Anderson and Cooper

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While we were in Tennessee last week, my baby girl had the BEST time cuddling and playing with Paw and Cici's super sweet golden doodles. She looks right cozy in her element. ;)

It was so neat getting to know the dogs' different personalities. Anderson and Cooper are brothers, and Cooper is the white one who loves his toys and can jump pretty high! Anderson is a bit fluffier and is a little more laid back. Both are adorable. They even won me over, and I don't consider myself an animal lover by any means. I've never really liked poodles, either, but these dogs were pretty amazing. The best behaved dogs I've ever been around!

What a treat to play in big, fat leaves with cute, big dogs!

We miss you Anderson and Cooper!

Happy 9th Birthday Daughter

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Dear Daughter,

I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that this is your last year in the single digits. I've noticed over that past year, more than any other year, how much your sweet, little "babyness" is rapidly fading. I hardly even call you "baby girl" anymore. And to think that I thought those first 2 years of sleepless nights and constant crying would never end. You totally rocked my "Baby Wise" world for sure!

Every bit of it was and still is completely worth it. By far, you have the most easy going personality, well, with a flair of sass thrown in. I guess you come by that last part pretty honestly - I am your momma after all. ;)

Oh girl, I am so blessed and grateful that you are my daughter. Hope your 9th birthday is super special, and know that I love my crazy-for-stuffed animals girl more than I could ever express in a blog post!

Love,

Mommy

I love that Shiloh wanted a radio for her birthday so she could listen to Air 1 in her room. :) We went old school - reminds me of having a jam box ;)

Dollhouse Makeover

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I was reminded of two things over Spring Break:

1. How much I really DISLIKE painting
2. How much I LOVE doing things for my sweet girl

As our Spring Break date grew near, I was thinking how great it would be to do something creative and crafty with my hands and to take a break from all my computer work. Hmmm, let's paint that dollhouse we got from Goodwill like 3 years ago.

The planning and picking out is always so fun. I let my daughter pick the paint color - she chose the lovely New Grass Green.

The painting part is always not so fun. It always takes longer than planned and it's messy. I so don't like the whole paint, let it dry, paint, let it dry, paint, let it dry process. I start to get a wee bit antsy after like the first hour. ;)

Sandpaper wasn't really working on the red, wooden tub, so I had to pull out some old, gloopy primer. I couldn't even get it to mix up all the way. Grrrr. Primer is sticky and smelly and yucky and not to mention an extra step. I decided to skip the primer altogether on the dollhouse and hope for the best. Semi gloss on super smooth white boards - oh, boy.

Using a roller helped tremendously, but I still had to slap on 4 coats of paint! Shiloh helped paint the roof, but I did the rest. It may have taken me all week, but the dollhouse and Lego tub turned out pretty swell. And I love that the mistakes don't show in the pics!!

My girl is happy. Which makes me happy. Which makes it all worth it. :)

However, next time any of you who happen to be my friends or people who truly care about my sanity hear me talking about a paint project, please, please remind me of how much I DO NOT like to paint!! Or better yet, just offer to do it for me. ;)

3-D Autumn Art: Paper Bag Tree

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Replicate nature in your home with a festive, fall art project! 3-D Paper Bag Trees are super easy and fun for kids to make. I am including this project as part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog Cruise: Fall Into Nature. (Starting October 22)

As fall break approached, I began looking on Pinterest for an easy but fun project that my daughter and I could do together. I thought this paper bag tree craft was SO creative! I don't want to be guilty of copying someone else's hard work, so for step-by-step instructions on how to make the paper bag tree, visit this post.

I let my daughter cut the paper bag into strips, and she did most of the branch twisting. While she was busy with that, I started cutting leaf shapes from old cupcake liners that looked fall-ish. When she got tired of twisting, I took over, and she cut out a few leaves. We had a fun time together, and now her room looks so festive with her pumpkins and paper bag tree!

Instead of construction paper, we used cupcake liners that I found at Michael's last year during the fall season. You could definitely use construction paper, though, or maybe even some real fall leaves if you live somewhere besides the desert. (Where we live.)

Don't forget to check out how other Crew Members are celebrating fall and nature!


Linked to Funtastic Friday

How to Hang a Puzzle on Your Wall (without a frame)

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This post is no longer available on Blogger. Please visit my new site to view How to Hang a Puzzle on Your Wall (without a frame).

  

More Celebrating for the Big 8-Year-Old!

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Family dessert - Oreo Delight

 

 

Cake for celebration with friends

 

 

My dearest daughter, I hope you had a wonderful 8th birthday filled with lots of fun memories!!!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

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I just can't believe my baby is 8! She doesn't want me to call her my baby anymore, but how can I possibly not do that? So thankful God blessed me with a sweet, little girl!

 

She was my shortest labor, HARDEST baby, and easiest child - still is so far. ;) Love this girl.

She's already been spoiled by several grandparents during the week . . .

 

 

 

Grandma gave her some art supplies and a Starbucks gift card which she redeemed THAT day!

 

 

Grandpa took her to Build-A-Bear and Chick-fil-A.

 

 

Her collection is becoming quite extensive.

 

 

Grandparents from CO sent a fun friendship bracelet kit in the mail.

 

 

Right now she is patiently awaiting her daddy's return from the Men's Prayer Breakfast so she can open her presents from us. Lots more celebrating in store for our birthday girl . . .

Betta Fish Take Two

Pin It Now! Fire sort of fizzled. :( But don't worry, Lightning has struck!

 

Lightning - Shiloh's new fish

 

I know, huh? My poor girl's first pet - dead within 2 hours. So much for following all the rules. Grrrr. First person I called was my sister-in-law for advice. Yes, the one who owns the cousins who feed their Betta Sprite and cheese. Obviously they know something I don't!! ;)

Anyway, I kind of thought something was wrong with Fire before we even put him in Shiloh's bowl but not knowing anything about fish, I didn't really give it much thought. I asked Shiloh if she'd done anything strange to it during her rest time, and well, you won't believe what she did. She said she read the Bible to him. Ezra of all books. Wow. Other than that she said she just watched him. My. Poor. Baby.

Daddy took her and the deceased Fire straight back to Pet Smart for an exchange. So far Lightning is doing okay. For Shiloh's sake, I so hope he lives out his full 2 year life span!

Meet Fire Rae

Pin It Now! This household hasn't had a pet in about 12 years. We came very close to getting a puppy (me still pretty reluctant) a few months ago, but it ended up not working out. Now we are renting and can't have a dog. So, I am off the hook on that one for at least a couple of years!

BUT, how can I resist my sweet, 7-year-old, very responsible, crazy-about-animals daughter one fish when she's PROMISING to save up for it and take care of it all by herself? *Sigh* Daddy and I agreed to her deal. And oh how I loved seeing that beautiful smile spread across her face. :)

 Today was the BIG day for the Shiloh girl! After saving for a few weeks and adding up a bunch of change from grandparents, she was able to buy her fish and all the supplies.

 Introducing . . . Fire Rae!

 

The newest, living member of Shiloh's room

 

 

 

It was quite the event for the whole family going to a pet store and all.

 

Happy girl!

 

Getting the bowl ready.

 

Reading food instructions.

 

Getting acquainted with her new friend. :)

I have never had a fish in my life, so this is a new experience for me, too. Seriously, I was beginning to stress over water temperature and stuff. Hubby said everything will be fine and that I was paying too much attention to the Betta fish pamphlet. We've heard that Shiloh's younger cousins pour Sprite in their fish's bowl and feed it cheese, so I guess we are good! ;)

Reminds Me of When I Was a Little Girl

Pin It Now! I remember doing this very same thing in my Arizona backyard when I was her age.

I loved washing my baby dolls' clothes in my mom's cleaning buckets and hanging the little outfits on my swingset to dry. Sweet memories.

My daughter has definitely played with lots of dolls off and on, but she prefers animals. So, here she is washing Peace's and Minnie's clothes. (Her bear and koala from Build-A-Bear.) I can't wait to do some Christmas shopping for her at that store. :) Fun, fun!

Squeezing in a Birthday in the Middle of Our Move

Pin It Now! Saying I have a 2nd grader changes everything. I can no longer fool myself into believing that my little girl is still little. I do have to admit, though, that my girl at 7 just seems younger than when my boys were 7. (Maybe it's just this mama still trying to hang on to something that is clearly slipping away . . . )

Anyway, in the midst of boxes and back and forth runs to our old house, my baby turned 7. She just couldn't wait for life to settle down and get back to normal!

A few hours before she woke up on Friday, June 22, she became 7 - just like that. (Can you tell I am having a bit of a hard time embracing this one?!) We presented her with a few small gifts (big sales here) - a cute Bible case, personal diary, heart/peace necklace, and a few pairs of earrings.

Papa John's for dinner and peace cupcakes for desssert. She had to wait for her BIG party day on Sunday - her first away-from-home party. :)

After church we took a couple of girls and Shiloh's cousin to McDonald's for lunch and then to Build-A-Bear! Oh what fun that was!!!

Each girl got to pick out a "skin" to stuff. Shiloh picked out a Peace Bear and a Koala. ( It ended up being cheaper to get 6 animals instead of 4, so she really lucked out!)

Even Daddy stuffed an animal, but this one is a secret. ;)

The girls had fun bathing, brushing, and picking out clothes. I highly recommend a Build-A-Bear party!! You can basically set your own price - you just have to have 6 guests to make it an official party. I thought we did awesome price wise for the amount of of stuff we got - plus I had no mess to clean up at home and no party favors to hand out. Each girl took home a quality animal made with love! <3

Happiest of birthdays to my big little girl!

Be Still My Heart

Pin It Now! I have seen girl clothes with matching doll outfits before ~ mostly frilly dresses or super cute pajamas that were out of my price range. So, when I saw these pj's on clearance for a really amazing price, (never mind that they're Christmas ones) I couldn't pass it up! Plus she needed new ones anyway. :)

It made me smile to see her so happy, and it reminded me of my matching pajama set my Cabbage Patch Kid and I used to wear. And believe it or not, I still have the pajamas that my doll used to wear - Shiloh now uses them for her dolls. :)

Here's my sweet girl who finally has doll pj's to match hers!

Tucking Kylie in for the night. She's gonna be a sweet mama one day.

She Just Couldn't Wait

Pin It Now! I think it was a day shy of December when Daddy finally took Shiloh Christmas shopping for her brothers.  I couldn't have been happier because she'd been bugging asking me to take her all month!

Her enthusiasm was just precious.  She'd saved up all her coins from Grandpa and from $.50 money chores I gave her every now and then when I had some change to spare.

The boys, especially Lincoln, love nutcrackers, (the classic-looking kind) and Shiloh had spotted the perfect ones at Fry's.  She came home with the biggest smile and asked for bags to wrap them in so she could give them to the boys that night.  I nonchalantly suggested, "Why don't you wait until closer to Christmas?" 

No reply.

When I turned to look at her face . . . BIG, FAT tears were slipping down her cheeks.  Broke my heart.

"Oh honey, did Daddy say you could give them to the boys tonight?"

With the most genuine, pitiful look, she shook her head "yes."

We got some bags right away and . . .

just look at how happy she is! 

She wanted pictures of herself with each brother and their nutcracker.  Too sweet.  :)

The nutcrackers are proudly displayed on shelves in the boys' room.  They even named them.