Logan came home today and told me, “mommy…you have an invisible bucket over your head. When it’s full, you’re happy and when it’s empty, you’re sad”. Turns out they read a story in school today about treating others nicely and how your actions either empty someone else’s bucket or add to it. (it’s called “How Full is your Bucket”). We were actually in a hurry after school because Logan takes a guitar class at the YMCA on Thursdays with Miss Kati and one other student, a cute little girl named Peyton. He was eating a quick snack before leaving when he announced, “mommy…I want to put a drop in the bucket of Miss Kati and Petyon”. He then proceeded to gather pennies from his piggy bank into two zip lock bags. I explained that, while money is nice, they might like something like a hand-made card a little better. I have TONS of blank cards around so I told him to grab his colored pencils and do a drawing for each of them while I went to see what I could cut on my cricut (any excuse I tell you!) We literally had 10 minutes to do these, but I couldn’t let a sweet thought go un-realized!

I quick found a guitar and some musical notes, cut those, then cut an oval for the background, grabbed my glue stick and did the fronts of the cards as Logan did the insides. He hid them in his guitar case and gave them to Miss Kati and Peyton during class. Miss Kati was so cute – she absolutely loved her card and couldn’t get over the cute “Logan and Peyton holding hands” one that he made for his classmate.

The outside of each card:

This says “Gtar clas rokcs” = Guitar Class Rocks. This was Miss Kati’s. The picture is of Logan, Peyton and Miss Kati with her guitar case.

The inside of Peyton’s card: “I like Paitin” <--- which is exactly how he pronounces her name! “pay TIN”

Frum! too cute!

At one point, I was going to start a separate blog (it’s still out there somewhere) of all my craft projects. Then I realized it’s too much work to do 2 blogs :) So…here are some of my recent projects:

For Christmas, Brian bought me a computer software program that allows you to cut pretty much anything with the Cricut machine. I had to train myself on it using youtube videos and had to download 2 additional (free) software programs to make it fully functional, but I figured it out and now I’m obsessed! Also, my wonderful mother-in-law stood in the freezing cold on Black Friday and scored me the BIG cricut so now I can cut giant stuff. Oh the possibilities!

The first thing I did with my new-found knowledge was to make stuff for the boys’ room

I painted and then sort of distressed two flat canvases, added a square of chalk-board paint to the center of each, then used my cricut to made stencils of “home”, “visitors”, and stars in circles using very thick paper. I sponge painted through the stencils, then cut square frames for the chalk board areas and attached them to the canvases using spray adhesive. This is my version of an “old school” score board. The pennants on the wall are from Land of Nod. 

These are more traditional canvases that I picked up at Michael’s and painted to match the colors of the boys’ bedding. I found super cool ball designs and cut them with my cricut. I attached them with spray adhesive and then sealed each canvas with clear finishing spray. I have since put these up on the walls in 2 different groupings.

Another flat canvas.

I found this image as part of a coloring page that had all kinds of cute cupcakes on it. I broke the image apart and cut it with three different papers. This is a card (1 of 2) that I made for 2 of Aiden’s classmates (twins) for their birthday party.

These are the bags I made for the same girls. The butterflies are in two different, layered papers. I attached them to gift bags with tiny fasteners. I also cut out the girls’ names and put them on the bags, but I lost that picture.  

The cover I made for Logan’s teacher’s book. I used the cupcake again :)

Bags I made for Logan’s classroom Valentine’s party

 

Logan’s 6th birthday party invite (the third bubble has our contact info so I didn’t photograph it). The green circles aren’t glued down in this pic so they aren’t totally where they should be…like the Logan is turning 6 looks sideways a bit.

My current project: gift bags for Logan’s party:

And finally, a card I made for my good friend who just had a baby girl. She loves elephants :) The front of the card is an image I found, doctored up with flowers, and cut in two different papers with a layer of brown underneath. The baby is just a small mirror image of the mommy (love this software!) The design on the back of the card is what was left over on the cricut mat after I pulled off mommy elephant.

In our house, we call shredded cheese “sprinkle cheese”. Brady…a HUGE lover of said cheese, calls it “sparkle cheese” (and wants me to feed him handfuls of it every time I get it out). Today it’s raining. Brady looked out the window and reported, “oh! it’s sparklin outside!”

On the way to the boys' Spanish class this morning, we were talking about "what we're going to be when we grow up". Aiden was saying he wants to make video games so I was chatting to them about what I would guess is the process for making a new game. I would think, I told them, that you would start by meeting with a bunch of people and talking about your idea...like, "let's make Mario Coaster, for example, where Mario can win little cars and shoot through rollercoaster levels". Aiden was inspired and started a long, detailed oration of how he would invent some sort of Mario Foodworld game. So he's going on and on about all the levels he would make and I jumped in to suggest ice things that fall on you in the "frozen world" he was designing. He put his hands over his ears and said, "stop mommy! You're taking all the smarts out of my head by talking!!"

My bad! I laughed so hard I almost started crying!

We really didn’t have anything planned for Valentine’s Day this year. Brian is working like crazy so we went out to dinner last weekend. The boys both had stuff going on at school though (can you say mega amounts of candy?!) I actually made a quick little scavenger hunt around the house that yielded each of the boys a gumdrop treat thing, a chocolate covered marshmallow heart and a couple squishy pencil toppers (which are all the rage with my boys right now). Last minute, however, Brian called to say he was actually heading home for dinner. We rushed around, whipping up something besides the, “find whatever we can in the fridge” dinner I had previously planned. Logan did the decorations and dressed himself in a black shirt and shorts. He wanted me to make him, “look like those guys with the um…fancy suits” <—tuxedo. I cut a small hole in his shirt and stuck a plastic flower in it, then tied a brown sash around his neck like a bow tie. Aiden put himself in charge of drink orders and we got the table set, complete with candle light, right as daddy was coming in the door. Right before we ate, Aiden walked around and asked, “sir…what can I get you to drink? or mam…what can I get you to drink?” We all ordered waters and he literally climbed up on the counter tops to get our cups and fill them. After we ate, Maître d’ Logan said it was time for “mommy and daddy” to dance. Brian put a song on while Logan got a microphone. We did a couple slow dances in the living room while Logan pretended to serenade us. It was super cute the way the boys really got into the whole day. Oh…I forgot to mention that they made me some valentines on Sunday while I was at a movie with friends. Aiden hid his under my pillow and couldn’t wait for me to find it so we ran right up so he could show it to me.

lots of pictures:

While Aiden was fine with the pack of valentines I bought for him one day at the store, Logan was very insistent that he make his own. The problem was that neither of us had a good idea. We went to Michael’s and looked for inspiration. We tried a lot of stuff, then I spotted a bird stamp with a heart for the bird’s body…and it was only $1! I had blank cards at home, pink paper and red ink so I proposed the idea of the card below. Logan liked it so phew – problem solved! I cut out the circles and speech bubbles with my cricut. Logan stamped the birds, I wrote the words and then made the pieces into stickers for him:

Then I ran the cards through the printer

Card assembly:

These are the cards Aiden gave to his class: they each come with a window cling. 

 

He was very excited to have extras…

…He added them to some heart-shaped clouds that came with a Valentine’s train window-cling set that Meemaw gave the boys and made this cool design:

Here’s the stash of stuff I hid for the boys. I had 8 little cards that I used for the clues:

One the hunt (finding the squishies):

  The final clue – big time sugar!

They all decided to put their treats from school and the hunt all together and share them. Everything was spread out on the living room floor. This is an aerial view from the top of the stairs.

Sweet tooth here didn’t know what to eat first! I had to cut everyone off at one point. They are now earning the rest of the lollipops and other treats by doing things like actually going to bed without fussing :)

Little cousin Ryan is at home sick today hanging out with daddy. Denay forwarded a picture Tom took of the sidewalk drawings “they” did together this morning outside. This is: their family on the left and ours on the right (see Denna holding little baby Nathan?) hee hee. So nice to live in Cali where you can actually play with sidewalk chalk year round. Extra nice to have an artistic father who can draw whatever you request; lucky Ryan!

This week, the kids at Logan's school have a different fun "dress up" thing to do every day in honor of their childhood leukemia fundraising efforts that end this Friday. Today is "crazy hat/hair/socks" day. Well...it was also haircut day for us. Our girl Jennifer at Kids Kutz was awesome enough to spike Logan's hair with tons of gel after his cut. And then....Logan had a brief playdate with his fellow PM kindergarten friend, Sam, from down the street. Sam's mom owns a stash of cool hair color spray and called for the OK to send Logan home with red hair. Now that's some crazy hair!!! Time to dash him off to school!

Brady has been, as always, keeping us laughing lately. Here are a few of his most recent adventures:

A few days after our major snow storm, we had to go out and clear a little dusting of snow. Brian and I went to work on the driveway while Brady played outside. Brian made him a little tunnel in one of the banks by the driveway:

He laid down inside and “had a little rest”:

He told me I had to dig a hole I could hide in too. I didn’t get very far with that mission…I made myself a snow recliner instead.

He said we should hide, then pop up and say boo to each other (our “bunkers” were on opposite sides of the sidewalk)

This picture made my heart stop when I first saw it. I was out running errands last Sunday while Brian was…um…watching the boys. I guess Brady was playing with the water in the bathroom sink, which is something he does regularly. Brian went to check on him and he had done this: stripped naked, pulled up the stopper on the sink, added some hand soap for bubbles, grabbed some toys and CLIMBED IN! Like any good parent, Brian ran for the camera before removing him from his “little bath”. I’m just glad he didn’t slip and fall climbing in there!!!!

“look at me mommy…I’m big like daddy” (wearing dad’s snow boots…on the wrong feet)

refuses to wear matching PJs. “I wearin mystery pajamas!” This whole “mystery” clothing thing started when Aiden wore mis-matched crocs all last summer and called them his mystery shoes.

Logan is turning 6 on the 9th of March. He told me on Monday that what he really wants is a snowboard for his birthday. Our friend Will got a super cool one for Christmas this year. It’s got loops that allow you to just shove your boots under and away you go. Since you never know about the snow conditions in early March, I told him I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to use it if he got it for his birthday. In an attempt to thwart the previous request for a Nintendo DS (which, let’s be honest…he would use for like 2 days because he’s not really a videogame kid anyway), I suggested that maybe we find a snowboard now as an early birthday gift, but then he would only get something small on his actual birthday. Daddy OKed the idea, Logan loved it so I started searching for a snowboard.

For a town with at least 3 feet of snow on the ground, it’s surprisingly hard to find a snowboard at this time of year. A bathing suit? No problem! I hate retail cycles! I literally called 9 places within a 45-minute-drive radius of our house and finally found one. We drove out after school on Monday and grabbed it up!

Tuesday, the arctic blasts returned and it looked like our first snowboard outing was going to be put on hold. I had invited Logan’s friend Sam to come over and play…possibly to go sledding on a small hill near our house. The boys started out in the backyard playing for a while and the plan was to ditch the sledding. Brady joined them and everyone seemed like they were doing pretty well. I decided we should throw everyone in the car and head over to a near-by hill and go down a couple times…even if we only stayed for 10 minutes. So that’s what we did. Logan and Sam had a blast, Brady got freaked the first time he went down on a sled and spent, literally, the rest of the time we were there crying. Aiden joined him when he got too cold and the older boys were still raring to go. This was a time when I needed to have 8 arms and the ability to be in at least 2 places at the same time (rescuing Brady from snow drifts because he kept wandering in to them and getting stuck plus sitting at the top of the hill shoving boots into the straps on the board for Logan and Sam). I have to be honest, it was overall a miserable experience for me…and Brady. The other three claim it was awesome.

Next time will be better…next time it will be over 13 degrees outside.

Logan’s board is black and white with all these fun drawings on it. It was supposed to come with a pack of markers and stickers for personalization, but someone had clearly opened the pack and taken the markers. Daddy picked up a set of sharpies on his way home Monday night. Logan and his brothers decorated the board Tuesday morning.

Logan borrowed Daddy’s snow goggles

It’s not a big hill (this is the small side…there’s a pretty decent slope to the other side, but we needed to start with baby steps. This is Logan getting Sam ready)

video – better than pictures!

Logan’s kindergarten teacher is having a big birthday tomorrow. Her two classes organized a book for her as a gift. Ok…I might have had something to do with it...and I might have volunteered to put it all together. Holy funny! Each kid got a sheet that said “When I’m 30, I’ll be __________. For My 30th birthday, I’ll _____________”.

I typed up all the ideas the kids had:

Ideas included:

Work (what?!…motivated kid I guess!), Have a Bear’s Party, Paint your face and go crazy, have fun, dance around at a hip hop place, party down with friends (ha! party DOWN!), celebrate by sharing the party, play football, jump out of a plane (!), have a party (or a parte), hang out with friends, go out to eat, buy an itouch, go to a restaurant with family, play games.

Well then…wondering which one might be from Logan? Should I ditch my current plans to throw him a Mad Scientist party next month? It would be much easier to invite his friends over, give them some face paint and let them “go crazy”…messy…but less thought involved than the whole mad scientist thing…

pondering…

Finding entertainment during the cold winter months can prove to be a challenge. Good thing Brian is just chock full of good ideas!

Two weekends ago: massive living room fort for movie watching on Saturday night. Dinner, served under the tent, consisted of mini pizzas on English muffins. Movies enjoyed: Nanny McPhee Returns and part of the newest Karate Kid:

and for dessert…something mommy found: popcorn balls (but they’re really more like rice crispy treats with popcorn). Our marshmallows started out as pink valentine’s hearts. daddy wanted to add the chocolate chips (yes…it looks weird!)

This past weekend’s challenge…leave the house without spending a fortune:

Solution? 1. A visit to Bass Pro Shop (check out the giant aquarium, the 3-story indoor water fountain, play with toy guns from the kid’s section, climb all over the boats and pretend we own one…plus a slip on Lake Michigan, peruse the camping gear, check out the cooking stuff, promptly leave when Brady accidentally breaks a garden decoration). This is an awful shot Bri and the boys checking out the aquarium.

2. Then…head over to the near-by Ikea! Have Swedish meatballs for lunch, go play in the playroom (if you’re big enough…which Brady isn’t so he cried a little), shop while you’re 2 kids down, buy a magnetic spice rack Brian might actually put up sometime in 2011 and new curtains I might get around to hemming anytime in the next 2 months.

Go back home and resume general family laziness!