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.

The Zombie Run was awhile back, but I never got around to sharing it. I loved this run! It was insane and crazy, and I was screaming through most of it, but it was so exhilarating. Seriously. I know it’s not serious stuff like a half or full marathon, but when you survive zombies chasing you, I think that’s definitely an accomplishment.

The runners all wear flags, kind of like flag football, and the zombies try to take your flags as you pass them. It was so hard and you had to endure this for 3 miles. You had to have a strategy and try to run pass them with a group of people, so that they were distracted with so many running at one time.

There was this dark house/structure you went in and there were zombies inside and wires hanging from the ceiling, if one of the wires touched you, you’d get a small electrical shock. Sounds insane, I know, but it was real. I didn’t get shocked (I’m smooth like that… ha!), but my little sister did and she said it hurt. There was even one runner inside crying because she was so scared and a zombie was talking to her saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you out.” That one was a friendly zombie.

There was another maze and you had to find your way out… I was just about out when a zombie popped out right in front of me, and I yelled so loud and simultaneously pulled off my flag to hand it to him before he could grab it from me. I realized how hilarious the whole situation was and started laughing, and the zombie started laughing with me that he let me keep my flag. I screamed so loud that the others zombies noticed and when I made it out of the maze they were laughing at me too. Those zombies had a sense of humor.

Of course, there were walls to climb, a giant water slide into mud, barb wire to go under, another electrical shock fence to go under too, along with lots or mud and water to run through, and a whole lot of zombies in between trying to steal my flags. I think I finished with 2 remaining (out of 3), so I came out a survivor. Our group was so fun and survived it together!

We were muddy, tired, and cleaned ourselves off in the lake. Ben’s cute because even though he doesn’t run, he comes for support, and tries to find us throughout the course to take some pictures. I haven’t done a run since October that I need to sign up for more again soon. And I’m definitely signing up to do another zombie run… it’s just way too much fun not to! Though it isn’t real, it’s still really scary (some people are dressed really freaky!) and makes me scream like crazy!

Would you ever run the zombie run?!! My friend Lance, who I’ve done all my runs with, made this cool video of our run and it makes me excited for the next one…

Here’s when I did the Color Run and the Foam Fest run. Seriously, these runs are just plain silly and fun! You definitely have to give one a try if it comes to your area!

This is from a few weeks back when the girls and I decided to spend the morning at the beach. Glow was terrified of the sand for the first hour, so Glow and I just chilled on the blanket and watched while my other little beach babes were playing. It’s so funny because Glow was doing all sorts of cute poses for me and my camera. That rest the face of the fist thing… ah, so cute!

She started getting braver and was slowly becoming friends with the sand. It started with touching it from the blanket, then slowly venturing out to plop herself on top of it and start playing with it. Finally, she was full on best friends with it and when it was time to go, she didn’t want to. It always happens that way, doesn’t it?! We must head back there soon so that she can rekindle and grow that friendship.

P.S. Glow’s cute little top was sent over from Home Spun Vintage.

We took a little family excursion to visit the Carlsbad Flower Fields a couple weekends ago. I’ve always wanted to take the girls, but every year we miss the small window of time they’re open. This year we almost missed it again, but made time to go on the last Saturday it was open, but even then, we almost missed it because we left later than originally planned and then I was totally mad the whole drive there because things weren’t going as planned. Well, they weren’t going as I planned in my head. Thankfully, Ben and I kissed and made up once we got there because it wouldn’t have been fun for the girls had I decided to hold on to my silly frustration. So we went in, let the girls do the little scavenger hunt they had there, went through a sweet pea maze, saw lots of gorgeous flowers, and admired how pretty everything was. And since we only had an hour and a half there, we were walking like mad and the girls were running from flag to flag to make sure they got all their stamps for the scavenger hunt. It was a shorter time that I had planned, but we still ended up having lots of fun. Next time though, we’re going to aim to get a little more time in there.

I’m sure most know by now about the fury a tornado unleashed in Oklahoma. It makes me so sad to see the images of it all. I’ve never experienced a tornado, but reading Rachel’s post really got me. Things like that really sober up life a bit. I think one of the great things about the internet and blogs is that as much as we can encourage each other on our favorite products, or what style we’re currently loving, we can also encourage each other to make a difference where it counts. So if you’re moved to help out in anyway, I encourage you to do so. The Red Cross and Conduit Mission is on hand to serve those affected, as well as a number of other charities, so let’s do what we can!

We’ve been inundated with various house and personal projects that we haven’t really been on many family adventures these past few months. Thankfully, most of our projects are wrapping up, so we’re trying to go on more adventures. This past weekend we told the girls we were taking them to the Wild Wild West and boy were they excited about that! Actually, it was really Pioneertown out in the desert, but that place made you feel like you stepped into a Western movie for sure. We had an early dinner at Pappy and Harriet’s and then we let the girls roam around the teeny little town. They had a blast just walking, exploring, and pretending they were cowgirls. They’ve got Texan in their blood, so maybe some of it comes naturally. That little baby of ours was especially happy to be walking and walking about. She’s got such a curious little personality and is an excellent copycat (always trying to do what the big sisters do). She’s such a doll!

After our Old West exploring, we headed out to Joshua Tree to get some family pictures taken by Kimberly Geneviève. Kim and Andre are such sweeties and we always have a good time when we see them. This was the first time we got official family pictures done as a family of 6! You could see a sneak peek of the pictures they got here and here, and I’m so excited to see the rest! We ended up getting an annual pass to Joshua Tree, so we can’t wait to go back and do more exploring soon!

Obviously, we had a pretty pack weekend, which included seeing the BFF and her hubs cross the finish line for the OC half holding hands (it’s such a big moment for them!), spending time with church family, and then spending Sunday afternoon feasting with my family. Weekends like this are fun, but oh man does it leave the house in a shambles. Oh well, that’s what Mondays are for, right?! Happy Monday friends!

on true: dress, vintage. on brave: mix match dress, c/o homespun vintage (their stuff is so cute!!!). on soul: dress, gifted from Rachel. on glow: dress, vintage. shoes, c/o freshly picked. the bigger girls all wearing salt-water sandals (we pass them down to the next gal each year).