Because Goober Girl is THREE YEARS OLD NOW, I thought it would be fun to start a little tradition where I ask her the same questions every year and see how her answers change as she grows! I’m sure you’ve seen this idea before (and maybe already do it for your own kiddos), but I also included a free printable which you can find below!

This shirt. Could not be more accurate! Girl has more attitude than anyone I’ve ever met- and that’s saying something. Her newest thing is standing there with her hands on her hips and saying “hmmph!” when she doesn’t get her way. I swear I have no idea where she got that…

It is one of the most fascinating things watching your child grow and develop their personality. I see so much of myself in her, and a bit of Michael as well- he mostly shines through in her appearance, though. 🙂

She is so bright and funny and loves pretty much everyone. She loves to sing, make jokes, and play pretend. I couldn’t be more proud of the little human she has become. 

Now on to the interview!

How old are you? Three
What is your favorite color? Red
What is your favorite food? Cereal (Breakfast, lunch, and dinner pretty much!)
What is your favorite drink? Orange juice
What is your favorite snack? Fruit snack
What is your favorite movie? Shrek (This was also her favorite movie when she turned two.)
What is your favorite show? Daniel Tiger
What is your favorite book? Fox in Socks (I was a bit surprised at how quickly she answered this question, but yes, she loves having us read that impossible little book!)
What is your favorite animal? Cow
What is your favorite song? Pentatonix (Not a song, but she does love pretty much every song that they do!)
What is your favorite thing to do? Color
What is your favorite game? Car game
What is your favorite toy? Train tracks
What makes you happy? Ice cream (Same.)
What makes you sad? Lots and lots of scary monsters
What are you afraid of? A scary monster
What do you love about Daddy? Silly! (A bit of a tricky question for a three year old, but she got it eventually.)
What do you love about Mommy? Silly too!
Who is your best friend? Hayden and Wyatt (Her cousins- and another quickly answered questions! She is absolutely crazy about them!)
Where would you like to go on vacation? Home
Where is your favorite place to eat? Mac & Cheese (Possibly The Macaroni Grill?)
What do you want to be when you grow up? Santa! (There’s a good chance you will be one day, my dear. Ha!)

So there you have it. I couldn’t have asked for more adorable and accurate answers! My girl is getting so big and I’m excited to see how her answers will change (or not) over the years!

Be sure to download my Birthday Interview Printable!

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It’s always been a tradition in my family to break out the Christmas stuff the weekend after Thanksgiving. It’s like some imaginary switch is flipped and then all of a sudden it’s all about lights, decorations, and music. 

Especially music! Here are my loves singing along to “Hallelujah” performed by Pentatonix. It’s seriously one of the most beautiful renditions I’ve ever heard and you can listen to it (and all their other amazing holiday songs) on their newest holiday album  A Pentatonix Christmas.  Their Christmas albums are my absolute favorite to listen to this time of year!

The past couple years, we’ve of course involved Hadley as much as we could with everything. But this year she was especially excited to put up the tree! Before we even had all the lights on, she was already digging through the ornaments and hanging them on the tree! 

I looked over and she had already put a bunch of them on there! I didn’t want to ruin her hard work, so I didn’t say anything. But as soon as I started stringing up the lights, she said “ornaments are in the way!” and moved them. Such a good helper. Of course, as soon as the lights were on, she was back on top of it again. 🙂

And of course, this was Riv’s first time decorating the tree. She was pretty chill about it all, but definitely was entranced by the shiny lights! 

Photo op! Love my girls. Hadley saw me holding up my ornament and decided to follow suit. And then there’s River, fascinated with her sissy as always. Hadley loves narrating what she’s doing in order for Riv to understand. Such a sweetheart!

Even Lucy got into the holiday spirit! 

Our marvelous tree! I gotta say, I’m always a bit nervous when we start, but the tree always turns out so glowy and magical in the end. I remember growing up, my mom always made sure the tree looked absolutely perfect- or pretty close to it! I don’t know if I’ll ever live up to her skills, but I do my best. 😉

This time of year has always been so special to me and I hope my girls will grow up feeling the same way as I did (and still do). Because nothing makes me feel more in the Christmas spirit than cuddling up with my family on the couch with a good movie on, sipping hot cocoa, while the glow of the Christmas tree lights up the room. ♥

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Happy -almost- Thanksgiving!

So I know this is waaaaaaay late, but our River Blue is 5 months (and 11 days) old! Poor baby girl has been sick for nearly a week now, just like Hadley was before her, and Daddy was before her. Let’s just say the carpet cleaner has been being put to good use. Luckily(?) I’m the only one who hasn’t had to suffer through the full blown misery. 

I was finally able to snap a few quick shots of Riv while she was feeling somewhat better. She’s getting so incredibly big and I just know these photo shoots are gonna continue to get more and more difficult to pull off. The only way I was able to get her to stay still was by having Michael stand behind me and distract her!

That bib, though! I bought it at Target (of course) and as soon as I saw it I knew I just had to get it. Beast Mode, anyone? It’s absolutely fitting, of course, because this girl is such a chunk! She is pretty much always eating! 

As I mentioned in her 4 month update, we recently started her on baby food and she loves it! Once she was doing well with the sweet potatoes and squash, I gave her a few bites of apples and she was wild about them! But in all honesty, food isn’t the only thing this girl likes to munch on… anything will do!

And I mean anything! Not even my decorative gourds were safe from her insatiable need to chew! And judging by the constant waterfall of drool flowing out of her mouth, perhaps we aren’t too far off from a tooth or two poppin’ through?

She’s also taken a serious interest in her toys (particularly light up ones) and has actually been scooting around during her floor time! That’s all I need… a crawlin’ baby!

Look at that pout… One thing that Riv has always been good at is letting us know when she’s over something. She’ll be happy and giggling one second, then kicking and fussing the next. And that’s exactly what happened with this 5 month shoot! Although I didn’t get a ton of pics like I normally do, I’m just so thankful that I have a strong, healthy, and all-around happy baby girl. Even when she’s feeling icky, she’s still the sweetest little thing. 

And can we just take a moment to talk about this onesie?! It puts together two of my favorite things: Lord of the Rings and babies! ♥

See River at 4 months!

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BOO! One of the scariest parts of having a baby is how dang fast they grow! My goodness, it wasn’t even that long ago that we took this little goober home and now she’s ginormous! I mean, with her pretty much constant feeding, I can’t say I’m surprised. We recently started baby food (nothing major, just a couple spoonfuls here and there) and oh em gee, I thought we’d never get here! This girl is seriously a bottomless pit.

Despite being quite the little chunk, River is actually pretty dang mobile. She’s been able to hold her head and chest off the floor for over a month now and a couple weeks ago, she started rolling over! That’s right, folks; we’ve got a roller on our hands!

She started out rolling from her tummy to her back, just as Hadley did, but then she started doing it the opposite way as well and took us by surprise! 

My little pumpkin ♥

After Hadley saw me putting the pumpkin next to her sissy, she wanted to help me out by putting her stuffed bunny in the shot as well. Riv was definitely a fan! Whenever we do these little monthly photo shoots, I always make sure to include Hadley as well, especially since River loves her big sissy!

Hadley likes to lay down next to River and say, “I’m a baby!” It’s funny, she either pretends to be a baby too or she takes makes fun of takes after me and cares for her own baby dolls. Which is a  good balance, I think! We actually got her her this baby car seat for her dolls since she had started piling them all up in River’s and she absolutely loves it! 

Ugh, my baby is getting so big! But aside from her physical size and milestones, she’s also very smart, and very observant. She’ll sit in her bouncy seat (which she’s almost too big for now) and just look at the world, babbling, giggling, and taking everything in. 

She recently started doing this adorable little shriek thing when she thinks something’s funny (she sounds just like a pterodactyl). She’s also crazy about her toys, particularly this little green ball that she loves to shake and chew on. All around just a bright little girl!

My sweet River Blue, you’re growing into such a strong, beautiful, brilliant little girl. I’m proud and extremely honored to have you as a daughter. 4 months down, but many, many more still to come! ♥

See River at 3 months!

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There comes a time in every long-term relationship where you look at your partner and think, “you’re the one I’m going to marry.” In mine and Michael’s case, we had been thinking this for years.  He surprised me with a Christmas proposal in 2014, which was completely brilliant and I had no idea it was going to happen (which is totally obvious by the sweatpants and cat shirt I was wearing in the video, which you can watch here). And for the past couple years, we’ve pretty much been living the married life, minus the actual marriage part.

Until last weekend. 

On October 01, 2016, I married the love of my life. A couple weeks beforehand, we looked at each other and just decided to get it over with already. I mean, after nearly six years together, it was time! The ceremony was very small, just family and a couple of our closest friends, and it was at a public park on a little gazebo on the lake. And it was perfect.

Hadley Rae was so excited to be all dressed up! She’s at that stage where she’s a princess half the time. And the other half she’s Pikachu. There is no in between. She and River got to walk with her Grandpa Bob (Michael’s Dad) and G (my mom) down the aisle…

Michael walked with his beautiful momma of course. He looked so incredibly handsome! We always envisioned having a navy and light pink color scheme at our wedding, and I think he nailed it!

Here comes the bride! My dad and his girlfriend, Joy, were i[ visiting for a week from Kansas City and I actually told them two days before his flight up here about our wedding plans. Like I said, it was pretty spontaneous! 😉

You may recognize my good friend Josh officiating us! I had learned earlier this year that he was ordained and he had offered to marry us when the time came so of course I had to give him a call! His speech was short and sweet, yet meaningful and heartfelt. Couldn’t imagine having anyone else up there with us!

I don’t think this picture really needs a caption, bug ugh, they just melt my heart!! Taken right before Michael recited his vows. I cried pretty much the entire time, not gonna lie. But it was so amazing standing up there with our loved ones reciting our vows to each other. I even caught Michael wiping away a tear as I read mine! 

All was calm and perfect… and then I started noticing a slight breeze coming from across the lake. And as we neared the end of the ceremony, it turned into a full on wind storm! Complete with ginormous rain drops!

Right after our kiss… Notice the eyeliner on Michael’s nose. 🙂

I guess that’s the one thing you should always remember about having your wedding outside in the state of Washington: ALWAYS be prepared for a crazy rain storm! Weather aside, though, it was the best wedding I could have ever asked for. 

Afterward, it was back to our place for the reception! 

I seriously can’t thank Josh enough for doing this for us. It was honestly the cherry on top of our perfect little “flash wedding” (as my mom calls it). 

A huge shoutout to my parents, for throwing me an awesome after party! My mom decorated everything all rustic-y and cute, and my dad and Joy provided all the food, including some outstanding sloppy joes! As far as parents go, I’m pretty sure I scored the jackpot. ♥

And of course, I couldn’t have gotten married without my Kiwis (Clarice)! Hadley used to not be able to pronounce her name, so she called her Kiwis. She of course was my maid of honor and I’m so happy she got to stand by my side through one the most memorable moments of my life. 

I love what our life has become. We have two amazing, beautiful little girls, support from our awesome families, a wonderful home, our fur babies, and each other. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Michael, you are the one I want to be with, always and forever. You have been by my side through so much and have given me the gift of a family. Don’t ever change, because I fell in love with you as you are, and look forward to spending the rest of my life with the amazing man you have become. 

The best part about wedding cake, besides eating it? 

Shoving it in each others’ faces! ♥

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