Oh Vera, You Didn't!

Oh, but she did.  ;)

I.  LOVE.  VERA.  BRADLEY.

The Fall catalog came in the mail today and I did a double take.  Yep.  Read that right - it says Heather.

She named a pattern after me!

Okay, okay, I know it's not for me.  It's actually for those cute little flowers that I share my name with, but it did make me smile.

Cute huh?  I'm in trouble for sure.

I'm also really digging the Cocoa Moss one.

It's official - I'm in BIG trouble!  :)

Beds, Pictures, and Decor...AKA Random :)

Lately K has been wanting to take on more tasks, "All by myself!"  I think she's at the perfect age to take on more responsibility as well.  For a long time she has been expected to take her dishes to the sink, get water from the fridge when she wants it, clean up her toys, and put her shoes and dirty clothes up at night.

Making her bed has always been my thing because I love the pillows and animals all to be lined up neatly.  But let's be honest here - I don't make her bed, or my bed for that matter, every day.

It's actually a goal I have for myself.  Making beds is so simple and quick, but it makes you feel better than you think.  It's just down right more relaxing to walk into a room with a made bed than it is to see an unmade bed.  Which is sort of weird if you think about because it takes more effort to unmake it and actually relax.

So this summer I've been better than I am in the school year about making beds.  Still not batting 1000, but I've been much better.

Well, Kaitlyn decided she wanted to be the one to make her own bed.  At first I was hesitant, but come on - the kid should be making her own bed now.  I just need to let it go.

So, I decided to document this morning's attempt making.

Is it perfect?  Nope.  But she was so stinking proud of herself and that's worth more than nice and neat.

In other news....

I was talking to two sweet friends last night (look for a post soon about that!) and we brought up the fact that most kids today don't get the super embarrassing and awkward photos that we had as kids because everything is digital now.  We just take and take pictures until we get the right shot.  So one of my goals is to keep more awkward photos.  Sounds odd right?  I have to have some ammo for high school graduation slide shows right?  Also, I want to take more pictures and videos of everyday life - not just the cute, "perfect" moments.

So I snapped this picture with my phone this morning.  This is what she chose to do this morning - take her night gown off, leaving only her panties, but adding the beads, socks, and headband.  She said the beads were her pretend backpack.  ;)

In other, other news....(This post is super random!)

I've been trying to decorate our new home this summer as well.  There are big projects I want to do - look at the wallpaper in my last post that is in K's bathroom.  And look at that awesome tile in the foyer in the above picture.   Eek!  But I've been wanting to add more art/decor pieces to the house as well.

I wanted to put up some of K's art in her playroom, but the pieces I picked were bigger than most frames I found.  I finally found some floater frames at Hobby Lobby (at half price!) that worked perfectly.  I love the way it turned out!

I also wanted to start adding a color in the playroom other than pink, so I picked up this yellow frame too, and K picked out what picture she wanted.  She LOVES her cousin Cadie!  I took several pictures of them last Spring for Cody's mom's Mother's Day gift and this one is her favorite.

I also wanted to redo my office.  I do call it my office, because when Cody does have to do work at home, he uses his laptop in the living room.  He never goes to the office.  Plus he has a man cave in the works, so I deserve the office right?  ;)  My office in our old house was also K's playroom...you can imagine how well that worked.  Now she has a playroom (which I still use part of for my craft stuff) and I have an office all to my own....well, actually I don't.  We put K's library in there too and it currently has her reading tent, but I'm okay with that.

So when I went to Hobby Lobby for the frames and ribbon for Disney bows I randomly found two pieces that immediately inspired me for my office.  I love yellow and gray together, but I don't want to redo my entire living room or bedroom right now.  Yellow and gray office - duh!!!  I LOVE these two pieces (both were also 50% off!), but it's only a small start.

So I hung them in the office....

But it still looks too blah...especially when you see the other side...

There's that reading tent!  ;)

I'm not sure if I want a couch, chair, nothing....I guess I'll know when I see it.  I LOVE having my grandmother's old roll top desk in there so whatever I get has to work with it.  I also want a rug to add some more pop.

Guess this means I need to do more shopping right??  ;)

If she only knew...

We leave for Disney on Sunday and I am seriously about to burst!  We have decided not to tell Kaitlyn.  This girl loves countdowns, but also loves to constantly ask or remind us how many days are left until something.  So, if a friend has a birthday party and it's in 4 days, she will remind us over and over that in 4 days it's so-and-so's party.  All.  Day.  Long.  It's cute about the first 5 times she does it, then about the 2,018th - not so much.  If you ask her not to mention it again she will wait a little while and then say something like, "In 4 days something is going to happen, but I can't talk about it."  Over and over.  

It's a vicious cycle my friends.

And this girl LOVES all things Disney.  So I can only imagine how often we would have to hear about going to Disney World if she knew.  Honestly though, it's been very fun for me to know this huge secret that I know will send her over the moon.  I'm actually very proud of how I've been able to keep it from her.  I've had to spell things if I'm talking to someone in front of her, sneak things back to my room after a shopping trip, and my mom and I have been working on outfits for each day.  And by working on them, I mean I look on Etsy, tweak a design to my liking, and then my amazingly talented mom creates it.  I did buy two really cute skirts to go with some of the shirts.  That counts for something too right??  ;)  I also made the bows that she'll be wearing, but honestly my mom has done all the hard stuff.  She's awesome.  Some might think all that is a bit over the top, but this is her first big vacation and I'm going to do it up big.  Judge if you will, but I'm loving every second of it.

My excitement is so hard to contain lately.  I'm thinking back to trips to Disney World with my family when I was little.  We were blessed to be able to go three times as a family - once when I was 4, then again in 6th grade and when I was a senior in high school.  I also went once in high school with choir.  Cody and I went to Disney World for our honeymoon.  Sounds weird, but trust me, there is a whole other side to Disney that can be very romantic and grown up.  We had a blast and Cody even mentioned going again before we had Kaitlyn, but we never did.

Now I'm getting excited about seeing Disney World through Kaitlyn's eyes.  Just last week when we went and saw Monster's University, she was amazed at seeing the picture version of Cinderella's castle come up on the movie screen before the movie started.  Her eyes were opened so widely and she just whispered, "Wow."  I had no choice but to tear up at that very moment.  Just the thought of the amazement she will have when she sees the real castle overwhelmed me.  I can hardly wait!

I've decided to post some evidence of her love for Disney.  :)

Last week she begged me to roll her hair so that she could have curls like Aurora.  (Please excuse the rocking 90s wallpaper in her bathroom.  I have yet to tackle that project in our new house.)

In the morning, after I took the rollers out, she decided to dress herself.  Of course she picks the Aurora dress and crown.  :)

Then yesterday, she was playing and I caught this gem.

Have I mentioned I'm excited about Sunday??? :)


Our plan is to wake her up that morning and surprise her with the news.  Without fail, every night Kaitlyn asks us as we are putting her to bed, "What's tomorrow?"  She is very particular about knowing what is going in her life the next day.  So we have to go over what we'll do.  Normally on Saturdays we say, "Church, lunch and then home."  So that's what she'll go to bed thinking on Saturday night.  Then we will wake her up (super early) on Sunday and somehow tell her. (I haven't thought that one all the way through just yet.)  But it will involve showing her the adorable shirt my mom made her that says, "I'm Going to Disney World."

I found that skirt yesterday after I decided that the plain black one she already had wasn't Disney enough.  Yep.  I'm a dork.  It was actually a Hello Kitty one, but I love everything else about it, so I bought it (on sale from Macy's with an extra coupon - score!) and just cut the Hello Kitty charm off.  Simple fix.


My fear is that I've been building up this moment in my mind for months now and she'll react with a simple, "Okay."  I guess we'll see...

IN.  FOUR.  DAYS.  :)  :)  :)

Out with the Old

Since we moved back in the Spring, I have been on a mission to get rid of things we don't need to hang onto anymore.  This process has been longer than I thought...mainly because I couldn't even think of doing it back when it was the end of school and now that it's summer, I'm doing while trying to entertain a 4 year old at the same time.  And my goodness she is a lot more fun than going through boxes.  :)

When I was younger I used to want to keep everything.  I couldn't even go outside when my parents had garage sales because I would get too emotional.  But with my own house, keeping things means clutter and I hate clutter, so it's much easier for me to get rid of things. 

Tonight though, got kind of tough again.  When K was itty bitty I apparently kept every single thing she had.  As she got bigger, I was wiser and got rid of a lot of things and only kept the really special pieces.

So as Cody and I were clearing out the garage some more tonight (I WILL be able to park my car in it again before school starts - I just have to keep telling myself that) we came across three tubs of baby clothes.  These were the baby clothes from when she was first born and from the first few months after. 

K was five and half weeks early, so she was tiny.  Something about going through those clothes tonight and seeing how small they were hurt my heart.  How is it that she is turning 5 this year?  It just doesn't seem possible that amount of time has already passed.

But I was very proud of myself.  I quickly went from 3 tubs full of baby clothes, to one tub not even halfway full and 5 trash bags of clothes for Mission Arlington.  I kept her first Christmas dress, baby dedication dress, her first Halloween costume, and a few other special outfits.  I also kept her first Rangers hat of course!  :) 

Cody knows me well enough to get things done when I say or else I might change my mind.  So that sweet husband of mine took all of those bags to Mission Arlington tonight.

At 9:30 at night. 

He was not taking any chances y'all.  ;)

Blast from the Past

Y'all.

Last night was awesome.  Seriously.  I had so much fun!  I woke up this morning and had to remind myself that it actually happened.

Now, I've been to concerts plenty of times, but last night was a concert I have been looking forward to for...oh about 20 years.  No lie.

Last night I got to see Boyz II Men, 98 Degrees, and...wait for it...New Kids on the Block.

For real.

When I found out they were coming, it was too late to get floor seats, but goodness knows I would have shelled out the money for them.  20 years people.  20 years I've wanted to see them.  They were the first band that I totally loved.  I even wrote them a letter when I was in second grade begging them to come perform at my school - complete with the set list I wanted in the order I wanted it in.

Apparently I've been a list girl from a very early age.  :)

I just knew back then that if Joey met me, it would have been over.  He would instantly fall in love and the rest would be history.

So, yes the floor seats were gone, but I bought two tickets from the seats that were left.  When I printed the tickets I was devastated to see the words, "Behind Stage" on them, but they were still in the platinum level of the American Airlines Center, so they were not nosebleed seats.  Turns out  that behind stage was actually awesome because we could see each band before they came on stage.  We saw them pray, jump, high five each other, etc.  Y'all - it was so great.  The concert also had two stages and the main one was a circle and each member of each band moved around quite a lot, so it's not like we missed anything.  So I pouted for nothing, because the seats were great.

Cody and I took the TRE into Dallas so we didn't have to worry about parking and what not.  I was happy of course on the ride over there, but as soon as we walked in I got giddy.  It was like all of a sudden I was transported back to my elementary and junior high self and finally getting to do what I didn't get to do then.

First up was Boyz II Men.  Now, honestly I wasn't expecting a lot out of them.  They were of course, down a member, but my goodness it didn't make a difference.  They were hands down amazing.  The first song they sang was "On Bended Knee."

Whoa.  Wow.  Hello.

I don't even know what else to say.  But it got better y'all.  Crazy better.  They even sang "Yesterday", "Motown Philly" (I thought my husband was going to cry), and "End of the Road."

Now, "End of the Road" is a song that played in my life soundtrack.  You see, my husband has this theory that I've always treated my life as if I was living in a romantic comedy...and I think there is some truth (okay, a lot) to that.  So, when I wanted to break up with the guy I was "dating" in 7th grade, I waited until they played this song at the school dance and broke up with him during the talking part of the song.

I'm not kidding.  If you didn't think I was a huge dork yet, now you know the ugly truth.  ;)

To sum it up: Boyz II Men = Amazing

Then it was 98 Degrees.  Two words friends - Nick Lachey.

That's all you need to know.  Yes, they sang some weird new songs that nobody really knew.  Yes, some of them didn't dance as well as they used to.  But they did sing, "The Hardest Thing" and "I Do" so everything was right in the world.

Nick Lachey y'all.  Nick Lachey.

Moving on....

They had a break between 98 Degrees and NKOTB.  The anticipation was paired with a great selection of awesome 90s music being played where the whole crowd was singing along.  Hardly anyone was leaving because nobody wanted to chance missing the start of NKOTB.  Cody was singing along to pretty much every song quietly, but then Marky Marky came on and he couldn't contain himself and busted out with every single word.

I married a keeper my friends.  ;)

That's when 3 rather intoxicated girls turned around and "woooed" him and then proceeded to ask him when he was going on tour.

I married a keeper and a stud my friends.  :)  A stud that can croon like nobody's business.

Then it happened.  The lights went down and before I knew it my crush from 2nd grade was on stage with the rest of the New Kids and I was 110% silly giddy.   Cody remarked he had never seen me like that.  Y'all - I didn't know that part of me even existed.  Cody took a video of me and I was bouncing.  Bouncing and screaming.

Who does that??

It was incredible.  Every song they sang was awesome - even some of the new ones I didn't know as well.  But they didn't let me down and sang all my favorites:

-Step By Step
-Hanging Tough
-I'll Be Loving You
-Tonight
-Cover Girl
-You've Got It (AKA - The Right Stuff)

(Apparently I lost all my senses including my ability to hit the right notes.  I swear I had years of formal vocal training and can actually sing...nobody would know it from this video though.)

But there were two songs that made my life.  Not year - life I tell you.

One I honestly hadn't thought about it years, but man, as soon as it started I teared up.

Yep.  Didn't think I would, but I did.  Not even sure why.

Like I said, I had pretty much forgot about this song, but when Jordan started singing, "Baby, I Believe in You" I almost died.  Every word came back instantly and I got goosebumps.

Who knew a song could do that to you?  I for sure didn't.

But the highlight of my night was one song.  It was my favorite song that NKOTB ever did.  I told myself, "Joey is older now.  He might not be able to sing it.  He might not WANT to sing it."

Y'all, he sang it.

And it was greatness.  Pure greatness.  I can now die a happy girl.

They'll totally sang, "Please Don't Go Girl."  I was putty.  Putty I tell you.

It wasn't even the last one, but I could have gone home 100% satisfied with the concert after that moment.

My husband was such a good sport too.  I can't imagine too many husbands that would have actually gone last night and not made a huge deal about not wanting to be there.  I will say, Cody loved Boyz II Men and had they not been there it might have been a different story for him.  I love that man and everything he does for me.  I truly am a lucky girl to have a guy that will stick around even when I act like a crazed teeny bopper.  ;)

So, I got to relive my youth last night and it was so fun.  And in one week and one day I'll be in Disney World with my family.

Pinch me y'all.  Pinch me.  :)

Watch out blog world!

Look out blog world!  I'm posting more than one recipe in a week!  I almost feel like one of those "real" bloggers...but don't hold your breath for too many more.  We all know how this blogging thing usually goes for me.

Maybe, just maybe I'll keep up with it this time, but it seems like I always go through phases of my blogging.  I'll keep up with it for about a week and half and then it will be several months until my next posts.

This could be the time to change.  Maybe.

Anywho....back to the recipe.

Because it's summer I have more time to try new recipes instead of using my "go to" recipes during the school year.  I found one online that sounded good  - and by good I mean that Cody, K, and I will all actually eat it.

So last night I made sweet and sour chicken.  It was actually really easy, but it took longer than most dinners because after it was all prepped it had to bake for an hour.  You also had to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.

But it was worth it because normally Cody will just say "Thanks" or "This is good," but last night he said several times, "This is really good babe.  I mean really good."

Score!

Here's the picture of what was left over - which wasn't much!

 

And here's the recipe: I found it here (Have to give credit when credit is due!)

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

The chicken coating:

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

salt + pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

The sweet and sour sauce:

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbs ketchup

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt

       Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.  Heat your 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. Bake for one hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.   

There you have it.  :)

In other news....today my awesome husband is turning 30!!!  He was 17 when we started dating...weird huh?  Gosh, he's old now.  ;)

We are headed to Texas de Brazil tonight to celebrate with just the two of us.  I was going to throw a party that was 20s themed to "Say goodbye to his roaring 20s", but I just didn't get the house "party ready" in time.  :(  We still have our his game room man cave serving as a catch all for garage sale things and we still haven't moved out the big ugly shelves.  And guess where the guest bathroom is?  Yep - right off the man cave.  Cody isn't too disappointed that we're not having the party....surprisingly my normally center of attention hubby doesn't like being the center of attention on his birthday...at least he says he doesn't.  

I'm still thinking of another little something to celebrate later after our Disney trip.  (11 DAYS MY FRIENDS - 11 MORE DAYS!!!)  It can be a combo 30th birthday/our 7th wedding anniversary celebration.  I have a few ideas, but any that y'all have are welcomed too.  :)  

Down to One

I've been all about organizing since we moved - you might not believe it if you looked in my garage right now...that's a whole other story.  I did mention we moved right?  ;)

I'm also reading The Happiness Project Right Now and the main theme is basically do little things in your life to make it better.  You know, simplify, change your attitude, etc. etc.  The chapter I read last night talked about the author creating a blog.

Naturally, I started thinking back to this blog...and my blog about Kaitlyn...and my sad little excuse for a teaching blog.  About a year ago I decided to create "pages" on this blog to link my other two blogs here.  In my mind it just made more since to have 3 so that I could keep the topics separate.

What????

That seriously makes no sense to me now.  I barely keep up with this blog, so what made me think having 3 different ones would help the situation?

And guess what?  I'm not a mom one day, myself the other day, and a teacher the next.  I'm all of those things each and every day, so who cares if it's all in one blog?

So this morning I spent hours (yes, hours) copying and pasting all my old posts onto this blog.  Then I deleted my other two blogs.  The teaching one wasn't hard to delete - I barely had anything on there.

I still have no idea how those "super teachers" can teach all day and then go home and blog about every little thing in their classroom while also making some cute unit on TPT.  Not me friends - sorry.  This chick has to rest and get in some quality family time when I get home from work!

But the blog about K was really hard for some reason.

As I said, I copied the post.  I couldn't figure out how to copy the comments with it, so if you are every looking back at some of my older posts you might see a comment from me that says, "*Because I moved this from my old blog*" and then the comments from other people.  I didn't want to lose them when I deleted the post and that's how I solved the problem.

If there was a way to export the entries with the comments please don't tell me.  I'd like to think I did it the best way that there was.  Thanks.  ;)

It was still sad in a way for me to click delete on that blog...I'm not sure why.  But I did it anyway.

So now I'm down to one blog and that's the way I'm keeping it.  So who knows what you'll read on this - it might be about my daughter, my classroom, or something random about me.  :)

Welcome to my crazy life that I try so hard to keep balanced!  :)