The boys preschool Christmas program & Pinterest...

Okay, so if you'll recall, in THIS post I confessed that I decided to save a buck {more like $50!} and cut our boys hair--- it was my first time ever doing so and it was a HUGE mess; it took forever to do and it was SUPER stressful, so I swore I'd NEVER cut it again because I thought I did an awful job...  Well... as it turns out, I need to give myself more credit... the cuts didn't look too shabby; the boys haircuts actually looked better when I did them than the past 3 times we've been to Cookie Cutters hair salon and PAID to get their hair cut there by PROFESSIONALS!  I'm thinking I'll just keep trimming and cutting their hair on my own because frankly, I just don't have the time to waste at a hair salon {HELLO!  Has anyone seen my hair lately?!  It looks awful and I desperately need to go in and get my hair re-highlighted with a trim, BUT I just can't bring myself to do it because I HATE spending 3-4 hours in the salon getting it done!!!} and because I could use the $50 I spend on haircuts towards new jeans for the boys {I just purchased a dozen jeans from Gap Kids, Zappos and Nordstroms at the beginning of the school year for Noah and Ian (they both wear the same size jeans) and ALREADY all but 2 pairs of jeans have holes in the knees!!! I'm ready for warmer weather already--- my boys can't destroy their shorts like they do their pants AND it's perfectly okay for them to wear boarshorts and no shirt everyday when they're just going to get wet anyhow playing in the sprinklers and at the pool.}  Here's a picture I just found on my desktop that I took the morning following the hair cuts... Their hair looked pretty decent, huh?.  Good job me. {Just kidding, I'm not boasting.}  In fact, Noah's hair is long enough now to comb it into a faux hawk!!!  He was SO excited {one thing you ought to know about Noah is that he takes great pride in his hair and just the fact that he's gone 6+ months WITHOUT his faux hawk has been somewhat difficult for him to deal with.  I don't think he feels like himself without it!!!  I can't really blame him though- he's been sporting one since birth.} Just another side note:  I MUST remember to take a picture of Noah's eyelashes in the sunlight.  I was just looking at them this afternoon and they're GORGEOUS!!!  It really isn't fair he has such long, thick eyelashes!  He's not even a girl! 

Eat your heart out mommas! My boys all have the.bluest.prettiest.eyes.ever!!!  I think this picture above is evidence of that.  Between their eyes, their lashes, their hair {Ian and Atticus's dimples} and their overall great personalities, girls in school are gonna go CRAZY over them by the time they reach junior high... It won't even matter much that they're going to be short {all of them except for Ian that is}. I need to bring a video camera with me the next time I go and pick Ian up from preschool.  He has about 4 little lady admirers from his class who call after him as he's walking out to our car in the school parking lot.  One little girl has even made it a habit, to roll her window down each and every time, just to say "Goodbye Ian!"... It's cute, but I can tell by the look on their mothers faces, they're also slightly worried that the "LOVE BUG" has infected their daughters--- not to mention, if they continue to hang out the window of their car calling after boys they like for the next 10 years, it might start looking more desperate than cute.  Either way--- for now it's cute.  You should also see Ian's response... He tries so hard not to pay any attention to it {I KNOW he's praying I'm NOT listening!}, but after a few seconds and when he can no longer contain his smile, a grin as big as big as the moon spreads from ear to ear on his face. It's precious.

Cohen and Ian both had their preschool Christmas Program that they participated in back in December, just before the holiday break.  Grandma and Grandpa Campbell came to watch them sing and perform.

Correction:  Ian sang, Cohen just kinda sat there with a smug look on his face...  for some reason or other, he refuses to sing.  He won't sing at school, he won't sing at church, he doesn't even sing here at home!  He told us the other night while we were watching a Coldplay concert on the television that he wants to be a rockstar, but I'm thinking he just might have a hard time becoming one if he refuses to sing... oh, but of course, he could just be the kinda rockstar who just has to look good and play the drums or guitar.  I suppose we ought to start looking into getting him some lessons.

Can you spot Ian in the picture above?  

That's him in the 2ND row from the bottom on the left hand side

looking at something off in the distance.

And in the picture below...

That's Ian with his hat over his whole head!

Cohen's seated in the front row, on the right end {wearing his cowboy boots! That boy, I swear, he LOVES his cowboy boots!!!  I was out shoveling snow yesterday morning and he came out to help me and slipped at least half a dozen times in his boots!  My sister Tricia and I have always said Cohen inherited his good looks from my Grandpa Sabin, but I'm beginning to think he inherited a lot more than just his looks!  My grandpa was a real life rootin' tootin' cowboy during his early years- he owned a ranch and used to help his father capture and tame Mustangs... he always wore his cowboy boots, buckle and hat... my little Cohen would wear his cowboy boots all darn day and NIGHT if I let him!}
Ian's seated in the 3RD row up, 4TH child from the teacher.

If Cohen expects to become a drummer in a rock band,

he better work a little on his stage presence.

One thing is certain: 

Cohen DID make a cute little green car!

 The boys were excited to see grandpa after their show!

One additional note worth mentioning:  While it's true, Cohen does NOT like to sing, Ian DOES!  He's a little shy in front of an audience, but don't let that fool you!  At home he belted out Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer all month long.  He sang it so often that our little Bentley learned the tune to Jingle Bells!  Bentley STILL walks around the house singing "Jingle.ALL.THE.WAY!" {those are the only words he remembers} as though it were a rap... it's so stinkin' cute.   Ian LOVES MUSIC!  We've put a cd player with a radio in each of the boys bedrooms so they can listen to their kid songs or books on c.d.'s at night as they fall asleep... Ian's resorted to listening to the radio at night instead of listening to the c.d.'s we've given him--- he likes to tink around with the radio stations until he finds something he likes... lately he prefers to listen to gospel music {I can't help but wonder how many sermons he's listened too during the middle of the night???} and wait for it... Latino rap music!!!  I can't tell you how many times I've walked into his room in the middle of the night to turn off his radio because it sounds like a rave is taking place in there!  Our boys are only 6, 4, 3, 2 and not even a year old yet, but already I find myself having to yell and tell them to turn down their music!!!

Another thing, worth mentioning, I made these below for our boys school teachers. Every teacher deserves a good gift to express the gratitude I have in my heart for the time they take to teach my child... Heaven KNOWS they aren't paid NEARLY enough!

Coincidentally, our boys teachers last name initials together are mine and Spencer's exact same first, middles and last name initials too!
I found this idea on Pinterest {I HEART PINTEREST!*  The only thing that upsets me about the site is that I didn't think to do it myself!!! I could have made MILLIONS creating it! That and now I kind of feel like any time I am creative, and I put something together completely on my own WITHOUT any help, people won't appreciate my creativity because they'll all just assume I copied the idea from Pinterest... sometimes I DO like to take credit for my OWN ideas too}.  These teacher gifts above were an idea pinned from somebody's Etsy site.  While the idea is ADORABLE, I wasn't about to spend $30 a piece on each one for a teacher gift, so I bought a box of Crayola crayons, a couple of shadow box frames from Ikea ($10 each), grabbed some super sharp scissors and a glue gun and went to town, cutting and gluing the crayons into the shape of each letter.  I LOVE how the letters each turned out and someday here, I'll make my own for our boys art corner in their toy room... I'm thinking of making the word "Imagine" or "Create" out of the crayons... any other suggestions???

* If you haven't explored Pinterest yet, DO!  A lot of haters will tell you it's a total waste of time, and while it can be be a time vortex, you don't have to let it be.  I've found dozens upon dozens of extremely useful tips that have helped me around my home; I've also found tons of creative projects to do with our boys, great recipes and for when I finally learn how to sew, there a super cute sewing patterns that are FREE to download!!!  The key to joining Pinterest and setting up your own account isn't to just pin millions of things you LOVE (although a lot of people do this- NOT ME- it's a total time waster), the idea is to pin the ideas you LOVE, that you can actually one day see yourself doing or using.  Sure I've seen dozens of pins about dream kitchens or fantasy treehomes that would be nice to have, but I'm keeping it real on Pinterest--- I'll probably NEVER have the millions upon millions of dollars I need to build either thing so therefor, I'm not going to pin it.  It's NOT worth my time.  I'm happy to report I've ALREADY done probably at least 20 or 30 of the ideas I've pinned...

Remember this wreath I made??? I found it on Pinterest. Click here for the link.

For Christmas I made my sister in law, Laura, something like this shadow box for storing her $$$ in--- this is $$$ she hopes to save and put towards a vacation or item she desires... the shadow box acts as a visual incentive to help her save.

Remember the snow that our elf, JOLT, hung from our window (click here to see it)... I found the idea here.

I made Rootbeer ice cream and pink lemonade ice cream for my family using this pin. It was simple and delicious!

I've stopped buying microwave popcorn at the store (it's so stinkin' expensive) and I've started making my own microwave popcorn for probably a fraction of the store cost.  My boys LOVE it and when all I need is a brown paper lunch bag and a few corn kernels, I'm NEVER in a bind where I don't have the materials necessary to make it.  Click here for the link.

Okay, I could probably list at least another dozen or two things I've done that I've gotten the idea for on Pinterest... like I said, I LOVE that sight!  If you haven't already, you MUST check it out, especially if you've got kids.