happy saturday!

Joel and I took these out for our first bike ride of the season together.

We went here

For these shakes. Buy one get one free until the end of June! I imagine we will stop here a few times this summer. By the way have I mentioned that there are only 8 days left of school!!!

our teacher dance

If you know me, you know I love to dance. This is one reason that I love the school I teach at. The students have dance class 1 or 2 times a week. At the end of the year there is a showcase where all the students perform the dances and songs they have learned throughout the year. The showcase started with the teacher's dance! It was so fun! I am in the front row on the far left. My favorite part is that you can hear my students chanting "Go Mrs. Stewart" during the first part of the dance! I think I made them proud!

Go to youtube via this link to see the video!

new headband

What do you think? I am still undecided...but those are usually the items I end up liking the most.

date night this week

Date night this week was pushed up to Thursday because of a school event Friday night. Joel and I ate dinner at home and then went to see the movie "Date Night". It was hilarious. My favorite thing about the movie (besides some amazing quotes, "Your pecs make me want to kill myself" is a personal fav) is that in the end the message is celebrating marriage and keeping that relationship in tact. I feel like so many movies have the audience cheering for the affair type of relationship. It disturbs me that so often cheating on your wife or husband is portrayed in such a positive light. So yea! for a good movie that is uplifting and hilarious. I give it 5 stars, want to own it and highly recommend it!

differences

Tonight we went through the McDonald's drive-thru to get a McFlurry for me. It is amazing how something so simple, like placing an order, can bring out the differences between Joel and I.

Joel is the most laid back, go with the flow, easy going guy ever. He doesn't really care what we do, what we eat for dinner, he is always happy to do whatever. This works VERY well for our relationship because I am...not like that...sometimes! For example I like my McFlurries easy on the reese's. If it has too much reese's I don't want it and I don't mind asking for a special order. Joel usually "gets what he gets and doesn't have a fit" (a phrase I use frequently with my first graders).

The reason I bring this up is because tonight Joel was driving the car through the drive thru and had to place my picky order, something I now realize he hates to do! I hadn't ever really thought about it because it is 100% my nature to order food exactly how I like it, if I am out to dinner with friends and someone at the table needs something but is shy about asking, I am always willing to go and ask for them because I can't stand it someone else isn't happy and it would be so easy to fix the problem!

I say all this just to state that Joel is wonderfully patient. I have always know this about him, but tonight after realizing how different our personalities are, I am realizing just how often he is willing to do things MY way, or is just so laid back he is happy to do things anyones way.

Dear Joel,

I love you and your easy going personality, it is one of the reasons we have such a great relationship. We rarely have any type of conflict and I know you are a big reason why! I love you so much.

p.s. I am really sorry you are working so late tonight! I am praying for you!

Dear God,

Please help all of the bugs in the code to go away quickly (thankfully you know more about the problem than I do).

Please let our children by easy going like Joel and not stubborn like me!

Amen

an evening full of my favorite things

After school was done today I had dance practice. I love to dance! This Friday is our schools end of the year showcase and part of the performances will include a dance by the teachers! After dinner tonight Joel and I went for a walk around the pond in our backyard. It was beautiful outside. I have really missed the warmth of the sun on my skin and the smell of flowers blooming. It was also a nice time to slow down and catch up with Joel.

When we returned home Joel and I both spent some time working on our hobbies and then we watched this week's episode of Chuck.

I am working on crafting a different kind of headband than I have done before. It will be part of a little gift package I am going to send to a friend. After that I did a little painting with watercolors. I made a card and a couple of bookmarks. Nothing special, but definitely fun for me!

I better go to bed now. The first and second graders are going on a field trip to the zoo tomorrow! It should be a beautiful day, please pray that all of my students are extremely well behaved for all of the chaperones and for me as well!

my new friend

Shawn was at an estate sale and found this for me!

I need to think of a good name for her. Any ideas?

Old sewing machine, meet new...err...older sewing machine. It is from 1954 and still works great! Not going to lie, I am a little nervous about learning how to use it and all of the crazy looking attachments. But I know how to thread it and I was able to make a cute little bag. I can hardly wait for school to be over tomorrow so I can rush home to keep playing with her. Thanks Shawn! What a great find for $25!

$15.97

$15.97 is how much we spend on our date night for our favorite pizza and dessert from Papa Johns. I love the familiarity of picking up the pizza on my way home from work on Friday, putting on my pajamas, sitting down with Joel, relaxing, eating and watching a movie. It is heavenly. This week we watched "Land of the Lost" a ridiculous Will Ferrel movie that we both were cracking up over. I love hanging out with Joel. It doesn't really matter what we are doing we always have a great time.

hitting the garage sales with the girls

This weekend I hit the garage sales with my sisters Lacey and Tahnee and with my niece Melody. We found some clothes for Tahnee's baby girl that will be born this fall. Melody got a vacuum cleaner and some shoes. I found a few things. My favorite item is a ladybug tent that I will be using in my classroom next week during a little camping unit I am doing. I think the kids will love it.

Before going out shopping I was able to do Melody's hair. Here she is! I can't wait to do my new nieces hair and eventually my daughters hair if I have a daughter someday!

just one more reason...

Here is just one more reason why I love my husband... okay maybe more than just one reason...

This week he cooked the beef for tacos for me since I HATE touching raw meat. I love that he is always willing to help with dinner. After dinner I took a nap and when I woke up Joel had cleaned up all of dinner and had done the dishes (another thing I don't like doing that he always does for me!) That night we were driving home from small group and realized I would need to get gas in the morning so I could make it to work. When we got home he dropped me off so that I could get ready for bed and he went and got gas for me! He is the best! I love you Joel!

Thank you for all that you do!

Oh yeah and one more thing. Joel also added the link to My Etsy Store at the top of my blog. He set up my account for me and I will be posting things I have made for sale there soon!

hobbies

Joel and I both love spending time working on various hobbies. Today we were both very inspired to get some work done. I was sewing and he was working with his/our computers.

I made this dress using a t-shirt that I cut for the top and then I made the bottom out of some jersey and made a belt out of some printed linen that I bought today.

Here is what it looks like on me.

Here is Joel's work station. Yup, it has 8 apple products, including his new laptop and my new iPad! There is one more Mac mini computer not pictured too!

Thankfully Joel is also able to make money with his hobby. Hopefully some day I will be able to make some money with mine too! For now I love creating things for myself and to give as gifts.

For anyone keeping track of the projects I have mentions previously, I did complete the quilt. I really liked the way it turned out. I already gave it to my sister Lacey and don't have pictures of it finished. I still haven't started the "Frock by Friday" dress that I posted about a week ago. I have the fabric and all of the supplies that I need but I am not inspired to make it yet. I think part of the problem is that I will be using a pattern to make it. I prefer to make most of my projects without a pattern and just make them work, rather than having to follow step by step directions. I really enjoy the creative process of making things without a pattern.

Have I mentioned I love my craft room and my husband lately? Well I do, a lot!

a lovely day off

Hello friends. It is Friday, and normally I would be in my classroom supervising my students during their indoor recess (because of the rain). Instead I have had a luxurious morning at home. My friend Shawn is on her way over for lunch and craftyness. This afternoon and evening we are going to the commencement ceremony and gallery exhibition of our good friend Kristin. She is graduating from the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul. We are so proud of her and I can't wait to go celebrate her!

Send up a prayer for my students, may they miraculously be perfect angels for the substitute!

date night

Our date night this week included one of our favorites:

mmm.... Chipotle :-)

Then we watched an episode of Chuck, another favorite! We spent the rest of the night playing games. I chose the first game. We played BINGO because I found this really great vintage set and we hadn't used it yet.

Joel totally kicked my butt. He won 5 to 1.

So he picked the next game.

Thankfully, I won this time! We had a fun and relaxing night at home filled with lots of laughter. If you don't have a date night established you need to start! I love knowing that I will have Joel's undivided attention for an entire evening. He doesn't even answer his phone!

R.I.P. cell phone

While this might not seem an event worth recording to most people, for me it is a sad day, the end of an era if you will.

Tonight I turned my back on the sprint plan and the samsung phone that has served me without fail for the last four years. Over those four years I have lost my phone a couple of times and it had found it's way home. It had been dropped countless times and it withheld the beating quite well. It was only until a month ago that the phone started showing signs of its age. It started turning off randomly, freezing and not always being able to receive or make calls. In truth, most people would have gotten rid of it long ago. But my typical outlook on the use of items is that I will use them as long as they work, I will put up with small problems/annoyances because it is easier for me that way. Yesterday we tried going to sprint and having them put all my info it the identical phone that Joel no longer used but that did not fix the problem. So today my phone was completely useless. It no longer performed any function a cell phone should.

Dear cell phone,

Thank you for faithfully performing your duties, you have been my constant companion and I will miss your familiarity. I want to thank you on behalf of myself, my friends and family for all of the phone calls you allowed me to make and receive. There have been some truly memorable conversations I have been able to have because of you. I am truly sorry for all of the times I dropped you! You may rest in peace knowing you have done your job well.

Dear new phone,

You have some big shoes to fill. I will try to care for you better than I did my last phone, please forgive me as I have the tendency to drop things. It's not you, it's me. Please bear with me as I figure out how to use you. Please be patient as I am mourning my old phone and might not truly appreciate you until you are old and failing as well. Thank you for having my same phone number and for having a cheap plan. Thank you in advance for the phone calls and texts you will deliver for me.

grow and thrive

It is truly spring around here. My mom came this weekend and planted some flowers and vegetables for us. Everyone send up a prayer for my plants! I hope they live and produce lots of veggies for us! Here is my rockstar mom on day two of planting!

Here is the green pepper plant. Yum.

Here is one of the many tomato plants. Please give me at least one tomato!

Here is one of the hopefully delicious yellow pepper plants prior to being planted.

Upon arriving home I am now greeted by these pretty flowers in the flower box outside the garage.

I love all of them mommy! Thank you for all your hard work. Don't worry I remembered to water them again yesterday and I am about to go water them again today.

This Sunday my family celebrated baby Myles 1st birthday and attended his baby dedication at Church of the Open Door.

Here his parents and sponsors are anointing him with oil.

Happy Birthday Myles! He was not shy about eating his cupcake!

And one more little one baking in the oven that should arrive this fall...

nope, not me but my "little" twin sister Tahnee and her husband Erik! Congratulations :-)

May all of these little ones, plants and people, grow and thrive!

date night :-)

We had a busy weekend! It started off with our Friday night date night to our favorite ice cream spot in White Bear Lake. We also went on a secret mission to drop off a present for Joel's uncle. We had to call four family members but we knew someone would know their garage code. We snuck in and left the gift on the counter. We hope you liked it Larry! We can't wait to enjoy the fruits of it's labor!

Love you Joel.