Celebrating | The TaterTwins

Valentines

4 Feb posted by Jayme

Lili came home yesterday with a list of her classmates names for Valentines. Much like Halloween, where the kids come home with bags overflowing with treats and candy, Valentine’s Day is the same way in elementary school. I often send in holiday themed pencils for the kids to hand out, because what classroom can’t use more pencils? One year I found mini tubs of Play-Doh specially marked to be used as Valentines as well. But this year I’ve seen a few cute sweets-free ideas on Pinterest, and am trying to decide what to do.

If I do go with pencils, this would be a cute way to personalize them- this owl perched on a pencil is adorable.

Or rulers… I should ask my girls if they use them a lot in school…

I love the idea of dressing up the little wedding bubbles for kids for Valentine’s Day- especially for younger kids who love bubbles.

These are unique and a great way to encourage reading. But I always wonder about the paint chip projects I see on Pinterest- do people just go snag a ton at the hardware store?

I wonder if there are still 10 packs of glow sticks in the dollar section at Target…

These are really sweet too. I wonder if the boys would like them though…

Just awesome. I love that it includes a photo of the giver. The original creator included a stick on felt mustache for each kid on the Valentine. I don’t know that Lili would let me take her photo with a mustache though…

What do your kids hand out?

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Filed Under: Valentine's Day

Happy Happy New Year

2 Jan posted by Jayme

It’s officially a new year. In the past, I’ve posted resolutions, but mine were easily attainable. Things like go to the dentist… I’m not big on making big declarations to change or improve myself when I know I’ll never follow through. I have thought of a few that are do-able:

Everyone always quits some bad habit, so I’m going to quit drinking. This will be easy because not only do I drink maybe 3 glasses of wine a month, but now I’m pregnant, so I won’t be drinking anyway. I think I can handle this one.
Cut back on the Dunkin Donuts coffee. If I thought of this a week or two ago, it would have been a no-go. However, the last couple of times I drank one, I didn’t finish it because it just didn’t taste as good. Damn pregnancy, ruining my taste buds.
Don’t get pregnant. Well, I already am, so I can’t again, right? And by the end of the year, Aaron and I both plan to make ourselves permanently infertile.
I’ll continue to keep track of the books I read, and I’ve already started a 2012 list.
OH! And get the boys hair cuts. It’s seriously in their eyes and driving them (and me) nuts.

All over the blog world, people are posting their 12 favorite posts or photos of the year. I thought about going back through my blog and doing the same, but then I decided I was too lazy and it seemed like a lot of work. I’ve posted a lot this year. Plus, I notice my eyes start to glaze over while reading some of the ones out there (no, not yours!)… and I figure if I do it, it’s really one of those things for my own benefit, and I just don’t care that much right now.

The beginning of last year, we were several months out of chemo for Ryan, so really 2011 has been smooth sailing for our immediate family. Everyone has been healthy and happy. Our big event of the year was moving, but for me, the move was a giant stress reliever. I’m so happy we decided to do it.

It’s been 10 years since we lost Raime, and really all of our losses and all the grief I carried seems further and further away- a lifetime ago. And I really hope this new pregnancy doesn’t bring it all back again. 2011 was a wonderfully happy year for the Tate family, and I’m hoping that 2012 is just as good, if not better. And maybe this summer if we are super lucky, we’ll have a new little Tatertot in our house.

Little techy boys on New Year's.

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Filed Under: 1featured, New Year's

2012

1 Jan posted by Jayme

So the world is going to end this year, so it seems silly to make resolutions, right?

If that’s the case, there is some stuff we can take comfort in.

If you do make resolutions, I think displaying them as art is a great idea- I’d think if you’ve got them staring you in the face, you’re more likely to keep them.

You could use a fancy font and print it out and frame it…

Or you could follow a tutorial like the one linked here:

Do you make New Year’s resolutions?

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Filed Under: holiday

Home for the Holidays

22 Dec posted by Jayme

There really is no place like home for the holidays. I used to always want to go visit family during the Christmas season, because that felt like home to me. But the last few years, as the kids get older, I’ve been much happier celebrating in my own house.

The only thing that would make the holidays better is if my family were close enough to drop by and visit with us! I sure would love to see my mom here, watching the kids open their gifts, on Christmas morning.

Where is ‘home’ for you? Are you still near where you grew up? If you’ve moved away, do you feel your hometown is home, or your current location?

This post is sponsored by T-Mobile.

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Filed Under: Christmas, spon

No one does Christmas like #kmart does Christmas #cbias Part II

20 Dec posted by Jayme

After coming home with our $100+ of decorations from Kmart last week, we thought for SURE our house would rival the others in the neighborhood. See, everyone around here has their houses decked out to the max with lights and inflatables for the holidays. We were so excited to put lights up so we could be as festive as everyone else.

Let me tally up our loot for you:

3 Strands of GE Pro-Line Extra Large Icicle 150 Christmas Light Set
2 Jaclyn Smith Midnight Clear Tree Top Bows
2 Rolls of Jaclyn Smith Midnight Clear 21ft Wired Ribbon
1 Set of 4 Light Show LED Pathway Markers
and 1 outdoor extension cord.

It seemed like a lot when we had it in the cart, and as we were hauling all of the bags into the house. I’d wanted to grab 4 boxes of lights, but they only had 3 left. I thought for SURE our house wasn’t longer than 27 feet though.

And then Aaron put up the lights:

Even if he put them on top of the awning, it wouldn’t have been enough to cover the whole house. And since they were the last three boxes on the shelf, we were unable to go back and grab some more. Hopefully I can find the same brand elsewhere or perhaps at Kmart next year because I really would like them all to be uniform.

We used the rolls of ribbon on the pillars. I’m glad we got two because each pillar used an entire roll. Then we added the tree topper bows to the top and I think they look great! If you don’t remember, I’d initially wanted to wrap the pillars in some pine bough garland and white lights, but I was unable to find any garland that didn’t come prelit with flashing multi-color lights. I didn’t think it would look nice with the white lights (plus there was only one!) so we went with the ribbon idea.

Doesn’t it look pretty? I just love blue and silver for the holidays- our tree is done in those colors as well. Don’t mind the box and bags from our decorations still on the porch, we hadn’t picked them up yet while I was snapping the photos!

The final thing we purchased at Kmart was the set of snowflake lights. We put them on the edge of the flowerless flowerbed that leads from the driveway to the front door. Ryan was so intrigued by the lights! He has always been drawn to toys that light up so it was no surprise. He was so cute watching them blink!