daughter, mother, grandmother

Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future.


Gail Lumet Buckley

my middle child

this girls cracks me up.

this is the picture i found on the computer this morning.

she's looking good, huh?

those girls love a little photobooth time, once in a while.

can you see that she's on a rollercoaster in the picture?!

ha ha ha ha!

today little k is 'star of the day' at kindergarten.

basically that means that she brings snack for the entire class
(i sent along frozen yogurt tubes),
she gets to help the teacher with special tasks,
and she gets to do show and tell.
now, most children bring a favorite stuffed animal, right?
maybe a cool collection of some sort?
what did my daughter decide to bring?
OWL!

her favorite blanket, affectionately known as "owl", was her pick of choice.
i'm not sure how many other kids will bring their favorite blankies for show and tell.
that certainly ain't gonna stop her!
she LOVES this thing!
(can't you tell by all the rips and holes?!)
she's just mildly obsessed and sleeps with it every night... and drags it around the house every day.
so, we packed owl up and sent him along to kindergarten too.
i hope they have fun today!!
(and i hope owl comes home on the bus too... or we'll have a major cry fest after school)

a little change up

have i said how much i adore my new'ish storage cabinet yet?
because i really do love it.
for the storage, yes... but especially for the design aesthetic.
i love it!
and i love that i have all that space on top to display knick knacks and chotchka.
yup, i said that.
just call me an old grandma.
i fight so hard for the no-clutter look, but in the end, it's just not me.
i like stuff.
treasures.
trinkets.
those kind of goodies.
and when i see something cute at a store that screams my name (owls and bird stuff, definitely)
i can't help but purchase and bring home.
at least i have a place to put them, right?

every once in a while, i like to change up my "stuff".
you know, walk around the house, move things from here to there?
that way it looks different and new... and yes, exciting.
it feels like i'm just shopping in my own home.
very forgiving on my wallet.
ha!
you gotta try it sometime.

here's my most recent change up:
here's the before...

and, here's the after.
not too much of a difference, especially on the left side but a couple things have changed.

i stood all my photo books up instead of laying flat, and i moved the family rules canvas and replaced it with another canvas picture.
plus a few other randoms things were swapped out.

and i have displayed my cute new milk glass vase.
$5 from an antique store... in a dinky old town to boot!
gotta love a deal!
especially when it's something that i've been looking for specifically.

you're probably wondering what happened to my family rules canvas?
well, i moved it over to the kitchen/dining area.
it was always annoying me b/c it's not quite done and i looked at it more often at the front door.
now it's not aggravating me as much and yelling at me to finish it. ;)

oh yeah... and here's real life, underneath that family rules canvas...
the complete chaos of arts and crafting supplies for my girls.
seriously?!?!
how can i contain the constant mess??!!

WWIW

i didn't do a whole week's worth of outfits...
but a couple is better than none, am i right?
forgive me for my poor phone pics.

here's my church outfit.
dress -- american eagle
tshirt under dress -- target
sweater -- hand me down from SIL
belt -- forever21
skinny jeans -- standard & practices, avail at nordstrom
boots -- norstrom rack

a cute go-to necklace of mine.
it goes with everything.

and my brown boots.
they go with almost anything too.
it's getting cooler and cooler here... which means i'm wearing some kind of boots, 90% of the time!
let's face it... it's usually my UGGs and we all know how fashionable those are! ha!

this is my "volunteering in kindergarten" outfit.
it wasn't until i was there and helping the kids with their paint project that i realized a scarf wasn't the best accessory that day.
oh well!

cardi -- splendid from anthropologie
tuxedo ruffle tshirt -- gap
scarf -- la senza
jeans -- BCBG from many moons ago

you couldn't see my shoes in the last pic, so here they are.
(apparently the best part of the picture is of the potty in the background, sorry about that!!!)
any time i wear little flats like this, my girls call them cinderella shoes.
ha!
i just love that... and i feel kinda princessy each time i wear them.
these were a $14.99 score from the gap.
i love me some deals!

that's it for this week! :)

intentional play

so i'm having lots of free time with my baby these days.

every morning we have moments to be together.

she is a pretty independent player, which makes it sorta tricky.

and because she plays so well on her own, i will sheepishly admit that i spend time going through emails and blogs after my older two leave for school.

it's so quiet in the house.

i have a cup of coffee.

i sit and read a bit.

but then i feel guilty.

i know time is precious and short in these younger years.

so i have to be intentional.

i have to stop what i'm doing and go and spend time with her.

and every time i do, i love it!

she is hilarious!

i love her little character!

and i wonder why i don't make it more of a priority.

so that's what i'm trying to do... take hold of these precious moments and don't let them pass me by.

am i the only one that struggles with this?

tell me i'm not alone?

here we are, playing cars...

dad's birthday nature walk

my parents were just recently here to visit.

during the time they were here, my dad celebrated his 62nd birthday.

i asked him, "what do you want to do today, dad?"

it was a saturday, so we were all home.

he thought wistfully and decided that we should go on a 'drive'.

now you got to know that in my childhood many weekends were spent going on 'drives' with my family.

my dad LOVES to drive.

we decided upon a destination, the goose sanctuary it was.

and off we went.

we admired the beautiful scenery in the van and were eager to walk/hike once we reached the geese.

here are some pictures from that afternoon...

we all had a great time.
the girls so enjoyed themselves and i felt a bit of nostalgia for my childhood.
it's time to start our own traditions with our girls.
that's kind of strange to think of...
like we need to branch off on our own, without our parents.
but it's exciting to see our children enjoying the same things we enjoyed when we were young.
thanks for the 'drive' daddy-o... and happy birthday again!

handsome

i stumbled across this pic of my hubby the other day.

i know i got a big old belly in this picture but
i just gotta say...
he's pretty darn handsome.
and he's MINE!!!
aren't i a lucky girl?