One.Hundred.Seventeen/Three.Six.Five

This.  Is.  Huge.

Baby steps and I'll take it.

One.Hundred.Sixteen/Three.Six.Five

Crazy Hair Day.

It's not our first rodeo.  However, being seriously sleep deprived, on top of having ONE night's notice, my creative juices were lacking.  Good thing this girl doesn't really care, as long is it has lots of color and lots of wire.

Mission accomplished.

One.Hundred.Fifteen/Three.Six.Five

What a face.

I pray she is a positive addition to our family.

Currently, Alf would 110% disagree.

One.Hundred.Fourteen/Three.Six.Five

This weekend is all about this little one.

She's the new addition to our family.

We love our dogs.

We love our Ridgebacks.

We felt it was time to make the jump.

I may question my sanity every day for the next year.

Meet Whitley Bay Franks.

10 weeks. 10 pounds.

One.Hundred.Thirteen/Three.Six.Five

See yesterday's blog.

One.Hundred.Twelve/Three.Six.Five

A macro lens.

A bouquet of flowers.

It NEVER gets old.

One.Hundred.Eleven/Three.Six.Five

A girl and her freckles.

They never get old in her mother's eyes.

I can't look at this face without praying and hoping that I just do right by her.

Raise her right.  Raise her strong.  Raise her so that she never questions my love.

"A face without freckles is like a night sky without stars."

One.Hundred.Ten/Three.Six.Five

Her cooking skills are improving every week.

Her recipe of choice this week was these homemade Raspberry Tarts.  (Tart was even from scratch.)

Can't say it was the quickest of desserts to make, however, I can say it was one of the BEST desserts to make.  They were absolutely delicious!!

I have a feeling she will be making this one again.

One.Hundred.Nine/Three.Six.Five

Love these kick ass ladies.

(Photo Credit: Jackson Gorman (Don't worry, he's with the media.))

One.Hundred.Eight/Three.Six.Five

Had this mutt in town this weekend.

When you are built with your own sleeping mask, live is that much better.

#walterthesleepingbassett

One.Hundred.Seven/Three.Six.Five

The Ricki Deci Meet is always the last meet of the season, a couple months after their "real" season ends.  It's a fun competition for the girls, as it's primary focus is the Men's International Meet.

She had one of her best meets of the year, 3rd place on 3 events as well as All-Around.

Best part?  How close we were able to get to each event.

One.Hundred.Six/Three.Six.Five

"We will raise her to be smart, strong, independent, proud, kind, thoughtful and with respect for humans... of all colors, genders, faiths, nationalities, or however you want to label yourself.

We will raise her to be a superwoman."

I took these words from my sister's post today because they hit home.

No matter what direction life takes us, no matter what up's and down's we face, no matter when our views may differ...
No matter what...

These words will forever hold true for my own two amazing daughters.

Here's to my Supergirls.

One.Hundred.Five/Three.Six.Five

I'd say she is pretty much cutest Oompa-Loompa out there...however, one that also basically refuses to smile on stage.  But you can tell by the socks she loved every minute!  

One.Hundred.Four/Three.Six.Five

Constantly using the furniture as gymnastics equipment.

I'm sure my parents can relate.

But her strength this go round was pretty impressive.

One.Hundred.Three/Three.Six.Five

Spiraling.  It's the way to go.

Just watch the blades.  They can be pretty unrelenting.

One.Hundred.Two/Three.Six.Five

What do you do on a day off from school?  Picnic at the park with your cuz.

Can you guess who wears the sassy pants in this bunch?

One.Hundred.One/Three.Six.Five

Wanting to be JUST LIKE your cousin.... 

it's a pretty cool thing.

One.Hundred/Three.Six.Five

The lone egg.

A.  We have a chicken that lives in our bedroom that we didn't know we had.

B.  This is my child's version of breakfast 'near' bed.

C.  The hard boiled eggs were accidentally dropped from the fridge and the child thought she put all the shattered eggs back.  However, the dog had a different plan...until he realized it wasn't a ball.

Ninety.Nine/Three.Six.Five

Bedtime means one thing for this guy.

TIME TO PLAY.

I'm not sure why, but the minute we all start walking upstairs for our bedtime routines, he sprints up the stairs and waits....waits for all four of us to spread out, beat on the floor, while he bolts from person to person, up and down the stairs....just running.

Ninety.Eight/Three.Six.Five

Meet the newest cast member of this year's SLJH Musical, 'High School Musical'.

She will be playing Kelsi - a main supporting role - and a perfect fit.

Personally, I'm really glad this week is over.

I think the life of a parent revolves around moments...

Moments of wanting to hug and hold onto your kids.

Moments of wanting to strangle your kids.

Moments of worry and nerves for your kids.

Moments of acceptance and pride for your kids.

Ninety.Seven/Three.Six.Five

She made the cut for both days of callbacks.

Maybe this will teach her that some of the worry and pressure she places on herself is UNNECESSARY.

Then again - she's 12 - highly doubtful.

Life is full of rejections that we all have to overcome.

But at least...for now...this hasn't been one of those times. 

Ninety.Six/Three.Six.Five

Tuesday, I quit you.

Today was a day for the books.  Life lessons are hard as it is, but even harder when you've worked so hard for something.  She had her first junior high musical audition today.  She's been working on her monologue and song for weeks.  She signed up for her time slot and was ready to go.  We decided to practice in the car and have a snack between the end of school and her audition.  Long story short, they were running early and basically disregarded the sign-up schedule.  What started as excited and prepared turned into rushed and scattered.  When you are dealing with a high anxiety child, who is very hard on herself, and who finds it difficult to get out of her head when things don't go smoothly...this kind of thing equals complete melt-down.

Not what you want prior to your audition.

Learning to cope with disappointment in yourself, cope with setbacks, and cope with swallowing your nerves and persevering is tough for anyone, especially a 12 year old.

Callbacks are posted tonight.  Outcome to be determined.

I was a little afraid that she would throw in the towel.

I was a little afraid this would break her confidence for future auditions of any sort.

It did neither.

She is a talented little human and I couldn't be more proud.

Ninety.Five/Three.Six.Five

Back to the grind.

Ninety.Four/Three.Six.Five

It's the start of a new year, which means saying goodbye to some of those bad habits that have crept up on us over the past several months...along with saying goodbye to the pounds that have crept up on us over the past months because of these bad habits!

So here's another round of Dry January (4th year running), and here's another round of 21 Day Fix.

At least this year there is a new chef in the kitchen to help with all the food prep.

She is a fantastic partner!

Ninety.Three/Three.Six.Five

My girls.

Ninety.Two/Three.Six.Five

I've sure missed this big lug.

Ninety.One/Three.Six.Five

No Uncle Jim, I'm not the one whistling.

-Paige-

Ninety/Three.Six.Five

"I luv you Jackson.  Can I have your hat?  I hear it covers your ears."  - Walter the Sleeping Bassett

Eighty.Nine/Three.Six.Five

My two favorites.

However, their beauty is out-shined by tomorrow's featured pair....

Eighty.Eight/Three.Six.Five

When proof is necessary that your 13 year old niece is now taller than 2 of her 3 aunts.
It won't be long until it is 3 out of 3.

Eighty.Seven/Three.Six.Five

As I am playing catch up from the last MONTH, I'm cutting some corners.  So for the next week, I will be posting some of my favorites from the holidays, that didn't make the "day of" cut, but are worth sharing.  Remember, I'm making the rules here.

Here's to looking at 2017 from a whole new perspective.