Basketball

When I was young, I started playing basketball in fourth grade. I played all the way through my senior year of high school with almost all the same girls that I began with 10 years earlier. I'd love to say it was a fantastic ride but it sadly ended my senior year with an unfortunate experience that left some very bad feelings and a desire to stay far away from the court. Honestly I didn't know if I would ever encourage my kids to play because I didn't want them getting swept up in the attitudes that can be associated with the sport. I had loved the game for so long but yet I was very wary just the same.

But last year I realized it was time to get over myself and my own experience and let Braeden enjoy how fun the sport can be and I knew that one of our very best friends would be his coach when he started so he began playing this year. He attended basketball camp over the summer and really enjoyed it, aside from the jammed finger, so he was excited for the season to start this winter. I have really enjoyed the experience of getting back in the gym and watching him love what I loved. Even the smell and sound of a gym during practice is comforting and very nostalgic. I'm so glad Braeden wanted to play!

Can I just tell you that these first graders are amazing!! I am so impressed with their abilities to listen and absorb the instruction they are being given and their skill levels are incredible for six year olds. Stepping into the gym has brought back a lot of the great memories from when I was little!

Reverse pivots

Jump stops

Ball handling 

He dribbles like it's no big deal!

They work on their lay up foot work every week and they are all getting so much better!

Three point stance

Of course Maggie wants to get in on the action!

My ballers :)

There are perks to having the coach be a close friend. He'll do anything she asks :)

And she scores!!

Maggie's 2nd Birthday Party

On Sunday we celebrated Maggie's 2nd birthday with our incredible family and friends. My children are so lucky to have so many people who love them and make every occasion wonderful and memorable. We did some decorating the night before since we were going to be celebrating my dad's birthday on Sunday morning and I knew I wouldn't have much time to get things all together that day. I used the colors of her birthday shirt as inspiration for the overall décor. Lots of pink and teal which is very trendy right now so it was easy to find.

 

The birthday girl wasn't into posing for pictures. As a matter of fact she has been telling me "no camera" and pointing to someplace for me to put it down. I really wanted a good picture of her in her cute birthday outfit, but the best I could do was catch her on the swing.

 

 

She loves having people to sing Happy Birthday to her and beamed the entire time that we sang. She tried really hard to blow out her candles, but one just wouldn't go out so I helped a little.

 

 

 

She tore right into her presents. Most of the time she didn't even care what was inside, she just moved on to more unwrapping.

 

 

It was extremely hot and sticky out so the kids eventually started to play in the kiddie pool. I wasn't outside in the beginning, but I'm going to guess that Maggie was the first one in.

 

 

Soon enough the kids moved from the pool to our own "water slide". They had a blast!

 

All of the water fun left the birthday girl with a bit of a "big" diaper.

 

She and Evan had a late supper because they were too busy to eat with everyone else earlier.

 

 

We had lots of fun celebrating!

Maggie is Two!

Maggie Grace turned 2 last Thursday. My precious little girl is such a joy in our lives. We are beyond blessed that she joined our family two years ago and made us complete. Children change so much so quickly in these early years and I have been amazed as I have watched Maggie learn to walk and talk and keep up with her brothers over the last year. She is even starting to know some of her colors which officially means she's not a baby anymore!

We were in Maine for her birthday. How much luckier can a kid get than celebrating her birthday on the beach? She sang happy birthday to herself all day long and encouraged anyone around her to join in. She is an amazing little person who I cannot wait to continue to watch grow. She is independent and determined, incredibly sweet and ridiculously polite. She has become a big fan of princesses, especially Sofia the First, Dora and Doc McStuffins. She has a love for the water and jumps right in any time we get to the pool. She could swing for hours if someone is willing to push.

A My Little Pony Microphone

A Tangled cake

I am a lucky mommy to have this little girl to love.

 

Happy Birthday Mags!!

 

Getting Crafty

Over the course of the last year, thanks to Pinterest and several of the blogs I read, I've tried a variety of new crafting projects. While I have always enjoyed making things when I have time, I never really gave myself time to do a lot of projects and explore the tools I have to create beautiful keepsakes for my children, and more recently, to sell at craft fairs. I never thought, though I'd always had the desire, that I'd be at a point in time where I was actually selling some of the things I make.

One of my favorite projects, that I actually did over the summer but hadn't gotten around to blogging about yet, was an affirmation canvas for Maggie's room.

It makes me happy to think that over time Maggie will grow up seeing these positives statements about herself every day. Even if she's not really looking at it, the canvas will be there and some part of her will be absorbing it's message. It is so important to me that my children never question how loved they are, their value in this world, and their own self-worth. I know there will be times that they will falter in believing in themselves completely, but I hope that a small part of their brain will always be telling them, you are loved, you are loved, you are loved..

I'm not that handy of a blogger that I took step by step pictures of the process, but I assure you it's fairly simple. I bought a canvas from Michael's, cut out the letters on my Cricut in vinyl so that they would adhere to the canvas and then painted the whole thing purple. When it was completely dry I peeled the letters off and the color underneath showed through. I got the idea from Shannon at Bless Our Nest. She is amazingly crafty and had done a bible verse for her son's room. If you don't have a cutting machine, you can also use letter stickers and spell out whatever you want the canvas to say. I still haven't actually put the canvas up on the wall in Maggie's room. I think when I do, I will probably use a ribbon to bring in another color. For now it is resting against the wall on her bureau. As soon as I have a free moment (I'm guessing post kitchen renovation), I will be making them for the boys as well.

This Girl Loves Her Chocolate

Maggie has a bit of a sweet tooth to say the least. If there is something sweet in our house, this child will find it! Evan is the same way, but not Braeden who isn't really a big chocolate guy at all. Hmm.. I just don't get that. Chocolate is my happy place.

As we are moving into our kitchen transition, which has now turned into taking out everything but the fireplace between our living room and kitchen, I am trying to clean out my cabinets and pantry so that I have less to pack into boxes when the time comes. The kids and I love to bake anyway and this was a good excuse to make something yummy and let Maggie get her chocolate face on.

Evan has always loved to bake with me and now Maggie insists on having a chair for her too. It's not exactly convenient for moving around efficiently, but it is super cute. I am very relieved that for the moment she is willing to sit in her chair. I can only imagine when she wants to add ingredients too. 

Evan was asleep when we made the frosting so she didn't have to share! Life is good in this house. 

My Heart Beats for You... and You... and You

aka: The little girl with the BIG hair

 Looking good with that haircut

Nope, no idea what's going on with the hand

Our Set is Complete

I'm sure all mothers would agree that it is impossible to have too many pictures of your children. I take tons and every now and then try to get them done professionally. As I've posted before, we just had a family session with incredible results. But the only thing we couldn't do then was the picture collage that we get for each child from Sears when they turn one. I took Maggie this morning to get hers done and as usual, I am not disappointed. I'm sure it helped that my little diva hammed it up for the camera. 

Unfortunately I don't have Braeden's as a digital file, but this is the big picture for his collage.

We had to choose from the best of the not great shots of Evan. He has NEVER liked having his picture taken. 

Maggie on the other hand, enjoyed herself very much. 

Now our set is complete. 

And She Walks!

Maggie has been taking a few steps at a time for a few weeks, but she was definitely taking her time putting it all together. But then last night we were sitting on our friend's deck having dinner when all of a sudden Maggie stood up near a chair, let go and walked about 4 feet across the deck. My view was partially blocked, but I was pretty sure she wasn't holding on to anything. I asked Roman and Scott who had the best view and they said that yes, she had walked all by herself!! After that she just kept walking back and forth from the door to the table. It was as if she'd waited until she really got it before she attempted her big reveal. I didn't have a camera with me so no pictures yet, but I will get them. I am so amazed that our baby is now a walking one year old. I have been waiting for her to reach this major milestone, but at the same time it makes me a bit weepy to acknowledge that all of the "baby firsts" have come and gone for the last time. But enough of the sappy business; it's time to celebrate. Way to go baby girl!

Not a walking picture, but too cute not to share.

Maggie's First Birthday Party

For the last couple of weeks it has been D.R.Y. here. No rain to really speak of in the forecast. Except of course for Sunday afternoon during Maggie's birthday party. My plan for outdoor decorating was changed so that the paper pom-poms wouldn't be destroyed if the rain did come. I knew that as long as there weren't thunderstorms rolling through, the kids would all be fine playing outside even if it was raining. They would be in the pool and sprinklers getting wet already so rain wouldn't phase them. As it turned out, it only sprinkled a few times during the party, much to the chagrin of my poor plants that have been desperately waiting for a good drenching.

The theme of her party came from the shower my mom and sister-in-law had for me before Maggie was born. Stacy made tissue paper pom-poms to decorate and I loved them. I brought them home and as I kept seeing them in my craft room, I decided it would be fun to decorate with them for her first birthday too. The originals were a little too "loved" to use for the party, so I had to make new ones (with Jean's help - thanks Jean!).

I also made a tissue paper wreath to match the colors and hung it over the mantle in our living room.

My favorite decoration was the banner of her monthly pictures I made. I had originally planned to hang it from the fireplace, but I put it on the mantle while I figured out how to hang it and I really liked it there. Plus, being up higher made it safe from little hands. 

The kitchen had more pom-poms, balloons, and her actual birthday banner. 

(I don't have a picture of just the decorations)

The birthday girl

Maggie was so good the whole time. She enjoyed playing with the kids and entertaining the adults. She willingly opened most of her presents and only got upset at cake time because there were so many people so close to her. But she didn't cry until the singing was over and the candle had been blown out. It was so different than the boys first birthday parties. Both of them were more shy at this age than Maggie is. It's so much more fun to be an experienced mom at a first birthday party. I remember Braeden's and I was so worried about everything going right and how he was going to act that I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I should have. By this time around, I was able to let it flow however it was going to go and had fun! 

Cake time. She couldn't take her eyes off of my aunt singing Happy Birthday.

Presents!

A crown that one of the kids at the party made for her as a present. So cute. 

Here is how she spent the rest of the night until it was bedtime..

It was a really wonderful party. I'm so happy that everyone we invited was able to come and celebrate Maggie with us. It was fun to watch the older kids playing and having such a good time together. Maggie was happy and smiley and enjoyed every minute of the attention. I love that we have such an amazing group of family and friends who love my kids so much and are able to enjoy these milestones with us. Thank you to everyone for coming and making it a great day!