Perspective from a tiny person

Today Sis and I were at Target and I was trying on a dress while she sat on the little seat in there with me eating her Lunchable, patiently waiting for me to finish.

The dress was - not quite right - like, would have been cute if only. If only my legs weren't so big, and ugh, if my arms were more toned, or if I got a pair of Spanx, and geez, my butt really is GIANT, and all these things are going through my head as I turn and spin to check out different angles.

Then I turned and saw my precious little daughter staring at me smiling very openly.

"Mommy, are you a princess?" she said gleefully.

A whole new wave of perspective washed over me immediately. This little girl didn't see what I saw, didn't think all those rotten little gnomey thoughts. She just saw her mommy in a pretty dress.

"Yes, Sis, yes I am. Sometimes, anyway." (Let's be legit here.)

Bless this tiny girl's heart; she is giving me a whole new way to look at myself. My sweet little children teach me something every day, whether it be something amazing like this or the fact that a little drink doesn't hurt. They really do make me a better person.

All the things

We had a fantastic holiday season - pretty much we make sure our kids have a magical Christmas season, going to see lights and getting hot cocoa and riding the Santa Train and little fun things like that, in addition to seeing Santa . I have been a total Slacking Jackie with blogging which is fine becuz only I read this but want to definitely get better so I can keep track of my little family's life.

Cal just finished kindergarten yesterday which is still basically freaking crazy to believe for me. It seems like the year just whooshed by. I admit getting his little butt to school by 8:10 every morning was pretty much a miracle of Jesus and it honestly didn't always happen but besides that, on my end it was a pretty great year.

He is reading like a champ now, knows all kinds of things he didn't before and it just overall was such a great opportunity for him to grow and learn a ton. We were so grateful for his amazing teacher Miss Spears, bless her sweet heart, for all her patience with our talky faced little dude. He did pretty dang well behavior wise - got green for behavior most of the time and was one of the few kids given the advanced homework packet, so that was a good sign.

My sweet husband took a 10 day cruise to the Caribbean with a co-worker in May, which was a great opp for him and he certainly deserved it with how hard he works. He enjoyed his time and experiences but said that 10 days is definitely too long to be away from his family. I knew it would be. What can I say, the guy is a treasure. Honest to goodness, loves me and the kids like a whole ton. Just exactly like I knew my dream mate would.

Laurel started taking dance classes back in March and is having fun with them, most of the time. She was in the hour long combo class initially and did great except for the tap portion, where she would stand and stare blankly at her instructor, silently judging her technique or something. So she was demoted for "extra practice" but in a nutshell, she wasn't up to par I suppose and she is doing better in the 30 minute class where there is more variety. She will move up eventch and maybe she will decide dance isn't her thing, which is fine too. We just want our kids to be exposed to extracurriculars and see which ones fill their souls with joy.

Now Cal is doing karate again, which he did in the fall and is enjoying that. I make sure to not have them in too many things, cuz I am not the mom who enjoys running kids all over the world but them each in 1 thing is fine with me. Laurel will start soccer in the fall and we are hoping to find a good wrestling brigade or whatever you call them for Cal.

OH! Cuz Cal was playing chess after school for a few months - how random is that? We asked him which of the after school fun little programs he wanted to do and he chose chess. Kid loves it and does pretty dang good. Makes me laugh out loud.

I went on a girls weekend with all of my sisters, my mom and her sister and my cousin back in May. We rented an amazing cabin up at Lake Arrowhead which was ridiculous and fun and wonderful and the only downside was we only did 3 days instead of more. Next time!

Papa's bday & Pirate Donut Day

My sweet hubby's birthday just passed! He is older by a year and just that much more handsome. He is seriously the greatest guy I've ever met in my life - a great, doting dad who loves his kids to the moon and back, a fantastic husband who tolerates a lot of nonsensical chatter and is fun and funny and wonderful all the day long. A hard worker, great companion and sensational friend. We love this guy!


Cal had school that day so Bday Guy, Sis and I headed to Coffee Bean for a fun birthday coffee.

He had no idea my wonderful friend Brooke was going to show up with his bday present from me. Brooke and I had come up with a nerdy San Francisco Giants cloak concept, which is perfect for his love of sports and mysticality. She did the entire thing and it came out amazing.

My video is hard to upload but here is the finished product. So freaking cool! So lucky to have talented frenz.

Later we went out to dinner at Serendipity 3 at Caesars Palace with his mom and sis. We got the legendary frozen hot chocolate which the kids loved.

We did cake and ice cream for Bday Guy at his mom and sister's house. The kids were all about that too. They love birthdays and getting to celebrate.

September 19th was Dress Like a Pirate Day at Krispy Kreme - you dress up and get a free dozen donuts. Not that we need a dozen donuts, but I knew the kids would love it so that's what we did.

Sister wanted to dress up like a princess so I let her don her new Cinderella costume. We ended up waiting in line for about half an hour - lots of folks wanting their free donuts! My kids got a little restless so were entertaining themselves. They were kinda all over the place.

I like doing little things like this with my kids and hopefully they remember stuff like this when I am annoyed at them for waking me up so early. :)

Best job ever

Sending a picture to Daddy at work. We took a few. I love these kids.

This one was taken a few weeks ago at a coffee shop. While there are a million things I could pick apart about how I look in the picture, I love it anyway. My little momma's girl.

First day of kindergarten!

My boy is growing up so fast. He started kindergarten this week, which is startling and exciting at the same time. I can't believe the time has gone by so dang quickly. It seems like 15 minutes ago that he was starting preschool. Geez Louise.

He has been really excited and looking forward to it, asking all the time, "How many days until I start school?" Little him loves to be around other kids and likes the structure of school.

I gotta say, he really is handsome in his tiny uniform! We are excited to see how he does in school. He is such a smart little bugger; I'm sure he will do well and make little frenz.

(I had to wake up way too dang early to get him off to school. So a chevron headband and glasses it was.)

He told us the only thing he doesn't like about school so far is that he doesn't get to see me and Dad and Sis. :) Cute little guy. I love that, since I know he likely won't be saying that in a few years.

BFF's - or just too much time together

We were driving home from taking the kids to a jumpy place the other day, (You know, where they have inflatable slides and such), and Curtis had been updating some insurance on his new phone with the customer service lady. He mentioned how she had asked about our weather here when she saw he was in Vegas and he told her it was 112 (or whatever horribly high temp it was that day.) She was appropriately horrified and said it was 68 (or something) where she was.

"Oh yeah? Where was she?" I was curious where in the country it was already that low. Alabama? Cali?

He started circling the air in front of him with his index finger, as if searching for the place she had mentioned.

Seeing the circling, I realized exactly what he meant. "Oh! Michigan!"

He looked at me kind of incredulously. "How did you know that?"

I just laughed. "I could tell you were circling the lakes, that you meant that lake area in Michigan. I could see it in your mind."

After we laughed and laughed, I had to poke him lightly in the cheek. "We soulmates."

It's true! Who else can you do stuff like that with besides your best friend?

I really could see it in his mind....

Sister turns 2!

Our tiny Laurel B turned 2! It is really crazy how fast the time has flown. This girl is seriously the funniest, sassiest, and sweetest little thing. She makes us laugh every day. She can be very loving and is super into her baby dolls right now. She is also very bossy. She told her brother the other day "Listen to me! Listen to me or I'll hit you!" and "Come here or I'll slap you!" Really not sure where she got that from, since we don't tell her that.

She loves playing with "brudder" and is learning her colors and ABC's. Most of the time it is ABABAB. She is obsessed with Wreck It Ralph and asks to watch it every day. If we request it, she will make muscles and proclaim "I'm gonna wreck it!" just like Ralph. She loves cars and trucks and Legos and is actually really coordinated at throwing and catching a ball. She is a super momma's girl and is always wanting me to pick her up "I want to hold you Momma." Very sweet this one, but also very lippy! She knows how to manipulate and get her way. Daddy is the real sucker - he can't resist the big blue eyes of his baby girl. We are definitely in for some trouble down the line but dang, are we lucky to have this precious little soul in our life.

We had a little family bday party for Sis, had a pinata and water balloon fight. Curtis and Brittany and I made Sister's cake, so it came out pretty much homely but she loved it and it actually did taste good. Laurel was very insistent she wanted a Dora and Princess cake so that's what she got.


Reaching her little hand up to touch her balloons - she loves balloons

So excited about her new baby doll. When we asked what she was going to name her, she stated very firmly, "The doll is Curtis."

Sister dancing to her musical card

Bday girl's parents

My tiny family running air traffic control

I horribly can't seem to fix the captions so that will have to do for now!