School Supply Fun

Last year just as the “Pinterest Craze” was starting my friend Sarah found a school supplies cake that she liked. She went me a picture of it and said “I want to make one of these or want someone to give me one of these.” Dually noted Sarah ;)

Each year our church does a school supplies drive for three local schools in the area. Knowing about this cake idea I did some research and went to work with the help of our Sunday School class. Without them, this would not have been possible. We made not one, not two, but three school supply cakes for three girls in our class who teach elementary school. Sarah was one of them. We also kept it a secret from them :)

I have had several people ask what went into the cakes so here ya go!

 

• 3 Round Nesting Paper Mache boxes (JoAnn Fabric s sells them in a bundle together, 6-8-10 inches)
• The Cake plate is 12” round (go bigger if you want extra room on the base)
• Paint color of your choice (if you want to paint the boxes) and ribbon of your choosing
• 3 large rubber bands (Fill the boxes with what you want first then put a rubber band around the box. Insert supplies between the box and the rubber band and you don’t have to use any type of adhesive)
• Supplies for the Outside of the Cake
  • Tissue Box
  • 40 markers (4 boxes of 10)
  • 8 boxes of 24count crayons
  • 4 bottles “regular size” glue
  • 4 bottles travel size hand sanitizer
  • 12 travel size packets of tissue

 

Paint the boxes and let them dry (duh…)

All the supplies and Treasure Box Trinkets (we filled the top and middle boxes with these fun trinkets. The bottom box had a bag of cotton balls, two boxes of sandwich bags, red pens (for grading) and fun pencils)

Starting with the largest box on the bottom, place the rubber band around the box and insert glue, hand sanitizer and tissues. Do the same with the crayons on the middle box/layer and the markers for the top. Because we painted the boxes, it didn’t look bad where there were gaps between the crayon boxes and markers. 

Each cake had this really cute ruler ribbon in the middle and One Fish Two Fish on the bottom layer. The top layer on each had a different color scheme, but all polka dots.

The finished products!!!

Twins' 1 Year Stats

Yesterday I took Justin and Lana for their one year well check. Both are healthy and actually well (no ear infections this time!!)

Justin is 19 pounds 15 ounces (25%)and 30.5 inches tall (tall, not long, he stands and walks now!)(80%) The scale flashed between that and 20 pounds. So, I'm guessing fret breakfast and nursing this morning, he's probably new than 20 pounds :) he had two molars coming in for a total of TEN teeth.

Lana, I love this girl, is 22 pounds 2 ounces (80%) and 30.25 inches tall (90%). I notices this morning she has a bottom tooth that just broke through, since yesterday, bringing her tooth count to seven.

Collin was Dr. Kim's little helper this visit. I attribute this to Doc McStuffins, thank you Disney Junior :) I absolutely LOVE Dr. Kim. She is FABULOUS! I schedule the kids appointment specifically to see her. If I have to drive to Southside to see her at 8:30 in the morning, I will. She always makes me
Feel like a great parent and seems to genuinely care about all of my kids. I love that she walks in and immediate says hello and talks to Collin, even when it's not his appointment.

The ONE YEAR Olds!!!

This last year has been unbelievable. I have had moments where I thought I seriously was going insane.  I have had days where I thought, “I’ve got this” and felt like SuperWoman. But, no matter what the day held, at the end of the day, when I lay those two little faces down for the night, I can’t help but think, “Wow. They are mine. God chose me. Us.”

 

• We go on Monday for their one year well check so I don’t know how much they weigh or how tall they are.
• Justin is wearing mostly 12 months clothes with some 9 month bottoms. Lana is wearing mostly 12 months with some 18 month bottoms. You have to love that girls legs!
• Size 3 diapers, but could be moving to 4s soon
• Nurse 3-4 times a day, depending on if they have two naps or one

• I’m trying to go to one nap a day. I don’t schedule around morning naps. So if I want to go out in the morning, we do. But if we are home, then they will take a morning nap. It just depends on what they day holds.
• They were such good eaters, but now it just depends on what day of the week it is and what kind of mood they are in. Yogurt, is still a go to that they will eat at any give time.

• CLIMBERS! These two, just like Collin, will climb on anything possible, including each other.

• LOVE the bath

• Justin walks around the house like he owns the place just taking a survey of what is going on. I love seeing him just walk around the corner like, “hey Mom, what’s up?”
• LANA IS WALKING!!!! Girl decided to wait until her birthday to bust a move ;) One day she took three shaky shuffle steps, three days later she’s walking across the entire room and gets so proud of herself.
• Both have started clapping

• That past couple days Lana has started to put her hands together at dinner when we pray, it’s ADORABLE!
• It seems like they have started to sign “all done” when they are eating, which is also very cute
• Lana seems to trying to talk more. I’ve heard “Da” several after I hand her something, so I’m thinking it’s “thank you”
• Their birthday was great. I couldn’t have asked for anything to go better at their party (hopefully, I get to post about that before their second birthday…)



 

 

And of course because they are just too cute…

Time is flying... 11 Months!

Ok, so it's actually only one week until the twins turn ONE YEAR OLD! This has become more of a do-it-so-I-don't-feel-guilty post. But the reality is, I do feel guilty for always being on top of Collin's monthly posts, which I l've looking back on. I've had the computer in MULTIPLE times to write this but it never comes to anything more than "ELEVEN MONTHS OLD!?" Therefore, this weeny excuse for an update post comes from my phone as I watch the kids play (which I hate doing- being on the phone, not watching them play that is...)

Justin is a walking machine. He figured it out and never looked back. Lana however has dubbed herself the Princess of the house and will sit there knowing that someone will pick her up. Why walk when you can be carried? I know she can, she pushed the train and cruises along the couch all the time. Just won't let go and gets MAD when you try to make her by takin her hands or being just barely out of reach.

Thy nurse 4 times a day. Justin will probably be done before Lana. He is quick, where Lana I'm pretty sure would still camp out all day until she's five.

Justin still has 8 teeth and Lana finally has FOUR!

Justin wears mostly 12 month clothes (9 month shorts). Lana is in 12 or 18 month clothes, jut depending on the brand. Both are still in size 3 diapers but just about ready to move up a size.

We got them "big" jammies. They don't wear footsie or one piece PJs anymore, it's adorable and they look so grown up.

Lana had coup and we ended up at Wolfson's at 3:30am because she wasn't breathing well and get oxygen levels were really low. That was a scary night.

Justin had his first haircut.

They LOVE the pool!

Both are good eaters, unless they are sick. They still would eat yogurt all day every day. But if they have green beans Monday night, I better not attempt to give them green beans for lunch or dinner in the next couple days. They won't have it. it's cute to see them eating real food now, Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets, pizza, burgers, bagels, grilled cheese, sweet potatoes, pasta, they'll try anything... And then spit it out and make a horrible face. Wait 5 minutes try again and devour the entire serving.

Still take two naps a day, although in ready to take it to one, so we will start transitioning to one probably right after their birthday.

They love music and "dance" all the time. Lana has a bounce while Justin has a Night at the Roxberry (?) head bob/shake. I absolutely LOVE both. Song that never fails to get them dancing almost immediately: Mandia's Good Morning Song. :) A personal favorite of mine.

All of the kids play so well together. There are time when they will wander off and I'll hear little giggles followed by huge laughs for 20, 30 minutes at a time. I LOVE IT!

Life is good, I really can't complain. There are tough days, but all in all, the kids are good and healthy and I love watching them learn new things daily.

Potty Training Woes

Potty training Collin has been a roller coaster ride. We've had our ups and our downs. I have found myself becoming very frustrated with those around me going through the same thing. I've heard so much, "the first day was easy, the second day was alright, but it just clicked on the third day" or "we did Potty Boot Camp and she didn't need more than a day and a half and she was going all by herself." No one likes to talk about the unsuccessful or more difficult times. You just want to brag about how fantastic your kid is to everyone else. I am beginning to wonder if it's me. Am I the one that doesn't "get" the whole potty training thing? Just when i start to think, "he's getting it!" we'll have a day that I'd swear we had never ha a conversation about a potty before. We recently took him out for the first time to lunch and to run some errands in underwear, not a pull up. He did good. He didn't tell us he had to go, but Devin took him into Kohl's (with the kid friendly height potty) after we had lunch and he went. We shopped, went to Target, shopped some more then went home where he went again. So it not that he doesn't know how. Because he does. But we have to ask him because he either won't tell us or waits until the last possible second and yells "I GO POTTY!" and we have to drop everything to literally run to make it in time.

I say all that to take MY moment to talk highly about Collin's potty training. While he gets the idea and knows the concept he has never done it on his own. We always take his shorts and underwear off and help him put them back on. This morning was a step toward a really big deal. Again, I asked I he had to go an his response was "no" even though I was 97% sure he had to go. It was the morning. Who doesn't have to go in the morning? So I bribed him. With fruit snacks. I told him if he could go all by himself he could have fruit snacks. I talked him through the entire thing, start to finish, but he did it. (I actually took his shorts and diaper off from the night.) He moved the stool do he could get on the potty, sat down, went, got up, flushed, moved the stool back, washed his hands, turned off the light, closed the door, even went into our room and got clean underwear from the basket of clothes that needs to be taken upstairs. Then, he put the underwear and shorts on by himself too. All of this is HUGE for us. It's just one more phase in life, that I'm sure will pass and I'll be sad. I mean, he REALLY isn't a baby anymore. I don't even call him a toddler anymore either. He's just four months shy of being THREE. Now THAT is something I just might cry about.