Schools BACK from Summer!

Oh my. I haven't blogged on here or my family blog since the end of the school year. That about sums up my summer, go go go.

I wanted to share some of my favorite ideas and crafts I did for Back to School for my Preschoolers.

For Administration at the school, I thought little pick me up (Mocha Fraps!) in their favorite football team cups is a great way to start the first day of school.

Each of the kids 2 teachers got a back to school survival kit in a Thirty One carry all caddy!  Filled with Anti-bac soap, nail files, pencils, note pads, and a frap or green tea. Of course, I put in a cute questionnaire for each teacher. I love this idea. Thanks Pinterest & Life- Sweet - Life. It's so great to not have to guess on what to get your teachers and to know little things like a Dr. Pepper in the morning, etc.

Of course my kids were visited by the Back to School Fairy! They love this idea and they get a few little things to get them ready for school. Including new shoes! I loved the certificate on Happy Home Fairy.

We had a lot of fun taking different questionnaires and pictures for school.  Here are some of my favorites!

  

Here is the link to the Chalkboard questionnaire, it turned out super cute for pictures. Thank you Grant Ave.

I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove of school and back to blogging too. Here is my School Pinterest board for more of my favorite ideas.

A little bit of love... a little late!

I've been meaning to post pics of all the Valentine's we handed out this year at our many Vday events but I've switched modes right from Valentine's Day to getting ready for Trevor's birthday. Although we are just having a small family thing with a few close friends, I can't have a party without putting a ton of effort and creativity in it. It's not my style! ;)

Inside the bags that the kids handed out to their friends at school includes bubbles, blow pops and Hershey kisses, get it.. "Blowing kisses...". :) I thought all my little ideas came out cute this year! I can't imagine doing these things for a Kindergarten class of  24 kids so I'll enjoy it while the kids are in small class sizes.

All you need is L-O-V-E...

So, for me after we take down the Christmas decorations, the house just looks boring... and plain. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to pack the Christmas stuff up for another year and get back to normal but I'm ready and waiting for another holiday to decorate for... and that's VALENTINE's Day! Once it hits January 14th, I feel like I'm within appropriate time limits to start crafting and decorating. Here is what we've been working on so far this year!

The banner was just burlap, no sewing or gluing necessary. So easy and I did it with stuff I already had on hand at home. Woo hoo! Free (well, previously paid for) decor! It was a great fun craft for Lily to help with too.

The vertical "XOXO" banner cost me all of $.50 for the 2 sheets of scrapbook paper (which were on sale) and a little bit of time on the Cricut. The wooden hearts were only $2 each, I used a 40% on the large one making it about $1.50.

With my new fancy camera I got for Christmas, I'm excited and ready to do some Valentine's day photo shoots with my kiddos!

Football Season might almost be over...

Yeah, so maybe I should have made these months and month ago but I got some playoff fever and walked into MY Hobby Lobby here in Texas to find Broncos fabric so I felt it was a calling from God that I needed to make my kids some Broncos apparel for the play offs. Of course, little did I know that the outfits would be bad luck and that the Broncos (everyone's Super Bowl pick!) would lose. Lucky for me, I made the outfits a little big so they will be ready for football season next year! We love our Peyton Manning.

Christmas Mantel!

I really wanted to do something new & fresh for my mantel so with a few decoupage letters and some cheap wrapping paper I have a new look. What do you think? If only my IPhone could capture my fun blinking lights. Christmas time is upon us!! Noel! ;)

Time for Tea?? Lily's Tea Party Birthday!

Lily had a fantastic tea party! We've all seen the Princess tea parties and the Alice in Wonderland teas but I wanted a formal tea. Girls in pretty floral dresses and boys in ties. I bought bonnets & top hats and Lily (and me too!) had white gloves. We went all out!  Sipping real tea out of real china. I'm so lucky that my Mom has saved so many china sets that were her Moms and her Mom's Mom, etc. so I had some beautiful pieces to decorate with and use. Of course I had to add some bright colors to make it 4 year appropriate. With scones and mini muffins, chocolate dipped sugar wafers and age appropriate finger foods like pepperoni rolls, all the kids had a great time! Here are some of my decorations, thanks to the fabulous Sara Buskirk for being my photographer. Someone needs to push her to start a business!

Craft Fairs make me crafty!

I had so much fun at First United Methodist's Gift Alley this morning that it made me come home & feel like being crafty so I whipped out the sewing machine to conquer a few projects. I've been meaning to make an election dress for Lily for months but I finally got it done, like 4 days to spare. Haa. I forgot how relaxing it is to sew. It is definitely a stress release, maybe I need to get it out more often!! It had been so long since I made a dress that I had to remind myself a little bit. That's bad. I might have to give up sleep so I have more time. Ha.