A Little Bit of Everything

Sister Moments:

School Planning:

The new school year is quickly approaching! It’s bittersweet! I am very sad about “working” in generally when I have thoroughly enjoyed summer with my girls. I will miss their sweet faces all day and miss our laid back schedule. However, I am excited about setting up my classroom (since I didn’t have one at the beginning of last year!) and seeing my kiddos (I’m looping) and teaching second grade!!!! My new team has already been planning together and I met with team leader to go over some things. I am very confident in this school year!

I’ve also been buying out the Dollar Tree and looking at fabrics for my hot pink/navy nautical theme! I will post pictures of my room once I am able to get in there and get it all put together!

Teaching Lessons:

Kendall saw this toy she LOVED. We took a picture (to remember it) and she kept looking at it and telling us how much she wanted it. I knew we would most likely go buy it for her birthday or Christmas this year. However, we decided we should let her “save” up for it! She did some chores for 4 or 5 days and earned $9. We footed the rest. Ha! $25 is a lot for a 4 year old and she is spoiled. Who am I kidding? When we got to the store it was actually marked down to $19! Holla! She was so proud! She tells everyone how she bought it herself!

Hallie’s 1st Birthday

I went out! I met up with my cousins Becca, Liz, and Tara for dinner and Magic Mike 2!!! The movie was so good. Very deep and inspirational. Ha! Such a great storyline…  

Valentine’s Day 2015

Valentine’s Day is my second favorite holiday. I just love it! It’s not even about the romance part. Because I am a firm believer you should do that all year. It’s the hearts and fun and the sweetness of celebrating it with littles.

Kendall’s class had to decorate Valentine’s boxes for her school party. I can remember doing this as a kid and it’s even more fun watching your kids relive things you did.

I bought some sparkly stickers and wrapped a shoe box in tissue paper for her. Then she had full creative reign. I thought it turned out awesome!

My mom took this picture at her house when I was dropping Adley off on Feb 13. I love it! Only missing Chris!

Let me tell you, school parties are the worst as a teacher. So much candy. Kids are bouncing off the walls. Yikes!

Later than evening, I went with Tara and Rebecca to see Christian Grey. xoxo It was so nice having a girls night. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory before the movie and it was so nice just being Shelli for a few hours.

 

And Chris took our little beauties out for Orange Leaf.

Speaking of romance… I shared an article on fb and tagged Chris’s name in it about what girls really want for Valentine’s day. And he remembered!

My honey brought me home flowers and a box of goodness!

No jewelry needed. I can just picture him assembling this in his car before he came in the house. I love this man!

We got some sweet gifts for the girls. We got them both a little teddy bear, balloon, and spring outfits. I got Adley some headbands. Kendall got some headbands, nail polish, and Frozen chocolates. They were both tickled.

     

Kendall kept saying, “Oh goodness! Thank you!”

And this one is a pro at opening gift now. She should be well prepared for her birthday.

My model!

This one is too busy to smile for the camera!

We celebrated by going to Fazoli’s for dinner as a family. Another holiday in the books for our family of 4!

Tea Time

Forever ago, at a cute white farmhouse in Shelbyville, KY, my grandma Tootie hosted a camp each year. Camp Tootie was basically a fun week with my cousins. We played dress up, cooked meals, brought flowers to the elderly, and all kinds of other activities. I will have to post some pictures soon of this event!

My Grandma T decided to have a few of us out to tea for a Camp Tootie Reunion luncheon. It was at this cute little tea shop called Sisters Tea Parlor. Here were our place settings! 

 

Sarah and Dalyn

Danielle and I



There is a dress up area with hats, gloves, and other proper things to put on before you have tea.

The Group

I purchased some tea because I really liked it! I might become a tea drinker! Ha! I've yet to master the perfect cup. Any advice??

24 Days of Christmas: Day 1 & Craft Night

I’ve decided to conduct a little 24 days of Christmas for Kendall this year.  I have a list of some Christmas activities, some gifts (books, stickers, etc.) and fun ideas leading up to the 25th!

So… technically Dec. 1st is going to fall on 11/30, because that’s when we got together with family for a Christmas Craft Night!

 

We made handprint ornaments and footprint plates with the kiddos! Tara and I made extra so the grandparents too. Don’t tell!

This idea was inspired from this pin and this blog.

Found from this pin and this blog.

I love how it all turned out!

Not so Wordless Wednesday

Is Thanksgiving really next week? I don’t know about you, but I think Thanksgiving gets shafted in a big way. It’s like HALLOWEEN thanksgiving CHRISTMAS. In fact, in our household, I’ve already taken down all of my fall decor in preparation for decorating for Christmas.

I’m so excited about Christmas because Kendall is at a really fun age where I think she will enjoy a lot of the activities. I have so many Christmas ideas that we are going to try this year and hopefully they will become a tradition for Kendall and our future kiddos. Be expecting many blog posts about Christmas toddler activities this in the next few weeks! And if you want a sneak peek check follow me on Pinterest.

*****

I’m always complaining about how I need to learn to use my DSLR camera… but sometimes AUTO does a great job. It was 70+ degrees and sunny Sunday and I got some GREAT pictures after nap time. I made one of these pictures into a Pinterest project and I just love how it turned out! I will post about that later this week!

Oh this hair… I could brush it and style it for hours if she’d let me!

Playful girl!

This weekend was exactly what I needed. Girl time with my favorite girl. I have been in a funk lately (tmi – but I think it’s because my insurance has switched me to another generic birth control, anyone else have that problem?) and I just needed to take a weekend and chill.

I love my husband and love doing things as a family, but girl time with Kendall is my next best thing! Meredith wrote about this a few days ago and I couldn’t agree more! I can remember when my mom and I would have a girls day. Or “playing hooky!” We would go to lunch and shop at the mall and I thought it was the coolest thing. I still love days where I just hang out with my mom. I want Kendall to always feel that way with me. I’m sure I will get on her nerves during the teen years, but I want her to always trust her mom and know that I am here for her. I look forward to many more weekends and days where we can have girl time together and make lasting memories. :)

Pretty, Pretty Princess

I bought K some jewelry this weekend via the Dollar Tree.

Girlfriend loves being glitzed up!

Look I’m a dance mom!!!

She loves to dance and I will work 8 jobs to make sure she gets to go to dance class one day! :)

STOP taking pictures MOM!

Chicago Weekend

This past weekend I ventured to Chicago with some great friends! Tara and I flew out of Louisville Friday evening after work. We are both teary eyed because we’ve never left our babies to go out of town.

We met Liz, Daniel and Tommy who were already in Chicago. We all ventured to the Second City Comedy Club. It was hilarious! One of my must see stops while in Chicago!

This was our beautiful view of Michigan Ave and that is where we spent most of Saturday shopping!

Brunch photos of our group

One of the highlights of this trip for me was the chicken and waffled I had for brunch! Yummy!

We ended the evening at the Navy Pier and Tara and I flew back the next morning.

This was my first time leaving Kendall overnight. I think I did great. It was nice to be away and have some “me” time but I was super anxious to get home to my sweet family!