I have a two year old…...

Oh hi, my daughter turned two a couple weeks ago…and I haven't shared yet:) 

My Zakiyah Nova is 2 years old (as of 8.20) What in the world?! Where has the time gone? Oh, I know, chasing after this crazy second born!!!! 

Mamahood is a ride that I love being apart of! 

Especially, with my two little ladies, in tow. They truly make my life beautiful.

Zakiyah means Purity and Nova means Bright and New. That she is….

My Beauty.

Ever since, this stubborn little girl entered the world, (birth story) I knew my life was about to change!

Zakiyah is a burst of energy. 

She loves life to the fullest! She still likes to take 2 naps a day, if I let her…..

She loves her babies and lovies. The girls wants to tote around 2 small lovies, 2 big blankets and a croqueted blankie, baby, mermaid, stuffed animal.. you name it… she is handing it to me to carry.

Zakiyah only says a few words at this point, but is the loudest 2 year old I know.

Her favorite songs are Boom (River Valley Church- Go Kids), Full of Stars (Coldplay), Jump (River Valley Church- Go Kids), and of course, Let It Go (Frozen). We have dance parties daily in the car and living room.

She is fearless, adventurous, and risk taking. She barrels down hills. tricycles, and runs so fast! She loves the water and swimming with her family. 

She loves FOOD! She wants chocolate every day, if I let her! She loves dried fruit, watermelon, mashed potatoes and can slam 4 slices of pizza if I give it to her! 

Kiyah LOVES her sister! She adores Zion. I love having them share a room for many reasons! I love walking by their room and seeing them play and share…occasionally. ;)

Every night, when Andy puts them to bed he goes through 3 songs and sings to them, while holding their hands as they are in their crib/bed. He is way better at bedtime than me. I am over it after 8pm…. Literally, over the day. done. don't want to procrastinate the routines………

Zakiyah is her sister's shadow with a lot of things. I feel like we are skipping a lot of things that Zion liked at 2 and jumping ahead, because Kiyah wants to do what her sister wants to do.

Zakiyah is the most affectionate girl I know! She hugs, holds hands, cuddles, kisses, giggles all the time. Ever since she was a baby, she would place her hand on my forearm…. when I hold her. MY FAVORITE.

Zakiyah teaches me patience, grace, humility, and how to respond creatively to certain scenarios. 

She makes our life better. 

More full.

More joy-filled. 

More over flowing.

More happy.

Happy 2nd Birthday Sweet girl!  

We had a simple BBQ with family for her birthday! Our neighbors came by too to help celebrate our Zakiyah! I went with fun and happy decor! 

Menu:

Hickory and Rodeo Lime Chicken and Pork on the grill

Mexican Sweet Corn 

Pioneer Woman's Baked Beans

Cantaloupe and Pineapple

Roasted potatoes

Garden fresh salad with veggies

Fresh Salsa and Blue Corn Chips

Nutella Chocolate frosting // Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes! HEAVEN!!!!

Ice Cream

Lots of fun bevys 

In the morning, we had our Nanny- Noelle "Coelle" over for breakfast (cass cakes) to send her off to college. She helped make the watermelon and pineapple garland! 

Zakiyah loves sweet corn. 

Fact: First born- prefers me to cut the corn off the cob. Second born- wants to eat it by herself.

CUTIES!

Cousins!!!!!!

Spoiled.

Zion loves taking pictures. Fact:  my parents never me touch their camera….now, they willingly give it to their 4 year old grandchild. ;) 

Mike helping put together Zakiyah's rockin' grocery cart!

 Zakiyah loving on her art from Bird + Goose! 

Crazy

Going through 2 bottles of bubbles in … oh you know 5 minutes…..

Love celebrating my girls.

Blessed, are we.

Thankful.

Love reminiscing her first birthday ;) HERE.

Love this little video, that I put together HERE. 

h54f

It is Friday!

The sun is shining!

It feels like summer in MINNESOTA.

Lots of sunscreen. Flipflops. Grilling. Laughing. Bubble Tea. Fresh fruit. Walks to the park. I am in my Blissful state. 

Every week, I link up with Lauren and Jeanette for High5 For Friday, showing you some highlights of the week! I also have my weekend recap here.

Yesterday, my three year old was invited to her best friend's 3 year old birthday party! They just happen to be our next door neighbors! It was perfect. Four little girls tying ribbons on flip-flops, playing on a slip-n-slide, eating pizza and cupcakes, opening princess dress up clothes, having their nails painted by our nanny, Noelle. She even custom made a polish for each girl! It was perfect! 

 I finally finished making a painting for our dear friends, Katherine and Cordie. They got married last fall! I posted about it here and here. I wanted to make them a canvas with coral and navy tones (their wedding colors). I used items from their wedding invite and song lyrics from their ceremony (Use Somebody, by Kings of Leon). I love it. They are moving today to NYC for the summer, then heading to Florida. We will miss them dearly. They are family to us. My daughters call Katherine, "Tia", which is auntie in spanish. (Tears all over writing this... I need a coffee) We will miss you sooo much.

Some scenes around my homefront.........

Deck life. bliss.

Loving my Independence Day mantel. 

Roses in my front yard.

I finally painted my stools. I posted about it here!

My Zakiyah Nova. She is my joy! I love her to pieces. Crawling everywhere this one!

Happy Friday! 

Do you have any plans this weekend?

Loves.

Zakiyah's Baby Dedication

This past weekend, we got to have our daughter dedicated. Dedication is a lot like baptism. We just don't sprinkle them with water. We allow people to get "baptized" when they are old enough to make that personal decision. Having Zakiyah dedicated was our declaration to dedicate Z to God, our church family and to vow to raise her with Christian values. Having our girls dedicated is very meaningful to us. With my husband being a Pastor at our church, he got to dedicate both Zion and Zakiyah! It was so great. Our prayer is that our girls grow up in the church having a personal relationship with God. Growing daily in his promises and truth. Having friends in our church home. We are excited for their future. God is good.

We had both of our families come for the day on Sunday. We were surprised with my SIL, Katie co-leading worship with our team. Katie was our worship leader for 3 plus years before. It was so fun to have her up there again! A funny thing that happened, right before we went up for the dedication, my 3 year old Zion said, " I have to go potty." We, being awesome parents, said, "Hold it." ha. She felt pretty special holding the rose. The rose represents how our lives bud so fast. growing up through the years.....

 Both of our families....

After church, everyone headed over to our house for Tacos! YUM! We celebrated Andy and Zion's birthday and Kiyah's dedication. We had the whole set up with authentic taco meat, gauc, fresh salsa, corn torillas, soft shredded mex. cheese, cilantro, lime, black beans etc. It was so good! We also had apple soda and coke! the essentials....

sister love.

baby girl eating sweet potatoes. 

grandpa time- Wayne and Jim

The girls got really thoughtful gifts! My family did great getting them the perfect presents. My sister, Chelsea made this 10 commandments frame! I adore it.

Andy requested that I made his favorite:  a Triffle. I layer Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownies, homemade whip cream, chocolate pudding, raspberries and strawberries! YUM!!!!

My mom got these vintage Strawberry Shortcake dollys and outfits. Look at that cradle. I adore it. She made Zion sheets and some dolly bedding of course! They can't miss out. Why don't they make dolls like this anymore?! Precious!

After all the festivities, My hus and my (almost) Brother in law hit up our backyard to go ride. It was a beautiful out...for MN. My SIL and BIL took pix of them! It was our entertainment watching them. You can see us in the windows! 

Bird man ridin'

Thanks to our amazing family for celebrating with us. Thanks to our church fam for sharing life with us and loving our daughters! Thanks to everyone who lifts our family up in your prayers daily. We appreciate you!

Have a great day!