Kindergarten Girl

I blinked my eyes. All I did was blink and this happened.  Isn't that what childhood is? Just a blink of an eye in retrospect. I have been finding myself sad lately when I think about having a child in kindergarten. Sad because it reminds me that my sweet babies that I hold so close are only mine for a short time. It is my vocation, my life's work, my "yes" to God that I would raise these little people in truth and holiness and teach them how to be ready to leave me. Sounds a little bit cruel, raising our children to leave us. But once again, they aren't mine. They are His. Destined for a purpose.

My sweet Sophia. She delights in knowing that her name means wisdom. As her mother, I hope and pray that as she grows, that name will suit her well. That she will receive the gifts of the holy spirit and truly use that wisdom that she inherently has.

For now, she is still little. Thank you Jesus that I can still call her little! My little kindergarten girl. My little flower.

A Father Daughter Dance

It has happened. I have witnessed my favorite moment of motherhood thus far and my heart has overflowed.

A few weeks ago when we picked up Sophia from preschool, we were sent home with a flyer for a father daughter dance in the parish hall. Though it sounded absolutely precious, we chose not to tell Sophia about it because the cost was $30. It's really not much, but for us right now, $30 is a lot. We knew she would have another opportunity for the dance next year in kindergarten, so we didn't feel too guilty about it.

Then she came home from school on Friday and told us that one of her friends was having a father daughter dance. She was so excited! I don't think she quite understood what it meant. She then asked her dad if they could have a father daughter dance too. We told her we would have a dance after dinner that night and her sweet little face lit up. The entire afternoon she talked of how excited she was for the dance. 

We did our usual circus act of cooking dinner, entertaining the baby, eating, and sort of cleaning the kitchen. Then Sophia came from around the corner and told James she was going upstairs to choose a fancy dress and she asked him to go in his room, close the door, and choose pants, a fancy shirt, and a fancy tie. 

Sophia and I headed upstairs. She carefully looked through her closet for the perfect dress. When she found it, she turned to me, once again with her face lit up, and she said, "this one!"I carefully helped her button it as she put on her shiny silver ballet slippers. We headed into the bathroom to comb her long locks into an elegant bun suited for a princess.  Then we heard a knock on the door.
Sophia opened the door and her dad presented her with a bouquet of [fake] flowers.

We headed downstairs where they danced sweetly through two songs. My heart ached in my chest as I watched the way she looked at James. The same way that I probably look at him. I was reminded that he is not only my prince charming, he's hers too. She will grow and watch him. She will watch the way that he loves me. She will watch the way that he treats the women in his life. He will teach her what love looks like. He will teach her her self worth in a way that I cannot. When he tells her she is beautiful, I pray that she believes him. I pray that through her father she can come to know the love of a heavenly father whose love is perfect and unstained.  I pray that she will observe and learn what she is worthy of. That she will come to understand self giving love. And when the time comes for her to meet the man she will marry, I pray that through the example of her father, she won't settle for less than she deserves.

The First Month After Baby

I certainly expected life with two children to be an adjustment, but I don't think anything could have prepared me for what our day to day life would really look like. This first month has been wonderful and joyful, but also really challenging. The few days leading up to Georgia's birth, I cleaned our entire house top to bottom. And I'm glad I did. The house hasn't been cleaned since then. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. It's been 4 weeks 5 weeks and I haven't done any deep cleaning; i.e dusting, bathrooms, vacuuming, etc. This is something that I have really had to die to. Don't get me wrong, I want to clean. I don't appreciate our bathrooms being grimy, and I don't like the feeling of crumbs on my toes in the kitchen; but the reality is, cleaning is my last priority right now. I must continue to remind myself, MY SELF WORTH IS NOT MEASURED IN MY PRODUCTIVITY. How often do we determine if our day was good or bad based on our productivity? As women, I think most of us are very guilty of this. Thankfully, we have a God who reminds us that he loves us just because. Whether or not our house smells like trash or clean linens, God loves us just the same. What a relief!
It is so tempting to make a to-do list each day, but in reality, the most important thing on my to-do list is to be fully present to my daughters.

Georgia is a serious night owl. I put her to bed at 11:30 each night, and I'm lucky if she will sleep a two hour stretch. As a result, I have been sleeping in until 9:30 most mornings and James has been graciously waking up early with Sophia. It has been so nice having him home a lot! We have both been amazed by how fast the days sneak by. We have certainly not been lazy, but it is hard to do anything when two girls are both so in need of their mom and dad. Georgia wants to nurse every hour, so I am mostly just plopped on the couch feeding her. We try to run all of our errands as a family because it's good for me to get out of the house. Sometimes I forget there's a whole world outside of my smelly, dirty, 1100 sq ft home! My biggest struggle right now has been reminding myself to spend time with Sophia. I realize that sounds horrible, but it is so tempting to try and get housework done when Georgia is napping. I must remind myself that if I don't use that time to give Sophia attention, she won't get any attention from her mama all day, and that just doesn't seem fair.

I recently came across this blog post. It was so encouraging. What a great reminder to slow down and not take on more than we can handle. I have already found myself trying to do too much this holiday season. I need to practice saying, "no",  both to myself and others.

This is only one short season in my life. I realize that in the blink of an eye my little tiny newborn will grow and the sweet chaos will end. Until then Lord,  teach me to enjoy every precious moment and be fully present. I know that when my children are grown, I will never say to myself, "I should have cleaned more." What I will say is this: "I'm sure glad I took the time to get down on all fours and play with them".

Heaven

I have to write this down for fear that if I don't, I might forget...

Driving home tonight with just myself and Sophia, we were talking about how beautiful the full moon was. Sophia then started rattling off about heaven and all the saints. "Saint Joseph and Holy Mary, and Saint Anthony, and Saint Luke, and Maryrose"..... I asked her, "do you remember who Maryrose is?" She responded, "Yes. Baby sister in heaven." What happened next is what really broke my heart. She said, "Mommy my eyes are getting wet because I have tears". Then out of nowhere, she started sobbing hysterically and asking me why the baby in my tummy died and why she didn't get to meet her and when is she coming back from heaven.

As a mother, how do you begin to deal with this sort of heartache from your child? She is four years old! How can she possibly be grieving over a baby that I miscarried two years ago?  I don't understand how her young, innocent mind can understand the pain and suffering from this precious life we lost. The odd thing about this conversation is that tomorrow is the two year anniversary of when we found out we were having a miscarriage. This conversation came completely unprompted since we had made no mention of the miscarriage recently.

We talked the entire car ride home about baby sister in heaven. The whole time I prayed that God would give me words that she could understand. I don't know if He did, because she was pretty hysterical the whole time. I talked a lot about faith and how we trust that Jesus took baby sister for a special purpose and that she is very happy in heaven. This was a hard conversation for me. I never would have guessed that I would be having such a conversation quite yet; maybe in a few years, but not now. 

Even though tonight was completely unexpected and heart wrenching. I am grateful for it. I thank God for the opportunity to teach my daughter about faith and the sanctity of life. What a privilege that conversation was. 

Pray for us Maryrose.

I Will Always Be Your Mama

My dear sweet Sophia, any day now, our lives are going to change dramatically. Our little family of three will be no longer. Any day now we will welcome your baby sister into our house and she will change our lives forever. I hope that you welcome this change. I pray that you welcome her with open arms and that you teach her all of the things you know so well. Teach her to play using her imagination, teach her all of her prayers, teach her to be artistic in her own unique way, teach her to be herself in everything she does, just as you are.

These past four years have been priceless to me. Four years to devote my entire heart to you. Four years of getting to know you and loving every facet of your spunky personality. Never again will I be the mother of only one child. I am forever changed, and so are you. We are changed for the better in a very big way.

There is something important that I need you to know. I need you to know that no matter how much our lives change and what sorts of adventures God has planned for our family, I will always be your mama and I will always be there. In every hurdle you face and every victory you conquer, I will be there to cry with you and to laugh with you.

You my dear sweet Sophia, you are my heart. You are my shining star. I love you more than I ever knew I was capable of loving. Thank you for that. Thank you for the past four years. Thank you for the years to come.

Her Imagination

 I'm linking up with one of my favorite bloggers of all time, the amazing and talented Corinna!!!!! Okay okay, she's my sister.... But I still think she is pretty awesome! Check out her Keepin' It Real Mondays. Pretty funny stuff! I have added my link to her blog in hopes that we can all share our motherhood moments and laugh at each other :)

If I had to pick one favorite trait of my sweet Sophia, it would be her imagination without a doubt. One of the most important parts of my and my husband's parenting style, is to raise our children in simplicity. The world we live in is so complex and as technology advances, our children can fall prey to forgetting how to be children. We make huge efforts in our home  to limit how much TV and technology we use to encourage Sophia to use her imagination. Based on these pictures, I think you can tell it's working!

Watching Sophia play is one of my greatest joys. Seriously. I could sit and just watch her play for an hour and love every minute of it. I don't know how she comes up with these elaborate schemes and ideas. It takes me back to my own childhood. My sister and I would play dolls for HOURS. I mean HOURS! We never owned a fancy Barbie dream house, but I do recall using various pieces of furniture to make our own dream house. I remember my mom screaming at us 100 times to please come eat dinner because we seemed to get so lost in our play, that we could think of nothing else. Those were the days.

Encouraging your child to let their imagination run rampant comes with a small price: toys EVERYWHERE! It feels impossible to keep the house clean because Sophia is always up to something, with her stuffed animals and dolls sprawled throughout the house. Some days I come home from work, and I can't even get through the front door because her horseys are up to something. Other times, I crawl into bed at night and find Ladybug Girl and the gang hiding under the sheets.

In all honesty, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love her imagination and I even secretly love having toys all over my house. The years of having my living room covered in toys will come and go in an instant. I want to enjoy this precious stage of my daughter's childhood. I want to relish it and soak it in for as long as possible.

You Are My Sunshine

 My sweet Sophia Therese. I love your life. I love that you were born. As the weeks and months go by, I begin to think more and more that your birth was a miracle. You were born because God has destined you for a purpose! You will never understand how much you make me whole. I think at this stage in life, I depend on you more than you depend on me. You are the reason I wake up in the morning. You ignite my heart.

The fact that God has given you to me for a short time takes my breath away. I will make it my life's work to bring you closer to Him. I want you to know Him. I want you to know that we love because He first loved us.

I want you to always know that you are a treasure! Your dad and I treasure you more than you realize. The 3 of us, we are a family. We might be it. It might just always be us 3. And you know what? That's okay. As much as my heart is aching for another and aching for you to have a sibling, we will wholeheartedly except God's plans. His plans are so much greater than our own.

If my only purpose in life is to be your mother and your Dad's wife, I say yes! We know not the plans of the Lord.

I cannot believe 3 years have gone by. My goodness. Weren't you just born yesterday? You are a treasure. Your life is a gift. I am a better person because of your birth.

You are my sunshine.

He is Risen!

 This lent was a difficult one. I have been feeling so mournful lately. Not in a depressed way, but in a very prayerful way. I feel like God was calling me to truly suffer this lent. To suffer for His glory. I feel as though he ripped my heart from my chest and transformed it. There was definitely transforming that needed to be done! I have been very negative lately and finding it hard to fully trust in Him and His will. This lent brought on a lot of frustration and contemplation. There was a lot of work that needed to be done on my heart and God did it! I am always grateful for the opportunity to grow during lent. I can say without hesitation that this lent was both the best and worst lend of my life. I loved it because I knew that it was causing me to grow, I hated it because it was hard work! Needless to say, I was eager for Easter to approach so that I could feel the joy of His resurrection.

What a blessed Easter it was! We had the exciting privilege of hosting Easter breakfast for the first time! I was very excited because since we have an incredibly small house, it's not very often that we get to have people over. We woke up bright and early to prep everything. Although we were only having three people over, (James' parents and his sister)  I  wanted to make it special. We cooked a goat cheese and mushroom quiche, organic sausage and bacon, whole wheat honey waffles, and our guests brought a few other yummy treats. I also hung some paper pom poms outside and put out some fresh flowers.  I was quite impressed with my {not so} crafty self! It took Sophia a few minutes to figure out that the Easter bunny had brought a special basket. Once she discovered it, there was a very long tantrum when she realized I was not about to let her have jelly beans for breakfast. I was debating whether or not to give her a little bit of candy this year. When I found all natural jelly beans at Trader Joe's, I couldn't pass them up!

She gets more beautiful and more grown up by the day!

Gosh, these two are my EVERYTHING! They are the dynamic duo that keep me going.

My lovely centerpiece

Sophia discovering her Easter basket

After our much needed afternoon nap, we went over to my parents' house for an Easter dinner. My mom was sweet enough to put together an egg hunt for Sophia. I think she enjoyed it a lot!We had a traditional meal with ham, sweet potatoes, and broccoli.  I made some delicious whole wheat super duper healthy cupcakes to try and keep things somewhat nutritious:) although the loads of candy are unavoidable on holidays! All in all I say it was a great Easter. Plenty of yummy food and family time and a great liturgy this morning. Alleluia He is risen!

Whole wheat cupcakes. 100% unprocessed. 100% delicious! If you are interested in this recipe, here is the link:http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/08/05/recipe-whole-wheat-chocolate-cake-with-easy-whipped-cream-frosting/

We Had So Much Fun!

I have to post this  quickly before all of the sweetness of today starts to dissipate from my memory. James was out of town this weekend and I knew that I didn't want to sit around the house all day with Sophia. The weather has been so beautiful lately and I have been stuck inside studying and unable to enjoy it for the past two weeks. Today changed that! I have been wanting to check out a local dairy farm in Gilbert called Save Your Dairy  for a few weeks now. Today seemed like the perfect day. When I asked Sophia if she wanted to go see the cows, the vote was unanimous. I grabbed an ice chest and filled it with ice before we headed out the door. Gotta keep that milk COLD if you want there to be any calcium in it! We drove about thirty minutes out to Higley and Riggs. When we got out of the car, there were cows everywhere. We asked a guy on a tractor if we could visit the cows and he said of course! We first met the baby cows and they were loving Sophia! We had the opportunity to watch them eat a grass filled lunch which was really awesome. Then we headed over to the mommy cows who came right over to say hello. We stayed at the farm for close to an hour before I remembered that we had come to purchase milk. Oh yeah, whoops! We walked into the farm shop and talked to the girl behind the counter for a few minutes about the benefits of raw milk as compared to pasteurized. In a nutshell, the only reason that pasteurized milk has calcium and vitamin D is because they fortify it. When they pasteurize the milk, all naturally occuring vitamins and healthy bacteria are destroyed. The raw milk is a creamy, white, delicious, liquid nutrient powerhouse filled with healthy probiotics and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). There is a lot of controversy over raw milk, but after learning all about pasteurization and calcium and vitamin D in my classes, I am very much in favor of raw milk.   I'll go into more details about this at a later time....

After getting our milk and waving goodbye to our new udderly amazing friends:) we headed to Joe's Farm Grill for a tasty lunch. We had to wait almost an hour to place our order, but that didn't keep us from having fun. We enjoyed playing in the grass and soaking in some vitamin D from the good old sunshine! When we were leaving the restaurant, Sophia starting giggling and turned to me and said, "We had so much fun mom!" That statement made my heart melt. I truly enjoyed the afternoon, but it was sweet to hear her say that she had also enjoyed the day. When we arrived home, Sophia grabbed my hand and said, "Mommy what's on your finger?" I told her, "that's my ring. I wear it because I love Daddy." She then said, "Mommy, I want a ring, I love Daddy too." Definitely my favorite Sophia quote thus far:) Today was one of those days that I especially want to remember. A day for just me and my sweet girl.

Perfectly Made

What if I could choose which of my traits my children inherited and which ones I don't want them to inherit? That would be amazing!!!! I was thinking about this the other day when we went over to a friend's house, and Sophia didn't want to get down and play for a few minutes and instead tried to hide her face against me. I thought to myself, "oh no! She is becoming shy like her mama!"  NOOOOO! Honestly, my shyness is one of my least favorite things about myself. I was the little girl who dropped out of EVERY activity I ever joined and made my mom walk me to my class on the first day of school even up through my freshman year of high school. Yep, true story. As an adult, I hate my child self for not being outgoing. I feel like I missed out on experiencing more activities in school and building stronger friendships. Now that I am an adult, I always worry that people think I am snobby, when in fact I am just REALLY shy and definitely not a social butterfly. I don't want my children to be shy. I want Sophia to be willing to try new activities and make lots of friends. I want her to be confident and social and experience everything that life has to offer her.

I most definitely do not want my children to inherit my ability to let everything stress me out. I am really good at turning a small problem into a huge catastrophe. Its a good thing I have a wonderful husband to calm me down and keep me grounded.  I definitely hope Sophia grows up to be laid back like her daddy and not uptight like her mama.  It amazes me sometimes just how laid back James can be when we are having a crazy day. I can't help but say to him, "why aren't you freaking out right now?!!!!" I hate to think of myself as uptight, but unfortunately, when it comes to things I care about, I am VERY uptight and opinionated. Darn it!

The quality that I hope my children inherit from their dad is not only his calm demeanor, but especially his ability to see the best in every situation. James is very much a glass half full sort of guy and I am grateful. No matter what we are dealing with in life, he always knows how to remain positive. I love this about him 

Ok so then what do I want my children to inherit from me? I love my ability to be genuine. I am very much a "what you see is what you get" sort of person which isn't always a good thing. If I am having a bad day, its obvious in the way I carry myself. I wear my heart on my sleeve because I don't know how else to wear it. I am very real. I don't consider myself flaky or fake whatsoever. I don't feel above anyone or better than anyone. I try to stay very candid and honest in my interpretation of things. I hope that my children will grow up to understand the importance of being yourself. Though I am shy and I  completely suck at meeting new people, I don't try and change this about myself because I know that I am perfectly made in God's eyes and he wants me to be me. I hope and pray that my children will learn from me the importance of being true to yourself and genuine. Whether my children are shy or outgoing or uptight or laid back, I hope they know that the Lord has made them perfectly and our God doesn't make mistakes!

I think I was in preschool in this photo. I was super duper shy in preschool to everyone except my boyfriend Michael :) Yep, I had a boyfriend when I was four. I love the look on my sister's face. She is probably saying," I can't believe you got a boyfriend before me, that's not fair!" Its probably because I like to wear awesome sparkly dresses from the 80s....

Since we are taking a walk down memory lane, here is an elementary picture of James! Isn't this hilarious! Nice necklace James :) Love you!

Seeing the Blessings Amidst the Storm

My life feels like complete and utter chaos right now. Most days I throw up my hands in defeat because either I didn't get my studying done, or the house is trashed. And when I say trashed, I mean you can't make it through the living room without stepping on a toy or a peanut butter cookie crumb. In addition to feeling this distress, I am constantly tired. I mean constantly. There is such a delicate balance between having time to study, clean, and spend time with Sophia and James.  I have to think of school as my career right now because it is the only way to get through it. Being a student means going to class and then devoting every minute of my evening to studying. Its truly the only way to get through it. Nutrition is not an easy field to be getting into! 

I graduated high school in 2005. The fact that I don't have a degree yet makes me sad. The fact that Sophia doesn't have a sibling yet makes me even more sad. The fear of graduating and not getting accepted to an internship and not becoming a dietitian makes me furious. The other day I had a huge ah ha moment. We had just finished making dinner, there were toys everywhere, I was doing dishes and then I looked over at James and Sophia. They were both wearing silly hats and playing "horsey" where Daddy is the horse and he runs around with Sophia on his back. I couldn't help but stop and savor this moment. God told me in that second, "Delia stop it! Stop wondering about the future, stop trying to micro manage, I will give you a child when its time, and I will guide your vocation to whatever I call you to. Enjoy the moment and love the child that is here with you." This moment almost brought me to tears. For every stressful day and every messy peanut butter and jelly grossness that I wipe off the table, I am abundantly blessed in a way that most girls dream of. I am married to the love of my life and I have a daughter who is more special than I ever realized she would be. The chaos of my life is the joy of my life. I love picking up toys and sticky messes, because it reminds me of the sweet girl that I have the opportunity of raising and forming into a daughter of His.  I am grateful for where I am in life and I know that His plans are greater than my own. I will endure however much chaos it takes so that I can live my life according to His will.

I love these two so much! Just another fun night at the Salas house!

A New Year

I am really looking forward to 2012. I have such a good feeling about this year. I realize that sounds very cliche, but its true! The Salas family needs to have a good year! The past few months have been really stressful between school, finances, and the emotional toll of experiencing a miscarriage.  God has carried us through everything, and I am grateful.  Okay okay, I hate making resolutions because most of the time people make ridiculous resolutions that they cannot keep. I am making my resolutions because I want to see how many things on my list will happen. I think it will be so fun to look back on this list next year and see my accomplishments and growth. Think of these as goals rather than resolutions. Goal just has a nicer ring to it, don't you think?

New Year's Resolutions (goals)

1.Graduate with a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics. Can I get a woot woot! I am scheduled to graduate fall 2012.

2. Band success. This is more a goal of my husband's than mine, but it is also my goal because I support his dreams.  It is my hope that the release of their new album will bring a lot of success and greater opportunities to play music and spread His word.

3. Have a baby! I realize that this is really not in my control. I guess this is more of a desire than a goal. I desperately want to ring in the new year for 2013 with a little baby in my arms. My heart is aching for another  baby in a way that only my fellow mothers can understand.

4. Get our finances in check. We have some debt right now that I am really stressed about and sometimes it keeps James up at night thinking about... I'll spare the details here, but I hope that this year will be the year to get us to a very financially secure state!

5. I want to be more assertive in my desire to feed my family organic, unprocessed foods. This is a really hard topic to try and make our families understand. A few family members will continue to try and give Sophia junk food and I hate feeling like the bad guy and having to repeatedly tell them that we don't like to eat processed food. I want people to have an understanding of why I choose organic and to not think that I am a crazy ridiculous snob for not letting my daughter eat very much junk food. I guess my goal is to help my family have a greater understanding and maybe even hop on the "whole, unprocessed foods bandwagon" with us!

6. Possibly my greatest goal for the new year is to delve deeper into my faith. I have recently had a really strong realization that teaching my daughter about her faith does not start at any certain age, it starts now! I hope that this year we can develop stronger prayer habits as a family and begin to teach Sophia in more and more ways about the church and our beautiful Catholic faith.

Happy New Year!

Winter Photos 2011

When Sophia was a baby, we used to take her to portrait studios for all of her photo sessions and every time we left, I would be angry because the photos were always so mediocre! I got fed up with photographers who were lazy and only took 3 shots and expected them to be good. I think this was the start of my love for photography. I wanted desperately to be able to capture photos of my daughter that expressed her personality and that I could be pleased with. I am definitely still learning, but it is something that I enjoy A LOT! These photos may not look very professional, but there is so much joy in enjoying an afternoon with my daughter and capturing all of her sweet smiles! Its just too bad she is so darn squirmy at this age. As she gets older, I hope it becomes easier to get her to sit still!

This one makes my heart melt!

Any kid will smile when you give them a snickerdoodle!

Horseys and Choo Choo Trains

I must say that I complain about where we live A LOT! It is so darn hot here and sometimes I just want to know what its like to live in a place with four seasons! We don't really have a winter here; at least I don't consider it winter. Needless to say, once October comes, I am usually grateful to live here. The weather this past week has been perfect. We took advantage of it by going to the park everyday this week! Our favorite is the railroad park. It is complete with a carousel, train, splash pad, and an awesome playground. Every child's dreamland basically. I'm glad I have these photos, because it was such a joyful day for Sophia.

"I ride Horsey Mommy!" She really is a natural, what can I say?!

All Aboard!

She went down the big slide all by herself for the first time! 
She really is growing up faster than I can keep up with. 
I was so proud of her for this accomplishment though!

We are Finally Pregnant!

I cannot begin to express how overjoyed I am that God is blessing us with another child! We have wanted this for a long time, and we are grateful that God has finally said its time! Having patience these past few months has not been easy, but we know that the Lord's plans are greater than our own. Sophia and the new baby will be three years apart and the baby will be due May 10th just as I finish my second to last semester of school. The timing really is great!  I am also super excited because my older sister is due to have her first baby on May 2nd. I am so looking forward to taking this journey with her. I am still in shock and filled with such incredible happiness.  Sophia really has no idea what is going on. I am trying to explain to her that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy, but she just looks at me like I am crazy. Our first big step in helping her become a big girl was moving her from her crib into a big girl bed. She took it surprisingly well.

Skip, Hop, and pack your lunch

Okay so I tend to get excited over very silly things. And this is just one of those things. As most of you, we are a family of 3 very healthy eaters, which means I usually pack food for my daughter whenever we go out somewhere so that we don't have to resort to fast food. Its always a hassle to pack everything in tupperware and try to keep it cold. Problem solved! My genius sister found this set of BPA free containers at Buy Buy Baby and they come with a tote bag and freezer pack. There are endless possibilities for Sophia's lunches now!

No yucky Bisphenol A!

I love the brand Skip Hop. They make everything from feeding supplies to backpacks and toys!

It actually comes with six containers. We were using one for a snack. It has an elastic band to hold the sippy cup too. Absolutely awesome.

Vacationland

If anybody needed a vacation this summer, it was me!!! As sad as it sounds, I have not been on any sort of real vacation in 3 years!  With that being said, we just got back from our first family vacation in the great state of Maine, otherwise known as Vacationland :)

I was hesitant to take a two year old on an airplane, but Sophia impressed us by how well behaved she was. Her excitement was adorable as she shouted things like, "up in airplane" , "I'm high in the sky!" We enjoyed a full 2 weeks in Maine with aunties, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. It was such a treat to take a vacation with the entire family. Traveling with 8 people and a toddler is no easy task, but it was well worth the memories that were shared!

This is the view from our house. Its just walking distance to the ocean!

This is the amazing house we stayed it. It used to be two houses! It was built in the 1800's and has since been relocated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Men being men and chopping wood. My grandfather's house has a working  water well, compost pile, and a wood burning stove. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

Isn't this just a great picture of my mom and my sister? I love these ladies!

Have you ever seen such fresh looking blueberries? This box of organic, wild, delicious blueberries cost $15 dollars.  Where we live, this would cost about $40 dollars! I put these to good use by making not one, but two pies. mmmmm

Watching these two interact makes my heart melt. I know she will grow up wanting to marry her daddy.

Little girl with her Grumpy. Nope, its not a typo. We call him Grumpy.

How many pots does it take to make a lobster dinner?

A true Mainer's feast

This poor guy doesn't know that he is about to be my dinner!