strike a pose

someone 3 years old and seriously cute recently took part in a photo shoot for a certain children's clothing company. that someone did a great job too! she so enjoyed sitting there for hair & make up(sounds like more than it really was- it just involved some cheek stuff, lip gloss, hair brush, and hair clip). i was quite impressed with just how still she sat while others messed with her. then the picture taking began. i think it was a bit intimidating to her since there were so many people involved. my thought, as the parent to one taking part in said photo shoot, is that it should have been only the photographer, sweet cheeks, and myself. never mind the other 4 random people involved, all yelling out "smile" at different times. overall though, she did great and was happy to get a lollipop reward afterwards. now the results of the shoot-

for shame

i was doing some research for a particular style tee when i happened to come across a website that sold barely anything. however, my heart stopped when i saw this poor child. i could not believe any parent, in this day & age, would allow this to happen to a boy. this photo is out there.. on the net.. for the whole wide world to see. it is disturbing and you know the child will be haunted by this picture FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE! i will let the photo speak for itself now-



how could anyone let a little boy have such a horrific MULLET! shame on you parents for exposing your child for the purpose of self betterment. how dare you allow this mullet child to be the face of your site. i won't even begin to touch the fact that this child is wearing a tie tee! oh i am certain they had you fooled at first, that little mullet man was wearing a real checkered tie. but contrary to what you may have thought, the tie is not real. it is just screen printed on that shirt. two wrongs in this picture certainly do not make a right! i thought of will ferrell for a minute as "mugatu" in zoolander since he invented the original keyboard tie. to quote sweet cheeks dad, the mullet is business up front and party in the back.



the good news is that for all the bad sites out, there are many good ones. i absolutely fell in love with the adorable outfit below from glug baby. they have a lot of other great clothes that i would love to get. can't you just see sweet cheeks in this one:

it works it works

i got lucky. i wiggled and jiggled the memory card and after a few minutes, my computer picked up on it. i was able to grab the pics and throw them onto the desktop. that was a very long 3 minutes to get those 150 pics off my camera. now i just have to get a new memory card.

i have very random memories from my childhood. a few of those being the things i loved to have done to my hair. one was the french braid. it was a bit twisted just how tight i used to have my aunt pull my hair into that braid. i may have looked chinese at the time due to the braid pulling my face back to far. i don't even know how this type of braid is done. i have tried doing it to sweet cheeks hair but it does not look good at all. another favorite was sleeping in the pink foam curlers. do you remember these?



i wonder now how i ever slept with those things on my head in the first place. it does not seem like it would be comfortable. but boy how i loved the feeling of taking them out in the morning and seeing a head full of curls. lastly, i remember getting out of the bath and my mom braiding my hair in about 6-8 braids which would magically create my wavy locks. these seem a bit easier to sleep in than those curlers. and once again, i loved that moment when the ponytail holders came out and i could shake the braids out to see all the waves.

so i tried introducing sweet cheeks, to what i hope to become a childhood memory for her as well, a week or so ago. she had just gotten out of the tub, so her hair was still wet. i asked her if she wanted me to put lots of braids in her hair so in the morning she would have wavy hair. she was excited about it, and did an amazing job of sitting still for a good 10 minutes while i put the braids in. it was so cute to see on her.

here she is sporting her pj's and braids proudly-




sadly, i forgot to take the "after" picture of her. will definitely do that next time!

***

you will never believe what i did last weekend? if going yard sailing with the husband and kid was your answer, you are right. i wasn't happy about it but went under the pretense that we were going to a neighborhood festival afterwards, which didn't even happen. talk about false pretenses! we went to about 4 houses and i had enough. i just didn't enjoy getting in and out of the car to rummage through other people's junk. that being said, it was pretty fun seeing sweet cheeks do it. she was an old pro and totally loved every minute of it. the good news is though the last house we happened upon had some great stuff that was actually handmade. i snatched it up for sweet cheeks room. i got her this chair, mirror, a little felt purse, and a cute girly face with foam hair to hold rubber bands. it was all so cute and perfect for the princess.




***

so awhile ago i posted this picture of the handmade vanity that i feel in love with from oohdeedoh.



so i attempted to make my own version for sweet cheeks. it turned out pretty cute and she actually uses it. i filled the buckets with lip gloss, rubber bands, hair clips, and hair brush, then put a pink stool in front of it. it obviously isn't a spitting image replica but the purpose is the same. she is too cute dolling herself up!

on delay

well, it would seem i have cracked my memory chip. the chip still works fine in the camera but my card reader can not pick up on the pictures, so i have not been able to post any new pictures of sweet cheeks. this sucks because i have some really great new ones of her... sitting on the camera and i can't get them to you. i will figure out a solution soon.

so for now... i have a few new fun things to share from some great sites-

these fun pouches are from a cute site called giddy giddy. this site also has some cute hair clips too.




pretty sure i have mentioned the pajama squid here before but i really think this is a cute shirt from the site. though, i wouldn't pay $40 myself for a toddler shirt, it is still cute. (i am keeping with the theme of trees & elephants)



i am taking sweet cheeks green. well, i did purchase her two bisphenol-a free sippy cups. since they play outside so much during her pre-school summer camp, i wanted to get her something to keep her water cold. i found the funtainers from thermos, and being bpa free is just an added perk!

i got her this princess one, along with a supergirl one.



I will add that sweet cheeks is doing great in her new pre-school class. i was sad to see her leave her great teachers from her 2's class but so far, all is going well. she seems to have adjusted quite quickly and really likes her new teachers. i am glad for that. the summer program consists of pool day, movie day, cool treats day, and several field trips. i think she will have fun with it this summer.

i gotta say it was a good day

i am quick to try and seize any opportunity for good weather or a good outfit with some pictures. so saturday happened to be a little bit of both, a sunny day and sweet cheeks was wearing a cute outfit that she put together. the girl is very much into picking out her own clothes, even her pjs. though, given the chance, she will always either pick her pink carter's tee with little girl on it, or her pink flower alamo shirt that aunt molly gave to her(pretty sure i have mentioned that before). i remember my mom and sister teasing me when i was in the 3rd grade, or so, over the fact that i always wanted to wear the same one outfit day after day. i don't have a great memory (though my sister does) but i think it was a pair of jeans and a pink sweater. so that being said, maybe i passed this off onto my child. the love of one outfit in clothing that is. i find it sad some days because as you can guess, sweet cheeks has a closet FULL of the cutest clothes that she just doesn't find to be pretty. WHAT! i know, she is something else.


so here we are, 'so happy together'



don't tell bodi but i think sweet cheeks has a favorite dog!



riding her bike (notice she is wearing her helmet this time and has her bag with her in the trunk)



and not to be forgotten, my bodi girl



oh what a sweet face she has. i love this photo




she has officially been introduced to the timeless treat of the push-up. only how fun, these are cotton candy flavored. i actually was a little let down when i went to get one to see it was that flavor, not the orange sherbert ones(i know, i spelled it like i pronounce it). she was having so much fun with them though.

girls girls girls

so i don't even try to keep it a secret that if there was the 100% guarantee that i could have another daughter, i would do it in a second. part of this stems from the fact that i absolutely love and adore sweet cheeks so much that i would love to do it again. also, the girl is sweet as can be and would make an amazing big sister. she adores being with other kids. another reason is that my sister is my absolute best friend in the world. i couldn't imagine my life without her and wouldn't want to. i want so much for sweet cheeks to have that same kind of relationship with a sister that i have with mine. i think girls are the best. always so sweet, so smart, so considerate. why wouldn't i want to have another girl. all this being said, we know there is no guarantee so i can't do it. this doesn't stop me from noticing all of the other fortunate mommies of two girls out there. i feel like they are everywhere. i am sure most of them didn't even think twice about just how blessed they were to have two girls. to be able to give their daughter an homemade best friend. what a gift that must be. so i can't help but feel a little jealous when i see it happening everyday. just today, a friend of mine came to tell me the story of how her sister in law had her 2nd daughter in the car today. yes, i did just say that she had her baby IN THE CAR! how crazy is that. but despite the crazy place for a birth to occur, my first thought was how lucky she was to be getting another daughter. it is just an amazing thing though, sisters.

and now, some pictures of sweet cheeks over the long holiday weekend. we did so much- 2 birthday parties, shopping trip to the mall, cook out, and dinner with the grandparents. we were quite busy but had a great weekend.

here she is in her witness protection picture-



don't flame me, please. 99.9% of the time she is wearing a helmet when she rides her bike. i just so happened to remember all of her knee, elbow, and hand pads but totally forgot the helmet. believe me, she doesn't go fast... at all!



blowing bubbles at the cook out-



sweetly sitting with her cousin (thankfully the battery was out of this thing!)



and the annual memorial day wedgie picking!




***



have you seen the new indiana jones movie yet, the kingdom of the crystal skull? i haven't yet but i really can't wait to. you just gotta love harrison ford!

the show does go on...

another video but better since we know this rockstar.


my sweet cheeks is still a huge carly fan, even though she got the boot from AI. she never once judged the contestant for the many, and i mean many, tattoos that she has. maybe it was the irish accent that sweet cheeks was drawn to. once carly was gone, sweet cheeks refused to watch any new episodes of the show and only watches one old one that has carly on it singing a queen song. she gets up on our fireplace, uhmm i mean stage, and sings right along with her into her $7 target microphone (which sweet cheeks is currently requesting a stand to). she is quite good.
take a look for yourself at my superstar!




***the t-shirt sweet cheeks is wearing is from texas and says alamo on it. her aunt brought it back for her from a work trip and it is now sweet cheeks favorite tee. she requests it daily!