Kids Valentine Cards

Sometime early last week, I decided that I should try to be crafty and make Aliyah's valentine cards. Most likely she won't always want homemade cards to give out to her friends, so I might as well take the chance when she's young (and when there's only 10 kids in her class.)

It ended up being a really fun activity to do with her. I garnered inspiration from her horse obsession, sketched out a few ideas and then went to work creating two different versions of cards. I grabbed the horse and horse shoe graphics off of the web, and created everything else in Adobe Illustrator.

At first I thought I would have her color in the images for her classmates as sort of a personal touch, but when I thought about it, I imagined her getting tired of coloring the same image repeatedly. Instead, I added in her name in caps with a hand-written font so she could trace her name on each card. (At the time she didn't know how to write her name. On Friday--Valentine's Day--she came home with some papers she had completed at daycare and her name was written on them. I didn't notice them until Saturday since I had missed out on Valentine's Day with the family since I was up in California for work. I saw the papers on Sebastian's desk and asked her who wrote them and she said she did. I think I yelped with excitement. I had no idea I would be so excited and proud of her for learning to write her name, but I really was. Such a neat experience as a parent.)

We stuck two sheets of stickers in each envelope for each of her classmates, and a Starbucks giftcard for a couple of her teachers. Aliyah was very particular about the entire thing. She wanted to make sure that Daddy remembered everything on Friday, and as hard as I tried to not bring candy, she was set on bringing mini-cupcakes for her class as a treat. Sebastian, as I've said many times before, is an amazing dad, but since he doesn't drop the kids off on a regular basis (he usually does pick-up), he sometimes forgets what to bring. I wrote out a list for him just before I left, and I think it helped because everything that needed to go to daycare made it!

Afterwards, when I got back from California, I asked her about how it all went. It was pretty fun listening to her talk about the party they had, how they passed out cards and just the overall excitement of it. It's fun to get a new perspective on holidays--even the little ones. Makes those days all the more sweeter.

Easter Egg Hunting

Today we took Aliyah on her first Easter egg hunt. We weren't sure what to expect of Aliyah since she seems to get pretty shy around new groups of people, but once the egg hunt began she quickly caught on to what she was supposed to do.

She loved it, but it was quite apparent on her face that egg hunting is serious business.

Since Sebastian has been putting in some major time into the house, we decided to meet him up in Scottsdale for one of their egg hunts. This one happened to be put on by the Boys and Girls Club and was a perfect little event for Aliyah.

In addition to the egg hunt, they also had a couple of small snack stands, a few booths with some extra games and the cause of Aliyah's meltdown of the morning--a inflatable, jump-house.

Here she is just chillin'. Eventually we had to climb in and get her out, and oh, how the tears flowed.

She and I got our photo together, thanks to Daddy.

Such a great little event, and it was nice to get to explore our new area some more. We're up there most Saturdays and Sundays so that Aliyah can visit Daddy as he's working on the house, and we're finding that we really like the area so far. My favorite part has to be that it is so green in Scottsdale. The grass and the trees and the parks are plentiful. And the little mini-man made lakes too. I love it. I'm getting antsy to move in at the end of the month and really get settled.

Tomorrow, we'll head on over to church. Aliyah is really into Jesus at the moment. We pulled into the parking lot for Good Friday mass and she yelled, "Jesus! Yay!". And another cute moment that I have to make note of, more for my sake so I don't forget, is that during the Veneration of the Cross, she actually walked up to the cross, knelt and put her hand on it like everyone else did. We'll see how tomorrow goes. Might be hit or miss with service being so long. I'll have to be sure to bring lots of books, snacks and stickers. My secret weapons. :)

Digital Sketchbook: Peace on Earth

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said:
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I recently saw this showcased here. If you get a chance, watch this live version by Casting Crowns. It's the song that really got me into the Christmas spirit. (I'm pretty much in love with any song that has a good choir in the background.) 

Aliyah and her PawPaw

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving this year at Oma and PawPaw's house in Georgia. Delicious food, sweet company and lots and lots of fun. More photos and details to come. For now, here's a photo of Aliyah and her beloved PawPaw spending some quality time together.