Secret Agent Spy Party

for about six months, landon has been talking about having a spy party.

i had grand plans of creating some cute invitations but then 2012 starting kicking my rear and the invitations were not coming together like i had hoped.

so i searched etsy and found spy party invitations.

they were perfect!

the decorations were simple.

i used the circles from the party pack and glued them on sticks.  i put them in stemless wine glasses filled with shredded paper.

along the table i used black and red shredded paper topped with leftover goodie bag items {magnifying glasses and black and red spy glass} as well as leftover cupcake toppers.

i hung some bigger circles attached to card stock from the light above the table.

of course our secret agents needed a disguise while having cupcakes and drinks so we had little mustaches on their straws.

 

landon and i had so much fun coming up with activities for his party!

all our little secret agents went through spy training.

first, they did physical training.  the kids were split into two groups and ran a relay.  they had to do jumping jacks, push ups, up downs, cross the monkey bars, climb the rock wall, down our slide, and race to their next team mate. their was definitely lots of laughter and cheering!

secondly, we kept the kids in their teams and split them up into two stations.  one station was target practice. the kids practice shooting nerf darts at a target.  the other station was decoding secret messages.

after the kids got through those two stations, we all got back together and the kids practiced going through laser beams.  lance did a great job creating a maze of red yarn in our butler's pantry.  my kids loved it so much they played in it for days after the party.

the kids had one final thing to do in training, they had to defuse bombs. i had blown up about 50 black balloons that were the bombs. we let the boys loose in the room to pop the balloons. it was quite loud but the boys loved it.

 after all the spy activities, it was time to fuel up our little secret agents.  

landon choose to have brownie cupcakes for his party.

i just added frosting, sprinkles, and cupcake toppers.

super easy!

i love how his goodie bags turned out.

i ordered the buckets from marta's shop. they were super cute!

the buckets were filled with spy glasses, magnifying glasses, mustaches, mini notebooks, decoder pens, and mini finger lights.

this was such a fun, easy party and perfect for my little secret agent!

hello? hello? anyone out there??

hello poor neglected blog.

i've missed it.  i've missed you.

i am not even sure where to begin with catching up.  i have that overwhelming feeling of being so far behind i don't even know where to begin.  i'll just keep swimming and plugging away to catch up when i get time. 

i am hoping to be able to carve out some time each week to get some posts up.

so far 2012 has been kicking my rear.

our days are busy with school, errands, keeping up with the house, and kids stuff.

you know, the usual.

 in order to take control of 2012, i've started a new morning routine. i had gotten out of the habit of getting up at o'crack of dawn.  i was still getting up around 5:30 or 6:00 but by that time i was starting to run my to do list through my mind.  once my to do list gets going in my head, i go right to the list and don't get a workout in or have time before the kids get up to blog, read blogs, have quiet time etc...

so i've started getting up earlier than o'crack of dawn:

the thing about getting up this early is that i am about half way through my workout before i actually wake up. ha!

it has also given me time in the morning to have some quiet time, catch up on emails, etc... before its time to get the kids up to start school.

i am loving this time.

i am also needing to sneak a nap in about once a week and my bedtime has become as early as my children.

i am amazed at how just this little difference, getting up super early, has made a difference in our day.  our day runs much more smoothly when i have gotten a workout in and had some time to myself before we start our school day.  our mornings aren't rushed which means a more peaceful start to our day.

even though 2012 has kicked my rear a bit {but i am taking back the rest of 2012}, it's been for mostly good reasons that i've been mia.  here's a little look at what we've been up to for the past two months:

at the beginning of february, i flew to seattle with my friends kaylynn and kara.  

we were on a secret mission to surprise our friend janna.

we had been planning and keeping this a secret for 4 months.

more on this trip and the surprise coming soon. i promise!

two weeks later, i flew with morgan to spokane for a gymnastics meet in coeur d'alene.

it's always a favorite meet for the girls.

they look forward to this all year long.

i came back from coeur d'alene with a cold which turned into a sinus infection

after two and a half weeks of not being able to breathe, i finally got some meds.

so thankful for meds.  i felt better in just a few short days.

this cute boy turned 8.

i am sort of in denial that he is 8 and growing up far too fast.

we had a secret agent spy party for his 8th birthday

it was so fun

definitely a post with all the details coming soon!

i went with some girlfriends to the hunger games premiere

it was SOO good

so worth only getting 2 1/2 hours of sleep before morgan's state gymnastics meet

i think the lack of sleep helped me from getting too nervous

 gymnastics competition ended

basketball ended

now we are spending our evenings at the baseball field

this boy has improved so much from last year

he is playing so well

its so much fun!

this was our 6th easter in idaho

every year it is cold and windy or it rains

this year we had fantastic weather

it was sunny and warm

perfect day!

 we took our spring break around easter

one of the things the kids wanted to do was check out a new indoor play center

this indoor center had a high ropes course

the kids loved it

they are so much braver than i am

this mama is not a fan of heights

you can put me on a roller coaster and i will love every minute of it but don't even think about asking me to go on a ferris wheel. no way!

 i've been reading. 

lots and lots of books.

it makes my heart happy to have time to read. its one of my favorite things to do.

this book was a pleasant surprise.

i read the first book and thought it was pretty good. i would give it a 3 on a scale of 1-5.

the sequel, was a 5! so so good. it stinks i have to wait an entire year to read the 3rd book. not fair!

of course there have been plenty of play dates with friends

trips to the park

running through the sprinkler

bike rides

what have you been up to while i've been mia?

A Saturday Spent in Gyms

once january hits, our weekends get busy

we spend every saturday in a gym

sometimes it's basketball

sometimes it's gymnastics

and usually it's both

the winter seems to fly by when our saturdays are filled with the kids' activities

as crazy as some of our saturdays are, i wouldn't change it

i love cheering on my kids and their team mates

it brings this mama heart joy to see them enjoying activities that they are passionate about at this stage of their lives

a little video of my boy playing hoops:

morgan at one of her competitions this winter {on bars she is on the back set of bars in the black and green leo}:

i am so proud of their hard work and dedication.

i am thankful that they help make my winter weekends fly by, as crazy as it can be!

Insta Joys: end of January

hello???

anyone out there??

i've missed you.

how you've been? 

what's new?

i can't believe it's been a month since i've posted!

yikes!

life's been a little busy

it's been about that long since i sat down at the computer 

there are pictures to edit

stories to share

but life gets in the way

we've had saturdays filled with gymnastics and basketball

days filled with school, errands, and life

little time in between to process

time is a flying

i can't believe that February will be gone next week

aah!

i am splitting up my iPhone pictures between two posts

then hopefully getting caught up with other posts sometime soon

i have some from back in early fall to share... yikes!

oh well, it will get done when it gets done

the drafts will sit there until i find the time to get them finished

fasten your seat belts.

here we go with a bunch of pics

january photo challenge: what's in your purse

not much

wallet, small zip pouch for lip gloss/gum/pens, large zip pouch for coupons/groupons

i am not a fan of clutter

my purse in generally clutter free

this girl was messing with my phone

posted her self portrait on instagram

typical pose for my tween

january photo challenge: what you are reading

here is one of my book shelves

i also read with a kindle app and nook app

i am a little ADD with my reading

so many books so little time

i am usually reading 3 or 4 books at the same time

i read whatever i am in the mood for that day

my valentines day mantle

i am in love with it

i really don't want to take it down. ever.

this little lady did her own pigtails for the first time

i asked asked her if i could take her picture

she said "just a minute"

reached in her purse, pulled out lip gloss, put it on, then looks at me and says "i am ready"

she is so not my child

she makes me smile every day

a typical monday morning {our busiest day of the week by far};

workout

get ready and everyone up

pack lunches

start laundry

head to co op {i teach 2 classes}

we leave from co op to take morgan to gym

its our afternoon to run errands - we hit up costco/winco/target

home to unload, start dinner, clean house

pick up morgan

fall into bed in a comatose state thankful we made it through monday

this boy likes the magic tree house books

he was stalling starting school by reading

i let him

because he was reading

he is not a fan of reading or school

you know school takes away from playing

the nerve of school

my favorite water cup

fill, drink, repeat 4x a day

i had a date with my princess loving lady to see beauty and the beast in 3D

she loved it

especially the popcorn

there were only 2 other people in the theater with us

a man and his daughter

he stopped as the movie was over to talk with us

he had taken his daughter to see beauty and the beast for the first time when she was 3

it was his birthday and they were on a date to see it in 3D

so sweet!

it also made me all teary eyed... time just goes by far too quickly

i am going to miss 5 year old mauryn

i want to freeze her and keep her little

instead i need to freeze my memories

we've had no snow

lots of rain but no snow

the day it decides to snow is that day we need to head to boise for a field trip

landon was sweet enough to shovel the driveway for us

the snow was flying as we headed to bigelow tea

it was beautiful

free tea samples

please and thank you

the mint medley is my favorite

my friend rachel sent me a text one day that said i needed to get the game scramble with friends

ok twist my arm

i am hooked

it is my favorite favorite game right now

i can't get enough of her

once a month i host some other homeschool moms for a MNO

i made cookie dough dip {make it now. so so good}

i couldn't have it 

lance and i were doing a no junk food challenge for 21 days

i made this on day 19

i just looked at it dreamed of its yumminess

pretty fabric for spring

i have some plans for this pile

my brother get engaged at christmas time {yeah!}

the date is set and on the calendar

i love looking ahead to fall and seeing this date

can't wait!

my big girl ready for her first meet of the season

glitter covered and ready to compete

of course the day of morgan's first meet is the same day as landon's first basketball game

i watched almost all of landon's game

then headed off for morgan's meet

this is what our saturdays look like during the winter

it's that time of the year... girl scout cookie time

my family loves thin mints

i am not a huge fan... of thin mints or girl scout cookies

i know, sort of un american huh?

a typical sunday night:

lesson plans for our week and for my co op classes

flat stanley came from my niece in mn to visit

my very favorite slippers 

my family got me these new slippers for christmas

they are warm and comfy

they are a staple in the winter

landon got to go rock climbing for his PE class

he loved it

he has asked every day to go back and do it again

we need to do that.... soon.

we celebrated our 100th day of school

 a highlight of the day... 100th day snack

mauryn thought it was funny to dress up harley

poor boy and his girly headband

doesn't he look so thrilled with it?

early this winter we made some bags to hand out to homeless people

we filled them with socks, snacks, hats, mittens, gift cards

mauryn was always our look out when we were driving

one day while we were doing school she was collecting things

i asked her what she was doing

she told me kanani {her AG doll} was making homeless bags to hand out

she has such a tender little heart

this box of colors makes me happy

we babysat for some friends one night

mauryn was my biggest helper

entertaining baby taylor and giving her her bottle

she is such a little mother

little miss was tired of waiting for the awards ceremony at morgan's meet

she had a little photo session on my phone

love the pouty lips

one saturday after landon's early morning game, we headed up to the mountains

there is a town that has a winter carnival

in all our years here, we've never gone

it was chilly but the sun was shining and it was gorgeous

the kids loved seeing all the ice sculptures

we saw the most amazing sky on the way home

totally worth the drive and the winding mountain roads

when we paid for food at a food stand, our change came back in $2 bills

it was so fun

it had been years since i had come across a $2 bill

for the first three years that morgan competed, i was lucky to get to see her routines. 

mauryn and landon were little and needed to be entertained and corralled during the meets

in the last year, it has gotten much easier to be at her meets

i was finally able to watch and get scores

then i got my iPhone and of course there was an app for tracking meet scores

i love it!

i can track morgan's scores from meet to meet as well as her team mates

it is fun to see how they do over the course of the season and see how the team improves

yes, i am THAT mom