gold confetti

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

It's SHOWTIME!

Oh. My. Gosh. Last weekend was the girl's dance recital and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen!  Dance was such a pain these past few months.  It's time consuming and Lucy got so sick of it throughout the year.  It was a hassle to race alllllll the way across town to get there in time after school for 8 straight months.... BUT- the recital made it allllll worth it. Oh my heavens.  I cried.  I laughed through my tears and I felt so much pride in my babies!
Lucy did a hip-hop dance to "Hair Up."  A song in Trolls.
Piper did 2 dances.  Her ballet song was to "Kiss the Girl" from Little Mermaid and her Tap song was "Workin' at the Carwash" from the movie Shark Tale. I was so proud of my littles'! They worked hard and there were NO tears, no nerves, just joy! 
Aunt Christa drove up to come watch them perform and they were soooo excited that she came! It was a really fun weekend!

And then some more highlights of the weekend:
 Lucy had her first non-family sleepover on Saturday night! Some of our friends came over for a BBQ and their daughter wanted to sleep over afterwards. They were both so excited!
Next, Lucy grew out her hair all year long so that she could have it long enough for a ponytail at her recital. But ALL year she's been saying she can't WAIT to cut it as soon as dance is done 'cause she has wanted short hair forever! So Sunday was the day! I cut 6 inches off in an A-line bob and she was as wiggly as could be, but we managed and she looks adorable! Happy haircut day baby girl!✂️
Christa drove almost 7 hours just to come support her nieces in their recital yesterday👯. Then she tagged along to a "super fun" kids' birthday party today🎳, AND she's sharing a room with a very hyper Lucy and Piper🏃🏼‍♀️. She is a trooper and we love our Christa!!!
 And FINALLY: SCHOOOOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!
And with that, I will end this post! HAPPY SUMMER!

Lucky Number Seven

Here's my thoughts from yesterday:
 "I was thinking... I've only gotten to spend half of my anniversaries with Shawn because he travels so much, so you'd think today we would be super excited to be together. But we woke up in a rush to get the kids all ready for the day. There were tears, chaos, a potential pink-eye situation happening, etc. After 30 minutes of rushing around the house, he looked at me in passing and said "happy anniversary babe." And I was like "oh yeah! Happy anniversary to you too!" Then we continued in the madness. Our life is nuts right now (kids will do that!) but it is a good one. We can celebrate later. We have kids and end-of-the-year-events and work to get through. That's REAL life; a quick kiss in the morning through the chaos of a house full of littles. It's completely different from our first anniversary, yet it's SO much better! Through the years, expectations are lowered, deeper happiness is felt, you kinda grow and evolve into one person; we are just extensions of each other. We are a unit and this past year has really been my most favorite with him. It's super cool. Anniversaries are a special thing. Happy Anniversary Shawn!"


It's only been 7 years but I truly can't even begin to imagine my life without you in it; you are so much more than just my husband. We've seriously been through a lot but this past year of marriage has probably been my favorite one yet! I love you so very much Shawn. Happy Anniversary! Can't wait to celebrate with you in a few days, even if it's just another family room/ back-yard date night (those ones are usually my favorite ones anyway💘). #NoSevenYearItchHere #LuckyNumber7


Friday, May 19, 2017

Happy Birthday LuLu Belle

Oh Lucy… 
What can I say about Lucy?  
She is beyond feisty, which if you know her at all you already know that. She is so stubborn, she has a sharp tongue, she can throw a tantrum with the best of them, she is unruly, and she is a Spitfire. But she also is incredibly smart, she practices some core principles of life in a way that astounds me because of her age; her soul is wise.  She has the tiniest little body but the voice and the laughter that comes out of that little petite self is booming and loud and surprises a lot of people because it's so unexpected. Speaking of her laugh, it is truly one of the best laughs I've ever heard in my entire life. I can't explain it but it's just the best. She is a little entertainer. She loves to make people smile by putting on shows and singing for people. She loves to dance in front of people. She is not shy. She is hilarious and funny and she is a ball of energy. She's a fierce negotiator and someday if she doesn't become a lawyer I will be surprised. I almost wonder if she gets a kick out of arguing with people….

This year with Lucy has been our hardest by far. It's because this year has brought a lot of emotional turmoil between her and I and anytime you go through growing-pains with your kids it's gonna punch you in the gut harder than any "terrible-two’s" tantrum. Lucy was diagnosed with ADHD, as you know, and the roller coaster of a year that we had was not always pleasant. We went through some major bumps in the road. It was draining. However, whenever you go through something like this, it only makes the highs that much sweeter. Some days (when she was having a good day) and I felt like I needed some extra love from her, I would welcome her into my arms and we would just sit together and cuddle and we would talk quietly about our days. To some people that might be boring, but to me those tender moments with Lucy mean the world because they are rare these days. She is not a terrible child- I hope in this post I am not making people think that she is some kind of monster. Because she's really not. She is so special and she is beautiful. She is her sisters' best friend and a huge cheerleader to her little brother. She loves celebrating his milestones and she loves to play with both of her little siblings. But parenting Lucy is hard. There is no other way to put it. She is a tough child to raise. And that's why I said the tender moments with her mean so much more than they would with maybe other children who might not have the same set of challenges that Lucy has. I soak up her good days like a sponge (and I promise- she has many good days!). I love when she wants me to just hold her. I love it when she leans in and gives me big juicy kisses on the mouth because I don't know how much longer I'll get those and she still loves to kiss me on my lips. And it means everything. 

I can't believe I have been able to be her mother for six whole years! Seriously. I cannot believe I have a six-year-old who is going into the first grade. Not only is she entering into the first grade, but she is going in with test scores that are well above average. (I know that's off subject but it's a huge deal for us because at the beginning of the year there was talk about her not passing kindergarten at all). Anyway, I'm just in awe of this girl and I'm proud of her for how hard she has worked all year in school to be better. She's just been a trooper through all the ups and downs. I'm so thankful for her and her spirit. And thankful for what a fighter she is and for how strong she is. It is an honor to be her Mommy. 

Happy birthday Lulu. You are one of my BEST FRIENDS and I would go to the ends of the earth for you. I just adore you with every singe piece of me. I know you are going to take on the world someday. And as long as you do it with grace, class and have compassion for others, you will do amazing things. I love you more than all the leaves and all the trees.

Lucy had a Super Hero themed birthday party last Saturday at a big church down the street from my house. They rent out this HUGE party room called "Adventure Land" and it was huge hit! The kids had a blast. Such a cute, easy party!  And I made her cake all by myself :) 
Here are some of the kids from the party. I forgot to get a group shot until some kids had already left, but these kids were so sweet and well behaved! I just loved having them!

  
This Hatchimal was supposed to take DAYS to hatch. And guess what? It hatched 4 hours after we opened it and I MISSED IT! The girls saw it, which was awesome for them. But they didn't even tell me what was going on! After it was done hatching (which is supposed to take 25 minutes, so they had ample time to let me know what was happening) they yelled down the stairs that it had hatched..... UGH. I have been so excited and waited to see this thing hatch forever, haha! But, it's a Pink Hatchimal, which made her very happy! (You don't know which color you're going to get). 
This Ice Cream truck has been on her "list" since Christmas.  It was too big to wrap, so we had Sully bring it out to her. He loves to push things so it worked out perfectly. It was ADORABLE! We told her to close her eyes and we let him take over.  So insanely cute. 

And now today we have company coming into town and Dance Dress Rehearsals, and tomorrow the Annual Dance recital and Sunday a birthday party to go to and Monday our Anniversary and Tuesday Lucy's last day of school and Wednesday my last day of work and Friday we are leaving to go camping! May has been BEYOND busy. Holy moly. So glad we're half-way done :)