And So It was Born

Lillian Grace Originals and Audrey Coley Photography are looking for models for an upcoming commercial photo shoot.

We Are Looking For:

Both boys and girls in sizes 2T, 3T, 4T, 5T, 6, 7, and 8

Children with fun spirited personalities that feel comfortable in front of the camera.

All types of children. All different types of skin tones, hair colors and hair styles.

Children who listen and take direction well.

Details:

The Setting: An orchard and farm in Elizabethtown Kentucky.

The Dates: September 21st, 24th and 25th.

To Be Placed on the Waiting List:

Please send the following:

~ Child's name

~ Child's age and size

~ Date(s) which you are available

~ Some information on how your child acts in front of the camera.

~ A recent WEB SIZED photo to rebecca_murray2006@yahoo.com

Models will receive the following:

~ a custom made piece from Lillian Grace Originals made specifically for your child

~ a $60 print credit from Audrey Coley Photography

~ session fee of $150 will be waived and a gallery will be provided in which to use your $60 print credit and there will be no obligation to buy

Models must be able to travel to the Elizabethtown area and sign a model release.

Only those sending all of the information listed above will be considered and then placed on the waiting list.

You will be emailed back by myself or Audrey Cooley if your child has been selected from the waiting list.

Audrey Coley is an extremely talented child photographer! Her work is amazing. Take a few moments to visit her site Audrey Coley Photography! I am pleased and honored that she has agreed to team up with me to bring to all of your Lillian Grace Originals.

The website for Lillian Grace Originals is under construction but will be up and running in the new few months. Please feel free to visit me on facebook

Like Lillian Grace Originals to find out what I am creating and to help me name my new pieces! I am so excited to announce the birth of Lillian Grace Originals and will make a blog post in the new future my reasoning's and ideas behind Lillian Grace Originals!!!

A Letter To Her

you my dear avery are six years and six months old.....

you my love are larger than life....everything about you S C R E A M S "here i am"

you have so much love in your heart and you have never, i repeat NEVER, been afraid to love freely....and this my dear is one of the things that admire so much about you

you are stubborn...determined....a wee bit dictorial...chatty...loves loves LOVES anything that has to do with art and science....has a memory like a steal trap (one that i hope to be able to help you develop and grow as we learn new things together)

right now you love school...you are glad it is almost Summer break but you love learning....you love reading although you get frustrated very easily when trying to sound out new words (to that my dear you can thank me....your brain works much much to fast for your mouth...i have the same problem!) you love to tell me about your day and all of the 3937625809408276290 things that you learned and I pray, Lord do I pray, that this is something that you will always do with me...

you are so audacious...Lord knows i struggle to keep my cool when you roll your eyes or huff at me under your breath....(sometimes i have to close my eyes, go to my happy place and count to a gazillion) i know that this will not get easier...only harder.....the sassiness, the eye-rolling, the quick tongue...but we'll work on it...you and me together because you might not know this yet but I, my dear, am QUEEN of the eye roll!!!

you are beautiful...in every single aspect...you are beautiful on the outside...but what makes you stand out even more is the beauty you hold within....you are compassionate and tender....

at this point in time your sister is your best friend...you share secrets with her, have a secret "girls club only" hand shake, and even though your sister is not as kind to you as you are to her, it doesn't stop you....

your laugh is contagious just as your daddy's is and I love to listen to you and your sister giggle with each other....i hope that this closeness you have with her will one that will carry on through your entire life...

you wear your heart on your sleeve and you are quick to make friends and because of this, your heart is broken easily...

you are not afraid to cry and cry hard and i admire this in you...and once you are all finished with your cry, you feel better....i wish i could be more like that my dear sweet girl

you are a wonderful hugger, a first-rate cuddler and even though you are only 6 you offer some of the best words of encouragement....

i love watching you grow and become YOU....you have never and will never cease to amaze me...

oh how i love you my dear sweet avery!

*just a side note* these pictures were taken my the amazing and talented Audrey Coley....Audrey is truly the most talented photographer i have ever had the opportunity to work with...she was able to capture every aspect of who my girls are...from sassy and beyond!

~Happy Monday Sweet Readers!~

The Things They Say....

i think we can all agree that our children can say the most amusing, hysterical, priceless and sometime...wait...scratch that....ABSURD things that we will ever hear....

and what makes them that so amusing, hysterical, priceless and absurd are the fact that they say them so innocently and so honestly.....

i have decided that i need to record some of the things that they say....not only so i can laugh on a whim but so that they can hear it 10, 15, or even 20 years down the road....

in order to do this i have had to become diligent about keeping a pad and pen with me so i can jot down what they say...did a pretty good job of it this week....

i think the hardest part of recording the delightful things that they say is telling myself not to laugh too loud...i mean seriously....some of the things they say have be laughing hours after they have been said....

here are a few things that have been said this week.....


"i told my gina (vagina) not to pee" was said by Adilyn when we got home after driving like bats outta hell the last 10 miles home because she had to go pee SOOOO bad...

"mom...you wouldn't understand...i'm not from this world" was said by Avery when i was trying to understand why she decided to rearrange the 103,874,650,307,467 books on her bookshelf...

was screamed at the top of her lungs which shattered the silence of the car one morning on the way to the gym (quite honestly it scared the pee outta me) "IT'S THE POKEY LADY!!!!!" by this Adilyn is referring to the person who dresses as the statue of liberty and stands outside of the tax places....

"you better watch your 'tude"....said to me by Adilyn after I had just spoken with Avery about how we need to have a positive attitude and not have such a poopy attitude when we don't get our way....

"im havin' a gurls cwub only....and daddy gets to come too"...said by Adilyn on her way home from preschool...she either thinks her daddy is a girl or she is missing him something awful....I'm gonna say that it's a little of both...and maybe she sees her daddy as androgynous and that is perfectly wonderful with me!!!

"mamma...you got some B I G grocery bags under your eyes"...really Adilyn...did you have to point out the fact that mamma often goes without sleep??? and of all places...we were walking down the cosmetic isle at Target....thanks kid for pointing out the fact that mamma could benefit from a little concealer!!!

"i don't want to eat lion...pig is better" said by Avery....my response "why baby"...her response..."because it would take WAY too much work to get all that hair off of the lion...by the time you got it off you probably wouldn't be hungry anymore".....I'm with her on that one....

"girls have ginas (again this is Adilyn for VAgina) and boys have peanuts." if she only knew....and why correct her??? she is 3 and she is innocent and cute and so full of a thirst for knowledge....she will grow up and she will learn that boys have penis's...i hardly doubt she will be a grown woman and still think that they are peanuts....i want to let them be as young as they can for as long as they can....

so there you have it...these are just a few of the things that have been said around here the past week...

and with that i will leave you with a few pictures of the girls doing a little Saturday morning yoga...i had gone downstairs to change out the laundry and come upstairs to my two little yoga girls!!!

Happy Saturday Lovely Readers

xoxoxoxox

~R~

Lucky?

if you would have asked me ten years ago where i would be today….

i would have N E V E R in my life dreamed i would be where i am at this very moment in time

ten years ago on this very day at about this very time I was sitting at a bar

drinking too many green beers…flirting with too many (what I thought at the time was cute) boys…having absolutely no cares in the world….

ten years ago….if you would have asked me if i wanted to get married and settle down i would have rolled on the floor laughing until I either peed my pants or barfed green beer all over your shoes….it is St Pats day after all and what else is there to do but drink?!?!?!….

at this point in time, marriage was not in my cards….or so I thought

ten years ago if you would have asked me if i wanted kids i would have rolled my eyes (which i am very, very VERY good at by the way) and told you that there was NO WAY I would EVER give up my firm, tight, SKINNY body or my freedom for kids….

fast forward…..it’s ten years later…..it’s St Patricks Day…i am not sitting at a bar…i am not drinking, dancing, or flirting with anyone….

i am married to a wonderful man…a man i was reconnected with a short time after St Patricks Day ten years ago…a man that would and has moved mountains for me…a love that is so pure and so strong we have been able to weather the roughest of storms….a love that feels new to me every day i wake up...after 10 years it still has not gotten old....

we have 2 beaitful daughters that i would not only give up my young, tight, rock hard body for but i would give my life for….

these girls are what gets me through the hardest of days….

these girls are what makes my world go round….

they can make me laugh, cry and get furious all in a matter of minuets….

they are the soul of me….my family is what makes me whole….complete

sometimes…just for a second…for a brief minute I think and I catch a glimps of the old me…the one sitting at the bar…and I have this tiny itsy bitsy urge to join her….just for a second…just for a moment in time…and it’s normally when I am having a particulary hard day…. the days where nothing goes right and you just want to lock yourself in your closet and hide from everyone...

But that thought passes through me so quickly….I see my babies faces…their smiles…hear their voice….step on their Pet Shop or one of their 92,845,023,808,0978,398 pairs of Barbie shoes and I know that I am lucky….not just on this day but on EVERY day….

Happy St Patricks Day Dear Readers!!!

~R~

i thought i would leave you with a few pictures of the girls today in their Green outifts....i had to include the 4th picture because i laugh until i snort everytime i look at Adilyn's face...what in the world!?!?!?!? that girl has me in stitches ALL THE TIME!!!!

Little Girls

my girls are a bundle of firsts that excite and delight.

giggles that come from deep inside and are ALWAYS contagious

everything wonderful and precious

my love for them knows no bounds

their innocence and endearing acts often leave me wondering what kind of women they will grow up to be

these girls are the happy memories of my past, my joyful moments of the present, and my hope and promise of the future....

my girls will not remember me for the things i bought them but for the feeling that i cherished every little, tiny, minute, meager, scant things about them

i know that nothing i do for these girls is ever wasted...

they might not always notice me, hovering, averting my eyes, and they don't always offer thanks where thanks are needed...

but what i do for them i know, is NEVER wasted

what i want most for these girls, what i dream for them...

is that they will be able to soar confiendtly in their own sky one day...

wherever that may be...

~Happy Monday Wonder Readers~

Cherish your little ones today and everday!!!

~R~

The Gym

i'm excited.....SUPER excited!!!

when I started spinning about two years ago my spin instructor had this awesome heart rate monitor/calorie counter......

i wanted one.....BAD!!! I was always curious how many calories i was actually burning....not always for the best reasons...sometimes i just wanted to know if i could afford to eat that greasy, great smelling, melt in your mouth cheeseburger.....

i finally bought one yesterday....check it out....isn't it GORGEOUS?!?!?!?!
of course mine is black and looks kinda guyish (not sure if that is really a word) but i love it and it is super exciting to see how much i am actually burning...

so i was at the gym today...sweating out of EVERY pour on my body and it seemed like everything my fellow gym-goers around me were doing was exasperating me....

so while i was burning my almost 700 calories i made my TOP 5 Gym Annoyances.....

5. Grunters...is it really necessary to emit all of those strange and sometimes very bothersome noises??? it seems like a mix of what you would hear in a bedroom during mommy and daddy time or at the Dr.'s office during a not-so-pleasant visit with the proctologist...not only is the distracting....it is downright disturbing!!!

4. Cellphoners...working out to me does not include the use of my mouth....really...can be not disconnect for an hour or two while trying to get in shape??? is it really necessary to spread the latest gossip so that EVERY gym member can hear???? and when i head over to lift free weights to tone my flab i have to stand there and wait on some Yahoo to get off the bench...not because they are lifting...because they found that weight bench to be the most convenient place to hold their cell phone conversation...

3. Starers....the ones that will stare/glare/gape/or eagle eye you in hopes that they can intimidate you out of the machine you are currently using....really....is it necessary for you to stand behind me waiting to jump on machine like a crazed rabid animal??? i mean really, im kinda self-conscious as it is about the junk in the trunk (hence why i visit the gym frequently) i don't need anyone standing behind me to urge me along!!!

2. Bangers....i get it...the weights are heavy....sure they aren't going to be put down with the gentlest of ease.....but is it really necessary to let them go with an almighty crash...come on...do people not know that that kind of noise can scare the bejeezies out of fellow gym goers????

1. Non-wipers....ok...so u work out...sweat all over the machines or the benches...wouldn't it be common courtesy to walk your happy heiney over to the paper towel and sanitizer station and wipe your machines down??? how nasty is it to just leave your work out juices glistening all over the elliptical machine or the weight bench....i have now made it a practice to wipe down machines both BEFORE and AFTER working out....it's just plain YUCK!!!!

so there you have it my friends....my top 5 gym annoyances!!!!

Happy Tuesday Wonderful Readers!!!

~R~

And for a little Hot Tots Boutique business....

first to announce the winner of the photo contest.....

Lorelai....you got it sweet girl!!! congrats to you my sweet Hot Tot

(*note...this photo contest was judged by Jennifer Morais, Christine Neutgens, and Christy Murphy...none of which are related to me, Hot Tots Boutique or each other...a big thank you to all of the judges!!!)

and the winner of the Dr. Seuss comment give away is........meredy338

winners should email me at rebecca_murray2006@yahoo.com

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

technically, yesterday was Dr. Seuss's birthday....but we celebrated it today!

the library on post here at Ft. Knox had a very charming bash which incorporated a very enthusiastic magician....who I might add was very knowledgeable about the Great Seuss!

the girls had a smashing time and they loved, loved, LOVED their Seuss outfits

i must interject here that all of the teachers ohhhhhed and ahhhhhhed over Avery's outfit...she even had her picture taken for the school paper which she was just tickled pink about...

the library was over run with kiddos.....it was a little EEK for me but i survived....and after all, it was for my sweet hot messes...who could turn them down!!!

i love my girls....everything is so magical and wonderful at the ages they are now....to see the world through their eyes brings a whole new meaning to everything....

it's all so simple and wonderful and enchanting....

i love doing these kind of things with my girls....to watch the excitement in their eyes and the joy that radiates from them is just so contagious....

happy birthday Dr. Seuss....thanks for keeping me young!!!

i hope you have all had a wonderful Thursday i included some pictures of the girls...Avery even got picked out of about 200 kids to go up front and help with the magic show....she was a HAM!

~R~

note to self....DO NOT tell your child that Dr. Seuss died before she goes to his birthday party....poor girl...she was heart broken!!!!

Magic Dan was awe-inspiring.....not only did he keep the kids in tears....the adults were right there with them!!!

i also realized tonight just how witty my Avery really is....she is SO much like her daddy!!!

and in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday I am going to hold a giveaway.....

one lucky reader will win $20 in store credit to spend with Hot Tots Boutique....wanna know how to win?????

all you gotta do is:

1. become a follower of this blog

2. become a fan on my fb page

3. sign up to receive emails from Hot Tots Boutique

4. tell me your favorite Dr. Seuss book!!!

good luck to you all!!! Winner will be announced this Sunday night!