Daddy's Breakfast in Bed | Father's Day 2014

It's Father's Day! Recently, I was introduced to Treat Greeting Cards by Shutterfly, and I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to design some very special cards to help make Father's Day a little more wonderful for the daddies in our life. I am sending the grandpas their very own personalized photo cards to Indiana, and I'm cooking up something special for Allen!

For some of you who know me, this may not be surprising to you, but I have a confession: I have pretty much the most horrendous memory when it comes to dates and occasions. Treat has come to my rescue lately, and has helped to remind me that I better get some cards mailed ASAP. Yes, I am notorious for forgetting to mail the cards that I buy in time for the occasion. I should start calling it "Card Guilt"... And with my track record, I have a lot of Card Guilt.

It's actually something that Allen teases me about constantly. We will be sorting through our mail and bills that have piled up on our counter, and he comes across a card... "Who is this for?" he will ask me. "Oh, that's for so and so's birthday," or "I bought it to send to your dad after his surgery," but usually, my response is, "Dangit!! I totally forgot to mail that... Again." Yep. Card Guilt.

Well, guess what? There's an App for that! Not only does Treat have an App, where you can do things like, check your order, but you can also surf their amazing designs, and it even has a spot to log all of your important birthdays (and it even REMINDS you to get a card and mail it!). What more could I want (more like need), right?

One of my favorite things about using Treat is their adorable designs, specifically for grandkids who live away from their grandparents. This is a rarity in the card section at most stores, so we were excited with all of the options that they have for us to choose from!

Here is a glimpse at the cards we picked out to send Papa Wilson and Grandpa Weinzapfel...

We hope you both enjoyed your cards! Miss you lots!

Like most special occasions, we usually celebrate with a little breakfast in bed. This Father's Day was no exception. Brynn was so excited to help me prepare Daddy's breakfast, and also couldn't wait to give him his special card. I captured a few of our special moments to share.

The moment I saw this Treat card, I knew it was the perfect one for him.

my favorite photo. sweet daddy hugs. 

I always love listening to their sweet father-daughter conversations.

just to remind you that small children were involved in this moment...

she never fails to give me a dose of reality. ;)

happy father's day, babe! 

you work so hard for us, and we hope you enjoyed every moment.

we love you so, so much.

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Letters to Daddy.

DEAR  DADDY, 

Oz wants you to know that, while you don't have the most patience with him,

and even though you still haven't bought him a golf cart... He doesn't hold that against you.

And, he totally likes your walks better than Mommy's, 

because you let him get away with all kinds of shenanigans, like chasing armadillos or alligators.

 DEAR  DADDY,
  Brynn would like you to know that she loves you when you do ballet lifts with her. She also loves when you put her to bed, because she knows she can always con you to "way wif me for free minutes" (lay with me for 3 minutes), and no matter how long your day was, you always let her re-read her bedtime story... Or Brynn's "interpretation" of the story through pictures and memory, which can be loooong and also extremely hard to follow. She also told me that you are strong and you are silly, and she loves you.

DEAR  DADDY,

Lucas wants you to know that no matter how cliche it may sound, you are his HERO. He loves to hear your voice on the phone when we call you at work. Mommy loves to watch that huge smile spread across his face as he tries to "talk" to you, when he recognizes your voice. He also told Mommy that you are his favorite person to see at 6am... Every morning. 
No lie, he totally admitted that to me.

  I could seriously die over how sweet they are to each other... 
And I love knowing that Daddy and I are helping to groom their relationship, and their trust in each other, into something that will last forever. This is what life is all about-- Watching our sweet babies unconditionally love and support each other.

happy father's day

to all of the daddies out there!

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Daddy's Breakfast in Bed | Father's Day 2014

Celebrating Saint Nick's Day

it's officially st. nick's day again!

last year was the first time i adopted this tradition for our own family.

i'm not catholic-- or all-consuming german-- like the hubby,

but i have always enjoyed being included in this tradition by his family... 

it's such a wonderful way to honor st. nicholas, and to take time to recognize all of the patron saints.

 again, last year was B's first year...
 i look back on this post and can't believe how small she was. :(
it makes me miss that sweet, innocent starter-toddler...
you know, before pushing boundaries because her day job.

i tried to keep things similar this year... sticking to shoes and cozy jammies.  
necessities, yet still luxuries.
but i decided to throw in some sweet treats (or "chocky-co's," as brynn calls chocolate anything),
and the new tinker bell movie... "secret of the wings."

i also set up her Little People Nativity, which hasn't seen it's baby Jesus in quite some time.

this girl loves her some baby Jesus.

the other day, she yelled out, "help me, baby Jesus!" while trying to get out of a diaper change,
which gave me and allen a good laugh.

(for those that don't already know... "help me!" is not an uncommon phrase to hear from B. 

nor is the very dramatic question, "what's happening?!")

drama. momma. 

  shoes full of chocky-co.

 of course, brynn paid absolutely no attention to anything... except the candy.

sister already has a sweet tooth that rivals mine. ;)

 ... and this was her expression when i told her it was chocolate. ;)

 the sweet tooth has been satisfied ;)

{and i love that she is such a mini-daddy right here}

   

i always strive to keep the focus on the real reason we celebrate christmas...
but i can understand how difficult it is to keep all of these traditions from becoming confusing.
brynn has only recently learned who santa claus is.
... and, in true brynn-fashion, she decided to start calling him sanky cause. 

sure, whatever.

of course, as a mother, i don't want my child to get caught up in the materialism
and selfish tendencies that seem to come hand-in-hand with this season...
allen and i try not to over-indulge in our gift giving for brynn, but we also want her to enjoy herself...
and we want her to feel the same christmas cheer that we felt as children.
that is what is important to us.

simply giving gifts will never compensate for setting an environment that encourages happiness, fulfillment, gratitude, and generosity in our children.

happy st. nick's day!  

  

i saw this on pinterest a long time ago, and have since adopted this little rhyme

when buying gifts for the kiddos...

Source: doitandhow.com via Emily on Pinterest

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Celebrating Saint Nick's Day

the weather gods

those darn weather gods

yeah... they hate me.

no, really.

every.single.time i have something important planned,

| i.e. weddings, childbirth, baby showers, birthday parties, family photo sessions |

those weather gods always find a way to rain on my parade.

literally.

i won't go into the details... but it's soooo true.
last night, my fear of those weather gods drove me far enough
to cancel our very first family photo session, which was scheduled for today.
because those weather gods told me there was a 70% chance of rain.

this morning, i was convinced we did the right thing...

then, it turned into one very beautiful day. 

and the forecast changed to 40% chance of rain.

of course...

so, not only do those weather gods like to rain on my parade,

but they thoroughly enjoy toying with my emotions the entire day!

uggggggh.

this resulted in a panicked text to our photographer...

and we frantically tried to get everything ready, until i took another look at the radar

those weather gods... they did it again.

 luckily, i was able to take advantage of the small chance we had to
 take a few photos while the weather was nice...

while B was napping, ozzie dog and i played in the yard.

we gathered a selection of leaves, sticks, and seeds for a potential nature craft this week.

and some of them might be making a trip to JAX

to a baby girl who needs a little autumn in her life

courtesy of her southern indiana family. ;)

after B woke up- i may have become temporarily insane-
and i was hell bent on shoving a stolen photography day
down those weather gods' throats...
we had about 30 minutes until the dark clouds started to roll in again...

so, i dressed up my two loves for a much needed 

father & daughter photo session.

| my loves |

thank you, weather gods.
that was exactly what this momma needed today! ;)
{but photos with me in them would have been fun too... just sayin'}

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the weather gods

the pumpkin patch

we made a last minute decision to visit | mayse farms | today...

it was brynn's first time to any pumpkin patch, so we were all very excited!
needless to say, she had a blast ;) 

she had her first experience with apple juice... and, surprisingly, enjoyed it!
{yeah, our kid is usually a water-or-milk-only kinda gal}
and of course, she loved trying to pick up all of the "punkies" that caught her eye...
you know, because she's such a BIG girl, turning 2 years-old tomorrow!

yes, my baby is turning two tomorrow...

and I will be turning 30 on wednesday! but I am here to tell you that

"2" is hitting me a lot harder than "30" :(

happy pumpkin picking.

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the pumpkin patch