Personalized Valentine's Cards!

It's official. Kenzie will have the most adorable Valentine's Cards ever for her Kindergarten party. And all thanks to Cardstore.

I mean seriously. Look at her face! 

She's a mermaid! 

And of course, I had to add Swedish Fish as a treat. 

Cardstore has 31 different themes for kids. We had a hard time just picking one! 

And the great thing about them is that they come in packs of four.

Can you stand the cuteness overload?

I'll give you a second...

And look! 

Even the backs of them have fun little activities.

Hurry and order yours! 

For as low as $0.89 per sheet, what's not to love?

Your kiddo will have the cutest Valentine's Cards in the whole class! Possibly the WORLD! 

Weekend Recap

I had a lot of fun this weekend! Saturday morning, Kenzie and I headed to Jackson for a Girl Scout workshop called "Be a Ballerina". Needless to say, she was so excited! My girl loves dancing and I'm hoping to get her signed up for dance lessons soon! She's a natural!

 The girls were so intrigued by the actual ballerinas. It was precious. They got to learn a dance from the performance of Peter Pan, got their hair and makeup done, and got to try on costumes!

 It was really nice to be able to spend some quality time with my baby girl. She's my beautiful princess and I'm so blessed to have her in my life!

Saturday night, my MIL kept the kids overnight. Doug and I ended up hanging out with some good friends playing Cards Against Humanity. I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time. Seriously, go play that game! 

I even put on makeup for the first time in a week and fixed my hair!
I felt pretty so I took a picture of myself. A selfie. Sue me.

 Sunday afternoon we had dinner at the in-laws with distant family. Delish food + family = great times. And speaking of great food, I've lost three pounds!!! I'm not quite sure how, seeing that I drank like 4 Cokes this weekend, but I did it! I have been eating a lot less though so that helps. Plus if I'm not doing T25, I'm doing yoga. I'm feeling great about myself! 

How was your weekend?

 

Let's Talk Genius.

First, let me start by saying that I love both of my children equally. They also get on my nerves equally. But I never want to be known as one of those parents who puts one child ahead of the other one.

With that being said, this post has tons of bragging on ONE child. But I think it SHOULD be bragged on because I am SOOOOOOO proud!

This post is all about this girl:

Want to know why I'm so proud of her, other than the fact that she's my beautiful angel?

I had a meeting with her teacher today. They let her take the Star Reading test the other day. She scored a 1.8. That means she's reading at a 2nd grade reading level!!! 

She's in Kindergarten. 

She just turned 5 a month ago.

 And she's reading at a 2nd grade level. 

This just blows my mind!

She is also advanced for her age in every category: Spelling, writing, and math. 

Her Kindergarten teacher says that she never acts bored in class, but she just doesn't want her to become bored. They are just now focusing on letters A-T. Kenzie knew that stuff when she was two. And the best part about all this? Kenzie never flaunts her "smartness". She understands that some kids aren't advanced, and she doesn't try to rub that in...she HELPS them. How precious is that?

During the meeting, we were discussing our options on how to help her excel without her becoming bored with Kindergarten. One option was to send her on to 1st grade completely. 

That's HUGE, people. 

But Doug and I talked, and we just don't think that's the best option for her. She's already one of the youngest in her class, and that would put her graduating at 16! I can't send my 16 year old baby to college! That's just too young.

So the option we went with was to let her stay in Kindergarten, but take the 1st grade reading class. This way, she will still be able to spend time with her friends, but to challenge her more in her academics. She will be participating in the AR reading program, which they don't even offer until 1st grade! I think this will work out perfectly and Kenzie seems excited about it as well.

Doug and I (and everyone else who knows Kenzie) is SO proud of her. I love that she loves to learn and I hope she continues to do so. I hope she stays the same sweet angel that she is now. 

Kindergarten!

It's been hectic around here. Back to school for Kenzie means no more sleeping in for Mommy. It also means that MY classes will begin soon. (Insert hair grabbing here). So I've been adjusting to the "new" schedule here and focusing on making sure Kenzie is okay at school.

My baby is in Kindergarten now. K-I-N-D-E-R-G-A-R-T-E-N. What in the world, people?

 Can we just stop her right here at this age? I'm not ready for her to leave me. But, she loves school. That makes my life tons easier to know she's having a good time and is with a great teacher and friends.

Even though she's in good hands, I still worry about her. That's my job, right? I pray about 15 times during the day. I pray for her teachers, her school, her classmates, and her safety.

 I just want to hold her hand forever and never let go. I want her to want me to sing to her every night forever. I want her to want to read to me forever. I want her to be five years old forever.

When we took her for her first day, her teacher just embraced her like she knew her forever. THAT put my Mama heart at ease. She also gave us a poem that had us crying in the parking lot. But just look at how happy Kenzie looks here. Her spirit is just so full of joy and happiness. I am beyond blessed to call her my daughter.

And that, my dears, is my emotional Kindergarten post. Because I have to stop writing right now or I'm gonna have to go pick her up from school haha!

Birthdays & a Blog Hop

If you're here for the blog hop, scroll down. If you're here to read about my beautiful babies, then keep reading:)

Today, my daughter turns 5. Last Thursday, my son turned 3. And I didn't blog about it because I'm a horrible blogger! So today I'm going to celebrate BOTH of my babies being born into this world.

Let's start with Tucker, since his birthday was last week.

My baby boy. He's three now. THREE! That means next year he will be starting PreK. That means he can play team sports now. That means he's not a baby anymore. He's a full blown BIG BOY. My sweet little man is growing so much. He's right on the verge of being 100% potty trained! And he is so smart and so caring. His big sister is just his whole world. And he is surely a Mama's boy. That little boy stole my heart.

You can read about Tuck's first birthday/birth story here.

Now, let's talk about the Birthday Girl.

I can't believe my baby girl is 5. Five means Kindergarten. That means longer school days and new teachers. That means she's growing up and I'm not too sure if I like that. She's my baby. Whether she knows it or not, she taught me what true love is. I never knew that I could love someone so much that I had never even met. The moment I held her in my arms, I knew my life was changed forever. She's such a blessing to everyone who knows her. But I'm the lucky one because she calls me Mom. Even though we can get on each others nerves (because we wear the same sassy pants some days....) I still love her to the moon and back. 

Happy Birthday my beautiful princess.

You can read about Kenzie's 4th birthday here.

And don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Welcome to A Lovely Blog Hop, where each Thursday we have the grand opportunity to meet and connect with lovely new bloggers, such as myself! Now you have something to do and somewhere to go on Thursdays!

 Enjoy!

Rules (Not really rules but a guide):

1. Follow your host and any co-hosts (if it applies). Co-hosts will be the first 3 to 5 entries.

I am your host,  Rekita @ Her&Nicole and I am the first linky. 

Feel free to leave a comment and introduce yourself!

Sponsor Co-Hosts:

Alicia @ River City Chic

Elena @ Cropped Stories

2. Link it!

Link up your blog or anything else you find lovely. Share your family, fashion, food, crafts, or anything that you love this week. Please, please, please, share the love and include a link back to this blog hop.

3. Spread it!

This is a blog hop after all, so hop around! Visit other blogs and say Hi!

4. Grab it! 

Grab the button and place it somewhere in your blog or add just the link. Preferably in your blog post. 

This is to help us promote this blog hop, believe me, the more the merrier! Or post the link somewhere in your blog. 

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5. Tweet it!

Tweet

Please help me to promote this blog hop by sharing it to others. 

So tweet it to show everyone where you link up on Thursdays!

6. The most important rule of them all, HAVE FUN BLOG HOPPING!

The first graduation.

Kenzie Lane has graduated Preschool! It’s hard to believe that almost a year ago Doug and I walked her into her classroom for her first day of school and I came home and watched the clock until it was time to pick her up. Heck, it seems like just yesterday I was falling asleep with her in our rocking chair during a middle of the night feeding. Time really does fly by when you have kids.

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw this pic:

Left: 1st day of PreK. Right: Last day of PreK.
See how excited she looked on day one? She loved school from the beginning. She loves learning. And she’s so smart, ya’ll.
But don’t get me wrong, she’s super happy to be on summer break now haha!

Presh.

Introducing, the class of 2026!

2026 people.
That seems like light years away.
I will be 37 years old.
Woah.

Randomness. Confidence. & Bravery.

Let me just start off by saying thank you. Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. It's comments like those that make me realize why I continue to blog...because I'm not alone and there are other people out there who can relate to me or that care enough to take the time out of their day to tell me everything will be okay. 

Today, I'm showing you guys my confidence. 

It's a rare thing. But lately, I've been feeling much better about myself, my life, my future. Everything.

Oh, and this dress? $12 on jcp.com from a gift card from Christmas.

The boots? Also a Christmas gift (that I picked out myself haha).

The necklace was also a gift from the best friend.

See? You CAN look cute while poor!! (As long as you have awesome, gift-giving family/friends! haha!)

These pictures were taken by my fabulous four year old photographer, who also had to get in on the action.

She's a future blogger for sure. 

And she's also a fearless little daredevil.....

Yes, that's a zip-line. She did it like 12 times. She loved it. I tried it and fell on my ars. And I'm still hurting. Damn you gravity.

Oh and here's some pics from Friday night. I went out with JUST my girls. It was fun and strange, being that I've been married for almost 5 years and go everywhere with Doug. But we had a blast. How can you not with free draft beer all night?