Happy Birthday!

Happy 6th birthday my Nicco boy!*  You are rad!  My sweet little man, Lola's champion and Dad's little playmate.  You are a big nerd and that helps you fit perfectly in our family.  I am glad I get to be the one you call mom.  You rock my socks off boy baby!

*His birthday was actually this weekend but I couldn't tear myself away from the festivities to post it.  

June's Instants

Last year for my birthday Nick bought me a Polaroid 300 instant camera.  It has been so fun using it!  But the film is a little expensive and there is a bit of a learning curve.  I am not a photographer by nature so it has been a little extra hard for me.  HA!  I do love the raw quality you get with it.  I also love having a picture in my hand to look at right then.  I am all about instant gratification!  I want to get to know it better and learn the technique of getting rad pictures with it.  So my goal this year is to take a packs worth of pictures every month.  

Here are June's favorites:  

We took these on a recent hike to Ensign Peak.

Nicco took this one of Nick and me.  I love it so much!  He has been begging to use the Polaroid and by the looks of it I should have let him try earlier.

This is my blown out one of Nick and the kids.  I didn't change the setting (oops!) and it is a little too saturated.

I love having pictures of me and the kids.  I don't often get in pictures so the occasional one with them is great!

Friday Fox

So hipster and so foxy!  I love this stationary!

Happy Birthday!

It was this guys birthday last week!  The big 3-0!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!

You rock my socks Nicholas!  Here's to another year!

Friday Fox

OH my gosh this is rad!  It is a DIY fox lampshade.  You buy the paper pattern and all the pieces from this shop and then put it together yourself.

I love it like this too!

And if a cute little fox isn't your taste they have other animals as well.  Awesome!

6 Years!

This weekend Nicholas and I celebrated our wedding anniversary.  It was lovely!  We didn't get one another gifts instead we went on a date and spent some time alone.  Best ever!  In honor of the six years we have been married I am going to tell you 6 things I love about my Nick,

1.  He encourages me in anything I want to do.  He is my best and loudest cheerleader!

2. He will make a total fool of himself to make me laugh.  OH and I don't think he has ever told me that I embarrass him which is nuts!  Cause I am embarrassing.

3. He is an artist.  He writes beautiful music and takes beautiful pictures.  His love letters put mine to shame.  He is so very talented!

4. Nick is super devoted to me and our kids.  He has got to be the most loyal man alive!

5. Best father ever!  Cliche but the fact my kids look for him every morning and tell him that they hate him going to work makes me swoon!  They really love their daddy.

6. He is HAWT!  Yeah I love that about him.  That sounds shallow but DAMN he is FINE!

Thankful Thursday

That is Lola.  I am grateful for that little girl.  Lola kicks ass!  For real that girl is a firecracker.  She is stubborn and a little crazy.  And hilarious and tender hearted.  She has had to over-come some very difficult things in her short life.  Well really just one.  Lola was born without fingers or a full thumb on her left hand.  She does have little stubby fingers and most of her thumb luckily!  She has amniotic band syndrome.  Which essentially means that a piece of the amnion wrapped around her fingers and they just never developed in the womb.  It is also what causes cleft palates.  Unfortunately she has already had to deal with kids being mean.  She is three!  It breaks my heart.  Fortunately all that happened was some missing fingers.  Other people have not been so lucky.  

I think that is why she was blessed with a her crazy personality!  This experience has made her more compassionate and kind.  She accepts people with no question.  She doesn't take no for an answer!  Lola is completely fearless.  She is smart and can figure out a way to make things work.  She uses her left hand to her advantage as opposed to a disadvantage- which is what most people see it as.  I am so glad I get to call her daughter!    

Cranky Owls

I love owls- doesn't everyone lately?  I am getting over cutesy owl stuff though.  I want sinister and mischevious looking owls.  It seems like how they are in real life.  Like these:

Check out those eyes!  He is none too pleased.  I love this print on the dictionary page- um rad!

How about this guy?  This photo is awesome!

I love how he looks like a scraggly, cranky, wise, old man owl.   

Okay seriously?!  I saved him for last because well I am sure you can guess.  This photo is so beautiful and unique.  Love it!

You can buy any of these on Etsy- just  click the link under each picture.  I love Etsy!  Best part is that they are all under 30 dollars.  Inexpensive and amazeballs.  Win win!

Hand Stamped Pashmina Scarf

I feel like I should celebrate fall a little.  So how about this next week is all about fall?!  

Cool temps come with fall and scarves come with cool weather.  I have 3 of the exact same pashmina style scarves.  Nick brought them home to me last year from a store he has inventoried.  They were a gift with purchase that apparently no one wanted.  I decided to figure out something fun to do with them but it was a when I get around to it kind of thing.  Well finally a year later I am gettin' around to it.  At least around to one.  

I hand stamped it using this post from Kelli Murray's blog as inspiration.  I love the way it turned out!  I love the rough and uneven look.  I eyeballed the placement and I love that it really looks hand stamped.

I apologize for the wrinkles and bad lighting.  It was a dark and lazy day today!

I like how it shows the pattern when free hanging.

But I also love when it is all tied up as well!

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Little Reminders

I had to share this because I feel like I have a lot of short comings as a mother.  I sometimes yell and get told that I am mean.  I am far from perfect but then I will get a reminder that I must not be totally screwing up my kids.  You see that picture right there?  Yeah they did that without me prompting them.  My babies truly love each other.  They are kind and loving towards one another.  I would go as far as saying that they are each others favorite people.  Granted they also really don't enjoy each other at times.  They fight like cats and dogs or like siblings really.  But they turn around and make up and are playing again like little angels 5.5 seconds later.  They make my heart swell!  Life can be rough at times.  We are in a rough patch right now.  Things don't always go my way but I have a happy little family and kids who love each other.  

Plus rough patches have a way of smoothing out eventually.

Thankful Thursday

image via

My name is Anne Marie and I am a diet coke addict...  this is where you all say 'hello Anne marie'.  I don't want anyone telling me the negatives about my beverage choice.  I have done my research.  I am aware that it is pretty much pickling me from the inside out as we speak.  I know it is super super bad for me but I am grateful for Diet Coke.  I love it.  I love the burn in my throat when I get that first ice cold sip.  And the little fizzies tickling my nose.  OH yeah!  It helps me get through some days.  Sad but so so true.  Could I sound anymore like a junky?  I know it is killing me and all that noise but I love it?!  I could say that I can quit anytime I want but I just don't want to.  That would be the cherry on the junky sundae.  Any ways........  

Did you know that there is a diet coke website?  For addicts like me?  I actually didn't know until today.  But I am not surprised!  I am not the only one who loves it obviously!  I am an addict and loving every minute of it!  Anyone else out there?  Please say yes!

So today and this week and forever I am grateful for diet coke.

Sunday Songs

I feel like this song is everywhere.  So sharing it may be a bit redundant but I love it so.

We are in kindergarten!

Today was Nicco's first day of Kindergarten!  It went off without a hitch.  No tears were seen.  By me or the boy.  I felt a little guilty about that actually.  Most of the moms were crying.  Not me.  I was dry eyed.  All I felt for him was excitement.  Is that bad?  I think that it helped that they lined them up and took them in without an opportunity to think about it.  Rip it off quick like a bandaid!    

 My boy at his school in line.  He looks so big with his back pack on! 

Hugs before school!  I was afraid Lola would have a rough morning.  I was right.  She missed him big time!  Plus I realized that Nicco and Lola spent a lot of time playing with each other.  They pretty much only needed me to regulate and distribute snacks.  I am going to have some plans for entertaining her.

 Happy little family!  

Sad Lola!  This is the moment when she realized that he wasn't coming home with us.

I will say that I am feeling a little nostalgic already for the days when we could come and go as we please.  I have to come to grips with the fact that our lives are now run by school schedules.  And it will be for a long long time!  I am a grown woman with a child in school.  WTF?!  I feel a little old.   

Thankful Thursdays with Mustache Mama

Heidi from over at Mustache Mama is doing a Thankful Thursday link up.  YAY!  I am going to start linking up today and then never ever stop.  I need a weekly (daily) reminder to think of the things that I am grateful for.  I am pretty self absorbed.  End statement.  I think it will be good for me to sit and contemplate what I am thankful for in my life. 

I am going to get one of my obvious ones done this first week.  I am so grateful for this guy:

He is the mac to my cheese.  The pickle to my peanut butter.  Some of you may be thinking that I should have chosen a better picture of my Nicholas but really that is his personality.  He is a little off and perfectly in tune with me.  We met many moons ago and from then on he has been a part of my heart.  He was one of those kids in high school who really knew who he was.  That didn't sit well with most of the a-holes at our school.  I loved it though!  To this day he is the same way.  We had a lot of life experiencing and growing to go through before we were ready to actually give us a try.  I am glad we finally did!  He amazes me everyday with his love and compassion.  He is completely selfless.  Pretty much my exact opposite in those respects!  Don't get me wrong- he is no saint but he tries everyday to be better.  Plus he is funny.  How can you go wrong? 

Lola is a human name, right?

That is my sweet little Lola.  Lola is a family name and I love it!  I wanted to change my name to Lola when I was younger or add it in as my middle name.  The best thing about it is that it fits her perfectly.   She is a Lola and the Damn Yankees song is pretty accurate.  Whatever Lola wants Lola gets.  I have always been so happy with our choice but recently I have noticed that a lot of people name their pets Lola.  Did I give my daughter a dog name?!  Is this going to scar her?  And I am not exaggerating!  It is a freaking popular pet name.  I can give you two examples off the top of my head.  Leigh-Ann from a 

Freckled Nest has a Lola.  Oddly enough her Lola likes to eat paper and so does my Lola.  Weird.  And also Jessica from Don't Call Me Jessie just introduced her new cat named Lola.  WTF?!  All I can hope is that the pet named Lola trend goes away.  Far away!  I am not sure if that will happen.  I do know one thing for sure- my baby is so much cuter than any animal!  Take that pet owners with pets named Lola..... yeah that was not very good smack talk.

Happy Birthday Nicco!

We celebrated this boys 5th birthday this last weekend.  OH my gosh I can't believe that he is 5 already!  It is so cliche to say but the time has flown by.  He was a little baby just yesterday and now he is about to start kindergarten.  I can't say enough about how sweet and wonderful Nicco is.  He has turned into a polite, sweet and funny boy.  I am not sure how we ended up with such a good kid.  We are blessed!  Nicco loves his baby sister so much and defends her.  He is her champion!  He is kind and wants to be friends with everyone.  He is hilarious! 

Nicco is a notorious thumb sucker.  He came out the womb with his thumb firmly in his mouth.  Earlier today I pulled his thumb out of his mouth for the 70th time.  I then told him that he needs to stop because he will mess up his beautiful teeth.  He precedes to tell me that he just can't control himself!  I laughed and let him stick his thumb back in.  I am a push over mom!  I guess I better start saving now for his braces.

I am in love with this boy!  I am bursting with pride over the person he is becoming! 

Happy Birthday boy!!   

My Pants.... A Haiku

I wrote a haiku.  I haven't written a haiku for years.  Years and years even.  As a matter of fact I am not sure I have ever written one.  I had to look it up on the world wide web to find out what a haiku was actually.  Now I know- and knowing is half the battle!  In case you are interested it is a Japanese poem consisting of 17 syllables.  Line one is 5 syllables, the second is 7 syllables followed by a third that is again 5 syllables.  They are usually about nature apparently but I was inspired by the girl baby.  She says some interesting things.  Funny girl!  

My Pants

written by me

My pants are stupid

I will wear my underwear

and that is it today

We are cutting edge all up in this hizouse! 

Finally finished art piece!

I have had this project on my to-do list for about a year.  Yeah a year.  I have had the procrastinator confession before right?  I bought the print on 20 x 200.  I wanted to take the masculinity of the skulls and pair it with something a but more feminine.  Hence the floral fabric covered photo matte!  I also painted the frame with a quick coat of gold paint.  

I took this:

and this:

and made this:

I need to get a better picture of it but you get the idea.  I really love how it turned out.  And it only took a year and about 30 minutes to get it done!

Lolas first haircut

So Lola decided to cut her hair. This is the first time I have had to deal with something like that. Nicco never cut his hair. I think that he loved the compliments about his long hair so much that he became very attached to his hair at a young age. He thought that having short hair made you a girl. That is probably my fault. Kept his hair long until he was old enough to have an opinion of his own ;). Not too mention that I told him I loved it every day.  Anywho... The other day I noticed that Lola had been too quiet for a minute too long. That is a common problem. When I called her name she came running up the stairs- with bangs. Yeah. So we told her not to cut her hair anymore and that scissors can be dangerous if used while not supervised. She told us that she wouldn't cut it again. To say we are a bit naive is a freaking understatement. Our first indication that we shouldn't trust our mischievous, conniving little 3 year old is that she wouldn't give up the location of the scissors. She was not about to show us to her secret stash of stuff.  She is keeping her mouth shut. That stash contains one of about all my pairs of shoes too. I should probably do some P.I. work and follow her...

SO continuing on.  The next day we got in the car and I noticed a little more of a "style" to her locks. Girl cut her hair again! Our conversation went a little like this:

Me: Lola did you cut your hair again?

Lola: Uh no

Me: Lola I can tell you cut your hair. Did you cut it?

Lola: Uh no

Me: I know you did. So did you cut it again?

Lola: Uh yeah

Me: You did a fabulous job but don't do it again!

And she actually totally rocked her haircut!! No whack job! I have heard some stories and seen some of the horrible things that kids do to themselves with scissors. Massacre. But my girl gave herself some bangs and some nice layers. It does need to be cleaned up a bit but really she kicked some serious booty. Both pictures are of her new 'do. I am a pretty proud momma! How do you get upset when all you feel is pride?

my boy baby is growing up

These are my first flowers from the boy baby!  *Tear*  He handed me one flower to start and then proceeded to hand a whole handful to the girl baby.  It was so sweet that he gave a whole bouquet to his baby sister but I couldn't help but want to knock her over and steal her flowers and run.  I resisted and was rewarded with two more flowers for me.  And just me!  My Nicco is so sweet!  He is an actual little person now.  I can hardly even call him boy baby anymore.  But I won't ever stop!  Even if he begs me.  He is funny, charming, kind and eager to please!  I am in mad love!