The Giving Mom

I had such an amazing time yesterday at the car and pin up show! To my surprise I took home the crown as Miss Pretty in Pink 2025!! 👑 Everyone was so beautiful and had such cute props and poses, it was such a close competition 🥹 and this pin up community that my friend has brought together is so wonderful, supportive and sweet!! I’m so grateful to be a part of the Midwest Pin-Up Charity Mingle Group!!! More pictures to come!!

Team “Apple-y Ever After” ran our first 5k together! (Hubby runs more than I do, but my goal this year was to raise my Vo2 max so I’ve been working hard to get here 😜😄) Our teens exceeded my expectations and we had a blast!! Perfect weather, beautiful orchard views, and a victory pour of hard cider/apple cider 🍻 not yoga, but still moving my body!!

Just got back from the happiest place on earth 😍🤩🥳

Happy Halloween everyone! 🎃

It’s been awhile 😬 I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the break but I miss you all 🤗 it’s been a very busy year for me, I’ve built my own dog walking & boarding business over the past year and I’m super proud of the relationships I’ve created and the knowledge I’ve acquired. 🐕🐩 (and yes it’s hard for me to talk about anything other than dogs now 🙈) It definitely fills up my schedule so I’ve had to learn how to manage my time in new ways to create space for downtime and quality time with the family. It pushed social media onto the back burner but I feel like maybe I can squeeze in a little bit here and there so maybe I’m not gone forever 😅🥹 other big updates; my parents have moved to Missouri to be close to us 🥹😍 I have two teenagers now 🥲 and my husband is retiring from the Army 🥳 life feels pretty much like a fairytale right now and I am excited about this new chapter 🥰 Are hashtags still a thing? 🙈🙉🙊

RUN, don’t walk, ’s spring line is ADORABLE and right now if you use code “Elle424” you can get 50% off! 😱

I feel like I blinked and she became a young woman 😱💕🥲 These beautiful dresses just arrived from and Lilith surprised me with an offer to do a photo shoot with me 🥹🥹🥹 it’s been awhile since she wanted to do that, still can’t believe we’re sharing clothes now 🩷💜🩷💜🩷

Couldn’t help myself, I got a puppy for my puppy 😅🥹🥲 meet our new baby, Chewbacca 😍🤩

Isaac and Lilith picked him up on Sunday and he got to experience the solar eclipse with us (in totality 🤩) yesterday. WALL•E already loves his new brother 😍☺️😇

He’s a mini cavapoo, like our first, I’m hoping he’ll learn to talk with buttons just like WALL•E and maybe they’ll have their own button conversation one day 🥹

Day 3 in Disneyworld, the whole family disneybounded together through Epcot as the emotions from Inside Out! 🥹🥹🥹 as my mom said “we had all the feels!” 🥲😍🤩

Lilith very quickly chose “Disgust” and found the perfect sparkly green dress (she did pack a second more comfortable outfit and ended up changing in the afternoon 😅🥲) 👗

To my shock and awe, Tristan said he wouldn’t mind dressing up with me as “Fear” (and he definitely stole the show in his adorable houndstooth vest and purple bow tie 🥹🥹) i think most people recognized us purely because of him 🥲🥰

Isaac volunteered for “Anger” 😂😂 🙈which of course meant I could be “Joy” or “Sadness” 😂 I’m sure you can guess which one I picked 😜and my parents even joined in, they coordinate their outfits with us everyday! 🥹🥲😍🥳

Is dressing up like a character an absolutely unnecessary extravagance? Yes.
Is it one of my favorite things about going to Disney? Also Yes.

We walked and shopped our way around the World Showcase in Epcot, ate sushi donuts in Japan, drank delicious beer in Germany, looked at all the beautiful art and ate the BEST ice cream in France. I love the way Disney transports you right into a whole new world everywhere you go, it’s a feast for the eyes!

At risk of talking too much now, I also have to mention Cosmic Rewind and how much fun it is to ride because it is the most UNREAL roller coaster I have ever experienced. Requesting the front is an absolute must 🤩🤩Epcot remains top of my list because of this ride 🙌🏼🫶🏼😍

Day 2 in Disneyworld, my intent was to disneybound as Mary Poppins and Bert, I had the perfect vintage dress, but I came down for coffee in it and my strap broke before we even left the house 🤯😞😫 so I had to wear a back up dress (yes! I’m always prepared like that 😅😂) needless to say no one recognized what we were going for but we looked cute anyhow 🥹😍🤩 we went to Animal Kingdom to visit Pandora (my favorite land!) rode on a Banshee and floated the Na’Vi river, made out on expedition Everest and even snuck away later that afternoon for a mini-date without the kids at the ultra swanky Nomad Lounge. We got very lucky because it was a 2 hour wait list but they had room for two at the bar! 🥹😍🤩 I think there were more kisses than pictures on this day 😂😅😍🤩

Day 1 in Disneyworld! We Disneybounded as Tinkerbell and Peter Pan in Magic Kingdom and I’ve gotta say hands down it was the best day ever. Being called Tinkerbell all day by little kids made my entire year, if I lived closer to Disney I would 💯 apply to be her 😅🥹😍 Thank you for always being game to dress up with me 🥹

I must have been awful good this year because Santa Isaac really delivered 🥹🥹🥹

I have had the same Dodge Caravan for the past ten years and it was just perfect, honestly. But this ‘21 Chrysler Pacifica (hybrid!) is deluxe 🥲 it has so many bells and whistles I don’t even know where to begin 🤩 but the surround view camera is probably my favorite upgrade.