Fridays Letters

Dear Hubbs,

Please continue to leave your socks in every different room....

multiple times throughout the day. I just love it.

Dear Mint Jeans,

Where are you?

Dear June,
I'm not diggin this weather, I thought "June" ment that it was warm and sunny everyday. All we've had is clowdy and rainy with an occasional nice day. Before you even show up July will be here.

Dear Dresser (re do),
I can not wait for you to be through! We have a special spot for you in our room, right next to some sunny windows with new window treatments!

Dear Girls,
I can not describe the feeling I had today. Watching your little bodies pick cherries just as I did with my mama when I was a little girl, in the exact same place filled my insides with all kinds of ewwy gooey love.
I hope we continue to pick cherries and have our fingers get stained {for the entire day} for many years to come.



Have a Happy Weekend!

My Perfect Day

Do you ever have the most perfect day?

Where you wake up, and your kids are happy with their first breakfast choice. Your house is actually clean for once and you get to put your make up on in peace because they have occupied themselves with piles and piles of shoes.

When your oldest one tell yous "I love you soo so much mama" a million times throughout the day.



Their love kills me.

When the weather is perfect and you just know that the motherload of tantrums is about to come because it seems too good.

That was my yesterday. It was grand. The two were happy as ever and rolled with the punches all day.

 

If there was a day I could compare them to angels that would be the day.

I truely had fun with them and not once did I get frustrated with their curiousness or their ability to irgnore my requests.

I let Raygan pick out there outfits and she insisted on them "matching."

             

Our week via iPhone

Remy tackling two shopping carts at target//New Hair doo//Taking a break from swimming//Raygan strutting her stuff in the pool//Us girls at the water park//My girls//My BUN!!!!//Smoothie date night//My Loves hiding from my under a blanky...yes there are 3 bodies under that//cousin love//our mad face//pretty sunflower at mi madres//raygan waving bye to daddy and little sister for some date time//Painting time//date night selfy//daddy love from a tired worn out baby.

We had a fantastic week! Finally getting to enjoy some nice weather.

How was your week?
linkung up with A good Life Blog,

Oh Brother!

Oh big brother. You had us all so proud as we watched sitting patiently in the stands.

We all know you have never been the "school kid" so seeing you in that cap and gown brought us all to tears. Big brother, we all know how rough these last couple years have been for you, and to finish your school we couldn't be happier. You have so much a head of you and I cant wait to see it all un ravel.

His little girl couldnt be more proud of her daddy!

I Love you Brother, I coudn't be more proud!

Summer Oh Summer

The weather hasn't been too "summery" in our parts. I've been reluctant to take the girls to the splash parks because it just hasn't been nice enough.

Our summers here are usually blistering, miserably hot. So hot that in the heat of the day you need to go inside to cool down and drink some tea. Needless to say I've bee enjoying this not.so.nice. weather because I know misery is around the corner.

Yesterday reached 90 degrees. Whats a mama to do you say?

We hoped in the car. Where you ask?

Oh well geez, Target of course. In hopes to find a Dora sprinkler head for my little girls. Raygan has had her eye on it for quiet sometime and I finally decided to make my little girl happy and get that dang sprinkler.

What do you know? There was no sprinkler Dora head. Not even a kids sprinkler head in the entire store. Not one!

Target failed me.

They had a blast. Raygan kept yelling at the sprinkler "stop it! don't get in my eyes!!" Which seriously cracked me up. As for little Remy she took a break to watch her sister.

What happened next? Oh, Im so glad you asked! The girls Auntie, and my best friend asked if we wanted to go swimming at her moms. Of course we did!

I love last minute shenanigans and the rush of getting everything ready super fast and getting out of the house. Baby crying at the door and big sister running around getting her favorite swim suit.

We hopped in the car and drove a couple miles.

Raygan has been holding out of me. I didn't know she could really swim! {I never get to watch her lessons because Remy will scream to go into the water, and if we do, then Raygan wants to be with us.}But she can get her head under water and go a couple feet. Its amazing! Put those floaties on her and she was in the water by herself. Yelling, "look at me I'm swimming! All by myself!"

I was one proud mama to say the least.

As for Remy, she just thinks shes a big girl. She watches her big sister and thinks she can tackle the pool alone too.

My girls. I love the two of them. I never imagined that they would get along so well. Its a little odd I must admit.

That was one happy Thursday! What are you guys doing to beat the heat?

Bring it!

I was a very athletic kid. I'm talking every.single.sport. All year long. My parents never pushed me, they let me make my own decisions. The day I told them I decided to stop playing softball through them for a loop. I was letting go of the only busy, chaotic lifestyle I knew.

Fast forward some years and I'm not so athletic anymore. I haven't worked out in years. Although is something I totally enjoy I just can never find time. We tried using the day care at the gym one time. What do you know....they came and retrieved us not even 10 minutes later with a crying toddler on the caregivers hip uttering the words "your other one is falling apart too"

That was a year ago and Raygan still says (every single day) "mama I don't want to go in there" as we pass the nursery on her way to swim lessons. Traumatized much?

After graduating high school, and moving out of my parents house, I gained some weight. I weighed 145 then became pregnant with Raygan, I quickly lost it all within a couple months and ended up at 115. I give credit to breastfeeding 100 percent. A very few short months later I became pregnant again with Remy and I was able to loose her baby weight.

I'm now at 122-125. Honestly its not about the weight, I just want to feel good. (We don't even have a scale in our household.) My body felt good at 115. Ive grown up very self conscious and that was the best I have ever felt. I want to tone up my body and live a healthy lifestyle.

Anyway, Ive decided to jump on the ban wagon and start the oh so popular 30 day shred.

I never thought I would do these kinds of pictures

I'm on day three and I think I may jump to the second level.

Im sore by day three but feeling good. I've noticed that I have more energy throughout the day. And I feel good about myself.

Have you dont the shred? If so do you have any pointers?

Steppin out!

What we wore. I've been wanting to do this link up for quite sometime, although I have been reluctant because I'm not so great at posing in front of a camera. alone. I'm so awkward at it and just simply feel like a complete idiot. So bare with me please!

Please excuse the white legs, I'm totally working on that :)

hat:thrifted for a dollar//cardigan:Tilly's//Skirt:Forever 21

Undershirt:Forever21// Earrings:Target

This is the best picture I got with this little booger.

I wish I would've got good pictures with all of us, but as you can see they were too busy picking Nana's flowers.

Remy:Carters

Raygan:Target

We were off to a graduation! My big brother graduated for college with a degree in Disel Tech. Ill have a special post for that this week!

Guest Post: Its Amanda!!!

Hey guys! This is the first ever guest post on this blog! I'm so happy to have Amanda  here to share what a normal day in her household looks like. If you haven't already checked out her blog go take a gander over at Its the little things. Shes so sweet, a talented writer and always has great pictures and fun adventures to read about. Oh and her little Stella is just precious! See for yourself! Take it away Amanda!

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why hello!  my name's amanda, and i blog over at it's the little things.  i am thrilled to be here to share with you "a day in the life" of baby girl and myself!  my husband andrew and i live in kansas city with our two littles, miss stella vivienne {who just turned one!} and mister leon {our mischievous frenchie/pug}.  we are having a ball documenting all of the little things that make our life beautiful in our corner of the internet.  i am a teacher and my summer break just started, so as you can imagine, our days have been chock-full of summertime fun!  here's a peek into a typical day, from 8 am to 8 pm!

8 am
baby girl has been awake for about an hour or so.  she typically lets out a little cry in her bed telling us she's up, then plays with her elmo doll until i go in and get her ready for the day.  then we usually head into the kitchen and have some breakfast.  me: strong coffee.  her: strawberries, cheerios, & scrambled eggs.

9 am
this is our time to play, play, play.  stella and i will sit in her room and flip through books, throw around her balls, listen to her musical toys, or build things with her wooden blocks.  i love the chance to get on the floor and watch her go from one toy to the next.  her favorite toy right now is this walker shhe got from her nana and papa for her first birthday.

10 am
nap time!  while stella sleeps for a few hours i get ready for the day, pick up around our condo {we have some serious hard wood floors that need a constant scrubbin'!}, catch up on blogging, read cookbooks, and get our dinner menu planned out for the evening.  pinterest is my go to for dinner inspiration. 

12 pm
when baby girl wakes up we head out and about for the afternoon.  some of our favorite places to go this summer are to the park, our downtown splash pad, the market for groceries, or to target, because we just love target.  we've also made this summer  bucket list full of many wonderful adventures and fun activities to do during day.  many of them are free and only require a happy baby girl, which is never a problem. :)

1 pm
it's lunch time for us hungry gals.  i always pack our lunch on the go and we have it wherever we happen to be, say, on a quilt outdoors or sitting on a park bench.  this works for us because i dislike eating out when it's just her and i, and stella is not a picky eater {fingers crossed} so whatever i pack is good for her.  our lunchtime favorites include cut up meats and cheeses with some sort of fruit on the side.  lately, her choice of cheese has been brie with a little blackberry jam on top!  she's definitely her mama's daughter. 

2 pm
around this time we make our way back home because a certain someone is winding down and will be ready for another nap.  when we get back home she likes her hold her pink blankie while i read her lots of books like sparkle & spin and henri's walk to paris in her rocking chair.  i just adore children's book, don't you? 

3 pm 
nap time, round two, commence! stella's second nap is much shorter than her first but i usually have enough time to water our patio herb garden, do a load or two of laundry, write in my journal, and have some quiet down time before she wakes up.  one of my favorite things to do around this time is sit on out on our patio with a class of coconut water and jot down ideas for my next year of teaching in my notebook.  it's a beautiful space that feels calming in the middle of the afternoon.

4 pm
stella is up and it's time for art!  we clear off the dining room table {or head outdoors} and get out her art supplies.  my girl and i like to crank up beirut and finger paint till our heart's content.  she, in her diaper of course.  it gets quite messy but that's half the fun.  by the way, i am swooning over target's kid made modern art supplies right now.  i've even wrote about them and the importance of creating here.

5 pm 
hooray, dada is home!  when my husband gets home we all huddle together and stella goes back and forth between us giving the most slobbery kisses.  it is one of the best parts of both of our days, hands down.  she never fails to forget that this is our little tradition.  with andrew home i start dinner and he sits in the kitchen as we talk about our days.

6 pm
around this time supper is on the table.  we pull baby girl's highchair up to our dining table and eat dinner as a family.  eating together is something we value because we feel it brings us closer together and separates us from distractions, like the computer or t.v.  we also love to eat, so this time is quite sacred.  

7 pm
after dinner it's bath time for the wee one.  we start our night time routine with stella by giving her a calming bubble bath.  after she gets all suds up and into her jammies, we all go into her room and play for awhile before giving her a warm bottle of milk.  she almost always goes to sleep before 8, but if she is still awake by this time, we lie her in her crib to self soothe to get to sleep.  this is what works best for us and helps stella sleep through the night.

8 pm
now it's "us time."  andrew and i love playing board games {foodie fight is our fav}, watching episodes of dexter, chillin' on our patio, and watching movies on netflix after we've put baby girl to sleep.  we usually stay up late talking and spend our time planning our next adventure and talking about our future.  this time is so special and important to both of us because it gives us a chance to reconnect after a long day.


well, there you have it!  our day in a nutshell.  we would just love it if you would come on over and check us out at it's the little things.  and thank you so much ashlea for having me!  


ox, amanda

Strawberry Muffins

I found another yummy recipe. On pinterest of course! It was quiet easy and so far everyone in the family loves it!

I love finding muffin recipes because its a easy "get out of the house fast" breakfast. For our crazy fast mornings when we have swim lessons.

Recipe from Real Mom kitchen. I did a couple changes.

1/2 cup softened butter

3/4 cup sugar (I cut it down to 2/4)

1 egg (I used 1/4 cup applesauce because I was out of eggs)

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup chopped strawberries

3 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Cream butter and sugar. Add applesauce

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Add Flour mixture to the butter mixture.

Add vanilla.

Slowly put in strawberries.

Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

Yields about 12.

Tomorrow is the first guest post on there here blog. Come read what a normal day looks like in the Watters household!

Linking up with Craft o matic, Keeping it simple, Boogie Board Cottege, I should be mopping the floor

Our Weekend in Pictures

This is our weekend in pictures, Chuck E Cheese, Breakfast at the kid table, and bedtime sleepover in Raygans room.

We had a crazy fun weekend and it was nice to spend it with a house full of kids and bothers and sisters!

Monday Mini Bucket List

Hey Friends! I'll have to admit that I didn't do as well this week on my list as I did the first week. I tad of disappointment there, but I had family in town so I cleaned my butt off so that's just as good....right?

Here's my Mini Bucket List #3

1. Take the Tee Pee to the park and picnic

2. Keep my search on for my lamps

3. Tour of Remy's room

4. Make Mini apple pies

5. Check out a new park

6.Try a new hair style

7. Finish organizing garage

8. Print off pictures, that didn't get done last week!

9. Fathers day gift

10. Another letter, this time to my mama

Ill be back tomorrow with a post from the weekend :)

Little Bits Of Happiness

Maxi Skirt//Nature walk//Big sister helping little sister potty//

Hanging with daddy in the dugout//Going for a walk in tutus