Becoming a Butterfly-Bring it on 30

As the milestone birthday of 30 years creeps closer and closer to becoming my reality, I’m strangely growing more and more comfortable with the idea! It wasn’t long ago that I was, quite honestly, in freak-out mode about leaving my 20’s behind.

I had made long to-do lists in my mind and for some strange reason felt like I should have everything lined out and perfect by what once felt like “dooms day”.

But now, with the big day less than a month away, I’m feeling much more at peace……and little even, *gulp*, (should I say it?!) excited!

I had plans of working out like a crazy person to reclaim the body that I had before bringing my precious daughters into the world. After chasing that fantasy half-heartedly at best, I actually saw a nutritionist who gave me a healthy and utterly satisfying dose of reality. Instead of the 20-30 pounds that I “thought” I needed to shed, she advised that 10 be an absolute maximum, if I lost any at all. She helped me see that at this stage in life, it should be more about being healthy and generally comfortable in my own skin, and not dependant on the scale’s read out.

After letting the “10 pounds max” sink in, I’ve felt better about myself than I have in years! Screw the BMI charts! They’ve warped our minds! I’m almost 30, NOT 13! I have the body of a mother, one who amazingly created two humans at once, and yet it still functions just fine and leaves my hubby grinning like a school boy ;o) What more could I want?!

Bring it on 30! I’m ready for you! I’ve lived, I’ve learned, and I’m more beautiful and whole by the day! Every single time I belly laugh with my loved ones those fine lines may get a little deeper, but it’s just another stroke of good fortune in my opinion.

So here it is world! The fresh and proud face of (almost) 30!

Preschool Fine Motor Practice Pays Off

Since there is a time and a place for everything I'm going to go ahead and get this over with........I'm bragging! Yes, this post is basically just showing pure pride in my sweet baby girls and the preschool skills they are quickly mastering. At 3 years and 5 months here is one of the latest doodlings by K-it's her name and a girl :o)

Is it perfect? Nope, not quite. But for a 3 year old I think it's quite fantastic!

I've never been pushy with teaching them things, but with elementary education in my background, I've found that they learn so much through playing, so pretty much any time we're "playing", we're "learning" too. To get to this point we've done lots of coloring, drawing, letter name/recognition games, using the letters of their names in little made up songs and cheers, and of course tons of repetition and encouragement.

M isn't quite as good as K yet, but she's getting there! There is enough sibling rivalry between the two that neither one is going to be "out done" for long ;)

What kinds of things do you do with your little ones to jump start the reading/writing train?

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

The old addage must be true because I absolutely can not believe that summer is pretty much half way over with. Okay, if I'm going to be honest, I'm really looking forward to summer's end because the weather here has been too miserably hot to enjoy.

I've been so caught up in staying cool and staying sane while it's too hot to be outside that I'm so far behind I feel like I'll never catch up.

Okay, to make a long story short, this summer we've been running like crazy! From trips to the lake, weekends with grandparents, learning to swim (without formal lessons), to just having fun here at home, we have been some crazy busy girls!

We recently saw The Wizard of Oz live! K loved meeting Dorothy and I loved that the production was by a local theatre group and we snagged tickets to a matinee viewing for only $5 per person!

We've been spending lots of time swimming and the girls are little fish! They are both swimming without floaties and M is especially good at retrieving dive rings from the bottom of the pool! Here she is showing a little sass and pride in her skills ;)



I'm in awe every single day at how big they are, how much they've grown, and what pure joy they've brought to our lives! I'm sure that this wild ride we're on is just starting to pick up steam too <3