First day of school and I'm prepared

We were only able to spend the weekend in Chicago because we had to be back in town for the first day of school!

I found a printable and had a little photo shoot with her before we left for the morning

she sure loves her silly faces lol

Her good friend is in the same class so we met up with her and her sister to walk into the school. We had a few minutes to wait and then we had to wait some more while the teacher checked in all of the kids - I forgot how hectic the first day of school is! But by the time we left, she was all situated and ready to go!

She is loving her new school so far and I'm so glad I was able to go with her on her first day. It was so fun to see all the kids!

Go to Mr. Jelly Bean

My one request while we were in Chicago, was a Chicago-style hot dog, so on Sunday morning we got up and went to get lunch...

before heading off on our next adventure...

 to the Jelly Belly Factory! 

None of knew what to expect, but we got to learn all about the history of Jelly Bellys, how they are made, saw art made of Jelly Bellys and even learned all about Regan's love of them. And of course, we got free samples and all sorts of treats to take home with us (we still have a bunch in our pantry, actually!)

While we were driving to the factory, we saw a sign for a cheese shop near by so after we finished up, we went to check it out - it ended up being an antique/cheese shop so we looked around for a while before buying some stuff to bring home with us - including honey sticks, which I had searched every where for to get Jimmy for his birthday. I guess I should've just gone to Wisconsin to begin with haha

We made one more stop before heading home for the night - to see a elk preserve right outside of the town Jimmy's dad lives in. It was a nice relaxing, way to end the day and our time in Chicagoland!

Through winter snow, the scarf's a flyin.

A few weeks ago, I signed up for a Scarf Swap organized by Meredith at The Tichnor Family. She's done it for a few years , and this is the second year I've participated (though only the first time I've gotten a scarf lol)

I was matched up with a sweet heart named Camila and was so excited when I came home last week and saw a package waiting for me!

It was all wrapped up so I took my time undoing all of it...

And I was so excited for what I found inside!

I've been on the hunt for the perfect grey infinity scarf since sometime last year and apparently, I shouldn't have just gone to Atlanta to find it haha


I am in love with it! It's the perfect color and I can tell it's going to keep me nice and warm when the weather here starts to turn!

Thanks so much Camila - I hope you like your scarf even half as much as I like mine ;-)

I do it for Chicago.

The birthday girl only had one request for her birthday dinner so of course, we indulged while we were in Chicago...

and she wanted crab.

And not only did she want to eat, she wanted to break it apart all by herself - we were dodging errant pieces of crab shell all dinner long! It was too funny to watch!

Apparently, Jimmy hadn't gotten his fill of the Billy Goat because after dinner we went to the original Billy Goat to grab a drink and look around at the rest of the stuff hanging on the wall. Jimmy has already said that the next time we're in Chicago, he wants to go back so he can look around some more - there was so much and no way we could see it all!

 

Soon, it was time to head back so we hopped on the train again while she dressed up Max in his Tiger gear (don't worry, he got a Cubby uniform as well - but absolutely no ChiSox ;-)

 

 Meanwhile, Jimmy decided he was hungry and couldn't resist the leftovers he had been carrying around all evening...

 

 I'm really not sure why I found this so funny...but I couldn't stop laughing!

Drove to Chicago, all things know, all things know

Once we got to Navy Pier, we stopped at the Billy Goat to get some food - Jimmy was so excited! He's been talking about going to the Bill Goat for months!

After we got a cheezborger and some cheeps, we made a bee-line to the place the birthday girl had been looking forward to the whole trip...

Build-A-Bear!

She picked out a sweet puppy named Max and had a blast building him - the best part was the stuffing and picking out the heart. If any of you have ever been to Build-A-Bear, you know they have a special thing they do with the heart - Rub it on your nose so it smells good, give it a kiss so it's loved, rub it on the top of your head so it grows big and tall, etc - and the guy helping us was so great during this part, he included each of us into his little spiel. She got to rub it on grandpa's heart so he loved his family, on dad's legs so he was strong and - my favorite part - on stepmom's (ie me) hair so he had style! hahaha I about died laughing!

After that, we took a stroll through Harry Carey's restaurant to look at some of the memorabilia - Jimmy and I probably could have spent hours there, it was packed with stuff!

But we couldn't take too long, because we were on our way to a special birthday dinner....

But there's a light on in Chicago, and I know I should be home

Jimmy's dad lives right outside of Chicago, so we decided to take his daughter down there for her birthday and to visit with his dad. She was so excited - she talked about it non-stop pretty much all summer!

We left after he got home from work that night and got in really early on Saturday morning. After catching some sleep, we got on the train and headed downtown.

It started off a little grey and cloudy, but luckily it never really rained! We got pretty lucky with the weather - a little cold, but nothing we couldn't handle :-)

After we got into the city, we got on a boat to travel down to Navy Pier. Even though I'd been to Chicago quite a few times, I'd never actually done this so I was really excited to see a different view of the city.

Next up....

Navy Pier!

Baby, oh, you're a birthday girl tonight

Our first day of vacation started with Jimmy's daughter birthday which was a pretty great way to start!

Him and I stayed up the night before wrapping gifts, decorating and getting balloons for the next morning and she was so surprised when she came downstairs! I even got her a birthday cupcake that she got eat for breakfast - lucky girl ;-)

 Please excuse the bed head - I she was so excited we just dove right in!

After we got ready for the day, we ran some errands and got ready for the rest of our vacation.

 She made out pretty well, but the best part was yet to come...

Guess who's back, back again?

Well, I'm back from my first official vacation.

11 days off in a row.

It was not easy to get up for work after that, believe you me.

But, it had to be done, so I'm doing it. And soon, I'll recap our vacation, along with the rest of the summer.

In between going back to school and finishing up my moving.

But even with the work and the school and the moving and the getting only about 1/4 of the sleep I got on vacation, it's good to be home.

Now, I just with the temps would remember it's September and drop a little bit!

All I do is win, win, win no matter what.

I've had mixed results with Pinterest - most of the recipes I've made have been pretty good, but there was that one pretty epic fail.

For my next project, I decided to try something basically fool-proof, and wouldn'tyaknow, it actually worked!

All you do, it get a blank canvas and using tape, write down whatever you want it to say. The pin said to do kids names to hang in bedrooms, but we did this as a Father's Day gift for her grandpa so we did "I love you".

After you mark off the words, put down some paint and have them go to town! Finally, you pull up the tape and - TA-DA!

Super easy, and like I said, pretty much fool-proof. Her grandpa loved it, so if you need a relatively inexpensive and easy homemade gift, I definitely recommend this one!

Have you had any Pinterest wins?

Or fails?

If we were kids...

I know I just did one of these, but she's been saying so many funny things, I just had to record them!

• Talking about fireworks: I don't like the mouses that squeak in the sky. The frogs are ok though. 
• We can't eat deers 'cause they are quiet.
• Eating mac and cheese: Are there potatoes in here? I taste potatoes.
• No, everyone's from Michigan 'cause Florida flooded.
• While buckling her seatbelt: It's like pulling a dog in the basement!
• In the car one day:

Her: Where's my mom?

Jimmy: She's at Cedar Pointe.

Her: No! I said where's my mom!?!?

Jimmy: She's at Cedar Pointe.

Her: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T SEE MY POINT!

See what I mean?

Silly girl 

We'll keep movin' on, we're movin' up, keep movin' on

On Friday, I moved.

I loved my apartment - it was all mine and I loved it. I put a lot of work into (and even more that I never wrote about.) It looked like me. And even though my neighbors were less than desirable and it was pretty small, I'll miss it.

I've been moving things slowly over the past few weeks, but last week, my brother and I loaded the rest into a van and stuffed my Jeep to the gills with the rest of my stuff.

I dropped some off at my parents and moved the rest into my new place.

Living on my own was one of the best experiences I've had - I didn't have to worry about being woken up, or waking anyone up; I could clean and do laundry when I pleased. But most of all, I supported myself - I was on my own. No one to help with bills, no one to make me do things, just me. I learned a lot about myself over the year I lived there and I am over the moon grateful for the opportunity.

I went back to finish up and it looked so small. For some reason, when my furniture and books, and clothes and shelves were in there, it looked much bigger than it actually was. Maybe it was all the personality I put into it spilling out.

I moved to a new town, in a new county. And I'm no longer by myself.

But I'm so very much looking forward to sharing my space with two of my favorite people.

Which one's the birthday boy, she said. I ain't got all night.

Luckily, I get to start my vacation with not one, but two birthdays...

Happy birthday, Jimmy!

Thank you for everything - I'm so, so, so lucky <3 p="p">

I'm not afraid, to take a stand.

Source: thesilverpen.com via Amanda on Pinterest