Just Another Week and a Half in Loring World!

Am I really this old???

Considering I started composing this blog on my birthday, I had to send a little shout out to myself first :-)  I can remember all the milestone ages over my life and how I couldn't wait to get them.  I couldn't wait to be 10 because then my age would be double digits!  I couldn't wait to turn 13 because then I was a teenager!  I used to tell my Daddy exactly how many days until I was a teenager every time I'd see him...lol!  He still reminds me of that every year around my birthday.  I couldn't wait to turn 16 so I could drive and go on dates!  I couldn't wait to turn 18 because then I was grown!  I couldn't wait to turn 21 so I could have drinks and go to Elevations with my friends....lol!  I know that one will make a lot of people laugh!  From then, I just remember looking forward to my silver 25th birthday.  25 was a good year too considering that's when I met Kelvin :-)  After that, I remember being in disbelief that I was actually turning 30.  Now that I'm 32, I'm just really enjoying all of Brooklyn's milestones and focusing on those instead of even remembering mine.  At the helm of it all, I guess I can just say that God has been really good to me!  I don't have any chronic illnesses.  I've had perfect doctor reports at all of my visits.  I was able to finish professional school, buy my first house, get married, and have a beautiful baby girl all before I turned 30!  I am working jobs that I love and have every opportunity to do whatever I want to do!  There are SOOOO many people who can't say that.  I don't deserve that!  Grace and Mercy have really been the end all be all for me :-)  Today is really a great day!!  I'll post and talk about what transpired over the course of the day on my next post...

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Suzie Homemaker

On this edition of Suzie Homemaker, we feature a quick and light summer meal I made last week that lasted for a few days.  I have now mastered making a salad from US Pizza at home :-)  I do cheat and get the dressing from the restaurant still, but it's only $1.50.  With what I spend on the makings of enough salads for us to eat for a few days a few times a day, I would only get one salad for each of us from the restaurant.  Smart savings :-)  I coupled the salad with a recipe that I found on Pinterest for Ham and Cheese sliders.  I altered the recipe a little, but it was still really good.

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The Boss

I swear I don't know where she gets that from.... :-)  I bet Kelvin would say he does though!

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Hot Fun in the Summertime

So, all 3 of the girls had a play date at our house this past week and we had a blast!  Usually the girls all see each other over at Mama Pat's house, so whenever it happens here it's always extra special to me.  They finally got to have the grand opening of their Clubhouse Cafe and they really went all out.  They served up donuts, pizza, hamburgers, and ketchup.  Their special of the day sounded like it was Mac and Cheese, but whenever we would order that we'd end up with something different on our plate so maybe it was just a code word for "whatever we decide you are going to eat".  
 Once the cafe was closed for lunch, Daddy/Uncle Kelvin set up the pool and slip and slide.  The girls were a little apprehensive about it, but he was all in.  He also gave sharp shooting lessons with the water gun.


 
 
 

They ended the day with lunch and freeze pops and watching the Fresh Beats go Gabba Gabba episode on Nick Jr.    Brooklyn slept for 3 hours after they left!  It was all worth it!!

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The Newest Members of the Loring Family

We have 2 new members of the Loring household!  No, I'm not pregnant with twins!  Everyone please meet "Sugar" Loring and "Boy" Loring.  Brooklyn's first pet goldfish :-)  I think Kelvin and I are more pleased with them than Brooklyn.  She was very excited though when she realized we were taking them home.  "Sugar" was the first addition.  "Sugar" is very mild tempered.  She likes to just lay around and not really do a lot in the bowl.  So, we thought she might be a little lonely.  Being the compassionate people we are, we went back to Walmart and got one of her friends out of the tank.  So, along comes "Boy".  He is very very different from "Sugar"!  He is all over the place!  He yells when he talks and talks all the time.  He also has the bigger appetite.  I think "Sugar" might have been a little inconvenienced by this addition.  We thought  she would be swimming for joy but she was really non-chalant about the change.
So, there we go---2 new mouths to feed.  The joys of family :-)

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Happy Father's Day!!

Father's Day was a big success this year for all of my special guys :-)  We are all so blessed to have Kelvin Loring, Michael Wiley, and Murry Loring in our lives! Brooklyn celebrated the actual day by taking her Daddy, Papa, and Grampa out to eat at Outback Steakhouse.  We were joined in celebration by Brandi, Aubrey, and Presley so it was even more special!  Needless to say, with 3 toddlers on a just an hour nap by 6:30pm and a 45 minute wait at the restaurant-- the night was a chaotic occasion.  At least the dads enjoyed themselves though.  In terms of gifts, it was a total DIY Father's Day this year.  Of course with Pinterest in hand, I put a lot of thought into trying to make great gifts.  I must admit I cheated for my father-in-law and had his gift embroidered professionally.  However for my Daddy and Kelvin, we made t-shirts this year!!  It was a fiasco at best.  I can understand why some people charge a lot for customized shirts.  It's especially tough not to get paint everywhere when trying to get a 2 year old to put her hand prints on the shirt then back away as quickly as possible and not touch it again.  Thank God Mama Pat was there because it was definitely not a one man job...lol!  Enjoy some pics of the gifts and the outing:


 
 
 
 


 

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Road Trip!!!

Kelvin and I had to go on a road trip to Kentucky Father's Day weekend because he was in a wedding.  It was almost like a double date road trip because we tailed and hung out with another couple friend of ours who also has a small child (a newborn, that is which we definitely don't have...lol).  Anyway, it was a really relaxing weekend.  Kelvin and I hadn't been anywhere for more than just overnight since before Brooklyn came along, so it was a great way to get our feet wet before we get away for our 5th wedding anniversary coming up at the end of the year.  Here are some pics of the time away:

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Happy Birthday Mama Pat!!!

June 15 was Mama Pat's big day.  Unfortunately, I had to go out of town that day so I made sure I pulled out all the big guns in the days leading up to it :-)  I've started a little tradition of taking birthday treats to Mama's job (like I take birthday treats to Brooklyn's preschool) for her birthday.  She loves it!  It's no secret to anyone at the VA Pharmacy in Little Rock when Pat Wiley's birthday is.  This method just involves them in the celebration of it---like it or not...lol!!  It makes me feel good to see her feel good though so I must admit it's as much for me as it is for her.  This year, I did assorted Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast on the morning of the 13th.  I couldn't let the birthday attention at work end with that though.  I secretly took some flowers, a birthday crown, and a birthday sash up there on the morning of the 14th for them to decorate her work station with so that when she came in on her birthday she would see that I was still there in spirit.  She loved it!
As far as how I celebrated with her, we took a little one day vacay to Hot Springs on the 14th.  I had her take the day off work and we went and spoiled ourselves and took a little walk down memory lane.  With Brandi and I being 5 years apart, it was just me and Mama for a while.  From what I can remember, we've always been besties :-)  She used to take me to do so many things that I still love to do to this day- one being going to that pitiful wax museum in Hot Springs.  We also walked the strip down there and did a little light shopping for you know who (the girls).  The main event was our spa time at the Arlington Hotel.  We had neck, hand and feet massages as well as pedicures.  After that, we had lunch on the lake at Fishermen's Wharf.  The atmosphere was perfect!!! They have an amazing outdoor eating area on the water that I would recommend to anyone who's going to Hot Springs.  We ended the day in Hot Springs with a special tasting tour which I'll leave at that for now :-)  Mama went on and on all the way back and for days after about how amazing that day was to her which made it worth every penny to me!!  We ended the day by pulling Brooklyn in on the celebration complete with birthday cupcakes and candles :-)


 
 
 
 

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Natural Hair Journey

I must admit, I'm getting a little tired of the journey.  It's so much work compared to what I'm accustomed to doing to maintain my hair.  Also, my thin edges really take away from some of the looks I'm going for some times.  I'm still doing my Women's Rogaine and I'm using it off label in the fact that it really isn't for the edges.  It says it takes up to 4 months to really really see results so I'm going to stick in there with it for at least that long.  This past weekend though, I had officially had it with the dull look without me putting the time in so I went and bought a new half wig.  It was really cute but really dramatic compared to what I'm used to seeing myself in so I'll keep it for as needed emergencies only :-)

So Much To Share In Only A Week!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Thursday, June 7 was my Daddy's birthday.  I'm really big on celebrating birthdays with my family and with his, mama's, mine, and Brandi's birthdays all being in June we see each other on a weekly basis this month.  This year we celebrated Daddy's birthday with a birthday dinner at Flying Fish.  I recently tried their grilled tilapia (made snappy) and I am hooked!  It's such a flavorful and sin-free dish.  So, we all decided to indulge on that for Daddy's birthday.  Of course no birthday would be complete without birthday cake, as you can see somebody really knows how to celebrate a birthday with cake in the picture below :-)  Funny side story- both Daddy and I were off work all day on his birthday but the plan wasn't to see him until later in the afternoon/early evening when we would get together for dinner.  So, I thought I would spend the day to myself shopping for Father's Day and his birthday.  I walk into the Guitar Center to pick him up a quick birthday gift and who do I see standing at the counter???- him!  So, I had to go with an alternate plan.
Daddy-- since I know you follow my blog---I hope you had a fantastic birthday!  I feel so blessed to have you in my life and I will continue to celebrate you every year and thank God for blessing me and our family with your presence!

Porsche...aka...Suzie Homemaker :-)

I'm still being pretty good about sticking to my plan when it comes to cooking meals at home twice a week so that at least 4 days out of the week we are not eating out.  I thought it might be fun to share my "creations" with my blog readers.  This week's featured dinners were Chicken and Veggie pasta with homemade Alfredo sauce for Sunday and Monday and Meat Loaf with Mushroom Gravy, garlic whipped potatoes and seasoned green beans for Tuesday and Wednesday.  I even out did myself this week and made dessert on each of those cooking days as well.  Sunday and Monday it was Apple Dump Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream and Tuesday and Wednesday it was Cinnamon Roll Cake.  A quick side note about that Cinnamon Roll Cake.  I got that recipe off Pinterest :-)  This past Sunday it was my turn to make a breakfast dish for Sunday School Class.  So, I got up Sunday morning and tried to time prepping it so that I could walk out of the door with it piping hot.  Needless to say, with getting myself and Brooklyn dressed and ready in the process-- I was running late.  I was so nervous that my dish wouldn't get eaten, but boy was I wrong.  I had a line of people following me to the table to sit it down and it was gone within 10 minutes.  I barely got a piece of it myself.  Anyone who cooks food to share knows that that is one of the best feelings ever!  Eat your heart out with a few pics:

2012 Sports Illustrated Toddler Swimsuit Edition

'Nuff Said :-)

Aubrey, Presley, and Brooklyn's First House

I've been wanting to get a play house for Brooklyn to play in in our backyard.  With trying to pay bills off and stay ahead and not spend unncessary money, it's been hard to cough up a few hundred dollars to do so.  My plan was to hit up some garage sales this summer and see what I could find.  However, Mama mentioned to me that a co-worker of hers was wanting to get rid of the one he had for his little girl who had outgrown it.  She took him up on the offer but didn't want to keep it in her yard for fear the racoons and other nature neighbors might take it for their home :-)  So, Kelvin and I allowed the girls to purchase a small lot on our back porch to put their house.  Brooklyn absolutely loves it.  The little entrepreneur in her has decided to turn it into a small restaurant though.  She opens up the windows when she's in it and insists on "taking your order".  She's a very clean restaurant owner too.  She usually washes her hands about 5 times before and if she ever gives me my food :-)  Aubrey and Presley haven't been by since we set the house up, but I can't wait to see how all the girls interact in it.

Natural Hair Following

 

I'm still sticking to the natural hair plan.  I thought I'd post a few pics of hairstyles I'm wearing on my blog whenever I mention it.  In addition to that, I've also invested in a product that I'm hoping will enhance the look.  It's hereditary in my family to have thin edges.  I don't make it any better wearing braids and twists from time to time.  So, even though this product says it's for the crown of the head; I decided to give it a try on my edges and just see what happens.  I'll just put a pic of it below and let you chuckle silently to yourself:

I'm Getting a Little Better at This!

Can you believe it?  I'm actually putting another post on and it's been less than 4 months!  As I intended to, I'm going to try to keep my readers up to speed in a much more considerate manner that will hopefully put less wear and tear on the eyes.  Things are going well in our little family now and will hopefully stay that way.  Summer feels like it's been here for months even though it's not really here yet so stay tuned for summer time fun on the Loring and Loving It blog spot :-)

The Official First Holiday of the "Summer"

  We kicked off the official first holiday of the summer by having some fun in the sun at Mama Pat's house.  I took Brooklyn over to have some water fun with Aubrey and Presley and munch on grilled hot dogs.  Last summer, when the girls came over to our house they were a little apprehensive about playing in the water and Brooklyn was all over the place in it.  This year, Brooklyn was the apprehensive one.  She was all about playing but did not want to get wet!  When the sprinkler is on at home, she even tells the water to "keep your hands to yourself!"...lol!  Too funny.  After the girls had enough fun with the water, it was time to ride scooters and Brooklyn didn't want to ride her scooter either.   Aubrey and Presley weren't too messed up about riding theirs either.  However, as you can see there was one girl who was all over riding the scooter...lol!  Go Mama Pat Go!!

Natural Hair Following



I'm hanging in there with this natural hair thing.  I'm  not nearly as good as I should be about the maintenance at night though.  When I'm in for the night, I don't want to do anything to my head but put a satin cap on and fall into bed.  However, from what I've been seeing it's important to re-moisturize and even twist your hair up at night to keep it from being dry.  I learned that lesson the hard way yesterday when after 3 days of not doing that like I was supposed to I had the gruesome task of spending an hour detangling and moisturizing my hair.  It's twisted up into a "protective style" now meaning I wet it, moisturized it, put it in twists and put the twists in a no-mess-with up do.  I have some olive oil that I sprayed on that before I got in bed last night and when I got up this morning.  I will probably keep it in that for a day or two and then take it down and wear it curly.  Wearing it curly is cute for the daytime but it's a big hassle at night when I have re-wet it, moisturize it and twist it up all over again.  Wearing my hair natural is way more time consuming and taxing than when I had the relaxer.  However, my hair is just much too thin for relaxers now. 

Nifty Nutrition

Another thing I'm having to work on is nutrition for it and the rest of my body.  Sometimes, I might just eat one meal a day and snack on junk the rest of the day.  I'm trying to get back into the habit of eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I've also added a Women's Multivitamin and 5000mcg of Biotin to my daily regimen.  The hardest part of all- trying to drink more water.  Uggghhhh.... I don't like drinking water :-(  However, after hearing the struggles of people in Africa when it comes to clean water and the diseases and health issues they have from consuming dirty water it really makes me put things into perspective and embrace the clean water God has provided me purely by grace.

Been a Long Time Coming...

I'm sure if anyone has followed my blog in the past, they have probably dropped off at this point.  I have been absolutely terrible about blogging.  Work has kept me so busy lately.  Plus, I made a promise to myself that whenever I am home and my family is home; I will concentrate on them and not be hovering over the computer.  I think it's enough to be forgiven of blog-neglect and welcomed back with open eyes :-)
So, to whom it may concern-
Let's catch up!  I won't go over all the juicy details of Loring Life because it would take FOREVER at this point so I'll just hit the highlights:

Valentine's Day 2012

Let me just start at a few weeks before and tell my story of how Brooklyn and I bump heads already...lol!  I had this bright idea to go to Portrait Innovations and have pics made of us for Kelvin. I spent a small fortune getting some t-shirts made and shipped that save I (heart) my Daddy for her and I (heart) my hubby for me.  I should have known things wouldn't go as planned when I was able to pick her up from daycare on time, she was a perfect angel, and we both had a good hair day.  We pull up to the studio and she doesn't even want to go inside.  She's screaming and pulling away before we can even get in the door.  I guess I thought it would be easier than this given she's such a camera ham when I take pics of her.  We tried and tried to calm her down but finally I just gave up.  Sweaty and very, very irate- I picked my child up (who was kicking and screaming all the way out to the car) and I left.  She got a very good talking to and I let her know that I was very disappointed that she didn't do well for Daddy's Valentine's present. I was so hurt!!!  I think it hurt me even more that she knew she had let me down and she genuinely seemed remorseful about it.

Kelvin and I decided to avoid the Valentine's weekend rush and have our date night on the day before Valentine's (Monday).  We had a nice quiet dinner at Bonefish Grill and Papa (my daddy) got to try his hand at time alone with Brooklyn for the first time!  They both did fantastic and they both survived so, we have officially added Papa to the Loring Babysitter Registry (every family with small kids should have one :-)

We decided to make Valentine's Day all about Brook.  So, Kelvin bought her a huge Reese's chocolate/peanut butter heart and a balloon.  She was so excited about her treat that night.  Just take a look....

Mommy's Week Out

At the end of February, Kelvin and Brooklyn got to spend a nice chunk of Daddy/daughter time when my job took me to Dallas for a meeting for the week.  I have to say that when I went out of town with my job the first time, I really enjoyed the break.  This time was different though.  Now that I'm feeling really settled into mommyhood and able to really appreciate wifehood- I was really ready to get back home.  Thank goodness I don't have to be gone that long again anytime soon.  My family welcomed me home with open arms and a sweet sentiment upon my arrival into the house:

Forget being a big girl, I think I'm grown :-)

Where does the time go?  I've went from trying to decide what Brooklyn will wear to having her tell me what she wants to wear.  She loves the weekends because I'll usually concede to her request.  Her weekend faves- shorts and anything pink on Saturday and a dress and brown sandals on Sunday.  Check out the model...



Still stuck on Pinterest

I officially can't go to Pinterest any more than once in a while because it is so addicting.  These pics I'm going to show aren't at all the best thing you'll ever see but they are my first stabs at doing some of the things I see on there.  The only other things that I've done that aren't pictured here are a recipe for Lemon Cream Bars and I've made my own Febreeze that I use around the house :-)

 

Easter 2012

Easter is just getting more and more fun every year!  This year, we decided to take all the girls to Eggstravaganza over at First Assembly NLR.  I think they had a great time!  Before we began our hunt, we ate our hot dogs to make sure we had our energy level up :-)  This church absolutely has it right when it comes to the best Easter egg hunting format for 2 year olds!  It's timed and only little ones participate and the eggs aren't hidden--they were just laying out and about for the swiping.  All 3 of the girls loved it!  After they finished their hunt, they got to play with bubbles and were handed stickers and more sweet treats on their way out of the hunt.  Here are some pics of our fabulous time!  Also check out the model for Easter Day Fashions below :-)

Brooklyn's First Prom

Brooklyn recently had her very 1st prom night.  Her first prom date--- her Daddy!  They made a very cute pair.  I was allowed to tag along as a chaperone and wardrobe care taker...lol!  Kelvin escorted Brooklyn across the stage for grand march.  They were adorable.  I was supposed to be filming with my phone and in true Porsche fashion- hit the stop button as soon as they came onto the stage because I'm so used to hitting that button to snap still shots.  Anyway, we still had a great time.  We dined on Chick fil-A and Brook danced the night away...til around 8:00, that is :-)



Happy 3rd Birthday Aubrey and Presley!!

It seems like yesterday I was going to the NICU to meet my neices for the very first time.  With Brooklyn being so close in age to them, I feel like they all 3 came into our lives at the same time.  With my busy schedule and them living so far away, I don't get to spend time with nearly as much as I would have wanted to.  So, I decided to make their birthday from Aunt Porsche, Uncle Kelvin, and Brooklyn extra special with a birthday party and special birthday gifts at our house the Sunday before their birthday.  I'm slowly evolving into an artsy-craftsy sort of mom so I decided to bring out all the big guns in some things that I had heard from other moms lately that I wanted to try.  So, we made our own mini pizzas with English muffins, I made them their own special cakes in the colors they requested to blow candles out on, and we got them their very own tricycles like the one Brooklyn has so they can all have matching wheels to cruise the town (a.k.a.- the driveway) on.  Here's a glimpse of their special day:

Lovin' the Natural

I recently decided to really embrace my natural hair I've been maintaining since before I got pregnant with Brooklyn.  I know, I know big switch from me talking about all the fun I was having with weaves and wigs but hey- that's just me. You never know what you're gonna get...lol!  I noticed a co-worker of mine at one of my jobs always had a different look she was trying with her natural hair.  So, I asked her how she was coming up with all of this and she gave me the "answer" to dealing with natural hair.  Are you ready for it?  It's You Tube.  I follow simplyounique and naptural85 mostly and I must say I'm really having fun with it.  Here's a quick shot of me and my natural one day at work.   I'm apologizing now if it will only show sideways...lol!

Potty Training Blues

If anyone reading this blog has the magic answer to potty training your little one and it works, please contact me immediately for a cash reward...lol!  I recently invested a penny (literally) into this book you see below because I read such rave reviews on it.  It was written back in the '70s and was supposed to have been found to give consistently good results old school style (without the beat-downs, that is).  However, it was a no-go for Miss Brooklyn.  Back to the drawing board...



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~Mother's Day 2012~

As always, Mother's Day this year was fantastic!  I think Mother's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays every year even before I became a mother.  It's a great day to spoil those who spoil me the most- mama!  Brooklyn's not old enough to spoil her mommy just yet- but her Daddy is picking up the slack pretty good!  This year, we all went to church together for the early service.  As a special Mother's Day bonus, all 3 of the girls actually went to and had a good time in the nursery so we could actually enjoy service!  After church, we went to the breakfast buffet at The Golden Corral.  The food was awesome!  However, the logistics of doing that with 3 little kids was chaotic.  In retrospect, that might have been a great idea if the girls had let us go on our own...lol!  We had mama a shirt made from the grandkids and we also went in on creating a charm bracelet for her with all her kids and grandkids initials and birthstones.  As for me, I had to work the rest of the morning and afternoon but Brooklyn and Kelvin had a home-cooked steak dinner waiting on me when I got home and oh-so fabulous gifts to go with.  I'm so blessed to be a mother and still have my mother so as long as my 2 favorite ladies are still here and healthy, I'll have everything I need where Mother's Day is concerned :-)