Budget-Friendly Valentine's Day Card for Kids

Disclaimer: I received the printable featured in this post for free in exchange for my promoting on Instagram. Because I thought you would love it so much, I decided to promote it here, too! Also, there is an affiliate link within this post. This simply means I get a small commission on anything you purchase. Thank you for supporting jonahbonah. 

Valentine's Day cards for the kid's classmates have been on the store's shelves for weeks already. Every year I see them, and every year I know I want to do something more. I want something my kids will LOVE to give their friends!

While at the Dollar Tree the other day I came across 3-packs of toy cars. PERFECT! {I would've bought the more expensive cars, if I had to. But, since this was an option, I was all about cutting my cost by a third!}

I was going to just have Jett give toy cars to the boys and the girls, but then I found something super cute for the girls. So, both McKinley and Jett will pass these cute car valentines out to the BOYS in their class. Check back later this week for the GIRL Valentines that the kids will be giving!

Visit theprettypaperie.etsy.com to find this and other super cute Valentine's Day printables. Use the code IHEARTFREE to take advantage of an amazing BOGO offer that Natalie has going on right now!

Want to save even more money? Here's a 50-count of cars for less than 30 cents a car!

The Waters May Be Muddy...

The thing I love most about Instagram is all of the pretty pictures that I can scroll through each day. Sadly, those pretty pictures sometimes are only a piece of someone's story, where they are in life. We aren't seeing their season of struggle. Their walk through muddy waters is not evident. | Is there someone in your tribe who you're missing today? Reach out and tell them. Pray for them. This online space, while HUGE, can be small and intimate if you love on and engage with the people within it. | Hugs to you today. Yes, YOU! You're not alone in whatever you're battling today.

I posted this on Instagram a couple of weeks ago and had a great response, I thought I'd share it with you today, too! Have a super great Tuesday. If you'd like for me to pray for you in any way, leave a comment. Or, reach out to me on my Twitter or Instagram feeds, I'm @jonahbonah. We're in this together, friends.

Why I runDisney {2014 #DisneySMMoms Fun Run}

Five years ago if you had asked me if I was a runner I would've laughed at you. Maybe not in your face, but I'd have laughed at you! Running was just not my thing. I would see girls running and WANT to run...but, just didn't.



Before we left Ft Campbell two years ago I started running. Well, I walked first and walking turned into running. Can you believe it? I LOVE to run. I put on my running shoes, grab my iPhone and earbuds and hit the pavement. It's {dare I say it?} relaxing. There's no whining kids. No fighting siblings. No yelling about who "that" belongs to. It's about the only time I get "me time". I should definitely run more often.

On the last morning of Disney Social Media Moms there was an organized Fun Run hosted by the good people at runDisney. I've seen plenty of pictures of runners in Disney races. They all look like they are having so much fun. So, I knew I wanted to participate in this run! And, well, it was only two miles. I can run/walk two miles, for sure!


This was taken at, oh, 5am. If you're gonna run in a race, you're gonna get up EARLY!
{photo credit - Josh Hallett}

Best part? The absolute best part? The run course took us through Downtown Disney, through Disneyland and Sleeping Beauty's Castle, through California Adventure and the Finish Line was in Cars Land. I ran with my good friend Susan and my new friend Gina. {We stopped a LOT along the way to take selfies! We weren't running to finish first. We were running for the experience!}




Lightning McQueen was waiting for us at the Finish Line. So cool!


Best part about NOT finishing in the first group? There's a BIG crowd cheering you on as you cross!


As we crossed the Finish Line.


See me? I'm to the right of Lightning McQueen.

So, why do I run Disney? I run to be a better me. I have weight to lose and a body to get back in shape after having five kids. I run because it's my "me time". And, now I run because I want one of those shiny medals they give you at the end of a race!

Now you want to run a runDisney race, don't you? I do! This Fun Run made me want to run a marathon with the runDisney crew!

There's still space to sign up for the 2015 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. But, hurry!

The 2015 Princess Half Marathon Weekend hasn't opened up for registration yet. When it does, I'm registering! Will you be there? Let's do it together!

{all photos, with the exception of my selfie collage, were taken by the talented @hyku.}

when large families unite.

We had house guests a couple of weeks ago. Lots of house guests.

When my best friend, Tera, said her family would be going to Disney World in August and would then like to stop by our house for a few days on their way back home, I was SO excited! I just saw her in June when I went to Disney On The Road in Maryland but, that was such a short trip. It wasn't nearly enough time to catch up and visit.

They pulled up to our house in their RV, aka "House on Wheels" and piled out...all seven of them. Good thing we all like each other because we were packed like sardines in our house. {Eight of the nine kids slept in one bedroom. We have an enormous bunk bed situation that Hubs and his dad built in our boys' room so they all slept comfortably and not on top of one another.}


We're both pregnant again at the same time. She's 25 weeks and I'm 38 weeks in this picture.  We've been pregnant at the same time with all of our babies except for one, her youngest. But, cool thing about Conor is he was born on MY birthday! Tell me this friendship isn't a God send.


See this cutie, best boy ever! 

While they were here;

• Tera and I stayed up late chatting, like girls do.
• We went to church and they were able to see old friends.
• Her family treated my kids and I {Hubs had to work} to lunch at Rena's Pizza after church. You would think nine kids and three adults would be a nightmare in a restaurant...it went great! The kids were all so well behaved.
• After lunch they {again} treated us to a movie, Disney's Planes. {excellent movie!}

• Tera went to a doctors appointment with me. Afterwards, we went for lunch at Chili's. We had such a great time {sans kids}...we laughed harder in those couple of hours than we did all week!
• Our kids played hard. The oldest kids knew each other when they were little. So they just picked right up where they left off. The little ones didn't know each other before this visit. It was like they had been best friends all along.
• Hubs took a day off and he made his world famous ribs on the grill. Tera's husband made his Man Beans. 
• I went to the hospital in false labor. Y'all, it seriously stinks to feel like "this is it" only to have your hopes and dreams crushed by a nurse who says, "Sorry, Sweetie. It must've been the storm. We've had two other girls come in with false labor symptoms."  Really? I was a little embarrassed that I thought it was real...and that I delayed my friends from getting on the road in the time frame they wanted. {they were going to leave the morning I went to the hospital but, of course, stayed in case I was truly having the baby.}

W family, thank you so much for coming to visit us and for all you did while you were here. You are amazing friends! 

in real life.

how many friends live inside of your computer?

i would guess bunches!

the other day i got to meet one of my long time internet friends in real life.
for reals.

ashley and i have known each other for eight years.
she was my customer first. and then we were on the same mommy online board. and then i was a customer of hers. and then we are both on instagram. we even lived not too far away from each other while we were in fort campbell. we both lived in florida at the same time.
like, seriously, how we never met each other face to face before now is so strange!

it was so good to finally meet you, ashley!
let's not wait another eight years before we have lunch again.

super fun snail mail.

i love getting mail. well, i love getting happy mail.

you know who loves getting happy mail even more than i do???
kids.
my kids, my nieces and nephews, my cousins kids, and just about any kiddo i know.

last week i went into walmart and bought a couple boxes of theatre candy.
they were $1.00 each.

then, i addressed them just the way they were. i didn't wrap them or put them in a new box or anything. i addressed them just the way they came.

next, i took them to the post office to be stamped. they were only about $1.50 each to ship.

the best part? hearing that it was a HIT from their mom!

kelsey and koen, my cousin's kiddos LOVED getting their very own happy mail!!!

this is definitely something i will be doing again and again!


who can you send happy mail to?
do it today!

if only for a season.

a few times over the last couple of weeks i've missed my friends in fort campbell.
like, missed them bad.
like, totally miss the daily connections we all shared.

we all had iphones so we had a big group text set up.
we would tell each other good morning {sometimes WAY too early}, we would send out requests to borrow team jerseys during spirit week, we would ask if the kids are riding bikes or walking today, "is today the deadline for fundraiser money?"...

that group text was also handy for dinner time when you head to the pantry for a can of chicken broth only to realize you were out.
send out a text and someone would almost always respond that they had a can you could have.
"send a kid" is what we would say. {you would then send a kid to get the can of said chicken broth}

those friends were there for early evening sitting-in-the-driveway-while-the-kids-play days, "who's coming to my thirty-one party?" parties, halloween chili and trick-or-treating nights, and SO MUCH MORE!!!

we did secret santa at christmastime and we "boo'ed" each other at halloween.

{between us we had more than 25 kids.
of the 25 more than half were at the ages to play well together...
and play well they did!
our kiddos were as close as all of us moms were.}

don't even get me started on what a supportive bunch they were during deployment.
when hubs was deployed for one year during our time in fort campbell those girls were my rock!
there were meals shared, shoulders to cry on, countless sleepovers for the kids, and late nights around the fire pit.

i miss those girls so SO much.
i long for a group of friends that special again.

oh, they're all still there for me.
i'm still on that group text.
now, i get a kick out of them asking if anyone has a cup of milk and me responding "me!"
{i live much too far away for them to have my cup of milk. LOL}
when they ask who's coming to the next thirty-one party i respond "i can't this time."

when i'm feeling sad, like today, i let them know.

jamie, christy, hollie, laura, sandy, jen, and gina, i miss you girls terribly.
you all are more than friends...you're family.
thank you for being so great for the short time we were together!

one day soon we will make it back up there to visit. pinky promise.
if you're ever in florida you better stop in and say hello!



linking up at {in}courage where we're discussing community for the next five weeks.

a day at the lake.

the Lord has blessed hubs and i with some really great frineds.

when we left jacksonville three years ago we left a lot of them behind.
and with us needing to pick up and begin a new life so came with it the need to make new friends.

that's not saying we forgot about our old friends...we just made new ones in fort campbell.

thankfully, when we came home to jacksonville it was like we never left.
our old friends were there for us like they were three years ago.

that's what good friends do.
they never forgot you.

enter joe and natalie.
we love this couple and their four children.

nathan and jonah picked their friendship back up like we had never even left.
kids are resilient like that.

although there's a couple year age difference between jake and their oldest son, austin, they became fast friends when we got back too.

and since we've been gone joe and natalie have become foster parents to a sweet little boy.

we love this family!



they invited us to go the lake with them last week.
and i'm so glad we went.





to be honest, i wasn't sure i wanted to take all of my kids out to a lake and have to fight with them to keep a life jacket on in the boat, put sunscreen on {that's a whole 'nother post}, worry about one running away from me...it's a lot of work taking four kids anywhere near a large body of water.



surprisingly, it was one of the most amazing days we've spent as a family in a long while.



we jumped off of the dock, played football in the water, went tubing behind the boat, ate a picnic lunch, sat on the shore and "caught-up" with our toes in the sand, knee-boarded, water skiied, and had an all around amazing time!!!







there was even a little bit that the adults were able to go out on the boat alone and play!!
{praise the Lord for older kiddos that can watch the younger ones!!!}

by this time though...my arms felt like spaghetti and i had a headache that wouldn't stop from my tubing adventure earlier in the day.

natalie, joe, and hubs tooks turns skiing and knee boarding.
FUN TIMES!!!








{cute tushie!}











psa::when going to the lake for the day brings LOTS of sunscreen!
and reapply often.

six out of six members of my family came home with a sunburn that was painful for days....

so, wear your sunscreen.


thank you, joe and natalie, for a day that my family is sure to remember for years to come!!!

in the archives.

i found a picture of jonah and one of his buds in my old files.
i had long forgotten about these photos.
this was taken at his 6th birthday party.


{i think i'm gonna start posting an oldie every now and again and call the post 'in the archives.' }

******************************
how's your saturday shaping up??

last day of school.

{jonah, mikey, and jake austin}

field day.

for the next two days i will be completely caught up in sponge relays, tire bridges, and tug-of-wars.
aka, field day.

being surrounded by nearly 600 screaming kiddos is gonna be my kinda fun until friday afternoon.

so, aside from a few pic updates, i'm off to cheer for the 1st and the 3rd graders!!

tootles!

***************************************
here's a few pictures from jonah's field day activities.

soccer ball relay.


50 yard dash.


jonah is having so much fun at field day!


tug-o-war.
jonah pulled his heart out...but, the other team won.
boo!

silhouette art.

yesterday morning started out as it always does.
i hopped outta, ok, i dragged my feet getting outta bed.
i gently yelled at the boys to hurry up and get outta bed or you're gonna be late for school and if you miss that bus you're in big trouble.

once they got on the bus i was able to do what i always do next.
check my email real quick, see what new instagram photos are in my feed, and see if meg has updated her blog.

she rarely let's me down.
everyday there's a new post with bright, colorful, lovely goodness waiting for me to drool over.

she does lots of fun crafts too.
and i love to, in turn, do those crafts with my kiddos.
{judging by her comments on her blog i'm not the only one who copies her crafts. ms meg has quite the following.}

today i knew i had to do her latest craft with my kiddos.
i only had my littlest and one of thier friends.
i'll make it with my big boys later.

i traced thier silhouettes on paper by following meg's directions first.
then i let the kiddos watercolor.
the original idea was for them to cut out thier favorite things from magazines.
they wanted to paint.
who am i to say no to thier creative input?!?!
painting it was.






i added a little something to mckinley's picture...she was intent on the one spot on her paper.
it was killin' me that there wasn't color anywhere else.

their finished projects.

mckinley


jett


our friend, avry

i really love the way they turned out.
now to find a place to hang them...