Last Day of Preschool

Last Day of Preschool

Brittany Payne
Kids

So while the school year was cut short about two months, we still took last day of preschool pictures. Just like last year, I dressed her in her same outfit she wore the first day of school. She was much happier this time, ha! I picked this particular day because we were able to go to her preschool to collect all of her things through a drive up system. It was so nice to have that closure, and I don’t think I even shed a tear! I am trying to remain hopeful that we will see those teachers again next year for her last year of preschool!

Red Fish Blue Fish

Red Fish Blue Fish

Brittany Payne
Vacations

One of the restaurants we tried while in Pensacola in February was Red Fish Blue Fish. It was located directly across the street from our hotel, although we drove due to how cold it was. If it was warmer and lighter, they do offer a lot of play areas for kids which is nice if you are having to wait. Generally the restaurant seemed fairly big, but it was really hard to tell since there was no one there. I truly think we were one of two customers.

Preschool Teacher Gift

Preschool Teacher Gift

Brittany Payne
Crafts, Kids

So obviously teacher gifts were a little harder this year. We did get to see Melody’s teachers briefly during a pickup of their things this week. So I wanted to do something small along with a gift card. So I opted to make bookmarks just like I made our moms for Mother’s Day. I won’t go into much detail since it’s exactly the same, but I did leave a blank copy below if you want to make your own!

Unexpectedly Homeschooling Week Ten

Unexpectedly Homeschooling Week Ten

Brittany Payne
Household, Kids

So this would have been Melody’s last week of school and her last week of dance before her recital this past weekend. Well we know the ending to that story, right? We actually get to go to her preschool this week and pick up her things since we unexpectedly stopped school. It will be through the carline and we won’t get to hug or see any of her classmates, but at least this does give us some closure. As far as her dance recital, it has been postponed until June. And she actually gets to go back to dance class next week! Yay! Anyhow, onto the week. We did school as usual, but Melody was not into getting dressed in her tutu and tights for dance, so we didn’t argue. Our biggest battle this week was learning to brush our teeth with fluoride toothpaste. Anything that involves change is a battle. But by the end of the week she wasn’t fighting us as much!

Back Yard Work

Back Yard Work

Brittany Payne
Household

One of our big projects we planned this year was tackling our back yard. I love the room we have back there, and our covered back porch is AMAZING! However, the flower beds just were not our cup of tea. Don’t get me wrong, if this is your thing, great. It just isn’t ours. I would MUCH rather have that space for Melody to run free, and we plan to eventually use that space for a grilling area. Well since we have been home during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had the time to really devote to doing things all around the house. And that includes our backyard! LOTS of pictures ahead!

Lemon Bars

Lemon Bars

Brittany Payne
Recipes

This is another discovered recipe that I made years ago (notice baby Melody down below!). Lemon bars are super yummy, and I am glad I found this because these are fairly easy to make and we almost always have these ingredients on hand!

Mother's Day and Anniversary 2020

Mother's Day and Anniversary 2020

Brittany Payne
Randomness

Mother’s Day and our Anniversary looked a bit different this year due to COVID-19. We did see our moms both before and after Mother’s Day, but we still limited our interaction with the public. So no fancy meals or brunches inside of a restaurant this year!

Miss You Coloring Sheet

Miss You Coloring Sheet

Brittany Payne
Crafts, Household, Kids

During the beginning of the quarantine, Melody was really missing her grandparents (and friends and anyone that wasn’t Brad or me, ha!). So I decided to make a coloring sheet that she could send to our parents. I hoped she would make it more colorful, but purple is her favorite color! And she decided to make the hearts faces, haha.

Color Mixing

Color Mixing

Brittany Payne
Crafts, Household, Kids

I decided to make a color mixing sheet using Microsoft Word to show Melody what colors make when mixed together. This is actually a really fun and semi-mess free “craft”. We have mixed colors beyond the primary colors too. When we do this craft, I let her go through all of my paint and pick all the colors she wants to mix together. We then use q-tips to do the mixing which makes this a pretty clean activity even while using paint!

Unexpectedly Homeschooling Week Nine

Unexpectedly Homeschooling Week Nine

Brittany Payne
Household, Crafts

So we are very, very close to what would have been the end of our school year. Preschool always ended a week or so earlier than the city schools. It is really bittersweet to be here, but that is where we are. Ironically Melody wore the same apple dress (as more of a shirt/tunic on Friday), that she wore a year ago. Next week we tackle new learning tools too! Below you can find pictures from our week this week!

Quarantine Fun

Quarantine Fun

Brittany Payne
Household, Kids

So being told you have to stay home for the foreseeable future and you can’t see anyone else is hard. So to say we have had fun may come as a surprise. We do really, really miss our family and friends, BUT we have enjoyed the slowness and time together. Melody is a fun age where we don’t have to take things too seriously if we don’t want too, but she does thrive on schedule. So we have tried to maintain a schedule while having lots of fun too! And we are getting to FaceTime our family and friends which helps! Below are some of the pictures from our quarantine time in March and April!

3D Letter

3D Letter

Brittany Payne
Household, Crafts

One of Brad’s Christmas presents last year was a 3D printer. He has found lots of things to print, and I wanted to try and find something he could print as decor in our newly made over playroom/craft room. I searched and searched, but I could not find anything I loved. That is when we decided to just put letters on the wall and work with that. Brad came up with the letters himself, and we decided to spell out “CREATE” above my craft table since I do a lot of creating there.

Disney Countdown - Popsicle Sticks

Disney Countdown - Popsicle Sticks

Brittany Payne
Crafts, Vacations

So with all of our vacations being cancelled for the near future to Disney World, we now have much longer countdowns to make. This is a really easy countdown and can be adjusted for any length of time really. However, the shorter the better when it comes to coming up with ideas to put on each stick.

Unexpectedly Homeschooling Week Eight

Unexpectedly Homeschooling Week Eight

Brittany Payne
Crafts, Household, Kids

So in the COVID-19 world, Alabama was released from our “stay at home orders” and now we are under “safer at home orders again”. Basically non-essential stores may open at lower capacities, but that does not include salons, massage parlors, etc. There are some other rules and changes, and you can find those online if you are truly interested. That all began on Friday, May 1. We don’t really plan to change much, if any, of our routine until we see how these next two weeks pan out.

Princess Dress-Up Storage

Princess Dress-Up Storage

Brittany Payne
Household

One of the things we added to our playroom when we did a makeover to it last month was a dress-up storage solution. Melody just recently started getting into dressing up, but that is even still not super often. But she does have a few dresses from Halloween, last year’s dance recital, and a few gifts. So I wanted a better place to store them than on the back of a door. She also has lots of accessories like jewelry, wands, tutus, etc. So we needed room for that too. My best friend, Emily, recently came up with storage for her daughters dress up, and I decided to copy it! All you need a 9 cube storage system, a tension rod, and storage bins to fit the cubes if you want. Follow along below for the changes I made to the instructions.

So to start, I have used a purple crayon to show you what you do NOT want to install. Follow all the steps in the instruction manual unless noted below.

Steak Peppercorn Salad

Steak Peppercorn Salad

Brittany Payne
Recipes

As you can likely tell from the pictures, we made this recipe a LONG time ago, but we were making it frequently. And I simply forgot to post about it! We haven’t made this in a while simply because it is a bit time consuming, but as I write this, I am starting to think maybe we should give it a go soon during this quarantine!

Mother's Day Bookmark

Mother's Day Bookmark

Brittany Payne
Crafts, Kids

So this year we obviously have a lot more time at home to do and prepare for things. One thing we do a LOT of are crafts (in case all of my posts these days doesn’t give that away). Well I wanted to do something fun for our mom’s (and myself) for Mother’s Day this year. So I decided to make us all bookmarks! You don’t have to do everything I do for this; I just happen to have a lot of craft supplies, ha!

Crabs on the Beach

Crabs on the Beach

Brittany Payne

One of my favorites spots that we had dinner while in Pensacola in February was Crabs on the Beach. It was literally right next door to our hotel so we walked over (perfect when you have been in the car over 5 hours with a 3 year old!). It late and dark, but I saw a sign for a play area but we didn't get to see it. But I am sure that is great during the busier times when you are waiting to be seated. The atmosphere was nice and they offered both inside and outside seating which is great.

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