Moving up in the world

Brinley graduated from Preschool last night.  Their program was really cute and despite being nervous, Brinley did great.  

 They sang songs and had to say in the microphone what they wanted to be when they grow up.  Brinley stated, "When I grow up I want to be a mom."    

 And here she is standing by the picture she drew of what she wants to be.

Congratulations Brinley.  We are proud of you.  You have so much to offer this great big world.

Professional Skipper or Athlete?

This was Brinley's first year of playing soccer.  Sometimes we think she was born to be an athlete.  I will never forget the time we went camping with here when she wasn't even 2 years old and she ran miles, I'm not even kidding, miles around the loop without stopping.  She's a fast little runner and an amazing gymnast.  She is the youngest gymnast in her level 2 class.  In fact, just a few weeks ago they pulled us aside in gymnastics and told us she has a lot of potential and would like to put her in a different class and get ready to start training her for their competition team.  We decided not to do that, but that's besides to point.  Dustin and I are both really into sports.  Soccer was what I did growing up. We were somewhat shocked to see that she was honestly the worst one on her team (Brinley, please don't hate me for writing that).  Generally in the first year of soccer the kids all chase the ball in a herd.  And they did, but then there was Brinley several feet behind skipping, yes the ENTIRE game!  She didn't stop skipping once during that game.  She even skipped around the ball, didn't touch it, but skipped around it.  One game she did cartwheels on the field and pretty soon several of the kids were doing cartwheels too.  She just didn't get it, or she didn't care.  She just skipped around for several games.  I had accepted the fact that soccer just wasn't her thing, but also kind of sad that she wasn't getting it.  We worked with her a little bit and told her there is a rule that you can't skip during soccer.  And then...

 it clicked, or something.  She started kicking the ball once in a while and then that drive and desire that I know she is just overflowing with started to show.  Brinley made her first goal.  Dustin and I were both ridiculously proud.  No, not because she has to be the best or the star of the show.  Not because she has to score goals or because she even has to like soccer, but because there is nothing a parent wants more than to see their child succeed in whatever they choose to do.  She didn't quite get that she made a goal at first, but she had quite the group of supporters on the side line cheering for her and Dustin quickly reminded her, "THAT'S A GOAL BABY!"  and I almost cried.  I really almost did, but only because I had watched her go from really struggling with something to watching her succeed.  It was all down hill from there.  She's a great little soccer player now and has earned quite the stack of $1 bills from all of the goals she made.

The season has finally come

We camped this weekend at Guinavah-Malibu with Jess and all of the boys.  We had a blast!  The girls were perfect!

 Brinley loved playing with the boys.  We played games and Brinley and I did makeovers on each other.

 And today our little family hiked the wind caves before we headed home.  It was so beautiful and green.

 We managed to get one family picture this trip.  Yep, this is it.

What a great weekend!

Favorite Things

So... one of my very favorite things is sitting on my front porch and reading books to my girls as the sun sets.  Love it!!

Our Beautiful Girls

Well that's one way to drink your green smoothie

Surprise Party

It's been a very long, yet very short year since Mom was diagnosed.  The days go by so fast and each day is truly a blessing yet what she has endured for the past year is unimaginable.  None of us can begin to comprehend all that Mom has been through this past year.  Her latest treatment has taken nearly every ounce of her energy.  Although we will never fully understand the way she is feeling, we will always be grateful that she's fighting for us. We just wanted to let her know that we love her and remind her that we are here for her. 

Baby's First Bike Ride

We were super excited to hit the road this spring.  For Lunnie's first bike ride we wanted to go see Grandma Bette, you know... over the river and through the woods, but we had to turn around before we got there due to a bent frame on the trailer (possibly because our nearly 5 year old still sits in it).  Don't worry, Dad made us a whole new frame because he is very talented.  We can't wait to try it out. 

Have you ever had one of those days...

No, not a bad day, but a good day where you spend the entire evening outside and when you come in at 8:00 and your family is hungry you feed them cake for dinner?  You feed them strawberry shortcake for dinner because you have the best Mom in the whole world and she love you and you love her and she brought it to you that night because you have been wanting it for months and had been planning on having it for your Birthday, but the first two attempts failed to satisfy because normally the desserts in Sam’s Club make you want to bang your head against the wall and you saw a strawberry cake there weeks ago, it looked delicious, but you turned it down and seeing it’s your Birthday and your husbands family is coming over on Friday for dessert and your husband offered to make or buy any cake you wanted you opt to go to Sam’s Club and pick out your own dessert… anyone you want, and you really want strawberry shortcake made with angel food cake and fresh strawberries and your husband tells you multiple times he will get whatever you want, but Mother’s day is on Sunday and you are having strawberry shortcake for dessert so you spend 20 minutes wandering around Sam’s Club picking up desserts and setting them down and finally decided on the strawberry cake you turned down weeks earlier, but it ends up being disgusting and you throw the leftovers away, but still end up eating entirely too much  and on Mothers Day the strawberry shortcake is actual shortcake, not angel food cake and the strawberries have sugar on them and it’s actually good, but slightly disappointing because it’s not what you had your heart set on so your Mom brings you exactly what you had been wanting and it’s perfect so you feed it to your family… at 8:00… for dinner… no, nothing else, just strawberry shortcake and a bunch of whipped cream and your daughter says, “why are we having this?  We shouldn’t be having this, it’s not healthy you know.  Why don’t you make something healthy?” and you reply, "because I don't want to."  And your husband helps himself to two servings that are really more like 5 or 6 serving and says, “I’m still hungry.”  And you go on with your night completely satisfied and let’s be honest, guilty for all of the cake you have ingested over the past 4 days.  Third times a charm.  Thanks for dinner Mom, you are the best! Yup, just had one of those days.

Let's talk beauty

One of the things I am most grateful for is that my parents taught me how to work and they expected me to work, but as a child I failed to see detail in my life. My Mother often gave me the chore of dusting. I did not understand the point of dusting. A piece of furniture covered in dust looked exactly the same to me as it did dust free. Dusting did not make sense to me. I simply could not see dust.   Nor did I truly appreciate the sunrise or sunset, lilacs, onion plants, snowball bushes, pale pink peonies or the perfect paint.  I’m consumed with beauty right now.  I’d just die if I couldn’t see, I’d just die!  Beauty really is addicting.  Thank you God for giving me eyes that see, thank you, thank you, thank you!

This girl can move

Watching London learn to crawl has been fun.  I don't know if it's something you are ever really ready for, but it's fun to watch your children learn and progress.  She also has two teeth.  She actually got her lower lateral incisor first, so she has a bottom central and lateral rather than her two central.  We think they're pretty cute! Love love love this girl!

Conversation of the day (with Brinley)

“How come we are all Caziers?”

“Remember? When I married Dad, I became a Cazier and then we had kids so your last name is Cazier too. Because we are a family.”

“Well, I’m starting to think of a new name. I’m getting sick of this one.”

(laughing) “What’s wrong with your name?”

“Nothing, I’m just getting sick of it.”

“Well, what are you going to change it to?”

“I don’t know, I’m thinking about it.”

I finished a project... YAY!

After we built our house I spent a good few years being burnt out on anything that resembled physical work at all.  But I'm over it now and since we have decided we will probably be here for a few years we have worked really hard at making our house something we love.  This project started a couple of years ago and I have just been feeling like I have a million unfinished projects.  It seems each room in our house needs just a little bit of something.  Finally, this room feels complete to me.

As Brinley grew out of her crib we knew we wanted to move her into a bigger room so she could have more room to play (we only had one child at the time so it sounded like a good idea).  We bought the bed, bedding, play kitchen and easel.  I knew how I wanted it arranged to make the best use of the space (it really is a large room), but I for the life of me can not pick paint.  It never ends up being what I want it to be.  I wanted a gray-gray that would match her bedding.  I called on my cousin, Shannon.  She is absolutely amazing at this sort of thing and she found this beautiful gray.  It's perfect! I'm a really "gray" person and I just love staring at these beautiful walls.  I love the cool calamining feeling it gives off.  Shannon has helped me so much with all of this!  She convinced me to add yellow to the room which I absolutely love.   

 It's fun to have this bright accent wall.  A normal person would probably put the bed against this yellow wall, but it took up too much space and the whole point of moving her was to give her room to play.

 I love the poppies!  I decided to hang these prints on both sides of the window to help create balance.  Speaking of window, I love this window.  She has a big pretty window and these white curtains really  show it off.  I love the white curtains.  They give the room a really clean look. 

 This kitchen is adorable.  Dustin and I knew we had to get it as soon as we saw it.  It was way cuter before the doors broke off, but we'll fix that. 

 Brinley's room has pretty much looked like this for quite some time.  So, what made the room go from feeling like another unfinished project to feeling complete?  This little yellow pillow.  This is the whole reason I'm excited to share this room with you.  I have looked and looked for the perfect yellow pillow and even made one myself, but I was never satisfied until I stumbled upon this little yellow paisley pillow the other day.  It's perfect for her room.  I absolutely love it.

This low bed was perfect for a toddler and I really like the look of the low beds.  Dustin and I made the drawers to fit under her bed since this is her only storage.  I actually like the look of the bed better without the drawers, but these are a must have.  I was really happy with how the drawers turned out. 

I picked out this rustic flower hardware for her drawers.  They are a fun little accent.

 We display artwork and pictures on this wire.

 I made this poppy pillow to add texture.

 I also did this yarn wrapped vase with silk poppies.  They add cheer to the room.

 We try to make the best of Brinley's closet since she doesn't have any dressers or anything in her room.  This "B" bookend is fun for keeping track of her library books.

 We purchased this little shelving unit for additional storage and bought cloth drawers to coordinate with her room.

 The poppy prints are one of my favorite pieces in this room.  Dustin made a frame to give them dimension and I painted it black.  We did not want a solid heavy piece of wood since it hangs right above Brinley's head so they are mounted on a simple thin frame.  We thought it was a great idea, but turns out, it was hard to make it look good.  We have learned a few lessons, but overall I'm happy with how the room turned out. 

And this yarn wrapped "B" I made gives a personal touch.  One room down and a bunch more to go.  Thanks Shannon for all of your help!  You are amazing!