ellie’s first haircut

Posted on March 25, 2020 by tandem in love

ellie had her first haircut! {pre-shelter in place}

at 3.8 years old…girlfriend had her first cut! olive had hers at 5 years of age but things go so much faster when you have an older sister to inspire you!

olive had been wanting to get her haircut for awhile. she likes it long and her hair grows so fast, but it was getting too long and dried at the ends that it was so hard to brush! every time i brushed her hair, it sounded like a scene out of a horror movie and someone was getting axed to death. LOL

i promised her we would go to get it cut. week after week and month after month went by but it was so low on my priority list, i kept forgetting to make an appointment. i finally put a reminder in my phone and called the shop and secured an appointment for olive. while we were talking about it, miss ellie said she wanted to get her haircut too! i asked her repeatedly because there are so many times she tells me she wants to do something but it all ends up being a farce.

we arrived for their appointments and i asked ellie if she wanted to get her haircut. she said no. typical. i coaxed her and she continued to say no. when miss keisha was ready for her, she reluctantly went. miss keisha was super reassuring and enticed ellie with shows on an iPad and ellie gingerly got into the chair.

she started smiling, seemed comfortable and ready to get her hair chopped! miss keisha asked us how much we wanted to cut off and we showed her where. she measured how much we wanted to cut lop off and it was 7 inches! miss keisha got her scissors warmed up and off went her hair! ellie was quite happy and it looked great! oh, i really loved how it looked! her hair looked so short, cute and fresh!

afterwards, olive had her haircut and she cut off seven inches too! now they both have shorter hair and they both look adorable. i do love how easy it is to maintain the shorter do! the girls love it and olive is not screaming bloody murder when i brush her hair in the morning either! hahaha!

of course, the girls didn’t leave the ‘salon’ without lollipops and a toy! no wonder they love that place so much!

[ready but not so ready for her first haircut!]

[here we go!]

[she cut off 7 inches!]

[happy with the results]

[my sweetie…super happy with her haircut experience]

*****

O L I V E’ S H A I R C U T

[she had 7″ chopped off too!]

xoxo

goldfish party

Posted on March 23, 2020 by tandem in love

we had such a fun goldfish party at the elmhurst location {pre shelter in place}! they invited all social partners with the brand in the chicagoland area in, just to celebrate – it was so sweet and thoughtful of them! the kids got to swim with a ton of creative fun floats, take pics in a photo booth, eat pizza, down rootbeer floats, color, paint, and see the goldfish mascot! they put together a serious party! i adored how much effort and thought went into it and all the details were so festive.

again, i apologize for the picture quality, as i downloaded the wrong size and had no effort to re do. LOL

ellie had no interest in swimming and olive was ready to go. she had a choice to take the swim test and pass or just choose to put on a floatation vest. olive chose to take the test. the lifeguard had her do a series of different techniques and she…….passed! now, she isn’t the strongest swimmer and if it was all deep water, she would have a vest on but she was in an area where she could stand and hc had his eyes on her at all times too. they did have three lifeguards watching all the kids, which was fantastic.

while olive swam, ellie and i spent some quality time together having fun watching her or taking pics in the photo booth. they let the kids swim for 45 minutes or so and then called them out to get ready for some grub. they served pizzas and juice and everyone was happy except ellie. she doesn’t like pizza. at. all. so i offered to pay for a bag of pirate’s booty they had in their case and they so graciously gave it to us. so sweet of them!

while olive ate pizza, she painted and i chatted with all the wonderful moms i got to meet at the event! while they were serving pizza and juice, the goldfish mascot came out and ellie just about lost it. she cannot, cannot stand human sized characters. it just freaks the shiznit outta her. i asked the goldfish mascot to stay away from her, in which it complied. LOL

i continued to socialize with the moms while our kids ate and had fun. they were then serving up root beer floats and olive was in heaven. ellie consumed one right away and olive savored hers. it was hilarious cause olive was insistent, super insistent that i try one. she would not rest until i tried the delicious root beer float. she was like, “try it kiki, try it!” “did you try it yet?!” “it’s so yummy, try it…go get one!” LOL i then asked the server to fill it with paper and just put whipped cream on top to appease olive that i was having one. i was too full and could have told her that but just relented the easy way. haha!

everyone started wrapping up and of course, we were the last ones to leave! not without snagging some extra goodies for the kids, we grabbed some paint and paper sheets and balloons and headed to our car. the girls had a great time and we had a great time too. we were so pleased at how wonderful the party had turned out!

thanks so much to goldfish swim school family and sara at 2 moms media! we hope everyone is sheltering in safely and we send visual hugs and love to everyone!

[the cutest table spread]

[me and my babes]

[olive is such a ham]

[she’s so sweet]

[seeing her in her goggles makes me laugh in a really goofy, sweet way]

[my silly girl]

[rootbeer float]

xoxo

lucky charms

Posted on March 22, 2020 by tandem in love

holidays are so much more fun with kids.

i didn’t really celebrate st. patrick’s day before kids…being irish and all. LOL i don’t drink a lot and going out to crowded bars to get hammered drunk wasn’t my gig. so, now that my kids love anything fun, crafty, or sweet…going full force with projects and activities is my jam.

also, {side note} these pics are so small. i saved them small but didn’t realize they was so tiny! ha! i am way too lazy to re-download and upload again. so, to anyone who follows along on my blog…they will be this pint size until the next batch activities! LOL

we don’t do a whole lot for st. paddy’s day. we decorate, we make a few fun treats leading up to it, and the leprechaun visits the eve before the holiday. this year, i decided to have the girls help me make lucky charm rice krispy treats…they’re easy to make and yummy!

the girls first picked out all the marshmallows in the cereal. they found this so fun! i created a challenge for them…with each bowl, could the accept the challenge of picking out every single marshmallow?? no marshmallow left behind! when they felt that they had plucked every last one, they would call me over, anxious if they were successful. they were so determined and they succeeded! i know you can buy bags of similar marshmallows but as stated, it’s not the same! we need the rainbows and unicorns!

i melted the butter and marshmallows and the girls mixed it all together. they helped push it into the pan and decorated it with marshmallows. ta da! that was it! i love making these treats…so simple and so good!

the girls loved it! everyone devoured it within days!

[helping her big sister pick out the lucky charm marshmallows…i heard that you can just buy a bag of that stuff?? but this is much more fun!]

[stirring the marshmallows in]

[the pan of goodies]

*****
S T. P A T R I C K’ S D A Y

on st. paddy’s day…we always make green pancakes with green milk! the girls love it. it’s something special they look forward to and i love seeing their faces light up when it’s time to eat!