Scarpbooking

Sarah's soccer game for today was cancelled due to all of the rain we're having, and she was so bummed out!  So, I thought while Daddy watched football and Jackson napped, she and I could do a project to cheer her up.  A few months ago, my sweet sister gave me a scrapbook kit, so we made a Sarah and Mommy scrapbook!!  I was initally going to make a family scrapbook with this kit, but it's really girly, so I thought it would be perfect to make this one all about us girls, (besides, a few years ago, I made a scrapbook of just Daddy and Sarah, so I didn't feel too bad about not including either of the boys in this one!).

 

This was Sarah's favorite page that she made.

 And here are two of mine.

We always have so much fun doing projects together!  I love girl time!!

Student Council

Fourth grade is the first year you can be in Student Council at Sarah's school, and she decided to run for representative.  Only two kids per fourth grade class were elected after their classmates voted, and Sarah was one of the two in her class!  We are so proud of her!  Bryan and I were both members and leaders of many organizations in high school, so it's fun to see our little princess carrying on in our footsteps!

 

Here is the speech that Sarah wrote all by herself before the class voted:

Hello, I'm Sarah Crowder.  I want to be Team Halstead's Student Council Representative because I want to be a leader, make change, and get this school to be even better than it is.  I think I would make a great representative because I'm loyal and trustworthy, logical and creative so I'll make good decisions and great ideas.  I will be able to go to every meeting because I'm not on afternoon safety patrol, and my mom will be able to pick me up afterwards.  This is my last year at this school, so I want to make it the best.  Thank you.

 

 

Shoes

This weekend, Sarah and I updated some flats!  And it's not the first time we've made shoes even prettier!

 

A few years ago, (maybe before I was even pregnant with Jackson--I don't recall!), I bought an inexpensive pair of flats and used this tutorial to make them so much cuter!  A little fabric, a little mod podge, and a little sewing--for the flowers on the front--and I adore these shoes!

Then, over the summer, Sarah and I changed some of our flip flops with some girly fabric by following this tutorial!  We've actually updated flip flops even before that with colorful ribbon, but I can't find any pictures of that creation!

On Sunday during Jackson's nap time, Sarah and I used another tutorial that showed how to use mod podge and glitter to change these flats from slightly boring...

...to girly and sparkly and wonderful!!

 

It took about 4 coats of our mod podge/glitter concoction, but we adore the results so I think it was worth it!  We chose aquamarine glitter because it's one of our favorite colors!  And Sarah actually chose her shoes about a size bigger than she's wearing currently so they'll last her awhile.  All total--shoes and glitter--was $20!  I already had the mod podge in my craft stash, (which my sister refers to as aisle 7 of Hobby Lobby, but it's not that big!).

I had so much fun making these shoes with Sarah, and we can't wait to wear them together!

Our Weekend

For the past few days, Bryan has been gone a lot.  He was on call at the hospital on Thursday night, then, he was out of town this weekend, and he's on call again tonight!  For his trip, Bryan left a little after noon on Friday and got home about 10:45 last night.  When he was in medical school, he was gone a lot on away rotations--most of the time it was just for 1 month, but one time it was 4 months in a row!  That was hard!  With Bryan's work schedule now, we're used to him being on call at least once a week, but this weekend's trip was the longest he's been gone since Jackson was born.  And I'm not going to lie, I prayed for patience!

 

To keep us busy, I tried to plan some fun activities to do with the kiddos.  Saturday morning while Jack was still sleeping, Sarah and I tie dyed some t-shirts with Sharpies using this tutorial.  It was so much fun!

I got the shirts for $3 from Old Navy, so it was a pretty inexpensive project!

This is mine.  We had such a great time creating these, that we're already planning on making more!

Later Saturday morning, we watched Finding Nemo.  I put a blanket on the floor in the den and made snacks for the kids.

Jackson had never seen this movie before, and every time something bad or scary occurred, he would say, "Oh no!  Happen-da?!"  It was so cute!  You know what else is cute?!  How he's sitting so close to Sarah with his hand resting on her knee!

Saturday afternoon, Sarah read Jackson If You Give a Cat a Cupcake.  We love these books at our house!  Jack's favorite part is when the cat spills all of the sprinkles!

To go with storytime, the kids stirred up some cupcake mix next!  Jackson is using a kids whisk with a giraffe for the handle that we got him for his birthday since he loves helping in the kitchen.

After everything was mixed together, Sarah filled her trusty mini cupcake maker from Great Aunt Julie.  She loves this thing!

Then, just like in the book, I let the kids decorate their cupcakes with homemade chocolate frosting...

...and sprinkles!  I'm glad I got them their own bowls of sprinkles--Jack ate his by the handful before he ate anything else!

The kids loved this!!

Mmm...frosting!

When the kids finished making and devouring the cupcakes, there was chocolate frosting all over their clothes, the windowsill, and the walls.  Colorful sprinkles covered the floor.  But that's what spray and wash, rags, and vacuums are for!  Sarah and Jackson had a blast, and I'm already looking forward to reading another one of our books in the series and making a different treat to go with it!

While Jackson napped on Sunday, Sarah and I popped popcorn, (in a brown paper bag in the microwave after seeing it done here--I didn't know you could make it like that!), and watched Full House--one of our favorite shows!

Sarah made Daddy a sweet card for him to read when he got home.  She even drew a bald eagle at the bottom--one of Daddy's favorite animals!

 

I'm thankful for a great weekend with the wee ones. Sarah kept telling me that she had so much fun, and she even thanked God for our time together during grace at dinner on Saturday. Talk about melting my heart!
I'm also thankful that Bryan got home safely.  Even though it was just two and a half days, I missed him like crazy!  It's just not the same when he's not here to help tuck the kids into bed and then snuggle with on the couch while watching TV and talking about our days.  It's weird going to bed without an "I love you" and sleeping with the fan off because I am always so cold and he's not at all!  It's hard not having adult conversation other than with the cashier at Lowe's for two and a half days!  Bryan is the peanut butter to my jelly, and I am so blessed to have him as my best friend and my husband! 

 

Soccer!

Friday night was Sarah's first soccer practice of the season.  Her wonderful coach from the past two seasons moved, so she's on a new team this year.  Bryan left for an out of town trip Friday afternoon, so I took Jackson to practice too.

 

 Sarah already loves her new team and her new coach! 

Even though practice didn't start until 7:30--an hour and a half past J's bedtime!--he did great!  I think the lollipops I packed helped!!

Boots and Burgers

A couple of days ago, my sweet sister, Hillary, sent me my Christmas gift early--cowgirl boots!!  I love them so much!  Being born and raised in Texas, I can't believe these are my first pair of western boots!  Bryan was home for a bit today since he's on call tonight, so I wore the boots with one of his favorite dresses.  Thanks again, Hill; you're the best!!  (I felt so awkward having Bryan take a picture of just me--I didn't know what to do with my hands or anything!  Ha!)

Jackson always loves wearing his rain boots, and when he saw me in my boots, he really wanted to wear his!!  We've talked for awhile now about getting him some cowboy boots, so maybe we'll have to go shopping for those soon!

Before Bryan had to get ready for work, we took Jackson to Smashburger for lunch.  Bryan's going to be on call or out of town for the next 5 out of 6 nights, so it was nice to do something different and go out to eat.

Cowboy Jack

For some reason, we had Jackson's horsey in our bedroom for the past few months.  So yesterday, I brought it downstairs, and he had a ball riding his old friend again!

The shirt came off after breakfast because some of his purple smoothie got on it--so I wanted to immediately put spray and wash on it before doing the laundry during naptime!

I think he's the cutest shirtless cowboy this side of the Mississippi...actually, he's the cutest shirtless cowboy on the other side of the Mississippi too!

Football!

We love football at our house!  Especially Bryan!  For him, it's God, family, football!!  Yesterday, we watched the Aggie game together!  Last weekend, Bryan was on call for their second game (their first one was rescheduled), so he was excited to be off to see this game!

 

Each year, I take a picture of the boys getting ready to watch football together!

This was before the very first Cowboys preseason game after Jackson was born.  He was just shy of being a month and a half--but it's never too early to start, right?!  I could just eat up his double chin in this picture!!

This picture makes me laugh to this day!  Jack is so little propped up on his Boppy watching the game with Daddy.  And Bryan looks ridiculous in his blue Cowboy shirt and blue soccer shorts!  But I love him for who is he not what he wears!  : )  

This was last year.  Jackson is wearing the same Aggie jersey.  It was $17--way more than we normally pay for his clothes, so I bought it two sizes too big to make sure he could get a lot of use out of it!

 

 I think J is already yelling touchdown in this picture and the Aggies hadn't even kicked off yet!  Ha!

I taught Jack how to do a thumbs up for the Aggies, but I didn't get any pictures of him doing it!  I also didn't get any shots of him doing his touchdown arms each time we scored!  There's always the next game though!

 Love!!

I would eventually love a cute Aggie dress, but for the time being, I love my old shirt!

I found this ATM pasta at the grocery store and couldn't wait tot make it for game day!

I also had to bake these football style homemade oreos--they've became a game day tradition!

Along with the pasta salad and oreos, I made deviled eggs, pigs in the blanket, sausage cheese balls, bark, 5-layer dip, homemade salsa, and fresh fruit salad.  We also had spinach dip--which was the only thing I didn't make--it's from Costco and the kids love it!  If you can't tell, we love having snacks while watching football games!

 

Family Walk

When we got home from school on Friday afternoon, the weather was so wonderfully fall-like that we decided to go on a walk through the neighborhood.  As I was getting Jackson's stroller out of the trunk, Papa Bear pulled into the driveway.  Perfect timing!

 

Sarah thought about riding her scooter, but then changed her mind.  I snapped a picture before she put it away!

 We love family walks!  It's a perfect chance to talk about our day.

I found a rock along the way and gave it to Bubs.  I have a feeling it will be the start of a rock collection for him!

Sarah jumped into the bed of Daddy's truck when we got home, and I thought she looked too cute sitting on his toolbox!