Our last full day in London involved sleeping in after a late night from our Paris day trip. I slept and snuggled Beau and Ben brought breakfast back to the room. A perfect recovery from a long day the day before. I didn't really have a lot planned for this day of the trip, but it evolved naturally and was the best day. on our London trip just two years before, one of our favorite days involved walking down the Thames from the London Eye to the tower of London. It's a good long walk but we loved it. We ended up doing the exact same thing on our last day!

We stopped for some photos with beautiful Big Ben in the background. It was a cloudy day, perfect for Beau to not be squinting in the sun!

Edited by 314 Productions

Editing by 314 Productions

We loved walking down the river.. and then we stopped at the Borough Market for lunch!

The photo above was taken to record the recipe for the most delicious wrap ever!! Haha. It was literally just a tortilla with a smear of mayo on it, some rotisserie chicken, some arugula salad, and a squirt of chili sauce. SO YUMMY!

The next morning we headed out to the airport, and finally felt ready to go home! After 17 days I expected to be homesick so much sooner, but we always love long trips, and this one felt the shortest of them all. We loved exploring with our boy!

I was SO excited to see the electrical socket and tv!! I was recently chatting with a friend about things I'd keep the same about the beginning of parenting with a second child, and if we could replicate a trip like this, we'd be thrilled! 

Ps. Happy Halloween! Stay tuned for too many photos of Beau in his Halloween costume!

What's Up Wednesday- October 2016

1: WHAT WE’RE EATING THIS WEEK:

A great story about my life this week.. I totally forgot my Wal Mart grocery pickup. So, we're eating nothing. :) Just kidding, we had a tex mex chicken and rice soup on Monday, and have a few dinner commitments over the rest of the week!

2. WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT:

A year ago this weekend we announced my pregnancy with Beau. I didn't even know the joy ahead of us but I was already so happy!

3: WHAT I'M LOVING: 

Beau is in a REALLY great stage. He's happy, napping well, staying awake for a lot of the day and having fun.. and he's wearing my favorite outfit on him in the photo above. I love being this boy's mama!

Annnnd.... did you know Nordstrom has curbside pickups and returns in some stores? The other day I literally had Nordys Drive Thru and got this shirt. Haha! I think this will come in so handy when I need something but don't want to take Beau into the mall! If you're wondering about the shirt, I'd highly recommend. I realized I didn't have a plain white t shirt and this one really fit the bill. It's incredibly soft!

4: WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO:

I went on a quick girls getaway to Waco to get a new sign for our dining area! 

My bestie found out that she's having a BOY in March! YAY!! I can't wait to share the boy mama life with my dear friend! Ps ignore the height difference it's fine. :) 

LOTS of pumpkin patching has been happening for us.. I kind of want to go back one last time! 

Crafting with my boy, I'll share more about that soon! :) 

30 minutes a day, every day are spent feeding Beau avocado or sweet potato. :) 

5: WHAT I’M DREADING:

nothing! :) 

6: WHAT I’M WORKING ON:

It's been a busy few weeks and  I've been trying to get us as settled into our new home as possible! A huge last thing will be checked off when our sectional is finally delivered this Saturday after a 6 week wait!

7: WHAT I’M EXCITED ABOUT:

I love photos. A LOT. And this has been a few weeks of OODLES of photos. Let me break it down for ya. :) Two weeks ago, Beau had photos taken with his cousin Meg and his Granny and Pop. Today he has a portrait at Janie and Jack, and tonight we have Strader family portraits. Saturday we have Beau's 6 month photos & our Christmas card photos, and Monday is Halloween and you know I'm not going to not take a photo of Beau's first Halloween. I can't wait to see and share all of these precious images with y'all! 

8: WHAT I’M WATCHING/READING:

I'll be doing an update on my recently read books soon, but I LOVED Emily Ley's Grace Not Perfection. Thanks so much EL Team for sending a copy my way. I love this brand and this mission so incredibly much! 

9: WHAT I’M LISTENING TO:

I've read Young House Love for years, but now I'm addicted to their podcast!

10: WHAT I’M WEARING:

new favorite flannel (I love the color scheme) + jeans + booties

One of my family photo outfits: dress + booties 

My favorite jeans + a cute new top from Matilda Jane, to order use tiffanywalker@matildajaneclothing.com as your trunk keeper at checkout!

And let's be honest, I've had a whole lot of use out of my favorite leggings and tennies as we've settled into our new home. Last month's What's Up Wednesday was skipped because we closed on our old house and new home that day and I didn't want to say anything about it until everything went through!

Sweater + Skirt 

11: WHAT I’M DOING THIS WEEKEND:

We have some very, very, VERY exciting visitors coming in town! :) And we're taking Beau's 6 month photos/our Christmas card pics, and celebrating Halloween with friends and family and a pumpkin baby! 

12: WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

Beau's baby dedication, Thanksgiving, and continuing to settle into our house! :) 

13: WHAT ELSE IS NEW:

Bonus question this month: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HALLOWEEN MEMORY?

I have a feeling it will happen on Monday, when my baby is a pumpkin. :) 

A Quick Magnolia Mission

It is so crazy to me that people travel from all over the country to visit Waco, the home of Magnolia. I've been to the silos a handful of times (here and here), and even went to a home show at Chip and Joanna's farmhouse a few years ago. There's no denying it's a great place to pick up a few pieces for your home. I had selected a particular sign online that I really wanted for our new dining room. If I ordered it online, the ship time was 3-4 weeks and I was going to pay for shipping a heavy sign.. no thank you! I was also really wanting to visit the new bakery on the Silo property.. With Waco just a few hours away, it was an easy afternoon trip with my bestie! 

What I'm Wearing: Shirt, Jeans, + Booties

There was fall inspiration everywhere but we jetted inside to get my sign. As soon as we asked about it, we were told that it was sold out in store and... I would have to order it online. Sigh! Long story short, there was one hanging on the wall and I asked if I could buy it and after the sales gal asked the manager they said yes! YAY! As you can see above I was thrilled. Right about this time, Kayla's brother's girlfriend and her friend met up with us for their first trip to the silos, and we all had a great time exploring. There was a tent sale going on and I got Ben a t-shirt for 40% off. 

The bakery was a huge highlight. The goods were AMAZING, and I know my baked goods!

Everything was just really well done and I loved it. We sat on the patio in the shade and it was great to just get to soak up the environment. 

 Success!! Leaving with the sign!

After hanging out at the silos for a few hours, we went to dinner at Shorty's pizza shack. It finally felt like fall as we ate their signature "pizza pillows" and hung out on the patio. We also ordered delicious garlic parmesan knots. Yum! The restaurant is owned by one of my favorite Fixer Upper couples from season 3!

The next morning we moved the sign directly from my car to the wall.. yay! I love it and it's a perfect fit. When I snapped this photo I realized "no color allowed!" :)

After hanging the sign I got Beau up from a nap.. do you think he's ready for his monthly haircut this week? Haha!

I then slicked his hair down for a photo in his game day attire! 

I had ordered the Magnolia magazine online before I knew I was going to the Silos and it arrived on Saturday. The magazine didn't disappoint at all, I loved it! 

One last photo of the group reuniting not too long after our Magnolia trip to watch the Aggies play. 

Hope y'all had a good weekend, too! 

A Day in Paris with My Boys

When I share from our travels, I always seem to start off full speed ahead, and then get distracted sharing other things that have been going on in our lives. Especially because we usually visit so many cities! I've not been shy about taking about how much Ben and I loved traveling with Beau, but even now as I look back at these photos I'm thinking about how fun it would be to do another one of these trips. I have no idea of our travel plans for next year (except I REALLY want to do Disney World) but thinking about more international travel with my babes makes my heart so happy!

Towards the end of our planning, I just kept thinking about how we were going to be so close to Paris. We were already planning on being in London for the week, so I suggested to Ben that we do a Paris day trip. I asked if he thought this would be too hard on Beau, etc. At this point we actually knew Beau, knew his demeanor, and so we decided to go for it! Paris is the city where I was born so it's extra special to me that Beau has already visited, even being so young. As I went through these photos I thought I should mention that I don't just command that Ben be an instagram husband, haha! He really enjoys photography and taking beautiful photos. From both of our pumpkin patch trips we have almost no photos of him, because he was taking photos of everyone there. Stunning photos, honestly. A few of the photos from today were taken by Ben and then edited by my talented friend Nicole. She really got me thinking about how if we would get our acts together and learn how to beautifully edit photos, I would feel like we have professional photography everywhere we go. Hmm.

We took the Eurostar there and back from London, and as you can see, Beau liked it just fine! We left pretty early, and got back pretty late. But it was a full, sweet day. Our goal was to see a few things that we had missed on our last trip to Paris, and to enjoy the overall feel of the city. 

Our first stop was the Palais Royale, by the Lourve. I loved this palace because, especially at 9am, there were only a few other people there. Including a French male fashion blogger and his photographer, which was incredibly fun to watch. I could tell they were a real deal situation and it was intriguing! 

The palace, and the environment with cool weather, was amazing! We fed Beau while we were there and just soaked in the beauty. 

The architecture in France just gets me every time!

I held up Beau to take a photo and clearly he was NOT a happy boy! I wouldn't remember he had gotten upset if it wasn't for this photo, he was so good during this whole day trip. I honestly love this photo. Sad baby is so cute, and he looks so teeny tiny. Babies don't keep. 

These lanterns were one of my favorite details of the whole day. Only in Paris are there beautiful fixtures everywhere you look! 

After enjoying the palace we hit the streets, and walked down the Seine to Sainte Chapelle. We stopped on our way to walk through the beautiful Lourve grounds. 

This random snap made us laugh so much. #diva

Paris is one of those cities where the environment in itself is just so enjoyable. 

I had no idea Ben took this photo until I started gathering photos for this post, but I thought it was kind of cool. You can tell I'm just in awe of the beautiful city!

Sainte Chapelle has beautiful stained glass depicting the bible from Genesis to Revelation. It was stunning! 

One thing I will note is that the staircase to get up into the chapel was teeny tiny. We took turns staying with the stroller and going up to look at the glass, so that was kind of a bummer. We didn't really realize how tiny the aisle was so we thought the worker was telling us we couldn't take Beau up there at all. I wish we would have known and understood and put the stroller in the secure stroller area, and taken him up with us to enjoy as a family. You live and you learn. :) 

A yummy lunch at Cafe de Flore was next on the agenda. Best service I've ever had in France. :) 

Even just the table had so many beautiful details!

Beau was in a great mood. :) We then took a long walk through the city to the Eiffel Tower. Madame Eiffel never gets old!

When we first got there Beau just wanted to snuggle his mama, which resulted in one of my favorite photos. Look at his sweet little popped collar. I'll also note that I didn't put shoes on Beau this day because I was afraid we'd lose them! haha! 

edited by 314 Productions

Where are all my photos of Ben and Beau at the Eiffel Tower? Womp womp. It's sweet though, because Ben knew how important this day was to me and so he made sure to get some beautiful photos of me and my baby.

Around the Eiffel Tower was tourist central (no thank you!) so we set off for a snack (nutella crepes, of course!) and decided to head back towards the Palais Royale. We had enjoyed it so much and the weather had gotten a ton warmer. We wanted a quiet, lovely place to enjoy and we knew there was plenty of shade there for Beau. 

The next photos are some of our favorites from the whole trip. Beau was in a phenomenal mood and was posing like the little sweetheart he is. 

All these images edited by 314 Productions

We then decided to stroll through the city, grab a quick dinner, and head to the train station. We were a bit early but the thought of missing our train was very stressful to us, haha! The train home took a bit longer because the electricity in the chunnel went out and we had to wait until it was fixed. It was the best feeling ever when we arrived back at our tiny London hotel room. The day was so wonderful and was a perfect little piece of France in our trip!