Memorial Weekend 2020

If you saw all of this on Instagram already, I apologize.  We had the best weekend, so I must recap it here as well.  When our family trip to Nashville was cancelled {thanks Covid}, my sister, her husband, and their daughter decided to come to spend the weekend with us.  So, I made a little plan for the weekend.

And then watched the forecast turn to rain every day.  :(  But luckily, most of the rain came each night, so we continued as planned through the day.  Plus my sister showed up with red, white, & blue everything -- hats, shirts, balloons, paper products, etc.  We were determined to enjoy every minute of this weekend.  Boat rides, swimming, Ranger/JEEP/4 wheeler rides, s'mores, lunch at the marina, and all the red, white, & blue food you can imagine.  We started working through our Summer Bucket List and found our days filled with fun activities like eating Breakfast on the Boat, making Donuts in the Driveway, and spending the entire day on the water.

Easter Baskets Fillers for Kids

I went ahead and ordered everything for the kids' Easter baskets {& Cullyn's birthday} since I'm pretty sure we won't be shopping in person for a while!  If you're looking for some fun basket fillers here are a few ideas...

HANDMADE/SMALL BUSINESS

+ Adorable, handmade name puzzles

+ Outdoor activity coins -- we have these & love them.  Perfect for gas breaks on road trips, too.

+ Peeps style bath bombs

+ Pastel playdough

+ Rainbow pencil holder

+ Personalized Easter plates

MORE FILLERS

+ Fuzzy bunny pen

+ Kid sized, stainless steel water bottle

+ Pastel puffy pens

+ Rainbow watercolor gel

+ Easter squish foam

+ Egg chalk & the best bubbles{every year!}

+ The cutest egg book

+ Nail polish for J & for me ;)

+ Slime eggs because my kids still think slime is life

+ Kids journal

EVERY YEAR

+ Swimsuit

+ Sandals
+ Sunglasses & Towel

Resurrection eggs - we bought these before Easter last year and the kids really love them!

Valentine's Favorites for Kids

GIFTS
We like to get the kids a little gift on Valentine's Day.  It varies each year, sometimes it's candy, lipgloss, nail polish, bath bombs, journals, etc.  This year Jordyn is getting this suitcase because she's been using this one {in a different print} since birth and it's getting a little small.  Cullyn is getting this TreasureX thing that he couldn't believe Santa didn't bring him.  For the record the first time he mentioned it to Santa was Christmas Eve!  Our favorite heart themed book is In My Heart which talks about feelings.  Jo Witek has several cute books!  I also have my eye on this one and this one that may have to be added to the collection this year. Jordyn loves her pink camera and rose gold microphone.  This little doll is discontinued {it was Land of Nod} but there are several cute ones here.  And of course, both kids still love their Magnatiles!

CLOTHING
This tee for me.  This sweater & headband for the girl.  Be Kind & Love More top.  And this top for my little wanna be Paleontologist.

RECIPES
Valentine's week calls for all.the.hearts and/or all the pink/red food you can imagine at our house.  Heart shaped sandwiches, pizzas, desserts.  I like to make a festive little trail mix with stuff in the pantry {pretzels, marshmallows, m&ms, chex, raisins, and of course Conversation Hearts!}  Valentine's themed breakfasts are super easy too!

DECOR
We keep the Valentine's Day decor real simple at our house.  I usually just decorate the mantle with a sign, a couple red and pink trees, and a festive garland.

TRADITIONS
How we celebrate Valentine's Day really depends on what day of the week it falls on and what activities we have scheduled for that night.  Over the years we have booked a sitter and went out to dinner {easier when we lived in Des Moines}, ordered a heart shaped pizza in {also easier when we lived in a town that actually delivered pizza -- ha!}, or left the kids with my sister.  This year we're trying to do date nights every Friday {it's not going that well -- thanks basketball!} and it's my week to plan, it's also the also weekend of basketball -- praise.the.lord!  So I'm not sure how it will play out.  I love the idea of making it a tradition to get the whole family dressed up and go out to a nice dinner together.  We'll see...

VALENTINES
I used to spend hours finding the perfect Valentine's from Pinterest or Etsy and spend a million dollars on supplies/Etsy and then give them to all of the kids' friends, classmates, teammates, etc. And last year it finally clicked...in less than a week all of that was in the trash and nobody cared but me.  Seriously, the kids could have cared less.  So here is my PSA to all the mamas of littles.  Give your kids $5 and take them to the Dollar Store to pick out whatever they want for their friends.  It might just be the most freeing thing you've done this year! ;)

Previous Valentine's Posts::
2015 Valentine's | Our 2014 Valentine's | Our 2013 Valentine's Day and Night | 2012 Valentine | 2012 Valentine's Day | 2011 | 2010 | 2009

New Years Eve

Happy Halloween

I'm glad I got this picture from a Trunk or Treat a couple of weeks ago, because there were no photos last night.  It was snowing and so darn cold!  On top of it, we didn't start trick or treating until many people were done since Jordyn had gymnastics.  I guess it's just the phase we're in right now.  I'm not sure what will happen when basketball and wrestling start in a couple of weeks!  I thought this meme floating around Facebook was fitting...

we legit didn't even carve pumpkins this year.  I was laughing with a coworker because when the kids were in preschool I wrapped little juice boxes with white tape and added googly eyes to make them look like mummies.  This year for the Halloween party I send a jug of Hawaiian Punch and some Great Value cups to school with the kids.  I don't even know who I am anymore!  haha!

Tonight we have no practice, so I'm redeeming myself!  I'm planning to make GHOULash and Mummy Dogs and read our Halloween books.  After that I've promised the kids a movie night, so I think we're going to watch Double Double Toil and Trouble from back in the day.  :)

I hope you all have a fun Halloween Night!

Oh, and this is for after the kids go to bed...

You're welcome! ;)

Christmas 2018

Our 1st REAL Christmas Tree!

10 photos is what I got before my battery died -- go figure!  But I had to post this because we had the most memorable tree finding experience!  30 seconds into our 'hunt' Cullyn took a snowball to the face {from Adam}.  Luckily there were no tears.  The didn't have a ton of fir trees {3 to be exact} and the ones they did have here way {& by way I mean down the hill, past the pond, over the mud path, across the dam, down the hill and in the corner -- honestly!} far away.  The trek to find them wasn't bad, downhill mostly, but the hike back up was brutal {just ask Adam who was carrying our 8.5 foot tree!} All of that was funny, but we truly had a great time.  We don't have snow yet at our house, so lots of snowballs were thrown and a snowman was even created. 

iPhone pictures...