Ah!!! 8!!!!!!

She did it!

She turned 8 this morning!!!

We enjoyed pink pancakes with M&M's and whip cream per her birthday breakfast request.

She received the traditional G-GPa and G-GMa birthday song phone call.

She chose her birthday dress and subsequent picture day outfit.

She picked out her hairstyle for the day.

She wanted a real hair braid headband.

She got to take her favorite pink icing cookies to share with her class.

She gave me her obligatory pretty smile.

Followed quickly by the "why are you taking SO MANY PICTURES?!" glare.

So when I turned around to walk away she surprisingly demanded that I photograph her "new" talent.

"Look Mama Velvet! I can do the one eyebrow raised trick like Daddy!"

"Did you get it?"

"What about now?"

"Do you see my one eyebrow trick?"

"You HAVE to have seen it!"

Oh sweet pea.

I saw the 1 eyebrow trick 8 years ago today when your Daddy showed me with pride the most beautiful baby girl he'd ever seen.

We can't wait to see so many more!

Happy Birthday Lily Monster!

And many more!

Lily's Last Day of 7...

Miss Lilyanna is turning 8 in just 2 short hours.

When. How. Why. No.

If you had told me 8 years ago today that my life would be as amazing as it is because of this little girl I wouldn't have believed you!

Lily would LOVE to tell you all about her very last day of 7!

So here goes...

This morning I ate cocoa puffs AND captain crunch.

It was very yummy!

School was very fun.

I am on a new chapter of my book, Juney B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren.

I haven't started my other book, Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, P.S. So Does May.

I got them from the library a few days ago.

I'm really enjoying my books!

   

My sister straightened her hair today and I wanted to take a picture with her.

It was a lot like mine and I didn't even recognize her!

Hahaha!

I blew up big balloons and tied them ALL BY MYSELF!

That was the first time I ever did that!

I am very proud.

I took a picture of my Mama Velvet, Addison, and Scarlett.

Addison took this picture of Mama Velvet and I.

We are making silly faces with our tongues!

As you can see, it's very funny!

My sisters and I took a picture together as well!

I like taking pictures with my sisters.

Addison didn't want to but Scarlett loves taking pictures with me!

I saw a beautiful sunset out of our back window.

I like our new house and I reeeaaaally liked seeing a beautiful sunset on my last day of 7!

The other day I saw a double rainbow AND I got to share about it at school!

I watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

We had finished the 2nd book!

I glared at Mama Velvet when I saw her taking this picture.

Then I smiled because I remembered that I'm going to be 8 tomorrow!

The end!

(Mama Velvet says till tomorrow!)

No for real... I get to write about being 8 tomorrow!

Lady Legos

Lily was gifted some Legos yesterday at her birthday party and she is in LOVE.

She did the whole thing all by herself and couldn't be more proud or more determined to find all the legos in the world and build them.

"I even did it without the instructions, cause I'm super smart and awesome like that."

We're always super proud of her.

Probably because she IS awesome and amazing!

Deuces

I tried to write a blog post this last week about all of the girls rooms.

Instead "deuces" happened.

Pretty much every photo I took Addison and/or Lily screamed out "Deuces!" and gave me their most "gangster" pose.

So much for showing off their almost completed rooms.

They need carpet before winter hits to hold in some heat in their daylight basement rooms but other then that and a few wall decorations I have yet to finish they are super happy with their very own rooms.

Scarlett doesn't get in on this post because when I asked her to pose for me in her room she yelled "NO" at me.

The deuce's have been fun with that one.

This Year...

Between the kid that puts a jug of milk on my face in the morning and demands straws, the kid that yells about her dolls pink boobies in the middle of a child filled church preschool, and the kid that wants to only make silly faces for any and ALL portraits...

this years gonna be a good one guys.

I can just feel it.

Miscommunications

Potty training is happening in this house right now.

Not because I've been an awesome Mom who's completely on top of this and on a strict bathroom schedule like I did with Miss Addison.

Nope.

This one is all Scarlett.

It's been a hectic year with buying a house and my business and many other not so great excuses.

So Pull Ups have won out in the Harriot household.

That is until a week or so ago when Scarlett decided all on her own that she wanted to potty like the big girls!

I'm pretty proud of my little lady.

Accidents still happen of course but they are few and far between and she definitely isn't happy about them!

Which also gives me the opportunity to take photos like this...

OH YEAH.

Welcome to children embarrassment 101.

I can't wait to show this to her boyfriends.

Scarlett has yet to give us any embarrassing potty stories so I feel inclined to share one of my favorite potty training stories of Lily's.

Lily had been successfully potty training for a while and was learning how to clean herself correctly on her own.  My mantra with her at the time was "please remember to wipe front to back" so as to ensure she was actually clean. After my 1,000th repeat of this statement she finally asked me why I always instructed her to do it a specific way.

Once explained to her why it was important she told me that Daddy never told her to wipe front to back, so I explained to her that Daddy was a big boy and that boys had different "pee pee's" so they didn't have to worry about wiping a specific way like girls do.

That was the end of our potty training conversation.

Or so I thought.

Fast forward 3 hours to when Daddy arrives home from a long day of work.

There stands the sweetest 2 year old Paul had ever seen declaring loudly...

"Mama Velvet says you have a big Pee Pee!"

Me.

Mortified.

HORRIBLY misquoted.

My dear, sweet husband, simply responds...

"She's right."

I'm pretty sure I died right then and there.

Speak Joy Into Your Existence.

This last year has held some truly amazing moments for our family.

This last year has held some truly devastating moments for our family.

Both of these statements are true.

I have felt more joy and more pain than I could have ever wished for in my life.

When you become a parent, and I truly believe I became a parent the moment my stepdaughter took her very first breath, your life stops being about what you want or how you feel.

People say it all the time, but there is absolutely nothing that can prepare you for the true aftermath.

I like to think of my blog as a family journal.

A place to hold our memories, good and bad, to share with our children as we get older.

I have tried so hard to not permeate this space with any of the negative that happens in our family life but I feel as though that would be slightly dishonest.

Dear Lilyanna, Addison, and Scarlett,

Your Father and I love you so very much.

Thank you for always loving us in return.

When God gifted us with each of you, we made a promise to love, protect, cherish, and help you grow into amazing women. To be your providers and surround you with family and people that would uplift you and never tear you down.  To provide a home that you would thrive in.  To provide you a safe space to express yourself and your feelings.  To not only tell you what love should look like, but to be an example of love by our actions.  To give of ourselves and place our needs second to yours.

We as parents have had to make some very difficult decisions.

One's that people tell us you will "understand some day".

I know in my heart that this is said out of love and compassion but my wish for you three is that you never have to understand.  Not because we don't want you to know our failures, but because we hope you never have to feel the pain that leads up to them.

Through this last year we have had to make decisions that have hurt you and we are so sorry.  As parents, sometimes we have to make choices that you can't always understand and that you won't be happy about, but that need to be made.  Not everyone will agree with us, and that is fine, but in the end you are always what is most important and we will make decisions based solely on what we believe is best for you.  We will stand strong together in our beliefs and raise you three consistently with our actions and our words so that you know what it means to be a strong woman, a good friend, a supportive wife, and a selfless mother.

We will succeed and we will fail.

In our successes may we celebrate with you and lift you up so that you too may learn to succeed in life.

In our failures may we be humble, apologize, learn, and grow.  May you learn that life isn't always in the depths but that spending time in the valley's grow you as a person.  May you learn that your successes come with hard work and struggle, because in a life without bitterness, the sweet doesn't taste as heavenly.  May you know that life is exactly what you make of it.

Please see the good in life because there is so much more good than bad.

 Please be the lights you were made to be and shine into the darkness.

Please create joy wherever you go.

You three are your father and I's greatest Joys.