Kind before Clever

I have the great privilege to teach at Vivian Field Middle School and this week we've been promoting KINDNESS to our students! The incredible Sasha Agent-Marrier created this video and it's WELL worth the watch! Plus, I got to make a small appearance! What an incredible message to our students! FindingKind is a program that promotes being "kind before clever". If our young people aren't reminded (or taught in some cases) that kindness is essential to life, then the world will continue to grow darker and darker!

Our principal is always saying "Character Counts!" and it really does. If you think of all the difficulty our world experiences, you can see that lack of character and lack of care for others drives our selfishness and me-centered views. If we can teach our students to have integrity, grit, self-control, compassion, and gratitude then we can remain hopeful for the future!

Working that Style for my girl...

I'm on the hunt for fabrics that I can use to make different outfits for Piper. When I say "I can use...", I mean, that my mom can use :) She's the talented seamstress in this family. She has found some P-REC-IOUS patterns to make really sweet dresses, rompers, and bloomers, oh my! I don't want to give too much away...but check out these fabrics I've found! They're all from this incredible fabric website that I have been ordering from for years. Hawthorne Threads! 

 I just can't get enough of these. I also want to make pillows, napkins, table cloths, and chair covers out of these. A little much? Absolutely! 

Maybe Piper's 'Mombo' will make some of these dreams come true! After all, Christmas is coming right? Countdown to Black Friday has already begun!

If you know of any fabric websites that could change my world forever, please let me know!

This girl...and this man!

I was going through my phone pictures (which is a dreadful process since I want to keep every picture) and came across this sequence which is too good not to share! At least I think so...

Such a sweet girl and such an amazing daddy! My contacts are dried out because I've been starring at my phone for way too long! 

Happy November everyone! 

Piper in the Park

Well, we went to the park this beautiful, and cool, Saturday morning. We came prepared with a blanket, wipes, burp cloth, pacifier, toys...

All was good in the hood, and then out of nowhere was our first "I'm so tired, get me out of here!" meltdown. Poor girl could not keep it together. Luckily, we live just down the street so I packed everything up as if we were being attacked by aliens and jogged our way home! 

We'll try again another day when daddy is with us and when we can sit up better. I think independence will make a huge difference on our outings. 

For lunch we're trying peas!!

First Day of School

At the start of the day...

I call it "school" but it's daycare. (Daycare in the best district!) Piper is just shy of 5 months old and I'm taking her to daycare. Every ounce of me wants to snuggle and play with her all day though. I'm so sad I won't get to see her whenever I want during the day, but I'm so excited to start another year of teaching! 

I love the first week back during 'Teacher Development Week'. It's seriously so fun to catch up with coworkers about their summer and encourage each other towards a great year! PLUS - a new year means fresh school supplies and we can all agree that there's some rather addicting about new school supplies! 

Talk about opposing feelings...sadness and outright excitement!! I'll be a mess this first week for sure! I'm so glad Michael is coming with me to take our little pumpkin baby to school...there's just no way I could do it alone! 

By the end of the day...

I was so excited to pick up this pumpkin that I skipped/jogged to her room! I was so happy to hear that she's very "aware and loves to be engaged". I guess time will tell if that's really a good thing or not. 

Apparently I was too happy, because I only have blurry pictures of our reunion :) No shame from this mama! 

Day 1 down...186 more to go!! Bring it! #vivnation 

Our Weekend "Away"...

Michael and I were fortunate enough to "get away" for the weekend. Our sweet Piper got to stay with her Granddaddy and Suzy Dear for two nights! She was also able to play with her Uncle Patrick, Izamar, and Aunt Betsy! We're so thankful that she was loved so well while we were gone! 

I dropped Ms Piper off with Mr Cash on Thursday! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to leave her! Don't get me wrong...it was hard, and the drive home seemed to take forever, but Suzy and John did a great job reassuring me! 

Michael and I spent our first night in Grapevine and visited a winery on Main Street! We each tasted 3 different red wines and enjoyed some great cheeses! Then we went to an Italian place and enjoyed great food and dessert! 

The next morning we woke up at NINE!!! So wonderful to sleep in...and went to get breakfast at Einstein Bagels! We came back to the pool for a while, then went to get sushi for lunch. We followed that up with more pool time and eventually made our way to dinner. Hah, then we came back to the hotel for more POOL TIME!! I hadn't been to the pool at all this summer, so it was much needed! 

We got a few updates on our little pumpkin and she seemed to be having a great time! 

We absolutely LOVED our time together, but of course we were so excited to pick her up and give her endless hugs and kisses!!!!!! She's just the best baby and she brings us an incredible amount of Joy!!! 

Looking Back

Oh how sweet it is to look back on Piper's first day of life! Another huge thanks to Kate with KateLovePhotography for capturing these moments. 

She was so new and "tiny" and has been an incredible baby ever since! 

Piper's First Quarter of Life

Whoa, whoa, whoa - it has been a LONG time since I've blogged. So, instead of sulking more about not posting my pregnancy adventures, I thought I'd catch up on our sweet Piper Grace and share how much our lives have changed.

When I was pregnant, I had Kate Gerbman, of KateLovePhotography, take our incredible Maternity Pictures and I'm so glad we'll be able to cherish these pictures forever. 

 

Then, on March 26, 2014, after a full day in labor and two and a half hours of pushing, Piper Grace Keane came into our lives at 8 pounds 11 ounces! It was 9:11 pm and I was exhausted, but overly joyful, and fairly terrified that Michael and I were in charge of this beautiful person that God had given us. 

Her first three months were filled with laughs, hugs, diapers, tears, feedings, baths, swaddles, pacifiers, visitors, naps, sleeping through the night, and lots of clothing changes. We have taken a million pictures of her and have loved posting them to Instagram. I can't wait to make a book for her one day from those pictures...

Here are just a few that I've loved staring at:

Two weeks old!

 

 

I have been so fortunate and blessed to spend the summer with Piper and have love, love, LOVED taking naps, reading, and running errands with her. She has the sweetest demeanor and  most infectious laugh!

Our sweet girl will turn 4 Months old this Saturday and she has been loving rolling over, talking, trying to hold her bottle, and giggling with daddy!