Potty Training update---hopefully our last!

So if you've been following my blog for awhile you know that months ago we potty trained Brielle "successfully"....she went a few weeks with very few accidents. Then suddenly she just lost interest. We never went back to diapers, but we were having lots of accidents (multiple times a day) and she stopped telling us she needed to go. About a week ago I decided to do some bandaid training---she loves Dora bandaids and wears them all the time! ----so she earned a bandaid for going potty and was able to keep it as long as she stayed dry---if she went in her pants I took off the bandaid and threw it away, and she couldn't earn another until the next day. Well I am happy to say that as of today she's gone FOUR DAYS without an accident. I am about ready to declare her potty trained, yet again lol. She still wears a pull up at night, but does wake up dry about 75% of the time.

As added incentive Lee got a giant bunny when he was home last (it was his as a kid I guess) and he put it on top of the fridge and said Brielle could have it if she stayed dry for 2 days straight. So after she did that she earned the bunny and I took some (bad quality) pics lol

In other news we had a great time at the fair yesterday---the girls rode a few rides, saw the animals, had icecream cones and funnel cake, and more!

Oh, here are a couple random pics from Friday, of the girls making a "hammock" and watching TV together lol

No idea why the screen looks weird.

two pottery barn chairs turned upside down and covered with a blanket!

And lastly, what they're wearing today! (I figure I annoy 50% of you with the clothing updates, but I know a good chunk of you enjoy them lol....plus I've discovered if I take a picture of their outfits every day I can easily use those pics to sell the clothes later, and save myself some time!)

Brielle is wearing Crazy 8 (the girls wore these outfits for Easter you may remember)

Raya is wearing old school Naartjie that we bought used. Hard to tell, but it's actually a very pale yellow.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Had to share

These kiddos went to daycare with Raya way back in the day. Love these shots, just had to share from my morning session! And now we're off to the fair!

Gorgeous girl---one of my fav pics to date I think!

First set of double jumpers!

How cool is he?! lol

Here's my excuse

Ok, so I know I'm a boring blogger lol. I do apologize, but I don't set aside more than a few minutes each day to blog so actually thinking of a creative blog post to write, and then sitting down to write it, just isn't happening here.

And because this post needs some excuses to back it up, here is why I can't blog anything exciting for you:

1) It's hot out. Like really hot. So hot that just looking outside makes me hot. I've been spending my days eating icecream and lounging in the air conditioning. It's theoretically too hot to blog as well.

2) Tonight we went out to dinner. And to icecream. Yum! No time for blogging.

3) I am still editing photos from my senior session last night. And tomorrow I have a brother/sister duo to photograph. And Sunday I have my first maternity session. And Monday I have a family session, including a 2 week old baby. So yeah, my evening are spent editing---not blogging!

4) Tomorrow we are going to the fair. I plan to eat a funnel cake. Not blog.

5) I have two Etsy orders left to finish up. I should be downstairs sewing, but instead I'm blogging!

6) This week my mom and I are taking all the grandkids to Adentureland (think smaller scale 6 Flags). Super excited. Won't be much time left for blogging.

7) My kids think I should feed them, and care for them. They also think that they should get all the toys in the house *out* and that I should pick up after them. This doesn't leave much time for blogging either!

So there you have my top 7 excuses for why this blog post bored you to death. I apologize.

Here's a peace offering....for today's "what they wore", here are the girls being really goofy in their Naartjie.

And since this blog also tends to double as a children's fashion blog, here is a little sneak peek of what I plan to blog for the next Trendy Tot Tuesday---Matilda Jane! Yes, Matilda Jane---if you've heard of it---is that "really expensive brand" that is really confusing to buy (you buy from trunkkeepers, etc.) ANYWAYS, I'm learning the ropes of how to shop this brand and discovered recently that they actually do have sales occasionally---and so I placed my first ever real order. And you guys, I'm hooked lol. It's all so adorable! And with the sale all the dresses I got were $20ish dollars---resale on them is *at least* $30, so as I'm discovering it's really a brand that you "invest" in, but you rarely actually spend money on it...it's like the only brand I know of where it maintains it's value even used. (It's really an interesting phenomena if you get into it. It's like a weird secret society haha)

Moving on, here are the girls modeling their new Emilia dresses (all Matilda Jane items have specific names ---for the sale I got two Emilias (Brielle's is the "berry" and I think Raya's was called "harbor gray") ....and then I also got Brielle a Luna dress (with duchess ruffles) and Raya a Peaches and Cream dress. (Anyone who shops Matilda Jane will know what I'm talking about lol).

The girls were moody today and would only model the Emilias....They loved them actually---super soft spandex-y knit material. Raya is wearing a size 6 and Brielle is in size 2.

Normally I would have done the colors opposite, with Brielle in the blue, but for the sale these were the only sizes/colors they had left.

Too cute!  Now do I have any MJ fans out there who know how to "winterize" this dress? I'd love to track down shirts and leggings to wear under for cooler weather...I think maybe I saw the Scrappy leggings paired with Raya's before?

Have a great weekend everyone!

My cousin's senior session (and a little Raya and Brielle ;-)

First off, my 1st cousin's daughter---would that be my 2nd cousin or just my cousin or how does that work? lol. ANYWAYS, my first cousin's daughter will be a senior this fall and tonight I took her senior pictures! I loooove seniors, they are so cooperative compared to my usual munchkins ;-)

The only hard part of this session? Battling the insane heat! ...but while I was sweating like a pig Amanda didn't even break a sweat---so easy to photograph, it will take me days to narrow down the 900+ photos I took. Here are just a few favs that I edited tonight!

(as always, click on the photo to enlarge it and see better quality)

Finally had someone tall enough to pull off this awesome doorway---a real favorite!

Her grandpa made this frame, what a fun prop to bring!

She wanted to challenge the current leader in my jumping contest---I think she's the new winner!

And lastly, a couple quick pics for "what they wore today" ....Raya in Children's Place and Brielle in Carters (a 24 month romper, love my little tiny peanut! ;-)  ...they spent the day at Grandma's today.

I think I'll start bringing Brielle along on my photoshoots---she could teach everyone how to do some sassy poses! ;-)

That's we she said!

Playing catch up on a few things today. First, I always post funny things the girls say/do on facebook and then forget to post it here on my blog too....but I want to make sure I remember some of these things so here are some status updates that I don't think I've blogged yet (sorry if you are a fb friend and already saw these!)

I just heard what sounded like a heard of elephants in my living room...come to find Raya "leaping" and crashing into the floor. Really sweetly she looks at me and says "look mom, I can pirouette!" ....she's such a dainty ballerina lol

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Pretty sure Raya will be a politician when she grows up---a shady one haha. She has a way of screwing Brielle over, but putting a spin on it that makes Brielle think she's just gotten a great deal. Today they were fighting and I told them to share....then I hear this exchange:

Raya: "Sissy, i'm going to take all these pretty magnets, but you can have this (ugly) green magnet instead! See, it's shiny and it sticks to things...you love it don't you!?"

Brielle: "ooooh, shiny!"

Raya: "See Mama, sissy loves it, we're sharing!"

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Tonight as I was tucking Raya into bed...

"Mama, I love you more than anything else...that means I love you more than my friends or any other Mamas."

I hope her other mamas don't find out that I'm the favorite

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Confession---whenever the girls are eating food and they find something "weird" ---maybe a bruise on their fruit, a black mark on a potato chip, a burnt spot on the grilled cheese, etc.--- I tell them "oh, that's just the flavor!" and they eat it. Never mind that *I* would never dream of eating those things lol.

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I think I figured out the way Brielle's potty training heart haha. She earns a Dora bandaid for staying dry, and if she has an accident I take that sucker off and throw it away! lol. She's so obsessed with those bandaids that to see one taken off and thrown away is pure tortures. So far she's earning the bandaids

(side note, the potty training continues to drive me crazy---this kid is so stubborn. You may remember she potty trained and was great for a couple weeks....then she got lazy and started telling me she wanted to be a baby. ugh. We've gone back and forth with her---we even did the bare butt method that I hate, and ended up with pee on our carpets to clean up---but since it's not a matter of learning how, but instead her just being lazy/stubborn, none of it works that great. We now are doing straight up punishment....she loses her beloved bandaids when she has an accident and can earn them back by going potty on her own like a big girl. So far works ok....at least she never poops her pants for me (a couple times she did for Daddy and Grandma)... I can handle pee pants better than poop pants haha.)

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In other news, yesterday I gave the girls a choice between the Children's Museum and the pool----they chose the museum (don't blame them really, it was too HOT for the pool! haha)

After the museum we usually play at the mall play area (the museum is attached to the mall) and right next to the play area is Build-a-Bear. The girls have gone in to look around many times, but had never made one themselves. Slowly they started catching on that the other kids in there was getting their own bears and dressing them, etc...and Raya started asking if she could do one sometime. Finally yesterday on a whim I decided to surprise them and they were THRILLED. You should have seen Brielle closing her eyes and kissing the little heart to make a wish---it was so adorable lol. They "bathed" the bears and picked out princess clothes, they had a blast (and I won coolest mom award for the day for sure....although those freaking things are expensive! Ya know, there are many times now where we do something and I find myself very thankful to only have two kids....and yesterday was one of those days :-P Because Build-a-Bear is overpriced with one kid, expensive with two kids, and insane with 3 or more! haha)

Here the girls were with their bears when we got home

Making a huge mess in our living room---picnic time!

And now a little "what they wore" for today...today Brielle is in Gymboree (bought used)  ---she's casting a spell on you! ;-)

And Raya is wearing a Gymboree top and Osh Kosh skirt---this Gymbo I found "used" but it was NWT---from a really old Gymboree line, called Coral Reef I believe. It's super cute and the mermaid tail is all covered in rhinestones.

I think that's about all I have for today---trying to decide if we should brave the heat today and head to the pool...or stay in the nice air conditioning ;-) Happy Hump Day!

Trendy Tot Tuesday---Tea Collection

Linking up with Megan, Kelly, and Lindsay for another Trendy Tot Tuesday!

So I have talked a lot recently about NEXT clothing, but I actually have two obsessions for this upcoming fall/winter...my other is Tea Collection.

Oh my, I just love Tea dresses. I had a few used ones from ebay for Brielle last year, but I've only ever purchased one dress new. I had kind of forgotten about the brand for this summer and I've now rediscovered my love again!

And unlike NEXT which doesn't have sales (except for that once in a lifetime one awhile back) Tea Collection *does* have sales. They recently had a sale that was for an additional 40% off already reduced prices. I got dresses for $13-15 which is amazing for Tea (They start around $30 retail).

Another plus of Tea? The resale is pretty great right now. On facebook I sold all of our outgrown Tea in about one hour. Even dresses that have been worn a lot will resell for $15-20.

So anyways, here are a couple recent Tea purchases I made (I ordered a little big so the girls can wear these in the spring too. Tea is great b/c you can wear them a little long, or a little short with their matching leggings...so usually 2 years of wear if you want!). Brielle is currently a size 2 in Tea, but she can pull off size 3 for the most part too. Raya is size 5 in Tea. In general I find Tea to run true to size, except their "banded" dresses (with like a thicker band at the empire waist) tend to run a size small.

On to the fashion show!

I adore this cut and print...it's a 3 so plenty long...we have matching blue leggings to wear with it next year when it's a little shorter

This is the only set they still had in Raya's size during the big sale---I wasn't sure about the print online but I love it in person...the leggings are two-toned red stripes which are super cute...hard to see the stripes in the pic

Raya put it on and said "oooo, it's so soft!" The quality of Tea dresses is really great in my experience

Checking out the twirl factor!

This is another Tea dress from a couple days ago---Brielle was helping me clean hehe. This one is a size 2....these twirl dresses are pretty generous in size. I really love this print too!

  She picked the boots herself! lol

So go check out the Tea website if you've never looked before! Here are a few new arrivals that I'm loving:




Can you tell I love those blue leggings? haha

They also have different tees and stuff that are cute


Another fun thing? They offer wardrobe sets so you can get a little week's mix and match wardrobe with just one purchase
 This is one wardrobe set they offer right now

They have adorable baby clothes! I love these

I have the dress version of this one for Brielle next year

I can't wait to see the long sleeve dresses they put out this year!