a girl's gotta accessorize

i'm the queen of the world!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I went home over the weekend and spent some quality time with my family. This included some one-on-one time with my niece, Evelyn, my sister's daughter. Ella and Evie adore each other, and over the last four years, have grown almost as close as sisters. For as much as Evie loves playing with Ella, it seemed she was happy to have me to herself for a couple of days.

Evie has an imagination like no other child I know. She can tell the most amazing story, you'd swear the characters and storyline were straight from a children's book. This weekend, I had the honor of becoming one of Evie's characters...

She adorned me with a handmade crown (sheets of paper held together by scotch tape), draped me in a beautifully woven robe (my mom's bed sheet), donned me with white silk gloves (from Homecoming of '97) and had me perch on my royal throne (a barstool). She crawled onto my lap and proclaimed us to the nations (my Dad, brother and sister), "Queen Amanda and Princess Evie!"

Our rule lasted all of one minute, until she crawled off of my lap and asked me to go play "hibernation" with her.

the ultimate fight sister club

She looks as sweet as pie, doesn't she? Ella is my sensitive, creative, introspective child. As the oldest, she tends to take control of situations and likes to do things her own way. She loves Britten dearly, and in recent months, they've become incredibly close, never wanting to do anything or go anywhere without each other. It's really sweet. But like any sibling relationship, they fight. Not just your average fight, where one may kick, hit or pull the other's hair. They have taken sibling rivalry to whole new level. It usually involves toys getting thrown across the room and screams so loud the windows rattle (believe me, I'm not exaggerating). It's not as though I sit on the sidelines and let them have it out. I do my fair share of intervening, doing my best to teach them how to play nicely together. But there are times, like yesterday, where I'm not able to prevent a fight from escalating into a volcanic eruption. I was upstairs, taking care of Chloe, when I heard the scream. As parents, you know that your children have a variety of unique screams; the happy scream, the mad "don't take my toy away" scream, the "I want to annoy you" scream, and the "I'm really, really hurt" scream. Well, this was the "I'm really, really hurt" scream, and it was coming from Britten. I rushed down the stairs to find her laid out on the floor holding her nose. Ella was standing by, looking incredibly guilty. Within seconds, the bridge of Britten's nose looked like this...

and this...

Apparently, what I gathered between sobs, Britten had been trying to take a ball away from Ella while Ella was playing with "the ball toy" (a big plastic toy that shoots balls out of it). Ella didn't appreciate the fact that Britten took her ball so she decided to pick up the "ball toy" and throw it at Britten, hitting her smack between the eyes. Ouch! So much for diplomacy! Of course, Ella knows better (hence the extreme guilt she had written all over her face) and I dealt with it her accordingly.

Moments after the assault, they ran off playing together, as if nothing ever happened. Funny how siblings are. Later, I overheard Britten say to Ella, "You're a nice big sister, Ella." And she really is.

looking for a photographer?

Then look no further than here! My friend, Jennifer, is one of the most talented photographers I know. An artist by trade, Jennifer has the knack to capture the real moments (as opposed to staged!) with a click of her camera. I've personally hired her to photograph my children, and if you've been to my house, you'd have seen her work in almost every room! As a mother of 3 very young children, like myself, she has a gift for working with kids (although, you'll notice from her website that she has the talent to take beautiful pictures of anything and anyone!). She's not only a GREAT photographer, but is very patient and incredibly fun to work with. Check out her website by clicking here. You will NOT be disappointed!

the queen of the nile bed

At almost 4 months old, Chloe is still sleeping with us in our bed. I know, I know, AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), this is something you seriously frown upon, but at this stage in life, it's the easiest and most convenient way to do things. I do, however, intend to transition her into a crib as soon as we transition Britten into a big girl bed in Ella's room. As I lay in bed last night, wide awake at 4:00am, having been woken up for the third or fourth time by cramped limbs, I realized this transition needs to happen sooner versus later. As I watched my sweet baby sleep, as peaceful as can be, I thought to myself, how on earth can a 14 lb. baby take up over half of a California king-sized bed? So, alas, the days of co-sleeping with my baby will soon be over. For as much as I'll miss her warm little body next to mine (and the convenience of nursing in bed), I know a good night sleep is in order. I guess we'll just wait and see how she feels about it!

If anyone has any recommendations about how to get a toddler and preschooler to successfully share a room, by all means, PLEASE send them my way!

home again, home again, jiggity jig!

I had the wonderful opportunity to escape reality this weekend and go back home, the town I grew up in, to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. I had one of the most relaxing days I've had in a long time, and I owe that to my husband. While I was celebrating with my family, enjoying great food and better company, he was at home watching my oldest daughters, Ella & Britten. My little companion, Chloe, was an absolute angel and handled the traveling, the activity and of course, all of the handling like a trooper. I know Chloe looks a little concerned in this picture, grabbing onto my shirt for dear life, but for the most part, she was all smiles.

I also enjoyed some quality time with my sister, Jen, and her family. Even though we live 1/2 hour apart, we're both so busy that we rarely get to see each other. We've recently vowed that we're going to have play dates every other week and make a "sister date" once a month, so I really hope we can make that happen!

This is my little brother, Adam. He's the baby of the family. Although he looks a little creepy in this picture, he's really one of the coolest guys I know (btw, he tried to look creepy for the picture, so I'm at liberty to say whatever I please)! He was my traveling buddy this weekend and we had a riot, reminiscing about old times. See the "mini-me" version of Adam in the background? That's my Dad. :)

Here is the birthday girl herself. Or should I say, birthday girls? This is my beautiful mom, on the right, and her equally beautiful identical twin sister, Joyce, on the left. Can you believe they're 50 (or to be more accurate, turning 50 on Wednesday)? I can't. In fact, nobody can. My mom is constantly mistaken as one of my sisters. How can she be a Grandma, everyone asks. A Grandma of 9 (almost 10) grandkids, mind you!

So, my trip back home was a success all around. I had a wonderful time with my family, some quality time with Chloe and even a chance to SLEEP IN until 8:30am! Amazing, I know.

Money, Money, Money...MONEY!

Ella: "Daddy, I want another piece of chocolate."

Daddy: "No, Ella, you've had enough."

Ella: "Daddy, I want another piece of chocolate!"

Daddy: "I said NO, Ella."

Ella: "Daddy, I really want another piece of chocolate!"

Daddy: "And I really want a million dollars, but that's not going to happen."

Ella, with a confused look on her face: "Daddy, you sound like Mr. Crabs." Ella exits the room.

For those of you familiar with Spongebob Squarepants (like us, unfortunately) would know that Mr. Crabs is the money hungry and very frugile crab who's always looking for ways to make an extra dollar.