I decided to go with a “Promise” theme, tying in the rainbow with God’s promise to Noah, as well as the actual Saint Patrick who went as a missionary to Ireland and used the clover leaf to represent the Trinity.

I made a banner spelling out “PROMISE” in rainbow colors. To help Brooks understand I put the banner in color order. There is a song he likes that goes “red, orange, yellow, green, blue. Don’t forget there’s purple, too. Rainbow colors for me and you”.

I have some daffodils blooming in my yard, so I cut some (along with my little helper) and placed them in mason jars setting on a tray with dried split peas placed around.

On my list to make in the next few days:
• Green shirts for us to wear with our names on them. You cut out the letters, place on the shirt, spray around with clorox, then remove. I saw a how-to on a show a few years back, I will post a tutorial soon.

• shamrock boutonnieres, instructions here

• clover leaf cut outs to place on plates, etc.

activities to do with my little guy:
• “rainbow” fruit loop bracelets
• read Noah’s story
• rainbow craft: glue together pre-cut pieces of a rainbow together on a piece of paper.

festive food:
breakfast – home made pop tarts. I am going to use a mixture of both of these recipes here and here, then sprinkle with green shamrock sprinkles.
supper – “Irish” potato soup
dessert – sugar cookies, using a shamrock cutter and green icing.

extras to purchase:
I picked up some green polka dot balloons and shamrock sprinkles at Hobby Lobby. You could check at the Dollar Store, Wal-mart and Target as well. There is also an tutorial here on coloring your own sprinkles.

Other Ideas:
• white chocolate covered popcorn – Use two bags of popcorn (popped), cover with 1 pound melted white chocolate, then add in variations that suit your tastes of the following or create your own: 1 1/2 cups green M&M’s, 1 cup peanuts and shamrock sprinkles. After mixing well, spread out on wax paper and let cool. Break into pieces.
• green apple nachos – slice green apples horizontally. Drizzle with melted carmel, marshmallow, chocolate, and nuts.
• green jello shamrocks
• green layered cake
• pretzels, oreos, or pretzels sticks dipped in white or milk chocolate and drizzled with green sprinkles
• mint oreo truffles

I hope some of these ideas help you to plan a fun day for your family!

When I was a little girl, my mom always put handmade cross ornaments on our indoor tree for Easter. This year, I thought I would make some, too. They are hanging from a plant on my dining room table. This is a fun, quick project. The glitter is a little messy, so you could skip if needed.

Materials needed:
scrap paper for pattern
patterned or colored paper (you could also use white or colored paper and apply stickers)
scissors
glue
glitter
hole punch
coordinating ribbon

helpful, but optional:
paper plate(s)
wax paper
bone folder
cutting mat

Here is the how to:

I know that the mustache has become trendy lately, but our family has been celebrating it for years. We call it the “Holiday ‘Stache”. Each year from Thanksgiving Day to New Years Day, the guys grow a beard. On New Years Day, they shave it to a mustache. Then we vote on who looks the best – think used car salesman (no offense to you if you are a used car salesman, you know what we mean!). The winner gets the trophy and title of reigning mustache champion until the next year. My dad won this time around. This year I made all the men cups with a mustache to be funny. It was really easy, paint with ceramic paint then bake in the oven. It is a fun tradition, although I really don’t like kissing my guy when he has a mustache!

The 2009 Reigning Mustache Champion

This is a quick and easy project to add some Valentines Day spark to your home decor. I am not a fan of red, and with two guys in the house, I used colors to match our living room.

Tools needed:
piece or two of plain, ruled, or scrap paper
scissors
pen or pencil
patterned or color paper in matching color combo of your choice
ribbon
clothes pins or other closure to secure hearts to ribbon

First I made the heart shape I wanted out of regular paper. I did the elementary school version by folding the paper in half and cutting.

Use the pattern to trace and cut your hearts out of the pattern paper. I made eight, and they are medium sized, around 7×7.

Secure ribbon loosely hanging on your credenza, fireplace, or in a doorway.

Secure the hearts to your ribbon using clothespins. I used stained clothespins, but you could secure with colored paper clips, tape, or even punch a hole through the middle top of the heart and string  through the ribbon. This would also be fun to let your kids pick out colors they want and hang in their room.

Enjoy your V-tines decor!

These treats are fun to make and great for little hands to help. My little hands are a little too little, but he was still able to enjoy the outcome and taste the ingredients while I was putting them together.

Ingredients needed:
Ritz crackers
chocolate kisses
icing (I took the easy way out and bought a can of pre-made, but you can also make your own.)
candy corn
carmel squares

Spread the icing on the cracker. Place a chocolate kiss at the bottom of the cracker. Then add the candy corn above the kiss for the feathers. Place a candy corn on the top of the kiss for the head. Let dry. Then affix a carmel to the back of the cracker with more icing so the turkey can stand. Use as a place setting or decor for you table and double as a treat. Make sure you have a cutie guy (or gal) to taste the results.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am behind on my Christmas schedule – I was so busy getting ready to go out of town and then we were gone for two weeks. I am still further ahead than I have ever been on Christmas planning, and I have the long weekend to get caught up. I am going to cram 4 weeks into one week. I apologize for those of you trying to follow my plan!

View Week 4 here

Week 5 (Oct 30-Nov 5) purchase or make Christmas card, pick up non-perishable baking items (they are almost always out of at least one ingredient when I get around to going to the store in December.)
Christmas card – I have actually already started on my Christmas card design. There are many great ideas you can use for your card. You can be as simple or complicated as you like. Try shutterfly.com, snapfish.com or walmart.com for online photo cards. Choose one of their designs and upload your photo. You can design your own using scrap book paper or your computer. Affix your photo to your own design. You can also find many designers on etsy.com that design cards (use keyword “Christmas card” or “holiday card”). Of course, we design cards too! (micandnic.com) However you decide to do your card, make it fun. If it is a stressful event, wait and send one for the first of January that says Happy New Year, or even wait until Valentines day. It should be a fun and creative time, not a stressful thing to check off the to-do list.

Pick up non-perishable baking items – since I was out of town I am going to have to wait on this until the beginning of December. They will be out of everything because of Thanksgiving baking. I will go next Wednesday or so.

Week 6 (Nov 6-Nov 12) catch up week; work on homemade gifts
It is a good thing that I scheduled a catch up week, I need it! I have been slowly working on my gifts when the little pickle is sleeping. I have a list of what I am making for whom, and am checking them off the list one by one. I am planning on making a big dent in my list this long Thanksgiving weekend.

Week 7 (Nov 13-Nov 19) make gift tags, decide on gift wrap colors
I will work on these this weekend as well. Look at tags and wrap in the store and magazines new and old for ideas. Use a photograph or make a design with a stamp or print out from your computer and cut with a die cut. Many scrapbook stores have big cutting sets and shapes you can use for free.

Week 8 (Nov 20-Nov 26) schedule Christmas party and plan, make invitation
This will be a quick one. Decide on the day to do the party, I am thinking a Tuesday or Thursday night. Make a list of easy snacks and desserts to make and shopping list. Design a cute card to send out. Make a small gift for guests to take home – maybe an ornament or cute packaged dessert and recipe.

Happy Planning! I will resume with the weekly plans end of this week.