Mummified Chocolate

I saw this idea on a couple of websites and thought it was too cute! I made them for the kids teachers as well as my co-workers and some of the kids' friends.

The Prince Turns 6!!

I can't believe that my baby boy is 6! He wanted to have a fighter jet party this year and we had fun getting things together for it. We originally tried to have it at the park, rented a pavilion, but the weather kept us inside. Luckily, I had a back up plan - the fellowship hall at church. Grandma and Grandpa bought the Prince a Top Gun leather bomber jacket that he wouldn't take off during the entire party - too cute!!

For the invitations, I found some cute notecards at Target on clearance (LOVE IT!) that were blank inside. Printed the party details on vellum, inked the edges and attached with brads over a red star that I cut using the Cricut machine. So easy and quick, and I think they turned out very well!

For the party, I found inflatable Thunderbirds (Air Force, of course!), lots of silver star decorations and red, white and blue, of course! Below are some pictures of the decorations and the cake. I made the signs on painted cardboard, cut the letters using the Cricut machine and glued them on with mod podge.

The cake was made by Donut Palace and was delicious!!! I was pleased with how it turned out.
I had several activities for the kids to do. Each child got a set of dog tags that we put their name and birth date on (dog tags that you could write on with permanent marker from Oriental Trading). Each child got a balsa wood airplane that they got to decorate (color with markers, and put on star shaped foam stickers). We then helped them put the planes together and they got to fly them and try to land on the "runway". Used a piece of cardboard and attempted to paint it to look like a runway . . .

The kids had fun flying their planes. We then made paper airplanes and had a contest to see whose would fly the furthest. The dads had fun making their own planes, too! Next up was musical chairs (with Top Gun music, of course). The final activity was Pin the Propeller on the Plane. For this, I painted a plane onto a piece of painted cardboard. We drew and cut out propellers and ran them through the Xyron sticker maker to make them sticky and the kids had fun seeing who could get the propeller in the right place.

Last was cake and presents and then the kids did get to play outside for a few minutes on the playground at church. Goodie boxes were red, white and blue boxes I found on Oriental Trading with sunglasses, pencils, airplane pencil sharpeners, stickers, candy, and notepads with fighter jets on them. The Prince seemed to enjoy the party, which is what matters. I was exhausted when it was over!

It's been awhile . . . .

It's been entirely too long since I posted! Life has been busy, with the end of the school year, a fun summer for the kids, a trip to the beach, a family reunion, and then school starting. The Princess started 2nd grade and is doing really well! The Prince started kindergarten and is loving it. Mommy had a hard time accepting that he is in kindergarten, though! Life has been full of school, homework, activities and work!

The Princess continues to dance and loves it. She is taking a wonderful ballet class at a dance school, and has dance at school two afternoons a week. She is so good at dance and is even making up her own dances at home now.

The Prince is playing soccer again this fall. Well, I should say attempting to . . . . we've had so much rain that practices and games keep getting canceled!

He Arose!!

What a wonderful Easter! After the kids checked out what the Easter Bunny brought them (games for their handheld game players, color-wonder coloring books, stuffed animals, etc.), we all put on our Easter clothes and headed to church. The Princess loved the traditional Easter hymns, especially "Up From the Grave He Arose." She loved how it was slow and then got fast in the chorus. The Prince also got into following along on the hymns this morning. The church was full and the music was beautiful - what a way to celebrate the fact that Jesus rose from the dead.

Here is a picture of the Easter outfits this year. I love to have the kids match, but now that they are getting older, I'll have to settle for coordinating outfits, which is what we did this year.

Dying Easter Eggs

We got together with some friends to dye Easter Eggs. We had to peel them off of the playground, but they loved making all of the eggs look pretty. It was also a gorgeous afternoon - sunny and just warm enough, but not hot. Once the kids were done, the other mom and I played a little with the leftover eggs. Do you love my plaid and polka dotted egg???

Second Weekend of Games

So, I know it's not the best picture, but it's the only picture I've actually gotten of the Princess kicking a goal in a soccer game (she's in the red shirt). I am usually way too into the game and cheering her on and forget about the camera in my hand (yes, I am one of those loud moms that cheers all the members of the team on). This week, she scored 3 of the 4 goals her team scored. She was thrilled! The Prince played well, also. I was sad to miss his game, but the Princess had dance rehearsal, so I was there with her. They both really seem to be enjoying the season so far!

OK . . . Really, Who Could Resist That Face

Sad face because he didn't get to say hi to one of his favorite girls at church (a beautiful teenager that he loves to give hugs to).

A Few Projects from the Weekend

Amidst all of the soccer games, dance rehearsals, egg hunts and Church, I did get a few projects done this weekend. First, the special order cabinets for the laundry room finally came in, so we picked them up and installed them - I LOVE THEM! They are exactly what I wanted. We recently redid the laundry room. You have to walk through it from the garage into the kitchen and it was awful. We considered re-configuring it completely, but felt that would be too much given the placement of the water-heater in the garage and the plumbing and electrical work that would have to be done. So, we laid down a new floor, painted the walls and installed cabinets for storage. The wall cabinets are just stock cabinets and we special ordered 2 floor to ceiling cabinets so that each child could have their own to store their backpacks and school items. We put a hook in each one and they work perfectly. No longer are the backpacks hanging on my kitchen chairs all the time!! We put the knobs on all of the cabinets. The only thing left is a little touch up paint on the walls and the finishing decorating touches. I'll post pictures once it's all complete.

Last weekend at the flea market, I was on a mission to find bird figurines. I've seen several bloggers using them in their decorating and I thought they were cute. I was extremely excited to find 2 birds for $4! One of them is glass and the other ceramic. The ceramic one was a little beat up and I meant to take a picture of it before. A few coats of white enamel spray paint, and it looks so cute!

Finally, next week is going to be busy and stressful at work with lots of long hours (much like last week) since it's our fiscal year end, which is a busy time in the finance department. Each year, we all bring in goodies - both healthy and junk - to help us get through. I made chocolate covered pretzels for this week - looking forward to sharing them with co-workers tomorrow!

Palm Sunday and Easter Egg Hunt

It's a tradition at our church on Palm Sunday that the children process into the service at the beginning waving palms and then place them at the alter. I love that the kids get to do this every year as it helps them learn and understand the story of Easter.

This evening, we had the annual church-wide Easter egg hunt. The kids had so much fun looking for eggs and then seeing what was hiding inside! Don't I have the 2 most beautiful bunnies???

Spring Soccer Season Starts

We had our first games of the spring soccer season yesterday. The Princess was so excited and scored 4 goals in the fourth quarter. She almost had 5! She was quite pleased with herself.

The Prince hasn't always been very into the games - he'd rather play and talk with his friends than actually play the game. But, yesterday, he actually got out there and kicked the ball and ran and paid attention. I think he's grown up alot since last fall, so I'm hopeful that he'll continue to improve this season. He loves going to soccer!

A Car Full of Monkeys . . . and a Trip to the Zoo

The Princess and the Prince did not have the same spring break this year (thank goodness they will next year!!) and I took the week of during the Princess' spring break. We got together with some friends one of the days and took a trip to the zoo. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we took a picnic lunch and sat out in a big field and ate sandwiches.

Here's the four monkeys in the car on the way to the zoo . . .

Checking out the meerkats through the popup viewing area.

The monkeys were very active and loud while we were there.I was excited to see the anteaters - they are such interesting creatures. They eat about 30,000 bugs a day!! They can kill with their front claws.A beautiful blue bird - there were 3 of them and 2 of them were fighting.

These birds were in an enclosure where you could go in and feed them nectar from little cups. The girls loved it! It was not my favorite as the birds are used to people and several of them flew a little too close for comfort for me.Four good friends spent a wonderful and exhausting day together!

Go Climb a Tree!

We went to visit family in East Tennessee this past weekend and the kids learned how to climb a tree! They are such monkeys!! They also blew bubbles (Thanks, Granny!) and we all enjoyed the beautiful spring weather. It was great to see the family - just wish that our baby nephew would get to feeling better soon.

The Prince Loses Teeth

Monday evening, the Prince lost his first tooth! He hadn't even told us it was loose! We looked in his mouth and the one next to it was really, really loose. It popped out on Wednesday morning (with a little help from dad). I'm having such a hard time accepting that he is old enough to lose teeth! I thought we had until at least next fall before this started happening. And, he's just about as tall as the Princess now! He is growing up so quickly. He is excited to start kindergarten next fall, and we are absolutely thrilled that he was accepted into the same magnet school that the Princess attends. They'll both be at the same school together!

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

The Princess and I went to see Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse with some friends. It was a great play - the actors were wonderful. I loved that the stage and props weren't too elaborate, leading the kids to pay attention more to the play and to use their imaginations for the props. The girl's loved the play! It was Target day, so each child even got a free book. Afterward, we found all the characters in the rehearsal room and they each autographed the new book! Chester was her favorite character in the play!

The Princess' Tea Party

The Princess had a tea party for her birthday party this year and it was so much fun! The girl's had a great time dressing up and bringing their dolls. The all tried the tea - not sure that any of them liked it, but they tried it! They were all so girly and giggly! Thanks to all for helping her celebrate!

Don't Laugh . . .

at my first doll dress - I'm actually quite proud. I made my first doll dress for the Princess' American Girl doll. Her birthday party is going to be a tea party this Saturday at a local cafe. I found a cute little dress that is white with brown polka dots and a brown sash and haven't been able to find a matching or similar dress for the doll to wear to the tea party. So, I decided that, by gosh, I could make one.

I looked for similar material, but could only find brown material with white polka dots. So, I opted for that with a white sash. The princess has been home with the flu (yes, the full blown type A flu - got the official diagnosis today) for the past couple of days, so I've been home from work and decided to try my hand at doll dress making.

Wouldn't you know that I actually found an incredibly pink, girly, poufy, swirly, shiny, princessey dress at the sale last night that is perfect for the tea party and the Princess put it on this morning and is absolutely in love with it, so neither will be wearing the brown dresses for the tea. The doll has a pink dress that is similar to the new pink dress, so they will both be in pink. Oh well - I still love the way this doll dress turned out and they can wear the dresses to church together. I learned alot on this first dress, and I'm anxious to make more.

The princess may be able to go back to school on Thursday, depending on the fever and how she feels. The doctor seems to think that she'll be fine for the big birthday party this weekend - I hope so!! It's going to be a fun party and all the girls are so excited!!

Last Day of Being 6!!

How on earth did the time fly by so quickly? Today is the Princess' last day of being 6 - tomorrow she turns 7! I can't believe it. Each year I say how hard the next birthday is and I think it gets harder to accept each year that she is getting older. She has been so excited about turning 7, until bedtime tonight when she had a meltdown because she didn't want to get bigger. She's afraid that her daddy won't be able to pick her up since she's getting older. I tried to assure her that there were so many fun things to do when she turned 7. I'm not sure if she bought it.

Seven years ago, we were anxiously awaiting any news about the birth of our daughter. We had no idea that she was to be born the next day and what a true miracle she would be and how much joy she would bring into our lives. I didn't know it would ever be possible to love someone so much. I completely adore her and love being her mother. I hope that over the years, we continue to grow together and that we stay close.

Happy 7th Birthday my beautiful Princess!!

President Project

The Princess has been working on a President Project for school. Each child was assigned a president to research and present to the class with visuals (in the 1st grade!! I don't remember doing stuff like that until I was much older!!). The Princess was assigned Dwight Eisenhower. She found some great facts on him - he was the 34th president and he was a 5 star general in the Army. He also liked to eat TV dinners in the White House. My grandfather served in the Army and was in the service during WWII. Mom has his uniforms, so she and dad were able to find the jacket and the medals and put the jacket and a hat together so the Princess could dress up as Dwight Eisenhower. She is also going to take in a TV dinner box. I think she looks really cute in the jacket and hat!!

Dance Company Performance

The Princess is in the Dance Company at school and they performed at the PTO meeting this evening. They did a hip hop number called Good Morning, thus the pj's. She doesn't normally wear them to school! She did such a beautiful job! She always does - and it amazes me how well she dances. I hope she continues to love dancing.

Then, the dancers had to come pick someone in the audience to come and dance with me. Gracelyn came directly to me and I got to learn a few hip hop moves with her. Too funny!!!! But, I secretly loved being out there with my little girl! That's me in the back (purposely) in the black and white.