100 Stickers

For months Kate has been asking me to get her ears pierced.  Months.  So, months ago, after several months of her asking, we started a sticker chart.  I believe it was February.  I told her if she got 100 stickers, she could get her ears pierced.  (I was kind of thinking more along the lines of age 8 or so, but I was able to budge on this on.)

Kate received stickers for making her bed, brushing teeth in the morning, going to the bathroom without prompting, putting dishes/toys away, being kind, etc.  And, tonight, she got her 100th sticker.

And instead of waiting for the weekend where we'd have more time to revel in this amazing accomplishment, she decided we'd go tonight to get her ears pierced.  I can't blame her.  It has been months!  (You got that, right?!)

So, we drove up to Claire's at Tuttle Mall.  Kate picked out the color of studs she liked and boom.  She got her ears pierced one at a time.  And she is a walking version of heart eyes!

Well done, my darling!  What a great job at setting a goal, working towards it, and getting what you want!  I am so impressed!  And they look beautiful!

Super excited about this moment!

Ears are marked and now it's time to get serious!

Left one goes in!

And before she could say no to the right one it went in too!

Freshly pierced ears!

With turquoise studs!  ❤

Maya's First Haircut

I took Maya to get her first official haircut today!  I took her to the same place that we took Kate - Cookie Cutters - and I think Maya enjoyed it!  She's been with me to get my haircut and has seen Kate get hers cut too, so she was more than excited for it to be her turn!  Plus a surprise egg and a lollipop at the end never hurt!

Well done, beautiful girl!  You did a fantastic job!

Rise and shine!  It's haircut time!!

She chose the pink car to sit in.  #allpink

Ready to drive; but not so sure about the haircut thing...

Here we go!

So sweet.

And a little braid to top it off!

Be still my beating heart!  She takes my breath away!

Surprise egg!

We still don't even know what that is...

Amy's White Coat Ceremony

My sister, Amy, is in PA school in Richmond, VA.  She is one of the hardest working women I know.  And she just got her white coat at a ceremony that we weren't able to make.  I was bummed that we couldn't make the trip work, but I am so, SO proud of her accomplishments thus far and am so excited to see what the future holds for her.  Congratulations, Amy!

Love this photo of my Mom and her youngest
granddaughter, Heidi.

Quintessential Amy photo!

Proud parents!  (And one super intriguing necklace!)

Proud Grands!

Spring Photos

We received photos back from Kate's Spring portraits and Sibling portraits.  These are Kate's last preschool photos.  The next photos she gets will be school photos in Kindergarten.  So here is what I want to remember about these:

-Kate rarely wears her hair like this.  But she wanted to today.
-She looks so little in this photo, but somehow she seems so big to me.
-She is SO excited to start Kindergarten and I am SO excited for summer!
-She 100% put her outfit together, and Maya's too.  Sometimes they want to match and sometimes they don't.
-They love each other more than anything.  Kate is the absolute best thing in Maya's world and their sweet hugs goodbye and hello at school each morning seriously tug on my heart strings.

Time, please slow down.

xo,
me

Spring Polar Bear.

My babes.

Also, Kate really wants to be a part of her friend Mia's
family.  Like, even sit in for photos.
They settled for this one!

Cleanings...and Cavities

My little ladies went to the dentist today for teeth cleanings.  Unfortunately, we learned that Kate has five cavities.  Five.  My heart sunk.  Three are very small.  (Thankfully.)  Two are very big, like, most likely will need caps big.  I am devastated.  I have had cavities and caps my whole life.  Brian has not had a single cavity.  Looks like my little love inherited my chompers.  Sorry, babe.  What's even more is they don't make white caps for kiddos.  They are still stainless still silver looking.  There is something seriously missing in this market right now.  How have kiddo caps not changed in 30+ years?!

Anyway, our dentist mentioned that were her cavities are located they are most likely caused from snacking.  As in eating more than 3 meals and 2 snacks.  He said that she can have a bite of a carrot and that's considered a snack.  Conversely, so are jelly beans, obviously.  But we really need to try to stick with 3 meals and 2 snacks.  Done.  We will try.

The was the absolute last thing I wanted to hear from our dentist, but I guess there's nothing I can do about it now.  In better news, Maya's teeth were clean and sparkling from our visit.  It was her first official visit with a cleaning and so far we are good on her chompers.  (Also, thankfully.)

She is ready!

At least she thought she was...

Kate goes first!

Maya gets geared up!

Like a pro!

Picking out stickers and prizes.  The best part!

UPDATE: Kate received her fillings and caps with windows in two separate appointments over the summer and did phenomenally.  She was so good and even though the caps are visible if you are looking for them, they are not as bad because we had our dentist cut windows in them so that more of her tooth would show.  #success

It always seems like I stress over something and my kids handle it like champs.  They are so strong and brave and they surprise me every time.  What resilience!

The Makeover

Sometimes you find yourself in a rut and in desperate need of a change in order to get yourself out of said rut.  That is how I've felt with our blog.  I can't keep up.  I can't even catch up.  I didn't care for our "look".  I didn't care for our set up in our posts.  I didn't care for the time it was/is taking me to accomplish my goals that seemlingly keep not getting accomplished because of the inefficiency of the way I've been doing things.

Well, folks, it's time I put a stop to it all.  I AM GETTING CAUGHT UP AND I'M STAYING CAUGHT UP ONCE AND FOR ALL!  (I've convinced myself if I write it in all caps and send it out in the bloggerific world it'll actually happen.)

I've got the following months to catch up on:

October 2015
November 2015
December 2015
June 2016
July 2016
August 2016
September 2016

And I'll be getting them all done in some sort of fashion - I'm hoping sooner rather than later but time will only tell.  (I may have had these same hopes before...)

I've updated our "look" by finding a neat background, throwing it in photoshop, fiddling for a few minutes and calling it ours.  While I'm not 100% happy with the look yet, I'm light years beyond how I felt it was so I'm calling that a win. 

I'm also going back to posting my albums as one photo in my post with a link to all the other photos.  The only exception I can think of to this will be videos or quickie posts that don't warrant an entire album.  The reason I went to posting photos in posts instead of albums is because a.) I didn't think people were seeing the full albums, and b.) I thought it would be easier.  Turns out, the people that will want to see the full album will, and it's not easier...so back to albums it is.  The other plus with the albums is I get to keep my photos organized by album, can share with other friends and family if I just want to send them the album, and my photos aren't itsy bitsy teensy weeny.  I've kept this blog for OVER SEVEN YEARS mainly as our family record keeper, but also to keep my fam and friends in the loop.  WE DESERVE REAL PHOTOS!  Not postage stamp size images.  That completely defeats the purpose of record keeping to me.

SO, in lieu of all of this, as I complete a month that I am behind on, I will link it to the respecting month above.  I will attempt to keep future months up to date but have not yet decided if I will post them yet or not.  That's how I end up with these gaps of months that I am behind on.

It's time to get caught up and enjoy this lovely space that we call ours.

This is OUR blog.  It is a priority.  This is our life.  And it's the little moments like these that make it all worth living.

#doglife  #shelovespups
#butihopeshedoesntreallythinksheisadog
#carefreelivin  #mayabear

Amen.

Trip to Maryland: Days 11-13

Our last leg of our Maryland trip was filled with fun!  More milestones, more family time, more photos:

SATURDAY, JUNE 4th

We were lucky enough to stay through the weekend to attend my niece, Fiona's, first birthday party and to put together a little first birthday video!  It was so fun to be there for this!

The birthday girl and her parents!

Shanel, Fiona, and Kate!

These two lovebirds attended my Mom's high
school reunion.

SUNDAY, JUNE 5th

 

While I went out with my best friend, Tamara, for lunch, a storm
rolled in.  I caught the tail end of it and definitely enjoyed watching
Kate run through the big puddle formed from the rain all while belting
a rendition of Phil Collins' "Strangers Like Me".

More cousin time!  Maya, Kate, and Fiona.

More Uncle T being funny time:

MONDAY, JUNE 6th

 

We kept it very easy on Monday since we were flying out and enjoyed lunch at home with my Mom.  Then we headed to the airport.

Peeking through the seats at the people behind us.

Kate and Maya were phenomenal on both flights - on our way to Maryland and on our way back to Ohio.  It was amazing to spend so much time in my home state.  I miss it.  Being there for an extended amount of time made me miss it even more, but I am forever grateful for the opportunity to go and the time that I did have with all of these incredibly special people.

I am so looking forward to our next Maryland stop.

Trip to Maryland: Days 6-10

This is continued from yesterday's post. Here are days 6-10 from our delightful trip to Maryland:

MONDAY, MAY 30th

Maya and Crystal - The girls and I stopped by my college friend,
Brandi's, on Monday morning for breakfast with her family.

She has a little girl, Crystal, and a little boy, Brandon, and Kate
and Maya loved hanging with them!

TUESDAY, MAY 31st

Mom, Scott, Kate, Maya and I headed
to the Enchanted Forest for a little play.

Maya and Gramma.

Maya, Gramma, and me.

These rolling hills enthralled me.  After being in flat Ohio for
so long, I had forgotten how beautiful Maryland is.

My darling girl on the hay ride.

My darling girl inside a whale's mouth.

My darling girl with Pop Pop.

We found some adorable goats to pet!

I mean, they were so tiny but so cute!

Kate made a friend, Evie, who fed the goats with her.

Kate and Evie...

Getting up close and personal with this guy!

Gramma gets to hold a baby goat!

Maya wants to hold baby goat too!  That girl has no fear.

Kate rode a pony for the very first time!

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1st

I got to enjoy a manicure with Amy on a special night out.
Oddly enough, we have no photos of the two of us, but I do have
a photo of my polish because I loved the color - Panda-monium Pink
by OPI.



THURSDAY, JUNE 2nd

Aunt Amy and her girlfriends were off to the beach.

I know Kate was bummed that Aunt Amy was
leaving but hopefully we'll see her again soon!
Perhaps in Ohio where we'll have her all to ourselves!

My brother, James.  SO handsome.

Officially graduating.

Officially done.

The brothers again.

And again.  I just can't get enough of these handsome faces.

Of course Kate wants in on the action.

So we throw Maya in for good measure too.

The parents with the graduate.

Spinning with Uncle T!

James' Graduation from Atholton HS at Merriweather Post Pavilion.

Uncle T makes riding in a stroller like a roller coaster!
But Kate has mentioned she did NOT want to take the dark, unlit
path through the woods that Uncle T suggested...

FRIDAY, JUNE 3rd

Kate, Maya, and I stopped by my Uncle Richard's and Aunt Layla's
for dinner.  We got to hang with my cousin, Mackenzie, who we
haven't seen in years.  Literally. 

Kate LOVED the dog crate. It's the little things, people.

Stay tuned!  Our last leg of our Maryland trip is tomorrow - days 11-13!