, still sick of pumping all day and night, still wishing there were more hours in the day. i have so much to be thankful for this year and i'm looking forward to celebrating that on thursday :)

oh!! and so i don't leave out the best big brother out…heres a photo from his bubble bath tonight: