tiny divas

It goes without saying {but I feel compelled to say it} that I am a girly girl. The other day I saw a silverfish & almost threw my cat at the thing just to have it slaughtered. I like glitter, wands, jewelry, chick lit {it's a real thing, bro}, manicures, and babies. So it's no surprise that the young girls in my life will pick up on this. Adri, my 7-year-old niece, is pretty girly but also 7 going on 72. She likes what she likes and now that she has a core group of homies to one-up she is less inclined to allow me to frost her with baubles. Zoey is still too little, but she does enjoy putting a glistening bracelet in her mouth or grabbing at a necklace in an attempt to asphyxiate me. But Kyleigh? Kyleigh is 4 and couldn't be happier to go through EVERY SINGLE piece of jewelry I own and ask me to wear it under the guise that we're "sharing." Today she wore the Crystal Brulee necklace & bracelet from J.Crew, a glittery headband, a pair of my heels, and a sequin clutch that she filled with 50% of my bracelets & brooches. She kept asking me to put things in the clutch raving that it would be, "just lovely" and wandering around saying, "shoe-la-la" with a pigeon-toed pose.

Tiny & accessorized? So stinking cute.

via

little guy

Hello friends! Can you believe that Christmas is only a week away? My school doesn't let out for vacation until Friday, so I'm sure it's going to be a wacky week. Since I said last post that I love Christmas, I have to say, even though work-wise December was an extremely hectic month,  I'm so happy to be working as a teacher. Those little kids & their Santa-loving ways just crack me up. My shopping is all done, everything has been delivered, everything has been wrapped. Am I the only one who's checked the weekly cable listings to find out when the best christmas movies are on? A Chipmunk Christmas is on at 8:30 tomorrow night. Sadly, Prancer is a no show on cable networks. Bummer. Let's resume cheerfulness-

I would like you to meet Little Guy:

He is my tiny surprise tree {so unexpected & appreciated} & I love him dearly. So do my kitties Igby & Rugen... particularly his water. I'm filling this tree stand up like it's my full-time job! Little Guy was decorated by 3/5 of my little ones. The 3 that are able to walk, of course. I had to make do with some sparkly ribbon for a topper because it was way too cold to stand outside in my storage unit to find all my decorations. This little owl ornament was made by my sister. She made me a Stitch ornament one year, but I fell down the stairs & broke it. He had clay ears & everything!

Kyleigh was singing the whole time because that's what she does, "Christmas! Christmas! Gotta add one more christmas! Don't break my heart, Christmas." Luckily, no lights were harmed.

Adriana was reattaching all of the ornament hooks that fell off, mediating fights between Kyleigh & Liam when they wanted their ornaments in the same place, and making sure each and every one of the glittery ornaments were used. Much eggnog was had.

Liam was hanging each ornament very carefully on the garland at the bottom of the tree, which caused it to fall off the tree and for him to realize that when they all fell together it created room for more ornaments. See how proud he is?

Now it's time for a tree skirt & all the presents.

In other news, I realized today that I missed the most recent ebew event. Sequins and sparkles?!?! Can it really be true? I think I should make up for this by wearing only sequins & sparkles for the rest of the week.

Christmas Police

I have always loved the idea of Christmas. The music, the tree, the parties, the decorations, the food- it's all just so wonderful. I anticipate buying treasures for the people who matter the most to me & can never wait for them to open them on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. 

That said, it's also important to note that I am completely obsessed with the tree. I stick to all pastel ornaments, or all red/white/silver, or my plan for this year: peacock themed. The thought of rich purple, teal, greens, & golds make me want to swoon. I even went so far as to buy lights especially for this last year, but my plan has been thwarted. This year, I will be spending my first Christmas with little ones. My niece & nephew (Kyleigh & Liam) will be here and so I will have a child-friendly tree. This, of course, means multicolored lights, homemade ornaments, and 2 tiny bellies filling themselves with eggnog while we decorate. 

One thing's for sure, I can't wait to see their little faces when they wake up in the morning and see that Santa Claus has visited them {and also a valid excuse to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas and giggle wildly}.

In other news, while I've been absent from the blogosphere my sister Heather gave birth to a baby boy.  In case you're counting that's 5 tiny children to love. 

Welcome to the world, Kieran!

let's get serious

I apologize, but I'm about to get serious here for a minute. This is potentially going to be the longest week of my life. I have been waiting all summer for this moment- the moment where I find out if my last chance for a classroom this year is possible. If it is: prepare for some very happy & {possibly} short-winded posts. If not, I'll be posting about the yard sale I had with all of my teaching stuff and my quest for a new career. 3 years is a long time to pour all of your heart & energy into something fruitless. So let's think positive here, people!

Seriousness aside, here are some cute kid crafts that I've been bookmarking lately. Maybe you have an adorable little or two that you could do these crafts with, who knows? Little kids are some of the best crafters and they're much more diligent than some people {me, for example}.

snow globe

aquarium diorama

egg geodes

dream catcher

suncatcher

surprisingly kid-friendly

Nature Walk Bracelet

button bracelets. I think I need some of these!

pasta skeletons

babies r us

Babies are everywhere. 2 of my three sisters are pregnant right now, 2 of my favorite coworkers just found out they're having babies, my friend Kassy is due in October. Phew. So many tiny feet that I'm going to be seeing at the same time! I already have 2 nieces and a nephew { you met them here and here} and I love them tremendously. One might think that with all this baby fever my clock is starting to tick but instead my desire to dress & photograph these little biddies is explosive. Today I'm going to be working on art projects for my sisters for their respective shower & sprinkle {Terri had a shower for Adriana, so she gets a sprinkle} so there won't be a long update today. Instead, enjoy these pictures of various cuties that I found {source: pinterest}:

This would be a nice way for my sister to let everyone know whether she's having a boy or a girl... just saying...

 These aren't really meant for more than to amuse you and they should definitely amuse you because they're ridiculous.

Just a Snapshot

I apologize for neglecting my blog. There’s no real excuse for it other than I just haven’t felt particularly inspired to write about anything. My summer days have been spent watching my niece & nephew for 8 and 9 hours a day. I love them dearly and they’re full of spirit and hilarious quotes, but I don’t want to dedicate weeks worth of posts to their adorable antics. I’ve also been a little down lately trying to figure out my job opportunities for next year {there don’t seem to be any!} so thanks for sitting tight & waiting so patiently.

Here is a snapshot of my days that you missed:

Summer School

I’ve been teaching a summer class/author study on Kevin Henkes. It’s 4 hours a day and I love the program. It’s a nice break from the rigorous schedule I have all school year and I get to teach a new crop of kiddos.

The Littles

My days have been spent with these little cuties. They are completely fearless and everything is an adventure. Particularly swimming. We’ve been sticking to the sprinkler & dumping buckets of water on one another.

Treats

We’ve been busy making treats around here. With temperatures up over 100, it was impossible to even think about preheating the oven to a million degrees. We settled on popsicles- my goodness I almost forgot how much I love frozen treats.

Oh and who could forget swimming and organizing? I wonder if there's a way for me to swim while organizing...

Lookbook: Yesterday & Today

Even though I posted about cupcakes yesterday, I should still have posted yesterday's outfit. Whoops. It was a Liberty of London for Target gem that I picked up to wear to a bridal shower. I almost didn't buy it because all the reviews said that if you have wide hips they'll just look bigger. I took the chance & bought it anyway. I'm glad I did, it's a fan favorite.

I went with another dress today. So far in this little endeavor I haven't strayed into the realm of creative and I'll have to remedy that. Summer has been wonderful for rolling out of bed and spending the days doing arts & crafts, reading, watching teeny bopper shows, and hanging out with my amazing little niece & nephew. These lazy days don't really lend themselves to much more and I love it. The next thing on my agenda is to get some sun on those extremely white legs of mine.

Kyleigh decided that she wanted to guest pose for some photos today. My sister Terri made the bracelet I'm wearing & I couldn't get any good pictures of it, but I will. Oh will I ever.

Time to Make the Donuts

When my nieces spend the night, there are usually many things that happen. These include: watching The Little Mermaid, attempting to complete our coloring books {I don't remember ever finishing one from front to back}, and eating delicious things.

Recently, I had them help me make their breakfast. They were craving donuts, so we made some using this recipe. I replaced the buttermilk with applesauce. A) I didn't have any buttermilk, and B) because applesauce gives baked donuts a fluffy dough and a really interesting taste. I also cut back the sugar. The girls decided that they simply had to have chocolate chips.

Then we all sat out on the deck and they enjoyed the fruits of their labor along with pink lemonade.

 You should get yourself a donut pan of some sort and try your own. They're a hit among young and old.