February in Review

The weeks and months are flying by. So much so, that I didn't blog much during the month of February.
Here is a little recap of our month, in no particular order.

Brody and friends celebrated the 100th day of  kindergarten. He came home sporting this headband.

Our San Francisco 49ers made it to the Superbowl. They lost. My boys were bummed. This photo was taken before the game started so there were still happy smiles.

The boys Kaepernick-ing it! This was right after the quarter back(Kaepernick) scored a touch down. Our boys are so funny!

We have attended ALOT of basketball games this month. All 4 boys played Hot Shots this season! They all had amazing seasons!

What do you do on Valentine's Day when you have a fever and don't feel well? You eat donuts in the bath tub with your brother, of course!!! Poor Brody had a  high fever and a horrible  cough. He had to miss his Valentine party at school and was so bummed about it!

 Valentine's party for the 3rd graders. I am the Room Mom in Garrett's classroom this year. We decorated cupcakes, played pin the heart on the giraffes, made Valentine cards and enjoyed a LOVE themed word search.

I love this photo of John, Carter and some of his Tar Heel players. John loves coaching basketball. He sure enjoyed  his team this season. They were undefeated and won the play off game for the title. SO MUCH FUN!

Can't let February pass by without mentioning Girl Scout Cookies. We bought some of our favorites from our friend/neighbor Susie! I love that she came to our door to sell them! Not to mention that I love her receipt and thank you note that we receive each year with our order. So cute!!

The boys started receiving happy mail from their Great Grandma Shore this month. She was calling it the Mercury draw. She decided to cancel her subscription to her local newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News. Hence the Mercury draw title. She put all of her Great Grand kids names into a drawing and is randomly sending them a note with $10.00. She has divided the money she would have spent on the  subscription and sharing it with the Great Grand kids. She is so fun, loving  and kind. We LOVE her!

Carter received his his 2nd class rank at the Court of Honor this month!

We are still working on our bedroom make over. It has been  such a S-L-O-W process. Things like time, $ and finding the right pieces/accents have played a little part in the slowness.  Despite the slowness, I am loving how it is coming together!

Ahhhhh! I love February for the simple fact that it is Valentine's Day. I love the colors. I love the crafting and baking that accompanies it! I love the extra chance I have to tell and show the ones I love just how much I really do love them! I made John this heart attack jar. It was filled with his favorite dark chocolate See's candy and little hearts that had notes/phrases attached to them.

This is one of the little details I worked on for Garrett's class party! I found these fun black and white paper straws. I used my favorite heart punch and attached them to the straws. Made there water bottles a little more fun and festive.

I decorated these fun little fry boxes that I found online. I filled them with a Strawberry Muddy Buddy type treat(recipe coming soon). We shared them with the boys teachers and friends. Fun, festive and yummy!

Time  is flying by! We attended some orientation and registration nights at the high school for Tanner! CRAZY!!! Our first born will be heading to high school in the next few months! Still trying to wrap my brain around it!

Garrett earned his Wolf badge at the Blue and Gold dinner this month. John is still the Cub Master and had a Survivor theme for this months Blue and Gold dinner! The boys had a blast completing Survivor type activities. FUN!

I enjoyed a super fun weekend at the beach with girlfriends!This weekend was at the end of Feb./ beginning of March. I will have create a separate post about it!

I am sure that I am forgetting a few things.Our 2013 is off to a great start. We are happy, healthy(for the most part) and are enjoying the many blessings in our life. 

Love Day

Well it wasn't just one day...it was several. My Valentine's Day kicked off on the Saturday before February 14th. I was attending Scrappy Hour at Green Tangerines with a few girlfriends, enjoying a GNO. A few hours into our evening, I looked up for a brief second and caught a very quick glimpse of a man carrying a helium balloon. I didn't think too much of it and continued to work on my project. I then heard a few "ooohhhh's" and "aaahhh's" and I looked up. It was my John boy carrying that balloon. It wasn't just any balloon, it was a red and white polka dot heaart balloon :-). He totally caught me off guard, totally out of place for him. He was also carrying a heart shaped cake. It wasn't just any cake. It was a cake that he had baked and cut into a heart shape(I don't own a heart shaped pan)on his very own. The best part of the cake was the fact that he had looked online for a Weight Watchers friendly recipe. It was really very thoughtful and such a fun surprise. He revceived a standing ovation from the ladies(about 40 of them) there and they all clapped as he left and told him that their hubbies had alot to live up to :-). I am glad my friends were armed with their cameras. I will add the photo of John and I that they took, once it is sent my way! o

Then on Sunday, The Young Women from church presented their New Beginnings program/new theme to their parents. They performed a cute skit about Values(Snow White and the 7 values plus 1) and sang an amazing song. You could feel the love. I love these girls, they too, are amazing.



The next few days were spent making Valentine's, addressing Valentine's, baking heart shaped sugar cookies, enjoying Valentine/Friendship parties and sharing treats with our friends and neighbors. What's not to love about this holiday? All of my favorite things being enjoyed at once!








It was a wonderful few days, filled with lots of love and sweet gestures.

and a special happy birthday to my grandma shore.

love is in the air

oh the excitement level in our home has been at an all time high. the boys have taken their time to address each valentine to their classmates. tanner has realized that this is the last year that he will pass valentines out at school {insert tears}. he is growing up way too fast. realizing that this was it, he took the time & wrote each classmate a note, telling them something that he admired about them. for instance, he wrote athena a note telling her that she was a really good artist & that he liked her art work. i thought it was really sweet of him to take the time to write something extra.















i feel like i have made/frosted sugar cookies by the truck load. you can find the recipe in the post below this one..












here is what we did for the teachers this year. each teacher got a plate of sugar cookies & a gift card for starbucks. you gotta have hot chocolate (or coffee for the boys teachers) with your cookies. we attached a little gift card holder on top of the cookie plate. a few years back, i worked the sacramento scrapbook expo for green tangerines & we made these gift card holders as a free make & take. so simple & easy to make. a perfect way to use some of your extra stash. I had all of the product on hand & did not have to purchase anything new(did you read that, john?) here are the steps:

double sided pattern paper {adds instant cuteness}
cut your paper to 4 X 6 in..














fold your pattern paper up from the bottom, about 1 1/2 in..














ink edges, staple left & right sides shut. punch a few hearts, add a bow & you are good to go.





enjoy your valentine weekend...hope it is filled with love & all things sweet.

playing catch up

I have had a super busy week. Coming down off of my fabulous scrapbook weekend with not alot of sleep & then jumping into the Kit club kitting party several times in the last week left me with little or no time to snooze. We pulled an all night-er on Wednesday & were able to finish just in time. This is a little peek into the kitting sweatshop- umm I mean workshop(I snagged this off Kinsey's blog-hope you don't mind Kins :).
There was lots of hard work. Lots of giggles & fun. I really do enjoy my job & the friends I work with.

Happy to report that we were able to get our kits kitted & ready to move out the door. Very exciting times for Green Tangerines & I am so happy to be a part of it. Some of the Green Tangerines crew has been down @ the Costa Mesa Expo this weekend debuting our kits & I can't wait to hear all about it.

On the home front, we have enjoyed making Valentine boxes.



Tanner was told to bring a shoe box that they could decorate in class(love those kind of assignments). This is what he made. Isn't it so cute? It is so Tanner! I love it!

We had fun addressing Valentine's &

making Valentine sugar cookies.






I about died when I listened to a message that was left for us on Friday afternoon. It was a little girl from Tanner's class telling him to check the porch & then to please call her back. This is what Tanner found.

The note on the inside was addressed to:
My valentine Tanner, from your Valentine!
It was very sweet. I was totally trying to not make a big deal about the whole thing. Tanner was embarassed but was so polite & gracious when he called her back to thank her. H-E-L-L-O !!! He is in the 4th grade. What will high school be like?

We also attended 3 basketball games on Saturday!

{Carter is # 2}. Both Tanner & Carter had AMAZING games today. Tanner had a break out performance. He was simply amazing on the court. Started the game off with a basket in the 1st 10 seconds & did not stop. His offensive & defensive game was on fire. Carter went on a shooting spree on the court. He even sunk a 3 pointer today. It was so much fun watching them do their thing on the court. I was one proud Mama.

Valentine's day was crazy. We attended (the above mentioned)basketball games plus Garrett's game, did our weekly grocery shopping, John reffed 7 games, & I managed the boys. My sweetheart managed to suprise me with a JUMBO heart balloon & a very sweet card. Then, later that day, in the mail I received another Love note from him with an itunes gift card tucked inside. It was very sweet & such a suprise. He kind of laughed about it & said "it has taken me 12 years to figure out that you would probablly love a piece of snail mail from me". LOVE it, indeed I did. I thought it was very thoughtful & sweet. Thanks sweetie!

We hope your month has been filled with the people you LOVE & the things that make you smile.

Happy Valentine's Day

We want to wish each of you a Happy Valentine's day!

I love this holiday. I love the hearts, the love notes, & the colors that this day represents. Okay, lets be honest, I love the chocolate too!

Today is my Grandma Shore's birthday! We hope she had an amazing day! She is truly a blessing in our lives & we are so thankful for her. Happy Birthday Gram!

I woke up to a dozen long stemmed, red roses. They are beautiful & I will enjoy them all week long. Thanks John! The boys loved their parties @ school. I don't even want to know the amount of sweets that have been consumed today. Carter made a sweet Valentine card for us. Mrs. Stevens took pictures of all of them holding a Valentine. It is very sweet. And the note was even better.

We hope you all enjoyed a sweet day with those you love.

Happy Valentine's Day!

HELP & Valentine's Eve

I am asking for your help tonight! I am hoping you each will take a minute & respond. When you hear the words "Small & Simple Things" what is the first thing that comes to your mind? You can sum it up in one word or lay it out there for me (examples are great too)! I'll explain later. Thanks in advance for your help.

On to fun & exciting things! We have been getting ready for Valentine's Day. I baked sugar cookies by the dozen last night. We frosted those sugar cookies today. We have been busy addressing Valentines for classmates, & we have wrapped treats for our neighbors & the people we VT/HT. I found these cute little ceramic heart shaped dishes(in white, pink, & red) @ Michael's. I made sugar cookies that fit right into the heart shaped dish & made a tag to go with them. The boys will love delivering them tomorrow. Tanner & Carter are very excited for their class parties tomorrow. I am sure it will be one big sugar fest.

We hope you enjoy a day that is filled with those you love! Happy Valentine's Day!