school is back in session

The 2010-2011 school year has officially started and it's off to a great start! I have a wonderful group of 18 third graders. I dislike being away from Julianna but I'm happy to have a great class and great co-workers to work with.

Speaking of Julianna, she's actually doing very well at daycare. This week was so much better than last week. She actually napped for over 3 hours total on Friday! Yay Julianna! Her napping more=more time with mommy when she gets home... which is great thing!

She's also considered a roller at daycare now. She can roll back to tummy and tummy to back. They all say she's tiny and mighty! I love that little girl so much!

In other news, Josh and I got a new car this week. We traded in Josh's Honda for a 2010 Honda Accord. It's black with tan leather interior. I love it! I haven't had a chance to take a picture of it yet but here's one from the website:

first week complete

This week was Julianna's first week of daycare and my first week back to work after being out on maternity leave since March--5 months! The anticipation of leaving her at daycare to go to work was much worse than it actually was. It was very emotional on Monday but I feel really good about the daycare that she's staying at so that made it easier on me.

The first few days, she didn't nap at all. Maybe a total of 10 minutes all day long! That had me so worried because I didn't want her to be overly tired everyday and want to go straight to bed as soon as she got home. Thursday and Friday were better. She actually slept an hour and half total on Friday so we're headed in the right direction. Hopefully she'll be able to sleep better there as she gets more used to being there all day, everyday.

As far as school goes, I'm really excited to be back. I think this school year is going to be great. Right now, I have 17 students in my class. That may fluctuate in the next few days though due to students withdrawing or enrolling. School starts in 4 days and I have so much left to do. Open house is Monday so hopefully I'll get to meet most of my students then.

The photo below is one Josh took on his iPhone. He has a neat app on there called Color Splash and this was his creation today. Enjoy!

North Carolina Education Lottery

This past Saturday, the North Carolina Education Lottery and a local radio station, 93.1 The Wolf were at my family's store, Ready Mart. Josh and my dad were working while the festivities were taking place. Josh and my dad got to dress up in fun lottery ball costumes. Josh even ran the register with his ball outfit on! Enjoy the pictures and then click the link below the pictures to watch the video of the event.

Video: http://www.nc-educationlottery.org/video.aspx?id=115&channel=7

5 months old

Happy 5 months to Julianna!

recycled art

This piece of art is over 6 months in the making. I started collecting toilet paper rolls when I was pregnant with Julianna because I wanted to make something. I was feeling crafty. Well, I collected them for about a week or two then I forgot about this project. About a month ago, I discovered all of the rolls that I had collected and decided to finish this project up before it was time to go back to work.

I got the inspiration from this blog: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/11/diy-project-toilet-paper-roll-wall-art.html. I thought it looked really fun and best of all, easy to do! I wanted a piece of art for the hallway and the price of this was just right... it literally costs me nothing. I used toliet paper rolls and paper towel rolls, stuff I would normally just throw in the trash, I already had glue and scissors, and my imagination for the design was free too!

After finishing this project, I feel inspired to create something else. I've always wanted to paint. Maybe that will come next. Who knows when I'll actually have time to do anything fun like that?! I'm going back to work next week. Enjoy the pictures of my fun creation:

my monkey in monkey jammies

After bathtime, Julianna got to try on a new pair of jammies. I bought these about a month at Target when they were on clearance. I thought they were adorable. I've always loved Paul Frank, I love the polka dots, and I adore the bright colors! I love that she's wearing typical boy colors. Of course, I love my little princess in pink and purple but she looks great in every color. I hate when she's wearing red and someone comments on my little boy. I wish those gender specific colors didn't exist. I've even bought a "boy" onsie for her! *gasp*

Good thing I put these on her last night. She probably won't be able to wear them long because she's quite long even though she's little. This is a 3-6 month pair of jammies and they are almost too short. She's my string bean!