Daddy/Daughter dance

This year Stanley Elementary decided to have their own Daddy/Daughter Dance and that upcoming kindergarteners could come as well. That meant both girls could go this year!! It would be Grace's first of many daddy/daughter dances. Molly and Daniel went last year to the Blue Valley Rec center daddy/daughter dance and had a great time. Daniel was excited to be able to take both of his girls out for a fun evening! This was a very busy Saturday.  First Molly had a soccer game, then we had a birthday party to go to before the big event. Boy were they going to be tired! We stopped by the birthday party and then headed home to get ready..Its always fun to curl their hair and put on a little makeup:-) Wow they look grown up! Audrey Ahring and Ella Baldwin and their dads came over for pictures then off to dinner and the dance. Doesn't everyone look fancy?

They had SO much fun! It was exciting to hear about all of the fun they had when they got home.  Daniel said they never stood still so pictures weren't the easiest to get but here are a couple from the dance.

Silly girls!

Kitchen closet makeover

I found another Pinterest project that I wanted to do and a friend inspired me to just get it done!  She had done the same project and I thought it looked great!  She reassured me that it was really EASY so I figured I would give it a try.  We don't have a mud room or really anywhere to hang kids' backpacks, umbrellas, coats and jackets so when I saw the idea I thought it would help!  Everyone has one of those tiny coat closets in their house stuffed with coats, hats and gloves among many other random things that you cram in there! Here are a few before pictures..

I was excited to get started and had already taken coats out but you can picture it jam packed right? :-)  I also had two baskets at the bottom that were overflowing with umbrellas, gloves, hats and more.  I love doing a new project because it always helps you reorganize and get rid of things that you haven't used in forever!  My first stop was Home Depot to get paint, 2-1X6 boards and 14 hooks (2 different kinds).   I had them cut my boards to size so all I had to do when I got home was paint them. 

Boards painted and closet all cleared out! 

I did a low board/hooks for the kids and a high board/hooks for the adult coats.  First, I painted the closet (top half tan and bottom half white) and then we screwed the boards in place and were ready for the hooks.

We had a great (and really cute!) assistant that helped screw on the boards! 

ALL done!!!  Yay!  I am so happy with the way it turned out!  I added two baskets at the bottom for hats, gloves, etc. We are now able to better utilize the space in the closet.  The kids can walk in and find their backpacks and coats much easier!

More Valentine traditions..

See I told you I love Valentines Day! :-)  A Valentine tradition I started a couple of years ago is putting a little treat in the kids' Valentine boxes that are hooked on their kitchen chairs.  I start on February 1st and do it everyday until Valentine's Day.  Some days they get a little love note on a heart, other days they get something small like a book or a toy.  But every day they get a little surprise when they wake up to eat breakfast.  Who wouldn't love that?!  I try to start stocking up on little things from the store early and stick them in a box in the storage room so I'm ready when February begins!  It's one of my favorite traditions!  This year I have tried to find some of their favorite things...mini Care Bears, new rainbow loom bands in fun colors, chapter books for our little reader Molly and mini monster trucks for Ben.

Today the surprise was something to share with each other and it was a big hit!  I can't say I found this gem on my own.  My sister in law ordered it for her two boys and when I saw it I knew the kids would love it.  It is a memory game with your own pictures on the cards.  Fun!  I ordered it off  www.pinholepress.com. When the kids opened it up they had fun looking at their pictures and picking out their favorite. Many games were played in the last few snow days!

Snow days!

We had a big snow storm with 12 inches total and the kids couldn't wait to play in it!  Tuesday was snow day #1, school was canceled and we were ready for some fun!  Daniel spent most of the day snow blowing our driveway and many others as well.  Our neighbor friends, Kenadie and Karsyn Hallstrom came down to play in the snow with us.  They all had a lot of fun together!

Snow day #2 was Wednesday! School was canceled again and kids were so excited because that meant more snow fun and hot chocolate for them!  Again, Daniel snow blowed for half of the day and then we went out to play.  Our mission today was to build a snowman!  Of course the girls named the snowman Olaf from Frozen and Molly found a snow chunk that looked like a heart!

Thursday was snow day #3 and we decided it was a pajama movie day with inside activities!  WAY too cold to go outside.  We worked on more Valentine crafts and made home made pizza!  Back to school tomorrow!  Sooooooo fun!

Valentine's day fun....

I LOVE Valentine's Day! Well...I love all of the stuff that comes before Valentine's Day. Decorating, crafts, making Valentine's Day cards, making treats, stickers, hearts, pink, planning and getting presents for everyone I love:-) I remember Valentine's Day when I was little, and I don't remember a lot of things! Ha..My mom would always do a fun scavenger hunt with clues that rhymed for me to find my present. So fun! And for a lot of years I got the same thing, a Shel Silverstein book or a movie.  So I try to do some of the same fun things for my kids and hope they will remember them! We will be making some treats for the kids to take to class when it gets closer to the actual day so will post about those later!

 We got an early start this year on working on the kids Valentine's cards for their class and friends. The girls decided they wanted to make rainbow loom bracelets for their friends and since we had to make 40+ total I figured we better start early! We have made a few bracelets each day and still have a couple more to go, but we are almost done! I searched Pinterest for the perfect valentine card and found some great free printables!

Here is where I found the rainbow loom printable:
http://www.thesuburbanmom.com/2014/01/13/rainbow-loom-valentines-day-card-free-printable/#qQkaz6UsAtji1eIA.32

I decided to attach the bracelets a little different than she did on her blog.  She punched a hole in the corner and attached the bracelet. I didn't want the kids to have to undo the bracelet and put it back together so just wrapped it around the card and I think it works great! 

Then was thinking what to do for Ben, and came across the cutest car valentine, and Ben LOVES cars so I thought this would be perfect! I found these cars 3/$1.00 at the Dollar Tree! Ben had a hard time when we bought these because he thought they were all for him to play with :-) I had to remind him that they were to give to his friends at "school". He played with them daily until I taped them down on the cards.

Here is where I found the car printable:
http://www.creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com/valentine-day-sayings/

Its fun to be able to do both girlie Valentine's and boy Valentine's. I am probably having more fun making these than the kids are!