The House Family

ch...ch...changes

2012-01-22T18:03:00.000-08:00

We've been enjoying walks in the evening...one night it was reallly cold so Essie was bundled up nice and tight.

We've also had one major change in our house in that Essie has been sleeping in her bedroom for the first time in over a year. She was ready and we were MORE than ready. I have to sit by her and hold her hand to get her to fall asleep. It took 2 hours the first night and has gotten less since.

This week at school they had a "teddy bear tea party" and she brought her Tangled Monkey...these were the pics they took and put on her facebook page. I thought she looked adorable.

Saturday morning we took her to YaYa so she could spend the night. They had a blast together.

While E was gone we worked our booties off on the house. We have the house completely cleaned, organized, etc except our spare bedroom which is about halfway done. We do still have a garage full of junk to go through but things are finally coming together. We've bought new furniture, completed projects, etc.

Saturday night we went on a double date with my friend/co-worker Brittany and her new boyfriend Tyler. We ate at my favorite Juanitas...it was a fabulous diet-cheat night. Afterwards we went to a burlesque show that a guy Travis works with manages. It was definitly a different experience...a fun night however.

Beauty and the Beast

2012-01-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

Essie has been DYING to go to the movies to see "Beauty and the Beast" since she saw the poster awhile back when we went to see Chipwrecked. The commercials all over TV have been adding to the excitement daily. Finally today was the day. This was our first 3D movie..she wasn't sure about the glasses at first but did better towards the end. She danced in the row for the most part! Her favorite was the Tangled short at the beginning...it was so cute I wish they had made it full length! I'd love a Tangled 2!

Our lil' Gymnast!

2012-01-13T15:53:00.000-08:00

We went ahead and signed up for gymnastics...Essie loved it and has begged everyday to go back. She was a TOTAL TURKEY the first class...running around like crazy, throwing fits, screaming, not listening. We were very unsure about going back but after several SERIOUS talks about her behavior Essie assured us she would "listen to mommy and daddy". She woke up this morning and said "'nastics today? Essie no run away. No scream. Sit on dot. Listen mommy/daddy". So we gave it a second chance and she did AMAZING...200x better than last time. She sat on her dot perfectly, listened to the teacher, tried new things, and only threw a fit when it was time to leave.

She did a backflip, several forward rolls, and walked across the balance beam all on her own! We were just bursting with pride. She even went to the front of the class to do her forward roll...she got a little stuck and needed a little help getting over though. :)

Two and a HALF!

2012-01-12T18:52:00.000-08:00

Essie you are TWO and a HALF??? Are you kidding me. It's not possible. We are loving you at this age. You are such a big girl and can hold conversations with us. You make us laugh constantly at your matter of fact ways and your literal-ness that you get from your Uncle Ryan.

You are still Disney Princess obsessed. Majorly. You are already planning your Tangled birthday party.

When we tell you about something we are going to do you say "Oh I EXCITED!!!". This is my favorite right now.

You love our new house and want to invite everyone you know over to play in your new yellow room.

You are doing pretty good on potty training...you go all day at school without accidents but it's a different story at home.

You love school but never want to go. Every day you say "No school, okay?" but then you are fine once you get there. You love your teachers and tell us you have "best friends". This makes my heart smile.

You started gymnastics and L.O.V.E. it!

You say "I lover" for "I love you".

You still say "I wanna hold you" when you want us to pick you up. I hope this doesn't change anytime soon.

You give a variety of different kisses...princess kisses, tinkerbell kisses, toodles kisses. They are all the best.

You ask to go to Branson alot...I guess you had fun when we went at Christmas.

You spell your name "E.S.E". but you tell everyone you are "Essie Care House". You know your mommy and daddy's real names and love to yell "Travis House" at your daddy to get his attention.

You are TERRIFIED of anyone in costume.

We cannot believe you will be 3 in 6 months! It's pure craziness how fast you are growing and changing. We love you more than anything...more and more each day!

How the GOALS are going...

2012-01-08T19:06:00.000-08:00

I feel we've been doing fairly well on our '12 goals. We had hoped to spend the weekend knocking out the house but we've slacked more than anything. We watched the HOGS win the Cotton Bowl on Friday night and we are watching the RedWolves (our Alma Mater) play in the GoDaddy Bowl right now. We did get about 6 boxes unpacked Saturday night along with Essie's room organized somewhat.

I have lost 7 pounds since Jan. 1st and accidentally started a Biggest Loser competition at my school. I casually mentioned it during lunch one day and that turned into an afterschool meeting with 26 people signing up! We have a pot of $520 at stake right now! Our first weigh in is Monday to establish our base weight and we will weigh in every Friday following that until Spring Break.

We've had 3 no spend days so far. I think that's pretty good. It's alot harder than we anticipated. We have to communicate on when to buy gas, when Travis' buys lunch or packs it, etc.

Just for fun...here are a few pics of our week. It's been so warm we enjoyed some chalk time outside.

I made my first Pinterest project at our new house...I love him....he is just adorable!

"NASTICS" and those hogs

2012-01-06T16:04:00.000-08:00

Last night we took Essie to a free preview class at our local gymnastics place. She was beyond excited. She did "okay". She wanted to do only one thing...jump on the trampoline. She would NOT do anything else AT ALL. I'm thinking we are going ahead and signing up and hoping she gets over the newness and will participate more. She sure misses kindermusik and hopefully this will give her something to look forward to each week.

We (like all other Arkansans) are gearing up for the Cotton Bowl. We all wore our HOGS gear to school/work today.

it's buttah!

2012-01-03T18:48:00.000-08:00

We sold a lot of our furniture when we moved into the apartment because we wanted a fresh start and we didn't want to move it all. Travis and I spent Monday furniture shopping...we have looked on and off the past few weeks but without much luck. We were able to find a new dining table/chairs. We bought some of Paula Deen's furniture...yes we did. I loved the chunkiness and the mix and match aspect.

We bought this table in the tabacco color...

and these chairs in the linen color.

We also found a media cabinet to put our big tv on since our fireplace won't hold it and we've pretty much decided on a couch too.

We have no idea what we are going to do in the back room yet but we will need a few pieces for there too!

We {heart} Craftsman!

2012-01-02T18:48:00.000-08:00

One thing we noticed while looking at the thousand houses over the past six months was that we LOVE Craftsman style homes. Love. Love. Love. We even looked at some really old homes that were craftsman. When we saw this house we knew instantly...

this was our new home. It was only a matter of days and we had a contract on it! We got a fabulous deal on it as well since it's been on the market for so long! Even though it is 6 years old it looks brand new and has so many unique qualities about it.

We are far from ready to reveal it but here is a few sneaky peeks!

This is our mantle in the main living room...it has these lovely stained sconces on either side...love. The fireplace is see-thru to the back room so we have another mantle back there as well.

This is one of my favorite rooms in the whole house...our half bath. I love the color, beadboards, tile floor, and ceiling. Such cute details!

12 Goals for 2012...

2012-01-01T08:50:00.000-08:00

I am determined to make 2012 a good year for us...so here are my 12 goals for 2012!

1. Get settled. We've been unsettled for pretty much 2 years. I want to get our new house together, get rid of all our old junk, start fresh....

2. I saw this one over on Allison's blog...love it! Have 100 NO SPEND days where we spend absolutely nothing on those days! I'm going to make a little chart to put somewhere to keep up with this one for us. I'm very curious to see if we can do it!

3. Complete the potty training process with Essie...she does much better at school so I know it's our fault. We are honestly being lazy about it and we need to go full force and get her out of those pull ups.

4. Be a better friend.

5. Read at least 3 books. The first one is sitting on my nightstand ready to go.."The Hunger Games". Yes I am late coming to the Hunger Games party but I am determined to get caught up before the movie comes out!

6. Find a church home.

7. Get caught up on Essie's photo books...create a blog book too!

8. Start new family traditions...Friday night movie night, Family Game night, etc.

9. Keep my car clean. It's always a mess-inside and out.

10. Do something nice/unexpected for/with my students more often. I have such a wonderful opportunity as a Kindergarten teacher to set them on the right path in education!

11. Get my wisdom teeth out...rediculous I know but I've been putting it off for years!

12. Get healthy. So cliche but I'm wanting to add onto our family in the near future and I need to be in better health to do it.

Those are my goals...I would love to accomplish them all...let's see how this year goes!

2009 & 2011

2011-12-31T18:20:00.000-08:00

What a difference two years makes!

Our Christmas

2011-12-31T10:52:00.000-08:00

After we got home from Batesville we had to get busy so we could get ready for our family's Christmas! She spread out some more reindeer food of course...

We didn't get Essie to bed until midnight since she was still so riled up! Then Travis and I stayed up til 4 am getting her big Santa gift put together...a huge dollhouse. She asked for a princess castle but for cheaper we were able to get a wooden, much nicer, much bigger one. When Essie got up she ran straight to the tree and grabbed a gift and tore into it!

She was so excited and got a ton of Princess stuff.

We saved the big gift til the end and read her the note Santa left her that told her that her big surprise was in her room and BOBIS was waiting for her there. She had to kiss BOBIS goodbye so he could fly back to the North Pole! Essie loved her new doll house and played with it off and on all day!

Let's catch up...

2011-12-30T18:50:00.000-08:00

We've had the BUSIEST last few weeks EVER. We wrapped up Thanksgiving in just enough time to set up a little small tree at our apartment. Essie enjoyed decorating the tree so much and we met our newest friend our Elf on the Shelf whom Essie named BOBIS.

We started the packing process and spent weekends in Jonesboro packing up our house. On December 14th we got approval to occupy our new house early so we loaded up a small UHAUL trailer and trucks and emptied out our apartment for the most part. We were so glad to spend our first night in our new house and to get out of that cramped apartment!

Friday Dec. 16th we headed to Branson to spend Christmas with Travis' family. We all got hotel rooms next door to each other. The kids (and adults) decorated a foam Christmas tree and snowmen for decorations. We saw an AMAZING animal show and Uncle Tim got called up on stage to race a pig in a maze! We also let the kiddos open presents and spent the evening (along with every other crazy person in the world) at Silver Dollar City.

As soon as we got home on Sunday we had to clean out the apartment and move completely out of it...We got finished late Sunday night. Travis injured his back sometime over the weekend and was pretty much down for the rest of the week. We spent Monday at the doctor, picking up the biggest UHAUL they make, and loading it up. Thankfully we were able to hire some help to get us loaded up since Trav was unable to walk.

Tuesday Travis' dad came up with an additional trailer since we filled the big truck and we finished loading up and headed home to our new house. We finished unloading the UHAUL with lots of help and crashed into a heap. Travis worked Wednesday and Thursday while I tried to get unpacked. Thursday night YaYa came down to help us paint Essie's new room..we are painting the top half "Belle's dress" yellow and going to put beadboard on the bottom.

Friday we closed on both homes! We officially sold our house and bought our new one! We also headed to Batesville to spend Christmas with my family. Saturday we made Reindeer food for Essie to spread in the yard. She had been complaining of her shoulder hurting off and on all day and it seemed to get a lot worse at dinner so we made our annual Christmas trip to the ER...they took xrays and said she was fine. So we came home, got into jammies, and went to bed to get ready to Santa!

Christmas morning we celebrated Christmas with my family...Essie was so into it this year and got so many great things!

Thanksgiving and Wooo Pig Soooooie

2011-11-25T11:47:00.000-08:00

We went to Pine Bluff to spend Thanksgiving with Travis' family...

Essie helped aunt YaYa and Benny make no bake cookies...she just couldn't resist licking the peanut butter container...

Today we are getting ready to call those HOGS...wooooo pig sooooooie!!!

The BEST Christmas gift EVER!

2011-11-21T19:00:00.000-08:00

Apartment living has been rough on us the past four months...and each day we've paitently (okay....not so patiently) waited for our house to sell. We've had TONS of lookers. Rumors of offers yet nothing. So we made a drastic decision to fire our realtor. A week later we were showing it and they made an offer, we countered and they accepted! We officially have a contract on our house! Thank you Jesus! AND to top that off we've looked at dozens and dozens of houses and found our new house...and we have a contract on that as well! So we are in the process of paperwork, appraisals, inspections, etc. Our closing date right now is set for December 23rd. We are hoping and praying we can close early however! Please continue to pray that everything goes smoothly!

Otherwise...here is what we've been up to lately...

Essie had her hair cut finally!!! She was soooo good the whole time and she looks so much older!

We also had Cooper's first birthday party this past weekend! It was "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" themed...he is such an adorable little guy!

Professional Christmas Pictures

2011-11-20T18:23:00.000-08:00

Micellaneous Fun!

2011-11-13T19:51:00.000-08:00

We've had a fun, crazy, busy few past weeks! Here are a few pics to play catch up!

We've made some Thanksgiving crafts....

Essie had her first homework assignment to disguise this turkey...she chose Rapunzel OF COURSE!

We went to an ASU game this past weekend...we are UNDEFEATED in conference and it was an amazing game. It was cloudy, windy, and cold but we won! And Essie was so good the whole time...she ate 2 whole boxes of popcorn and danced in the aisle. There was a "streaker" at the game...he wasn't naked but it was hilarious! After the game Essie loved running all over the practice field.

A very "TANGLED" Halloween!

2011-11-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

Halloween Eve we made a festive "Jack'O'Pizza", carved and painted pumpkins, roasted pumpkin seeds, and rode our Belle quad up and down the hallway while we laughed hysterically!

We chose the Tangled theme for costume this year since this past year has been pretty full of Rapunzel! My parents bought Essie the Disney store dress, shoes, and light up wand. I will say the quality of the Disney store dresses is amazingly better than those you can buy at walmart!

Essie looked so beautiful in her dress. She wouldn't wear the braided headband my dad and I made for her so I clipped some yellow ribbons into her ponytail. My dad also made this super cute Pascal out of pipecleaners to ride on her shoulder. He also made the magic golden flower for her to carry!

Travis found some things at the Goodwill that worked for a Flynn Rider costume. I thought he looked pretty darn good! I had planned on wearing a red cape/black wig and going as Mother Gothel or "Ever" as Essie calls her. But when I put it on she freaked out and yelled "no mommy! Take it off!". Knowing she was already going to be on edge I opted out of wearing it.

At first she was quite afraid of trick or treating but once she realized she was getting candy AND compliments she was all about it!

Ghosts of Halloween Past!

2011-10-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

I love looking back at old Halloween photos to see how much our life has changed in the past few years.

Let's start back in 2008...I was preggo with Essie Claire only by a few weeks in this pic! The pups were RedWolves fans that year!

Then in 2009 we had our lil cutesie Monkey with two bananas!

2010 was the year of the bumblebee and our first real trick or treating adventure!

This year we are gearing up for all things TANGLED! We have the dress, the hair, Pascal, the magical yellow flower, Flynn, and even Mother Gothel! I cannot wait for trick or treating tomorrow!

fashionista and lots of randomness

2011-10-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

We have quite a little fashionista on our hands.

The other night she wanted to pick out her pajamas. So I let her. And she chose a princess night gown with Belle socks and gold glitter shoes.

This past Thursday was purple day at her school so she looked ADORABLE in her purple dress, boots, and big bow!

Her school is also having a superhero themed Fall Festival so we dug out this Batgirl costume from her dress up tub...we tried it on just to make sure it fit....

And here is her very first school picture! I think it turned out so cute.

Friday night our friends "RaRa", "Matt-Matt", and "Poopah" came to visit! They got her really late friday night. Essie tried very hard to wait up but didn't make it. Yes, she had one shoe on...she's obsessed with shoes right now.

Saturday morning we all got up (yest we all stayed at our 600 sq ft apartment) and went to Stoby's for breakfast.

Then we went a town over to the pumpkin patch. I got only a few pics then my camera died so I will do an official pumpkin patch post once Sarah sends me her pics!

Then Sarah and I made Cooper's smash cake for his one year pictures..I can't believe he is going to be one next month! His party is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed..I thought we did a pretty good job! He is already walking around....Essie was so excited she yelled "Poopah walking!".

Then Saturday afternoon we all drove to Heber for a birthday party. It was such a cute party and the kids had a blast jumping in the bounce house! After all that excitement this was Essie on the way home...

Essie. Essie. Essie.

2011-09-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

I stopped doing Essie's monthly posts once she turned two..I couldn't imagine doing the whole "look who's 28 months today" mess anymore. But it makes me sad to not write about her special happening each month. So here is a little post all about Essie and what she's up to these days!

Essie Claire you are currently almost 27 months old! You weigh 26 pounds and you are 36 inches tall! You are such a growing girl and you amaze us constantly.

You love daycare. This makes momma and daddy very happy. You have become so independent and social since you started! You have a "boyfriend" Jack and you tell us each day who you played with outside. Your teachers tell us you love to slide and that you are very funny at school.

You love to sing. Right now you sing "ABC's" and "Twinkle Twinkle" pretty much exclusively! You quite often combine the two in fact!

You love to hear us read bedtime stories. You even have started to "read" them to us and you are so good at making up words to the books when you don't know the real words!

You are sooooo dang funny. We laugh at you all the darn time. Last night I was applying medicine to your eye (you were fighting it) so I said "Essie Claire. What did the doctor say?". Your matter of fact, innocent response was "No more Monkeys jumping on the bed!". :)

You love to dress up and want a dress that twirls out when you spin. You give every single dress a "spin test" and get quite upset if the dress doesn't flare out!

You can count to 15.

You have been sassy free for a month or so now. You never mention your sassy or the sassy monkey unless you meet a new stranger. Then for some odd reason you insist on telling them "the monkey took my sassy." Your teeth have completely changed since you stopped taking the sassy...you look like such a big girl!

You love to play on our cell phones and can work them completely on your own..you amaze us!

You say "I wanna hold you" when you want us to pick you up. I hope you don't change this anytime soon.

You are beginning to develop fears. You say "I scared Razorbacks" and "I scared beeeitches" (witches). You saw a big blowup Razorback that frightened you one day and a witch at a parade. Although you are afraid of the Razorbacks you can really call those hogs!

You say "oh sorry" all the time. If you think you've done something wrong you always say it.

You are beginning to clean up after yourself really well. Thank you daycare.

You love to say "MINE!" and "Stop It!" Thank you daycare.

You pee-pee on the potty consistently!

You eat fresh apples for breakfast every single morning and you love "donut friday". The other day you asked if it was "Donut friday". We said no so you said "okay, popcorn Saturday?!" haha.

You are the center of our world and we love you so very much!

a parade, princesses, and a teaparty

2011-09-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

Tuesday afternoon was the Faulkner County Fair parade. Each elementary school makes a float and the teachers walk in the parade. The theme was "Movie Madness" and there were so many cute floats! I loved seeing our students along the route as we walked! Right at the end I saw Essie and Travis so I got to watch the rest of the parade with them. Essie loved it but was scared of the witches she saw.

Thursday afternoon I got a call from Essie's school that she was running fever and had a really bad diaper accident so I left at lunch and picked her up. She also has a terrible stye on her eye that will not go away, a cough, a runny nose, and poor thing fell on the slide at school and busted her top lip! So we had a much needed doctor's appointment. Doesn't she look just pititful when I picked her up?

Friday Night we had tickets to go see "Disney Live the Tale of Three Princesses". Essie chose to dress at Snow White again (along with a million other little girls!). She had a blast and was mesmorized the wholel time. She was sooooo into it. It had Cinderella, Snow White, Belle and of course Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy.

Then this morning she wanted to have a tea party so she set herself up......

then we thought she needed a few friends to share her party with!

Future Fuel Picnic

2011-09-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to Batesville for my dad's company picnic. We always love going and Essie is finally the age to enjoy it.

Here are a few pictures of previous years:
2010...

2009...

Now back to this year. We could NOT believe Essie was not afraid of the bounce houses...she's been TERRIFIED of them up until this!

Our "Big House"

2011-09-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our "Big House", our temporary home...

sneaky monkey

2011-09-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we drove down to Little Rock to meet Aunt YaYa and go to the zoo. First we had planned to use some coupons we had at Juanitas but it was closed. :( so we stopped at the Clinton Museum store and Essie wanted to drive the truck in there. I found some Bill and Hillary cookie cutters for a dollar so I was majorly pumped!

Essie had a blast at the zoo. She was all into the animals. We didn't even have a stroller...she walked the majority and we carried her some too. She loved the giraffes so much. They were right next to us! She did NOT like thier long tongues. She kept saying "Eeeww". Once we left she got a stuffed animal and she picked out a stuffed giraffe she named "eeewwwwweee".

A little while back I saw this picture on Ashley's Avenue blog and I had the idea to show this to Essie and tell her the "monkey got her sassy" at the zoo. So that's what we did. And she's been sassy free for over 24 hours now. She seems okay with it and she wants to see the picture of the monkey all the time.

And after the zoo we drove down to Pine Bluff to visit with Meemaw and Peepaw and Uncle Jim and Aunt Jane. Essie had a blast and did NOT want to leave.

We got home late last night and this morning Essie woke up with both eyes almost completed swollen shut. So I stayed home and took her to the doctor. They said it was allergies and she had a stye on one eye.

a princess, a tummy bug, a few projects

2011-09-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

So we have a real princess on our hands these days... she wants to wear her snow white consignment find quite often. She wore it last weekend when we met up with Travis' family in Little Rock. Essie loved hangin with her big cousins!

Our house has been hit with the tummy bug full force. We got called from Essie's daycare Friday that she was sick and needed to be picked up. So Travis got her and by Saturday he was reallllly sick with it. Es and I spent the day making tents and cleaning.

Today Travis felt better thankfully! (Just hoping I'm not next to get the nasty bug). I made Essie a box dollhouse complete with doll bed. It's a Nutrigrain box and an Easy Mac box wrapped in red duct tape! hahah.

Essie thought it was too short for Cinderella so i had to add another box...so now it's an EXTRA long twin! She's played with it all night though! And she keeps climbing into her box and pretending to be "Alice" when she was stuck in the rabbit's house!

She got to pick out her own outfit today and she chose her new (consignment) fluff rockstar dress and new (consignment) pink cowboy boots.

I've been cooking all day. I have made 3 tubs of hamburger meat for spaghetti, two of taco meat, three of shredded chicken, a bag full of baked potatoes all for the freezer! I even made homemade mashed potatoes and beef stroganoff for dinner!

A DECADE

2011-09-01T05:29:00.000-07:00

That's how long Travis and I have been together. A solid decade today. 10 years ago we officially started dating after working together for the summer...

We've had a very eventful, bumpy, lovely, exciting 10 years. Here are a few pics of our past decade together!

Travis is my other half and without him I'd be lost...he is THE most wonderful daddy to EClaire. Here's to the next 50...

Essie's new Glasses!

2011-08-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

Essie had her checkup at Children's to check her eyesight, etc for her Duane's syndrome today. I didn't get to go since it's still early to leave my little ones so Trav got to tackle it on my own. Trav said they said everything looked great and she definitely has Duane's syndrom (duh). Travis did send me a few pics of her today...

Here she is wearing 3D goggles...there were 3D pictures on the book of flies and she kept trying to grab at them.

And here she is in her new fancy schmancy sunglasses since they dilated her eyes. She was so proud of them and even wore them into school this afternoon!

The whole ordeal wore her plum out...

Essie's big day

2011-08-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

Thursday night the tummy bug that was floating around Essie's school hit her hard. She was really not feeling well.

So sadly we cancelled our trip to Jonesboro for sweet Adalyn's birthday party. My parents were missing Essie badly so they came down to see her. They ended up taking her to my aunt Janet's house to visit so Travis and I could do some consigment shopping. E got to to jump on the trampoline for the first time! She was amazing!

We found some really cute finds at consignment too! I was tickled at our small loot!

Then tonight our little stinker found nailpolish, opened it and painted her own nails. Then asked me to paint her toes blue. I did then she proceeded to crawl across the toilet lid and leave blue streaks! Ahhh! Such a mess.

And we've had some exciting news in our house...Essie has started pee-peeing on the potty! We are so proud of her!

The Great Sassy Fairy Failure

2011-08-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

Essie hasn't been taking her "sassy" at school all week and she's not shown much interest in it at home (except bedtime) so we thought yesterday we would do the "sassy fairy". Last night we had Essie put all her sassies into a bag...

and take them outside to leave for the fairy.

She did okay...fussed some but fell asleep decently. At 1 am she awoke in what looked like night terrors. She was flailing, kicking, screaming, flopping, hitting us. She was uncosolable. She wasn't letting us hold her or soothe her. I thought maybe letting her see her "big girl gift" the fairy left her would do the trick. So at one am we walked into the living room and onto the porch to find this...princess carriage and Belle doll. Her face was precious she was so excited. She played for a little bit and we allowed her to go back to bed with Belle.

She was MISERABLE. She flopped, flipped, moaned, cried, fussed. She complained about her tag in her gown, her bootie hurt, her hand hurt, her ear hurt, her hair hurt. She was just plain miserable. She didn't ask for her sassy but it was evident she was having a very hard time coping without it. She was unable to rest and settle down. Around 2 am I gave in and gave it to her. Immediately she was still and fell right asleep.

I cannot watch my baby girl suffer and she is not ready to give up her comfort item yet. That's okay...we tried. She tried really hard too. She does pretty much only get it at night and only keeps it in her mouth until she falls asleep so we are okay with letting her have it for now.

TWO WEEKS??!!!

2011-08-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

Holy smokes? I've not updated in almost TWO WEEKS? Life has been CRAZY at best. First of all...here are some pics of Essie's luau. She is loving "school" and never cries.

And here are some random pics from my cell phone:

Essie and her daddy eating sushi.

And some pics of my classroom on "Meet and Greet" night.

Today is my 2nd day of school...I am EXHAUSTED. Worn plum out. Kindergarten is a blast but it is very challenging. The first day was an eye opener.

We've also been looking at houses...we got word from our realtor that we could possibly expect an offer this week so we really need to decide on a house. We looked at 6 houses tonight (after my full day of kindergarten...yes I'm crazy) and have probably looked at nearly 40 all together. It's so hard. One of the houses we looked at today had a round turret (tower looking) front and Essie was convinced it was "Tangled home". She kept yelling "Rapunzel let down your haaaaair!". She was also afraid "Ever" (mother gothel) was inside and she wasn't so sure she wanted to go in! :)

Life in Conway so far

2011-08-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

My camera is broken so I've not taken pictues in so long. Here are some from my phone (hence the terrible quality).
Life in Conway has been busy so far. We are constantly running/doing/working. I'm trying to get my classroom ready and learn the town! Essie is adjusting extremely well to daycare and is really enjoying it. She has a luau there Friday afternoon that I am just so excited about! I am making cupcakes and a veggie tray to take!

Essie loves our "Big House". She calls the living room her "bedroom" since her toys are in there. She plays all night long. We've tried having her wear her Abby slippers to soften her jumps for the sanity of our downstairs neighbors.

Monday was my last day off sinceI'm in training everyday until school starts. My classroom is coming along..I'm not quite done. School starts in a week and a half! Yikes!

It's been so terribly HOT here...miserable!

I had a meeting today and I got my nametag, signed up for insurance, etc. So I'm officially a Conway teacher!

Travis' 10 year class reunion

2011-07-31T08:12:00.000-07:00

After work on Friday we all headed out to Batesville for Travis' 10 year class reunion. Friday night was a meet and greet and Saturday was a family picnic and the formal dinner. We had a great time and Trav loved catching up with old friends.

First Day of Daycare..

2011-07-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

Today was Essie's first day of daycare. I made her teachers little "back to school" gifts of mason jars filled with M & M's with a Sonic giftcard attached. I was hoping it screamed "be nice to my baby girl". She was very excited for her first day of school. She was even happy (well bribed) to sit and take a few pics.

I wish I could say her day went well. I called twice and was told she was "fine". But when I opened the door to pick her up she saw me, fell to pieces, and bawled while running to me. It broke my heart. Her teacher said she had been crying on and off all day. Essie refused to leave her blanket there and has told me that she doesn't want to go back. She wants to stay at the "big house". That's what she calls our new apartment...I think she thinks the whole complex is ours! I know its going to be ugly tomorrow but I'm hoping with time things will get better.

Speaking of our BIG HOUSE...here are a few pics of our apartment. We've added more to the living room so I'll take more pics later of it.

And of our empty house. We went back this weekend to get it ready to show and list with an agent.

We've moved

2011-07-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we loaded up the Jeep, a truck, and small trailer and headed to our new "temporary home" in Conway. We found (begged, pleaded) with some people to let us rent an apartment month to month. Most placed laughed at me since we are moving to a 3 college town during move-in season. So we will be calling a very nice, surprisingly spacious 671 sq. ft, one bedroom apartment home for the next few months until our house sells! We are already unpacked and settling in. Essie's asked to "go home" a handful of times but has also thanked us for her "new house" too. She seems to be adjusting okay. We've just got to work on her not running/screaming all the time since we have people living all around us and below us. And the dogs to to not bark at every little noise...apartment living will be challenging. But our family is back together living under the same roof for the first time in 6 months! I will update pics of our new "home" soon!

2 Year Old Checkup and Stats

2011-07-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

Today I took Essie to her 24 month checkup! They had to prick her finger to get her iron/lead levels. She giggled during that part! She was also behind on her HepA shots so she got one shot which she did NOT giggle at. It was awful. But she quickly got happy again when she realized she was getting a sucker and sticker. She said she wanted a Snow White sticker and by chance she got exactly what she wanted! The DR said she looked great...we are really going to miss him once we move!

She weighed 25 pounds (45th percentile).
She is 34.5 inches long (75th)
Her head is 19 inches (75th)

She gained 5 pounds and 5 inches from her 1 year checkup!

Can You Tell Me How to Get...

2011-07-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

how to get....to Essie's 2nd Birthday Party???!!!

Today we had Essie's 2nd birthday party at Kindermusik. She loves Kindermusik and I loved the idea of someone else "running the show" for me! We chose to do a Sesame Street theme and I've been working the last several months on getting it ready and planned. Our life has been consumed with all things Sesame Street and Elmo since she was about 7 months old. She's starting to move away from Sesame Street and gravitate toward Princesses but I'm so glad we got to celebrate the Sesame Street Season of our life. I had a ton of fun with this party and I could've done so much more but time didn't allow it.

At Kindermusik there is a side room set up for parties that we got to decorate. Travis' sister (Aunt Yaya) made the super cute cake. Aren't the characters just adorable?

The Food Table: We served Oscar's DirtCake, Elmo's Goldfish, Big Bird's Teddy Bears, Counts 2s (jello jigglers), Abby's Wands (chocolate pretzels), Rosita's Mexican Layer Dip, Telly's Triangle Chips, Cookies Cookies, Bert & Ernie's PB& J Duckies. We found wooden pieces at Hobby Lobby to make the Sesame Street Lamp-posts and I used Photoshop to make the food tags. I used wrapping paper from Target as my table runner and we made a banner using my Promethean (smartboard) at school. I also made a banner using her monthly pictures and strung it along the table front.

The gift table: I made a collage print of pics of essie and Elmo throughout the last two years. We also had guests sign the Little Goldenbook "The Monster at the end of this book".

On the "eatin" table: I made gift bags to resemble the characters by cutting paper and gluing it to the fronts. Each gift bag held an Elmo or Cookie Monster apron (made by the hubster), goldfish crackers, m&m's, an Elmo ring, and party blower thingy. Each kiddo had a personalized Sesame Street Lamp-post place setting as well.

Mrs. Mac had planned an hour full of fun Sesame Street activities with the kids. They played drums in Elmo's marching band, played with scarves, bilibos, parachutes, stickhorses, etc. It was all set to Sesame Street songs! She even read an Elmo book that Essie loved! The kids had a blast and were worn out!

After that it was time to EAT, blow out candles, and cut the cake!!!

After that Essie got to open all her presents!

After the party she crashed and took a MUCH NEEDED 3 hour nap! Thank you so much to all who came and spent their Saturday with us celebrating!

Essie's family Birthday Party!

2011-07-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

We decided to do a low-key family gathering for Essie's real birthday. Both sets of grandparents and her cousin Haley came over to celebrate. We ordered pizza and Nana made an adorable Cookie Monster Cake. We forgot to buy candles for her cake so she blew out two pillar candles! She loved it and kept asking us for "more" so we did it three times! She opened gifts and her favorite hands down were some Disney Princess figurine sets. Meemaw made her a beautiful princess quilt for her new bedroom and her peepaw made her an amazing princess tower shelf for her new dolls. She loved opening gifts so much that she shreiked and screamed and said "OH MY" at each present!

24 MONTHS...TWO YEARS OLD!

2011-07-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Essie Claire HOW did this happen? I swear I was just planning your FIRST birthday...how can I be planning your second already? Here is what is up in your TWO year old world right now!

You are full of personality! You make us laugh so hard every single day. You say the funnies things and I cannot get enough of you.
You are all about Princesses right now. You play with princess dolls, watch princess movies, wear princess clothes, and sing princess songs! We recently bought you the Tangled soundtrack that you demand we listen to in the car. You sing at the top of your lungs and we love it!
You also are full of two year old tantrums. If you get mad you lick (bite), throw things, and lay in the floor. You can go from sweet and lovable to full tantrum in no time flat!
You are beginning to have an opinion on what you wear, what you eat, where you go, etc.
You can count to 11 but always leave out #8.
You can tell your age but sometimes you fib and say you are 4 or 5.
You love to have your fingernails/toenails painted!
You can say your whole name. Essie Claire HouSH.
I love to hear you say "waffle".
You love to eat "nunnies" from McDonalds. You eat them so fast I have to stick them into the vents of the car to cool them quickly.
I have NO idea what you weigh or how tall you are. You have your 2 year old checkup on Monday so I will update then!
You are the light of our lives and we cannot get enough of your wittiness! We love you soooo much!

last day as a ONE year old!

2011-07-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well today was Essie's last day as a ONE year old! I cannot believe my baby is going to be TWO tomorrow! She insisted on wearing Minnie Mouse from head to toe but trying to get a picture was insanely difficult!

I had a a hair appointment today so Essie had a playdate at her friend Carly's house. She had a blast! They played so well together!

We have a full day of birthday activities planned for tomorrow! Whoohoo!

Casualty & a Princess

2011-07-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

So the first thing I decided I wanted to make for Essie's Sesame party was Oscar's DirtCake. I decided to make Oreo ball Oscars to put into each individual dirtcake cup as well. Yesterday I decided to go ahead and make them to ge them out of the way. It would be something easy and quick...no biggie. I've made thousands of oreo balls/pops. Hobby Lobby was out of green candy melts so I knew I was going to have to dye my white ones. I researched it online and decided it would be best to use my gel/paste dye. I made the oreo balls, dipped oreo cookies into gray chocolate (made from mixing some white/black melts) to make Oscar's trash can hat, popped them into the freezer so I could make my green chocolate. I melted it and added a small amount of green and the whole thing clumped and hardened as if I had added water! I freaked. I had everything else made so I decided to call around to see if I could find the green melts anywhere. Thankfully the local cake store had some so Essie and I drove all the way across town to get them. I left the balls and "hats" in the freeze while I was gone. Since I knew they would expand as they warmed up I took them out of the freezer and let them warm up before dipping. I dipped them, attached the hats, and let them harden. I made royal icing to add Oscar's lil sweet face. After they had hardened I piped on his eyes, mouth, and furry eyebrows. I let that dry and when I went to check on it found that each one had cracked/and popped. Oscar's face has slid off of many of them. Ugh. I spent over 4 hours on these guys so they will be used at her party! It's a good thing Oscar's not a handsome fella anyway!

And just because I thought these were cute...

sleeping beauty (well Belle) and party prep!

2011-07-05T17:19:00.000-07:00

I found this cute Belle shirt at KMart on 50% off. Essie looooooves it and I can tell she feels like a true princess in it. After her nap she was so giggly and smiley. Then she got wild and started pulling the cushions off the couch so she could jump/roll around.

There are only 3 days til her birthday! We are having an informal family gathering at our house on her actual birthday night. We are going to order pizza and just hang out. I did decorate the house just a smidge. I couldn't resist. My friend Amy gave me leftover decorations from her lil one's party so I used them at our house.

I've set our office up as party central for all the goodies for her big party! Her party is only 4 days away and we have a lot to get done and lots of cooking to do.

I worked on one of her goodies for 4 hours today for it only to turn into a party-tastrophe. I will post pics of my disaster tomorrow...so sad.

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T20:36:00.000-07:00

After spending a long weekend in Batesville with my parents we decided to come home today and get a few things done for Essie's birthday and spend the 4th as our lil family. We enjoyed just a few pop-pops and Essie was determined on eating "pop pop" while she watched them! She liked them but the really loud ones scared her somewhat. You can also see her new "boo-boo's". She fell and skinned her knees and toes up today. :(

wordless weekend

2011-07-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

Our Tuesday...

2011-06-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

Kelly's Korner is doing a "in the life of" weeklong post that details her day at home with her girls. Since our summers are completely different than the rest of the year I thought we would do it today! And because I'm living as a single mom these days....I want to remember these days since we will be living as a family of three again soon.

We woke up at 9:30 this morning...don't judge. We didnt go to bed until midnight last night! I had set my alarm at 7 for us to get up and go to the library but it was dark and stormy so I turned it off and we snoozed a little longer!

I fixed some oatmeal for Essie and let her sit on our bed and eat it while she watched her new fave movie "Snow White". I have just realized her love of oatmeal and she ate the whole bowl. She thought she was pretty special getting to eat in the bed like that! She loves Snow white and signs "I ho, I ho" and "dig, dig, did". She calls the evil witch a "bad guy". I love that.

I showered and got ready and then got her ready.

11:00 we took the dogs to get groomed. Our groomer just lives a little bit away so it didn't take long to get there. Essie cried when we dropped them off and worried about them the rest of the day. She kept saying "maggie mae are ya??".

After we dropped the dogs off we went to the mall to get a few things. Our first stop was Barnes and Noble. Essie looooves that store and never wants to leave. They have a Thomas the Train table set up and she plays on it for the longest time. I let her pick out one book and she chose a book that is both Sleeping Beauty and Tiana. I bought Dr. Suess's "Happy Birthday to You". Travis and I are going to write a little note in it to her every year and then give it to her on her 18th birthday! I just wish I had thought of this last year so we could've written in it for her first birthday! We also plan to read it to her every year as well! I also picked up a little Sesame Street book to have the guests of her birthday party sign. She threw a fit when I made her leave. Her first of many fits to come.

`
Afterwards I had the DUMB idea to walk down to the other end of the mall to Target. I didn't have the stroller (not that Essie likes to stay in it anyway). Essie is going through a terrible, awful phase where she wants to be carried. She pitches one heck of a fit if we try to put her down. I mean flinging herself on the ground, kicking and screaming. So anyway, I carried her heavyself and decided to stop in Children's Place to check out clearance. I ran into my sweet friend Beth there and her two precious girls! We stayed approximately four seconds since Essie laid in the floor, threw a fit, and grabbed hair accessories off the shelf and flung them. I gave in and carried her the rest of the way. We also ran into her bff Presley on the way down. Once we got to Target I was able to put her in the cart (THANK GOD since my arm was falling off). I stopped by the snackbar and got her some popcorn to keep her happy. I had just a few things to pick up and we were on our way out. I was determined to NOT carry her the way back. I had popcorn, drink, four bags and my purse. I was going to tough it out and MAKE HER WALK. Well...the moment I sat her down in Target she fell out, screaming. I walked off and headed out the doors. She followed (SCREAMING, CRYING). I tried to hold her hand and she fell out AGAIN. Again I walk off and she runs, screaming, crying, HYSTERICAL. At this point we are into the mall and she is causing a scene. People are staring, however I am determined however to keep on and teach her a lesson. We make it over halfway back to the car when she really REALLY begins to show her true diva. She flings herself on the ground, tears flowing, screaming. I see a little old lady shake her head at me and point. I give in. Pick the screaming child up and carry her (with everything else) the rest of the way. By the time I got to the Jeep I was exhausted both physically and mentally.

Next we head over to the glass shop to see if the chip/crack in my windshield can be repaired. We sit in the waiting room for over 30 minutes to find out it has to be replaced. Ugh. So we leave with our cracked windshield for now. I ran through McDonalds on the way home since Essie was begging for some "nunnies". She ate in the car on the way home.

We got home around 3:00. I got caught up on emails, etc while Essie colored for a bit. I put her down for a late nap around 3:30 and she slept until 4:30 when I got called to pick up the dogs.

4:30 we load up and pick the dogs up from the groomers. Once we get home we just hang out and get ready for kindermusik.

5:45 we leave for Kindermusik. This is her favorite things in the whole world and she gets to see her best friends Presley and Carly (who i hear about EVERYDAY). We arrive and take our shoes off and sit in the circle and play with balls and books until time to start. We sing songs, play with jingle bells, egg shakers, parachutes, etc. I would be lying if I said she is well behaved during "Jing Jang". She likes to run off from the group and do her own thing. She didn't want to sit and participate today. Usually once she runs off then the others follow and the whole class is disrupted. One bright note was that she is usually TERRIFIED of the parachute and today she was all about it. She couldn't get enough! I was sad since today was her last day of Kindermusik! When it was time to go I took a pic of her and her bffs. She gave Presley the biggest hug and Presley kissed her on the cheek and then right on the lips. As we were getting in the car she yelled "BYE Presley!". Presley yelled back "BYE ESSIE". I drove off in tears.

Once we got home it was 7:30. Essie asked for "cars spaghettios" for dinner so I fixed her some along with mixed fruit and applesauce. I had a turkey sandwhich and watermelon. She ate really well.

Afterwards she took a bath with her mermaid doll and her Aurora doll. She loves bathtime right now and stays in there for the longest time. She won't go without those two dolls though!

9:00 we crawled in bed to watch some more Snow White! Hopefully she will drift off soon!

Cars 2 & helpin' daddy

2011-06-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon we took Essie to see Cars 2! She's been so excited for it since she's seen the preview for the past few weeks and all the merchandise in stores! She was pretty good and we made it all the way through. She ate her weight in "pop pop" too!

Today we showed our house again and afterwards Travis worked on our car while Essie did some consturction of her own...

playdate with "pooper"

2011-06-23T15:32:00.000-07:00

Sarah had inservice today so I got to keep Cooper all day! Essie was so excited she couldn't sleep last night! But it was a complete different story today when I was actually taking care of him. Let's just say someone was just a LIL jealous. (ok maybe ALOT). But I enjoyed having a little one around and spending time with such a CUTE lil boy!

Pinterest! aka my new obsession!

2011-06-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

I am OBSESSED with Pinterest. Like REALLY crazy nutso over it. I've spent the better part of Essie's naptime for the past two weeks browsing, getting creative ideas, and drooling. For those of you unaware of Pinterest it's a website for visually sharing ideas for decorating, food, design, party planning, teaching, fashion, etc. It's FABULOUS.
For instance...

I want to do this in my new classroom for a reading center...

And this is a fabulous princess room that I can dream/drool over for Essie

And this would be great to do for storage!

What a great breakfast idea!

And they even have holiday ideas! Whoohooo

As close to a vacation as we will get...

2011-06-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

So Essie and I spent Wednesday night and Thursday night in Batesville with my parents.

Then we headed over to Little Rock Friday morning to spend Father's Day weekend with Travis. Trav's parents came over as well. We went to dinner and I let Travis open his gifts early. Essie got him a Princess fishing pole (for him to take her fishing), she also painted him a picture for his office, and a personalized notepad for his office as well.

Saturday we got up and drove over to Conway to check out an antique store. We stopped by Pickles Gap so Essie could see the animals and ride the carousel. She also tore into some fudge!

We shopped around town, drove by our new house, and ate lunch at Marketplace. Essie was all over that Chocolate Mess!

Saturday night we went to the Big Dam Bridge to see it lit up at night and a walk. Essie was all over that bridge! We were super hot afterwards so we went by Orange Leaf for froyo! Essie loved their tiny chairs and tables.

Sunday we got up and went to the splash park in Jacksonville. It was so relaxing!

Essie and I had a nice long weekend away but we were both so ready to get home today! Once we walked in the door Essie kept saying "We HOME mommy!". :)

Mickey Mouse Pool

2011-06-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

Essie and I were getting bored being at home all day so we drove over to Batesville to spend a few days with my parents. I was imagining hanging by the pool for days. As soon as we got there I put us both in swimsuits and we headed to the pool. She FREAKED. TERRIFIED. Would not have any part of the pool. She screamed so loud I think I may have permanent hearing loss in one ear! So Pa came to her rescue and let her swing instead.

Haley was begging to go to the "Mickey Mouse" Pool. (Its called the Mickey Mouse pool since Mickey and Minnie are painted on the bottom). So I told her we would go on Thursday. I was thinking Essie would like it since she loves Mickey and Minnie. She called it the "OH TOOOOOODLES" pool. At first she would just put her feet in. Then she would let me hold her in the water. Then she sat on the ledge. And soon she was walking around the shallow end alone. And right before we left she threw a fit because I wouldn't let her jump off the highdive! hahahaha! Haley was a brave lil girl and jumped off the highdive several times! Being there brought back soooo many memories since I spent alot of time there as a kid...pretty much my entire 6th grade summer! In all that time I only jumped off the highdive once and swore I would neer do it again!

23 months old...

2011-06-11T17:20:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe my baby will be TWO in less than one month. Essie please slow down...
Here's what's new with you right now:

You are so very social. You talk all the time. You love to call us "silly momma and silly daddy". You laugh when we laugh. You jabber all the time and we understand the majority of what you say. You are great at holding a simple conversation as well. You amaze me with all your new words!
You can "count" to ten. You say "1, 2, 4, 6,7,9". You can "spell" your name. You say "EIE" so you forget your S's. You say most of your ABC's and love to sing.
You are obsessed with Disney Princesses. You play with your Princess Barbies hours each day. You watch the movies all the time as well and you only want to wear your Princess nightgown to bed.
You are excited about your ELMO birthday party and you jump up and down and scream everytime I work on party stuff.

You say you are TWO and put one finger up on each hand. I love that.
You are the funniest kiddo ever. You make us laugh every single day. You also are all about testing limits and our nerves! You can throw one heck of a fit from time to time!

Essie's 2nd Birthday Professional Pics!

2011-06-10T15:07:00.000-07:00

Etc.

2011-06-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

All I can say is What. A. Week. Whew... I forgot to post this earlier but on Thursday Cooper and "RaRa" came over and Essie and Cooper had a playdate! Then....Friday was my last day at FME...it was a sad day for me. Friday was also Essie's last day at Deena's. Deena has taken care of Essie since she was 12 weeks old and we are going to miss her something awful.

Saturday morning we all went to my classroom to clean it out. We loaded up my Jeep and Travis' truck with all my junk..it's crazy how much stuff you collect in education! And I did A LOT of purging beforehand!

Then that night all the lovely ladies I work with work had a farewell dinner for me. We went to my fav pizza place and it was nice to relax and laugh. They bought me a beautiful charm for my bracelet and a framed picture/mat they had all signed as well. Oh I will miss those ladies so much!

Sunday we had to show the house two times. Then my friend Allison brought over this cutie patootie. Travis' sister is adopting her...her name is LuLu and she is a precious lil' basset hound. Essie loves her too.

Then we met my parents in Bald Knob so they could take Essie home with them since Travis and I were going to Conway to spend the day Monday looking at daycares and houses. We've looked at 4 daycares and 25 houses and we think we've found "the one" of each. We are making an offer on a house tomorrow...please pray it works out for us. We are anxiously awaiting offers on our house as well.

This morning I left Little Rock early and drove to Batesville to get the lil diva and then we drove back home. We had Essie's first class of Kindermusik for summer session and she was WILD the whole time. I was exhausted when we left!

Help me and Vote!

2011-06-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

I am in the running for rockin Apple Teacher of the year and I need your help! Please go to http://www.kissjonesboro.com/view/1061 to vote for me. You can also text TEACHER followed by HOUSE to the number 67664

FME end of the year partay

2011-05-31T18:55:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our end of the year faculty party. It was bittersweet for me since it was going to be my last one. We all met up at Skinny J's. I am going to miss these girls sooooooooo much!

Memorial Day

2011-05-30T16:55:00.000-07:00

We have had one of those fabulous weekends! My parents graciously (THANK YOU!) came and got Essie and the dogs so we could clean and get the house ready for our open house. We had the open house on Sunday and we only showed it to two families. I think the second family was really interested so we are hoping it sells quickly.

Today we spent the entire day just relaxing and being lazy. We spent alot of time outside....

It's going to be a really hard week for me. Tomorrow is my work end of the year party which makes me incredibly sad. Then I only have 3.5 days left as a Fox Meadow teacher... :(

Rockin' Red Party

2011-05-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

Last night was my school's Rockin Red party for all those kids who never move their names off of red. This was our third year to do this and I love it. Last year's theme was 80's dance and the year before that was a "sleepover". This year we went with an "opposite night" theme. The kids had to move their names to BLUE (our worst color) and they had to go straight to the principal's office (to get their picture made) in the principal's desk. The got to eat in the hallway, play in the cafeteria, run the hallways, color on the walls, push the principal down the hall, play freeze dance backwards, do the cha-cha slide sitting down, and eat dessert first! It was such a blast!

A Life Changing Week.

2011-05-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

Well it's sure been one heck of a week in our family. I received a phone call last Friday telling me that I had been selected for a job in Conway. I had to go for a final interview with the superintendent before it became "official". I've not been able to mention it until now. I drove down to Conway this past Friday and went for the interview and the position was officially offered to me. I accepted it and we've begun the process of relocating. We are officially now moving to Conway. I'm incredibly sad about leaving our home, our friends, my job. But I know this is God's plan for us and I will grow to love and accept that. Friday night we all went to dinner with Travis' sister, mom and dad. We went to Cock of the Walk and essie loved feeding the fish! We even say a huge peahen! It was crazy!

Saturday we all went back to Conway to look around and start looking for homes. We went to lunch and Essie was such a mess!

That night she started running fever and showing symptoms of a urinary tract infection so we took her to an after hours clinic in little rock. She was diagnosed with that and has sense coughed her poor little head off. Bless her heart she sounds awful.

This morning Travis and I had an appointment with a realtor to look at a bunch of houses. Essie stayed with her aunt "yaya" and they went to church. Essie wore this cute vintage dress that YaYa had and I gave her some Cindy Brady piggietails to match!

Travis and I looked at 11 houses today and were beyond exhausted when it was over. We drove back to Little Rock so essie and I could head back home to Jonesboro.

We've been in a whirlwind for the past few weeks and we have sooooooo much to do in the next few weeks I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it. I have to wrap up my schoolyear, pack my classroom, prepare the pile of paperwork for my new job, find a daycare for Essie, sell our house, find a new house, etc. OH my how our life is about to change....

just for comparisons sake

2011-05-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

The difference a year makes.

May 2010

May 2011

Seriously makes me SAD. So very, very, very SAD! I cannot believe how much she's grown in just one year! Oh how I miss those pudgy little legs and her short, sweet hair cut so badly. How did my baby grow up into a GIRL? I wouldn't give up this funny personality and our daily conversations for anything! She makes me so happy everyday...if only I could slow time down...

our sunday

2011-05-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

Our Sunday was fairly low key. Essie and I did not even leave the house! Travis worked in the yard some and Essie threw one heck of a fit to go out with him. It was freeeeeeeezing and windy though so she couldn't stay long.

She went inside and watched him from the window. Every time he would go past the window she would wave frantically and yell "Hi Daddy!".

I ordered these purple John Deere boots from zulily awhile back and we just got them in...I have a $15 credit so I paid pretty much only shipping on these. They are too big right now...I'm hoping they fit her this fall. This was the only picture I got...

And today she found this hairclip that came with her Rapunzel doll...she had to wear it in her hair! She threw her head around and twirled that hair like crazy! hahahaha

Springfest and the Kinders

2011-05-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Springfest at my school. Since Travis was still in Little Rock Essie had to go with me and help Sarah and I run our booth...she was better than I thought. She did go over to the other booths a few times, ate her weight in cookies (just the middles), and even ate a few tootsie rolls that were still in the wrappers...that's okay right? She got her face painted, her nails done, played pick up ducks, and bean bag toss. Our booth was "Minute to Win it" and the game was "face the cookie" where contestants had to get an Oreo from their forehead to their mouth by only using their face! Essie even gave it a try!

This morning we went to a Kinders Concert at a local church. We took Essie last year when she was little bity and a few months back in Little Rock. She loooooved it and was excited her friend Presley was there too!

wordless week in review

2011-05-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

I had a very lovely Mother's Day! The hubs gave me two bouquets of flowers, some charms for my bracelet, and some other small things. Essie gave me the funniest card ever!

We started the day off with brunch at O'Charleys. Essie ate her weight in eggs!

Then we spent the afternoon outside. I put this cutesie swimsuit on Essie...the booty was too die for. She didn't like it and stripped completely down so I put some comfy play clothes on her!

She then helped her daddy work in the yard...we bought two new trees and she worked hard to help him plant them! It melted me to see my lil princess covered in red clay dirt! She had the biggest time and then crashed for her afternoon nap!

That evening we went to the mall and then to eat dinner at our fav Mexican joint!

I am sooooooo blessed to be the mommy to that crazy wild little cutie!

22 Months...

2011-05-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

Essie you will be TWO in TWO months! Here's what's new with you right now...

You looooooove the Disney Princesses, Toy Story, and Elmo. You especially love Tangled and want to watch it every single day.
You are talking so much. You can hold conversations and are great to make choices or respond to questions. If you are looking for something you always say "_____ rrrrrrr you?"
You have started making up your own songs and you sing all day long. I usually don't understand your songs very well but love to hear your sweet voice sing them!
Your feet are growing like crazy. You've pretty much outgrown your size 6s and are moving quickly into 7s.
My favorite word you say right now is Elephant which sounds like "Elephooooooo". You can name most animals and sounds as well.
Getting you to sit for a picture is extrememly difficult...you hate the camera and we have to bribe you to take a picture.

You love to jump on the bed and run circles around the house.
You are a wild woman and we love you soooo much! You are developing your little personality more everyday. Your daddy and I love to watch you as you are coming into your own little person!

goin out for ice cream...

2011-05-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

After daddy got home last night we decided we would go out to try our new ice cream (well yogurt) place. Essie helped dress herself...she is wearing her Kindermusik shirt, leggings, and her heels. Oh and her feather. Seriously! She loved picking out her own toppings and she chose sprinkles, gummy bears, m&ms, and reeces' pieces!

tgif

2011-05-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

I had a meeting today and we got out early so I got to spend some interrupted time cleaning the house and doing laundry...it was soooo nice. Then I picked up Essie and we worked on a mother's day project for her Nana and Meemaw..I'll post more on that later! And we went outside to play for awhile...

Then we came inside to watch Tangled for the gazillionth time. She requested popcorn so she had two very close friends the entire time.

Then she decorated the couch...

and we waited for daddy to come home.

I actually got to cook a real dinner tonight! I made spinach lasagna rolls (recipe on my blog) and zucchini sticks! Felt so nice to have a regular ole' evening!

blue and green

2011-05-05T15:57:00.000-07:00

Essie is all about painting her nails right now. We have to spend time several times a week painting her toes and fingers. Yesterday at walmart I let her pick out her own nailpolish. She chose a metallic blue and lime green. hahhahaha. So we painted her toes blue and fingers green. I then picked out a sweet little dress for her to wear that matched! I love this dress...I bought it at consigment for $2!!!

I bought some wild cheetah print nail polish strips at walmart as well...hahahah

Daddy's gone home...

2011-05-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

Gosh I've been such a bad blogger lately! It stresses me out when I don't blog often. Travis was home with us until this morning which was a fantabulous treat! We didn't know what to do with him here. He left around 5am this morning since his normal 2 hour commute was going to take twice as long with the flooding and road closings. Essie woke up when he got up to get ready and stayed up...when I was taking her to daycare she kept saying "Daddy go home" over and over. Broke my heart. Home is here. :( Anyway she got home and found his hat, put it on and kept asking for her daddy.

Woody, woody, woody

2011-05-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

Essie is at that phase where she instantly becomes obsessed with any movie she watches. Our latest (besides Tangled) is Toy Story 3. She watched it in the car for our trips down to Little Rock and back. It didn't take long before she would demand for "woody, woody, woody". She can only name Woody and Buzzzzzzzzzz in the movie but she watches it so intently! Tonight she was demanding for Woody again and I remembered that we got a Jesse costume on clearance back after Halloween for her to play dress up. I dug it out and she was super pumped about it! She immediately ran to our bathroom mirror to check herself out.

I don't mind the new obsession with Toy Story. It's one of my favorite Disney movies...it is just soooooo dang sad. The part where Andy's mom goes into his room after he's packed for college....kills me everytime! What it is with Disney and their tearjerkers? I mean UP was just the most depressing thing ever! Anyway, we are lucky to get Travis at home for a few extra days since he's giving a seminar on Tuesday here in Jonesboro! So we have him until Wednesday morning. It's a good thing too since we are pretty much flooded in around here!

Daddy's home!

2011-04-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

Travis hasn't been home in almost a month! It was so nice to see him pull in this evening!

sunshine day

2011-04-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

Oh sunshine...how we've missed you!