3/14

Today is March 14, 2014.  This video shows you what I was doing on March 14, 2011, exactly 3 years ago.



C Laughing from Kelly Hefty on Vimeo.

Why did I choose to sing Spice Girls circa my days in 5th grade, 1997 to my 7 month old?  I have no idea.  But I am so glad that I did.  If you're wondering why it's bouncy, just know that some really good dance moves surely accompanied this amazing rendition of that song.

As a baby, C was happy, but he wasn't always "laugh out loud" happy.  His laugh today is still from the soul and super contagious.

That gummy smile.  His happy eyes.  Those pointy ears.  His bald head.

Apparently more than just my heart felt like singing on March 14, 2011.

Moms4Moms

Oh Mommas!  It has happened to every.single one of us.  We make a decision for our family and our babies and it gets judged.  Reprimanded.  Even looked at funny.

Every thing from the child's name, to their outfit, to how you feed them is critiqued.  Mommies are already prone to questioning their decisions and now on top of that, they're thinking about how those decisions will be looked at by other mommies.  Today you can go on the internet and be just completely blasted for, let's face it, sometimes very minor parenting details.

Here's the deal:

You're doing a good job Mom!

Today is #Moms4Moms day where we are celebrating Moms and spreading the word to "Love More, Judge Less."  You can find more about it on the Tampa Bay Moms Blog, the TBMB Facebook Page, or the CT Working Moms (partnering with the Bump!)

I was so excited about this!  I felt like I could have done it all day long!  I even went all Andy Warhol on it and made it into a Mommy Diptych:

What are your Mommy thoughts?  Feel free to comment below and let me know!  Spread the word and tell a Mommy today that she's got it going on!

Happy Valentine's Day

 "We love because he first loved us."  (322)

1 John 4:19 

Photo Cred for a personal fave

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

Love,

Us

Thank you for taking this journey with us.  You are loved! (323)

We're Groupies

C and I have totally been taken down with a case of the Disney Magic bug.  I am so glad to have him to share this with. (319)

                      

T, eh.  Maybe when he's older, but so far he doesn't care about the rides and dislikes the characters.  He's still pretty young though.  I can't wait to find out what he and I can share together!  Perhaps it will be Disney, perhaps it won't, either way it will be ours and I will love it.  Until then, he can look at me like I'm crazy while we take a picture with weird giant mouse-like people. (320)

C is obsessed.  We talk about Disney every day.  and he LOVES the characters!  He doesn't even need to know who they are.  If you are a Disney character, he will find you and love you.  He'll even chase you around the dance party until you do the Hokey Pokey with him, even if he doesn't know the Hokey Pokey.

Not in connection to Disney, I have been calling this stage of my life, the "Peter Pan" age anyway.  Everything is made of magic and watching the world, real or fantasy, through their eyes has been such a treat.  (321)

Relating to Sunday's post:  I GET to be their Mommy, I GET to teach them every day and I am so blessed with how much they are teaching me.  (322)

Exactly What I Want

Over a month ago (pre-minivan, post T's ER trip) Lukas and I had the honor of watching our friend debut as a St. Pete debutante.  We got all dressed up and had so much fun.  I'm not going to lie, we looked pretty snazzy. (293)

When our babysitter arrived we tried to find an area of the house to take our "formal" picture.  We stood here and took this shot.  Meanwhile, I was thinking to myself that I would have to crop the "house" out of the picture later.

Then I saw the picture.  Immediately, I knew that I didn't want to change anything about this shot whatsoever (except maybe that it was taken on my phone and could be slightly more clear. 294)

This is what our life looks like right now. No matter how dressed up we get.  Toys are strewn about, sippy cups are always in weird places, our furniture is either over-sized or miniature.  And I love it.  I love it all. (295)

Balls are SO fun, don't get me wrong.  We had a blast (and took other pictures too).  But I am so grateful for the ball that I get to have here at home. (296)

Now hopefully I can remember that feeling the next time I step on a puzzle piece.

Grateful Project

*Please go and check me out on Tampa Bay Mom's Blog today!  My post goes up at 1:00 EST

I saw this video this weekend and it really inspired me (278).  I love her grateful project.

I know a couple of people who have done a picture a day, and I find them so fun to follow.

I really like how she prints them and journals them.

I agree with her that gratitude is so key for happiness.  I just love this!  Love it!

If you'd like to follow my grateful adventure, I will be doing my best on Instagram @heftylk #kellyisgrateful

Merry Christmas to All!

For

Unto

you is

born this

day in the 

city of David

a savior which

is Christ the Lord

Luke

2:11

472

Merry Christmas to you!  

Thank you for another year of sharing joy and listening to my heart sing!  (473)

From my family to yours!

Bench Makeover

We have a bench.  (465)

It was left at our house when we moved here and it lives on our front porch.  This bench was not even something that I liked very much, but it has become a bit of a tradition in our house.  It started with Cameron's newborn pictures with the amazing Andrea Walls of Off the Walls Photography (link)...

Photo Credit:  Off the Walls Photography

This was also our Christmas card picture that year.  That turned into the following year's Christmas card picture in the same spot.  The tradition continued with Tate:

Photo Credit:  Off the Walls Photography

It even made it's way onto the beginning of this blog!  This is last year's Christmas card picture and first banner of 10,000 Reasons blog!

But this is what it looked like:

 Let's get it up close:

Yikes.  Maybe if I were going for a nice weathered look, okay.  But I'm not.  I thought about tossing it and starting over.  A new tradition on a new bench.  After thinking about it, I realized that some spray paint and some previously owned paint might just do the trick.  For a lot less money!  If not, no harm.  

So, as the couple at the YoungHouseLove blog would say, "While I was spraying, I was swaying," and here is an after shot:

Perhaps I should have removed the chalk from underneath, oh well, this is a real bench folks!  

At first I hated it.  It stood out like a sore thumb, but time has changed my mind.  The metal is an Oil Rubbed Bronze spray and the paint is the same white as my laundry room and play room.  Plain white, as is in can. (466)

Coming soon:  Christmas Card on Bench :)

Just Another Day.

That is of course if your regular day includes awesome construction right on your very own street!  It was a borderline truck parade!  (418)  Yes, both (well all three) of those trucks were used!

I want to point out that at first, I was all, "ugh" my street is blocked from construction so I have to take a detour.  Isn't that the common thought about construction?  But then I thought about it for 1 split second later and thought, "DUH" this is totally awesome!  I have 2 people in my house that see construction and think:  "Adventure!" (419)

So to make our adventure real, we clicked into our stroller seatbelts (aka:  The Bus) and went on our merry way to explore.  We of course, stayed on the sidewalk and they guys were strapped in.  They were never in touching distance of any high use equipment and the workers were all present.  It was so exciting!  My favorite was the cement roller flattener (nice vocabulary right? 420)

We also had the opportunity to thank some construction workers.  (421)  Here they are, outside, improving our streets.  I like to think that it was fun for them to see that they are every day heroes to someone!  Today, they had the coolest jobs.

Afterwards, we got our own construction on in our yard by playing with the rocks in the garden and watching from our driveway.  It turned into a solid hour of truck fun!  All of our hearts were totally singing.  (422)

This even gave me the opportunity to take a couple of selfies for Embrace the Camera that is being hosted at one of my favorite blogging momma's sites (Anderson Family Crew link here) 423  She explains the thought process behind it really well on her site.  The pics don't have to be selfies, but I was the only (not a) photographer around at the moment.   

So here we are in all our glory.  Construction memories, me and my guys, and my bulging head vein!

Don't forget to enjoy the small moments!  That is really where it's at! (424)

Oh, and don't forget to enter for a chance to win a C'est si bon scripture book!  (here) All you have to do is click on the rafflecopter!  

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Embracing the Camera

This is Mr. Tate and me at the Winter Wonderland Zoo adventure we went on this past weekend m (149).  As usual, I am the one with the majority of the enthusiasm but he is the one with the irresistible chubby cheeks and pudgy lips.   He is just so yummy (150)!

                                            We are participating in a linky event featured here.