Date Night with Lily

Lily and I went out for a date night a few weeks back.

Jason and I try to get the kids out for some one-on-one time every now and then...they love it.

And Lily is no exception!

Lily was so excited the entire day, agonizingly watching the clock tick slowly along.

We both did our hair fancy and got all dressed up to go out on the town.

It's the first time she's ever had her hair curled and being the girly-girl that she is, she drank it all in.

She loved all the pampering and all the comments from her siblings that followed.

And when Daddy got home and told her how pretty she was, well...the girl just about melted.

We went out to Tortes and Truffles for supper and some very fabulous and decadent desserts.

Our date ended with none other than a shopping trip. I asked her what she wanted to do and gave her a few ideas. The one and only thing...the activity at the tip-top of her list...shoe shopping.

And not just any shoes would do. Oh no. Not for this fashionista.

Hot pink, glitter from toe-to-heal, big ol' bow in the middle kind of shoes.

The smile on her face made it worth every dollar I spent. Good gracious, I love this girl.

Hungry?

Question: What do you do when your belly button is hungry?

Answer: Feed it, of course.

Feed it lots. (And, yes, this really is the face I get when I say "smile")

Question: What's a belly button's favorite food?

Answer: Ummmm...duh...spaghetti, Silly!

Yum, yum, gobble, gobble.

One of Cora's favorite things to eat is spaghetti. 

And apparently she was in a sharing mood and didn't want her belly button to be left out.

This girly makes me smile on a daily basis.

Budding Photographer

Guess who's loving her new camera?

I hear "smile", "no, sit like this", "can you turn your head this way" about a thousand times a day.

Dinner-time Fun

Loving that summer is arriving...

And along with that comes summer fruit...



And canteloupe makes excellent beaver teeth. :)

Here's to hoping your family gets a little crazy at the dinner table like mine.

A Visit From A Favorite Uncle...

Question: What's more fun than playing "Angry Birds" on mom's phone?

Answer: Getting to play "Angry Birds" with Uncle Jamie.

My "little" brother came for a visit...and man, do I love it when this happens. I gotta admit...he's one of my very favorite people on the whole planet.

He's one of the easiest people to hang with...not to mention my kids all adore him.

Lily could barely get enough of him...when Jamie starts playing with her, she gets this infectious laugh that pulls you in until you are laughing and smiling right along with her.

Case in point.

Blurry, but you get the idea.

He doesn't even have to do anything...just being around him makes this girl light up.

I'm pretty sure that if we told her that Jamie would live in our house 24/7, she would faint from happiness.

The kids weren't the only ones who loved having this guy around.

Like I said, I kinda like my kid-brother. Especially when he goes on a 2 mile run with me, takes me out for supper, and then a movie.

We can't wait til he comes again! We miss him already.

Chef Assistants

Anyone who knows me, knows I love to cook.



And sharing that love with these two girls?

Makes it even more special to me.

Milwaukee Weekend

We went to Milwaukee to visit my sister, Zyra, and my neice, Aaliyah this past weekend. My parents and brother, Jamie, went with too.

We got adjoining rooms at a hotel and had an absolute blast spending time together. I'm a big family girl...so spending a whole weekend with my family...well, let's just say that I was in my element. And adjoining rooms...it just doesn't get any better than that.

On Saturday, we went to Discovery World. The kids got to touch all sorts of stuff...including some stingrays. Ella is still talking about it.

This movie is a little something Jamie put together. I love it....might have to enlist him to make some more of my kids!