A New Spring Wreath

As much as I loved my last wreath, I was ready for something new.  I shared this idea from Polka Dot Chair in a Pinterest Post.  This is a photo of the inspiration:

This is what I created:

I think it is pretty :-)  I picked everything up at Wal-mart, which was kinda nice and it cost a total of $12.00.  I just bought to bundles of Tulips and then cut them apart and hot glued them onto the grapevine wreath and then made a scary cute little bow and added that. 

Another project crossed off the list!

Too Cute Not To Toot

First up is a great gift idea from How Does She.  I don't currently have any friends/family expecting but I'd love to have a few of these (and some cool burp clothes) on hand to give out as gifts. 

Speaking of burp clothes.  Here is a great tutorial from diary of a quilter.  I love these template because you could use the same fabric for the blanket above and the clothes OR a coordinating fabric.  What a cute gift!!

I love dressing my boys up . . and dressing them CUTE so when I saw this idea over at Vanilla Joy for boys neck-ties, I had to share.  Great for special days, holidays or photo shoots.

Here's a cute, quite game idea for these rainy days of sprint :-)  I've seen this ideas many places but this comes from Wisdom For Mom.

That's all for this week.  I really struggled with finding some ideas this week . . .. :-)

My Dad's 70th Birthday

Remember when you were a kid and you thought your parents were SOOOO old . . .and they were barely 40?  Now, YOU are that age and they are turning . . 70!  It kinda blows my mind that my dad is 70, really, I always thought that at 70 people were stuck in chairs with canes but that is not that case at all! 

Per my dad's request, we did not throw him a big party (party pooper HA) but we did celebrate as family on Saturday the 13th.  Remember this POST about my brother and his family coming home - that was the BIG surprise for his birthday. 

We all gathered at my brother's house and the boys quickly discovered my niece's American Girl house and had a blast. 

Funny story, one of the rooms is a "Hair Dresser".  We were all sitting in the dining room while the boys played.  What we didn't know is that there were scissors in that "room" and Josh . . .well, he likes to play Barber with his tools at home . . .so he cut the hair on one of the American Girl Dolls.  Seriously.  Thankfully my niece was a sweetheart about it but I still feel a little bad.

 After a fabulous Steak dinner we had cake.  Now, we "roped" my brother Ken into grilling steaks (in the snow HA).  We felt it was penance for all of the lying he did previously hehehehe 

 Now, I did not take a ton of photos and I'm not sure why.  I guess we were all wondering from room to room having conversations and I never took photos.  We did have fun though and even played cards (Up and Down the River) until 10:30. 

Sunday, we all went to church and there was a little surprise planned for my dad there as well.

After the service, my dad was brought in (he teaches a class during the second service) - we sang to him and there was this awesome cake.  He had no idea (and neither did my mom).  It was so much fun!

The family then gathered at my parents for the afternoon.  My mom made a great dinner and we hung out.  We took Josh, Nate and Kate out to the "Ice Cream Store" for Ice Cream Cones per Josh's request (Should I mention that Kate is Josh and Nate's favorite person in the whole world???)  Then my wonderful husband played with the boys outside with their Big Wheels and took them for a walk.  Some how he always gets that job :-) 

We really had a great weekend and I think my dad actually enjoyed his birthday weekend

Happy Birthday Dad!

April Preschool

This week was a pretty standard week - probably one of the first weeks like this we've had in well over a month.  It went well because I was prepared and that is the key!

On Monday we FINALLY started lesson "D". I feel like we have been really dragging our feet on getting through lessons so I'm starting to push a little harder.  Josh is more than capable of completing the lessons and Nate, well, he does some but really, he doesn't start preschool until next fall at the earliest so if he walks away to play, that is ok.

 The boys both worked hard on their lessons today.  Don't you love the "war paint" on the face?  Keeping it real - they colored each others faces while I was in the shower. Oops :-)  At least it was washable marker!

 Our Bible story today was about God creating Adam and Eve so, after reading our story, we used play dough to make people.  My kids love play dough so they had lots of fun!

 I found What to Expect through Pinterest and it had a great link for some inside games.  We played bulls eye and the boys had a blast.  They had to roll the ball and try to get it into the middle square.  We noticed that Nate seems to have a natural ability when it comes to athletics . .. he hit the middle box on one of his first tries.  It took Josh and I about 20 HA!

 In the afternoon, we work on a theme study and right now we are studying plants and flowers.  This was a fun little craft I found over at 1st grade fantabulous.  The boys had a lot of fun creating these as we reviewed the (simple) parts of the plant.

 Through Pinterest, I found this great link to be able to pick up this diagram of the parts of the plant for FREE.  It was a great visual to use with our plant craft.

Tuesday was another great day - we really are enjoying our new schedule.

 Working on our daily lessons (Rising Rock Stars Preschool) - from 1+1+1=1.  Also, we do flashcards every day - today Josh was showing Nate the flashcards and making him do them.  He loves to be the teacher and usually tells Nate the answer first :-)

 Here, Josh is explaining a worksheet to Nate - I think this is about the time Nate got up and went into the other room to play (hehehe)

To continue on with our plant theme, today we planted grass seed.  Even though I've seen this idea years ago, I found it over at Mamaha and that the idea of "Plant Pals" was very cute.

 The finished plants.  These are now sitting in our window sill and I will post photos if when the grass grows.

Our PE time today was . .. Gymnastics!  Yes!  Today was the boys first lesson - aren't they the cutest gymnasts every???  We couldn't go in and watch them yet but I look forward to week 4 of class when the parents get to watch.  The funny part is that through the week Josh would say things that we had never heard - he told Darryl how he needed to breath when he was out of breath from chasing the boys and he even made Darryl do exercises with him one evening.  He is a SPONGE and picks up every single thing he sees.

Wednesday was another fun day - with a field trip included :-)

 One of our lessons today was cutting out our verse.  The boys love to use scissors . . .. you can see that we have two different levels of cutting right now by the photo below HA!  Nate is still working on that skill ;-)

Our field trip was to an awesome little Children's Museum in the next town over.  It is totally free but has so much awesome stuff including the cock-pit of a real airplane that the boys can fly.  There is a video that simulates flying over the city - the boys loved it.  We will go back without a doubt!

On Thursday, we finished up our "Lesson D", went out to lunch and the grocery store.  That kept us plenty busy.

Finally, on Friday, I did have lessons planned but, I needed to make food for a birthday party on Saturday, pack us all for the weekend (and the boys for a longer stay at Papa and Nana's) and do a pick up around the house so, instead, the boys helped me clean (their choice) and they helped me make some of the food.  In the afternoon they colored pictures for Papa's birthday.  Oh, and did this:

What is this?  They went "camping" and set up their bed in the kitchen on the floor.  These crazy kids HA!

We really had a great week.  I know I said I would share some of my new organizational ideas this week but then I remembered that the boys would be gone next week so I would need something for our Preschool post :-)  Next week I'll share all of that fun, behind the scenes, stuff :-)

April Pinterest Goals

So, instead of picking new ideas this month, I'm going back through the previous "Too Cute" and Pinterest Goals and picking out the things I have not completed that I still want to get done. 

This project is the only one left from February's Too Cute post.  The others I either completed or decided I didn't want to do after all. 

I have three ideas from March that I want to finish up.  Now, there are a couple of others on there that are in the works, and WILL get done soon which is why they aren't on this list. 

Now, on to the Pinterest List

And that is only from March YIKES!  I actually have the supplies for three of the items above; I just need to do them :-)

The good news is that my February list was basically done.  I'm still working on organizing the car but I haven't found the perfect solution for me :-) 

Hopefully I can wrap up these last few ideas and pick out some new ones in May :-)