valentine's day 2012

I am going back in time a little trying somewhat to play catch up with a whole slew of pictures I have waiting to be blogged. We'll see how far I can get...

Valentine's Day 2012

The kids woke up to heart shaped toast with strawberry jam, scrambled eggs with Canadian bacon bits, and "pink" milk!

 

It's tradition for each of the kids to get a new book and a fun treat each year on Valentine's Day morning. I try to get a book with a Valentine's Day theme, but many times I'm at the mercy of the previous month's book order and there isn't always one. *wink*

 

 A quick sibling shot on our way out the door...

Austin made this cute little heart for his teacher. He was so proud of it and it was actually all his idea. He adores his preschool teacher!

 Mikayla with her gift to her teacher...a set of kitchen towels, a box of cookie mix, and a heart shaped spatula.

 

 As Room Coordinator for Mikayla's class, I had a fun time planning the party. I have been very thankful for lots of eager helpers this year to help ease the load! Each party is set up in four stations that the kids rotate through.

Station 1 - Craft: The kids made doggy or kitty bookmarks (of course using Stampin' Up! punches and Big Shot dies...what else?!)

 Station 2 - Snack: The kids enjoyed a yogurt parfait bar. We tried to keep the snacks healthy this year, so I thought this would work much better than cookies and candy, but yet still a little sweet.

 

Station 3 - Exchanging classroom valentines.

These are the class valentines we made for the boys...

These are the class valentines we made for the girls... 

Station 4 - Photo Booth: All the kids got to dress up in fun Valentine's gear and then get their pictures taken in front of a backdrop that I made.

 

 

Mrs. Derry's AM Kindergarten Class

 

Because I coordinated Mikayla's classroom party, I wasn't able to be at Austin's party. However, I was able to catch the tail end of it. When I got there, Ms. Michelle was reading the "Love Book" that the class put together using pictures the kids brought from home. In this picture, she is reading Austin's page, which said, "L-O-V-E spells love. I love Disneyland."

Austin's class valentines he brought for the group. The monkeys with the glittered bows were for the girls. These were so fun to make!

My sweet little boy!

  After work, Daddy brought home some special Valentine's surprises for the kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 For dinner, we had heart-shaped pizza...

And strawberry milkshakes for dessert...

 

What a blessing these two sweet kiddos are!

I L-O-V-E them!!

Happy 4th of July!!

{thanks to Kelli at Random Thoughts of a Supermom!
for this awesome idea for these Red, White, & Krispy Treats}

Easter 2011

{My Easter cuties before church}

We kind of had a rushed morning on Easter (a little too much sleeping in...oops!), so before heading to the in-laws for an Easter lunch and after church, we stopped back by the house to "get something" and that's when the Easter bunny had dropped off the baskets for the kids. I rushed back out to the car and told the kids there was something on the front door for them. Those kids got out of the car in a flash to check it out! I love the look on their faces.

Can you just see Mikayla saying, "How did that get there?"Mikayla had a lot of questions this year on who the Easter bunny is and I was this close to just spilling the beans, but the more we talked about it, the more I could tell she was hoping it was, in fact, the Easter bunny...and no one else. Maybe next year I can spoil the fun! *wink*

We had a bit of a drive to the in-laws, so on the way we let the kids watch the new movie they got in their Easter basket...Veggie Tales: Easter Carol. So, now I understand why the Easter bunny didn't want to wait until later to give the kids their Easter baskets. Nice thinking, Easter bunny!

{Easter at Grandma Ruth & Grandpa Charlie's}

How awesome are these first two pictures?
That's my boy!
Oh, the things a momma makes you do!
We prepared the kids for the possibility that there may not be an Easter egg hunt because they had already done one with grandma and grandpa a few weeks prior. So, they were really surprised to hear that yes, there would be an egg hunt...inside, of course! Hello, we desperately need a little Spring sunshine!!
Getting ready to see what's inside all of their eggs!
These next few pictures I will CHERISH! I love Austin's sweet and fun-loving personality! He was so funny opening each egg, getting all excited about what was inside, and then dumping them all in his lap.
Then there's the other side of Austin's personality (which I still love) that does things like gives you "angry eyebrows" in what could have been a great family photo! We took four pictures and he had some sort of "face" in each one of them. But, you know what...I will look at this picture and laugh every time. That's my boy!
We had a really fun Easter and I'm sure that just like this last year has flown by, Easter 2012 will be here in a blink of an eye!