Isabelle – Catching Caterpillars

13

Kollene — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 16:55:00 +0000

How in the world is my baby 13??? This spring it happened… she became a teenager! I remember always being worried about the teen years, middle school… but I actually like it! I like her… A LOT! I mean there are days where we want to pull our hair out… but for the most part she is a ton of fun and we really love to be with her… AND… her friends! It’s fun to help her maneuver this very important stage in life.. it’s a lot about character and choosing kindness… There is a lot of dreaming and curiosity which is so much fun! All in all… I didn’t get sad when she turned thirteen… I welcomed it!

Of course when you think about time flying it does make your heart and body feel crippling but as it is time is inevitable and there is nothing we can do about it but ride the wave! so we bought her a surfboard! Happy Birthday Isabelle Rose Marie!!!

11th Birthday Sleepover Fun!!!

Kollene — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 17:24:00 +0000

Ohhhhhh my goodness!!! This was such a FUN BIRTHDAY PARTY!!! Was pretty laid back too! Sleepovers can be SO FUN! There was lots of time to just be and take a breath and check in with our little girl and ask if she was having fun and tell her again and again, Happy Birthday!

I loved painting the girls nails and using the sugar scrubs we made! The homemade chocolate mousse parfaits were AMAZING! The girls all had a blast! We even had a little dance party! Morning time brought Swedish pancakes filled with fresh cream, nutella, and lots of berries! Yum! It just took me back to little girl times of giddy excitement and pinks and purples and happy memories I hope they always remember!

eleven…

Kollene — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 17:13:00 +0000

Does anyone else stand over their babies the night before they turn the next age and just watch them… as if something magical will happen… they will all of a sudden look older… like a birthday fairy may lift their window and fly in and sprinkle magic dust over them and make their feet bigger and their faces longer and their spirits wiser… don’t blink at midnight or you may just miss that moment…
Every year I do this… and maybe it’s the tears that make things a little blurry but I swear something does happen… my babies grow.

This year it wasn’t nearly as hard as the last… ten was rough. Eleven just happened… and I rolled with it. Could be the ever present bump that is bursting in front of me with a new little bundle that I too will probably stand over and wait for the fairies to come… but whatever it was I was relieved to not turn into a snotty mess of a mom this year! I embraced this young lady that I love so much! I let eleven happen and smiled!

I am just so happy for this awesome girl! She really is something and I just love her passion and spirit and want to be near her always!

Happy 11th Birthday Honey! xoxoxo

sleepover fun!

Kollene — Tue, 24 May 2016 17:55:00 +0000

Twister, pedicures, popcorn and even a dance party! Isabelle’s little birthday sleepover was magic!

It took me back actually to when I was her age… starting to have little friends over and all the teeheeing and bouncing on beds! I wanted that too for her!

We let her invite just two close pals and her cousin and of course her BFF sister Cecilia! It was perfect! I had so much fun suggesting little sleepover games to them. Helping them make their own memories that they too will remember when they’re 36 to do for their own kids!

not a lot has changed since my sleepover days… well… kinda.. a big memory for me was prank calls… enough said…

now we don’t even have a landline.. or a phone book to look up cute boy in class’s number… nope…

from taco truck the glamper turned into a pancake truck! The girls thought it was so much fun!

Maple syrup dripping from elbows and sticky berries and fresh whipped cream! It was a dream!

These are the days… I often say that… These are the days that are the foundation of our kid’s childhood… their friendships, their happiness… This book of life we write has many chapters, many stories that make up a great novel… I hope to write a good one.

Fiesta!!!

Kollene — Mon, 23 May 2016 20:10:00 +0000

I just love the setting up of our parties… getting things just so… I love how now that our girls are older, how they love to help. They feel so proud. We love pinning fun ideas first, then getting creative making our own decorations, baking a cake, putting snacks out, tying balloons onto tree branches…

Mexican Fiesta was our theme! It was SO MUCH FUN!!! A few months before Isabelle’s tenth birthday we took a vacation to Mexico! What a fun trip that was! At one of the little villages we stopped in we found all sorts of Mexican dresses and blouses! Right away, Isabelle spotted these types of dresses and admired them so! She asked if this dress could be her birthday dress…? Of course! and then my creative juices started to flow with a fun Mexican Fiesta theme! What fun!

I found so many little special things in Mexico. When we returned I went to some of the Mexican import shops to buy the food and some decorations!

My father loaned us the retro glamper! We turned it into a taco truck! It was SO COOL! The kids loved playing restaurant too! We stocked it with a blender for the grownup margaritas, LOTS of tacos and all the fun fixings! Such a blast!

The take home present was chicklet gums! I found them at a little Mexican import shop which may have been more authentic than Mexico!

such little cuties having a great day celebrating their pal Isabelle!

This pic above is the way I want to remember Isabelle on her tenth birthday! Total pure happiness! Being a photographer really really helps me take in moments that I would usually maybe let pass by… I always find myself in a moment knowing that this moment is beautiful enough to capture and hold onto forever… Isabelle on her birthday was full of happiness and joy and that to me filled me to the rim with satisfaction! Being a birthday girl is a fun thing to be! but being a mamma of a happy birthday girl is bliss!

Little buddies… Isabelle and Grant! Friends since they were born… there is something special about their friendship. Just a week apart growing up together is a little special…

My brother was a big help and turned into the party director! He made the “pin the sombrero on the iguana” game.. spun kids for the piñata! It was so fun!

and ps. thank you Uma and Umpa for such a pretty piñata!!! what a hit!

Something special about our traditional backyard bashes! 10 years in the making! we have it down pat!

ten happened…

Kollene — Wed, 11 May 2016 17:05:00 +0000

It happened… our little girl turned 10… just writing that starts that lump in my throat to activate into a pile of damn tears that I really don’t know why they happen… could be I love her too much… could be the time just slips through my fingers too quickly… could be I can’t do a thing about it.

I do try to slow this life down to a slow motion speed but again and again they have birthdays and the only thing you can really do about it, is have a good time celebrating this being that makes my heart beam with pride…

So I let it happen, I cried the day before, ugly cries, big snot ugly cries… then I watched my 9 year old for the last time and tick tock tick tock… she became 10.

a double digit.

We woke her with breakfast in bed and spoiled her with presents and kisses and love!

My parents surprised her when she got home from school with a basketball hoop! SO FUN! She saw it and ran to it with a giant smile! I think maybe every day she shoots some hoops and gets better and better…

I knew it would happen at least… I remember my Grandmother saying to me again and again.. “Enjoy your children… ENJOY THEM!!!” She would clench a tissue in her wrinkly boney hands and wipe some snot from her nose and say… “I remember when my girls were their age…” My Grandmother warned me of this heart ache of children growing… she told me to enjoy, hold them, be there… but she didn’t tell me how much it hurts when they grow right in front of your eyes… I think maybe that’s for each mother to learn herself… experience that heart aching lump that enters your body here and there… for me, it has come at preschool graduation, losing teeth, crawling, walking, 1st day of kindergarten, and now turning 10. You know, come to think of it, it’s not like she’s moving out, graduating from college, getting married… she’s just turning 10…

those other teary moments will have plenty of tears for me to shed…

I am sensitive, always have been, always will… I used to wish it away, along with long eye lashes… but now I embrace my sensitivity… I also like my long eye lashes…

I love that I feel things with all my heart and I cry usually… well let’s not even go there…

I wear this 36 year old heart on my sleeve and it cries and loves and feels and I don’t care if the world sees it!

It’s who I am…

We toasted her just like we did when she turned 1!

In the evening I played a mushy slideshow of pics from when she was born up until now… I pretty much held my breath as she rested her long boney body on me while we watched this sweet slideshow… I had it set to the song that played while she was born… It was super beautiful and special and I felt like I was about to burst into a mess… so I focused instead on breathing… but then in the evening… as I was kissing her goodnight… she had crocodile tears in her eyes and looked at me… which yep I pretty much instantly cry whenever anyone else is crying… so cue tears!… “Mamma, did you cry during that slideshow…?” me… errr uhhh… well yes… “I did too… I just wish I could be a baby again…” The End… LOST MY BREATH… We cried together… I told her that each stage is something to celebrate and we can’t just live in the past or else our future will not happen… I started talking to her and it was like words coming out of my mouth that I had no control over… I told her how much I loved being her mamma when she was just a baby, when she was a toddler… and now I am really loving just now… The only thing we can really do about this time, and life, is to really enjoy it! So we pinky swore to just keep having fun and enjoying life and to not be sad that things are different now… and I really like it!

So here’s to change, growing up, embracing time, and loving it all!

Happy Birthday to our Isabelle Rose Marie!!!

Happy Hearts Day and a wiggly tooth!

Kollene — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:50:00 +0000

I love Valentine’s Day at school! those little itty bitty cards and the anticipation of handing them out! I think my favorite part was in the evening while filling them out the girls writing “your friend” to the boys and “love” to the girls… you don’t want them to get the wrong idea right! hahahaha so cute!

and oh those conversation candy hearts… aren’t the purple ones the best!

I was so glad to help out in my 4th grader’s class… as she gets older I knew this time is fleeting and soon she won’t have these sorts of parties… so instead of crying about it, enjoy it!

this was a time that yup you just have to sit back and let it sink in for a minute… the right of passage of losing that top front tooth… that changes that baby face into little girl face… things change and so do you… but instead of being sappy these days I’m choosing to just be happy! why not!

Isabelle’s 9th Wild Birthday Party!!!

Kollene — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 15:16:00 +0000

whew! what a fun party this was!!! This is allllll the way back from March but I totally forgot to post this! eeeeek! Where does the time go really!?!

This party was so Isabelle! So free spirit! So beautiful! I had so much fun with all the little details and now the girls just love helping out as well! Lots of things using nature! sticks with feathers! golds and pinks! and then there’s the glamper… a whole new spin to things!

We made waffles out of the kitchen in the back of the glamper! My father makes these litttle gems! such a big hit for all! The waffles were amaaaaaazing and so were the bloody marys! ha!

Lots of fun had by all! 9 already! I love 9!

Nine………

Kollene — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 17:38:00 +0000

It happened… our little girl turned 9! This March 3rd…
Every year… this dress… before it would puddle on the ground and I would look at that puddle and laugh,… she will never fit into this… and now it’s above her ankle… how?

so, could that golden light on that golden hair… get any more gorgeous! I love how her wild hair dances on the sun rays! It’s so her! she owns it! it’s so unique and so is she…

This was a fun day! 9th time around the sun! can you imagine! Do you ever watch your kids sleep… studying their everything… their breath, their freckles, their long long legs that go on forever, the way they breathe when they are dreaming in a fast pattern… should you wake them up or let whatever they dream happen…

I always study our girls the night before their birthdays… how much they have grown, I try to remember just how little they were… how they were smaller than their teddy bears that now they look like giants next to… This year while watching Isabelle I felt happy… I didn’t cry once… I like who she is becoming… a lot!

and I guess I will have to let her grow up beautifully…

a crazy 8 fishing party!!!

Kollene — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 18:35:00 +0000

I loooooved this fun fishing party! like really loved it! We had so much fun! it was the first time we had one of our girl’s parties not at our home… so it was different… but so much funnn!!!
Isabelle is obsessed with marine anything, fishing, swimming, being outside! so what a perfect setting was this!!! The kids had a blast and so did we!
I’m really loving 8!

xoxo