Mama...

Can you braid my hair please? I get asked this all the time. I will admit that about 50% of the time I say no. Lazy? Yep and the girls have issues staying still AND they have short hair so it is sort of hard. Since spending the night at their friend's house last week though all 3 have asked for braids daily. Daily people! I saw a blog post with this style on a little girl so I braided V's hair because I thought a side pony would be cute on her. It is.

Then my girlfriend said that she saw it on Pinterest. Of course it was on Pinterest lol :) What isn't these days?

Source: bellamumma.com via Jessie on Pinterest

My girl asked for this braid the past 3 days. I obliged. One day I will be good at it :) The smile on her face the past few days tells me she thinks I am good at it.


Then there is this one. She goes between "1 big braid" and "2. 2 braids Mama. 2." You know just in case I didn't know she wanted 2.


She's watching intently for the ducks to come. She has bread and doesn't understand why they just don't hang out at our dock waiting for her to call them. Total sweetness ♥

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Beach Bums

Every year for the past 5 years our family packs up and heads to the beach. It is our time to just hang out and enjoy each other. Now that the girls are older I wish I could say that the fighting didn't follow us to the coast but it does. We were asked by another family what there was to do in town. Matt and I looked at each other stumped because we basically just play on the beach. It is enough for us to make sand castles, swim, and hunt sharks teeth and sea shells.

Until next year...

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Blogging Burn Out

It happens to me a couple of times a year. I used to feel stressed when I didn't blog. Now my husband just says "You know you haven't blogged since *whatever day*" and I say "Yep, burned out". I am not a writer. This is not my business. Quite frankly I get bored with a lot of my own posts even though they are about my precious girls. School has started and our lives, and yours I am sure too, are CRAZY! I don't have an open day this week! I find that my little bloggy breaks normally put me back in the mood to tell our story again. As boring *yawn* as it might be.

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Another sad day

for mama. Not for Violet. I love the preschool and it is because I know that Violet has the same teacher that Piper had, who I LOVE, and that she has the same assistant teacher as she had last year, who we LOVE, that it makes it a little easier for mama to let her little bird spread her wings. A little easier.

I called my husband after drop off and, as I was crying, asked him if it was ever going to get easier. "For you?" he said, "Probably not. But you know she loves it there". I do know that.




So what did Ruby and I do? Had coffee and a muffin with some friends. Had a nice surprise at Goodwill and got to catch up with one of my favorite mamas that I don't get to see often. Came home and picked up the house. Finally went back and got Violet. 3 hours isn't very long :)



Still long enough for me to miss her though. What am I going to do next year?



My heart is going to be completely ripped out when I leave my baby at preschool. Oh my, it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. Thankfully that is a whole year away.

Thankfully.

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Almost time!

For Rhubarb and I to spend some quality one on one time together. Piper has been in school a few days now *sniff sniff* and Violet starts next week (water works again I am sure). What are we going to do? Probably hit Goodwill (which, btw, is where I got the cutie patootie dress baby girl is wearing), maybe the grocery store, library time, the park if it ever cools down, and some days we will even have lunch with our Piperoni before we have to pick up Violet. Days will be full I am sure. Heaven knows I won't get anything done around the house though because she demands attention. Doesn't matter from who just ATTENTION *please*.

I saw this come up on my screen and (mommy goggle alert) thought "Awww" and then noticed I was shooting almost wide open and her sweet little crinkled toe is oof. Drat! Babe is a challenge though so I am lucky to get her to sit in the grass. She doesn't like how it prickles her. Don't ask :)

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And here we go!

No it just can't be Tuesday August 23 already. This day has come altogether too quickly. Today we will go to open house at Piper's school and meet her teacher. I blinked now summer is over and it is here. While I know that she needs to go to school I don't want her to go. Piper and Violet have been battling for the past 2 weeks over everything. A sign to me that they need some time away from each other. Now that it is here though that fighting doesn't seem so bad. Not only are the school days long but there are so many. 180. 180 days that she is away from me experiencing many 1st's and I won't get to see it. Just yesterday I might have mumbled that I was ready but I am not.

Are you ready for your first day of school? Does it get easier as the kiddos get older. My guess is no :(

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Does it run in the family?

A shoe addiction that is. My husband has like 5 pairs of black shoes that look so similar it makes me laugh. In addition to those he has a collection of oxford shoes that he had during the 90's while working behind a desk. Can we say hoarder?. As for me I have purged most of mine since not working outside of the home but I still have a 20 pair shoe organizer full plus extras floating around. Mama's got to have choices right? Then there are my girls. Yep, they too each have over the door shoe organizers that on most days are full. However I blame that shoe problem mostly on me and that little girls have really cute shoes available. Ruby=addicted! She loves them! Changes them all.day.long - as well as her clothes but that is a whole other story. She doesn't need a shoe until she is in Kindergarten but when I find a pair I find myself showing them to her and then she inevitably wants them and I find myself dishing the cash. Please remember that I shop almost exclusively at Goodwill and another thrift store so it isn't big bucks but still $2 is $2 right? I know that I am not alone in this because I find almost brand new shoes EVERY time I go out in their size. Baby girl had to have these little Reefs from a consignment store that we sometimes shop at. $1. This baby loves her some flip flops. Mama loves her some animal print. Mama and baby are happy :) Sweet!

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How does your garden grow?

For someone who generally doesn't complain about the summer down here in NC I sure have been complaining about it a lot this year. Maybe it is because the girls are getting to an age that they need to be outside but honestly it is just really hot. We get out in the mornings but then afternoons are filled with Polly Pockets, Littlest Pet Shops, and television all the while we have the ceiling fan running as well as a fan in the corner of the living room. Yes, the air is on too. I told you it is hot! Our garden, as well as many others, have fallen victim to the extreme heat and I have been dreading the day when I go out and there isn't a tomato to be seen. We had so many tomatoes and peppers grow so early in the season it is just sad that our plants are looking so dismal when it is only August. Over the past few days though Matt has been scoring major husband points. He knows me quite well and sure I love flowers but what really wins my heart? Fresh Iowa corn!

You would think that all that corn would have been it but the box that my husband came home with yesterday put a huge smile on my face. He rocks! When we had an abundance we gave our veggies away and now when so many gardens are suffering someone's is still thriving and they shared with us. Gardeners are awesome people and I am in no way putting myself into that gardening category.



My girls eyes grew wide when they saw the beans. It has been far too long since they last had fresh beans and corn but tonight we will feast! Who volunteered to help me shuck and shell? We'll see :)

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The Reluctant Mother

It's me. I want Ruby to stay little. She is still such a sweet baby in so many ways that I want to freeze time and keep her at this age for a bit longer. That little one wants no part of it though. For whatever reason she has decided she wants to be potty trained. What kid initiates that? She is only 28 months old. Sheesh, I had plans of doing it once school started but really didn't want to do it yet. So am I reluctant or just plain lazy?

She is making it pretty easy I will say that though. We even ventured to Target on Sunday IN PANTIES! I like to live on the edge like that. Here at home though she goes potty about 100 times a day. The other girls cheering her on. I might use the bathroom 100 times a day if I got all that cheering for me too :)



Our crazy, sweet, sassy, lovable Ruby. I might need to take a minute right now to go and hug her. She has that effect on me.

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A Bittersweet Day

Most breastfeeding mamas come to a point (I think) where they want their body back and maybe to sleep through the night once in awhile. Maybe I am in the minority but I doubt it. It isn't that I think that I have been nursing Ruby for SO long or anything because I know many who nurse much longer. My oldest will turn 6 this week and I have been either pregnant, nursing, or pregnant AND nursing for almost 7 years. If Ruby only still casually wanted to breastfeed I would continue in a heartbeat but this child wants it all.the.time! During the day she was grabbing at my shirt constantly so we weaned that a few weeks ago. I enjoyed nursing her before bed but she continued to wake up multiple times during the night as well. Last week when we returned from Florida I decided it was time and when my husband left for his business trip I did it. If you have ever had to do this before it is absolutely heartbreaking. The first night Ruby begged and cried. I cried as well and just held her and attempted to calm her down. This went on throughout the night. 4 times that first night to be exact. The second night was better and she only woke up 3 times. She didn't cry like the night before either. I calmed her down while rubbing her back until she fell back to sleep. Each night since it has gotten a little bit easier but she still wakes up 2 or 3 times and I am still calming her back to sleep. Perhaps this milestone has affected me so deeply because it is the end of my babies being babies. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love the beautiful girls that Piper and Violet are becoming but my Ruby will likely be my last baby and it is hard for me sometimes to come to terms with that. This is by far my favorite shot of nursing our Ruby and might be one of the very first selfie shots that I ever did (taken 7/2010). I adore everything about it.

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Some beach time

My favorite place to be has always been a beach. I love it hot, I don't mind the sand, and I would live there in a minute if it were possible again. In California we were only about 15 minutes from the beach. Hubs and I had our first date at Laguna Beach. Nowadays I dream of September or October (depending on Matt's schedule) when our family packs up and heads to Topsail for a week. During that time we all pretend we live there and wake up to the sounds of the ocean and go to bed to the same beautiful sound. The girls pick out the houses with funny names that they want to buy. From sun up to sun down we hunt sharks teeth, make sand castles, and play in the water. Unfortunately we don't live close anymore and it is about 5 hours to Topsail but still doable :) When Matt's job took him to Daytona I jumped at the chance to join him down there with the girls. What fun we had! After a fun day we always go through what we think our favorite part of the day was. Violet said to me, "Mama, I know what your favorite part of the beach was, watching us have fun." She was right. Normally I bring my camera down with me with the greatest of intentions to take a million pictures and take none. This time I might have taken 30 lol :) It is just too much fun playing in the sand to waste time with a camera. These are my favorites.

and the fam - as usual only a few of us are actually looking lol



Definitely on my top list of places to go next year too. The girls want to go to Sea World. I can do that 1 day but the rest of the time we will be at the beach in case you need us :)

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Pour the coffee please

I am wiped out. Really. 10 days away from home and then we came home to swimming lessons, laundry, and cleaning the house. Next up we are turning right around and leaving Wednesday afternoon for another 5 days away on our Worldwind Tour of the Southeast. If you have been reading my blog you know we don't do anything easy. Why not add 10 things in 4 different states to our weekend away :) Just kidding - sort of. We are headed to Daytona and then when Matt is able to hang out with us on Saturday we are going to Cape Canaveral because the kids and I haven't been there yet and I have always wanted to go. Next Friday is the last scheduled shuttle launch and I am keeping my fingers crossed that maybe it will be out on the pad. That would be SO cool. Then we will slowly make our way back home and stop somewhere midway so that we can hit Savannah on Sunday and visit our old friend Paula Deen. Ok maybe we will just be visiting her fried chicken and butter cake but I'd like to think that some day I can meet her in one of our random visits to her restaurant. So there it is. Beach, shuttle, fried chicken. 4 states in 5 days. Sounds fun :)

I used a Lightroom action to process the above shot. I am sort of new to using them so it is still playing around and hoping to get it right. I love Pretty Presets and this particular one is from Laura's Nostalgic Summer Collection. It is called Mello Yellow. I played with it a little bit afterwards and then sized/sharpened for the web. I like it and it really shows how pretty Violet's eyes are.

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Summer, Summer, Summer!

Monday was Piper's first day she did not have to wake up and get ready for school since last September. She still got up at 6am. Today too. Yesterday she knew she didn't have to get up she was just so excited because I promised her a trip to the splash pad near our home. Summer for us will be filled with swimming, fishing, paddle boating, water tabling (for when I am lazy) and grilling out. It gets really hot down here so all of these things have to be timed perfectly so we don't fry. What are your summer plans?

The sweet smile of a child out for summer break

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Every Once In Awhile

You sneak up and they are getting along. Piper reads everything. Everything. I think that she has almost gotten through every book we have in this house. Violet loves it because if it were up to her I would do nothing but read books all day long to her. Now she has 2 of us to split her requests. Win win in my book :)

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