Last weekend, we headed up north to visit my in-laws and celebrate Mother's Day with them. The weather was beautiful and warm at home so I was kind of bummed that we were going up north where it was supposed to be almost 20 degrees cooler. But the weather didn't disappoint. Since they live right on the water, it can often be windy and chilly but there was almost no wind. It was sunny and warm and we didn't even have to wear jackets by the water...unheard of for May. The girls loved playing in the sand and sticking their feet in the cold water.
And I couldn't resist some sunset and silhouette pictures...I just don't have the right lighting or horizon at home to get shots like that.
I LOVED seeing all the love for teachers this week. My blog feed and Instagram feed were jam packed with gifts, giveaways, cute ideas, cards and lots of love for teachers. I love that we take a week to honor teachers. It just makes me sad that they aren't honored all year long like that. They deserve it (and so much more) for the job that they do. I'll have to make a mental note to do that for my kid's teachers down the road - celebrate them all year long, not just one week!
I saw a funny (but true) graphic on Instagram. I just went back to try to find it and find the original source. A site called We Are Teachers had it on their Twitter feed. I think it is pretty spot on. As much as the recognition from the students and parents is amazing, there are probably some changes that need to be made to the system that would show teachers that we truly appreciate them!!
There was a big sale this week for teacher appreciation and let's say that I appreciated it. I'd have to go back and check but I think it was my best sale so far. And I definitely supported the TpT economy with my multiple purchases. It is so funny how much we love a good deal. I kept going back and adding more to my cart like this stuff was going somewhere. There is just something about getting it at a cheaper price. I got a bunch of new sets from
Educlips, like 10 different things from
Paula Kim Studio (amazing work for a crazy price), a few sets from
Teaching in the Tongass, a
preschool pack for my daughter, and a few other random sets for projects I have in mind. One of my favorite purchases was a last minute addition that I wasn't even in the market for.
Jennifer mentioned
THIS to me. If you are a TpT seller, you just might need this! It is awesome. It is a seller planner and data analysis tool. She is still adding to the planning portion but the excel charts and graphs are amazing. A lot of the information I was keeping track of on my own mostly by writing it down each week. I can make a basic table in excel but that's about it. But this uses the same data (that you can cut and paste from TpT instead of typing it all in) and spins it around in so many different ways so that you can see charts and graphs about top selling products, top months, top days, sale days, etc. I am slowly adding data and playing around with the different pieces. If I had this in January, I probably wouldn't be keeping track of my numbers by hand. Definitely worth the money!!!
I've been helping my friend Jennifer at
A Dab of Glue Will Do contact companies looking for donations for the Teacher Turned Stay at Home Mom/Full Time on TpT meetup in Vegas. Let's just say it is going to be awesome. I don't want to give away any of the surprises but we are getting some love from several companies so far! If you are interested in coming, check out the Facebook info
HERE. Or if you are like me and don't use Facebook, just contact Jennifer directly. If you have any connections for some donations for us that you'd be willing to share, let me know.
Just as I was starting to feel better from my allergy battle over the weekend, my oldest got hit hard. She is all congested, has a cough when she lays down and has red watery eyes. I think her issues might be allergies too. The pollen is out of control here right now. She seemed to get worse after we had been outside at the zoo all day. And then she played outside and we had dinner outside. The very next morning, the table that had been clean the night before was COVERED in yellow pollen. So I am guessing that is the culprit here. Luckily, she had a great night of sleep last night and is still sleeping. She hasn't had that much uninterrupted sleep in awhile and she needed it. Hopefully she is feeling better soon or our weekend plans might be altered. On the books for us is a potential outdoor movie at the neighbors', a gender reveal party for my sister in law and Mother's Day brunch at our house on Sunday. What is the protocol for a gender reveal party? Are we supposed to bring a gift? I've never been to one before.
Well the girls are up now so my computer time is up! Have a great weekend and a Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there!
