Surprise Party!

Phew…what a weekend! Michael and I and Shendy had been planning this Surprise 60th Birthday Party for their mom for weeks and the day before the party, I get a call from preschool to come pick up Meeka…she has chicken pox! I was already stressed about the party and now this. Of course I can’t take her, but it broke my heart to leave her at home. Luckily we have great sitters, so I was not worried about her being in good hands, but it was still hard. But, the party turned out great AND it was a surprise!! Completely worth the work! Happy Birthday Debbie!

luckily she was not in pain!

Meeka was covered in spots

The tables

The centerpieces
(We used her favorite candy to add some fun flair!)

JoJo helping set up

Name cards / Menu

The sweets table

Cupcakes

 Cake and 6 fun flavors of cupcakes

Shendy made this beautiful collage of pictures

noisemakers for the big SURPRISE!
(gotta have some fun!)

The room

Michael and Sammy Reese

The boys thought this trash can was so fun!

SURPRISE!!!!!

Logan

Melina

Michael and his parents

Carson eating a Watermelon Cupcake

Sammy Reese decided to try Watermelon too!

The the end of the night, the boys were going crazy in the hallway of the Country Club!

Kiwi Crates: A Crafty Idea

Who likes mail? Me, Me!!! And my kids! And what’s better than getting a package? Getting one filled with projects! For Christmas this year my kids received Kiwi Crates from their Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. They got a 3-month subscription. There is one box for the girls and one for the boys, and because there is a sibling add-on option with Kiwi Crate, each box will come with the extra supplies needed for 2 kids, for only a couple bucks more! Each month they will arrive filled with Art and Science Projects! What kid wouldn't like that? 

Check out our first box!

The green box arrived!

Its wrapped up so pretty, with a sneak peak on the lid
about whats inside.

Each child got a pair of scissors. There was only 1 paint box,
but 2 brushes (the sib add-on).

The first project was making a
penguin bowling game

The box came with 6 penguins for each child.

And a sticker sheet and a marker for each child.

They loved making their penguins!
Most of the penguins have a story about
why they look like they do (made up by my kids).

The cardboard penguins were sturdy.

Each child also received a ball and
a set of score cards with different ways to set-up
the penquins.

The next project was creating postcards of Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights in Alaska.

They started by using oil pastels and drawling the lights.

And then they painted with watercolors
over top of the pastels.

The postcards will be great for sending Thank You Notes
or just a little something to say Hi! They are heavy
cardstock, so great quality.

The boxes also came with a penguin ice cube tray. There is a little booklet of science experiments to do with ice too. We
made the ice cubes, but we did not get to the science experiments last weekend. Hoping to get to them this weekend.

So if your looking a a unique gift for your kids or someone else's, or you just want some easy crafty and fun things to show up in your mailbox, so you don't have to plan out activities, then Kiwi Crates are the thing for you!



I did not receive any compensation from Kiwi Crates, I just posted this for your knowledge because I think they are great!

Christmas 2012

I know it is 2013, but I have not archived my photos from Christmas  (this blog is my scrapbook- the way I keep everything we do organized) because we ended the year and welcomed the new one with sickness in our house. Everyone but Logan got sick and it has been a long 2 weeks, but we are all on the mend now, so here's hoping to a better 2013!

Woodland lights reflected in the pond

Grandma & Grandpap (my parents) came to visit for Christmas this year! It was a great visit and so nice to have them with us! We got to do some fun things at home and around town with them! We made gingerbread houses & sugar cookies. We visited the Air Force Museum, took them for Sushi and saw Woodland Lights.

  

My little reindeer

Logan is a penguin

 Christmas Eve we went to church where Logan was in the drama and in the choir. It was a lovely service and the kids all sat beautifully! We came home and had a FANTASTIC meal around the dining room table before getting ready for Santa!

Logan singing in Christmas eve

The kids all made reindeer food.

We sprinkled it on the front lawn 

so the reindeer could find our house!

Cookies for santa

Letters for santa too!

Merry Christmas eve!

Oh Look…santa was here!

he was good this year!

On  their way downstair christmas morning

wait…STOP…have to get a pix!

Check it out…santa came!!!

Christmas Day we just enjoyed the kids and did not worry about taking pictures while we were opening. All of the kids did a good job at being patient and waiting for others to open, except JoJo…she plowed through, was disappointed in her gifts and then was disappointed when she was finished and everyone else still had gifts. We had a nice relaxing day in all though.

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The day after Christmas we traveled to Lexington Kentucky, where we lived when Logan was 15 months until Melina was born (Logan was 2 months shy of 3). While we lived there Logan made his first best friend, Xavier, and Felicity and I clicked instantly. We were together on average 6 days a week and we would talk on the phone for hours when we weren’t together, even when we knew we were going to see each other in 2 hours! Shortly after we moved to Athens, Felicity and her kids moved back to Australia, where they are from. We have not seen then since then and it was great treat to be able to spend some time with them and to meet Gerard and baby Noah! The kids connected instantly and within an hour were professing how they really were BFF’s! It was fantastic! Now to get to Australia….

The crew!

felicity, michael and me (with some kiddos!)