Happy Valentines Day

This Valentine Time has been fun. There has been a lot of preparing and craft making this year. Sorry for so many pictures, but I've been busy and want to share!

Here are the Valentines that Zach and Madison handed out to their little friends at playgroup. A dinosaur fit Zach perfectly and the butterfly one was perfect for Madison

Another Valentine the kids helped to make was for their grandparents. Great Grandpa and Grandma Jenson, Nani and Papa and Grandpa and Grandma Wessel. The kids had fun getting their thumbs painted and sticking them on the paper.

The last valentine made "this" year was for Zach's NEW nursery class at church. The kids had fun popping the balloons and getting the candy.

We also made heart sugar cookies for not only the playgroup valentine party, but for the girls I visit teach as well. Zach was such a great helper pushing down all the cookie cutters

Good thing he was wearing his apron because he got SO messy!

This is the heart bouquet that I made for the 3 girls I visit teach. I baked them with the sticks in. Surrounding them are little conversation hearts, which is exactly what I tried to make the cookies look like.

Now on to the Crafts I made this year

In the frames are pictures from last valentines day

 I made everything you see here (expect the glass jar and candy)



 Jake cut the wood for me and I painted the blocks and cut out the vinyl on my cricut

 I saw this idea, but with actual kisses instead of hearts. I wanted a more lasting craft so I found the little wooden hearts at Michaels and painted the whole thing...with glitter, because it makes things more fun. Each day you turn over the next heart counting down to Valentines Day

Here is my Mantel

 Again Jake Cut me all this wood and i went to work painting, covering with paper and applying vinyl letters (and ribbon)

 I got these wooden letters at Joann's. They were already white, so no painting there...wahoo. I just had to cover them with scrapbook paper and glue them together.

 Same thing with the XOXO

 I bought the cute Valentine fabric at Joann's and just cut and sewed onto some ribbon to make my banner.

 The Mailboxes I bought at Target in the dollar section. I used my cricut again to cut the vinyl. The little stands I had to piece together and make. I found the different pieces at Michaels in the wood section. Then glued and painted.

 Everyone gets a mailbox for goodies

 The heart wreath was the thing that took the longest. I bought foam tubing at lowes for like 1.35 and Jake shaped it into a heart for me. Then I cut out on my cricut the glitter felt. Cut into 3" circles and then folded into half and then half again and you pin it into the wreath. Repeat about a billion times and you end up with this.

 I made these little conversations hearts too. Bought the hearts at Michaels and painted and put vinyl wording on.

 I bought these cute vases at Target in the dollar section, but they were 2.50. I then had a friend teach me how to make these cute paper flowers. I stuck them on my paper green striped straws. I also made the table runner underneath the flowers

Again, Wood, Paint, Paper and Vinyl. Tada!

 These blocks I actually made for my bathroom to sit on my toilet. I tied them all together with red tulle that I had

 This heart garland I cut out on my cricut too using the Love Struck cartridge. Glued it on the ribbon an draped it on my mirror in my bathroom

 This apron I also made. I cut it out from another apron and did a little sewing. I used ribbon for the straps and sewed a ribbon bow on as well.

It's so nice to finally have some decorations for Valentines Day and to know that I made them with my own two hands is even better.

We hope you all had a Very Happy Valentines Day!

The Happiest Place on Earth

We got Disneyland Passes!

We took the kids last friday. First we went on the Snow White ride because it was the shortest line. Not the best decision. Snow White is pretty scary! This is Madison and I waiting to get on the ride.

Next we went over to Peter Pan, which  had the longest line for kiddie rides. The kids liked it, but weren't thrilled.

Right Next to Peter Pan is Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I remember Loving this ride, but I forgot it is also scary. Madison cried! When I asked Zach if he liked it he said "NO". We won't be going on that one again. They did happen to like the car out front though

 Zach with Mr. Toad.....so cute!

Since the last ride was a Bust, we asked Zach what ride he wanted to go on and he pointed to Dumbo.

Dumbo was a success. They both enjoyed that ride.

Don't have pictures, but we then headed over to Big Thunder Mt. Zach was able to go on that one and My friend Amanda watched Madison. Wasn't sure what the reaction was going to be because it is kinda intense. When I asked Zach if he liked it, he said 'NO', but when I asked if he wanted to do it again, he said "yes".

We then went to Splash Mt., but they said Zach wasn't tall enough. They didn't really check at Big Thunder, so he got on that one by chance. I was kinda upset when they said he couldn't ride. We will be on the search for TALL shoes for Zach so he can go on those rides. 

This is Zach and Madison in Toon Town. Zach loved this car. He would step out to give others a turn and as soon as they got out, he would get back in again. We had to pry him away.

Both Zach and Madison liked the Winnie the Pooh ride and the Circus Train, but the all time winner that day was the Buzz Lightyear ride. Zach LOVED it would be an understatement. That is going to be one ride we are gonna have to go on a few times each time we go.

Zachary's Train Birthday

Zachary's 3rd Birthday was a Chugaricfic good time

We threw Zach a Train Party because he REALLY likes trains.

(sorry these are pictures of only the decorations. My sister took pictures of the rest of the party and I haven't gotten those from her yet)

I made Zach's banner out of some old Jeans and red fabric I already had on hand. It fit the color's for the party so well.

No Train party is complete without an All Aboard Sign

Just in case you needed to catch another "train" we had the Arrivals and Departures listed

Now come the games

We had Hopscotch on the Rails

Choo Choo Musical Tracks

Just like Musical Chairs except they went around the railroad tracks and stopped on a train when the music Stopped.

Sadly Zach did not want to play the games, but he did have fun playing and stopping the music, which was "I've been working on the Railroad".

 We used black electrical tape for the tracks and I cut out all the different trains on my circut

 Then the kids had to Fuel the Engine. They were given Black Bean Bags, aka Coal, and had to get it into the holes.

We built the train out of left over boxes. The wheels were actually cake circles and I cut out the number and letters on my circut

 Here are the favors

Each kid received a Hat, Bandanna and Train whistle upon entering the party

Each kid and Adult left with a Jumbo Cookie

The Cake

The cake was surrounded my train tracks. Not my best work on the cake, but with my little one yr old running around, I think it turned out well

This was Zach's face when everyone was singing Happy Birthday to him. He sat down and started already blowing out his candles....Then we all started singing and he got all quiet and mad looking. He didn't even want blow out his last candle by the end of the song.

Every Time anyone would wish him a Happy Birthday, he would say NO. You would ask him if he's 3 and he would say NO. I guess he didn't want to get older. After the party I asked him if he had a fun. He said Yes Play...meaning he had fun playing with everyone. When I asked him if he had a good birthday party he would say NO.

Even if he doesn't want to be 3 and I don't want him to be 3, we have a 3 year old in our house now!

Merry Christmas 2011

CHRISTMAS EVE:

We spent Christmas Eve opening up all our presents because Jake had to work Christmas Day.

The kids had a blast tearing through all those packages

 Zach had to help everyone open their presents

 This is his "cheese" face

 Even Jake is excited :)

 When Zach opened the Dr. Set he kept going "mommy, mommy look"

 Love this little excited face

 All of his "booty" from the night

 Madison wasn't too happy I made her sit their to take a picture

 Then we HAD to make cookies for Santa

 Zach is my good little helper. I even made him a apron (and Madison) so they can help momma

CHRISTMAS MORNING:

 Christmas Morning Came and Zach didn't want to wake up. (note this is at 9am)

 Madison had fun helping Mommy try to get Zach up to see what SANTA had brought

 Madison got her own set of wheels from SANTA

 Zachary got his very own Kitchen....He LOVES it

 Christmas breakfast was Christmas tree waffles. I dyed the waffles green and made them into a tree shape with a whip cream star on top. (to bad I forgot all about the fresh fruit ornaments....instead they had syrup garland)

We forgot all about our stockings. So after church the kids got to open even MORE presents. (don't mind Zach itching his nose)

Jake came home a little after 4pm, so we were able to have Christmas Dinner together.

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was so fun watching the kids faces when they would open up presents. I can't wait to do it all again next year.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and are wishing you a Happy New Year!