Just me My Soldier and our 4 little chicks

wordless(ish?!?) wednesday

sadie rocking all of her fabulousness on her 5th birthday.

could you not just DIE at the cuteness of this photo?

she's like a mini anna wintour.

she slays me. also...how is she five?

oh.my heart.

she loves playing dress up/mommy so we got her a handbag filled with a compact,sunglasses/case,makeup bag,etc. it was a big hit and so affordable!

harper gave her the dress and the babies gave her the movie "annie". jimmy also gave her a doctor bag...she is loving playing doctor to the babies!

what a kid!

sadie's bday swag-

dress:target coat:mini boden//sunglasses:hello kitty(clearance at marshalls)//keychain lip gloss: hello kitty//handbag:target

xoxo

S

wordless(ish??) wednesday

huh...yeah. i got nothin'.

p.s. i literally start crying every time at this, it makes me laugh so hard.

xoxo

scrappy saturday- s.c.h.

I've been collecting sequins for months. Every time I go to Walmart or Michael's I grab a new bag.

And this beautiful dish sits on my craft desk:

It's no surprise that I use sequins on every single project I make lately. I just like the tiny bit of shine and glamour they add. :)

Here's my layout for Scrappy Sunday this week. I used the He Said She Said kit from Cocoa Daisy along with LOTS of bits and pieces from my stash.

You saw these photos a couple of days ago...and as soon as I saw them I just knew I had to scrap them. Her face is so sweet in these. And Sadie doesn't talk alot. Well, not as much as her big sister does. I love that I caught her mid-monologue. :)

I like that this page is blues and greens. A different color scheme for me. I use aqua/teal/turquoise a LOT on my pages, but this combination is a bit less girly. And I like that.

Isn't the stamp so pretty? It's a Stampendous stamp from Michael's. I embossed the feather on the tag using Aqua ZING.

I added lots of layers of patterned paper,tags, border stickers, tissue paper,stickers, and doilies.

And I'm a big fan of the BasicGrey Clippings garland. So pretty.I "girlied" it up a little by adding some teal sequins.

InLinkz.com

Yeah. I had fun making this. And that's the best feeling in the world! Thanks so much for stopping by today!

xoxo

the sweetest

The sweetest sight in the world is your four year giggling and jumping up and down for joy on the morning of her first day of pre-k.

I was so proud of her this morning. She picked out her outfit (and 'cessories of course) and helped me pack her backpack.

But over breakfast she told me she was nervous and excited. And that little cleft chen wobbled two or three times when she was eating breakfast,those eyes filled with tears.

She checked and rechecked with me as to which hand was her kissing hand.

And she said she was worried she'd miss me.

And even though she was smiling she was wringing her hands. Look in the 1st and 3rd photos. See? Wringing.

This mama was (secretly) a little bit nervous. 

The sweetest sound in the world is when your daughter gets back in the car saying she had the BEST FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL EVER. And that she made four new friends. And that she can't wait to go back. And that she wishes she could go back RIGHT NOW.

That's my girl.But man...that chin. Makes my heart hurt every time. It will always be that way, won't it? Yep.

And tomorrow I sent my biggest off to first grade.

Oh, my heart.

uncanny.

one and a half vs. four.

good golly, i love this girl.

there's just something about sadie.

xoxo

overheard

me: sadie! put your patience panties on!

sadie: {smirking} ummmm, i don't have those here. they must be in the boxes

me: uhhh....{thinking to self-"well played,sadie.well played."}

side note: does she NOT look like a mini-jimmy here? it's freaking me out.

xoxo

H+S sing some Carly Rae

That's right. The internet is ablaze w/ Call Me Maybe lip dubs. You know the Howell girls always have to be on trend. :)

They sing this song day and night and they crack me up because they get so into it. Especially Sadie...who is NEVER in to ANYTHING. :)

Note:Yes, the car is parked. In the driveway. Please don't ask if I was driving, hahaha.

 

Sadie and Harper Sing Call Me Maybe from stephanie howell on Vimeo.

weekend words

life is a special occasion.

and that's a fact.

life is a LOT of things right now. crazy,exhausting,wild,scary,busy...but NEVER dull. :)

hope your weekend is fun and full of belly laughs.

and maybe full of a few quirks too.

just like my sadie girl.

xo

knock me over with a feather

the girls had their very first soccer game last week. yes, they are on the same team :).

this makes for some very...um...interesting moments?

so let me offer you a quick flashback. harper has only played soccer once before. she was three. and it went like this:

well, it went back and forth between that and her yelling "DO I LOOK ASHION???" during games. i guess you could say it wasn't really her "thing".

so i suppose i expected something similar this time. she hasn't really been that interested at practices. she does what she's asked to do, but she isn't overly excited about it or anything of the sort.

sadie,on the other hand...sadie has been very gung ho. i think it's a good way for her to get out her energy/agression. the problem is that it's her first time ever playing. she's still getting the hang of it.but she has such a big desire to learn.

she is SO HARD on herself. she gets so frustrated that she doesn't pick everything up on the very first try. i keep telling her i'm proud of her and that she should just have fun...but sister has a competitive streak a mile wide.

especially when it comes to harper.

as i mentioned, last week was their first game. here's where the title of this post comes into play.

harper

was

amazing.

she was fast and focused and driven. she was at the front of the pack and the coach kept her in the entire time. and what is that LOOK on her face? is she growling?!?!?!?

what happened to my girly "i don't want to get dirty" girl? what happened to my "YUCK I'M ALL SWEATY" girl?

and then at the very end of the game? she scored a goal!!! you should have seen her face. i sure wish her daddy was there to see it.

i didn't take any photos of her scoring b/c i was experiencing it. i didn't want to miss a moment so i didn't have the camera over my face.

but when i recovered from my shock i grabbed the camera from around my neck and snapped this photo of sadie's immediate reaction.

oh.

my.

i don't think i have to caption this photo, i think you can decipher her look yourself. if looks could kill. sibling rivalry much?

and yes, we did talk about how it wasn't nice to not be happy for her sister. and we also talked about how she'd have her moment, too. and she did...she got the ball away from someone on the other team and dribbled it for a second. the cheers were deafening!

but wow, just wow.that kid is something else.

and harper? she was something else too. you could have knocked me over with a feather. i never ever would have guessed she'd play like that.

reminds me of a certain 16 year old who had never played a sport in her life, a 16 year old that picked up a lacrosse stick and was really really good. my mom says she'd never even seen me run. :) and i ended up being all-state! :)

it's funny how we see unexpected reflections of ourselves in our children.

hope your weekend was beautiful!

xxo

s

she's not a priss,this one...

here's how i found miss sadie this afternoon. she was supposed to be playing in the sprinkler, but she had other ideas. and YES, it is this warm in savannah!

no sir, she is not a priss. not a girly-girl...although she does love dress up and tiaras.

but she also loves making a BIG mess. watching football with her daddy. running, wrestling,jumping.

she falls down a lot but rarely cries. she climbs high, screams LOUD,laughs from her belly,loves with all of her soul.

she has the best facial expressions ever.

even when she's in trouble and she's VERY contrite...she smirks just like her daddy. this awkward,uncontrollable smirk. it slays me.

she loves life...

she pretty much just loves an adventure.

and i think it's pretty cool. REALLY cool actually. she's going to make one heck of a woman.

that's my girl. :)

speaking of girls i adore, my friend tina needs your vote. she is a CRAZY talented photographer and her photo is up for cover photo in this contest. please go vote if you are so inclined! she's #7 !

hope your day was beautiful and blessed...i'm hoping to carve out some creative time very soon so i can share a layout!

xxo

s