Guess Who Is Back!?!?!?!

I wasn't ready to, but I did it....

I let MD's little brother go to visit family without me for a week and a half! He's 4 and misses his grandma, auntie and cousins and was SO excited about his trip. I was devastated the minute he left, ha!

My uncle drives truck cross country and just so happen to be in our area and asked if they could steal him for the trip back home to see family. I was so nervous about him riding in a semi for a few days but it was probably the highlight of his life so far. Seriously, he sounded more excited about this than Disney. He had so much fun and of course collected rocks for his collection along the way.

He had an amazing time at home. He was so busy playing in fact he hardly had time for me when I'd call. My family has a lot of land in Northern Minnesota so he was free to play and loved being outside so much. They carved pumpkins, rode the razor, he dressed up for hockey (ha, thanks uncle corey), jumping on the trampoline, jumped on the bed like any kid at grandma's house would do, and had a special lunch out to eat with his PaPa and Uncle Dylan. I'm so happy he had this special time with our family. And to be honest....the last week and a half was a lot easier on me. I missed him so much but for some reason 2 is just SO much easier than 3!



I was beyond ready for him to get home last night! My mom was coming for a visit and just flew him home with her. I think MD was even more excited than I was! It was so adorable to see my always fighting littles scream how much they missed each other and how happy she was to have him home!

Cheer Momma Drama

Well, it has started. The inevitable.

The picking and teasing when a group of girls spends as much time together as a competitive cheer
 team does. MD typically steers clear of it because she is a bit younger than most of the team and she really doesn't understand what the older girls are saying anyway.

Within the last few weeks she has started having a hard time with one of the older girls. MD is a very hard worker at cheer and when they have to run because someone isn't doing their part she has no problem telling them to try harder, ha. Of course I encourage her to be nice in her delivery, but she is 6 so who knows how well versed it is!

The older girl has started saying horrible things to MD. Not just typical teasing but "I'm going to kill you" and "I hope you fall and get hurt" (MD is a flyer and this girl is one of her back spots) and finally told her I'm just not going to ever catch you...and she has just let her fall on more than one occasion.

At first I told MD to talk to the girl and try and work it out. She needs to be able to tolerate situations like this and be able to stick up for herself in a good manner. That changed nothing. I made mention of the situation to her coach after the second incident, when she deliberately dropped MD. The issue continues. If it were just a teasing issue I'd almost be ok with continuing to tell MD to stick up for herself and tell the coach and hope it eventually was resolved but now that she has intentionally caused my daughter to be dropped multiple times I'm furious. Other members of MD's team have attested to what MD has told me.

I want to handle the situation the best I can and not create any tension for MD's team. I believe the next time we have an issue at a practice I will ask the coach to arrange a meeting with MD, the older girl, both girls parents and the coach so I can be sure this is fixed.

What would you do in this situation? Do you believe it is our job as parents to step in our is it better to let a coach handle these sorts of problems?

Much Love
XOXO

Diva Dining

We've been so excited about our new house. We put a lot of work into making it a home despite the fact we'll only be here a little over a year, ha.







My amazingly crafty husband finally built me a large table! It is the Fancy X Farmhouse Table plans from ana-white.com, so we can have friends and family dinners! I miss having large dinners and now that we are in our new home we have the space to do it! I can't wait to try and host a 'FRIENDS'giving at our home.

We got all of our supplies from Lowes and loved the helpful staff and the much appreciated Military Discount! This project was VERY affordable, especially when compared to the alternative of purchasing a similar table for over $1,000! We probably spent close to $100 with the materials to build, stain and polyurethane the table.


Here is what we used for the table:

4 – 2x10 @ 8 feet long 
7 – 2x4 @ 8 feet long 
1 – 1x4 @ 12 feet long 
3” screws 
2 ½” PH screws 
2” finish nails
1 - MINWAY Classic Gray Wood Finish

Find the plans HERE. We altered the bottom of ours in the slightest to avoid more difficult cuts. 

Tea For Two, Please!

I've been working with my camera quite a bit lately trying to improve my knowledge and skill. I love the creativity aspect but it's overwhelming trying to find the perfect balance in every situation.

A good friend of mine Amanda at somewhereoverthecamo.com asked if I'd be willing to take some photos of her precious little peanut, Baby G! And not just any photos...Pregnancy announcement photos!!!

I can't tell you how excited I was! G is such an adorable little thing with a ginormous personality. She's definitely one of my top 10 favorite little people ever. I was just so happy for Amanda and Rob as well. Congratulations to your beautiful family on another Baby Girl on her way!

Here is a few of my favorites from the days. We had to do a REDO shoot because my lighting the first day just wasn't the best.