Baby boy fun!

Thanks to a really awesome photographer (thanks Uncle Al) I stole borrowed these pics that were taken from my neice's baby shower. Jen, the mom to be, has decorated the little guy's bedroom in a monkey theme. We carried it over to the shower, adding a few more critters to make it a safari.The main goal was cheap,but cute! Aside from the awesome monkey & tree made from diapers and the food (lots of it of course) we kept the cost down by using a coordinating paper pack from Joann's.  I used this event to justify my Cricut purchase, and I got good use out of it:)

Monkey and tree made from diapers. I think I was supposed to put it together but Sara did an awesome job:)
Thanks Sis!



Making good use of the scrapbooking papers



Aunt Sara made the cool monkey!



Our cupcake models...hoping to get a quick lick

Dollar store boxes filled with animal crackers...and a chance to use the Cricut

Still using the same paper....

Sister and hostess of the party

The mom-to-be adding up exactly how much this new bundle is gonna cost them!

Ok, I may have gone a little overboard. Look close, you can see the "L" on the rings. I just couldn't help myself.

Fill the piggy game-all guests added coins equal their ages

Congratulations! We can't wait for the new addition!

My Menu Board

Perusing home dec blogs out there put me in a crafty mood. I have admired menu planner boards for a long time, but most of the projects out there are too complicated for my short attention span. I found one here at Ollibird that I thought I could work with. I of course could have made it easy and just used hers, but I recently broke down and bought a Cricut and am now obligated to use it! Hindsight I would have changed a couple of things (not in love with the border choice, and I probably could have matched borders up) but overall am a happy camper. Now I can just take a quick pic on the way to the grocery store and have my list already made out!

Thrift store frame...less that $2!

Lovin' my Cricut!

Laying out the board

Loving my handywork! (it looks wrinkled, but it was just the glare) I bought the dry erase markers have a magnet on the back. Hopefully I won't lose it!

Afternoon fun!

Chore Paks

Around our house the chores are hit or miss. Mostly it's because I am very forgetful (Ooh shiny syndrome) and once I have delegated the chores for the morning, I have a hard time remembering who and what have what going on. And in typical kid fashion, , no one bothers to rermind me what exactly they were supposed to do! While we enjoyed our hand chart, there are more chores for each kid than one hand can hold. Now, know that I don't come up with anything on my own, but thoroughly enjoy the search feature on my Swagbucks page. I came across these chore paks on another blog, and I made up these handy paks for the kids to wear (FYI- Garry doesn't wear his BUT it does help him to remember what to do!) in the morning when they get up. Although I still have to check up on them, I can see from what the current tag is to help them stay on track! Wanna know what the kids do in the morn?

Garry-

dressed

feed dog/medicine/spray medicine

wipe down toilets

sweep kitchen

make bed

Shelby

dressed/hair/teeth

put away pj's

wipe down sinks

sweep dining room

make bed

Bryce

dressed/hair/teeth

put away pj's

wash breakfast dishes

make bed

Aidan (pictures instead of words)

dressed/hair/teeth

put away pj's

move clothes from washer to dryer

make bed

We just changed out our paks for the new year. They will keep these chores for the next 6 months or so. Makes it easier to get into a routine when I don't change it but twice a year.Well worth the $5 spent in plastic holders! By the way, if you want to get the full experience of where it probably originated, you can read all about it in Terri Maxwell's-Managers of their Homes.