Sunshine Makes Me Happy

This morning, I left my baby girl at home for the third day in a row because she hasn't been feeling well. Thankfully, she doesn't have the flu that everyone seems to have around here, but her tummy has been miserable. When I walked out the door, I saw this beautiful sunrise and immediately felt a calmness about her sickness and I am incredibly thankful that my husband is self-employed and can stay home with her on days like this. 

The sky was  absolutely gorgeous!

As I was on my way to work, Cole was driving behind me on his way to school. I stopped and waved him past because I knew he had a meeting this morning and I just wanted to stop for a picture on our gravel road. I'm so glad I did. Within 20 minutes, the sky was completely gray and there wasn't much sun to be seen. 

Tomorrow, Audrey and I are suppose to go with Cole to his college Presidential Scholarship interview and lunch and I'm getting nervous for him. His interview is only 15-20 minutes long and will determine whether he gets a scholarship for $50,000 or the $20,000 he has already earned. That's a huge deal for us, as we don't desire for him to have ton of college debt. We want him to be able to start his adult life as free and clear as possible. Please say a little prayer for him that he will get it.

I'm looking forward to a wonderful weekend with my family!

Fall Watercolor Farmhouse Sign and Craft Day with my Daughter

This week, Audrey and I have been watching Shannon's YouTube videos at The Daily DIYer for inspiration for a craft to do together during Labor Day weekend. We wanted something for fall that was easy and that we could create for some of our family and friends, as well. We were inspired by her DIY Fabric and Wood Farmhouse Fall Sign.

We tweaked the project just a little to bring down the cost and time since we were making so many. Instead of fabric and heat transfer vinyl, we printed our sign on cardstock. The beautiful watercolor printable I found was graciously offered for free by Allison at Crafty Mama Online and it added some subtle color to the sign. We also added some orange tulle to give it extra texture since the sign itself was paper.

The signs were incredibly simple and took only minutes to make. It took longer for the stain to dry than anything.We made one for ourselves and a few for friends, both of the kiddos grandmas for Grandparent's Day and one for Audrey's teacher. Literally the only hard part was running out of printer ink on the very last print, which meant a trip to town to get some more.

I truly enjoyed the time together with Audrey and we hope that our friends and family will enjoy their new fall signs!

Merry Christmas 2016!

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and blessed New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Career Day 2012

One of the perks of being a Kindergarten teacher is being able to attend lots of events with Audrey that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise. This year at Career Day, she got to rotate classrooms to see three different guest speakers.

Spangle the Clown brought clown noses and straws for everyone.

 Then, we got to see Jake Dill, a farmer at Rutledge-Wilson Farm. He is the brother-in-law of one of my sweetest friends, Shelly. He came with a rabbit for the kids to pet, along with coloring books and chicken headbands.

Audrey liked petting the rabbit because it was so soft! 

She loved the chicken headband!

Connie Frost is a caterer and owner of Three Fat Ladies Tea Room. She brought all the kids a mini cupcake to eat after her demonstration.

Audrey said her favorite guest speaker was the clown because clowns are funny!

Happy 13th Birthday, Cole!

It’s hard to believe that Cole is a teenager! He’s grown up so much in this past year. He is super tall, has a deep voice and has found a new niche in junior high with Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). It’s so wonderful to see him mature into such a sweet young man.

We celebrated this year with a family bonfire at home after school.

We bought Cole a laptop this year for his birthday. We don’t normally spend that much money for birthday gifts, but I bought it on Black Friday and he truly has needed one of his own for awhile. We thought it was going to be a surprise, but Audrey had told him that he was getting a ‘dy’ as a present. Somehow he figured out that it was a laptop. The reason she called it a dy is because on my laptop, when it’s closed, you see the letters hp upside down and it looks like dy (see the second picture below). Although I wasn’t too happy with her for giving him clues, we thought it was pretty funny that she thought his laptop was a dy.

So proud, as always!

Cole was recognized tonight at the school's monthly Board meeting for achieving an advanced score in Math on the state MAP test. Congratulations, Cole!  We are so proud of you!