Happy Birthday MiMi

MiMi celebrated her Birthday on Sunday March 30th.  Happy Birthday MiMi!!!

She came up to NWA on the Thursday before her Birthday so we could all celebrate together.  The boys got excited about her visit. Matt and Bekah came over too.

Here the boys are making MiMi Happy Birthday signs for the fireplace

We got out the Birthday decorations and the boys helped me get everything ready for MiMi's party

stir fry was on the menu so Alex helped me prep the veggies

he was a good helper

all done and marinated. 

The Birthday place settings

Next up...dessert.  I wasn't sure what to make.  I wanted it to be something the kids could help make and that Alex could eat.  Bekah said she would help me make some dairy free sugar cookies, and Alex of course offered to help.

We frosted the cookies too.  The bottom row are initials for everyone that was at the party - it was Bekah's idea

We all fit around the dinner table!

Bekah's Birthday was March 16th.  We didn't get to go to her Birthday party and still had her gift so we gave it to her this night too.  We got her some fun summer stuff to play outside with but her favorite part of the gift was the Steelers shirt we got her!  We bought this Black Friday.  we were excited about it and finally got to give it to her. 

The kids with MiMi about to eat some cookies!

Happy birthday MiMi!!!

It's that time...

Back in March I had to take Max to register for Kindergarten!!

Can you believe it?! 

When did he get big enough to go to school on his own?

when did he get so big we can't throw him up in the air

We love our little Max so much

but he's not so little anymore... (shaggy hair Max)

He has become the best big brother

I love to watch them hang out and play....they are best friends

Max will do great in Kindergarten....he has the best personality.  he can make anyone smile

he loves to play and has a great imagination

he loves to draw

and he's getting pretty smart!

He loves to build and learn new things

my big boy

he's become my best buddy over the last few years being home with him everyday

He's become someone else's best buddy too :)

My little guy is getting big now

I can't believe he just turned 5!

he's our big boy now

We are so proud of him

so get ready Apple Glenn Elementary....HERE MAX COMES!!!!

 Registration Day

Lots of snow left over from the storm....we headed to Registration

The boys colored pictures while I filled out forms

We took a quick tour of the school

and took some pictures

Max will be back in August!

Where have I been? What haven't I been blogging?

NEW DESK!!! OFFICE RENOVATION PROJECT

That's where I've been...computerless

So I am on a facebook yard sale site.  I find great deals on it, it's fun to look through, and I even sell quite a bit of stuff on it.  It's fun for me and the boys to sell something we don't need and than go get some cash and spend it on fun things.  Last week I sold a jogginb stroller, an old play camera, 4 dresses, an old computer desk, and made over $100 - just by uploading a few pictures and meeting up with them.

So...a few weeks ago I was looking on the site and someone put a HUGE computer desk on there.  I thought it was a decent price.  I asked them if they would take $150 less and they said yes - I was pretty sold.  I talked to Mike about it.  We've always wanted a big computer desk with lots of space and room to put all of mike's history books.  Our office before was pretty dinky....we even had a $50 "scrapbook" table from Sams up.  We went to look at the desk and decided we really wanted it.  My dad let us borrow his truck the next day so Mike took a long lunch and we got it just the two of us from Bella Vista to our house....I mean garage :)  after we did all that moving we didn't have enough energy to actually get it into the house.

We moved it in piece by piece day by day and got our friend Matt Fox to help with the rest.  Finally...it was in!  I spent one afternoon getting all of Mike's books from the garage and putting them on the shelf.  These books have been in storage since March 2011 when we found out we were pregnant with Alex and Mike's office had to be turned into a nursery. It was so fun to look through them and dust them off and display them.  Below are some pictures from our adventure.

The whole time our computer was in pieces so no internet except on my phone, so I didn't really blog. Now that we have a new desk, computer up and ready and internet, I thought it was time to catch up.  Thanks for being patient.  

Trip one of two

trip two of two

 We drove soooo slow in dad's truck.  We tied everything down so tight but we were so nervous.  It was so windy. I think we topped out at 45 on the bypass.  We didn't lose anything so it worked.

Mike putting the big two pieces together

oh my...I looked over and Alex was sticking his hand through the cord hole

the desk is getting put together!  Alex is loving"his" new desk.

the desk is finished!  We love it.  

I thought it would be a few years before we got the office nicer and more like the way we have wanted an office. I was excited to find such a good buy and it actually work out.  It was a LOT of work getting it transported and getting it put up in our house, but very worth it. I'm excited Mike's office is starting to look more like he's always wanted to.

Craft time!!!

I just finished 3 craft projects I thought I'd share. 

Craft  #1

So I went to pier one and saw these adorable Easter bunny ear napkin holders.  I wanted them!  But they were $3 each, and I wanted 10, I didn't really feel like spending $30 on napkin holders so I asked my sister if she thought we could make them.  We already had the burlap and hotglue, so it'd be free, and that way we could make them for me, her, my mom, and Jennie. 

Pier One Example

 Well timing was perfect because March 2nd and 3rd we got snow and ice so Aunt Kelley came to stay with us.  We decided to tackle the bunny ear napkin holder project during the storm. I think they turned out pretty cute.

the ring part of the ear is a paper towl or toilet paper roll.

Now everytime Alex finds an emtpy roll he yells - lets save these for Aunt Kelley!

On the first day of lent, even though there was still ice and snow, I put up our cross and our Happy Easter flag.

I got in the closet and found some old decorations for our table.  The placemats are actually from Alex's nursery when we attempted to hang them up on the ceiling (Fail).  I did buy one yard of cheveron fabric on sale at hobby lobby for "fake napkins" and I bought a few new burplap flowers for the centerpiece, and some updated Easter eggs.  Here is the final Easter look

Home made burlap bunny ear napkin holders

Made 4 for the bar area too

CRAFT #2

I wanted the boys to be excited about Easter, similar to what they were for Christmas.  I wanted them to better understand the season of Lent, why we recognize it, and what we can get out of it. Too often kids don't talk about Easter at all, than just focus on the Easter bunny the week of - celebrate Easter that day, and than forget about it.  I wanted the kids to get more out of Easter this year, me and Mike too. I wasn't sure what to do until our Church handed out a booklet with 40 prayers in it.  One for each day in Lent.The prayers were written by members of our church of all ages.  I decided to stuff 40 Easter eggs.  I put a prayer in each one.  They also had candy such as jelly beans or sweet tarts, some had small surprises from Walmart, Target, Dollar Store, etc.  We would open them during lent leading up to Easter.  I wasn't sure what to put all of the Easter eggs in, so I got a pallet for a neighboring dumpster (new construction benefit, haha) and I put some burlap around the outside and some leftover cheveron fabric over the top.  I went to the associate store (best bargin place ever) and found Easter grass for 15 cents a bag, score!!

Below is the finished product

CRAFT #3

My jewelry was a mess - a MESS.  Blame it on the move, blame it on me never wearing it, blame it on me having two boys that love to sneak in an try to wear my necklaces - or blame it on the fact that I stored it in 4 places, one of them being a drawer (disaster waiting to happen) - I'm not sure - but one thing is for sure.....my jewelry was a mess.  It needed to be fixed, asap.

I get an idea -one Tuesday I had free - both time and free of both boys - I go to Lowes and see what I can do. I went down most of the aisles and tried to find a cheap but good solution.  I bought all of the below for $13.

Here is the spot I planned to hang my jewelry 

The necklaces were too heavy for just the adhesive option - which was plan number 1, but have no fear planned number two - adding a screw int the middle, has worked great.  It's stayed up 2 weeks and counting.

Next up I wanted to organize my earrings.  I found the below cork board at Target for $10.  I was excited because not only did it look cute but it would fit in my narrow space. It wasn't any work at all, I just hung it with one nail and put my earrings in it.

Finished product!!!  I am so extremely excited to have all of my jewelry organized.  Now I can start adding some variety to my daily jewelry choices.