diy valentines.

I decided to (ever so slightly) step up my DIY game from last year and make a different version of the same class and teacher gifts.

Candy-Free Valentines for the Kiddos:

Because these melted crayon hearts are everywhere, I had to give it a try. A little time consuming, but very easy, and they turned out super cute!

What You'll Need:

• Crayons (I've read that Crayola or more quality brands work best. I'm just lucky that those were the ones in my kiddo's crayon box. We have had so many! I made 36 hearts and used about 2 crayons per heart) 
• Silicone heart mold (bought mine from Amazon) 
• Flat cookie sheet
• A sharp knife (shh! don't tell my husband, you know the one who actually cooks, that I went to town on these bad boys with our 'good' paring knife!) 
• Plastic bags (ideally snack size but I made do with sandwich size) 
• Paper (I used card stock to print on) 
• Stapler
• A little bit of patience :) 

What You'll Do: 

• Preheat your oven to 275 degrees 
• Lay your crayon down on a surface that you don't care about or a cutting board and carefully use your sharp knife to cut the paper on the crayon - if you go along the seam, this makes it very easy. Really dig in because it will come off so much more easily. I started out peeling paper and that is for chumps. The knife method was so much faster! 
• Call your kid over to help. Mine was not interested until I told him that he could break the crayons into pieces
• Have your kid mix colors into the heart-shaped mold until he/she loses interest and wanders away
• As soon as their backs are turned, re-arrange to your heart's content. They will be beautiful! 

• Put the silicone mold onto the flat cookie sheet for some stability and put into the 275 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until all of your crayons melt. 
• Remove carefully so that the marbling of your colors doesn't agitate too much. They should look something like this: 

• Wait 30 minutes before popping the hearts out of the molds or, if you're impatient like I am, put a little bit of ice and water into large Pyrex dish to create an ice bath. Once the silicone cools for a minute or two out of the oven, place the silicone mold into the ice bath and then your hearts will be ready in about 5-7 minutes! 
• Carefully pop the hearts out of the mold. I'm not going to lie, I broke a few -- but you can just re-melt and re-set. So pretty! 

• Put your hearts into your sandwich/snack sized bags
• Type or write something cute (I'm all for bad puns) onto the card stock and then staple onto the bag. Our message on the front says, "COLOR me happy to be your friend! - Nathan" and on the back it says, "Happy Valentine's Day!"

And there you have it! Super cute valentines that cost me only the price of the silicone mold...but it will be put to good use. I am a creature of habit and have an inkling that I'll be doing these for the next few years. 

Super Inexpensive Valentine's Gift for Teachers; 

Also a repeat of last year's gift, even less changed than the kids' valentines. 

What You'll Need: 

• 1 box of Betty Crocker brownie mix, per teacher
• 1 Betty Crocker spatula, per teacher (found at the beloved Dollar Tree!) 
• Paper (I used card stock to print on. Saved this in a Word document so that I don't have to worry about re-sizing next year!) 
• Hot glue gun 
• Double-sided tape
• Twine

What You'll Do; 

• Hot glue the spatula to the brownie box - I did mine at an angle. Make sure that the brownie box can still sit upright 
• Print or write out a sweet, pun-filled message for the teacher and tape onto the brownie box. Our message says, "Ms. Kristin I'm aiming for brownie points! ;) Happy Valentine's Day! - Nathan"  Again, saved this so I have a template already done for next year. 
• Tie twine around the box horizontally at the center (totally optional - no function other than to look cute)

And we have another adorable, inexpensive Valentine's Day gift for the teacher. I forgot to look for brownie's on sale in advance, but even with that oversight this cost about $2.30 per teacher. 

preschool lately.

N's preschool program, aptly named 'junior kindergarten,' has been kicking into high gear lately. The majority of the year so far has been unstructured, with regard to learning letters....coincidentally my biggest concern before he gets to kindergarten. Now they've implemented a letter of the week, show and share based upon that letter, and - get this - homework. They send home a little packet every weekend. It's a great idea to get him used to the routine of having homework and to reinforce what they learn but it is like herding cats. It's not uncommon for N to spend up to an hour on a single worksheet just because he would rather be doing anything but that. It makes me relieved that we delayed starting kindergarten and I'm trying to use this time to spark some curiosity and help him be as prepared as possible.

With the aid of some of our own supplies, including a two-minute sand timer (which works like magic, by the way), we've been able to practice pretty writing regularly at night. This dry erase board from Dollar Tree is great for practice and the gloves (his choice because they make him "evil") made for easy clean up.

Hand in hand with writing has been some fine motor skill practice that, to Nate, is all fun and games.

Thematic show and share has also been fun to have him rifle through his most precious belongings that start with the letter of the week. It was "G" a few weeks ago and he was excited to take in pictures of his grandparents.

Finally, we're continuing our 1000 Books Before Kindergarten journey and we're halfway there! Nate was proud to write his name on an animal and hang it up on the bulletin board in our local library. This has been a great little program that's free and offered in many public libraries. While we have a good number of books at our house, I'm always glad to add in a little more variety to the mix and expose Nathan to new stories.

And that's what's preschool shaped up to look like lately! I'm excited to make some great progress before we get to summer break.

snowzilla.

I was absolutely ecstatic when I received a snowblower this past Christmas, like geeking out happy. I am a lover of all things practical and a snowblower falls squarely into that category. See?

First snowstorm of the winter and wouldn't you know, thirty inches of snow. Look at all of this!

That ten inch snowblower had more than its work cut out for it! With a perfectly honed system of knocking snow down with a shovel and blowing it away, we cleared our driveway in about three hours. Not too shabby since we're not used to getting nearly that much snow here!

It took a bit for Nate to warm up to being outside and, heaven forbid, for snow to get inside a sleeve, hood, glove, etc. and there were a few "moments" ...

But on to the fun stuff! Snowman making, sledding, and general outside fun!

Winter finally came, all at once! :)

nathan-isms, vol. 11.

He's never at a loss for words, that's for sure!

When seeing the bag of candy for trick-or-treaters...
N: For me?! Mom, I love it!!

When playing with some other kids at the library...
N: Let's meet here every week. Can we be library best friends?
Other Kids: Yeah!

During story time before bed, one of the books made me tear up ...
N: [in the sweetest little voice] Don't worry Mom, I can wipe away your tears.
Me: Aww! You're so sweet!
N: [muttering under his breath] Yeah ... I feel like the parent now.

Because we love watching 'Inside Out'...
N: I'm Sadness. Pull me!

My kiddo is up on all of the lingo ... 
Me: You are using excellent manners today!
N: Thanks. I'm kind of nailing it.

After calming down a tearful tantrum ... 
Me: Do you feel better?
N: No, I'm still frustrated ... and ...
Me: And what?
N: Plotting my revenge.

After telling Nate about the Christmas parade and a play date this weekend ... 
N: I'm going to have a new core memory and it's going to be a Joy one!

Preschool "art" ... 
N: It's a finger pointing to an airplane! [demonstrates pointer finger]

When Nathan pulls one over on his grandparents ... 
N: I always get a bowl of ice cream with my Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast!

The backhanded compliment ... 
N: Mom, are you old?
Me: Umm...not too old. I'm 31.
N: Well, your face is still smooth and [with a scrutinizing look] you still have all your teeth. It's not that bad yet.

The unintentional non-sequitur...
Me: I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I have a Justin Bieber song stuck in my head.
N: I know a song about beavers! [continues to sing about beavers for ten minutes]

mom life hacks.

With the holidays coming, the days are going to get even more hectic. Here are my top 10 quick tips that have been lifesavers for me that might help other moms, or anyone with a busy schedule, to wrangle the crazy and preserve a bit of sanity :) 

--1-- Calendar

I live and die by my calendar. It's color coded (everyone in our family has their own color), it has everything about everything, and it keeps me accountable so that I don't forget anything. I personally like to use an online calendar, so that it's easily updated and shared with my husband. To me, our calendar is a thing of beauty!

--2-- Daily To Do List

To do lists motivate me. The act of checking something off of my list encourages me to get through everything, even the things that I really dislike doing (like unloading the dishwasher!). I also write down what was planned for dinner that evening so that I remember to get it started in time. I buy small notebooks so that I can easily keep them in my purse to carry them around and jot things down in. 

To do lists, random thoughts that I jot down, and an excuse to use some washi tape! 

It's also easy to attach a clip and pen to, so that you're always prepared! 

--3-- Command Center

Clutter is not my friend and, while I'm not the biggest fan of things on the side of the fridge, I've found where a command center is really helpful to look at throughout the week. I keep a calendar to keep track of everything, a corkboard for reminders, and a dry erase for meal planning and big events throughout the week. 

--4-- Car Cleanliness

Crumbs happen - with a kiddo in tow, they are unavoidable. Trash piling up in your car can be prevented. A car trash can made from a cereal container and grocery bag has helped to keep the car so much cleaner! Bonus that my kid loves putting trash in, so I never have to ask him to clean up after himself. I also keep a roll of paper towels inside the tote in the car in case there is a monumental mess, along with an umbrella.

--5-- Next Day Set-Up

Okay, a three-part tip here. I'm not sure if I'm the only one that crawls through the morning in a fog until the caffeine kicks in, but it's not my finest time of day. I'm sluggish, I forget things, and I'm more apt to be late. Prepping for the next day the night before helps to save me time! 

Cleaning: A clean house is a happy house. Before bed each night I make sure that all of the dishes are taken care of, the counters are wiped down, the main living areas de-cluttered, the bathroom counters and toilet are wiped down (because, boys), and that everything is ready for the next day. This helps to get the next day started a little easier and also helps to motivate through the next day. 

Breakfast Prep: Somehow using a minute setting up breakfast at night seems to save me ten minutes in the morning. Getting out the cereal container, a bowl, and spoon, setting up the coffee cups, and laying everything out is such a morning time saver! 

Outfit Prep: Okay, so not so much of a "hack" - but it really does save time and streamlines the morning. Picking out clothes the night before, especially if your kiddo helps to pick them, means less arguments about not wanting to wear what's out and insisting on the outfit that's in the laundry. 

--6-- Emails

I have his habit of lying awake in bed at night and thinking of all the things that I need to do the next day and that I might forget. Show and share, taking a specific document into the office, paying a bill, etc. I used to let this interrupt, disrupt, and prevent sweet sleep but I've found that emailing myself a reminder to see first thing in the morning helps to calm the anxiety beast. It may sound silly, but it's been so effective! 

--7-- Note App

Okay, so bordering on neurotic, I also use an app on my phone to jot down any other notes that I need to remember - primarily grocery lists. Can you tell that I am forgetful? :) 

--8-- Meal Planning

Alluded to before in this list, meal planning is another trick to making your week go smoothly, plus it saves me the agony of "what's for dinner?" every night. Every Saturday I clip the coupons, take a look a the current store sales, and my husband and I talk through a meal plan for the week. I don't spend a lot of time looking up deals and clipping coupons (maybe 30 minutes a week), but it definitely saves us quite a bit in groceries! Plus, if you stock up on items that you need for frequently used recipes, then you buy only what you need and can cash in on the sales.

--9-- Pick-up Basket

We all tend to have a lot of "stuff", even if your home isn't cluttered and is pretty organized. Things that we use regularly tend to migrate downstairs with us. I used to spend my evenings up and down the stairs, putting things away. Then there was a life-changing moment when I discovered the pick up basket! Enter a pretty container ....

This blue and white basket/bin lives on our fireplace and its sole purpose in life is to collect the items that need to go upstairs. A toy that needs to go to my son's room? In the basket. A craft supply that needs to go up to my office? In the basket. This way I only need to make one trip to take all of this up at the end of the night and put the items back in their respective homes. Genius!

--10-- Day-to-Day Paper Organization
Paper clutter can be overwhelming, especially the day-to-day paper that comes into your home. I don't like keeping a lot of things on my kitchen counter, but I absolutely love having this paper sorting system in place. I use files for action required, reference, and coupons. When the mail or papers from school, or anything else comes in, it gets sorted immediately and put away. This file organizer isn't too big, either which really limits how much paper you can fit, so it effectively makes sure that you take care of anything that's time sensitive or put away in long-term paper storage.

Well those are my favorite tips for things that work for me and our house to have things run a little more smoothly and have some systems in place to make sure that nothing runs off the rails.

thirty days of thanks challenge.

In the spirit of November and Thanksgiving, I completed the thirty days of thanks challenge again this year and the I'm thankful for the exercise in itself! What a great way to mindfully reflect about all of the good things, big and small, that are in your life. I completed this challenge back in 2013 and did a mini version last summer, if you want to take a look!

Here we go!

• Day 1: Today I'm thankful to be recovering from Halloween, a favorite holiday of both my son and my husband. Check out little man hulking out! We did so much trick-or-treating that today was spent relaxing and trying to get all traces of green off of N's face :) 
• Day 2: I'm still reveling in our awesome Halloween and put this little collage together of every costume that N's ever worn for Halloween. How cute is this?!

• Day 3: Some days I swear that Nate is a carbon copy of my husband. I took him out to run some errands tonight and in Bed, Bath & Beyond, he "pulled a Chris" and set off about twelve of these talking/singing Christmas toys :) 

• Day 4: Today I'm thankful for some true fall weather! There is a crisp, not cold, feeling in the air. The leaves are beautiful! Our next electricity bill will be amazing! (if a bill can in fact be amazing)
• Day 5: We've been watching Inside Out a lot and, much like the little girl in the movie, Nate has an inner goofball island that drives who he is! I love all of his little quirks, even if he does gross things like lick me when I just want to take a picture with him :) 

• Day 6: Today I'm so thankful for my Nana, who celebrated her third heaven anniversary today. I sat and looked through pictures, listened to old voicemails, smiled at the flood of memories, and had myself a good cry. Oh, how I miss her! 
• Day 7: Best laid plans can fall apart quickly ... and that's okay! It's taken me a long time to even consider that as an option, but I'm learning to accept it. We had grand plans today to fill up our Saturday. Then rain came, along with a migraine for me. Sometimes allowing yourself a bit of grace to fall apart or re-prioritize is a huge thing to be thankful for. 
• Day 8: Shopping with my kiddo used to be something that I dreaded, but we've grown out of the days of fearfully running through the store in case of an ill-timed poopy diaper or running away to exercise new-found toddler independence. Instead, he is my right-hand man and helps me navigate through the store. 

• Day 9: What is life without dogs? Our pups are stubborn as anything, but they bring some extra needed chaos and love into our lives. They spend their days roaming around the house to nap in sunny spots and their nights hogging our beds. 

• Day 10: Another Inside Out themed thankfulness thought! Ahh, alliteration. N looked at me today and said, "I'm Sadness. Pull me."

• Day 11: Today I'm so thankful for all of our veterans, past and present, who put everything on the line so that we can enjoy the freedoms that make life so sweet. Both of my grandfathers served, setting tremendous examples for our family. 
• Day 12: I've been loving the Dollar Tree lately to find some fun and inexpensive things for my house. Now that Christmas is right around the corner, I'm starting to explore all the fun Christmas things that they have - including these really fun magnets. N loved putting the different pieces of Santa together. 

• Day 13: Today I celebrated with a bit of ever-illusive ME time! My parents took N out for dinner and Chris got in late from a business trip, which gave me about an hour and a half to myself. I grabbed some necessities from Costco, settled down with a glass of wine (one of the said necessities), and read part of a new book. 
• Day 14: Christmas card pictures! I'll be the first to admit that I stress myself (and the rest of my family) out each year to get these taken, but I love the final results! We're not the best of taking family photos throughout the year, so this is my one guaranteed shot each year. I'm not going to share the photo that we're using on our cards this year (yet), but today the thing that I am thankful for is my ever-goofy son who makes family photo taking an adventure!

• Day 15: I spent a lot of time reading this weekend. I haven't read a book for fun in a long time and I'm absolutely loving this one - The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Album. I really appreciate the imagery, the musical approach, and the story so far. I have a feeling it's going to cause me some tears toward the end, but that just means that I'm invested! :) 
• Day 16: I'm so thankful for my three nephews and (finally!) baby niece. I wish that I lived closer to all of these little goofballs, but I am loving watching them grow up into such awesome kids and Nate sure does adore them, too. 
• Day 17: My friends are the absolute best. It's kind of amazing when people appreciate your own special blend of crazy and still want to spend time with you :) I've gotten especially close with some of the girls from work over the last few years and I really just don't know what I would do without them! 
• Day 18: In prepping for the holidays, I'm especially thankful for our home. It's where we brought N home from the hospital, where he has grown up, and where Chris and I have learned to be parents and better spouses for one another. It's my haven and, while the improvement wish list may always be in the back of my mind, I'm so thankful for this place! 
• Day 19: Thankful for N's teachers today and everything that they've done over the years to take care of my kiddo. Tonight they prepared a Thanksgiving dinner for all of the families and I was more than pleasantly surprised to see what N is thankful for! 

• Day 20: Am I a total nerd to be thankful for a cleaning schedule? Yes, but I am anyway. I've made some small changes and the schedule is probably the best thing I could have done for my sanity as we move into the holidays and life gets even busier! 
• Day 21: Thankful for this kiddo's little mind today. His creativity and imagination keep his little mind busy for hours and the story lines are, more often than not, hilarious. 
• Day 23: Nate can't read yet, but his interest in being read to has skyrocketed over the last six months. Before that we generally read three books a night before bed, but now he initiates the process and generally chooses around twenty books. So we read .... and read and read and read. I generally will read until he falls asleep (ha! that doesn't happen often) or my voice starts to give out (the much more likely of the scenarios). I'm still very worried about him starting kindergarten next fall, but this eases my mind a bit! 

• Day 24: Crafting with kids can be an adventure. I'm finding that these are so much easier to do now that Nate is a little older and we both have fun. And I spend considerably less time worrying about mess. We made these little Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ornaments tonight. So easy to do and we made an awesome little memory in the process! 

• Day 25: Thankful for an unexpected extra holiday from work that will extend my Thanksgiving mini-vacation! 
• Day 26: As we celebrate Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for family: the family that I grew up in, that I married into, and that Chris and I created. We hosted a delicious dinner, had some more than interesting conversation, and this cute little centerpiece actually got us thinking and talking about what we're thankful for! 

• Day 27: Leftovers! After a more than busy day of (Chris) whipping up Thanksgiving dinner and hosting, I have never appreciated leftovers and the microwave more! 
• Day 28: Nate is a trickster who has a great sense of humor - we see this all of the time. And sometimes we see this really sweet, caring soul peek through and it just makes me smile. Nathan spent hours today drawing pictures of soldiers and then devised an entire plan of walking door to door in our neighborhood to leave them on doorsteps. The purpose was for parents to give to their kids who want toy soldiers. Such a sweet idea, right? Adorable but terribly awkward in execution. Thank goodness for my husband who walked around the neighborhood with him tonight...hopefully the neighbors don't mind! 
• Day 29: Decorating for Christmas makes me a bit neurotic to have everything be 'perfect' but I love what the house looks like afterward. The boys decorated most of the tree this year and I only rearranged the ornaments on a very minimal level afterward :) Our house is so pretty right now!

• Day 30: Even though it's always hard to get back into routine after a break from work, I think we appreciate our jobs more than ever this year. Sometimes it's the journey and (especially) the valleys that make you reflect back and rediscover appreciation.

And there you have it! The little, the big, the daily minutiae that makes my heart swell up and put a spring in my step.

be kind, be thoughtful, be genuine, but most of all

BE THANKFUL

halloween.

We had the most fun Halloween and boy are we exhausted! We went trick-or-treating with one of the families in our neighborhood and the boys did street after street after street! Once we got home, curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to see exactly how much loot the kid brought home. Trusty kitchen scale to the rescue! The damage? Over four and a half pounds! I can guarantee that most of it will be going to our office to get it out of the house!

N dressed up as The Hulk this year and, while his costume did come with a mask, I talked him into some pretty awesome make-up ... or at least passable make-up.

I saw this costume as the perfect excuse to yell (there was lots of "HULK SMASH!"). I'll be honest that he wasn't the best at going through the proper boiler plate: door bell ring, open door, "trick or treat," candy, and follow up "thank you." In fact, he told a lady that she was wearing the most terrifying costume that he's ever seen .... she was not wearing a costume. AGH! At least we were on a street on the opposite side of the neighborhood.

In any case, it was a fun-filled night and we had a blast! And, these eyes are simply gorgeous. This little boy has his daddy's eyes.

Our yearly tradition is to close out trick-or-treat by stopping by my parents' house. N promptly emptied about half of their candy into his bag and proceeded to run around in a sugar-induced frenzy. On the way home he happily proclaimed, "This is the best night ever! I am never going to bed!" After five minutes of sitting still on the couch once we got home, he passed out - costume, make-up, and all.

nathan-isms, vol. 10.

Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or do both. This kid says some terribly hilarious things.

Playing dress-up at school...
N: I'm pretending to be a thief, but only of money and diamonds.
[clearly a discerning eye, this one]

The field trip debrief...
Me: How was your field trip?
N: We stole peaches.
Me: You mean picked peaches?
N: I really not sure
Me: Well, did you see any animals?
N: Yeah, but only because we had time to kill.

After driving to school one morning...
N: [in the most calm, nonchalant way] Can you hold onto this today? My tooth fell out.

After telling N to throw away a pair of ripped undies...
N: [to his underwear, with a completely somber little face] I'm really going to miss you.
Me: [snicker]
N: Moooooom! I'm trying to have a moment here!

After reading a book about how vegetables are good for you ... 
N: I really need to take over the world and push the desserts. And make them stop writing stuff like this. It's just so frustrating!