School Valentines

Like most schools these day, J’s school will not allow candy valentines.  So what is a kid to do when they cannot pick their favorite candy valentine to share with the class??  I guess you could always just do a pre-made, paper valentine and call it a day, nothing wrong with that.  Unless you are my kid!!!

J was not having any of that.  After all, last year we made these adorable crayon valentines.

Well, we could not do that again because she has some of the same kids from last year in her class this year.  So what does my kid think is the best valentine to give to a class of 5 year olds?

Whoopee Cushions!!  Oh you know her teachers are going to just love us tomorrow.  LMAO

We made these awesome whoopee cushion valentines this year.

We bought the whoopee cushions at the dollar store.  I used some tags we had left over from our wedding and printed them at home.  They are Avery 22802 Printable Tags with Strings.

J has 16 kids in her class.  Whoopee cushions $16.  Tags we had already. How much the kids will love these and the teachers will hate us…….. Priceless!!!

 

Teacher Appreciation Week – Gifts

We made this super cute gift for J’s teachers this week.  They are easy to make and just adorable if you ask me.

  

These can be made for any event or holiday, not just Valentine’s day.  The themes are endless.

I purchased almost every item from the dollar store.  Total price is 6.00 each.  I used spray paint to make it easier for myself but it cost a bit more for spray paint so it could be even cheaper if you painted them by hand.

• Clay pot 2/1.00
• Glass Fish Bowl 1.00
• Clay lid .79 (Michaels)
• Wooden ball .59 (Michaels)
• Ribbon 1.00 for the roll
• Stick on Hearts 1.00 for a package of 100
• Candy 1.00
• Paint 5.79 (Michaels)

Then I added a cute saying for the tag and stuck it inside.  I just love how they turned out.

Paint the clay pots and tops red.  Paint the wood balls white.  Glue the fish bowl to the top of the clay pot.  Glue the wooden ball to the top of the lid.  Glue ribbon around the pot and stick on the hearts.  Fill with candy and add a tag if you want.  So easy!

 

No more training wheels

J has had this 12” bike for quite some time.  Honestly. I think it has been since she was about 3 years old.  She would ride around on it with the training wheels but would never really go for a long ride on it.  I kept saying “she will never learn to ride if she won’t even stay on it longer than 5 minutes.”  So I started looking at balance bikes.  I knew if she could get the balance part I could remove the training wheels and she would be able to ride on her bike.  The balance bikes cost around $100.  We were not going to spend another $100 on another bike to sit in our garage if she decided she wasn’t going to use it.

So I decided to take the pedals off the bike we had here already.  Taking the pedals off was not horrible to do.  I did have to go and find a video about how to take the bearing out though.  Once I got that all taken apart I could not get the chain off.  This little bike must have been the only bike that did not have a link in the chain.  After looking and looking for a link and not finding one, I just cut the chain off.  J got on it and was a bit confused at first.  I showed her how to walk on it and it did not take her long to figure it all out.

This is what her bike looked like after I took it all apart.  This was October 25th.

The biggest problem was the screws sticking out of the back where the training wheels were suppose to attach.  J kept hitting her ankles on them.  So I cut those down so they wouldn’t hit her anymore.

She was riding up and down the street in no time.  After a month she was balancing on it and pulling her feet up off the ground.  She started asking me to put the pedals back on so she could ride it.  LOL  Yeah well since I cut the chain I couldn’t do that.  I kept telling her to keep practicing.

The beginning of this month she became very insistent that she is ready for a bike with pedals.  I asked my mom to bring over the extra bike she had at her house.  This one still had the pedals and training wheels on it.  On the 12^th she brought it over.  That bike was also a 12” bike.  I took the training wheels off of it and J hopped right up on it.  I held it by the seat and she started to pedal.  It took all of a minute before she was off and riding it all on her own.  I was shocked she picked it up so quickly.

I felt bad that D was at work when all this happened but I had no idea she would just take off on it.  I figured she would get up there and fall a few times and have to practice at it a bit more.  No way!  She was gone!  The biggest problem she had was making sure the pedals were in the right position to take off.  She had to learn to push the pedal around with her foot or shin to be able to get her foot on it and push off.  Within an hour she was getting on and off and making turns, going up and down the driveways, and really cruising along.  I could also see how little this bike was for her now.  LOL

So yesterday we bought her a 16” bike.  I really wanted to buy her an 18” but it was just too big for her.  This 16” fits her nicely.  Took her a few tries to get the hang of the bigger bike but she did it and we went for a nice bike ride together.

I honestly think making the balance bike was the best thing I could have done to help her learn to ride a bike.  Once she had the balance part down she was good to go.  From start to finish was less than 3 months.  If you have not tried a balance bike for your kiddo yet, try it!  It really works!

 

Chirp. Chirp.

Who doesn’t love being woken up in the middle of the night to a beeping smoke detector?  Oh, come on,  I know you are so excited when you hear it go off at 2am!  Last night was oh so much fun for us.  I started hearing it chirp and thought “NO! Okay give it a minute it will stop.”  After a minute it stopped but then about 10 minutes later it started again and 10 minutes after that and 10 minutes after that.  UGGG  Fine I will get my butt out of bed and check on it.  Come to find out it was the smoke detector in baby J’s room.  How annoying and a MUST change so it doesn’t wake her up.   It is midnight!

I get up, turn off the house alarm, go out to the garage to get the ladder, and grab a new battery.  Then sneak into her room in the dark and set up the ladder all while this stupid thing is beeping in my ear that is now 2 inches from it.  I fumble enough to finally get it open and the battery pretty much falls out on me.  So I try to put the new battery in and can’t seem to get it in there right.  STILL BEEPING!  I go to find a flash light and need to wake D up to help hold the light while I change the battery.  Now in my defense, this is our new house and the first time I have dealt with these smoke detectors which of course are not the same as the ones in our old house and at midnight I wasn’t too happy with trying to figure it all out.

So now D is up and the dog is up and I am up and the smoke detector is still chirping away.  I get the new battery in and it is still beeping.  D asks “Are you sure it is a good battery?”  to which I reply ever so nicely “Yes! I just opened the damn package!”  I moved the ladder to the hallway and open a different smoke detector to make sure I have the battery in correctly.  I did.  Move back into baby J’s room and open it up again and take the battery out.  By now the dog has woken up baby J!  Great the whole family is up at midnight.  YAY!

Finally I go a and get a different battery.  The first battery I grabbed was a brand new generic 9V battery.  The second one I grabbed was a brand new Duracell 9V battery.  I put that battery in and viola!  It finally shut up.  So obviously we have battery snob smoke detectors.

Hope everyone else had a good nights sleep!  Chirp. Chirp.

 

2015 Resolution/Goals

Happy New Year!  It is that time again.  Time to make that resolution and set goals for the year.  My goal for 2015 is to be able to sit on the toilet the day after a leg day.

 

 

 

I was thinking it……. but they did it!

I was up early this morning to get new tires on my car.  After that I headed over to the mall to kill some time before lunch with a friend.  Baby J and I got to the mall a little after 9 but it didn’t open until 10.  The doors were open so I figured it would be good to get some steps in since I didn’t get my morning run.  As we were walking around I kept thinking ‘This would be cool to come run inside the mall in the air conditioning.  I wonder if that is allowed?’  Ten minute later I see a lady walk in with a kid in a stroller.  Following her was about 12 additional moms with kids and strollers.  Then they took off!  I mean literally they all started running around the inside of the mall with strollers.  I almost got run over by them and I quickly moved baby J off to the side.

I was kind of shocked and entertained all at once.  After a few laps around the mall, they stopped at the end and all took out floor mats and did some yoga moves, then got up, rolled the mat up, and ran the mall some more.  LOL  I seriously did not think this would be allowed.  I am going to reconsider this running outside in 90 degree heat.

Have you ever run or worked out in the mall to stay cool?

 

Our Wedding Day – New York

I know this is a long overdue post but we have just been so busy.  Trying to get back into the swing of things since the wedding in New York and the reception in Florida has been challenging to say the least.  Along with all that, baby J is now out of school for the summer so that changed our schedule as well.  At last, I am writing our wedding post!

We went to New York to get married.  We flew Southwest Airlines into Long Island, New York.  We were staying a week so we wanted a hotel with suites so we could save some money on food.  We stayed at the  Homewood Suites in Plainview.  It had a full kitchen – small – but full.  I am talking full size fridge, dishwasher, disposal, cook top, microwave – the works, even dishes, pans and utensils.  It was awesome to just go shop for food and be able to save so much from eating out.  It also helped that we had awesome friends that cooked for us while we were there as well.

We got married at Bayard Cutting Arboratum.  It was absolutely beautiful there.  It is free to get married on the grounds there.  Anywhere on the grounds but you could not take pictures in the house itself.  There is even a carriage house on the grounds you can take pictures by.  We had to get a permit from the state to get married on the grounds.  It was very simple.  We just filled out the application and mailed it it.  Then they called and asked us a few questions about the size of our wedding and then approved and mailed us the permit.  I believe if you have over 15 people there is a fee.  I cannot remember for sure but we only had 11.  S it was all free.  The only thing we did have to pay for was a fee for the photographer.  There was a $100 fee and permit to have a professional photographer at the wedding.  Again a simple application and check mailed in for this. We had a friend of ours do our pictures and they were perfect!

We used Rev. Sarah Margaret from Lasting Footprints to marry us.  She was amazing.  We talked to her numberous times via skype and email prior to our wedding day.  She asked us lots of questions about who we were, what makes us tick, why we love each other, our daughter and so much more.  She taylored our wedding ceremony around us personally and even included baby J in it all.  It was perfect and she is amazing.  She traveled from the city over to long Island for us.  We could not be happier with her and everything she did for us.  I highly recommend her!

We had a beautiful wedding!  The weather was perfect and we celebrated with some awesome friends and family.  We are truly blessed!

A friend of ours made all of our wedding flowers so we could travel with them.  They turned out amazing and perfect!  I LOVE the colors and she busted her butt on them.

Baby J looked like a little princess!  She was perfect the entire ceremony.  The moment it was over it was time to explore and find rocks and leaves – even in a princess dress and tiara!  🙂

After the ceremony we went to Olive Garden for dinner with all our guests.  Our wedding was perfect!

We then spent a few more days in New York before heading home for our reception.

 

We couldn’t have done it without you!

We did it!  We are legally married in the great state of New York.  I still cannot believe it.  I keep saying it out loud.  “Wow, we are really married.”  It has been an amazing 7 years and I am so truly blessed.  What an absolutely perfect way to celebrate 7 years together than to go and get married.  I could not be happier.  We have had an amazing trip to New York and we could not have done it without the help of so many people.

 

 

First I would like to thank Meredith for all she has done over the last 9 months of planning with me.  She did all of the leg work to find the place we got married, the limo we used, the hotel we stayed at, and the salon we got our hair done at.  Her husband, Mike, and his parents, Joan and Phil, have opened up their house to us and fed us and all our family and friends while we were up here.  Their generosity and hospitality is so greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

A big thank you to my mom for all she has done to help get us ready and looking beautiful.  She did all of our dress alterations.  This includes hemming my dress and adjusting the back train, hemming and bustling D’s dress, adding a back insert and tie up into my sisters dress, taking in my nephews pants and completely remaking baby J’s dress by combining two dresses I bought into one.  She also made our ring pillow for us and put some bling on baby J’s shoes.  Thank you for all you have done for us!  I don’t know how we would have gotten it all done without you.

Thank you Kris for your help with the fish line hem on baby J’s dress and getting it back in the mail to us so fast.  It looked amazing.

Thank you Salia for the beautiful flowers and awesome shoes you made for us.  I know you spend hours and hours working to make our flowers just perfect.  Thank you for putting up with me changing my mind over and over again and adding in additional flowers and colors to the mix.  Thank you for the perfect shoes for our big day.  I love them and they look exactly as I had hoped for.  I don’t know anyone else who could have done what you have done for us and I know there is more to come.

Thank you Stephanie for all of our beautiful wedding pictures.  You have such an amazing eye and I cannot wait to see what you do with the pictures.  Thank you for keeping me calm and knowing how to use a curling iron under pressure.  You always have my back and I am so grateful for all you have done.

Thank you to my sister and D’s brother for being our witnesses and part of our wedding.  You guys are awesome and have always been there for us.  The readings were beautiful.

Thank you to baby J and my nephew for being our flower girl and ring bearer.  You two are so precious and adorable and I just love you both to pieces.  You guys were so good during the ceremony and the entire weekend.

Thank you Genna and Chris for driving down to be there for us.  It means so much to us that you would do that for us and be part of our special day.  It was wonderful to catch up with you guys and spend time together.

Thank you Terry for the wonderful hotel for the week.  It was perfect and we were very comfy.  You are always there for us.  The spending cash was great too.

Thank you Nikel for helping keep the home front under control while we were gone.  It is greatly appreciated.  You took a big worry off my shoulders knowing Terry would be taken care of while I was gone.

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful group of family and friends.  We love and appreciate each and every one of you.  Our wedding was perfect because you all helped make it that way.  Each and every little piece and part made our special day one we will never forget.

 

Wedding post to follow!

 

Marriage License – check!

We have our license!!  Woohoo.  I have had butterflies in my stomach all morning.  Our Reverend emailed me last week and asked when we were getting it.  Then I received and email last night asking if we got it yet.  I replied back that we just got into town and we were going this morning.  She replied with “okay please let me know when you get it”  Wow I guess this is the important part.  LOL

We went to the Babylon Town Hall in Lindenhurst, NY.  We needed our certified birth certificates, ID’s, and passports. This was the part I was worried about the most.  I have already changed my last name to D’s so I was worried they would question that we already had the same last name.  I just made sure I had my legal name change paperwork as well.

We filled out the application and paid $40.  The lady asked us a few questions and then said there was an option to put our gender on the license.  We said sure, why not!  Ten minutes later we have our license! Everyone there was so nice.  They asked us questions about the wedding and about baby J.  They even told us some great places to visit while we are here and things baby J might like to see.

Now if the weather would just warm up a bit and the wind would die down we will be good to go.  We are going to have to go and get some shaws to cover up a bit since we have strapless dresses.  brrr  Too cold for this Florida girl.

Time to go check out the place we are getting married at.  🙂

 

New York Or Bust

I couldn’t have said it better.  This is a post from D yesterday.

So , tomorrow I leave for the great state of New York, so I can finally, yes, finally LEGALLY marry my best friend, my partner in crime, my sexy bitch, my baby mama, my “life wife”… ya’ll know her as V, my short but beautifully spunky sweetheart. Poor girl has put up with and loved me through 7 years, of ups, downs and all a rounds. She is much better with words than I but I felt like sharing a BIG” thank you” to ALL the people who have joined us through this little adventure we call our life. All of your love and support for just another two people who share space with you on this earth, who are pretty normal, I hear. To V’s family, that has accepted me as one of their own, “I love you all!” You couldn’t ask for a better group of good people. Can’t wait for the next big party and pig roast! Also to my own family who, thank God, accepted me for who I am, even when I didn’t always know. They showed me what unconditional love was. “What a precious gift”. I can’t help feeling that life is throwing another great moment at me, and I don’t always understand how I could be so blessed and have all that I have today. I will open my arms and heart to it all and enjoy it for everything that is. It is not every day you find, let alone, get to marry your soul mate. “So come on my love, bring baby girl, let’s go get hitched!”

We are heading to the airport in 1 hour.  Woohoo.  Hope we have everything we need.