Shuffle, Step, {Bow}.

Baby R so badly wants to take a dance class like her big sister but unfortunately, the dance studio where Little R attends is a competition studio so you are only allowed to sign up when enrollment opens, which is only twice a year:(  However, that doesn't stop this little one from dawning big sisters tap shoes and showing me what she has learned by watching Little R through the two way window:)

Don't worry, as soon as summer enrollment opens, this one WILL be in dance:)

PS: Make sure your speakers are up to hear what she says when she takes a bow, she cracks me up! 

An isolated {event}.

This event actually happened back in early January but I never posted about it because A: I'm lazy when it comes to taking photos off of my phone and B: It seemed like such an isolated event that no one would really care except for Mr. D's pocket book.  WELL, I was WRONG!!  A good friend of mine had a similar experience happen to her which she posted about on her blog so this post is really for her to show her I totally understood what she was going through!  Cheers C!!

So one very chilly morning (chilly for TX, it was in the lower 30's), Baby R and I went out to run an errand as usual.  Because the day before was in the upper 60's, it's not unusual for these rapid temp changes to make my low tire pressure light gauge to come on.  I'm constantly putting air in my tires with these temps here.  So when the gauge popped on at first I thought nothing of it but then my car started to have a funny sensation about it.  I felt like it had a "pull/drag" to it.  So, I was technically supposed to be turning left but since the straight lane light was green I decided to keep going straight and I am so glad I did!  I quickly pulled into the outlets and found the first parking stall and when I jumped out I heard the most loud, intense, rushing air noise.  I went around the back of my car and watched within less than 15 seconds, my tire go COMPLETELY flat!  It was sitting on the rim!

Well isn't that spit on your neck, fantastic?!?!?  Now what?  Call Mr. D.  He informed me that I was so lucky because he seriously contemplated renewing our AAA membership for 2012.  AAA was so nice, they escalated my call because Baby R was with me and it was cold out.   

This is what I ran over:(

A huge metal shard that in all my 30 something years of life, I have NEVER had this happen!  It was HUGE!  I have no idea where or when I ran over it but AAA was there within 20 minutes, changed my tire to the spare and called Discount Tire to let them know I was on my way. 

The gash in my tire was unrepairable so I had no choice but to buy a new tire.  Of course Discount tried to talk me into getting a warranty for my wheels but AAA was my saving grace so no need:)  This pic is of me waiting at Discount Tire for my car.  Baby R needed to stay occupied since it was going on 45 minutes passed her usual lunch time feast and I was all out of snacks so she got to play with my phone:).  The event took up half my day but hooray for AAA and for Mr. D renewing our policy!!!

Love is in the {air}.

I'm a couple days late on posting about Valentine's, so what, love is still in the air.

While shopping at Target right after Christmas, I noticed that Valentine's stuff was quick to hit the shelves and I had my eye on these adorable mailbox tins from the dollar section.  It took me two shopping trips before finally breaking down and buying them (not knowing what I was actually going to do with them yet though). 

It didn't take long before a braintastic idea happened.  I vinyl-ized my fun mailbox tins with every one's name and decided that for two weeks, we could leave each other Valentine's (nice ones only though).  

I got a cute little red bucket and filled it with lots of paper hearts to write Valentine's on.  I think Little R loved this the most as she was always hinting around that it had been "a long time" since she had got a Valentine (when in reality, she got one daily, she just wanted more).  G hates hearts, they are too "girly" so he wasn't too into the mailboxes until I bought some Angry Birds Valentines, yep, that got him hyped up.   

So Pinterest is my biggest time saver ever!  I no longer hunt through other peoples blogs hoping to find great ideas I can expand upon.  This one was all over on Pinterest and since I had loads of crayons, I went with it. 

I think they turned out really fun but to be honest, I won't make these again.  What none of the tutorials mention, is that the wax floats to the top and cools that way so you have to scrape it off.  Also, only using Crayola brand crayons is a must.  Out of curiosity I used some cheap crayons from restaurants etc... and they didn't melt well at all.  Also, because the wax floats to the top, all the dye rubs off really easy onto your fingers.  After I was done handling all of these I had very messy hands, I didn't want my kids to color with them.  However, it was too late to back out so I sent them to school the next morning anyway.

I've already got my eye on a Valentine for next year that won't be so decievingly messy:)

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day at your house!

At the Sock {Hop}.

Oh my word, Little R is so amazingly adorable.  The day she found out that there was going to be a father/daughter dance at school she came home and immediately told me she had to call dad to ask him to the dance (ahhhhh....so cute!).  So I dialed her dad and thankfully he was at his desk to fulfill her little heart.  She confidently asked her dad to the dance and you know what he said, "YES Little R, I'd LOVE to go to the dance with you!" (I'm sure Mr. D's prom date in high school was wishing for this same excitement when she asked him to the school dance-that's another story though).

Mr. D decided right away he was going to make this a super special night for her.  He came home early and presented her with a bouquet of pink Gerber Daisies and then took her to a local burger and shake joint (which apparently every other dad had this on their agenda too as my hubby reported it was packed with girls in poodle skirts and dads in plain white T's-isn't there a music group called that?).  I personally did Little R's whole outfit (yes, technically I can sew which Mr. D got to witness for the first time).  She chose to have a cat instead of a poodle dog but still wanted the "string" (aka, leash) on it.  We added some sparkly heart jewels and a "diamond" collar on the cat.  You can't see it, but her elastic waist band is leopard print to match the leopard print accessories in her hair and I even made a petticoat for underneath.  I got her adorable fluffy, lacy socks and black converse.  Man, I tell ya, Mr. D had the BEST looking date of his life that night!

Little R is quite popular at school, she literally makes friends with everyone.  Here she is with a group of her friends gettin' their groove thang on.  Mr. D did tell me that when they first arrived they had traditional 50's music playing which wasn't too exciting but as soon as they switched over to mainstream music the girls went wild!  Mr. D also told me Little R started a conga line that ended up HUGE. 

And here is the lovely couples professional photo that was taken that night.

What an amazing day for Little R to not only get her school award of "Leopard of the Week" but to go on a special date with her dad that evening, well let's just say, it was a perfect day:)

An {Award}!!

Every other week at the Elementary they have a Friday assembly where they award the students for various things.  Well my Little R got the prestigious "Leopard of the Week" award this past Friday!  I actually was contacted earlier in the week to let me know she was going to be receiving it.  This award is always a surprise to the kids so Little R didn't even know I was showing up at school that day to see her receive this great honor.  It's moments like this that I am SOOOO grateful for Mr. D and how hard he works to allow me the freedom to attend little moments like these as a SAHM.  

Here are all the kids from each grade/class posing at the end.  I love that the principle always makes the kids stay after so parents can snap a few pics:)

Congratulations Little R, you deserved it!!

PS: This day was fabulous for Little R as not only did she get this award and be praised upon, but later that evening was the Father/Daughter Sock Hop which will be the next post so stay tuned because I don't know if this girl could have been on a higher cloud 9 if she tried that day!

Me Heather, Me {Laugh}.

You know, I'm sure Dr. Phil says that as parents you should always have each others backs and co-parent.  I disagree.  Sometimes when my kids do things that annoy or make Mr. D mad, my first reaction to their action is to laugh-yes, all while he is getting mad at their behavior.   Now, I know what you are thinking, "Geez Heather, you don't sound like a very supportive wifey".  I know.  But let me tell you what happened last night and then maybe you won't think so wrong of me.

As Mr. D and I were each in a different child's bedroom working on homework, that left Baby R to run around.  She found herself in G's room where she picked up a battery operated Thomas train car.  Of course she knows the switch to turn this train on and obviously was causing way too much noise with a train whistle blowing and sounds of a locomotive that Mr. D started telling her she needed to go out so G could do his homework.  This is Baby R we're talking about, she listens to no one.  As I hear Mr. D getting more and more agitated with her I finally decide to call out to Baby R but too late.  Next thing I hear is "Baby R!  NO!  R!!!  Alright, go tell mom to cut your hair off."  An upset Mr. D and a 3 foot midget walk into Little R's room where I bring you.....

Exhibit A 

And, Exhibit B

I immediately had to laugh, I couldn't help it.  I know Mr. D was mad at her but come on, the girl has a toy train wound up in her hair!  So no, no supportive co-parenting on this one, I was laughing too hard.  Sorry Dr. Phil, I failed successful co-parenting 101 I guess but I think Mr. D found laughter regarding this mishap later when I showed him the pics I HAD to take:)

Sh*t Crunchy Mamas {Say}.

A friend of mine posted this on the Warrior group I belong to on FB and I laughed out loud, hard.  I think you'll get this if you are what is called "crunchy".  I obviously go through the crap I do for G because it helps but so many other parents are jumping on the "crunchy" bandwagon for clean living reasons in general.  If you are "crunchy", prepare to laugh;)