And I'm Back? Maybe?

Hellloooo bloggy world.  I have once again been MIA for a while and I once again am vowing to come back.  We'll see how that goes.  I have a few different reasons for coming back and maybe both will actually keep me motivated.  Goodness knows I need someone to hold me accountable for keeping to my goals...maybe this well.

So for Goal #1: Weight Loss.  Since I've had little man taking care of myself has certainly been on the back burner...and it shows. I'd post a picture, but honestly, I just don't let people take them of me anymore because I hate the way I look.  I am taking initial measurements/weights tomorrow am and starting myself on a little program.  I won't post the gory details everyday, but maybe if I can brag or at least have to admit to the fact that I skipped a run AGAIN I won't skip as many.

Goal #2: I will be starting teaching in a brand new school next year and am super excited to set up my classroom.  I'm going to use this as a sort of classroom blog for a bit maybe.  We'll see....

Goal #3: This is the first summer that I am home with little man and I want it documented...so there will be lots of little man posts.

And along the way I'm sure I'll keep you posted on all of my oddball antics...and for those of you who haven't seen little man in a long time here's one of my newest, favorite photos

I needed a non-crafty update :)

So Evan made his big bad stage debut on Christmas Eve at the church xmas pagent like I mentioned before. Aaaannnd I was the most amazing supportive mother ever by being the only adult on the stage with him. The picture isn't the best quality, but here is my adorable son being the cutest baby Jesus ever...and me being so super thrilled to be up there. Luckily, once the shepards and animals came up i snuck in the back and kind of hid behind the kids (thank goodness!) As you can see I decided to be a gold angel. And I was a good sport. I donned my beautiful, flowing white gown and sat in church waiting when I would have to face my public humilation. And then it got worse....the coordinator approached me to tell me that I wasn't totally dressed. My mouth dropped open as thoughts raced through my head. Apparently I had forgotten my halo (gold glittery stuff). I must have made a face because her response was that I wasn't gold and glittery enough...to which I held out my arms to show her the 4 foot hanging gold fabric that was extending from beneath each of my arms to the floor (you can kind of see them in the picture above). Wasn't that enough gold? Apparently not. I compromised by having her tie it around my waist. Joy.

A bit sidetracked...

This being home on vacation thing rocks!  I have tons of time to do all kinds of neat things and of course to scour Pinterest for fantastic ideas.  This week I went to the store to find a frame for the wall art that I'm planning (which I found) but I got sidetracked by some super cute fabric.  Let me preface this by saying that I asked for a sewing machine four years ago and got one....and it has remained in the box without even being opened since then.  So I bought the fabric, broke out the sewing machine and whipped up a cute little cover for my Kindle.  It definitly isn't pretty, but I wouldn't call it a total fail.  I did this without a pattern and just kind of went with it...and it was a great way to get back into sewing so maybe there will be some more projects like that coming up in the near future.

In other news, we celebrated little man's first birthday yesterday.  I cannot believe that it has been a year since the marathon birth occured (you can read about it here if you really want to...but I totally downplayed the awfulness of it in my post-partum, sleep neglected state).  I cannot believe that he has been a part of our lives for a year.  It seems like it was just yesterday that I was bringing him home and wondering how the heck I was supposed to keep him alive.  Yet at the same time, I cannot remember what life was like without him.  And now I am officially the mother of a toddler....god help me!

Our First Christmas....any my new project

First, an update on our first christmas.  Evan was a champ!  He wasn't too into opening all of the gifts, but he certainly enjoyed all of the fun new toys he got.  He even survived two days of little naps and late bedtimes.  Wooh!  Here's a few pictures for your viewing pleasure:
Xmas EXPLODED in my living room.  If this kid isn't spoiled.....

He wasn't toooooo sure how to open those things....

But playing with Auntie Kiersten's puppy was pretty fun!

All in all, it was a pretty good day!

Now onto my project for the month.  In all honesty, January is most likely going to have a few projects as its little man's first birthday too and I'm planning some pretty fun cupcakes.  But for now....I have this spot in my hall where I hung a very nice holiday picture.....and it stayed there all year.  See?

Clearly that just isn't going to work for another year!  I suppose I could blame last year on the whole having a baby thing.  Yeah.  Maybe.  Anyhoo, my plan is to revitalize this wall.  I'm thinking of a combination of a few things.  The first is inspired by this photo from this blog.  The plan is to head to the craft store as soon as little man wakes up and see what I can find.  Stay tuned for the other additions to the wall!



Reindeer Cupcakes

Project #1 was a success.  I made these super easy, super cute cupcakes for Evan to bring to daycare today.  They took less than an hour and took very little skill.  Heck, if they came out looking this decent and my uncrafty self made them, then anyone can do it!

I used simple white cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  The muzzle is a vanilla wafer, pretzels for the ears, an m&m for the nose and any white candy bit with frosting for the eyes.  December Pinterest Challenge = success!

Baby Jesus

So I'm not proud to admit this, but for the past few months my motivation for going to church has been so that little man could be baby Jesus in the Christmas pagent this year. I mean really...he's adorable and the perfect age....it's a once in a lifetime opportunity! The first few weeks of December came and went and I assumed that they didn't want a real baby Jesus. Shucks!

Then it happened....on Sunday I was approached and asked if I would be willing to let Evan be in the pagent as the one and only baby Jesus. I of course said yes. Fast forwad to Tuesday night and a phone call from the coordinator at the church. She wanted to discuss logistics. The conversation went something like this.

Me: Should he wear something special?
Church Lady: No...just something white. And we'll put him in the manger. Mary will be right next to him the whole time.
Me: Great. Who's Mary?
Lady: She's in 5th grade.
Me: Oh. Well, I'll jsut be sure to sit right in the front row in case I need to grab him.
(Awkward Pause)
Lady: Welllllll, we were hoping that you would be an angel. You don't have to wear wings or anything....
Me: Well ,I guess I could do that.
Lady: Great! Do you want to be a silver or gold angel? Oh, and you'll be the only adult on stage just so you know.
Me: Oh, okay. I'll just hide in the corner then so I'm not too obvious.
Lady: Oh no! We'll have you right up by the manger. It'll be great!

What!!!!! I think God was laughing at that trick. So I got my wish, but with a twist. This girl is officially the only adult angel in the children's christmas pagent. But my son gets to be Jesus. Sigh. The things I do for him already. I'm sure pictures are to follow....

A new mission....

So clearly I haven't been very good at this whole blogging thing lately. This OBVIOUSLY has nothing to do with the fact that once the little guy goes to sleep all I want to do is crash on the couch and has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that this website is blocked at work (the nerve!). I also think that one of my problems is motivation and direction. Is this a mommy blog? A teaching blog? A boring blog? All of the above? Sooo....I have a plan.

I'm inspired by two things: 1.)a great friend of mine who started a blog last year and wrote about monthly resolutions and 2) Pinterest.  If you haven't checked out Pinterest, you have to!  It's full of fabulous ideas about everything from cooking to fashion and has tons of inspiration on it.  I have always attempted to be a craft/clever/creative person and often find myself falling short.  Sometimes it is lack of time....othertimes its just that I kind of stink at crafts.  Oh right...the plan...get back to it.  The plan is that each month I will find some sort of project (even if its something as simple as a recipe) to try out and I'll blog about it.  Don't worry....there will still be plenty of humor considering that most of the times that I try this my project are epic fails....and I promise to post pictures of everything.  Even the fails.

So if this cute face isn't enough to keep you occupied:

Hopefully my crafty things are :)  This months project is going to be a quicky considering that it's already almost over.  I have to bring in cupcakes to Evan's daycare on Friday for his birthday and figured I'd give these a shot.  There aren't too many kids so it shouldn't be very time consuming.





The original post is found at a super awesome blog called With Sprinkles on Top.  Stay tuned for the end result :)