V-Day Picks with Gap and Old Navy

Gap and Old Navy are always my go-to when buying clothes for Kaylee. I love their stuff. Both places have the cutest outfits, and their prices are very reasonable when it comes to kids clothing!

 

Naturally, I visited each site to see what goodies they had for Valentines Day apparel. I found so many pieces that I wanted to purchase, and decided to share some of my favorites for Kaylee...

 

 

 

Now the dilemma... Narrowing these six outfits down to just one. Which is your favorite, or which would you choose?  If you like any of these pieces for your mini, you can find them at Gap or Old Navy. I love shopping for Kaylee and choosing things for each holiday. Everything in her size is seriously THE. CUTEST. I wish most of her closet came in my size!

 

 

Dance: The Hidden Language of the Soul

Dance [dans]; verb: To touch, to move, to inspire

As a child, I was never able to experience dance firsthand. I was a cheerleader. I cheered for about eleven years, beginning at age five. It was my thing. I loved it. The dancing aspect of cheer was one of the things I enjoyed the most. The feeling of performing in front of a maxed out stadium, or competing at a conference center with available spots being standing room only. A complete and utter rush; I lived for it. That is one feeling I will never in a million years forget.

I just knew if I ever had a daughter one day, she would cheer. We would share that same love and passion for it. I was sure of it.

Here I am, eleven years post cheer, and I have a seven year old little girl. During Pre-K, her academy offered extra-curricular activities, with dance being one of them. I read the list of activities to her, and she chose dance. I, of course, signed her up immediately, and so it began.

{First Year of Dance 2011/2012 - Age 4}

Kaylee has been dancing now for almost four years. K and I started her out with 1 class per "dance year" for the first two years. Last year for her third year, she asked to do more, so we registered her for three classes totaling three hours per week. She done great with the increased schedule really enjoying it, and learnt more last year than she had the previous two years combined. This year, for the 2014-2015 year, six classes are being offered for her age group. I asked her which classes she would like to do, and she told me all six. Last night, I completed her registration for six classes/six hours per week beginning in August!

{Hip Hop  2012/2013 - Age 5}

She is finding in dance what I found in cheer. She absolutely loves it, and I love watching the passion and excitement on her face when she's dancing. Dance has given her such confidence and joy, as well as lifelong friends, and the studio becoming like a second family to us. I hope that she continues with dance through high school and even into the collegiate level. I was blessed to stumble upon this company, and we've been with it for going on three years now. The Director really gives the girls so many opportunities that Kaylee could definitely go somewhere with it in the long run. 

{Jazz 2013/2014 - Age 6}

 {Hip Hop 2013/2014 - Age 6}

{Hip Hop Group 2013/2014 - Age 6}

I'm excited to share in this life of dance that she has chosen. I can't wait to see where it takes her. For as long as she enjoys it, we will continue to register her for classes until she tells us otherwise. Dancing was my favorite part of cheering, so in a small way, we do share that same love and passion I hoped we would. Dancing has so many more opportunities than cheer, so Kaylee chose the better one for sure!

Big Girl Room Ideas

  Kaylee is fast approaching the ripe old age of seven. Seven years old! When I look at her, I just stare, amazed, and think to myself, where have the past seven years gone to? As we rode home from dinner with family last night, she laid her head in my lap and fell asleep to my fingers running back and forth through her hair, and I savored every second of that car ride home. She's growing up, getting bigger and older, more independent. I know these moments are fleeting, passing by much too quickly right before my very eyes. I need to grasp them, hold on to each and every moment with everything I have. No matter how much I despise and want to stop it, time cannot be stopped. Such a wicked thing, time is. Though regardless of age, my baby she will always be.

With all of that said, turning seven means we’ve officially hit “big girl” status. Thus, the time has come to make the transition from Toddler Bedroom to a Big Girl Bedroom. Kaylee has informed me that she would like to have a light blue (like the sky – her words) and purple (not dark but light – she says).

Got it. Warm colors. Nothing crazy and drastic. Okay, I can totally work with this.

So, I’ve been searching the web for aqua/baby blue and lavender big girl rooms, and surprisingly I’ve come across quite a few ideas, thanks to Google. I thought I’d share with you all what I’ve found to be very age appropriate and really like so far.
This first room is definitely at the top of my favorites list. You can view all room details over at Centsational Girl Blog.

 

 

 This next one is a bit brighter, but I just fell in love with the wall gallery above the bed. I could pull some great inspiration from this one; add more lavender as opposed to so much pink to go with her request. This room was found courtesy of Ginny Phillips Photography .

 

 

The array of colors in this next big girl room, I love. It has everything combined into one room. More pink than the other colors, but we could absolutely work around that. Check out The Lily Pad Cottage for more photos.

 

 

 

This aqua butterfly room is coming in second place on my list of favorites. Although it doesn't have the lavender, it does however, have butterflies. So maybe, just maybe Kaylee could be swayed with keeping the little tad bits of pink for the butterflies? Anything is possible. I'm just truly loving the indie/boho vibe of this room! 

My Little Love Bird has more photos of this darling little room along with a video of the room install.

 

 

I love different things about each room, and have without a doubt pulled an abundance of inspiration from each. I'm stoked to share these rooms with Kaylee and get her input. After all, it is her room, so she should have some say in it.

I will be sure to post before and after pictures in the future.

Sending a very Happy Mother's Day to all of you fabulous Mom's in blog land. Relax, enjoy it, and savor every moment of the day with your child(ren).

Have a lovely weekend. 


Easter Attire... It's April Already?

As you all know, Easter is fast approaching, and this Momma is behind schedule. I have yet to make a trip to the Mall in search of Kaylee's Easter attire; this is usually always done a week or two in advance. Meanwhile, I'm sitting over here wondering how it's already April! Could time just stop, just for a little bit, please? The days are going by much too fast for me.

 

For once, I've got a morning free of meeting's, so naturally, to the online stores I went, in search of Easter dresses. The last couple of years I've gotten her dresses from The Children's Place. I don't shop there for much anything else, but they do always have cute dressy outfits for Easter.

 

This year I'm not really smitten over any of their stuff. I found a few cute things, but nothing that pulled me in, and I HAD to have for her. You can look here for these dresses that I found and liked. If I had to choose a favorite of the four, it would definitely have to be the first one pictured. Love, love, love the crocheted back, and the tribal like print... but is it Easter dress material?

 

 

As much as it pains me to say this, Gap was a big disappointment in the dress department. This is where I buy 80% of Kaylee's clothes, so it was a let down when looking online, and finding these dresses.

 

Old Navy was my next stop, and I was able to find a couple of cute outfits, and they just so happen to be having a huge sale... SCORE! My findings here were two dresses with cardigans, a romper, and shoes for each outfit. I'm a big fan of the rompers, but Kaylee not so much. As much as I think it's the cutest little outfit, I highly doubt she will wear it, but still had to add it to the list.

 

Old Navy Outfit #1

 

 

Old Navy Outfit #2

 

Old Navy Outfit #3

I, personally think the dresses I found at The Children's Place are much more dressy, and the outfits from Old Navy, BUT I think the Old Navy picks could certainly be dressed up for Easter brunch and egg hunting at the church. What are your favorites? Did you wait to go last minute shopping like I did? I would love to see outfits you chose for your little one(s) to wear this Easter.