Five for Funday

 I am jumping back in this blogging game... I know it's a day or two late but I'm excited about linking up for Five for Friday Funday!

Happy  Easter!  I hope you had a beautiful day with the ones you love.  I loooove Easter but it sure is dangerous with all the delicious chocolates and jellybeans every which way.  Not safe for a girl who is trying to look good in a wedding dress this summer!  For some reason this picture gets me laughing every.single.time.

Speaking of weddings, my fiance and I went up to our wedding venue (it's almost five hours away... eeks!) with our families for our wedding tasting.  We had SO much fun trying all the delicious food and imagining what our big day will look like.   Plus, who doesn't love a bride and groom moose?  Look at that moose rocking her veil.  Work it, girl!

We went on an awesome field trip to the Boston Children's Museum.  If you haven't been, and are in the area, I highly recommend it!  It was so fun and engaging for the little ones, and I had lots of fun too!

 Before we went, I had the kids make predictions about what we might see on our trip.  By far, my most favorite prediction was Pingwings!  Invented spelling gets me every time :)

 

When we got back, this sweet little thing was so tired that she fell asleep on the floor while waiting for her bus.  So precious!

I caught some type of mysterious illness which can only be described as a "zombie death cold."  I couldn't.even.move and felt like I had been hit by a truck.  I called out sick from work {which I never, ever do!} and spent the day in bed watching ballet documentaries and snuggling a kitty.  I am so glad to be done with that awful zombie plague!

I held my annual Easter egg hunt for the little ones at school on Thursday {we had Friday off... woo hoo!}.  I do the same thing every year... pick them up from specials, and tell them that something VERY strange happened.  I think I saw something white and fluffy hopping out of the door when I left the room.  They start speculating and giggling.  Then we get to the classroom and see a note from Mr. Bunny himself on the whiteboard.  He gives them instructions on how many eggs they can collect, and thanks them for being good little bunnies at school.  Then, the kids go absolutely insane hunting for eggs!  I wish I would have taken pictures of all the madness.  One helpful hint is always, always, always have a few extra eggs stashed away.  For some reason there are always one or two that we can't find!

We also made my go to Easter project... swirly whirly eggs.  They are SO pretty and SO easy... my favorite combination!  For step by step directions check out {this post}.

In other April news, my April vocabulary unit is on sale for 50% off this week only!  You can hop on over to my TpT store to snatch it up {here}.  Even better, hop on over to my Facebook page to enter to win it for free {here}!

How to Install a TpT Gadget on your Blog {Updated}

By far my most popular technology post was {this} one about how to add a TpT gadget to your blog.  When I recently redesigned my blog, I found out the hard way that TpT has changed up how this is done!  I have redone my tutorial to make this tech trick easy peasy.

 Go to TPT and click on the "My Sales Dashboard" page.  Click on "Link to your store from a blog or other website with readymade badges."

 This is pretty self explanatory... just click the button :)

Select whichever type of widget you would like: Featured Items, Top 25 Selling Items, Featured + Top 25 or Most Recent 25 Items. Whatever floats your boat!

  Select vertical (it's the only choice!) then next.

Here it gets a teeny bit tricky.  You need to copy both sections of the code: the longer section of code {first arrow} and the second, shorter section of code {second arrow}.  I just copy and pasted both of these sections into a word document.  

Click NEXT.

 

The magic that is the internet will automatically bring you to this Blogger page.  If you have multiple blogs, make sure that the correct one is selected from the drop down menu.  Next, click Edit Content.  This may seem easy, but I swear it took me twenty minutes to figure that out!  My blonde roots must be growing in :)

 Now go back to your word document.  Copy ALL the code that you pasted in a minute ago {both the longer and shorter portions}.  You can go ahead and copy it all at once.  Paste all that fancy code into the window and click Add Widget.

 You will now automatically be brought to the Layout tab of your blog.  Oh, internet... you're so fancy!

If you want to change where the widget will appear on the page, drag it to the appropriate spot in your gadget column.  When you are done, click Save Arrangement.

Now sit back and admire your gorgeous new widget.  Go on and give yourself a little pat on the back.  Heck, pour yourself a glass of wine if your little heart desires.  You deserve it!

You can check out all of my technology tutorials {HERE}.

A Major Facelift

Did you like that dramatic title?  No, I didn't go under the knife.  My sweet, neglected little blog did, though!

My last blog design was seriously hurting.  The free template I had used mysteriously disappeared, and I was left with a sad, blank little blog.  I am also no blog designer, so even when my template was still there, everything looked a little, umm, special.

Then my whole little blogging world turned around.  I had been stalking following Mrs. Tabb from Just Another Day on Instagram for awhile now.  I saw all of the GORGEOUS blog designs she was working on through her business, Darling and Simple.  I was head over heels, and finally decided to contact her.  I am SO glad I did.  It was like she knew me from the get go!  She sent me five gorgeous designs that were all beautiful.  The hardest part of the whole process was picking just one of them! 

I would love for you to click around and explore a bit!  I am still working on some of the tabs, but they should be up and running very soon.

My Facebook page and TPT store also got a lovely little update.

I am so excited about all of the changes, and I'm hoping that having beautiful digital space will help me to prioritize blogging more than I have in the past few months.  My goal is a minimum of one post per week during the madness of school, teaching classes to adults at night and {most importantly} wedding planning!  See you soon <3