First Birthday Approaching

John's first birthday is coming up soon.  I can't believe it is already here. I have been a little emotional  about this whole thing.  I am sure most first time mom's are!

Recently, John erased all the pictures from my phone.  I was in tears when I realized what happened.  Thankfully, I had put a bunch of pics on my computer in the mean time.  Plus, I got a really nice and expensive for me camera.  I started to use that to get some good shots of him.  There was one pic I LOVED.  I never put it on Facebook or ordered a copy of it apparently.  Today I was uploading some pics from the camera and started to look at old pics from this last year.  There, on the computer was my favorite pictures.  I did tear up a little.  It might not seem like the best picture, but I just remember how emotional I was when I took this pic.

Now, my little man is growing up.  I have decided that he is going to have a Mustache Bash because I think they are hysterical!  I have been scouring the web to find some cute ideas.  Ultimately, I am not going to go too crazy.  I am making sugar cookies to take away in a goodie bag.  I am also going to make mustache lollipops.  That is it.  I don't want to go overboard on the goody bags.  I also bought a few decorations for the tents that we are going to have up around the house. The color scheme is navy and green.  I am a little excited about it.

I also found the bow tie I want.  It is a website called The Littlest Prince.  One of the things I love about this website is that some of the models are special needs kids.  I always try to support people who use different types of models.  Plus, they donate money to charity with every purchase.  Every mother of a little boy knows that there are few sites that cater to little boys.  Please, go and help this site out.  I know I will be buying from here more often! 

Updating my 101 Things

I have an amazing sister who is an amazing photographer.  It is always great to have her around because she takes AMAZING pictures.  That being said, it is very hard to remember to take pictures because I know nothing I take will be anything like what she can do.  This last weekend, I got to cross a couple of things off my list.

I went to Marco Island, FL, to see my little cousin Jim get married to an amazing woman, Abby.  Seeing them get married was on my list as was going away for the weekend without John.  Joe and I went back and forth about whether or not to take him.  In the end, we decided to leave him behind with my in-laws.  It was so hard to do that the night of the trip. Afterward, I am glad that we did.  It was a beautiful weekend and John had a ball bonding with the family!

I wish I could share some pics, but I barely took any.  Here are a couple of pics off my phone.  Seriously, if you need a photographer in the Chicagoland Area, check out www.erinreedphotography.com

A Not So Secret

By nature, I am not the most creative person.

People think that I am.

I am not.

This is why I LOVE Pinterest.  I get so many ideas from this site.  By ideas, I mean I pretty much copy everything I like.  I have teachers ask where I came up with bulletin boards and decorations often.  My answer is always Pinterest.

As with most teachers, I start planning for the next school year before summer has even hit.  I like to have all my back to school bulletin boards figured out before I leave for summer so that is one less stress for me.  I had everything done for all four boards.  I was excited!  I LOVED the board I found with all the students names.  I am going to make a poster with the "In This Classroom" saying.  I found one on Pinterest that I liked the wording up best.  I even created the poster both in Pages as well as on a template from Staples.  I was then going to find a website to print out all of my students' names in bubble letters for them to color in and have hanging for the first month or so.  It may seem a little primary for a Middle School room, but the kids LOVE to color the first day.  Plus it gets them back into the swing of things.

School starts in two weeks.  I decided I should start working on it today.  After Little Man went to sleep, the Hubs left for work, I turned off the tv and started to search.  I have a couple of students who have less than common names.  I was having a hard time finding all their names on the same website.  I went to Pinterest to look at my original pin so I could find where this teacher got her names from.

It is gone.

I have no idea where the pin went and why it disappeared.  I know I shouldn't be freaking now.  I searched other ways to do it as well.  The art teacher also told me she taught the students how to write their names in bubble letters when they were in second grade. There is that option as well.  I really need to move on from this.

But I want to know where my pin is...

The Final Days of Summer

I am still trying to cross of ideas on my 101 Things To Do.  It seems like crossing those things off my list is the only way that my blog is also getting updated.  Whatever works, right?

Today I took the little man to The Shrine of Christ's Passion in St. John, Indiana.  It is a field trip that I took my students on a couple of years ago.  I have wanted to return and enjoy it on my own for some time.  Now that summer is almost over, I took the opportunity to get there.  My mom had never been, so she came as well.  It was a hot and humid day, but it is very peaceful and pretty to go see.  If anyone is in the Midwest, it is a journey worth taking.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to the shrine is because of the gift shop as well.  They have some amazing things there. When I was there, I found this plaque.

 I should have bought it, but I didn't have the money at the time.  They didn't have it this time around.  The only place I can find it is in St. Louis, MO, but that is a long drive from Chicago.  I will eventually order it, but this weekend is going to be expensive since I am going to Irish Fest in Milwaukee.  That is another event for another blog.

Last Minute Summer Plans

So I can say that two more things are crossed off my list.  One of the items I actually did, one is because it is no longer necessary.

My first thing I will tell you about is the dress.  My husband's family gets VERY dressed up for weddings.  I am talking gowns.  My family wears cocktail style dresses.  Every time I have gone to a wedding, I feel like a sore thumb.  The hubs always tells me I look fine, but I feel out of place.  It has been a thing with me that I will find a dress for one of these weddings.  Recently, his cousin got engaged.  I found out the wedding was going to be in October.  I started the search for the dress immediately.  I have an issue with buying clothes online.  I would much rather try them on in the store than hope they work and have to deal with the hassle of going to the post office to return them in they don't.  I went to a couple of store websites, but the dresses I liked were in the $300 range.  I couldn't justify spending that.  I knew that I would only wear this dress once.  There was no need to spend that kind of money.

One day we were out shopping without the little one, so I decided I would try going to Ross.  I ended up finding a dress I really liked there.  It was only $40.  I snatched that dress up right away.  I wasn't 100% in love with it, but it was closer to the target than anything else I had seen.  I decided I would still look around and know that I had that as a back up in case nothing else came through.  At the very least, I would be able to wear it later for another wedding in any event.

My cousin and I went shopping at an outlet mall last week.  It was an odd outlet mall in the respect that only half the stores treated it like an outlet.  The other half just treated it like a store front.  Dress Barn was the kind that it was just a store front.  There was the dress I had coveted for months at a fraction of the cost.  I am not sure if it is the brand or the material, but the dress I loved online was in front of me for only $60.  The only problem was they did not have my size.  Thankfully there is a dress barn right by my house.  I went there this week and picked it up.  It is the kind of dress that I should be able to wear to both sides of the family.  It will fit in with the hubs side because it is long.  It isn't too fancy, though, so I should be able to wear it to my side of the family as well.  And, since we have five weddings in the next year and a half, it should get a workout!

My other task that I crossed of my list is getting Smitty groomed.  I ended up not having to do that because we rehomed Smitty this week.  The hubs allergies were getting out of control.  He was taking his inhaler more often, and he needed to be out of the house more often to get away from the fur.  I was vacuuming the house four to five days a week, and my vacuum was getting clogged every time.  It was just becoming too much.  Plus, I live in an 800 square foot house.  He was way to big to have a baby as well.  He was just a big puppy all the time, and sometimes he forgot how big he was and how little John was.  I started to put the feelers out there, and eventually a new family came through.

They are friends of my sister.  I could not ask for a better family for him.  They have two older children who will play with him and love on him so much more than I could.  He also has a new sister who is a big puppy as well.  When we left, the two of them were running around playing tag.  The new family kept giving me hugs as I was sobbing.  It was hard, but I know this is the best thing for him.  My house feels so much bigger now that he is gone.  I don't know if I like it or not.  I did friend the family on Facebook.  They have posted pictures and texted me a couple of times.  I am so glad it worked out the way it did.  It really made a horrible situation that much easier.

What A Crazy Day!

This weekend has been a pretty busy time.  I woke up in my normal fashion.  John was "singing" in his crib.  Thankfully, he slept until 6:30.  The other day he decided to wake up at 5:30.  He went straight back down until 8.  I am just excited because he is finally sleeping.  He has been a finicky sleeper to say the least most of his little life.  My husband finally convinced me let him cry it out.  I tried to do the pick up/put down method.  He would just FREAK.  Then, I tried the idea that you would go in ever 5 minutes, etc.  He went over an hour and a half.  Now, he finally sleeps through the night.  I am finally done with the 3 A.M. wake up every night.  It has been nice!

Back to the original story, though.  We woke up and hung out while torrential downpours took over.  When there was a slight break in the weather, John and I headed up to Target so we could buy a present for his big cousin who was turning one!  John and Joe were going to the birthday party while I headed to a wedding shower for my cousin.  Of course, they were at the same time!  Joe dropped me off and went to the party with his family.  I spent the afternoon with my family.  I was able to go to the party for a little bit since my shower ended early.   I got to cross off another item on my list because Baby Olivia was there and I got to hold her for a few seconds before my little guy got too jealous.

Right after the cake was done, I checked my phone and saw that my friend from college finally arrived in town.  About seven years ago, she moved to North Carolina.  I haven't seen her kids in six years.  She had them for the day so I got to see them and how much they've grown!  We hung out for about an hour, but Kristen had to go to a surprise party.  Joe and I went home after being out since 11 in the morning.  We ordered sushi and went to bed.

This is SO not like the Saturdays of my younger days.  I never thought that I would see the day when this would happen.  This may have been slightly boring to read.  I am trying to keep up with updating my blog.  I hope that things will get more interesting!

Crossing Off My List

                                                  
I decided I needed to read the book The Fault in our Stars by John Green.  All of my  eighth graders were becoming obsessed with it as well as many other books by him.  I had watched multiple videos of his on his YouTube channel that he shares with his brother, but I just never got around to reading the book.  I knew it was a romance book about a girl with cancer, and I figured it would follow the typical story line.  It is sort of like when you read a book with a dog as a main character.  You know the dog is going to die at the beginning.  The rest of the time is trying to figure out when it is going to happen.

I should have known this book was going to be different.  If you have never had a chance to watch a video of John Green's, please take the time to do so now.  This blog post will be waiting for you when you are done. 

In typical Green fashion, the book was filled with witty banter.  Although I don't know many sixteen year olds who talk like Hazel and Augustus, I remember that feeling of wanting to sound and appear older than you really were at that age.  They kept me entertained throughout the entire book with their dialogue with one another.  It is true that it is a story about people dealing with cancer.  Green does not shy away from the emotions that I would imagine many teens feel with this.  He makes sure to portray them openly and honestly. 

As with many Young Adult Literature nowadays, this is a book for the ages.  It should not be pigeonholed in the category for teens only. 

Trying a New Start

This is my third attempt at blogging.  I am hoping third times a charm?  To start off this new/old adventure, I am going to attempt a project my cousin's fiancee started.  It is one of those Internet challenges that are all over the place.  This one is 101 Things to do in 1001 Days.  I am hoping to accomplish most if not all of the items on my list.  If nothing else, this blog can help keep me motivated to work on them! I have until February 22, 2017 to finish these.  Some of them are already done, and I will try to create blog posts to describe the more interesting ones.

Personal and my Little Family Ideas:
1. Have another baby
2. Take a girls' weekend
3. Get a haircut from a salon, not just Super Cuts
4. Walk three miles a day for a week
5. Catch up on my reading list
6. Walk the Stations Garden in St. John, Indiana
7. Learn how to fix my hair
8. Get a pedicure
9. Lose 10 pounds
10. Lose 20 pounds
11. See a play downtown
12. Spend a weekend in a hotel downtown
13. Go to Garretts
14. Take a walk on the Lakefront
15. Walk around Downtown
16. Give up social media for a week
17. Buy a new outfit for meeting my goal weight
18. Make salsa from ingredients in my garden
19. Grow an herb garden
20. Go to a Festival Downtown
21. Keep my same phone until February 22, 2017
22. Learn how to do a French braid
23. Learn how to sew
24. Learn Arabic
25. Get a tattoo
26. Get on top of a building
27. Go to a Paint and Wine class
28. Visit a local brewery
29. Go to a Sox Patio Party
30. Visit the "Waterfall" in Worth
31. Go apple picking in the fall
32. Go berry picking in the spring/summer
33. Go to a Farmer's Market
34. Take an artsy picture of the Fountain on Western Ave.
35. Watch the fireworks Downtown
36. Relax on my new patio in the backyard
37. Learn the settings on my camera
38. See a movie alone
39. Do one of my walking tour cards
40. Buy something on Etsy
41. Create a piece of artwork using my Cricut
42. Have one day where all the laundry in the house is done
43. Cook enough so I don't eat out for a month
44. Make Meatless Monday a thing for one month
45. Go on the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier
46. Go to the top of Starved Rock
47. Update my blog once a week for a month
48. Try five new Restaurants (Horse Thief Hallow, D.O.C. Wine Bar, Tavern in the Green, Shoeless Joes, Clancy's)
49. Buy a Kate Spade purse
50. Pay off one car
51. Have a fish fry and invite people over
52. Fix the paint in my bedroom
53. Fix the paint round the window in the living room
54. Take a family picture by Grandpa Casey's brick
55. Have a homemade photo booth at a backyard bbq
56. Figure out how to make "Photostrips"
57. Pay off my store credit cards
58. Donate $25 to five different charities (White Sox Charities, ACS, Alzheimer's Research, HannahStrong, Fire Up a Cure)
59. Get Smitty groomed
60. Clean out my garage
61. Go to the zoo
62. Visit EIU
63. Do one DIY project on Pinterest
64. Make a flower box
65. Paint my bathroom door
66. Buy a fancy dress
67. Visit Marie in Arizona
68. Get a family portrait done
69. Redo the nursery
70. Figure out Photoshop 2
71. Buy a newer version of Photoshop
72.  Pray the rosary every day for a week
73. Walk the Prayer Maze
74. Eat a salad before dinner every day for a week
75. Read The Fault in our Stars
76. Go see the movie

Extended Family Ideas:
77. See Jimmy and Abby get married.
78. See Faries get married
79. See Sam and Michael get married
80. Send, in the mail, a birthday card for each member of my immediate family
81. Explore photo shoot locations with Erin
82. Meet baby Olivia
83. See Malifacent with my cousins

John Specific Ideas:
84. Take John to a Fire game
85. Go to a library event
86. Have a Mustache Bash for John's first birthday
87. Bake John's first birthday cake (third one)
88. Make some decorations for John's party
89. Have a smash cake photo session
90. Take "Police Car" picture of John
91. Take "Christmas Tree" picture of John

Work Ideas:
92. Make flower pens for students who need to borrow one
93. Stick with my Interactive Journals all school year
94. Make Classroom Rules banner
95. Go to a workshop over the summer
96. Teach three novels (Nothing but the Truth, Fever 1793, Outsiders)
97. Try some of the new reading strategies with my students

Joe Specific

98. Go away for the weekend without John
99. Go on five dates with Joe (Hometown Days, Fall on the Green, Porky's Rib Fest, Dave and Busters, Coopers Hawk)
100. Get Joe a wedding ring that fits
101. Surprise Joe with his favorite dinner (after I figure out what that is...)