100 Days of School and Toddler Time

On January 19th it was the 100th day of school, the whole Kindergarten class had a special day to celebrate.  I volunteered to help and I thought it would be more like a party, but it was more of a day full of activities celebrating the number 100.  Which, really is prefect for Kindergartners since counting to 100 is a goal that they should all achieve by the end of the year (of course at the “Meet the Principle” day, three months before Christian started Kindergarten he was happy to announce to her that he already knew how to count to 100 so it’s a little old hat for him).  It was a cute day and they read a “Fancy Nancy” Book about the 100th day of school. Had a snack with one stick pretzel and two marshmallows to make it look like “100”.  They drew a picture of themselves today and a picture of what they will look like when they are 100 years old (some of the little boys drew the funniest pictures with tufts of hair above their ears and riding in wheelchairs that made me laugh and laugh they were so cute). They also made glasses and a hat that said 100.  I did a game with counting bears to try to get as close to 100 as possible and there was another game where you match the numbers you pick out with a big number line that spanned the hall.  If they matched all those they got a cookie.  I was really impressed with the fun activities they had to celebrate 1oo days.

Here’s a photo from my camera of Christian sporting his 100-day gear.

That same day, I also did another bulletin board for Christian’s class to celebrate snow.  Christian helped me create the snowflakes the night before so I was able to slap it up on the wall pretty quickly during lunch which was good because as soon as I was done with that I needed to help Christian’s teacher get ready for the 100 day celebration.

This is what it looked like once I added the snowmen that Christian’s class made the day before. 

They each made a snowman and wrote a story on the tummy about it.  Christian’s of course was a knight snowman who defended his little sister (it’s the one with a sword).

And not to leave out Vivian, I’ve been taking her to Toddler Time at the Library as often as she will let me.  She is actually a little home-body and wants to stay home with me so sometimes I fight her to go out, because let’s be honest, Mommy likes to get out once in a while and leave the house the way it is.  Once we’re there though, she is very happy to play and though she’s one of the tiniest ones there, she can hold her own.  Here’s a photo from my phone of her singing  and dancing along to the music.

Vivian is a very good singer and is now sitting with a hymnal on her lap for the first hymn at church and sings her own words.  She really loves music and also “plays” the piano everyday after lunch in an effort to elude me from giving her naps. 

Little Mommy and a glimpse around our home

This month we’ve spent the majority of the time trying to get over various colds at our house.  But that doesn’t mean we haven’t kept busy.  The kids have enjoyed playing with the toys they got in December, and I enjoyed setting up various fun things I got for Christmas around the house (with Jared’s help of course…otherwise, I would have had to use a ladder besides grow another pair of arms).

This series of photos is from one night when I was trying to talk Vivian into coming into her room to get dressed for bed.  Apparently, she was too busy shopping with her babies to come.

The photo above is her getting indignant at me for asking her to come down the hall to her room….she’s about to chew me out if you can’t tell.

This next photo is of the kids in the master bedroom.  It kind of illustrates that this is the most boring room and that I really need to figure out how to make this room a little more romantic.  I guess I need to focus on this in the next month because this is the last room to be painted (along with the master bath).  The totes are not here anymore but how Vivian is laying  with her line up of dolls is pretty typical of how you’ll find her if she’s watching a show.

Here’s a little glance at our loft.Here is my happy green wall at the top of the stairs.  When we moved to Arizona, I couldn’t stand the lack of green.  This room has been my therapy for the lack of green and helps calm me and lift my mood every time I’m in it.  I personally think it’s a great room to hang out as a family in.  The picture is a chalk on black paper that Jared bought at a silent auction before we were married.  I had it framed last year for his Christmas present.  The Family Home Evening sign was one of my Christmas gifts this year that I’m so excited about!  The branch was found on a hunt with my sister this year after Christmas (I found it for $11 what luck!).  I really like my wall!

Kitty-corner from my green wall is one of my on-going projects…the family tree wall.  As you can tell, I’ve had a difficult time acquiring some of the photos I need.  Hopefully that will be remedied soon….then I’ll do another update with it complete.  Also, does anyone know what that stuff is called to keep your photos from dancing on the walls and where you can get it?  I’d really appreciate knowing.  

The next part is a little display I have in the bookcases that flank the other part of the green wall.  Below is my favorite little corner to sit.  The art on the wall is just a photo I took last year of the neighbor’s orange tree and then had it enlarged and framed it in an IKEA poster frame.  It was the least expensive option to get some color into the room.  I was really pleased the other day when my friend Austin came over and commented on how much she likes it.

This next photo is of our family resolutions that we have for the next year.  I decided that it would be easier to remember what we were resolving to do if we actually had it written down and displayed.  So I used Smilebox to create a quick list and had it printed with some other photos.

The next photo is a corner of the Living room of the nightstand I found at Goodwill for $10.  I refinished it with Rust-Oleum Brand’s Leather Kit.  Then I lined it with scented drawer liners and then filled it with sheet music because I honestly have a problem with how sheet music get’s bent if it’s standing on it’s side loosely in bookcase or too difficult to take out of the bookcase if it’s stuffed in.  This has made it much easier to even feel like playing.  I’m glad I found this!

Here are some pictures of the kids playing in the loft.  These are from Tuesday while Jared was at Scouts so I got to enjoy some time with the kids all by myself.  If I remember to bask in my getting to hog the kids to myself rather than feeling annoyed that Jared’s not there, we have lots of fun.  It’s all about attitude isn’t it?

I had to pull out the camera when after Vivian’s bath she insisted that she needed to wear a bow in her hair.

Here is Christian staking out the books we’re going to read for story time.  I so enjoy that my kids love to be read to.

If you leave the loft and turn down and look at the end of the hall, you can see my Santa gift from this year…

A beautiful big full-length mirror.  I have been needing one of these for a while.  It’s difficult to know how you look head-to-toe if you can’t see yourself from head-to-toe.  This lovely baby is at Wal-Mart by Better Homes and Gardens if you need a mirror yourself.  The best thing about this is that it’s under $50 unlike any other framed mirror I’ve found of this size.

If you take a right past the mirror, you’ll end up in Vivian’s room where I’ve been having lots of fun crafting this month. Of course, I’m not finished with Vivian’s room, it’s a work in progress (along with everything else), but I’ve been enjoying little projects to spruce it up and I thought I’d share a little of what I’ve been up to.

Here are the kids enjoying  a cuddle in the rocking chair together.  Below is a frame that I bought at Goodwill and made into a bow holder!

I also refinished another frame with the darker wall paint I used in Vivian’s room.  I thought this picture of Jesus from a used calendar looked nice with the pink.

These frames were also found at Goodwill that I just used a trusty can of spray paint to make them look lovely.Jared was really sweet and helped me install these shelves that a finished from Hobby Lobby.  I have been very pleased to have somewhere to put more fragile things.  It’s a great place to display them in Vivian’s room safely out of reach.

I really am loving Vivian’s lovely pink room and she seems to enjoy it too.  Here’s a funny picture of the kids playing around while Jared was helping me hang the frames.  I love these kids!  They are so much fun….I also love making our home full of special touches for them too.

New Year’s 2012

On New Years Day, after our 8:30 am church meeting, we decided to stop by the park and take photos of the kids in their nice clothes since they just looked extra cute that day.  They only problem with that idea is that they were a wee bit tired and Vivian usually won’t look at the camera anyway…not on purpose.  But we did get some darling photos of the kids, even if the light wasn’t ideal at that time of day.

My handsome boy.

What a doll!

At one point, Christian was teasing Vivian by hiding behind this tree, it made for some cute photos!

My three favorite people in all the world!

My boys…so handsome.

Vivian was not in the mood to hold still…can you tell?

My handsome young man and I.

Christian wanted to take some photos of Jared and I.  The funniest thing about when he does this is that he wants to pose us and every other pose he will say “now KISS!”

Vivian was getting tired and only wanted daddy at that moment (it changes sporadically who she will choose). 

This is when we decided to walk back to the car.  She perked up when we said we were going home to take a nap (“What? A nap?  I’m much to energetic to take a nap!”)

I thought this was a precious picture of Christian walking back to the car through the leaves.  He usually is 20 paces or so ahead of everyone.

We went home and that evening had a FHE about resolutions and wrote down what our resolutions would be for the year.  I know a lot of people having been talking about not making resolutions…blah, blah, blah, because they’re never going to be fulfilled, but I personally think that they are a way to reflect on what we want to become and how we plan on getting there.  It’s a point where we say “Hey, I’d like to do better at this or that” but you have to be realistic and realize that it won’t happen all at once that you change but that you’re trying.  It has taken me 2 years to get all of the baby weight off from both kids, but that doesn’t mean that if I didn’t immediately start losing weight after Vivian was born right before the New Year of 2010 that I had “fallen off the wagon” it just meant it was going to take time.  I love that the New Year symbolizes rebirth and starting fresh because that’s what is so great about the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that we can start over, repent and be renewed.  I hope that this year I will become a better person than what I am.  I have so much room for improvement and so many areas I come up short in, I hope that I will be able to change some of those areas.  May we all have a beautiful and renewing New Year!