My New Adventure

I am taking a HUGE leap this year and following my dreams. I don't know where I will land or how it will all turn out but I am trusting God. On August 1st I will be opening Jackson Valley Preschool & Daycare at our home. John and I are in the process of finishing a detached garage to house my school. I will offer preschool and full day care for 3-5 year olds. I will serve breakfast and lunch and we will be state licensed. Our hours will be Monday thru Friday 7-5:30. We will have our preschool lessons in the am and then the afternoons will be more free play.

I can not express to you how excited I am about this. I truly feel like I finally know "what I am going to be when I grown up." I have known since 4th grade that I wanted to be a teacher. My freshman and sophomore years of college, that was my major. In the middle of my college life I feel under the impression of some not so positive people that continued to tell me that "teaching is not what is used to be" and "you will never make any money." Before my junior year in college I changed my major to business administration with a major in management. I graduated with this degree and have worked in this field for 8 years now. I am good at what I do but there is a HUGE part of me that is not satisfied in the "business" world. I am creative, I love color, I love music, I want to get up and move and I want to be around little people. Kids are really great medicine. They keep you young and make you feel good. By following this dream I will be able to spend more time with my children as well as make an in pact on other little lives. I want kids to know they can do anything. I want kids to feel important. God has blessed me with a great amount of patience and a creative mind. I want to use what God has given me to serve others for Him. I want to get up every morning and LOVE what I do and feel a great amount of passion for my daily works. I have decided that in 2013 I will follow my dreams.

I have to make the point that without my husbands support this could never happen. John is coordinating all of the construction, doing some of it himself as well as financing :) my venture. My husband believes in me and that is the best feeling in the world. I thank God daily that I found my soul mate. John is an amazing man and I am very lucky to get to call myself his wife.

So there you have it...my life changing adventure in three paragraphs. Wish me luck friends...I'm taking the leap!

Impromptu Photo Shoot & Some Picture Fun

Here are some shots we took this week with some enhancements. I love playing around with pics...like most people do.

So fun!

Cousins

If you check in regularly you know that my sister had her sweet boy on December 1st. After 2 weeks at Children's Mercy he came home happy and healthy. This sweet boy is growing like a weed! Please pardon the super man underoos.

These three will be unstoppable I am sure along with Maverick's brothers Lennon and Layton.

Jagger is 3 yrs old. Johnie is 16 months old and baby Maverick is 7 weeks old.

So sweet.

I am so excited to see these kids grow up and become best friends....however a huge part of me wishes that they would stay small forever.

Daddy and Mommy's Night Out

Last Saturday John and I went to my best friend's surprise birthday party that she put on for her husband. The theme of the party was Duck Dynasty. The party was held at a bowling alley. We had a great time. Here are some pics from the evening....

These girls are also part of bible study group. I am very blessed to have good friends.

Too cool

During our first game of bowling each player made a new rule as to how you had to bowl that frame....examples - on one leg, backwards, laying on your belly and with your eyes closed. This made for a VERY fun game...however it also made for the longest bowling game of all time!

Silly girls!

This is Rus and her hubby Ben....he went all out in costume

This is my best friend Katie and her husband the birthday boy

Happy birthday Jay! Hope you had fun...we sure did!

Labelbox Ap

So I heard about this ap from Meg. If you haven't figured it out I am kind of obsessed with her. I really want to be her friend :)

Here are some labelbox pics from my phone.

Ham and Potato Casserole

You have to try this recipe. It is so easy and it is so yummy. Very much comfort food. Great in a bowl with a piece of bread. Here go's....

I found this in a cookbook that I think I got at a garage sale. Those are the best kinds :)

I bought ham that was already diced. Made it super easy.

Slice the potatoes and boil until fork tender.

Mix all together.

This is a pre-baked picture. I always forget to get a picture after it's cooked but I can assure you it was beautiful and tasted great. 

Hope you enjoy!!!

Instagram Pics

Wanted to share my instagram pics from last week with you. You can follow me at jacksonvalley on instagram. Are you on instagram??? If you are leave your tag in the comments so I can follow you!

At a recent trip to Michael's Johnie girl decided to taste the craft paint while I was distracted by her brother for a few minutes. That girl is too much.

Jagger enjoying the last little bit of snow we have here.

Did a little project in the kitchen last weekend. Before....

After

This is daddy. Body, legs, arms and face, all the important stuff.

The dogs had a day at the vet this week: shots, baths, toenails trimmed. They were exhausted.

Dr's visit this week. All is good!

I think when Jagger has to dig to the very bottom of the bag to scoop out dog food we need to go to the store and get a new bag.

John hard at work. I have an AWESOME husband....he's pretty cute too!

My Friday night consisted of a box of hair dye while we waited for daddy to get home.

Johnie girl and I in her room.

My sweet girl.

$20

I bought a stove today! Check this out on Meg's blog. Watch the video. It's $20 people.





Sponsor A Stove!!!!!!!!!

Window Picture Frames

I have used windows as picture frames many times before either putting the picture directly in the pane full size or by attaching a picture to a piece of scrapbook paper as a background. I got this idea after seeing Meg's post about her bedroom. One of the frames in the pics game me this idea so here goes.

These pics are super fuzzy and not wonderful, sorry. The lighting in our play room is not great.

For this project I used scissors, velcro with a sticky back, clothespins and a window pane.

I cut each square of velcro in 4 strips. Each piece of velcro will only hold one picture so the pieces didn't have to be that big. If you were holding something heavier you would want larger pieces or perhaps two pieces on each clothespin. 

I attached one side of the velcro directly to the clothespin. 

I attached the other size directly to the window.

I then clipped the pictures in the clothespins and attached. Very quick and turened out pretty cute. Just another way to use the old windows for pictures.