Helping Kids to Think of Others First with Disney FROZEN

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It feels like this week has been revolving around Disney FROZEN the movie coming out! Our little band of men loves this flick too- certainly not just a girl show :) We've had the chance to comb both our local stores for fun Walmart toys and the FROZEN DVD... all with the intent of giving them away...

This quote above is my favorite from the movie. I believe this, I know it to be true. That I'm happier when I'm not so self-absorbed and narrow minded. That I love, even crave, the deep-down good feeling of giving, of selflessness.

The kind of selflessness, or love, that made Kristoff turn around from having left Anna behind to (he thought) be saved. The kind of selflessness that governs Anna throughout this whole movie; that puts her on a horse to go after her sister when she could be scared or angry instead. The kind of selflessness that makes Olaf refuse to leave Anna when she needs to find a solution, even if it does mean melting. Maybe even the kind of selflessness that keeps Elsa locked in her room, alone, not wanting to ever hurt her little sister again.

Wow, FROZEN can sure get a person thinking and feeling and learning, huh?! I want my boys to learn from it, to learn in general how to think of others before themselves. Not the simplest concept when you're four or six, right? We do a lot of gift giving, card making, knock-and-running to that end. Hopefully they don't realize it's all a big life lesson... otherwise, the gigs up ;)

Thanks to #collectivebias, we got to visit both of our Walmart stores here in town looking for toys and other FROZEN goodies. 

We knew that we wanted to send a #FROZENfun package to Coop and Ry's cousins, my nieces that are fairly close to their same ages. For real, my sister had two girls and I had two boys- it's cut and dried in this family ;)... They live just far enough away that we don't see them as often as we'd like. Unfortunately, the boys seem to like to tackle them without their consent when they are together, but it's really just because they are bursting with excitement for getting to see them at all. (I know, it's true, boys can be pretty weird. :P)

Really, the two little girls whom this package was for are incredibly special in my boys' minds. They love their cousins and this was a great opportunity for us to put that love into action, sending them FROZEN items that we all knew they would enjoy. Little did I know how unique the result would be...

I just grabbed what we found- some books and the Anna and Elsa Sparkle Dolls- and didn't think anything of it. We also chose some candies in FROZEN colors and some sparkly tulle to complete the package. The boys announced that girls love glitter... see, they get a small glimmer of feminine influence around here ;) 

Happy Mail: Recent Valentine Swap

 

I love sending happy mail!

And, you already know that we love Valentines season around here, so I was happy when

I got to join in on a Blogger Swap for Valentines Daythrough The Adventures of Brad and Kendra. 

!yaD senitnelaV yppaH

Happy Valentines Day!

I can't wait for the boys to wake up to their Valentines Treasure Hunt! I also can't wait to spend the rest of my life with my best friend, my Valentine. Didn't we look cute down in Mexico six years ago?! I always put this pic up as part of our Valentine decor :)

Valentine Happy Mail

I love sending Valentines mail!

Last year I got to send a fun package to a super talented lady I now consider a friend,

Kadie from Seven Alive. I was excited when I saw a similar type of thing happening at Create.Craft.Love!

Exchanging Valentines Crafty Mom Style :)

I recently participated in a Valentines Exchange at Happy Hour Projects and met another bloggy bestie in the process- Kadie from Seven Alive! She is such a sweet, talented lady! She has five kids and does some awesome crochet projects, among other things. And what a small world it is after all- she grew up not far from us in Idaho!

The boys were totally excited to help me open the package and enjoyed seeing all the goodies inside! The cute little heart masks were just for them- right up their alley :)

 

She also included these fun little extras- some sweet little bookmarks and some really pretty resin flower earrings. Isn't that little crocheted flower bookmark adorable! I love how dainty it is! You can get more info about how Kadie makes these HERE and how she makes the jumbo paperclip ones HERE.

The real star of the show is this amazing scarf- beautiful, huh?! It is so soft and "ruffles" or "curls" so beautifully! I love how I felt when I tried this on! I'm sure that this took a fair amount of time to complete and I know how frustrating it can get to complete anything with kids needing something at every turn- I am so grateful for such a thoughtful gift :) I had told her I loved purple and Stephen actually got me a purple jacket for Christmas that this will go really nicely with.

And I really don't share pics of myself, certainly not by myself, very often- for good reason!

But I wanted to show you how cute this looks on,

so here I am in all my everyday glory- no makeup and a braid!

Aren't the curly strands so fun?! 

That white square is a drawing Cooper did of our  family that I have taped to my mirror... just so you know :)

Thank You again Kadie and Adrianne for a fabulous gift and a fun exchange! While I love the goodies, I'm even happier to have found someone new to stay in close touch with :) 

And for a parting laugh,

here's a few outtakes from my Adventures-in-Self-Portraiture!

Ya know, because you really wanted to see

my toilet and dirty mirror and

particularly weird mouth thing I've got going on there... :P

You can see the fun apron and fabric bucket,

along with other small goodies,

that I sent to Kadie by clicking HERE :)

Adorable Halloween "Happy Mail"

I have a little guy that loves getting mail

and several nieces (oddly, not really any nephews...) that I know are the same.

Even us big kids love getting mail that makes us smile, eh? :)

I think I love sending it even more!

After discovering all the fun "happy mail" ideas at Giver'slog recently,

I've been trying to think of something unique I could send for Halloween

and turned to these fun little pumpkins again-

they are just so stinkin' cute!

I found this adorable jack-o-lantern face svg file below and used SCAL2 to cut several sets of them out of vinyl with my Cricut!

Once they were peeled, I cut each apart and didn't worry about transfer paper- they are now just like stickers! I sized the file down so that each was about 2x2 inches to fit on the cute little pumpkins.

Before anything, I let Cooper have a go with the stickers on a pumpkin of his own :) He put a different face on each side of the pumpkin to use as many of them as possible!

The stickers were packaged in cellophane bags beside a pumpkin and tied! Isn't this a fun little treat to pull out of a package?!

The boys used some little Halloween stamps to personalize the outside of the boxes- now on their way to two little girls who will hopefully enjoy not only getting their own mail, but also creating their own adorable little punkins!

Fun as fun as fun in my opinion!

Is it just me, or are these little bags about the cutest thing ever? :)

What "happy mail" can we send next???