Craft Wednesday #3 {Revealed}

Last week, I couldn't share with you the details of our craft as we were working away on a gift for Brad, and as he hadn't received it yet, we didn't want to spoil it. I'm happy to say that Daddy has returned home, and he loves his homemade gift. :)

If you'll remember, I combined a couple different ideas I had found online to create this Father's Day gift - a recycled memory book just for Dad. The book's design was taken from HERE, and the content was taken from HERE.

I had all the pages together, and had our supplies ready, before we started.

Manly colors chosen just for Brad. :)

The first page required the boys to draw a picture of them and Daddy.

They painted the covers of the book

then helped cut letters to glue on the cover.

The end result.

(Reed's is on top; Drew's on the bottom)

Portraits with Dad.

(click on the photos to enlarge)

Questions: round 1.

Questions: round 2.

"Daddy's hands will always be bigger!"

"We love our Daddy!"

{Please go visit my friend Missy at A Day in the Life... She did a much better job at putting this together, and she included photos. I thought about it. Then decided to be lazy. :)}

Father's Day

We found ourselves separated today as Brad is still in Michigan at the General Synod conference. Thank the good Lord above for technology.

Isn't Skype the best?!

Because we can still tell Daddy he's the best.

We can still tell Daddy how much we love him.

We can still tell Daddy that we miss him.

We can still tell Daddy "Happy Father's Day!"

Now...come home soon!!

Picture of the Day, Week 24

Sunday {6.12.11)

The boys and I played around with Photo Booth before leaving for church. I could just eat these guys up.

Monday {6.13.11}

Brad and I celebrated our anniversary tonight with dinner at Chili's and a movie. We saw the first Hangover two years ago on our anniversary, so we figured we'd follow it up by watching the second one this time. It was...funny. But gross. But funny. And gross.

Tuesday {6.14.11}

Our anniversary.

Celebrating nine years together.

Wednesday {6.15.11}

Big good-byes for Dad today as he leaves for Grand Rapids, Michigan to attend the General Synod conference. We'll be all alone for seven days. We'll survive. But I may have a lot less hair when Daddy gets back!

Thursday {6.16.11}

I'm hoping Brad brings back a few snapshots from the conference that I can insert here for today's POTD. Cuz I've got nothing.

Friday {6.17.11}

Reinforcements arrive! Grandma and Lauren came today for the weekend, to give me a little reprieve from single parenthood. It was such a welcome visit! Lauren was simply awesome with the boys. She never said no to any of their requests for her attention, was super patient, and is now their current favorite cousin. :)

Saturday {6.18.11}

Both boys kept Grandma and Lauren busy throughout the weekend. Games, toys, swimming, going to the park, bike riding, book reading, even pulling weeds!

Fun Food Friday #3

I first saw this idea HERE on HowDoesShe.

Simple. Easy. Nutritious. Delicious. Fun.

Perfect for me. Perfect for the boys.

Our version of Monkey Tails!

(there are only a few photos - it's a bit tricky to man the camera and try to prevent any major banana/chocolate catastrophes)

First, slice bananas in half, insert popsicle stick, and freeze for at least an hour.

Remove from freezer, and dip in chocolate.

(We used Smucker's Magic Shell topping to maintain the ease factor of this treat, but you could also melt chocolate chips or almond bark.)

Add sprinkles.

(There are so many options for toppings ~ crushed peanuts or graham crackers, toffee bits, etc ~ but I opted for sprinkles for (again) the ease factor, and I also thought the boys would be more thrilled with sprinkles than with peanuts.)

Put back in the freezer for at least another hour.

Then...Enjoy!

They are especially good after an afternoon playing in the pool.

See?

Craft Wednesday #3

I am postponing pictures from today's craft because we made gifts for Brad for Father's Day. {He's out of town for the next week, actually, so we'll be celebrating Father's Day upon his return next Tuesday.} I'll post today's craft with next week's.

For those just dying to know what we did (the two of you that are curious...) I combined THIS with THIS for our project/gift for dad.

{Brad Vander Waal, if you click on those links, you're a dead man. Perhaps more significantly, you'll disappoint two small boys who love and idolize you very very much.}

:)

9 Years

Today, we celebrated nine years of marriage.

Nine years.

Filled with Love. Joy. Struggle. Disappointment. Courage. Change. Bliss. Happiness. Frustration. Laughter. Aggravation. Excitement. Worry. Kindness. Care. Surprise. Comfort. Stress. Contentment. With a little crazy and weird mixed in there, too.

Nine years.

Not near a lifetime. But we're off to a pretty great start.

Picture of the Day, Week 23

Confession: These seven pictures were all taken on three different days, not seven. *shocker*

I am definitely not bored with documenting our daily life. I like taking pictures. I like capturing the little things. I like having an album filled with the things of "us". But the dailiness of it - I'm getting a little bored with. It's kind of silly to mark these photos Sunday through Saturday, when it all just really makes up the entire week, no matter what day they occurred on. BUTTTTTTT...because I'm an organizational nerd, I will keep labeling these by the day (or really, just pretend like these things happened on a certain day) for the remainder of this year, and for 2012 I will be considering doing "Pictures of the Week" instead of daily shots.

Anyway, just a little random babble to get you through your day. :)

Sunday {6.5.11}

Drew's current favorite game is Toy Story Operation, and Brad is taking advantage of his interest in it to begin teaching him some math. Specifically, counting by 5's. I'm sure glad Brad is taking on the "educational" aspect of raising our children. :)

Monday {6.6.11}

I was playing around with my camera today, trying to get some good profile shots of the boys. But neither would have any of it...as you can see.

Tuesday {6.7.11}

Someone continues to exert his independence, refusing to sit in his booster chair for meals. Oh how can it be that he's already this big?!?!

Wednesday {6.8.11}

Drew's favorite part of Sesame Street is the closing credits when he mimics Elmo's best dance moves!

Thursday {6.9.11}

Drew's Tot Soccer Team

(There are quite a few more...I'm not sure where they went!)

Friday {6.10.11}

Special friends of ours took us out for ice cream at Double D's, the local ice cream shop. It was the first time we had been there (we've only lived here 4 1/2 years!) and it was a surprise when the boys' cones had faces on them! Thanks again, Val & Dave!

(Sorry this is so small...I don't know if I can resize it...help???)

Saturday {6.11.11}

I had another case of insomnia earlier this week, and decided to burn the midnight oil in my scrapbook room. And I ended up neglecting all my household duties all week long to keep at it. I definitely needed some scrap therapy, and it felt soooo good to get back into the groove of it and get some pages finished. Now...I have some serious cleaning to do...