instafriday

oh mercy, y'all it's been a week.
busy, busy, busy.

and i've got pictures to show for it.
so let's get right to it.

i love to purge and throw things away all the time but now that we know we're moving soon, i have been taking any spare moment to go through cabinets and throw stuff out or list it on craig's list.

while ruby was taking a bath last week, i started going through the medicine cabinet.
apparently i am a prescription medicine hoarder.

i guess i'm waiting for a rainy day? or the apocalypse? 

these are all expired by at least 5 years. 

yep. 

if you need some percocet, i've got you covered. 

okay, actually, i don't. i threw them out. 

last weekend we had a friends' sleepover. so. fun.

our friends, zach & erin, have four kids as well and they all love each other and play so well together. 

we always feel like we don't have enough time together so we decided to have a sleepover. 

fun for kids and grownups alike. :)

i love to decorate with meaningful items. 

i try not to keep a piece unless i really love it and/or it has special meaning. 

i'm not a big fan of going to a big store and grabbing a bunch of random decorates to fill a space. 

these are all things my boys have collected.
i hope they always come home with full pockets.
this collection is geode pieces, rocks from family camping and clam shells.
beautiful and meaningful. i love it.

her legs. in heart tights.
sigh. i am in love with her.

my mom shops for my flea market booth as well.
she has great taste and an eye for antiques.
i love these vintage glass dishes that she brought me.
60 years and they still have the tags! so cool.

my sawyer loves to help me cook.
if he sees me cooking at the counter, he runs and grabs a stool and climbs up.  :)
i hope i always remember my days of cooking with my sweet boy.

he helped me make valentines cupcakes. 

and i will say, they were YUM.

meg's frosting is always a hit.

boy valentines, teacher valentines {made using this free printable}, and a happy valentines treat morning. :)

valentine girl. 

not the best pic, but sister rarely stands still. 

wearing her pillow case dress from last year. 

i love that she can wear those for several years. 

 yesterday was Lords & Ladies day for the fourth grade at the boys' school.
it was an all day event and so much fun.

i just had my phone camera so i'm waiting on all the 'real' photos from the other mamas...but here are some glimpses of our day . . .

i'll tell you all about it when i get more photos....but it was really so cool.
a ton of work for the mamas, but so worth it.
i am so thankful for this school and so thankful they get to go there.

they had to make valentines boxes with a medieval theme.
avery planned to make a castle with a dragon coming out with it's mouth open where you put the valentines in.
we worked for days on it.
we were both pretty happy with how it turned out.

okay friends...those are my tidbits from this week....what are y'all up to?
link up your instas with me here....







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valentines week check in.

january and february are supposed to be those slow, cozy up inside, take it easy months of the year.
not really happening this year.
i do have four kids after all.
and i'm crazy enough to be homeschooling them part time and also sending them to a school that is awesome and has big projects and events like Lords and Ladies day.

oh and also, we signed a contract on a house last week.
and also rhea lana's consignment sale is coming up. . . .which means i'm preparing loads of clothes to sell right now plus i will be working at the sale a bunch.

so things are . . . busy around here.
this week especially.

four kids = four kids valentines and four kids valentines parties and four kids special treats for said valentines parties.
my goal is to make this week really fun and not stress my kids out in the process!

avery's fourth grade is having Lords and Ladies day on Valentines.
it's an all day event and it's going to be awesome...but the prep is a little intense.

they each have a medieval character that they will be dressed up all day.
we will have games and events and food all around the medieval theme.

i think it will be really fun day for the kids.
but i will be ready to be done with big projects for a while . . . not that we will be done. . . i will just be ready for it. ;)

okay.....back to my list...

hope you are all having a great week! Pin It

the last two weeks.

before we had kids i read something about little boys that said, boys like guns.
you can have a home with no toy guns, but they will probably create a gun out of legos or tinker toys anyway.
when i taught school i said they couldn't point guns at people.
and that's how we started with our boys.
i'd always say, pretend you're shooting a bird or hunting, let's not shoot at people.
but then. . . well i gave up.
i've got three boys, you know.
and they have a battle to fight.
they are born, no doubt about it, with an urge to fight, to protect, to defend...to be the warrior.
we stopped fighting it and just let them be boys.
although we do encourage them to be the good guy, the hero, the defender.
i'll tell you the truth, we have a whole toy arsenal up in here.
nerf guns, light sabers, water guns, super hero costumes, capes, shields . . ..etc.
i've had other moms ask me what we do about guns....so there you have it.
we have them and we have fun with them.
{also, i will say, that we do have serious talks with our boys about real guns and that they are never to touch them, etc.  our play guns look nothing like real guns, fyi. unless real guns are bright yellow and orange....}

after school piano practice.

finley often sticks his tongue out when he's concentrating....cute.

i'm tryyyying to get better about having him practice throughout the week.

avery does it on his own so i don't have to coerce him.

finley would generally rather play then do something structured. . . any day of the week.

my $5 {yard sale} cowboy boots have been in heavy rotation this winter. 

this is me resorting to whatever means necessary to get to the caffeine.

i was having one of those afternoons and mama needed some dp.

i love my husband dearly, but the man has insanely strong hands and he tends to seal up lids like fort knox. 

i could. not. get this thing open...i used several different methods before resorting to digging through his toolbox for the heavy duty pliers.

i usually do this at least once per winter.

i buy a dollar can of shaving cream for the boys to play in on the table.

i was actually wanting to make our spelling word practice fun.

the boys were so. excited. when i told them to take their shirts off and come to the table.

i squirt a big pile in front of each of them and let them go to town. 

then i read aloud their spelling words, one at a time, and they had to practice it until they got it right.

they love it.

sawyer gets to make shapes and whatever else he wants.

the rule is that they have to keep it on the table and they can't rub it all over their bodies. 

full disclosure:  one of my boys, who shall rename nameless, disobeyed and it didn't end as happy as it started. that's life. 

all in all it was really fun.

and their finger nails got really clean. :)

ruby just started having play time in her exersaucer and johnny jump up this past week. 

finley adores his little sister.

he is very good about sitting by her and talking to her and handing her toys.

sister had her first rice cereal last saturday.

she was a fan.

she kept grabbing the bowl and pulling it towards herself.

she also chomped on the spoon a bunch and generally slurped it down.

it was pretty stinking cute.

and she had all five of us as an audience, cheering her on. :)

two ladies ready for church. :)
ruby wore her valentiney pillowcase dress i made her.
yes, she looked adorable.
i love making her clothes.
wish i could just sit around and sew and create all the live long day.

cupcakes are a must have for any holiday.
this year.....dark choc. with buttercream frosting dyed pink.
i made them for our family and for our potter's house girls.
yum.

finley had his first grade program, "how does your garden groove?" this week.
he is that big piece of corn in front. :)
he even had a line. he was super pumped.
aj left work so he could be there with me.
fin did so great.

monday we had our first snow of the winter and it wasn't even enough to cancel school.
i greeted them after school with hot chocolate.
i really enjoy our afternoon snack times together.
the littles are usually asleep so the big boys and i can talk about their day and spend some sweet time together.

our day of love was very fun.
the boys are so happy and appreciative about any little thing i do for them.
i really enjoy making holidays special for our family.
they kept saying that this was the best valentine's day ever.
i am so thankful for their happy hearts.

we are head over heals smitten with this baby girl.

she is such a joy and delight to our home.

she is so lovely.

what an amazing, undeserved gift.

so happy it's friday....that means two whole days with AJ. :)

his parents are coming in and we are looking forward to lots of fun family time.

what about y'all? what have you been up to?

link up your random moments with jeannett at life rearranged:

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teacher gifts

our kids valentine's parties are today so i had to get these done this week.
but if you need a gift to give next tuesday, you know, on valentines, you can grab the ingredients this weekend and have this ready to go.

i have been inspired by crystal to love on our teachers a bit more.
she's always baking up something and wrapping it all cute to bless her son's teachers.
i love the spurring one another on that happens in the blog world.

anyhow, this gift is a combo of her apple and caramel dip gift idea with tags from eighteen25 (free download).

glass jars would have been cuter....but you know, i was using what i had.
this dip is amazing....it's just a tub of caramel apple dip from the produce section blended with a block of cream cheese.
easy but so yum.
packaged up with a granny smith...it's pretty darn adorable.
i wrote a little message to the teachers on the back of the tag.

just a little something to bless those who bless us.  :)


happy friday friends!



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valentimes

that's what dog the bounty hunter calls valentine's. and i like dog.
i miss him now that we don't have cable. sad times.
moving on....

so i mentioned yesterday that i want to make some crafty valentines for the boys to give out.

i've been looking around on the internets and i'd thought i'd share some of my favorite ideas.

my boys' parties are this week which is why i'm figuring this stuff out now.
you know i don't plan ahead.

so for teacher gifts, i'm thinking i'm going to do this caramel dip & apple idea from little bit funky.

it looks pretty easy and cute.
and this is something i know i would have enjoyed when i was a teacher {for those two whole years}.

i like these tags from eighteen 25 to make them valentiney.

i love these superhero valentines for my big boys to pass out.
they're cute and crafty but still easy and boyish.
they're also from little bit funky and my girl sara, from a life less ordinary.

okay, how adorable are these for little ones?
so cute...teddy grahams and gummy bears. precious.

and one last idea....

cute and simple....just the way i like things.

what are y'all doing for the day of luuuvvvv?
homemade cards? treats? store bought box o' cards?
please share. :)


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paper hearts ~ a simple little craft

just brought a little happy to my mantel this week.

i made a stack of hearts while we watched the cosby show on sunday night.

i ran them through my sewing machine to make a simple valentiney garland.

this is seriously easy.

it makes me smile every time i see it. :)

i used extra scrapbook paper and card stock that i had on hand.

if you'd like to do this without sewing you could punch holes in the hearts and string them on red yarn.

happy crafting!

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the day of luuuvvvv

i love valentines day.
i love all the red and hearts and well....love.

{from littlebitfunky}

i love holidays in general.

a chance to make memories with my boys.

and holidays always involve dessert.

what's not to love?

aj's sweet mom sent us the supplies to make valentiney cupcakes.

perfect. 

my boys love to cook with me.

i know you're jealous of my muffin tins.

aj did the heavy duty whisking part.

i couldn't be bothered to fool with the mixer when i've got him around. 

the frosting happened the next day...while sawyer was napping.

homemade frosting, of course. 

it's so easy and worth the extra effort for sure.

{i use meg deurksen's frosting recipe}

we always start our valentines morning with fun valentiney treats. 

i love seeing my boys faces and hearing their exclamations when i do something special like that for them. 

does this mama's heart good.

my boys surprised me with a very special bouquet.

they each picked the flower they wanted to get me. 

i love it because i can see each of their personalities in their choice. 

and it also makes me smile because sawyer really didn't want to give me his.

he cried and said "my fowler, my fowler...."

eventually he got it and today he has been saying "mama's fowlers?" :)

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