It's In the Cards

What started as a bedtime brainstorm, ended in 4 of the cutest Valentine designs you have ever seen. I asked each kiddo that night what they wanted their Valentines to look like. Each one had a theme in mind. Chapel wanted a puppy dog valentine and even came up with a catchy phrase to put on the design. Pooch Smooch. I found a great dog design to use and she worked meticulously adding embellishments to her little pup. Her finished POOCH SMOOCH card was a detailed delight! To pull the pooch and the smooch idea together, she suggested using Hershey kisses to fill her treat bags.

Conor wanted a butterfly theme. She also picked purple and pink as her primary design colors. What made the design really pop was the princess stickers and stamps she applied. She even took her butterfly princess theme a to a higher level when she chose princess fun dip as the candy to include in her bag. I give you the final product, BUTTERFLY KISSES.....

Jude's first choice was a lion theme. However, when we started looking at the book of animals we could cut using our Cricut, he saw a lizard - more like a gecko- that caught his eye. And speaking of eyes, he also decided is lizard would need googly eyes. How smart is he? They eyes were what MADE his valentine card. He was so cute making them, he kept laughing when he glued on an eye and commented how "funny" his lizards were. Here you have LEAPING LIZARDS....

I can't say Eli's was my favorite but I can say it was the one that challenged me the most and made me smile with delight when finished. Having chose an army theme, we began looking at army themed party favors. I found a picture of juice boxes wrapped to resemble walkie talkies and knew immediately that was our design inspiration. And boy did we go all out. OPERATION VALENTINE was a labor of love, adding little design elements here and there that made these little boxes transform into something much, much more impressive. We were so enamored, we invited Teague over to make them with us.

Here you have....OPERATION VALENTINE!

What did my kids learn during this nearly 3 week process? They learned to bring an idea to life. Chapel learned that the right font can really set a mood to your project. They all learned to improvise with materials we had to get results we needed. They learned to be patient and they learned the pride associated with making your own valentines and giving them to the people you care about.

When Kid & Camera Meet

Today after school, Eli climbed a huge oak tree on the playground. It was so impressive I wanted to take a quick a photo with my phone. To my surprise, when I went to use the camera, there was a message saying that I was about to run out of disc space and needed to delete photographs or videos. I looked and indeed there were over 600 pictures on my phone. Now I admit I have not downloaded my pics in a few months, but 600! That seemed ridiculous. When I got home, I started looking through all of them and to my surprise found that my little tree climber had been behind the lens snapping LOTS of photos himself.

There were numerous shots taken in the car from his vantage point in the back seat.

Some, like the one below, show the world from his view, which is quite nice.

And then there were the family member shots. Who knows when all of these were captured. Here he gets a close up Conor.

And then moves on to Jude.

And even some of mom. Here is his shot of me a the Museum of Natural History.

And goofing off at Christmas.

And making faces.....

He had even found inspiration in dad standing in line at IKEA.

Let's not forget the numerous toy photo op's.

And the ones of SPROUT.....

My favorite were the 8 or so he took of the fake baby belly hanging on the wall in the dressing room.

While I may have missed the opportunity to capture my big man in the tree, I instead was pleasantly surprised to find all the self-portraits of Eli on my phone. And those, are much worth more!

My Latest Obsession

Although not gifted with the ability to draw, I have always considered myself to be artsy. I like papers and pens and putting things together on a page. Blame on it my days as a graphic designer, but I like balance, proportion and above all, a clean, simple good design. Once upon a time, I was a scrapbooker. I would go over to a friend's house and spend hours cutting, gluing, stickering and writing until finally I produced the cutest baby book for Chapel. However, scrapbooking is time consuming for a busy mom and I found that as more children followed, I could not keep up.

Fast forward! I have found the perfect hobby that allows me to continue my obsession but in a fashion that time allows. Brett bought me a Cricut for our anniversary in November. A Cricut, pronounced Cricket, cuts shapes and letters of all varieties. The creative part comes when you choose your papers, embellishments, and projects. My very first project was my niece's birthday packaging. I LOVE packaging, pretty packages show you really care, right? And although this particular package showed a lot of beginner's immaturity, I was proud none the less.

Christmas provided another reason to put some creative ideas to the test. I love how vintage wrapping looks, so I took that as my theme for this year's gift wrap. (Yes, I have a different theme each year! - Remember last year was black and white?)

This year I used the cricut to make my own tags and I was so excited with the results!

As Valentine's Day approaches, the kids and I have been brainstorming on what to make and they have come up with some awesome ideas. I can't wait to share them with you all when completed. Until then, you can see how much work we've already done getting ready. Chapel and her two friends, Annie and Mallory, made their Valentine boxes this week. Compared to scrapbooking, this craft obsession is kid approved so not only am I filling my own need to be artsy, it is an activity that I can enjoy with the little ones.

Let The Holidays Begin

With Christmas just around the corner, and me behind on my blogging, I decided to add this post before starting with the Christmas activities. This year we kicked off the beginning of the holidays by spending Thanksgiving with Brett's family in Conway. The first holiday without PaPa Ed was sad for all of us. Especially remembering how much he loved to be with his family and having all of us together. Eddie, Brett's older brother, made reservations for all of us at the Dunes Club for lunch. It was a beautiful day and the food was amazing (especially the desert table). Later that night, MaMa Anne cooked a huge meal and we gathered once again to eat!

Anne and Crystal at the Dunes Club.

After lunch we gathered outside and snapped a few pics.

Later that night, Robert and Brett and I decided to do a little midnight shopping. Actually it started at 9pm with Toys-R-Us. I seriously thought we'd be the only ones there. Was I wrong!

We stayed out until 2 in the morning bargain shopping and you would have thought it was early afternoon the way the roads, and even McDonald's, were hopping at that early hour.

The next day we shopped a little more, and the Wild West store had this interesting people pleaser out front. Of course, we could not resist. A camel at a Wild West store??? Only in Conway!

Holiday Performance Recap

Each of the kids showed off their hard work at their holiday performances right before school ended for the holiday's. Eli's school had a holiday singing. Here he is pre-performance, hanging out with the boys in his class.

And as you can see, his class his ALL boys! Nine of them are wonderfully managed each day by the sweet and lovely, Ms. Haynie (pictured to the right). I am so happy that Eli enjoys his school and his friends.

The assembled performers, Eli is right in the middle.

And my heart just melted when I saw my big man sing at the top of his lungs and do all the hand movements that went along with the songs. I couldn't believe this was the same little boy who used to stand still and look very uninterested in group participation.

Chapel had her dance club performance and was absolutely beautiful as a star. She has the most poise and grace - did not get that from her mama.

And finally, my babies showed off their hard work and talent at their Dance Moves recital. They go once a week and are always very eager to learn and show us what they've learned. Jude is the only boy in the class so of course he was a big ham during the recital.