The end of the school year

It was a very bright morning so he asked if he could wear my sunglasses today.

Today was Braxton's last day of his first year of school! Sure, he only went two days a week for a few hours but it was a big deal for us...it was the first time he had ever been away from me. We picked a small nursery school that had a cute little environment, it was part of a nice local church. The classroom was adorable and his teacher was extremely nice. I didn't have any anxiety sending him there because I knew he would be looked after, and he was safe there.

Ignore the filter, it was all I could find of him on his first day somehow. Unfortunately Brian is in Canada right now working so we couldn't recreate the picture this morning.

Looking back on his first day, I was so nervous to start out because of his speech delay but besides some hiccups it wasn't so bad. He had some rough moments with sitting still during story time, he started biting at school (which he had NEVER done at home) and at times he made things more difficult for the teacher but she always wanted us to know that she loved him there. I'm happy to say that by the end of the year he was sitting better, he wasn't biting at all, and he had chilled out quite a bit. What a relief...

I have to say, Braxton has accomplished so much since his first day. When he started out he barely said any actual words, he still drank out of a sippy cup, he wasn't potty trained, he really barely listened to directions...Now, he is completely potty trained, we have switched to cups and straws except an occasional sippy cup, and he has become so verbal compared to before. While he hasn't had a "word explosion" necessarily, at least now I have sort of lost count of all the words he can say. Now if only we could get him to string words together to form sentences! 

 I was given Braxton's end of the year folder, which was so cute. Throughout the year, we would get some of his artwork and projects and I have been storing them all away for a fun little keepsake project. The folder had even more of his creations and it made me so proud! I can't even explain how these things make me feel...my baby made this stuff. It's kind of an awakening, like my little munchkin is really starting to be a big kid. 

I'm happy to say that this year was a success and I'm excited for the years to come. I'm really hoping that when he starts the next school year he will officially be talking. We have a lot of stuff to work on this summer but I'm not worried because he has made so much progress lately! 

Monday's Obsessions, on a Tuesday again

Yesterday was crazy busy and the last thing I could think of was blogging so we have a Tuesday's edition of Monday's Obsessions today. I had to take Braxton out to Syracuse yesterday for two doctor's appointments. He finally had his follow up for his tubes that were put in last month. We also attempted a hearing test again but we only got a little bit through it before he kind of lost interest. We'll be going back in a couple of weeks to try again but they said that his ears look great, the tubes are working, and his hearing seems better...which I can tell just being with him day by day. We were out running errands for 7 hours, and it was just me with Braxton and Ava...I have to say, we did pretty well!

In between appointments, I took them to Target because I needed to pick up some stuff for Ava. She's now transitioning solely to sippy cups from bottles so I figured we should stock up on more cups. I found these from Tommee Tippee, which is the same brand bottle we used for her, and they had a cute little cat print on them. We also needed a new bath mat for the munchkins and I found a cute polka dot one which works perfectly because it's neutral for the both of them. Speaking of bath time, we recently ran out of bath products for them and I've been trying to decide which to buy next. Typically I use California Baby and some Burt's Bees stuff with them, which are great because they're more natural, but I've been thinking lately that I want to try Honest Company bath products. They just started a partnership with Target so it was the perfect timing to pick some stuff up. I already go through the Honest Company for Ava's diaper bundle each month so I'm excited to try more of their products. I picked up the bubble bath, shampoo and body wash, as well as their face and body lotion. I'll have to give a review of it coming up!

On Saturday we did a smash cake session with Ava and Mila. We used the little fairy wings and paper poms left over from Mila's party, I ordered the lace rompers and the little flower clips from Etsy, and I made a little cake just for them. Ava, like usual, loved eating the cake but Mila was more focused on playing with Braxton who was in the yard driving Mila's cool new Hello Kitty convertible car haha Like usual, it's kind of difficult getting pictures of the two now that they're so mobile! 

As I was driving yesterday, Go Radio came on one of my old playlists and I forgot how much I used to love them...reminds me of all my days in Florida. 

Since Father's Day was Sunday, here are some funny truths by some famous dads. 

How does bacon wrapped chicken skewers sound? How about that with pineapple and teriyaki sauce? Mmmm

Maybe I'm crazy but Jeffrey Campbell's Prizzy sandal is like my dream sandal for the summer...so flashy haha They also come in black for the not so flashy moments. 

41 Amazing Free People-Inspired DIY's

I've been using a small bit of essential oils for awhile now, thanks to Brian's awesome aunt who makes her own blends, but I thought this summer essential oil guide was great for people just starting out, or wanting to try new stuff. 

Totally obsessed with Lauren Conrad's jewelry lately like these bracelets, this necklace, and these earrings. They're dainty, pretty, and affordable. 

And don't forget to enter Ava's girly birthday giveaway, there are only a few days left! 

Here's to a good week xx 

Freshly Picked Giveaway// June 2014

Don't forget to enter my Freshly Picked giveaway, there's one more week left! In the giveaway, you will win a pair of moccasins from Freshly Picked, a set of bows from Mina Loves Bows, The Striped Fig's "After the Storm" tee (shown below), an 8x10 print from The Printed Palette, bloomers from Czarina's Project, AND a $15 store credit to Curly Q's Counter. That's over $150 worth of amazing stuff going to ONE winner! 

And remember, after you enter, for an extra entry you can also repost from my Instagram. Good luck! 

Poor little girl scratched her face...learning how to walk is hard work.

Raspberry Freshly Picked moccs

Guest Post // A fun way to learn colors

Yesterday I saw my friend Whitney post the cutest thing on Instagram and I instantly asked her if she would like to share it on here. She is actually always posting fun little activities for her son and I think she really has some great ideas for learning games for the littles. I loved the idea of this game particularly because I knew it's something Braxton could get into and he could excel with it even with his speech delay. This is my first guest post on the blog and I'm excited that it's this! Make sure you follow Whitney on Instagram for more fun ideas as well...


Hello everyone! I’m Whitney and I’m thrilled to get to share my “color game” idea on Crystal’s blog! I am a stay at home momma to one wild little 19 month old boy, Brody. I absolutely love staying at home with him and take full advantage of teaching him everything I can. Just like any mom, I expect a lot out of myself when it comes to what I teach Brody. I want him to love to learn and believe it’s my job to fill his tiny brain with as much knowledge as possible.

            So, here I am writing out my list of what all I want to have taught him before he turns 2... Knowing and identifying basic colors made the cut. Wham! The idea for my color game was brought to life. Now here is a little fact about myself, I love to save money. I mean, who doesn’t love a good bargain? That’s exactly what this color game is. My goal was to create a low cost yet equally as fun game to teach my tiny son his colors.  This is where the local Dollar Tree came to my rescue!

                                                            Here’s what you’ll need :

•  5 small basket (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, & Purple)  $1 a piece
• 1 pack of colored Popsicle sticks $1 *side note, you want to do basic colors so the sticks and baskets match
• 1 piece of paper
• Tape
• Colored markers, crayons, or whatever you have to write the name of the color on a label

Ok here’s what you’re going to do, take your colored basket, tear a small piece of paper to label the color of the basket and write in the same color as your basket then tape the label on, like this.

Take about five of your popsicle sticks and match the same color stick to basket. You want to make it where they can identify that the red stick goes in the red basket. What I do is pick up one of each of the sticks and tell Brody what color it is, then I put it in the matching basket. After that I ask him to try. Sometimes he picks up more than one color at a time and that’s fine because he is just learning. Just make sure to correct them if they put the wrong color in the wrong basket. I tell Brody "Uh-Oh" and ask him to pick it back up and place it in the correct basket.

 You want to praise them a lot when they get it right! That’s what makes it fun for them. When they get really good you can try mixing up the sticks to make it a little harder for them. Also, its ok if they don’t catch on right away or they only participate for 2 minutes, they are still learning. We have days where Brody likes to play for ten minutes straight and days where after 2 minutes we have flying sticks so it’s really a go with the flow type game. 

Have fun with learning colors and I hope that ya’ll find this game to be very useful!            

                                                            -Whitney