Homemade Valentines

 

I was watching Studio 5 a few weeks ago and they had a segment on about making homemade Valentines for you kids to take to school. I called Brandon and had him look up the ideas they shared on their web site. We found this great idea to make iPods out of little boxes of Valentine candy. I couldn't resist making them for Peyton to take to school for her Kindergarten class.

It took most of our Sunday afternoon but we busted out 30 of these tasty little valentines. I warped all the foil on the Reese’s Peanut butter Cup ear buds, and cut all the string. Brandon edited the Screen on the iPod so it had a Song that said, “From Peyton with Love”. I thought that was a cute idea. He also cut out all the colored paper.  Peyton cut out all of the little face pieces and glued them all on our little make shift iPods. She was so excited. It was a really fun little project and it was fun to have the whole family working on them together.

You can find information on how to make these on the Web Site Family Fun. They also have a printout to make the little iPod control cutouts. This was supper fun to do. I think we will pick little fun things every year to make for our Valentines.

Ginger Bread House

We went to the store today and came across a Ginger Bread House kit. Brandon and I decided that is sounded like fun so we got one for the kids. The kids loved it. Brandon did all the icing and we let the kids put on all the candy decorations. Peyton and Kai had a blast. It was a little messy but a lot of fun. We decided that we are going to make it a family tradition to make a ginger bread house every Christmas as a family. That is the great thing about Christmas, we all has traditions that give our families great memories. Almost all of my fondest memories of Christmas are tied to the traditions of my family. I want to make sure my children's Christmas is littered with little traditions that they can share with their families when they have children of their own.

Thank Goodness This Day Is Over

Today was one of those days you think you will completely lose your mind.  You know the days where you have about a million things that need to get done, and you just cant catch a break. That was just exactly the type of day I just had.

It started out with me finding out that my mom and sisters were all out Christmas shopping together. It just really bummed me out that I was not able to be with them. I hate living so far away from them. I just feel like I miss out on all the fun. This is where being bling just sucks! I have just a few things left to buy for Christmas but I am completely stuck with out a way to go finish my shopping. I just wish I could just take off when Brandon is at work and just go shopping. I just feel so trapped some times.

I have piano lessons on Wednesdays every week. It is one of the highlights of my week. Both Peyton and I have been taking lessons for about a year now. I played the piano before I lost my vision, and am now trying to learn to play by ear. It has been a challenge for me but has been so rewarding. This week I have really worked hard to have all of my songs I am working on ready and was really looking forward to it.

Brandon called me about an hour before my lesson and let me know he had a meeting that was called at the last second. Brandon always comes home and watches my little 2 year old boy Kaison for me when Peyton and I go to Piano. His meeting was right in the middle of our lesson time. So I started rushing around trying to find someone to watch Kai. I finally got a baby sitter set up and then Kaison puked all over me. I was covered and so was he. So as you can guess there was no way we were going to make it to our lesson. So I canceled our lesson and got Kai in the tub. Brandon came home right in time to save me from having to clean it all up. Thanks honey you are the best!

So no shopping and no piano! By this time I just wanted to go back to bed. Then Peyton came home from Kindergarten and was not really feeling well. So it was looking like the rest of the day would be spent nursing my little ones. They just wanted mom to hold them and not be more than three feet from them the rest of the day. So the list of things I had to get done today is just going to have to wait for an other day. I did manage to fit in a little puke laundry, but that was about it.

The day finally took a turn for the better. Tonight was our Relief Society Adult Dinner Party. I am a counselor in the Relief Society Presidency and was in charge of a lot of the planning. It has been a real stretch for me and taken me out of my comfort zone. I think that sometimes being blind makes me set back and blend into the scenery. This  calling has really made me come out of my shell. We have really been working hard to make this a great night. I have been stressing about this for weeks. Karson my husbands brother came over and watched the kids for us so we could go. I cant thank him enough for watching the kids for us. All the planning all paid off it all turned out amazing. The food was great, the speaker was perfect, and the music was amazing. Tonight just made up for all of the craziness of the whole day. We had so much fun and it was great to be with my husband and not have a kid hanging on both of our legs. I think we all need a little break sometimes.

Now for the best part of the day. I get to crawl into my flannel sheets and crash. It has been a long day, and I am sure that with the kids not feeling so hot it will be a long night as well.