my little valentines

Last week the children had their school Valentine parties. As we did the past three years (you can see them here, here, and here), I used photos to make Valentines for Hannah and Joseph to hand out. With scissors, a hole punch, and ribbon I got to work.

This year we attached gummies, their absolute favorite things. We've done M&Ms and lollipops in the past.

When I showed Hannah the two photos I picked out for her so she could choose…well, she couldn't decide. So we went with both.

I took two pictures of Joseph playing in the backyard and one was perfect for this purpose.

When Hannah got home from school, she wrote the names of her classmates on the back of each photo (and added a heart sticker).

Thursday was a busy day. It was show-and-tell day for the letter of the week: X. I can think of two things that begin with X. It was either printing out a picture of an X-ray of Daddy's leg or taking the xylophone from the playroom. We went with the latter.

As previously mentioned, it was Valentine parties. I didn't get a picture of Joseph at the preschool, but he went with us to the "big school" in the afternoon for Hannah's party and I got a picture of both of them there:

Thursday was also the start of soccer. Hannah was very excited…

…and very disappointed when they didn't get to practice because of the cold/wind and it just ended up being a parents meeting.

Better that way, too, because Monkey has been sick. She had an ear infection and was put on antibiotics a couple of weeks ago, but then Friday started complaining of pain in her other ear. Turns out there were infections in both ears and she is on her second round of antibiotics. She was in a lot of pain this weekend and I was thankful for a long weekend being lazy at home.

Joseph and I did get out on Saturday for a birthday party. This little friend lives on a farm and between the awesome sand box and getting up close and personal with the cows, Joseph had a big time.

Joe and I had a lovely night out on Friday with friends of ours. We drove to Augusta for a delicious meal at Edgar's Grille, a place we first went for our anniversary in October.

The rest of our "stay-home" days we watched movies, did some small house projects and ate Valentines candy:

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day to you!

hippity hoppity

I love getting ready for Easter. Lent is all about preparing your heart and mind for the Lord and something about that has the power to change your whole mindset. That feeling of love, forgiveness and grace extends to my daily interactions with people as well as the happiness in my household.

On top of that, for me anyway, there's spring cleaning and the urge to check things off the to-do list. You know, the ones that have been sitting there for a while (in my case, months), staring at you in the face, begging for a checkmark. Again…I am speaking for myself. I know some of you are happily not doing any spring cleaning or have time for any home projects. But that urge to cross things off the procrastination list - little home projects, fixing broken things, look into this, file that, call them… has enabled me to get some things accomplished. And being a stay-at-home mom with little ones definitely makes you crave that sense of accomplishment once in a while!

So back to Easter.

Easter decorations might be my favorite of all decorations. We don't have a lot, but every year I look forward to putting the stuff out around the house. Obviously Hannah loves to help, my little decorator, and Joseph…well, Joseph likes to find whatever toy (meant to be played with or not) and get into trouble.

I used our crystal monogrammed pitcher on the breakfast room table to hold egg picks I bought from the Dollar Tree. The pitcher was a wedding gift but is so fragile (this is actually the second one we've had and has a small crack at the handle) that it's not really functional to be used for the purpose it was designed. But I hate to part with it, so I use it for other things. The bunny votive holders are from Meme. The carrots hang on the chest. They are from Pier One.

We bought Hannah and Joseph their baskets (from PB Kids) for their first Easters. I ordered Joseph's before he was born as he was only a few days old his first Easter Sunday. The Peter Rabbit design is my favorite. And Hannah's could not be more appropriate… A couple years ago I found the rabbit and lamb for their dressers.

A long time ago when I was living in Atlanta, my mom gave me a set of three little nesting Easter bunnies. {My mom loves decorations even more than I do.} They have made it through many moves but not through the curious and playful hands of children. The littlest bunny was the first to lose an ear. Then another… And then only a few days after putting them out this year, the big bunny broke an ear. I tried to fix it with two types of glue, but the best I got was this:

No idea where that missing piece went. I could keep him and call him Evander Holyfield, but the inevitable… The little one's ears were gone for good. At this point the middle bunny was still intact. I picked him up to hand to Hannah, and I dropped him. Not even joking. Apparently my hands are just as capable of breaking them as Hannah's or Joseph's.

So three little bunnies hopped off to the trashcan. Sad, but they were enjoyed for many years.

My mom also gave us the little bunnies perched on top of the china cabinet. Notice, they still have ears. The secret to bunnies with ears is to put them up high. We have three of those egg wreaths, which I found at CVS (score!). The other two hang on the hall and laundry room doors in the breakfast room. They are my favorite decorations. 

I wanted something to go over the baskets on the dining room buffet, but didn't want to spend any money. We had lots of plastic eggs so I strung some up and hung across the mirror.

If you're interested, it's very easy to do. You need plastic eggs, string (I used jute) and scissors.

The eggs already have holes in them, generally. Depending on the thickness of your string, you may need to use the scissors to make them bigger, as I did:

Thread the string though the eggs.

And adjust spacing as needed. On a few of mine I had to tie knots in the string to get the eggs with holes too big to stay put.

Very simple. Not a formal decoration, but fun.

And we are all about fun. Speaking of the dining room, I filled my dough bowl with natural raffia but have nothing for inside of it. 

Maybe this year, I'll go au naturel.

st. patrick's day and hanging shamrocks

We were originally suppose to travel to Savannah for St. Patrick's Day (which was this past Monday as you likely know), but for various reasons, we decided to stay home.

Of course I dressed the kids in green for school. Yes, some people actually have to go to school on St. Patrick's Day! {In Savannah it is a huge holiday…and the population of the city usually doubles.}

Joseph wasn't happy about Hannah having his sunglasses. I posted the picture below on Instagram, and I'm still laughing about that face.

Hannah was upset she would miss the celebration, but I hooked up the laptop to the TV so we could stream the parade. She decided to change outfits. It was all good...

It was a cold and rainy day in Savannah, so it wasn't a bad year to miss. It was also a cold and rainy day in Sandersville...

I know St. Patrick's Day was Monday, but since it's still the same week, I won't consider this late…

I have, very randomly, been saving toilet paper tubes for a few weeks, thinking maybe there was something crafty I could do with them. Well, imagine my surprise when I receive a weekly Parents daily newsletter in my inbox with a shamrock craft, made from, yep, you guessed it - toilet paper tubes. I usually don't even read (or open) those newsletters, but the craft was the main photo and thus got my attention.

Here's what you need:

cardboard tubes
scissors
glue (I used Tacky glue)
green paint
paintbrush
fishing line

 1. Flatten the tubes and cut 1/2" rings. {For each shamrock, you will use 4 1/2" rings.}

2.  Cut through the rings and then bend and glue three to form hearts. These are your leaves. Fold the fourth to make a triangular shape. This is your stem. You may want to secure with a paper clip, as I did, to hold it together while it dries.

3. Glue a leaf on either side of the stem and then the third leaf to one of the other leaves.

4. Your shamrocks will look somewhat like this:

{No two things look exactly alike in nature, so don't worry about perfection.}

5. Paint them green! You can do all one color, as on the website, or you can mix it up. I did an ombre effect.

6. Tie them with fishing line and hang!

I linked mine together but you can hang them individually from the ceiling or a doorway or do however you want. Since I started this craft on Tuesday (after St. Patrick's Day), and finished it yesterday, I just strung mine up as a garland in the playroom. Next year, I might be more creative. For now, I'm calling it crafty garland: Irish edition.

{You can see the video tutorial here.}

meme's birthday and mardi gras masks

My mom came to town to celebrate her birthday with us. We had to get ready… Hannah loves to plan a party. There were decorations to make and a cake to bake. We set off for the grocery store. It's always a BIG deal to get the "fun cart" - a cart with a race car attached.

They pretend they're actually steering and they really like it when I pretend they're steering. The grocery store is a fun place.

We got home and made a cake. Hannah helped with the icing and did the sprinkles.

Meme liked it.

On occasion, when I'm trying to get a picture of both kids, I'll yell "Freeze!" This is what freeze means to Hannah:

I think I'll stop yelling "Freeze!"

Present-opening was a team effort.

Last year was a big birthday, so this year was pretty quiet. But all in all we had a nice time celebrating Meme.

My brother and his wife, Uncle Will Will and Aunt Crystal, sent H+J a whole box of Mardi Gras goodies. {You may know that Crystal is a bona fide cajun girl. We can only pretend.} They wore their crowns and called each other king and queen:

And they had a great time decorating their own masks (even ones for Bitty and Raffie, too!}.

It was cold, so while they worked, Joe made them hot chocolate.

Hannah gave me beads and a ring, because I needed to be fancy too.

Today I sat them down for pictures, the masks first. Much easier than having the kids sit still.

Bitty and Raffie:

I attempted a group shot…

…but all I got was goofy.

Just a normal photo op at the Buck house!