Diva Desperation!

Divas, Divas, Divas...

I had a HUGE slap in the face this weekend! And it came from my sweet, precious, beautiful little Diva. 

Her friend got into town a day early after being away for over 6 months and she was THRILLED. After a fun sleepover at our house we decided to go to the mall the next day, I needed a new blouse for work. But first the girls were desperate for some lunch. After a little whining and complaining and back and forth on ideas we decided PF Changs. YUM, right?!

We weren't even seated five minutes before MD started throwing a fit. I mean it was like a tantrum from a toddler. She didn't want to share lettuce wraps with me, she wanted her own plate, she wanted orange chicken(which she actually had at home) and it went on and on. 

I LOST IT. 

Listen here sassafras. There are families who can't afford to go out to eat! Heck, half the time we can't afford to go out to eat! There are children all over this country, THIS WORLD who are literally starving. You are blessed and don't you forget that! Here we are at the mall eating PF Changs about to go find you a new lipgloss to buy and YOU WANT TO COMPLAIN?!

...and the worst part is I know it's my fault. We have been spoiling the children rotten lately and holding back from getting on to them. Making excuses for them about our busy schedules and our lack of sleep. 

So, I'm here to ask you all for advice! What do you all do to help your little remain humble and grateful? To remind them they are blessed? I'm thinking a rewards program is in order! Rewards for good behaviors and chores! But, I don't want them to believe they must be rewarded for good behavior vs just being good because it's the right thing to do! 

Looking forward to a follow up on this one...

Much Love, 

Heather

Diva Delivery - SammyDress

Hey Guys! Guess what, we got our package from SammyDress delivered this week filled with our free goodies for review/promotion!

I have to call and check on the headband we ordered since it wasn't in the package but we got A dress, 2 hats, a pair of sunglasses and our MIA headband all for under $25! If you place an order don't forget to use our promo code RAMD at checkout for 10% off your ENTIRE purchase!

The sizes run a bit small, which they state on the site and give you a sizing chart to use. We ordered the dress according to the sizing chart and it fits MD perfect with the exception of the length, which is always a problem for this girl. Nothing a good pair of leggings couldn't fix!

The hats got a bit bent out of shape on their way to us as they were just mailed in an envelope with no paper or anything to help keep the form. I was a bit sad about that since they are SO ADORABLE and really nice quality! We worked this one a little and it seems to have made a recovery ;)

We love our items and loved the prices on them even more! The details on the dress are amazing! With the way this MD is growing, We're buying her new clothes every couple of months!

Bowtiful Braid

We had a great week in our house.


I accepted a position with an office I'm very excited about and my husband had his pinning ceremony.

For his promotion we dressed up and MD wanted fancy hair. I turned to the inter webs and remembered a cool braid I had seen on Cute Girls Hairstyles . 

It turned out to be a lot easier than I expected and it is super adorable. When I was done I loved it but I wish I would have brought the loops under the braid closer to her face rather than the further back side, as it would have laid flatter in the front that way, but I wasn't about to redo it all.

The Indoor S'more

We were feeling brave and decided to join a few of our friends for a family camping trip. Yep, that's right. I packed up my family of 5, kids from 6years to 8months, and we headed to the lake to set up tent!

It was amazing. We had a blast. Everyone got sun burnt.

When we came home a day early we had S'more goodies left over. I decided to spoil the kids and make S'more at home.

They were so easy to make MD basically did it all on her own. 

Preheat the oven to 350 F while you layer Graham cracker, Chocolate bar, and marshmallow on a flat cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for roughly 10 mins, the marshmallow will get goey and golden when it's done! Pull from the oven and top with another graham cracker and ENJOY! 

Mom Win #319: How to store school projects and crafts.

Guess What?! Tomorrow is the last day of school here for our Mini Diva and I am so excited for my summer break with my girls! (MD's little brother will remain in daycare since the wait list is nearly a year long and I don't want to fight that battle again!)

So, now that the school year is over what do I do with all MD and her little brothers 'crap'???

I found the cutest way to keep all of the kids school projects with out all the clutter and mess of actually keeping all of the kids school projects!

Throughout the year I took pictures of their arts, crafts, work sheets, homework and more! Saved all of the images to a SCHOOL WORK folder on my desktop and then today I went on Snapfish.com, which is having 50% off with code  50May15, and created a custom photo book using images of some of my favorite things.

Check it out...

http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/projectshareewelcome/l=7164531022/p=1314211432222812185/g=7958934022/cobrandOid=1000/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/otsc=SYE/otsi=SPBKlink/ 

I'm very excited with how it turned out!! Let me know what you think!

Now What?!

Well, the Pageant is over and done with, classes are wrapping up and MD is almost out of school for the summer! What are we going to do with ourselves?! Finding a place to live might be a good start...I think I'll work on that!

Speaking of the Pageant!

 
 

Wowza, Pageant pictures, right?! Sorry, I had to share! This little MD took 1st runner up at her first ever pageant! She was a bit nervous for her formal wear question, which was how can you make your school a better place. She stumbled a little to quietly reply "I can make my school a better place by always helping teachers and being nice to others" which was pretty much the "world peace" of this pageant as another mom put it, ha! She totally nailed her cheer routine which included a back walkover, heel stretch, jump and the splits. Her daddy said everyone was in awe of her cheer moves and I totally agree...but we might be biased. She did great introducing herself and the candy she was representing since the Pageant theme was candyland. We waited forever to get the results since there had been a tie. The girls had to walk out on stage one more time for the judges! SHE WAS THAT CLOSE TO WINNING! Which, we don't mind. she's thrilled to have had the experience with her adorable friends! We were so glad these three shared a "dressing room" Look at all that sass! 

WE OWE A HUGE THANK YOU TO SWEET RACHAEL FOR MAKING MD'S DRESSES! If you are looking for something custom, I couldn't be more confident in recommending her! MD was a big part of the designing process and I love it that much more because of it! Here is her tootsie roll dress! 

I'm glad the extra practices are over but I'm also sad she is back to only 1 day a week of cheer. She was so busy with pageant and cheer practice and all that extra time with her little buddies I think she is going to really miss it. 

But not for long. We have cheer tryouts just a couple weeks after their final showcase so Miss MD is going to be doing some tumbling classes during the week to get ready for tryouts! I'm certain we will stick to a Mini's team for next year but you never know. 

So, Miss MD has joined the Ursula Weidmann Model agency, http://www.ursulawiedmannmodels.com, but we are still waiting on a casting to go in and do all our paperwork. I'm so excited for her and can't wait for it all to begin. Hopefully we can do a lot this summer and take breaks during the school year. 

In case we have some friends looking for a local cheer gym, here is MD's gyms tryout info! 

Stay tuned as we have our disney trip soon and we have super savings advice :) 

Thanks for keeping up and much love! 

DISNEY, Here we come!

Happy Mid-Week Everyone! Another  busy, busy week is almost over.

We were blessed with more days of sunshine and high temps so we definitely took advantage and had some park days, did a lot of long walks with BD while MiniDiva and her brother were in school!
We also made a little DIY shelf this week. We scored some crates from a local woman this weekend and got a few things from LOWES to make this beauty! Simply stained with #weatheredgrey and nailed into place with a board across the bottom and the top! We used nails instead of screws because the wood was very thin and wanted to make sure we didn't split it at all!

We Told the kids about our upcoming Disney trip and I think they are excited. We are going to spend MD's spring break there! I think MD's dad is as excited as they are! We are also going to do a day at Sea World while we are there. I just learned about the bippity boppity boutique and will definitely have to make reservations for that! What are your favorite Disney "do's" ???

 

 How cute are MD's School outfits? The yellow and white polka dot skinny jeans are from target and they are one of my favorite pants of hers. Funny story, the shorts on the right are a size 4T in order to fit her waist. But they now go to her mid thigh rather than her knee because she is average height! She got in trouble at school and told she needed to tell her mother her shorts needed to be much longer. How do you feel about her shorts? In my opinion, they most certainly aren't SHORT shorts!

I tried to get a couple Easter pics of BD for my photography class <3 She is so precious but SO SO busy, which is making it much harder to take photos of her, haha! 

Wednesdays MD has cheer so we did dinner just the two of us after. She has been mentioning a lot lately that we don't do anything just the two of us anymore and I feel horrible because she is right. I don't know how to make individual time for all three of our littles right now. I feel stretched so thin and need to make it work so I have the opportunity to remind both her and her little brother that they are important to us.

Alicia, who made my hood and suck pads has made a few more options as far as tula accessories go! She too makes little matching shoes to go with Tula's or anything else for that matter! You can look at her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/sweetserendipitydesign?_rdr  She also makes really cute legging and headband sets that I want to purchase for photos. They are seriously just adorable! <3

MD Had a competition this weekend!

 We did another team dinner on Sat. night at Red Robin....THAT WAS A DISASTER! I made reservations on Friday and she tells me just to come in 15 minutes early to tell them how we want it arranged. My family and I got there at 4:30 for the 5pm dinner. The new hostess says Hey are you Heather with the group of 20-25 I say yep thats me....Then as we are waiting for 45 minutes they say well we don't really take reservations it is first come first serve but we wanted to accommodate your group. Hello, you should have told me that. We got seated at 630! Not a fun wait with a large group of children.

The girls were so excited to get 1st place at the Master's tournament. MD has not stopped talking about it all week! We got a funny text that the girls did great but they could have been better if they focused during warm ups, I guess they were a bit spastic, haha! This makes our crazy wednesdays, the extra lessons, the practicing and stretching at home all worth it! Congrats, MD. We are all so very proud of you! I love MD's team, all of the adorable and sweet mini's and the amazing families we've gotten to know over the year. I am sad that our year is coming to an end. We have the showcase and then a couple weeks later tryouts for next season!

Miss MD wouldn't be able to participate in Cheer if it were not for all of our amazing family. We have had great success in finding sponsors, fundraisers and her auntie christie has made HUGE contributions. We are so so grateful for all of the amazing people in our lives who love and support MD as much as we do! THANK YOU, ALL!

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

PS. I have some exciting news!!! Our personal website's for Arbonne are up and running! Check out the Pure, Safe and Benefecial products Arbonne offers at http://heatherpilkington.arbonne.com 

We have a lot of catching up to do!

Hey All,

So sorry it's been a minute since we caught up! We've been swamped! Md's daddy got home a couple days after my birthday! YAY! Since then we have been so busy running around, with school, looking at houses and all the other fun things grown ups do ;)

Rachael, who is working on MD's Pageant Dresses has stopped by for a couple of fittings and I am so excited to see the end results. They are not your typically princess dresses you see at pageants but MD isn't your typical girl. These were designed just for her. From her interests and choices in sketches and fabrics. The pageant is only 2 weeks away!

MD had a little incident last week. She was playing at a friends and hurt her hand when they were goofing around. We brushed it off thinking it was no big deal at all. MD is a pretty tough girl and typically doesn't complain a lot and only mentioned it hurting a couple times. The next morning she couldn't move without crying that her hand hurt. It was overnight covered in black and blue bruises and swelled up!She couldn't color, get dressed or anything so we decided to take her in to the Dr's. We figured better safe than sorry and the Dr agreed and wanted to get an X-ray since her swelling and bruising were so crazy! They explained lucky her little bones aren't all fused together yet so she avoided a fracture but we kept it in a wrap all week and it's still giving her a little trouble, poor thing! 

 

MD's daddy and I have been pretty dedicated to getting back in shape and have been doing P90x again. I always seem to have a horrible time AFTER I have had my babies with weight gain. With Baby Diva I gained a total of 6 lbs when I had her. I had lost 35 lbs just two months after having her. I have gained all of that back in the 5 months since. I don't get it?! Anyways, it is what it is and we are trying to make healthy changes to fix that problem! How cute is MD working out with us! Do you and your family "get fit" together? What activities do you let the kids join in on?

 This week has been pretty exciting for me. MY NEW TULA CAME <3 I had myself convinced it was ridiculous and my Ergo was JUST FINE. I didn't need another carrier. Even though I really liked my friends when she was here. They are so soft and comfy and cozy and ohhhh man, I just love them. Well, then a Willow popped up on a Tula B/S/T for retail price. I had to. I HAD to. I mean, that never ever happens and it was the print I had been drooling over. As it turns out I was having some suck pads and a hood made for my ergo to test out. I quickly emailed Alicia letter her know I scored a Tula and she made some quick alterations! How cute are my accessories? Baby Diva seems to love them, too! And she has them in her etsy shop, https://www.etsy.com/shop/SerendipityCloth?ref=shopinfo_shophome_leftnav for almost half the price I've found them anywhere else. I do think I like to wear my tula without the hood so I'm not sure if i'll keep it on or just fold it up and put it in the front pocket! I think on my next pair of suck pads I'll ask for more of a flare at the bottom, too since baby diva likes to pretend she is an owl and turn her head far back to chew on her carrier. She is just so afraid of missing out on whats going on in the world, ha! Look how big she is getting. Sitting up all by herself and chewing on just about anything she can get her little hands on, including the dogs.

         

     

LOOK!!!! We also got these today to review for you guys! THEY ARE AMAZING! They have Elsa, They have rhinestones, THEY ARE PINK. I mean, it's like the staple shoe for a mini Diva. I found Rahmel on Facebook. He started off just making these for his daughter(aww) but he has started making custom designs for purchase. Anything from collegiate, NFL, Cartoons, you name it he's got it! And they are put together so well. The stitching on elsa is very sturdy. I totally give these babies 5 stars! You can get ahold of Rahmel Oliver at rahmel12@hotmail.com about the shoes! Make sure and tell him you read about them on raising a mini diva :)

 
 


Between MD's Cheer practice from 8-11 this morning and meeting Rahmel and Alicia to get products we had about 1.5 hours to play at the park. It was a perfect day weather wise and all three little people had a great time. They played at the park, ran around in the fields like crazy people and MD's daddy got them Dip n Dots Ice cream. He even let baby diva try a dot...she wasn't super impressed with it. We had an amazing family day and I'm so thankful we get to make these memories. We've had a rough year and it makes me appreciate the good things a bit more.

MD's little brother started Occupational Therapy a few weeks ago.

 For some time now I thought he was just the child from hell. It sounds awful, I know, and some may understand while others judge, but it's true. He was NAUGHTY all of the time. I mean ALL of the time. He was hitting and biting and kicking and the tantrums he was throwing were honestly overwhelming. They would leave both him and I in tears by the time the day was done.

But then it started being more than just him being naughty. He could not make a decision to save his life. He would have anxiety attacks over which pair of underwear he was going to put on or if he wanted apple juice or milk and no matter what we decided on once it was happening it was all wrong. And I mean actual anxiety attacks where he is shaking and crying and feeling scared and confused.

His tantrums were not normal tantrums, either. They were violent. Toward us, toward himself and anyone else in his path. He was gone when he'd throw these fits. He would repeatedly say I want my mommy as I would tell him Buddy, I'm mommy i am right here. It was terrifying. He was confused about what had happened and a lot of times didn't recall most of his fit.

Finally I broke down and reached out to my sister in law. She suggested we mention it at his 3 year appt and ask to see an OT. IT HAS HELPED SO MUCH!

MD's little brother has sensory disorder. He is over stimulated easily. He is an extremely intelligent little boy. He can count to 100, loves to sing us songs and is very verbal and speaks better than a lot of the children in MD's class. He has zero developmental delays and we are really thankful for that. But in certain situations we have to be accommodating! One example, his sisters choir concert. He had a total meltdown. He was SO SCARED of all the kids there. He repeatedly begged to go home because of all the kids and I, again, thought oh he's just being naughty. Then music started and he was shaking and crying telling us it was to loud and he just wanted to go home. I feel awful now.

I truly don't think this will affect him much in the long run as long as we help him find ways to cope or more importantly prevent his anxiety early on in life. His teachers would have never guessed he was having such a hard time and a lot of my friends thought I was crazy for thinking he was naughty. Oh, but those he trusts have seen his anxiety attacks and have seen his meltdowns. His therapist explained when I asked why he was SO SHY and so reserved at school and then just EXPLODING at home that he is anxious and scared at school. He doesn't want to let anyone down or be in trouble but he feels safe and comfortable at home and lets all of his bottled up anxiety out here.  It is truly so sad to see a 3 year old with severe anxiety and we are committed to parent in ways that are productive and proactive. His therapist is an angel, he absolutely loves her(which is rare for him. he's very selective on people he likes and will typically be honest about his feelings, ha) and we have had 2 whole days this week alone where we didn't have massive melt downs(little fits here and there and night terrors but I can live with that ;) ). Part of it is us being proactive and patient but more so he is doing so much better himself!

Wish us luck on this new journey with him as it will bring peace to our whole family. We are so glad we get to share it all, the good and the bad, with you. Much Love.