Cien!

Dearest Reader(s) and my beloved OG,

Before we continue onto our busy and exciting recap of all things NOVEMBER, I thought I would give a special shout-out to myself for sticking with this "toddler fashion blog" thingymabob for...yes, that's correct...100 POSTS!

Do I get an award? No? Ok, that's cool...but I have still managed to be inspired AND find the time to actually write 100 posts about my loving little nugget, my her fashion choices, our family/friends, and all of our wonderful memories over the last year.  High-fives to me. Plus, I also work and mother, so that's a pretty huge accomplishment. :)

AND...a special high-five to my one (known) dedicated reader and the other most-important-person-in-my-life, my love, my support, my funnybone - my husband. He's pretty rad, everyone.  He's also the best dad of all time, so yeah.  I'm a very lucky lady.

And and...what would the 100th post be without a quick little retrospective on the life and times of my main inspiration: My little Nugget Lovemuffin Edibly Smart and Hilarious Stinkface, Ms. OG.

Plus, I know you only come here for the photos (as confirmed by above-mentioned husband yesterday when his only comment re: my "Yikes! and My Apologies" post was: "Maybe you should put a picture at the end?"), so I figured I'd give you some photos.  :)

Surrounded by love, from then til now...

Gender announcement

Unkwii & Dada with newborn OG

Being held by Momma right after she was born <3

Snuggles with Aunty Chan-chan

Hanging with Schmisty on Christmas

With GGHelen on her 90th birthday

OG taking notes on how Momma colors hair (with her pals, The Thomas')

With Aunt Trucey, looking at cars

Awee & EG and GGHelen at OG's first Reds Game

Pool day with Ms. Rue

First Father's Day

Our little (tired) Ewok

Getting a lesson on Christmas with Aunt Abby

Hanging with her "twin" Mimi

BFFs OG & Franklin

Grandpa <3

 

Twinsies with Baby Cousin Campbell

Hanging with Dedi

On a lunch date with Mr. D

Watching Mickey with her Grandma & Grandpa

At Schmister & Joey's wedding

Putting up Dedi's tree

Pumpkins, Halloween and The Who-Is-Pebbles-Flintstone Conundrum

Bear with me for a moment, dearest reader(s), as I put the cart before the horse for a beat...

HOW DO GROWN PEOPLE (35+) NOT KNOW OF PEBBLES FLINTSTONE?!?! The youngest of the First Family of Bedrock?! I mean...

I digress, but only briefly.

Here is our Halloween wrap-up for 2016!

Pumpkin patch-ing while wearing:

-Our Who-Dey best!  It was game day, duhr.

With our devoted sidekick, Mickey...obviously.

OG picked out a cart and made sure Mickey had a seat...

Then was off to find the best pumpkin...

Winner!

She was very proud. :)

"Not now, Momma...I see pigs!"

Petting the donkey

Well, maybe not petting...but watching the donkey for sure.

That little white chicken was following OG around the whole coop - they were BFFs (Best Farm Friends)

It was a great day at the pumpkin patch!

Followed by....carving pumpkins!
OG (and the rest of us) were wearing:
-Our PJs

Decorating pumpkin #1

"Carving" pumpkin #2

Who gave this lady a sharp tool?! ;)

The final results!

Helping Dada carve his pumpkin (which never came to fruition) 

OG's finished pumpkins!

Then...back to my rant from before...HALLOWEEN! Wherein, OG dressed as:
-Pebbles FlintStone riding a Dinosaur
...
-Which seems totally obvious to me BUT GROWN FOLKS HAD NO CLUE!
-"Oh, is she a dragon?" No.
-"Oh, how cute...a watermelon?" No.
-"Is she a genie?"  ...Wearing a dinosaur? No.

Pebbles. Flintstone.

This character:

Bone in hair? Check. Top? Check? Riding a dinosaur? Should be a dead give-away!

Cousins and Friend Ella posing before the big event.

I seriously almost ate her. She looked so stinking CUTE! But seriously, am I crazy?  Does she not look like Pebbles?

Getting into the swing of it!

The Safety Squad/Boring Adult Chaperones :)

Ok, ok...she DID ditch the dino near the end so she could book it from house to house with the big kids...
but STILL LOOKS LIKE (weather appropriate) PEBBLES!

C'mon people! I'm what you might call slightly over 30, and I know Pebbles...no excuses! :)

THE WEDDING!

Ok, let me see...where did we leave off?  Space Cadet? No, no...before that...right!

So...MY SISTER GOT MARRIED, GUYS! It was awesome! For the first time in a waytoolongamountoftime I totally approve. I am proud to call him my Brother-In-Law, and my sister is happier than I have ever seen her. It's just really awesome.

OG wore:
-A dress from Macy's (clearance!)
-White lace shoes hand-colored by moi to match the theme color
-Minnie Mouse
-A flower ball

So, photographic evidence, you say? Not enough cuteness in the first snippet from early October, you say? Allllriiiiightttt...

OG practicing her side-eye while walking down the aisle wearing her "princess shoes" and dress.

My beautiful Nugget saying "hello" to an adoring fan (hehe)

But, let us rewind to BEFORE the big show:

Ms. OG and her gorgeous cousins in their wedding best

GIRL POWER!

OG, her new Uncle, and Cousins-In-Law (?) pose for a quick picture

What a fancy family! I think this is about as cleaned up as we get.

YIKES! And My Apologies for being MIA...

What can I say...A LOT has happened since October 12th (the last time I blogged). A. LOT.

And...a lot of those things can cause someone with a history of anxiety and depression, such as myself, to go off the rails a bit.  You have (probably) seen the news and heard the stories of why 2016 was not a great year, but here's a short list:
-The Way-Too-Long-And-Money-Grubbing Campaign "Season" (and skewed news/hateful rhetoric/divisive politics/openly rigged results)
-The Election.  And Post-Election. The rise of public acts of hate/racism/sexism in the fallout after the election.  Too much to go into here. Just....sigh. BUT - there was this, so I know all hope is not lost. <3
-The Continued Injustice following Police Violence on Black Americans (and of course, the fact that it is STILL HAPPENING)
-Dakota Access Pipeline and the horrendous treatment of the Native Americans and peaceful protesters
-The Mass Genocide in Aleppo (not new news, unfortunately, but finally came into the public view with the use of social media)
-Syrian Refuge Crisis (ditto)
-A Potpourri of Personal Family Issues (but, I'm used to those for the most part)
-The deaths of some of the most influential artists of my childhood (and most were lost unexpectedly and way too soon): Prince, David Bowie, George Michael, Muhammad Ali, Alan Rickman, Harper Lee, and most recently Carrie Fisher and her mother, Debbie Reynolds. And this isn't even the full list. It's been a bad year for "Hollywood" deaths.

It's been very hard to focus on the good with so much bad floating around, but luckily I have found it in my family, friends, and most surprisingly, the Christmas holiday!  Historically I am NOT a "Christmas Person", but this year I needed to focus on love, joy and giving so the timing was perfect.  Also, seeing Christmas through the eyes of my sweet OG is enough to make any Scrooge smile! I love her so much.

So, in short, I will begin posting the several GOOD MEMORIES (that far outweigh the bad) from the past couple of months in following posts to play catch-up, but I wanted to apologize and also explain why I have been absent (aside from the regular life business).
And...since I try to be proactive and educated about the injustices in our world, I wanted to touch on/document the yuckiness that has been transpiring in 2016.

Also, as a side note: depression and anxiety are very real, can be set off by even the smallest things, and are nothing to be ashamed of - just saying. :)  Stay strong, everyone! We will get through this TOGETHER.

Love, peace, and laughter on the planet Earth.

xoxox