Be Yourself

People ask me all the time, "what's the hardest part of having a girl?".

I could answer the attitude, because lets face it, every little girl comes equipped with one, but when I really think about it my answer is making her always feel beautiful when others may not approve of her way of expressing beauty.

The first time we really had to deal with this was in earlier this year when she got bit by a dog and had to have stitches on her lip. The day after her accident I put her in front of the mirror to show her and it broke my heart when her reaction was to shy away from her reflection.

That moment made me realize the emphasis that the world puts on outside appearances and beauty.

It made me realize that one day there might be someone who makes my little girl feel like she is not as breath taking as her momma tells her she is.

And it also put this lady's defense on alert.

For her to know at such a young age that there was something wrong with the way she looked, and hide her face from anyone who tried to see was a wake up call for me.

I now know that she is her own person, even if it is a little one, and there are already certain things that make her feel beautiful and things that don't. I then decided to let her have a say so in daily attire, with some supervision of course :).

We have gone from girly sandals to tennis shoes, fancy bows to none at all or even fancier in some cases, twirly dresses almost every day, and solid colors to rainbow toes.

Yes, I may get some disapproving looks when we walk through CVS and it looks like my child got dressed in the dark, but watching her walk around in confidence with a big smile makes it every bit worth it.

I'm not claiming that she will never have to deal with people making fun of the way she is or dresses but as long as her answer is always yes when I ask if she feels beautiful that's enough for me :)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Why I shouldn't assume she is playing quietly with her barbies :/

Mine All Mine

Today has been one of those days.

 You know the kind where you wake up and have a list of things to do and next thing you know it's one o'clock and you've accomplished nothing besides running in circles.

As most of you already know from facebook by time afternoon rolled around Matalie had already managed to spill three cups of juice, bathe herself in honey and butter from her toast AFTER I had already got her ready, made a royal mess in the playroom I had just cleaned up two minutes before, spilled chocolate pudding all over my tan carpet, and peed in her pants right as we were walking out the door.

Now this momma has a lot of patience but that last one did me in. I would be lying if I said I didn't pull a Nicole and lock myself in my bedroom for a minute.

 Or five.

 After that I decided errands could wait and proceeded to get back in my pajamas....my sanity depended on it.

But just when I was about ready to put a for sale sign on her and drop her on the side of the road (don't judge, we've all had those moments) I walk into the playroom to find this

It's then that I remember all those nights I spent praying for her. All the tears shed after each pregnancy that ended too soon. And the love that consumed my heart the first time I laid eyes on her sweet face.

 She may be a juice spiller, honey bather, trouble maker, slightly over eccentric little lady but she is mine.... and that is all that matters.

RAWR

This month started a new subject for science in our homeschooling adventure. I gave Luke the choice between space or dinosaurs. Being the boy that he is he went with the latter. So the past couple weeks have been consumed with all kinds of prehistoric creatures. Here's some of what we did....

We read lots of books on dinosaurs and made our own fossils

We did dino math and finger paint stegosauruses

A couple of other things we did that believe it or not I did not have my camera for were my job as an archaeologist were I buried certain things and he had to dig them up and tell me what they told him about the people and things that lived in that area and dino categories where he had to paste pictures of dinosaurs under the right column, herbivore or carnivore. We finished our dinosaur unit with a trip to our local museum, Fern Bank. Pictures from that soon :)

The Day She Waited For

It seems that in our circle of friends all of our children's birthday are at the same time.

We have four in January alone.

 So by time it got to Mat's birthday this month she was more than ready for it. Actually she was ready for it months before when we were walking down the isle at Piggly Wiggly and she spotted the Hello Kitty section from a mile away. From that day on not a single person didn't know about the "kitty pawty" she was having.

She spent the beginning of the party hiding away from all the excitement but warmed up around present time. Because of her being so shy we saved the singing and candles for after everyone left. I swore a long time ago that I would never do a cartoon party but she wanted it and I couldn't imagine it turning out any cuter.

First Snips

I have been itching to get little lady's hair cut for a while now. I kept telling myself it would help it grow, would be healthier, and lets be honest...what's cuter than a little girl in a bob??? I had finally worked up the nerve only to find out that the hubster would not have it. That is until I came across this picture on Pinterest....

After that he had to admit it was pretty stinkin cute and if I must then I could go ahead and do it. I immediately called my trusty hair dresser kayla and scheduled the appointment for today and let me tell you....I could not be more in love :)

Before:

During:

After: