“Doh”n’t Forget

A few weeks ago, it was my son’s half-birthday. 

Normally, we don’t make a big deal about half-birthdays, but my kids’ school has an incentive program they do for when the kids are good, or show school spirit, or help others, or when it is their birthday—or half-birthday if their actual birthday is in the summertime.

They are called spirit sticks, and the kids will do ANYTHING for them. 

Anything. 

So much so, that they have been compared to crack cocaine.

No lie.

So much so, that I have considered ordering my own spirit sticks to keep my kids in line at home.

To be fair, not only do the kids like them, but I like them.  Instead of candy or a crappy little toy to reward kids at school, they get these cute little straps of fabric that they thread onto a key ring that is hooked to their backpacks.

But I digress.

My kindergartener has a summer birthday, so he had  been counting down to his half-birthday for weeks, so that he could get his birthday spirit stick.  The big day finally arrived and after school, he ran to the car to show me.  After admiring it, he says, “you know mom, it would have been nice of us to bring a treat to share with my class to celebrate my half-birthday.”

What?!

Apparently, I missed the memo on that one.

The next day after school, his teacher comes to the car with him.  “I know this is short notice, she says, but would you mind helping your son fill out this ‘about me’ poster for tomorrow.  We would love to spotlight him for his half-birthday.  Oh, and he can bring a treat to share with the class if he would like.”  Turns out, she had a whole bunch of birthdays and half-birthdays to celebrate that month, and she was a little behind with the celebrations.

Phew.

So that afternoon I asked him what he wanted to take.  After discussing several options, I learned that half of the kids in his class have some kind of allergy to pretty much everything, so we went with this instead:

This large package of these little Play Dohs had been sitting around my house  because what mother in her right mind actually lets her kids play with play doh, right?! unused for the past few years and they were {miraculously} not dried out.

So we made a little labels for each of them and sent them to school with his completed info poster.

Easy, fun, and allergy-free.

Happy Half-Birthday!

The Best Birthday Present Ever!

Last week was my birthday.  I had a great week with fun surprises and lots of great gifts and birthday wishes.  My husband, though, went above and beyond and built me something that I’ve wanted ever since we moved here—shoe storage!

I don’t know if I have shown you master closet photos of this house yet, but it is a good-sized closet, and it just so happened that there was a blank wall that was begging for some kind of shelving.

I don’t have a before picture of the wall that was there, but here is a before picture of how my shoes were stored:Nice, right?  I’m kind of a slob.

So for my birthday, I begged suggested that my husband we build a shoe shelf. 

We started with some inexpensive wood from Home Depot, and had them cut it for us.

Then we painted, and painted, and painted.  {I don’t know what they use to put those numbers on the wood, but it just kept seeping through the paint.  rrrrrr.}

It turned out so nice!  I love that my shoes aren’t in a lump on the floor anymore and that I don’t have to dig through that lump every time I put shoes on.

My husband did such a great job, that we will definitely be putting his amazing carpentry skills to use in the future. 

Thanks to my husband for the awesome birthday gift!  Every time I see it, I am reminded how great he is, and how he worked so hard to fulfill my birthday wish.

February Visiting Teaching Message

February’s message reminds us that we should strive to be, and help others to be

Converted Unto the Lord.

Elder Russell M. Ballard said, “Capture the vision that the Relief Society can become one of the most powerful friendshipping resources we have in the Church.  Reach out early to those being taught and reactivated, and love them into the Church…”

The handout is simple this month. To make it, you need to print the message, trim it into a square, then fold it into an origami heart, and fill the pocket with treats.

 

So simple and fun.

I used these instructions for the origami pocket heart, but there are lots of other ways to do it.  Here is one more way to do it.

For even more origami hearts, and other Valentine’s Day ideas, feel free to visit my collection on Pinterest. 

Happy Visiting Teaching!

Bee Mine

I found a great Valentine printable and made a few things to make my home a little more “valentiney”.

First, I thought it would be fun to print it,
and modge podge it to a canvas,
  then frame it.  So I did, {after reprinting it on darker cardstock}
but while I was modge podging, I had an idea for another project, so I did both.

  Neither one took very long, and have made me feel a little more festive.
Thanks to Aly Brooks  for the great printable!
A few other bloggers created something from this printable too.  To see what they came up with, see below.