HELLO
Mom to Iris. Wife to Todd. Our little family lives at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We love it here and I love sharing little bits of our life.
Well, the Christmas music has stopped and the pine needles from our tree have nearly all dropped. Christmas is over. After what seems like months of preparation, we pulled off another lovely holiday and now I think we are in a bit of shock now that it is all over. And by we, I mean myself and Iris. Todd is back in the office, but with another several days off of work I kind of don’t know what to do. I find myself wanting to finally relax and do nothing, but then I see all the things that need to get done that I never have time to do. Blogging, closet organizing, errand running, working out. The list goes on. As for Iris, she’s experiencing Christmas break for the first time – two and a half weeks of no school. Overall we’re navigating it pretty well, but there have been some overtired, emotional times.
All of that to say, we Christmas-ed so hard that I do feel a bit relieved it’s done for another year. I’m ready to start a new year, with new goals. We’re finishing off 2017 by staying in a cabin with a couple other families. It’s going to be absolutely freezing, but thankfully there’s a cozy fireplace, good company, and I’ll of course bring the wine.
It had been far too long since Todd and I walked around our old stomping grounds, The University of Arkansas campus. So long that Iris didn’t even remember visiting. The University is only a few miles from our house, so we are really fortunate to have such a beautiful space so nearby. We really need to remember to take advantage of our surroundings more often.
You know those viral photos of the girl leading her boyfriend around the globe? That’s how I feel when I take pictures of Iris lately. Always running ahead, off to explore the world. Me left with a blurry shot of her dress and her legs mid-air. It captures the moment and her spirit all in one snap, so I certainly don’t mind. It was so cool (and a bit surreal) watching her explore a campus where I spent so much time so long ago. I never imagined I would have a little girl roaming those same spots. I also couldn’t help but wonder if Iris might go to school here one day too. If so, I now have some photos to include in her graduation slideshow.
I wasn’t quite sure how we should surprise Iris that we were going to Disney World. This was mostly because we were going over a month away from the big reveal. I searched high and low on the internet on how to make a child excited about a Disney trip in the future, instead of making them confused or disappointed that they weren’t going right away. I wanted to be the mom that woke up Iris and said, “Pack your bags – we’re going to Disney World TODAY!” But our plans just wouldn’t have it. A trip to Disney was her big birthday present this year (she’s six!), but we are waiting until Thanksgiving break when school is out to go.
Whenever I get home from a work trip, Iris asks me if we can do a scavenger hunt with the souvenirs I brought her. I happened to do this one time (after a particularly long trip where I felt guilty for being away) and she’s never forgotten. So while I’m traveling (or sometimes before I’ve left and happen to think of it at Walmart… shhh!), I gather a few trinkets and pieces of candy to surprise her with. I hide them throughout the house and come up with clever clues to lead her to them. I think she loves this more than the actual treats. So knowing how much she loves this game, I decided to take it to the next level because, well, it’s Disney World we’re talking about!
After a little help from the internet and a little brainstorming of my own, I sat down and got my clues in order. Since Iris wasn’t getting her main birthday present until later on, we thought she deserved to find some fun little prizes the morning of her birthday, all of which were hints about our trip. She opened the first present, which was just a simple poem that informed her about the treasure hunt she was about to partake in. From there, it led her to the first clue (with the first prize), and so on.
Inside the initial gift bag, was this “poem”
along with the very first clue.
Clue #2 came with the first hint: A Minnie Mouse cup full of sweet treats.
I accidentally mixed up the printed clues in this photo and the next one, but you get the idea. Thankfully I realized it before I hid everything!
Clue #3 came with a wooden airplane because we’re flying to Orlando.
Clue #4 came with a nightgown for the trip of her favorite Disney princess – Belle!
Clue #5 came with a calendar I found on Amazon,
with the date of our trip marked with question marks.
Clue #6 came with a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt I picked up from Zara when I was in NYC.
Clue #7 came with, what else, Minnie Mouse ears!
(And if you’re wondering, Iris had a very hard time picking up on all of these clues.
She still didn’t get it – even after getting this hint!)
Well, I couldn’t stop there – especially when I found a black light and invisible ink pen in my office. The treasure hunt continues!
(Iris thought this was WAY cool.)
In her playhouse she found a box with a ribbon around it, and when she opened it she found only a safety pin instead of a clue. Looking around, she noticed a ballon and decided (with a little encouraging) to give it a pop.
Inside the balloon was one of the last clues…
And in the mailbox Iris found a package…
Which she put together and read out loud, “We’re going to Disney World!”
After a slight struggle with reading the Disney font, Iris FINALLY got that we were going to Disney World. She was happy, but not over the top excited because, honestly, she doesn’t fully understand how big of a deal it is yet. I think the true surprise will be how awesome it is when we get there. We travel so much with her, often taking her along on our grown-up adventures, it will be very special to have a trip that is solely focused around her kind of fun. We leave in just a few day, so check back in to see how it goes!
For now, here’s the moment where it finally clicked:
Hip hip hooray! Iris had another birthday! This year we gave her the choice of having a smaller birthday party at a fun location or a big party at our house. She opted for the latter and I didn’t complain. Even though there’s a lot of prep no matter how “simple” I keep it, there’s a casual ease about having it at home. Plus there’s wine. Hah.
Anyway, this year Iris chose two themes so I tried my best to blend them together – a unicorn and candy party! The weather called for rain, but it ended up being the most beautiful, crisp October afternoon. That morning when she woke up, we led her on a scavenger hunt where we FINALLY unveiled her big birthday present – a trip to Disney World. I will share the scavenger hunt on a future blog post because, honestly, I put way more planning into that than her party.
I wanted to pop in and give you a little life update. Nothing major to report, but we have been pretty busy over here. When I’m not busy at the office, I’ve been busy at home working on a lot of sponsorhips lately for the blog and Instagram. I basically consider it my part-time job at this point, but am having fun with it while I can. Like my eBay career, I know this will not last forever but it sure is fun to navigate and make some extra money (and experiences!) on the side. In fact, next weekend we’re headed to Oklahoma City to stay at the 21c Hotel there. Iris and I recently spent the night atthe one in Bentonville and loved it, so I’m anxious to check out another one (and see OKC for the first time)!
Other than that, Todd has been riding his bike a lot (he even won first place in a state championship race last weekend). As for Iris, she is LOVING kindergarten. It’s hard to get many details about her day, but from what I gather, she loves her teacher and seems to be making new friends. One of the awesome things (for me) is that parents are welcome to eat lunch with them. I’ve only been once so far, but it’s the cutest thing to watch her go through the lunch line and talk to her friends. I really need to start planning her birthday party soon too – I can’t believe she’ll be SIX in one month! As of right now I think she has settled on a “unicorn and candy” themed birthday party. That should at least be fun (and easy) to plan.
If you’ll remember, we are surprising Iris with a trip to Disney World for her birthday. In one week I have to make our fast-pass selections, so I really need to dive back in and finish planning the trip. I also need to carefully figure out how to surprise her because we won’t be going right away. And as for this weekend, it’s one of our last calm ones before the fall season gets super hectic. In fact, it’s nearly 9 am and Iris is STILL SLEEPING. It’s a weekend miracle!
Before I go, here are a few quick more things we’ve been up to:
– Iris recently did a little shoot for Riffraff. How cute are these shots (and game day shirts)?!
– We took a quick trip to Tulsa to visit the zoo, eat at Prairie Brewpub, and spend the night at a hotel with pals from Fayetteville.
– Tailgated at the first home game with Baby Frankee.
– Ran into Mike Anderson, coach of the Razorback basketball team, when we were out to eat. His wife thought it was Iris’ birthday because of how she was dressed… Nope. Just a regular Tuesday.
– After like a year of research, I finally pulled the trigger and purchased new bedding. I went with Brooklinen. I’ll let ya know how I end up liking it.
– The Preacher’s Sonrestaurant, who just recently started serving lunch, treated Todd and I to dinner, so we had our first real date night in forever.
– Last but not least, Todd and I are completely invested in Big Brotherthis season. Well, we are every season, but this has been a good one. Can’t wait for the finale next week – or the new celebrity version they just announced for winter!
