She has always been one of my faves, and I was fortunate enough to paint nails at Stella’s first birthday party in 2009 (wow, what a fun experience and Tori was so kind!).  It looks like she also decided to use our non-toxic, ‘natural as mud’ nail polish for Hattie’s first pedicure! I just love those sweet lil’ piggies…  Check out Tori’s great blog post yesterday:

http://www.torispelling.com/post/tori-spelling-hattie-cats-first-pedicure

Cheers, Melanie

August is SMA Awareness Month

25% off all sales using the code: MillerMcNeil this month will go to Miller’s Foundation AND get you 15% off your entire Piggy Paint order! It’s a win-win! Go shop now at www.piggypaint.com and help raise money and awareness for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Miller’s story has touched the lives of so many! Learn more about Miller and his life story and see how his parents are still doing great things through his foundation. Also, check out www.imwithmiller.com to find out more about ways you can get involved! Miller’s Foundation is doing great BIG things! Together we can find a cure for Spinal Muscular Atrophy! Join us!

 Code: MillerMcNeil for 15% off your order!

 Miller McNeil Woodruff’s Story Through the Eyes of His Parents

Learn more information about SMA at www.imwithmiller.com

Words are incredible.  Just a few words can bring complete joy, tear someone apart, or even change lives.  We have a lot of celebrities that use our products on their kiddos, and I’ve always ached for one of those Mommies to drop our name at a convenient time, let’s say during an interview with Ellen or perhaps on the red carpet.  Ok, so a girl can dream, but I have often wondered if celebrities realize how powerful and life-changing their words can be.

So, I may not be a celebrity, but it hit me the other day that even the words from my mouth (and yours) can make a huge impact on someone else’s life.  I have been in contact with several of my former students recently, and I’m amazed that they can still remember things that I told them 7+ years ago.  Yes, God can use us average peeps in a big way.  If you’re like me (and use many words on a daily basis), not everything comes out positive and reaffirming.  My BFF Allison can still recall hateful comments I made to in her middle school, verbatim (time to let it go, Allison!).

I hope you’ll join me in trying to make a difference with our words.  For as many kind words that we say, I bet we think nice things 10 times more and just don’t say them.  Instead of keeping these polite thoughts to myself, I have been trying to share them.  The other day I noticed that the girl checking us out at the grocery store had a beautiful smile—so I told her.  Yes, I’m sure she thought I was strange, but her pretty smile got even bigger (and spread to my face).

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

Proverbs 16:24

Melanie

My 6 year old loves to wear her hair in pigtails (ironic that we all love pigs, huh?). As soon as I part her hair down the middle and put a band around one of her piggies, Macey usually says “Stop Mom!” and pulls away. For the past several months, she has been begging me to leave her hair one side up and one side down. She is a persistent little thing, so I finally gave in. Her response after admiring herself in the mirror (while turning her head from side to side), “It’s like there’s two of me—one with my hair up and one with my hair down!”

Yes, my adorable little girl received several puzzled looks from people as we were out and about, but she didn’t notice. I’m sure I got those same looks as a kid when I frequently wore two mismatched socks. I appreciate my parents letting me embrace my individuality, and figure my free-spirited daughter wants to do the same. The advantage to me agreeing to her hairdo is that she wore her hair like this for 3 days and then stopped asking—she’s onto the next Macey fad. I can’t wait to see what it is!

Melanie

TOP 5 Family Vacations:

#5 Orlando Vacation

Disney World and Sea World!! This was a great memory as a child and I sure loved meeting all the characters and riding all the rides at Disney World. My Dad was always the one who would ride any ride with me, big or small. It was lots of fun!   We ate breakfast in the castle and got to meet all the Princess characters from all my favorite Disney movies. We rode a ton of fun rides, and I think we rode all my favorite rides at least twice! I remember the Tea Cups being my favorite and yes, my Dad even rode those with me and my sister! Such a great Daddy! It was an absolute blast and a great childhood memory!

Sea World was also really fun on this same trip! Funny story here: I went to Sea World when I was about 6 with my parents and sister. We went to see Shamu! I was so excited the whole time and at one point during the show the instructor asked for a volunteer.  This special volunteer would be able to come down and touch Shamu! I was screaming in my seat saying ”Pick me!! Pick me!!” and guess what? They choose me! Yippee, right? Wrong. Somehow had it in my little mind at the age of 6 that they were asking me to hop on Shamu and go for a ride! Needless to say I was scared to death and hid under my seat until they chose someone else. Good times though! Still one of my favorite vacations!

#4 Washington, DC Vacation

This was an action packed vacation! We were on our feet nearly the whole time! We walked everywhere, but it was a blast and I loved visiting all the historical sites. We went on this trip when I was about 9. It was the perfect age and I loved all the museums and monuments! It was awesome! Some of my favorite museums and monuments to visit were: Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Smithsonian museum. I also loved seeing the White House. I thought it was so neat to think the President was inside as we were walking outside. It seemed so cool at the time  It was a little warm that trip, as we went in the middle of summer, but I still remember loving every second!

#3 Colorado Vacation

When I was about 12, we took our family vacation to Colorado. We did drive from Arkansas, which was about a 13 hour drive, however I seem to have forgotten the long drive. I loved this vacation! I loved the cooler weather Colorado had to offer in the summer. It was so neat to see the mountains with snow on them in the middle of July! We also visited the Denver Zoo on this trip and went to a Rockies game. It was lots of fun! I remember saying, even at a young age, that Colorado was my favorite place on earth! I still love visiting there, and Denver is one my favorite cities!

 #2 Hawaii Vacation

This trip was actually meant for just my parents. They had saved for 25 years years to go someplace special on the 25th anniversary and after all that time they decided they wanted to take my sister and I along for the trip. We got our own room, which we thought was the coolest thing ever! This trip was jam packed of fun activities! My mom always planned great vacations for our family. We did the Road to Hana and had a picnic one day, got up early one morning to see the sun rise at the top of a volcano and then  bike down it, and we even went to a real live luau! It was a wonderful family vacation that I’ll never forget!

#1 Florida Vacation

This quickly became our ‘usual’ family vacation spot after a few years of going. I remember one specific year, we went to Destin over July 4th and got to see the fireworks from the beach. It was so neat to see the fireworks reflecting off the ocean. It was a blast and I loved that vacation! Destin is close enough we could drive (and save a little on flights) and so it was a great choice for our family. Lots of family bonding time in the car and on vacation. We had so many fun memories even before we arrived! We often refer to my Dad as Chevy Chase from the movie Christmas Vacation, so that will give you a little insight as to how hysterical our trips were! Lots of fun!

Stacey