Valentine Books for Kids

1// Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stick

deGroat always delivers with Gilbert and his crazy antics. You can pick up this book at Amazon here. 

2// There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose

A spin on the classic that is cute and very fitting with the love holiday. 

3//Happy Valentine's Day, Little Critter!

I just love all the Little Critter books. You can pick this one up at Amazon for $6.00.

4// Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine

Who doesn't love the Amelia Bedelia books? The kids love the story and the adult get to enjoy the underlining humor that the younger kids may not get just yet. 

5// A Valentine For Norman Noggs

I saved my favorite for last. My students love this book. It is super cute. They think it is gross that Norman has a crush and they always say ewwww. Even though they think it is gross then always love and enjoy the story. This book went great last week because it was also Kindness Week. There is some bullying that takes place in the story so we discussed that as well. 

5 Things From This Week

1//  Jack has the stomach virus and it sucks. I'm talking he has pooped and thrown up in every bed in this house. Every parent can relate to cleaning up vomit at 2:30 in the morning. If you are a new parent, it's coming and boy is it an experience. Even more fun than that is cleaning up diarrhea that has exploded out of the diaper and onto everything.

2// Although I only worked 3 days this week, work has been stressful. I've been doing my best to keep my work words in mind. I posted about them in this post. When so many things start piling on I do my best to plan for those things so they don't overwhelm me.

3// I had to contact my ex to let him know Jack was sick. Do you think he was a kind person about it? Of course not, he is such a j/a! He said keep me updated and then left his phone off for half a day. He finally calls me while we are sitting at the doctors office. At this point my mood is not great because we had been waiting an hour and Jack was crying and antsy. So he calls and I answer. He then tells me that I should have already taken him to the doctor. Since I'm sitting in a room full of people I just say okay to every ass comment he said.

4// I bought me a a small box of chocolates and a magazine and it was lovely. I also bought me a new type of nail polish. I'm excited to try and share my thoughts.

5// I'm planning a girls weekend trip for March (my birthday) and I'm super pumped about it. There is just something so exciting about planning something to look forward to.

I'm breaking the blogging rule and adding no pictures. This week was just so crazy that zero pictures were taken this week.

Keeping the End in Mind

One of my goals for January was to read a nonfiction book. I'm one of those people who happen to love nonfiction just as much as I love a good fiction read. At work the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has been sitting around and in a moment of downtime I picked it up and was hooked.

I won't give the book away because honestly I couldn't. It is so indepth that I wouldn't really know where to begin. One exercise that I believed was truly powerful was for the reader to imagine their funeral. You then picture 4 types of people getting up to say a few words. One person from your family, one friend, one person from your work, and lastly someone from the community. What words would you want these people to use to describe you?

Once you can really imagine and see yourself how you want others to see you then you can start working on being that person in those facets of life.

I started off by making a chart like the one below.

Under each category I though of five things I would want to go under each one. It really was quite difficult. After awhile this is what I finally came up with.

As you can see there is not one for Service/Community. This is one area in my life where I am currently lacking. Although this hasn't always been the case it currently is. I'm going to make this area of my life a mission. It took doing this exercise to realize how uninvolved I am in my own community. 

I'm going to print out these three pictures and put the family one in my bedroom where I can see it, the friends print in my car, and the work one at my desk. These are going to make great reminders of what I want to strive to be each day. 

Couldn't Have Said It Better

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite someecards on Pinterest. It's Tuesday and we need a laugh so here goes.

I hope you did a little laughing out loud and if you would like to follow me on Pinterest just click here.

The Joy of a Boy

When I found out I was pregnant I knew I was having a girl. I looked at all things girly. For some reason it never dawned on me that I would have a boy. My sister had a boy six months before I found out I was pregnant and we had all been thrilled because that was what we all wanted. 

My mom had two girls and we knew my Dad would be over the top to have a grandson. A grandson it was and oh how joyous it was! Six months later I found out I was expecting and we all thought "okay we had the grandson bring on the bows and tutus". God had other plans.

This wild child of mine is all boy. He is rough and tough with a touch of mean and lots of lovin. How did he learn wrestling moves I have no idea. I think it was born in him. Just like how he knows the sound a car makes and no one ever taught him. I think there are certain things boys just know. 

I love this picture of Jack. I caught him mid laugh. Each time I said "choo choo" he would crack up so I grabbed my phone. Oh that laughter, so infectious. 

He is a handful, believe me, such a handful. He is also such a joy. He can make me belly laugh like no other. 

5 Things From This Week

1// I made these yummy brownies Monday night! I managed to hold myself to one which was a miracle in itself. Cooking is therapy for me and I needed a little mental soothing and they were much appreciated by the family. Walnuts in brownies are my favorite. 

2// My nephew Bennett has an imaginary friend. His name is Krogin. I know, what a name? Where he got it from I have no idea. All we know about him is that he has orange hair. Bennett loves to play with Krogin and always shares his toys with him. It melts my heart hearing him talk to his "friend". 

3// Jack almost gave me a heartattack the other day. He is like all other two year olds and runs like a madman every chance he gets. Well the other day he was running down the hallway. If you are a Friends fan, imagine how Phoebe runs and that is Jack. Well as fast as his little short legs could go he runs into the door facing. I knew it really hurt because he cried. Jack never cries when he gets hurt unless it really hurts. He is very tough. Of course, he got over it quickly (a lot faster than this mama did).

4// Someone brought up doing a 101 in 1001 and another blogger is doing 20 wishes for 2015 so now I'm toying with doing something similar. I'm worried about writing 101 things. For one it seems overwhelming. Two, I think I would just forget. 20 wishes seems doable but all in one year, this year? I'm not sure with all that is going on in this crazy year. I'm still thinking. Any ideas?

5// I wrote a post of photos from January. It is Tabitha's from a hundred tiny wishes first link up. I love the idea. I did pictures from January but all you have to do is display pictures that make you happy. How easy and fun is that? I really did love joining the Images of Happy link up. You can see my post here.

Hard Questions

The other day it was a beautiful 63 degrees outside. My Mom said she would watch Jack so I made a break for it. I went to a friend's house where we sat on her patio and had a few cocktails in the nice breeze and sun. She asked how things have been going so I got to do the whole rant about my ass of an ex and the difficulties of being a single mom. It feels good to get those things out from time to time. Then she asked "What are your plans once the divorce is final? How long are you going to live with your parents? Are you going to stay in that town or move back here?"

Those questions hit me hard. She isn't the first person to ask me but now that we have been separated for six months I feel like I can't use "I'm not sure right now" as a continued excuse. Honestly though, I really have no idea. I'm a planner. It's what I do but seriously I have no idea what I plan on doing. Money is bad tight right now. As part of my NY Resolutions I hope to save some money but at this rate even a year from now I'm not going to be comfortable enough financially to move us out on our own.

I'm 32 and living with your parents isn't exactly the cool thing to do at my age. I'm just not sure what else I can do at this point. I think I will get a summer job and maybe that will help me save a little extra money. Since I'm a teacher I will only have workshops to work a schedule around.

For someone who is a planner by nature it is very difficult not having big goals for Jack and I's living situation. Part of that is just that it is hard to think about, upsetting that I have to deal with it at all. My life was moving forward and now it feels like I'm moving backwards.

I guess it's time to put my big girl panties on and face my situation. It's time I start coming up with answers to these hard questions. I also need to remember to give myself a break. Things are difficult right now and I don't have to have all the answers right now. I just need to make small steps in a positive direction.

Favorite Valentine Pins

I love this simple valentine for toddlers. This may be what I send to Jack's classroom this year. Last year I did bubbles since he was in a baby room. 

Can you say easy? First off I love wafer cookies and adding chocolate and happy sprinkles just makes sense. I can really see some neat sprinkle combos. Click here to go to the original pin.

If you are looking for some adorable free Valentine fonts then head here.

Looking for a clever Valentine to send? Here are 100 great ideas!

Each month I print off a new printable and here is my favorite for February. It is uber cute and free!

Well there you have it. Those are just a few of my favorite Valentine pins. Do you have a special Valentine tradition or favorite Valentine pin?

happy january photos

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to look more put together so I went and got fake nails. I have awful looking real nails that chip so easily so I decided to try the fake ones and I really like them. It took a day or two to get use to them but after that I was in love.

I've noticed that when I paint them the polish seems to stay on days longer. In the top picture I have a cute modest light pink and in the botton picture I went a little more bold and did a bright red. I feel very feminine when I have my nails painted. I hope it is something I continue throughout 2015.

My other happy photo was taken one day when I was actually the one who got to pick up Jack from daycare. Usually my Mom has to do it since I work so far away. We were rocking the ABC song and having a great time.


Linking up with Tabitha at a hundred tiny wishes.

How My Planner Has Changed My Life

Is that not seriously the dorkiest post title ever?

I love my planner. I have always had a planner but this year I'm using it a little differently. In the back (in the "notes" section) I am writing down my goals for each month. Each goal has to be something I can complete in a month's time. I then go to the daily pages and write down small goals that work to help me achieve that main goal.

I've always know to break my goals down but now I have them already on my to do list before the day is even here. So far (yeah I know we are only 16 days into 2015) it has worked out really well for me. It has also motivated me to jump ahead some also. For example, I knew that this coming Sunday I planned to clean out my wallet. Well while I was waiting for the microwave to go off the other day I went ahead and did it and marked it off my list. It may seem a little sad that I have to write down "clean out my wallet" but that's just how I am.

To jump start this all I did was sit down one night right after getting my planner and wrote out my main goals for January and then all the mini goals to reach the main goals. After I had my mini goals, I spread them out over my planner on different days. I also took some time to think of small things that I wanted to get down this month like cleaning out my wallet and jotted down those on a day also.

It's great not having to make a daily to do list. It's already made! There are days where I need to add a thing or two but that's okay because it takes no time to do.

The great part is being able to mark off those January goals as I get them completed!

Hurtful Words and Lies

The other night I got roped into calling my soon to be ex husband. I made the call. Call me a cutter if need be. Something (I can't even remember what now) had caused me so much anger that I called him. His new woman was in the background. He made sure to let me know that she was there, listening and backing him up.

We quickly lost sight of the purpose of my call and the conversation (if I can even really call it that) was all over the place. He was mean. Meaner than he has ever been. I kept thinking she has to be hearing this and thinking to herself "who is this mean hateful person?".

The most frustrating part is that he would "repeat" my words to her but it wouldn't be anything that I just said and it isn't like she can hear me and it isn't like she is taking my word for the truth.  I guess I don't really care what she thinks but it still is frustrating.

He refuses to give me any money to help pay for Jack's things. That in itself should be enough for her to drop him. I paid his health insurance the whole time we were split up and he wouldn't give me any money. Oh, I take that back. Since we split he has given me a total of one hundred and sixty dollars and that was in the first two months.

I seriously think this man must have a brain tumor. How can someone I knew and loved so well be THIS person now? Of course, he blames me and says I treated him bad and talked to him badly. He and I both know that isn't true. He is the one living with his girlfriend and has no job. I'm the one who had to move back home. You don't get a girlfriend that fast if something wasn't already going on.

It's just sad that it has come down to this. I honestly wish this man would disappear and leave me and Jack alone. I don't want Jack to look up to someone who doesn't have a job, lives off women, lies, doesn't take care of his children, and is selfish. For everyone's sake I hope he realizes what is most important and gets it together soon.

Thanks General Hospital!

i started thinking of my word for 2015 during the last few days of 2014. I did the whole word of the year thing last year and it worked out really well. Intentional really rocked in 2014! Several days into the new year and I was still racking my brain for that perfect word. I know things are going to be tough as we go through a divorce and a custody battle. We'll also be staying with my parents (which isn't easy even though I'm very thankful for a place to stay). Throughout the year I know I will have to remind myself of the positive side of things. I am blessed! I am blessed! I am blessed!

Tonight I was watching my stories (a little throwback for grandma) and reading blogs. One of the characters were talking about how they were coming back into their new life (he had to fake his death and go into witness protection and has just recently returned). One of the words struck a cord with me. Although I didn't fake my death, a part of me has died, my old life has died. There is a new definition of we that is two and not three. So drum roll......

Yes, the word that took me so long to come up with is fresh.  It's going to be a fresh start. A fresh me. A fresh financial start. A fresh to do list. Fresh goals. A fresh outlook. The great part is that each day I get a fresh start. It's never too late to start fresh. All you gotta do is hit that imaginary reset button (I like to pretend the top of my head is it), take a deep breath, and start anew. 

Bedtime? I Think Not!

I use to brag about my amazing sleeper. At 6:30 he would be laid softly tucked into his crib and before we knew it he was out. Things aren't going so easily these days. I'm not sure if it's all the new transitions (sleeping in the room with mom, where is daddy?, new bed) or if it is just a phase. Although things aren't going so smoothly in the sleeping department it has given us a few extra minutes hours to hang out. Here he was Tuesday night being his normal goofy self.

His new thing is to get into my bed and pull the covers up and pretend he is going to sleep. He'll even flutter his eyes closed for a few seconds before popping them open and busting out laughing like he just pulled a fast one on us. It really does crack me up though. 

Jack loves to jump and I mean LOVE. For Christmas Santa brought him an inside trampoline and a big outside trampoline. He knows mama doesn't like him jumping on the bed. Whenever I get onto him he'll close his eyes and acts like he can't see me. I've been using the phrase "eye contact" a lot more these days. 

Here is a little view of our room (our very little home these days). You see Jack is still standing on the bed and quite close to the edge for this mama. He is one major daredevil. I see ER visits in our future. How I ended up with an all boy kinda boy (know what I mean?) is beyond me. I was very sure I was meant to have a prissy sassy tutu wearing gal but God had other plans. God wanted me on my toes. God wanted me to exercise. God wanted me to laugh until I developed abs. 

Is bedtime calm or rowdy at your house? I'd love to hear I'm not alone.

It's a Love Hate Kinda Thing

I dread bath time each night. It's like going to the gym. I hate going but once I get there I'm glad I came.  Bath time is such a chore with this wild child. He loves to jump up and splash the water which soaks me. He throws everything he can get his hands on into the tub. Plus, it can be tedious. 

 

 

 

However, there are moments where it is so worth it. Watching him play and say "choo choo" is too adorable. He will repeat me more when he is in the tub which makes for great learning time. Every so often he'll toot in the tub and he thinks it is the funniest thing and makes the goofiest happy grin that just cracks me up and reminds me he is all boy.

 

Do you love or hate bath time at your house?

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

Off to work I go.

I've been on Christmas break for two whole weeks and it has been glorious! Now it is back to alarm clocks, putting on make-up, driving, scheduled pee breaks, schedules in general, and just good old fashion work. Ugh! I love what I do, but I do love hanging with my baby toddler, watching Scandal, snacking, and peeing when I want to damnit!

It will take a few days to get use to the hussle and bussle of living by a schedule again and I'll adjust but I'll think I will whine about it for a few days. The one positive side to coming back after Christmas break is the excitement of new resolutions and the promise of what could be.

2015 just may be a glorious year. I'm still working on coming up with an official word for this year. I saw on another blog where someone's word is "invest" and I like that but I'm not going to steal it. I know my own word is out there for me, just waiting to be pulled out of my brain.

Do you have a word for 2015?

Resolutions aka Things I Probably Won't Do

Yada, yada, yada another post on resolutions for 2015. Hasn't every blogger written a post on all the wonderful things they are going to accomplish this year? Well just add me to the group because I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

This year I'm behind making my resolutions. With everything going on I have found it difficult to truly look forward. Although according to everyone I should be looking to the future with a optimistic eye. I really want to be that person who lets it go and looks to the future with nothing but bliss. I just know this year is going to be tough. I'll be getting a divorce and I'll be living in transition.

I like being married. I'm the type who wants to be married. I want a family. I want a husband and partner. Not having that has been difficult. I'm not only mourning being with my husband but I'm also mourning my marriage and all the hopes and dreams I had for us. Wow! Have I brought y'all down enough?

Making resolutions is going to be my first step toward moving forward and admitting I just might have a bright future ahead after all.

So here it goes:
1. Put back a $100 each month
No explanation needed. I have never been able to save money so I hope this year shows more promise. Financially I need to start preparing for a new future.

2. Become more fashionable and put together.
As my marriage crumbled so did my appearance. The last thing I've cared about is what I looked like. I'm going to work on that by taking more time to dress myself, do my hair (and not just throw it into a messy bun), and actually wearing make-up to work.

3.  Work on focusing on one task at a time.
I'm a major multi-tasker. I am constantly working on more than one thing at a time. Rarely do I finish one thing before I am starting something else. It's a really bad habit of mine. I'm really bad at it when it comes to work stuff. I need to slow down and focus. Even right now I am watching a show, texting, and writing a post.

4. Write a daily to do list and keep it manageable.
I'm bad about writing a to do list and then leave it to never look at it again. I need to start writing one and focusing on the tasks. I also don't need to write down more things than I can handle in a day. I need to write daily, weekly, and monthly to do lists.

5. Keep my car clean.
My car is a hot mess. I'm talking awful. It looks like I live in my car. What I do know is that my life is much easier to manage when my car is clean and organized. Since moving out of my house I have all kinds of random stuff in my car. I literally even have a storage shelf in my trunk. I need to give it a good cleaning and start fresh.

Five resolutions seem good and solid. I'm happy with them. How awesome will it be to come back next year to write out my resolutions and be able to say I did all of them for 2015?

Girl in Transition

My life is drastically different than it was this time last year. I'm the kinda gal that doesn't care too much for surprises. I like being in control. I like having a plan. I like knowing whats up. Ignorance is not bliss to me. Not knowing what my life would look like is difficult. I use to know and then the bomb blew up. Now I know nothing.

I have to remind myself (quite often) that I'm just in transition and life won't always be this way. I will not always feel so defeated and spend countless hours asking myself where things went wrong.

 

I'm not sure what 2015 will hold for me. I know I'll be getting a divorce this year. That is all that I know. I have to believe my greatest happiness is ahead of me. I never wanted to be someone who was divorced but I am. Accepting that is not fun or easy. I just have to learn to ride the waves as they come. I know what I want my life to look like-I've always known. Maybe the life I've dreamed of isn't what my life will look like. Perhaps it will look different than I could have ever imagined. Maybe, just maybe, it will be better than I could have imagined. Until then, I'll continue to be the girl in transition.

Current Obsessions

1. Scandal

Yeah, I know I'm a little late to the game. I've heard so many great things about the show that I asked for seasons one and two for Christmas. I ordered season three half way through watching season one. Am I the only one who likes the President's wife? I wish I had a friend who watched the show so I could discuss at length.

 

 

 

2. Aveeno Tinted Moisturizer

As part of a new year, new me I decided to start moisturizing my 32 year old face. I guess after a week of using it must be working. I went into a gas station I frequent and the guy behind the counter said "You look different, you look fresh". Odd thing to say, but hey I'll take that compliment any day. Normally I get comments about how tired I look.

 

 

3. Fake nails

I have awful nails. I really do. None of them look uniformed. Some are really long and some are super short. They are extremely brittle. I was sick of having sad looking nails so I got fake ones put on. It took me around 24 hours to get use to them but I'm good now. I would love to keep them fake since me having pretty real nails isn't going to happen. I'm too tough on my hands. I feel really feminine with them on.

 

4. Football

Living in Arkansas automatically makes you a Razorback fan. I watch each game. We are one of those football families. Right now it is bowl game season and I think I have watched every SEC bowl game. Yesterday, we all watched football the entire day.

 

5. See's candy

I've always been a Stover candy chick but my aunt brought over a box of See's candy and oh my goodness-heaven in a box! It is not helping me with my quest to lose weight but that tastiness is just too much to pass up. If you get a chance to taste a piece of See's candy-do it!