Josie Is Two!

This has absolutely been the best two years of my life and I am so excited to have the rest of my life with this little gal. She is the best person ever, my Lil' Rock n Rolla. Happy Birthday, Josie!!
xo Amber

Josie's 2nd Birthday Party!

Holy guacamole! I can't believe I got this far away from my blog. Juggling family, work, social life and my blog is proving to be more work than I thought. No matter, I'm back with quite a few things to share, starting off with Josie's birthday party! We celebrated her 2nd birthday this Sunday with a Hello Kitty themed bash, complete with red velvet cupcakes, vanilla bean french macarons, pink lemonade, tutus, a few dozen balloons and Hello Kitty decor! Josie had so much fun with her friends (and made a few new ones, too) and got ridiculously spoiled. So much Doc McStuffins and Hello Kitty we don't even know where to put it all! 

I couldn't be more grateful to everyone who helped us celebrate and I'm so excited for Josie to turn 2 on Thursday. We are sharing that day with the grandparents and great aunts and uncles so it will be a little bit more quiet, haha. 

xo Amber

Family Photos

Ugh this whole week has a been a complete disaster for my blog, and I owe my sincerest apologies to my readers for not posting. My layout did something wonky and I couldn't fix it, and just haven't had the time to do anything about it until last night. So more apologies for it not looking the best, but, I did what I could in the short time I have between work and Josie these days to come up with something pleasing to the eye as well as functional.  I also don't have anything terribly important to talk about today, so I'm going to leave you with these wonderful photos my friend Carina took of us! Look at how cute we are.

xo Amber

Sweet Child O' Mine

I sat and stared at these photos for over an hour, wondering what to talk about so I had a reason to post them on the blog. But, all I could think of was just how much I love Josie. Of course, that's an obvious statement. My whole life, I knew I didn't want children - I never had the desire and I've never really liked kids. Fast forward two years and Josie is the most important thing about my life. She is the reason I live and breath. I remember her birth like it was yesterday, and as crappy as it was at the time, it really was the best day of my life, and Jesse's. Now, something as little as Josie saying "Cheese and crackers" or telling me she "pee pee" makes me prouder than punch. 

Ah, parenting. 

I often look at Josie and am amazed by how beautiful and amazing she is. I honestly cannot remember my life without her. I barely even remember much before Torin came to live with us. It's like he was always here, and he is just as important to me as Josie is. 

So, then it occured to me, I don't really need a reason to post pictures of my daughter and nephew because they are my life and something I love to share - And gosh, aren't they just the most darn tootin' cutest things you've ever seen? 

xo Amber

Golden Shoes + A Freshly Picked Giveaway

Last week, I was giving another great opportunity to work with Freshly Picked, and I couldn't have been more excited! Josie was in dire need of a new pair of moccasins because after six months of wearing her old ones, they finally started to wear on the soles. They succeeded a true test of time, because Josie literally refused to take them off the entire Summer. She wore them indoors, outdoors, even to bed. 

Her new moccasins arrived on Monday, in extremely quick timing and wrapped nicely in a cloth drawstring bag with a cute FP button attached. I pulled the drawstring and to Josie's absolute amazement, I pulled out a new pair of shiny, golden moccasins. The look on her face was that of a child's face on Christmas morning - she was so happy and excited! She couldn't wait to put them on her feet. So we pulled off her old brown moccs for retirement and slipped on the new ones. It's been a full week and she has barely worn anything else. 

Tutu // Sears Top // Joe Fresh Leggings // Old Navy  Denim Jacket // Walmart Moccs // Freshly Picked
Gold is obviously one of our favourites, so I was happy these were in stock. Although, I do wish the new Stay Golden suedes were available before I ordered because daaaaang, those moccasins are so gorgeous! And those Radiant Orchids will never go out of style. 
What's your favourite colour of Freshly Picked moccs? Which would you choose for your little one? Comment below and enter seven other ways for a chance to win a pair (There's a bonus entry for 3 points if you do the Instagram Challenge)! Contest ends Friday, September 26th and will be announced that day. United States and Canada only.
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Our Awesome Autumn List

Growing up, we didn't get many opportunities to go on adventures, not like anything that's available in our area now. So now that we're parents and have the means to do our own thing, we think it's very important that we help Josie experience as much as possible, and have the childhood every kid deserves. Sure, Summer and Winter in our town are utterly gorgeous times, but the best time to be in Bruce County is Autumn. All the Fall Fairs, pumpkin patches, apple picking, etc. It's 100% my absolutely favourite time of the year, and favourite thing about life. All the colours and smells and Halloween and bundling up. I can't wait to get started! Here is a list I've compiled of things I hope to accomplish with my family before Winter:

♥ Find Josie the ultimate Halloween costume
♥ Attend the Tiverton Fall Fair
♥ Take a family bike ride along the trails when the leaves change
♥ Parent & Tot Skate as much as possible
♥ Bake apple and pumpkin everything
♥ Get family photos taken
♥ Host an awesome Thanksgiving
♥ Discover at least ten new geocaches
♥ Start Christmas shopping
♥ Take Josie apple picking at Smith's Apple Farm
♥ Enjoy Pumpkinfest again (because we can do all the kids stuff haha)
♥ Go to the corn maze
♥ Pick pumpkins and squash at Hi Berry Farm
♥ Make fresh apple cider
♥ Decorate the house for Halloween
♥ Build a leaf fort

What are your plans for Autumn? xo

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Little Snapshots

Instagram is probably the most important social media app for me. It's definitely the one I use the most often, and the one app that will let my readers explore my life a little more, if interested. After a couple months of having the 'Instagram Faves' column in my monthly round up post, I decided that these photos needed their own showcase. An Instagram photo can say a thousand words. 

O n e // Banana cake with cream cheese icing, to celebrate weekends, of course.  T w o // I can't resist a good #fromwhereistand selfie, especially in lush, green grass.

T h r e e // It's been awhile since I've been out geocaching, and this one was an especially lucky find, as it was my sister's first, and a replaced geocache I had trouble finding a few months ago. F o u r // These Black Eyed Susans are the highlight of our back yard now that the season is over and all the other plant life has cycled itself. VSCO cam does wonders to flowers. F i v e // This was taken the day I got back from the Music In The Fields Festival. Josie was lovin' her new shades, and I was lovin' just seeing my baby again. S i x // In the camper driving to Music In The Fields. Carrie and I got to lay on the bed for the trip and it was probably the most comfortable drive I've ever had haha.

S e v e n // My typical lunch: Fruit, eggs and some type of bread. Occasionally no bread, but usually bread, let's be honest. 

E i g h t // There's two cannons at our harbour and it's kind of tradition to take your photo on them. Needless to say Josie wasn't a big fan, but it made for one of the best photos I've ever seen of people on cannons. N i n e // Starting to get quite the extensive collection of plugs. I hope to ween out all my acrylic someday and replace them all with stone, but it's nice to have some variety. 
Today our town is hosting fireworks and I'm always up for a good fireworks show. Happy Labour Day weekend! xo