The "pregnancy card"

Happy Valentine's Day, dear friends!

Hope this finds you happy and healthy (a pretty fantastic feat this time of year...the healthy part, I mean)!

I realize my posts as of late seem to have a theme (...it starts with a "p"), but that's because this is all new for me, and new life experiences are some of the things this blog was originally created to share.  ☺  

I've been trying hard not to play the "pregnancy card" too frequently, and never unnecessarily, the past few months.  Others encourage me to do so more than I care to, as it is!  haha.  My sweet husband is on the receiving end of this excuse more than anyone...he's often the one who takes the figurative card from me before I can even pull it out...and he's been so wonderful about it!  

Anyway, the other day, we started our baby registries (no, we don't know what we're having, yet)!  While this was really exciting and fun, it was a little overwhelming and tiring for this child-carrying girl.  It wasn't a problem - just giving you a little back story here.  We were in a part of town we don't often frequent...and a part of town that is home to The Cheesecake Factory.  You know my love of cheesecake, of course, but due to my lack of sweet tooth, lately (I know...I don't even know who I am), I was more excited about taking advantage of being so close and getting some actual food there (rather than just dessert)!  Upon approaching the hostess counter, however, we discovered it would be over a 30-minute wait.  Normally, this would be fine, but we were both quickly getting more and more hungry, and hungry and pregnant don't mix well.  So, we decided to try again another time and pick up something a little faster this time.  As we started to pull out of the parking lot, though, I started to cry...just tears, at first, but the snot and sobs came rapidly once my hubby started asking what was wrong.  There were a lot of contributing factors to this meltdown, but at the time, the only explanation I could muster was, "I just wanted some Cheesecake Factory bread."  (I've always loved their bread - that wasn't new.  But the apparent urgent "need" for it?  That was new.)  Next thing I knew, we were back in a parking spot and that man I married was headed back into the restaurant.  I kept crying, but this time, because he was being so nice.  And I KEPT crying when he came back with warm bread and butter a few minutes later, because he told me they gave it to him for free!  He'd played the "pregnancy card," and they took pity on me...or maybe him?  Who knows, but either way, they gave us free bread!

Speaking of having babies...I'm going to be an aunt so soon!  My brother and sis-in-law are ready and waiting for the arrival of their baby boy.  Thought I'd take a moment to share a little bit about the shower I got to help throw for them.  It was so much fun!  ☺  

Can't take credit for the book theme idea, but sure enjoyed helping execute it!

I'd made these (with the help of that awesome Cricut owner I know) almost immediately after finding out they were expecting, and was so excited to finally be able to give them to them!

Would love to hear any pregnancy stories you'd like to share!  And we're always open to suggestions about baby things we shouldn't try to live without.  ☺

As usual, thanks so much for reading, and enjoy your day!

More cool-calm-and-collectly than the other day,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

Girl Scout cookies!

flexible work schedules/students

annual Valentine's Day roses ☺

Week of ♥: 2014

Hello, all!

I had hoped to be able to say "Hope you're enjoying the warmer weather," but as I'm writing this, it's snowing outside...and has been for a few hours!  It has kind-of turned to rain-ish precipitation, now, and the ground looks like it's covered by a layer of grits.  Or maybe couscous...possibly popcorn.  Regardless of what food it resembles, it's a very wet snow.  (Cue "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?")

Anyway, I hope this finds you well!  Things are pretty great here.  

I want to share some of the Valentine's Day gifts I received last week, but before doing do, can I just say again how blessed I am by the students I teach and their families?!  Seriously.  Not only do I love what I do, but I love who I get to do it with.  (Yes, I know - that sentence ended with a preposition...) I know that's not the first time I've said it...and it won't be the last.  And no - I'm not just saying it because they seem to shower me with gifts at any given occasion. ☺

My Valentine's Day week started with a cute heart Valentine and sucker from one of my new 4-yr.-old students, as well as this coffee bean/rose petal/foam sticker/heart decoration from another student.  Those coffee beans sure do smell good!

Tuesday started with a bag of chocolates from the family I nanny for, as well as this sweet gift and card from a piano student:

Outside
(It's worth noting that this thoughtful 6-yr.-old strongly hinted that this kind of candy was his favorite and he'd cleared it with his mom to maybe have one during our lesson...haha.  I took the hint.  ☺)

Inside
(Though I initially thought he'd drawn a picture of a minion from Despicable Me for me, it turns out that's a picture of me.  I guess I wear my glasses more often than not on his lesson days.  Not sure what to say about the hair...or lack thereof.)

The next day, an equally thoughtful boy student walked in with his arms very full, exclaimed, "Happy Valentine's Day!" and presented me with some beautiful Gerbera daisies and a candy bouquet!  I thanked him again at his lesson yesterday, and told him the flowers are still alive and well.  His response, "Yessss!" with a fist clench.  ☺

This gift was unrelated to Valentine's day, but I'm including it here, anyway, because I received it in the same week.
One of my adult students took a trip to Cabo, Mexico a few weeks ago, and she brought this precious hand-painted Nativity set back for me!  She said she saw it and immediately thought, "I think Kensy would like to have that."  She was right.  ☺

On Thursday, I walked in to find a box from FTD on my piano bench.  Inside were a dozen roses...complete with a vase!

The note said they were sent a day early, so I wouldn't have to take them along on my road trip to visit the sender the next day. ☺

Lisa and I exchanged Valentine's gifts that night.  You may remember the fact that we gave each other gifts in the same little mailboxes last year...?  Well, this year, we both unintentionally gave each other striped socks (among other things).

Mine are the fuzzy ones...she sure knows the way to my heart!  ☺

THEN, on Friday, I walked in my room at the studio to find a half dozen cupcakes from my favorite cupcake shop, Le Cupcake!

These came from the same sweet, thoughtful sender as the flowers...and I took them along when I went to see him that evening.  ♥ What a yummy Valentine's day dessert!

I also received a couple Valentine's Day pictures/letters from a couple families.  They sent those out instead of Christmas cards/letters.  Great idea, huh?

In other news...

I was somewhat recently introduced to a pretty awesome company called GreatStitch and got to help them prepare for a party idea that was more recently featured on a national blog.  (I painted the table legs! ☺)  Check it (and them) out!

http://www.karaspartyideas.com/2014/02/vintage-airplane-birthday-party-cashew-brittle-recipe.html

That's the scoop, for now!  Enjoy what's left of the week and the weekend to come!

Gratefully,

Kensy

Favorites of the day:

the power of prayer (keep them coming!)

smoothies

technology

♥

Hey there!


Hope you all had a lovely Valentine's day!  Thought I'd share a few of the Valentines I received:

A chocolate apple!  I'd never seen one of these before, and embarrassingly enough, it took me a second to understand why I was getting one...  ☺

She loves piano!

I don't even care that he spelled my name wrong - love free-handed hearts from first graders.

This is from the same little guy who drew the heart above.  He and his twin sister made these chocolate dipped spoons with a heart marshmallow and sprinkles in a little heart pouch with a packet of hot cocoa mix for their class and teacher valentines (46 in all - he explained the very lengthy process and the fact that he had to write "So-and-so, you warm my heart" 23 times!).

I also received precious homemade cards from the kiddos I nanny for, as well as thoughtful cards in the mail, phone calls, etc.  Needless to say, I felt the love on Valentine's day! ☺


Wanted to share something else from my week:
I can't remember whether or not I've told you all this - I'm teaching a couple CMA (Children's Music Academy) classes this semester.  For those of you who may not remember what that entails, it's a 50-minute group piano class for 4- and 5-year-olds and their parents.  We do a different activity every 4 minutes (or so it seems) for the sake of their attention spans.  Activities include learning rhythm and note friends, playing piano songs, dancing, singing, ear training exercises, games, etc.  It's a two-year curriculum, and by the end of the class, the students will be playing at a "level one" in most piano method books.


I taught one of these classes last year, but all the students decided they'd like to take private lessons with me, instead.  So, I didn't have a class at the beginning of this school year.  This semester, however, I had a few enroll in a beginning CMA class, and I was able to pick up the continuation of another teacher's class.  Both are lots of fun to teach - one class is only little girls, and the other is all boys - each comes with its own challenges.  haha


The other night, the boys' dads came with them, so we didn't have any moms in the class.  The boys recognized this, and one said, "But the moms are the beautifulest ones!"


Another story about the same little boy: Whenever someone does something well or tries, period, we clap for them.  I usually say, "Give him a hand!"  When I say this in the class of boys, however, the one little guy says, "What?!  I can't give him my hand!  I'd have to cut it off!" or something to that effect.  So, he's trained me to say "Give him a round of applause!" instead.  The other night when I said that the first time (instead of "Give him a hand!"), I heard him whisper excitedly to his dad, "She didn't say 'Give him a hand!'!"  ☺


If you or someone you know might like to join a CMA class, feel free to come check it out!  You can go to http://harrismusicstudio.com/ or call the office for more info.!


Enjoy what's left of the week and have a great weekend!
-Kensy

Favorites of the day:

my weekend plans (seeing "The Vow" with girlfriends, then going to visit my brother!)

this new computer...again

getting a few of my great-grandma's old Valentines in the mail from my grandma