All aboard the birthday train

Well my baby boy is two! Kids' birthday parties are so much fun to plan. I think it's the inner child inside of me that gets excited when it comes to planning them. Have I mentioned before how lucky it is to have a graphic artist husband?

 This year we kept it small...just family and my best friend. For Nolan's birthdays we've invited 50 people before and it just becomes too stressful and I have to remind myself that he's 2 and it's not a graduation party! It's that guilt I have of hurting someone's feelings...goes right along with my mother's guilt I have constantly.

Once again, my cake lady didn't disappoint.

I love that Campbell was scared when everyone sang him Happy Birthday. Don't worry, Campbell, I'm scared of you growing up too.

The toys and games were all well received. In fact, it was quite an undertaking to convince both boys that the toys would still be there after nap time.

For this miserable heat we've been experiencing, I can't complain too much. There was a breeze! Allelujah! God love my family and friends for suffering through the heat for my baby. We had a little help staying cool.

All the kids were decked out in their party favor gear...engineer hats and train whistles and waiting for that train.

We boarded the train and no one put up a fight. Well, except birthday boy…he was not going to let me take him out of his Granddad's lap. It's too bad he doesn't spoil him or anything ;)

The train ride was a success. Saw tons of squirrels, horses (only in Texas), and even a raccoon!

And it was hard seeing that train leave…

It's hard to believe this one's birthday is right around the corner. Better start planning…

And the award goes to…

This summer I've really had time to actually read other mom blogs and I'm so inspired from them. It's nice having this world of technology so you can connect with other moms. Yes, my writing is therapeutic some days but one of my greatest joys that I feel about being a mom blogger is the instant connection that I feel with other moms.

It's like when you're shopping and you see another mom and you don't think twice to ask her what she thinks about a car seat or what her son/daughter prefers when it comes to food. Or like the time that I overheard a mom tell her daughter at Target that she was so cute that she wants to eat her and I ran up to her and said, "I say that too!"

It's like that.

So I must say that I'm very honored to have received these awards these past couple of weeks. I have no idea what I'm doing blogging and it's all trial by error, as is the rest of my life. Thank you ladies for this ego boost! Makes me feel like all the time and effort I put into the blog isn't wasted. Someone is actually reading this thing!

from Amanda at Chasing Twins in Louboutins

from Allie at  Table for 3...make that 4

from Chelsea at Adventures in Vandyland

There's rules for each of them but you know me, I think I'm special and don't have to follow the rules exactly. So I'm sort of combining what I like about each of them. 

So…here are 5 random things about me that you may not know. 

1. I was in the movie Leap of Faith with Steve Martin when I was in 8th grade. I remember going with a friend's youth group and literally being there for 12 hours and you can only see me flipping my hair for about 2 seconds in the movie. Still, I call it my claim to fame. 

2.  I always wanted a last name that started with "Mc". I just thought it had a good ring with Andrea. I remember thinking when I met Justin and found out that his last name started with "Mc" that I should really find out more about him.

 3. I love holidays...all of them. I love fireworks. They make me act like a 5 year old I swear. I'm totally obnoxious about Christmas music and like to decorate close to the Griswold level. 

4. I was adopted by my dad in 2nd grade. I distinctively remember praying that God would send me a dad as a little girl and He sent me the most loving, nurturing father I could have ever wanted. I've never met my biological father. I'm curious what he looks like since I'm the tallest thing that's happened to my family, but fear the hurt that it might cause my dad. 

 5. I love to sing to my children. I have always been self conscious about singing in front of others but singing to my children I feel safe from their judgment.

Next, I'm passing on some blogs that I'm really loving right now. Stop by and take a peek when you can. 

Busted Plumbing

Cute Links for You

For the Love of All Things Digital

Spilled Milk

The Vintage Pearl

Creativity by Crystal

Happy Birthday Campbell!

This is how we started celebrating this morning.






I'm sitting here is disbelief wondering how another year passed by. I read a quote recently that so perfectly portrays my life.

"For a mom, years fly by and days last years."

Especially this summer when I'm home all day, every day, I couldn't have said it better. Even though some days I would do anything for it to be night time and have a break, I'm glad those days last long and let me soak up every second of my boys during these years.

It's amazing how I can be so frustrated and wanting to pull my hair out and Campbell will just come up to me with those ridiculously big Disney eyes and say something…anything, and I immediately feel this overwhelming love for him. And in that moment, I'll just beg him to stop growing and stay the same. How is it that cuteness can make you have amnesia?

I can't believe that my baby boy is two. I made a little video to catalog his second year. Happy Birthday Campbell! You'll always be my Macaroni Campbelloni.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Campbell's birth story

I'm feeling rather nostalgic right now with Campbell's 2nd birthday coming up and wanted to share the upcoming events leading up to his birth.

Don't worry there will be NO talk of mucus plugs, placentas, or any other things that might make you want to second-guess eating before you read this post. {Whew!}

There was a lot of pressure building up to Campbell's arrival. My parents canceled their trip to a family reunion and my in-laws were on their way down from Kentucky "just in case" he came. I wasn't due until July 8th, so it was highly unlikely that he was coming this soon. What is the saying, "A watched pot never boils"?

I had contractions off and on for days, only for them to stop after 30-45 minutes. So when I started having contractions at 11:15 p.m. on June 27th, I didn't really think much of them. They were about 10 minutes apart. An hour later they were 8 minutes apart, and two hours later they were 5 minutes apart.

I think it's always so funny seeing men in the movies running around like crazy, driving to the hospital and leaving the wife behind at home. What was my husband doing, you ask? Let me re-enact it for you. It sounded something like this...."zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz huh? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" And that was after I told him that my contractions were 5 minutes apart and going strong for 3 hours. 

I wasn't too sure if I was in labor or not because I never experienced contractions with Nolan because I was induced. I called my mom and the doctor and they both said it sounded like I was in labor. So we headed to the hospital at 4 a.m. Up to this point, I was only dilated to a 2 at my doctor's office. But when they checked me at 5:00 a.m, I was a 3 but my contractions were really starting to space out. So we started planning where we would eat breakfast on our way home.

At 7 a.m., the doctor said I was dilated to a 4 and said, "Looks like we're having a baby!". After all this wishing that he would come, and then panic started to set in. I was admitted and they broke my water by 9:00 a.m. They gave me my epidural at 10:00 and checked me again. I was a 5.  Things slowed down a little bit for the next hour so they gave me more Pitocin to get my contractions closer together. Well that seemed to work because I went from a 5 to a 9.5 in 30 minutes.

He was still up pretty high so they let gravity do its work, and sure enough within two minutes of sitting up, it was time to push. Five contractions and twenty minutes later, Campbell Allen McDonald made his appearance into this world at 3:15 p.m. weighing 8 lbs. 1 oz and 19 1/4 inches. It felt like I was looking at Nolan all over again. Both were exactly a week and half early, the exact same height and only 3 oz. difference on their weight.

And no, I don't have a steel trap memory to remember every detail like this, although my husband would argue that I do. Thank goodness for my pregnancy journal because I had all of this written there. I'm so thankful that I wrote it down because there's no way I would have remembered those details and it makes me realize that all those hours of blogging, journaling, scrapbooking will be loved by my boys someday.

Here is a video of the pictures that Justin took of me while I was pregnant with Campbell. It almost makes me want to have another one...almost.

Fort Worth Scaredy Cats

To kick off Father's Day weekend, we packed up the boys and headed to a minor league Fort Worth Cats game. It's right by our house and it's so nice that we can kind of get our feet wet before he hit the major league baseball games with both boys. Last time, it didn't go so well with Nolan. Long story short... Nolan hates fireworks.

I'll admit I was preparing myself for a little bit of forced family fun since it was nearly 100 degrees that particular day and Campbell will not stay in any place for more than 5 seconds. But I was pleasantly surprised that both both were great during the game. Nolan was captivated by the players. Campbell was more captivated with the Cat mascot and pointed him out every minute of the game. We mentioned to Nolan that fireworks would be after the game. He seemed a little worried but said, "I'm going to be really brave, mommy. They're just lights in the sky, right mommy?" We just kept reassuring him that he was going to love them all the while thinking, "Hope he doesn't flip out."

I don't know what it is about baseball that just makes you happy. You just feel so American watching it. And the stadium is right by the river so we had a couple of people ride up on horses...only in Texas.

You could just see that Justin was eating up every second of having his boys there to watch the game with him.

Everything was going so well. I even thought for a moment...wow, things are getting so much easier now that both boys are getting older. Why do I do that to myself? Why do I allow myself to let my guard down? The Cats won and then it was fireworks time. We didn't know the stadium was going to go pitch black.

Cue the meltdown...

Then the fireworks started....and so did the crying screaming. I know the people in front of us were hating us. Justin had Campbell and I had Nolan and in unison we were holding both of their ears and pleading for them to calm down. To make matters worse, we chose to sit closest to the fireworks and so they were really close. At this point we're so far away from the car that by the time we'd get to the car, the fireworks would be over. So we just toughed it out. It was one loooooong fireworks show. I think Nolan said, "Is it over yet?" at least 30 times.

That's it, I'm buying earmuffs for the 4th of July.

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

For those of you wanting to skip this post because you can't stand seafood....WAIT! So do I! I can't stand it. Something just freaks me out about it. I'm not sure if it's the way it looks but mostly it's that fishy taste I can't stand. I wouldn't come within 10 feet of a fish when I met my husband, but he's changed my ways....sort of. That man is a human garbage disposal and ate something with tentacles on our honeymoon. No thanks, I'll pass on the octopus. This is a very mild fish. Like I said, I like fish as long as it doesn't taste like it.

So if you're looking for a quick (15 minutes for the fish), healthy meal (200 calories) for the family...this is it.

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

Ingredients: 
2 pounds of Tilapia fillets
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp celery salt

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven's broiler for a couple of minutes, and grease a broiling pan, or line with aluminum foil (I do this for quick clean-up).

2. In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise, and lemon juice. Season with dried basil, pepper, onion powder, and celery salt. Mix well and set aside.

3. Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over, and broil for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven, and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes, or until the topping is browned, and fish flakes easily with a fork. 

I make it with wild rice and either carrots, green beans, or broccoli. You know it's a hit when my picky eaters love it. It's so delicious! And here's proof!

The joy with boys

/dʒɔɪjoy–noun

1. the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation.

2. a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated. 
3. the expression or display of glad feeling; festive gaiety.

4. a state of happiness or felicity. 
5. to feel joy; be glad; rejoice.

 I know I complain. But this is what makes it all worth it. Every.single.second.

Top 10 {Dad style}

 And here are the Top 10 reasons that I know that I married the best father for my children:

10. He makes me laugh...even at his crazy corny dad jokes. From day one I fell in love with his sense of humor and my boys think he's the funniest person alive. And life isn't worth living without laughter.

9. He puts up with my Forced Family Fun better known as FFF. Bluebonnets, family pictures ALL.THE.TIME, you name it...he's right there with me playing along even it it's torture for all of us.

8. He's a hands-on dad. Diaper changing, T-ball, bath time, cooking...

7. He's silly...like he can be down right run-through-the-sprinkler-like-a-5-year-old silly.

6. There's no doubt that my children love him because he loved them first.

5.  He looks up to his dad and everything his dad did for him during his childhood and wants to be just like him to our boys.

4.  He loves and respects me and isn't afraid to show our boys.

3.  He's INSANELY talented...it's really quite sickening. Artist, Athlete, Intelligent, Musical...he can do it all. Aaaannd, he wants to teach our boys.

2. He takes time to have to have one-on-one time with each of the boys so that they each feel like they're having some bonding time.

1. Lastly, because he's ..... just him. Everything about him. How could you not love this?

We love you, Justin. You are simply THE perfect father for our boys. I couldn't do it without you. Our family wouldn't be complete without you! Happy Father's Day!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com