Valentine #5 Color wonder - Day 172

We LOVE color wonder books. We use them for Church. The kids can color and nothing gets on the pews, floor, clothes. or skin. The boys were needing a new book since the other one was all colored, so I planned it so this one fell on a Sunday morning.

Valentine #4 Treat - Day 171

Today is an easy day. I just had a little treat for them. Mini M&M's! 

Valentine #3 Valentines - Day 170

 This year we had a impromptu photo shoot  with a tiger puppet. Ben has recently started growling like a dinosaur and I thought this idea would be adorable. So I edited the pics in Photoshop and added words via picnik and I printed them at Wal-Mart. We will send them to Grandparents, cousins, and a few to friends. I think I will back them with white card stock just to make them stable.

Valentine #2 groundhogs day - Day 169

 Today is Groundhog day and to honor that I made a cute little critter name P. We will do very groundhog things today like watch the groundhog try and find his shadow, eat on the "ground", and make a craft using a Popsicle stick puppet and a paper cup (link). So when the boys wake up they will find a very cheeky P the groundhog!

Valentines advent - Day 168

A few posts ago I made little mailboxes for the boys with a plan in mind of putting something special in the boxes every day in February. Since they don't get valentines from school I thought this would be a way to enjoy the holiday. So I am posting a few days early so YOU can plan ahead and be prepared for your advent. I will give you the list of what I will do and then each day starting today for fourteen days I will show a picture of what was in them!

Valentines Advent

1. Valentines stickers
2. Groundhog day
3. Make Valentines to give
4. Treat
5. coloring books
6. heart shaped balloon
7. Make Daddy's valentine
8. Treat
9. Heart attack our neighbors
10. Make sugar cookies
11. Treat
12. V-Day tie
13. Bubbly cider
14. Valentines day surprise

 Day #1

 So Day #1 is Valentines day stickers. I found them at Wal-Mart for .97 and they are supposed to go on your window. I will have the boys put them wherever they want to since we have a lot of window space!

Arise and Shine Forth - Day 167

 I am in Young Women's and this Sunday is our New Beginnings. I was in charge of table decorations. My partner in crime - Jennifer - helped me out! We purchased a 2x6x14 piece of lumber from our local Home Depot. They were so kind and cut them down to 8" with some left over.

 We painted them the value colors.

 I found this print via pinterest and printed them out in black and white. It is the theme for 2012. Then I took markers and outlined one of the lines.

Then we sanded them to make it look roughed up.

Here is the stash!

Then I broke out the mod podge - my other best friend - and put a layer on the unpainted side.

Make sure when you lay the paper down, use a bone folder to smooth it out so no bubbles form underneath.

 Then sand the sides that the paper is over.

This one bubbled a little. When it has dried a little mod podge the top of it. 

This is them after the papers are on.

I added bling to the front.

I am so excited for Sunday and after the party, the girls get to take a block home!

The toilette that ran away - Day 166

 Our Master bathroom toilette was running. It would never stop. We decided that the ball and arm mechanism wasn't working as efficiently anymore. So I went to the local Home Depot and asked someone for help. They introduced me to this new toilette valve. It takes the ball and arm out of the equation. Here is what the box looks like.

This was the problem

This is all that is included: the box, the mechanism, the hose, the little parts, and instructions.

First step is to turn off the water to the toilette. My valve is right under the toilette.  Then you flush the toilette until the water is gone.

You will have to soak it up with a towel.

Then you need pliers to help loosen the nut under the bolt. A little more water will come out I promise so catch it with the towel.

 I had to use these pliers. They were easier to grip and stay griped to the bolt. I also had to hold onto the old mechanism at the same time.

 This is what you will work with after it is out.

 Here is the new one! The big black thing is the new "ball". It moves up and down with the level of water.

You will have to twist the bottom of the mechanism to the right height. It needs to be at least 1" higher than the drain tube. It is the only other big tube in the tank. This one you had to put a rubber "washer" on the bottom of the mechanism. The washer and the other small parts are connected in a white clip looking thing. They are easy to pull apart. Push the washer as far as you can up the thread.

 Slide the mechanism into the hole, but make sure the nozzle is facing the draining tube.

Place the plastic washer on the end and tighten it as far as you can using just your hands.

Connect the hose onto the end and once again just tighten with your hands.

Now you take the long black tube and connect one end to the nozzle.

 Connect the other end of the tube to the white clip.

Slide the white clip down the overflow tube. make sure the black tube is lined up with the tube and not the rest of the tank.

Turn the water back on and see if it worked!

 This is what it looks like after it is working great!

I wish I would have had a blog to follow when I tried to fix the problem! Good luck!!!