Just like that they started school again. We homeschool, but they go to a local school for enrichment classes one day a week. It’s a full day for the girls from 9am – 3:30pm. Since they’re in first and second grade now, they have all their classes together. They are both really excited about that because apparently playing together at home isn’t enough. These two are best buds for sure!
They picked out their outfits for the first day of school and True basically wanted to wear this whole get up again, and Bravey chose to wear her Spider-Girl dress with red pants. This was their first day last year, and this one was two years ago (it’s not the first week, but the second week). It’s fun to see their fashion sense evolve.
They were both happy to report they had a good first day of school, so we celebrated by going to John’s Incredible Pizza (an arcade and pizza joint place in one). The kids were skeptical at first because none of us had ever been there, but I think they were sold by their all-you-can-eat dessert. Ha! Moderation, kids, moderation. We all indulged in lots of pizza tasting (they have tons of flavors!), it’s not the best, but it’s a nice try to offer some interesting options. They had one with chicken breast, so that scored some points with Ben. After our tummies were full, we set out to play games.
Yes, we were there for the girls, but Ben and I did manage to play a couple of our favorites too. Skee ball is my number one and Ben likes the basketball one. We ended up with 282 tickets and the girls picked whoopee cushions and we got Glow a pair of star glasses. It was just too much fun and we left way past bedtime. One week of the new school year done, and a few more to go…
on true: shirt, gifted. skirt, c/o old navy (from this post). shoes, old navy (gifted for her birthday). on brave:dress, mom-made dress (see here), pants, c/o old navy. shoes, gap.
Hooray, hooray!
Today is our day.
We’re off to the park!
We must be back home before dark!
We have denim to wear.
We have sneakers on our feet.
Ready to play, we can’t be beat!
We’re out together, we know what to do.
“Hurry, hurry, there goes True!”
On the swings,
And down the slide,
“No way mommy! I don’t want to go back inside!”
We’re on our way up!
We’re seeing great sights!
The swings make us high fliers
Who soar to high heights.
The day turns to night,
We head back home.
We dream of new places,
Maybe next will be Rome.
Hooray, hooray!
Here’s another day.
Let’s go to the art show!
To see the work of Andrew Ho!
We have denim to wear.
Only one has sneakers on her feet.
A little more dressed up,
We must look neat!
On and on, the art we can see,
And all of it makes us giggle with glee.
Imagination really takes you far,
To wonderful places where you don’t need a car.
The day turns to night,
We head back home.
We dream of new places,
Maybe next will be Rome.
Oh!
The places we’ll go!
No matter where we are,
And no matter the weather,
Our family of six, will go places together!
I used to make random poems for random things, especially gifts, and my best friend would call me Toula Seuss. Toula because I had hair like the girl in My Big Fat Greek Wedding (and glasses), and Seuss because of the obvious. I thought a little poem of our visit to the park and art show would be a little fun and different, so I went with it and this one was inspired by Dr. Seuss’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go!. Don’t be surprise if I decide to pop out with another poem again soon.
This post is 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! These opportunities really wouldn’t be possible without you and I’m very thankful!
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 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.
While on one of our date nights last week, we totally set up our gorilla pod on the car to get pictures of the both of us together. As we were taking pictures, some random guy on a bike started taking pictures of us with his phone, so Ben was trying to smile and keep his eye on him at the same time, thus the result is a picture with Ben and a nervous smile. To be honest, the guy probably thought we were weirdos, so I’m sure he just got a kick out of some random couple in front of a random wall taking a random picture. It really is a strange thing to do.
And once again, Ben and I were getting ready for our date when we both start laughing because we noticed we’re both wearing white shirts and jeans. Matching outfits strikes again! Ben was going to change, but I told him to just leave it because it’s funny. Oh and don’t you love how I have to tippy toe up to give Ben a kiss?! Yup. I’m a shorty.
These are some recent thrift finds that are perfect for summer. I had one pair of denim cut-offs that I have had for about 10 years and I wear them like crazy every summer (except for the summers when I’m pregnant). They’re getting to the point that the areas around the buttocks are really worn and starting to tear (like majorly to the point of can’t be repaired), so I thought I had better go hunting for a new pair before these completely bite the dust. Luckily, I found these great 3 pairs for about 2 buckaroos each! I did the little stick the fist and length of my forearm check into the waist area to see if it would fit, and lo and behold, they all fit, so I knew they’d fit my waist (and it did!). They were all a bit longer in length, but a pair of scissors quickly fixed that. Then, a throw in the wash and dryer and there you go, I had a couple new (to me) pairs of denim shorts.
So even though I was eyeing a pair of these, I knew I didn’t need to spend those dollars. You could most definitely snatch a few good pairs at the thrift for just a few bucks. Oh and that white, gauzy dress is just perfect too, isn’t it?! Thrifted for just 5 bucks. I’d say I’ve had some pretty good luck lately. We’re heading to New Mexico for vacation soon, so I’m taking all these (and these) with me for sure!
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
Just like that they started school again. We homeschool, but they go to a local school for enrichment classes one day a week. It’s a full day for the girls from 9am – 3:30pm. Since they’re in first and second grade now, they have all their classes together. They are both really excited about that because apparently playing together at home isn’t enough. These two are best buds for sure!
They were both happy to report they had a good first day of school, so we celebrated by going to John’s Incredible Pizza (an arcade and pizza joint place in one). The kids were skeptical at first because none of us had ever been there, but I think they were sold by their all-you-can-eat dessert. Ha! Moderation, kids, moderation. We all indulged in lots of pizza tasting (they have tons of flavors!), it’s not the best, but it’s a nice try to offer some interesting options. They had one with chicken breast, so that scored some points with Ben. After our tummies were full, we set out to play games.
