Pinterest-Inspired Teacher Appreciation Week - Day 1 and 2

It's Teacher Appreciation Week.  I hope it didn't sneak up on you.  It's the week where we tell those teachers in our lives "thanks for putting up with my kid for more hours a day than I do and possibly teaching them a thing or two along the way".  And, of course, we found all of our ideas on Pinterest!  Why have an original idea anymore when you can just search for a pin???

Bean has two WONDERFUL AMAZING teachers this year.  I am not just kissing up when I say that if we get teachers like these two all during Bean's schooling years, we will be the luckiest folks around.  They put so much time and love into the kids in the class.  I am already dreading saying "see you later" in a few weeks.

Since we have such grand teachers this year, we wanted to let them know how much we really do appreciate them so we decided to give them a gift each day this week.  This was an ambitious plan but two days in and we are still on track.  Let's pray that we don't get lazy, sit on the couch, feed the kid potato chips for dinner, and not put our gifts together.

On Monday, Bean took her teachers bamboo plants in really cute painted ladybug planters.  We lucked up and found these little ladybugs at WalMart.  I'd love to show you a picture but even though I got off the couch to print off the cute printable from LivingLocurto.com, I failed to take a picture of the end result.  But you can find this adorable printable here.

Ain't it cute!

Yes, it is.

Tuesday Bean took a wrapped Hershey bar to not only her two kindergarten teachers, she also took them to her music, art and after school teachers.  I found the editable printable at ItsWrittenOnTheWall on etsy.com.

This was so easy to edit and put together.  These turned out really well.  We think we'll make some more and take them into the front office for more brownie points!  Woot woot!

Tomorrow Bean is taking...I can't tell you yet!  Check back to see.

TwirlyGirl Dress Review and Coupon Code

I think we all know by now that Bean is a very girly girl and loves a great kids party dress.  Every girl looks great in kids dresses for parties as seen here.  Bean is no exception.  I was recently given the opportunity to review TwirlyGirl Dresses.

TwirlyGirl is a company started by Cynthia Jamin who realized early on she had an unique fashion sense.  That is something Bean definitely has in common.  She started a long time ago putting together her own outfits and hates the days when she has no choice in what she gets to wear.  That is one big reason so many things go unworn in kid’s closets.  If they don’t get to pick out their outfits, they won’t want to wear the clothes.  They want their own style to show through.  TwirlyGirl offers a variety of beautiful bright kid party dresses to fit any unique fashion style.

TwirlyGirl sent us their TwirlyGirl Pitter Patter Dress and Bean instantly loved it.  When it arrived, it was wrapped up in a colorful scarf that Bean immediately put on.  It’s a vibrant pattern of green, pink and orange.  Bean loved the big heart on the front.

This dress is unlike any other kids party dress I have seen.  While it’s made to twirl, it is not a stiff dress.  It is made of very light polyester and spandex.  It moves with the girl.  They can twirl and the dress will allow them to move without restricting any dance moves. That’s a plus!  It also has a fully lined bodice with a double stitched heart applique on the front.

Bean wore her TwirlyGirl Pitter Patter dress to her cousin’s birthday party.  We own a lot of girly, frilly kids dresses for parties and this TwirlyGirl dress fits right in.  It has become a favorite of Bean's now that the weather has turned warmer.

I really can't convey how light this dress is and Bean says it is "so comfy".  This is a fun dress.  And I have washed it several times and it is put together well.  Even while wearing dresses, little girls still love to run, jump, and twirl all over the place and this party dress holds up.

TwirlyGirl also has dresses for your dolls.  If your family includes an American Girl doll or the like, they can get their own TwirlyGirl dress and your daughter and her doll can match.  That is very cool I am told.

TwirlyGirl calls their dresses "wearable art" and I agree with that.  Each dress is a limited number design. Each design on the site is described with a pretty poem.  This is the one for the Pitter Patter design.

True Heart's Desire

Perhaps you’re hanging from a ladder,

Or stirring up some pancake batter,

Or maybe you’re on a baseball field,

With all your friends

Yelling “hey batter, batter.”

It doesn’t really matter,

If it’s a record you want to shatter,

Or magic seeds you’d like to scatter.

Do what makes your heart feel joy,

What makes it pitter-patter.

If you're not familiar with TwirlyGirl and have a little girly-girl yourself, check out their website where you can see all of their beautiful fun dresses.  You can find so many kids dresses for parties there. Right now, TwirlyGirl is giving our readers a 10% discount off their orders.  Just use the code JoyTG28 at checkout to save.  *Code is not valid on sale items, Design Your Own, or gift certificates and expires 05-14-14.

*I was sent a dress for the purposes of this review.  All opinions herein are my own.

Easter Weekend 2014

This weekend was packed full.  On Saturday, I took Bean and a couple of her cousins to our church's egg hunt.  It rained most of the day and I was afraid it would mean the egg hunt was cancelled but the great folks at our church moved the egg hunt inside and had plenty of games and crafts to keep everyone happy.

Egg coloring.

Face painting.

Games.

Once the egg hunt was over, the girls inspected their baskets.

Sunday morning, Bean found her present from the Easter Bunny.

That afternoon we joined my husband's family for Easter dinner and another egg hunt.

Bean and her cousins loved hunting for the eggs.  Bean won first place in her age group.

After the hunt, Bean posed for some photos.  She picked out her own dress this year.

I asked her to pose for me and this is what I got.  I have no idea who taught her this.

All in all we had a very Hoppy Easter.  (Bean loves that joke!)

Entrway Revamp - Primer and Base

I wrote a few weeks ago that we were starting some painting and revamping of our home.  I picked out an accent color and decided to try it up on the walls in our eating area.  Hubz finished painting it for me and here it is.

I will post more pictures when we put up curtains and put the table back.    This was the least cluttered picture I have so far.

I also decided to sand and paint our entryway wood floor.  I have completed the sanding and priming of the floor.  I also added one coat of the base color.

We want to stencil the floor and the stencil we picked out is called Lace Floral Trellis from OMGStencils on Etsy.  It looks like this.

We chose Benjamin Moore's Kendall Charcoal for the base and Wickham Gray for the stencil.  Anytime I can recognize Jane Austen, I'll all for it!

We're thinking of adding color inside the flowers but will wait and see how that looks.  I need to get another coat of the Kendall Charcoal down before starting the stencil.  Bean thought the primer stage looked the best.  That's a true Southerner right there!  Prime it.  Leave it.

Stay tuned to see how it turns out and if I really like any of it once it's all done.

The Color Run 2014

On Saturday we joined in on the Happiest 5K on the Planet - The Color Run.  We had a blast.  Bean is already talking about doing it again next year.

We aren't runners by any means so we walked our 5K.  We even called our little team The Crayola Crawlers.  We made team t-shirts too.

We got an early start.  Bean was excited to get there.

We got signed in and then it was time to wait.  I didn't want to be at the front because we were walking.  We didn't want to get in anyone's way.  Turns out there were a lot of walkers that day and a huge turnout all around.    While waiting Hubz took my picture using one of the Kaleidoscopes they had sitting around.

We finally lined up for the start of the race.  Bean looked way cool with her new Color Run unicorn.  She named him Uni.  Very to the point there.

Bubbles and music started!

And we were off!

The pink station was first.  We didn't get a whole lot of pink or purple on us but by the time we got to the blue station, Bean and I decided to roll around in the color powder.  Even Uni got covered in blue.

Hubz decided not to roll around in it.  LOL  Fuddy duddy.

We had a great time and if you are thinking about doing a Color Run in your town, I would say go for it.  It's not timed.  There's no pressure to be first or even to run it.  It's just a happy time.

"I don't have a heart!"

Do you ever have a day where you are just mean to your kid?  Just every thing that comes out of your mouth is horrible and you know it's horrible but you somehow cannot stop the flow.

We had a morning like that today.  I wish there was a do-over button in life so I could take it back and try again.

Nothing went right for us today.

There were 3 wardrobe changes in 5 minutes.

No matching shoes could be found.

That pair had doggie doo on the bottom.

We missed the bus.

Every button I have got pushed.

Despite my numerous directives of "put your shoes in your closet", "pick out your clothes the night before", "put everything you need in your book bag before you go to bed", nothing seems to seep in.

And of course, I'm not blameless, am I?  I'm one of the ones in charge, right?  I have a responsibility to go behind and make sure all of this is done and I didn't.  Not last night.  I fell asleep on the job, too.

Frustration with her.  Frustration with myself.  Frustration of always being frustrated.

And then there is "school store money".  As I was running around, spouting unkindness this morning, I saw her little wallet and I threw it into her book bag cause I knew she would want it.

When I finally wrangled us both into the car, she started whining about forgetting her wallet.

"I put it in your book bag."

Silence.

"You're welcome."

Silence.

Last button pushed.

"You know all it takes is a thank you to make someone's day.  Other people don't have to do anything for you.  They do things for you because they like and respect you.  Sometimes you don't have a grateful heart."

(Pot meet kettle.)

Then the crying began.

"Why are you crying?  I only said you need to remember to say thank you."

"You said I don't have a heart!"

Crushed.  She and me.  Crushed.

Sometimes as parents, life gets to us.  Heck, life gets to everyone no matter the procreation status.

Life is hard.  People are selfish.  People are mean to each other.  People say things that should go unsaid.

Unthought.

I can't change what I said to my baby girl this morning.  I can't take those tears back from her.

All I can do is ask for forgiveness.  Both His and hers.

And I am counting the minutes until I can swoop her into my arms and tell her exactly what kind of beautiful little heart she does have and how much I love it.

Couch to 5K - *cough *snort *wheeze

I started the Couch to 5K program last night and now today my legs want to fall off.  As I've said to Bean before, people's legs don't just fall off but mine sure feel like it.

I downloaded Active.com's Couch to 5K app to my phone and got started.  Week 1 Workout 1 is comprised of a 5 minute warm up walk, then alternates with walking, brisk walking and jogging.  To be honest, I briskly walked more than I jogged.  Several times I thought I'd never catch my breath again.

Time will tell if I stick with this or not.  I have a very bad habit of starting and then magically forgetting many tasks.