I have been working for about a month on my daughter's 7th birthday party. She wanted to do another Alice in Wonderland party. There is so much to do and so much fun to be had with this theme, that I have to admit, I just kept coming up with ideas and kept making more and more stuff. I hope that is all comes together.
For the moment, here are her invitations for the party. Little slices of cardstock cake with some ribbon and a tag that says "eat me". We filled the cake up with pieces of taffy. I loved how they turned out! In a few more days, I will show you the rest of the party.
The invitations read:
Don’t be late for a
very important date!
Please join us for a birthday
celebration in WONDERLAND
with (child's name)
(Date) from (time)
Down the white rabbit’s hole
(address)
RSVP to the Queen of Hearts
(name, phone and email)
or off with your head!
I am on vacation for Spring Break, so that is why there hasn't been much on my blog, but I promise the week after I get back, there will be plenty of stuff to look at. I am having my daughter's birthday party, so there will be plenty to share.
But until then, if for some reason you haven't seen or heard about Pinterest, then you need to get on the bandwagon. It is well worth the trip. I love this site. It basically a way to bookmark all the great things you find on the web in a spectacular eye-candy-like visual way. You get to organize your "pins" on "boards" and you also get to see other people's pins and repin them in your boards.
If you are interested in my boards... you can search angbrimwil.
Warning!!! it is highly addicitive!
I found this picture amongst all my stuff and so I thought I would post it, even if it is months late (or months and months early). I love this picture and I don't really know why. It must be their smiles! I just love these two girls.
So, now is a good time to write a little bit about them and their advancements, their changes and their personality. Let's start with Hannah.
1) She got the Mighty Wolverine award this month at school. Her teacher had the nicest things to say about her. Here are just some of them. She is highly motivated and gives 100% everyday. She is reading well into the third grade level (she is in the 1st grade). Her writing is full of wonderful details, her punctuation and spelling are out of this world and her penmanship is perfect. She is kind, respectful and considerate to everyone especially her teacher. And she is well-liked by her peers.
2) The other day she asked me "are we lucky to live in America?" I said absolutely yes and then we had a long discussion about what we have that others don't have. We discussed that some people don't have toilets and have to use the bushes. That some people have houses with mud walls. That countries have police that are are mean and don't take care of their people. And that not all kids get to go to school to learn and read. She was very interested in all of the questions and answers. I am glad her teacher mentioned this in class, it allowed us to have a nice talk.
3) To show the personality of Hannah, she told us the other night that she doesn't play with a bunch of kids at school right now because they are playing a game where they tag each other. And the school rule is "no hands on each other". So, she isn't going to play because they aren't supposed to be touching each other at recess. That tells you so much about my girl. Obedient to the end. She does what she is told and will not break the rules. I hope that continues throughout her life. It will make my job as a parent so much easier :-)
And for Ella:
1) Every since she has turned four, she has begun to use sentences and her speech is finally to a point we can communicate. It has changed my life as I am sure it has changed hers. It is so fun to hear her little voice actually use words that make sense... I love hearing her talk all the time now.
2) The other night at the dinner table, she started telling us all about the Easter story. We knew she had learned all of this at preschool and she was relaying what she had heard. She told us about Jesus dying on the cross, being placed in the tomb, the angel appearing and saying "fear not" and that Jesus wasn't in the tomb because he is alive! She was very thorough in her story telling and very happy to share this story with us. As she should be :-)
3) Ella has started to recognize words. She has a Dick and Jane book (do you remember those books? That is how I learned to read in school). She gets out the book and can read the following words "oh" "look" "Jane" "baby" and "see'. I love that she is trying to learn to read (or at least trying to recognize the words). It is fun to see her learn!
Jake isn't in the picture, but i need to talk a little about him.
1) He is starting to hit the terrible twos. So there is more crying and fit throwing, but i have found that if I let him walk where I need him to go, he will be much happier. If he is able to do it on his own, it changes his whole attitude. And I put him in his crib to cry once because he was just having a crying fit that wouldn't stop. After that experience, all I have to say is "do you want to go to your crib?" and he stops. Such a good learner.
2) He loves animals of all kinds. He loves bugs and birds, and sea life. The other day, he discovered Roly-Polys and just sat there and watched it for a long time. I should have taken a picture. And we had a nature show on about fish and he just went nuts. Squealing and touching the TV saying "fish, fish, fish". And whenever he sees an animal that makes noise... he says the noise the make.... MOO! BAA! QUACK, QUACK! He loves to make animal noises.
For Activity Days a few weeks ago, we had a lesson on the value of money and tithing. I started the lesson off with giving each girl change adding up to $1.00. I gave them a piece of paper split into three sections titled 1) Tithing 2) Savings 3) Spending. I told the girls to divide the money up into the three categories. Whatever way they wanted to. Then we shared the way the divided the money. It was interesting to see what they each did.
Then we talked about why we have the Law of Tithing. What it is? What Tithing is used for? and the blessings of tithing.
Then I passed out index cards and pens and we played "the price is right" (sort of). I held up different items that the girls might ask their moms for. i.e. cake mix, pencils, hair bands, cereal, notebook, gum, can of soup, etc. Each girl was to write what they thought the price was for an item. We would all show our answers and then I would reveal the price. Who ever got closest to the correct price without going over, won the item. Then we would go to the next item until they were all gone.
I wanted to teach the girls what things cost, so that they knew the price of things and understood what their parents were spending on them (even for the simple things). I still had some time, so I asked the girls what was the one thing they needed right now from their parents and had them guess what it cost and then I told them approx would it would be.
Lastly, each girl got a white piggy bank (I got them at Michaels in a pack of 3 for $10, but I used the 40% off coupon. They were a nice big size, but I am sure you can find smaller ones for cheaper). Then I cut out vinyl words "tithing" and some flowers and had the girls but them on their piggy banks. They took these home to use as a reminder and a place to put their tithing.
Lastly, I told the girls they could keep the $1.00 change, but that they had to put the amount they had in savings, in their savings, the amount for spending in spending and then each girl filled out a tithing slip and put their $.10 in it and they were to go and give it to the bishop. All and all, it was a simple and fun activity and the girls learned a lot.
I used the Random Number Generator tool and came up with the winner to the Epic Letterpress Machine.
Congratulations to the person that left this comment.
Carpenter's said...
I have heard of this!
Ohh the jubilee would be the one I would want. I could start on my Christmas cards :) Thanks for the chance to win this amazing giveaway!!
Please conatct me within 1 week (April 14 end of day). If I don't hear from you by then, I will randomly select another winner. Email me your name and address and I will get the machine to you!
When I have my act together, I love giving gifts to teachers for any and all holidays. I think teachers do so much for our children and don't get the recognition or money they deserve... so at the very least, a few little gifts of thoughtfulness here and there is the least I can do as a parent to say thank you.
Here is a list of little thank you gifts I wanted to gather in one place as ideas to give to teachers throughout the year.
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
A Caramel Apple Kit or a Rocky Mountain Caramel Apple
Or this fun calculator gift.
HALLOWEEN
These cute witches shoes or a potted plant.
THANKSGIVING
Some sparkling apple cider. Here is another cute way to wrap up a bottle.
CHRISTMAS
I am leaving this blank. I have yet to find the go-to gift for Christmas. I try to make the gift be something special for the teacher (a "real" gift) and something they might not normally get (from all the other parents). i.e. good balsamic vinegar or something for the house. It all depends on the year and the teacher. So for this holiday... it ends up being more of a "wait and see what happens" kinda of holiday. But I thought this picture of flowers and candy canes was adorable!
VALENTINE'S DAY 
Chocolate Dipped Fortune Cookies or a bowl of fruit.
St. PATRICK'S DAY 
APRIL FOOL'S DAY 
These fun cupcakes TV dinner cupcakes. Instructions found here. Cupcake image taken from here.
EASTER 
Cute Easter Bunny Brownies in a Jar.
these simple but adorable peeps.
TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK
Here is a list of things I do for each day of the week.
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL 
A picture frame or picture holder and a tag that says "Thank you for a picture perfect year!"
or a Jamba Juice gift card with there acrylic cup (to celebrate the start of summer).
This morning I decided to try a little pancake art. I made these little bunnies for the kiddos. They loved them and it was easy-peasy! What a fun way to serve breakfast and to make it extra special and fun.
I got the idea from this pancake artist... she is fantastic. We will be doing this more often!
The secret is.....squeeze bottles. It makes drawing with pancake batter a cinch.
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