Five on Friday- Birthday edition

Where did February go???  This month just flew by.  With being sick, J's birthday, and Valentine's Day, the month is gone.

Well, I am about to branch out from my usual posts today. Today with my Five on Friday, I am listing five things that are on my birthday wish list.  Last night Aaron asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I told him I had been thinking about doing a post to make it simple.  I figure I will take all of the guess work out.  Now, let me clarify that I do NOT expect to get all of these items!!! I am just putting five things I have had my eye on in one spot.  ;)

These are listed in no particular order!!!

-ONE-

I love me some Toms.  I discovered that they fit my hard to fit skinny foot two Christmases ago and now I have four pair.  I would love to add a fun new spring one to it.  I like the above pair and this pair in coral or teal or navy. I can't decide!!!

-TWO-

 

It took me a while to jump on the scarf bandwagon, but this fall I finally gave it a go.  And I really like a scarf.  It adds a fun color to an outfit and really makes you look put together.  Since I don't have any fun springy ones, I would love to have one.  The top scarf is from the Gap found here.  The middle is from Nordstrom Juniors found here. The bottom one is also Gap found here.

 

-THREE-

Yes.  I want a label maker.  I have so many organizational projects that I want to do around the house.  I think this little gadget might help me with some of them.  I have no idea what is the best type of label maker but here's one on amazon with pretty good reviews for a good price.



-FOUR-

 

 

I was looking on Pottery Barn Kids the other day and fell in love with this garland.  I don't have any Easter décor but plan to get a few things this year.  I would love to hang this in front of our mantel.

 

-FIVE-

 

 

 

This is an experience and gift wrapped in one.  It's a place in Dallas that you can go and get your hair washed and styled while drinking fun little drinks with friends.  How fun does that sound!!! I love, love, love having my hair blown out.  I think this would be fun to do with a friend.  Definitely a treat!

 

 

There it is.  My birthday wish list. I don't enjoy giving people ideas for gifts for me because I usually can never think of any. 

 

Have a great weekend!!!

 

 

I am linking up with this fun group--

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Loooong week

It's been a long week over here.  I am so not used to getting up and having to be somewhere every day anymore.  This just happened to be one of my weird schedule weeks. (They seem to be happening more and more.) This certainly wasn't my usual Tuesday/Thursday/half day Friday week.
I think the real kicker for the week was having to be in Rockwall at 8 am for a conference on Monday morning.  That's a 55 mile drive from my house and not knowing how bad traffic would be I left at 6:30 for good measure. 
Side note:  I told Aaron on Sunday night I wouldn't want to be late because I would hate having to walk into a crowded hotel conference room struggling to find an open seat.  Aaron's comment to that was-  I guess that's what a kind of shy person thinks about when they are going to be late some place.  That thought has honestly never ever crossed my mind.

Well, there you have it!!!  Just a little window into how my mind works!!!

So this week was also a Benchmark testing week at my school.  I feel like we have those every week now, too!!!  These poor students at my school take these benchmarks for the STAAR all the time.  We literally shut down for the whole week, once a six weeks for them to take their "practice" tests.  It's ridiculous!  It makes me so glad to have gone to school during TAAS and TAKS where we didn't have so many benchmarks.

When it's a Benchmark testing week, I have to be at school Monday through Thursday because I have a small group that tests with me.  Because I was at the conference, I missed the first day.  Woohoo!!!  Then, I worked a half day Tuesday and Thursday with someone else covering my small group the second two hours of testing.  I worked all day Wednesday again helping with testing.  You get the idea.  Regardless, I worked a lot this week. 

Because I worked a lot and my schedule was all off, I have taken no pictures, and I feel like I haven't seen Jackson at all.  These weeks make me so grateful that I am able to be at home some during the week to spend time with my J.  I seriously don't know how full-time working moms do it!!!  I get tired just thinking about it.

I will leave you with the two pictures I took on Sunday before the loooong week hit...

 

These are my boys!!!  We were soaking up the beautiful Spring-like weather and playing outside.

 

Have a great Friday!!! I know I will.  I will be spending some much needed time with my boy.

Cara Box Reveal

I have a quick post to show off my Cara Box.  I was paired with Lisa and Aleshea.  Lisa sent me a box, and I sent Aleshea a box.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a pic of the box I sent to Aleshea.  Oops!!!  So I am just showing what I got in my box this time.

 

This is only my second Cara Box to participate in, and this one was all about getting to know your partners through Instagram instead of blogland.  All participants began following their partners via Instagram to learn more about their partner.  I loved it this way because let's be honest you can learn A LOT about a person via the pics they put up on IG. 

I think Lisa did a great job!!!  She got me a Valentine towel set, a journal, a notepad for the kitchen, a book for J, nail polish, lipgloss, and hand sanitizer. 

 

If you have an interest in participating in Cara Box, check out one of my fav bloggers, Kaitlyn. 

She started Cara Box over a year ago, and it's still going strong.

 

 

Be My Valentine

Is it possible that I like Valentines Day more now that I have Jackson?  I know this might not be very girly of me, but I have always thought Valentines Day was overrated.  I never really got the big deal.  Don't get me wrong, I love some chocolate!!!  I am so thankful that my dad to this day still buys me a heart-shaped box of Russell Stover chocolates and a Valentines card.  I look forward to eating every last one of those chocolates (minus the few Aaron sneaks).

Maybe it's because I see some of the things other moms are doing on other blogs or Instagram, but it has gotten me more into the spirit of creating something fun for J.  Granted I didn't do a lot, I wanted to do a few things to make the holiday a little bit of fun for him. 

On Wednesday, I decided we would make Valentine cookies.  J isn't old enough to actually help with the cookies yet, but he sure does like to watch the mixer go round and round.  So I had him sit in his high chair and he watched while I dumped all the ingredients into the mixer.  He also ate some Valentine M&M's.  He was definitely on quality control and mixer patrol.  :)

 

 

On Valentines Day, we had a low key day.  I worked the first half of the day.  Before J's nap, we put up Valentine window clings that I totally forgot I bought!!!  Oops!!!

 



For dinner, we had heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's.  So yummy!!!

 

 

I got my Mickey Mouse loving boy--

 

  Mickey Mouse

 

 

Of course he loved Mickey!!!

 

 

He had to give "Me" a hug!

 

J ate his pizza off of a heart plate.

 



 

And then we finished it off with Mickey Valentine cookies!!!  How cute are those Pillsbury cookies!!!

 

 

He kept looking at the cookie and saying "Me."  That boy certainly loves Mickey Mouse!

 

 

It was a wonderful Valentines Day, complete with heart-shaped pizza, roses, and Mickey Mouse.  Nothing all that special but probably one of my favorite Valentines.  Sometimes it's the simple things that are the best!!!

 

Speaking of my Valentines --

 

Here's a pic from today.  I love my boys!!!

 

I hope you had a wonderful Valentines with your sweethearts!!!

 

 



Jackson's 2nd Birthday Party- Cars and Trucks

Last Saturday we celebrated Jackson's second birthday.  Because this boy LOVES him some cars and trucks, I went with it.  I was determined this year to have a much lower key party than last year.  I wanted it to be fun and cute but not a lot of work.  My approach this year was to buy decorative items off etsy to tie the whole party together and keep my menu super simple. 

I found a lady on etsy who had a great package with a cars and truck theme that I really liked.  She worked with me and customized the items I wanted to buy.  Because she lives in South Africa, she sent me the attachments via email and I took them to my local Staples and had them printed.  I cut and assembled and like magic my party looked super cute with not a ton of effort.

 

I kept the food super simple!!!

 

 

 

I served hot dogs with fixings and chips.  For dessert, we had Walmart cupcakes, stoplight Jello cups, and little chocolate donuts.  Super easy because the only thing I actually made was Jello!!!

 

To tie everything together, I did bright fun primary colors and sprinkled in some of J's cars and trucks for good measure.

 

 

 

 

It wasn't a fancy party, but it sure was fun.  And more importantly, J LOVED it!!!  He truly had the best time!  We just invited our closest family.  All the people he knows and loves.

 

 

 

We ate hotdogs...

 

We had cake...

 

We opened gifts...

 

 

It was all around a great party!!!

 

 

A big thanks to all of our family that came and helped us celebrate this special guy!

 

Love my little car loving boy to pieces!!!