Annie's Valentine Box

Right now in Minnesota we have been frozen for a few months.

 

 

I'm talking we are popsicles!!!

 

 

Which is one reason why I LOVE Valentine's Day so much!

It gives us sweet things to think about
& fills our home with love.

 

I mean, do you even know how sweet it is to watch little boys

SITTING STILL cutting out little hearts for his classmates?

 

 

And then there are the Valentine boxes,

Oh, do I love Valentine Boxes!

 

  

 And this year I think it is my favorite!

 

I love the time we spend together,

everyone usually pitches in.

 

 

When we are deciding what to make I just tell the kids,

"Make what you love!"

 

And Annie...well that girl loves Pandas.

 

 

So we made a Panda.

& I had one happy girl.

 

 

Then, today that little roly poly panda got stuffed

with candy and Valentines, and that Panda was pretty happy too.

 

I'll put the directions down below

but for those of you who aren't really into Pandas...

 

Happy Valentine's day!

 

Hope it's filled with lots of love!

Panda Directions

 

Tape down the "stem" of  a mylar balloon. 

(dollar store)

 

 

Paper Mache the balloon.

(Paste is just flour & water)

 

 

 At least 3 layers.

Allow time to dry between layers.

(fans work great)

 

To get it to stand make a little playdough nest.

 

 

Sit the balloon on it & paper mache around the nest.

 

 



 

 

 

When dry remove the playdough.

 

 

Cut a hole for valentines.

 

 

Here comes the tricky part...

Cover the head with a think fleece.

(Hot glue gun & lots of tugging.)

 

 

I got 1 yard of white & 1 foot of black.

It was more than enough.

 

The back is not the prettiest I'll admit.

 

 

 

Next, the ears.

 

Black fleece & sturdy plastic.

 I cut ears out of strawberry containers.

Cut the fleece as shown below, 2 different sized pieces for each ear.

Front small, back longer.



 

Glue plastic onto the back piece.

 

 

Hot glue the front piece on.

 

 

The longer piece is the tab to apply hot glue to attach to the head.

 

 

Play around with eye shapes,

 

 

and you have your Panda Box!

 

 

 

I'd allow 3 days for the paper mache part.

It really was fun to make together so I hope you give it a try!

 



Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Our family's favorite book is 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

Annie just read it for about the 5th time

for a book report.  They have book reports once a month

and her teacher gives them a lot of leeway, "Be Creative!"

So this month Annie decided to do a Power Point presentation on the characters in her book.  We had a LOT of fun.  A lot.

I'll spare you the full report but here are some of my favorite parts:

The church busybody we used is her 

Aunt Cake who also happens to be her gym teacher.

We slipped in pics of some unsuspecting classmates.

Elmer ~ The pastor's kid who is tired of being Joseph year after year.  Even as a teenager his dad still makes him.  (His mom helped me by snapping the pic but wouldn't tell him why :)

 Alice Wendelkin ~ The Angelic looking girl who plays Mary every year.  She is a bit of a goodie goodie. (Annie's BFF)

Herdman’s Cat

The mailman would not deliver any of the Herdman’s mail because of the cat.

It would attack anything it could see out of it’s one eye.

Now here is where the real hoodlums come in:

Ralph Herdman

Oldest Herdman Kid

Joseph - No one else dared to volunteer to be Joseph cause they didn't want to be beat up by Ralph.

Imogene Herdman

2^nd Oldest Herdman

She found out everyone’s weight in the nurses office and used the information to control and bully classmates.

Was smoking in the church bathroom.

Mary - Bullied Alice out of her standing Mary role by threatening to “shove a pussy willow so far down her ear that it will start to grow.”

LeRoy Herdman

3^rd oldest Herdman

Started his neighbor’s tool shed on fire with the Chemistry set he stole from the hardware store.

Got the Herdman clan to start attending church because he heard a rumor that there was unlimited dessert at church.

Wiseman- brought his families wrapped Christmas ham from the ladies aid basket, instead of frankincense, to the manger in the pageant.

   

Claude Herdman 

& Ollie Herdman

Herdmans number 4 & 5

Even the littlest Herdmans smoked.

Claude stole donuts from the fireman, who were putting out the shed fire, and stuffed them up his shirt.

Wiseman

Glayds Herdman

The youngest Herdman.

The angel of the Lord- the little church boys were afraid to be shepherds because they were afraid Gladys (being the angel of the Lord) would punch them & knock them out.

You survived our book report!

Annie has practiced her power point a million times 

& is so excited to show it to her class.

Now I love this book because it makes 

me feel like maybe my kids aren't SO wild.  

I mean our family is a crazy mess...
but hey...we're no Herdmans!

Pic from our own church Christmas pageant this year.

What's your family's favorite book?

The Secret is Out

Bo is like all first graders...losing teeth left & right.

He was missing his front tooth, then got bumped by his good buddy  which knocked out his other front wiggly tooth.

Of course we couldn't find the tooth fairy jar at bed time
so I assured him the tooth fairy would come 
if he just put it in a little baggie.  

He was very skeptical but put his tooth in the 
Ziploc & headed to bed.

At 6:00 the next morning I was awoken by his voice 
"I TOLD you it wouldn't come."   
I opened my eyes & he was about two inches from my face holding up the baggie for me to see, 
with the saddest little face I ever saw.

Oh no....the tooth fairy forgot!

"Oh baby, I think I know what happened."  I explained, "Look outside.  The sun is not even up....it is still night.  I bet you were the last kid on the list tonight and you just woke up too early.  She is probably trying to come right now but we are up too early so she can't come...it's okay!  She'll just come tomorrow night.  I bet she feels really bad, but what can she do?   We are already up she can't come now!"

Bo thought about it and didn't say anything.  He turned to go downstairs to get ready for the day & I promised him I'd be right down. 

When I finally got down there he looked at me with a big smile, "Mom...I think  know who the tooth fairy is."

"Oh yeah Who?"

"You."  He pointed at me with the edges of his lips curling up.  I could tell he was pretty proud of himself for unlocking one of life's mysteries.

I smiled....a HUGE smile & nodded my head yes without saying a word.  He knew...despite that big fat whopper of a lie I told him.  
(I try realllly hard to tell my kids the truth always so that was hard for me). 

His smile grew bigger & bigger & he punched his fist into the air, 
"YES!!!! YES!!!! I knew it!!!! 
I always knew it was you!!!!!" 

It was fun to see how proud he was for figuring it out.  "Now Bo...you can't tell your brothers.  Annie has know this for a loooong time but she didn't tell you because she didn't want to spoil your fun."

"Okay....but mom?  You put me LAST on the list?!?!"  He still had a smile as wide as his face with 2 missing top teeth.  "And...What do you do with all those teeth?!?!"

Oh man...I thought he figured out that I was the tooth fairy...but it seems he "figured out" that I was THEE Tooth Fairy! 

Rocco & Roo were up by now & he had so many questions!  "Bo we will talk about this later."  I tried to quiet him with the other boys still never experiencing tooth fairy magic. 

He smiled at me all morning. 

On the ride to school I was glad he seemed to have forgotten about it & then from the back seat, " Mom?  Who will be the tooth fairy when you get older...cause I don't want to do it...I want to be a cobra tamer!" 

"Bo, I told you we will talk about this later, but no,

 you will not be the tooth fairy."

After school we got so busy we both forgot about it.  Then, right before bed he came over & patted me on the shoulder smiling, "Mom...don't forget to come tonight!"  he spun on his toes & scooted off to bed yelling over his shoulder back to me,

"Put me first on the list tonight!  Oh & mom...don't worry...knowing your secret doesn't ruin the fun...I like it."   
And into bed he hopped.

So the next night I actually WAS the tooth fairy,

We found the special tooth jar & 
turns out he was first on the list.

We never have talked about it again but,

I am totally dreading breaking his little heart when

 I tell him that I am not THEE Tooth Fairy. 

In the meantime I just get to enjoy imagining his vision of this tall, very pregnant, mom of 5, flying house to house every night 
in a tutu.  

And I can't tell you how tickled I am that he thinks I could be.

What's the going rate for teeth at your house?

Mornings

Mornings at our house start before the sun rises.

 

Even with my eyes still closed I hear

little feet running down the hall.

 

It gets quiet as they tiptoe into our room,

 I hear, "Mom?" and I open my eyes

to one of the boys about a foot from my face.

I send them down stairs & tell them I'll be down soon,

and then I hope they get started getting dressed.

 

Bo & Rocco are usually dressed before
I come down because I always lay out their clothes in little piles
on the fireplace before I go to bed.

 

And when those piles are gone I have
a full bucket of jammies
to put back on the shelf until tonight,
and a pile of yesterday's underwear
to whisk off to the laundry room.

 

But Annie...

she will still be here.
 

 

and it'll take me about 5 minutes to threaten coax her out of bed.

 

The kids start trickling to the table,

(Kit is always first)

 

just as sun starts to peek up over the horizon.

 

As the kids eat,

 

I run around doing all the little things that need to be done,
Making tea for Annie & my myself, 

 
setting out snack options for them
to choose & stuff into their backpacks for school,

 
making sure their backpacks are fully loaded & ready to go.

 

 Then, at 7:40 comes my least favorite part...

"Get your shoes on.
Annie go start the car.
Get your shoes on.
Get your jackets on.
Bo get your shoes on.
Rocco, Roo get in the car.
Bo, your shoes!"

And everyone needs to be bundled to the max,
look at my weather on the morning drive today:

after the "get out the door scuffle" all is well again.
(& after the "get buckled" scuffle)

I love seeing the full back seat in my rearview mirror
as I buckle check,

"Bo, get buckled!"

The drive is beautiful to their little school in the cornfields,

and I love listening to their chatter.

Today, Rocco was filling Roo in on important baby deets that even I didn't know about,

"So if an angel comes into your house and you see it that means you are going to have a baby."

Then, comes the part that makes me a
little emotional every single day:

As they get out with I love yous and pass in front of the car,
 my heart swells as Bo looks so grown up
& I think of him on his own for the next 7 hours.

 I start to miss them already as Annie turns at the door to wave
& always holds the door for Bo no matter how far he is behind."

We smile & wave like crazy
and then I am down to three.

And as long as we are in the car it's errand time.

Every other day we seem to head to Target from school.

Where I have to resist this:

"Pleeeeeease mom?

But I stay strong.

Today was just a quick run for

strawberries
&
radishes.

It was a good thing we stopped despite that cold because the boys acted like they might die while I quickly snapped
that last strawberry picture.

But, I understand because I might have died without my radishes.

This radish-butter flatbread recipe was just calling my name!

Then it's just time to wait.
The mornings have slipped away and we settle in to
enjoy the long days until we get to pick Annie & Bo up again.

I am all too aware that those looong days turn into years
that are flying by so fast they make my head spin.

So cherish those mornings Mamas.
'Cause even though it always seems wayyyyyy too early,
all too soon no one will be
peeking over the side of your bed.