23 Months Old

Let's Celebrate L-O-V-E

...Hobby Horse style!

Today was Drew's preschool party for Valentine's Day. All of Drew's school parties are structured the same, and include a craft, a game (involving prizes), a snack, and then some kind of "special event" (trick-or-treating at Halloween, a visit from Santa at Christmas, and receiving and opening Valentines today). (Three or four "classroom moms" sign up at the beginning of the year to host each party. They plan and provide everything for the parties.)

They had regular class for the first hour and then their party began promptly at 10:15. There are 15 kids in Drew's class, so they split in half for the craft and the game. Then they came back together for snack and to scavenger inside their bags to see what Valentines their friends delivered.

Drew began in the craft group, where they made Valentine door hangers.

He was very proud of his, apparently, and hung it up on his bedroom door as soon as we got home.

Next: games! A Valentine version of musical chairs. Each chair had a different colored heart taped to it, and when the music stopped, you sit down. A colored heart was drawn from a bag, and if it matched the chair you were sitting in, you win! (Prizes included suckers and other candy.)

I think Drew won four or five times, as did all the other kids. There were a couple hearts in that bag that were multi-colored - everyone wins!

Back to the classroom for Valentine cookies. Reed was even invited to take part!

Then the kids spread out on the floor and dug in to their goodie bags.

The loot.

Before bed, Drew said that the best part of his day was his party, and that Mom and Reed got to come. *Awwwe.*

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I've been a bit crafty lately.

I decided at the first of the year that I needed to stop saying, "oh, someday" when I find a super cute project idea either online or in a magazine. I need to just start doing them because, let's face it, there really is no "someday". Obviously I can't do everything "today", but boy do I have my creative and crafty mojo going! And I have been so inspired by so many projects, my "someday turned today" idea box is overflowing!

Anyway.

I kinda wanted to make Drew's Valentines this year, but I wanted to find something that would be quick, cheap, and easy for him to help with. There are thousands of ideas and printables and what-have-you online, but nothing I saw really inspired me.

Until I saw these at Inchmark. Super cute, easy to make, and totally appropriate for 3- and 4-year-olds.

I started with this, which I created in Photoshop. I simply used their custom shape tool to make a red heart just the right size, then typed the tagline below it. I printed them on plain 4x6 notecards. Five minutes, tops.

Instead of drawing eyes like Inchmark did, I decided that googly eyes would add a little extra pizzazz. I realized what a mess this would be, though, if Drew glued them on, so I cheated, and did it myself. Another five minutes.

Then I drew a little Valentine man on there for Drew to look at as a template for drawing his own.

Drew did all the rest. He had to have 15 Valentines for his class, so we did them in increments of three a day. Yep, we had to plan ahead a bit to be sure they were all done by today!

Added on a sucker...

and there you go!

(if you look closely at the above pictures, you can see that Drew gave himself his extra Valentine) :)

Happy Valentine's Day, from Drew!

The Best of Our Days

At the beginning of the year, I blogged about a few goals I have for our little family of four. One of them was to continue to be "action" oriented - serving, loving, taking care of others; practicing gratitude; recognizing our blessings - but exactly how this would look was still unknown. I just knew that we needed to be intentional about cultivating service and gratitude into our lives and into the lives of the boys.

On a very basic level, I had the idea of recording our daily blessings. Being the pretty paper addict that I am, I wanted to create some kind of calendar that we could jot down happy things throughout our days and weeks and year. But that idea remained just that - an idea.

Enter Ashley.

(Oh, if you do not read Under the Sycamore, you need to. Go ahead. Take a peek. I'll wait.)

Ten days into the New Year, she posted this - a brilliant project revolved around recording the best of our days. The concept is simple: at the end of each day, write down the best part of it.

Being thankful.

Practicing gratitude.

Brilliant.

So you can bet I printed out her free download (yep - you can print it, too!) and we got to work.

It is now a part of our bedtime routine. After books, before prayers, Brad, Drew and I talk about our day and we write down the best part of it. Drew requires some prompts, some "help" remembering his day. Half of January involved his Sonic game, or another game, so we're trying to expand his horizons to think broader than the XBox. :)

Drew has already gotten pretty into it. He sometimes asks while he's brushing his teeth what the best part of my day was. Or if Brad is out late at a meeting or event and isn't home for bedtime, Drew will want to be sure to find out later the best part of his day, too.

I love hearing Drew's perspective on his day. I love hearing what he loves.

I love this.

Picture of the Day, Week 5

Sunday {1.30.11}

Super funny story...

Drew's eating lunch; I'm cleaning up the kitchen. All the sudden he whispers, "Mom, there's someone in the kitchen with you!" I freeze, and whisper back, "WHO?" to which he says, "YOU! There's two of you!" It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about, but I eventually realized that he was crossing his eyes! Don't tell the optometrist, but I had him do it again so I could get a picture. Is that funny, or what?!

Monday {1.31.11}

When I hadn't gotten the boys out of their jammies and into their clothes by noon, I declared it a pajama day. Sometimes, you just gotta.

Tuesday {2.1.11}

The 2011 Blizzard included thundersnow, 45 mile per hour winds, 15 inches of snow, and no school for Drew all week.

Wednesday {2.2.11}

It isn't unusual for us to watch our friends' daughters occasionally, but we watched them today because our friends have been displaced for a while. ... They had a fire in their kitchen Tuesday night (in the middle of the blizzard!), and are staying in a hotel until they find a rental for the duration of reconstruction. The boys had a great time with the girls, racing cars, watching movies, and other such fun things.

Thursday {2.3.11}

For as long as I've known Brad (10 1/2 years), he's had the bad habit of biting his nails and cuticles. He said to me earlier this week that he's going to try to stop. Despite that grody middle finger there, they look pretty good (for Brad!).

Friday {2.4.11}

One of my goals for this year is to commit to cooking more dinners for my family. (So far, so good!) This also includes beginning to go through my massive stack of "recipes to try". This was a new one, courtesy of Rachael Ray: Philly Cheesecake Stuffed Garlic Bread. I had to substitute a few ingredients, but it turned out great!

Saturday {2.5.11}

Drew and I went on a "date" this morning. "Date" is loosely defined as Me, Drew, Errands, and a Special Treat. We don't get a whole lot of time, just the two of us, so I try to make some of our normal routine special for him. M&Ms before 11am...that's pretty special!

Snow Day(s)

So. It snowed.

(If you hadn't heard.)

Our local school district had school cancelled by Monday night for the next day. Therefore, no preschool for Drew.

It took a little bit of explaining as to why there was no school.

Drew was pretty bummed about it.

And then when school was cancelled on Wednesday and again today, Drew was really bummed.

"Awe nuts," he said.

So white and crisp.

Brad thanks his lucky stars for good neighbors! Larry & Mario shoveled us out.

I guess the perk (or the drawback?) of living next door to work is that you can always get there, come rain, hail, sleet or lots and lots of snow.

All in all, 15 total inches fell from 11am Tuesday until into the night.

45 mile per hour winds created some impressive drifts.

We just may conquer this baby tomorrow.

December/January Art

Hobby Horse: Activity Calendar for December & January

There wasn't a lot of art brought home by Drew during December. They spent the majority of their craft time working on this beauty.

12/14/10

A handprint wreath banner

{Our first handmade Christmas gift from Drew! It makes me giddy.}

12/16/10

Popsicle stick snowman (made at his class Christmas party)

12/16/10

A candy cane

(the bag decoration for all of his party goodies)

1/4/11

Snowflake printing with Ivory snow

1/6/11

Cotton ball snowman

1/11/11

More Ivory snow painting

1/13/11

Decorating a mitten with his "cuttings"

1/18/11

A birdfeeder, made from a bagel and peanut butter

1/20/11 & 1/25/11

Drew says they didn't make anything. Hmmm....

1/27/11

A heart decorated with more "cuttings"

Picture of the Day, Week 4

Sunday {1.23.11}

I am always tripping over toys on the kitchen floor. Apparently sitting on hard, ceramic tile is preferable to soft, comfy carpet. :) Today, it was a kitchen duel between Lotso's gang and the Heroes gang.

Monday {1.24.11}

Silly bands were one of the big fads of 2010, and the boys received their first sets from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas. Drew isn't so much into them, but Reed can be found sporting them almost daily.

Tuesday {1.25.11}

It was Drew's turn for show & tell at school today, and after changing his mind a few times, he settled on taking his three Dinoco cars.

Wednesday {1.26.11}

Our little guy is four today! WHAT?!?!

Our day-long celebration concluded with dinner, cupcakes and custard at Culvers.

Thursday {1.27.11}

Grandma & Grandpa were in town to celebrate Drew's birthday with us, and then headed out today for their vacation in Florida. The boys always love having visits from their grandparents.

Friday {1.28.11}

A surprise visit to Build-a-Bear resulted in two new best friends - Buttercup and Bubba!

Saturday {1.29.11}

We had Drew's birthday party today. It was an awesome afternoon with great friends and a lot of Toy Story birthday fun!