My oldest son, Iden, goes to an awesome pre-school. He began going here because he had/has a speech delay. I love the teachers so much. I love the things that he learns. I love the small classroom size. I love the 3-4 hours I get at home of not needing to tell Iden where the bad guys are and that he needs to fight them. A very cool thing about his school is that they have special event nights every month or so. We hadn't gone to many the past few years but I'm glad we went last night! We had a blast!

Iden's teachers won a grant that gave each child in their Phonological program a FREE pair of TOMS! I was really excited about that. The kids even got to pick out what color they wanted. Iden chose Red. So, last night they had a 'ONE FOR ONE' night. They provided dinner: Pizza from Little Ceasars and salad, showed the TOMS documentary, the kids sang some songs, they read stories and did some fun crafts! It was a great way to end our week!

Iden decorated his TOMS with googly eyes, buttons, glue, fabric markers.

Super cool idea... but I'm glad he did this to shoes we didn't pay for LOL

We made a guitar out of rubber bands and a shoe box.

Gage LOVED it!!

Seriously, go do this to entertain your baby!

Oh, by the way I got a haircut. Hi bangs!

Another shot of Iden decorating his shoes :]

Making a sock puppet.

He got upset with us when we tried telling him how to do it.

So it's not your traditional sock puppet.

So proud of his creation!

I love that we are able to soak up memories like this. I want to be more craftsy with the boys at home. Finger painting, creating things... I want them to remember these things about their childhood. I need to make more time for them. I was convicted the other day with the thought that too often during the day when Iden asks to do something with me... play candyland, build legos, watch a movie, play super heros... my response is, "Not now honey, Mama needs to clean the house/Mama is too tired/ you need to clean your mess." Who have I become?! This is not the mama that I wanted to be. Then I think about how I would feel with that response from anyone... from my husband, my kids, a friend, from my God.

I need to make time for these precious moments.

The dishes can wait.

The laundry can be folded and put away later.

The mess on the table can wait.

Their mess can wait.

Facebook can wait.

Email can wait.

Blogging can wait.

Pinterest can wait.

My favorite show can wait.

But my children can't. They need the love. The attention. The joy. The laughter. They need these moments as much as I do.

Excuse me while I go play superheroes.

Candy-Corn Wreath

My mom (hi mom!) has a subscription to Woman's Day mag. When I saw the cover for October I was drawn to it. It has so much orange and that is my favorite color. Also, there is alot of candy-corn on that cover. With all things Halloween coming up and everyone is baking and decorating awesomeness I thought to myself, "I want to be that mom". I want to have traditions and build memories that my kids will look back and remember or look forward to. So, now that I have recently become a full-time stay-at-home-mama (I get so giddy just typing that out!) I have decided now is the time for me to get crafty and do awesome mommy things that I wouldn't be able to do if I was working full-time.

So here it is! The Candy-Corn Halloween Wreath!

What you'll need:

• A Styrofoam Wreath (any size will do, you pick!)
• Wide Black Ribbon
• Candy corn
• A Hot Glue Gun (I think I used 3-4 glue sticks)
• A finishing spray

Here's what you'll do:

Hot glue the end of the ribbon to your styrofoam and begin wrapping it around tightly. I would add hot glue here and there to make sure the ribbon stayed in place. Once you have wrapped the styrofoam completely in ribbon then hot glue the end.

Honestly, I didn't line up any of the candy-corn before I started gluing them down... I just went at it! You'll want to do a row at a time, first row pointing left. Once you have glued them all down you are ready for your next row! The next row needs to point in the opposite direction. I did not put candy corn on the backside of the wreath. I figured it'd be against my door anyways. But if you feel the need to put them all the way around, more power to ya!

Now that you have all of the candy corn glued on and it has had time to sit, spray it with a clear finishing spray. It gives it a pretty shine and I'm hoping will protect it a bit! Let dry!

Get your wide ribbon again and wrap through the wreath. You can leave it as a knot and let the ends hang, or you can tie it in a bow! Your call! Make it cute ;)

(Note: please excuse the horrible pictures. They were taken on my phone and my camera's pictures aren't any better! One day I will have a nice camera!)

The project took me a few hours to complete (there were a few distractions including a dropped candy with hot glue on it which landed on my leg and gave me a lovely little burn!). It was a quick, fun, easy project! And now I have tons of candy corn left over to enjoy!

What fun stuff are you making for your home for Halloween? Send me a link!