The Sun Will Come Out...

This week has just been all around rotten here.  

There, I said it.  

But it just seems like we've been in a bad rut of sorts.    

I'm hoping for better things next week and in the weeks to come.  Not trying to dwell on the recent "lemons," I was trying to think of the happier events from the last couple of days and came up with five things that made me smile this week.

So here they are in no particular order...  

1.  Belting out songs from the "Annie" soundtrack while in the car with the kids.  I love the lyrics they pick up from the songs.  And the way Clare even says the line, " Ah, the lovely Boylan sisters!" 

2. Snuggling with Jude while he, Ryan, and I read books in our bed the other night while the girls were asleep.  Nothing is sweeter than a 2 year-old in footie pajamas.

3. Hearing Clare answer the questions I asked her from some of the kindergarten paperwork I had to fill out:

  Q: "What are your child's feelings about kindergarten?"

  A: "Excited!  And really really happy about it."

4. Ellen so close to sitting by herself.  And the fact that she couldn't be any sweeter, or cuter, or chunkier.

5. The beautiful weather we had at the end of the week.  Nothing beats the sun streaming through the clouds.

Not quite warm enough for this, but after grey skies and a foot of snow, the sun was a nice change!  

"TGIF!" 

I don't get it...

I don't know if I'll ever understand the masking tape obsession around here.

Magazine Flowers

We always seem to make these in the winter.  Easy for my kids to do and it keeps them busy for awhile!

  

Start with an old magazine.  

Fold page in half (do not crease the fold) and glue down on the spine of the magazine.    

The folded pages will begin to form a flower-like shape.  

Glue all of the pages in the same way.  When you reach the back cover, attach to the front cover.  

Let dry.

Loop string through one "petal," hang, and enjoy the first sign of spring.  

And So It Begins.

My male offspring went grocery shopping with me.  And we came home with this:

It probably had rays of light streaming out of it in his mind.
At this rate his teenage appetite should be very interesting!

(Sidenote: His new favorite snack is hummus.  Hummus!  What
2 year-old boy enjoys hummus?!?!)    

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sweets for my sweets!

**Or what to do with leftover candy canes that Santa brought and no one was interested in after December 25.

On another note, could I ask you to please send some love and prayers to our friends who had twin baby boys last Friday?  They lost the one baby, Dawson, over the weekend.  I can't even begin to imagine their sorrow and heartache for such a great loss. Please keep the Davis family in your prayers.

"Jesus called them to Him saying, 

'Let the children come to me, and 

do not hinder them, for to such 

belongs the kingdom of God.' " 

- Luke 18:16

Valentine Fortune Cookies

This was so easy to make and the kids got a kick out of them.  (I originally saw this idea here.  You can follow their tutorial or see my lovely pictures and model below...)

Cut circle shape out of felt.  (Mine are about 3 1/2 inches in diameter.)

Next, cut a piece of floral wire shorter than the diameter of the circle and glue in place.  

I just glued another piece of felt to cover the wire.

Wait about 30 minutes until glue is dry.

Then, fold circle in half using wire as a guide.  

Next, pinch wire together to form fortune cookie shape. 

Stick notes or candy inside. 

Enjoy!

Linking with these parties.

betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

todayscreativeblog.net

Thankful

This is why little boys have daddies.

The nightly wrestling tournaments around here are the highlight of the day for a certain 2 year-old boy!

Not so much for a 5 year-old girl.  (Something about being the older sister and her competitiveness and her need to make a thousand rules for any given game...)

In other news....we found out yesterday that out of 61 new families, Clare was one of the 35 kindergarteners-to-be that has been accepted into our parish school!  This is something that has been looming over our heads since we started thinking about moving almost 2 years ago.  We knew that it was hard to get into the Catholic grade school in the neighborhood where we were looking.  I was a bit reluctant to even look in the area because of this (and maybe because I am a planner and a move was not on the agenda for 2009!).  Ryan was determined that it would all work out and, without my knowing, his prayer was that our new house would have a pink rosebush in the front yard.  When we pulled into the driveway of our current house, there were two pink rosebushes in the front.  Ryan was sold, and eventually I was, too.  And now, 18 months later, holding our letter of acceptance, we know that God knew all along that it would all work out and that this was where we are supposed to be.
We are looking forward to seeing our pink roses in bloom again soon!

Trouble in Paradise

Someone wore a hole in his beloved Buzz pajamas.  

Summer jammies will be a long time coming!

Ice Wreath

I saw this once somewhere and always thought it would be cute to make one.  Very easy and we have the perfect weather to make it last!

Cut some evergreen clippings.  Place in bundt pan.  (I grabbed some from our boxwood bushes.)  

Fill pan with water.

Freeze overnight.

Fill the sink with hot water and set the pan in it to easily pop the ice ring out.

Loop piece of ribbon through and hang outside!

Linking with:

www.petalstopicots.com

Father-Daugher Dance

The Father-Daughter Sweetheart Dance was held on Friday night.  

All ready to go!

(Fashion Note: If you own a Christmas shirt, and it has a train on it, by no means is it seasonal attire.)

The dinner menu consisted of chicken, macaroni and cheese, buttered corn, and salad.  

Clare told Ryan the corn was really really good.  (Does she not get out much??)

Then there was dancing...

Some people have all the fun!

(Why do her dancing skills remind me of this?)

How many days until we can hit the dance floor at Aunt Mary Jo and Uncle Michael's wedding reception in September??  

5 months old

I can't believe she will be 5 months old tomorrow!

  

And even 5 months later, I still can't believe that she came
SO quickly and was SO big!

I was helping Ryan shovel the 8+ inches off of the driveway
the other day and told him that it was hard work.
Although, I reminded him, nothing compared
to giving birth to a 9lb., 11oz. baby girl.  

He asked me how long I was going to brag about that.

I'm thinking pretty much to the grave.

   

Heart Garland

We decided to put our Valentine's Day decorations up this week.  (Might have had something to do with the weather and a need for something to do...)  Then I saw this idea online and went a step further and turned our crayon-shaving hearts into a garland with some red felt hearts and white cardstock paper hearts that the kids put their handprints on.  (Still wondering if I want to attempt a 4 month old's hand with fingerpaint.)

I just ran all of the hearts through my sewing machine, like they did here, to make the garland.      

 

Feeling oh so festive and crafty over here!  

6 More Weeks of Winter...regardless of what Phil says!

We have an official preschool snow day today!  We have some tried and true indoor activities around here that I am sure we will be resorting to today...

Bubbles in the sink.

Because I usually have an infant inside...we can bring the snow inside.

Blowing bubbles in a shallow pan...just remember better out than in...

Will I be brave enough for this??

Or this???

We might just play it safe...

Happy Snow Day!

Snowed in...

I don't think we'll be using these anytime soon...

The ice has turned to snow in the last hour.  We are predicted to get as much as 18 inches when it's all said and done tomorrow afternoon.  Until then, we have our own entertainment:

He's not taking any requests other than "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."