My kiddo is in preschool…. SO that means Valentines cards! I know I’m more excited about these cards and this whole “holiday” than Miss R, but I know she’ll get more excited on the day. Why? Well, she’ll get a ton of candy. AND, in my kiddo’s world… candy = a good day.

The hardest part of this whole project: getting my child to participate and smile for this photo. She was happy one minute, then I mention taking her photo and it all went downhill. I eventually bribed her with a piece of chocolate. I got ONE sorta smile (see above) and MANY grumpy photos (see last photo).

How to do it:

- Get your kiddo to hold a stick (maybe a broom) and take a photo. We had an old dowel, so that worked. This will help you place the fishing pole (aka stick).

- If you’d like, add the wording “You’re a reel catch!”, or “You’re reel neat!” to the image in photoshop or another photo editing program. OR, you can just handwrite this out on a piece of card stock and tape it to the photo.

- Use an x-acto knife to cut a couple slits to slip in the fishing pole (the sticks I had came from an old floral display). Tape the sticks on the back of the photo to make it more secure.

- Tie a string on the end of the fishing pole, and the other end of the string to a piece of candy. I purchased some swedish fish and individually wrapped them up in saran wrap.

- Print out my free Trout Printout (right and left). Cut them out and tape them to each side of the swedish fish.

- Done!

The whole assembly of this project took about 1 hour (maybe a little longer since kiddo was “helping”). Cost was around $8 for 20 Valentines. Even though this photo below is super grumpy/sassy… I think it’s my favorite. This is pretty much a look she gives me EVERY day. We’ll save these special Valentines for her BFF’s. Hee.

- Chelsey

P.S. if you make this Valentine, please share a photo link in the comments below! I’d love to see it.

The husband is past his flu… sorta. He’s still exhausted! This virus was rough, and I’ve heard this fever has been going around. It lasts for days and you feel the aftermath for quite a while. I’m still healthy and hopefully it stays that way! I’m so happy the kiddo’s fever only lasted 2 days… since she started preschool last week! She was so excited. I cried (I was excited, too).

Currently…

Obsessing over: Keeping healthy. Each day my husband was sick last week, I’d take the kiddo and myself out of the house. For the whole day. I did not want to catch that flu, and just in case it was different than what R had on New Years… I didn’t want her to get sick, again.

Working on: A combination of things. Working on some DIY’s for Better Homes and Gardens, custom illustration orders, and prepping for Alt Summit. I’m speaking on a panel (with these ladies: Capree, Melanie, and Victoria) about landing your dream contributor gig. Are you coming to Alt?

Thinking about: Everything. I took a break from thinking over the holiday… it was fantastic. Now it’s like aaaalllll my thoughts that I pushed back during Christmas… are coming in fast and all jumbled. Ha! I purchased a planner last week, time to put that thing to use and get organized! It’s from Mom Agenda. I’m pretty thrilled about this planner (being organized is awesome). I call her Magenda.

Anticipating: Kiddo started preschool last week, and this week she starts a new dance class. She’s done dance before, it was sort of a mommy and me dance. Mom’s participated. This time: no mommy. Practicing to be in class, listening to a teacher, for 45 minutes. It’s a 3 to 4 year old class. I can only imagine it is EXTREMELY adorable to watch. SOooooo, I’m going to have to sneak a peak a few times… because yeah. Adorable.

Listening to: My Little Pony. R get’s to choose 2 cartoons in the morning… it’s usually My Little Pony. Ha!

Drinking: Nothin. I should go get a glass of water. Nah, forget that! I need some caffeine. Oh goodness. It’s 9:30 am, and I haven’t had caffeine!

Wishing: Now I’m wishing I had a cup ‘o coffee in my hand. Gotta go!

- Chelsey

P.S. As usual, if you do a currently post… I’d love to see it! See what you’re up to. You can share a link in the comments. Happy Monday!

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{If you have a Wordless{ish} Wednesday, please feel free to link it up below. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too… Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Jenni from the Blog, Bree: his honey and her mommy, and Live and Love Outloud.

Whoa, flashback man! This week I’m flashing back to college…. It still makes me tired thinking about it! This was taken of my Residential final. We had to present our drawings and plans at an architectural firm… after getting VERY little sleep for weeks. AND, you can’t see it in the photo… but, we also had to build our luxury penthouse out of foam core for a model. I just smashed that model a month ago… it sort of felt good…

{Chelsey age: 22?}

Yeah. See right there. Yes, my eyes are barely open…. But, this final was nothing compared to my last final in school. My classmates and I were in the CAD lab (this is the computer lab we worked in to draw our plans) 6 am – 10 pm for a straight week. We would always try and stay later, but those darn security guards would kick us out! I don’t know… I think I calculated my hours that week in the computer lab to about 85? Ouch. But, I loved what I learned. I miss playing with AutoCad, but I still get to play on Photoshop.

Flashback with us:

Ok, my little baby is no where near school time yet. But, we are learning to eat solids! So, here Ruari being a very messy baby while learning to eat.

{Ruari learning to eat at 5 months}