Our Trip to Washington, D.C.

We just got home last night from an extended weekend in Washington, D.C. While it was nice to get away and escape the day to day life, the trip wasn't exactly one that topped our list as one of favorites. 1. AR was sick so we spent majority of Friday and Saturday in the hotel 2. Walking long distances and history isn't really a four-year-old's idea of fun. Either way, we made the best of it and still had a pretty good time. Here's our trip in pictures...

AR got her Elsa suitcase for her birthday last year. This was her first trip flying with it. It mainly housed extra snacks and our pajamas on the way there. On the way home, it was our dirty clothes. She did pretty well taking care of it all by herself.

We got there late Thursday night and it was a little chilly. Other than Friday night, this was the only day that we needed our coats. By Sunday, I was wishing I'd brought some shorts or at least short sleeve shirts for AR.

Like I mentioned above, AR wasn't feeling great on Friday. She and I skipped the Capitol tour and stayed in the hotel. Thank goodness my sister brought her Firestick! The hotel had a shuttle that drove us to the grocery store where we stocked up on oranges, water, bananas, and of course, AR's favorites cucumbers.

Friday afternoon we decided to venture out for dinner. You can see in her eyes that she doesn't feel good but she was going as stir crazy as I was in the hotel.

And when we found Sprinkles, she was a VERY happy girl!

Candace, the owner of Sprinkles, is the judge on Cupcake Wars! They even had little dog cupcakes that AR wanted to get for Shadow but I told her I didn't think they'd make it home in one piece so we didn't get any.

Friday night we did a Monuments by Moonlight tour. The first stop was Lincoln Memorial.

Right after Matt and I got engaged in 2007, we went to visit his friends on the East Coast and did a little day trip to D.C. I tried to recreate some of the photos the two of us had taken together with AR.

H took this pic and I think it turned out pretty fantastic!

I love this picture of the side of the Lincoln Memorial, very cool! Oh, while we were at the top of the stairs, this group of teenage boys came up. They had our back to us and were taking pictures of the Washington Monument. I looked over and they were all dressed in red, white, and blue patriotic clothes. I walked over to one of the boys and was like, "Hey, let me see your phone." He turned and looked at me like I was crazy. I assured him I wasn't stealing his phone but capturing an awesome pic. He finally gave it to me and yeah, the pic was awesome. I thought it might be a little too creepy if I asked him to send it to me so you'll just have to take my word.

Washington Monument and the reflection pond.

Battle of Iwo Jima which always reminds me of Mr. Reutzel. If any CHS Spanish alumni are out there, you'll know what I'm talking about.

The last stop on the monuments tour was the MLK Memorial. We also saw the Korean Memorial but there were seriously rats running through the bushes and across the sidewalk so I took two pics and ran the opposite direction.

Now, the whole reason we went to D.C. was because I had a signing for Lyssa Layne. It was Saturday afternoon in the hotel that we were staying in. AR took this pic and I have to say that she did a fantastic job! It may or may not be my LL profile pic...

My baby girl stayed with me all day because she still wasn't feeling too great. She did an excellent job handing out swag and we found an awesome book that I can't wait to read with her. If you're a mom to a little girl, teenager, or daughter in general, go check out Adjust Your Crown.

My biggest fan that I love sharing all of this with!

Saturday night, we stood in line for over 30 minutes for some Georgetown Cupcakes. It was worth it! I had milk chocolate buttercream frosting and it was AMAZING!!! The locals said if they had to rank the cupcake stores, it would be Baked & Wired, Sprinkles, then Georgetown Cupcakes. My sis and H had Baked & Wired and said they were good but OMG, I'm still dreaming of the GC frosting!

Sunday was our big day out because AR was finally feeling better! We checked out the White House, not that you can see it all that well.

She told a secret serviceman "thank you for your service" and he gave her this candy "straight from the President's desk." Don't mind her middle finger, it's not a political message!

This is the front of the White House in the distance. When I was there last, a decade ago, you could get a LOT closer, but I think a lot of the fencing and other construction was leftover from the inauguration.

We found a Shack Shake and had to indulge!!! Yes, I'm doing a weight loss challenge at work. Yes, I indulged in 2 cupcakes and split a milkshake plus more. But when you walk 2-3 miles per day, majority of that carrying a 45 lb child, well, then I'm not too worried about gaining. In fact, I weighed today and I lost a little so I'll happily take that!

AR wanted to do ONE thing and in the process of doing that. We passed through Chinatown where AR also sampled a green smoothie which she loved... and got pretty much all over!

AHA! The highlight of AR's trip!!! We found a playground! This was all that she wanted to do. So we walked a mile to the JFK Recreation Center and played on the playground. She was one happy little girl!

We also went to the Spy Museum. We did a game called "Spy in the City" which for older kids is really awesome. We each got a tablet with GPS on it. We had to go to different places and find clues. AR was NOT digging this at all so we only made it halfway through then later in the day, we walked through the museum some.

After all that walking, playing, and spying, it was time for dinner. Where would us STL girls pick? PI Pizza of course! I've never been to the one in STL so this was a first for us. For those of you that don't know, PI Pizza has all their specialty pizzas named after towns in STL. AR was starving and chowed down on this yummy Italian feast!

Monday, we visited Arlington Cemetery before we headed to the airport. Holy hills and even more walking! It's such a sombering place and makes you reflect on life in general. Here is the eternal flame for JFK.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Changing of the Guards

Then it was time to head home! D.C. is a great place to visit but I would definitely recommend waiting until your kids are old enough to understand/appreciate everything it has to offer.

AR's Super Awesome Valentine's Day Party

Today was the last and final party for the school year. All this Momma has to say is HALLELUJAH! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy doing them and looking at all the fun ideas, but it's a lot of work to get everything together and ready for the party. I spent the majority of two weekends prepping for this bad boy! Here's a run down of what all we did.

For snacks, I made love bugs out of strawberry applesauce. I also had a little candy kit together with a Minute 2 Win It worksheet.

I was so super pumped about the Minute 2 Win It worksheet, which you can download for free here. Then I got to class and Mrs. R told me that the kids can't have M&Ms because it's a potential allergen. None of the kids in her class have allergies but they're super strict with the preschoolers so no fun snack activity, the kiddos just got to take them home. That was disappointing but the kids didn't know any different. 

Now, these little love bugs...I spent the better part of a Saturday, burning off my fingertips to make these. Someone thought they were turkeys so I would recommend putting the pompoms on the antlers. I didn't because I knew the kids would look at them for about .5 seconds before tearing into them and yeah, that's what happened.

The whole clan of love bugs/turkeys watched over our kitchen for a couple weeks before the party.

Now, on to the games! We had Conversation Heart Catapults.

We had a Creation Station where the kids could build whatever they want out of heart marshmallows and toothpicks. This station ended up being a little bit messier than I anticipated so I would recommend having baby wipes nearby. Of course the kids wanted to eat the marshmallows but luckily no one did. I'd bought an extra bag so the kiddos got them after lunch later in the day.

We did a little bit of finger painting and made something for the parents. You can jump over here and download the poem for free.

I love these fingerprint poems because I remember one I did in first grade that my dad had framed. It was displayed in our living room and to this day, I have that poem memorized.

Of course a class party isn't complete without a photo booth! I always take one of each kid, edited them with a colorful border and words then print one out for each kid. When I decided to do this, I hadn't thought of it yet, but it's also helping me with our end of year present because I'm making a photobook for the teacher so now I have pictures of all the kids to include!

Another station was Musical Hearts. I found the idea here but it didn't show you what all the hearts said so here's all of mine. 

Here's AR when the music stopped, she had to do whatever was listed on the heart she was standing on.

After all the kids visited each station, we made a few love potions! This was just baking soda and red vinegar. I loved this because it fizzed out of the tube and the kids got soooo excited each time. Mrs. R even let them experiment some on their own with this later in the day during free choice because the kids had so much fun with it.

Our other love potion was slime made out of baking soda and red dish soap.

It was a great party that lasted about an hour. Then the kids handed out their Valentines to their friends. Mrs. R snapped a quick pic of me and my girl before I headed out. 

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day 2017!!!

Today was my first official Valentine's Day as a single woman in almost a decade. Instead of a day of professing your love to my significant other, I thought back over how I'd spent this day in the last decade. One thing was consistent until the last few years, we always went to Shogun's even when we had a third wheel because our friend's husband got called into work. There's one yogurt place that I've only been to for dessert after a Valentine's dinner at Shogun and I always think of that when I drive by. We ran races, photographed my baby bump, did baby photo shoots with lots of lipstick, and we had our annual play dates, with me playing air guitar, and our dinners morphed into heart-shaped pizza that looked like a butt.

They were never bad, Matt always did something thoughtful, so being that this was my first love holiday without a significant other, I had zero expectations for the day. The day ended up being pretty awesome and I felt TONS of love! I cannot stress enough how awesome my friends and family are and how the right people come into your life with no explanation but they make your life whole and right and happy and anything other good word you can think of.

Here's a recap of our awesome day!

Here's the set-up AR woke up to this morning. a sock monkey with candy, her love note, and a new placemat with her picture on it because the girl has gotten to be a pretty messy eater!

She was pretty pumped about the gift, especially when I let her eat a piece of her chocolate before breakfast.

She wore her love shirt and picked out the whole outfit on her own. Take a look at my girl, she was not feeling good today, really warm, no high fever, but just not herself, but still smiling.

I went to work and my awesome co-worker, April, brought me this and it totally made my day!

Monday when we got home from school, I started to unpack AR's backpack. I found two cards like this in it and left them in there. Later, I said, "Hey, I think there's something in your backpack that maybe you want to put away." She looks in her backpack, reaches in, and walks it over to me and says, "Here, Mommy." I suggested maybe she wanted to give it to me the next day and she was like nah. I finally convince her to give it to me in the morning. Cue Tuesday morning and I'm helping her get dressed, I see the card and ask if she has anything to give me. AR.... "no." *shaking my head* She finally gave me this super awesome card and I love it! I hung mine up at work so I could see it all the time.

I thought AR's card and April's chocolate was it but no! I got a text late in the afternoon from our friends in Arizona that said something was waiting for us at the Hallmark store. So we swung by and picked up this GIANT teddy bear, a Willow Tree figurine, and some chocolate pretzels. AR was pretty pumped!

This bear was so big that it needed it's own carseat! Thank you, J & D, for thinking of us and I'm glad you two were together today.

We had dinner at McAllister's then came home and got in our jammies. Matthew stopped by with a gift that AR had picked out for me over the weekend. She got to give her his card and the chocolate we got for him. He visited for a little bit and she got to snuggle with her daddy on Valentine's Day. AR picked out the Minnie cup so that we'd have matching ones now.

Oh! I totally forgot she made this super adorable LOVE sign at the babysitter's today. I am, well, so in love with it that I think I might get it framed and hang it up in my bedroom.

Me and my Valentine, the best one I could ever ask for!

After Daddy left, it was time for bed and seriously, that bear... it's almost as big as her!!!

For a day that I wasn't expecting much out of, I felt more love from so many different people. It was wonderful to be thought of so much and to realize how awesome our true friends and family are. They're our village and our village is so completely amazing! The real lesson here is that you can be single and Valentine's Day can still rock if you're got an awesome support system like we do! 

Hope you all had a Valentine's Day as fabulous as ours. We'll continue celebrating tomorrow with her class party!

"You're a Good Mom" Guilt

So lately I've been having a lot of "you're a good mom" guilt. What's that? Well, it's when people tell me I'm such a good mom and I feel guilty because I don't feel like it. Sure, I do super awesome things with her, I've given her more experiences already than most people have in a lifetime, and she really is a pretty well behaved little girl. Here lately though, it seems like she wants nothing more than to terrorize her mama. Let me be honest right here and say my four year old has turned into a teenager. It's constant tears, disobedience, and so much more lately... but only for mama. When I asked her teacher at school, she said, she's doing great and gives hugs to everyone. Luckily, I have a good support team that helps me put her on track when she's being a little too sassy. But seriously, every morning there's tears for a variety of reasons... she doesn't want to wear the outfit (we picked out together the night before), I pulled her hair too hard (with hair like hers, it's bound to happen), the seam on her sock doesn't match up, I put the sock on the outside of her pants and not the inside, I put the sock on the inside of her pants and not the outside, she doesn't want to go to school, babysitter's, gymnastics, etc... it's like she finds every possible thing to complain about and rolls it all into one giant fit of tears first thing in the morning as we're trying to walk out the door. 

*deep breath* 

Okay, I know we've been through a LOT the past year... divorce, death, friends/neighbors moving, etc... but my little girl is a smart one, she knows how to play you. I battle between empathy and apathy, hard love and tender love, and all I know is that being a good mom is hard stuff! There's no manual that comes with a baby that tells you how to handle these things. Sure, there's 999 thousand articles on the Internet to read plus 999 thousand people who want to give you your advice but the best advice I've ever gotten and that I try to only give is, it's your kiddo, you know what's best so follow your gut but sometimes I'm just simple like WTH am I doing? 

And it's not just her giving me a hard time, it's the world, the people out there. Some people are really cruel whether they mean it or not. One kid asked AR why she didn't have a little sister and it broke both her and my heart. That is just an innocent example. Here's an example of a cruel stranger that infuriated me and I felt like I failed AR. I took AR to get her nails done because she was going to the Daddy~Daughter Dance. She was finished and I wasn't yet so she was sitting in the kid chairs and talking to John, the store owner who was doing a pedicure for another lady. She wasn't speaking loudly or interrupting, just asking John questions. Out of nowhere, this old lady yells at AR, "Knock it off!" I caught the tail end of it and told AR to come over to me. I asked if the lady was talking to her and what she had been doing. She said yes, the lady was talking to her and she'd just been talking to John. I wasn't really sure what had happened but I was confident that my daughter hadn't done anything to deserve to be talked to like that. Trust me, if my daughter is in the wrong, I'm the first one to get on to her and make her apologize. My mom always gets on me for being too hard on her but I'm trying my best to raise a respectful, well-mannered young lady. My blood was BOILING and luckily, we had a friend with us that talked me down from saying anything. The whole situation was just bizarre and I still wasn't even sure that the lady was entirely talking to her when we left. A couple hours later, I get a phone call from John apologizing for the lady speaking to AR that way and he wanted to make sure she was okay. I asked him if AR had been doing anything she shouldn't have and he confirmed that she was just talking to him and that he lady didn't really have a reason to yell at her like that. It made me feel better that AR wasn't out of line but I really regretted not saying something to that lady now. Either way, I thought it was above and beyond for the store owner to call us and apologize for something out of his control. I'm just glad that AR didn't seem too upset by it because the lady's need to yell at my child to knock it off could've easily ruined a very special day for her. And what was she wanting her to knock off? Being friendly? Being inquisitive? Being a child? I kind of feel like I failed AR by not saying something to that lady. 

*deep breath*

Some days I feel like I really rock the whole mom thing and others I feel like I'm failing miserably. At the end of the day though, my girl always asks to cuddle and love with me before bed. And that, my friends, is how I know I'm a good mom. I might be screwing up everything else, fighting over socks on the inside or out, destining her for hours and hours of therapy when she's older but when my baby girl looks at me and says she loves me, I know I'm doing something right. 

Daddy~Daughter Dance 2017

Tonight's the big Daddy~Daughter Dance. AR LOVES this event and talks about it almost year round. It's been the hot topic at our house for the last month so when we woke up today, she was anxious for this evening to come. We'd laid out her dress and shoes earlier in the week and this morning I placed her daily love note on it. Starting February 1, I leave love notes for her with something that I love about her. Today's seemed appropriate "I love how you love to sing and dance!"

Right before lunch, we went to get our nails done. We've found a place that we love called Cool Nail & Spa. I went last August when they first opened and while I don't go too often, the employees always remember us and even asked about Nanny today.

After nails, we went and got her hair washed which she absolutely loves!

Then Ms. Gabi styled her hair for the big night. I met Gabi in July at the hair school and have followed her to her new studio, Studio Branca. I can't stress enough that people are placed into my life at the precise time for a specific reason. Gabi has been awesome to both AR and me!

The finished product. We decided that AR has more hair than the average person, adult or child. Gabi kept telling her she had model hair!

When we got home, we had about 2 hours before we had to finish getting ready. AR laid down in her princess chair, with her hair flipped over the end and just chilled until it was time to get ready. When we did, she transformed into a little lady! It's like she grew up from the beginning of the day.

Daddy rang the doorbell and his date walked into the living room. He'd brought her a corsage that perfectly matched her dress. Well done, Daddy.

She was pretty stoked about this and couldn't wait to get out the door to the dance.

But first we had hugs for Daddy...

And I had to snag some epic "prom" shots before they got out the door!

Nothing is more precious than this, am I right?

Oh, and of course, Momma had to snap a pic of her and her girl, too! Have a great time tonight!!!