Saturday Photohunt: 'cube'

The Saturday PhotoHunt for this week is: 'cube'.  For this theme, I picked pictures of Princess Belle and Princess Snifflefritz  in cubes that have been turned into cute little robots and their toy closet with all it's storage cubes.. 

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This Moment

A beautiful and fun Friday ritual. Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. – Amanda Soule

Throwback Thursday

Since Princess Belle turned thirteen this week, I was feeling nostaligic and so I decided to go back to first birthdays for Throwback Thursday Post today.

My first baby, Princess Belle on her first birthday!

Princess Magpie, my second baby, on her first birthday!

My third baby, (my Christmas baby) Princess Snifflefritz on her first birthday!

My last baby, my baby boy, on his first birthday. 

#TBT

Wordless Wednesday: Super-spies and the Birthday Girl

Click the pic above to get to other Wordless Wednesday Participants or go check out the following links:

Wordless Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday Bloggers, 5 minutes for mom, Ms. Mystery Case, Tales of a Pee Dee Mama, Only Passionate Curiosity, Oh My Heartsie Girl, Image-In-Ing and Stacys Random Thoughts!

And a little coffee for those of you suffering through the winter storm!

Wow! How did that happen?

13 years ago, I had this beautiful baby girl.  In one quick moment, I was suddenly a mother who was about to bring a tiny 4 lb 10 oz beautiful bundle of sweetness home to love.

From this:

To this:

One year later, in 2003, we celebrated our first year together.  I could not have loved this little girl more!

And this is Princess Belle with her best friend (who will be celebrating her 13th birthday with her this weekend!

This is a picture from 2004 of Princess Belle at 2, hugging me.  She was so tall and slender and obviously going to grow up to be a beautiful girl!

In 2005, at three my girl loved to pick flowers for me, thus starting my love of dandelions.  She was so sweet and curious. 

In 2006, at four years old, Princess Belle was a fun and energetic girl.  Don't you love her beautiful smile?

When she was five in 2007, she entered kindergarten.  I loved her joyful spirit.  This was the year that we began our search which ended up with us discovering that she had high-functioning autism.

2008 was a fun year for six year old Princess Belle.  This was the year she finally became a big sister!  She was thrilled.

At Seven, in 2009, Princess Belle was a dedicated big sister.  She loved her little sister and was thrilled at the end of the year when we welcomed another little girl to our family.

In 2010, at eight years old Princess Belle loved spending time with her baby sisters in our little cabin in the woods.

In 2011, she was nine and starting to be really creative.  She loved all things that she could do with her hands.

When she turned ten in 2012, she was a smart cookie who had ideas on how she wanted to be homeschooled.  She was so excited when we welcomed a baby boy into our family.

In 2013, when she was 11, she had a Harry Potter birthday which was a LOT of fun.

2014, at 12 years old, she was becoming a really cool young lady.  She is so much fun and I loved spending time with her and seeing who she was becoming as she grew up.   She has this cool combination of having fun spending time with her little sisters and brother while also liking big people movies with me and her daddy.

Now today, she is THIRTEEN years old.  My baby girl who came in to this world as a tiny 4 lb baby is now a teenager!  She is a great girl who loves to help me out, who loves her siblings, whose room is always a mess, who loves music, movies, pink, and all things Monster High.

Thrifty

I had a fun day out cruising thrift shops with my friend.  There was no deadline, no kids, nothing except to moms out having a little fun getting deals. 

I got some great deals including: 

• great Tupperware (which I LOVE!) 
• a few cute things for the kids to wear
• some learning books at 10 for $1

I also stocked up on milk and bread for Little Prince in case the storm that is coming is as bad as they are calling for.  (When you have an autistic boy whose entire diet consists of milk and peanut butter sandwiches, you don't run out of bread and milk!) I got the milk at Costco, it is the cheapest milk around!  And as a feel-good bonus, the bag boy at Costco flirted with us.  That's always a nice thing for a 42 year old mom of four! 

When I got home and got the food put away, I took a look around and every single member of my family was reading one of the books I got!  From Prince Charming to Little Prince, everyone was enjoying a book.  I LOVE it!  I guess that was a dollar well spent. 

I have been organizing my cupboards, so as soon as I got home, I put my Tupperware straight to work. 

And just for fun, aren't these a cute couple of super-spies?!

Gratitude Sunday

Sunday's heart felt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful.

Here are some things I am grateful for this week:

1.  Surprise sunny, warm days in middle of winter in January!

2.  I am so grateful that I got a good nights sleep last night!

3.  All my kids having lovely new beds that the are so thrilled with.

4.  Finding a way to get pictures of my boy's smile (it involves tickling and trying not to get a blurry picture, but at least you can see his smile!)

5.  Catching my kids being sweet together, like Little Prince sitting to read a book and Princess Snifflefritz reading beside him. 

6.  Taking time to organize my kitchen cupboards!  I still have things to do, but I LOVE being organized!

My snacks, cookbook, and coffee cupboard.

Open shelving over my sink!  I LOVE my Tupperware containers!

4.  My headache is finally gone!!  Woohoo!!  It is amazing how much more I get done when I feel better!

5.  Getting a video of Little Prince enjoying a book! (even if it is sideways) 


6. Getting a video of Little Prince and his sisters playing. When he plays this is what he does. He just runs and runs and runs. But he takes great joy in it, so I figure he can go for it.

Saturday Photohunt: 'Fan'

The Saturday PhotoHunt for this week is:  'Fan'.  For this one, I decided to post a pic of Princess Belle totally thrilled about her favorite birthday present from last year, a "Monster High" doll because she is a HUGE fan of "Monster High".  She has even started a little fan club with a few friends on the street.  She LOVES "Monster High" and has gotten only "Monster High" stuff for the last two Christmas's. 

She even wore a "Monster High" costume for Christmas.

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