Wordless Wednesday ~ My Favorite Kinda Night

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mother/Daughter Tea

Last weekend the girls and I got to attend the most fun tea ever!
My mother-in-law had been planning a mother-daughter tea at our church, which was special in itself, because sometimes us mamas of younger kiddos get left out of fun when we can't bring littles along.
 

 

She asked if the girls would be interested in participating in a "fashion show".
Since this tea was all about laughter and friendship, it was a very special kind of fashion show :)
Sierra had to wear a "dinner dress" complete with McDonald's wrappers.
Makenna wore a "slip over sweater" and "sunglasses".
Kam was decked out in her "tea dress", adorned with fragrant peppermint tea bags, of course.
 

 

 

And Miss Tay . . . well, she just got to sip tea, eat cupcakes, and spend time with her bestie.
Because you can't always count on three year olds to follow through with plans, ya know?
 

 

 

 The minute we got home, Sierra and Makenna were begging to plan another event soon.
 

 

 

 Because what little girl {or big girl!} doesn't love dressing up, sipping tea, yummy treats, and time spent with friends?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Girls Days {AKA: When Dad is Away}

Well, it's May.

And around these parts, that means Bear Hunting Season.  Our year is pretty much broken up into hunting seasons:  Bear in the Spring, Elk in late Summer, and in the Fall . . . Well, the Fall is just one big collection of hunting seasons for Deer and Elk!

But, back to May. 
Jeremy almost always leaves sometime in May to go hunting for Bear.
And he did just that last week.

So, us girly girls were left to fend for ourselves, and what did we do?
All sorts of girly things, of course! {We try to dial down the girly just a liiiiiiiitle when poor Daddy is home, so when he's gone, we let loose}. 

 

There were sleep-outs in the living room.
{Even kitty joined us}. 

 

 

 

 

 There were pancake breakfasts in the morning.

 

 

 

 There was Barbie sewing going on.
Let me just take a minute to say that if you find a cute Barbie evening gown craft at your local craft store, and you think, "Hey, I'm no seamstress {at.all.}, but it is a KID'S craft, surely I can help pull this off" ... if that's what you're thinking, well, you're wrong.  You can't pull it off.  Just trying to save you the frustration and guilt right now.

 

 

 

 There was also some cooking classes being recorded :)

Makenna got a video camera for Christmas.  She loves to take video, and Sierra loves to be in front of the video.  It's a match made in Heaven! 

They were making up all sorts of recipes, and sharing craft ideas on their own little {pretend} YouTube channel!

 

 

 

 And there was even a little real crafting that took place for a Tea party that we attended yesterday.

 

 

I can't wait to share those photos, because we had So.Much.Fun!  We've decided that attending teas is our new, favorite pastime:

Getting to
dress up: Check
drink tea: Check
eat yummy sweets: Check
spend time with some of the most lovely ladies: Checkity Check Check!

And I am delighted to say that I even devoted some time to PHOTO ORGANIZATION!!!  I love photography so much.  And one of my favorite things to do is document our daily lives.  But my photo folders on my computer are out of control.  Completely.  When you take as many photos as I do {sometimes hundreds and hundreds a month!}, the editing, and organization can get away from you.  I think I do a fairly good job of keeping up with photos for the girls.  Each year, on each of their birthdays, I put together a photo book for each one.  But, these are books that they will {don't cry. don't cry.} take with them when they go. These are not photo books for ME.  So I am slowly, but surely trying to organize all of my photos from the last, oh, 8 or 9 years {I did manage to scrapbook up until Sierra was four, and Kenners was about 2, so I've got those whopping four years covered}.  And get them into books for myself.  I encourage you to do the same.  I know we love social media for sharing photos.  We have our phones, so we can take our precious photographs everywhere we go, with ease.  But printing those photographs.  Having something tangible as a memory.  Do it.  Even if it means starting right now, and slowly, slowly, working your way backward.  Or just start and move forward.  But, do it.  It will be so important, one day, for your children, and grandchildren to have access to these memories.  It's important now. 

Stay tuned.  I will be back soon with some tips for organizing.  And to outline what works for me.

 

 Until then,

 

 

 

Cupcake Bake-Off

The girls LOVE to be in the kitchen.  Whether they are helping me prepare dinner,

or I allow them free reign, they enjoy creating yummy food for us to eat.

They are also highly competitive.  My older two, anyway.

So the other day, one of the two decided to challenge the other to a cupcake bake-off.

Complete with time-restrictions, surprise ingredients, the whole thing.
 

 

  

 

It was such fun to stand back and watch as they made their own treats from start to finish, with zero help from me.

And it was a little funny to listen to the smack-talk that was being slung back and forth as they raced to beat the clock. 

 

 

In the end, Makenna made a delicious Vanilla and Oreo Cupcake . . .

 

 

 

And Sierra made a perfectly sweet and fresh Lemon Cupcake with Raspberry Cream Frosting.
 

 

And they were ALL delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Clean Teeth!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Encouragement

 

A little encouragement for your day ♥

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Somebody's Lost Her Training Wheels

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plant Shopping

Last week we met my MIL at a local nursery to shop for plants.
 

It was such a beautiful, sunshiny day,

 

 

and we were looking for plants to pot and sell for our annual Mother's Day plant sale down at the church.
 

There were so many to choose from, but the girls had no trouble picking out their favorites, 

 

 

and taking a quick break for a group pic.
{Sierra's so good about making sure that every outing ends with a group photo}
 

About a half hour, 

 

three wagons-full

 

Five Hanging Baskets,

 

And two large pots later, and we were on our way!

Thank you, Geri, for including us in the outing!!

We had so much fun <3 p="">

 

 

 

 

Runnin'

 Goodness it feels like we do a lot of running these days.

And truthfully, I'm not even sure what keeps us so busy . . .

Life, I guess.

So, this is what's up in our neck of the woods:
{And I'm going to try to be better about updating more regularly because, well, my memory is shot!}


Back in January one of my dearest friends and I got together to chitty chat and let the girlies play, and we {read: ME} were rambling like we do, and got to talking about our love for organization.
For me, it's actually a love of the idea of organization, because, try as I might, I just cannot actually BE organized.

I told her how I'd longed for an Erin Condren planner forever, and she had to look them up to see what the fuss was about.  Our day went on, they had to go home, and later that night I check my email to see that SHE GIFTED ME A CREDIT TO BUY MY OWN PLANNER.

OF.MY.OWN.

I'm kind of still speechless about that. 
Friends are the sweetest, aren't they??  I am so so blessed by mine.

Anyway.  Fast forward. 

Like the Unorganized person I am, it took me a few months to make the purchase.
I know.  I'm a dork.

But I did! 
And I received my planner the other day:

 

It's a little ridiculous how much I love this thing.

There is SO much space to write every little detail of your day.
{Which is helpful for me, or else I forget!} 

 

 

There are stickers in the back {who doesn't LOVE stickers?? Who?}
A pouch to hold your extras . . .
It is wonderful!

Here's to organization!


In other news, the weather has been delightful.

THIS is the kind of Spring I love.

Oregon has had some pretty wet Springs over the last several years, but this year has completely made up for it.  Blue skies and sunshine, Ahhhhhh!

Which means . . . BBQing!
 

Salmon on the grill . . . is there anything yummier??

 

 

And a baked potato bar to accompany.


And then, once the kitchen in cleaned up, and {some of us are} in our jammies:

 

Daddy starts a fire . . .

 

 

We haul out the marshmallows . . .  

 

And get to roastin'!

 

 

Then we giggle, and cuddle,
 

And fall asleep by the fire.
 

 

 

 

 {Hehehe, just kidding.  I think Tay's exact words were: "Mama take a pitcher of me while I 'tend to sleep".  Silly girl}.

 

 

 Looks like it's going to be another gorgeous day!
I'd better get movin'.

What's in your planner for the day? :)