day 90/365 dream big

Cassidy...dreaming big, red and sparkly!

day 89/365 sad face

day89, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

When Cassidy came home from school today she was really upset. So, naturally, I asked her why. And she started crying. I, of course, did what any right-minded mom would do and grabbed my camera to capture the moment (bad mom, I know). I did feel sad for her. She said Ashlyn (a girl at school) told her she wasn't going to invite her to her birthday. So in response, I guess, Cassidy told another girl she was "not cute" and then supposedly apologized to the other girl, but her teacher didn't hear her apologize and gave her "time out" because she heard Cassidy tell her she was "not cute." So she was sad because she had time out and because Ashlyn didn't want to invite her to her birthday party.

I told her that it wasn't nice to tell the innocent bystander girl she was "not cute," but it was good that she apologized. I told her she should not tell anyone they are "not cute." She said she knew it was "not nice."

And then with Ashlyn...this girl has been a bit of trouble for Cassidy. She says mean things, but then they're friends again two minutes later. So I told Cassidy to ignore her or tell her that she makes her sad (I know, probably not helpful). And, oh, by the way, Ashlyn's birthday is not until JANUARY...so I told Cassidy that she's not even going to be at the same school as Ashlyn in January and she would have a whole new different set of girlfriends from her new school. That, of course, was not well-received...more tears...I know, bad mom. But then I promised to color with her and all was forgotten and so were the tears.

day 88/365 simplicity

that's it...plain and simple.

day 87/365 the princess

day87a.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

This picture was technically taken yesterday at the princess party Cassidy attended. She was waiting for her nails to dry. You can tell because her hand is stiff and she's frozen (although you wouldn't know it because pictures are frozen anyway). Her hair was all done up and she had a pretty dress on. She was ready for the ball!

day 86/365 bling

day86, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

We went to a birthday party today for one of Cassidy's school friends (the first of three weeks of birthday parties!). This was a dress-up party at a tea house. It was really cute. Upon arrival, the girls got to chose a princess dress and shoes. Next, they got their hair, make-up and nails done. And then, there was a fashion show and tea party. Really fun. They even had this jewelry box filled with play jewelry. Of course, Cassidy is immediately drawn to the biggest bling in the box.  I have no idea where she gets that from...

day 85/365 instagram

day85.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

Do you guys have instagram? It's a free iphone app. I love it. You can take pictures with it and then process them using interesting filters, and then post them to facebook, flickr, etc. Pretty neat. You can also follow people's pictures on instagram. I highly recommend!

day 84/365 happy friday!

Day84.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

day 83/365 hello spring

day83.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

Just when I think spring is coming, mother nature throws a wrench into things and it gets cold and wet. But that doesn't mean that spring can't peak out of the shadows and waive hello. I love these flowers. My in-laws brought them over and they just started blooming yesterday. They are huge orchids. So huge that they almost appear waxy. I love how bright and cheerful they are.

Speaking of bright and cheerful...thanks for your comments and encouragement. Reading them is like seeing these beautiful flowers...they both bring a smile to my face! Thanks so much.

PS - Cassidy is doing GREAT! The "tube fairy" came last night (who knew...but her doctor gave me her tubes and said the tube fairy was probably coming)...no pressure. Cassidy woke up this morning at 6:15 a.m. and ran into my room with her presents from the tube fairy -- a notepad and pencil! She was so excited. It's so sweet to see the innocence and that she truly believes. Next up...the tooth fairy (who, as I explained, is a very different fairy, who typically only brings coins).

day 82/365 good bye tubes

Day82.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

Cassidy had surgery today to remove her ear tubes! She got them in in December 2008...2-1/2 years later, and the doctor said they look like she just placed them in...Therefore, she recommended that they be surgically removed. Having her undergo surgery this time around was really tough. She understands so much more. She was scared. And she cried...but she was brave and did really well. This picture is Cassidy in pre-op! They gave her some crayons and pages to color to pass the time. You can see the ever-present bear-bear is also in pre-op.

I held her when they gave her the anesthesia. That was tough to feel her slump in my arms. But I wanted to be there for her and hold her.

Her surgery only lasted 10 minutes or so. And sure enough...when I went to to restroom, they came to get me. So by the time I went to the recovery room, she was crying...and I mean really really crying like I haven't heard her cry in a long time. She was scared and probably wondered where I was. And then she started to say her ears are "owey". Poor baby. Her tylenol hadn't kicked in yet. And she kept on saying her ears were owey. The nurse kept trying to get her to rate the pain on a 1-10 scale...but how do you explain that to a 5 year old?

She's fine now. Her ears stopped hurting a few hours after we got home. I didn't even have to give her tylenol before she went to bed. She's a trooper. And come summertime, she'll love being able to swim without earplugs!

day 81/365 princess cassidy

day81.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

I didn't have a chance to take a picture today of anyone living...so I decided to take a picture of this drawing of Cassidy. She got it at a friend's birthday party last weekend. Pretty cute...and pretty good idea for a birthday party.

day 80/365 peek-a-boo

day80.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

Poor little Yuki. She got wet in the rain and got toweled off, but looked so cute, that we left her in her towel. Peek-a-boo!!  Surprisingly, she stayed in the towel for about 10 minutes!!!

day 79/365 a tea party

day79b.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

A tea party fit for a princess!

day 78/365 buddies

DSC_0001, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

The quality of this picture is really bad...It's blurry and the WB is off...but I thought I'd post it anyways because I love the subject matter. This is Cassidy and her BFF, aka, her boyfriend, her prince, and her future husband! They're going to get married one day...or so Cassidy says!

day 77/365 stuff I'm selling

Day77, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

I didn't have time to take a "real" picture today. But what I did take were pictures of stuff I'm selling to post on Craigslist! Woo-hoo! These pictures are bad...not artistic at all! But they convey the stuff I'm selling, I think. Wish me luck!

day 76/365 happy green day

DSC_0005, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Cassidy calls it "green day." She wanted to wear her green dress to school today, even though she was supposed to wear her school uniform. I went ahead and let her. I was surprise that she was the only one who bent the rules.

day 75/365 stuff

day75.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

Today was a very exciting day. We are officially in escrow! WOW! Hard to believe. We entered escrow today on our current house and the house we are buying. Very fast and very excited. In an effort to clear out the stuff and begin packing...I started with Cassidy's play room. Needless to say, tonight, I went through 2 bookshelves and one other shelf with stuff. THAT'S IT! I have 30 days to go through all the stuff in our house and pack it. At this rate, I'll be done packing sometime in 2015...UGH. I need to pick up the pace.

In the midst of purging and packing the 2 bookshelves and one other shelf, I came across this...a box of littlest pet shop pets. A TON of them. I bought these for Cassidy for Christmas when she was 3 from eBay. I think I bought something like 100 of these little pets in a lot. Amazingly, they aren't all over my house. Instead, they are all together like one big happy family in a box in Cassidy's playroom. The reason why they are all together? It's because SHE DOESN'T PLAY WITH THEM!!!! I also bought the play areas for the littlest pets and have maybe 5 of them. They also lie untouched in the play room. UGH! Do I really bring these to our new house so they can sit in a box? Or do I sell them on eBay and use the money to buy a patio table for our new house? I'm thinking the latter. But the thought of doing that and photographing the pets and their parks and their clothes and their toys and putting them on eBay seems like a lot of trouble when I'm supposed to be purging and packing...and then, even if Cassidy doesn't play with them, I'll have to be stealth about putting them on eBay so she doesn't notice. Once I put them away, you know she's going to wonder where they went.

Ugh...My favorite pet? I like that pink monkey with the hair bow!

day 74/365 reading

day74, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

Tonight was busy. We were doing a bunch of stuff and going every which way...But in the middle of it all, Cassidy sat down and read a book outloud for us all to hear. It reminded me that sometimes we have to slow down and appreciate these moments.

day 73/365 and now on drums...

day73, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

It's Cassidy!!

day 72/365 thumbs up!

Cassidy was goofing off with my dad today and gave me the thumbs up! I love that she can see her grandparents so much and that they live so close by!

day 71/365 the heart

day71.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

We went to a birthday party today for one of Cassidy's classmates. There was a woman there who did face painting. Instead of wanting the paint on her face, my girl opted for one sweet heart on her hand.  Honestly...I hate face painting.  I hate wiping it off...I hate how it gets on your clothes...I hate how it doesn't always come off.  So when Cassidy opted to get a heart on her hand, I felt a little proud of her.

day 70/365 I've got nothin'

day 70.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

I've got nothing but this guy. It was late when we got home today and Cassidy had to go to bed, so all i could take is this little guy. A friend forever...Bear-Bear...coming to the rescue again!

day 69/365 eyes

day69.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

We went to the opthalmologist today. Cassidy doesn't need glasses!!! (YET! She has a very slight astigmatism and is very slightly near-sighted...ugh...she has my eyes, poor thing.) She had her eyes dilated and needed to wear these dark glasses. On the way to school, she said, "Mom, do I look like a rock star in these glasses?" Heck yah! You always look like a rock star!

day 68/365 uh-oh

day68.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

Is this a glimpse into the future? After dinner I told Cassidy to get ready for her bath. When I was approaching her room, I heard chatter and this is what I saw...Laying on her bed with her crown and her bear with her Barbie "blackberry" to her ear. I wonder who she was talking to?

day 67/365 snack time

day 67.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

Once a month, we have to bring snack for Cassidy's entire class. This month, we are making butterflies for spring! I hope their eyes don't come off! And I had a little trouble getting the antennae to stick. Hopefully it won't be a big mess when we bring it to school!

day 66/365 peaceful

Why is it that they sleep in on the weekdays and wake up at the crack of dawn on the weekends? This was Cassidy at 7:20 a.m. this morning! Totally asleep. Not even the sound of my shutter and click caused her to stir. I had to climb onto her bed and lay down next to her for her to wake up. And even then, it took some rocking around the bed to get her moving.  Normally, I'm a fan of the sleeping baby, but during the morning rush, I'm more of a fan of the let's get moving baby that rears it's ugly head on the weekends!

day 65/365 PARK!

day65.jpg, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

Cassidy loves the park. I mean she L.O.V.E.S. the park. Today we went to a new park with some of her school friends. She played for 3 hours without stopping. And on the way home...she wanted to stop at another park closer to our house. Ummmm, no...mommy's tired.

day 64/365 love the weekends

day64, originally uploaded by Darolyn Hamada.

I love weekends when I get to finally spend some quality time with my girl. Saturdays are hectic with ballet and ice skating classes. But so worth it. Cassidy loves Saturdays and I love spending them with her!

day 63/365 kimo

I have two dogs. You would know it from my previous posts. But this is Kimo. He is the same breed as my other dog, Yuki, but freakishly large (probably 55 lbs v. the 18-20 lbs he is supposed to be). I like to say he's big-boned.  Kimo is a sweet dog and is certain to protect the family and our home.  Like Cassidy, he also does not like to be photographed.  Of the 20 or so pictures I took, this is the ONLY one where he didn't turn his head or close his eyes.  Getting him to look at the camera...that's impossible!

day 62/365 before and after

Cassidy went to her friend's house for dinner today after school with my husband. So I worked late. By the time I got home and they got home it was too late for pictures. So I decided to do a before and after using an old picture and the new fusion actions I bought from MCP. So I can't even tell you which actions I ran to achieve the after. But all I know is I did a clean edit first and then ran something and then a few more other things. It's pretty neat...you can just build action upon action and then adjust it all to your liking. I need to play with it more, but for now, I give it a thumb's up!

day 61/365 the owl

"A wise old Owl sat on an oak, The more he saw the less he spoke, The less he spoke the more he heard, Why aren't we like that wise old bird?"
— Wisdom Quote

Nuff said.

day 60/365 the studious side?

Cassidy grabbed my glasses today and put them on. My first thought...what a great photo op! She looks so studious, aka, nerdy, especially in her school uniform. Quite the change from yesterday's goof-ball pictures!