celebrating five [mini-film]

last weekend we celebrated everly's golden birthday with our take on 'it's a small world christmas'!  kids in the morning, big kids in the evening.  the rain moved the party all indoors, but we made the best of things.

turns out, the 'small world' coloring pages were a hit for all ages.  speaking of age, now that everly is the big FIVE she was given so many amazing games from our friends...which they decided to show her how to play at her party too.  cannot get much better than that!

oh, and no more balance bike for this little lady - big girl bike happened too!

here's our day celebrating five...
Everly is Five! from Lyndsay Lewis on Vimeo.

everly's dress is from target - we were lucky stumbling on the perfect dress months ago when she picked her birthday theme

that amazing sparkler five candle is from nothing bundt cakes - not sure they have them at all of their locations, seemed like a little specialty item they had at ours

our day in the magic kingdom [mini film]

there is always that moment.  that moment that just makes your heart feel happy.  one of those moments was while riding 'it's a small world' and everly kept asking me to make sure I got a picture of this or that, because she wanted to remember it just like that when she got home.

this trip was special in many ways, and I am so grateful for all the people who allowed this once in a lifetime experience to happen, especially my husband who held down the fort while I worked and played in florida.

everly tried so many new things this past week.  I think my favorite was when she was really trying hard to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  you should have seen her face trying to process peanut butter.  but she tried it.

she also tried roller coasters she's never attempted before.  riding thunder mountain railroad isn't featured because I was too worried she was going to be upset.  and sure enough, the entire ride it seemed like she was completely freaked out.  however, as soon as the train stopped, she was hysterically laughing and said how much fun it was.  so she's going to be 'that' kind of ride kid.  I think she gets it from her dad, not me.  however, the seven dwarfs mine train was another highlight.  one, because it is something unique to disney world, and isn't found in disneyland, but also, she loved it.  and even though she has the best ride face ever, she clearly loved it too!

Magic Kingdom from Lyndsay Lewis on Vimeo.

shot on our sony a6000
music -
Cinderella: A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes
Princess and the Frog: Down in New Orleans (Prologue)
Tangled: I See the Light

dapper day spring - disneyland [mini-film]

this past weekend we spent the last three days of our annual passes in the parks, and with it being spring dapper day, we knew it was meant to be!  here's a little look at our time there.  photos to come!

Disneyland April 2017 from Lyndsay Lewis on Vimeo.

my favorite parts of this mini-film, and the weekend:

*skipping, so much skipping
*my kid is way cooler than me
*she insisted on peace signs, because apparently they are 'pizza' signs, and she was eating pizza
*talk about hamming it up to the camera
*looking away from the camera for photos, ultimate #babyhipster
*tiara & 'flight glasses'

all music from epidemic sound
shot on our sony a6000

51/52

 "A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2016."

in this moment:

right now, in this moment, I'm in love with your spunk and determination.  you didn't care that it was in the 40's on Christmas day, you were going to wear your new Moana dress from Santa, and because Santa's magic is real, your size 3 Moana skirt fit you perfectly! it made your day even sweeter. and I melted, in this moment. 

38/52

 "A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2016."

in this moment:

right now, in this moment, I'm in love with your dream talks.  the other night we watched the fireworks in our backyard from the country club, and in the sweetest voice imaginable, you stated, "mommy, when I go to bed I'm going to make sure I dream of the fireworks in Disneyland tonight."  and I melted, in this moment. 

mom blogger note:  yes, we already started decorating for her birthday party, which is in exactly one month, because it is fun, and I work too many hours to wait until the last minute.  my house is going to be festive for days.  oh, and she's technically having a dia de los muertos party, so one half of my house is traditional halloween, and the other is super colorful!  this photo was a trial run for this photo wall, which is pretty much rocking my world right now, and it is not even done!

let someone else do the work!

family photos - we always have the best intentions, but sometimes they just don't happen as often as you would like.  sometimes it feels like you can get just one great photo with everyone pictured, and not taken as a selfie.  at disneyland, we rarely hand over our camera to a stranger to take our photo. not really because we are scared it's going to be taken, it just isn't really our style to ask.   however, I upgraded my season pass to Disneyland, and the biggest reason for spending a little more money monthly was because of the Disney Photo Pass being included.  every photo a Disneyland photographer takes is instantly on the Disneyland app, and instantly available for me to download and save.

if you are not passholders, you can still buy a daily photo pass, or just buy single images.  I believe the daily rate is about $40, which is a little steep in my opinion for only one day, but it sure does make things easy.  not to mention, the Disneyland photographers have very nice cameras, and their lighting is almost always perfect.  from past experiences, trying to get the perfect photo inside the castle meet-n-greet with the princesses is very hard due to their funky lighting, but the Disneyland cameras get it perfect!

here are some of our professional Disneyland photos... 

excited to use this perk at dapper day this year for everly's 4th birthday!!!

25/52

"A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2016."

in this moment:

right now, in this moment, I'm in love with your little daddy moments.  while in Disneyland this last trip you tried your first beignet, and excitedly chatting about your beignets with your daddy and getting covered in powder sugar was too sweet. and I melted, in this moment. 

lucky 13 [disneyland mini-film]

we just got back from everly's 13th trip to the parks.  southern california was experiencing a crazy heat wave, anaheim was literally 106 on our first day. never have I been in the parks in that type of heat.  the only silver lining was the crowd index was extremely low, because seriously, 106!

this trip we battled something new, everly's obsession with souvenirs.  we've been pretty lucky and the struggle with this hasn't been a thing until this trip, and we had to really work on her realizing that we weren't in the parks to buy things.  her biggest obsession was this little purse and glove set that she saw the morning of our second day.  at this point, she had already spent her souvenir money from grammie, we had purchased her bubble wand, and now this.  nope, not happening.  it was a day long of asking, and I purposely left her little purse demand in the video, just as a reminder of her obsession.  it was all she could think about.  don't worry, we worked on her tone as well, demanding of items to be purchased is not going to happen.  she went hours on day three without saying anything about the gloves or buying anything, so then she got to be spoiled by her grandma and grandpa that were with us on this trip.  because, after all, she's three, and it is disneyland.  so, three souvenirs.  oh well, there are worse things in the world I'm sure. right?

here's our week, three days in the parks, 300 video clips, 30 minutes of footage, all wrapped up in just about 8 minutes.  enjoy.

disneyland june 2016 from Lyndsay Lewis on Vimeo.

film shot on our sony a6000

songs -
"Married Life" Up Soundtrack
"When Can I See You Again" by Owl City on the Wreck it Ralph Soundtrack (this is also their current parade song for Paint the Night)
"Alice" by Avril Lavine from Almost Alice

disneyland [mini film] again

This past weekend we visited Disneyland one more time before our passes expired.  And the best part, we finally had the stars align to take one of my favorite people of all time with us.

Disneyland April 2016 from Lyndsay Lewis on Vimeo.

And, because we are crazy, we renewed our passes for another year.

So I guess this won't be the last Disneyland mini film for a while.

we brought disneyland to the party

I used to throw a party for just about everything.  I literally remember making 'welcome spring' cupcakes one year.  Well, now that I'm a busy grown up, I find I only really throw one party a year, Everly's birthday party.  I really loved bringing this party to life, even if it left my husband a tad confused with my crazy vision. But in the end, it was exactly what I hoped for.  And Everly had a blast.

Party Details:

All signs painted by either myself or my sister Meg.  The cake was of course Wine cake, Everly's favorite recipe from her Grandma Pennie.  We recreated a typical 'kids meal' from Disneyland, choosing Pizza Port as our inspiration, and the kids loved it.  It was the only time they were still and quiet, signs of success.  Drinks were served in classic 'take out' cups, thanks to the Mr. for working in the grocery industry, this little detail was a bargain.  The Mad Hatter Lanterns are from Ikea, and now are hanging in Everly's room.  The invites I designed using an image of an "E" ticket, then added the party details over the ticket.  The Minnie Mouse Ears were a favorite detail of mine - they really made the party feel like Disneyland.  They were all created by hand by my mom and myself.  Mickey Mouse Rice Crispy Treats were favors I made using a pancake mold the Mr. bought from Disneyland the trip he proposed to me.  For the flower arrangements I used some classic soda bottles 

that I had been saving to use for 'some occasion', and thankfully the flower lady I love was not at the Farmer's Market when I needed her, causing me to go in another direction.  Turns out carnations were the exact flower I needed for a true Disneyland feel.