SMOOTH SAILING

Well....I'm titling this update as such because things are just rolling along nicely. Some really important stuff, some pretty normal stuff and you see it all here on Loring and Loving It...lol! Got some stuff to show you...wanna see it? Here it goes...

BROOKLYN'S FIRST TRIP TO DENTIST

  Yes, I know this was a to-do item while she was 3 but I was a little behind. My dentist assured me it was ok. So, I pitched a request to all my FB friends for a pediatric dentist recommendation.  I decided to go with Dr. Friend in NLR and I was very pleased.  This office had big shoes to fill in my mind as my days at the dentist as a child are memories of Bippo the Hippo and that huge Twinkie and toothbrush he used to carry around, a movie room with layered level seating, and headphones at each dentist chair to listen to music.  My have times changed since then!  Brooklyn enjoyed the entire experience filled with a train ride in the waiting room, Doc McStuffins playing overhead her dentist chair, and a treasure chest to pick toys from on the way out!  PLUS, we had no cavities...so I'd say we're right on schedule :)

GNO WITH MY 2 BESTIES

  It's always a treat for me when I can have a little GNO with my girlfriends just the grown ups. However it's even more special when any of my friends can willingly incorporate my little shadow into the mix. That's what BFFs are good for and Brooklyn loves her some Miss Cher--ryl!! That's exactly how she says it...lol! 

KID SWAP DELUXE

  Kid swap has gotten supersized here recently with the addition of my two little divas on their recent visits in town. One weekend we were at Mama Pat's and this past we were at our house. They ate and played and ran and giggled and bossed and sang....then they did it over and over again. Note the last pic that shows the havoc they wreaked on Brook's room last night...geez!!

FUN TIMES AT FUNLAND

Brook recently attended a friend's birthday party at Funland in Burns Park and she had such a blast! It was so fun seeing how excited all the kids were each time another one of them showed up as if they didn't know each other existed outside of school. When it was time to ride rides, it was also funny to see how fast they took off together to ride the rides...lol!  The crazy part of the day was when we were finally about to leave and all the park employees announced no one could leave because a child was missing and the police were on their way. All the rides shut down and we were all confined to the party pavilion as several of the employees took to the woods to find the missing child. About 15 min later,  it was announced we could go because they found the child at the playground across the street!! Oh Lord! My heart sank for the mother as we awaited search news originally... But when we got that update, I wanted to go hand deliver correction to that child for that mother myself (if you know what I mean...wow)

ARKANSAS STATE FAIR 2013

Now that Brook actually enjoys riding rides, the fair is an entirely different experience! She had a blast BOTH times we went this year! Yes, we went twice-once with her Daddy and once with Mama Pat, Papa, Aubrey, and Presley. My favorite food item this year---that doggone roasted corn on the cob dipped in melted butter and sprinkled with lemon pepper....OMG!!!!

ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE EFFECT THE FAIR HAS ON CHILDREN!!

BROOKLYN AND MOMMY ❤ BENIHANA

NEW THANGS...LOL

She's growing up so fast! At the last pediatric check-up, Brook was cleared to advance to a booster seat with back attached until she reaches 40lbs. She was so excited about her new big girl seat!!! Once she learns how to put that seat belt on herself, Mommy will be excited too...lol!

JR HAIR UPDATE

You get a bonus hair section this time. Now that Brook has a head full of hair, figured I'd display some of her styles too. These pics are my shot at doing some twists on her hair. She only wore the back down the first day because they were going every which way after she slept on them. So, I pulled them into 3 ponytails for the rest of the week. She looked really cute and it was super easy to maintain. Check out the dome cap pick as she tried to get a cookie out of the cookie jar...lol!

SR HAIR UPDATE

So, remember me talking about bleaching the knots on the lace wig to make it more natural looking? Well, here's the final result of that:

Last but not least, here is a pic of the crochet twists I wore again recently. I get so many compliments on those things and people ask me to do them on their hair or their kids'. Nice to know I'd have myself a little side hustle if I ever needed it...lol!

Well my dear readers, I'll leave you with a glass that made me literally laugh out loud as we approach the Halloween holiday and a pic I saw on IG that made me think of friends and even a few family members :)  

Ta-ta for now ...

Brooklyn Birthday Festivities 2013

Yes, my child's birthday was almost 2 weeks ago but a girl's been busy these days....geez!! So, it'll be mostly photo with limited commentary. 

I will just say that Kelvin and I are so blessed to have this beautiful little girl given to us by God to have all for ourselves :) for this reason, yes she is a little spoiled---ok, spoiled rotten...lol!

BIRTHDAY PARTY PREP

   Since Brook wanted her party at Chuck E. Cheese's it limited me spreading my crafty wings. However, she knew best because I had so many things going on that it all worked out anyway. I did manage to put some treat bags together with cupcakes, Dora candy treats, and stickers. After all, those are the only things that really mattered to the kiddos---the wow factor is really for the adults.

THE BIG BIRTHDAY PARTY!!

I should be ashamed to say but Brook had a kid guest list of 30 kiddos not counting all the family and friends who attended-long story short we had one whole wall of Chuck E. Cheese's to ourselves. She had a blast though. We're still scared of Chuck E though so we stayed clear of him. We were also scared to get in the ticket blaster. So, Brook's BFF volunteered to take her turn for her. That little girl cleaned house in that thing!! What it came out to was 1475 tickets (incl a 1000 ticket voucher)...and she handed them ALL over to Brooklyn...now that's a best friend!!! All the kids had a blast!

THE BIG BIRTHDAY PRESENT REVEAL...

So Brook has done so well with that little red tricycle for so long now and has also outgrown it. As all kids do (self-included) she gushes with excitement when we pass the bikes in Walmart. So, her Daddy went shopping for one for her and came back with the perfect one!! It was Disney princess theme and he even found matching knee and elbow pads and gloves!!! Too cute!! Here's how all of that went...might I point out the pic of her dancing with excitement beside the balloons and the bike...lol

THE AFTER PARTY...

Now, what you'll see here is not Brook's party but a friend's whose birthday is the day after hers that Brook attended the evening of the day of her party. Yes, 2 parties in 1 day!! Her mom was brave enough to do a slumber party!!! I will NOT do that until all girls are old enough to dress themselves, etc, etc...lol! Nevertheless, that mommy pulled it off. I stayed most of the evening to participate in the festivities thinking Brook would want to leave with me, but noooooo she wanted to stay. So I was sent home to fetch pj's, Dora suitcase, Dora toothbrush, and Dora blanket for her to sleep over. She had a blast!

THE ACTUAL BIRTHDAY, BIRTHDAY PARTY

Did I mention all of what you just saw wasn't even in Brook's birthday??!! Since her b-day was on a week day, we HAD to have a party at school, right? So, I can only think of one thing this kid loves more than birthday cake---donuts!! So, we had birthday sprinkle donuts. The folks at Shipley near us have adored Brooklyn since I had her, so when I asked if they would do her birthday treats for me this year---they were delighted!! So, we had a breakfast birthday party complete with chocolate milk and of course goodie bags in all the kids cubbies to take home. It was all worth it to hear how cool everyone thought Brooklyn was because her mom brought donuts and chocolate milk for breakfast :)

4 YEAR OLD CHECKUP

Brook has never been a stranger to a doctor's office but she's always so engaged when it's time to see Dr Davis. 4 year old checkups are tough in that there are 5 shots that come along with it this year. Lucky for her, they were out of one of them that day so we'll be going back this week. Bet she won't be so excited to see Dr Davis anymore after that :(

O.k so there it is....my little one's 4th birthday festivities. Not too shabby if you ask me! Hope you enjoyed! See you soon!

A Little Girl Time

Alright fellas...I tried to warn you in my title that this post might not interest you :) it's all about chill time, play dates, hair dos and various other woman's concerns...lol! However if you love me...you'll read it anyway :)

DID I MENTION I LOVE MY JOB??

  It never fails that when the weight of the world feels like it's on my shoulder, my routing lands me in Hot Springs seeing those stores for the day which usually translates into a nice peaceful lunch break at Fisherman's Wharf...ahhhhhh...usually just me outside on the huge deck on Lake Hamilton with nothing but the sound of the water and the ducks and the fish dishes are always excellent (of course)....even though I'm pooped when I'm there it's the perfect place to re-charge before I have to "turn the charm back on"...lol!

KID SWAP STILL GOING STRONG...

A few of you ask me every once in a while if I'm still "doing that kid swap thing" and the answer is but of course my dears...I can say that Brooklyn is definitely maturing in that the two girls don't argue as much and they play and work really well together...it's amazing to me how agreeable she can be with everyone except me...lol!  I included a few pics of the girls at Chick Fil-A a few weeks ago. They were starving by the time we got there so I didn't have to employ any mind play to convince them to eat this time...lol! Also, I was very proud of Brook for finally overcoming her anxiety of going into the slide contraption...lol! That translated into plenty of time to sit and relax and eat that warm chocolate chip cookie I had no business eating :)

THE DOC IS IN!

What I'm about to say is not TMI for moms and dads out there, but we are finally #2 potty trained!! Yes, she's almost 4 years old and she finally got over her anxiety to poop on the potty. I share that so my other first time mommies of little ones won't be discouraged if this potty training thing doesn't happen as quickly as you'd like. If I've learned anything with Brooklyn it is that these kids will accomplish these milestones when they are good and ready. It's like a switch turns on or something. Anyhoo---Brook's play date friend has had the Doc McStuffins dress up set for a while now and it seems to be a fave of Brook's. So, after Brook finally accomplished one of her last big girl feats her Daddy took her shopping to get a set of her very own!! She loves it!! I think we enjoy watching her play with it even more though. So since she decided she wants to be a doctor now it was the perfect Segway into Halloween Costume 2013!! I ordered her the cutest little pair of pink scrubs in her size and I'll add a few more things to the ensemble later...check her out!

Oh and yes...I'm already planning out the Halloween costume...that's not weird...lol!

DONUT LOVERS LANE

Recently Krispy Kreme was fortunate enough to have 3 generations of donut pros come in and sup with them...lol! Brooklyn, her Papa, and I went for a little after dinner snack last week and it did not disappoint! I must admit...my heart still skips a beat when I drive up and see the hot light on...lol!

SURELY YOU DIDN'T THINK I FORGOT ABOUT THE HAIR PICS!

So, I recently got a few new pieces. The first set of pics you'll see is the precious little piece I got from a beauty store grand opening in Memphis. It's a lace front wig and I'll put pics before and after I cut the excess lace on the front. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It's so natural looking and just blends in perfectly with my hairline. It's such a quick yet super stylish option when needed :) plus, I only paid $20 for it...now you can't beat that with a stick...lol!

This next one really is precious for real in that I had to splurge A LOT more for it. It's a full lace wig with human Indian Remy natural wave hair meaning I can wash and style it like my own!! I ordered it from China and after shipping back and forth to get the color right, it's finally a keeper. I even got brave enough recently to go ahead and bleach the knots on it so it can look even more natural. I haven't worn it since I did that but so far so good :) I figured if I was going to invest in a nice piece I might as well customize it just to my taste ;) the 2 pics you'll see here are me playing with it in a few different styles...

WHAT THE HECK DOES BLEACH THE KNOTS MEAN?

Don't be embarrassed...I know a few of you want to ask...lol! That is a technique to make the lace on which the hair is sewn lookout natural like your scalp. Because the hair is attached to the lace in tiny knots it can make the appearance of the lace a little dark so when you part it to style it...it doesn't look very natural. However when you bleach those knots, it looks like the hair is coming up out of scalp instead! I was very nervous about doing this because I didn't want to risk bleaching the hair...but it turned out just fine. I'm including a collage of the process I went through to do this and a pic of the finished work. Next time, I'll put a pic of it actually on and styled 

Last but not least, I like to put my own hair into a ponytail every few weeks or so (with a little Kanekelon, of course). This weekend, I'm wearing a high side bun. It took a little getting used to when I first walked out of the house with it like that, but I've been getting compliments all day! I even had a few girls at Schlotzsky's come to the drive thru window just to look at it and figure out how to do it...lol! I guess that means it's good, right?...lol

Gotta love that relaxed hair...I was able to accomplish this by moisturizing my hair with hair lotion and brushing it up into the ponytail. I used a little Creme of Nature perfect edges on my edges and sprayed a little holding spray on the style. I'll tie it up at night with a silk scarf and put a silk bonnet on and it should keep until Sunday or so! (Today is Friday)

CRAFT CORNER MAKING A CAMEO APPEARANCE

Although I vowed I was done with Craft Corner I must admit there'll probably always be one time of year when I can't help myself...Brooklyn's birthday. My little one is turning 4 years old in a few weeks so its time to kick it into gear for the party and surrounding festivities...lol! Notice I didn't say high gear...why? She's taking some of my creative thunder and has specifically requested a party at Chuck E. Cheese's :( however she asked for a Dora the Explorer party at Chuck E. Cheese's.....BINGO!! Enough room in the request for me to get creative. So...for starters, I'm kicking it off with a treasure map party invitation complete with a pic of Dora herself on them instructing the children on how to get to the party :) I even crinkled them up before I put them in the envelopes and yes....I really did send out ALL those envelopes you see here (there's some in the background too) and some are going to siblings so this one might be a doozie!! However, I do plan to enjoy the 3 things that will be different this time:

1- the party is indoors this year so no weather worries

2- I don't have to setup

3- I don't have to cleanup!!

Hip hip hooray!! Stay tuned after the party for pics of my craft projects for it :) I just can't help myself...hee hee hee

STORY OF MY LIFE

So Mary Mary recently posted this pic on Facebook and I thought to myself...hey! Who's been watching me...lol! This is the exact repetitive pattern that a goal junkie like myself follows...it's really almost addictive

Once again this post is too long with the everyday stuff to get into another favorite things section...so maybe next time.

Thanks ladies ( and maybe even a few gents) for sticking with me ;)