happy sixth birthday little miss

We celebrated LM's birthday with family back in August. She requested to roast hot dogs and s'mores over a campfire, so I asked my sister Amy if we could throw the party in her backyard set in the beautiful mountains near Park City. There was one purple polka dot balloon tied to the picnic table and the view did the rest. LM and her cousins spent all evening laughing together on the trampoline, exploring the area on a 'secret' hike, and enjoying the farm animals including Pip the pygmy goat. We sang Happy Birthday with six candles stuck haphazardly into a sticky roasted marshmallow for her to blow out, and I don't think a smile left her face all night.

Once the sun went down we all bundled up and watched the Lego Movie on the side of the barn with the stars and a big silvery moon shining above us. It felt like the perfect way to send off summer, and bid farewell to my sweet five year-old. Six is going to be great.

kindergarten

It all happened so fast that I didn't even get a proper picture of her sweet excited face until after we had walked home from school. I blame this on my naivety that we were right on time instead of early and so she was ushered inside immediately upon arrival and it was all I could do to get my goodbye kiss. There were no tears, maybe because I didn't even have time to think to cry, but I also knew she was ready.

She chose her outfit that morning and I noticed with a smile that she was wearing some of my hair elastics as bracelets. So when she confided to me that she was 'a little bit nervous' I told her if she felt sad or missed me she could twist the hair elastics around her wrist and be reminded that I love her. She wore them for the rest of the week.

So, I guess I have a kindergartner now, and a toddler who just happens to have a nap time that perfectly coincides with her sisters school hours. I don't know how I pulled that one off. 

p.s. I made the backpack for her last year, tutorial here.

first day of preschool + a review

We had a successful first week of preschool and it's on to the second! The Little Miss goes three days a week, and attends three different classes while she is there - theater/music, art, and letters/numbers. So far the theater class is her clear favorite. She excitedly describes in detail what they acted out on stage each day, but when I ask what she did in her letters/numbers class I can never get a straight answer!

I am not really surprised, although she does like to practice writing and do her workbook, she absolutely loves pretending and using her imagination, like most four-year-olds. She conjures up the funniest stories and is always pretending to be someone/something. Last week it was a cat, which is probably why she wanted to wear this darling stitchy cat button through hoody on the first day of school.

"P" for preschool!

Next provided us with the hoody to review, and it really is great. Like theater class, it was an instant favorite with the Little Miss. She has no plans to wait until the cooler weather rolls in to wear it, but once Fall does arrive I know this piece will be a staple in her wardrobe. It is super soft, good quality, and I love the sweet and positive sayings - her first day of school really was 'a lovely day!'

LM wore: stitchy cat button through hoody c/o Next//dress, old navy//shoes, target//backpack, made by mama//hairclip, handmade gift

As part of the review Next asked me to make a little video which is something I don't usually think to do (this is the first video I have ever edited!), but I am glad I captured my little girl on this big day in her life. I couldn't get her to talk coherently, I think because she had some first-day-of-school-nerves and was dealing with them by being extra super silly, but if she wasn't being so silly and only making funny noises she would have told you she absolutely loves her cat hoody! ;)

preschool.mov from stacy hart on Vimeo.
Music: Noah and the Whale, 5 Years Time

weekly kiddo

Happy Friday friends! Just wanted to pop in to let you know that LM is the weekly kiddo over at Modern Kiddo if you want to see a whole lot of cute in one place. ;) Thanks for having us on your fantastic blog Alix and Dottie - we love it!

I am so happy the weekend is here. Our plans involve scraping thick paint and ugly tile off of walls, and yes, this is exciting to me. So far I have stayed home with the girls while Husband has done all of the work renovating our house, but we got a babysitter so I can help do my part. I have been craving the satisfaction of getting my hands dirty and working side by side with him, so I am looking forward to it. I'll give you an update on what we've accomplished in the house so far next week. Have a great weekend!

(banner and my picture with type via modern kiddo)

summer is soaring by...

School is looming on the horizon for the first time in our home, but until then we plan to savor every last bit of summer freedom we have left...

art birthday party

For the Little Miss' fourth birthday we had an art party at our favorite park. It was her first friend party and she was so excited. I was a little worried it would be too hot, but we had the kids drink plenty of water and in the end I am glad I chose to have the party outside. It was so much less stressful for me since I didn't have to clean my house or worry about having enough room for a bunch of energetic kids. They also had tons of fun playing together and using their imaginations - more fun than with any games I could have come up with for them to play. The bonus was us moms had lots of time to chat since the kids were so content playing!

I kept the decor and food really simple to cut back on cost, and also used the leftover cups, straws, and  napkins from Lark's party. Now this is where you are going to have to humor me, but the cupcakes are supposed to be like artist's palettes. I carried over the blue/green ombre theme from the invitations with the M&M 'paint' and then made 'paintbrushes' out of pretzels dipped in melted white chocolate with a little bit of blue food coloring (not mixed all the way in so as to look more painterly). The chocolate chip represents the thumb hole - but you could totally tell that, right? ;)

They tasted good. Just ask Lark...

Instead of a traditional hanging birthday banner LM helped me make a birthday table runner. It also doubled as an example of the art project we were going to do. Each child was given a piece of watercolor paper, and using painters tape we helped them tape their first initial (or let them go wild and tape whatever their little heart desired). They painted all around the tape with watercolors, and then we sent them off to the playground while the paint dried. Once it was dry we carefully pulled the tape off to reveal their works of art! 

As a thank you for coming, I gave each family a print from Bear Cave Studios (a local art studio that teaches classes for kids) with a quote by Picasso saying, "All Children are Artists" - because they really, truly are and I think they should know it.  

LM was spoiled with lots of gifts, mostly art themed, which have kept her busy in the happiest way. Thank you so much to our generous friends and family!

and then she was four

Yesterday was the Little Miss' fourth birthday. Overall, I think I am pretty okay with her growing up, but then I open an email from the preschool she will be attending this Fall and start tearing up just looking at the starting date. She keeps reminding me that she needs a backpack soon, and I have this nagging thought in the back of my mind that it is about time for her first real haircut (that she didn't administer herself) to chop off the mullet ringlets. The ones that curl so perfectly after a bath.

But, well, she is four now and tells me she is just going to keep having birthdays, so I suppose I will have to get used to these coming-of-age type things.

She requested an art party with friends and I was happy to oblige such a fun theme. I must give credit my to good friend Crystal for setting up a play date with all of our friends that just so happened to be on LM's birthday, and then she allowed me to take over and turn it into a party - it helps when other people do the initial 'save the date' for you ;)

Since we did the whole rainbow thing for Lark's first birthday party, I decided to go with a less expected color scheme and do an ombre blue/green theme throughout. For the invitations I used these two fonts and simply emailed it out with directions. I just don't know if I'll ever be prepared in time to mail invitations out, but with an art/paint/ombre theme you could really run with it and do something pretty... 

Pictures of the party and the art project the kids did to come! 

our ballerina

The Little Miss ended her first year of dance a few weeks ago. She loved it and is already asking me when she can start going again. It was definitely one of the highlights of my week helping her pick out an outfit, putting her curls up in a top knot, and then watching her concentrate as she proudly put on her ballet flats all by herself.

If you follow me on Instagram (stacyhartsew) then you probably saw my weekly ballerina series which I've (mostly) rounded up here. We usually stopped on our way out the door before class and LM would humor me and strike a pose. I'm so happy I took these pictures since, at least to me, they show how much she grew both physically and technically throughout the year. Her first day of class was the picture just below on the right (pink leotard, blue bow) - compare that to the last picture which was taken after her recital almost nine months later and you can really see how much she matured.

We are so proud of our little ballerina! She got up on that big stage in front of everyone and danced every step with a big smile on her face - I may be biased, but I think she was the best one :) We have a natural born performer on our hands and I hope to give her many more opportunities to shine, as long as she wants them.

Year one, check.