Trampoline

I've wanted to get Allie a trampoline at our house for awhile. She has one already at her Nana and Papaw's, and her Daddy's and she just loves jumping on them. But, yard at our house in town is so tiny that it didn't seem conducive to having one, and with everything else we have going on right now, it didn't seem to be within our budget. 

Well, last Sunday, as we're driving to my sister-in-law's house to grill out and let the kids play, I spot a trampoline sitting near the road in a yard a few houses down from my sister-in-law's with a For Sale sign on it. It's in pretty good shape, with one of those safely enclosure nets: exactly what I was looking for to get Allie! But the best part, it was a STEAL of a deal. I immediately called the number, and the following day we were the owners of a new-to-us trampoline.  It wasn't until yesterday that we were actually able to go get the thing (a trampoline is a pretty big deal to move!) but we did, and got it set up in our backyard. I'm going to have to purchase new pads to go over the springs soon since the old ones are getting pretty worn, but otherwise, it's perfect for us. And yes, while it does take up most of our tiny yard, I couldn't think of anything better to do with the space once I saw how excited my girl was the have a trampoline at her own house.

A huge thank you to Papaw and Nana for all their help yesterday in procuring the trampoline! 

Finish This...Hair edition

Oh goodness, it's been forever! I've been a terrible blogger these past few months, but I'm hoping I can get back in the swing of things...

Linking up this week with Nicole at ~Three 31~, as well as a few other lovely ladies for Finish This...

My daily hair routine consists of-It depends on the day...My hair is very long now, which I love, but it gets VERY oily, so I have to wash it everyday. Except for the oil though, I've been blessed with hair that pretty much does okay with a minimal amount of styling, because goodness knows, I have no hairstyling skills to speak of. 

Some days I will have showered the night before and went to bed with wet hair, so when I wake up, it's messy/wavy etc. I can then just wrap it around a curling iron a few times and go with that look. Other days, I shower in the morning, but don't have the time to blow dry, so it either goes in a low, messy bun or here lately, I've been trying this side, over-my-shoulder braid thing. My husband says it's cute. Some days, but more often than not, I'm doing really good and it's a blow dry straight and run a flat-iron over it for a second day. That's how I normally fix it if I'm getting ready to go somewhere, or I will blow-dry then take the time to curl with a curling iron, but my hair doesn't actually really hold curl all that well.

The best hair advice I’ve received-Shampoo is not a place in which you want to try to buy the cheapest brand. I don't really splurge on beauty products at all, except for my Bare Minerals makeup, but I make a point to at least by decent shampoo, none of that Suave stuff from Wal-Mart. My aunt told me that while she was in cometology school, and I can really tell a difference in my hair when I don't use the cheaper shampoo. Also, don't overdo it with the heat stuff. 

My hair idol is-I don't know...I love people with really long, thick, layered hair, just because that's how I want my hair to look. One day, maybe my hair will look like this...(I literally just googled long, layered, dark hair lol) This was the first result, but it's fantastic.

Back to (Pre)School!

I know I've said on here before that my daughter goes to the most amazing preschool. She's been going there since she was 18 months old, and I've always been thrilled with her teachers and the whole atmosphere. 

This year, she is in the Redi Raccoons class, or the 5-day a week 4-year-old class. It's hard to believe that this will be her last year of preschool before she starts kindergarten next fall. Mama doesn't know if she's ready for it! 

Here are some shots from our quick photo shoot the first morning of school:

*A little note on her dress-my Mama made that dress at a sewing class we took over the summer at a local monogramming/sewing supply shop. I made her a similar one but in different fabric that I hope she can wear soon. We were so proud of our work and I'm looking forward to sewing more things in the future! 

Our First Family Vacay-Summer 2014

I figured since I've been a terrible blogger the whole summer, I would do a few quick posts on some of the biggest, most important moments of our summer... So here's the first.. 

One of the most fun things we did this summer was take our first family vacation. Over 4th of July weekend, the 3 of us visited Dauphin Island, AL. Bruce and I spent a day  there over a year ago in May, on our first trip together to Mobile, and we fell in love with each other and the location. It's also a wonderful, laid-back, beautiful place to take your family. 

It was a very laid back trip. Pictures are minimal and all from my iPhone. We were too busy just hanging out and spending time together to take many pictures. We stayed a small bed-and-breakfast and mostly hung out on the beach, watched a great fireworks show, visited a sea lab, and ate great seafood. 

Petting hermit crabs at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab
(I mainly love this picture because my husband's arms are sexy...)

My whole world...riding the Mobile Bay Ferry
across to Fort Morgan/Gulf Shores 

Sweet Summertime!

It's summertime! I completely love summer. Since I am an instructional assistant in a school library, I get to be off work all these long, glorious, wonderful weeks. I take full advantage of them by spending tons of time with my girl. 

We've been having a great time this summer so far. Our town has opened up a new splash pad at a local park, so we've spent several afternoons there. It's a super-fun, free thing to do with my girlie and it's only a couple of minutes from our house. 

We've also taken full advantage of the free programs at our local public library as part of the Summer Library Program. I may do a post soon about the importance of public libraries, but for now, let me just share some pics from a program presented by the local agriplex center on farming at our public library. 

Grinding corn off the cob

We've gone to movies. Our local Carmike Cinema has a deal going on in the summer where every Thursday at 10 am, they show a children's movie that has already been released but it still fairly new: Despicable Me 1 and 2, The Croods, Turbo, Rio 1 and 2 etc. It's $4 a person and you get a small drink and small popcorn. For any of you who haven't been to the movie theater lately, that's a crazy good price. 

So far, it's been a great summer, and we're only halfway in. On Thursday, we head out for the beach-our first trip all three of us as a family- and I can't wait! 

Finish This...Week XV

I've been missing for a few weeks. We're out of school for the summer- which means I'm off work (yay!), but also that I didn't have internet at my house (boo!). That is, until last week, when we finally got the local cable company to come out and install our wifi! So glad to be back as a part of this link up, and will hopefully be updating on some of our summer activities soon!

For now though, thanks Nicole {Three 31}; Jen {The Arizona Russums}; Becky {The Java Mama}; and Lisa {COASTLINED} for the awesome linkup.

 

I have a quarter to use a pay phone, I call ….Bruce, my husband. If I'm somewhere without my cell or anything else on me but a quarter, I must have some serious problems, and he's the one person I would want to get there as soon as possible. But really, I don't know that I've actually SEEN a pay phone anywhere in a very long time, so I imagine I'd actually have a lot more problems....

I found $25 in my pocket, I buy …something for myself, like a new dress or a new pair of shoes. I might buy a new gym outfit since I literally wear the same black capri gym pants every time I go. I desperately need to work on expanding my wardrobe.

I have 25 minutes to watch anything on TV, I turn on …How I Met Your Mother. I hardly ever watch TV unless it's after Allie's asleep or when she's with her dad and the husband and I have a few minutes, so we don't even have cable or satellite-just Internet- and we watch everything online. I'm working my way through several TV series- HIMYM, Downton Abbey, and Game of Thrones. HIMYM is the one I could finish an episode in the allotted time. Aren't Marshall and Lily just the best thing ever though?!

A meal I can prepare, from start to finish. in 25 minutes or less is …These boxes of red beans and rice we buy at Aldi, just like Zatarain's but a different brand. I brown a pound of ground chicken, then throw the rice and seasonings and water in the pan and let it simmer. Does a boxed dinner even count? I don't know, but it's ridiculously cheap, and fast, and sooo good. 

At the age of 25, I wish I had known …Letting go and getting out of a horrible marriage would not be the end of the world. I would come out on the other side of this better and happier and more sure of who I was and what I wanted than ever before. I would not feel the pain and misery that I felt at the time forever. I would not be destroying my child's life and sentencing her to an awful future simply because she had divorced parents. I would eventually meet an amazing, wonderful man and my daughter would turn out to be a kind-hearted, well-adjusted, happy kid with a mom, stepfather, and dad who loves her. 

If I drove 25 miles south from my house, I’d be in ..Warrior, AL; home of The Warrior Public Library, where I used to the Director. Despite the daily commute and long hours, I really loved that job. However, after my divorce, I needed to be a little closer to home and there for my daughter more, so now I work and Allie goes to preschool less than 5 minutes from our home. Also, home of The White House Restaurant-the best place I've found in the northern half of this state to get a good, home-cooked, Southern, meat-and-veggies meal. 

Budget End-of-Year Teacher Gifts

My daughter goes to a great preschool and she's always had wonderful teachers who I never thought twice about letting take care of my most precious possession all day. They are just awesome. But this year, her two teachers were just  FAN-TAS-TIC! I cannot say enough about how much I adore these two ladies, and how thankful I am that my baby got to learn from them all year. They are really going to be missed. 

To show just a tiny portion of my thanks, I wanted to get them a little gift. I perused different boards on Pinterest, and found some ideas and kinda pulled together what I wanted to do. 

I found this adorable little free printable at The Idea Room, through a post on Pinterest, and I just printed it out on plain white paper at work. I found two pretty indoor plants, Allie-approved, at our local Wal-Mart, which totaled $ 9.66 and then bought some twine and two sheets of paper at Hobby Lobby, totaling $1.35. I'm on a budget people, so these things are important. 

Anyway, I cut out the printables and paper backing, used some Modge Podge I had at home to secure the labels to the side of the pot, then wrapped some twine around it and voila! --$11 and about 15 minutes later, I had two adorable end-of-year teacher gifts!