Brina & Karlie’s 5th Grade Graduation Party & Celebration!
Brina and Karlie with Mrs. Johnson at their Graduation Celebration Party! Mrs. Johnson was Karlie’s homeroom teacher in 2nd Grade, taught Karlie in Gift & Talented Program from 3rd grade up, and was both girls STEM Club Coach for 2 years. Excellent teacher!!!
Such a sweet Daddy spent a lot of time helping get ready for this big day including helping cut starfish, decorate, blow up balloons, and so much more. Thankful to have a partner that pitches in and takes the time to celebrate with the kids!
Luau theme at the Grad Party! The kids had a blast!
Karlie with her homeroom teacher Mr. Moore and her friend David! Mr. Moore was an awesome teacher!
Brina hanging out with her friend at the party!
Sweet Sisters! Thankful for these two girls!Flashback Friday: It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
Karlie and Brina
The girls were super thrilled with all the neat Christmas items around the house to play with. We were constantly putting Christmas ornaments back on the trees and various decorations back in their place. Their curiosity was peaked and they loved exploring all the cool stuff. The most interesting place we found a Christmas decoration during their first Christmas Holiday was in a diaper. We went to change Karlie one time and she some how managed to get a good chunk of an ornament that she pulled off the tree down her diaper. We think she was chewing on it, dropped it and it fell down in her dress only to re-appear at her next diaper change. We were pretty surprised, but it didn’t seem to bother her at all.
Introducing Febreze Fall Home Harvest Collection – #FebrezeFall
The Fall Season is just around the corner! Even though Fall officially starts on September 22, 2014 it is already starting to cool down in our area. The leaves are falling, apples are ripening, and animals are scurrying around to finish stocking up for the cooler months. Recently we received a package and this adorable barn was inside from Febreze, Walmart, and SheSpeaks! Let’s just say the kids were as excited about seeing the barn box as I was about getting all the amazing fall Febreze scents and goodies!
One of my favorite parts about Fall is all the amazing Fall smells from toasted nuts, pumpkins, fall harvest, apple picking, pears baking, and more amazing scents of the season. What are your favorite Fall Scents? Febreze has come out with their Fall Home Harvest Collection! Have you already tried the Febreze Home Harvest Collection? If not it is a great way to get you ready for the upcoming Fall season! They have some perfect Fall scents to get your house and car ready! Some of the scents you might want to check out this Fall season are Vanilla Latte, Autumn Harvest, Spiced Pear, Toasted Almond, Sugared Cranberry, and more.
We opened up our Febreze Fall Home Home Collection barn box and were pleasantly surprised with all the cool scents, goodies, and activities included. What a great way to get excited and prepared for the Fall Season! Febreze truly eliminates odors so your guests will only notice the freshness of fall when they enter your home.
We received a Febreze NOTICEables Warmer with two NOTICEables NOTABLES. One was the Autumn Harvest which is a blend of sandalwood and chai – smells amazing! The other NOTICEables NOTABLES was the Vanilla Latte which is a blend of vanilla and sugar – absolutely love the smell of this one! Reminds me of a fresh hot cup of coffee on a cool Fall day! Febreze even took care of bringing Fall to our car! They sent us a Febreze Car Toasted Almond vent clip which lasts up to 30 days and smells delicious! Even the teachers have commented that they really like the scent when I pick the kids up in car line at school.
The barn yard is complete with the awesome Febreze Fall Home Harvest Collection, activity cards in the scentspiration box, a gift card from Walmart, and cute decorative picket fence, wagon wheels, and hay bales!
They thought of everything! Included are some delicious Fall Recipes, fun Fall Activities to do with your family, and Fall Home Decor to get your home ready for the Fall Season! We will share a few of the ones we have done so far below.
We are already enjoying the Febreze NOTICEables Warmer with NOTICEables NOTABLES Vanilla Latte!!! Makes the house smell amazing! Do you like having a different fall scent in each room or one scent filling the whole home?
One of the recipes that Febreze included that will make your house smell like Fall – Oven Baked Smores:
What you need: A graham cracker, marshmallow, and chocolate bar per Smore and an appropriate baking sheet to fit all the Smores you are making.
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place graham crackers on a baking sheet.
3. Press marshmallows between your fingers to make them a little flat, then place them on the graham crackers.
4. Bake until the marshmallows have puffed up and the edges turn a light, caramel brown color.
5. Remove tray from oven, and firmly press a piece of chocolate down into the marshmallow. You want the warmth of the marshmallow to melt the chocolate. Enjoy!
Delicious Oven Baked Smores! You can put another graham cracker on top if you want as well. You can probably use a little less chocolate too, but we enjoy the extra sweetness!
Febreze Fall Activities – Whistle with an Acorn Top
What you need: An acorn top. I recommend washing your acorns with water first to make sure they are clean and bug free.
Directions (once your acorn is washed):
1. Make a fist with your hands, then place your hands together with your fingers touching.
2. Place the acorn top on the top of your index finger.
3. Put your thumbs on top of the acorn top, angling them so that the tips of your thumbs make a “V” shape.
4. Blow over the top of your thumbs, and you’ll hear a whistle!
Our whole family tried the various acorn tops for whistles. Jake won the contest for the the loudest and most shrill whistle! These were a little more difficult than we expected, but if you got your fingers and acorn top just right you can get a really loud whistle which brings smiles to the kids faces. Do you have any of the great scentspiration activities you would like to share?
Febreze Fall Home Decor – Acorn Centerpiece
What you need: Acorns, leaves or flowers or ribbons, a vase, Febreze Air Effects
Directions:
1. Gather lots of acorns.
2. Take the vase of any shape and size and fill it to the top with acorns.
3. Add colorful leaves or flowers if you want to cover the top of vase.
4. Lightly spray the top of the arrangement with your favorite scent from the Febreze Fall Harvest Collection for a unique final touch, and then put it on display.
Do you decorate your tables with seasonal decor? Have you ever used Febreze to add an extra festive touch to your home or used Febreze scents to enhance your home décor?
I would love to hear how your family prepares for the Fall Season:
• Have you ever tried making toasted almonds?
• Have you ever tasted sugared cranberries?
• What is your most popular pears dessert recipe?
• Do you have another version of one of the recipes, decorations, or activities that I shared today?
• I would love for you to share any pictures of the Fall scentspiration activities you have tried.
• Are there any scents or designs that help inspire the ideas for you?
• What new ideas do you have to get your home fall-ready?More information about Febreze:
- Like Febreze’s Facebook Page
- Follow Febreze’s Twitter Feed
- Pick up your favorite Febreze Fall Home Harvest Scent at your local Walmart
A special thanks to SheSpeaks, Febreze, and Walmart for sponsoring this post! Any specific product information was provided by Febreze, Walmart, and SheSpeaks, however, the opinions expressed in this post are our own. We received a complimentary products for sharing information and our family’s experience.
Birthday Celebration with a KitKat & Starburst Jellybean Cake!
Jake’s Birthday Cake decorated with chocolate frosting, KitKats, and Starburst Jellybeans
We celebrated Jake’s birthday a week early this summer due to upcoming family travel. The girls helped make the cake and created a fun topping for him. They used two of his favorite candies KitKats and Starburst Jellybeans to decorate the cake. It was cute hearing giggle as they decorated the cake (and ate some jellybeans I am sure). We had a great day celebrating my Handsome Man’s birthday! Thankful for time together to relax, have fun, and enjoy a celebration.
The backside of his KitKat and Starburst Jellybean Birthday Cake!
A slice of sugary goodness! I highly recommend you offset the sweetness with a glass of milk, but hey it’s nice to have something sweet every once in awhile to celebrate birthdays!
Jake reading the birthday cards the girls picked out and wrote notes in for him!
Christmas Tree Ornaments
Thanks to my sweet cousin Renelle the girls got a cool Christmas Ornament craft this year. Renelle sent glass ornaments and some paint so the girls could make their own Christmas tree ornaments. They had a blast making these ornaments! The ornaments turned out beautifully too!
The ornaments have a tie die and swirl mix of several colors. Brina and Karlie were so excited to have these hanging on the tree. Both girls agree that they want to do more of these or another Christmas tree ornament next year!
Karlie squeezing paint into her ornamentTake the glass ornaments and slowly squeeze paint into them. Add at least 2 or more colors and swirl around until the glass ornament is coated on the inside.
Brina making sure the paint is covering the entire glassAfter adding paint rotate the ornament around until the paint has coated the entire inside of the ornament. The colors will start to blend as you do this which is very fascinating for the kids to watch.
Karlie swirling and coating the inside of her glass ornament with paintThe colors blend together and look pretty neat together.
Turn the ornament upside down in a styrofoam cup or muffin pan so the extra paint can drain.
Every few hours flip the glass ornament the opposite direction so the paint will dry evenly inside the bulb
One of the glass bulbs hanging on the trees
Beautiful ornament made by the girls hanging on the tree
The girls did a fabulous job making these ornaments.
Colorful and looking great on the Christmas tree
The colors merged beautifully on their glass ornaments
Thanks Renelle for an amazing craft! The girls had a craft and they turned out beautifully!
Christmas Decorations
My cute tree decorators – they did a fabulous job!
Karlie Kat’s room all festive!
Brina Bee’s room all festive!
Giveaway: $10 Hobby Lobby Gift Card
I am excited to announce a new giveaway on Blessings Multiplied! The winner of this giveaway will receive a $10 Hobby Lobby Gift Card! The best part about this card is you can use it for crafts, home decorating, educational items, seasonal items, birthday gifts, and much more. Spring is here and Mother’s Day is coming up soon so maybe you want to get something for your home, Mom, next craft or something just for fun. Here’s how to enter the giveaway:Enter the Giveaway (up to 4 entries per person)!
- Sign up to follow my blog (if you haven’t done so already) and leave a comment below telling us how you follow Blessings Multiplied. Put a separate comment for each way you follow Blessings Multiplied (Email, Twitter, or Facebook) plus an extra entry for your bonus answer! Each comment counts as an entry into the giveaway.
- Sign up to receive Blessings Multiplied via email
- Follow on Twitter – @BlessMultiplied
- Like us on Facebook – BlessingsMultiplied
- BONUS – you can get a bonus entry into the drawing if you leave a separate comment below sharing what type of items you enjoy picking up at Hobby Lobby.
All comments must be made by April 30, 2013 at 10:00 PM EST to be entered into the drawing. Good Luck!
The actual gift card may or may not be identical to the one pictured above.
Fresh Christmas Wreath
I DID IT!!!!! I made my first ever fresh Christmas Wreath and it actually looks……like a wreath! A friend hosted a Christmas Wreath get together recently and a bunch of us put together wreaths. At first I was not entirely sure why I was there….it seemed like all the women in attendance were crafty and have excellent decorating tastes and then me (the person who has been in the same house for 10 years and still doesn’t have curtains up, gulp).
I am thankful that Dee took the time to show me how to get started because without her guidance it would have been interesting I am sure. It was nice catching up with friends (some who I hadn’t seen in months) while I put together my wreath. It only took me a few minutes to get the base completed but as I was talking I continued stuffing more greens into the wreath and by the end this is what it looked like.
I am not really sure how or what I did but I was pleased that it at least turned out well enough to hang on the front door especially for a “not-so-crafty” person! Don’t get me wrong, I love crafts, its just mine rarely turn out looking like the picture or something I would want to hang on the front door!
It was a fun night of food, fellowship, and wreaths. I was shocked when I looked a my watch and several hours had gone by! Guess, its true “time flies when your having fun” or in this case catching up with friends and making wreaths. I am thankful for an opportunity to get together with some amazing women and for all the greenery people brought to share. There were piles of greens in the garage, kitchen, dining, etc…. I am not sure exactly where all my greens came from but they are beautiful and smell awesome. The only thing not fresh on the wreath is the berries. They did have fresh berries at the party, however, I was told they dry up and will drop on the floor so I decided to use the fake berries because they would not get tracked across the carpet.
Thanks Dee for hosting and for giving me a gentle shove out of my comfort zone to try something new. You’re a great teacher! I love having the fresh wreath on our front door! While I won’t be teaching professional wreath making classes any time soon I would be more comfortable putting together another one in the future after this experience.
Brina and Karlie were super excited to check out my wreath the next morning. When I opened the door and they saw it this was their first responses:
Karlie -“Wow, Mom that is beautiful!”
Brina – “The goats would LOVE to eat it!”
Love my girls, they know how to make my day so much brighter!
My first fresh Christmas Wreath hanging on the front door!
Crafts: Painting Christmas Ornaments
Karlie and Brina's hand painted ornaments! We went to early service one Sunday with the family. Love getting up early going to church and coming home to a relaxing time with our family. On the way home we stopped by to get a newspaper at Walgreens. As a super special treat Jake went to Dunkin Donuts, the girls were so excited to get donuts. They picked out some yummy sprinkle ones and we headed home. We had a relaxing time sitting around the table eating donuts, talking and laughing.
After finishing up the donuts the girls wanted to do a craft. We pulled out some ceramic ornaments, striped the girls down to their underwear and let them paint. They had a BLAST! We had to give them a bath after painting but it was well worth a bath in the middle of the day. Jake watched the girls and started the crockpot for our potluck at church that night while I took a quick nap. Sundays are a wonderful day with the family. Not every Sunday is as peaceful and relaxing, however, we treasure the ones that are that way. It is fun creating memories. Hopefully they will look back at the ornaments and remember the sweet time we had together.
Brina painting her tree! 
Karlie being silly! 
Brina checking out her ornaments.... 
Karlie painting.... 
Karlie's decorated ornaments! 
Brina's decorated ornaments! Christmas Ornament Tradition
Every year we give each of the girls a new ornament to hang on the Christmas tree. When it is time to decorate for Christmas they have a lot of fun pulling out the ornaments with their names on it and talking about the memories from that year. Once they leave home and are out on their own they will receive all of their ornaments that they had accumulated throughout the years to put on their tree in their new home.Every year the ornament is unique. We write the child’s name and the year on the ornament. Any homemade ornaments they make at home, school, church or at another event we put their name on it so they can add it to their collection of ornaments. Sometimes on craft nights we put together fun items to hang around the house and share with family and friends. The girls enjoy seeing ornaments that Mommy made as a little girl too. They giggle at the ornaments I put together and love knowing that they will have their ornaments on the tree as well.
Our tree doesn’t have to be perfectly color coordinated. We have had branches with 6 ornaments on it and others that have several bulbs of the same color right next to each other. It is not necessarily “how” it looks but that it is an expression of fun times together as a family. Having the kids help decorate the tree that is full of memorable ornaments is more important to me then the perfect tree. They have been known to rearrange the ornaments almost daily some years. In our house decorating the tree is a fun time of listening to Christmas music, reminiscing, and decorating together as a family.
Do you have a fun family tradition when it comes to decorating your family Christmas tree?
