Stephanie Howell

This Week…

March 23, 2013

and it was absolutely beautiful. but this southern girl is longing for flip flops and warmer temps.

review so far:

halfway through proof of heaven- very interesting.

finished these girls- easy read, chick lit, really liked it

started ice cream girls.

It may not be as organized or fancy as a lot of rooms i see online.

But i’m way happier with less. I’m not overwhelmed. Everything has a place. That works for me.

Worked on spelling with Harper. She really struggles and we have to practice a lot.

Disclaimer: I’m a former teacher, I know spelling isn’t considered a benchmark for many.

I’m not stressing her out about it.

We just think it’s important and have really been working on writing+spelling with her this year.

We had Family Reading Night at H’s school:

Harper lost her first tooth:

I caught up on Project Life:

I looked back at project life from last year and realized that this time last year:

1. jimmy was deployed

2. i started my job with MME.

what a year it’s been!

Lucy practiced her faces:

also-

Harper started her first week of ballet/dance- and loved it.

Sadie had to stay home from gymnastics as a consequence for sassy behavior.

We caught up on the last 2 episodes of The Following.

We watched The Wizards of Waverly Place movie for family movie night.

I watched Tim Gunn and Elmo on Sesame Street. Hard to tell who was more excited…me or the babies.

Sang The Wheels on the Bus 91284301820 times.

Thought about cutting my hair like this.

Watched Undefeated. LOVED IT. Like…really really loved it.

Cleaned only to have the results immediately reversed.

Swore that I’d never clean again. Gave up briefly.

Couldn’t stand it and started cleaning again.

That’s it!

Next week is big. We have Uncle Chris and Aunt Anna coming to visit…

And next Friday is our 10 year anniversary!!!

The weekend after that is my brother’s wedding.

WHEW!
xoxo

Harper Loses Her First Tooth- A Video I Will Treasure Forever.

March 21, 2013

We’ve waited and waited and WAITED.

And the little girl who is not very good at waiting…well she has been very patient.

Although she wonders (repeatedly, and audibly) why (at nearly seven) hasn’t she lost a tooth?

A bit ago her first tooth started to wiggle.

And I snapped this photo of her smile. Made up of tiny teeth and so much joy.

That sweet smile she’s had for so long.

2 nights ago she galloped down the stairs, her voice shaking.

MOMMY! DADDY!!! MY TOOTH IS ABOUT TO FALL OUT!

She was so scared. And SO excited. Jimmy took her in the bathroom and helped her wiggle it.

But there was blood. And she didn’t like that. Not one little bit.

She panicked. Big time. And asked me to come take over.

Disclaimer: I am NOT good with wiggly teeth. They gross me out. I’m not proud of it but it’s true. 🙂 Major skeeve. I had goosebumps the entire time and NOT because I was overcome with emotion. Shudder.

I said a little prayer and started to wiggle that sucker.

After a little hyperventilating (on her end, not mine) and a LOT of reassurance and reminders to BREATHE…this happened.

Harper Loses Her First Tooth from stephanie howell on Vimeo.

That is just a tiny clip of a video that is a couple of minutes long.

I feel like being a mama is full of exhausting moments. Scary moments.

“What the hell am I doing?” moments.

It’s a neverending cycle of feeling invisible. Cleaning up,

fixing messes, quelling fears, losing yourself.

But embedded in all of those moments there are these rare,glistening,magical moments that make all of the other stuff worthwile.

Like a precious jewel that you find unexpectedly. Those are the things that make the rest of the junk bearable.

That response was one of those moments. Her face and her voice when she saw that tooth in my hand? Pure.

That video will make me sob until the day I die. So innocent and joyful.

I can’t stand it.

Also making my heart hurt? This note she left for the tooth fairy:

In case you can’t see the note, it says:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I hope you know that it was very hard to loose my first tooth. I love you and I believe in you.

Love, Harper Howell

And here is what she found from the Tooth Fairy this morning.

Here is where I found the idea.

I made my own using PSE 9 and the “Fake Receipt” Font.

And just like that? She had a new smile.

It’s amazing how different she looks. And sounds.

I am so proud of her. Of her fears, her bravery…her big heart and her tears that she so easily sheds.

She’s amazing.

oxxo

wordless(ish??) wednesday

March 20, 2013

cate on left, lucy on right.

and really, today will be quite close to wordless.

because what can i really say about these two?

they are, in a nutshell, fabulous. and ridiculously hilarious.

Our St. Paddy’s Day Shindig!

March 18, 2013

This weekend we had the neighbors over for a little St. Patrick’s day get together.

It was a BLAST and I thought I’d share a few photos and links!

I picked up some pretty hydrangeas,tulips, and green carnations at my favorite local florist.

I got out all of my green pedestals, pyrex, and cut glass. Oh, and of course milk glass. 🙂

J was surprised that we had so many pieces that were green. He kept saying how great it looked.

And when he says that, he really means it…that made me so happy!

I found these Irish Whiskey glasses at The Christmas Tree Shops.

I think they were $1.69 but they gave them to me for 68 cents a piece. NICE, huh? 🙂

I also pulled out all of J’s Guiness/Shamrock beer glasses.

The cute little leprechaun hat picks are also from The Christmas Tree Shops.

We’d never heart of that store until we moved here and man are we going to miss it!

I found these cute shamrock doilies at Michael’s and strung them on green baker’s twine.

A quick and easy banner!

Loved these little coins. I scattered them all over the house.

For the favors I made “rainbow seeds”. I found the idea here on Pinterest.

Each baggie had skittles and a gold coin. The kids LOVED them.

Here’s a shot of the table.

There was a little milk glass bowl with “mint thrills” M&Ms in it. SO GOOD. They taste just like Andes Mints.

So dangerous. HA!

I made these mint chocolate chip cookies:

and some cute rainbow skewers:

but the hit of the party were these tortilla chips.

Oh my word y’all. SO easy (cut shamrocks from spinach wraps,add olive oil and sea salt, and bake) and SO GOOD.

We served them with guacamole and spinach dip.

a shot of them “in progress”.

for the kids I served these shamrock shake shooters. how pretty do they look in those glasses?

for the adult beverages we had green beer, wine, and these AMAZINGLY good Irish Grasshoppers.

Warning…they taste so good you forget there is whiskey, creme de menthe, and creme de cacao in them. Proceed with CAUTION.

heeee!

Oh, we also had green veggies, olives, and pickles.

MAIN DISHES (not photographed)

paula deen’s easy corned beef and cabbage– okay, i don’t really like cabbage.

but J went CRAZY for it.

irish potato soup– y’all. the best potato soup i’ve ever had.

super simple…just potatoes,onions,leeks and broth. no milk/cream/half and half.

we served it with crumbled bacon, cheese, sour cream, and chives.

SO SO SO SO good. Make it.

a few grocery store cookies finished off the table.

the babies had so much fun. so did the big girls, but i barely saw them. they were off having a ball with their friends!

one more photo- our st. pat’s day breakfast.

So there you have it. Did any of you do anything special or throw your own party?
Happy Monday!

This Week…

March 15, 2013

I started a new book:

and finished it (good but weird, and i like that combination).

Sadie got dolled up in green for a St. Pat’s parade at her school:

Harper was called to the office and was given a special sticker for having great behavior and for being kind:

She also continued to wiggle her very first loose tooth. It’s on the bottom and she waited a LONG time for that sucker.

Jimmy and I rented The Master (hated it) and Joshua (thought it was okay).

I found an awesome striped dress (great Kate Spade knock off) at Marshall’s (for SIXTEEN BUCKS!):

The mint top was cute, too. But I didn’t need it. The dress? Was a MUST.

We had another book themed family dinner night:

And one glorious day of a cloudless sky and a 50 degree temperature.

We pretended it was spring.

it was 30 degrees the very next day and J saw snow flurries.

The babies played LOTS of peekaboo:

I got the This is Me class kit from SC. The first class I’ve bought there. So proud of my sweet friend, Lexi.

Sadie started Level 1 gymnastics, they pushed her out of Minis. SO proud of her. She loves it and is so good:

We had a family dinner out (fundraiser for Sadie’s school).

Sadie hid in a giant sunbeam to prove to me that I do not, in fact, have the power to make her be in a photo.

Touche.

What else? Hmm.

We watched JT’s SNL hosting gig. LEGENDARY.

Laughed so hard I cried.

Caught up on Nashville, played lots of “grocery store”, went to the real grocery store.

Read with Harper,J went to lots of physical therapy,

Tried a good crockpot meal. Next time I’ll double the recipe, add more water, and remember that it actually cooks in about 3 1/2 hours.

Hope your week was beautiful, tell me about it! I’d love to hear.

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