Seriously, we can’t get enough of our Soul. She is such a riot! Her outfit choices are definitely all her. I had to just smile when I saw her with her little headband and shorts on top of pants! She’s the girliest of the bunch and she loves to watch me put make-up on, and when I’m wearing lipstick, she likes to give me a kiss because that means she gets a little bit of lipstick too.

Her birthday request is for a girly party that includes blush, lipstick, and nail polish. It’s Ben’s preference that the girls don’t wear nail polish right now, but we may make the exception for her birthday request. We will see if her mind changes between now and December, especially since we’re coming off Brave’s birthday celebrations.

I was telling a friend the other day that if I had to describe the style of each of my girls based on a store it probably would be this… True is Anthropologie, Brave is Urban Outfitters, and Soul is definitely Free People. She’s my free spirited, bohemian girl for sure. We’re not quite sure how to describe Glow’s style yet because she’s the only I still get to dress, but it will be interesting when she starts interjecting her clothing preferences. For now though, I continue to enjoy having at least one of them still allow me to dress her up!

on me: dress, vintage via adored vintage. shoes, swedish hasbeens c/o unicorn boutique. necklace, anthropologie. on true: shirt, misha lulu. overalls, thrift store. shoes, new balance. bag, thrifted. on brave: can’t tell because she’s hiding! on soul: dress, misha lulu. leggings, target. shoes, hand me downs. on glow: shirt, misha lulu. overalls, hand me down. shoes, c/o freshly picked.

I finally got my hands on a copy of the Babiekins Magazine print summer issue. They can be found at your local Barnes and Noble or selected Targets. I’m excited and honored to be a contributor to the magazine along with lots of other way cool people. Misha Lulu has a cool activity page for kids, I share an easy DIY sailboat, and there are even fun party ideas! In addition to the gorgeous spreads on kid fashion ideas, so be sure to go and find yourself a copy!

Happy Monday friends!

It’s been a busy week of meeting with friends, a meeting at the Marimekko store, and lots of prepping for Brave’s birthday tomorrow. She has very specific requests and we’re planning on making it happen.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

True is becoming a really good helper in our home.

Glow is getting better at using utensils (and knocking down everyone’s water cups).

Excited and thankful for our new Tuesday dinners with friends!

If you’re a 9.5 shoe wearer, look at these cute sandals!

This vintage woven bag is totally perfect for summer!

I’m learning to let some things go. I wanted to bake Brave a cake, but for my sanity, I’m just going to buy one.

I’ve been trying to pray for more joy as I serve the girls. I find that I get frustrated because they’re so needy (duh, they’re kids!) and I’m constantly feeling so stressed and impatient. It’s not their fault, it’s totally my heart and actions that need changing.

Thankful for clean bathrooms! I totally tackled my bathrooms this week and they are spic and span. It was getting pretty bad up in their.

We’re going to the OC fair today to kick off Brave’s birthday weekend. It will be such a fun and relaxing weekend (hopefully!), so we’re pretty excited that it’s finally here! What do your weekend plans consist of?

Fish Tacos. For the breading, I use whole wheat breadcrumbs, a little bit of cornmeal, parmesan cheese, and salt. It’s so simple and so good! I roast red onions and serranos together until they’re really crispy and top our tacos with it. The girls have theirs without the heat.

Black Bean Chili. I made a giant pot of this for our Tuesday Dinner Club with some people from our church family. We topped it with queso fresco, cilantro, avocados, and bacon (turkey and soy options). It was a good time of sharing life over a spicy meal!

Week 8/5 – 8/9

Monday: Probably left over Black Bean Chili (I made a giant pot)
Tuesday: Some pasta dish
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Vietnamese Pho
Friday: Pizza/sushi night

What are good dishes to cook for about 10 people? We want to keep our dinner club going weekly at our house, so I need some ideas of some easy things to cook for a large group (a big pot of chili was good for this week). I told Ben I need a crock pot because I think that would work well for a big dinner, but I’m kind of stuck and need more ideas. If you have any to share, I’d love to hear it!

Karen and Joe, the brains behind Misha Lulu are such amazing artists. I love everything they do! Actually, their whole darn family is simply amazing. They had their art show this past weekend at Leanna Lin’s Wonderland in Eagle Rock and that place was hoppin’! It was such a great show and we totally had a reunion of sorts for all the Misha Lulu kids (and their moms). It was also great to bump into some Cakies readers!

I was so overwhelmed with all the goodies that I didn’t know what to pick. I ended up not getting anything, but then came home and totally regretted it. So much so, that I kept telling Ben all night long that I should have bought a doll, and well, Sunday afternoon we went back to the shop so I could pick out a doll. Actually, we let Glow pick one out and she picked out a Nino Ponte (the black cat), and it’s been attached to her ever since (see here)! Glow was saying, “Baby! Baby!” to one particular Misha doll Saturday night, but that specific doll was gone when we came back, and she kept saying no to the remaining ones. I think she was drawn to the colors on the dress of that particular doll (it’s the one with the floral top and striped skirt pictured above).

The artwork Karen and Joe made were just gorgeous! I’m thinking I need to go back and get a print. When I went back on Sunday, there was only one Nino Ponte and 3 Misha dolls left. If you’re interested in any of them or any of the art, you could order them here through Leanna Lin’s Wonderland (or email [email protected] for inquiries). The Mishaland collection will be up for one month, so if you’re local or plan on being in the L.A. area soon, you should definitely stop by and check it out!!!

I love taking these pictures together because it documents the phases the girls go through. It was a typical Sunday morning and I yelled, “Get dress!” And the three big ones proceeded to dress themselves. True changed her shirt twice, Brave decided to layer a skirt over pants (sure, why not!), and Soulie put on a dress. Then, I reminded her she needed to put shorts under her dress (it’s a rule here to wear shorts under skirts or dresses, so they can freely play and not worry about showing their underoos). Well, she comes back with her dress tucked into her shorts and that’s that. It wasn’t what I had in mind, but it’s her thing. I think it’s been her thing for almost a year now. I don’t correct it because it’s funny and cute, and she’s figuring herself out through it (plus, with Soulie, you really have to be careful about what battles to pick), so it’s cool. Glow’s the only one that I can still dress to my liking. She’s easy.

Ben and I aren’t particularly spontaneous people. We usually always have a plan and I like to talk about it first thing in the morning, so I can mentally prepare myself for the rest of the day. This day though (on our way to gather with our church family), all of a sudden I said, “Let’s take the girls rollerskating!” Ben said, “Okay!” I looked at him and said, “Okay?” He said, “Yeah. What made you think of that?” I told him I just looked down at my feet and thought of rollerskates. HA! That’s as spontaneous as we get folks!

Therefore, that afternoon we took the girls rollerskating. We didn’t have socks on, so we went to Target, I ran in and bought some (we were in need of some anyways), and we headed to the skating rink. The girls had no clue where we were going and when we pulled in front of Skate Express (they can read the sign now), they were still confused. We get inside, pay admission, pick up rental skates for everyone (except Glow), and by now, they get it. Their faces were filled with excitement and nervousness. We had no clue how they would react or how they would do since this was their first time ever being on skates, but oh well, we were all going skating!

After everyone got their skates on, I took 2 solo laps around the rink to see if I even remembered how to skate before I tried to get out there with one of the girls to teach them. Thankfully, it all came back to me and I felt like such a kid again! I hadn’t skated at this rink since junior high and now here I was with my 4 little girls.  New memories were being made, while I was thinking about my old ones. It was a special moment for me.

I came back to the girls and said, “Who wants to try?!” Soulie was the first one who wanted to get out there, and she did surprisingly well. She held my hand, we stayed near the wall, and she just kind of rolled. I definitely did give my right arm a good work out as I had to hold her (and the rest of the girls) up. It was Brave who wanted to venture out next, and then True. Glow had to stay in the stroller while Ben and I took turns getting out in the rink with the girls. We did some practice lessons on the carpet, and I told them to point their toes out (skates in the shape of a V) and take tiny steps. They kept practicing and they kinda got the gist. Eventually, the three girls were off on their own as they held on to the wall and went around the rink. The smiles were so big and they were quite proud at their ability to do this. Even that little Soul, who was the tiniest wearing skates, insisted on going around the entire rink on her own. Their faces were filled with sheer elation as they skated around!

We stayed the whole session because the girls didn’t want to leave, and we ended up leaving at what was normally their bedtime, so we grabbed some fast food for them because they were starved by the time we left. Ben and I were surprised at how much we were able to just roll with it ourselves and it was kind of refreshing being spontaneous. It was just such a good day for memory making with our girlies. Here’s to trying to be spontaneous more often!

on me: shirt, anthropologie. jeans, f21. shoes, vintage. necklace, anthropologie (gifted from my sister-in-law. thanks suzi!) on true: shirt, gifted from sister’s trip to vietnam. shorts, target. shoes, new balance. on brave: top, skirt, and pants are all misha lulu. shoes, gap kids. on soul: dress, thrifted. shorts, misha lulu. shoes, hand me downs. on glow: dress, misha lulu. shoes, c/o freshly picked.