Payson got Pokemon tattoos for his birthday and decided to share them with all the siblings. All of them were SO excited. Here are a couple pictures and then a video!
Month: July 2019
Lyla Nicole Turns 3 Years Old!
I can’t believe Lyla is already three years old! Just typing that makes me want to cry! I’ve adored raising her the last three years, I feel so lucky that she is my daughter and I have the privilege of watching her grow up! She is such an amazing person! She has had the most fiery personality from the time she was an itty bitty baby! She may be the youngest but she is definitely a leader!
For birthdays lately I’ve been taking my kids to Chuck E. Cheese but since Lyla is still pretty young I decided to go to the mall and let the kids ride the carousel instead. It has been a while since we did that and I thought it would be fun to do it again!
Speaking of carousels, threw this together for fun because I’m a sentimental, nostalgic mama. haha
I think all of those are from when we lived in Arizona from 2009 to 2012. There was a cool carousel at the mall and one at the Bass Pro Shops during the Christmas season.
We ate food after the carousel. The older three kids had chinese food and the younger three had grilled cheese and fries.
And then we had a very non-birthday activity to attend: Payson’s dentist appointment!
After the dentist it was time for the rest of the birthday celebration! Woo hoo!
I had wanted to get Dora decorations since Lyla loves Dora. Or anything kitty related. But Party City had neither 🙁
Lyla also really loves beanie boos, especially the mini ones, so I settled on those and hoped she’d like them! She was sleeping in my arms as we shopped.
Well, when she woke up and saw everything she was THRILLED! She immediately pointed out the beanie babies on her balloons and said, “aww, babies!” Then it was time to open presents!
Lyla loves loves loves loves Calico Critters so I got her a few new sets. She opened the each set and said, “Awww, baby. Awwww, mommy daddy. Awww, Payson Ember Sierra…” etc. etc. She names all her toys after our family.
Everett picked out this toy controller for Lyla.
More Calico Critters!
Brooklyn was filming at the time!
Cake time!
One of Lyla’s presents was a new baby stroller and after cake and presents we went outside so she could push it around in more space as well as I could snap a couple of birthday portraits of her with her balloons!
I couldn’t believe she actually let me take some pictures! She loved her balloons. She loved the whole day! She had this small, shy smile on her face the entire day and every time there was some new birthday thing and we said, “Lyla it’s your birthday cake/presents/lunch/carousel!” she’d raise her shoulders and shyly smile at us. It was so dang cute! She loved her birthday!
Sierra snapped a couple pictures of Lyla with me 🙂
I love my birthday girl!
Lyla went back to walking around the apartment playground. I loved the sight of her walking behind her balloon bouquet ♥
Those were all the pictures I took on Lyla’s birthday!
Family Movie Night
We watched Matilda together 🙂
I set up my camera on the TV stand to take a family photo before starting the movie and Lyla got really excited and wanted to run over and take a few dozen more! You can see her in that last photo about to jump off my lap to push the button again! haha
Look at her in all of these! Trying to run back to push the button again. haha! So cute!
Today Ember Played with Her Toys and We Went to Five Guys
I was making breakfast and came into the living room to find this cute sight.
Ember had her favorite toys on the recliner and was quietly playing on her own. It was so cute, after she told me about what she was playing I grabbed my camera to take pictures. Times like this are my favorite memories ♥
For memory’s sake I added Ember’s toys’ names to this one. The names Fluff, Bumble (like a bee, says Ember), and Rose are ones she chose. The others came named 🙂
The kids funnily enough love my Golden Girls magnet set on the fridge. Lyla plays with it a lot. The Blanche magnet is her favorite. haha
Later in the day we needed to go grocery shopping so we stopped at Five Guys for lunch before doing that. It was really fun.
Bike Riding Weather!
We’ve taken a few bike rides lately. We took a new route and didn’t see this giant misalignment in the sidewalk and Ember hit it full speed and crashed badly. I keep a first aid kit on hand and was able to clean up her scraped elbow and hand and bandage her up. Before we took off again I had her sit on the “step” she rode into to remember her big crash. She didn’t even shed a tear, by the way. I was surprised. She just stood up, calmly stood while I cleaned her up, and then was on her way again!
I Love the Golden Girls!
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So I love the Golden Girls. If you follow me on instagram (which you should if you aren’t because I’m on there almost daily!), especially my stories, you’re so over this, right? haha! I love The Golden Girls TV show. I own all the seasons and watch them as I fall asleep every single night. I suffer from anxiety that gets the worst at night as I lay in bed in silence… my mind races. Falling asleep to The Golden Girls makes me feel comforted and gives me better dreams, too.
I have a book about The Golden Girls and many Golden Girls shirts, and even a magnet fridge set, and these things make me feel comforted.
I think maybe it would sound like a weird obsession/interest except that the times I watched the Golden Girls on TV were times with my grandma. Those were the most peaceful, happiest times of my childhood. I lived with her for several summers and they were the only years of my life that I felt peaceful. She would watch Golden Girls reruns and since I was spending time with her, I would see them too. I wasn’t as into the show then in my mid teens but I did enjoy them. Now at 36 years old, divorced, considered old by current social media standards, I relate to that age group. I’m still pretty young, really, raising young kids, but I still relate. They make me laugh, they make me feel understood and normal, and they remind me of being with my grandma. My grandma died 3 years ago and I have felt a lot of grief ever since. She had forgotten who I was long before she died and I felt sad about that, but her being gone, really gone… it’s different. It’s so much worse. I miss her so much. You really don’t realize that life goes fast and little things will be the big things you miss so much you can’t stand it. Sitting in her living room with the TV always on (she was divorced and lonely)… watching her favorite shows, crocheting, doing her crosswords, reading her romance novels, chatting endlessly with me, watching anything that happened outside her big living room window… I miss it so much. She had a schedule and I remember her getting up and turning off the TV for dinner. She never kept it on and we all always ate at the dining table together. I miss it all so much.
This picture is just a random day I was cleaning my apartment. I had The Golden Girls playing on my phone and stopped cleaning to watch a certain scene… just laughing and missing my grandma all at once. (haha, also I was wearing that Golden Girls shirt I mentioned owning!)