way.too.tiny

little girls bathing suits...


everyone has their own opinion. i realize that. we've been ok with brookelyn wearing 2 piece bathing suits from the time she was a baby, simply because we thought that she looked cute. when she was 5 or so we started to buy more one piece bathing suits for her, for a little more coverage. and then, she started growing AGAIN!


brookelyn has always been on the tall & slender side and it got to the point that it was VERY rare to find a one piece bathing suit that fit her properly. most either sat too low so that her chest area would show or they were too baggy & saggy in the butt and crotch areas. so, we'd end up with 2 piece bathing suits. some bikinis, some tankinis. we swim a LOT in the summer, like nearly every day at my moms house. so she's usually got 6-10 suits.


today while matt & i were out shopping we went to look at the bathing suits at sports chalet. i immediately spotted a bright, cheery, yellow floral O'neill 2 piece. Cute, right?


WRONG!! take a look at the bottoms!!!

<--- i was APPALLED when i noticed how tiny cut the back of the bottoms are! There's NO way those bottoms would cover her whole rear end!

to compare, let's look at a similar suit we saw by Roxy. the bottoms on this suit would completely cover her rear end!








as far as matt & i could tell, the o'neill bottoms were FAR too narrow in the back for ANY young girl, let alone an 8 year old to wear. we'll definitely be steering clear of o'neill girls bathing suits from here on out. there is NO way that small of a cut is appropriate! we even looked at a couple of the o'neill one piece suits, thinking they'd be better, but nope. crazy narrow backside coverage. horrible and totally disgusting. 


i can't help but wonder why the retail industry is so willing to make bathing suits that are so completely inappropriate for little girls. last year i remember a big stink being made about abercrombie & fitch having little girls bikinis with padding in the tops. and this year, these crazy tiny bottoms. 
thank goodness for brands like gap, old navy, roxy, and target! 


happy monday friends!
i'd love to know what you think about this!

Influenster & Free Stuff!

Earlier this month I received another box in the mail from Influenster. I'd completely forgotten that it was coming, so I was excited when I got a package. After all, who doesn't love fun mail? Especially when it's FREE stuff?

 This bottle of Palmolive Fresh Sponge dish soap was inside that box. And, a sponge (that my 3 yr old immediately grabbed and I've yet to find).

We aren't anywhere near being out of our dish soap, so I stuck the Palmolive under the sink and figured we'd use it when our current bottle was empty. And then today, we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous spring weather and wash the cars! The kids threw on their bathing suits and grabbed the car washing sponges.

Soon I realized that the car washing soap was gone! We'd used it up. And that's when I remembered the Palmolive under the sink. If I trust it on my nice dishes, it should be ok on the car right?

Cohen sure loved all of the bubbles!

And Brookelyn was just happy to be wearing her new bathing suit. But, both kids LOVE washing the car and are always willing to help. It makes me happy that we can all do something like this together. 

Matt wasn't thrilled that I was taking pictures of him washing the car. But, I think he's kinda handsome so I had to throw one in. ;)

And in the end, the car sparkled! Apparently Palmolive Fresh Sponge dish soap works just as well on cars as it does on dishes.
It smells really great too!



We had such a fun Saturday today. Sanded some projects that we're working on, had lunch with my Dad, did some shopping at Old Navy, and my then my Dad spoiled the kids with some fun toys, movies & clothes. We spent the afternoon cleaning out the garage and of course washing the cars. Fun day with my hubby and kids! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend friends!


If you haven't signed up for Influenster, you might go and do it now! A couple of months ago I received my Love VoxBox from Influenster and was so happy with the fun items that were inside!

InstaFriday

hello, friends! how was your week? thanks for stopping by for instafriday. if you haven't linked up with jeannett, you should. we had a good week. although, not very productive. but, sometimes that's alright. the house is clean, kids have been bathed and fed, laundry is done. so, i'm calling it a good week again. 

justin bieber. no really, that's what he calls himself when he sings in the tub. that plastic fake microphone is his favorite toy right now. so funny to watch this kid. he just loves to sing!

peach iced tea and vodka. perfect way to wind down on a saturday evening. 

or, any evening for that matter.

another #merightnow picture from instagram. our lilacs are blooming in the front yard. 

a sure sign of spring. 

sunday morning brookelyn & i both (unplanned) wore our creme de la gems to church.

aren't those both cute? please ignore my wrinkly hands.

sunday evening we celebrated GG's (my grandma) 75th birthday at my moms. my aunt & uncle from huntington beach were able to come up with 2 of their 3 kids. brookelyn & my cousin brian are exactly 3 weeks apart in age! so much fun watch them play & grow together. 

this boy loves the way the nebulizer mask makes his voice sound. 

luckily, he's not had to use it lately. 

he was so funny running around with it on though, growling at me all day!

did you wear your dad or grandpa's t-shirts to bed? my sister & i did and loved doing so. 

daddy & grandpa's t-shirts are now my kids' go to pj's. 

starbucks and target. ALONE. 

thanks to this cloudy weather all week, we've had some absolutely gorgeous spring skies.

decided that my sisters blog needed to be prettier. yikes, it's a lot of hard work. 

especially when you don't know what you're doing! So excited though about this journey.

we're in the midst of planning a big blog giveaway fundraiser for the intended parents!

Hope you have a nice weekend! Be sure to come back next week and check out the big Fundraiser-Giveaway! 

What I love Wednesday..

linking up with krystina.

Pinterest.
Yes, still.
I haven't done a pinterest post in quite a while. So, today I thought I'd share some of the things I've pinned on pinterest and have finally made &/or bought!

my mom found a stacked basket similar to this at a thrift store for me. i spray painted it yellow and it holds my trim right now. But, soon will hold some other crafting supplies, like spools of thread. you'll see it when i finally post my family room re-do reveal!

{via}

fabulous color, right? loving this! they happened to have it at the salon i got a pedicure at the other day. 

so, my toes are this pretty color.

{via}

matt makes the kids breakfast for dinner about once a month. the kids LOVED these pancakes. 

..BUT man were they sweet. they seemed much more like dessert than dinner. 

{via}

this rice, zucchini, red pepper dish was delicious. all of us loved it!

{via}

i found this a long time ago and we've been doing it ever since. best way to keep sheets tidy, EVER.

{via}

my pallet art won't be exactly like this, but similar. matt pulled a pallet apart and cut the wood for me. and i stained the wood a darker shade. now i've got to put it together and paint it!

{via}

this print is precious and FREE! it's already printed & will be on my wall soon.

{via}

do you love vintage finds? i do! i found this shelf on etsy and fell in love. i actually spray painted it a lighter shade of yellow when i got it. soon you'll see pictures of it on my wall! 

{via}

thanks for coming by today! 

also, if you'd like to follow along with an amazing surrogacy story the links below will take you to my sister Caryn's blog and our friend Ali's blog! 

my pod. their pea - Caryn's blog

path to our miracle - Ali's blog

issues..

we've all got 'em, right? 

the week before last i was crazy productive! not even kidding.

i got SO much accomplished not only around the house, but blogging, spending time with the kids, etc.

that week was amazing and i felt good all week. only a few times did my anxiety pretty bad. 

my house was spotless all day every day, minus the little messes the kids made here and there. dishes were done, laundry was clean.

and then came another monday. my planner was full of things to do and i was ready to go, when meagan mentioned that she'd have tons of free time in the evenings to hang out & prep for the Crafting Slumber Party, i was excited! we'd finally get to try and accomplish so many things that needed to be done and i'd be able to help her get her (already) gorgeous house ready for the big event in may. 

but, late nights at meagan's turned into lazy mornings at home. lazy mornings at home, turned into afternoons AND evenings at meagan's. 

before i knew it i'd spent pretty much my entire week at her house. it was awesome and so much fun. especially seeing things we'd talked about for months actually transform into these amazing & beautiful spaces. 

friday evening came and i opened my planner. upon realizing that i'd accomplished next to nothing, my anxiety flew through the roof. if you've ever suffered from anxiety, then you know this is NOT fun. 

for a few brief moments i felt like a total failure. 

like i'd failed as a wife and mother. 

not much time went by until reality set in and i remembered that i wasn't doing NOTHING.

i was helping my friend and He had other plans for me. 

meagan needed this time, to get her house ready and she needed my help. 

my family was fine without me. the house is still standing (and still mostly clean), the kids were fed and bathed. matt was fine, in fact.. i'm not sure he even missed me. ok, maybe a little. but, the poor guy never gets much time to himself so i'm sure he enjoyed his evenings without me a little.

when i pulled my planner out this afternoon and saw everything that i didn't get done last week and moved it all to this week, again.. my anxiety got a little out of control. 

the kids were outside playing in the sprinklers and matt had run to the store for a few things, so i had some quiet time. and i prayed. something that i can't say i'd have done 6 months ago, to cope with the horrible anxiety. 

all of that to say that this is quite possibly my favorite scripture ever. 

i really need to have this hanging somewhere in my home as a reminder that no matter what it is that my planner "says" i'm doing, really it's not as important as what He says I need to do.

{via}

this past week my friend needed me and i needed her. and yes, i missed my family, but that doesn't mean that i didn't have an awesome time. i feel like i'm slowly learning how to deal with my anxiety. yes, i take meds and yes, i need them. when i'm not on them, it's so much worse and almost unbearable for my family and i. i long for the day that my i can let my husband lay facing me in bed, and maybe even put his face up against mine. i'd give anything to be able to snuggle under the covers with cohen & brookelyn when they ask me to hide with them. 
those things probably sound so silly, but when you can't do them without feeling like you're gasping for air, trapped and will NEVER make it out alive.. it's not silly. and, it's no fun. just typing this.. my heart is racing and my breathing is heavier. ridiculous. 


so i'm going to make a huge effort this week to stop. and to be ok with stopping. 
and to pray. a lot more. i know that it's something i need in my life right now.
and, i know that my family will be happier and i'll be happier. 
i want to live the way He intends for me to live and to do that, i need to focus less on my planner - that'll be hard.. but i'm willing to try!


if you deal with anxiety issues too, i'd love to hear from you. and, hugs to you. it's not easy, BUT it could always be worse.


hope you all have a lovely sunday. 

InstaFriday

hello, friends! i am so thankful to be able to say that this week was another great one.

linking up with jeannett.

i know this picture is a familiar one. clearly i drink lots of coffee and always out of mason jars.

fun little notecards in the mail from a sweet friend. LOVING this new line.

this spring we've already seen SO many gorgeous evenings. anxious for many, many more.

saturday night i spent time with some good friends to celebrate a wedding.

oh, my sweet boys snuggling. doesn't get much better than that.

strawberries + limes + water in a mason jar = sure sign of spring.

delicious dinner.

love this girl and her gorgeous waves & big brown eyes.

this is what we call, blackmail. goofy kid.

this is my view when driving to my meagans house.  not much to complain about.

really target? you're going to break the bank this spring.

yay for good friends who cook you good meals.

again with target... but this baby was only $16 on clearance!

have you seen these 2 new blogs? i'm so proud of both of these girls for sharing this amazing journey with us all. i'm proud to call caryn my sister and ali my friend. and am SO excited for this whole process. 

i've been so busy this week and have basically lived at Meagans house. we're knee deep in prep for the fairly fabulous crafting slumber party.