Anniversary
It was our 14 year anniversary On march 28th- Usually just the two of us celebrate but since my boys are getting older I thought it would be fun to include them on a bit of the celebration and so I had them help me surprise Glen with a re-creation of our Wedding Day! I was surprised by how much they LOVED it- it was really cute! We decorated the house with purple and yellow- our wedding colors!
I found the box in storage full of precious moments figurines that we bought for special milestones in our relationship those first few years... do they even make these anymore?
(We got engaged Dec.7th and I got this girl a few weeks later for Christmas!)
(Our wedding cake was a house... all sparkly with little window boxes full of mini flowers and there were lights inside- It was pretty cute! This car was on the "driveway"... my favorite part is the back because it has a sign on the car that says "just married" and there are little soda cans tied to the bumper!)
We decorated with the figurines, photos and candles.
I was disappointed that I couldn't find the box of left over napkins we used at our reception- yellow napkins embossed in purple lettering with our names and wedding date and a picture of some kind!... This totally dates us, I know!- a few years back I cringed about how outdated our wedding had become but I have decided I love it anyway because it is ours - it is sentimental and it makes for some good entertainment too! At our wedding reception we served mini ham sandwiches, nut cups and white cake with a yummy cream cheese/cool whip frosting topped with strawberries- I ordered the mini rolls and the boys helped me make the sandwiches and fill the nut cups for dinner!
We also decided to make a festive wedding drink.
We lit the candles, dimmed the lights and turned on some love songs and when Glen walked in the door, home from work we jumped out and yelled surprise!! Glen was totally surprised and said lots of memories of our wedding day came rushing back as he looked around! Things he had forgotten all about! Just what I was hoping for! We gathered around the table and as we ate we talked about "our story" As I was setting it all up with the boys- they kept asking me questions I realized that we had never told them much about our courtship so we told them about our dating days, our engagement and our wedding day- it was so fun and I couldn't believe how interested they were! We also looked through our photo books and reminisced and laughed about how young and outdated we looked! It was one of our best Anniversary celebrations and don't worry Glen and I did some celebrating of our own later- WITHOUT the boys around!
Glen gave me a nice card with a thoughtful love note written inside. He surprised me with a gift certificate for a night at a local bed and breakfast and one of the best presents I have ever received- He made this bracelet for me...
Get this...He actually went into a bead shop and picked out the beads- "4 blue beads for our four boys" and "the two white ones represent us and are a reminder of our marriage" That's what he told me - and the I love you in the center of course says it all! So he picked out the beads and then he strung them all together with his big man fingers!! I totally had this picture in my head of him sitting there hunched over in concentration in this girlie bead store- threading beads, thinking of ME?...How romantic is that?!- I thought it was the sweetest thing ever! Marrying him is the best thing I ever did!
Pine wood Derby
Eli loved his "Strikers" derby car- made in honor of his soccer team! He won Best Craftsmanship... Our boys derby cars always look really awesome now if we could just figure out how to make them fast too!
St. Patricks Day
The boys made their traditional "treasure boxes" to put out under the moonlight in hopes that leprechauns would come fill them with treasure! The leprechauns even leave green
breakfast and a trail of gold wrapped candy everywhere they go! Of course those tricky leprechauns always play a few jokes on us too.. they toilet papered our house this year and misplaced lots of items
breakfast and a trail of gold wrapped candy everywhere they go! Of course those tricky leprechauns always play a few jokes on us too.. they toilet papered our house this year and misplaced lots of items
They boys love the tricks and the treasure!
Gabe... looking guilty- and for good reason-
I could not get him or Oliver to leave the
treats alone all day!
Sweet boys
Both of these little ones of mine love kitties and babies... for awhile they were obsessed with diapering their animals and our one doll. If it wasn't diapering then it was wrapping them in blankets or both which really became my job because well, they are little and can't diaper or wrap- but they are very good at un-diapering and un-wrapping!We did all of this over and over lots of days but I couldn't get frustrated because seriously... have you ever seen anything more sweet!
Teacher appreciation
For the school year of 2010-2011 I was on the PTA board at the boys elementary school...I was in charge of Teacher appreciation which ended up being WAY more than I thought I had signed up for! Luckily I had a cute friend who shared the assignment with me and we were thrown into the fire together and knew there was no turning back and decided to just make the most of it! The school had a lot of changes prior to the start of the school year -boundary changes, a change from being a grade K thru 2 to now being K thru 5, new principal, lots of new teachers and morale was low! Here we were completely new to PTA and didn't have a clue what to do other than to try to bond and build relations, boost morale and help the parents and students show appreciation for a job that can never be appreciated enough! We worked our tails off... seriously! We learned how to be a great team and when I would get frustrated with the time commitment and the work load- Jenn would keep me going and I did the same for her- we both had young families and busy lives, hefty church callings and we never could have done it without each other! I don't have time to write the time line of our year on PTA and we were so frazzled at most of our events that we neither of us had our camera to capture the fun things we did! Things like fancy caramel apples, balloon banners, a sweet shoppe, a cupcake bar, a turkey whose feathers listed things about each teacher, a breakfast bar, a banana split bar, notes in teacher mailboxes with treats! We had a lot of fun providing luncheons for the teachers,changing out bulletin boards, spotlighting teachers, and that didn't even include "Teacher appreciation week" in May- it was insane (things EVERYDAY! but it was SO successful and fun! We accomplished our goal of making it about the appreciation coming from the students and parents which in the long run created more work for us- but I think it was the best idea ever (uh-em!) and we outlawed decorating the teachers doors which was a bit controversial... but seriously?? - so much wasted paper and time and not usually does it involve the students but we made up for what some thought might be missed by not doing that tradition -in a million other ways!!... We got lots of positive feedback and we felt really good about all that we did! It was fabulous if I do say so myself- and I do! It killed us though and we both completely crashed after the year and do you think we signed up for a second year?- No!... I had my taste of PTA- don't get me wrong I am a big supporter and I love teachers and education - it was just not the right timing... someday I will do it again- maybe! :)
Here are a few pictures of some of the handouts we made-
I really wish I would have taken pictures of everything we did- if anyone out there wants ideas or lists of time lines, posters, a sweet shoppe canopy, decorations, printable handouts, luncheon advice, restaurant connections,or lists with details of what we did- let me know!
For the school year of 2010-2011 I was on the PTA board at the boys elementary school...I was in charge of Teacher appreciation which ended up being WAY more than I thought I had signed up for! Luckily I had a cute friend who shared the assignment with me and we were thrown into the fire together and knew there was no turning back and decided to just make the most of it! The school had a lot of changes prior to the start of the school year -boundary changes, a change from being a grade K thru 2 to now being K thru 5, new principal, lots of new teachers and morale was low! Here we were completely new to PTA and didn't have a clue what to do other than to try to bond and build relations, boost morale and help the parents and students show appreciation for a job that can never be appreciated enough! We worked our tails off... seriously! We learned how to be a great team and when I would get frustrated with the time commitment and the work load- Jenn would keep me going and I did the same for her- we both had young families and busy lives, hefty church callings and we never could have done it without each other! I don't have time to write the time line of our year on PTA and we were so frazzled at most of our events that we neither of us had our camera to capture the fun things we did! Things like fancy caramel apples, balloon banners, a sweet shoppe, a cupcake bar, a turkey whose feathers listed things about each teacher, a breakfast bar, a banana split bar, notes in teacher mailboxes with treats! We had a lot of fun providing luncheons for the teachers,changing out bulletin boards, spotlighting teachers, and that didn't even include "Teacher appreciation week" in May- it was insane (things EVERYDAY! but it was SO successful and fun! We accomplished our goal of making it about the appreciation coming from the students and parents which in the long run created more work for us- but I think it was the best idea ever (uh-em!) and we outlawed decorating the teachers doors which was a bit controversial... but seriously?? - so much wasted paper and time and not usually does it involve the students but we made up for what some thought might be missed by not doing that tradition -in a million other ways!!... We got lots of positive feedback and we felt really good about all that we did! It was fabulous if I do say so myself- and I do! It killed us though and we both completely crashed after the year and do you think we signed up for a second year?- No!... I had my taste of PTA- don't get me wrong I am a big supporter and I love teachers and education - it was just not the right timing... someday I will do it again- maybe! :)
Here are a few pictures of some of the handouts we made-
I really wish I would have taken pictures of everything we did- if anyone out there wants ideas or lists of time lines, posters, a sweet shoppe canopy, decorations, printable handouts, luncheon advice, restaurant connections,or lists with details of what we did- let me know!
4 comments:
Such cute ideas!! You guys did an awesome job!!
Em - you are so creative! Wish we lived closer and could do PTA together! I have been roped in too many years to decorate a door for teacher appreciation - not my favorite thing! All of your ideas sound soo cute!
Love the anniversary idea too. You are always so creative! Love love love it!
Em - I love that you are back to blogging! You always have the best ideas! I totally copy so many of your cute holiday ideas and the anniversary idea is so fun! I'll have to remember that one for sure. Thanks for the fun playdate yesterday. Let's do it again soon!
Em! So glad you are back! I have missed you, and wished I could put my arms around you! Congratulations on #5 :) This is a lucky little baby, that's for sure! I love reading the words that you write. Thanks for writing! xoxo
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