I thought a lot about what to write regarding Mother's Day, but I kept coming back to this post. It is perhaps the most honest post about motherhood I've written to date and almost four years later, it's still one of my favorites. Originally posted on May 9, 2010, less than a month after Sophie's birth. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a mother. Doesn't every little girl put a pillowcase on her head and dream of the wedding? Then stroll their baby dolls around and think about the perfect life? I always assumed I would marry young, go to grad school, teach elementary art and have a house full of children. All before I was thirty. That isn't exactly how things turned out. I did meet my soul-mate pretty early in life; I was seventeen and he was captain of the ...
5, I mean 6 on Friday
It's been awhile since I linked up with Darcy & Co. for 5 on Friday, but I have a few fun things to share this week that don't warrant their own post. Nothing is better than playing catch up with a short list before the weekend begins. 1. BOOKS. I know I shared a post last week about The Fault in Our Stars. I'm still pretty smitten and I'm getting ready to read another of John Green's books this week. I go through spells where I don't read for a few weeks and then I manage to cram four or five books into a few days! This was definitely one of those. I had seen The Selection in my Amazon recommendations for a few weeks, but I hadn't even clicked on it. Then I read a review last week and I was hooked (I wish I could remember who wrote about it, but I can't figure it out even after ...
BIG girl and BIG school
photo from Sophie's birthday celebration at the big BK This girl. I feel like she's getting the spotlight on the blog a little bit right now, but I have to remind myself it's seasonal. Ella gets in a mood where she doesn't want her picture made or she's too embarrassed by something to share it publicly so we go through a dry spell. Then all of a sudden it's dance season and she's posing all over the place. Since this little nugget had a birthday party last month and is crossing off milestones left and right, she's sort of taken over for a bit. I wish I could bottle her up and share this slice of her life with you all. I feel like part of her spark and spunk is lost in translation and I want you all to know just how sweet and funny she is in real life. Videos don't do her justice -- her ...
Zoo fun!
I just discovered this morning that these never made it to the blog. I almost said that I can't believe I didn't post these pictures last month, but then I remembered what a crazy day it was?! If you remember, we celebrated three birthdays in one day AND managed to squeeze dance pictures in there somewhere. Sophie was pretty excited that Braylen was celebrating her big day at the zoo. The girls managed to stay awake for the entire 45 minute drive into town, but they were a little rough around the edges. I had dreams of a lovely afternoon with smiles all around, but that is not exactly how things happened. At least there were scary animals to pet with our two fingers! See? ^^ These are some real life faces we're making right here. Ella not paying much attention and Sophie making a ...
the fair.
A few weeks ago, Ella's school choir got to participate in a multi-school concert of Disney theme songs at a local amphitheater. It is a pretty big venue for such a little girl (this is the same venue where we saw M&S last fall). We were lucky enough that she performed the same weekend the fair was in town and our tickets got us into both places. The concert was much longer than we anticipated (3+ hours), so we let them each choose one ride as we made our way back to the car. It might have been a super short visit, but it was super fun and is definitely on our list to try again! ...
The Fault in Our Stars
I know that I am super late to this party, I get that. But, y'all. I feel like I should commandeer a microphone or scream from the mountain tops that I LOVE THIS BOOK. I read it on my Kindle and now I want to spend money on the physical copy so that I can carry it around always and forever and re-read my favorite parts. I'm having an inappropriate love affair with this book right now. The day I read it I sent three texts to the friend who recommended it. The first said, "So. I'm a third of the way through the book and I love everything about it. In love with it. Can't put it down, might get fired, but I'm finishing it today, in love with it. Sigh". The second said, "I've abandoned all illusions of productivity today." And when I finished it, "Ahhhhh. I'm done. And I'm sitting in a ...
Dance + Beach = Ella’s Perfect Weekend
This past weekend was Ella's last competition of the season. We were scheduled for one more next week, but (thankfully) it was cancelled because of a scheduling problem. Our other competitions have been mostly local, but we headed south for the beach this time and spent a few days together in the sand. At the last competition, I forgot to pack Ella's fishnet tights and caused quite the commotion. We danced in tan tights instead, but I vowed never to forget anything again. I had checked her bags against our check-list twice before we left home, but the first thing I did when we got to the condo was to lay everything out and check it all one more time! We started our day in swimsuits and crazy hair and spent some time out on our balcony before trekking down to the stage area to set up ...
true love.
Are we close enough friends to talk about bras?! If not, you might want to click on over for today. I promise there are no photos of me wearing any (thank your lucky stars), but you might not want to hear me complain about how much I despise wearing one. I have sort of a love/hate relationship with the chest. I never really had one until I started taking birth control and then HELLO. They showed up out of nowhere. Then, pregnancy and breastfeeding Ella really "boosted" my confidence a little more. And then, because every good thing must come to an end, I got pregnant a second time and it was all down hill from there. I joke with Josh almost every year that I'm going to take our tax refund and run to the nearest plastic surgeon, but I'm not sure I'll ever feel comfortable spending that ...