"Buhbye Conaan" A Love Story

(Video proof of Colin's adoration will go  up next week)

Yesterday Scarlet and Leila had a play date at the gymnastics center.  Sooner than not though, poor little Leila became the third wheel on Scarlet's first date. Someone should have told Leila that she was supposed to be put out by this because she seemed to handle it just fine.

That same someone should have also alerted Scarlet to what was going on as well.  

In fact, out of the three of them I think the little boy who joined us was really the only one invested making more of the experience. What for the girls was a fun hour of bouncing, climbing and falling, was an epic love story filled with suspense, triumph and ultimate loss for him.

His name was Colin and he's three years old.  Just like the beginning of any good love story, he spotted Scarlet from across the room.  Enamored, he dashed as quickly as he could over the play mats and balance beams to be by her side. The kid got within 4 inches of her face but for all Scarlet cared, he could have been invisible. *cue Mr. Cellophane from the Chicago soundtrack*  For the rest of the play date Colin was always at hand, gently patting Scarlet's back every few seconds and attempting to usher her out of harms way.  Gym equipment with five year olds flying about are a hazardous combo.  Where ever Scarlet went, Colin was there.  When she went to the climbing wall he did his best to give her a boost and then scampered up wall as fast as he could with big hopes to him impress her.  Sadly by the time he looked back she had already moved on to a new toy.  When she took a tumble (purposefully mind you, on tumble mats) he darted over to her rescue.   Whenever he caught her eye for a second he would seize the moment and toss himself into barrel rolls, kicks and general flailing of arms - anything to impress.  Sadly though, none of it did.  Scarlet continued blindly on her way, without batting an eye at dear Colin.

 I have several poorly shot pictures from the play date but they do show how little Colin and his orange shirt were never more than a foot or two away from my girl.  

When he recognized that I was her mother, he decided that maybe I needed to be impressed as well.  I introduced myself.

"I'm Scarlet's mommy. What's your name?" I asked

"Caw-win" he said

Then he quickly jumped up, furrowed his brow and showed me all his best karate moves.  He chopped at the air furiously, then froze.

"Oh my, that is impressive."  I said

 He stared intently into my eyes and then ran around in a circle 3 times as fast as his little legs would carry him.

"Yes Colin, I see you have many skills.  You have proven yourself a worthy suiter."

He did his best almost-splits, a Chuck Norris style somersault and then sprinted away in Scarlet's direction once again.

Remember, this had been going on for about 40 minutes and Scarlet still hadn't really acknowledged his existence.  I could see his little brain working.  

He had made a few advances toward an actual hug but just couldn't bring himself to do it.  There was the time where she was climbing out of the ball pit and he went for it but it just resulted in two bonked heads and a confused Scarlet.  That threw off his game a bit.  But then he saw it, his chance!  Scarlet was looking out the window at a half deflated sad little orange balloon.     

"A Bawoon a bawooon!" she shouted excitedly.

She's into balloons? he thought. I could be into balloons.  

He ran to the window and squatted beside her.

"A bawoooon!" she said to him.

She'stalkingtome! Shestalkingtome! he thought.

This was it.  He stood and went in for his big move, gently placing his arm around her.

"A bawoon!" Scarlet said.

Colin nodded enthusiastically and they both stared out the window.

Meanwhile (for any of you who are concerned) our little third wheel Leila girl was flying around on ziplines, climing rock walls and bouncing to and fro.  So she was coo'.

All too soon it was time to clear out of the gym.  Scarlet hugged Leila and said her goodbyes. Colin's eyes were as wide as saucers while Scarlet put on her shoes and headed toward the door. I stopped her before we left pointed out the little boy with the orange shirt and said 

"Go tell Colin goodbye too Scarlet."

"Buhbye Conaan."  she said while she waved her floppy little Beeble arm at him.

Happily,  she took my hand and trotted out of the building asking about lunch plans. I looked back and saw dear Colin.  

His grandmother was fussing over him with his jacket and shoes while he unblinkingly watched Scarlet walk out of his life.

But Who Really Won? - Midnight Bitsandclips

Still not sure if I can claim this victory since in the end she took up 99% of MY bed while I slept with one eye open all night!  

Make it Rain

Today my friend Renae posted something on facebook that stopped me in my ever-mindlessly-scrolling-facebookian tracks.  I HAD to share it here with you.  I'm going to straight up cut and paste exactly what Renae wrote because she really explained it well.

"For those of you looking for a doable way to save some cash this year, check out this graphic. By increasing your deposit/savings by $1 each week, you can have a nice little chunk of change by the end of the year. Imagine if you doubled the deposit? I recommend a special piggy bank or separate account to specifically hold this money. This is a great way into easing into weekly money savings. 

If you get to a point where you can't add on that extra dollar, maintain what you are doing from the week prior instead of giving up. Even if you got to week 30 and you found that was your max you could contribute, but you kept contributing that $30 for the rest of the year you would have $1125!

Same scenario at week 20/$20 till end of year would give you $850! 

This is doable for most, no matter if you can go all the way or have to hold at $5/week ($250!)."

Graphic source: Healthy Habit Girl on FB.

Brilliant right?  If you're nodding your head 'yes' and wished you would have started on week one - don't worry!  All you have to do is plunk $45 bucks in your savings account or envelope and you're right on track for week 9!  I'm in, are you?  I'm hoping to get over-achievery in this challenge.  We'll see if I stick to it by the number I report back here with on week 52.  It might get tricky when we start hitting the higher numbered weeks but I'm going to shoot for it.  Like Renae said, it's a place to get you going and if you can't keep raising the number past a certain point just hold fast, savings is savings!

Thank you Renae for sharing this great idea and lending your words to me for this blog post!  Renae is renaelaunderlife on youtube.  If you love watching people who cherish the gift of pregnancy and new parenthood - she's your girl.  She could be the poster child for pregnancy glow.  Renae is expecting her first baby, a son and he's coming very soon!  She waited a long time for this bundle of wonderful so I'm super excited to watch her glow intensify as she lays eyes on that new baby of hers.  Right now she's doing pregnancy vlogs so be sure to check her out!

Time for me to go transfer $45.00 into savings and get the money rolling!

Potty Talk - The Dream

This past week and upcoming month of my life is dedicated to the bathroom remodel.  I promise not to overwhelm you with updates even though it is entirely overwhelming my world.  For the next 6-8 weeks or so know that where ever you are, if you think of me in my little corner of the world, I'm probably talking about, shopping for, or occupying a bathroom right at that very moment. :)  

 This is post number one our small bathroom revamp. 
 Here are all my grand dreams and their grand price tags.  Let's check in once the reno is complete (which seems like it will never happen right now) and see what of the dreams were realized and what was sacrificed for our budget.

Want:

Deep soaking tub (the one we have right now might as well be a foot bath)

New window

White subway tile bath surround (I'm aware of the upkeep but we're going to brave forth with the white)

Pedestal sink (most people want storage space, I want floor space!  We need spots to stick step stools and potty chairs)

Brushed Nickel hardware and fixtures (nice faucets and shower fixtures are crazy expensive)

Inset built in shelving with contrasting tile/backsplash detail

Bead board wall detail with small shelving on the chair rail

A non-tile flooring that I don't hate (so far I really dislike everything)

A bright pop of color on the walls

New shelving over toilet

New vanity lighting

New vented fan

Ring hand towel holder

New rugs and shower curtain

New baseboards 

Sooooooo basically the only thing that stays is the toilet and I'd still like to get a new toilet seat for it as well.  I mean really, if the rest of the room is getting all dolled up for the party the least we could do is put a new top hat on the john, right?

If I could just saunter into Restoration Hardware type schmancy stores and take my pick of the best items we're looking at least an $8,000 dollar renovation.  We're going to try and do everything in under $1,500, so I already see my dreams fizzling a wee bit.  Let the adventure begin!

Here's my inspiration board.  Get a feel for what I'm feelin'.

Yep, that's what 8+ grand looks like.

Once I start making purchases I'll be back and let you know how well I'm doing with the budget and if I found any inexpensive doups for some of my dream plans.
Have any of you made it through a small space remodel?  Any words of wisdom for me?  Tell me about your dream designs and big plans for your homes.  I'd love to hear them!

Nearly a three-fer! Mini Blog, Quick Pic & a Borrowed Vlog!

What I really wanna post in this space today is a vlog but I know that people would rather see a pic or a post of some sort so let's make a deal.  I'll give you a pic of Scarlet as I found her last night, being waaaay to cool for her polka-dot jimjams IF you promise you'll then watch the video below.  

Wanna shake on it?  Okay.

Man, such a cool dude.  

Here's the video, it's from MrsFineFettle's channel and it's a great vlog of our weekend away at the farm from the kiddos perspective.  Krystal took them for a walk that turned into quite the tot adventure!  Watch and see!

It's okay to be impressed

Ryan and I have been a little crazy in love today. Sneaking kisses while out shopping, laughing till we can't breath, stealing little side conversations while we're out with family, etc. This twitterpated behavior ALWAYS makes us both crave decadent treats. It's 10:00pm at night and the two of us just snuck away from our mothers (who are still chatting furiously away in the livingroom) to hunt down late night desserts. For us, flirting is horrible on the waistline. nomnomnom

When we came home we started baking and goofing around.

 I ambushed him from behind and pretended to take a swing at him.  He blocked my attack and then put on his suave guy face.

Ry - "Yea, ya see that?  That's an orange belt move." 

Me - "Whenever I picture you taking those karate classes I envision you being the only twenty something in a room full of 9 year olds."

Ry - "First of all it was Kung Fu and there were some 10 year olds there sooooo..." *shakes his head with swagger*

Me - *playfully swats at him again, this time it lands* "Ooh where was your orange belt there? huh huh?

Ry - "Yea well that was a green belt hit.  After orange is green, then after green is blue and then brown and then the big money - the black belt. *pops his collar* So I was basically half way to being half way.  It's okay to be impressed."

That kinda goonery makes me swoon.  I love a man that isn't too proud to laugh at himself!

Don't Blink!

This is the girl before bed last night.  She tromped
around the house in her Minnie hat and mittens

Ya know how kids have growth spurts where they just seem to shoot up over night?  The same thing happens with mental spurts as well.  Ew, mental spurts.  What I mean is, one night my 'was-just-an-infant' will go to bed and the next morning I'll wake up to my 'nearly-school-age-big-girl'.  It's like instead of sleeping they spent all night working vocab words, sentence structures and conversational tactics.  This morning when Scarlet woke up she had an entirely new, more mature air to the way she responded in conversation.  She used new phrases, created more complex sentences and executed them as if she'd known how all along.  Someone must have passed along the memo and let her know that now she's two thus giving her permission to slip into her new big girl roll, leaving her old baby ways behind her. Who ever that was better hide because momma gonna punch them in the gullet.  It's getting to the point where I feel like my days of calling her "the baby" are quite numbered.   Her sweet baby babble is giving way to proper use of language.  For example, while dressing her this morning she said "Uh-oh Mama, wait."  when I asked what was wrong she said "My diaper off."  Sure enough, I double checked and her diaper was unfastened and sinking to her knees. Okaaaay, I know that's nothing worth alerting the media over (she says as she alerts social media) but I'm her mom and I want to remember these kinda things, so you as my reader have get to deal with it*. ;)
The big deal for me was in the small things within that interaction. She's never said the word diaper before much less acknowledged that she wears them.  So I was really impressed when she calmly stopped me from dressing her while clearly communicating the problem.  I fixed her up and she said "Der, I fixths it!  Dat's better!"  Had this same thing happened before she would have just said "uh oh" and "oh no" repeatedly till I figured it out for myself.  Other little things that Ryan and I have accepted as typical Beeble behavior seem to have shifted as well.  Her go-to answer of an excited "OKAAY!" whenever she's asked if she'd like to do something has been replaced with a more subdued (but still sweet)"yeeaa, awwight."  

I decided that this was worth blogging for a two reasons.  

1)  Kids seem to grow up when we're not looking and I'm on a hunt to capture these growth moments.  Maybe then it wont take me by surprise when one day I open my eyes and see my daughter as a grown woman looking back at me.  They say if you blink you miss it so I think blogging is my attempt to not blink. Huh, all of a sudden children growing into adults seems eerily similar to stone angels on the attack. ;)

2)  If you are a soon to be or someday parent this is one of those things that nobody tells you about.  I'm not exaggerating when I say they all of a sudden seem to wake up knowing how to do things that seem leaps and bounds ahead of what they were doing the day before.  It's part of the adventure of parenting and it's fracking amazing to watch.  Yeaaa, I fracked atcha, sorry but it needed the emphasis that frack provided (Now I've said it three times over, obnoxious right?).  Even if it doesn't sound amazing now, when it's your own kid doing it, you too just may want to miss sleep in order to write about it to strangers on the internet.  It's a big deal.

*So to you, who kindly read though a proud mom documenting a not so momentousness milestone, I'm super appreciative of you, really really.

Strawberry Shortcake Party - Details in a Nutshell

Once again most of Scarlet's birthday was a big paper craft project for me.  

Here's what's pictured below:  

Hand stitched birthday crown
Strawberry inspired outfit from Gymboree
Vintage Strawberry Shortcake doll (her big bday gift, found on Ebay)

****

Coloring books from the dollar store, Strawberry crayon rolls (from paperfromheaven) and pencil favors

Hand drawn welcome poster

Inside of crayon rolls

Strawberry Balloons

Wooden strawberry beads made into jewelry for a party activity

****

Table setting with handmade hats (I made a how-to video here)

Shortcake kabobs

Strawberry muddy buddies (I didn't love these, but the kids and my husband did!)

Lemon and strawberry layer cake

Love Potion Punch

Cheese with red and green  tooth pic flags

****

Long shot of the dining set

Strawberry milk served in mason jars, topped with cupcake liners and paper straws

Strawberry banner made from dotted red paper and ribbon

Scarlet had a 'berry' wonderful birthday!

Birthday Vlog

Pictures of each crafty detail will be up tomorrow!

Rawrg and Meh.

When I reach the end of my life I wonder how much time I'll have spent searching for things.  I'm guessing years.  As of now, I'm on the hunt for the memory card that has most of Scarlet's birthday footage.  I've looked high and low, here and there, to and fro but that tiny little bugger is no where to be found!  Rawrg I tell you!  rawrg.

If I don't find it this weekend then I'll just use what I have.  Meh.

Anyfloop - Here's a Quintessential Picklebean pic
 to tide you over while I go upturn everything in sight... again.  

My Heart

Excuse You!

Easy Party Hat Tutorial - DIY

Happy Scarlet Day!

I'm frantically finishing crafts for Scarlet's second birthday party (bday today, family party tonight, toddler party tomorrow) so dear bloggitty, there is no time for you!  Scoot aside kid!  

P.S.  Between the way this doodle turned out on her poster board and the way the crown turned out - I say screw "measure twice cut once"  winging it with no plan and sharpies in hand is the way to go! 

 I thought I'd end up with something that resembled Strawberry Shortcake's less attractive sister,

 but look - that's totally her!  :)

Trashed the house but made a treasure!

I wanted to post about the mad cleaning spree I went on yesterday and show you all my befores and afters but then I trashed the place once again making this!  

Ack!  I love it!  

Side affect of my crafting is that Idestroy evry inch around me, always.

Left: me, covered in embroidery thread   Right: A small example of what the entire living room now looks like

We went to Ryan's Dad's house tonight so Scarlet got to christen her crown.  

She loved it and didn't want to take it off all night!  

Old Navy Tot Haul

Gramma Nini (Ry's mom) had some Old Navy vouchers to we took Scarlet on a spring shopping spree.  According to the receipt we spent a $62 and saved $67!  Good sales!  For the first time, we bought all big girl clothes.  Not a onesie in the bunch. I would wear nearly all of these outfits!  We tried them on her when we got home (which she loved and did a Beeble runway dance in each outift).  She looked like she needed over sized glasses and an infinity scarf prancing around in her socialite garb.  The baby in her is swiftly slipping away.  I'm really proud of myself for taking it all in stride.  Internally I do feel the urge to chuck myself on the ground and bawl over the loss of MY BAAAAAABEEEEEEEY!!!!
But so far, I'm playing it cool.  Snaps for me.

Not everything is pictured here because some items weren't available online.  If you watch the vlogs they will all make appearances in the Beeble OOTD videos at some point.  I've noticed the colors are a bit off online as well.  For instance the oh-so-soft capri sweats in the bottom left are a rich navy blue, not so electric like pictured and the blue flutter top next to the sweats is a muted cornflower blue.  Anyway, you get the idea.  The little coral top has sail boats and hearts, the blue long sleeve top has deer and the other two prints are birds.

A Festival of Aaawwwwwwwwwwww

{Old Navy haul will be live tomorrow}

Played Out

Yesterday, after Scarlet's play date with Leila (giggles, tackles, park, swings, slide, more giggles, dance party, monkeys on the bed) she crashed at 6:00pm on the living room floor.  Ten minutes earlier she was bouncing in and out of the kitchen telling me stories and asking me questions in her Beeble babble language .  All of sudden the house was still.  I stopped in my tracks, brushed off the acorn squash that was squirshed between my fingers and went to see what my little girl was up to.  

If you've seen the vlog (linked below) then you know how I found her, zonked out to the world.  Scarlet has never fallen asleep without a fight unless she's in her own bed, in her own room.  On vacation I've tried playing movies for her as we settled into bed, thinking her lids would get heavy and she'd give in.  Buuut nope!  I find myself blinking and trying to stay awake while she completes the movie.  So it was really out of character to find her like that!  Not only did she sleep for about 45 minutes right there, but then she grabbed a snuggle nap with Daddy on the couch for another hour.  I was able to get a few bites of dinner in her before we put her into her own bed where she continued to sleep until 10:00am the next morning.  The girl was officially played out!  

She's Aptly Named

I started my blog because I wanted a place where I could keep all of the lovely things that were disappearing into my Facebook archives.  This is a place where I can revisit any of those memories at any point.  Lou just wrote something on FB about us that I want to keep, so I'm stashing it here.

"The modern world is INSANE. I have a friend, who is the same age, has a daughter the same age, has the same humour, the same tastes and the same sort of husband but lives on the opposite side of the planet. We've never met to hug but we've spent years talking for hours each week, we've laughed, cried, pondered and debated and yet we each just live in each other's computer. If you had told someone this 20 years ago they'd have never have got it. 

I know there is a lot of bad and negative that comes with the internet, but think how much happy people have gained through it as well.

True human happiness made through a machine. That's modern magic if you ask me. x"

We just got done chatting now, and it's 1:35 in the morning here for me. So excuse me whilst I babble on about my friend for a bit.  I do need to go to bed, I have to be up in five hours.  Let's go stream of thought style and not worry about editing this one okay?

Louise and I often talk about how crazy it is that we found each other. Most of you probably found me through her YouTube channel (here) or her blog (here).  I'm kinda like the kid that some proud parent forces you to admire pictures of. She pimps me out any chance she can and I often think that those who follow her direction are left scratching their heads when they land on my vlogs. She's been my biggest supporter in the little corner of this online world that I've carved out for myself.
We've known one another over a year now and in that short time we've shared SO much life.  I watched her channel grow from 12,000 subscribers to well over 100,000. We've watched our daughters learn to walk and talk and now talk to each other!  Louise has taught Scarlet songs and Darcy has taught Scarlet how to say "Oh dear!" with a British accent no less. They both recognize one another and Scarlet often asks if we can call "Ooweeze and Deh-see".
 We're both wives, mothers, vloggers, and giggling idiots so we 'get on' wonderfully (and our husbands get along too).  We've filled hours with nonsense and laughed so hard we've fallen out of screen on more than one occasion. We often leave Skype on and just casually chat as we go about our chores or browse the web (as we're doing now, she doesn't know I'm writing this though. It will surely make her schmershy and squinch her nose up when she sees it.  Then she'll scold me for posting that pic of us in our jammies, sans makeup on the internet).  It's like always having a best friend around the house.  

Yes, it is very strange that a person I've never met is someone I see more often than those than live down the street.  Technology, like the internet and skype have certainly redefined the term "a strange new world".  Even though there are oceans and time zones between us, she is one of my closest friends.  The only pictures I have of us together look like the one above.   I have high hopes that someday that will change!  (To those that know us both, can you even imagine what that would be like?!!)  That girl truly is a sprinkle of glitter in my everyday, as I know she is to many of you as well. Cheesy as all hell, but it is what it is.  She is aptly named.

 She's my people, and I love her.