first official day

Book Fair Day one down... whew.

Only three and a half to go. Oh yeah... throw in a crazy fun filled Family Night too!

I shall make it through this week.

I shall make it through this week.

I shall make it through this week.

It really wasn't that bad. Really. I'm just very tired right now. That could be making think I need to give this event up. The problem with that is, I have so much fun with the kids!! I love hanging with them. I love seeing the delight in their eyes when they get to pick out a new book of their very own. I love giving them the joy of reading. Makes me being tired seem very trivial. No rash decisions.

I was so busy today I didn't even get to take a decent picture of the book fair set up!! I need to do that tomorrow morning when I get in. However, right now this book fair lady is heading to the comfort of her bed. Along with her heating pad and some tylenol.

ps. we are up against our numbers for last year!! Check out our homepage!! ;)

chuck e cheese birthday party (photo heavy)

Happy Birthday (again) to Alex!! This should be the last party he has to celebrate him turning 5. Lucky kid has had one family/ friend party in Syracuse, one family party at home, one class party and now one friend party at Chuck E Cheese!! I am partied out.

He had a great time today. He was wonderful with his friends and played a ton of games. This one is one of his favorites. He has to get up on the game to be able to move the bone up and down, but he does fairly well with it.

Look at that concentration on this game!! This one you have to time the releasing of the six balls to get them to land in the correct spot.

Here he is after he did it and won the bonus!! (thanks to my amazing hubby who captured these shots for me)

Now time to boogie! He does really well at this game. He gets jumping around and hitting the spots and has a fun time.

Time to be silly with our birthday crown!! Of course he discovered the 8 tokens that were tucked into the pockets!! He had to go back out and play!!

Here's his total ticket count for the day! The red tickets are from his time in the Ticket Blaster. Pictures of that fun below!!

The gang!! Behind Alex left to right... Ethan, Emily, Kira, Papa and Nana. In front of Alex left to right... Brian, Justin and Nicole. Watching the show and waiting for our food!

Cake time!! Hershey's chocolate cake. YUMMY!! Good job getting those candles blown out!

Time to dance with Chuck E. I love the look on his face! I think he was watching the disco lights overhead. So cute!!

His time to shine with Chuck E! What a great day we had!

Ticket Blaster time. Alex has been wanting to do this since he saw it on a commercial. He informed me once he saw it that he was going to do it at his birthday party. hmmm... didn't realize we were having a friend party. But we did!! LOL

This is his serious ready to grab those tickets face!

He actually got to do it twice since the goggles fell off his face once the air started. So he was ready the second time! Look at that smile!! I do believe that was the highlight of his day.

Thanks to Ethan and his mom Kathy for such a great gift!! Kathy made the dog house and food dish for Alex's stuffed puppies. How cute is that?? He brings them into school to play with and talk about them. Now they have a cute house to play in! Adorable!!

I think that is the end of his 5th birthday. whew... Hope we don't have to top it next year. I don't think my hips can take much more cake. LOL

Happy Sunday evening everyone!!

state house field trip

Last Monday, I had the fun of chaperoning Kira's class trip to the State House in Concord. We also stopped at the History Museum, but pictures weren't allowed as freely as they were at the State House. It was a fun trip, until it started snowing!!

Here are Kira with her friends Maggie and Cedar. Aren't they just the cutest girls ever?? Adorable.

Here is the State House. It is one of the oldest in the country and it is the original building. Made from strong granite!! It is also very small so we had to be very quiet as it holds many offices of politicians working. Trying keeping fourth graders quiet... not an easy task!!

Governor John Lynch came in and talked to the kids and then sat with them for a picture. He enjoys talking with the kids and makes time in his day when they have field trips come through. The kids were very impressed.

Here they are in the house seats. They debated the seat belts on buses discussion. Pretty impressive to hear kids thoughts on this. They had the same concerns as the adults who are normally in these seats.

Then we got to go into the Senate chambers. Not as many seats, so some of the kids got to be spectators.

And this is how it looked when we were waiting for the bus in the safety of the State House... just a bit of snow!!

The kids enjoyed the trip and I learned lots about New Hampshire. Good trip for everyone!

Off to feed the kiddos and get them ready for bed. I'll be back to post pictures from Alex's Chuck E Cheese party. See you soon!!

broken pinky swear...

I feel awful about it too!! My day totally got away from me. Man... this stinks.

On a happy note, I did get to spend almost 5 hours alone with my honey tonight out and about!! We had a great date night. No movies we wanted to see so we went shopping for Easter. Yup... we are all set for that favorite of holidays!! I mean how can you not love a bunny that brings chocolate?? My kind of forest creature!

Anywho... tomorrow is Alex's friend party at Chuck E Cheese. Then I think I will have a minute to sit and load up some pictures to share. I have a bunch.

Sorry about breaking the pinky swear. Guess I shall have to endure the lashing of wet twill at dawn. (hanging head in shame)

send in the marines!

I do believe I am lost. Please send help!

I have managed to fold most of the laundry that was living in the baskets. I need to fold the stuff that was hung to dry and is now just become part of the obstacle course in the family room.

I have gotten the elementary's school Book Fair set up (with some amazing help from a great group of moms and my honey). We had a successful Teacher Preview day with most of the teachers coming in and filling up their wish baskets of books they would like to add to their classroom libraries.

I have made sgetti sauce and it smells amazing. I love my slow cooker!! Dinner is coming quickly... thank goodness.

I think tomorrow is Saturday and I may get to sleep in. Maybe then I can find my brain somewhere. It has to be here.... maybe under that pile of stuff over there.

Oh wait... it think I saw it slinking behind the dishes that I need to put away. Dumb brain.

ps. I owe pictures and answers... I'll catch up tomorrow. pinky swear

happy birthday peanut!

We had a great time yesterday celebrating his birthday but so happy to have a little more celebrating going on today on his actual birthday! Yesterday included this large box to tempt him with.

He couldn't wait for us to bring it upstairs to begin playing with his drums. He's got some pretty good rhythm. He must get it from his dad, sure doesn't get it from me!!

Cake time!! Well it should have been cake time but for some reason, Walmart made me a cupcake cake instead. Whatever. His name was spelled right and it was the correct theme. I went with it.

Back to the drum playing! I couldn't resist taking a ton of pictures. I don't think he minded at all! My future rock star.

Today he received a fun Mickey Mouse singing card from us as well as a tube of mini M&M's (he loves those) and a new Littlest Pet Shop set of animals. Kira was also sweet enough to think of him on her field trip and got him a little puppet animal which I cannot for the life of me remember what it was!

I have to pick up Kira from Painters Club and bring her to Girl Scouts, then I will work on posting some pictures from her field trip to the State House today. Even though all I really want to do is fall into my bed and call it a day!

future drummer!

I had to share this picture of Alex from today. He was having so much fun with his drums it was enjoyable to watch. He was banging on them before Dave could even get them put together. We received many hugs and kisses and thank you's for giving him this set. I do believe we scored a home run!

He actually has some rhythm. Who knows... he could be the next big thing!! Isn't this how Justin Beiber started?? YouTube here we come! LOL

I'll share more pictures tomorrow after my field trip with Kira's class to the State House.

our busy saturday

After a busy week, what should a family do?? In our case, spend most of the day in the car running errands!! It was all good as we were together and the kids were pretty good at going to different stores and getting in and out of the car. Makes it easier.

Our first stop was to get my little man a haircut! He sure needed one. As adorable as he is with his scruffy trying to turn into curls hair... he is much more handsome all cleaned up with short hair!! I do believe he is a pirate in this picture!! We were waiting for our lunch at Kelly's Roast Beef.

I truly believe I do not push Alex to let us cut his hair at home so we can go to Snip it's in Peabody and then eat at Kelly's. It's good to admit these things. And even better that my faboo hubby let's us!!

Then we hit Pier 1 to pick up a couple of great photo holders that my BFF has at her house. They have theirs in their kitchen/ dining room area and they are wonderful for holding the kids art work and family snap shots. Love it!! I now have two and need to find a place to hang them!! They didn't look that big in the store (or at her house) but they are a bit bigger than I had imagined!! Soon as I get them hung, I'll post a picture of them.

Then to ACMoore to try and find a couple of frames for some of Kira's art work from her Painting Club. I checked online and their ad says that frames were on sale. Yeah... not exactly. The ones that I wanted, were not on sale. And I hadn't printed a coupon as I thought frames were on sale!! It worked out okay since I didn't have to pay Massachusetts tax on them. I'll use my Michaels coupons and get them there. And no tax!!

Then we hit Northshore Mall to go to Build A Bear Workshop. We were in dire need of stuffing two more animals. Now if you have seen my house more importantly, my kids rooms. You know that we really do not need anymore animals in this house!! But E.B. is so stinking cute!!! Don't you agree???

He is from the new movie HOP. I am so looking forward to taking the kids to see it. His face is simply adorable. How could we not get them for the kids? Yup... our house is the proud owner of two of these creatures. We got them the drum sticks to go with him. Alex has become obsessed with drums so he is perfect for him. And heck... Kira is all about the stuffed animals.

After all that fun, we picked up some cake from the Cheesecake Factory and headed to the grocery store. We needed some real food. Then home. It was a good day and glad I have such a wonderful family to spend the time with.

Today will be good as well. We are celebrating Alex's birthday since tomorrow we are busy from morning to night and we don't want to rush his fun. I'm sure once he gets his present, he won't mind celebrating a day early!! He will be the proud owner of a drum set. Yes I have given in and decided he should have it. He is constantly creating his own set out of whatever makes noise around here. I am sure he will be beside himself!! Pictures tomorrow!!

Happy Sunday everyone!!

ps. Hope you enjoy all the links. LOL Not sure why I got so link happy today.

today rocked!

Kira did not have school as the teachers had a workshop however, Alex did have school. We dropped him off and picked up some donuts and hot chocolate and came home. I had to be on a conference call/ webinar for a bit so she played nicely and enjoyed her fun breakfast. No guilt as she wasn't headed to school!!

After my call, we headed out to pick up Alex and have some fun at the Open Gym at the Rec Center. There were a ton of kids (all the older kids who are usually in school) there so it was loud but fun. Not much drama and no injuries!! All in all, a great time. I snapped this picture of my kiddos. Simply adorable!!

After the Open Gym, my friend Nicole and her three kids, came over to play. It worked out good as we needed to give her youngest his birthday presents. Love when a plan works!! Again, lots of fun, not much drama.

We headed out around 4pm on a surprise for the kids. I had told Alex and he did very well not letting Kira in on the secret. He's so good!! We ended up at Chuck E Cheese!! We had a boatload of tokens and tickets from previous visits to use and turn in. Of course we had to eat and get more tokens... of course. ;)

The kids had a blast! Seriously a blast. They barely sat still long enough to eat their dinner they were so excited to get winning tickets. Not that we needed many more. We had a gallon storage bag full. Yes GALLON sized bag. Somehow we managed to slip more in and use all the tokens we had... whew!!

Then it was the fun of having the ticket chomper count them all. Here's a picture of our bag of tickets. For your information... this is what 3191 tickets looks like!! Yup, we had a few!

The kids ended up with a stuffed dog for Alex and a baseball hat for Kira. A giant outdoor ball for both of them. Then a bunch of small toys to use up the rest of the tickets. They were quite happy to have won all those tickets and gotten some good prizes. We have left a few times with the cheap toys that break on the car ride home. Nice to get some better things.

happy st patricks day to everyone

And a Happy Birthday to my best Alien bud. Figured I would get use to your new birthday!! Hope it was a good one.

Anywho... here are the kiddos all dressed in their greenish best for the day. Aren't they just the cutest?? Let me tell you... looks can be deceiving! ;) And I must mention how much I simply adore my little lady in her skirts with leggings! She has legs I would kill for! Not sure where they came from, but I'm glad she got them! You can't see it that great, but she wore her hair accessory!! And it looks like my lamp is tipped a bit. Need to check that later!

Here is another item of fun I needed my glue gun for... pinwheels!! oh my so fun to make, I couldn't stop! Of course it would have been easier to make them if I had used two sided paper but I like a challenge so I glued two pieces of paper together!! Nothing is simple with me! I got the idea and instructions from the Scrapbooks etc April 2011 edition page 30. I had to glue the wooden skewers to the pinwheels. I didn't need them to spin, less chance of little hands getting to them if they don't move!!

I picked up the pails at Target in the $1 spot. The material ribbons are from the very large stash I acquired from my mom's fabric closet on our last trip to Syracuse. We released much fabric that day to a better place. Which equals more room at my parents place. The flowers on the one bucket are made from some ribbon I had on hand. Found a YouTube video for them which was pretty darn simple to do!! Love videos that make me feel like I am a genius cuz I can do things!! The flowered flower (single one on the left pail) is made from material. I made it the same way as the ribbon ones. The grass is from an old Easter basket. We have a few for me to choose from. I went with purple. Love purple!!

Close up of a couple of the pinwheels.

The rest of the mantel. The bunnies are those plaster kits that you paint. My mom did them. When Kira saw them at her house, she fell in love with them and had to have them. I think my mom just wanted them out of her house!! So here they are!

For Christmas I filled these containers with cheapie ornaments, for Easter we use extra eggs. Yes I am a pack rat and yes I do save pretty much everything! Not sure why I save them as the Easter Bunny brings us new ones every year. Someday I'll release things.

Last little bit of decoration on the piano. More plastic eggs. Hope the kids don't get too confused on Easter morning and try to tear apart my decorations looking for their eggs!! LOL The tall jar was once used as a spaghetti holder, then it held my rice, now it is a decoration. See... I do not throw things away!!

Thanks for peeking at my decorations. Hoping I can find a couple other things I thought I had. Need to check out the loft again. So sad that I take better care of my Christmas stuff than the other holidays and I have a ton of stuff for all the holidays!! I need to work on that. Spring cleaning project!! Anyone up to help???

To my dear sweet Alien!! I received a large envelope from you today. You are too generous and so sweet!! Love the Hoops and Yoyo Valentines! I did not see them but glad they are now mine!! That ribbon rocks! Thank you for the Swiss dots embossing folder... kiss kiss!!! And the card... love the card!! I need to make me one like that as I have a new border punch... it's leaves!! I cannot wait to use it. As well as butterfly punches!! I see leaves and butterflies in my future. Thanks for the enabling... and for the goodies. Love you!!

why i needed the hot glue gun

It was for this fun project!! Kira decided she needed something for St. Patricks Day for her hair. The good news was that she didn't ask me the night before. You know the drill... everything is due the very next day as you are tucking in your sweetheart for dreamland! So happy about that!!

Anywho... when I was going through my mom's large closet of material last month, I happened across some clover fabric. The little light bulb went off once Kira asked for a hair accessory. I could make some of those adorable fabric flowers that are all the rage!! A few YouTube videos later and here's what I made!!

Pretty stinking cute if I don't say so myself!! I made an extra one for my friends daughter as well. Only burned myself a few times on the hot glue gun so that is a good thing. I also have a ton more fabric that I rescued from my mom's before mentioned fabric closet/ room. Thinking I can have a ton of fun with these flowers!! As long as my fingers hold out.

And a cute picture of the day from yesterday that I had to share! We were at Walmart and he got thirsty. What's a mom to do?? Buy a bottle of milk, of course. He drank half of it before we got to the van. That was just on the walk from the check out to the van!! He can really drink his beloved milk.

Working on a bunch of pin wheels for a Spring/ Easter display on my mantle. We'll see if it works out or not. If it does... you shall all see it. If not... it will be forgotten about and never mentioned again!!

feeling the shame

I am hanging my head here. Makes it hard to type, but it must be done. I am ashamed to admit something to you all. Yes it is a horrible thing I have done.

OH THE SHAME!!

What you might be asking is making me so distressed?? I have discovered I am not the true crafter that I thought I was.

I spent two days looking for my hot glue gun. I was convinced it was in my crafting room here. Really, I thought it was here. Tearing things apart looking for it. Very stressful. Couldn't find it or the large pack of glue sticks that goes with it.

Finally decided to look in the garage loft. That took some time. Still couldn't find it. Almost gave up and headed to the store to get another one. But I KNEW that I had not thrown it out so it HAD to be around here somewhere.

Enter my wonderful hubby (love that man!!) He remembers that I had packed it up when I went through one of my many cleaning sprees in this packed room. YAHOOIE!! So back to the loft I went with a sense of purpose and....

I FOUND IT!!

Here is my shame... what kind of crafter packs away her hot glue gun?? Seriously. Who does that? Well I admit, it was me. I will go back to the ranks of amateur crafter hanging my head in shame.

Off to the corner with me....

the best girl scout cookie ever and a gift

Yesterday Kira and I helped out at her troop's cookie booth outside the local gas station. Thank goodness it was a pretty decent day with sun and a gentle wind. Haven't had too many of those around here, so it was nice. Kira got to dress up as a Thin Mint, her favorite cookie. We then went out to the grass patch by the road so she and another girl could wave at the cars. They had fun and we sold a ton of cookies!! She does make a pretty cute Thin Mint!!

This is the project I was working on a last week or so with the mod podge. Love the smell of mod podge. Anywho... a friend of mine was going to surprise her kids with a trip to Disney and I thought I could make her up a little vacation journal to record all the great memories they will be making. I mailed it to her with no time to spare! She left later that evening after receiving it! Talk about close. LOL

Anywho... here it is.... I think I got the journal at the dollar store or from ACMoore/ Joanns/ Michaels. I really can't remember just that I have had it for awhile! Added some Mickey/ Disney paper from my very large stash along with a ribbon. The Wishes do come true is a Jolee's set that was perfect for this project. On the final coat of mod podge, I added some very fine glitter. After it was dried, I ran my hand over it to get off any loose glitter. Worked pretty good. Pixie dust all set for the trip!

This is the inside cover (the back cover is the same) I mod podge'd all four covers to make sure it will withstand the travel and happy hands coming in contact with it. BTW... she loved it!! So happy.

me... I am happy that Turn Off TV week is behind me. Now to start working on the Book Fair. Guess I should get at it. Happy Sunday!

counting down till Friday

It has been a crazy busy week. I love when PTA events coincide with hubby leaving town... NOT! And it wasn't like he was gone for a day... no he has been gone since Sunday! I have had to drag my poor kids with me to every Turn Off TV event this week. Monday we had a picnic dinner at the school so they wouldn't starve! They have been such troopers and for the most part well behaved. Hard being in one spot for so long.

Anywho... last night was Chuck E Cheese fun time. I sat towards the doors to catch people coming in with my raffle tickets for sale and they ran around playing all the games and hanging with their friends. I kept dishing out the tokens at a small amount so they would have to check in with me and I would know they were still in the building! For the most part, they knew where the other one was the whole time.

I had the pleasure of holding all the tickets they were winning. Kira declared that the new Operation game was 'sick' (oh I am not going to enjoy having a pre-teen in the house) and she did win a boatload of tickets from it. Alex came up to me with a picture he had done which I thought was the sweetest thing ever. Then Kira came up with her picture... okay now we are tied for sweetest thing!! Then be still my beating heart... both of my children whom I wanted to hang on the walls with duct tape Tuesday evening, came to me and handed me this...

It is the best gift ever!! I didn't even ask for them to do it yet they did it cuz they know I like getting these during our visits. Makes a mommy happy. I do believe I shall make it through this week after all. Doesn't hurt that daddy will be home soon!! ;)

last nights fun

I had to share this picture of Alex from last night. One of the events last night was having a local art store, To Your Art's Content, come in and let the kids paint ornaments that will be fired at their store and picked up later. I handed off my camera to one of the mom's and she got some amazing pictures of the kids... including this one of my little guy. Love it!!

He was so proud of himself that he didn't drop his star. They mentioned a few times to be careful and not drop them and he didn't! It was a great activity for our Turn Off TV Week. And yes he does need a haircut. He is looking a bit shaggy, but still adorable!

I finally got a chance to look through my blog and found that I had already posted the rest of the basket goodies earlier. Silly me. If you want to see them again, they are here. I guess I need more sleep.

Tonights fun will include hanging at Chuck E Cheese with a large number of kids. I think I am up for it. The good part is that I don't have to think about dinner for my kiddos and I don't have to stay for the entire time! I may be able to get the kids to bed at a decent hour this week. That would equate to this mommy getting to bed early as well. I am thinking American Idol will be recorded for viewing later. *yawn*

more cards (photo heavy)

Yup here are the rest of the cards I made. I'll have to post the other fun items later. I don't think I did post them yet. I'll have to go back and check. Don't need to repost!!

Last night was great. The ice cream social was fun and delicious! All of the baskets were well received. I think we'll be selling many tickets this week. woohoo!! Tonight we have an art studio coming in to help the kids create magnets (at least that was the game plan a bit ago) and then we have a magician coming in. I am looking forward to that show. I hear he is amazing. Should be fun.

Back to the cards.... more of my scraps working their way back into the light of day. The ribbon is white. Looks a bit purple in the picture. It's dreaming of being a different color! LOL

One of my favorites!! I am happy with the stitching (just ignore the couple of missed stitches) I like this one. It's fun. Love my scraps!!

Simple with some stickles.

Dragged out my embossing folder (one of two) and had some fun. Primas that were happy to be used instead of hanging out on my desk as pretty decorations.

This one is pretty neat too. Love doing that paper ribbon stuff! Such a fun look.

Can you believe it?? Another flower?!! Somehow my stripe paper turned just a smidge when I adhered it to the card. grrrrr. I can live with it... I think.

This is just plain yummy looking! Yes... scraps.

The ribbon on the sentiment block is really a light blue. It wanted to be white I guess.

Another one of my favorites. Seriously used scraps on this too! I guess you could say I needed to clean out my stash!

That's it. Tomorrow's post should include the rest of the basket goodies for your viewing pleasure. Take it easy and have a great one!