Catching Up

What a sweet, sweet summer it has been so far!
SO much has been happening around here....

A girls' day to celebrate an amazing Momma. 

We went on a garden tour in Weston, Missouri.  Included: many quaint homes, breathtaking gardens, a little rain shower, a picnic lunch, birthday presents, an encounter with a snake, lots of sister/mother chit-chat, and many sweet memories made.

Made me want to move the country-side and grow a garden!

Playing, inside and out.  Mornings out front in the shade have been tolerable.  And Natalie is game for anything that involves water.  And Daddy's paintbrushes.

Up next, an anniversary celebrated.

4 years with my love, celebrated with a night out.  Dinner (and dessert!) on the Plaza.  In lieu of window shopping, we drove around and looked at neighborhoods and houses....dreaming of where our blessed lilfe will continue someday.  So blessed to know there are many more amazing years ahead with my man!

Did you notice my hair in that picture up there?  In a moment of braveness, I decided to give my budget a major boost and color my own hair.  Which I never done before.  It had to be done.  There were gray hairs growin' in there!  WHAAAAT?!?  I've been blond forever, but earlier this year decided to go darker - for a change, and because it would be less maintenance since my natural hair color is dark.
After many youtube videos, online tutorials, etc. I trotted off to the beauty supply store to buy some salon hair color (NOT a boxed kit!).Put the babe down for a nap, got all my supplies, and went at it.
Documented the before and after with my trusty iPhone.  This is the before picture.  With day-old hair, a nervous look on my face, and no makeup.  Mmmm....

 And the AFTER.  Much better!  Came out darker than I thought....this definitely does not look like the "medium natural brown" that was indicated on the box, but I think if I let it process for less time next time it would be perfect.  That part was a bit of a guessing game considering it said, "Let process for 10-40 minutes."  Cost only $16 for the color and supplies.  Winning!  Would pay 3x as much in the salon!
(P.S. The same girl who's video I watched on to color your hair....I also watched her video on how to blow dry your hair.  Life-changing, folks.  Who knew I was blow-drying wrong all these years????)

Now the Fourth of July is this week, which always makes me start to worry about how SOON August will be here.  But I'll be sure to just really savor the next few weeks of freedom!  Still lots to accomplish on my summer to-do list!
Thanks for reading!!

A Trip to the Farm

We spent a beautiful Friday morning at Deanna Rose Farmstead.  A lovely morning bathed in sunshine and cool breezes and plenty of little ones running and exploring and laughing.  Natalie loved every minute of it!

She got to ride around with her stroller buddy, Jack.

He is ALL boy - a perfect wild compliment to her calm & easy nature...

They are too cute together.  Ringin' cow bells.

And climbin' slides.

I think nothing pleases two bestie mommas like seeing their babies together.  As much as we've been through together in the past 10 years of friendship, it is beyond satisfying to see our babies interact and play and learn together.

Hands down, best part of Natalie's day was the goats.  She absolutely fell in love with these little guys.  Following them around, petting, laughing, jabbering.  No fear.  I think she thought they were dogs. :)

 She walked up to this spotted one and started having a conversation with him.  Then kept lifting up her shirt and showing him her belly..... oh, to know what is going on in that little mind of hers!

 Looking at momma...such a proud face.  Look at me, Mom!

 She was so comfortable in there, completely surrounded by her little goat friends.  The one in the back was trying to eat her shirt...

She put an arm around each one...then went in for a little goat love.

She cracks me up!  I was wishing I would have videotaped it, but I didn't have enough hands!  Jenn and Jack were busy trying to stay out of the goat poop (told you he was all boy!).

We moved on to the gardens...

Sweet little faces!

Natalie was such a good girl, and loved watching everybody and checking out all of the new surroundings.  I just love watching her do new things.  I'm so excited for a whole summer of this!

Bestie clicked some pictures of me and my girl in front of this gorgeous hydrangea.  She was mostly cooperative.

I love her face in this one!

We had such a fun day.  So glad we could have a morning with our friends and plenty of play time.  Oh yeah, and the goats. :)

Busy Weekend

We've had a busy weekend.  Not the kind of busy like when we're running errands, cleaning house, attending events, or having people over.  A different kind of busy....chasing an almost-one-year-old busy.

Our girl is crazy busy these days.  Opening cabinets & drawers, sliding behind furniture, bookin' it down the hallway and into a different room before I can see where she's gone.  Pulling trash out of trash cans, reaching for things on tabletops, and grabbing dishes out of the dishwasher as fast as I can load it.  Seems to be getting very hard to get things done around here lately...

This look?  It's the I didn't do it look that she gives me after she throws food on the floor.

Natalie's new moves had daddy installing cabinet locks this weekend, and mommy closing bedroom doors in an attempt to keep her contained.  I know she is learning and exploring, but she is wearing me out!

She even took her first few steps this weekend!  She walked 5 or 6 steps to my mom a couple of times, but of course by the time I got the video camera out, she'd only take one or two....oh well.  I'm sure we will get more steps on video soon! 

Thankfully, all of this exploring leaves our little one completely tuckered out by the end of the day.  Looks so peaceful when she's sleeping.

Happy weekend, friends.  Another busy week ahead of us! :)

Up - to - the - Date!

**Warning....Totally random post tonight...**

So...I put the cutie in a headband this week.

 You can see how she felt about that...

Little Miss Personality these days.  She just makes me laugh.  A lot.  She is funny and charming and so much fun.  I am enjoying just watching her grow these days.

But, seriously, her first birthday is next month.  Um, how the heck did that happen?  How can she be ONE???

Hands down - her favorite meal these days is spaghetti! 

Followed by a bath, of course.

2012 is treating us nicely so far. :)  Our budget is right on track.  Are you familiar with Dave Ramsey?  His book is really inspiring & motivating!  We are following his Total Money Makeover, and it has made a big difference already in how we spend and monitor our money.  Although, now that the first month is coming to a close (we run our budget starting and ending on the 20th of the month), my cash envelopes are looking very tattered and torn.  I'm thinking of making something like this that I can use month after month.  Anyone else use a cash system?  How do you manage it?

http://kelleighratzlaff.com/featured/free-envelope-template-and-a-tutorial/

Or maybe fabric??

http://nstitchesdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-cash-only-wallet.html 

We are celebrating Mark's birthday this weekend, along with some other family January birthdays.  Then, it's time to get serious about the little ones b-day.  Theme....VINTAGE!  Can't wait!  I found a precious old wooden highchair at a cute vintage shop this weekend.  Not big enough for her to sit in - more of a doll size....but it is going to look really cute as the centerpiece on the table.  I am planning to just do some appetizers/finger foods, then cupcakes and ice cream.  Any good ideas for appetizers I can make ahead of time?  I don't want to be messing with food on the day of the party...

We aren't planning to get Natalie a gift....her party is kind of her present.  But, how cute is this hanky idea?

To use for her "something old" some day.  Her daddy says... "What!?  She's not getting married...ever!  Or, at least until she's 30."  Ha!

This girl is getting adventurous with her moves these days.  She really wants to take steps, but hasn't figured out how to do it once she lets go!  She'll stand up, put her hands in the air, and lean forward like she wants to take one...then chicken out and plop down on her bottom.  She is walking like crazy along furniture though!

Lastly, one to make you smile:

This concludes the random little life update.  Thanks for reading! :)

Busy

Things have been very BUSY around here!  Busy home, busy job, busy baby.

At Home:  My birthday is coming up on Wednesday, so I spent the weekend doing various birthday celebrations....Saturday with Mom & sisters.  We had a fun day of pedicures, shopping, dinner, presents, wine, and visiting.  We rarely get to spend time together anymore without little ones running around, so it was nice to have a girls' day.  Sunday Mark and I got up early, put the baby (still in jammies) in the car and went to Target.  We did ALL of our Christmas shopping for baby girl.  Feels good to get that done!  I am anxious to get my tree up and start decorating for Christmas, so I spent the afternoon taking down and packing up my fall decor.  Honey rearranged the living room for me in preparation for the tree.  Sunday evening birthday dinner with Dad.  Now I am snuggled up on the couch and saying prayers that my little lady sleeps better tonight than she has the past three.  She has a horrible cough that has kept her up the past few nights.  I'm sick, too, so the sleepless nights are doin' a number on me.

At Work:  I feel like school has been a whirlwind the past couple of months.  In the last 6 weeks I've had report cards, parent/teacher conferences, an inservice for the new teacher group that I co-mentor, Halloween party & parade....and then Open House last week.  If you are a teacher, then you know how much work it is to get ready for Open House.  Getting all of the kids' work and projects organized, completed, displayed.  It is fun - but resulted in a few late nights at work over the past week.
Here's our "Flat Stanley" display.  Have you heard of that story?  It's about a boy who gets flattened when a bulletin board falls on him while he's sleeping.  He is able to be mailed in an envelope to visit his family in California.  Each of my students made their own Flat Stanley and mailed it off to a faraway place.  Their family and friends sent back pictures and letters and souvinirs to show what Stanley did while he visited!
 

Our Veterans Day poppies on the door.

Our Corduroy bears sitting in each child's chair.  We made Pilgrim books for their desks and some fraction pies.  They also made some adorable little ceramic pilgrims in art class.

Look at these darling owls!  The kiddos wrote clues about themselves on the wings, and their families had to guess which owl was theirs.  Each child's picture was underneath one of the wings.

Whew!  So glad that is over with!!

Busy Baby!!!
Little sweetpea started crawling this week and she. is. EVERYWHERE!  It only took her about a day to figure out that she could go quickly from room to room - explore what is on the end tables and coffee table, follow me to the kitchen, pull up on the couch, and scoot over to the front door - which is her absolute FAVORITE place to sit. 

SOOO big!  Busy-ness is going to continue....a quick two-day work week, then off to Oklahoma to have Thanksgiving at my aunt & uncle's house.  First time traveling with a baby.  Wish us luck!