Wordless{ish} Wednesday: A lovely tea party.

{The bride-to-be and one of her BFF's}:

{Daughter-of-the-bride. ;)}:

{Pretty hair accessories with our tea please}:

{We celebrated my friend Nedra (one of my sister's BFF's) last week... she's getting married in a couple short weeks.... :) Yay!}

{If you have a Wordless{ish} Wednesday, please feel free to link it up below. BY the way: Shawntae from A Little King and I now share our Wednesday Linky's. :D. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too... 5 Minutes For Mom, Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Supermom, And Then She Snapped, and Live and Love Outloud.}

♡ Chelsey

GIVEAWAY: Children's Spirit Hood! {CLOSED}

After 2 months of convincing Ruari this Husky Spirit Hood was not going to eat her or murder our dog... (Yes, I set the hat on Angus right when we got it and he squeaked... convincing Ruari that this hat was evil. Then, I put it on my head to show her it was ok... ummm... that made it worse. <------Fail. :D) I finally got her to put it on! And: she loves it!

Her fear of it has completely disappeared... thank goodness, because this hat is WAY too cute to not be worn! She puts it on her head.... walks to the mirror... smiles... then, takes it off and pats it like it's a real dog. Cuddles it. Shushes it. :) I do that to my hats too. ;)

So, Spirit Hoods was kind enough to send Ruari her choice of any of the children's hats. She chose the doggy (husky) of course. It was between that and the wolf. We love it. It's very cute, has little pockets for little hands, nice and warm over ears, could wrap up like a scarf, has a spot to write in your name... so, you don't get your Spirit Hood mixed up with your buddy's, ALSO comes in adult size (Yes, I think Ruari and I need matching hats), and any hat labled ProBlue donates 10% to save the animal that hat is modeled after. <----super cool. The only thing I'm not fond of: It is dry clean or hand wash only.... I wish I could just throw it in the washer if I needed. :) No biggie though.

What can you win?

Your choice of any of the Children's sized Spirit Hood!!!!

How do you win? Please follow these steps... AND make sure I have a way to contact you through e-mail. If I don't... I'll have to delete the entry... :(

Mandatory entry:
1) If you were a fuzzy animal... what would you be?{1 entry}

{Optional entries (Please use a separate comment for each entry):
1) Follow me (see sidebar) {1 entry}
2) "Like" me on FB: The Paper Mama{1 entry}
3) Follow me on twitter: @thepapermama {1 entry}
4) "Like" Spirit Hoods on Facebook {1 entry}
5) Follow on twitter: @spirithoods {1 entry}
6) Tweet, Facebook, or Blog about this giveaway. You are welcome to copy and paste this tweet:
" GIVEAWAY! Win a tubular children's Spirit Hood from @spirithoods http://tinyurl.com/3wj4nlb !!! @thepapermama "{1 entry}

If you have a moment, I'd LOVE to get 

a couple votes from you!

Last day to enter giveaway is July 31st, 2011 at 11:59PM Pacific time.

♡ Chelsey

My baby girl.

Thanks to the makers of Pine-Sol® for sponsoring my writing. A study shows a clean smelling home can help children succeed, so Pine-Sol® is supporting Reading is Fundamental (RIF) this year. Click "Like" on Pine-Sol®’s Facebook page here and they will donate books to RIF!

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When you have a baby things change. Fast. I didn't immediately accept these changes when Ruari was first born... but, I do more and more each day. I accept (and truly enjoy) my role as her mother and what it takes to help her grow into a beautiful and lovely person.

As parents we really can feel pushed to do this and do that to make our kids #1 and to grow up to be child prodigy's or young geniuses. I can only imagine the push is even greater these days with the online world. I don't know about you... but, at almost every point during the day I am somehow connected to technology.

So, here I am... concerned that I'm not doing enough to help my baby progress to the next stages in her life... Do I read to her enough? Do we go for enough walks? Do I give her enough attention? Is she getting enough healthy food? All these questions have run through my head more than once. 

Even though I may not have the "correct" answers to the above questions... I know the best thing I can do to help Ruari achieve is to give her my love. To do this I need to take care of me (mind, body, and soul). Enjoy the moment I'm in. Cuddle. Kisses. Be silly. Take breaks when I need them.

I just need to love my baby. And, I do.

A vote for the blog? :D

❤ Chelsey

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Bottom of post: Don't forget to click over to Pine-Sol®'s Facebook page to support our children's success. I was selected for this Pine-Sol® sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Last minute Target shopping...

Ruari and I did some quick last minute shopping at Target. I'm done shopping, but there were just a couple more things I needed. All done now! It was super windy and chilly... this meant that Ruari kept her hat on! She usually hates hats!

Some photo challenges for the photo above.

Shutter Love: Reason for the Season (Ruari is my reason for the season.) Simplicity: Love... I LOVE this girl!

She's so cute!

If you thinks she's so cute.. could we get a vote for our blog?

Would ya could ya? Vote for me?

I made this.

I'm not really all that in to knitting. BUT, while I was preggo and just sitting on my bum 24/7... I did manage to finish something! Here it is:

Ok, well... It's not completely finished... I didn't put the button on it. Ruari would just eat it anyway. I still have 2 blankets and a baby sweater to finish from my knitting projects. I know that's so bad, but I just haven't been motivated to finish them. If I don't finish that sweater soon... Ruari will be too big for it! Hmmm... maybe that's enough motivation. Nah.

It even has a cute little point in the back. Awww.

See that tile she's sitting on? Yeah, I REALLY don't like it. I mean REALLY don't like it. And, remember when I pulled up the carpet in Ruari's room on Wednesday? Yeah... I know there's hardwood under that tile. I can see it when I walk in the door. AND, I know it's not glued down... MUST..TEAR..UP..TILE. Except... I don't know how and or what I'm doing. Sludge hammer? Crow bar? I don't know. Whoever decided tile should go over hardwood is crazy.

And, I spaced yesterday for my 30 days of truth. SO, two truths today!
Day 11: Something people seem to compliment you the most on.
I get a lot of compliments on my crowns.

Day 12: Something you never get compliments on.
Uhhhh... I don't know. I guess you could say I never really get compliments on my pajamas. You know... the things I wear almost everyday. :D

How about a Halloween sneak peak:

{Torture device Halloween costume provided by: Hi, Baby.}

Flashback Friday: One year ago... One year ago on Halloween... I was about 29/30 weeks pregnant with a little boo head.

{3D photo of Ruari 2 weeks before Halloween}

{October 28th, 2009}

And, of course we had Angus dressed up. :D

And, could you spare a vote? Thanks!

I'm going blog hopping today: Mama to 4 Blessings, My life as a New Mom, Toddler Awesome, Design it Chic, Thanks Mail Carrier, and The Life of a Sippy Cup Mom.

Would ya could ya? Vote for me?