Of course, I want my daughter to feel loved at all times, especially from her family, but I love making her feel a little more love on Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day with My Love
Tag Archives: Motherly Love
It’s My Tenth Mommyversary, But I Still Have Big Shoes to Fill!
I can’t believe I’m celebrating my tenth “mommyversary!” I’ve learned and grown so much, but I still have big shoes to fill. Interestingly, one of the gifts my husband and daughter gave me was quite symbolic and reminded me of this fact. About a month ago, my husband sent me a text about a pair of sneakers he planned on purchasing for our daughter for her ninth birthday, and I replied back saying that I wouldn’t mind a pair of those as well and have always loved the classic Adidas sneakers. Little did I know, he was purchasing a pair for the both of us to wear together on Mother’s Day because Quinn wanted us to be twins. She was so excited, and I was too.
Then, the card she gave me just added to the symbolic gesture. It said, “Mom, I’ve got some really big shoes to fill.” She then told me that she picked the card because she loves wearing my shoes and how she hopes to be like me when she grows up. This made my day but made me think about how I’m still learning and growing as a mother. Quinn is in her last year of single digits. Her interests are constantly evolving, and she will be a tween before I know it. I noticed on the side of the sneaker it says, “Superstar” in gold, which is how she often views me. I hope that I can continue to fill those shoes and be the mom that she needs in the years to come.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms, mothers to be, aunties, mother-like-figures, etc.
All the best,
Tanya
My Daughter, My Special Valentine
Most people associate Valentine’s Day with couples or that it’s another way for us to fall into the commercialization of another holiday. While I get this interpretation, I also think it’s a way to share a little extra love with our children. Of course, ideally, we should shower our children with love year round, but sometimes these holidays help us to pause and recognize the importance of family and expressing love.
When I was my daughter’s age, my mom would get my siblings and me a sweet treat or something else special for Valentine’s Day, so it’s always a pleasure when I can take my mom and daughter out together to celebrate our love as a family. It’s times like this that I love and look forward to having as core memories.
All the best,
Tanya
Celebrating My 9th Mommyversary!
Last week, my daughter turned eight, and today, I celebrate my ninth “mommyversary!” This year, was still low key as we transition back into doing outings after the restrictions, but that in no way diminishes how happy I am to celebrate being a mom. This year, I’m also celebrating being a puppy mom for the first time on Mother’s Day.
Though I’ve come a long way as a mommy taking baby steps, I know the journey is just getting started. Right now, Quinn let’s me hold her hand as we walk together. When the time comes that she loosens her grasp, I hope I’m able to hold onto that confidence and be all that she needs as a mother walking beside or even behind her and guiding her from afar.
Happy Mommyversary to all moms, mom-like figures, grandmas, aunties and any woman whose been a positive role model in a child’s life.
All the best,
Tanya
Quinnie’s Fun House: Watching My Daughter Blossom on YouTube
Just a little over a year ago, my daughter did her first YouTube video for her channel, Quinnie’s Fun House. I recall her being excited yet nervous. I too was excited and a little nervous too. I told her if she’s uncomfortable or wants to stop, just let me know. So far, that day has yet to come. With each video, she’s become more comfortable and has so many wonderful ideas. It’s brought us even closer together as I share my input, record and edit her footage. Sometimes, I just watch the videos as they chronicle her growth over the year.
I’m so glad this has been a good experience for her. It is truly Quinnie’s Fun House, and I am grateful to be a part of the experience!
All the best,
Tanya
Sugar Rush Family Edition: Baking Puppy Cupcakes
About a month ago, my daughter and I have a fun time having a “Sugar Rush” Zoom bake-off with my sister and niece, so since we all had off today, we decided to do it again, and it was just as much fun if not more! Our theme was animals, so of course we immediately knew what we wanted to create: cupcakes that look like our eight month old puppy, Zack!
He’s been with us since August 7th and is such a wonderful addition to our family. After looking at various ideas on Pinterest, we decided on a chocolate cupcake with a caramel center. We tinted our buttercream frosting and used star piping to mimic his coat. For his eyes, we used black sixlets. After giving some thought, we decided on halves of milk duds for the nose, which turned out better than we expected. For his cute little tongue, we used Starbursts by heating it a little to remold it, cutting it into fourths, reshaping it and using a toothpick to give the line in the tongue. For his floppy ears, we used Werther’s soft caramel creams.
Our cupcake is almost as sweet as our puppy. We can’t wait to do this again in February!
All the best,
Tanya
Sugar Rush: Family Edition! Baking Cotton Candy Cupcakes with My Sweet Girl
“Just ten minutes bakers!” My husband yelled out and startled me as my daughter and I raced to put the finishing touches on our cotton candy cupcakes. Being cooped up in the house can be real downer at times, but it also is a wonderful opportunity for some family time. A few weeks ago, my sister came up with a terrific idea for us to have a Zoom Sugar Rush competition against her and my niece just like the Netflix show. Both Quinn and I were both on board with this idea, and once all settled on the carnival as our theme, we knew immediately that we wanted to do cotton candy cupcakes, so I ordered us matching aprons for the theme.
The only problem is that I never made them before! So I scoured Pinterest and YouTube looking for ideas and piecing together recipes we both felt comfortable using. We baked cotton candy cookies. I found this perfect and simple recipe using cotton candy sugar. I also ordered cotton candy flavoring for the buttercream frosting and simply swapped out the vanilla extract for the cotton candy flavoring. Lucky for us, we already have a cotton candy machine, so it was able to be freshly spun. The cupcake itself was a yellowcake recipe I learned from my grandmother.
Both Quinn and I agree that while it was a lot of fun, the pressure was on to put together a tasty treat, especially with my sister and niece on the Zoom call making delicious funnel cake cupcakes! It was such a fun experience that we all agreed to do it again. Our next theme is animals, so stay tuned!
All the best,
Tanya
Still Puzzling Times, But My Daughter and I Pieced It Together…For Now
A few weeks ago, posted about the puzzle my daughter and I started and how I found the experience to correlate with the puzzling times we’re currently experiencing. While I focused on the frame of the puzzle, my seven year old focused on sorting the matching colors, a strategy I eventually employed once the frame was complete.
Another strategy we both use was sorted the pieces into categories base on their similar shapes which actually helped when we could clearly see what type of shape belonged in what space. Though Quinn was a willing participant and helped out with the 500 piece puzzle more than I anticipated, at times, she became frustrated and a little overwhelmed as she struggled to figure out what puzzles pieces went where. That’s when I stepped in to keep progress going, which is something we all occasionally need.
Something else I realized as I stressed and drove myself nuts trying to find the last puzzle piece is that we could be overlooking most the obvious place to “literally” piece it all together. After about a half hour or searching, Quinn causally walked over and noticed that the puzzle piece made its way under the table cloth.
Within these last couple of weeks, not only did we have some mother daughter bonding time, but it was an eye-opening experience on all that can be learned from simply working on a puzzle.
All the best,
Tanya
Excitedly Celebrating My 8th Mommyversary!
It’s hard to believe that eight years ago I celebrated my first Mother’s Day or as I like to call it, “My Mommyversary!” While it feels weird not keeping with tradition by taking my mom out to brunch with my daughter for Mother’s Day due to the ongoing Coronavirus lockdown, I am grateful for all that motherhood has done for me in these past eight years. It certainly isn’t an easy job, but it is more rewarding than I could have imagined.
Quinn certainly has grown so much since 2013, but I definitely have too. Who would have thought that motherhood would allow me to feel more confident, more passionate and more assertive about life than I’ve ever been! I’m so thankful to have a daughter like Quinn and look forward to the many more milestones, lessons and adventures motherhood has to offer.
Happy Mommyversary to all moms, mom-like figures, grandmas, aunties and any woman whose been a positive role model in a child’s life.
All the best,
Tanya
Coronavirus Lockdown: Mother Daughter Weekend Edition!
“I really wish this weekend didn’t have to end,” my six year old said. I told her, “We don’t need to set aside a special day to spend time with each other and that I enjoy being with her.” Last week, Quinn asked if we could have a mother and daughter day so that we can have extra fun together, and I said, “Why not make it a weekend!?” She wrote out a list of five activities she’d like to do and asked when our weekend would start. When I told her Friday at 3:30pm, it couldn’t come fast enough for her. She was absolutely ready for our day to commence and let me know when it was a 3:29pm.
On Friday, we used the cotton candy maker from my childhood along with the new flavor sugars I ordered. She went with cherry, and I had blue raspberry. Though I did give mine to my husband since I knew I’d be having a weekend filled with tasty treats.
Bright and early on Saturday after breakfast, I attended a dance party lead by Quinn and learned some new, cool dance moves to Kids Bop songs. My Fitbit watch even noticed how hard I was dancing because it logged me for nearly a half hour of an aerobic workout. We even drew pictures together and used the free app Happy Color to do color by numbers and made it a competition to see who could get done their picture first. We played Mario Kart Tour using the app (another free game) and even got my sister and niece to join in from their home for a virtual race. It was so much fun and brought back memories of when I was younger playing race car video games.
After having some pizza delivered from Papa Johns, I rented the new “Trolls World Tour” movie through Amazon Prime video. We were able to watch on our big screen in our basement, along with my husband, giving it that movie theater feel as a special surprise. We made our own ice cream sundaes, had popcorn and just a really good time together. Honestly, I didn’t want the fun to end either.
Though many of us are now having even more time with our children as a result of the lockdown, how much of that is “fun” time together? Yes, these are serious times, but it felt so good to just laugh, be silly, play games and enjoy each other’s company. Quinn gave me such a big hug and kiss yesterday and told me, ” I love you so much, Mommy! I can’t wait to have a mother daughter day again!” To which I responded, “Me neither!”
Mommy's Baby Steps 