Happy March!!!

I'm in a bit of disbelief that it's actually March today... but so happy too!  March has the promise that Spring will soon be here {pLeaSe??!!!} & the month that our Miss Lydia came into our life!  We're in full swing planning the little lady's party & the invitations have been sent.  It may seem a bit selfish, but the party is not just for her, but for Dan & I too... our kid's birthday parties are often some of the only times we get to see our friends with kids!  It's just plain fun to gather with our family & friends & watch all the kids play together.  Now with all the pictures we captured this weekend of the little lady... here is one of her room that I had decorated up for her pictures:

 

and one of Lydia... this is how we started out, but I love it because she has her "stinky pinky"... probably the only "baby" thing she is holding on to right now {I hope she keeps it forever}

 

OH... & guess what we did this weekend?  Well, I enjoyed a great evening with my sisters at a movie & dinner & a little shopping.  We were celebrating my sister Kim's birthday!  It was a great time & I always LOVE being able to spend time with them.  I love you girls :)  

Dan has been doing lots of finishing up of little {& big} things around the house lately.  Everything is looking great & it's nice to see all the beauty of our house coming about more & more every day.  

Evan also made his First Confession yesterday, a part of getting prepared to make his First Communion in May.  I can't believe it's that time already!  He did a great job & wasn't nervous at all!  After we were done at Church, we took Lydia across the way to HTC preschool open house.  That's right, with the little lady turning 3 soon, I've been in disbelief that I even have to think abut this... but she really loved it & didn't want to leave!  It should be great fun for her {but yes, I'm a little sad she's really growing up}.

oh... did you see all the fabulous digi elements up there?  you can get them here!
 

a little digi love

found some great digital scrapbooking deals over the last week or so... I've been collecting :)  he're is a super quick layout {basically just had to stick in my photos, patterned paper background & journaling block & it was good to go}.  this template was from katie over at designer digitals {btw... I think they're still have the entire store on sale}. 

 

Valentine's goodies

 

Okay, so I'd been seeing some of these ideas for a while & was itching to try them out.  I created some simple toppers for each of the boys with their names on the back.  We filled these cute bags {Target dollar rack 20 for $1} with kisses, smarties, m&m's & simply cut, folded & stapled the toppers to the top of the bags.  For Lydia & her little friends we used the same bags, but tied some cute polka dot ribbon around the tops.  We also made some cupcakes with pink frosting & red & white heart sprinkles {she loved putting on the sprinkles}.  Another idea I had seen while looking at party idea blogs was how they were taking plain water bottles & making personalized labels.  This was soooo easy.  Again, simple artwork, print, cut & I used my hot glue gun to attach these labels.  I also decided to attach them to the cutest little cans of Sprite.  So yes, last night was a marathon of getting these things done, but the Collin & Evan had so much fun helping out.  The best part... Evan told me that he was going to show everyone & tell them that his mom is a genius :)  Love ya buddy.

Mr. Money

 Funny thing happened over the kids' Thanksgiving break.  Evan has had one of his top teeth loose for quite a while.  We kept telling him he really needed to get it out, but there was always some excuse.  It was hanging on by a bit, really grossing me out every time he talked to me.  So while everyone was over at our house for Klesner Thanksgiving, a few people mentioned that they'd give him a dollar if he pulled his tooth out.  Well, if you know Evan at all, you know that money talks to this kid!  If you or your kids have ever read "Double Fudge" by Judy Blume... Fudge = Evan.  So, within 5 minutes the tooth was out & he was counting his money.  Then he counted the people.  It didn't all add up.  I had to explain not every guest had pledged him a dollar for his tooth.  Funny kid, but yes, slightly embarrassing!  I hope it's not a holiday when he's ready to lose his next tooth, or our guests may stop attending!