Grade ONE - Done!

Yup - here is proof she is done with first grade.  And to think that at the beginning of the year I didn't know how I would survive with her at school ALL DAY.  Yet, I did.  And she loved school - so much that as we walked out of the building she sniffled and said "I don't want to leave school."  I pray she always feels that way!!!

Last fall I created some forms for her to fill out to document who she was at the beginning of the year.  I then kept them hidden all school year.  You can read about it in THIS PAST POST.  We even have her hand and footprints!  The end of the year needed to be recorded as well, so I created a similar version to see how she has changed since the beginning of the year!  She LOVED doing them and comparing!!!

After school let out, Kennedy's 1st grade scrapbook club came over for our year end get together.  :)  So I didn't have her Summer Fun Box out yet!  Then she spent the night with her BFF that night...so the box was waiting for her when she returned the next day!

Her Summer Fun Box was filled with all sorts of fun things we will need to have a great time this summer!!  I also set out the framed list of Summer Fun from THIS PAST POST.  I think the box was a hit!

I can't wait to start sharing all our summer fun!!!!

Summer 2012 "Bucket List"

Tomorrow is Kennedy's last day of 1st grade!  Where did the time go?!

I am sooo excited for summer to begin so we can have tons of fun!  Last year I had a simple method for making sure we included fun things and didn't get stuck in a rut.  I made little 2x2 cards and laminated them.  I wrote a fun activity/place to visit on each one with dry erase marker.  Each week we would draw out a few squares and try to incorporate them into my week.  It worked only sometimes.  Often I didn't have the items we needed, we didn't have the time, the weather didn't cooperate, etc.  Kennedy would get super bummed when we didn't complete a square.

This year I decided to try a different approach.  I have seen tons of Summer Activity Ideas and Bucket Lists floating around cyber space.  And I decided to try my hand at making my own!  My original list of ideas was in the 90s!  Oops!  So I had to cut it down a bit!  I realize we may not complete these all but it gives us somewhere to start!

I found an awesome free summer themed digital scrapbook kit over at this site: Just Jaimee  While Jeff took the girls to the dog park this evening I played around and created our print!!!

I am having it printed at Costco in size 12x12.  It will go in a scrapbook frame and we can use a dry erase marker to cross off our activities as we go!   I am so excited to give it to her tomorrow along with her "Summer Fun Bag!"

Have a super summer!!!!

March 3rd, 2008

With the big day that is tomorrow, I was remembering what today felt like 4 years ago.  I went to my blog post from that day.  Just thought I would share it here again.  (It was when I was using Wordpress!).  Crazy how life can hit you hard out of nowhere, huh?  Little did we know what March 4th had in store....


So here is a repost of March 3rd, 2008:

So…..I just can’t shake the sickies this winter. I spent the last 4-5 days with the nasty flu. So much for last minute plans before the baby arrives!!!! But such is life, right?

Just wanted to share some layouts I was holding back. Hoping for publication but I have hit a major dry spell. So it is time to share them!

You will see I am in love with Making Memories products lately!

This one was really just for fun…lots of pink, a cute photo of my girl and lots of hand sewing!

I just had to document Kennedy’s dinner prayers. I really need to videotape it as well…she squeezes her eyes shut and whispers her prayers…beyond adorable!

These photos have been waiting to be scrapped for over a year! Finally found the perfect papers for them!!!! I am loving these circular papers!
This one was more about the song than anything. I just LOVE the song Gracie by Ben Folds. (Thanks Ryan for burning the song for me!) I cried the first time I heard it and thought of Kennedy. So everytime I sing it I change Gracie to Kenna! Just wanted to document it so I never forget!
And just a fun one with the KI Lace – yum! Kennedy LOVED hanging from this bar at the pool last year…lil dare devil!

AND……………..
I decided to do a little RAK!!!!
I was just RAK’ed twice in the past few weeks. Once by my scrappy friend (and new momma) chickypie a.k.a Emily! Thanks for the scrapping goodies Emily!!!!
And another time by the talented and super sweet Wendy Reed. I am so psyched I get one of her hand made bracelets!!! You have to check out her Etsy shop, Sweet Me Designs…she has THE cutest things! Thanks Wendy!
So, I have decided to have my own little RAK to spread the love!!!
But you have to do a little guessing first!! Since we don’t know the gender of our little baby I decided I would have you all guess the gender as well as the weight and length!! Whomever gets closest will get some fun scrappy goodness from me!
Just post your guesses for GENDER, WEIGHT, & LENGTH here! I will likely not check back in again for about a week – but I will announce the winner here on my blog!!
And I thought it might be nice of me to tell you what Kennedy was when she was born, just to play with your mind! She was 41 weeks mind you! But she was 21 inches 8lbs 5.5oz!
LET THE GUESSING BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!

Polar Express Party

 As I said in one of my last posts, we have been doing MANY fun things found on Pinterest.  When the idea to host a Polar Express Party popped into my head, I had only given myself less than 2 weeks to pull it off.  So I went straight to Pinterest and searched for fun stuff!  If you want to see my Pinterest board about Polar Express, you can find it HERE.:

As with any shindig or holiday, Kennedy wanted to help "decorate." So we had 4 signs to make sure everyone knew they were at the correct place and that they could find the basement theater.  :) Love that girl.

Being that I am who I am, we just HAD to do a craft. Well, not just one craft....THREE crafts.  Yup.  TEN kids on my kitchen floor with paint, glue, buttons....FUN I tell ya! Thank goodness for my mom friends that get their hands dirty and helped out!

Poor Quinn....she wishes she could make a craft too...

It doesn't look too bad afterward, right?!  I just put a vinyl tablecloth down and taped it in place.  It is so nice to just roll up the mess and toss it when they are finished.

These were 2 of the crafts.  Each child was a given a bag as they entered the house.  It contained all the items they needed for the crafts, plus their Golden Ticket and a Silver Bell just like from Santa's sleigh and the movie.  For the first craft, each kid got a bulb ornament.  I had previously written their name and 2011 on the bottom.  I then put brown paint on a plate and walked around so each child could dip their thumb in it.  They stamped their thumb on the ornament once or twice (or ten+ times!) and we let it dry.  While they watched the movie I drew in eyes, antlers and painted red Rudolph noses on each.  The popsicle tree took the most time. Kennedy and I pre-painted the sticks and I cut them to the correct lengths. I basically showed them a model and said "Figure it out - make a tree and decorate it!"  It was funny to see them try to put the pieces together and then glue them.  Decorating is always a blast, too!

This was the last craft.  Each child got a rectangular piece of foam.  I drew what was supposed to be a Christmas light wire on each piece.  On a plate, I had poured various colors of paint.  I walked around and let the kids dip their thumbs in the paint of their choice and press their thumbs to make the lights.  

Aren't my sweeties cute in their matching jammies?!  You know you must wear jammies to a Polar Express Party!  They wear them in the movie!!!

Next up....SNACK TIME! 
I made some homemade hot cocoa in the crock pot...not so good.  But we still had a hot cocoa bar with yummies to put in the cocoa.  I made a cookie dough dip from Pinterest...yuck.  But the kids loved the marshmallow pops, the oranges, the snack mix and eating marshmallows plain.  After the snacks it was movie time!!!  I was so tired by then I forgot to take photos of them actually watching the movie!  Oh well!


And I can't forget! I had printed out a game for the kids to take home and play with their families but I had run out of time to laminate them. Yes. I own a laminating machine.  Go ahead. Call me a dork.  Anyway, my dear mommy friend Janet laminated them while I finished their Rudolph ornaments.  Phew!  That party was a lot of work!  But totally worth it all. And  Kennedy wants to do it all over again next December!  Will it be a new tradition?  Check back next December to find out!

Hello Kitty Outfit

I recently made a little outfit for one of Kennedy's friends for her birthday. The little gal loves Hello Kitty! So Kennedy picked out some Hello Kitty fabric and I sewed away!

I am going to share a very basic tutorial for you (if you can even call it a tutorial) ....this was a fairly simple outfit!

Supplies:
basic tee
1/2 yd main fabric
1/2 yd coordinating fabric
1/8 yd coordinating fabric
Heat n Bond (sewable)
Basic sewing supplies


I just traced a heart onto my white fabric. And did the same thing with the polka dot fabric.

Then follow the instructions on the Heat n Bond package to adhere them to your t-shirt.
Because I don't have an embroidery machine, I just used a tight zigzag stitch around the hearts.
I made the Hello Kitty fabric "flower", added a button to the front and a pin to the back. I pinned it to the shirt but it can really be placed anywhere!

The skirt was easy, too! I measured on Miss K how long I wanted the skirt and added about an inch. For the width I just used selvage to selvage. I then cut a strip from the polka dot fabric that was about 4 inches long and from selvage to selvage. The polka dot fabric was folded in half and sewn to the bottom of the skirt. Next the entire skirt was folded in half and I sewed along the edge to create the seam. I folded the top edge over and sewed to create a casing for the elastic, inserted the elastic, sewed it off and finished up the casing. Viola!


I hope she enjoys it!

Car Seat Cover #2

Remember the car seat cover I made for Quinn? Well, not long after I posted it, I had a request to make one for another sweet little baby I know! So here it is!!!! You should get it today (you know who you are!!) Hope sweet little Miss O loves being snuggly warm in it!!!

Our Handmade Bird Snacks!!!

We have been thoroughly enjoying all the birds in our backyard this summer! Thanks to Papa Keith, Kennedy is in LOVE with learning the types of birds and their calls! He got her THIS amazing book that we just love!!!! They have them for different regions of the US. It shows you photos of various birds, tells you about them, and then it will play their song(s). It is sooo cool!!!!

Anywhooooo, we checked out lots of bird books from the library. A few of them showed different ways to make snacks for your backyard birds. So I tweaked them a bit and this is what we came up with.

We got 2 sturdy paper cups. Then poked holes in the bottom and strung ribbon through them for hanging.


Here is Kennedy with our ingredients! Our birdfood and some Crisco and a bowl!!!

We melted the Crisco and added birdfood until it wasn't runny anymore.

Then we poured the mix into the cups and let it harden. In retrospect I would have used sturdier cups - the Crisco soaked through the bottom a bit but it still held.
Here is one hanging by our two birdfeeders!!!!
And this one is hanging right outside Kennedy's new playhouse window!!! We haven't actually seen any birds snacking on them yet! :( Maybe we will try again and add peanut butter next time!!!! Or maybe we are too impatient and need to wait another few days!!!

And last but not least I will leave you with a photo of Kennedy "playing" with her snail friends!!! She loves to let them crawl up her arms! Unfortunately, they often fall off and get cracks in their shells! Eek! But they still manage to crawl away!!

Enjoy your Father's Day weekend!!!!!
Blessings!