Busy...Yet Blessed

::taps mic:: Is this thing on?

2014-07-23T12:30:00.000-04:00

If you still have me in your feeds, HI!

I'm not even going to explain why I haven't been blogging. Life and all.

Anyway, I wanted to share our activity from this morning - chalkboard painting! I was going through Pinterest and looking at what kid-friendly crafty-things I had pinned and I came across that one. I am NOT good at coming up with lots of activities for us to do, so the simpler, the better.

I got out my supplies, which consisted of water, cornstarch, a bowl, food coloring, and a muffin tin.

Directions:
Mix one part water with one part cornstarch in a bowl (I used 1 1/2 cups of each)
Pour into a muffin tin (I filled 8 cups in my tin)
Put food coloring in each cup (I used about 2-3 drops in each cup)

Here is what mine looked like:

I used Market Pantry (Target) food coloring and followed the directions on the box for the non-primary colors

Once everything was mixed, I filled a plastic bowl up with water, grabbed some sponge brushes, collected my children, and we went to the driveway.

I'll admit, when we started, I was like, "What's the point in this? It just looks like water." However, once our creations started drying, I changed my tune.

Lydia trying it out. William promptly spilled and sat in one of the colors.

You can see what it looks like once it's dry. Also, my kids are messy.

Things QUICKLY got messy, but I just let them have at it. They were laughing and the fighting was kept to a minimum. Once they decided they were finished, we hauled everything back inside to clean. Clean up was A BREEZE, people. A BREEZE. I wiped the kids down with a baby wipe and was able to easily wash the muffin tin and brushes with water.

All in all, this was a great activity for us! I definitely plan to do it again.

The aftermath.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday...

2014-02-02T21:38:00.001-05:00

Okay, people. My apologies for disappearing.

Thursday:

I ended up with another day off of school on Thursday, but daycare was open. Lydia had awful cabin fever by this point, so I took her and William to school. I have no shame in admitting I returned home and did some cleaning and had some lazy time on the couch with Molly, who wanted to sleep in between my legs.

Friday:

My lunch group does a potluck meal every once in awhile and we did one on Friday. We had planned to do it Wednesday, but due to the school closings, we moved it. I made one of my favorite dishes, grape salad. Don't be fooled by the "salad" part, because it is anything but healthy. It is a mixture of grapes, sugar, cream cheese, sour cream, and brown sugar.

Saturday:

My parents came to visit for the weekend and we had also invited my sister and brother-in-law to join us for dinner on Saturday night. I was getting impatient because my sister was running late, so I sent her a random assortment of pictures. This one of Lydia and me is probably the least ridiculous.

Sunday:

It was beautiful outside today, so we spent some time playing in the driveway. I had been commenting all weekend that we hadn't seen Oliver in awhile. Oliver, as a reminder, is our neighbor's cat who often ends up on our front porch, especially when we have visitors. Lo and behold, I looked up at one point and saw him running across his yard to us. Even though his expression in the picture may say otherwise, I think he was happy to see me.

Snow Day...or Whatever...

2014-01-29T16:09:00.001-05:00

We are home today due to the snow/ice storm that came through yesterday. We didn't up with much of anything at our house, but areas around us got hit pretty badly with ice. Even so, these two have been glued to this window, giving me updates about the weather.

Well then.

2014-01-28T11:10:00.001-05:00

Nice little surprise today!

Snow?

2014-01-27T19:27:00.001-05:00

It was 60 degrees today and apparently it is going to snow tomorrow. Okay.

Weekend Pictures

2014-01-26T19:25:00.001-05:00

On Friday morning, I sat at my desk for a rare moment and noticed some Post-It notes attached to my file box. A couple girls who are student assistants for me had written some sweet notes. One of the girls comes in during a particular rowdy, large class (30 9th graders at the end of the day--enough said) and her note of encouragement was well-timed. The other student had mentioned how much she loved getting to see me each day. Things like this remind me that teaching is what I was meant to do.

A little Saturday group selfie.

And finally, we got new bedding! It makes our room so much cozier. There are actually a couple of pillows missing. The set came with two Euro shams, and since we don't own any of those pillows, I ordered them when we got home, so I am excited to see it all complete.

Work, Work, Work

2014-01-23T19:49:00.001-05:00

Papers to grade, emails to read and write, lesson plans to make...

A day in my professional life.

Crabby Jammies

2014-01-22T19:18:00.001-05:00

William got this pajama set for Christmas. While I was putting away his gifts, I stuck the hat in a basket and kind of forgot about it and then stumbled across it tonight. The result is above. I can't stop laughing-- his head is a little too large for it. :)

Sibling Snuggles

2014-01-21T19:23:00.001-05:00

While I was making dinner, I heard giggles. When I turned around, I found this snuggle-fest.

Ugh.

2014-01-20T20:09:00.001-05:00

I almost didn't even take a picture for today. I have been down for the count with a stomach virus. It started last night and hung around today. I feel a little bit better and plan on going to bed early. My picture, by the way, is a glass of water. I have survived the day on ice water, bagels, a banana, and pretzel Goldfish crackers.

1/18 and 1/19

2014-01-19T18:23:00.001-05:00

Yesterday William decided to show off his standing skills.

Today we got a new chair and re-arranged our family room a little bit.

Crazy night

2014-01-19T16:41:00.001-05:00

We are having ourselves quite a wild Friday. If I stay awake until 9, I will be amazed. It is cold and windy outside, so we are all snug inside with the fireplace on, and I have my lovely orange and purple blanket to snuggle under.

Happy weekend!

Waiting on Daddy

2014-01-16T21:09:00.001-05:00

We were getting antsy while waiting for Daddy to get home, so we sent him this lovely snapshot of us. William looks disgusted with the whole situation.

Selfie

2014-01-15T20:56:00.001-05:00

A little selfie love for today.

Curvy, Country Roads

2014-01-14T20:10:00.001-05:00

We live in such a great area. I love that I get to drive these roads everyday. There are some beautiful views, especially at sunrise and sunset.

The usual view

2014-01-13T21:15:00.001-05:00

When I look down these days, this is what I see. William loves to crawl to Chris or me and hang out at our feet. He is also trying to pull up on everything, including our pant legs.

Throwback

2014-01-12T21:12:00.001-05:00

Even though I didn't take that picture today, I am still using it. Chris and I have been amazed at how similar Lydia and William look. One of my favorite things to do is find baby pictures of Lydia and compare them to pictures of William at the same age. This picture of Lydia is one of my absolute favorites. I showed it to Lydia today and she kept saying, "That's Lydia!"

Dinner!

2014-01-11T21:15:00.001-05:00

Today was rainy and just overall icky outside, so I decided to make soup for dinner. I had found a recipe on Pinterest awhile ago for chicken noodle soup and decided to use that. It was really easy to prepare and tasted great.

Here is where the recipe originated: http://aphotoplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/crockpot-chicken-noodle-soup.html?m=1

Holy Tired, Batman.

2014-01-10T21:24:00.001-05:00

The picture is my current view. I'm in bed and really excited to go to sleep. This was the first week back to work after the holidays and it was LONG. Luckily it was not bad at all, but it was hard getting back into a routine. My students and I finally found our groove around Thursday, I think. Hopefully this next week will be easier!

And now, I sleep.

William's Tricks and Lydia's Progress

2014-01-09T19:51:00.001-05:00

William has become a pro at crawling lately. He has even decided that flat surfaces are boring, so he has created some obstacles for himself in our family room, mainly with the coffee table. I put him on the floor and he makes a beeline for it.

And on another note, Lydia got the above note today from Miss Heather at school.

Molly

2014-01-08T20:40:00.001-05:00

We have a dog named Molly. She used to be THE baby, but she has been replaced by human babies and is still learning her place as the fur-baby. She puts up with a lot of tugging, pushing, and grabbing, but she is so patient. We love our pup!

Clemson

2014-01-07T19:29:00.001-05:00

My Clemson ring. I love it. Aside from my engagement ring and wedding ring, it is the only other piece of jewelry I wear every day. I love being out somewhere and noticing when other people have Clemson rings. It's almost as if we share an unspoken secret about this wonderful place.

"There is something in these hills that brings together and binds together and holds together men and women of all persuasions, of all heights, sizes, weights, and cultural backgrounds - something that cuts across every difference, spans every gap, penetrates every wall - something that makes a man or a woman stand taller, feel better and say with a high pride to all within earshot, 'I went to Clemson.'"-- Joe Sherman

Brrrr

2014-01-06T19:37:00.001-05:00

Very thankful for our fireplace tonight. We are in the midst of some dangerously cold weather. It is going to be so bad in the morning that several school districts in the area, including the one I work for, will be opening on delayed schedules. Some are even closed. Granted, we are in the South, so the temperatures we are seeing here are nothing compared to the sub-zero temperatures people are experiencing in the North and Midwest.

Belated Christmas Present

2014-01-05T19:49:00.001-05:00

I have been telling Chris that I really want a canvas photo of us to put over the mantle of our fireplace. Yesterday a package was delivered and Chris handed it to me saying it was a late Christmas gift. I was so excited to see the photo! It looks pretty nice up there!

Oliver

2014-01-04T20:33:00.001-05:00

This is Oliver. He thinks that he lives at my house, but he does not. He is very sweet and loves hanging out on my front porch and back porch. We still aren't sure which neighbor is his owner.