Sunday, February 13, 2011

Heart Shaped Animals

We are still having fun making stuff for Valentine's Day....crafts.....cupcakes....cookies!

 Here's a look at our latest craft.

A collection of animals made out of heart shapes.


A Peacock!



A Raccoon!



A Ladybug!



A Tiger!



A Chick!



An Owl!



A Rhino!


A Chameleon!



Nicholas insisted on getting his picture taken, even though he played outside or colored while Nathan did this.



Happy Valentine's Day!


CSN Review

As a preferred blogger for CSN Stores, I was asked once again to do a review for them.  I love CSN stores! They have absolutely anything you can imagine from:



 to sewing machines 


 from cookware


 to patio furniture


from fabric


to even band aids.


(yes, band aids!)

It's like shopping at a super mall, only you never have to leave your house or change out of your PJs. 

Absolutely Love It!

I can even window shop for my favorites and make a wish list for later (or when I need to give Rich a few hints on what I'd like for my birthday or Christmas).   Yes, indeedy - CSN stores is the place to be!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Change Is A Good Thing?

I don't like changes.  I dig my heels in when it comes to change.  It freaks me out a bit.  After years of having the same template/background on my blog, the server changes over and they didn't take my template, which left me with a white background and a not so nifty little tag in the corner that said photobucket deleted file or something like that.  And if that wasn't bad enough, the little tag box popped over to the middle of my blog and scrolled down the page, making it hard to read. 

I didn't mind the white "blank slate" look so much, as I minded the stupid scrolling box thing.  Amanda (who I call my technical advisor lol) worked all afternoon yesterday trying to figure out how to get that dumb box off.  It turned out to be a simple fix.  But, somehow it messed with the font size of my sidebar.  The words there are huge and I can't figure out how to make them smaller like they were before.  I hate Change and I hate that I'm not a "technical" person even more.  I kind of like the look of the three columns most blogs have too, but I'm too chicken to mess with it and I'm too afraid I'll screw my blog up even more.

As I was saying change and me, we don't get along so well.  Which is probably why I freak out every time facebook decides to change it's look.  It was fine the way it was...why mess with it? I've also been freaking out lately because my normal happy go lucky, fun girl is turning into a freaking hormonal monster.  One minute she's the sweet girl that I loved hanging out with and the next it's the hormone monster screaming and freaking out and I never know which one I'm going to get.  We now have two of those in the house.  What is my world coming to?

Another change will be happening in the fall...my oldest baby (yes, baby) will be going to college.  It seems just like yesterday Rich and I were fighting over who got to hold her and rock her to sleep.  Now our baby girl is going off to college!! She's leaving us --- How dare she?! It makes me wish that I was a billionaire and owned acres and acres of land that I can build all my children their very own houses.  And we could see each other all the time and they would never, ever leave us or be to far out of our sights.  How on earth did our parents do this...they didn't even have cell phones and texting to check in with us.  How do you let go? How do you deal with the change?

One day, I am going to have to deal with the world and technology changing all around me.  Until then, I'm quite happy burying myself deep in my hole of denial.  Hope you like the changes to my blog, because unless Amanda can fix it for me - it will be staying like this for a while LOL!

Happy Weekend!

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Heart Mobile

We made this heart mobile using scrapbook paper.  It was fairly easy to make and the end result is adorable!  


You will need scrapbook paper or construction paper, ribbon, glue, scissors and a stapler.  I cut out various sized hearts using scrapbooking shears (wavy and zig zag ones).   You will also need two of the same size and pattern to glue them together. 
  

I also cut two strips of paper, glued and stapled them together to form a ring to hang the hearts.

All you need to do is glue the same size, same pattern hearts together and attach a ribbon inside using a staple to secure it.  Cut the ribbon in varied lengths.


 






Hang the hearts around the band, again stapling them.  Attach a ribbon to opposite sides of the ring in order to hang the mobile from the ceiling. 

 And TaDa - Super Cute Heart Mobile...


An adorable Valentine's Day decoration



Monday, February 07, 2011

Robot Valentine Box

Oh the fun of decorating Valentine's Day boxes...I remember all too well, receiving those little valentines at school parties.  Valentine's Day is probably my favorite holiday, next to Christmas and Halloween.  As a matter of fact, my house currently looks like Hallmark threw up in it.  I have those little paper lace doilies hanging on every window, a big red heart wreath hanging on our front door, more lacey doilies on every interior door, and various other decorations hanging here, there and everywhere. 

The boys will be having their school Valentine's Day party on Friday and since I have to work Wednesday and Thursday afternoon/evening and Nicholas has wrestling practice Tuesday through Thursday, today was the only day that we could work on their boxes.  I thought they would love making some robot boxes to hold their valentines, but Nicholas decided he wanted to do his own thing.   Nathan, however, loved the idea so he made the robot box. 

I took some empty cereal boxes, empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls, foil, and various decorations (hearts, doilies, glue, candy hearts, some scrap booking frames, etc.).


I cut all but one long flap off of one cereal box and then cut the side off of another one.  Then I made a head and neck shape out of the side.  And taped it to the other cereal box.  I also cut holes in the side for the toilet paper "arms".


This is harder to explain than it was to make LOL.


I covered the entire thing with foil, including the arms.




Nathan decorated the robot with wiggle eyes, and candy heart mouth and nose, and various other fun stuff.


It's a cute little fellow, isn't it?

Nicholas took a different and more traditional approach and wrapped his cereal box in foil and decorated it with lace doiles, we cut a hole in the top for the valentines.


His came out cute too, don't you think?

Now all they need is some valentines from their friends to fill them up.

Martha Speaks Books Debut at Chick-fil-A


Chick-fil-A announces their sponsorship of the PBS Children's television series "Martha Speaks" by recently offering five different paperback Martha Speaks books in their kid's meals.  Each kid meal includes one of five limited-time offer books based on the characters Susan Meddaugh created for the series.  Martha Speaks was first published in 1992 and it grew into an educational television program in 2008 featured on PBS. 

Nathan and Nicholas enjoyed reading the books.  And I love how there is always a lesson to be learned by either Helen or her dog Martha.  The books include such titles as Martha Gives Advice, Firedog Martha and Best In Show.  These simple, easy to read books are sure to become a family favorite at bedtime or otherwise.  We have never actually watched the tv show, but my boys are certainly curious to see these fun loving characters come to life now that they have been introduced through these adorable books. 


*Disclosure: I received the Martha Speaks books for review purposes only.  I was not compensated in any way.  The opinions herein are my own and were not influenced by Chick-fil-A or anyone else for that matter.

Friday, February 04, 2011

Butterfly Heart


The boys made these cute little butterfly hearts tonight. 

We used a paper towel roll cut in half.

Glitter paint

Pipe cleaners for the antenna

Hearts for the wings




They also painted a few Steelers signs and other pictures while they waited for the paint on the butterflies to dry.


And Dad decided it would be fun to give them Coke and Chocolate

They painted on a card table set up in our living room, since the kitchen is still a mess.


The glue was still drying which is why they are on the paper.


Nick's is on the left and Nate's is on the right