Another school year in the books

I am now the mama of a rising 2nd grader AND a rising Kinder! Here are the 1st & last day side by sides. They are getting so big!

and this one actually didn't go to school but she will go 2 days a week next year.


These girls. I swear each of them have grown 2 inches. When you look at them from just 9 months ago you can see the changes. I should have made them get out the chalkboards again. Something to remember next year :)

Haven't participated in a long time!

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Wordful Wednesday - Egg Hunt

I wrote yesterday about the documentary Bully that will be released on April 13. If you haven't seen the trailer check out my post from yesterday. I think that it is very important to show this to our children to teach them how their actions have consequences. It will be a must see for sure!

This weekend was our annual egg hunt at the house. Daddy did the hiding. He is getting more tricky with where he hides them but still has to put some out in the open for our Ruby.

They hunted until they found them all. 72 in total I believe. I wanted overkill because I only allow them to hunt 10 eggs at the hunts outside the home.


She's thrilled with me taking her pic can't you tell?


Her best "Wow I found an egg!" pose


and finally "Is this close enough to a smile?" That Ruby :)

I have seen so many of those little black ants around that I was afraid to put candy in the eggs at our house so we just put change. As they were feeding their pigs they didn't seem to mind :)


It was a fun morning followed by a huge feast with friends. This week is spring break. I love having my Piperoni home with me all week. I heard myself say "I can't wait until summer!" And it's the truth!

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Wordful Wednesday - Thrifting Goodness

My name is Jessie and I love Goodwill. Usually I stop in once a week. You just never know what you will find there. The hunt is so much fun! I am not much of a retail shopper anymore because I know what I can buy for a few dollars and can't justify spending so much more because it is new. Ruby went crazy when I pulled out her new purple dress from the rack. Is it an Easter dress? Nope. A birthday dress? Nope. What is it then? It is a dress she can wear everyday if she wants to because it was $3. My Ruby and Violet love to wear fancy dresses and I let them. The fancier the better.

This is Ruby's "look cute" face. Where she learns this stuff I don't know. She does look pretty cute though. And fancy. That position would give her mama a stiff neck and an appointment with the chiropractor :) To be young.

In addition to that gorgeous dress I also got an almost new pair of Keen sandals ($2.50), a pair of Born ballet flats for Piper ($2.50), a pair of Flowers by Zoe lounge pants for P ($3), a brand new tee shirt for P ($2), 2 swimsuits ($2 each), and 4 Rainbow Magic fairy books for P ($.50 each). We had just bought 1 of those at a book fair for $5. I NEVER buy new books but Daddy was with us so he let her. Not a bad haul right? Goodwill rocks!

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Wordful Wednesday - A Little Flare

I am trying very hard to keep myself busy. Not only do I actually feel somewhat productive again but having a busy mind and body doesn't give much time to dwell and be depressed all day. I owe it to my family to not be depressed all day. So I decided to try and actually figure out backlighting and sunflare with my camera. I don't necessarily love the result all the time but it can be nice in certain situations. My model is the girl that is still in preschool. She is always happy to help her mama. What a girl ♥

Morning

Afternoon


Still a work in progress. Maybe with practice I will be able to post something that will blow me away. Until then...

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Mardi Gras 2012

I was on the fence if I would make the cake this year or not. Hubs was out of town and we had already celebrated Mardi Gras on Monday with a party at an old friend's house. When it came down to it though it is now a tradition so we invited our neighborhood friends over to create masks and eat some jambalaya and king cake.

I forgot to take a shot of all of our masks together so these are just the zoo's. First year we used string and it worked the best to hold them on. Why I used rubber bands the past 2 years is beyond me.


The group. Marley too :) Violet is holding Lucky the Ladybug from her preschool class. Lucky joined in with the Mardi Gras celebration with us. We dress fancy every year so I decided to break out my fancy feather earrings my girl gave me for Christmas. Every time I wear them Piper just beams and tells me how pretty I look :) It's the little things with her. I love that ♥


The cake. I am used to making it now. Probably still not as good as the cakes from New Orleans but the best this mama could do. Girls and I had leftovers for breakfast. Yum!

Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler

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Wordful Wednesday - Smile

Things that make me smile.

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Piper's face when she first looked in the mirror and saw the hot pink feather that is decorating her hair for the next few weeks. Priceless.

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Need I say more?

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She sleeps with me when Matt is away. She hugs me 100 times a day at least. She sits on my lap and gives me unexpected kisses. She doesn't leave me alone and is always a bright spot in my day. Our Violet is exactly what I need right now.

My Man

Obviously he lives with me so he should receive some sort of award. I smile when he walks through the door, he brings me out of low places, and our girls adore him. Me too :)

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Wordful Wednesday - 2.8.12

I always title my blog posts but my brain isn't working right now, I guess you will have weeks like that.

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I spend all together too much time with my phone. I spend too much time on Pinterest. Ask hubs, he'll tell you (in a loving sort of way). Pinterest doesn't require thinking and that is what I need right now. Activities that don't involve thinking. Just pinning. And pinning. And pinning.

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She was making me dinner. Took my order on a notepad and everything. I asked for pizza and got some sort of doll food :)

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Our Violet. We got our stuff together to register her for Kindergarten. I still can't believe that she will be off to school next year. I need to stop blinking so time slows down.

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Wordful Wednesday - Rain, Rain Go Away!

School was out on Friday and Monday for teacher work days. It rained every.single.day. Everyone loves a rainy day to hang out on the couch and watch movies but for 5 days it rained. Wow. We did manage a few craft projects though and that brightened the mood. Daddy was home this weekend and that always makes the girls happy. Not all bad. Just rainy.

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Yep, another late night and I forgot to snap a pic. I am turning my phone on the animals now because the girls are getting tired of me :) Pica is bugged by me too can you tell?

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This weather has made my head hurt. Every day. It hurt so bad on Monday and nothing would take the pain away. Oh how I miss Advil. My girlfriend Leslie brought the girls and I some treats. My kiddos thought that those cookies were the bomb! They loved them!

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My girl. See what is in the sky? It is sun! Glorious sun! It felt so good to stand outside and just let it warm you up. It changes everyone's mood!


Check out my post from yesterday! Awesome giveaway for Valentine cards from Pear Tree Greetings! Ends 2/2.

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Wordful Wednesday - My Holiday Happiness

Smiles

Lights

Our little tree

And one day

I hope.

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Wordful Wednesday - Getaway

You would think that my overall impression of the trip would have been bad but quite the contrary. I am amazed at the amount of stuff that could have sent us into a bad vacation spiral but nothing bothered us. I am thankful that we were able to go with the flow because truth be told sometimes we do not.

Ruby cried the entire way down. Especially when I got on the phone. Shame on mama for trying to have adult interaction to stay awake.

Yay for early check-ins! Big thank you to the Double Tree for letting us check in at 10am on Friday when normal check in was 4pm. Also, cool that you had those yummy warm cookies for the girls. And me.

Boo to the Double Tree for giving me a room that the microwave, tv, and refrigerator all had issues. Seriously!

OMG Double Tree. In the same breath I want to thank you big time for a heated pool but think your heating bill would go down if the pool was actually in the sun! BRRRRRR!!!!

Mother Nature, I normally adore you but it was pretty darned windy for my dear friend Sarah's wedding. Could have done without that. Still a beautiful wedding with the sun shining bright.

LOL at the pizza cutter from Bizzaros Pizza. You had me when you told me you were going to charge me an additional $1 to cut the pizza slices smaller and you had this tourist almost digging in her wallet but then you let me off the hook and I laughed. Hard.

Oh garbage. The sheer amount of garbage on the beach made me wonder about the town and then a local told me about a storm they had. I made the girls pick some up but I could have done without the complaining.

Seriously next door neighbors? Up partying all night while my 3 girls and I had to listen. I was sort of afraid to call the front desk when it was just me and the girls. At one point Violet said it sounded like our tv was up really loud in our room. Our tv. Really? You mean the broken one?

If there are 4 bodies in a hotel room there should be 4 towels. Enough said!

Thank you to Double Tree for allowing us a late check out. By 45 minutes. I thought this meant that my card would still work in the hotel. Something work in the hotel I should have known better. I had to walk around the whole hotel with my 3 littles because my room key didn't work. Ugh!

Recap. Last stay at Double Tree. Girls were fabulous. Awesome time away. Even staying at the Double Tree.

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