Happy Valentine's Day!

I won't even begin to start to tell you just how late I was up last night finishing all of the Valentine's goodies for Dylan to take to school today.  Apparently, I grossly underestimated just how long all of it would take. 

Dylan decided he wanted the super hero tootsie pops again this year.  I remembered that they were an easy task so I guess I thought they would just take me about 30 minutes to crank out 30 of them.

Wrong!! But they are very cute & Dylan was excited to hand them out to his friends at school.

Then I had this wonderful plan of making some gorgeous brownies with beautiful candy coating on top and sprinkles to give to the teachers.  It would be this beautiful gift....they would praise me and ask how I did such a great job.  As though I was "super mom"....

Then THIS happened.  NOT what I was picturing at ALL!!

So those ugly brownies went into an even uglier tupperware dish for us to eat later (despite the ugliness...they still tasted good!) and I had to rack my brain on something I could do last minute to give to the teachers.  I remembered how I made a candy coated popcorn mix for Easter last year that was delicious.  I checked my supplies and I actually had some red candy coating that had been leftover from something before. So I popped a couple bags of popcorn, drizzled the candy coating & poured on some sprinkles.  Threw it all in some ziploc bags and put them in the same cute goody bags I made for the kids at school.

(Much more attractive!)

When all was said & done, this momma was beat! But I was still able to get the boys up and going and excited for the day. 

(You see it, right?  You see their excitement, don't you?)

That's better! 

It was a lot of work, but the boys looked adorable & they had cute goody bags & valentines that they were so excited to hand out. So it was worth it! 

Easy (Non-Candy) Valentine Goody Bags

Dylan's school is having a Valentine's Party tomorrow.  We were the first to sign up for what item to bring and of course Dylan chose goody bags.  I figured that since Valentine's Day is a pretty "candy-centered" holiday that the kids really didn't need a goody bag filled with even more candy.  They were all exchanging Valentine's during the party which would pretty much guarantee an abundance of the sweet stuff.  So I decided that we would take a different route with the goody bags.

I started out with just plain old brown paper lunch sacks & cut them in half with pinking shears.  Punched a whole in the top & threaded some red ribbon for a handle.  Then I cut out a heart from glitter paper & attached it to the front of the bag.  Not too shabby for last minute, huh?

I went to Target to round up some fun stuff to put in the bags.  I found some really cute assorted foam stickers that came in a huge tub, tattoos (pirate for the boys, hearts for the girls) & bouncy balls.  I found some Valentine themed Disney coloring pages online & printed them out, rolled them up and tied them together.  I also included some crayons to color the pages with.

A pretty good little assortment!  The best part was that Dylan helped me put all the "goodies in the goody bag".  He kept saying "Wow, we've got lots of work to do! I love working!"

After all 28 were finished....it DID feel like work!

Being a Busy Little Bee...and Some Brutal Honesty..

I've been a little M.I.A. lately and it's definitely not by choice.  Things at home have been changing (my husband trying to find a new job) and I'm in the middle of typically the busiest time of year for my job.  On top of that, over the past two weeks I've been in the middle of being on the "ick" side of an audit at work.  Then on top of that, for some reason, I've decided to start about ten different projects at home...decorating, crafting, working on the Etsy items, etc. 

Needless to say it hasn't been pretty.

And apparently, neither have I.  I should have seen it coming.  About two weeks ago we were all minding our own business at home on the weekend, the TV was on but no one was really paying it any attention.  Then out of nowhere, a commercial came on.  You know the type...the one that gets really loud like your TV is on at full blast to grab not only everyone in your house's attention, but everyone on the block's attention. I tried to pay it no mind. It'll be over soon.  But apparently Dylan was not so strong.  It was a hair commercial.  You know the type, with the model girl and all her long, thick, bouncing, glorious hair, whipping it around in the air from side to side and telling you that just by using this shampoo you could have the same kind of hair.  Of course I noticed the commercial (it was too loud not to), then I saw Dylan watching it. He turned to me and goes "Mommy! Do you want you hair to look like that??"  My first thought is ....UGGGhhhhh... of course baby! Every mommy of two little boys would LOVE their hair to look like that! But reality sets in....and my poorly made, two day unwashed ponytail is the best you're gonna get today!  But instead I sweetly say "yes, baby..that would be beautiful".  He smiles, nods and passes the thought. 

Nothing more was said or done.  He passed the thought and I thought I was in the clear.  Then we went on a Target run this weekend.  I decided I was going to roam the women's clothing section (who could resist?) with Dylan.  That's when Dylan saw the pictures and advertisements on the signs, looks up at me from the cart, and in the most honest and sweet way goes "Hey Mommy!!! Do you want to look like those girls?!???!!!"...while pointing at the signs.  Completely embarrassed because there's about 15 people around us in the same section that all heard him (if you know my sons...you know they are not quiet by any means) who all looked over while he said that.  I tried to brush it off quickly and said "yes, baby" quietly and tried to navigate myself away from the area as quickly as possible.  It did not work. His very quick response was "OK, THEN. DO IT!!!" As he looks at me like I should magically transform into a skinny, big haired, stylish dressed and wonderfully accessorized human being. I. was. mortified.  About 10 of the 15 people in the area started cracking up.

Leave it to a child to give you the most brutal honesty you could hope for.  Apparently, I've got some work to do!  So the next few weeks apparently I'm focusing on looking like the best "hair commercial, Target model" I can be!