Mother's Day Loot!

from my sweet babies. . . 

Another Pinterest-ing Craft

As I mentioned before, Joseph will be leaving his wonderful preschool at the end of the month so he can enjoy a summer break before Kindergarten.  However, I didn't want him to miss out on any fun with his friends and wanted to be able to hand out something than just a note with his phone number.  And what do you do when you need a great idea?  A little Pinterest hunting!!

We used this Have a "KOOL" Summer idea and replaced the play dough recipe with Joseph's contact info and a little note to his friends.  

The Scrapbook Dilemna

To scrapbook or not to scrapbook?  That's the big question.  I have seen a lot of ornate, detailed scrapbooks. The aisles at Hobby Lobby taunt me with their stickers and colorful papers and fancy albums.  As a mom I want to preserve all the details of my babies' lives but the prospect is daunting.  So I have come up with a few "non-stressful" ways to keep up that work for me.

Photo books.  I love photo books and there are always great deals on them. . . sometimes free!  I use them to preserve my sweet brilliant babies' craft projects.  About once a month I round up the pile of paintings, drawings, doodles, etc. and scan them.  Then I sort the images into the appropriate file folder on my computer. We have a file for each child and then sub-folders for the year.  And since I love organization, under the year we have sub-folders for home, church and school.  This makes life pretty easy when I make the photo books later.

What I put in the Photo Books?
Paintings
Drawings
Pictures of my child wearing his Dr. Suess Hat, crown, etc.

Here are a couple finished products:

Scrapbooks.  There are just somethings that can't be put in a photo book.  So I scrapbook.  My scrapbooks aren't fancy.  There are no fancy papers or stickers.  (Well, there used to be.  But, overwhelming!!)  They preserve the most important things.  Things that you just can't appreciate properly in a photo book.

What do I put in Scrap Books?
Birthday Cards
Valentine's Day Cards
Tickets to first football games and first movies
School Crafts that include my babies' hand prints or that are just extra special

Here are a few pages for example:

I'm working from my theory that, in the future, my children won't care how perfectly or ornately their memories are displayed.  They will just enjoy the memories.  I know I enjoy looking through mine.

best. salad. dressing. ever

Once upon a time I made pasta salad.  I opened my fridge to pick out a dressing and found this.  

I don't know who brought it to my house.  I don't know how it got in my fridge.  All I know is that it did and I am so thankful.  It. is. ah-mazing!!!  I may have oversold it to my husband because he wasn't quite as enamored as I. (He still liked it, just didn't blow his socks off as he was expecting.)  However, you should find this dressing and try it.  I found it at Kroger.  

I made my pasta salad with cheese tortellini, grape tomatoes, carrots, yellow bell pepper, broccoli and red onion.  Super pretty and super yummy!  It is wonderful as a side dish but also excellent as the main dish with some chicken shredded on top.  

Pre-K Graduation

 How did this kiddo get so big?  One minute he was born and the next he was graduating from preschool.

 His school always puts a great deal of effort into all their programs.  This event was no exception.

 The family is ready!  Joseph's grandparents, aunt and two cousins drove down to surprise him.

 Joseph's class performing.

 Slide show!

 Our graduate receiving his diploma.

 Grandpa entertaining the toddlers. . . . 

 Final performance with all the graduates.

 Family picture time!

First Day of School

 Today was Jacob's first day of preschool!  We took him out for a special "first day of school" breakfast at IHOP.

Then it was off to school!

He grabbed Daddy's hand and ran in to the school.  He started running for Joseph's class as soon as he got in the door but was easily redirected to his new classroom.

Ready for a day of fun and learning!

This afternoon when I went to pick him up he was sitting nicely at the table with his new friends enjoying a snack.

He was excited to see us.  His teacher said he had a great first day and took a nap!

Loss

For lack of a better way to write it - this is what we posted on Facebook on Friday


"Yesterday we found out that our sweet baby was not meant to be held in our arms here on earth. We are sad but live in confident Hope of eternity. Thank you to our "family" for surrounding us with your love and prayers during this time."


There is so much more I want to write but just can't at the moment.  We are hugging our sweet boys extra close and answering lots of questions from a certain 5-year-old which has been surprisingly therapeutic.  


"NOW may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" - Romans 15:13 

"I Draw?!"

Bedtime Prayers

Last night I was tucking Joseph into bed.  We said his prayers and our ritual "good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite. . . . etc."  I was getting ready to turn off his light when he called me back and said, "mama will you help me pray to Jesus and that I won't have any bad dreams with doggies or monsters or calculators that scare me and eat me?"

pause . . . .

me: "do you think that a calculator could eat you?"

Joseph: "well, it could!"

me:  "yes baby.  I will help you pray."

Blastoff - Part 2

I had to follow up my previous story with this:  Jacob just came into the kitchen and told me that his plane was "going to the moon!"  This was part of a much longer paragraph of which I also understood, "stars, dark, plane broke, oh no!"