Marley is growing up...

and faster than her parents prefer.

Can you believe it's already been 5 years since our little Marley blessed us with her presence?!

Our home would be a little more dull and quiet without our darling princess.

Javier and I have a saying around here, "when Marley is away from our family, she is the missing spice". You know when you are cooking and the dish is missing a certain spice and once you figure out what that spice is, it completes the dish? That's what Marely is to our family, we are incomplete without her and when she's around everthing feels right.

Marley has a shining personality and being the center of attention is just what she loves! We always say that she will follow her Tata's steps into the spotlight and if/when she becomes famous, we won't be surprised! She gets along with EVERYONE she comes into contact with and is unforgettable to her teachers. Her teachers even go as far to say that she could be a Teacher's Assistant due to how much she helps and reasons with the other students! They have even recruited her to help with potty training on some of the stubborn students!

Marley is a great conversationalist and we find ourselves laughing hysterically during many of our conversations with her. She is a girly-girl to the max, what with her clothing, shoe, makeup and hair obsessions, which is perfect for me since I love all those things too!

Marley is fast to forgive and has a sweet soul that warms your heart. You can always find her wearing a smile, in fact...she started smiling at 2 weeks and she hasn't stopped since!

Our Father in Heaven blessed us tremenously with our beautiful daughter Marley Juliette!

Happy 5th Birthday, Marley Mae!

Marley's New 'Do

I call this hairstyle Braided Headband. I got the idea from this blog for shorter hair styles and here is the original idea that I tweeked a little.

See how happy she is when I fix her hair?I started with an off center part and did the braided headband down both sides of her head. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a photo that showed her side part. In the top 2 photos, her side part is at the top of each picture and virtually impossible to see, but you get the idea, right?

I wasn't sure how I wanted to end the style, but I knew I didn't want to end it like the original does, with all the hair in the middle of hear head out and curled. Marley was going to school this day and I wanted it tight and neat. So, I parted the hair down the center of her head, from the top of the headband to the nape of her neck.
Then, I just did a low braid and wrapped it around the last pony/elastic of the headband on the same side. I secured it by just wrapping an elastic around the whole wrapped ponytail. Since she has naturally curly hair, I didn't need to take a curling iron to it, but I would have otherwise. The 3rd picture shows how I wrapped the braid around the last elastic of the braided headband a little better than this one.

A super cool style

This is called Hair Net by the woman who's blog I learned this style from. I really like it, but it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes! Yikes! I can't believe Marley sat through it all, but she did and since it took me so long, I left it in for 2 days. The nice thing about Marley and me fixing her hair is that she is fairly patient with me because she knows that her hair will look pretty when I'm finished and she likes that! Thank goodness for that since I really enjoy fixing it :) Anyway, besides it being nice that it stays in place for a few days, all kiddos love this style and I was requested by my thick-haired neice, Mirella, to do her hair the same exact way. What a nice compliment!

Back to Preschool

After many patient months, Marley's pleas were finally satisfied when she returned to Preschool this afternoon. I'm pretty confidant in assuming that she would be a happy clam to have year-round school. So, her teacher this year is Sara and Marley seems to like her...she gave Sara a hug the second she saw her. Sara was a teacher from last year, but she wasn't Marley's teacher until this year. Although Marley's teacher last year was Katie, Marley is so social that she gets to know everyone during the occasional integrated class with all 3 classes.
I just thought: "I wonder if any of the other kids gave any one of the teachers a greeting like that?" There's a saying Javier and I have: Marley is the spice in our family...when she is gone, things around here are just a little bland. She is a very funny and interesting little girl who has her parents busting at the seams left and right. Well, judging from her first encounter at school, she is the spice there as well.

Here are a few pictures of her when I randomly decided to put on a Janie & Jack outfit TiTi (my sister) gave her for her birthday this year. As you can see she is exhibiting a little flare:

Marley is such a girl. She just loves getting dressed up and me fixing her hair. So, when it comes time to show it off, she relishes the opportunity.