bragging alert!

I might just have the most amazing little seven year old on the planet.  She is so sweet and so precious.  She has a best friend.  Her name happens to be Adelyn, who is yet another precious little girl I know quite well.  Aubrey brought this card home from school today:

I thought it was just another cute little Thanksgiving hand turkey that I would file away with all the other hand art I've collected over the years.  Until she opened it.  And read these sweet words to her best friend, the person for whom she is most thankful:



yellow word translation: you are super good at making people laugh


To say that I am a proud mom would be an understatement.  I am in love with these daughters of mine!



I am thankful for Council Oak Preschool!

The Thanksgiving festivities have begun!  We attended Adelyn's last Thanksgiving feast at her preschool before she is a BIG KINDERGARTENER next year!  During the feast, I mentioned that it was her last one and she got really quiet.  A little later, she told me that she didn't want to turn five because she wouldn't be in preschool anymore.  Their preschool is THE BEST.  All three of my brothers went there when they were kids and it is still wonderful.  I only wish Aubrey could've gone there when she was little.  BOO on the Iowa preschool where she went {it is NOTHING compared to this one}.  The teachers LOVE LOVE LOVE the kids and my kids LOVE LOVE LOVE their teachers.  We started the morning with a breakfast celebration in Blake's class and then went back in the afternoon for Adelyn's feast, catered by Bill Miller.  Looking forward to Thanksgiving day, where we'll start the morning with Dave's family at the Turkey Trot (such a fun tradition!) and breakfast; then we'll move on to our house where my uncle will cook our Thanksgiving turkey (I've actually bought it the last couple of years at Bill Miller, but he nixed that idea this year and said he wanted a HOME-COOKED turkey.  Good thing I got my Bill Miller stuffing fix at the preschool!  ha!)  I am thankful for so many things in my life, probably too many to list.  I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

my precious *almost* five year old

LOVE the Indian name...Adelyn New Moon. future Twilight fan, maybe?  ha!

Blake with his wonderful teachers!

Blake's class did a breakfast celebration...the banana chocolate chip muffins on the right were AMAZING!

showing us his fnished turkey

sticking the feathers in his turkey.  he loved this craft.

love this boy

such a cool kid. 

Dollar Tree Love

I love me some Dollar Tree, people.  I am always amazed at the awesomeness that abounds there.  With a little tweaking, you can go from Dollar Tree cheap to simply chic.  Behold, my latest Dollar Tree treasures:

I am helping my mother-in-law with a shower at her school.  I spent a total of $5 making 18 invitations.  The plain invitations came from Dollar Tree.  I added paper flowers (1.99 for a HUGE pack at Tuesday Morning) and a sticky rhinestone (0.68 for 18 on clearance at Target)



These adorable favor boxes were 10 in a pack at Dollar Tree, and I filled them with Hugs & Kisses to hand out at the shower.




This plain-jane chalkboard got spiced up with a burlap ruffle (just hot glued the burlap to the frame).  Total cost was about $1.50 (if that, burlap is CHEAP)

 Adelyn is having a "glow in the dark" bounce party this weekend so I bought glow necklaces at Dollar Tree today.  SO much cheaper than buying them from the actual bounce place.  So, there you have it.  You don't have to spend a fortune to create something cute.