When I Was a Little Girl...

I’m sitting at my computer, Henley looks over my shoulder and sees an advertisement for an animated unicorn toy. Unicorns are all the rage for four year olds if you didn’t know. It’s $79 and she immediately says she needs it so much, like right now! I start trying to figure out for which occasion I could get this for her---Easter is all I got. We don’t typically get them gifts like this for Easter but if not then, when, her birthday and Christmas just passed.


A few days pass by. She hasn’t mentioned the unicorn but I’m still thinking of it, thinking of how excited she would be if I got it for her. She doesn’t need a unicorn. Why do I feel the need to get this for her? On Easter morning if she awakes to a basket full of candy-filled eggs and sidewalk chalk she will be just as thrilled. Will she look back and think of the unicorn toy she never got? What do I remember from being a little girl myself?


When I was a little girl I had a best friend that I was inseparable from. We had sleepovers and made friendship bracelets. We went to church together and even lived in the same neighborhood.


When I was a little girl I loved being outside. I would “paint” on the driveway at my papa’s house with water. I’d help him around the yard and pick oranges from the orange trees. I would make stinky mud pies with my brother. I would give concerts in my backyard, singing whatever tune was blaring from my mini cassette tape player, most likely Manic Monday.


When I was a little girl I remember being so excited to open a brand new box of crayons and a pack of colorful construction paper. I would make paper chains and color for hours with my mom and siblings.


When I was a little girl I remember having homemade cakes, made by my mom every year on my birthday, my favorite was a chocolate one that had pink ballet slippers on it.


When I was a little girl I remember eating pink heart shaped waffles with strawberries on Valentine’s morning and green shamrock waffles on St. Patrick's day.


When I was a little girl I loved writing in my journal or diary. I loved creating stories with illustrations. My characters usually were named Tiffany or Stacy and always had great friends, sometimes they even had a little sister just like me.


When I was a little girl I felt loved and taken care of. I was happy. I don’t remember if I had the latest and greatest toys, I assume not since we weren’t the most well off. I don’t remember taking elaborate trips or expensive vacations. I didn’t have the latest name brand shoes or clothes. I look back and remember being happy. I remember fighting with my siblings on long road trips to Georgia or North Carolina, taking special care to annoy my older brother. I remember stopping at rest stops to eat food my mother had packed, typically sandwiches or fried chicken. I remember rolling down small hills outside of our hotel room and catching fireflies.


In this world we live in, this world of more, we can easily get caught up with always wanting more. I myself am extremely guilty of this and have been working on it lately. I could go through the trouble to get this unicorn for her that would quickly start collecting dust in the corner in hopes of seeing my little girl light up, of winning the title of “best mom” in her mind. But honestly at the end of the day all I want is for my girls to feel more loved today than they did yesterday, to know that happiness doesn’t come in a box. I want them to look back at this time and remember dance parties in the living room, making cupcakes and messes in the kitchen, and an occasional skip out of school for a lunch date. I need to keep reminding myself of this, in the rush of life and the hustle of tomorrow we must always live in today, relish in sticky kisses and stinky feet, dirty floors and handprints on windows. Who knows, in December when her birthday rolls back around I might end up getting the unicorn but for today, I am just going to snuggle with my girls and enjoy this moment and keep creating memories for them to look back on.

Valentine Cuties

In an effort to keep working on being more creative this year, I decided to have a little photoshoot with the girls.  I found these adorable dresses at Old Navy and thought they would be perfect for Valentine pictures. My plan was to take the girls to the park with a few Valentine props to get some cute pictures. After nap we loaded everyone up and headed to the place I was thinking. This spot is at a small community center with great tree coverage and a playset. We go to pull in and see there is an event there, bummer but not terrible. We decide to head downtown for the park that is on the river---perfect scenery and the girls would have a nice playset to play on when we finished! We get to the first block of the downtown area and realize there is a Art Festival this weekend. Traffic, both car and foot, was terrible. We didn't even get near the park and I already knew it would be busy. We kept driving through and stopped at a little fountain in front of our hospital. The girls were not at all cooperative, upset there was no playground after all of this driving. I got a few but we decide to call it quits head back home to the playground by our house for the girls.

We pull in and there is a Lacrosse tournament of some sort happening, cars parked everywhere, games going on and big kids all over the park. We let the kids play for a bit but the older kids were just being too rough. I was annoyed, no pictures after an hour and a half, the girls were upset that they didn't get to play in the park, everyone was grumpy on the way home--myself included.

When we got home I decided to give the girls their much deserved lollipops and then try to see if I could snap a few cute pictures. The girls mostly cooperated and I got some cute pictures after all of that. Success finally!!!

In summary, we loaded everyone up, drove for an hour and a half around town and ended up getting pictures in our backyard. Such is life! At least I got some pictures to play with and had an opportunity to play around some more with Lightroom.

Enjoy some of my favorites!

I hope you are having a great weekend so far! 

All In A Touch

When my husband and I were engaged to be married, a family friend who would be our wedding officiant recommended a book for us to read titled "The 5 Love Languages". This book started out by explaining how everyone gives and receives love in different ways such as personal touch or quality time. The author then described the different love languages and there was a quiz in the back to see which love language we each had.

We've referred to the book many times, seeing how not only our love language affected our relationship but how our own love languages changed over time as our priorities changed. We came quite versed in these, taking the quiz a few times throughout our marriage. We also began recognizing and understanding others love languages through everyday interactions. When Henley was born she always needed us close by, even just to touch us with one hand. I knew from the start her love language was personal touch.

There were many, many hours spent driving around with my arm stretched into the backseat to hold her hand as she was rear-facing, even as young as two months old. Up until about a year ago, she would always have her fingers in her mouth and would pinch our hands or elbows with her other hand, sometimes causing pain with those tiny little nails. Hanging out before bed on the couch is typically spent touching side-by-side.  Even now, when I lay with her to go to sleep she is rubbing my arm or pinching my elbow.

Fell asleep at 17 months holding my hand through the crib

In the moment this can get tiring. My arm would ache on long drives being stretched towards the back of the car. After a long day of work I just wanted to be left alone, not constantly touching or being pinched. I may have snapped a time or two that I just need space, immediately feeling bad. Thinking back now, this little person was comforted just by touching our hand, all fears and concerns melted away. Her pinching your elbow became a great compliment, if she felt comfortable and trusted you, she would melt into you and would start pinching. 

Now that Macie is getting older we are already starting to see what we think her love language is, Word of Affirmation. Macie loves hearing she's done a good job. When she goes on the potty she pops up (before even wiping at times) and runs into the other room to tell Daddy "pee pee!!!" with so much excitement. She loves getting a rise and making people laugh, sometimes being a little mischievous but even then it's pretty cute. 

I'm not sure if these perceived love languages will continue as they get older but I love feeling like I have a one-up on them, knowing how they feel love and being conscious to let them be loved that way. If you haven't read the book I highly recommend it. It's interesting to see things you never really put into words describing exactly how you feel. 

Hope you guys are having a good weekend. I am glad for the weekend to be here, this Tuesday alone felt like two days long. 

First Snow

I've mentioned that we are in Virginia this weekend visiting family. We really hoped we would get to see snow since the girls have never seen it being from Florida and all. It doesn't look like we are going to see snow falling but we were able to go to a mountain and play in it. We went to Whitetail Resort in Mercersburg, PA, about an hour from my in-laws and the girls did some tubing. 

She kept eating the snow, I normally wouldn't have cared but it was dirty!

The snow pants were almost too much for me to bear, almost feel the need to plan something else cold so the girls have an opportunity to wear it again. 

Hope you are having a nice, relaxing Sunday. We definitely are.

Our Little Gymnast

Last August we started Henley in gymnastics classes. About a year earlier, when Henley was 2.5, we tried ballet classes and she hated it. It was a fight each week to get her to go into the class. She cried and fought until we finally decided it was not something she was interested in, or simply she was too young. A year later we did a free gymnastics class and she has loved it ever since. She runs right to the class each week without even looking back. She really enjoys the movements and activities they do and I have already noticed improvement in her flipping and balance beams. Last week she even did the high balance beam with some assistance.

My mom joined us last week for her class and I tried out the 25mm lens with my camera. I recently got an adapter for my Olympus to be able to use my husband's lenses on my camera and I'm having a blast so far.

It's so fun watching her get into something she likes. I'm torn between hoping she wants to develop her skill and praying we aren't spending every weekend in ten years traveling for gymnastic competitions. 

We are in Virginia this weekend for five days visiting my husband's mom and family. It's nice and cool here so we are going to enjoy some snow play today. My Florida girls have never seen snow so I am pretty excited to see them playing in it. Hope you are enjoying your Friday.

Santa Claus is coming to town...

Let's hope what he brings the girls isn't based on Macie's interaction with him. This picture cracks me up every time I look at it.

Merry Christmas to you and your families. I hope you have a great holiday and get in some much deserved rest and relaxation.

Disney World---Happiest Place on Earth

We are annual passholders as of recently to Disney World. In order to make these worth their while we are planning to go up to Disney three or four times in the next year. We went last week for Henley's birthday for about two days.

While I was watching Henley on a little train ride at Disney Springs, I was looking around at all of the kids faces, it's so amazing the joy. For the most part, the kids are so enamored with the characters and the rides and the parents are thrilled watching the joy on their kids' faces. Of course there was the overtired toddler and annoyed parent here and there but really for the most part it was pleasant. I really enjoyed watching the kids as much as their parents, especially during the Character meet and greets.

Even though we went just two months ago, I feel Macie has opened up even more to the rides and characters. She loved the Ariel ride and the Carousel, even saying "more horsey" over and over again. I mean, look at this face! Pure joy.

Henley of course was just as excited...

Happiest place on Earth....see you again real soon.

Motherhood...Don't Blink

As I laid in bed Saturday night, thinking back to when I had Henley it really hit me hard that she’s growing up and is turning into such a special little girl. On the other hand it’s only been four years since I joined this club of mothers but yet I feel like this is who I have always been. I can’t imagine a life without my girls now.

Being a mother isn't something that someone can tell you how it will be and you’ll get it. It’s nothing like you expect it will be, it’s so much more in every sense---better in some ways and harder in other ways.

A quote for me that sums up motherhood pretty well is this:

“Being a mother is learning about the strength you didn’t know you had and dealing with the fears you didn’t know existed.”

Looking back over the last four years I can easily agree with this quote. I am so much stronger than I ever thought possible (hello childbirth!). The bond with my husband has grown so much stronger, seeing a man loving on his daughters is the best. Motherhood, parenting in general really, does bring with it fears---fears something will happen, fears we're doing something wrong, fears that you aren't able to give them what they need or protect them from every element. I'm learning this is just a part of the deal---we do what we can and pray it's enough.

This journey has a lot more in store for me and my family. I look forward to all of the moments to come.

Here is my little FOUR year old yesterday at her party! Birthday details to come tomorrow…

Have a great week, hopefully it's a short one!

Mere

::Craftie:: DIY Halloween Queen of Hearts

Halloween is right around the corner and I start looking forward to Halloween in August. I love this time of year and I feel like preparing for Halloween really kicks off our Florida “Fall” (since the weather sure isn’t going to let us know the holidays are fast approaching). This year I was extra excited to get our costumes planned since we were planning a trip to Disney for the Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.

This year after some back and forth on various costume ideas, we decided on Alice in Wonderland. Henley was quick to claim the Queen of Hearts as her costume and the rest of us fell in line---Macie as Alice, me as the Cat, and Dad as the Mad Hatter.


One evening while trying to procrastinate bedtime, she was looking over my shoulder as I scrolled through Pinterest. She immediately pointed out one of the pins for her costume, of course it was the most involved of all of the Queen costumes we saw. After some attempts at persuading her to choose a different costume and losing at said negotiations, I took her selection as a challenge.


Admittedly, I was a little annoyed she picked an elaborate costume but once I broke down the individual pieces it came together pretty quickly.


First up was her shirt. I just took a black t-shirt and added a red glitter heart. I heat pressed Heat Transfer Vinyl for hers but there are a few different ways you could accomplish this same look (paint, stencil, iron-on, etc). I then picked up some white satin ruffle from Hobby Lobby and sewed it to the neck for a collar. The picture I was going off of used tulle for the collar but I was sure she would think it was itchy all night.

For the skirt, I used lots and lots of tulle looped around an elastic. I think in the end I used almost 8 spools of tulle. I tried to convince her to have a short tutu but in typical toddler fashion, her mind was made up.

Once I had the tulle tied on in the various colors I tied some black and white diamond ribbon on the sides of the front and knotted the black tulle to look like tufts.


Hobby Lobby sells glitter canvas material (located near the felt) is tons of great colors. I have used this for glitter bows in the past and thought it would be perfect for the hearts on the front of the skirt. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut them out and attached it to the white tulle using hot glue.


I ordered a headband from Etsy and picked up a wand at Toys r Us to finish it up, she couldn’t be more thrilled. It’s been finished for a few weeks as we were pretty busy and I wanted to allow myself enough time to complete. She has begged me off and on to let her wear it. Being the princess that she is, Queen is the next logical step in her reign.

Have you guys been DIY’ing any costumes for the littles? Please share!!

::Random:: Donut You Love Friday's?!

Does anyone not love Friday’s, I mean seriously?!


Friday’s around here mean donuts with sprinkles for the girls. We are usually running behind so these are typically eaten in the car, which as you can imagine doesn’t always end well. Nothing that a few wipes can’t handle though.


Today was even better since we had time to go inside to eat. Mama even got a pumpkin muffin which made me very happy!


Here’s to Friday’s and to sweet little girls with sweet little faces, literally.

Have a great weekend guys!

::Henley:: Sesame Street Live

Third post in a week--shocker right!!

Henley has recently been loving Elmo so when I heard Sesame Street Live was coming to town, I knew we had to get tickets. We had pretty close seats and Henley loved it. She was a little frustrated when she realized she herself would not be joining Elmo on stage but she stood there watching the show for a good 20-30 minutes. We clapped a little and swayed back and forth....after that though, all bets were off. The first half was 45 minutes and then there was an intermission. We left at intermission as we knew she wouldn't care and it was only 30 minutes or so before bed time. Here are some pictures from the night.

Overall I think she did great, especially for a 22 month old. The entire crowd was full of toddlers so no reason to worry about moving too much or making noise. Such fun!

Mere :-)

::Henley:: Pumpkin Patch

Fall in Florida isn't really like fall elsewhere around the country. There are no cool night breezes or leaves falling to the ground but there are pumpkin patches (albeit "man made" ones that are set up on busy street corners or parks but pumpkin patches nonetheless). Last weekend we took Henley to a pumpkin patch and snapped a few shots. She has been totally obsessed with pumpkins lately. She loved walking around and even picked out a small pumpkin of her own! We had just been the doctor for Henley's flu shot so this was a nice pick me up.

This weekend we went to a local park that was having a festival. There was a pumpkin patch and a train ride. Henley loved it all, she even saw a friend from school while she was there. Grandma and Aunt Allie joined us too.

 Look at that face---obsessed with "pumpas" I tell ya!

Happy Fall Y'all----now if only the cool weather would head this way!!!

Mere :-)