Flashback Friday

Maddy, age 1, looking for something to wear.

I can't believe this picture was taken 3 years ago and that my little Maddy is going to be 4 next Tuesday. This morning while I was getting dressed Maddy proudly walked into my bathroom fully dressed. I asked her if Daddy had helped her and she said "no, I did it by myself, I had to get ready for school." This is the first time in 4 years that she has pulled out "appropriate" school clothes and dressed herself. It wasn't until we were about to walk out the door that I noticed her pants were on inside out... Even then Maddy, still proud, stopped, looked, and said "silly me, guess I better fix that."  Such a big girl.

I love taking pictures and I have thousands of pictures over the past 4 years so I am going to try and share a picture from the past every Friday.... hence the title "Flashback Friday." After all, the original idea for this blog was to create a digital baby book for my girls. :-)

What happened to Barbie?

Mug Shot

This past Christmas Maddy asked for a Barbie doll. Let me back up a little...Maddy had wanted a Barbie for almost a year especially after playing with Aunt Kimmy's old Barbie. So what's the big deal with giving a 3 year old girl a Barbie you ask? Well in my mind a girl's first Barbie is a big deal, a right of passage of sorts. Owning a Barbie is a big responsibility for a little girl. All the clothes and shoes, taking care of the dream house, keeping her head attached to her body, and don't forget driving the Barbie Corvette now known as the Glamour Coupe. So we wanted to wait until Maddy understood what taking care of a doll meant. Thanks to Santa Claus, Barbie has now been a resident in our house for a month now and I have have to ask.... What happened to Barbie?

If you have little girls or granddaughters you know what I am talking about. For lack of a better word...Barbie is indecent and that's being polite! When consulting Santa on which Barbie to purchase David and I where appalled at our options in both dolls and in wardrobe choices. We looked at 3 different stores thinking we just weren't looking in the right place. I thought "maybe there are two different lines of Barbie clothes; one for teenagers and collectors and then a collection more appropriate for little girls." Well there wasn't, what we saw is what we got. We thought long and hard on whether or not we should really let Santa bring Maddy a Barbie but in the end we decided that Maddy would be heart broken if she didn't get a Barbie on Christmas morning. So Santa selected the most modest Barbie he could find and several outfits, all of which are way too skimpy as evidenced in the picture below.

The Wardrobe

Barbie is supposed to instill confidence and reinforce the idea that girls can do and be anything they want. I am not so sure that Barbie does this anymore. Just look at Barbie...how many women do you know that actually look like Barbie? I don't know any. These days with all the pressure young girls and teenagers face to look and act a certain way I don't think they need a doll to add to that pressure. I realize it's up the parents, mainly moms, to talk to their daughters and reinforce that they are beautiful no matter what but let's be realistic here.... we aren't always going to be there when our daughters are playing with Barbie or when they are talking to their friends.

I also realize that Barbie isn't going to go away and in fact David and I don't have any plans on taking Maddy's Barbie away (maybe we should). Instead I want to find a more age appropriate "fashion doll" and that's exactly what I (we) did. Over the next week or so I'll be announcing a new "business venture" here on the blog. It's still in the planning stages and we are waiting on inventory to arrive but I will tell you it's "Bury Cute" and everyone with a little girl is going to need at least one. So stay tuned....

What can you do with Burlap and Vinyl?



Our table before.

This is our kitchen table. It's the gathering place, art table, extra counter top, play dough play area, and so much more. When we bought it 5 years ago we didn't have children, just a dog who loves to "surf" counter tops for food. Its bar height style (to deter Zack from begging) and dark wood attracted us. Well flash forward 2 moves and 2 kids later it's not looking so hot. It's got scratches and rough places all over it.

It wasn't an expensive table when we bought it so I am not too torn up that it's beat up but I know if I keep wiping it down and letting the girls do art projects it's going to look even worse. I don't want to invest in a new table because I am thinking our guests would rather have a real bed in the guest room. So I stole an idea from my friend Tiffany and recovered our table.

If you have looked at any home magazines or watched an HGTV show lately you may have noticed that burlap fabric is a popular choice in home decorating now. So with inspiration from HGTV, Tiffany, and Mimi I headed to WalMart in search of burlap and vinyl. For about $7.00 I got burlap and clear plastic vinyl (the kind used as furniture covers in the 70's) and I upholstered our kitchen table. It was easy. The neutral color and texture of the burlap works well in our kitchen and the clear plastic on top makes the table super kid friendly.

At only $7.00 our table is new again and if I wake up one morning and don't like it I can just pull the staples out and "viola" it's back to its original wood top. For now it works for us and my new Fire King bowl looks fabulous on it. :-)

Just part of our scratched up table and
 Kate wondering why Mommy is standing on a chair.

Our table covered in burlap and vinyl.

After Picture.

Close up of my new bowl. See Allison I finally got one!

Happy 1st Birthday Henry!

I remember January 18, 2010 so clearly. I remember the anticipation, the excitement, and the nerves we all felt leading up to this picture. I remember sitting in my best friends kitchen anxiously checking my cell phone for news of Henry's arrival while the kids played and Kate slept in her car seat. The call came and Henry was here! Kimmy and Charles were on their way to meet their precious baby boy. Everyone could breath easy now.

It was fun to hear about the first sleepless nights, the exploding diaper, the first bath, and all the other “firsts” new parents experience. It was even better to meet and hold Henry. We could not believe how long his fingers were and just how much a one pound weight difference made when we compared Henry to Kate. It was one of the best weekends we have ever spent as a family.

I will never forget the phone call on our way back to North Carolina. The tears shed in the car and the utter disbelief David and I felt. We asked ourselves… “How could things change so quickly? When we left they were going to the doctor for a weight check and now they are packing up Henry’s things.” “Surely this isn’t true, it will pass, the birth mother will change her mind, right?” “This all seemed like God’s will. What is God doing now?”

But the birth mother didn’t change her mind and with sad hearts Kimmy and Charles had to give Henry back after taking care of him as their own for 10 days. Some have compared a failed adoption to the death of a child. In many ways I think that’s true but in some ways I think a failed adoption is harder. You know the child is alive (thank God) but you don’t and probably won’t ever know what happens to the child.

To this day I don’t know how they survived this past year but they did and they did it with such grace. If you know Kimmy and Charles you know that “grace” is something that they do naturally. It’s a big part of who they are. It would be an understatement for me to tell you how proud of them David and I are. As we close the door on the past year we are all excited and filled with hope for 2011 for we know that God is in control, he has a plan, and is always faithful! That is why today we want to say “Happy 1st Birthday Henry!”





Ice Day

We woke up this morning to sleet, ice, and a tiny bit of snow. Everything was closed or cancelled today and will be tomorrow too. When Maddy woke up she quickly opened the blinds and saw white stuff on the road and driveway. She was immediately ready for some playing, no breakfast required.  Somehow we convinced her to slow down, eat a little breakfast, and wait for the freezing rain to stop. It stopped right as I finished pulling out our snow clothes (never thought I would do that in Georgia).

After bundling up myself, Kate, and Maddy we ventured outside to see what Georgia snow is like. I knew it was mainly ice and very slippery but Maddy was confident that she would be able to build a snowman, make a snow angel, and sled. It was too early in the day to break her heart and I was too chicken to tell her, knowing it would cause a mini meltdown. Either way I knew she'd figure it out on her own. Well it took all of 5 seconds outside for Maddy to realize this isn't really snow and that the snow at "Granddaddy's is better." She walked around for a few minutes and tried to make a snowball.

Meanwhile I did drag Kate out into the cold, icy air. You know me I am all about the photo opportunity. :-) At first she thought it was funny, she smiled and giggled, and tried to walk around a little. Once she touched the ground and realized it was wet and cold she was done and ready to go back inside. All in all we stayed outside for about 10 minutes. It only took us 25 minutes to get dressed, but that's what snow ice days are all about. That and hot chocolate! :-) 

Click on the picture below to see all of the pictures from our icy photo shoot. :-)

Back in the swing of things....

Did you think I had forgotten about you?  To be honest, this week I did. It's been a busy week of getting back into the swing of things after the holidays. Between Maddy going back to school, Kate having her 1 year check up (by the way according to our pediatrician she's still perfect), and getting back into a routine I kinda forgot to blog. So here's what you missed this week in the life of Maddy and Kate.

Before Christmas when Maddy asked when is her birthday we just told her it's after Christmas. Well Christmas has come and gone and Maddy hasn't forgotten about her birthday. So just about everyday she asks "when is my birthday and are we going to have a Fancy Nancy party?" To which we answer "your birthday is in a few weeks after Mommy's and yes you are going to have a Fancy Nancy party." That usually satisfies her for a day. 

 Kate got her first pair of real shoes this week, real walking shoes. Has she walked yet? No. But she teases us at least 30 times a day by standing up in the middle of the floor, looking around, smiling, and then she sits. I am not sure why I am rushing her to walk. I know she'll do it in her own time and she's already hard to keep up with when she crawls. I bet she's waiting to do it when I am not around. :-)

That's about it this week. This week should bring more blog posts as we are expecting snow/ice and a visit by some dear friends. :-)



Some of that teasing....this time in her new shoes.