Blog-versary giveaway

So I hear that my raffle copter isn't working :( so sad!!! If you would like to enter to win a medium silver living locket from my Origami Owl store, please leave a comment and I will enter you into the drawing :)
Good luck! It will close on Sunday!

Happy Blog-versary to ME!

Holy cow! Can you all believe I've had this little blog for TWO years now?!?!?! I sure can't. I started this little blog while my husband was deployed and I was quite lonely. Being a reserve wife sometimes can leave you in short supply of people who understand what you are going through. Over the past two years I have met some of the most amazing, supportive and awesome people ever! I couldn't have asked for a better support group and people I call my friends.
Thank you to all who have stuck by me and supported me. You have helped more than you can ever know. In this past year we have:

*Celebrated Pretty girl turning 2, Booger turning 4, Me turning the dreaded 31
*Dealt with Booger starting VPK
*The Start of a new school year with a schedule I was NOT (am still not) happy with
*The Ups and Downs of marriage (thankfully more ups this year than downs)
*One Marriage Retreat (maybe another one to come)
*Another visit to Fantasy Fest (Must re-cap that soon.....oops)
*Joined Origami Owl and have had fantastic results
*Participated in my first Christmas Give-a-Way
*Road trip up north to see family
* Lost my Grandma
*Took the kids to see Thomas the Train
*Celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary
*Started my Teachers pay Teachers Store

It has been quite a year! I know there is more to add to the list, but you get the point :)

In celebration of making it two years so far.....I am going to raffle away a Medium Silver Living Locket from my Origami Owl store!

Origami Owl Medium Living Locket- Kathryn B Independent Designer

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Five for Friday

Woo hoo! It's Friday again! I am soooo excited! Now it's time for Five for Friday!

1. Today is the LAST day before winter break! That means two whole weeks with no work. Just LOTS of family time.

2. Christmas is right around the corner. Are we done shopping yet? Nope. Hopefully we will get it done this weekend. We aren't doing much because my family down right spoils our kids, and we are running out of closet space :)

3. Christmas is my FAVORITE time of year! I love all of the cheer, the decorations and I LOVE giving presents. Especially if I thought long and hard about what to get someone and I know it's something they want. It's the best! Plus with the two kids, seeing the magic in their eyes is just priceless.

4. We are hosting Christmas Eve open house. M's parents used to do it, but we have taken it over. I am excited to be able to stay home on Christmas eve. It's not easy going out on nights like this with little ones.

5. This will be the first Christmas without my Grandma. She is in every Christmas memory I have. Since I was little her and my Aunt Patti would sleep over on Christmas eve and be there to open presents the next morning. We carried on that tradition with our little family. It will be hard and strange not having her around.

Now that my five for Friday is all about Christmas. What do you love/hate most about this season???

Happy 2nd Birthday Pretty Girl

Today is Pretty Girls 2nd birthday! It's hard to believe she's TWO! Where has the time gone?
Our pretty girl came into this world two years ago while M was deployed. We are having cake and ice cream to celebrate her birthday today with family and friends. I hope it will all go great. She sometimes like being the center of attention and other times she does not. She can be quite the ham.
Happy birthday pretty girl!!!! Mommy and daddy love you so very much!!!!!

Five for Friday

I've seen quite a few people doing this lately and I thought I would give it a try as opposed to doing my usual  Friday Letters. So here we go!

#1 I am soooo excited for the winner of my $30 Origami Owl Gift Certificate!!! I can't wait to see what she picks out. I think that is the BEST part of the job as an Independent Designer. Listening to people tell stories as they make their Living Lockets

#2 I am over course recovery, but thankfully due to some students making the wrong choices and being suspended my classes have been functioning VERY nicely. To the point where I am letting them take breaks and such. Gasp! I know. Strange. :)

#3 My sweet little Pretty Girl is turning 2 on Sunday!!!!!! Holy cow!!!!! How has 2 years gone by already?!?!?! Hopefully it won't take me long to post the re-cap. I'm sure she will be the life of the party as she sometimes is. She really is quite the little firecracker :) She gets it all from her daddy.

#4 I CAN.NOT wait for Christmas break. I didn't feel like I really got to relax during Thanksgiving break, so I am looking forward to having some time to just veg out and do some fun stuff with the kids. Plus I LOVE this time of year and can't wait to get all of my shopping done and presents wrapped and you can't forget, cookies made! Yum yum!

#5 We have to get our Christmas shopping done. I know we are running out of time, but we just sort of decided what we will get the kids for Christmas. We don't go all out for them. Our families spoil them enough so we generally get each one a big gift from "Santa" and then fill their stockings. It has worked out well with our budget.

Being silly at Grandma's house

All bundled up with her dolly

"but mommy it's bright outside!" 

Happy Friday! I hope you all have an amazing day!!!!

Thanksgiving Recap

Well, I guess I should get my Thanksgiving recap done. I actually have NO pictures from Thanksgiving (go me) but we did have a good day. Seeing as my grandma had passed away the weekend before, my mom flew up to Michigan before Thanksgiving. So, we were left to decide where we would spend the holiday. My in-laws now spend Thanksgiving at Busch Gardens with the nephews so we ended up over at our family friends Paul and Rosie's house.
Thursday morning I woke before everyone else (a strange feeling) and ran to get the paper with the Black Friday ads), then made breakfast for the kiddos and my hubby. I ended up not being able to eat because Booger at his helping plus mine of eggs. Ah well. He's a growing boy and needs the food more than me :)
We arrived at our friends house on time (go us!) and thought we would be eating shortly, but that wasn't the case. We were still waiting for M's grandparents to show up and they still had to bake the stuffing!!!!! Holy cow! Thank goodness they had a few munchies to munch on so we didn't die of hunger. :)
The food was great and so was the company. M left with his uncle and Paul to do some Black Friday shopping while I stayed at the house with the kids. I'm glad we didn't have to take those two out into the craziness. On a side note, my mom generally watches the kids when we do Black Friday shopping. My amazing husband picked up a brand new laptop for me :) (mine died last Christmas thanks to Pretty Girl) and we got a TV for the kids, for them to watch movies on.
Finally it was time to go home and just relax. I had a lot of packing to do seeing as I was leaving on Saturday to attend my grandma's funeral.
All in all it was a good Thanksgiving. Not fantastic, but good. I'm just thankful we were all able to be together this year. :)

Did you all have a good Thanksgiving?

P.S. Don't forget to enter to win a $30 gift certificate to my Origami Owl store!!!! You can make someone (even yourself) an amazing present!

Christmas Giveaway

Don't forget to stop by Chambanachik and enter to win a $30 gift certificate to Origami Owl! This would be a great gift for someone or for yourself. They are completely customizable. Plus they are super cute and tell your story!
So head on over and enter to win!!!!

Chambanachik Christmas Giveaway and Origami Owl

 

 

I am REALLY excited to announce that I am participating for the first time in Erika's Chambanachik's Christmas Giveaway! I am raffling off a $25 gift certificate to Origami Owl!!!!! How exciting is that?!?!?! I think it's pretty exciting. This offer will go up on Thursday December 5th!!! Make sure you head on over to Chambanachik and enter in all of the amazing giveaways!!!!! Let me know if you have any questions. :)

Sad News

Wow! What a crazy past couple of weeks. My course recovery classes are now at capacity so I am running like a chicken with my head cut off all period. It gets quite annoying, babysitting these kids all of the time. But it is my job and it must be done.
Friday the 22nd was my mommy's birthday. She had a friend in town and I am thankful she had someone fun to hang out with.
This past Tuesday (the 19th) my two Aunts decided to fly down, we were told my grandmother had gotten worse and the end was near. She had been suffering from dementia and since my birthday on the 5th she had steadily declined, to the point she couldn't do anything for herself. It was really hard watching it and watching my mother shoulder the burden on her own (she is the only one of her siblings that live down here). I know having my aunts around at the end really helped. I was so thankful they came to be with my grandmother and to make sure my mom was not alone.
I am also so grateful my grandma passed away after my mom's birthday. She held on until 2am the morning after my mom's birthday. I know she is finally at peace and finally with my Grandpa. She is no longer in pain or suffering. She lived a long, healthy life.
I am so thankful she was able to see my kids grow up a little. I know they brought such joy to her life, especially at the end. Lots of times the only thing she would want to go is visit with my kids.
She will be missed. She spent every winter down here, was at our house every Christmas morning since I was a little kid. She has always been around. It will be an adjustment.

We love you grandma! Rest in Peace!

 

I will be leaving tomorrow at the butt crack of dawn to head up to Michigan for three days for the funeral. This will be the first time I have left our kids overnight with my husband. I'm sure everything will be great, just nervous. Actually I get nervous EVERYTIME I leave the kids behind. Is that strange?? Anywho. I am hoping it's a safe flight and not too cold up there. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I will hopefully catch up on my posting soon :)

Have a great weekend all!

Friday Letters

It's Friday again! I am so thankful for Friday's! It's time for another Friday letters!

Dear Students: I am upset by how many of you failed quarter 1. I have 3 course recovery classes and TWO are filled to capacity! I'm not sure what we are going to do if more kids fail throughout the year and these kids don't finish and get out. This is NOT how I expected the beginning of the year to be. 1st quarter always used to be what saved the kids throughout the year. Guess not this year :(

Dear Booger and Pretty Girl: You two are the light of my life! I love you both to death and can't imagine my life without you. One minute you are driving me crazy and the next you are doing something cute or sweet and it just melts my heart. I love watching you interact with your daddy. That is the BEST thing in the world to watch. You two are very lucky to have him as a daddy.

Dear Origami Owl: I am so thankful you came into my life. I had my second Jewelry Bar this past weekend and it was a smash hit! I can't wait to save up this extra money and save up for our honeymoon, that we haven't taken yet. I just hope the momentum stays after the holidays. I have four more Jewelry bars booked and one Book party through the middle of December. I am looking into getting set up to do Take-Out parties for those who don't live near me. They are really cool!

Dear Husband: You are amazing! I love seeing the old you again. We are having so much fun and it's great having you there to help with the kids and the every day stuff. I love that things are getting back to normal. I love being able to talk to you and I know I need to work on opening up again, and I promise, I am. It's hard to break down walls that have been built up. But you are amazing and I'm so thankful to have you in my life! I love you!

Current weekend: I have a busy weekend ahead of me. I have a training for school all day on Saturday and then another Jewelry Bar on Sunday. I hope it's as good as the one I just had. I love doing this job! I LOVE watching people go down memory lane as they pick their charms and lockets. I love hearing their stories that go with them and why they are making the choices they made. It's amazing and I just love it! I love it and the product!

playing superheros at Nana's and Poppop's

Decided to wear her cape like a dress

Love this!

What do you have planned this weekend?

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day to everyone who has served, is serving or will serve. Also thank you to those families. The rocks at home for these men and women.
My grandfather was in the Navy. Growing up all I knew was that he served in WWII and was in Pearl Harbor on that fateful day. He was aboard the USS California. He never speaks of his time in the military or of that day and what occurred afterwards. I am still so proud of him.

My husband joined the military before I ever met him. We are a Reserve family, so the military is only one portion of our lives. Most people we encounter on a daily basis do not know he is a soldier. But just like active duty, my husband has served a year long tour over seas, in a dangerous area, doing a dangerous job. We have survived it and have moved past it, but the scars still remain. I am so very proud of my husband. He is my hero. Even though he doesn't like being called a hero, he is to me and our kids. I am soooo very proud of him!

So, to all of you out there who serve our country, and those who support them, I thank you! From the bottom of my heart, I thank you!

Happy Veteran's Day!

The BEST day ever!

Photo Dump

Who doesn't love pictures of my kids?? Well I am sure there are some people out there, but I just think these two are just too cute and I have a few pictures on my phone that I don't believe I have posted yet. So, here we go :)

Fell asleep in the doorway because I refused to lay down with her until she fell asleep

This is how I found them one morning. Too cute, huh?

Too cool for pre-school

Daddy gave booger a new hair cut last night. I can't believe my baby isn't a baby anymore :(

I'm so thankful today is Friday! I have a busy weekend planned. My favorite Aunt is in town this weekend and I have my second Origami Owl Jewelry bar tomorrow night. I am really excited and it seems like those who are coming are excited as well.
We are also celebrating my birthday with family tonight. I have to rush home and get the house cleaned. :)
Happy Friday ya'll!!!!!

My Birthday Recap

Tuesday the 5th was my 31st birthday. Ugh! I can't believe I'm in my 30s now!!!! This year, I feel OLD.

As I stated in my other birthday post, I LOVE birthdays and have a tradition to eat my favorite meal on my birthday. This year was no exception. My mom made my favorite chicken casserole and chocolate eclair cake. It was the BEST! Then I opened a few presents from my mom and dad. It was nice. I got a few things I needed for my classroom. Like dry erase markers in fun new colors and dry erase crayons.

Then I received a laminator, perfect for a project I want to do for my Origami Owl business. Plus I laminate quite a bit of stuff for school and our school one always seems to be broken. My dad got me a portable hard drive. I'm going to use it to store all of my pictures on. That way I don't have to freak out if my computer crashes again. Whew!

My husband, who is amazing by the way, got my present for me when we were in Key West. He talked me into going into the Coach store (I claimed I didn't need anything and wouldn't find anything I wanted in there, he knows me better than I know myself sometimes) and low and behold, I found TWO things. One was a new case for my ipad. He bought me one last year, but it didn't flip right and was kind of a pain. This one is soooo much better. Then he bought me a cross body purse that I had been eyeing (but could never find the colors I wanted) and wanted for when we went on vacation. It's not fun to always carry my huge purse.

Not too bad for a 31 year old, huh?

Overall, it was a great day! Had a few hiccups with my kids deciding they wanted to be brats that night, but they quickly changed their tune when they heard there was cake. :)

Next year, I think I'm going to take the day of my birthday or the day after off. It's not fun working on your birthday.
We will be having a small get together at our house for M's family and a few friends to celebrate. Can't have just one party, now can we???

Do you love birthdays, or do you just tolerate them?

Halloween Recap

I finally went through our pictures and am ready to recap Halloween. I am going to apologize now on my lack of good pictures. I basically forgot we had a camera and then was carrying or pushing Pretty Girl most of the night.

Without further ado.......

Halloween 2013!!!!

Booger literally had been waiting ALL month for Halloween. We received a catalog in the mail with Halloween costumes in it. He went through that catalog at least 50 different times. He picked out his costume and would tell ANYONE who would listen. He was sooooooo excited! He decided he wanted to be Jake, from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. It's a kids show on Disney. At the beginning of October, my mom and I went to just look at costumes, with the kids, and get prices. OMG! Half the costumes and sizes were already GONE! I couldn't believe it!!!! I didn't know it at the time, but my mom decided right then she wanted to buy the costumes the kids picked out. She gave them to me about a week later. Boy were Booger and Pretty Girl super excited!
All month long Booger would talk about trick-or-treating, his costume and Halloween any time a commercial came on about the holiday. It was pretty funny and cute to watch. :)
The day of Halloween arrived. Both kids were really excited. I dressed them in their Halloween shirts and off to Preschool they went.

M and I picked them up from preschool after work and headed over to our friends house. These friends have a son who is literally a month younger than Booger. We actually had due dates a day a part, but Booger decided to come early. Anyways.
Dinner was served, the kids ate and then got dressed. They were too cute!!!

Booger as Jake

Pretty Girl as Cinderella

Eating her Pizza

The boys (I took literally like 20 pictures and could never get both looking at the camera at the same time)

We walked outside and Oh.my.goodness!!! There were a TON of people around! I have never seen so many people trick-or-treating in one area before.

These photos don't do the crowd justice

Trick-o-treating

into the zone

M's best friend and the boys

Pretty girl was done walking by the third house, but wanted to be pushed up to each house to say "trick-o-treat" and get her candy. It was really cute. Booger was done after about 10 houses. He started off running everywhere and tired quickly.

We allowed them to dig into their candy that night. We of course also helped ourselves to a few pieces. All in all it was a good Halloween for us. I think if we can, we will trick-or-treat in the same neighborhood again.

Did you all do anything fun for Halloween???