Dreaming of A Reading Area....

So, Gabe has to read every night for school and gets bonus credit for reading over the weekend.  I have come across several reading tents and I love them.  I have wanted to create a special reading area in our house for a long time.  A little retreat space where my kids can snuggle down into some soft, plush pillows and look at books.

Tatertots & Jello

Ana White

Grograin

Somethings Hiding Here

They are all so dreamy!  I think the first one would take up less space in my house and would fit nicely in a corner.  But, we shall see what I come up with! 

Baby it's cold outside....

Yes, I said it-it's cold outside!  I got to put jeans on, a sweatshirt, and flip flops (of course because I LOVE them) to bring Gabe to school this morning.  I even blasted the heat in the van to get the chill out of the air. Gabe got to rock his new black pants, and his black sweater to school today!  (actually, he was dressed in ALL black today-got to love uniforms, lol)

(i know terrible pic-sorry)

I mean this is how fall is suppose to be, right?  Hope you enjoy your fabulous, cool morning!  I know I am!

Back to School Dinner

I was too anxious to post first day of school pictures that I never posted our back to school dinner pictures.   Let me just say I was SO excited to have a back to school family dinner.  We talked about expectations, new responsibilities, schedule, breakfast and lunch ideas, hear about Gabe's excitement, fears about the upcoming year.  Such a good idea.  Here's what we did....

I decorated our table with school supplies that I already had on hand.

Used library card pockets to hold our utensils and napkins...

My sweet 1st grader!

 My little display in my FABULOUS tray that has SO many possabilities...

I even printed off a free banner on-line and hung it up...

Our menu was Gabe's pick which was ultimate nachos!  Fun night, can't wait to do it again next year!

God's Masterpiece

In my small group I have been leading we are going through Ephesians.  Today we landed on Ephesians 2:10, For we are God's masterpiece, as one of our scriptures and it's something I think many people struggle with.  The thought of being a masterpiece of the most high God-me?  Have you seen my post baby body?  Have you seen what is hidden in my heart of hearts?  The answer is YES!  He has created us in his image like it says in Gen. 1:27.  Like this little clip says, God doesn't make junk.  I shared it with my group today and it has a good message and a great reminder.  I hope you check it out!

Lily's First Week of MDO

As school kicked off last week Lily was VERY disappointed that she wasn't going to be able to go to school.  I have tried to get her into MDO last year but the one we wanted filled up so quick and she never got in.  I just decided to keep her home-which I loved-most days.  :-)  I tried that same school again and still no luck-boo.  So, last Monday I started to call around and finally was successful with Cornerstone!  So, she started last Wednesday!  One of the things she needed was a napmat.  Well, I wasn't going to send her with a cold, plastic nap mat.  So, I went that night & bought all the supplies to create her a cover for it.  Let me just say it is SUPER fabulous!  I followed this tutorial and whipped this up for her.

I mean I want to lay down and nap on it.  I LOVE that it rolls up!  Lily calls this her knock knock-translated into nap mat, lol.  

Here's a little snap shot of what it is like to get a decent picture of Lily.

Well, there she is all dressed in her new Hello Kitty shirt, pig tails, backpack (a.k.a. pack pack), and dora sneakers!  She is READY for her first day of school-maybe a little too ready.

She went right in, put her stuff away, and waved bye Mom, bye Gea, climbed up in her chair and started coloring.

She was so confident, so independent, so secure, she was fine, she did fine, she did great.  Well, except she didn't take a nap.  She laid down but never fell asleep.  :-)

I cried all the way to Sam's club thinking how big my sweet baby girl already is.  It hurt that she didn't need me, she knew she was going to be fine.  Gabe would drag it out, hang on me, need one more hug, one more kiss, a little more reassurance...but not Lily.  It was a bittersweet kind of day.  I was so proud of her, and how brave she was carrying all her own things in, walking into her room, saying hi, and going right over to her table to color.  So bitter-sweet!  We survived our first day at MDO!  I am glad she only goes 2 days a week.  :-)

First Day of 1st Grade

Today we went back to school and entered the first grade!  I can't even believe summer is done and over with!  Gabe did such a great job getting up this morning, taking on all of his new responsibilities and schedule.  He did a great job!  We shall see how day #2 goes.  

He rocked his Super Mario backpack, lunchbox & pencil bag!  He even thought about his teacher and brought her a water bottle with a "P" on it for the first day of school.  He was so excited to get to his class...always a little apprehensive to have me leave though.  I waited a little while until he got settled.

He was so excited about his new DESK this year.  He went right in like a pro and hung his backpack up & his lunch box and learned where his cubbie was.  We found his desk, put on his name tag & said hi to all his old friends from Kindergarten!

I was so proud of Gabe this morning and I didn't even cry!  This year was much smoother & easier than last year.  Gabe's teacher seems so sweet!  I'm looking forward to a great year!  

Gabe's 6th Birthday

We celebrated Gabe's 6th birthday at night since it is so hot here so early we thought it would be better at night.  Well, I don't know if we were or not but at least we had some water misters on our patio that helped keep us cool.  I appreciate everyone who came out & sweat with us to celebrate Gabe's 6th birthday!  It really means a lot to us!

We kicked it Phineas & Ferb Style

I thought a rainbow theme would go good with the Phineas & Ferb theme-so I guess it's like a theme in a theme-kind of over the top but I like to make things complicated!  :-)  The show is so bright & fun and rainbows can be so girly and I loved them so I just tied the two together and I think it turned out just great! 

I made him a phineas & ferb birthday banner of course!  I also made some fun felt bunting to hang up on the patio and on the gift table!

We scored big this year with the theme because Target had a bunch of items in the dollar section where we scored lots of locker posters which dressed up the pati & yard.  We also got most of our favors for the boxes there as well.

We served pizza, salad, fruit kabobs (in a rainbow pattern), and beverages.

For dessert we had oreo pops, chocolate covered marshmallows and a cookie cake made by my sweet & talented friend Melissa!  Isn't it amazing??  I LOVED it!

 We played games like pin the tail on Perry and You're so Busted (balloon pop).  What would a Phineas & Ferb party be without making something, right?  So everyone got to create a marshmallow shoot-inator!  How fun!  While in Colorado my wonderful husband cut all the pvc & spray painted them so when I got home I just had to bag them up, throw in some marshmallows & we were good to go!  Everyone got a bag and were told how to construct them.  Then the REAL fun began!

Needless to say...it was HOT HOT HOT out but we had a GREAT party & LOTS of fun!