5 on Friday!

Happy Friday! Here's what's been going on in our world this week:

1. We had about 2 inches of snow this week! It started snowing around 8:00 Tuesday night. We had early dismissal Tuesday, no school Wednesday and a late arrival Thursday so not much learning went on this week in room 310 but that's okay. Kennedy loved the snow for the first 5 minutes but then was ready to come inside! I think she may end up being like her momma. I am not much of a snow person. I am still really glad she got to experience it though.

You can really tell in this picture she is ready to go in! Look at that pouty face!

2. What did ya'll think of Sean and Catherine's wedding? I had mixed feelings. First of all, what in the world was up with that music she came down the aisle to? So awkward! I also thought that the whole "honeymoon suite cam" and the constant talk about the wedding night was a bit overkill. And the "grown sexy" theme? Weird! However, I loved the fact that they had Sean's dad marry them, loved Catherine's dress and loved how the groomsmen prayed over Sean before the ceremony. I also thought it was so sweet how emotional Sean got. 

3. My dad is the lead writer for the Gamecocks on Bleacher Report.  I am loving his latest column entitled , "Why an NFL team should take a chance on Connor Shaw." I really hope an NFL team picks him up. Dylan Thompson has some big shoes to fill next year. You can read the article here.

4. I follow a lot of children's clothing stores on Facebook and there have been soooo many cute Easter dresses blowing up my newsfeed. I haven't ordered one yet for Kennedy because next week I am hitting up a local consignment sale for boutique clothing that I have heard is amazing! I got Kennedy's Easter dress from a consignment sale last year for 5 dollars! I am hoping I get that lucky again this year but if not, I have plenty of ideas for backups. ;) I am especially loving all the Easter dresses from my favorite online kids clothing store thisandthatforkids.com

 Flashback to Kennedy's 1st Easter! (4 months old)

 5.Kennedy turned 14 months on Tuesday! She has been talking so much more lately and one of her favorite words is "me!" LOL. I am not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. On Monday when we came home, our neighbors kids were riding their bikes in the street. Kennedy kept pointing at them and saying "me, me, me! My response "Nooo, not yet!"

I will leave you with my cutie in her daddy's favorite outfit on her, Carhart overalls and a camo bow! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Memoir Monday-Gender Reveal

Okay so I am totally stealing the idea of "Memoir Monday" from one of my favorite bloggers, Royal, over @ Royal Proclaims. If you haven't check out her blog do so today! She is one of those bloggers who will literally make you laugh out loud with her posts.

I am posting today about our gender reveal party because it was one of the best memories of my pregnancy with Kennedy. I know some people think gender reveal parties are cheesy but we had a blast with ours. I also felt like it was a great excuse to get together and celebrate my pregnancy. :)

We found out Kennedy was a girl on Thursday, June 28th, 2012 at our sonogram but we chose to have a party at our house on Saturday, June 30th so that we could tell our friends and family. It was very hard to keep the secret for 2 days. I know some people have the tech write down the gender in an envelope and are surprised at their party as well as their guests but Nick and I liked being able to enjoy that moment privately. After we found out Kennedy was a girl, we immediately went to Buy Buy Baby and Kid to Kid and bought a bunch of baby girl outfits. :)

Anyway, back to the party. We told our guests to dress in either blue or pink based on their guess of the gender. These pictures crack me up. Everyone, including myself, was so sure I was having a boy. Although I think a lot of the guys just didn't want to wear pink, hahaha. Grayson, who was 2 at the time, was the only male wearing pink! :)

 We played an Old Wives Tale game, which was a lot of fun. My bestie Megan had a list of questions that I answered referring to common Old Wives Tales. If my answer pointed to boy, one of the kids would put a blue sticky note up and if my answer pointed to girl, a pink one. We also did the "string test" and looked at the Chinese Gender Calendar. As you can see, most of the Old Wives tales did point to girl!

 Then we passed out the cupcakes, which were filled inside with pink frosting. At this point, I remember my mother in law saying she was still convinced it was a boy even though all the Old Wives Tales pointed to girl. We had everyone bite into their cupcake at the same time after a "1,2,3." As you can see though, a few people like my bestie Ashley and my sister in law Tina chose to cheat and stick their finger in the middle because they couldn't wait any longer, lol.

Ironically, the first people I heard to yell out "it's a girl!" were not only Ashley, but my mother in law, who had been so sure it was a boy! Everyone was so excited, my dad and my sister were crying and my friend Jessica who has two boys was jumping up and down!  It was such a fun day. I know gender reveal parties are not for everyone but we really enjoyed ours. Nick is not into the whole "couples shower" thing so this was also a great way for him to be able to celebrate our baby girl with family and friends. Besides hearing Kennedy's heartbeat for the first time, I think this was my favorite day of my pregnancy. It was filled with joy, laughter and excitement! :)

5 on Friday

Even though it's been a not so good week, I am going to try to make the best of it by linking up with these fabulous ladies for 5 on Friday. Here's what's on my mind this week:

1. Kennedy and I have both been battling sickness this week. Kennedy was sick first. She started running a fever Saturday night and didn't go back to daycare until Wednesday. I started to run a fever Monday night. We were all home on Tuesday because I felt so sick I couldn't take care of Kennedy so Nick had to call in too. No bueno! Kennedy started to feel better Tuesday and so she went back to daycare on Wednesday. I pushed myself and went into work Wednesday.  Partly because I heard I had a really bad sub who was mean to the kids and didn't follow my plans at all. Bad idea. I felt AWFUL by the end of the day Wednesday so ended up relapsing and having to stay home Thursday again. I am finally starting to feel better so hoping the sickies have left our house.

2. On Monday night, I went and sat in on a Phi Mu meeting up at the college even though I wasn't feeling so good. The advisory council was presenting scholorship awards to the girls that had the top 3 GPA's for the semester and we also always treat them to dinner. I made the certificates and was a little upset because Nick failed to tell me that he used up all the black ink when he was printing his thesis for his masters. I reassured myself by saying that the pink showed up and that's the most important color. :) One of the girls posted a picture of her certificate on Facebook with a caption about how she had never really gotten very good grades but she had worked really hard this semester and how excited she was that her hard work paid off. She also said how honored she was to be recognized. This really warmed my heart and reminded me that a certificate like this is more about the person getting it and not the actual certificate itself. :)

3. Do you love weddings as much as I do??? My sorority sister Erin got engaged over Christmas break and they have set a date, December 6th! Nick and I were talking and we realized now we have 6 weddings to attend so far this year. My bestie Megan is getting married in March and so is our co-worker Callie, Nick's cousin Erin is getting married in June and my friends Molly and Cassie are both getting married in July. I am so excited!  It seems just like yesterday I was getting married, one of the best days ever!

4. I hate to complain again about the cold weather but I just don't like it.  I told Nick if we didn't have so many close friends and family here I would seriously consider living in Florida. Our school district doesn't allow us to take the kids out for recess if it's under 40 degrees, which my friends and family in Oregon think is hilarious. So, we have had a lot of the dreaded indoor recess this year. Is it March yet?????????????

5. Besides being sick,  Kennedy has had a great week. She brought home her first artwork from school and she now carries her own purse around like a big girl. She is definately "all girl." She has become really into dolls and loves the show "Sofia the First." In fact at Wal Mart, last weekend somehow a "Sofia the First" shirt ended up in our cart. Momma was so excited that Kennedy had picked out her first "outfit" that we of course had to buy. Lots more mommy/daughter shopping trips to come! I am trying to come to terms with the fact that I have a toddler, not a baby anymore. Love this little girl more than words can say!

Busy, busy, busy!

I hardly ever miss "5 on Friday" but this week was one of the busiest weeks we have had in a long time! Sadly, my friend Brittney's mother Joyce had a brain anuerysm and is in the hospital. They did a surgery to stop bleeding on her brain. She is still sedated and it sounds like it will be a long road ahead but we are so thankful that she is alive! Brittney is one of the directors at our local Boys and Girls Club and she travels a lot for work. She was out of town this week and her youngest son Ryan goes to the same daycare as Kennedy. I picked Ryan up this week and kept him until Brittney's husband Anthony got off work. It was an interesting experience having two kids in the house! ;) I don't think I am ready for a 2nd one quite yet!

 

Here's what else has been going on this week:
 

We had Science Fest at school Thursday night. There were some people that came with a baby alligator and a snake. Kennedy had no fear about touching the baby alligator! At one point, she started poking his belly with her finger and Momma got a little freaked out as you can see by one of the pictures below...hahahaha.

 

 We have been so busy this week that I was only able to fit in two workouts. I usually work out 4 times a week. Then this happened:

We had a teacher workday yesterday. I went to lunch at a yummy local place called The Red Shed with two of my co-workers. They are a sandwich shop that has desserts that are to die for! We couldn't decide what to order so we just ordered 4 desserts and shared them. Yum. I weigh myself once a week on Saturdays so I was not looking forward to weigh in today. However, I was shocked to see that I was 2 pounds lighter than last week. Maybe chasing after two kids made up for the 2 workouts I missed this week! I am 7 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight! Almost there! I am going to start taking Zumba again next week so I am hoping that will help as well.

 

I am off Monday for MLK day and am looking forward to spending lots of time with my little family. Kennedy is so much fun these days even though she is INTO everything so it can be a little exhausting. She is loving being in the toddler room at daycare and her vocabulary has really taken off since moving from the nursery to that room. We did have a really hard time getting her to adjust to sleeping on a napmat. Her teacher Ms. Stephanie told us that one of the days, Kennedy was laying on her mat with the biggest grin on her face saying over and over again "night-night, night-night" but wouldn't go to sleep, lol. Finally at the end of this week, she started napping on it. Thank goodness, because no nap or a 30 minute nap equals a very fussy toddler! I will leave you with this cutie!

 

 

Hope everyone has a great weekend and a fabulous week!

 

 

 

So What!

Linking up with Shannon again for another "So What Wednesday."  Here is what I am saying "so what" to this week:

*I let one of my students move his clip up (they move up for positive behavior, down for negative behavior) because he made me laugh. It had been a rough day and I needed some humor.

*I told Kennedy's new teachers in the toddler room that I don't care if she gets dirty but I am "SUPER ANAL" about her hair being messy. They gave me an odd look. I am not sure if it's because I used the word "anal" or because they think I am an OCD mom.

*The months of January and February are so blah to me. They are just boring.

*I thought the Real World: Explosion was awesome. That girl Ashley was a hot mess. I can't wait to see what happens when the ex's arrive!

*I can't wait until Teen Mom 2 comes back on next week. Barbara is my favorite. "I told YA this would haaapen JENELLE."

*As you can see, I watch too much reality tv. I don't like being involved in drama but I sure do love watching it!

What are you saying "so what" to this week? Go link up with Shannon and tell me all about it!

Thinking Out Loud....

A few weeks ago, a girl I went to middle and high school with posted a picture of her newborn on Facebook. She was in a crib sleeping with a very heavy blanket over her. I cringed. SIDS was something that I was always terrified about when Kennedy was a small baby. In fact, she slept in the rock and play sleeper right by our bed until she was 3 months old. Partly because I was nursing, partly because I was terrified of her sleeping in her crib. My pediatrician told me that back in the 80's and 90's a lot of cause of infant deaths were labeled as SIDS but in fact it was because they suffocated on blankets, pillows or stuffed animals that they were sleeping with. Kennedy is 13 months old and we just now started letting her sleep with a light blanket.

Anyway, back to the picture. I really wanted to send that girl a private message and tell her she really needed to be careful putting a blanket in the crib with her newborn. I didn't though. I didn't really feel it was my place. We don't talk to each other on a regular basis and we weren't even close in school. Maybe if it were a close friend or family member I would have.

Last Wednesday, when we were having frigid cold temperatures, I dressed Kennedy warmly in a heavy coat and hat and put her in her carseat. She looked absolutely adorable so I snapped a quick picture and posted to Facebook. In no more than a hour, I had two messages from people that I am not close to saying that they thought Kennedy's chest strap on her carseat was too low. I looked back at the picture and the chest strap had gone down a little lower due to her coat. One of the girls that sent me a message also told me it was unsafe for me to put Kennedy in a heavy coat in her carseat. She sent me a link to an article about a toddler who supposedly flew out of the car during an accident because there was so much padding in the carseat that the straps held onto the coat and not the child.

After reading these messages, I cried. I know...I am sensitive. I felt like they were attacking me as a mom and also I was thinking "seriously? I never talk to these people. They never comment or like any of my pictures but they want to tell me they don't think my child is safe????" I know how to buckle Kennedy properly in her carseat and I know where the chest strap is supposed to be, but obviously, the coat had caused it to slide down a bit.

I called my pediatrician the next day to talk to her about the coat issue. It confused me. Am I not supposed to dress Kennedy warmly when it's 12 degrees outside??? My pediatrician told me heavy coats are fine but that after I buckle her in, I need to tighten the chest strap even more so that the coat will not cause it to slide down.Her advice has worked perfectly and I trust my pediatrician. Thank goodness it doesn't get cold very often down south and we probably won't use that heavy coat more than a handful times this winter.

I love Kennedy more than anything and her safety is very important to me. I guess I just have mixed feelings about how this situation came to be. And now it's got me thinking, do I send a message to the Facebook friend who has her newborn in a crib with a heavy blanket????

Friday!

Whew...what a week! So glad it's Friday and so happy for this linkup! Thanks ladies!

Here's what's been on my mind this week:

1. We were on a two hour delay Tuesday and Wednesday due to the cold weather. It was so nice being able to start work at 9:40 instead of 7:40. Honestly, I wish we could do it everyday. My students were well rested and they paid so much more attention while I was teaching! It was also nice having a shortened school day and I felt like at the end of the day I hadn't "lost them" like I usually feel like I do on a normal school day. I know in other countries, students only go to school for half a day but they have to go to school on Saturdays. Got me thinking if American kids would benefit from a schedule like that. Thoughts???

2. Who watched The Bachelor? Any favorites so far? I am loving Elise, Chelsie and of course Andie. She's a Phi Mu, can't go wrong!



3. One of my favorite clothing sites for Kennedy is thisandthatforkids.com. They are having a big blowout sale right now. I have heard from a lot of people that the key to saving money on kids clothes is to shop ahead and buy in the next size. It's hard though when you are shopping for specific holiday. I found an adorable smocked Thanksgiving dress for 24.99. I ordered in a 2T but now I am thinking maybe I should have gotten a 24 month. I didn't even really know there was a difference between the two? Fingers crossed it fits this fall. Kennedy just started wearing 18 month clothing.

4. I am so excited that my Gamecocks finished 4th in the nation! Highest Gamecock ranking in history! I can't wait for next season!

5. So what has Kennedy been up to this week? She has been allll over the place! She is full on walking! She now doesn't even like for me to carry her when we leave daycare. She likes to hold my hand and walk to the car. Such a big girl! She also has all of a sudden become quite the dancer. She has danced a little in the past but this past week she has started dancing in the car and when we picked her up from the nursery at church last Sunday, the ladies were cracking up over her. They had been playing some kids praise songs and Kennedy had been shaking it! She has also turned into an awesome sleeper and I hope it stays that way. When we don't have work/daycare the next day, she goes down between 7:30 and 8:00 and sleeps until 7:30-8:00 am. She also is down to one 2 hr nap, usually from 12:30-2:30, except on Sundays when we have church and don't get home until 1:00. She adjusts very well though and after lunch, she still goes down for around 2 hrs. I will leave you with a few pictures of our little princess!

 Still loves to read in baskets, toy buckets etc...

 So on the go that it's hard to get pictures these days! I can't even catch her or get her to slow down!

Time please slow down!

So What Wednesday!!!!

Linking up with Shannon today for another "So What Wednesday!" This week I am saying "so what if...."

1. I hate  cold weather and I hate snow. We do not have snow right now but it is super cold for South Carolina (12 degrees) so school has been on a 2 hr delay. I know that sounds silly but here in the south we aren't used to those kind of temperatures and our kids don't have the type of clothing to sit out at the bus stop in that kind of weather. A lot of people are saying "if it's going to be this cold, can it at least snow?" Ugh please no. When it snows in the south, everything shuts down. I hate being cooped up in the house. Plus our school district always makes us make up the days since we don't have built in snow days in our schedule. Even if the governor forgives the days!

2. I cheered for FSU in the championship game. I know, I am a traitor to the SEC but I am tired of seeing either Auburn or Alabama win every year. It was nice to see things shook up a bit. Congrats to all the FSU fans on a great win! I can't wait until this year when we will have a playoff system! Yay for Carolina finishing number 4!

3. The girl from my town on the Bachelor got eliminated on the first night. Oh well, I don't think Juan Pablo would fit in North Augusta, SC very well anyway.

4. I have my DVR set for Real World: Explosion tonight. Looks super trashy and I am not sure I like how they are changing it up with 14 people instead of 7 strangers but willing to give it a try. I do love some reality tv drama!

That's all I got folks! Go link up with Shannon and tell us what you are saying "so what" to this week! Happy Humpday! :)

It's Friday!

 

Okay so I love this linkup so much that last week I wrote a whole post and there was no linkup. I still posted it! Glad to be linking up with these ladies again!

 

1. Did you have a good New Year's Eve? We did! My brother in law Jon and sister in law Rachael came over. We played Phase 10 and Just Dance 4 and had a few adult beverages. Our neighbors shot off A LOT of fireworks which we normally we wouldn't have a problem with but Kennedy woke up around 10:30 and was shaking. They scared her so bad! Poor baby. I had to rock her back to sleep. Other than that, it was a great evening and I am proud to say I made it to midnight but crashed shortly after.

 

2. I totally cried when Connor Shaw accepted his MVP trophy at the Capital One bowl. He will be missed as will Jadeveon Clowney. What a great game and a great season for the Gamecocks!

 

3. On Tuesday, I had lunch and caught up with this girl! Cassie did my maternity leave when I was out with Kennedy and we became fast friends. After I came back, my principal hired her as the computer lab teacher for the remainder of the year because she was so awesome. This year she is teaching 5th grade at a local charter school. I miss working with her! She is such a fun person to be around and we have the same sense of humor. :) I am blessed to have many good friends in my life and happy to say Cassie is one of them!

 

4. I am currently reading this:

 

Can I just say I love Mary Kay Andrews?!?! One of my favorite authors. If you haven't read anything by her yet, you need to. Especially if you like Southern Chick Lit with a good sense of humor! Loving this one so far.

 

5. Kennedy turned 13 months old this past Saturday. I wasn't going to take monthly pictures in her chair anymore but I just can't help it. I am not ready for her to grow up yet! Her newest obsession? Reading books in one of the tubs we use to hold her toys. Too funny!

 

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

So What Wednesday!

Happy New Year!  So excited to be linking up with Shannon again for "So What Wednedsday." Here's what I am saying "so what" to this week:

1. I had some really un-Christian-like thoughts at church on Sunday about the couple in front of us. Making out in church? Seriously??? Ewww. Stay home in bed next time people.

2. I am off work until January 6th. I love my students but I can't say I miss them at all and I am in no hurry to go back to work.

3. I am taking Kennedy to daycare tomorrow so I can get a massage and a facial.

4. My friend Sara read all of Reality Steve's spoilers about the upcoming season of the Bachelor featuring Juan Pablo and she is assuring me that this season is going to be even more of a trainwreck than Ben's season. I DON'T CARE....still gonna watch!

5. I am ready for all the "New Years Resolution" peeps to give up and leave the gym and it's barely even 2014. I hate when the gym gets overcrowded. :(

6. My drink of choice on New Years Eve: Smirnoff Ice-Pineapple! It tastes just as good as it did in college and I am not ashamed that I am almost 30 and drinking it.

What are you saying "So what" to this week? Go link up with Shannon and tell us!