Easy Valentines Breakfast Table

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Hope everyone is having an awesome day so far. My awesome husband brought me tulips this morning. 

*swoon*. 

I thought I would share what I did to brighten up our morning here. Best part? It didn't cost an arm and a leg. Like I spent only $20. SCORE! 

For a $1 each, I bought the tablecloth, cups, plates, and straws. The teddy bears, set of mugs, and banners were $3 each. I already owned the leather table runner/centerpiece. Took me all of 5 minutes to put together. Which is awesome cause I was tired after bible study last night. Those ladies are so awesome they wear me out! 

Hope you all have an awesome day and get to love or be loved on by someone today. Maybe its the co-worker who isn't getting flowers, buy her a coffee. Maybe its the single mama in your neighborhood who could use a nice meal tonight. How about the cashier who looks dead on her feet, compliment her. The widow next door who still needs the snow cleared from her front porch. That kid in your class who looks like they really need a hug. Love them. Its not just about candy hearts and flowers. Its about sharing love with those around us. 

Extra bonus: little love from the 5yo. Enjoy! 

Halloween Frame on Kid Craft Tuesday

I love the Halloween craft the kids and I made last year

 

 

My inspiration came from this blog last year:

A Diamond in the Stuff - Googly Eye Halloween Frame

I cant begin to tell you how easy and fun these were. We added something else to ours. Thumbprint spiders! I believe I found the idea for those in a magazine last year though for the life of me I cant find the exact source! (If you know it please tell me so I can update!)

 

Since I used the above link to make mine I wont go into details on how to paint/glue on the eyes. Its pretty easy to follow. The thumbprint spiders were just as easy.

• Cut the cardstock to fit inside frame.
• Have little ones dip their thumb into desired paint color and press onto center of paper.
• Let dry!
• Using a ball point pen (or in our case a Sharpie no-bleed fine tipped pen), draw on the string and all 8 legs. I did the one on my 3yo's but I let my 6yo do his own.
•  Finally glue on the google eyes and let dry. Place in your finished google eye frame and enjoy!

FYI: The spiders in the frame are from this last week. I decided I will let the kids do new ones every year. Last years were just as cute though!

Happy Halloween crafting!

Did you miss me?

Sorry folks. Summer fun and the stress of the 1-year anniversary of Jeremy's injuries got the better of me. I really really REALLY want to make this blog work. I think it can. I have been blessed to follow some other amazing bloggers and the guilt I have felt over not posting anything has been eating away at me. I am so sorry that I have not been updating it.

This month has been especially hard. Not only did we have some added stress of things going wrong with the property we own in another state (UGH!), both children being in school 5 days a week for the first time, but we also made it to Jeremy's very first "Alive Day"!

WOOHOO!!!

By far its been the biggest hurdle. He is doing AMAZING. The difference a year makes!!! He shocks me on a regular basis with just how much he can do now that he couldn't do even 6 months ago. We are so blessed. The other news that goes along with this is that he finally got his retirement/disability ratings. It means we are leaving.

Soon...

Too soon for me. I love our life here. And I have been praying hard for strength and clarity through it all. The direction God wants us to go in still seems so foggy. I feel like most days I am still stumbling around in the darkness. That darkness is filled with an ever growing to-do list, a house that never seems to stay clean, and all the worry that comes with any Army move times like 1000. The darkness sucks. Not being able to see what the next step is sucks. Thank God I have a strong, amazing, supportive husband who puts up with all my complaining. Thank God I have wonderful, just-as-nutso-as-me friends who remind me that we WILL get everything done. And Thank God I have beautiful children who keep me going everyday.

Which brings me to our adventures today. I had a to-do list that was a mile long this morning. We should have stayed home. I would have ended the day frustrated. There would have been whining, kids fighting, yelling, and feeling guilty cause I hadn't gotten as much done as I liked and yelled too much and didn't pay enough attention to the kids......and on and on and on. It would have been like far too many days lately.

This morning was different. While we were all still in pj's (don't think this was early, it was like 10am!) I made the crazy suggestion that we go to the zoo. No, not the one 10 min from our house that we can walk through in less than 30min, the one that's an hour away that costs us double to go to thanks to gas prices. Thankfully my husband saw that I was serious. See my kids were sad because we couldn't go to the Georgia Aquarium and see the dolphins. This was thanks to the program we saw on tv about how they built it, trained the dolphins, etc. Man do we miss the aquarium something awful!! So the zoo it was instead. Checked the banks account, yep we can go! Checked the fridge, yep we can take a lunch with us! Checked the weather, yep we are outta here! I am so glad we went. The kids had a fabulous time, I go to hold hands with my fella, and I got some super cute shots of some of our favorite friends.

What are you looking at?

My little animals

Siri posing for the camera

Its a rough life just lion around.

As per tradition, we just cant go to Syracuse without headed to the mall. This time we finally got to see the new wing that was added. And the kids rode the Carousel with daddy. Who knew riding around in circles could make them so happy.

After we got home, I realized there were still dishes to do, and laundry to fold, and a child who needed a bath (well they both do but the princess was passed out). While J was in the shower I took a moment to try and catch up on my pinterest page. I came across this blog, Hands-Free Mama. I was in tears.

THAT WAS IT!
We needed today. Was there whining and crying today? Yes. My kids are 6 and 3. Someone is going to cry or whine, that's just a given. Was there grown-up stuff that could have been done today? Of course. I wouldn't trade today for anything though. I got to laugh at my daughter for being fascinated with the "poop beetles" (dung beetles), and watch my son have moments of such maturity that I forgot he is only 6. It was perfect chaos and I loved it. SO much better than a year ago. A year ago I was headed to Germany. A year ago I didn't know if my husband was going to recognise my face when he woke up. This year is different. This year is ours.

My challenge to you is to put down the phone, the remote, the to-do list and just spend a few minutes with your family. Go do something fun. Just because you CAN.

BLOG HOP!

So since I am trying to get more readers, I am inviting yout to join this awesome blog hop today! Check out how many awesome blogs have already linked up! I have already found so many amazing crafty ideas and gotten inspiration for my own blog. YEA! Happy hoppin!

part 3: 2-87 Summit Ball

well the end of deployment is official. We attended our final military ball on May 4th. It was wonderful! we had a great time with awesome friends and got to honor even more amazing soldiers. I feel so blessed that we were part of a unit that would care so much. They are family. I cant even begin to express how much I am going to miss my Catamount girls!!!!

me getting ready. i totally went to set up the event like this only with a scarf covering the rollers. it was awesome. my husband claimed he didn't know me while setting up. but my bff did so its all good! lol!

the beautiful early mothers day present I got from hubby right before the ball.

leaving for our last ball.

Lt. V and his minions. Lt. V, Carman, Dutton, and hubs.

centerpieces. we had to scrub all the old wax off these before the ball. it was FUN! :(

in the ballroom. man was it HOT in there!!!!!

me and my other half Jess G. Her dress was AMAZING!

Jess and her hubby Kell

my fav pic of the night. This is the Lieutenant Jeremy had when they left on deployment and his fiancee Lisa. Jake was injured by an IED last summer and lost both of this legs. I think I cried just as much when I got the news about Jake as I did when I first got the call about Jeremy. His strength and determination is nothing short of amazing. We are so proud of how far he has come and cant wait to see what life has in store for these two!

So there it is in a nutshell. We had so much fun. It was over a month ago but I know I wont forget that night. It was a great way to leave the Catamounts.

part 2: teacher appreciation gifts

yes i am aware that teacher appreciation was last week. my life seems to get more and more insane by the minute. the good thing is, all of these ideas could be used as end of the year gifts too. =D

each day has the teacher gift as well as the gift for the aide in his classroom.

Monday: Cup & notecards

The original idea for the cup came from pinterest and this blog:

 lisa storms: teacher appreciation week part 3

"You have all the 'write' stuff!"

"Thanks for quenching my thirst for knowledge!"

J's teacher LOVED it. She was so excited! With as many times as the original link had been pinned I figured for sure she was going to get 4 of them. NOPE!  Inside is just a piece of scrapbook paper rolled up as a filler and 4 packets of crystal light drink mix. His teacher aide got the set of notecards. I never really got to see her reaction to gifts since she was usually helping get kids off the bus when we went to his classroom.

Tuesday: Stamps & Candy

"Thanks for being an A+ teacher!"

This was just a set of 4 wooden stamps and 3 ink pads. total cost: $4!!!

his teachers aide got the small container of candy pictured in the group pic at the top. Apparently I didnt take a picture of it by itself! Whoops! =D More info on it later.

Wednesday: Candy & Notepad & Soap

3 GIFTS! Yep, Wednesday was also School Nurse appreciation day! So they got a wonderful foaming hand soap from B&BW! (I adore their 6/$20 specials!)

"to help you 'escape' all those nasty germs! thanks for all you do!"

His teacher got candy and the aide got the notepad and pencil. Total cost for these 2 projects: $5! The containers with candy came as a set of 3 for $1. So I used one for his aide and the other 2 for his teacher. 

"Thanks for being so sweet!"

"Thanks for being an A+ aide!"

Thursday: Frame & Lotion

"Thanks for helping handle the stress of our class!"

"Thanks for being so amazing!"

$3 frame from wallyworld, scarpbook paper, & a cricut = love! And a $4 bottle of lotion and a $.50 nail file make for EASY stress relief! =D

Friday: FLOWERS!

"Thanks for helping me grow"

I think I spent more time and energy on these than all the others combined. First the pots I bought for J to paint were not working at all. BUMMER! So we ended up at the PX to get new ones (and flowers!) on Thursday night before tball. He had fun painting these though. The signs took me forever to make. Thats what I get for waiting til the last minute though!!! I had all the other gifts ready to go the week before. Oh well. They loved them! Mrs. A even put hers on the table during our Mothers Day tea at school Friday afternoon!

Oh but wait there is more! On Tuesday I gave Brooklyns teachers at her pre-k (its really daycare but more structured) gifts as well! I <3 the dollar section at target.....
Each one included a slinky, a flower growing kit, drink mix, a notepad and pencil, star stickers, gum, and chocolates.

card said: "A special gift for an EXTRA special teacher! Thanks for helping to QUENCH MY THIRST for knowledge! you are a SUPER STAR teacher, with all the WRITE stuff! Its been so much FUN learning to GROW in your class! HUGS AND KISSES!"

I hope you enjoyed all the gifts and found some inspiration to show your kids teacher just what they have meant to you!

Easter Eggs

Well trying to make the best of this very Good Friday here at the Simon house. Ran to Wmart to get dye so we could (finally) do eggs. They were seriously OUT! Ok so thanks to the fabulous Pinterest I was saved. KOOL-AID! My house doesn't reak of vinegar (although I may do that kind tomorrow) and the kids had a blast helping me set it all up.

Best of all, THIS is what we ended up with!!!!

Here is the original tutorial I used from Hey! Jen Renee.

It was so easy!!!!!!!!

  It smelled like summer!               I love having lots of craft supplies         He was way too excited

             







    Some of the coloring came out A.MAZ.ING!

I love how they turned out. Well onto my next adventure of the day. Braving the Commissary for milk. Remind me why I forgot to get it at Wmart? Have a very blessed weekend!!!!!!!

ROCK CHALK!!!!!

Ok gotta say this:

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS GO KU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<3 my Jayhawks!!!!