fourth of july weekend

happy birthday, usa! the us celebrated its 240th birthday on monday.  july 4, 1776 - when the united states achieved independence from the tea-sipping brits. it's actually quite surprising how relatively young our country is (although it really has been around for many, many years). i'm proud to be raising penny in the states where…

diy cake smash photo shoot

when you have a baby, the costs keep adding up. there are the necessary everyday items like diapers, but then there are also optional luxuries such as having professional photos done for your child. like many parents, we opted to do the newborn photo shoot because 1) we wanted high-quality images of penny, and 2)…