Summer activity jar...

I have seen various forms of this project in the blog universe over the past few weeks-summer activities &/or ideas jars, summer checklists, summer to-do lists, etc...we decided to go with the jar idea it's very exciting for the twins to reach in and pull out a "surprising" activity of the day than to just check off items on lists.
We have everything from crafty at home activities and outtings to local places to food projects and outdoor fun games listed on little slips in our jar.
Today on our first day of summer we plucked out "make friendship bracelets" from the jar and I was instantly teleported back in time to long lazy summer days with friends at home or at summer camp spending hours twisting, turning and knotting various strands of embroidery floss!
The boys loved it and have already asked if when they get bigger if I'll help them make "daddy" sized bracelets!

Dumas birthDAY pics...

This small (and simple) 4 x 6 mini is going to hold birthDAY pictures of the dumasfam4 throughout 2011. Mike has been photographed on the 7th of each month, myself on the 8th and each of the twins on the 11th. I'm looking forward to looking back on how much we do (or don't) change from month to month this year!

Flat Stanley...

...documented!
I made this little mini from one sheet of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper-cute into (3) 4 x 12 strips-I scored, folded and lined them up to make one pint sized mini accordion album documenting Flat Stanley's Chesapeake visit.

I printed off a few "wallet" sized pictures, used up some bright "boy" colored scraps and bright colored strips of tape for journaling.

Valentines decorations...

These glittery hearts were originally on picks that I bought two bags of at the Dollar Tree with he intent of cutting down the picks and inserting the hearts around a styro ball-it was an epic fail on so many levels. So I put a sheet of patterned paper into a 5 x 7 frame I had on hand and glued two hearts on-super cute! L-O-V-E blocks-I spray painted 2 x 3 square blocks red before adding a piece of card stock and the letters I'd cut out with my cricut.

Flat Stanley

The son of an old friend of mine back home in Upstate NY is reading "Flat Stanley" by Jeff Brown. He writes in his letter that "it's a humorous tale about a boy who becomes FLAT when his bulletin board falls on him. Stanley realizes there are several advantages of being flat, such as the ability to slide under doors and yes, being mailed in envelopes for long trips." Ethan mailed Flat Stanley to us to go on a few adventures with the twins and I before we pack him up and send him back to Ethan and his classmates.
Here are a couple of pics from Stanley's first two days with us in Virginia...

Flat Stanley arrives!

Braden taking Flat Stanley into the Bat Cave at Jumpin Monkey

Connor taking Flat Stanley on the merry go round at Jumpin Monkey

Connor, their BFF Addie and Braden taking Flat Stanley down the slides at City View Park

PIF crafts on facebook...

a few weeks ago on Facebook there was this post going around about pay it forward craft projects. You'd post it to your status and agree to make one homemade gift for the first five people to comment as long as they promised to post the same status and pay it forward as well.
I mailed out my first two PIF craft gifts today...
One of my rag-a-muffin wreaths is on it's way to a fellow police wife friend of mine in IN.

One of the felt circle wreaths I just started making this year is on it's way to another police wife friend in AL.

I can't wait to see what Jennifer & Jana think of their gifts!

52photos in 52 weeks: week 4...

...Shadow
The trees casting their long shadows across one of the trails I jog at one of our local parks.

Convo hearts...to eat or not to eat...

...not to eat!
I have come across tons of cute Valentines craft ideas using conversation hearts. I think this is an amazing idea because I do not eat the things and they are EVERYWHERE! Personally I think they taste like what I imagine chalk tastes like yet they are super cute!
I tacked a heart cutout on the back of a piece of glass from an old frame I had kicking around and arraigned and glued down my hearts then removed the heart. I sanded down the frame then sprayed it with red spray paint and set a sheet of hot pink card stock behind the glass before placing it up on the fireplace.
Super easy, super cute and way better than eating the candies!

52 photos in 52 weeks: week three...

...Evening
I kept with the main theme (self imposed) of making this project about me with the kids and the hubster just making brief appearances. This is pretty self explanatory. In the evenings (especially lately with that lovely upper respiratory virus working it's way through our house and right to Mommy) I like to cuddle up with my Snuggie (pink of course) and my new nook!

Pocket sized "brag book"

I found this cute little business card holder on clearance at Target and scooped it up-I added a rub-on to the front and inserted a few recent shots of the twinadoes matted on some bright card stock and viola-simple, cute and completely pocket friendly brag book.

I {HEART} Valentines Day

I saw this super cute tutorial heart wreaths on the eighteen25 blog and just had to make my own. Does it matter that last year I made an adorable rag-a-muffin Valentines wreath and really had no need for another one? One can never have too many wreaths in my opinion, especially Valentines wreaths...

A final glance...

December Daily 2010

A trip to White's Nursery for their Poinsettia Festival with our besties Brian & Sarah

The twins Popsicle stick ornaments

Sunday's with Santa at the VMSM

Gingerbread House destruction

Book nerd alert!

My 29th birthday

Macy's Believe

Teacher gifts

Flurries!

Braden's class party

Actual inches on the ground!

New Santa hats

First Baby Bulls practice-YMCA B Ball

Little gamers

Connor's class party

Neighbor gifts

Yankee Candles-this just makes me laugh

Christmas Eve morning

Backside of Christmas Eve-reindeer food & Christmas morning

Christmas

More gift reactions

Dec 26th-though I usually stop at the 25th-our record 14" deserved a mention

as well as our frantic trip to the ER!

52 photos in 52 weeks: Prompt Week 2 (Jan 6th-12th)...

...Independence
My first thoughts on this weeks prompt since we live in such a heavy military area were the jets, the ships and the bases.
Then my thoughts went to the twinkies and how independent they are of Mike and I these days. Too independent if you ask me.
Then I tried to think of more personally to me.
To me independence is freedom and right now freedom to me is running. Running is something I never, ever thought I'd do but it is something that has recently taken over my life-in a good way.
Right now I am training for my first ever race-an 8K in March with two smaller ones as prep along the way.
When I'm running I am running for me. My mind is clear. I'm not in "Mommy" mode or "Wife" mode. I'm not thinking about what is next on my to do list. I'm free!

Our new normal...

December was a whirlwind!
We live in a very busy, very family orientated, very kid friendly area that boasts countless winter activities so that is normal.
What is (well was) not normal is our new constant companion, the EpiPen:
The day after Christmas our area got dumped with 14 inches of snow. We do not normally get any. It was the end of the world.
On that day of all days one of the twins Braden ate a couple of cashews and immediately had an angioedema reaction to them. It was horrible, he was screaming. He couldn't talk. He started projectile vomiting. We called our friend, a medic who told us to dose him with benadryl which bought us valuable time as it took the medics longer than usual to reach in the storm. By the time they arrived Braden was completely swollen, hived and having difficulties breathing. Luckily they were able to get him stable and we made it slowly to our local ER. The nearby children's hospital wasn't even a possibility in the weather.
In the past week he's been on round the clock meds but has otherwise completely recovered from this incident. (Don't ask Mommy about her nerves!)
I am astounded by the vast amount of foods that contain either some kind of nut or may have been contaminated by coming in contact with some kind of nut.
This is our new normal. Treat every food as a threat until we can prove otherwise. Always carry an EpiPen on our person. Get countless blood tests and see countless doctors. Read blog after blog and visit health website after health website.
We are so very grateful that we were so lucky and that Braden is okay it's just a tad overwhelming the adjustment period to our new normal.

On the craft front:
I'm so pleased to say my December Daily is DONE. My Project Life album is COMPLETE! I'll photo and post about both at some point this week.
I'm also jumping in on the 52 photos in 52 weeks project that you see a link for on my sidebar. Check it out-it's sure to be fun!