A Recap

I can't even believe my little blog is letting me back on.

Apparently my short little break lasted 7 months and things have been non-stop.

I will do my best to go back and post things of house projects and parties I have been up to.

I have been so busy/tired lately because of this wonderful part of my life....

 

 

I found out I was pregnant in October and it has been the most wonderful 6 months (minus the daily vomit for the first 17 weeks). Every day it feels more and more real. We have done TONS of projects in the nursery that I will post very soon, I can't wait to bring this baby home to a special room created just for her.

 

We hosted a big gender reveal party and found out together about baby girl. I may or may not have gone overboard with the decorations as usual, I was so nervous that I put all my energy into turning the house into a blue and pink party!

I was so sure that this baby was a boy, had the wallpaper shipped already from Anthropologie, paint picked out, and had secretly registered at Restoration Hardware. I was in for a big surprise!

 

 

You will have to excuse my nervous chatter and many tears in this video.

I was just so shocked!!!

 

I made the banner out of scrapbook paper and found this really fun textured trim at JoAnn to string it all together with.

 

We tried to fill the house with pink and blue flowers. You can't see the blocks very well on the mantle but one side spelled out baby and the other had 7-7-14 for her due date.

The entry table had pink and blue mints, bottles, and take-away bags filled with chocolate covered pretzels.

9 out of 10 times you come to my house you will be sent away with pretzels, it's just my thing.

 

We had a place for people to leave name suggestions, leave it to my family to write ridiculous name ideas.

 My mom made the table runners with pink and blue.

Anthropologie mugs filled with fresh roses and babies breath.

Baby pictures of Andy and I in the frames.

 

This party was the perfect excuse to buy the stork attachment for my Happy Everything plate!

 

Mason jars with pink and blue straws.

We served pink lemonade and blue raspberry lemonade to stick with the color theme.

Baby pictures of us all around!

I spray pained the glass inside a frame with chalk paint and hung the chip board letters with twine.

People had to tally their guess before the big reveal.

Before the reveal with the pups. They had on special scarves that were half pink and half blue stripes.

We had the ultrasound tech text the lady making our cake so that it would be a surprise for everything! I made the paper bunting on my cricut.

 

It was so fun to have family and such sweet friends there to celebrate with us.

So many people brought delicious appetizers and were so helpful!

We can't believe it!

My sweet parents were good sports, dad wore his pink and blue shirt and mom went hot pink!

Best moment, it's a girl!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Mother's Day

Last Friday was Muffins with Mom. One of my favorite school days of the year. The kids love making things for their moms and get so excited to clean up the room and show off what they have made!

This year I brought in a vintage table cloth and a vase to try and make things pretty for the moms.

I found a tutorial for paper flowers from lunch bags and made a few the day before. They were not show stoppers by any means but they added a little color and texture to the table. They impressed my class, which is not hard to do....one of the many perks of teaching second grade.

 I tend to change the gift for the moms each year. My first year teaching I was super ambitious and my mom and I made pillow covers for every month of the year from their child's handprints, aye carumba, never again. The years after that I switched to just one pillow cover of a flower made from their child's handprint.

Well...this year I wanted something new!

The kids used their fingerprints to make a momma owl and a baby owl on a clay pot.

Once dried they added details with a sharpie. 

If you are smart and organized you would spray the pots with a sealer before giving them away, I forgot....sorry moms! 

The kids got to pick which flower to put inside their pot and we stuck a little decoration that says "Owl Always Love You." 

On their desks they had a booklet written all about their mom and their poetry books that we have worked on for the past couple weeks. 

Muffins with Mom is such a special morning because it is so fun to watch the kids love on their moms and celebrate them. They always offer them their chair and serve them breakfast. 

About 1/3 of my class cried when their moms left an hour later....the teacher side of me was ready to move onto the spelling test but the child in me thought it was precious. Probably because I called home 'sick' every. single. day. in second grade. I just wanted to be with my mom! 

This year this day has been full of emotions. 

So thankful for my loving mom and grateful to spend the day with her. I am so blessed to have her live so close to me and see her almost every day. My mom has always been a wonderful support, encourager, friend, confidant, prayer warrior, shopping partner, dog sitter, listener, and so much more.

This day makes me think about my friends that have sweet babies and how lucky those babies are to have wonderful moms. 

I am thankful for friends that are good examples of what I hope to become one day.

I have always felt that my purpose in life is to be a mom and raise a family, today I am praying that God will continue to work in my life and mold me into a mother for a child one day.

This year I have been able to see my wonderful friend have her first baby and become an amazing mother. I have also watched my brother become a loving father to a beautiful baby girl. 

I don't always understand God's timing or purpose but I am so thankful for the people he has placed in my life to help me see his plan and love me through each day.

So to celebrate my sweet mom we ate and shopped, pretty typical for us.

We enjoyed lunch at Figo- I introduced her to the rice balls, a game changer. You must try.

We also went to a local nursery, Scottsdale Farm, and found some beautiful plants. 

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Easter Blessings

Easter snuck up on me this year. I volunteered to host the family this year and was so excited to decorate, plan the meal, and see everyone.

Before the holiday arrived I had to finish off a week at school and it happened to be the week leading up to Spring Break so it dragged on....and on.

Friday was a half day for us, we started the morning off with an Easter play by the 1st graders.

It was a wonderful experience. I was so emotional throughout the entire performance; there is something about seeing young children share the good news of God that reminds me of God's grace and many blessings. I found myself holding back crocodile tears watching the proud parents smile as they saw their children sing and recite scripture. I am so amazed by the pride and love that shines from parents while they watch their children. 

I think as I enter into the next phase of my life and see my friends having babies and becoming an aunt has made me realize the great joy in children. 

Lately as I go through my daily activities of being a teacher I also have many thoughts of teaching these children to be wonderful humans with remarkable character traits. School is not just about academics and after school sports, it is a place to be nurtured and challenged emotionally and socially. I am so thankful that God has given me the job of teaching and I pray that it helps me to become a wonderful mom one day. 

Easter should not be the one day that I reflect on God's love for us and the sacrifices....I have been guilty of focusing on my life, my plans, my wishes, I am thankful for those precious 1st graders that pushed me to think more and challenge myself.

One of the greatest blessings on Easter was spending the day with my sweet niece Letty. My husband spent some quality time with her, it was adorable.

She was chatting away to him.

Spring frames in the entry way.

Dining room table with fresh flowers.

I knew I had to find lots of fresh tulips for the vases, my favorite flowers.

Tulips, mums, and ranunculus.

Hyacinth, lavender, and honeysuckle plant.

I love filling in with free plants from my yard!

This little frame was my last minute-night before Easter- project.

Saw it on pinterest and made it work with what I had!

Emptied out a frame. Covered clothes pins in various washi tape. Picked out patterned letters to go on chipboard. Added wire to frame and hung them up!

Coffee table flowers

This mantle is all new! I don't normally decorate for Easter but I had to get it all fixed up for hosting this year!

The bunny butt banner has to be my favorite by far.

Found this carrot wreath at Von Maur, of all places, in the home section on sale.

Printed off template from pinterest, went around with black sharpie. Cut tails out on cricut, brushed them with ink to look distressed, and attached them with 3-d stickers so the tails would stand up from the paper.

I loved using various papers that were white, cream, and patterned!

Felt eggs from Target years ago.

These little guys are my other favorite new addition! I made them a few weeks ago and just can't get enough of their little bushy tails.

They are made out of felt, I chose fun colors for the inside to look like spring!

Embroidery floss was used to make the eyes, nose, and whiskers! The tails are made out of yarn and sewn on. They are little finger puppets but I stuffed them with cotton balls so they could stand alone.

These foam flowers are also from Target this year. The leaves on them were originally green felt, they looked cheap so I knew they needed a makeover. I used spray adhesive and added various pieces of green fabric. Once attached I hand sewed with embroidery thread around the leaves so they would look more detailed and stay put for years! 

Filled the vase with moss balls because jelly beans are by far the most expensive candy and I couldn't imagine filling that vase up!

The kitchen flowers also had sunflowers.

Letty got a new toy in her Easter basket and it was the highlight of the party. Andy and I played with it for hours with Letty.

Letty mostly chewed it...

She knows to pose for a camera! 

She loves her Uncle Andy.

My sweet niece. She is a blessing.

She left happily with her new book!

Easter was a success, I may or may not be snacking on leftovers right now....

This week I am home for a staycation for Spring Break. It is so nice to not have to set an alarm and to stay in pajamas all day! 

Happy Easter!