christmas on manor

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it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

A fresh tree decorated with bright colored glass ornaments on the top half and lovingly and excitedly hung handmade or non-breakable ornaments at the bottom. i love that the boys hung at least three per drooping branch!

three handmade stockings and two not.

fun gift wrap i found in the dollar bin at target. i'm also using little suitcase style boxes for the kids this year. trying to be a little 'green' and then they have something to store all of their collections in after.

my favorite place in our house to change each season. i found the glitter letters for a dollar each at joanns and hung them on green velvet ribbon.

hope you are having fun decorating and celebrating the season!

a little organization might help

in the last few weeks i have forgotten a meal for a friend with a new baby, snacks for henry's class at school and two weeks in a row i have left backpacks and lunchpacks in the parking lot at school while i drove off. both times a friend with three kids herself has dropped them by my house with a little laugh, while i'm sure she thinks i've totally lost it.

so here is my attempt to be more organized. a neat planner with tear out sheets for the grocery store and to-do lists. i made a snazzy cover with a fun amy butler print and some vinyl to protect it against spills and sticky fingers and pocket space for the important notes that usually get tossed in a big basket at home and don't get seen again until, yes, i 've forgotten something. now it will all be written in here and hopefully i will remember to check it daily!

creative play

a bug house henry made from an old shoe box and filled with furniture and food for the bugs. and of course, a bug for them to drive!

"outside pie" yummy!

an art project idea from kids craft weekly.

i love that even with all of the toys these guys have it seems they get the most excited when they create their own things to play with!

handmade christmas

my goal is to make at least one handmade thing for each family member this year. henry really wanted to sew the other day, so we started with this quick and easy felt tic-tac-toe game for his cousin keegan. he helped cut the x's and o's with pinking shears and then we sewed the game lines to the square. voila! one down.

racing to three

charlie's third birthday party was this weekend and he wanted a race car party. i made the flag banner (which is now hanging in the boys room), the car birthday cake and i lucked out and found a great kit at target that had wooden cars for the kids to paint, add stickers to and then race them. i was amazed how long they all sat at the table and worked on their little creations. it was a beautiful day and they all played in the backyard until dark. of course he didn't want the day to end and passed out at the kitchen table while coloring. oh.. he is so sweet! everyone who meets him says the same thing.

today we had a 'date' to see jim cosgrove with the kansas city symphony. we have season tickets to the family series which is four concerts including the magic of christmas. it is great, they have an instrument 'petting zoo' before each show where the kids can play the different instruments. a fun way to spend a sunday afternoon!

open house - fiddly fig nov. 2-4

happy halloween a day late

one happy face jack-o-lantern, a vampire and a silly face. those were the requests for carving.

the boys had sooo much fun and would only do football poses for pictures.

sweet little cheerleader lucy, not quite sure about any of it.