Tutu Cute

The Find

This past Wednesday, Annabelle and I went consignment shopping. For some strange reason, when I was buying 3-6 month clothes for her, I only bought sun suits and snow suits. I hadn't bought one single in between outfit, which with the weather starting to cool off a little bit needed to be remedied fairly quickly. So consignment shopping we went. Annabelle is a great shopping buddy. She loves to visit with people, and she will smile at anyone who tells her she's beautiful.

We got to the sale early, and I was overjoyed with the selection of name brands for dirt cheap. I picked up several Gymboree outfits for $3 or less. As I was standing in line waiting to make my purchases, a swatch of red caught my eye. It wasn't just any red. It was Power Ranger red, and it was coming from the pajama aisle. I hurried out of line silently praying, "please let it be the right size, please let it be the right size!". As I pulled it off the rack, I felt like Charlie as he unwrapped the golden ticket to Wonka's factory. The pajamas were faded, the waistband was badly stretched, and they were two sizes to big, but I had never seen a more perfect pair of pajamas in my life. They were the Disney brand costume knock off of character pajamas that are no longer made by Disney. I know this because my little Power Ranger wanna be always insists we check just in case every time we pass the Disney store at the mall. The jammies were marked $3, but I knew in Tyler's hands they would be priceless.

I brought them home, washed them, repaired the waistband, and gave them to their new owner, whose little eyes lit up with joy and amazement. "Are those for me?" he asked while stripping his clothes off. He put them on and just like that in his little mind he was no longer Tyler, he was Jayden, the Red Ranger.

He's had the pajamas since Wednesday, and he only takes them off when we leave the house. The second we get home, he changes back into them. Every time I see him put them on, my heart fills with happiness because I love how something so simple makes him so happy. It's like an episode of Antiques Roadshow. "Ma'am, do you have any idea how much these pajamas are worth? You may have only paid $3 for them, but in the hands of the right child, their value is incalculable." After all, how do you put a value on childhood innocence and imagination?



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Random Acts of Kindness

Look what a wonderful mommy sent me!




A ring sling! Talk about making this babywearer's day!

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Hello Miss Priss

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Matthew's Mother

I was getting Tyler's lunch ready last week, and as I was trying to decide what kind of lunchable to throw in his lunchbox, I heard a little voice behind me say, "Matthew's mother makes him a peanut butter sandwich". To which I replied, "let me guess..you want me to make you a peanut butter sandwich for lunch today?". This earned an affirmative nod. I was about to place the requested sandwich in a baggie when I heard a little voice say, "Matthew's mother always cuts his in half". I got out a knife and sliced the sandwich in two. Next I went to the pantry to try to decide what else to throw in the box. This earned an eye roll, a defeated sigh, and a "Matthew's mother always sends Teddy bears," spoken through clenched teeth. I threw in some little bears. Next, I reached for a juice box. This of course was met with further resistance. Apparently, Matthew's mother sends a thermos of ice cold water. A request I couldn't live up to because I had no idea where our thermos were currently hiding much less where I might locate a lid that might actually fit. So I simply said, "Good for her!" and forced him out the door.

Fast forward to today. I just happened to come across a thermos with a lid on it in a drawer. I thought I'd surprise my little food critic with it. So I lovingly filled it with water and shoved it in his little lunchbox.

When Tyler got in the car today after school, I was met with a death glare, more clenched teeth, and a "why did you send a thermos full of water in my lunch?". "Because I wanted to be awesome like Matthew's mother". This got another eye roll, a look that told me the depth of my stupidity, and a "Matthew's mother always sends him juice!".


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For Rent...

Anybody want to rent a 3 year old for the next nine days? The only requirement of the rental agreement is that you have to chase him down twice a day and force one medicine dispenser of antibiotics down his throat. Please note I will not reimburse you for any damage done to your carpet or walls when he spits it across the room.


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Mommy Dues It...

Whenever Tyler sees a shirt in a store he likes, he always asks, "Mommy will you make me one of those? You can dues it right?".

Here are some of my latest projects:




Ruffle bottom pants made from material I patched together. This was truly a labor of love because this was my first ever attempt at making pants, patching fabric together, and making ruffles. If you see Annabelle out in these pants, it would totally make my day if you noticed them and said something nice about them.



My Eloise the Elephant shirt with marking fabric tutu.



My first pinafore dress. I tried to making matching bloomers, but they were way to small.



Tyler's Umizoomi shirt that I made by cutting up old t-shirts.



Cupcake onesie



Owl onesie-this picture makes it look crooked, but it's not...I hope.



A stacked bow that's way to big for Annabelle's little head.



A Superman shirt for a friend's little boy.




Another shirt for a friend with a matching headband.



Annabelle modeling the headband.

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Finger fun

Tyler has been obsessed with figuring out how to use his fingers to make the peace sign, the cowabunga sign, and to show certain numbers. You would be surprised how hard it is to hold up three fingers when you are a little person. Today Tyler looked at me and said, "hey mom! I bet you can't do this!". He then proceeded to flip me the bird.


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Just a trip to the fair...

My friend Jennifer and I don't suffer from insanity. We enjoy every minute of it, which is why we decided it would be a smashing idea to take five little children to the fair all by ourselves. Jennifer and I adore going on crazy adventures together despite the fact that we have a tendency to show up to events at the wrong time and/or the wrong day. It is also not uncommon for us to go somewhere and discover that the place has been shutdown, usually within days of us going there. Luckily, we are undeterred by these kinds of unfortunate mishaps. We once intended on taking the children to the circus, and ended up spending the evening at a place called Puppies Galore because we got the time for the circus wrong. It didn't matter to the kids though. Watching puppies poop was just as exciting for them as watching elephants potty.

We had a great time at the fair. The only major mishap occurred as we were leaving and we realized that neither one of us had any idea where we'd parked. So we walked around the lot with our panic buttons pressed and waiting for our car alarms to go off. We only wandered around for about fifteen minutes before we got lucky and found our twin minivans right where we'd left them. It took us a minute to sort out whose Nissan Quest was whose, but we eventually got everyone loaded up in the right place. Sometimes I think a little insanity is a good thing. After all, its the crazy memories you cherish the most.






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She's Definitely Not Dry Clean Only

The biggest blessing of being the third child in a family is that your parents are no longer concerned with being perfect parents. They've learned that there is no such thing.

When Colin was a baby, I was so preoccupied with making sure I was doing every "right", that Colin rolled over when he was supposed to, crawled when he was supposed to, etc that I didn't spend enough time enjoying the everyday moments of his childhood.

With Tyler, I was a little more relaxed and I spent more time
enjoying him just being a baby, but I was still somewhat preoccupied with trying to figure out how best to fairly split my time between my two children. I have since learned that it all works itself out. One child is always going to need you more at times, and it all eventually comes out even. There is no need to keep score.

With Annabelle, I've realized that babyhood is to short to be preoccupied with anything else.
Dust will keep if you don't get it wet. Dishes are just as clean inside the dishwasher as they are in the cabinets. And, your friends don't really care if your house is messy. But childhood, it waits for no one. One minute you're kissing sweet innocent baby cheeks and the next your planning a 7th birthday party.

My children have definitely taught me the value of living in the moment and enjoying each moment. I find that I spend more time playing baseball in the yard now than I used to. We read books every night, and sometimes we make silly cupcakes when the only thing we have to celebrate is how much fun it is to make cupcakes. And sometimes we sneak Annabelle licks off of our popsicles. I mean bird poop and baby tadpoles didn't hurt Tyler when he ate them. How bad can one lick off of a popsicle be?


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Jumperoo

How long do you think it will be before Tyler discovers a jumperoo is essentially a giant slingshot?


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At the Park

First my brothers took turns pushing me on the swing.







Then they took turns jumping off of things and trying to give Momma a heart attack.

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Love this...

-A Memory Made

Vote for "Our Baby"

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1) Become a fan of www.facebook.com/ErikaLynnPhotography by liking the page.
2) Go to "September 2011 Kids Contest" photo album
3) "Like" our picture of Annabelle
Thank you for your support!!


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Two Peas...

Tyler went to work with his Daddy today. You would've thought we sent him to Disney World.

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