Our first race

Niki and I ran our very first real race on Sunday! It was such a great day and I am so proud of her for reaching this accomplishment. If you haven't been following us for a while, you may not know that a year and half ago, Niki was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. So in that time she has gone through radiation and chemotherapy. She is almost 9 months out from her last chemo treatment and is healthy and doing so well. She took her cancer diagnosis as a jumpstart to getting healthy and staying healthy. Completing this 5K with me was a huge milestone for her and I am glad to have gotten to share it with her! And I didn't even have to pull her in the wagon like I told her I would!

Here we are in the car driving to the race...

heading in to the finish...

Just before the finish line.

And here we are afterwards.

Yes, it was the Susan G. Komen Race for the cure run, but we wore Niki's cancer shirts we made this past year. Our team name for the last couple year's has been "Faith for the cure", ya know since Niki's daughter's name is Faith. Yeah, we're crafty like that. But next year our tag line for our shirts is going to be "cancer isn't just pink". We do have two grandmother's that had breast cancer and it is a cause we very much support, but we have many other cancers that run in our family who are not "pink". So it is our way of supporting all cancer research.

Have a great day everyone.

High Five for Friday

Hey everyone, hope you all had a great week! We have both had pretty crazy, and a little bit stressful weeks.

1. Our daddy delivered my new dryer and installed it. I was like giddy, over the moon to have that bad boy! I had to use the "public" dyer and I am just not a fan of sharing washing facilities with strangers. And of course this baby matches the washer that we bought when we moved in. So I spent two days doing massive amounts of laundry.

2. I wrote my first letter of recommendation for a friend's daughter. Who knew I was qualified for that?? I certainly did not, but I hope it helps her get the scholarship!!

3. We are getting excited to run our first 5K together on Sunday for the Susan G. Komen, Run for a Cure! Wish us luck!!

4. Niki's class is on a field trip today! Who doesn't love a field trip on a Friday???

5. Niki busted out a mile straight in her run! That's a big deal! Those of you who know us personally, know how much of an accomplishment that is!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

A Pinteresting Solution

Since I took down my Christmas decorations I have been dragging my feet on getting this sign hung up. I really didn't want to take the time to measure and put in nails only have them not be in the correct location and end up getting up and down from my chair like seven times. And then I found this idea on Pinterest. Mark the places for the nails to go on a piece of tape, and then put that tape on the wall and put your nails in. Genius, isn't it???

The only tape I had handy was duct tape, so that's what I used. I put it along the top side of the back.

 Then I used a marker to trace where the hooks are, so I could put my nail in the correct place.

 Then all I had to do was stick my tape up on the wall quick and make sure it was centered. I popped my nails in quick and pulled the tape down.

And then my sign went up, nails in the right spot, and already centered. easy peasy.

Here are the very high-tech supplies I used. Yeah, I know normal people use a hammer. I don't think one ever made it to the apartment when we moved, so this baby worked just fine. However when my daddy was over the other day to install my new dryer (some of you may have caught that on instagram) he was quite disapointed that I didn't have 1. a hammer and 2. my tools and other items were in a cardboard box. He clearly thought I needed a real toolbox. So I reminded him that the cardboard box just so happened to be right in my price range :)

So pinterest fixed the silly open space left by the absence of my Christmas decorations. What brilliant solutions have you found via pinterest?

Scarf Storage Re-do

I think I am going to reach world records on how many times I re-do or update my scarf storage. But I keep finding new ideas, or figuring out that my current system isn't working quite as brilliantly as I anticipated, so then the only answer is to change it up, again.

This time wasn't a gigantic, drastic change but I do think that it will work out much better than some of my previous systems. (fingers crossed)

My scarves had ended up in a pile on the floor of the closet for like the seventh time this week. And it made me rather irritated so I snagged up the original fix supply. duct tape. it fixes everything right?
I know, a little hillbilly to fix my scarf storage with duct tape, but it was the first thing that popped in to my head and I wanted it to be strong enough to hold up. So I went with it.

I just tore it into small strips and used it to attach the top row of my shower rings to the hanger, and then to the next ring on the side. The bottom few were then attached to the bottom of the top row and to each other on the sides. It wasn't anything amazingly brilliant, but I feel like it will work out so much better, while maintaining essentially the same system. Basically I turned my old system into something more sturdy and stationary.

And I think it doesn't even look too bad, you hardly notice the duct tape :)

My warm winter scarves and homemade scarves are simply tied on to their hanger, they are a bit too thick to make it through the shower rings. But there isn't as many of them so it works out just fine.

How do you store your scarves?? Do you have a brilliant idea??

May Basket Mayhem

When we were younger our mom used to help us make May Baskets to give to our cousins and neighbors. I have always planned on doing it with my own children, but have never actually followed through with it. So this year I am making 16 for Jayce's preschool class, 8 for his daycare class, 18 for Carter's class and 22 for Faith's class. Usta.

This year I planned ahead. We always have a ton of popcorn, Faith and I love it for snacks. Wal-Mart has some super cute spring colored plastic cups (think Red Solo Cup, only turquoise). I let each of the kids pick out candy to put in and we are going to use up some of the candy in our cupboard too.

Shannon whipped us up some fantastic little labels to spread our May cheer. Aren't they cute?

{click here to download your copy}

I spent a bit of time just popping the popcorn so it was ready and then the kids and I assembled our baskets.

Carter's have Spiderman candy in them. He was so excited. Faith's aren't done yet, we ran out of popcorn. Her's have fruit snacks in the bottom though. I am hoping to have enough ambition left tomorrow night to make them for my students at school. That is like 25 more. We will see.

I do have to make an emergency stop for more popcorn. I thought I had more than enough, but no. 

It's not to late for you to whip up some May Baskets for you to take to neighbors, work or school. If you do, be sure to share.

Prom Palooza {the results}

If you have been following our little blog for a while now, you may already know that I am the super lucky person who gets to be in charge of prom (sarcasm, friends, sarcasm.) Yep, Junior Class Sponsor, that's my official title. And I get paid like a whopping extra $100 a month, maybe. It's really not a ton of work until like the month before, up until then it's just a few meetings and ordering supplies. Our main fundraiser is running the concession stand at all the football games, so it is some work in the fall too.
Anyway, our theme this year is "under the sea". I let my class officers basically make all of the design decisions and just make a few suggestions here and there, but essentially it's all their ideas.
Since this has been consuming my life for the past week, I figured it deserved a post or two, right?

After three crazy days of decorating and setting up every last detail, we reached prom night and everything went great! Here's a few photos of my night :)

Getting ready in the community center bathroom. classy. I know. but much better than last year, I'm pretty sure my hair was still half wet as I was sprinting out the door to make it to grand march.

And poof!! magically I'm dressed and ready

Buffet tables....clearly this was before my caterer had set up and filled them with delicious food!

Drink and snack table...also unfilled.

The stage, for our speakers and singers.

dining tables

dining tables

and more tables....

the first centerpieces variation...

the second centerpiece variation....

And the third centerpiece variation...fishies only on staff tables!
And don't worry they found nice homes on teacher's desks after prom :)

So that was my whirlwind weekend....hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was exhausting and now I'm ready for another weekend!!

High Five for Friday!

We are back with 5 highlights from the last week. We are linking up with Lauren again this week. Hop over and check out the other participants if you want!

1. Spring has sprung!! There was still one late start day for my kids this week, but the last few days have been positively delightful!

2. Shannon and I have both registered as competitive runners (gasp) for the upcoming Race for the Cure. If you are in the Siouxland area we would love for you to come support it by walking, running or just cheering! Here is our team homepage. Check it out, donate if you feel called to do so.

3. I am wearing a pinterest inspired outfit today! Even though it isn't exactly spring colors, it is still a brave outfit for me so I'm putting it in the Win column. Here's my inspiration:

And here's my outfit:

4. Prom palooza has begun...here's sneak peek, and there's a full post coming soon.

5. I, Shannon, have had my hair and make up done everyday this week, but I have also left the house anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes late. So I think that's a wash. Next week I will get it together!! I'm still working on getting the hang of the curls that have to go along with this new {trendy} hair color. (ps. I am so not even trendy, not even a little)

Have a great weekend, keep your fingers crossed for me at prom tomorrow!!