Spring Projects

I haven't had time to post anything lately, but I'm excited to say that the yearbook was finished two days ago. A huge monkey is off my back - for another year!

I've been doing some vinyl projects and scrabble tile necklaces. The first vinyl project was for a wedding gift. I found the dish at TJMaxx.

Last week I decided to make some Easter buckets for the kids. I got some $2 buckets at Dollar General and added some vinyl. They were big enough to hold all the eggs they found at the church egg hunt. The kids can also use them all year.

Last, my dear friend RaAnn asked me to make some scrabble tile necklaces, six as a matter of fact. They turned out great the first time and RaAnn said everyone liked them.
Be back with Easter photos soon...

A New Four Year Old in the House

Happy Birthday, Daniel! It is so hard to believe that four years ago Jeff and I left the house about this time (5:30 a.m.) to go "get" our new baby boy. We dropped Olivia off at the babysitters before heading to the hospital. I knew Daniel was a bigger baby than Olivia, but NO idea he would weigh 9 pounds! What a sweet little boy we have.

We celebrated Daniel's birthday with a party at a local pizzeria, the kind with games. Lots of good friends came to help him celebrate. He had a great time and got some cool gifts.
I had fun making some table decorations for the room. I used my Cricut (celebrations and a child's life cartridges) to cut out some shapes. Then stuck them to some sucker sticks and added them to decorated cans. I used flower styrofoam stuff in the cans and some shredded paper Olivia found in the Easter box this week. I also made cups for the kids to keep their tokens in while they played. These really helped everyone keep up with their own tokens and gave them a new cup to use at home. The cake was from Dairy Queen - one of our favorites! We stopped by and ordered it one afternoon. Daniel told the girl he wanted a golf cake and they did a great job.

Thank you, Daniel, for the sweetness and roughness (all at once) you bring to our home!

What We've Been Up To

Well, no posts lately...I've been sick with the flu. Being down for three days puts a mom, wife, teacher, friend behind in so many ways.

We're trying to think warm weather around here. The kids have played lots of Wii lately and love to play Monopoly Junior from Aunt Paige.

Here's how to make 2 kids happy at the same time. Olivia was playing hair salon while Daniel and I played Monopoly.


Oh my....

AND I was featured over at Everyday Celebrating for Olivia's cupcake party! WooHoo

Valentine's Recap

This will go down as one of the best Valentine's EVER!

Jeff got in a fun mood and started leaving me notes and gifts on Thursday. I came home to this note in one of my pot holders...

"It's evil me as you will see
Let's play a VDay game, so
before it's done I'll have some fun.

The 1st clue as it would be
is to look above where you pee."

A second note was in the cabinet above the toilet with a little box.

"I know you think I'm all bad,
all poots and farts. But I
wanted you to know I love
you, here is the key to my heart.

But beware of upcoming clues
because sometimes Valentine's gifts
come in twos."

In the little box was this beautiful charm.

Friday night - the kids and I had been to a Valentine's party and Jeff was at work. I found this note in one of my clothes drawers.

"When you deal with evil
always take the lesser.
You might want to look for your next gift,
on the dresser.

To narrow it down here's a clue

People often keep a lawyer on retainer
your next gift is hiding with
others like it in a clear type container."

After a little help from Olivia and Jeff (I was VERY tired) I found this solitaire and band. Remember, I had lost my wedding ring at the lake Summer '08.

I proudly wore this ring all day Saturday, thinking "wow how did he afford this" and "is it a little too big?"

Sunday morning... we sent the kids on their own scavenger hunt, which they loved. After all of the hoopla, Jeff comes in the room and gets on one knee. He hands me another ring and says "the first one is a fake - from Avon! Here is your real ring."

I love this one even more, got a big laugh and have a fun, fake diamond to wear!

Jeff's gift is going to be snake boots for turkey season, when he finds them. I made us these shirts to wear for fun. I got the idea from "Promise Keepers."
I'll also show Olivia's Valentine box for school. We got the idea for this kitty cat from Family Fun magazine.

We also made the heart shaped crayons for her class and some Valentine Cricut pictures for her teacher and classroom aides.

Daniel took shovels with treats in the scoops for his friends at babysitter Janet's. Janet got some cute "Happiness" notepads from Michael's.

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Hope you did too.

Valentine's Projects - the good and the ugly

I've been trying projects for Valentine's Day as I have time (snow days) and the inspiration hits.

Olivia and I had the bright idea to make the heart shaped suckers for her class using small candy canes. I made sure we had enough canes, the sticks and the baggies. We followed the directions on The Idea Room, but ours didn't work out. I had to pop them off the sheet...and they crumbled.

So we tried another idea from The Idea Room - some yummy chocolate peppermint popcorn. This project turned out yummy! I plan to make some more for gifts. We had to sample the first batch!

Applique has always intrigued and puzzled me. It looks so easy when other people do it and explain it on their blog. So, when I found this $3 long sleeve tee I decided to make Olivia a Vday tee shirt. I've got some more practicing to do. At least I already had the heat'n bond and material AND she's only 7 and not picky yet!

We did find another successful project for her classmates. We made crayon hearts that we learned about on so many craft blogs. We think her class will enjoy them.

This week, as a stress relieves, I made a cute 2x4 project I found on How She Does. It was fun to mod podge and vinyl and it was from scrap 2x4s. The flipside is for St Patty's Day.

And today, another snow day, Olivia had asked me to mend a hole in a too little "hand me down" shirt. I suggested we make a cute pillow instead.

I then made dresses for her American Girl dolls with the sleeves.

Thanks for visiting - and take comfort in everyone has a few goofs now and then!

Cupcake Birthday Party

We had Olivia's 7th Birthday Party last weekend. We picked a cupcake theme and went with a pink and lime green color scheme.
I had so much fun filling my apothecary jars! The big one had the goody bags - filled with fancy soaps, lotions, and lip gloss. One is filled with birthday candles from past parties. Another is filled with lollipop shaped soaps. The smaller ones were filled with m&ms and marshmallows.
Olivia and I made this table runner. I had bought a pack of cupcake and candy theme transfers. She helped me place them and I ironed them on. We edged the runner with cute ribbon.The candy we used came at a bargain price. I had the kids separate the Christmas colored m&ms - the light green colors were perfect for the party. The pink ones are from a bag of Valentine m&ms and the marshmallows are stars from a bag of marked down Christmas mix.The girls each got to decorate 4 cupcakes - 2 sprinkles and 2 chocolate. They picked the one they wanted to eat at the party and we sent the others home on green plates (after Christmas sale!).They made some pretty cute cupcakes.We did serve some fruit along with the cupcakes and some yummy punch! Olivia had a fun time at home with just a few special friends. I had fun planning the parties!

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

I can't believe my baby girl is 7 today! Olivia, you have brought us such joy and laughter since coming into our lives.We love this drawing Olivia did this week at school - it is a drawing of her opening her gift from Pepaw. I love my dress!

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

more pictures later - the party is Sunday