wordless wednesday

she is the happy birthday girl

happy birthday to sweet cheeks!

today she is 7.

7!

the last 7 years have flown by in what feels like 7 minutes.

caroline-
mommy and daddy love you so much. we are so proud of you and the little girl you are. not a day goes by that we aren't in awe of the amazing things you accomplish. your generosity, compassion, and sweet spirit are only a few of the wonderful attributes that we admire in you.
thank you for being such an overall terrific kid.
thank you for being the best big sister in the world.
we love you. always. no matter what you do.
love, mommy & daddy

sweet cheeks at 7 years old-

• weighs 48 lbs




• is 48.5 inches tall




• is a string bean




• is in the first grade




• loves her baby sister




• favorite school subject is math




• does math for fun! that's right, i said fun




• is in the discovery program at school, which is a gifted program




• is an awesome student




• enjoys riding her bike




• climbs trees




• is a super fast runner




• plays with her barbies and american girl dolls




• has a lot of friends




• watches jessie, austin & ally, phineas & ferb, and good luck charlie




• is reading chapter books. her favs are ivy & bean and junie b books




• is a perfectionist




• is stubborn but i can't complain since i know where she gets it from




• is an awesome helper to me




• has the best sense of humor of any kid i know

from then to here

tee time

i have two girls therefore i usually post on all things girlie. i know girlie and it is pretty darn cute.

today i am sharing some really cool boys tees from wes & willy. you can't buy directly from the wes and willy website (weird, right- who does that?) but i know red 21 boys sells it on theirs.

my favorite... love the green ringer tee w/ mask

wordless wednesday

bodi

bodi

sept, 2000- mar, 2012

before the husband and i got married, i was so not a dog person. didn't like dogs to come near me, lick me, or smell me. we got married in august of 2000. the husband mentioned getting a dog and for whatever reason i agreed. we got bodi in october of 2000. from the moment she rode home in my lap, i was hooked and 100% a dog person.

i barely remember her looking so tiny! though her paws never were small. and her ears! my gosh were they big. like satellite dishes on her head. it was so bodi though. she was the perfect shepherd.


she was such a great dog. friendly and protective all in one package. i loved that she was sweet with us but intimidating to others. that aspect made me feel safe with her.

our old house had a clothes line in the back yard. we attached a leash to that clothes line and bodi would play tug-of-war with herself forever.

this was her favorite sleeping place in our old house... our shower. we moved when she was 5 and i think she really missed that cold, walk-in shower.


bodi actually became a dog in march of 2005 when i had caroline. i think it was a bit hard on her at first not getting so much attention but she really was so good as a family pet. always gentle with caroline. i'm sad that hadley really won't have any memory of bodi.

we have a good size backyard but she always loved being out front with us. whatever we were doing, that was what she wanted to be doing. she was content just having us in her sight.

bodi, thank you for being an awesome pet and teaching me to be a dog person.

not a day goes by that we don't think about you and miss you.

we love you, bodi!

month 9

i am pretty sure that on a daily basis i am still surprised by the fact that i am a mother of two. it is just crazy how time seems to just take these huge jumps, chunks at a time. same thing happens on this blog... it just jumped forward from month 7 to month 9, totally by passing month 8.

so hads in her 9th month:

• weighs 18.9 lbs
• drinks 5 bottles a day, at 7 ounces each. the exception being her night bottle which she is down to 4 ounces now. maybe before she is one will we have her over night feedings!
• is still on prevacid 15mg a day
• eats such a variety of foods. way more than i would have ever dreamed of given caroline when she was 9 months. plus, she eats lots of it. she has a great appetite for table foods
• favorite foods include spaghetti, bagels, mango, and watermelon
• she will actually eat baby food now. love those little squeezable packages. she just self feeds w/ those. so convenient for traveling.
• still loves puffs
• loves playtime with her sister
• loves playing cars
• became a world traveler when she went to jamaica
• stands still, on her own, for a few moments at a time
• claps, claps, and claps. a favorite song of hers is "if you're happy and you know it," though the version in our house is "if you're haddie and you know it." she claps every time.
• loves to dance
• if you say "arms up" to her, she expects to be tickled
• gives high-fives
• loves to knock over blocks after we've stacked them
• talks a lot and even enjoys hearing herself scream a bit
• prefers to be held by either mommy or daddy
• says mama. and i am pretty sure she means me
• waves
• crawls everywhere. every. where.

wordless wednesday

little seed

i am so happy to have such a great little children's store so close to where i work. the store is called seed factory and it is located in the west side off of 14th street. immediately when you walk in the store you have this strong sensation to buy everything. i absolutely can not leave empty handed. it's pretty much impossible.

they sell some really great names there like dwell, tea, see kai run, petit collage, blabla, and so much more. one of the best aspects of the store though is their massive selection of amazing children's books. so many great ones. i promise if you went into this store, it would easily become a favorite of yours.

here is what i left with-


blabla party invitations for caroline's 7th birthday slumber party. i didn't even know blabla made paper goods.

see kai run-smaller: adele which i mentioned wanting to get for hadley in another post. so happy they had them there. the only thing is in person the shoe is more of a mustard color. just as sweet though. hads is actually wearing them at school today.

school years- a family keepsake i thought this might be a cute way to remember caroline's elementary years. right now my process is tossing everything from kindergarten and first grade into a large white ikea bin. hopefully this book will motivate me to organize it all a little better.

pura vida- got this little bracelet for sweet cheeks. pura vida donates 1% of each sale towards a foundation for protecting and preserving the world's oceans. gotta love a cause, right.

wordless wednesday

in reality

two weekends ago i was lucky enough to get to go to florida with my awesome girlfriends. the original plan for the trip was to run in the disney princess half marathon. what it ended up being for me was just a weekend off, no exercise what so ever. i started running last october. by december i had bursitis in both knees, so training was off. the pain was horrific. the worst being going up or down stairs. i walked like an 80 year old lady. no way was i going to be able to do the half but no way i was going to miss out on the already planned girls trip.

so i went and didn't run. i went for the company and the time off! of the six of us to go on the trip, 3 of the girls still ran. what an impressive feat for them. i was a super proud friend and showed my support by sleeping in the morning of their run while they were up at 3am. nice.

here we are at wolfgang pucks saturday night. what a hot bunch of ladies, right!

so here is what gets me about motherhood. i looked forward to this trip for months. months i tell you. i actually looked forward to the 7 hour car ride that did not involve entertaining two children in a small space. i looked forward to receiving my food at a restaurant and proceeding to eat it right away... still warm. i looked forward to sleeping past 6:30am, without any night wakings. i looked forward to shopping and trying on clothes alone in the dressing room. i looked forward to sitting on my butt watching tv. i looked forward to going to the movie theatre to see something other than a cartoon (saw wanderlust... a bit crude but so freakin hilarious. you must go see it). i looked forward to having conversations with my friends without any interruptions. i planned on doing all of it.

and i did do it all.

the reality of it was that we left on a friday morning and by friday night, i was already missing my girls (and the hubby). i missed them lots actually. there is such a build up for a kid-free weekend get away. so maybe it does end up being fun and stress free but there are so many other emotions that come up along the way. mainly just missing the girls, wondering what they are doing, and whether they miss me too.

how could i have only been gone less than 3 days and missed my family so much already! it just seemed crazy to me but i think that is just part of being the mom, right.

so in the end i did have a great time with my friends but my next half marathon attempt will be in nashville this september. maybe i will only go for one night, rather than two.

and i was 100% certain when i got home that the family did in fact miss me (but not as much as i missed them!).

my wee blog on a big blog list

one of my favorite blogs, apartment therapy (ohdeedoh), is having a contest for the best family blog.



and guess what? my little blog made it to the big list. how amazing and exciting is that! especially given the other wonderful blogs on there. what good company to be in.

thanks to whomever nominated me.

starting tomorrow, you can vote for me here.

thank you sincerely.

a little for them, a little for me

i did a little online browsing over at kitson today.

here are some sweet finds for the girls (and for myself)

cute, colorful animal crayons for hadley in a few months
though caroline hasn't been to paris yet, i know she will one day. she's classy like that. 'not-for-parents: paris- everything you wanted to know' could teach her a thing or two about it before she becomes the world traveler


and look at this cute pocket doodle book for girls. the travel size makes it easy to take anywhere. caroline, the creative artist she is, bores quickly. this book just might occupy her a bit in the car or at restaurants
and not to forget me...

how awesome are these marc jacob shoes! they call them rubber shoes. you know they are so a jelly shoe. love them! the orange is my favorite, though green is cute too