The Outtakes

Okay, sorry for not posting in a while... life got extremely busy! Anyway, yesterday my Dad called to chat. He wanted to say how much he was enjoying seeing all the adorable pictures of little Miss Jenna. He then said something that cracked me up... "She must love getting all dressed up and smiling for the camera!"

Umm, no. She loves getting dressed up, but that's not usually the outfit I have planned for her... When I do a photo shoot, it consists of me chasing her around with the camera and trying to keep the dog and other children out of the shot. SHE chooses what shoes and sometimes what shirt she wears in the pics... So if you see an adorable little girl in a to-die-for dress but she's wearing Crocs... don't judge the mother! Maybe those Crocs were the only things getting the girl to stand still and smile for the camera!

So today, since apparently my Dad thinks she stands there and looks all cute every second of the day, I decided to share some of the outtakes... You know, the pics that generally never get uploaded to the internet if they make it off the camera? The 'captions' are below each pic! Enjoy!

The Stats: This 'photo shoot' lasted less than 10 minutes and I uploaded 46 images off the camera.

She looked down at the ground and saw a wilted flower... She threw a little fit... The camera caught it!

She saw what Mommy didn't... Colin was climbing into the back of Daddy's truck... This is all the camera caught once she decided to join him!

This was funny... I said, "Hold still just a sec, I want to get the buttons in the pic." SHE says, "OH! I have BUTTONS!" ... The camera caught her hand investigating those buttons!

Umm, big brother found a stick and then she decided to stick out her tongue... The camera caught more than enough for one night. This was the last image on the camera tonight... At this point, I herd everyone back inside and say a little prayer that I got one or two good images I can edit and use to list these jeans on Etsy!

Stay tuned for the GOOD pics tomorrow! You know, those pics that make it appear I have a gorgeously well-behaved model for a child. ;) 

Car Rides, Beaches & Characters, Oh My!

So we're back from vacation (okay, we've been back for almost a week now...). I think the few hours we spent on the beach that first day in Florida was the only 'rest and relaxation' we got the entire trip. We drove down over night (if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, I posted pics of the major cites as we drove through) and hit the beach around 10am the next morning. Clearwater Beach was wonderful!

After the beach, we drove over to Kissemmee, FL to check in to our condo. We loved having three bedrooms for less than the price of one tiny room in a value resort at Disney World! Our resort was a gated community with pool house, game room, and many outdoor playgrounds! We only made it to the pool twice! Right outside our screened patio was a beautiful little shaded area. We took advantage of the shade! 

The next day started our crazy and insane Disney days... We did all four major parks (Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios) with one day off in the middle. We started out with Epcot on Saturday and Turtle Talk with Crush was so funny! We loved escaping the May heat and humidity to look at the enormous indoor aquarium! 

Day two was Animal Kingdom. This place is full of trees, which means lots of shade for parents pushing those strollers up and down the rolling hills! We loved just about everything about this park! The roller coaster was awesome! Using child swap, my 14yr old got to ride it twice! Between the rides, the trails, the meals and the shows, it was a LONG day! We did the shows in the afternoons when we were all too hot and a little too tired to do much else. Finding Nemo the Musical was great! The added bonus was that it's in an air conditioned theater! But if you ask anyone (except for maybe the 14yr old who will say Expedition Everest, the roller coaster) what their favorite thing at Animal Kingdom was, they will all say Festival of the Lion King. That show was artistic, acrobatic, and just plain amazing! 

The kids absolutely LOVE Magic Kingdom. Who wouldn't? Princesses, Pirates, Ghosts, Monsters, Mickey, and many more! We spent two days in Magic Kingdom. These were days three and four of our insane trip to The World. By this time, we'd perfected the fast pass and child swap strategies to ride the most in the first and last hours of the park operating schedule. Both days, we went back to the condo for lunch and naps (much needed naps!). We had an amazing time and never stood in line longer than 30 minutes. The kids loved The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh since the line has play areas just for them!

Our last day was Hollywood Studios. My husband really worried about whether it would hold the attention of the little two... But Toy Story Mania made the day amazing! We rode it three times! The big girl still got to ride the thrill rides and even our little preschool Star Wars fan was tall enough to ride Star Tours, twice! We watched several shows, including the Disney Junior Live on Stage (again, if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, I posted pics of Doc McStuffins and Jake and the Never Land Pirates). This is the park where we saw a LOT of characters. By day five, our littlest had warmed up to characters and had no worries about walking up and giving them a hug! But Stitch was the biggest hit of the day!

In the end, we're glad to be home. We felt like we needed another week to recover from vacation... but we made memories to last a lifetime (of which we will remind them forever!). Oh... and many of the outfits the little ones wore in this post are still available... 

Hello Out There!

First post! What should I say? I really don't like firsts where I'm on stage. I don't like the first day of classes when I have to bore my students by reading the syllabus. It's NOT my favorite class. I guess I should tell you about myself...

My name is Erica. I am owner/designer/midnight-crafter for Lollipops & Paisley. I'm wife to a wonderful husband and mother to three children. My oldest is 14 and followed by a 4 year old and 2 and half year old. I'll introduce the kids more in later posts. (Hey, I've got you looking forward to something now!) Here's a photo of me from Mother's Day.

I love to create. I've been sewing more than just to shorten my pants (I'm 5 foot 2 inches) since I was pregnant with baby number two, so a little over five years now! Wow, where did the time go? I started with diapers because I was determined to cloth diaper (and did even with two in cloth there for awhile!). Then I started adding cute shirts and fleece bottoms to my sewing projects. I picked up knitting and crochet. I started doing more complicated patterns both with my knitting and sewing.

This summer, I decided to not buy any more clothes for my littlest (let's face it, the smallest gets more sewn for her because her size requires less fabric) for this summer. I started making outfit after outfit and sharing on Facebook. People LOVED what I was making. Everyone said I should start a store. That's how I got here.

So where do I want to go with all this? I'm not quite sure. Right now, my life centers quite a bit around the kids and their schedules. I think I want this business to be something for me, something for after they go to school and are no loner home with me all day. Maybe this can replace my adjunct teaching income? The sky is the limit! Oh... and check me out on Etsy and Facebook. ;)