Anything goes Friday

Fridays are my day off to spend with my little girl. She loves to pick her own clothes and has her own sense of style, but some of he choices aren't appropriate for school or church. We've coined Fridays as 'Pick your own clothes anything goes day.' If you follow me on Instagram I post there with that hash tag. As long as she's dressed she can wear whatever she wants.
We embrace creativity around here. And I like to see what she chooses.
We weren't even swimming. Someone just likes their swimsuit:




She did her own hair here:




Wearing the same matching Christmas dress as her baby (in June):




Because why have a fairy costume if you aren't going to wear it:








My personal favorite- Look how happy she is:




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Capturing the moment

We took a trip to Utah. We saw friends and had some time just the three of us too, our last family vacation before we become a family of four. It was wonderful in ways that all vacations should be- relaxing, beautiful scenery and we lost track of time in the way you can on vacation.

And although we try to get pictures of us as a family since we were all there together, it's those candid in-the-moment photos that are best. They never have all if us in them since my husband and I take turns grabbing the camera, but they are always my favorite pictures!





















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Puddling with Nana

My daughter loves puddling (jumping in puddles) and in the weeks and weeks of rain we’ve had, we’ve taken jumping in puddles often. We’ve taken to thunderdancing too! (dancing when it thunders because that no longer makes thunder scary, but FUN!) It beats moping around complaining about the weather! We lucked out with a beautiful couple of days while the grandparents visited! Along with my Mother-in-Law (aka: Nana) we went to the library for a fun outdoor day. It was like a carnival!

There was digging for dinosaurs, snacks, a bounce house, art activities and other games.






There was also a puddle.

Puddles beckon to my little girl in the same way chocolate chip cookies call out to me. She tugged on my hand and asked “Mom, can I jump in the puddle?” Well, of course. If she learned anything from me, it is that puddles were made to be jumped in! “Will you jump too?” I really didn’t want to so she asked her Nana, who happily complied.







And I had more fun watching the two of them dancing and jumped and laughing together than had I been in the puddle myself. No matter that Nana had jeans on, that quickly became soaking wet. No other parent or grandparent seemed to fond of the idea of letting their little one jump in the puddle so they had the whole puddle to themselves! The memories. The giggles. The comments “Now that is a fun Grandma!” are priceless. They spent almost an hour in that little puddle, my little fairy (Friday is pick your own clothes/anything goes day around our house and this has been the outfit of choice as of late) and her Nana. Of all the things to do and her little friends that were there, she chose the simplest, natural, unofficial attraction there was. And had the time of her life.

~Angela

Every Day Is Worth Celebrating

I love holidays. I begin the countdown to my birthday months before the date. But not just my birthdays, either. I like the anticipation, the decorating, the planning and the excuse to celebrate birthday and holidays. I always have. And now that I have a family of my own, I like it even more- as we establish our own traditions and celebrations. 

We started this year out on a sick note. My husband was sick on New Years Day, when we planned to get out snowshoeing as a family for the first time.  As he was down and out my little girl and I did other things together and we later went out snowshoeing as a family.

Then came my birthday weekend, where we intended to celebrate with Sushi at a fave out of town restaurant. Again, my husband was sick. We still celebrated, just not the day we expected to.

Then came my husband's birthday, which found me in the first trimester of this pregnancy. Usually very organized, I had not been feeling well, and I ordered his present the day before his birthday (custom ordered beer glasses with his name on them), which had to be made then shipped, so needless to say he did not get his gift on time. And I slept most of the day.

Then came Easter. Although we were not sick, we were exhausted. So we cancelled our plans to go out of town to see family and instead, stayed home and rested. 

Our little girl turned three and we planned a friends party and a family party for her. We were so excited to have her cousins spend her birthday with her (this would have been a first!) and had to cancel her family party because she got the flu. She was too sick to even care.

Mother's Day arrived and we travelled to Michigan as a family. I made sure to point out this was the first holiday this year that we were all healthy and things went as planned! This was a turning point for us!! 

I spoke too soon. Father's Day was this last weekend and I got sick. So instead of making the day special for Dad, he steps up to do more than his share in taking care of our little girl and me. I slept most of the day as we travelled home from visiting friends and promptly went to sleep upon arriving home. We never gave Daddy his Father's Day gift that our little girl and I worked so hard on. I do recall eeking out a "Happy Father's Day" greeting during the few times I was awake and did accompany my family to dinner and dessert, although I was as much fun as a bump on a log. Not exactly my usual festive self. I did manage to take a couple of pictures on Father's Day..

And a few from last week, when Daddy took our little girl kayaking. And adventure they both enjoyed.

And although we are not losing sleep over it, as the Best Laid Plans are those that do not go as planned, we also make a point to celebrate EVERY SINGLE DAY. We don't save our good silverware for special holidays, we use it every day. We don't wait for weekends to have adventures, we can do those in the weekday evenings too. We don't wait for holidays to make gifts and show appreciation to those we care about, we do that other times as well. Our little girl wears her Christmas dress to school on a regular Monday and we have lunch dates just because. 

Because every day is worth celebrating. 

~Angela

Color splash run

After running the Color Run last year with my little girl, I was excited that our small town decided to host one. Better yet, my husband sponsored, planned and volunteered at the event and it supported two organizations our family cares much about: the Boys and Girls Club and Lions Club. Win, win!



My little girl remembered the Color Run from last year and has been excited for weeks, as she has accompanied her Daddy to the Color Splash planning meetings and reminded me often “I need new running shoes, Mom!”

After running a mile the week before in a kids race for another fundraising run, I was optimistic she could do that again so I left the jogging stroller at the 1.2 mile part of the course for when I anticipated she would get tired.
We walked/ran 1.5 miles (until pushing an empty stroller and holding my little girl’s hand got to be too much awkward bending for me).

Then I put her in the stroller, much to her protest, until she started yelling “Mom! Faster! I see more color!!!”


We had a lot of fun together. She and I guessed the color that we would be sprayed with at each color station (she was right 4 out of 5 times; I got none right) and our favorite station was where Daddy was, spraying us with pink!!












We ditched the stroller at the end so she could run through the finish and get more color on her own.








My husband was among MANY volunteers that helped make this race a success. Although we travel all over to participate in runs, it was fun to see our friends and neighbors volunteering at the Color Stations. Bonus was that the event was sold out, all 600 spots were full, and the event raised over $14,000 for two organizations that do a lot to help in our community. And it got a whole new group of people excited about being active.

I’ve been running for years and enjoy the stress relief, camaraderie, health benefits and post-run high that running brings. I get emotional thinking of how big of a part of my life running has been. There was the time I broke the school record in track and the friends I made in cross country in high school that I am still close with today. There are the numerous races and only marathon I ran with my family cheering me on, the friends that helped me train and brought me post-race gifts. There was the time I did my first race with my (now) husband, the pride I had when my husband qualified for and then ran the Boston Marathon, my family’s tradition of a Thanksgiving Day Run in costume. And pushing my little girl in her stroller on training runs in all types of weather, until now, she can run on her own. Running is a big part of our family’s life.

At 6 months pregnant, I’m having tailbone pain and I am hanging up my running shoes for now. I’ve shed a couple tears about this, as I will miss the Color Run with my family and friends this summer, my favorite local races and going on casual runs (my Friday morning tradition), pushing my daughter in the stroller. My daughter who know has become my trusty running partner/trainer, is always good for a “faster, mom!!!” even when I am already running my absolute fastest.
But I have realized a couple of things too- like when I had a stress fracture and could not run for a few months- this too shall pass. This is temporary. There are a lot of things I can still do- I can cheer on my family, take photos and be a superfan on the sidelines of the runs they will continue to do. I can still go for walks, go biking and swimming. And rest is something my body (and the baby inside of me) needs. So it’s for a good reason. And listening to my body rather than pushing myself, is the right choice for both of us.

~Angela

Bloom: A Tutorial

I have mentioned before that I like to change out my decor frequently so I am hesitant to spend a lot of money on accessories unless I know I will have it forever. I found this 12 X 12 simple frame at Michaels for $14.99 (plus I had a 40% off coupon so it was even cheaper!!) and put it in my entry. I thought I could change what is in the frame periodically and easily, but right now I am in spring mode.

Here is how I made the sign:

I had these letters on hand, leftover from a scrapbooking project. There were no vowels left in the set, so it was great to use up the leftover odd letters.

I used spray adhesive and glitter to cover the red letters so they would match the pink scrapbook paper I was using as sa background.

I glued on flowers and a button in place of the letters. This took the longest - deciding which two buttons to use.

This project literally took me 10 minutes to make. I love projects like this (quick, easy and finished product is just as expected).

~Angela