B-Bug’s got a brand new room…

constant ear fluid and pressure for over a year, hearing loss, 3 surgeries in one day followed by 12 LONG days of recovery…

… the poor kid deserved a little something.

 

Horsies are out.  She stills loves them… but with the help of Bindi Irwin… she has broadened her animal tastes to those that aren’t just found in a pasture behind our house.

Zebras are in... and leopards… and koalas.  Lily is excited about Heaven because somewhere she came to believe that Jesus will give her her very own zebra to ride there.  She loves all animals

… as long as they are babies

…. and wearing cute bows or tutus.

In efforts to make an animal bedroom for a very style conscious 4 year old…  we gave her what she calls a ‘Fashion-y  baby animal room’.

              

I HEART this ‘Paisley Pop’ bedding.  Although it was weird buying PB TEEN for my pre-schooler, it makes me happy every time I walk past the door and see it in an unmade, messy heap.  I also love these pillows that Maow sewed while she was here.  I can’t wait until life is not so hectic and I can make some fabric flowers for the pink one.

Note… even Lily’s American Girl doll is getting in on the action and  wearing a zebra shirt from Maow.

          

These are Lily’s 2 favorite animal t-shirts that I immortalized on canvas.  I wonder at what age she’ll stop thinking it is cool to have her mom make all of the art for her room…  not for a long time I hope.  I’ve decide that I love to paint.  I love it more than I loved making collage nursery art back when Laura and I were the only ones on Etsy selling it…. a lot more.

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  I love this little book nook that we created in lieu of a night stand with lamp.  

The only problem is that I want to keep this nice display of animal themed books untouched… she can retrieve the ones she actually wants to read from the bookshelf across the room. 

 

She hasn’t  stuck with this plan.

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw a similar quatrefoil painting while watching  ‘Goodluck Charlie’ with my niece two Christmases ago… and it inspired my desire to persuade B-Bug to want to redecorate her room.  Super easy to make…  using a little 7th grade math, a compass, and drawer full of acrylic paint colors… luckily I had all three.

               

We had to set a 2 gumballs per day limit… to ensure that she has some teeth left on her 5th birthday.

My heart is really in the details.  Lily was able to help with these… like placing all of her bows on a dress form and picking out her favorite animals from these baby animal sound flashcards.  Surely Eli won’t miss these 6.

               

 

What fashion-y baby animal room is complete without a pink leopard piggy bank?

It is hard to believe that this is the silhouette I painted  of my sweet little Bug…

… who looked like this the first time I made one.

 

I hope she looks back on each phase of her little oasis and sees the love that went into creating it for her.

     

T- Swizzle…

 

Greatest night of her life to date.  No contest.  October 26, 2011.

Remember back on July 4th when Lily got Taylor Swift concert tickets for her golden birthday…

well we finally got to use them and the whole night was amazing.

-free, professional Taylor make up in the lobby

-fun with her friends Ava and Anna

-getting to be amongst her people (teenagers) for an entire evening as they told her she was cute and that they loved her sparkly dress and ruffle boots

-having an awesome view from our front row seats (in the upper deck) with her very own dance floor.

- knowing all of the words to every song… with exception of the nod to Austin- Jack Ingram and Shawn Colvin covers …naturally.

-taking a little, sweaty power nap in my lap during the slow part and clapping in her sleep only to wake up to fireworks.

-watching Taylor float by on cables mere feet  in front of us during ‘Love Story’ , scrunch up her nose a little, and give her a very special wave to say she saw her cute little fan on the first row…. INCREDIBLE, right!

The only thing that could have made it better is if I’d brought my real 400 pound camera.  My cell phone, although light and compact, took horrible, blurry pictures until it ceased to function just a few songs in… and was dead for surprise fly-by in the last song.  No photographic evidence of the personal wave… you’ll have to take mine and Lily’s word for it.  Ask for a demonstration the next time you see us.

Here is a horrible cell phonevideo of “Our Song”.  If you can get past the screaming at the beginning… at about 1 minute in you’ll get to glimpse Lily’s moves that she rocked through the entire show.  Ear hold. Dance. Finger points to the side. Hands in the shape of a heart to show T.Swift that she loves her.  Hips swinging. PRICELESS!

The end of an era…

Good-bye sleeping in, day trips to wherever we please, afternoon movies, jammies all day…

Hello…

Last night was spent listening to constant jeering from el Jefe as I…

sewed flowers onto an aqua t-shirt so that it would match the leopard tutu skirt and gold sneakers that she chose for her first day,

made headbands for all of her new outfits

sprayed chalkboard paint on a piece of wood for a sign that we’ll use in pictures for the next 13 years,

made signs and cut out a million paper apples for a last minute parent craft to do at our ‘Boo Hoo Woo Hoo Breakfast”.

 

Surprisingly, no tears were shed today…      (except by Eli who added to his head wound collection)

It may be the end of one era of our lives… but I think I’m going to love the new one that is dawning.

Happy first day of school precious B-Bug!

   

Lily Beetle

turned 4 on the 4th of July.  It boggles my mind that she is that old…. but at the same time she seems way older.

Since her birthday month is almost over, I felt it necessary to dedicate a post to …

my little shadow, my bestest buddy, my Wee Bug.

 

4 things I love about her:

that she says she needs “ a little lovin’s with Mom” first thing in the morning.

that she makes up original songs like this:   “Listen to my eyes, wild on my scene, the way she got her eyes – song to me, the way she got… skillet, skies. the way she got – blue eyes, white skillet and she got no way”  This is both Jeff’s and my ring tone…. makes me smile EVERY time!

that she always wants to whisper to me that she loves me more than dad

that she’s such a little  mother to her baby brother

 

4 things I’m excited to see her do this year:

learn to read… the wheels are already turning.

sing her heart out at the Taylor Swift Concert

wear her size 10 light up Pumas that have been sitting in her closet for a year

go to Disneyworld…. and not be scared of the characters…. well, at least the female ones.

 

Here is the commemorative scrapbook 2 pager for her golden birthday.

 

LiLYPaLooZa!

 

These two things you should know:

I LOVE my Lily-bug.

I LOVE to plan her birthday parties down to the last minute detail.

 

Lily turned FOUR on July 4th and we turned her favorite thing in the world into a ‘golden birthday’ party theme.  This kid is never without her iPod touch…(I received it for my birthday last year and have been slowly UNCHECKING all my old favorite songs to make room for Lily’s growing playlist and feature length movie collection… but such is motherhood.)

She is always dressing up and performing for us.  In the last few months, she has really broadened her pop-music horizons and found a few favorites outside of the Taylor Swift  catalog.  Therefore, we took a sampling of her newest  favorites made some c.d. invitations and VIP passes…

and thus created a fictitious music festival in our backyard.

 

We transformed our house into ‘backstage’…  our backporch into ‘center stage’… our laundry room into the concession stand.

Lily and I are both big fans of concession stand fare. The concession stand had popcorn, pickles, nachos and drinks.

The VIP snacks were supposed to be what the stars requested: Selena Gomez “Who Says” I can’t eat fruit candy, Lisa Loeb “Jenny Jenkins” juice, Lemonade Mouth “Mel’s Organic Lemonade”, Miley Cyrus “Party (in the USA)” tray, Grace Potter “Tangled” twizzlers, Carrie Underwood “Ever Ever After” Fairytale fruit kebabs, Taylor Swift “Speak Now” soda.

I love how Grace asked, “So did you like email or text them to find out what they wanted?”

 

To combine a little of all of Lily’s favorite things…

All VIPs got to have access to a stocked dressing room… professional hair and makeup (aka my hairdresser friend doling out eyeshadow and glitter spray)… decorate a guitar… bling out their microphone and then sing their little hearts out.

Being Lily’s cousin/BFF,  poor Lukie B. had to come to this uber-girly event as the only boy guest… but I must say he took it like a champ. 

The VIP bags (per Lily’s request) had colored fake braid hair clips, a souvenir t-shirt, lemon slice rings, fake microphone to use, and candy.

 

My lemon slice rainbow cake was the ugliest cake in history… at least the topper was super cute.  Lily (the parrot) referred to it as ‘the rainbow disaster cake’ as she ate my first attempt from a discard pile with a spoon.  If I tell you I am making the cake for the next one… stage an intervention.

I am always so impressed by the generosity of our friends and family toward my kids.   She honestly loved EVERYTHING!

Our big surprise gift was this …

Shout out to Nana and Augie whose gift of the 2nd (overpriced) ticket allows ME to go too and not just drop the 4 year old off at the Erwin Center and say ‘HAVE FUN!’

(I may or may not be JUST as excited as she is.)

This was an EXTRA special birthday because the Minnesotans descended into our territory and braved the desertous heat all for little B-Bug. This was her first time to have her friends, 4 grandparents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles and all 6 cousins at her party! I hardly even saw Eli during the party thanks to these 3. Beankins LOVES his boy cousins… even though they covered his face with microphone jewels that I had to photoshop out of every picture!

I can’t believe our little bug is 4 years old.  She’s my favorite little girl in the entire world.

…On to planning next year’s party!