oh crap it’s too fast

January 21, 2014


the girlsthe girlsthe girlsI’m getting freaked out that True turns 8 this year. That sounds so big! Then I start thinking about the years until puberty and I get really nervous, which typically leads me to mentioning it to Ben, and he gets extremely nervous! Thus, leading to an oh-crap-moment-time-is-flying-too-fast kind of thing. For us, once one hits puberty for one, they pretty much all go through it because they are so freakin’ close in age! It makes me so nervous to think about it…

So much goes on in a day. I’m trying to teach them how to be loving, selfless, responsible, and feed them, guide their hearts, homeschool them (if you’re doing the homeschooling route, but doing homework with them takes a lot of time too), remind them to share, take them to this and that activity, and then feed them again, and the parenting list goes on and on. All this chaos makes it all go so fast. Next thing you know it’s a new year and you’re wondering how did that just happen?! I love my girls and my heart swells up with joy just looking at their smiling faces. I know I’m not a perfect mom, but I’m their mom, and I’m very glad to be able to mother them, chaos and all.

on me: dress, old navy. necklace, j.crew gifted from BFF, shoes, emerson fry (early last year on clearance). on true: dress, misha lulu. boots, old navy. on brave: dress, frankie & sue. shoes, old navy. on soul: dress, anthropologie (5 years ago). sweater, vintage. shoes, new balance (she loves sneakers!). on glow: dress, vintage. pants, old navy. shoes, freshly picked.


if you want to, but think you can’t, you can

January 15, 2014


the girls
the girlsthe girlsthe girlsthe girlsthe girlsthe girlsthe girlsthe girlsThese kids are a ball of energy. It’s been almost exactly 4 years since I started working out consistently. It was a month after I had Soul, I was just feeling kind of blah, and I was hoping exercise would change that. Having the girls back to back to back at that point made my body just feel out of it and I needed something to boost my energy levels. I know it’s going to sound cheesy, but I started doing P90X. Yup, those informercial workouts! Ben bought it several months prior and I figured this was as good as I was ever going to get to having a personal trainer.

This was back in the day when True and Brave used to nap too, so I would put them and newborn Soul to nap, and I would pop the DVD in and start working out. After a consistent month of working out 6 days a week, Ben decided he wanted to join in, so we both started waking up early to do the workouts together. That was 4 years ago and we’ve been doing it like that ever since!

I did get pregnant with Glow after almost exactly a year of consistent exercising 6 days a week, and since my body had been used to such rigorous exercise, my midwife said it would be fine to continue while pregnant and I did! I think I missed about a month during the first trimester due to feeling sick, but as soon as I was feeling well, I was back to my morning workouts with Ben. I continued to exercise 6 days a week my whole pregnancy up until I gave birth. You should have seen me, I was full on still doing jumps, pushups, and (assisted) pull-ups with this ginormous belly! I am sure if my mom or MIL saw me working out, they surely would have made me stop (and freaked out!). We wished we would have taken a picture of it then, but we didn’t even think about it. It would have been fun to look back on the picture and just laugh at how ridiculous I looked. I took another 6 week break after I gave birth, but once I was cleared, I was back at it.

Exercise gives me the energy I need throughout the day. I don’t drink coffee or soda, so this is my boost to get me energized to deal with the demands of the girls. Ben and I do the exercises together still and we wake up to do it before the girls wake up. Of course, he wakes up first and then he wakes me up, and I still always have trouble getting out of bed, but I just have to remember how good it feels after.

Four years later, I’m thankful for the time we have invested to strengthen our bodies. If you been following here for awhile, you know how much I love doing the “fun runs,” especially with obstacle courses, and it really has helped us in all we do in our garden. All that shoveling, digging, and maneuvering around really requires muscles, so I’m glad to have strengthened them over the years.

I must also mention that along with working out, I generally eat pretty healthy. I say generally because I do have a hard time saying no to desserts. Moderation is hard when cakes and chocolate is involved (like yesterday’s post), but otherwise eating healthy is not a problem. Being married to a dietitian makes this lifestyle of making good food choices kind of easy. Have I ever told you about how when we started dating I lost 15 lbs?! Usually, the opposite happens when a couple starts dating, but not in my case.

If you ever think you can’t ever possibly get to a place where you’re consistently working out, I’m proof you can! I was never an exercise person prior, but I knew something had to be done to prevent my body from feeling sluggish. The first 2 months are tough, but you just have to keep pushing yourself. Once you get those couple of consistent months in, you’ll be motivated to keep going. It also helps to get your spouse (or a friend) to do it alongside you, it really helps keep you both accountable.

A little disclaimer though… my body looks nothing like the informercials talk about. After 90 days, I didn’t have abs of steel  (and after 4 years, I still don’t!), but I definitely feel stronger and healthier, which really does feel so good. I have more to say about it, but I will save it for another post since this one is long enough already. We’ve moved past P90X and have done a ton of other DVD workouts, so I will have to do a breakdown of each one we did and my pros and cons of them.

So yes, it’s doable to be active and have 4 kids! It takes time and dedication (and someone who will wake you up in the morning to do it), but seriously, if I can do it, you can too!

on me: vintage style shirt, c/o old navy. sweatshirt, c/o old navy. active compression capris, c/o old navy. shoes, new balance. on true: shirt, mightee kids. dolman sleeve hoodie, c/o old navy. pants, molo kids. shoes, new balance. on brave: striped sweatshirt, c/o old navy. active jersey pants: c/o old navy. shoes, nikes. on soul: dress and pants, old navy. shoes, new balances (she’s way into sneakers right now!). on glow: dress and leggings, misha lulu. sweater, vintage. shoes, freshly picked.

This post was sponsored by Old Navy. Check out Old Navy’s latest fashion lineup in store or online at oldnavy.com. Thank you for your continuous support of this space and my sponsors. xoxo


a few of our favorite things

December 16, 2013


winter in caliwinter in caliwinter in caliwinter in caliwinter in caliwinter in caliwinter in caliWe are Sound of Music fans through and through, and though the acting in the live Carrie Underwood version wasn’t stellar, we still loved every bit of it. We love the musical not because we want to recite lines of the movie, but because we want to sing-a-long, and Carrie Underwood still made us want to sing along (True gets intensely passionate when she sings along). It’s been stuck in our head ever since we saw that newest version, and I think we might watch the Julie Andrews version for Christmas. It just feels like a Christmas thing to do.

Old Navy wanted us to put together a little list of our favorite things for gifting and this is what we came up with based on things we are personally loving (and wearing):

I’m loving their sweater dress paired with a cozy scarf (my plaid one is from Old Navy, but sold out online)…
True loves her color blocked dress paired with glitter boots, leopard print socks, and topped with a pom pom hat
Brave loves her polkadot toggle-front coat and she stole my chunky knit pom pom hat (that’s why hers is slightly big)…
Soul loves the critter ballet flats we gifted her for her birthday…
Glow kept trying to steal Soul’s cat shoes, so we got another pair of critter flats just for her, a pair of striped leggings (it’s perfect for keeping her little legs covered!), and a pom pom hat with a pom pom bigger than her face…

I hate procrastinating, so I’m pretty well done with Christmas shopping. I still have to get a couple stocking stuffers (my fave stocking stuffer is a disposable camera so that each of my girls can take their own pictures throughout the day), but I think we’re good to go. How about you? Are you done shopping or do you still need to run off and pick a few things up?

This post was sponsored by Old Navy. Check out Old Navy’s latest fashion lineup in store or online at oldnavy.com. Thank you for continuous support of this space and my sponsors. It’s because of you that I’m able to join in to fun opportunities such as this! 


how the picture taking goes

November 21, 2013


things we saythings we saythings we saythings we saythings we saythings we saythings we sayPictures with kids are hard. You never know if they’re going to be in the mood for it or not. Mine are all wiggly, especially that little baby of ours. She’s been such a ball of sass lately. I’ve learned to just roll with the punches (mostly) and can just go with whatever it is they give me. Moms must stay flexible, right?! I’m particularly thankful that SLR digital cameras can do continuous shooting, so you’re bound to get a good one for sure. At least, you hope.

Usually, if I have the big 3 ready for the camera, the baby isn’t. And if I have the baby and the big 2 ready, Soul isn’t. True and Brave are pretty good, as long as I’m behind the camera (or Ben). If it’s someone else, like for the Misha Lulu shoots, you will definitely get the serious look. My usual trick to get everyone faced forward and smiling is to have everyone jump. All the girls love jumping! It puts instant smiles on their faces (if you look back at our pictures, you’ll see we jump a lot!). As for me in pictures, I pretty much just have one face… a smiling one. That’s all I know to do. If I try and pretend to pull off the serious look, I just look pissed off, so I’ll stick to smiling.

How about you? Do you have a hard time getting your kids together for a picture? I know it’s Christmas card season, so I’m sure most of us are trying to round our troops up to get the perfect picture to send out. Have you picked out a picture yet?

By the way, this particular day was glorious because we actually got to wear a sweater out (well, most of us did). We went from low 90’s on Wednesday to a 20 degree drop on Sunday, and suddenly fall is back. Just like that. Oh SoCal fall, you are so temperamental. How about we just stick to sweater weather? We’re all kind of feeling that right now.

on me: shirt, everlanerockstar skinny jeans, c/o old navy. cardigan coat, c/o old navy (I have been searching for a cocoon style sweater, so I was so happy that old navy had this one.) on true: sweater dress, old navy. clogs, lotta from stockholmon brave: shirt, mightee kids. skirt, misha lulu. rugby cardigan, c/o old navy. shoes, c/o old navy. on soul: shirt and dress, vintage. shoes, hand me downs. double breasted cardigan, c/o old navy. on glow: chambray shirtdress, c/o old navy. tights, hand me downs. shoes, freshly picked.

This post was sponsored by Old Navy. Check out Old Navy’s latest fashion lineup in store or online at oldnavy.com. I love blogging and these opportunities wouldn’t be possible without you, so I’m thankful for your support of this space and all I do. xoxo


out to school: 3/4

November 12, 2013


my california awardsmy california awardsmy california awardsmy california awardsThese girls sure do deserve an award! They are such bright girls and how much they take in and understand always amazes me. I see how their minds grow everyday and I’m so proud of them. They really work hard learning all the new concepts I’m throwing at them. Also, they have their crazy mama as their main teacher, so they for sure deserve something special for putting up with me!

It’s cute that they wanted to wear matching outfits this day. They pulled the dresses out over the weekend and had them laying out until it was time to get dressed to go to their one day a week enrichment classes.

on true: dress, misha lulu (can be purchased here). shoes, gymboree. on brave: dress and leggings, misha lulu. shoes, hand me downs. hat, dollar store.


out to school: 3/3

November 5, 2013


school styleschool styleschool styleMy big girls. I can’t believe how fast time has flown. I remember them being itty bitty and now these girls are the ones I depend on to help make my days slightly easier (and sometimes they make it harder too). They’re good at putting away the dishes, grabbing me something I need (though they usually fight about who gets to grab it), and helping keep an eye on Glow. I know I sometimes get frustrated with them because I expect them to already know what to do, but really, they’re just 6 & 7, and sometimes they listen and sometimes they don’t. My job as their mother is to train them. They don’t come out already knowing what to do, so it’s my job to patiently teach them (even if sometimes it takes awhile for them to get it), so I need to remember… Ruby, they’re just kids! Take a chill pill. 

Today, we had a really good day together. We went on a field trip with their theatre class to watch a play and then we had a lunch date. I definitely need to try and squeeze in some special dates with them more often. It was just so nice to be able to have a bit of time just the three of us.

on true: dress and leggings, c/o fab kids  (love that they put together full outfits for you!). shoes, c/o old navy (worn here). on brave: dress and leggings, c/o fab kids. shoes, gap.


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