a banner party

I have some seriously talented friends. Just saying.
So we had a little crafty banner party this morning. I was quite impressed with everyone's crafty talent. Especially Jamie, she had hers done in a jiffy, she was a speedy crafter. The kids had us out numbered, and totally ran the party but everyone accomplished what they came for so it was OK. I had bags of snacks and mini water bottles ready to help entertain the kids. To bad Libby wasn't crazy about the idea of sharing them with the kids. Sorry!
I hope everyone was happy with the end product. I think they all turned out awesome.

Thanks for coming, I had a great time!

Family Bowling Night

Ethan and Hayden's PE teacher put together this fun family night for the school. She turned the gym into a bowling alley! It was a genius idea. It was fun to see all the families playing and laughing together and enjoying each others company. The pins were a hollow plastic, and we had foam bowling balls to knock them down. Each family had to reserve an alley for 30 minutes. During your families turn one member had to take a turn to stand next to the pins to reset them after each player. And there was scoring paper to keep track of the score. It was really well organized. If you are looking for a fun family fundraiser for your school you should definitely try this. It will be favorite for sure!

After the activity we found 3 huge cows hanging out in the parking lot! Crazy!

A Halloween Banner

As many of you already know I have a little obsession with all things banners. I love birthday banners, and pendant banners, and holiday banners. So I had to make a banner for Halloween. Yes, I had to. This banner is made with crepe paper (also an obsession, love the stuff) book pages from a magician book, and a cute Halloween font I got on Etsy (another huge obsession of mine, gosh I think I have a problem!) So I thought that if maybe you share this obsession with me, that you'd like a Halloween banner too? Well I am going to have a banner party where I will teach you how to make one like mine: Thursday, at my house. Let me know if you want to take part in the festivities, and I will set a place for you! If you want a banner but don't want to make it, I can make one for you instead!

Sick Kids

 

Hayden and Ethan both woke up sick last Thursday with the stomach flu. They both felt better on Friday, but still stayed home from school to rest up. Then Hayden woke up yesterday sick again, and he is still not feeling great. I must admit that I have enjoyed having them home with me. We have been mostly just relaxing watching cartoons, reading books and playing board games. I love having them to myself, and I think that even though they don't feel great they think its kind of a special thing to stay home on a school day.

I have been taking advantage of being home bound and finished my book wreath. I am pleased with the way it turned out, but it took FOREVER to complete. Why did I choose the big wreath form? I made this wreath following the tutorial on the Under the Table and Dreaming blog, you can find it here. I am also working on a Halloween banner. I am so excited to get out the Halloween decoration box this weekend. I love fall. I just wish it felt more like fall here. It is getting dark earlier, so I know cool weather is coming...in like a month or two.

Saturday Ethan, AKA my little babysitter, watched Libby for me while I attended our Super Saturday craft day at church. I was a little worried about him since I usually just have him watch her while she sleeps, but he did amazing. I came home to find him pushing Libbs around on the office chair, and he had made her bracelets and necklaces out of paper clips. She loved it, and wore them all day. It was such a joy to come home to happy faces, and giggling sounds. Libby adores Ethan, and will often even choose him over me! He can be more sympathetic to her fake cry, and insistent need to be held all day. It makes me so happy that they love each other so much. With a ten year age difference I worry about them staying this close forever, but honestly I think she will cherish these memories forever. I am so grateful for my Ethan, he is so wonderful. How did I get so lucky?

Poor kitty

This morning after I let Libby go outside with the boys to play, while they were doing one of their Saturday morning chores, I caught Ethan teaching Libby how to properly hold the kitty, poor Scampi! Usually Libby will just follow the cat around and try to pet it. But this is opening up a whole new can of worms. How long before the cat decides she doesn't like this new game of hers and retaliates? Oh not long, I am sure. But luckily this cat is very patient, she is used to playing house, and being manhandled!

This weekend I am trying to finish up a book wreath that I started forever ago, I hate projects hanging over my head. I need to finish this one before I can start the next several that I have planned. Oh well!

Have a HAPPY WEEKEND!

XOXO

The BEST Labor Day Weekend ever!

Amb and I crafted these matching cousins freezer paper shirts (inspiration from ashley ann photography, check out her blog, she is AMAZING).

Libby loved baby Analea, or maybe she just loved to bug her?

Last weekend we had the pleasure of having my sister Amberly and her little family visit us. And I must admit that it happened to be the best weekend ever. We were able to pack quite a bit into our short weekend. They helped me a TON with Hayden's b-day party, which was a hit just because of Amb's help. The boys were able to squeeze a wake boarding trip in, where Ethan learned to slalom ski, Amb and I actually got to do a little crafting (even if it did cost us our Sunday afternoon nap, but I think you'd agree totally worth it!) we even had our traditional late night (adults only) board game fun (Aaron is a board game buff, and always brings out new games for us to learn, and Monday we even got to go out to the lake. It was a perfect weekend. I wish we lived closer so we could have these amazing times more often, but I will take what I can get!

I love you guys! Thanks for coming!

Angry Birds Birthday

 The birthday party invitations

 Angry bird bean bags made for games

 Our ANGRY BIRD spin on the classic pin the tail on the donkey game

 Hayden opening all his awesome loot.

 The boys jumped on the trampoline and had to keep the balloon up in the air.

 The boys took turns throwing the bean bags at a pyramid of cans with pictures of pigs on them.

For Hayden's 7th Birthday we decided to have an angry birds party, we had seen this one and loved it. We invited all the boys in his class, thinking that most of them wouldn't be able to come because it was labor day weekend, but to Hayden's great excitement (and my horror!) they were all able to come! So we had 12 boys. And luckily for me, my sister Amberly and her family all came out for the weekend also. And she was a huge help with the party, because I definitely needed an extra parent, it was a little crazy!
We played lots of fun games. And the house was decked out in angry bird party fashion (sorry I don't have any good pictures of the decorations). For the party favors I made a red angry bird bean bag for each child.
It was a fun party, even if it was chaotic! Hayden had a blast with his friends, and that is all that matters to me. But note to self: 12 wild rambunctious boys is way to many!