This is just the beginning....

I told Brian that my pedicure bill has just doubled. Do you think she will ever let me go get a pedicure alone? She loved it. She thought the pink polish was awesome, but when the girl put the flowers on there, she was in heaven! She kept telling me and Grandma, "I love my new toenails! I want to keep them pink for always!" My baby is growing up. It's fun, but it is also so sad. I want her to stay this age forever!

Cutest thing ever....

was seeing my sweet baby perform on stage with her dance class. I was the "stage mom" for her group, so I watched it from the wings, but it was too stinkin' cute. Brian video taped it for me, but it didn't turn out so great, so I got on line and ordered the DVD from the performance. Her group did so good and the dance teacher said they are one of the better classes. I will say, these girls have been together pretty much since last summer and they all get along great. They are polite with each other and I've never seen them be mean to each other. They all just meshed well together. It's going to be sad when dance starts in the fall because some of them are moving up to the next class and some are staying behind. I've not decided what to do with K yet. She will be old enough to go to the class, but I am not sure if she is ready.

I sent Brian into the theater with the camcorder and my Rebel. Too bad I forgot to put the stinkin' battery in the Rebel! My girlfriend took some pictures for me, so I'll get them from her when she gets back from vacation. But he is a photo of K and her two best friends after they finished their dances and got their trophies. Grandpa told K that we were going to have to build a trophy case for all her awards!

Blog ya later!

Let the summertime fun begin!

My wonderful husband built this thing with his own two hands and he did it alone. He bought a kit on line that had the plans and the hardware. He bought, cut and routed all the wood himself. He also modified the plans and built a roof instead of buying the tarp. The only thing left to do it to put a floor on the bottom. It is suppose to be a sandbox, but we don't want to mess with that. So, he will cover it and them built Miss K a picnic table to sit under there too. She loves her new toy. It's the first thing she wants to do in the morning. Thankfully, I can sit on the back deck and watch her! It's awesome.

Busy, busy week for us. Brian is leaving in the morning to go out of town for a week for work. While I am not thrilled because this is the week I start back to work and K has her recital, this will be one less week of "downtime" for him, so he will get full pay instead of layoff pay. If you think about it, say a prayer that GM will decide that Tennessee is the best place for them to build a new small car. If they decide to build it elsewhere, I am not sure what that means for Brian. It's sort of a stressful situation, but I am looking at it with a positive view. If I look at it any other way, it will eat me alive and I can't live like that.

Okay....gotta go. Lots to do. Brian's parents will be here on Friday. Thankfully, my house looks halfway decent!

blog ya later!

Where in the world is Hollye?

hey...I'm here. Just trying to get some stuff done around the house on my 2 weeks off. (my backspace key on my laptop broke, so forgive any errors.)

Today I've been cleaning out my wreck of a closet. It's a mess. The hallway is lined with folded clothes that will be going to Goodwill. I will probably have to make a second pass through the clothes I decided to keep because I think I am keeping more than I need or can possibly wear. I've not even attempted to go through the shoes yet.

Okay...my child is trying to show me something that she NEEDS me to order for her out of some catalog. Off to clean.

blog ya later.

Go me!

K is out of town and I've not gotten a dang thing done. I had grand plans. Oh well. I will say, I was looking forward to K being at her grandparents, but I am ready for her to be home. I miss her...ALOT. Brian does too.

I did actually get something completed today. I made Kennedy a felt board for her playroom. We have some felt board sets that she loves to play with. I lucked out and picked them up at Goodwill for $1.99. Either someone didn't realize what they were tossing or they just didn't care. These sets are not cheap. If you buy them individually, they are about $16.95 a set. I have found a place on line where you can buy a set almost just like the one I have for $30. There are 5 different "scenes" you can make. K loves them. I took them to school for my kids to play with and they loved them. The director mentioned that she would like to have a felt board, but didn't have the money for it. I found a tutorial on line...SUPER simple. Picked the stuff up today at Hobby Lobby and made it tonight in less than 5 minutes. The spray glue is what took the longest. You have to let it set for a whole minute before you bond the pieces. I got a nice 16X20 frame, took the glass out and used it. The frame was a little pricey....$17.50 and that was the 1/2 off price. I did see a frame at Goodwill tonight that would have worked for $8, but it would have needed to be sanded and painted. The frame I bought was a large white one. I think it is going to look great on the wall in K's playroom...just not too sure where it is going to hang. (the sets we have don't hang on the wall, so we use them in the car on trips.) Brian and I need to sit down and draw out the room and make some serious plans. I've got to get that closet cleaned out in there so I can start moving stuff into there. I want to put all her art supplies and things in there. I am also putting her large tilt bin in there. I honestly need a whole separate room for the "Babies and Barbie".

Anyway....here is a link to the felt board I made. I didn't take photos. Once it is hung on the wall, I will post photos of all the things in her cool playroom.

So, I actually got a project completed. Granted, it was a NEW project, but at least I finished it and didn't just buy the stuff for it and then shove it into a closet! I am hoping to get at least one thing completed tomorrow. No pressure. If it doesn't get done, it doesn't get done.

blog ya later!

I honestly can not think of what to call this post....

First off....I cleared it with the director and I will start the giveaways next week. I just need to get things together and hit some friends up for donations. Thank you to my sweet friend, Lianna for offering a set of cards from her website.

We will be hosting a Parent's Night Out/Kids Movie Night on Friday, May 8th from 6 - 9 pm. If you live in the Nashville area and want a night out without your kids, get in touch with me. Brian and I will both be volunteering our time that night, so we will be there. We are hoping to make some good money with this.

Stay tuned for more on the chip-in/giveaway thing....

So...K is going to her grandparents house in Michigan next week. I've been thinking about all the things I would love to get done. I know it won't happen, but a girl can dream. One thing I do plan on doing is making some freezer meals. I've been wanting to do this for awhile, but I just never commit to it. I'm committing! I got a recipe book that has some easy recipes in it. It's called "Girlfriends On The Go". Publix had chicken on sale last week, so I picked up quite a bit. I want to make about 8 meals just to see how they are. Then, I am going to try and round up some other moms who want to swap meals. My neighbor and I have been talking about doing this for sometime, but we've never gotten around to it. But I am on a mission. If I only get a few things done while she is gone, I would like them to be the following: 1. meals made; 2. playroom closet cleaned out and the room organized; 3. ALL THE LAUNDRY DONE. Actually, if I only get one thing done, it really need to be all the laundry. But that also means I need to get the closets cleaned out so that I have a place to hang all the clean laundry! See....it's a wicked cycle. In order to get ONE thing accomplished, I actually have to do like 5 or 6 different projects.

Speaking of projects....I added a couple of new ones to the unfinished project list. K is into headbands with flowers on them. I think she would like just flower clips as well. So, I picked up some silk flowers and I want to get those made for her. That is my plan for Thursday. She keeps asking about them. Then my cousin Jami posted a photo of a shirt for made for her niece and I decided I needed to make one too. I've got the shirt, the ribbon and the wonderunder. But I really need to make the baby doll diapers that K keeps asking for. See...I'm awful!!!!! ARG! When I die, I'll need a separate casket just for all the unfinished projects. Maybe I'll get to complete them in the afterlife!

I have to work tomorrow. I need some sleep.

blog ya later!

Coming soon....

So, Miss K's school needs some funds to finish their playground. We've pretty much exhausted asking the parents for donations. So, I'm going to do a chip-in/giveaway thing. My friend Lianna has been raising funds for her IVF and she gave me the idea. I've got a couple of things that I am getting ready to list, but I am going to be hitting up some friends for donations.

K attends a VERY small parents day out program. She attends Tuesday/Thursday. There are 8 kids in her class and 5 kids in the class I teach and that is it. 13 kids. Monday/Wednesday I think there are 12 or 13 kids as well. So, about 26 kids total in the entire school. The tuition basically covers the teachers and supplies for each month. Trust me when I say...this is not a money making business for the church. Like the school, the church is also very small. We do not attend this church, but every week when I walk in, I see the sign that shows how many people attended that Sunday and what the offering was. Attendance runs anywhere from 54 to 96. I think once I actually saw 115 on there. I know that some people would be turned off by the size of the program, but that is what drew me to it in the first place. I love that I know the name of every child, teacher and parent in the entire school. I love that my child get individual attention. I feel safe having my child there. I love this program so much that when I found out that K was going to age out last year, I pushed for them to add another class. They were originally not going to do it because of space, but at the time, they were only doing Monday/Wednesday classes. I gave them the idea of adding Tuesday/Thursday classes. When they told me they were doing that, I was thrilled and warned them at the time that I would start pushing for a preschool program at the beginning of this year. Which I did. And they have added that for the fall.

So, the playground last year was very sad, but it worked. Play structures cost a lot of money. The church was lucky enough to have one donated. (A family donated it to their church and the church didn't need it, so they donated it to us.) But, the fence had to be replaced. That took up most of the money that we had raised. We did a spare change drive with our kids. They raised over $115 in change! It was great. K was so cute about it. She would go around and pick up change all over the house. One day she was riding home in Brian's car and saw he had coins in his car. She came in and got a baggie and ran back out to his car and picked up everything she could find. Lots of coins.

So, now we have the fence up. The play structure is going to start going up, but we need ground covering now. Play soft mulch for a playground is not cheap. I called the landscaper who takes care of our common areas in my neighborhood. He also lives here. I called him last week, but he hasn't bothered to call me back. I'll try him again this week. We've got to get this playground completed. The weather here is Middle Tennessee is finally starting to take a turn for the better and the kids NEED to be outside and they WANT to be outside.

We will be having a Parent's Night Out/Kid's Movie Night next month. I'm hoping we can raise some good money doing that. Brian and I will both be volunteering that night.

Check back in a day or two and I should have the first giveaway posted!

blog ya later!