Five year Fairytale Shoot

My friend, Lynsey, tagged me in this pin quite some time ago to show me not only how much this little girl looked like McKlayne, but also to tell me how much she thought she'd like this fairytale-like shoot. And, boy, does she know my girl.

Like most things in my life, it only took me almost two years later to actually get around to it. I wanted to do this over a year ago but with 'twin' one year old walkers, I just didn't seem to have the energy. Her five year old pics were just the occasion!

My girl loves to pretend, so we took the pinspiration, grabbed some of her favorite dress-up clothes and ran with it. McKlayne is almost always either in character or trying out a line she's heard on tv...so this was really fun--for both of us. I loved watching her so naturally come alive in this shoot.

Daddy Daughter Date

McKlayne is a great date. If you're ever around McKlayne it wouldn't take much of your imagination to understand this. The girl is never at loss for words. The questions are endless ... which is great for a daddy who is a bit below average on the conversational spectrum. But I did have plenty of questions for my girl on our overdue date. And I did have to wait occasionally to fit in those questions.

We had dinner with the family and then set out for the mall. I wanted to allow for some major talking time with my girl as we walked around. I also love McKlayne's imagination. I think it's one of her greatest assets and I'm not sure that I've seen anyone use theirs as much as she does. I wanted to see it take off as we wandered around. 

The mall didn't disappoint. The somewhat unsightly construction left us with my many X's (designating broken tiles) on the floor that marked all of the mall's buried treasure. We stopped at kiosks and stores and tried on glasses, masks and more. We squeezed into a kids' ride and went on a rollercoaster together. I'm telling you — the girl is F-U-N. 

Our first scheduled stop was the pet store. It's really the puppy store as that's all that they sell. But, it's where we take our kids to get their pet-fix as we are a "No Pet Zone." And McKlayne — the little mommy and animal lover — lights up when you mention going. She could spend hours there holding those creatures. I let her stay as long as I can stand the smell and the gushing pet lovers' "goo goo" talk and then give her an additional 10 minutes. 

McKlayne holding "Adelae"

She told me what she'd name the pup and then what Mommy, Daddy and Asher might name it. And when I asked, she quickly informed me that Oliver couldn't name pets yet — like it was a crazy question. I didn't ask about L. She told me about what she'd do, where they'd go and the tricks that she'd teach it. And then we switched out dogs and repeated. 

We walked back through the mall to pick up a cookie for Asher both lamenting the removal of the giant playplace in the food court. We split a peanut butter cookie (one of her favorites) and were off to Spoons. 

A few stops at the mall

If you ask McKlayne where she wants to go on a date, you may get a few different places or ideas, but "Spoons" is always the first one. We tried a few flavors with our stack of sample cups and then got our usuals. McKlayne mixed her gummy bears, yellow mystery gusher balls, chocoate chips and sprinkles into her strawberry-cheesecake swirl yogurt. Yumm, right? We had a lot more to talk about and then she dared me to take a bite of her concoction. Well ... she sweetly and generously asked me if I wanted to try hers. But, it felt like a dare. Either way I ate that stuff ... and lied to her face and said it was delicious. 

I scooted around next to her in order to hold out the camera and snap a pic of our date. After we got a good one that included both of our heads, two smiles and our yogurts in the same shot, I decided to stay close and do some "same side sitting." She politely asked me to move back across the table. I proceeded to let her know how Mommy and I would sit close on our dates while we talked. She nodded and pointed to the other side of the table. I chuckled and compliantly scooted my chair back around. McKlayne, may you always be so firm and keep all of your future dates honest.

We love Spoons!

And that was it. McKlayne was such a treat. The way I laughed with her, gushed over her and just stared from time-to-time at her beauty reminded me of other dates with a girl that actually shares a resemblance (and a lot of personality) with my Klayney. So we headed back home, delivered our cookie and wondered what the phrase "awkward silence" even meant. 

Here's to many more dates with you McKlayne. Love, Daddy.

Brown Eyed Girl

After the pool one day this week. 

"Take a picture of me, Mommy."

"You got it, Beautiful."

Flower-lover.

"God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars." --Martin Luther


I believe this is one way our Maker is revealing Himself to you, my little lover of flowers. You adore them. Nothing makes you happier, these days, than picking them.  Truly.  Each time we pass one, you give careful attention to take it in and declare it's beauty.  

You spent no less than two hours picking flowers at the park today.  A few times after being distracted by wrangling two babies, I panicked because I thought I'd lost you. Then, I'd scan the horizon and see that you'd just wandered off a little farther, getting lost in the sloping hills clothed in beauty. 

An interesting thing that I noticed as I watched you is that you don't pick just any flower to join your lovely bouquet. You select with careful precision, passing many suitable-looking (to me) flowers, to choose just the one you have in mind. You stroll and stoop and scan and examine, then select. 

On our way home from the park today, I asked why you loved picking flowers so much and you responded with, "Don't you see? They're the beauty-fullest things that God has ever created."

You're teaching me to behold the wonder and beauty that is ever before me, Dear One.

(These pictures are from a trip to the park last week with your friend, Naomi.)

On "Letting Go"

When we were "home" (in my hometown) for Christmas, I asked my mom and a few of my aunts who all had 4(+) kids, what they wish they would have known as young mothers with several small children.

Two responses that resonated with me went something like this:

"I wish that I would have cared less about how neat my home was. No one really cared but me and I was always stressed out trying to keep it that way. It consumed way too much of my time.  If I could do it differently, I would have played with and enjoyed them more rather than spending so much time on a clean house."

Yep. That response made my stomach hurt. I wish I could tattoo that wisdom to the inside of my forearm.  Maybe after looking at it 95,340 times I'd actually heed that message. I mean, really. Who do I try to keep this home so clean for, anyway? Charlie can operate in a messier house than I  can--he does not even see the mess that I do...and my kids don't notice either. I guess that just leaves me. I've acted like a major jerk to these people that I love so much all in the name of serving Jesus and my family by trying to keep my house clean. I'm pretty awesome.

"I wish I would have learned how to 'let go' a bit more with my children--and by that I mean, I wish I wouldn't have tried to control them so much. It didn't really matter if they weren't wearing the 'right shoes with that outfit' to the grocery store...you know, silly things like that. Too often I was more worried about how their appearance might negatively reflect on me than allowing them to be the silly kids I adored."

Again, such good wisdom here. I admit it: I'm a recovering control freak (which may have a bit to do with the first issue above.) But why am I not most concerned about their character or simply delighting in them rather than worrying about their appearance?

How ridiculous I've been.  And, when I come to think of it, both "issues" seem to be rooted in keeping up some appearance: I'm a really great wife/mom if I can:  (a) keep my house looking like a Pottery Barn magazine. (b) present perfectly well groomed, matching, put-together children that essentially look like GapKids models. I know how foolish that sounds when I put it like that...

So, yesterday my "shopping-girl buddy" (she makes sure I add "girl" every time b/c buddy alone apparently sounds too masculine for my dainty little companion) joined me on several errands yesterday. As we were about to walk out the door, she insisted that I let her wear her Snow White dress-up gown. I selfishly cringed inside, but before I could manipulate encourage her to simply wear the cute dress she had on, I heard my aunt's voice, "learn to let go" reminding me it wasn't such a big deal.  And can I tell you what came of it?

I think that one act of giving up some control really knit our hearts together in a new way. We had a delightful afternoon. Both of us. Together. Really enjoying each other. She lit up each time I referred to her as "Your Majesty" and the princess was given much attention throughout each store we visited.  Most people (elderly men, especially) commented on her dress and knew exactly "who" she was. On our first stop, Kroger, she received a plethora of stickers from the bagger for her royal cuteness. "Mommy, I don't want this on my dress. I want them on my body..." Can you believe something as silly as putting stickers anywhere else but the top of your chest/shoulder region used to bother me? I mean like really bother me. Me neither. How ridiculous. So, I relented and went with the theme of "letting go" and 15 minutes later at the next store, she told me they were too itchy and she was done with them.

By the end of our trip, I decided that costume wearing may just need to be mandatory on all future errand-running. Best behavior and costumes seemed to have some sort of a positive correlation.

I caught this sweet clip of my girl singing her newest favorite song, 10,000 Reasons (what she refers to as"Bless the Lord") as we pulled into the driveway from our trip. What a perfect theme song for all that He's teaching me through motherhood:

First Dance Class

The first words she spoke at 7:30 this morning were, "When do I get to go to my dance class?"

The Miss Suzanne is teaching her Pre-Primary class, which is a combination of ballet and tap.

What a natural. I say, "strike a pose!" and this is what I get...

This is the look I got when I said, "Okay, I think I got a good one...we're done!" Apparently, she was NOT done posing...

So...I told her we could take a few more, but to make it quick because I was freezing!

And, of course, as with any other monumental day around here, a picture with Lucy was a requirement.

Pumpkins are for...

play-dough-ing...

(and, of course, baking those play-dough "cookies" in their kitchen)

snacking on their seeds...

(We tried several recipes and my favorite is actually our own variation: 2 cups pumpkin seeds+1/4 cup coconut oil melted and tossed in seasalt. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes on 250 degrees.)

pre-k packing it...

muffins...

(I used a 1/3 cup of honey and didn't notice a difference. Baked them in these from JoAnn's and for extra treat top them with: 1 banana, 3/4 to 1 stick butter + 1/2 tsp cinnamon all whipped together for a nice "buttercream" frosting.)

drawing faces on...

(This was great for practicing drawing shapes and drawing different emotions.  For example: "Give your jack-o-lantern two triangle eyes and a square nose." or "Draw an angry jack-o-lantern!")

dinner...

(These meatloaf muffins may not look pretty with "sweet potatoes smash" and an asparagus stem, but they sure were tasty!)

mosaics...

(I think these would make great place mats for next year once I laminate them.)

and...last, but not least, pumpkins, the baby-sister-girl-kind, are for snuggling in favorite blankies and rocking in cradles and singing to, of course:

(Of course this was all the sweeter before I interrupted with the video camera.)

Inchbug Orbit Label Review+Giveaway!

I have a confession. I've had Orbit Label envy of one of my child's classmates for over a year now. Pathetic, I know. Envious of a three year old. So mature.

I wouldn't describe myself as a total "germaphobe". Sure, I don't really just love when another kid drinks from my child's drink, but I know it happens...my children have been the culprits before.  (But why is it always the green, snotty nosed kid that happens to slobber all over my child's cup? Blek.) Anyway, like I was saying...the germ-sharing phobia must lessen a bit with each child that's added to the family because as much as I think that it's a great benefit of Inchbug's Orbit Labels, it's actually not the number one reason why I love them. 





I love them for their convenience. I don't know about you, but I'm constantly having to replace sippy cups and nalgenes that somehow don't make it back into my children's bag after childcare. So, I'm hoping they'll help to eliminate that.  Not to mention, I'm often breaking up fights when we're around other children because someone is "stealing" someone else's cup because they own a similar one. So, I'm all for decreasing the likelihood of those. But, being a busy mom of three young ones, I'm just plain sick of re-labeling cups each time my children go to school or the church nursery.  Even sharpies rub off and fade. And, I just plain don't have time for all the re-labeling while trying to get my troop out the door in time, usually in a mad rush!  

But these babies...they're interchangeable, snugly fitting bands that "orbit" your container, so young children can't easily remove them.  They're also non-adhesive and re-usable, meaning you can use them on all your cups or small food containers and put them in the dishwasher, boil or sterilize them without having to worry about anything peeling off or fading.  How's that for convenience?



So,when Inchbug sent me a set of 4 custom labels of my own (err..McKlayne, really) and offered to let me giveaway a set on my blog, I was ecstatic! 

And, my girl? She loves them just about as much as I do.  

Being the only girl, as soon as she saw the pink labels, she knew they were for her...before she even spotted her name on it! Then, she was doubly impressed!

There are 8 bright colors to choose from.

You can customize up to 2 lines of text...does your child have food allergies?  You can even label something like "*Peanut Allergy*" on their label underneath their name.  

She sure was eager to go to school with her new sippy cup label.  

I think she showed just about everyone that we encountered her "new cup" with her very own name on it. 

                           

(It made posing for the pics oh, so fun.)

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So, do you want a custom set of 4 Orbit Labels of your own for the child in your life? (If you don't have children, think grandchildren, nieces/nephews, friend's kids, etc.) These would make excellent baby shower gifts, too. The mother of the child will love you forever and ever for it. 

All you need to have is a facebook account:


HOW TO ENTER this giveaway: 
1. "Like" Inchbug on Facebook 
AND
2. Leave a comment on my blog (if you're reading this from Facebook, please hop on over to planetoftheapels.blogspot.com...comments on my facebook page will not be entered) letting me know you'd like to be entered! AND PLEASE include your name and an email address as a way to contact you! That's it! 


Both of the above steps are required for you to be entered in the giveaway!


If you just can't wait to win a set of your own, I  just saw this on their facebook page: "Boo" coupon code for 15% off any order until trick of treat day! So, "liking" them on Facebook will also alert you to other offers, short-term coupons, and the inside scoop on their new products.   I'm off to order each of the boys a set of their own now with this coupon code!


This Giveaway will CLOSE on November 2  at 11:59 pm CST. Giveaway is open to U.S. and CANADA residents only. Winner will be picked the following day and will be emailed and announced on my blog. Winner has 48 hours to confirm their prize, otherwise a new winner will be chosen. Thank you to Inchbug for providing the sample and the giveaway prize! 

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(Inchbug provided my own custom sample set for review and the prize for my readers. No other compensation was recieved. All opinions are 100% my own.)