Mama Fashion (Yes, I can be fashionable too! Kinda...)

I've been Thinking about spring and summer shopping for myself recently (yes, I wear clothes too! haha). My closet is extremely modest compared to the girls. You may be surprised to know that I usually rotate the same 7-10 outfits all season haha...whereas my girls have, well, more than that :-P

Here are some things I like right now--- a peek into my personal style for a change!

I usually like Maurices a lot. I don't wear dresses much, but I'm really loving lace dresses and brown belts---and aqua is my favorite color  (If my arthritis didn't cause foot problems I'd pair with cute brown boots!)

I also like this one

Another fashion fact about me? I have a slight obsession with black dresses. Like every time I go shopping for a dress to wear to a wedding or something I come home with another black dress haha. I just love black!

This one is pretty darn cute, again at Maurices

Ok, moving on to work fashion---going back to work in the fall and I'll need work clothes!

I'm pretty boring for pants at work...I pretty much wear black dress pants every day haha...but I do vary things up with my tops ---nothing too wild at work though :-P

Then for casual summer clothes this summer I like these  (I'm a tank top girl in the summer)

Ok, so that's Maurices--guess I'll save another store for a different day!

What's your favorite look I posted---convince me to actually buy one ;-)

New backdrops

This is what I posted on my photography page just now:

These are just super quick shots so excuse the subpar quality, but I wanted to share my NEW BACKDROPS that just came in the mail today! I grabbed whatever kid matched the best---can you believe they all just happened to be wearing outfits ...that matched so well? haha. My niece is using my white brick , my youngest daughter has the "grunge" multicolor wood, and my oldest daughter has gold polkadots. Which new backdrop is your favorite? (My oldest made that paper flower at preschool today and insists on wearing it now--go with it haha)

 

 

 

 

Sister Saturday and Relay for Life

On Saturday Raya and Sawyer did Relay for Life with my mom...the LOVED it she said. They wanted to stay the whole time, kept running and then stopping for refreshments, etc. etc. She said everyone thought they were so cute haha.

Before Raya left I took a picture of her "sporty spice" outfit---gotta look good while you run! haha. Of course Brielle got jealous and dressed herself in a "running outfit" too ---she nailed it :-P


After Relay for Life I took Sawyer and Raya into town b/c we were doing Sawyer's special day for his birthday---rather than a birthday present at his party this year I said I'd take him for a special day. We went shopping and he picked out like 4-5 new outfits lol (he surprisingly had a lot of fun doing this!) and then he chose Perkins for supper, then we went to Playstation and played and he convinced me to buy him a stuffed monkey haha, and then to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt (with lots of gummy bear toppings!) and then a Frozen movie sleepover party at our house Saturday night. Whew, I was exhausted! He said it was the best day ever though haha, so it was a success.

Then for Sister Saturday, week 17, we had Sawyer join us :-)



Also, as a misc. bonus, my cousin posted a couple cute pics from our family Easter.

There are all the little girls close in age...Whitney is a couple months older than Harper I believe...she's a shorty like Brielle though :-)


And me and my stinker butt --- <3 her


Happy Monday!

Grandma's Mother's Day present

My mom wanted a custom portrait, like I got recently, as her mother's day gift. It just came in the mail today and my friend Janelle did an amazing job once again. Raya immediately said "why did you get a picture of Grandma and Papa in the mail?" ....they look *just* like them! I left most of the clothes and colors up to my friend and she came up with such adorable outfits---love them all.

She has an Etsy shop now too---if you want to check it out and order one for yourself! They are a little pricey, but they are seriously amazing and keepsakes we'll have forever. And she spends a lot of time getting them just right. I'd probably charge a lot more---if I had any artistic drawing ability whatsoever haha. So check out her shop--it's called Love Design Studio

Here's my mom's---I picked the quote to put on it---I thought it was so perfect <3

Health Update and Friday Fashion Show

First, awhile back I mentioned my healthy wasn't great---arthritis was going crazy and I was having lots of pain in my neck, which worried me b/c of my history of cancer in my neck 10 years ago. Well I am happy to report that after an MRI I found out earlier this week that there is nothing in my neck--no cancer, etc, yay! They think it's just a weird side effect of one of my meds or a symptom of my arthritis...and actually, it has been better lately since my arthritis has been a little better, so I think it probably is related. Once my new job starts and I have great insurance again I will probably try one of the more expensive meds to see if that makes a difference, but for now I'm still alive and kickin' ;-)

In other news, this weekend we are taking Sawyer for his special birthday weekend...Raya is so excited and so is Sawyer! I haven't decided exactly what we are doing yet, but pretty sure it will involve lots of sugar, trips to the toy store, etc. :-P

Lastly, the girls just LOVE trying on their summer clothes haha. The other day they did a little fashion show so here are a couple pictures of what we have coming up this summer ;-)

Naartjie has some AWESOME basic essential pieces for mixing and matching this summer. They are usually like $10 but recently they had them on sale for $7 so I picked some up, and was pleasantly surprised by these awesome shorts. They are a soft knit, look like they'll hold up well, have an adorable ruffle bottom, and they fit Raya so well which is hard to find! I can't stand the short booty shorts, especially on her b/c she has a booty :-P  We got a few colors of these---I highly recommend them :-)

 

Also, Amy if you are reading this originally I said I wasn't getting this dress because I heard it ran slim, but it was on sale recently and I caved and I LOVE IT! I ordered up one size and it fits Raya so perfectly. And the back? Too die for cute

 

These two are a little big and I may save them for next year. But I love the colors on her

 

And lastly, these essentials tops are so cute with the tulle and they were on sale for $7 too. Brielle's is HUGE b/c she needs *nothing* for summer clothes, so I bought ahead.  (We won't wear Raya's top with those bottoms...just trying it on haha)

 

If that cuteness hasn't convinced you to check out Naartjie yet then you are nutso haha ;-) Love them and cheaper than Target during sales!!

Happy Friday everyone

Prima Ballerinas

The girls had their little ballet performance last night. They danced to Beauty and the Beast. I took a video that I may eventually get around to uploading haha. At this age they don't do much, but Raya seemed to do most of what she was supposed to. Brielle was so cute---she's never been on stage before and they had her in front since she's so little, so for awhile she just sat there not knowing what to do, and then she started turning around to try and watch Raya lol. But she didn't cry so I considered it a success!

And while they were getting ready I asked Brielle to pose for a picture. She told me she couldn't, because she *needed* to dance. And then while she was dancing I snapped this picture, which is no doubt the cutest picture on the face of the Earth...



Raya's BFF ---sidenote, they made them take the headbands off. I thought they were cute though!






(My kids refuse to look at my camera in public lol)

Curly Hair

Last night I suggested the girls sleep in braids, which is something they've never done. They were soooo excited to see their "curly twirly princess hair" in the morning!

Before:



And after:


Here's what I posted on Facebook this morning:

A few thoughts on our twirly curly hair this morning: 1) I think the post-braid hair would look less like a bad 90s perm if my girls had more/longer hair 2) Since they insisted on princess dresses to go with their "princess hair" I am think...ing Raya's preschool teachers are going to think Raya's "play clothes" are even more unconventional than normal and they will probably think we are crazy 3) I just realized the girls have their little dance recital tonight, so how the hell am I going to get this stuff in a bun? (And I'd rather die than give them an extra bath :-P) Oh well, at least they love it, right?

 

Have a super twirly Tuesday everyone!

 

  

My girls can twirl!

Lots of Easter pictures to share, but for tonight I'm just going to share one of my favorite parts of the holiday---Easter dresses <3

Twirly and girly ---that's all they require and I must say, they were pretty pleased with their attire this year! Love them. Lee and I produce damn cute offspring if I do say so myself. But sorry Grandma Donna, they are limited edition :-P

Brielle is wearing Matilda Jane that I bought off Facebook. Raya is wearing NEXT that I got last year during one of their super rare sales. Love them both. Actually, I'm sort of obsessively in love with them lol.

Happy Easter

Dyeing Easter Eggs, 2014

We had Sawyer and Harper today, so being the awesome Aunt I am I undertook messy egg dyeing with 4 kids---yikes! But they had fun. And I LOVE the Walmart kits with the little rollers. We try to use those every year. Way easier and less messy than cups full of dye. Last year I couldn't find the roller kits and I was so mad :-P

Here are pics of our fun!