Valentine Parties

The kids are so excited for their class parties today! Which basically means lots of candy & treats! What better way to celebrate a holiday? hahaha It’s ALL about the candy! LOL

The kids assembled their Valentine goodie bags Wednesday night. It got kind of late, so Anson had already fallen asleep and wouldn’t wake up. Oh well, he was excited to see everything all done when he woke up.

Here’s the candy that went into the bags – candy ♥s and kisses!

 

Ashley started making the bags by herself.

 

Then Nathaniel joined in.

 

Once Felicia finished her homework, she helped too.

 

YAY! All 108 bags are assembled and ready to go!

Here’s what went into each teacher bag. A goodie bag plus a 3-pack of delicious milk chocolate covered caramels plus a card!

  

They all took their Valentine goodies to school yesterday. Nathaniel and Felicia already handed theirs out. All their friends were excited to receive cute treats!

Nathaniel & Felicia’s classes are also having a gift exchange (it was supposed to be instead of cards for everyone, but we opted to do both). Everyone filled out a little questionnaire and then exchanged them. Here’s what Felicia is giving away to a girl in her class.

 

Here’s what Nathaniel is giving away to a boy in his class.

By the way, this is supposedly Nathaniel’s *girlfriend*. Aren’t they cute? They were sitting together at lunch yesterday. I also got one of those huge Hershey kisses, so Nathaniel’s giving it to her today. He’s happy he has a little gift for her! :)

Felicia has a boy who likes her and keeps giving her treats this week. She was out sick Monday & Tuesday, so when he came to our house for cub scouts Tuesday night, he gave her some Pop Rocks. (yep he’s in our ward and is one of Ben’s scouts) Then he gave her a sucker and a little toy (from Sonic) yesterday. Isn’t that sweet? You know what’s funny? Felicia had a crush on him for the longest time (like a couple years), then recently he started being mean to her at church and school. Hmmmm I told Felicia he probably thought she was cute and no longer knew how to behave *normal* around her. haha Then suddenly she’s sick and he tells a few people (well the word gets around quickly – u remember those days right?) that he wanted to give her a treat since he felt bad she was sick, and a friend told her when I was picking up the kids from school (she was in the car with me). She is no longer hating on him. Oh yes, I totally remember the grade school drama. LOL

{This was taken at Skateland last night & the boy who’s been giving Felicia treats is in this picture – far right. I was trying to get them in a pic together but not make it obvious to embarrass her too much. heee heeee}

Back in January, Ashley’s class was reading & talking about Flat Stanley. So each kid made one of their own. Here’s Ashley’s Flat Stanley. Isn’t he cute?

 

Everyone got to send Flat Stanley on an adventure to a friend/family in another state. Ashley chose to send him to my brother’s family in TN. They had so much fun with him! They took lots of pictures and sent him back to Ashley’s class, so they could find out about his adventure. Ashley was thrilled to hear all about Flat Stanley and her aunt & uncle & cousins in TN. She got to leave the letter and some pictures at school. So she brought the rest of the pics home and Flat Stanley. She liked them so much she hung them all by her bed.

Thank you Spencer, Merrianne, Libby & Jacob for taking such great care of Flat Stanely & returning him home safely!

Alrighty, I’m off to get some things done today. Have a wonderful Valentine’s weekend! ♥

CONGRATS Felicia!

Remember this post & Felicia's artwork?

She just brought home a note telling us that her artwork has been posted to their school website! I didn't even know that they posted art on their site.

I'm so proud of my little artist!!!

Just wanted to share my daughter's good news!

Anniversary, Birthdays, Bunko, Spring Break

Yesterday, Ben & I celebrated our 13th Anniversary! WOW I can't believe it's been that long already! And we dated for about a year and a half. Goodness! Look how YOUNG we look in our wedding photo!! And we thought we were so mature & grown up for barely being 21. HAHAHA

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BEN!!! I LOVE YOU so much! Here's to many more wonderful years with you!!!

Ok, now I'm going to back track a little. Since I haven't been posting regularly, I want to remember some of what's been going on these last 2 weeks.


My Mom had her Birthday March 3rd. I made her a beaded necklace, so I asked her to model it for me. I Love my Mom and couldn't possibly name all the amazing & wonderful things she has done for me. She has ALWAYS been there for me and I think she's the BEST!!! Hope you had a Fantastic Birthday Mom!!!

Our Little Bunny had her Birthday on March 6th! Now Ashley is 7. She also got to have her first sleepover. We let her choose one friend to come spend the night. They were so cute together!

I took this pic before she left for school. She is growing so fast, and keeps getting prettier & prettier!

Ashley blowing out her '7' candle. Suddenly I couldn't find all of our little candles to go with it.

She wanted a white cake with purple frosting and strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting. For the last several years, I've made the kids a cake and cupcakes, but they get special cupcakes just for them. I put numbers on their cupcakes 1 for each year. Ashley loved her 7 pink cupcakes!

Last week, we bought a football to teach the kids how to play. So, for Family Home Evening, we played football in our front yard {Girls vs Boys}. Can you guess who won?

GIRLS!!!!! 35-28! WOOHOOOOO!!!!! They were such CUTE little footballers! Ashley did NOT want to catch the ball at all, but she enjoyed running, blocking & sometimes throwing the ball. Felicia did great too, throwing, catching, running, blocking, tagging! You name it, she did it! The boys did good too, but apparently not as good as the girls! HAHAHAHAA

The main thing is that we ALL had a Blast and they want to do it every Monday now!

Felicia had to finish up one of her art projects at home and was upset and thinking it wasn't turning out the way she had hoped. When I asked her to show me, I was STUNNED!

Seriously, she thought this looked like crap! I had to give her a little pep talk and remind her that anything she makes could never look bad! She is talented!

Another one bites the dust....LOL Anson has been trying his hand at guitar on Rock Band 2 lately. I saw him practicing with the girls and couldn't resist capturing this! He was also swaying with the music!

Ummm who does he think he is going shirtless....Aerosmith? HAHAA

Really, he's good at drums & now he loves singing too! His faves are the heavy metal songs! Cracks me up!!! We're teaching 'em at a young age! tee hee :)

Here's my beautiful Spring garland that Jen helped me make! I didn't notice until after I hung it, but somehow during all our chatting and laughing (while making it) I mixed up the paper for the 'n' and 'g' so it's not consistent with the alternating pattern. Oh well, I think it's still beautiful!

Well, my FIRST time hosting Bunko went surprisingly smoothly. My sister was going to have all the kids spend the night at her place, but she had been sick so she cancelled. Then my Mom said she would have the kids over to her house for a while to watch movies then Ben could pick them up when they were done. YAY!! So we didn't have to worry about what to do with the kids all evening. Thanks MOM!!!

We all had a great time & laughed tons! Dinner was delicious (if I say so myself - hahaha). We had Hawaiian Haystacks {big THANKS to all who brought items}, Hawaiian sweet rolls {sorry I didn't make them, bought them from Fry's}, unusually large fresh strawberries, tropical punch {made by Alicia}, soda, and lemonaide cake for dessert.

Oooh and I won HIGH Score! WOOHOOOO!!!! Here's the prize I chose:

I guess everything didn't go exactly as planned. Somehow, I miscounted the door prizes and was short one. Sorry Alicia (how did we miss that???) I will get another prize for you! Apparently, I'm not the only one who has done that before. Whew! Guess that means I'm not the only dork in the group. LOL

Friday evening my Sister had leave work to go to the Emergency Room for a serious asthma attack. {I'm guessing it wasn't toooooo scary because after my Dad picked her up from work they stopped at Filiberto's on the way to the hospital to get some Mexican food since they knew they would be at the ER a while & would probably miss dinner. What the heck??? Always thinking about food - those two crack me up!} She was able to come home Saturday afternoon and is doing better. They sent her home with several medications and hopefully she'll be feeling better soon! Love ya SIS!!!!

Saturday started our SPRING BREAK!!!! No school (Ben's off work too) for a whole week! YAY!! We have needed a break. Feel like we've all been going and going like that cute little Energizer Bunny!

We all slept in Saturday morning. Dang that felt good! {Well, except for Ben, poor guy still had to work then he has a week off} To my surprise, Nathaniel & Felicia wanted to pull weeds!!! I didn't even ask them or anything! Ok, seriously, don't judge...Ben pours weed killer around our pool every year but it doesn't seem to help with these monster weeds! They seriously pop up overnight and double in size daily!

Nathaniel and Felicia came running in the house and told me to 'come quick & bring the camera'! They were excited to pull these bad boys & kept assigning names according to the size of their roots! Apparently, this was a 'General' because the root was big and thick! HAHA

They had a name for each one they pulled, but I can't remember them now. They are funny!

Nathaniel is out there again today pulling more weeds.

My best friend, Karyn, sent me a gift card for Old Navy and a couple coupons last week. So I went shopping Saturday evening with Felicia and bought a few things for me! Thank You Karyn for the late birthday gift! That kind of gift is welcomed no matter how late!!!! ☺

Ooops this turned out way longer than I wanted. If you made it this far, Kudos to you! And Thanks!

Have a wonderful week! And if you're on Spring Break too, then have a FUN & SAFE Spring Break!!!

Leaving you with this funny video that reminds me of something Ashley would do. She also thought this was HILARIOUS!!!

Art & Adventure

My FIRST Art Masterpiece presentation(s) went well! I was so nervous, but the kids were AWESOME! I feel more confident now that I've done it.

Here's the first portrait we talked about in Felicia's class:

Artist in Studio by Jan Vermeer

These are the ones we talked about in Nathaniel's class:

The Dance Class by Edgar Degas

Little Dancer by Edgar Degas
(bronze statue)

I was really surprised how many kids really liked the art and would actually hang it in their houses. The ones who didn't like them could still appreciate them. YAY!

On to Friday... Ashley & Anson were being really quiet & suspicious after school. As soon as I found them, Ashley explained to me that they were playing on the roof. Ummm WHAT??? Yep, she said the ROOF {of our house}!!! She said it was EASY because they just climbed the wrought iron gate, onto the block fence, hopped onto the aluminum tool shed, then climbed onto the roof (over the carport). She was EXCITED while she told me about their little adventure. I told her how dangerous it was, etc etc, and to NEVER EVER DO IT AGAIN!!!

Ok Mom.

Well, fast forward a couple hours. Felicia had just came home from playing at a friend's house {with her friend}. I was about to get some dinner started when I heard loud noises in the ceiling moving across the house. I knew right away what it was.

Went into the backyard and found Ashley & Anson RUNNING on the roof back & forth!!!

I immediately told them to get down {I also took a few pictures for proof & blackmail later}. As I was beginning to count {you know the drill...get down...1....2....don't make me get to 3}, Felicia climbed up the wall & was starting to climb onto the roof as I was also telling her NO! She was thrilled that it was so easy & she was also running around. See, here's my blackmail proof:

Oh yeah, they're having FUN {for now}.

Then the other little master of disaster was trying to copy them. Oh Grandma arrived and saved him from getting into trouble. He jumped down & ran to the front of the house to greet Grandma, who was also coming over to take Nathaniel to get some frozen yogurt from Ocean Blue.

I ran to the front of the yard and yelled {I'm pretty sure all my neighbors heard me at this point} at them to GET DOWN and they were ALL GROUNDED!

I also made them promise to NEVER do it again! I also explained ALL the dangers of *playing* up there! They got to hear it all over again when Ben got home.

Our little adventure doesn't end there. Will be back in a little while to explain.

Beautiful Pictures by David Bowman

I want to thank my friend, Shauna at Trying to Stay Calm, for letting me know about this wonderful artist!

I wanted to share these beautiful pictures and what the artist has to say about each one of them!

****EXPIRED**** You can ALL win a FREE signed 8x10 print of your choice (out of the three prints), by copying and posting to your blog or website this whole post! After you post then send an e-mail to David (contact@bowman-art.com) with your website or blog address telling him you posted it and that you read about this offer on my blog. Also send him your name and mailing address and he will send your signed 8x10 print of your choice :)

Hurry because...*This offer expires Monday Jan. 5th at noon!!

*David Bowman: has had a passion for art ever since he could pick up a pencil. He loves creating images of the Savior that inspire and uplift. Along with his Christian fine art, David has also written and illustrated a series of scripture storybooks for children titled "Who's Your Hero". Check out his website at http://bowman-art.com/indexFineart.htm to see more of his precious art.

"Innocence"

The Savior tells us we need to become as little children to inherit the kingdom of God. I've often wondered what it is about little children Jesus loves most, and I think its their innocence. They are clean slates, seeing the world and others through untarnished eyes. Their hearts are pure, without the baggage of cynicism and self-doubt. In this piece, I've tried to imagine how a child would act upon meeting the Master for the first time. Without reservation or inhibition, I think he would simply want to play with Him. He would be at complete ease, allowing his pure little heart to soak in the love and laughter of His pure, infinite heart. Its no wonder Christ delights in these little ones and sets them up to be our examples.

"Security"

One of the greatest human needs is a sense of security. In all aspects of life, we naturally gravitate towards anything that makes us feel safe. In this piece, I wanted to convey a sense of complete peace and calm like only the Savior can provide. It's a security that allows us to rest assured, without fear or worry, when we put ourselves trustingly in His arms. Little children have that inherent kind of trust in their parents, so it's fitting that the man and girl who modeled for "Security" are actually father and daughter. They generatedthe exact feel I was looking for.

"My Child"

This piece conveys an intimate, up-close-and-personal feeling of the Savior's love. Notice how all the lines draw your attention and point towards Jesus' face in the center. I chose the name "My Child" because the only thing that could compare (even remotely) to Christ's compassion for us is the love of a parent for his/her child. This image is also intended to put things in perspective. Above all, we are God's children first. He allows us the privelege of experiencing parenthood for ourselves and we are entrusted to be the mothers and fathers of His children here on earth.

Oh my goodness! Aren't these ALL just so AMAZING?!!! I LOVE them ALL! I'd have to say my #1 fave is the first one though. I just LOVE how Jesus is laughing & playing with the child. Ahhh just makes me think of how Christ would show his love with my own kids. Puts a big smile on my face!