What's your sign?

Noble LoVeD signing Valentines...in fact, it kind of got to be a problem last week because he signed his name on any paper he found. :) Yesterday, he changed it up, and taped this to the silverware drawer:


This made my WEEK, because it's the first time he's written "Mommy" all by himself. :) Yesterday he surprised Grandma by trying to write her name...he got G-R down before he got distracted. I love what a little literacy sponge he is right now. Can't wait to see what he writes today!

Valentine's Day Fun

Originally, Noble and I were going to make one of the monster boxes from February's Family Fun magazine.  You know how this goes; we got the box ready, painted it, put it outside to dry...downpour.

Back to the drawing board!  We were at the store to buy another box (what, you think I had two sitting around?) and we walked by the gift wrap aisle.  I thought, hmm, those bags would make great monsters...or Angry Birds.  Noble loved the Angry Bird idea, and chose the black bag.  Which turned out to be awesome, because the black bird's beak lent itself well to our plan.  I can't take any credit for this at all--what makes this so cute is the printable from The Party Animal blog (she ROCKS!).  

Noble and I had a lot of fun making this together--believe it or not, all I did was cut--he did the gluing (and there was lot's of gluing to get the red inside just right, he was very specific about that).  

Can't you just see all of the 3-year olds feeding their valentines to the bird?  :)

Noble's valentine--I *wish* I had pinned or bookmarked the original idea I ran across several weeks ago, this is TOTALLY copied from someone and I'd love to give credit.  Noble's favorite gum is Juicy Fruit, but I was 4 packs short so I supplemented with a grown-up flavor for a couple of people.  He was SO proud of these...and yup, I was, too.  :)  Good job, DaddyBoy!

One thing that I'm really excited about:  Noble can WRITE this year, so that's his signature on the valentine, heart and all, and if you go back up to his bird you can see that he signed the gray tummy.  

Here he is in his new wookin' for wuv...since these Old Navy tees have pockets, I just printed a heart with an "n" inside of it on the front.  I realized I need to start using capitals for him, but design-wise, I just hate to do it.  Again, I wish I had my problems--wah, my little guy digs letters.  

This is last year's design, but I love the vintage look.  Spoiler alert:  I picked up a green tee like this at Old Navy a couple of days ago for a March shirt.  Kayci likes this shirt, too...she asked for me to make her something on a shirt like this.  Their Christmas shirts were this vintage, heathered feel, and I think she likes how soft the shirts are.  I know I do!  But, I digress...

Kayci wouldn't let me make her a Valentine's Day shirt this year.  This one's from Old Navy.  And it's big enough to wear next year, kid...don't get any ideas.

Here's Kayci's Valentine box--we flipped a PiperLime box inside out and she duct-taped the seams with her fun tape.  (Thanks for the box, Grandma, and the shoes in it!)  This box was a total Kayci project, and I love how it turned out.  She put little adhesive gems on it and cut out sayings to glue on like conversation hearts.  I love her work!

Here are Kayci's valentines.  Again, I wish I had pinned the original idea--there are tons of heart felt bookmarks out there from Martha Stewart on down, but we saw these on a blog and just fell in love.  We combined the idea with the picture (you know, like the lollipop in the hand pic), and I like how it turned out.  This will probably be the last year I get to help Kayci make valentines--sniff.  

PS--I did the sewing...it got ugly when Kayci couldn't sew perfectly the very first time she tried.  :/

Here are our friend/family valentines...I just love those kids!  And their Daddy, who makes this stuff possible.  Thanks, Boy!

For teachers (6 this year!), I had planned to bake and decorate cookies with the kids.  Ah, no...we haven't had time.  So, I punted and did a version of Idea Room's candy corn bark and cut it into heart shapes, and then made heart-shaped Rice Krispie treats and made them pretty with sprinkles and white chocolate.  We bagged these babies up and wrapped them in...

  

...fun Valentine's dish towels (I love, love nice dish towels...Kristi trivia).  I had Daddy print extra of the tag for the candy bags--cut apart, these pics make great gift tags!

And there's Bubby.  :)

That was a long post for what was really a simple holiday around here this year!  The kids and I just did pictures for Daddy, and of course Kayci made him a card.  For the kids, Daddy and I gave each of them a roll of duct tape with a note:  families stick together!  (Kayci has taught Noble how to make duct tape pens...heaven help us.)  The kids were so excited to wake up to a pile of valentine cards Tuesday morning...big thanks to the Fosters, Trueloves, Grandma, Grandma Hagler & Ant Peggy for that!  (Nana & Dan's cards came on Tuesday, so they got to open those before bed.)  

I hope you felt loved this Valentine's Day...and I hope you shared the love, too!

Aren't we all?

We were up in the air about a Valentines shirt for Bubby this year...Daddyboy & I kept tossing out ideas and none seemed to fit.  Well, let me correct myself:  none fit as well as last year's shirt.  Since it's long gone (one of my first attempts at heat transfer--needless to say, it did not hold up well), we picked up this vintage red (tell Noble it's pink) shirt at Old Navy yesterday and I planned to print this with black paint.  Daddy suggested white and I was all, no, white's too hard to paint...but when I got going, I found some white ink I forgot I had...and, as Kayci says, voila.

I'm digging the vintage.  Noble's the coolest kid I know.  Well, maybe it's a tie...

Sammich

Today was PTO day, so I packed a lunch for Noble and me. After the meeting, I went looking for my sandwich and found this:


Noble, did you eat my sandwich AGAIN? (Did I mention he ate my sandwich the other day?) Um no, that's how it was.

Time Passes By

We had a mini photo-session the other night to get the kids' Valentine shots.  

It was fun.  It was late, but it was fun.  Daddy got some great pictures. 

When we took this one, I was thinking...

...of a day not so very long ago, in the grand scheme of things...

...that in some ways, feels like a lifetime ago.

Look at those babies. 

Blink!  Now look, big kids.

My heart hurts a little at how fast time passes by,

but each day is its own adventure.

How could I want it any other way?  

What are you going to do today?

It's a simple question.  A variation of it that we ask each other every morning is, "what does your day look like?"  The past week+ has been a little tough around here, but I'm happy to report DaddyBoy is on the mend and back at work.  It's a good thing, as I'm not as kind and patient of a nurse/caregiver/servant as I was 10 days ago.  I think I'm almost as ready as he is for him to be back at 100%.  (Disregard the grammar, okay?  It's my journal.)

We had a great morning here today.  You know when you have a bad morning, it kind of colors the whole day?  I think the same is true of a good morning...it makes everything just a little brighter, a little lighter, a little easier.  I have to be honest, I was a bit worried about this morning.  It's the first day we're all going to be apart after several days together, the first day Daddy's at work, the first day we all have to get around and be someplace...but it was awesome.  The kids were champs, and I didn't have to redirect or repeat myself ONCE.  That was amazing in itself, enough to make my whole day!

Today as I walked my Bitty in to school, she looked up and said, "What are you going to do today, Mommy?"  

Simple question.  But the answer is not so simple today.  I could list 100 things I 

should do,

could do,

would do...if I had time/money/space/motivation...

want to do,

have to do,

need to do,

ought to do,

might do.

So here's what I've done so far:

I came home, ate breakfast (didn't have time before school), sorted clothes, mocked up a Valentine project Kayci wants to try this afternoon, started a load of laundry, washed dishes, checked e-mail, texted a few people back and forth for work and PTO, caught up on my quiet time that I didn't finish this morning, was humbled...and now I'm reviewing my mental list of things I need to do today and revising it.  And blogging, because I haven't spent the time I needed in quiet time or journaling this past 10 days and I am worn down from not taking that time.  I am worn down from serving, serving, serving...and I wish so badly I could serve selflessly.  I'm not there, yet.  

Why do we, as women, believe not only that we CAN do it all, but that we SHOULD do it all, and that somehow doing less than that is failure?  How many times do I hit this brick wall, step back, shake it off and laugh at myself for getting caught up in my madness?  

I don't have a lot of "shake it off" in me right now.  My tank is running a little low, but it's a temporary thing, I know.  

What am I going to do today?  

I'm going to enjoy the silence.

I'm going to hand-write several thank you notes.

I'm going to drink lots of water.

I'm going to heat leftovers instead of cooking--and in doing so, save money AND clean out the fridge.

I'm going to write on some birthday cards and mail a little love to friends and family.

I'm going to do laundry for my family.  

I'm NOT going to sweep the floor.  A little dust and dirt won't kill anyone before tomorrow.

I'm NOT going to go to the grocery store until after we pick Kayci up from school; I've just decided that's 30 minutes of my kid-less time I don't want to spend today, I'll take the kids with me later.  And then probably blog tomorrow about what a mistake it was to take 2 kids to the store at the end of the school day...nah.  They're good kids.  :)

I'm going to be kind to my husband when he comes home for lunch, and let home be a refuge for him instead of another place to hear people complaining.  I don't want to be that wife.  

I'm going to give myself some time to rest a bit, and hopefully, get refreshed.  

I'm going to burn some calories, even if it's just a good walk around the block.  

I'm going to get some work done.

I'm going to pray for a little boy who's in the hospital right now, and for his Mommy and Daddy who must be exhausted and scared and grateful he's going to be okay...and for the friends who saw his accident who must be struggling, too.  

I'm going to thank God for my many blessings, healthy kids and mending husband being at the top of the list.  

I'm going to ask God to replenish my patience...I'm clean out with some people in my life.  Thank You, God, that my knuckleheads are not on THAT list.  We had a great afternoon/evening/morning together...I'm grateful for that.  Sometimes I take the good times for granted, you know, and that makes the tough times seem even tougher.  I find it's better for me if I'm thankful for the good--it keeps the not so good in perspective, and reminds me that the good times will be back before I know it.  

So, when Kayci gets in the car after school today, she'll ask me what I did today.

And I'll tell her what I always tell her:  Oh, I worked a little, did a little housework, not much.  :)

And I'll tell her, like I always do, that I spent some time missing her while she was at school.  It's the truth, especially on a Monday...after so much family time, it's hard to go our separate ways and I look forward to being under the same roof again later today.

What are YOU going to do today? 

Self Portraits

Guess who's who...


I found these in his backpack, and I did the whole preschool teacher, "tell me about your art" thing. So, he did.


That's me. And what's this one? (At this point he looked at me very condescendingly, and spoke a little more slowly.) That is me, also.