Dancing in the Rain.....On My Birthday

I always love it when I wake up to SUNSHINE.  I was secretly hoping when I woke up yesterday that it would be, however RAIN was in the forecast and all day, at that.  I took this opportunity to put on my rain coat, boots and headed out with my umbrella!  REFRESHING!  The birds were a chirp in', the rain was coming down and I couldn't stop thinking about how excited I am that SPRING is near! While dancing in the rain, I took in all of the daffodils and tulips that are shooting out of the ground.  I always look forward to their beautiful blooms and making a fresh cut arrangement for the house. 

Birthdays are always a day of reflection for me.  I reflect on memories and experiences and so much more!  I am forever thankful for another blessed year and for those I love are healthy and happy and that fills my heart with JOY.  I am one lucky lady!

I spent the day relaxing with my loved ones.  AND we even planted several seeds for our garden - how fun!   Once they get bigger, we can head outside and play in the dirt some more! Thank you for all of your beautiful birthday wishes!  Love you ALL!  Here are a few pictures of the day.

Shhhhhhh.......THE FAIRIES are SLEEPING

According to legend, fairies possess the power to bring health, happiness and spiritual blessings and weld magic to make your garden grow! Fairies will dance among the flowers and protect your garden while you sleep.

Isabella wanted to create a fairy garden of her own.  Why wouldn’t I help her in the quest to let her IMAGINATION and CREATIVITY soar?  I had an empty concrete fountain planter, we just needed plants, a fairy house and a FAIRY!  Off to the store we went!    We brought everything home and spread it across the kitchen counter and made the biggest mess we could.  We had dirt, rocks, moss and plants everywhere!  We glued butterflies and birds onto the fairy house.  Created a sign that says SHHHHHH…..FAIRIES SLEEPING.  We added a pink butterfly chair and a fence. 

It’s amazing how many plants you can fit in a small concrete planter!  Her magical garden has a variety of 15 different plants, flowers, trees and shrubs.  Her favorite is the weeping pussy willow tree, which is the tree of ENCHANTMENT.  Legend has it that willow is bestowed with magical power capable of fulfilling wishes.  So what did we all do?  Each of us selected a pliable shoot and tied a loose knot in it expressing our wishes.  When our wish comes true, we are supposed to untie the knot from the tree.  I particularly like the lemon cypress tree.  When you touch the foliage, you get the aroma of fresh lemons.

Isabella absolutely LOVES flowers, plants butterflies and fairies and I felt like the two hours we spent creating this project were MAGICAL.  Would you believe an hour after we finished creating the fairy garden, Isabella lost another tooth?  So WHO came to our house last night???  THE TOOTH FAIRY OF COURSE!!!!

I’m not really sure where or what I am supposed to do with this fairy garden.  It probably wasn’t the brightest idea to plant everything in a concrete fountain.  It is so heavy that I can barely move it.  For now, the magical garden is in the middle of my dining room table, until it gets warm enough to move outside.

Happy Valentines Day 2016

We hope your day was filled with sunshine, SMILES, and LOTS OF LOVE!  Happy Valentines Day to all of you!  The girls made red velvet cupcakes together topped with cream cheese frosting.  Why not?  Everything is RED and PINK on this special day!  Baxie curled up in a ball all day AND it snowed 4 inches!  What a day!  LOVE is in the AIR!  XOXO

Back to BLOGGING and Let's talk about TEETH

You never really know how much you miss something until you stop doing it or it's gone. For me, it was blogging about these two little munchkins in this crazy adventure, we all call life. My laptop was on the fritz for most of last year. My oh my how time flies, I have not wrote a post since April 2015! NOW I have a brand spanking new one and I am back in business, no excuses! WAHOOOOO NOW...let's talk about TEETH. As you can see in the picture below, BLONDIE here has trained her sister to brush her teeth for her. HA!!! This makes me laugh for so many reasons. Giselle knows how to charm people....and she is 5 years old.

Today, I took both girls for their annual 6 month cleaning at the dentist office. Can you guess which little girl cried the entire time and begged the dentist NOT to clean her teeth? Can you also guess which little girl happily jumped in the chair and laughed and giggled the entire time? Let's see how well you know your girls : ) A little brain teaser for the day. Turns out, Isabella was not blessed with good teeth. Bob told me today that she has the VAIL teeth. Thanks a lot VAILS!! She got an x-ray done of her mouth and where do we start? Two major issues. First, her upper maxilla is smaller than her lower maxilla. The upper maxilla is ALWAYS supposed to be larger than the lower maxilla. We have scheduled a consultation with an orthodontist. More than likely, they will insert a palatal expander used to widen the upper jaw (maxilla) so that the bottom and upper teeth will fit together better. Second, her teeth are very crowded and are all growing into one another. Which means there is a 99.9% chance that Isabella will be getting braces around 12 years old. Giselle does not appear to have any dental issues at this point in time. AND both girls successfully still have NO CAVITIES. Amen to that. A healthy mouth is a HAPPY mouth. Until next time...........

Nothing like a day in the city of CHI town with your family at a baseball game!

It was a beautiful day in the city of Chicago today! We headed up to Wrigley Field to watch the CUBS play! And they WON! Our day was complete with SMILES, SUNSHINE, Chicago style hot dogs, nachos and some cotton candy! Ready for summer and finally enjoying a break in the weather where we can get outside!

Pity, Kitty and Teddy

When you were a little boy or girl do you remember having a little friend that meant the world to you? I do. My buddy was PITY. It was a little pillow that I slept with every night. For Giselle, it is Teddy. Every week for 6 months, she has taken him to show and tell at school. She sleeps with him and takes him everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I am not kidding. In the car to run errands, shopping, outside playing, this girl can't get enough of TEDDY. He is the end all and be all. Isabella has KITTY. I remember when she was 2 years old and we were in a store and she just had to have kitty. Years later, kitty goes everywhere. And sleeping would not be the same without him! What is it about little special friends that makes little girls adore them?

Giselle Eloise Turns 4 Years Old!

On Saturday, January 3, 2015, Giselle turned 4 years old. From the moment she stepped out of bed, this little girl was ALL SMILES! For her birthday, we planned a party at PUMP IT UP (where you can jump all around on giant inflatable slides, etc.) and invited all of her friends from school. About 13 little ones came to her party, including her cousin Tristan. They jumped around for about an hour and a half and then they all shared pizza and cake in the party room. Giselle wanted a "Frozen" cake with Elsa and Anna and Olaf, so she got one! She was so cute, she would open the card first, name who the gift was from and then open the gift. After the opening of each gift, she would look at the little boy or girl and say THANK YOU! Big sister Isabella sure was her helper at the party. She handed her each gift to open and also passed out cake to everyone at the party. Later that day, we wanted to take her out to dinner and SHE LOVES cheeseburgers. We took her to Red Robin where she devoured that cheeseburger and french fries. Afterwards, the staff came over to sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her and gave her a sundae. CHEERS to another year older Giselle and me not getting any younger : ( When I was a little girl, I used to think that time went by SO SLOW. Now that I am not so little anymore it just FLIES BY.