Last Day of School and I Cried... but not for the reason you may think...

My first year back from maternity leave is in the books. Ridge's first year of school is over. Elle's first year with a nanny has come and gone... and it all went incredibly FAST! But surprisingly, no tears were shed over my babies getting older (except for the fact that the end of this year means Miss Ashley has to leave us). My tears came courtsey of someone else's baby.

Teachers see glimpses into the souls of kids daily. But our days are so ridiculously busy that most of the time when these special moments happen, we smile, feeling blessed to see a beautiful spirit finding its way in the world, and move about our day teaching, loving, and helping students grow. Today was different. Today I cried.

I drink La Croix Sparkling Water like it's going out of style. Seriously. I have 2-3 at school and another 2-3 at home. Every. Day. As a Media and Technology teacher, I teach every student in the school, some twice a week. My twice a week classes picked up on my La Croix addiction quickly. They found it hilarious... but like teachers, students are incredibly busy. They're being pushed academically, socially, and emotionally... so when they get glimpses into our souls, they do what we do. They smile and move about their day. Not Julia.

This morning, Julia came to visit me before school. She was carrying a ziplock bag full of ice. Her hands were wet from the sweating, melting bag that had become mostly water on her bus ride to school. She looked like a little girl, grinning ear-to-ear from the thrill of winning a goldfish in a bag from the county fair. But she wasn't holding a bag of water with a newly acquired aquatic pet. She was holding a bag with an ice cold La Croix. It was a lime flavored one, my favorite. Not only had sweet Julia thought about what would make a perfect end-of-year present for one of her teachers, she'd also remembered my favorite flavored drink. I was floored.

I've received countless impressive gifts. I've received precious hand-created masterpieces. I have a garden full of potted plants that remind me of the sweet families who gifted them to me. But I've never gotten something as thoughtful as an ice cold La Croix in a melting ziplock bag. Julia did more for me today than give me a *very* thoughtful gift. She showed me that I'm making an impression. And by God, I'm determined that the impression I'll leave on every sweet soul that passes through my school is a meaningful one.

I decided to save my lime La Croix. It didn't feel right to drink it... even though it was painstakingly brought to me to be enjoyed. I decided to sit it in a spot in my office where I would see it and it would be a daily reminder to be as kind and thoughtful... to leave on my students as huge of an impression as sweet Julia has left on me.

Every time I glanced at that La Croix today, I got all glassy-eyed. And then the school day ended and Ridge bounded into my office, excited to tell me about his *first ever* last day of school. I had to finish up a few things in the Media Center, so Ridge passed his time playing games on my computer.  When I walked into my office to tell him it was time to leave, I saw a room temperature lime La Croix, half drank in his sweet little hand. See, Ridge loves La Croix just like me. For a brief moment, I panicked. Then I smiled and got a little glassy-eyed yet again. I knew the conversation that was about to take place. I would ask Ridge how his day was and would get a few tidbits of the joys of kindergarten. He would then ask me about mine and I knew exactly how I'd start... I'd tell him about a sweet girl named Julia.

Media Makeover

This title makes me giggle. I'm an elementary school Media Specialist. My school Media Center is currently undergoing an exciting makeover and on Tuesday of this past week, I jumped in to help our muralist paint a large section of the project... in my unicorn Carly dress (if you're like "huh? What's that?" Just know that I shouldn't have been painting in that dress). I was being extra careful for multiple reasons, but mainly because I didn't want to get paint on my dress OR ruin the mural. And I did great! The dress came out unscathed and I did a great job doing what the muralist needed! My "cleanliness" during the project inspired me. I've HATED the color of the Media Room in our home. In 2007, peanut butter tan was all the rage. In 2017, I just wasn't feeling it. See what I mean? 

It also didn't help that the black up against the tan really helped to date the space. And that the sofa (that will remain until my children aren't messy little monsters) is brown. When we moved in, this room was WAY far down my priority list. We live in this space. The carpet already has acquired multiple stains in the 7 months since we moved in. We eat here. We drop syrup here. (For real... HOW do you get syrup out of a sofa?!! Better yet, what crazy person gives their kid syrup on a sofa? Ha!) So when I said "I'm not doing anything to this room"... I meant it. Except for the color. I HAD to change the color. 

The last time we painted a room on our own, it was our previous Media Room. We loved the colors and hated seeing all the flaws in our paint job. It's hard to paint dark colors. Ivan and I are messy painters. We drip. We rush. We basically suck at painting. Therefore, we decided we wouldn't paint any room in our new home ourselves. And then I painted at school... and wasn't messy... and did a good job... and then I found out Ivan was going to be out of town the next night... and I already had the day off of work to take the Praxis which would be only 2 hours of my morning... and my nanny would be around to watch Ellington... and Ridge would be at school... and... I found myself at Sherwin Williams. 

And I bought black paint.

  

To be exact, the color is called Inkwell. It has a strong navy undertone. In fact, when Ivan first saw the finished room, he thought it was navy. But it's black. Don't pick this color if you're wanting navy. A blogger I follow (Brittany Hayes with Addison's Wonderland) used Inkwell on some of her ceilings and in her master bedroom. I knew from the moment I saw her spaces that I wanted to use this color in our Media Room. I mentioned it to Ivan when we moved in and he wasn't opposed to a black room. The rest is history... a really wonderful history. I'm obsessed with the black walls! The contrast between the black and all of the white in the room is so fresh and clean. 

See what I mean?

What makes the room perfect are these massive b&w prints of my kiddos. 

Here's Ellington crashing my photo session... but you can see that the prints are larger than life. 

Everything about this room is massive- the pictures, the sofa, the screen... but somehow it works.

Like I said earlier, I'm not re-doing this room. I just painted the walls. Everything else is something that was picked for a different space over a million years ago. (Okay, well... 9 years ago.) One day I'll have either a light grey linen sectional or some cool brown leather tufted sectional that works with black. I'm envisioning some sort of textured berber carpet for the floor that trends more grey than the creamish tan that we have now. BUT those things are in the WAAAAAAY distant future. Like kids in middle school future. Like, I'll probably want to repaint the room or sell the house before this happens future. But a girl can have a vision, right? And for now, it totally works. And it's syrup friendly.

I picked a matte/ flat finish for our paint. I didn't want any sheen in order to make the walls look as rich and deep as possible. I love the look! I also have to give a huge shout out to Ashley, Elle's amazing nanny. She helped me from start to finish with this project. I'm 100% certain I would have failed miserably at this without an awesome partner in crime. 

This by far is the side of the room that needs the most work decor-wise. I'm thinking I'll find some metal letters and a different sofa table at some point.

But no matter what we wind up doing here, it'll always be our room for watching football... which means we'll HAVE to keep our Bama flair. Roll Tide!

 And if by some chance you're wondering, "How many remotes does a Media Room require?" The answer is six. For real. But that tall remote, the one that makes me hate it daily... it's the Lord of the Remotes. One remote to rule them all... But if hobbits (or in reality, children) do something to destroy  the Lord of the Remotes, we have the backups. 

No post would be complete without some sort of disaster. Because black and white is so incredibly contrasting, I used a white paint pen to help correct some of the spots where the black paint got under my tape and onto the white trim. I obviously didn't put the white paint pen high enough on the counters.

Next project... new cabinets and appliances? One can dream... Until then, always keep a magic eraser handy! And paint a room black. I dare you! (Don't worry... you'll love it!)

Catch up and EXCITING news!

Warning. This is a very long blog. With very exciting stuff at the end. 

It's been a LOOOONG time since I've blogged. Mainly, I haven't had time. Also... it feels a little self-important... like, who really wants to read about what's going on in my life? My Mom. My Grandmother. BUT- it's also therapeutic. It might also be something for my kiddos to look back on when they're old. Maybe. But whatever the reason, I've found the need to catch myself back up tonight. Say whaaa?! Yup. I'm going to do almost a full year catch up tonight. In one post. Get ready. 

I left off last year when we were doing our massive "visit both families at the beach" trip. We went all the way to visit my family in Orange Beach, AL and then drove back up to Ivan's parents in WILM, NC. It was a haul. It was a ton of fun. And it ended with our family having that experience you see all too often on Facebook. I actually have spoken of it very little and haven't written about it yet. I'm not going into full details because that's not what this post is about... but I 100% feel in my gut that Ridge  was almost the victim of child trafficking. I went "Mom Crazy" on the situation, handled it, and still get laughed at by Ivan because he 100% believes I made more out of a situation than it was. But he's glad I'm overprotective. Here are my sweeties on that fateful day. I actually don't like this picture very much. Maybe it pulls all of the dreaded memories back to the surface... but I actually think it's because it's slightly out of focus and a little too busy- obsessive visual tendencies, remember? ;) 

Because we ended our beach vacay in WILM on Memorial Day, I had to get some patriotic pics of my babes at the pier. This will totally become a new tradition!

Once home, life resumed in an amazing pace- Ridge was not in preschool for the summer and we began our full-on lazy summer routine. Before we knew it, it was time for Ellington to be dedicated at our wonderful church, Grace Covenant. She did excellent during the service and ceremony... until Pastor Ferrel tried to hold her. Then she screamed and held on to Mom for dear life. 

Elle's dedication began a week of festivities for her first birthday. Of course I went all out. Ivan grounded me from party throwing after this one... but it was worth it!!! Since I hashtag Elle #southernbellington I thought it was only appropriate to throw my little southern belle a full out southern inspired party. We did bonnets, flowers, southern drinks, southern food, and good ole southern hospitality. 

Immediately after the party... like 24 hours later... Ivan and I hopped a jet with some good friends to St. Martin. I highly recommend celebrating/ rewarding yourself for surviving a baby's first year by taking an adults only trip! It was much needed and well deserved... especially since Ellington proved to be (and is still proving to be) a very huge personality in our family. I wouldn't change it for the world... but I also firmly believe in adult only vacations too. ;) 

July flew by and ushered in August all too quickly. My maternity leave ended and Ridge started kindergarten. I couldn't have planned it better myself. God certainly has a way of amazing me. There's no way I would have wanted to go back to work teaching if it hadn't been for the fact that I got to "start school" with Ridge. Being able to see school and that entire world through his eyes was and is wonderful. I wouldn't change it for the world! I DID acquire a ton more responsibility with my job... which made for a very crazy August/ September... and in the middle of it all, I decided it was smart to sell our house... our house we'd only built 3 years before. Even though I LOVE our new home, the timing of selling/ moving was a bit much on all of us.  

Of course I couldn't do a back-to-school photo shoot for Ridge without including sister and a coordinating dress. I like to think this is their response to me telling them I sold our house... in a day... and while Ridge and Mommy were starting back to school, we were also going to move. 

The thing I miss most about our old home is the woods behind it. I did our Halloween photo shoot there even though at this point they weren't technically "ours" anymore. We didn't move as soon as we closed. We rented our home back for a month, which gave us time to move into our new house slowly. I HIGHLY recommend renting back and then packing. We went through closing issues on our first home with our buyers... after our entire home was packed up. I swore I'd never do that again. And this time, I didn't. It was nice to have a month to move slowly.  

Even though we were moving, we still found time to do a *few* fun things. The pumpkin patch is always a must, even when you aren't sure which house to put your pumpkins at... ha! But let's be honest. I just included these pics because they're too freaking cute. Everyone tells me Ridge should be a model. I agree... and he is! He's my model!!! ;)

And those legs! In those boots! I mean... Elle also became a walker in October. As excited as we were, it wasn't easy adjusting to a new walker in a new home. 

We settled into our new home fairly quickly (thanks to TONS of help from LOTS of people- you know who you are!) and Thanksgiving was upon us. Because my family is so far away, we typically spend Thanksgiving with Ivan's family at that beach. I remember taking this pic of Ridge and telling him... "you do realize that most people don't get to go to the beach all the time... especially every Thanksgiving, right?" I love that he's growing up thinking November equals dipping your toes in the ocean!

And just to prove that life is tough and pictures don't do that justice... here's a good before... 

and after... Ridge was over pictures by this point. Mom was determined. Elle just wanted to run... as always. 

Christmas in Bama was great. It went too quickly, but was great. I remember editing this picture and noticing how much my body had changed in a month from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Most people wouldn't notice, but you're your worst critic and I could tell that the holidays were catching up to me. What I didn't realize is that my body was slowly beginning to stop making milk for Elle. I lost a TON of weight pumping for her... like 30 lbs from by pre-pregnancy weight... and I didn't have to do anything except pump. It was SO nice... but in the back of my mind I had this huge fear of what would happen when I stopped pumping. Pre-Ellington I had become comfortable in my plumpy skin. It took me a ton of soul searching to decide that healthy was perfect, not skinny. And then I got skinny again. Without trying. The internal struggle that I had worked so long to overcome began creeping back when I saw this picture. Isn't it funny how one picture can be so many different things to different people? Instead of focusing on me, I should have been savoring how special this Christmas was and how blessed we were... and are. This portion of my story is "to be continued..." but Christmas was great, Elle was a hott mess, and my grandfather was slowly kicking cancer's butt. It was a perfect Christmas indeed!

New Year meant this chick was getting too old too fast...

And February brought with it our yearly NC snowfall. Elle was mystified. Once she fell she was miserable. This was literally the moment in-between mystery and misery... 

The inside of our home still looked like a disaster at this point, but the outside was lovely in the snow!

February also meant our first real school Valentine's Day. I was exhausted and mentally drained. Therefore I turned to Pinterest and Amazon Prime and viola! Homemade Valentine's that rocked!

Remember that whole "mentally drained" thing... yeah. This is my work wife. She was moved to a different area at this point in the synopsis of my year. She returns to my area tomorrow. "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow..." For real. I'm SO excited to get her back tomorrow. Surviving without her sucked. I haven't gotten into my "day job" on here and won't, but my "job" is literally 4 jobs in one and this chick was the reason that was manageable... and will be manageable again... TOMORROW!!!!

After February came March and March was cute... but April meant... 

I'm so proud of the kid he is. Don't get me wrong, he has his moments, but for the most part I'm pretty amazed at how cool he is. And he LOVES his little sister. And he puts up with a ton of crap from her. He's one impressive little dude. I can't believe he's mine. 

See? Above she was freaking out because there were a few drops of rain hitting her on the head. You would have thought it was the end of the world. Her big bro took care of that with a bear hug. Below, she wanted to get whatever it was she was pointing at and big bro was trying to help Mom get a few pics for his bday (bc let's be real... he knows as soon as I get them, he can go play). He was trying his best to look happy while holding Elle in place. Bless him!

Since I was (and still am) grounded from party planning, I let Ridge plan his 6th bday... He wanted laser tag and a dragon cake. Done. Except my wonderful cake lady got the flu two days before and couldn't make his cake. Ivan and I then scrambled and pulled off a pretty impressive last-second cake, if I say so myself. But I had NO idea toy dragons were so hard to find!!! My advice... start at Toys R Us. 

April led way to baseball... well, T-Ball really. He's still undecided about it, but he's pretty good! This past week he got the game ball for some awesome outfield plays and great hits (off of pitches). If he decides to play again remains to be seen...

After birthday comes Easter. Last year Ridge dyed Easter Eggs for the first time and begged to do some again this year. But because Elle is our crazy baby... and allergic to eggs... I had to get creative. Instead of dying real eggs, we painted ceramic ones! We did 6 total between the two of us and I think we might add an egg every year to make a keepsake collection for Ridge and Elle! I had a ceramic egg collection that my grandmother made when I was younger and it was so special. I loved seeing them come out every year! I hope these become something like that for my littles. If nothing else, at least we made some good memories... 

Speaking of memories, this one better be engrained in their minds forever! The Easter Bunny brought a real bunny this year! Meet Snow Bunny. She's really cute, well loved, and slightly terrorized. 

And here's my blue-eyed guy on Easter. Gah, I love him!

We did the neighborhood egg hunt for the first time this year and it was awesome! Elle didn't get the concept, but she had fun and Ridge racked up on the eggs!

Speaking of Elle, I know I give her a bad wrap. She's certainly a handful, but I love that about her. She's full of spunk, knows what she wants, is determined to a fault, and has her entire family wrapped around her little finger. She loves all the "pretties" Mommy gets in the mail (i.e. her wardrobe)... for real. She gets excited. It's not just me! She snuggles all stuffed animals, baby dolls, and even real animals (if they'll stay still long enough for her to bear hug them). She never stops moving, adores her big brother, and makes you feel as if you're the most important person in the world when she wants you. I never knew someone so small could have such a big personality. 

Elle adores to dress up and dance... not necessarily in that order. I tried her very first Easter dress on her this year to see if it would fit... and it did! But the best part was the fact that all she wanted to do was twirl around in it.

Easter and Spring Break always go hand-in-hand for our school district, so we went to Great Wolf Lodge for a night... where we discovered that Elle still hates to get splashed on the head. (Remember the fit about the raindrops during Ridge's bday session?) She wasn't very happy... until she decided she had enough mommy snuggles and started exploring. By that time, it was time to go... so then she became quite disturbed that she didn't get to play longer. If only you'd listened initially little girl... ;) That was okay with me though, I was secretly obsessed with the snuggles...

Speaking of obsessed. I've begun to get waaaay too much Lularoe in my closet. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, message me. I'll hook you up with my chicks. They rock and the clothes (while not the most amazing quality) are SO comfy and cute. It's certainly my teacher wardrobe. 

Another recent obsession is my garden. This is when Ridge and I stopped by Lowes to get his teacher a flower for teacher appreciation day. We wound up with one flower for her... and quite a few for ourselves! What is it about growing older and growing flowers? I feel like Weezer from Steel Magnolias... but my garden is in full bloom, which is all that matters!

And speaking of blooming... Here's my big announcement: I'm about to start a huge new venture! I can't talk much about it yet, but if you love Matilda Jane, hold on to your britches... or should I say big ruffles?! Girls clothes, anyone??!!! Now that I have my work wife back and have finished my LIS Master's Degree, it's only natural that I add something else to my list of obsessions. Be on the lookout for more info coming soon! It's going to be amazing and I can't BELIEVE I get to be a part!!!

Whew! If you've read this far,  you deserve a reward! That was one quick recap where I skipped over a ton of things... mainly decor stuff because I'm not sure I'll ever feel comfortable sharing this house until I'm done... I'm working on being better about that... but until then- THANKS for joining me on my quick year-in-review! Here's to new things in 2017 and hopefully not another year-long blog! ha! Until next time...