Ive Got Sunshine On a Cloudy Day

A mini photoshoot of My Girl from the beach! and I swear, swear SWEAR she is soooooo shy. I promise!! Its hysterical how she is such a little Diva, but is so shy to people. Lol!!

funny face!

Happy Valentine's Day From Jules (not Josh)

On Monday, I thought it would be fun to do an impromptu Valentines Day shoot. It's kind of become a tradition, although I haven't realized it. It just has I suppose. Here is last's year's and the year before if you want to see how stinking adorbs they are.

This year only one kid wanted to partake in my oh-so-fun shoot. The other wanted NO PART OF IT, and in fact threw one heck of a fit about it. So, this year, I only have one lovely, sweet child who wanted to take pics. So, Jules got her own private photoshoot, which let's be honest isn't going to happen often in her twin-riffic life :) (and let's be even honest-er, she loved every second of it)

Wearing our favorite Matilda Jane. This one is the Homegrown Betsy dress, with the sweetheart leggings

Oh look! I even set up the tripod! and I'm not even going to think about how my hair is a disaster and my cardigan is wrinkled. One of this year's resolutions is to get in more pics with my kiddos. So, this is the first one. yippee!

we are ALL IN on American Girl right now. She got Isabelle for Christmas, and Samantha (my FAVE) for her birthday. Those are her "girls", and she loves them so much. (and there is a separate post dedicated to this oh so crazy fun world of American Girl that we are now a part of)

Gorgeous

Heidi Klum. Always. 

Our First Nutcracker "Date"

This will top my list and my memories as one of the very favorite days with my daughter. I decided this year will be the year that Jules and I would try to go see The Nutcracker. They have a "Mini Nutcracker" which I would have preferred, but tickets went soooo fast, so the big girl Nutcracker at TPAC in Nashville would be the way to go! It was a risky move, since tickets were over $100 for the both of us, so it would have been an expensive mistake if she hated it.

She couldn't have been a better girl, and the afternoon was absolutely lovely. We went to lunch downtown beforehand at a place called Demo's. She requested spaghetti, so what better place than Italian? About 50 people stopped us to tell Jules how pretty she was. She was on her very best behavior the entire time.

The show started and she loved it. It was long, yes, and by the end she was ready to go, but she honestly did amazing. I loved every single second of it. Next year I think we'll try to do the Mini Nutcracker again though.

As special as it all was, I have discovered in my adult life that I still DO NOT LOVE The Nutcracker. I thought maybe it was because I was just a kid? Nope. Yes, I know, I suck. but I honestly hate it. HA!! Isn't that horrible? It's the most boring this ever. It's like CATS the musical but with no singing. Everybody just gets a ballet solo. But Jules loved, it so I loved it with her. It's one of those mother/daughter tradition things that I've looked forward to since the day she was born. It was incredibly special.

But maybe next year going the "shorter route" will help out this mama. Hehe.

I promise she's excited!

Tried to set the camera up to take our picture. Kind of a fail. Need a tripod!

Phone picture. She got to pose with one of the ballerinas from the show!

My little Eloise at the Plaza.

And don't feel sorry for Josh, he got a super date too. He got to go with his daddy to the Titans game!

A Little Princess No More

This post has been one of the hardest for me to write. But, there comes a time when I have to face the facts and admit it. My daughter is no longer princess-obsessed.

Last Christmas. And sigh... Yes, we're in matching jammies. 

There was a time when she would come home from school and immediately go her her dress-up station and pull out a princess dress and wear it the remainder of the day. She would nap in it. She would sleep in one every night. We would go to the grocery, run errands and do other things as a princess. We were a princess for Halloween. We went to Disney World last December. We had to pack a princess dress for the park, and an additional one for her to sleep in. We had a princess birthday party. That was all less than a year ago.

I'm not really sure when it happened. Gradually, I would guess. I remember finally getting her a coveted Elsa dress for Easter and she really didn't want to wear it. Huh??!!

As I look back at Christmas pictures from last year, she is in a princess dress in almost every one. Seriously. 

This phase, like many others will fly by in the blink of an eye. Some I prefer to move quickly (like the fits and sleeping through the night) but this one saddens me. It's kind of a wrench in my stomach. There is just something so magical about a little girl dressed up like a princess. 

She still loves princesses, and Aurora is still her favorite (she even decided to be Anna for Halloween whew!) but the dress up phase is definitely behind us. It makes me a sad mama. These moments are just so fleeting and get replaced with other things the older they get. 

But regardless of the dresses she wears, my little Jules will always be my little princess forever and always. 

At Disney

Hanging out at the house

Bedtime

Hanging out

Naptime :)

Playing outside

Halloween 

Last Christmas with Aunt Essie 

Matilda Jane Wonderful Parade Collection - A Review and Giveaway!!

The lovely gals at Matilda Jane Clothing were nice enough once again to send Ms. Jules some clothes to try on and review. They also are giving me another $50 giftcard for one lucky reader to try their fabulous clothes! Just perfect for the final release of Wonderful Parade on May 1st! If you would like to read the previous reviews I have done of Matilda Jane, you can read them here and here.

We ADORE Matilda Jane Clothing around here. I bought my very first knot dress for Jules for our 18 months portraits and kept collecting piece by piece since then. The older Jules gets (she is now four) the more this clothing speaks about her and her personality. She is a free spirit. A girl with wild curly hair full of fun, cheerfulness and giggles. Matilda Jane Clothing was made for her. As the older she gets the more I see these clothes were meant for her. She now wears it 95% of the time, and I love it! It's perfect for pictures, and just for everyday wear as well. We wear to school all the time!

Matilda Jane Clothing is made to mix and match. Its also made to mix and match from older lines. The colors are bright and beautiful. They do two lines per year, a spring and fall line. If you are interested in ordering any of these beautiful clothes, you do so though a trunkkeeper. Please let me know if you are looking for one! Mine is fabulous :)

As founder Denise DeMarchis herself says about Matilda Jane:  "It's all about keeping a little girl...a little girl. Keeping her youthful. Keeping her spinning and twirling and carefree. And most importantly, bringing her happiness." 

Matilda Jane sent us a fantastic outfit for Jules to keep and review, but I ADORE this new line and have already bought several pieces, so I couldn't help but to allow you guys to see how fabulous this new line is and show you a few of the pieces we own!

Jules was sent this outfit for review. Isn't it precious? And the Cloudy Puffer and Sweetheart leggings are STAPLES. What does that mean? You literally can wear them with eeeerrrvvvrything. In fact, I decided to pair the sweetheart leggings with other tops we've bought from this line. 

Pretty much one of my FAVORITE tops from this line. And also paired with the sweetheart leggings!

This top is so fun, comfy and twirly!

All a Flutter Peasant - Simply precious. 

Josh wanted to be in this one!! The Love Letter Shabby is one of those classic tops that will easily be able to be a fall top as well - I paired the Cloudy Puffer under this one as well!

Oh how I love, LOVE this dress. Probably my favorite out of the entire line. This one will be a life-longer :)

Hope you've enjoyed our little fashion show! Do you want to win a fun $50 Matilda Jane giftcard to buy your own fabulousness? It's Easy. Just enter the rafflecopter below. There are numerous ways to enter. You can follow on twitter, tweet about the giveaway, follow on Pinterest, or Pin the giveaway. Easy Peasy! Giveaway ends on Wednesday, April 23. Good Luck!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Tiny Dancer

Jules had parent day at ballet today. And pretty much all that means is Jules gets to come in her super poufy tutu costume and twirl around in her class. What that means for me is snapping my camera incessantly. What that also means is Jules crying and refusing to dance the first half of the class. Why? No clue! Shy? Scared? No clue. I will say she is a beautiful little ballerina though :)

And this one was just taken on my iPhone. Similar to the one above, but it's still super cute of course :) and with my phone!