It's MarCh!

I can't believe it!

Time is flying.

It's been nearly a month since I last posted.

A baby girl will be here soon.

Trying to finish things up before that happens.

Yikes!

Will it all be done in time?

Made a little St. Patricks print, or two.

Copy, paste, print...if you'd like.

I've got pics of the (sort of) finished nursery.

Hope to have them up soon.

Thats all I have time for now.

Be back soon...I hope.

VaLentine LeftOvers

So, how was yours? Full of love I hope.  We had a nice day. Filled with lots of treats. Just how Valentines should be.

Thought I would post a few pics of the treats we handed out. I know a little late, but I bothered to take the pictures...so, save them for next year. Or, adapt them to work for St. Patty's...change heart shapes for shamrocks and pink for green, easy as that.

My preschooler took a few of these Valentine SmOre Pops last week for his treat.  He's a huGe fan of anything smore so as soon as I found these (can't remember where, sorry!) I knew I had to make them.  And they were a cinch.

First: I cut the gram crackers with a metal heart shaped cookie cutter.  Really wasn't as hard as it sounds.  Just make sure you apply even pressure when your pressing down.

Second: Place your cut crackers on a cookie sheet add a few marshmallows (I used the pink heart shaped ones...kind of a nice twist with the strawberry flavor).

Third: Sprinkle some chocolate chips on top of the marshmallows.  Probably would have been just as easy to put a square of chocolate bar.

Fourth: Place in the oven and broil for about 2 minutes...but watch them carefully!  You can end up with charcoal quicker than you think...not that I would know :)

Fifth: Plop another cracker on top of that melted, gooey goodness.  Stick in a lolli stick if you'd like and enjOy!

I wrapped a few up in a cello bag and tied with a little ribbon for easier transport.

Now for a treat for the teachers.  These we handed out yesterday along with our Framed VaLentines.  I've seen these a few places but most recently on eighteen25, which is also where I found the printable.  These were super easy to make and so, so cute to look at.  I love anything covered in sprinkles!

I found the cute takeout boxes at Michaels...they're probably on clearance now.

Didn't get a great picture of my cookies, but you get the idea and I was originally going to try this recipe, but ran out of time.  So, I bought the cookies at the grocery store (oriental food isle) melted some candy melts and dipped one end of the cookie in the candy then in the sprinkles.

Then I boxed them up and handed them out...but only to the teachers that we're fortunate to have.  Totally kidding.  Love them all.

And another super fun treat that could be used any time of the year...Pudding Parfaits.  We made these for an Activity Days treat.  They were yummy and again, so cute!  I didn't take any pictures of ours, but I found the idea here and am borrowing one of their pictures...hope they don't mind :)

We did ours with chocolate cupcakes and added marshmallows and chocolate chips to the layers.  The girls loved them!  If you want all the details on how to make them visit Bee in our Bonnet, they'll tell you how.

Framed VaLentine {4 the teachers}

We ♥ our teachers!

They do SO much and work SO hard for our kids!  I think they deserve a nice little Valentine, too. 

So this year we're giving our teachers a framed valentine.  I found the ABC I ♥ U print here (while you're there look around, she's got a TON of cute prints...all free). I loved the ABC theme and thought it would be perfect for the teachers. I picked up the 8x10 frames at the dollar store, used a piece of coordinating scrapbook paper for the mat and attached the print with glue dots. Then to add an extra little touch, I cut out a felt heart and attached it with another glue dot over the ♥ on the print.

EasY peaSy LemOn sQueeZy, as my 5 year old would say.  And easy on the pocket book, too!

If you'd like, wrap them up and make them look more like a gift...

And don't forget the tag...

And there you have it, a super sweet Valentine for the teachers.

Something they can keep out all year to remind them how much their students ♥ them.

Game Time.

(found the printable flags here via be different act normal)

Who are you rootin' for today?

GreeN oR BLaCk?

Me, I say go PaCkLerS! 

I'm just excited there's a reason to make cupcakes.

Love Note Baskets {Activity Days}

Can you believe I'm already posting another activity!?  I haven't even had this one yet and here it is up and ready to go.  I'm never this far ahead of schedule!

Let's just say I've got a serious case of the gotta-get-everything-done...and gotta do it NOW.

{N-E-S-T-I-N-G}

So in keeping with the Valentines theme I decided that it would be appropriate for Activity Days to have a little lesson on Loving One Another.  Okay really, I wanted an excuse to use this SO CUTE idea from Becky Higgins.  LoVe this!  She always has the most amazing ideas...and GREAT printouts.

I printed up her free printables here (I did have to make up my own card for the lOve note instructions). 

Then found these cute lOveY note pads at Target.

I lOved Becky's recipe card box idea, but couldn't find any that were in my price range (really cheap).  So when I saw these heart shaped baskets at the dollar store 2 for a buck...I figured for the price I would make them work.

I added a little ribbon and scrap fabric to fancy them up.  Then tied the cute lOve notes tag to the handle.

I found these frames at the dollar store, too.  Thought the looked pretty decent for the price...and even better once I put the cute print in them.

Edited to add: sorry! originally forgot to link the Love One Another print...fixed now :)

For our activity we'll make up our lOve noTe baSkets and talk about the importance of letting those around us know how much we lOve them.  I think this would make the perfect activity for FHE on Valentines (since it does fall on Monday this year!).

So go now and make up your own lOve baSket, share some lOve with the ones that you lOve.

RoCkiN' Classroom Valentines

We finished up our classroom valentines today.  My litttle guys were big helpers in getting them together.  They both sat down and wrote their names on every card...24 of them for my 5 year old!  And he even added his last name and a heart for the dot on the i.  All his own idea.  Very cute.

We went with a RoCkiN' theme this year...and not until I was finished with them, did I remember that I did the same theme for last years valentines.  Oh well.  New year, new class.  I must like guitars.

And to spice things up, we attached (just stapled them right on) a little treat to the back...PoP RoCks!  What else?!

I originally had planned to do ReD for the boys and PiNk for the girls, but then decided once they were made up that the pink ones look way too girly for little boys to be handing out, so we bagged that idea and went all red.  There's NO way my 4 year old would have been down with all that pink.

I found this mat stack at Joann's (half off) when I was looking for scrapbook paper to back the prints with.  They were perfect!  And already cut for me, bonus.

And as a little extra we made up a few treat bags and added a sticker to seal them.

And just like that we're ready for V Day.

Want to print some of your own?
Right click, copy, paste, print.  And have a RoCkiN one.

...and since I made the pink one...

HappY {Heart} DaY Photo Card

 I like to send out Valentine photos of my boys every year to family and some of our close friends.  Well, I had almost forgotten about it this year until I saw this post at eighteen 25.  Love everything they do!  And I knew as soon as I saw them, this was what I was doing this year.  Only problem is...I can't decide if I should do them together... 

Or each individually...

Decisions, decisions!

'Bee' a Great BabYsitteR {Activity Days}

 I've been a slacker in getting my Activity Day activities posted as of late...my apologies.  So while I was putting this one together I thought I would make a better effort of getting a few pictures and getting it posted.

All of my girls will be turning 12 this year...I'm slowly loosing them all to YW :(  I thought it would be a fun idea to make babysitting kits, since 12 seems to be the standard age when you start to get those babysitting calls.  So you can imagine how excited I was when I came across THIS little kit at Wendy's Activities.  So cute and full of great ideas...and, did I mention it was already done and put together!  All I had do was print.  Love it when other people do the work for me!

I printed up these pages...

Added them to these folders.

Purchased these bags (Old Navy...$1.00).

Found a few supplies for some of the games (a lot of them from around the house).

Then for the activity we went over a few of the pages in the kit and then put together our games.
I now have 8 {almost} 12 year old girls who are excited to get out there and get babysitting.
Such a fun and effective way to introduce the whole babysitting experience.

pillows.

So the trim has yet to be put up (can't show you the walls we fancied up quite yet), but I couldn't wait to get the crib up and start putting things together a little.  I've been sewing a bit.  And by bit, I mean pillows...that's about as tricky as I get at this point.  So, NO.  I did not make the rest of the bedding...so wasn't ready to branch that far out!  Sewing still scares me quite a bit.  But pillows yes.  I can do pillows.

And before I get nasty emails/comments...they are purely for decorating purposes.  I will fully and entirely remove any suffocation device before placing baby in the crib.  Thanks for your concern, though.

Okay, so I've seen SO many cute pillow ideas floating around out there and have been dying to whip up a few.  Starting with this twisted flower pillow...

Now, I haven't got a tutorial of my own for you...cause really I just made it up as I went, that and...I'm so not qualified to be telling you such stories.  I did, though, find this tute (after the fact) that is probably a much more sophisticated way of doing it than my way.

And while I was there I also found this awesome tute on how to make pin-tucked pillows! So I had to try. And can I say...I'm impressed with myself?!

Never mind that I started with a too small piece of fabric and had to do a little piecing together (hence the ribbon and bow)...I still think it looks like I might have known what I was doing when I put it together :)

Now this one I came up with on my own...I do do that from time to time.  I've always loved pillows that tie on the side.  Everything looks better with a bow, doesn't it?  I also love the look of having a mismatching fabrics on front and back.  So I gave that all a go and came up with this...

Found this cute fabric at Hobby Lobby and thought the nursery rhyme theme was PerFeCt for a nursery!  So I didn't add anything to the front as not to distract from the Cat and the Fiddle and Humpty Dumpty.  How fancy to have a pillow that you can read!

 And finally.  My attempt at a 'stuffed animal'.  Certainly not my best work.  But it was fun to attempt anyway.  It took a bit more effort than I was hoping for and I ended up improvising quite a bit (hot glue!).  Maybe next time I'll look for a pattern rather than trying to fib my way through.

Now let me tell you about the bumper pad and crib skirt.  I bought this set about a year ago (Target clearance).  Are you doing the math?  Yes.  Before there was a baby...and way before it was known to be a girl.  I know I'm crazy like that...let me explain.  $8.00.  Yes sir.  I paid $8.00 for the bumper and $8.00 for the crib skirt!  For a grand total of...$16.00.  And in looking at bedding sets over the last few, I've realized that's quite a DeAL.  I wasn't sure how I was going to make it work, because it wasn't exactly what I was going for.  But again, $16.00.  I figured I would make it work.  Adding the pillows and mixing and matching the fabrics has helped to make the look I was more going for come together.

I do have a few things I would still like to do before we're finished up.  For instance...see that big blue ruffled pillow in the back?  Didn't make it, but found a set of two at TJ Maxx for about $10.  I have BiG plans for a quilt for the second sham.  We'll see if I have to break out the hot glue for that one.  Wish me luck.

NoTe:  As I'm getting ready to post this I'm thinking to myself...I wonder if there is really AnYOne out there who could possibly care this much about stinking pillows.  Really quite a lengthy post on such a subject.  I apologize.