Polka Dotted Bikini

 Addie's friend Liv gave her this bathing suit well before her first birthday. She wore it 2 summer's ago but somehow it still fits her. So she pulled it out of her "bathing suit drawer" and asked to wear it yesterday. She was a ham for me during her mini photo shoot-I have to share my favorites!

One of the Family

Addie has a knack at falling in line. Since she was cruising she helped pull out the clean items from the dishwasher, put her jacket back in her closet when we returned home and knows a thing or two about culinary cooking! For as long as I can remember we had a spot in the entrance way where we put our shoes. More recently since we've painted the living room and re-organized the entrance closet we now made room for our shoes in the closet. This seems simple right...well Addie not only puts her shoes in there, but also has added her doll's shoes as well.

Rain vs Sun

On Addie's birthday it rained...but her new umbrella made it feel like sunshine to her. Luckily for her pool party tomorrow the forecast says sunny and 88!

Stolen Hearts

My girl is turning three tomorrow. I am reminded EVERY single day how blessed I am to have her. Life changed in a way for me that is indescribable at about 20 weeks pregnant with her. From that point on, she becomes my reason for believing. My boys, are well, my boys-they run hard, play hard, are the best of friends and have such a way with their sister-each in their own way. I honestly saw myself as a mom of three boys-then I was told my third was a girl and I am forever in awe. While she loves purple (and pink and blue), doesn't mind wearing a dress, loves shoes, plays with her baby dolls everyday, screams like a girl, loves getting her nails done just like the rest of them-she runs hard, plays hard, and loves her brothers so much. And from the moment she was born-she stole all of our hearts. Happy Birthday Addie Rian! XOXO

Seriously?

I don't think it got warmer that 58 degrees here. Last week, we swam in the pool when it was around 90 degrees and we all started getting our summer tan lines. Today, I am wearing a long sleeve shirt, sweatpants and socks...seriously, what's going on?

PS-I actually think I may miss the "pool pest", aka Hayden, splashing me.

Sauce or Gravy

It depends who makes it and who taught you...but my mom taught me that it's gravy. She also tried to teach me to duplicate her gravy (and her meatballs-but that's a whole other complicated situation), but I've given up on trying as well as trying to find that one blend that makes my gravy my own. So for years now, each time I make "gravy" it comes out different each time. So I'm wondering if what I make is really a sauce! Gravy seems tried and true, a passed down generational recipe that each heir masters the family secret. Sauce seems American to me, not Italian...and I'm caught somewhere in the middle.

Tonight I got one with the veggi garden-(not entirely mine, really only the basil was from mine)-so I added some of this into my tomato "sauce" finely chopped thanks to the help of my 3 sous chefs operating the chopper:

and dinner is served.