kaya’s random birthday celebrations (2016)

Posted on November 1, 2016 by tara

Yeah, yeah, I know Kaya’s birthday was forever ago, but I’m basically a million years behind on everything I need to do (folding laundry, blogging, photography business stuff, you name it)… better late than never, right? Plus, I have some very cute pictures that I just couldn’t refrain from sharing here.

Now that’s she’s a little older, Kaya definitely knows what her favorite foods and activities are, so it was really fun to take her out and do what she really likes. We decided we’d treat her to a special birthday dinner, and we let her choose the place. She really loves Red Robin, so on the Friday night before her party, we headed there (along with Grandma Debbie)!

The waiter even brought her a special birthday ice cream. This little girl couldn’t have been more excited!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTx2V-P7Ov4

On her real birthday, we asked her what she wanted to do… and predictably, she answered that she’d like to go to the mall. This is one of her favorite places (which might have something to do with the cookie place and the playground being there)!

We had a little “picnic”, and let her pick out a treat. We stuck her candle in the cookie, and sang “Happy Birthday” one more time!

These are some happy people right here. (Kaya was also wearing her most favorite things on this day: a rainbow tutu and a Hello Kitty shirt!)

We had to spend some time playing on the playground afterward, of course.

Daddy ran around with them like crazy (and I love these animated GIFs that Google makes for me, haha)! A couple weeks later, Grandma Gina brought Kaya a special gift she’d made… A rainbow blanket! It turned out so beautiful, and Kaya was instantly in love.

It was so much fun making her birthday truly special for her. Sometimes it’s tough watching your kids grow up so fast, but as they get older, there are so many more opportunities for enjoying time together.

five on friday (08/19)

Posted on August 19, 2016 by tara

ONE. These two sisters and the way they interact and play together never fails to warm my heart. I’ll say it over and over again… I’m so grateful they have (and love) each other!

They still love to play this pretend game where Kaelyn is a baby (named “Gaga Baby” every time), and Kaya takes care of her by giving her pretend ice cream, changing her pretend diaper, and making sure she has her baby doll’s pacifier. I hope all this baby care practice gets put into action for real here in a couple of months!

They were also both so excited to be wearing sandals on the same day. I looked into the passenger seat when I was pulling out of the garage, and they had their feet together, chanting “sandaaaaals!”

They loved saying “whooooooooooa whooooooooa” over and over when we visited the merry-go-round this week. Everything is so much more fun when they are together.

TWO. We did the letter “O” for preschool, so we had a whole lot of fun decorating our letters with orange paint, cheeriOs, and ocean animal stickers. Their favorite craft by far was this octopus, made from a toilet paper tube! Kaelyn has been proud of her creation all week long. You can’t really see it in the photo, but she even painted a glittery smile on hers! THREE. When we did the letter “S” just over a month ago, we planted some seeds that we picked up at the dollar store. Kaya’s tomato plant has really grown quite tall! She’s so proud of her little sprout and loves to check on it and give it water.

FOUR. We went to the children’s museum for the first time in a few months. I didn’t tell them where we were going beforehand, so the girls were pleasantly surprised! Kaya was delighted to dress up as a cat and put on a “show” for me, complete with music, dancing, and chanting.

Kaelyn was pretty excited about the fake flowers, haha. 🙂

FIVE. If you need someone to wash your windows, Kaya is your gal! I’m always amazed at the games she creates out of the simplest things. (And yes, that’s totally a clean paint roller… and I definitely need to Windex the windows now. But she makes me laugh!)

Happy weekend!

Linking up here, here, and here today!

five on friday (07/22)

Posted on July 22, 2016 by tara

ONE. We’ve been soaking up our time at the pool this week (and unfortunately, my shoulders have soaked up a little too much sun… it’s hard to sunscreen your own back)! Humidity has ranged from 97-100% every day, so going swimming is a great break from the heat. These two sweeties love playing together and would stay at the pool all day long if I let them.

Kaya loves “swimming” in the big pool. Two-foot-deep water probably seems as vast as the ocean to her right now!

Kaelyn loves to practice “kicking” in the water while I hold her and spin her around, but she spends most of her time pouring water in and out of her buckets.

TWO. Suddenly, my baby seems so grown up. She finally figured out how to blow real bubbles (instead of just putting her mouth on the wand), and even insisted on using the big-kid swing instead of the baby one yesterday. As of these past couple of days, we’re also really close to being completely done with nursing. Seriously… all these milestones all at once!

THREE. We did the letter “i” for preschool this week, so we’ve enjoyed a lot of ice cream-themed crafts and some “ice science“. They absolutely loved this activity, and I really love seeing my kids learn.

FOUR. Photography business has been so good this summer. I’m feeling really blessed (especially with the upcoming expenses associated with having a new baby soon), and I’m excited to see where my business might be six months or a year from now. My priority in this stage of life is being the best mom I can be to my kids, but I do enjoy using my talents and being able to do something I really love on the side.

Michael also took an updated headshot for me. He’s getting pretty good with the camera, too!

FIVE. All this swimming, playing, learning, and working wears us out fast! Kaelyn had a hard time staying awake on the way home from the pool, and when I got her out of her seat, she rested her head on me and wrapped her little arm around my neck. I live for these small moments.

Hopefully, we all get some good rest this weekend, because this is what it’s been looking like around here! (Kaya is totally pretending, although she has been tired, but Kaelyn was legitimately asleep in this picture!)

Happy weekend!

Linking up here, here, and here today!

five on friday (07/08)

Posted on July 8, 2016 by tara

A couple of these things are from last week, but they’re too cute to just leave off the blog! Some weeks, it seems like I have way more than just five things to share on Friday, and others, it seems like nothing too interesting happened all week. So, I’m just balancing it all out today! 🙂

ONE. This little girl has fallen head over heels for her Daddy. She’ll cuddle him, with her whole body wrapped around his arm and her head on his shoulder, when she first wakes up in the morning, when he gets home from work, and just before going to bed again. I love how sweet and tender she is.

TWO. Over the past month, I’ve gotten some good deals using Amazon’s “subscribe and save” option. Well, all those things didn’t ship until a much later date than I bought them, and then I also happened to order guinea pig food and bedding around the same time, so one day, we came home to a HUGE stack of boxes at our door! I was pretty impressed that the mail-lady could stack them so high. Too bad it was mostly boring toilet paper and other things that we actually needed. 😉

THREE. I let these crazy girls have ice cream after dinner one night this week, and you’d think it was the best day of their lives. They aren’t strangers to sweets, but they don’t get dessert often (on less than a weekly basis), so this really was a thrilling treat for them. They say that your kids will like eating whatever you ate during your pregnancy… so this really should be no surprise to anyone! 😉FOUR. We found this awesome Melissa and Doug puzzle at the thrift store this week for 99 cents! I think I get some kind of adrenaline rush from scoring a good deal, but the girls were equally excited about this find. Needless to say, we’ve heard a whole lot of elephants, penguins, and zebras in our house this week.FIVE. We’ve had a TON of rain this week, so there hasn’t been a whole lot of playing outside for us, but this video is from all our fun last week. I love summertime and evenings outside with my family.

Happy weekend!

Linking up here!

five on friday (06/10)

Posted on June 10, 2016 by tara

ONE. We made a new friend at the playground this week- this little kitty! He comes looking for us every time we’re there. Basically, he’s the friendliest cat ever. My girls adore him, and Kaya now refers to him as “my favorite cat” whenever she’s talking about him.

He reminds me so much of the cat I had growing up, so I don’t mind him hanging around.

This photo has some awful sun flare going on, but it was too cute not to include.

TWO. My kids have turned into total monkeys! Kaya saw that cat jump up on a rock, so of course, she wanted to try it, too.

Kaelyn is trying to be a big kid before she even turns two! My heart is probably palpitating the entire time she’s on this very tall, very steep ladder, but she can do it, all on her own, so I try to let her have her freedom.Of course, I’m usually right underneath her, ready to attempt to catch her if she slips!

THREE. Flowers are blooming in our yard! It’s been a fun surprise to see what the old owners had growing here.

FOUR. We did some preschool work on the letter M this week! Kaya loved decorating the letter with marshmallows. I think I have finally found a way to plan out our activities that works for me, too. I was thinking of sharing some of our “lesson plans” in some kind of preschool series here on the blog… but we’ll see if I actually get to it!
FIVE. Little moments, like seeing my girls sitting on the back steps together, watching their Daddy work on the house, completely melt my heart. I love these two little goofballs (and this is the smile I get when I tell Kaelyn to say “cheese”… she takes instructions very seriously). _MG_3020

Happy weekend!!! 🙂

five on friday (06/03)

Posted on June 3, 2016 by tara

Happy Friday!!! It’s been a whirlwind of a week, with doctor appointments, photoshoots, and lots of quality family time. I’m hoping we get to relax a little this weekend, but we always have a pretty big to-do list, so we’ll see if that actually happens. 🙂

ONE. We kicked off the week in the best way possible- church, followed by naps! I think Michael uses the girls as his secret weapon for waking me up… because who could be upset about waking up to those precious little faces? They love to snuggle lately, and I’ll gladly take any chance to cuddle up with them that I can.TWO. We’ve had fantastic weather this week, and have played outside just about every day. Kaya was excited to introduce Daddy to the merry-go-round! I think this might be her new favorite place.They love going through this tunnel, too!
THREE. This wouldn’t be a Five on Friday post without a cheesy video, right? Haha. This turned out really cute… and blowing bubbles is one of our favorite things to do (truthfully, I think I like it as much as the kids do)!

FOUR. Kaya helped me make some strawberry freezer jam this week! We had leftover strawberries, so what better thing to do than make a strawberry slushie? Both girls LOVED this drink (just pureed strawberries and crushed ice); it disappeared in no time!

FIVE. I did it… I bought my three (!) girls their first matching clothes! I saw these fruity-themed leggings on clearance at Target this week, and just couldn’t pass them up for next summer. I’m sure this is the first of many matching outfits to come. I cannot wait to see them all wearing these next year. 🙂

And now I’m craving all the fruit…

Happy weekend!

Linking up here!

five on friday (05/27)

Posted on May 27, 2016 by tara

It’s the final weekend in May already… how is 2016 almost halfway over? I’m grateful that the warm weather is here and summer is on the horizon, but I wish time would slow down, even just a little!

I have a lot of photos and things I haven’t shared on the blog yet, including the many visitors we’ve had lately, our whole packing-and-moving experience, and our beach vacation. To keep it simple though, today I’m just sharing five moments from our week. Can’t go wrong with a Five on Friday post!

ONE. The most exciting part of Kaya’s week was her preschool graduation party! My friend Katherine put together these adorable hats and diplomas for the kids. We kept it simple and just let the kids play, have lollipops, and eat brownies. Sounds like a pretty perfect day for a 3-year-old!

Kaya has really learned a lot this past year- letters, numbers, shapes, sharing, and being a helper are all good examples. The biggest lesson for her was learning that she could be away from us, as well as trusting and interacting with other adults. I’m so proud of my big girl!

TWO. Of course, learning is never complete, so we’ll still be doing our own preschool lessons at home. Admittedly, this was the first week we had a real lesson in a while (morning sickness, moving, and traveling derailed our schedule a bit), and it felt good to get back on track. Both my girls love coloring and crafting. Kaelyn also loves writing on her shirt with (washable) marker…

THREE. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous this week, and we’ve been outside enjoying the sunshine and exploring our new surroundings as much as possible. Even Olaf got to enjoy some sun! 😉 My kids had never seen a metal slide until this week… and they are so excited about the loud noise it makes when they kick their feet on it! I think they had more fun doing this than actually going down the slide itself.FOUR. They also experienced a merry-go-round for the first time and LOVED it!It was so adorable that there had to be a cheesy video about it (of course)!

FIVE. We are loving our home and having our own space… including the screened-in back porch. It’s perfect for a hammock! Michael spends his time out there on Sunday afternoons, when the rest of us are napping, and the girls will hop into it any chance they get.

Happy Friday!!!

Linking up here!

five on friday (04/29)

Posted on April 29, 2016 by tara

It’s been a BUSY (but fantastic) week!

ONE. Spring is finally here! The weather has been gorgeous (the trees seem to know it too, because there’s pollen everywhere), so we’ve been outside enjoying it whenever we can. Kaya was so excited to ride her bike again. She didn’t even want to take her helmet off once we got to the playground!

We also pulled all the girls’ summer clothes out of the closet, and Kaya has been so thrilled over having new things to wear. This octopus shirt is a favorite for sure!

Why does my baby suddenly look so big? She’s mastered going down the big slide all on her own!

TWO. Riding a bike means you might fall off… and Kaya did exactly that this week. She got her first official “biking boo-boo”. She was pretty distraught about it until I told her that Mommy and Daddy used to fall off our bikes when we were kids too. By the time we got home, she was in high spirits again and almost couldn’t resist laughing when I asked her to make a sad face for this picture.

THREE. We had some errands to run this week, so while we were out near all the “big” stores, we took some time to do a little shopping. I finally lucked out and found two swimsuits on clearance (!!!), after I’ve been looking everywhere for months for something I liked.

Kaelyn is honestly a little difficult to entertain while we’re out. She wants to grab things off the racks and play with her seat belt buckle the entire time, but with a few ~~hundred~~ fruit snacks as bribery, we made it through the trip! I really do love my little shopping buddies. 🙂

FOUR. Our friend, Mallory, had her baby shower this week! It was so fun to have a night out without the kids. I can’t even remember the last time that happened, so I truly enjoyed it. There were fun games (including Pictionary!), good friends, and these amazing Belgian waffles made by Cheryl. I covered mine in cookie butter, Nutella, and whipped cream… And I think my taste buds died and went to Heaven.

Seriously. This is not a high-quality picture, but trust me, there’s a waffle under there!

FIVE. Everyone goes crazy for Daddy when he comes home! I love how much our girls just adore him! Laughing, wrestling, and tickling are almost always on the agenda. 🙂

Yes, they were totally rolling around on my clean (folded!) laundry… haha.

Happy weekend!

Linking up here!

five on friday (03/11)

Posted on March 11, 2016 by tara

Happy Friday!!!

ONE. We’ve had the best spring weather this week, and we soaked it all in as much as we could. It’s been so long since we’ve played outside without our winter coats on! Riding in the swing was as exciting as a completely brand-new experience for Kaelyn. I love her happy squeals.Kaya still loves riding her tricycle! We need to build up her speed and endurance again!TWO. Kaya loves to have her picture taken next to trees, and will insist on sitting next to one if I want to photograph her. This golden, warm light has me excited for outdoor photography to really begin again.THREE. I have wanted western boots for forever… and thanks to some birthday money from my mom-in-law, I finally bought some! They came in the mail this week, and Kaya was so excited that we can match now.

FOUR. My little fashionista started clipping bows to her shirt as an accessory. This has got to be a new trend, right? I love how she loves everything to be colorful and bright. FIVE. I taught preschool today, and these little best friends just melt my heart. Kaya loves Mia so much and always wants to do what she does (i.e. Kaya saw that Mia had her bracelet on her left wrist, so she switched hers to the left, too). I love listening to their little conversations and the questions they ask each other while they’re working on their crafts.

Happy weekend all!

Linking up here!

fish, beads, and treats

Posted on February 11, 2016 by tara

Last week, there was just the tiniest hint of spring in the air. The snow melted, and the sun was beating down, warm on our faces. The birds were joyously chirping in the mornings. Even Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring.

Now, last night, we endured a “real feel” of negative 4 degrees. Welcome back, winter! 😉

We took advantage of the glorious weather while we had the chance. 40 degrees means you need to get on your coats and hightail it to the nearest playground! I’m not sure my kids have ever been so excited to see a slide as they were on this first day out after our big storm. Most of the ground was still covered with old snow, but they didn’t care one bit.

There’s nothing like the great outdoors (and a mouthful of fruit snacks…)
I hosted our co-op preschool last week, so for the letter F, we had to make some “fish”, of course. I love how they were all so unique (left to right: Kaya, Mia, Bennett).

The girls have started spending the majority of the day playing together, not just side by side. Kaya is definitely the leader, and can sometimes direct Kaelyn around a little too much, but overall, they truly enjoy being together.

Doctor Kaya (notice her name tag), now offers (pretend) hair cuts as well as medical services. I guess this is what it takes to have a competitive business these days. Kaya loves to help with anything and everything we’ll allow her to. Lately, I’ve put her to work washing windows and scrubbing potatoes. This is a truly happy kid!

She’s also really gotten into her perler bead kit, and made her first project all by herself- a turtle! She somehow convinced Daddy to make her a horse, too.We’ve done a little Valentine crafting this week. Kaya really liked pompom painting this heart.She also helped me put together her Valentine treats for her preschool friends. She loved mixing and scooping all the ingredients into the bags, and frequently asked “where’s mine?” We got the idea for “s’mores” bags (animal crackers, marshmallows, and m&ms) from here, and printed the tags from here. Easy, tasty, and adorable.Also tasty… the dessert we got at the mall on Friday night. Fudgiest. brownie. EVER.

Also adorable… the way that Kaelyn so fervently waves “bye!!” to Daddy when he leaves for work, and how she rushes over to hug him when he returns home. I love her sweet, pure love for her family.
She also adores it when he plays “airplane” with her. They have frequent tickle fights. It gets kind of crazy, but she obviously loves it.
Kaya is almost getting too big for this… but she had to have a turn too, of course!

And that’s what we’ve been up to lately. One day until my birthday!

Michael and Tara

It's Us!

Category Archives: playground

kaya’s random birthday celebrations (2016)

five on friday (08/19)

five on friday (07/22)

five on friday (07/08)

five on friday (06/10)

five on friday (06/03)

five on friday (05/27)

five on friday (04/29)

five on friday (03/11)

fish, beads, and treats