To The Man

To the man that swept me off my feet from our very first kiss.
To the man that spent every day of college with me. Every day.
To the man that always surprised me with "the little things."
To the man that asked me to be his wife, became my husband, and then gave me the greatest gift out there. The gift of motherhood
To the man that our children's eyes light up to at the sight of his car pulling into the driveaway.
To the man that I look forward to spending the rest of my life with, growing old with, and watching our own children become parents one day.

To the man, the best father to the children, husband to his wife. Happy Father's Day, and thank you for being YOU.

And just because, here is a giveaway you can win for your special someone... or for yourself!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This & That

Currently THIS

Elliana has been so funny these past two weeks. You know how toddlers do weird things sometimes, and you go... I wonder why she does that? Well, I've had a lot of those moments lately. Recently, Elliana has decided that she wants to take her little "baskets" everywhere and anytime we have to leave the house she says, "Oh no mama, where my baskets? We need to take my baskets with us." Okay, sure we do. And we do. What are in those baskets? Cars, crayons, little nick-nackey things.

Graham has been super fussy lately when it comes to going to sleep. I think his teeth are really bothering him. The teeth that are bound to make an appearance any day now. So interesting how different babies are. With Elliana? We never knew when she was "teething." In fact, I would even go as far as to say she never was. They just showed up one and she was all... "What's the big deal?" With G, it's a complete different story.

We have spent our days this past week going to the pool {for hours on end}, park, the zoo, library, and strawberry picking. As E gets older, we are just loving how expressive and excited she gets with each activity, so naturally... we keep busy. And I wouldn't change that for the world. Plus, G gets exposed to so much more at this age than E ever did.

I've been really taking in time lately. What does that mean? You know, just really trying to get a grasp on time. I don't know if its the warm weather or the fact that my babies are getting older, but I've really caught myself saying over and over again how fast time is going by and how I can't seem to be ahead of it. I guess you never can truly be ahead {I've talked about this before, recently actually}, but I'm just so very much aware of it now. After all, we are almost into the middle of June.


Read That

10 things to stop saying to kids. I'm kind of neutral on this topic. At first, I wanted to like the article. Actually, scratch that, I do like the article. Why? Because it really made me think deeper about what we say to our children. Now, this is a topic that Andrew and I have had since Elliana was born. Well, even since before I was pregnant. About how what we say and how we act is so important. So, that being said, it's not a new topic of discussion. However, I have a lot to say about this topic and decided to write a post on it. Read the article first though, and I'll share my side later.

Made This

Well, actually, Andrew did. He had been craving homemade strawberry shortcake since we went strawberry picking at a local farm, so Sunday night... he did just that. I have it say, it was the best strawberry shortcake I ever did have. Recipe? Sure, why not! Here-->Strawberry Shortcake Recipe : : Recipes : Food Network

VIDEOTAPED THAT

Elliana has really been into singing lately. In fact, there are multiple videos on my phone, on the daily, with her singing adventures. Is there anything sweeter than a toddler's singing voice? Seriously.

You have to watch this one. It will brighten your day. I guarantee it!

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THIS

Link up Monday for Blogging with a Purpose {Show & Tell}. The topic is Who I am. You can go off that however you'd like. Read more here.

SNAPPED THAT

My precious little man at my sister's graduation. I mean seriously.... I can stare at him forever.

OH AND ON THAT NOTE...

Pretty please take a second to vote for this sweet girl so that she wins! It's as easy as two simple steps!  Go here and like the Ubooly page and the picture of precious Alea! Thank you!

Blog to the Lovin.

It's almost July 1st. Saying that almost makes me want to fall right out of my chair. Almost. Where did the time go? How has summer gone by this fast already? Next thing you know it will be fall... then winter... then my baby turns 1.

Okay, before I become a waterworks of emotions, lets get on with what this post is truely all about.

As you all know, google reader is heading out the door, which means that if you read blogs using this site, you will no longer have them in your feed. So, there is an even better website out there to help you organize all those favorite blogs that you love. I, personally, think it is so much easier to use than google reader.

So, here are the easy steps to switching over your feed from reader to bloglovin.
Just click on this link below, and follow the steps to import from your google reader. It's just that easy!

I need to update my blogs, so link up your bloglovin account below so we can all find new blogs to follow! In the "name" area, put something that describes you: "Newlywed." "Mom of 2." "Runner..." whatever your heart desires.

From Mrs to Mama Bloglovin

May We All Remember to... Just Dance

If you would have asked me 5 years ago if I thought that a daughter of mine would be standing on tippy toes and twirling in a tutu, I would have never believed you. One, because I just couldn't have imagined what it would be like to have a daughter. And two, because the things that I was interested in as a child never came close to anything involving a tutu or ballet shoes.
Now, let me just preface by saying that I am not a girly girl type girl. And what I mean by that is I never did dance myself nor shown any interest in it, so being a "dance mom" and "dance recitals" is all new to me.

Also? I don't take it very seriously.

So much so, that I'm pretty sure E was one of the only girls with no makeup on and her hair was not in a perfect hair sprayed bun. The lady even came over to me to ask me if I wanted her to fix E's hair? She completely caught me off gaurd, that it took me a brief moment to even open my mouth. "No, thank you." What do you mean fix her hair, I thought to myself. I think it is perfect just the way it is.

Anyways, off course already. Like I said, I don't take this whole dance thing too seriously. Not to mention, she's my baby. She's two.

So we had first heard about the recital on week 2 of dance class. From the looks of how dance class was going already {you know, Elliana staring at herself in the mirror and sometimes, accidentally, hitting her tap shoes against that said mirror}, I assumed that it would just be a clustered mess. But. How could a mom ever say NO to her baby's first dance recital? So you want me to write a check for some dance outfits that they will only wear once? Sure, why not! All while thinking... this better be a darn good show.

Regardless, I was counting down the days.

When the day arrived that we had the recital, I again, 8 weeks into this gig, thought that it was going to be a clustered mess. In fact, we were not even able to attend the practice rehearsal, as we were out of town the week that they had it.

After arriving to the studio, Elliana was intrigued to see so many little girls around her. She stood around kind of taking it all in for a moment, and kept to herself. This is the part where I had mentioned at the beginning. Where I, the non-dancer mom, is trying to get her outfit put on and hair perfectly well done. Well, you know, in my eyes.

Andrew ended up meeting us at the studo after work, and you can tell his was just as surprised, as I was, to see his little baby looking like a beautiful little girl. We both kind of stood there speechless for a couple moments. Reminding ourselves... we created this. She is ours.

The girls soon lined up, and Elliana just stood there. Again, looking around her. Not sure of what was to come. At this point, I was sure that she wouldn't go on stage. Or that she would want me to go wtih her. The crowd, the noise, the unknown, were just a few of the things that I thought would scare her off.

But I was wrong. Yet again.

She walked up on stage. Standing straight up there looking out into the crowd. Right next to the teacher. And as the music turned on and the instructor proceeded to ask the girls to do certain steps and moves. She did it. And it was by far one of the cutest things I ever did see. Up there, our baby, on a stage. I would have never been able to imagine that 2.5 years ago when we first held her in our arms.

It was short and sweet, and as the show ended and Elliana heard the loud clapping and cheering from the audience, she lit up. And she ran into my arms and she said "Mama I did it." And when it was over, all she kept saying was, "I dance again, lets do it again."

She had fun. She loved it. That is all I could ever ask for.

And so we ended the night. Our first dance recital night.

Actually, it's Elliana's night. But just as equally, it is also ours. Because it's a big deal to us. Us parents. Seeing another first in our daughter's life. Watching her learn and light up on stage. It's our moment to be proud. Not because she did the right moves or that she mastered a certain dance. But because she is ours, and we are proud of that.

No matter what she does in the world or how great she is at what she does, it will never change the fact that we our proud.

And I hope she always remembers that.