The life of a Dancing Queen

Picture you're laying in bed snuggling your sleepy little girl watching "ya ya" (yo gabba gabba) one more time before she drifts to sleep. All the sudden, a song comes on and your comatose girl turns into one of the acts from America's Got Talent. She bolts upright, demands a hand from you and your husband each and wiggles and jiggles her body like there's no tomorrow. What do you expect? If there's music, no matter what the circumstance, sister's gotta dance!!! This is a part of our everyday life nowadays and we find it hilarious (and sometimes annoying)... But mostly awesome. ;)

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Another rather recent addition to our household dynamic... The love between a girl and her dog... Lily and "Tucka". The first thing Lily does every morning is call for Tucker. "Where Tucka? Tucka!!" She then proceeds to spend the day following poor Tucker everywhere and calling him if he so much as looks like he might be walking in another room. And though I do feel a bit bad for Wrigley, I find her adoration for my first love endearing and adorable.

Favorite Moments of our Trip

The 1st night at the hotel where the energizer bunny replaced Lily bunny jumping on beds and running around until late in the night.

Lily finally loved the water, but said "oh no, yuck!" when her feet brushed the sand.








Lily saying "awesome" for the first time mimicking Yo Gabba Gabba.

Family snuggles.

Smelly fish at fishtown.

Visiting with the Farrs in Bowers Cove and finding out Lil is definitely a "boat person".





Lunch outside overlooking the bay.





Family dancing.

New words "airplane", "boat", "okay" and "duck".

A room service date that Lily insisted on staying awake for.

South shore sandwiches.

Buying Lil her own bag of "M's" to eat.





The way my girl loves her Daddy and the way her Daddy loves her.





Falling in love with my husband all over again.

The Oneskos Take Traverse City

It's Wednesday night and that only means one thing... The greatest week of the year so far is winding down. Tomorrow's our last full day in Traverse City and time sure has flown by.









We started out our week exploring a great new find, Empire Beach. This picturesque little gem is located right near the sand dunes and was a perfect beginner beach playground for our girl. No water yet and only as much sand as she could reach from the blanket, but rock counting with Daddy was a big hit!

















The rest of our vacation has been rained out for the most part, but hasn't lacked a minute of fun. We've cherished every moment of family time with Daddy and spent our time visiting Fishtown, our favorite restaurant, Mackinaw Brewing Company, chatting with birdies and even making memories chilling out in the hotel.





















Wish we could spend every day with Daddy, but loving the time we have!

Girls' Week

I am writing right now starring at the beautiful new yummy smelling, puppy whimpering, chest snuggling...

Claire Ellen Shaffer

Life couldn't be better!

My friend, Amy, is a rockstar. Seriously folks. This girl delivered a beautiful new baby a month ago, already looks like a supermodel and... get this... is staying home a few nights a week ALONE with her bubbly 3 year old and her new little bundle of joy. Amy's husband, Chris, just recently got a new job a few hours away, so the poor guy has to leave his family for a few nights a week and Amy has taken it like a trooper. I've watched it first hand and she is the stuff dreams are made of. Super Mom. Lily and I got to join her for the first few nights of this and I've been taking notes... I don't think I could do this well with one kid, no less, two. As a result of the new situation, however, Lil and I got to enjoy some "girls only" time with some of our favorite girls.

I know I've said it before, but it so unbelievably amazing the feeling I get spending time hanging out with people that need no pretense. Amy holds every story and loves me for my greatest triumphs and despite my greatest faults. It's a feeling of total acceptance and the ability to just truly relax and be me with my kid and with her kids, too. The best.

Another great surprise during this trip was the chance to get to spend time with another old friend that Amy and I lived with, Caroline. Caroline brought her gorgeous girl, Sydney with her and we all got the opportunity to catch up and fall back into the exact place we were six years ago... with the addition of four little mini-me munchkins.

The day ended with sad goodbyes to Caroline and Sydney, but a little late night fun with the leftover girls.

"Because the truth is... it was the best of times. Mistakes were made, hearts were broken, harsh lessons learned, but all of that has receded into fond memory now. How does it happen? Why are we so quick to forget the bad and romanticize the good? Maybe it's because we need to believe that the time we spent together actually meant something, that we were there for each other in a time in our lives that defined us all, a time in our lives that we will never forget. I can't swear this is exactly how it happened. But this is how it felt." ~Dawson's Creek

I wanna be like you, Mom...

I've grown up convinced that my Mom is Martha Stewart...or better... Or maybe Martha Stewart mixed with a Rockstar. Either way, my Mom is AMAZING . Seriously. If you knew her, you'd want to be her. Homemade dumplings? She's on it. Pants for my daughter? Done. Gift card holders? Yep. Knitting? I taught her and I'm pretty sure she surpassed my "scarves only" rule in a second flat. So you won't be surprised when I tell you that having a Mom like this is the best thing ever. The bad part? Having a Mom like this makes people think you can do magic like hers... And in my case, that's not even close to true. I'm lucky if I can make a hot dog and my knitting tends to look more like Christmas tree skirts. Interested? I could start a business... My crafts always seem to fall a bit short. So when I started my latest project, I started with the same assumption I always have... The best laid plans always leave room for disaster. And disaster it was... At first. And then magically, it turned into something a little better than disaster. Not perfect, but for me, not perfect is an amazing accomplishment. So, for the first time, I really got to enjoy my little slice of the pie. My little taste of success. It might not be as great as my Mom's, but maybe I did inherit a little something... If only the love of the game. It wasn't as good as my Mom would have done, but for me, it was sweet success.

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What do you sing?

She's just about asleep in the car. I snuggle her close and take her to her room amidst her protests. I sit in the rocking chair and I sing to her. Spice Girls. if you wanna be my lover. Circa maybe 1999 at best. After that? A little Whitney Houston. Some Fiona Apple. A little Ella Fitzgerald to round it out. Mostly college favorites. And I think... Will she remember this? Should I censor myself to Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers? But then I think of being in my own Mom's arms. Granted Cat Stephens was definitely a bit more appropriate. But more than anything, I remember how great it felt no matter what she sang and how Cat Stephens will always be a lullaby in my head. So maybe Spice Girls wasn't my best choice, but I can only hope something way worse will be popular by the time she cares. I can only hope she'll think of Scary Spice and she'll think of her Mom. And that's not all that bad.

These are the moments...

"These are the moments
I thank God that I'm alive
These are the moments
I'll remember all my life
I've found all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more."

-Sara Evans

These lyrics played in my head all weekend. They played in my head as we played in the sun with great friends that are more like family. They played in my head as Rob, Lily and I fell asleep all tangled in bed together watching fireworks last night. These are truly the moments. These are the ones I'll look back on when I'm old and gray saying, "Those were it... The moments that mattered. The best moments of my life." How blessed I am to live this charmed life with these amazing people I love... And even more blessed that they love me back.