School finally let out last Thursday and we are quickly getting into a summer groove!
The girls are both doing t-ball this summer. Monday-Thursday evening is now totally taken up with practices and games. They both have fantastic coaches and we are really excited for the games to begin! Unfortunately Rebecca's first game last night got rained out. Just as we got in the car to head over the the ballfields, it started to rain. Showers here tend to be pretty spotty, especially with the current systems rolling through. It isn't unusual to have a down pour in one part of town and it be perfectly dry in another. When we got to the ball fields, they had just cleared the fields of the previous games and sent everyone home. Other than the rain, the weather was perfect for playing and watching a game ... Low 70s.
In addition to t-ball, Sam, Emily and Rebecca are all signed up for swimming lessons starting next week. Rebecca especially has been begging to be in lessons since last summer. So I'm hopeful these go well and are of benefit to the kids. The kids and GR swam at Grandma's pool Memorial Day and had such a good time playing in the water ... something we plan to take advantage of weekly this summer!
Our other weekly outings (we hope you'll join us!): Tuesday mornings - Library Story Hour Wednesday nights - Ice Cream and City Band Concert Thursday mornings - Library Special Program
Tonight was the first band concert of the summer and the kids were very, very excited about going. The weather was very questionable. We'd had steady showers a various time throughout the day and although the sky was fairly clear when we got to the park, by the time we left, the sky was filled with dark gray clouds. The other great thing was that GR was able to join us for tonight concert - it will probably be his only concert of the summer.
Here are pictures from the night:
Alex turned 10 months old on Sunday!! He is getting to be such a big boy - but I am planning on doing a blog post updating everyone on each child in the coming days (hopefully this won't turn into weeks)
The Summer Concerts in the park MUST start with an ice cream cone. Tonights flavor of choice - a single scoop of Birthday Bash (with sprinkles on top of course!) in a sugar cone for the children and Gold Rush for me. yummm! I still have decided what part of the concert they like most ... the ice cream cones, or getting to stay up late and not go to bed until 9:30!
The city choir was selling drinks, cookies and popcorn as a fund raiser this evening. GR gave the kids a dollar to purchase a bag of popcorn. Sam, Emily and Rebecca were very excited to learn how to dissect a piece of popcorn so Alex could enjoy the popcorn too. By the end of the night, Alex refused to be fed the popcorn, if the kids didn't let him pick up the piece from their hand, he'd turn his head away and not open his mouth. It was quite funny to watch.
This is what the night sky looked like just before we left. The orange glow is actually from a sidewalk lamp not mother nature.
So Heather has two fantastically cute burp & bib sets that need a home. She's having a little giveaway on her blog - but she's picking her winners Wednesday AM, so you'll need to comment quickly to be considered! Hurry, hurry!
This past month the kids have been playing lots of lots of games. Here are some of their absolute favorites ...
Wakamole - Sam and I found this game at a garage sale and he insisted we get it. I had no clue what I was purchasing, but I'm so glad we got it. Our entire family has fun playing it! • Hi Ho Cherry-O • Connect Four • Alphabet Bingo • Guess Who • Memory • Hungry Hippo
In a recent Southern Living they had a two page spread of "no-cook Lemonade Pies" that looked so yummy I had to share them! I turned the two page spread into a one pager so I could send copies of it to the sisters I visit teach. I'm thinking I'll start with the Creamy Lemonade Pie ... wouldn't it be perfect for Monday's dessert! (Click on the image to make it large enough to read and hopefully print!)
Back in March, my MIL showed me a super cute apron featured in Family Fun Magazine she's making using these fantastic hand towels from Target. I instantly fell in love! the colors ... the possibilities ... the usefulness ...
It took a number of weeks of chewing on the idea and an invitation Becca got to a birthday party finally pushed me over the edge and turned an idea into a physical product. I could not be happier with the way these little Arts and Craft Apron's turned out!! I finally got a couple listed in my etsy shop and I'm working on a few other designs I hope to make up in the next week or so. Plus I still owe my own kids aprons to use here (I have one down - Becca's is pictured far left, I think Emily wants pink with a turquoise flower and Sam wants orange!)!
Here's what Becca and I put together for her little friend - a craft kit filled with little odds and ends for her to glue, bend, cut, stick to her hearts content, and her very own, Arts and Craft apron.
I often wonder if Janette knows what a direct marketing monster she created in my five years as one of her understudies. I have been away from the office for nearly 5 years now and I still look at every piece of mail with a direct marketers eye.
I have gotten some interesting pieces of mail. Until now my favorite was the Applebee's mailer telling you open it to reveal savings on your next meal ... the inside was completely blank. Glad that wasn't my project!
This one, well, I've never seen anything like it. I would really like to know what the letter shop thought of this one when the job came in ... and I would love to get a hold of their response data ...
Here's the front and back of the envelope ... click to make larger.
Friday GR walked in the door, home from work 3 hours early, told the kids to get their shoes on and me to pack an overnight bag. He wouldn't say where we were going, only that he'd made reservations at a bed and breakfast and that we had a bit of a drive, so don't think too much about what to pack. So while he took the kids to his parents, I took lighting fast shower and packed.
This is not the first time he has rearranged my weekend for us take off for a surprise destination. The first trip we made was Halloween weekend 2004 to visit our friends Rob and Amy in New York City. With it being Halloween, he had lots of rearranging to do... covering all the things I had agreed to do for parties at school and church, etc. The number of people he involved to cover everything was pretty amazing - and he didn't leave anything out. It's scary and cool that he (his words not mine) "can control my life" ... meaning, cover all my responsibilities ... that he even knows all my responsibilities ... and can have them all covered behind my back, keeping the entire event a HUGE surprise without anyone spilling.
This time we stayed a little closer to home and went to an elegant Bed and Breakfast in Kansas City called the Chateau Avalon. It's up by the Speedway, so we spent the evening walking around Legends, a large outdoor shopping mall. The weather was shopping and since this was my weekend, I took the opportunity to shop! I got some fabulous pieces from Ann Taylor that I am really excited about! We had a simple surf and turf dinner at Outback and had a great time just catching up and allowing all the stresses of day to day life melt away.
A few years ago I started a tradition of having GR take my picture with the kids on or around Mother's Day and I wanted to share the results ... isn't he a fantastic?
We had four kids from school and three from church join us and I think everyone had a really good time. We read a few stories, ate dinner, did a couple Mad Libs and played a version of pin the tail on the donkey, ate cupcakes and ice cream, played an spontaneous, yet exciting, round of musical chairs, took a group picture and open presents.
A while back I learned about a little website called Leafletter that allows you to share tons of photos on your blog without taking up huge amounts of space. I thought this event might be a good one to test on this little deal. It's pretty cool! All the pictures have descriptions and you should be able to click on them to make them larger.
For months now Rebecca has been planning her birthday party ... a costume party complete with games, all her friends, cake, ice cream ... the works. We sent the above invitation to all her school and church friends ... a mere 26 kids, and so far I hope 10 will show ... I've had 6 RSVP and a few have told Rebecca at school that they are planning to attend.
Aunt Barb, Aunt Mary Ann and my two nieces are making the drive tomorrow to come for the party - thanks to their attendance, it will be a roaring success no matter what! I hope to have a picture post of the festivities up by Saturday night.
There are some experiences in raising kids that I've decided you simply can't avoid, and Easter Sunday, after nearly 7 years of diligently working against the norm, it happened.
Since the girls were small I have on occasion trimmed their hair. More so with Emily and her bangs than Becca, but they have all experienced me cutting their hair to one degree or another. When they were small, I would have Emily close her eyes so she could not see where the scissors came from or how Mommy cut her hair ... anal, neurotic, pathetic, naive, that I actually thought it would work?
The next strategy was to instill in them that there are only two people in the world allowed to cut their hair. Me and Ann. No one, absolutely no one else was to touch their hair with scissors.
Easter Sunday - do you see where this is going? - as we were sitting around my parents dinning room table, the children dressed in their PJs eating a bit of dessert before getting wisked away to bed, and I'm talking on the phone with GR, I stop mid sentence and gasp.
Me: Rebecca what happened to your hair? Did you cut your hair?
Becca: No, Sissy did. That part was just too long.
Me. speechless ... GR trying desperately to figure out what's going on, while trying to keep me calm and from orbiting the planet formily known as Pluto, and not let on that he's laughing uncontrollably 200+ miles away. Racing through my mind are all the rational questions a mother asks at a time like this and simply can't utter... where did you do this? ... when? ... what were you thinking? ... can I fix this? should I fix this? did you cut anyone else's hair? what were you thinking? I thought we were past this?
If memory serves, GR asked to talk to her before I did something rash ... they have a calm father daughter chat and Becca hands me the phone ...
GR: (in typical GR fashion) It's not that big a deal, go get the camera and take a picture, Ann can fix it when you get home ... Oh and ... you might want to go look at Emily's hair.
I still haven't gotten the girls hair "fixed." I decided to wait it out, and now a month later, it's probably time to call Ann, so she can work her magic with the girls summer haircuts.
ETA: I should explain, that what caught me speechless with this entire experience wasn't the hair, it was that at 5.5 and nearly 7, I honestly thought this was no longer an issue with my girls. So many of you have experienced the extreme ... Kelly's Princess, Topper's Big Red ... and I know this is extremely mild (one of the many reasons I haven't felt driven to have it "fixed" yet) .. yet another attempt to cheat parenthood foiled again!
Rebecca is 7 years old today. Seven. Seven. Wow. And she is growing up to be such a little lady. Everyday, I'm blown away by how grown up she is, how mature she is for being ONLY seven. And today ... this birthday, really ... was no exception.
Last week GR sat down with Becca to find out more about her birthday expectations. Of course she wants a party (something she's been planning for a mere 6 months - more on that latter), a three tiered birthday cake and here"s her wish list ...
The night before I made poppyseed muffins - her absolute favorite - for breakfast. I also made marble cupcakes, at her request, to take to school as a birthday treat to share with her classmates.
We attended a short play Rebecca and the other children in her drama class put on for their parents called The Peddler & his Hats. Today was the last day of class (she's been attending for the last 2 1/2 months) and they typically don't do a performance with this level class, but the teacher felt this class was ready to perform, and they did a fantastic job! Grandma Mum and Grandpa Bob came, and even GR was able to came home early from work so he could be there.
After the performance, we had a delightful dinner at a fantastic restaurant and then came home for cake, ice cream and presents. Rebecca had requested a three tiered cake and it took me a while to figure out how I was going to make a three tiered cake I could frost and that wouldn't serve 100 people. I ended up using a 9" round cake pan, a small 6.5" round cake pan and one jumbo muffin pan to make this three tiered wonder. Becca got the large cupcake on top as her very own little cake and loved every bit of it.
Sam picked out some great head bands for Rebecca, Emily chose a beautiful new photo album for her. She got a copy of Anne of Green Gables from Grandma, and five new Junie B. Jones books to add to her book collection. I also found a great reading pillow for her room, a smallish lightweight summer quilt for her bunkbed, and put together a large craft kit for her to use over the summer. And, no worries, the chandelier is coming, thanks to Aunt Elspeth.
Next weekend I'm hoping to get the shelves she requested up in her bedroom and do a little rearranging and some much overdue spring cleaning. I have a grand vision of turning the floor of their closet into a fun little reading hide away to encourage lots of reading this summer ... oh if only I had time to turn all my grand daydreams into realities!
Despite some extremely busy days and weeks leading up to her birthday, and one or two major kinks that threatened to ruin the entire day, as soon as we were all together, celebrating Rebecca and the sweet, loving young lady that she is, we had a perfectly, beautiful, fantastic birthday celebration!
This week Sam's school has had a really fun week ... in grammar schools I think it would be called "spirit week" or more recently, "Dr. Seuss Week" ... but each day they let the kids do something out of the box, creative and fun. Monday was hat day ... a bit boring... and well we forgot.
Wednesday was Silly Hair day, and Tuesday night just before bedtime, Sam and I did a run through. He kept saying over and over again, "I look like a girl!" (For that exact reason, I made sure not to use any pink or purple rubber bands.)
Emily came into the bathroom when we were about finished, and said "Sam doesn't look very good without hair on his face." I pretty much agree, and told GR that shaving his head for the summer was a definite "NO" after this little project.
At school the next day he got a great reaction from his teachers, classmates and their parents. Everyone thought it definitely qualified as Silly Hair. Here he is Tuesday night (lower pictures) and then Wednesday morning (top) with one of his teachers, Mrs. S. and classmate Alex - note the three ponytails.
Monday, after looking at hand towels (a tease for a future project post) I made an impulse buy ... you know a split second, zero thought involved, end of the check out isle display purchase.
The impulse, a package of Hershey bars. Okay, so there wasn't zero thought involved, but it was still impulsive. In a split second, I decided it would make a super fun Family Home Evening activity/treat and it did. We spent our dinner time talking to the kids about fasting - what it means to fast, why we fast, what fast offerings are and what they are used for, told them about when Jesus fasted for 40 days, and we also talked a little bit about testimony's.
It was a really good discussion that I think the kids learned from ... then we pulled out the nifty smore's maker GR got for Father's Day a couple years ago, along with the marshmallows, the graham crackers and the newly purchased chocolate bars, only to discover that we were out of Bunsen burners/chafing fuel. So we improvised and made them in the microwave. Not my favorite method, and not nearly as much fun as toasting marshmallows indoors over a little chafing flame, but they were still yummy and made everyones face chocolaty! yummy!
Okay, so probably only Heather - and maybe GR - will truly feel my excitement and know exactly how HUGE this is, BUT I still had to share, cause I know it will go right over my kids heads!!
.... Someone picked one of my TinyStitches items to be featured in an Etsy Treasury!!! Check it out!!
Becca got the surprise box yesterday and knew exactly what she wanted to take ... here are the clues she gave her classmates, who surprisingly didn't have a hard time guessing the right answer. How 'bout you?
Clue 1 - I have one, Mrs. M has one, my parents have one, my grandparents have one, do you have one?
Clue 2 - I take you to far away and exotic places.
One of our oldest Activity Day girls (pictured far right) got a new sewing machine for Christmas. She really wanted to learn how to use it and so I offered to teach the girls (age 8-11) to make my pillowcases (I would give you a link to the directions on Mormonchic.com, but our forums had too much traffic for the servers and consequently the entire site blew up yesterday and isn't back up yet ... , but that's for a totally different post!).
We started the project two weeks ago and last night 4 of the 7 girls who started the project, finished.
They did a fantastic job and I think they really learned a lot about how the sewing machine works and how to control the speed of the machine and their fabric in order to keep everything straight. Here are the girls with their finished cases - they were so excited to have them 100% finished!
I witnessed a modern day miracle in all of this. We started this project the evening of April 4th. The regular AD leader was out of town, but had sent the girls home a few weeks earlier with a list of the supplies they would need. One of the girls who came the first night hadn't been to an activity in a while, and didn't know we would be making pillowcases, so she didn't have any of the supplies - making both of us feel really, really dumb...
Earlier that day as I was leaving Walmart, I saw my friend Korianne and her girls in the parking lot. We said quick hello's and as we parted ways, I said, "See you tonight!"
Puzzled, Korianne turned to her girls as they walked into Walmart and asked, "Why is Sister K8 going to see us tonight?" Girls: "Tonight's Activity Days ... Korianne: "Are you making your pillow slips tonight? .... Don't you need fabric for that?
So the girls picked out fabric at Walmart. Since they didn't know exactly how much to purchase, they got 3 yards of the main fabric (pink with frogs) and 1 yard of the cuff fabric (purple with smaller frogs).
The miracle, Korianne bought exactly what you need to make three pillowcases. Once she realized she had enough to make one more pillowcase, she offered the fabric to Ashley, who was happy to make a pillowcase using that fabric. Turns out her pajama's are pink with frogs on them. Thank you Heavenly Father for watching out for little Ashley!
On our drive to and from Sam's preschool we pass at least four really good ice cream shops, and I am frequently asked on the way home if we can stop and get an ice cream cone. Such was the request the Friday before General Conference (March 30). With only 2/3 of the family in the car, and not wanting anyone to feel left out, I suggested we wait and get a cone between Saturday Sessions. And although they were disappointed we didn't get to go right then, they didn't let me forget Saturday morning, and it proved a great incentive for everyone to listen to the speakers, and be on their very best behavior!
Sam picked Ben & Jerry's and they had just put up their FREE CONE DAY POSTERS. It is happening this TUESDAY, and I would highly recommend you try and go earlier rather than later. If you live here, definitely be prepared for a wait (inside and out) if you're going after Daddy gets home from work. Last year we didn't take jackets and that was a mistake.
Here are the details from the B&J website. To find a participating B&J's near you, click here.
On Tuesday April 17th from 12pm until 8pm participating Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops around the world will be hosting Ben & Jerry’s Annual Free Cone Day.
Matthew, there isn't a B&Js listed in Lebanon, but there is one in Israel ...
So you all know my healthy, long standing obsession with fabric and paper. I can never get enough of them, and I can't resist trying new projects that use them! In the last month I've tried a few new crafts using beautiful papers and fabrics that I love, love, love.
Last month my friend Michelle hosted a "Forever Pink Party" for three friends, all pregnant with their fourth child and fourth boy. Instead of the traditional baby gifts, we were instructed to bring a girlie, gift (~$5 each) for each mom. I spent hours and hours trying to think of just the right gift. I knew lots of lotions and bubble baths and chocolate, etc. would be given, and so I wanted to give something beautiful, but different. I had lots of ideas floating around, but settled on this one:
Composition notebooks I covered with scrapbook papers -- notice the stripe and dot theme? The inside front and back covers are also covered in coordinating papers that have pockets sewn in them for keepsakes. I LOVE this project and have made three more notebooks since ... one for myself, one for a dear friend birthday and one for ... humm ... I'm not sure. I've considered selling them on etsy as journals for recording the cute things your kids do and say as they grow ... but we'll see.
The day after I got back from Nevada, a friend came by the house with a large box of fabric. Someone she knew, knew someone who died and this box of fabric scraps was from her stash, and chalk full of vintage fabric from the 50s-70s with a few more contemporary prints. Some really ugly stuff got made during that time frame, but there's also really cool prints.
This box of vintage fabric has been the source of lots of inspiration.
Our Stake Women's Conference is coming up at the end of the month - April 28th and I spent all of Thursday last week creating the posters ... I wanted to use paper dolls as the graphic and found this image -->
To save time - the thought of cutting all those pieces made me cringe - I scanned some favorite fabrics from the box, all in shades of purple and created this little number in Photoshop (if you click on the picture you should be able to see a larger version): I found directions online for making the cover button pony holders. And put a few of the smaller scraps to use making large (1.5") covered button pony holders (pictured top). I also found a tutorial for making fabric yo-yo's. I put the covered button idea and the yo-yo's together to create these cute as a button flowers for the girls hair.
I made some to coordinate with the girls Easter dresses - a pink gingham yo-yo with white button for Emily and a white yo-yo with beige button for Becca hand sewed onto hair clips - oh so cute! I'm planning on making a few more with some bright vibrant fabric scraps for the girls summer outfits.
Next, I want to figure out how to make this. I know, I know, it's a little wild, and a little funky, but oh so cute!
I found out mid week that Mary Ann and the girls were planning a two week visit to the States and would arrive in StL on Friday night. So the kids and I started to make plans for a long weekend (no school Monday!) visit to the homeland. Despite extremely cold temperatures - it was colder this weekend than it was during the Christmas holiday - we had an amazing visit with the family and I've put together some picture collages to show some of the things we did...
Daddy hard boiled two dozen eggs and the kids pulled out all their creative juices and drew designs on the eggs with colored pencils and crayons - everything from swirly lines (scribbles to the untrained eye) and thick rings, to poke-a-dots and zig-zags. The end results were magnificent and made for a yummy breakfast Monday.
For dinner, Suz requested a couple of recipes out of the latest issue of Food&Family - fish cakes and baked fries. We made tuna cakes, crab cakes and shrimp cakes - I think we all liked the crab cakes the best, although all were very yummy. Mom made the baked fries for lunch Sunday to serve with the ham and used baking potatoes and sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes turned out wonderfully! I've been looking for a good sweet potato fry recipe and this one fits the bill!
Sunday while we were at church Joe and Suz played Easter Bunny and prepared an Easter egg hunt for the kids in the backyard. We were lucky that the weather had warmed to about 48-50 degrees much warmer than the day before making an outdoor hunt possible. And the kids were very good at sitting for a few pictures after collecting their eggs.
Tuesday - The children spent lots of time helping Grandfather in the garden. He'd already taught them each how to harvest the asparagus - something we did daily while we were there.
First Rebecca helped Grandfather tie up the tomatoes that Daddy had helped him plant the weekend before. Grandfather was very impressed with how quickly Rebecca learned how to do this and said he'd never been able to do it so quickly before. By the time we left he said it was time to tie them a second time, and he wished Rebecca could have helped him again.
Then the kids helped Grandfather deadhead the daffodils. They each ran inside and got their little safety scissors so they could better cut the flowers stems.
Grandfather is growing celery for the first time in Nevada this season and wanted to try blanching a portion of a row so it would be white, instead of green. His method - in his words - was crude, but hopefully effective. He and Sam cut widths of coorugated cardboard and then created little tents - basically just digging a shallow trench on either side of the row, inserted a length of corrugated about 8" wide in the trench to shade the celery from the sun. I'm very curious to see how this experiment works.
Oh the cute thing about the cutting of the corrugated ... as you can see from the pictures, Sam had his scissors and Grandfather had his - they would start at opposite ends and play "bumper cars" as Sam called it. It was an extremely effective way to have Sam help and still get the job done quickly.
Tuesday night our friends the RJ and Rachel came up from Las Vegas to visit and brought their four beautiful children. Our kids were so excited to see them, after eating a fast dinner of BBQ chicken and veggies from the garden, they ran for a solid hour all over the garden paths. RJ got pictures of the entire crew, and promised to send me a copy of the file ... with eight little kids, there was no way they'd all wait for me to dig my camera out of the car!
Sunday - Church with Grandmother and Grandfather. The kids thought it was super cool that all we had to do was walk through the garden, along a short (20 foot) path and we were at church! The girls really enjoyed their Primary classes, and were very excited to know we'd still be around Thursday for a Primary activity!
Monday - St. George for a Costco run, Grandmother had a doctors appointment and Grandfather wanted to stop in at a small kitchen store to purchase a medium size frying pan.
We got fruit, bread and some meats at Costco. Grandfather did an amazing job of getting everything that HAD to be kept cold into the large ice box he takes with him to Costco. The ice box takes up 1/2 the trunk, but still takes some skillful packing to get everything to fit.
Grandfather wanted to get a medium size frying pan for using when company is in town. There is a small kitchen store where he purchases honey and whole oats. Grandmother, Grandfather and I went in to purchase a frying pan ... we found the perfect one, it was the right size, had a glass lid, and was fairly deep - good for stir frying, frying eggs, or searing meats. Then I looked at the price tag ... care to guess how much it cost?
$105. That's right, $105. That must be some frying pan to cost $105.
The sales clerk came over to ask if I needed any help, so I asked: "Do you have any frying pans this size that cost less than $105?"
The look on her face, should have made me turn on my heels right then and there and walk out. SHE was obviously offended I had asked such a question. It was as if I had asked in a snotty, condescending tone, "Don't you have anything better than this?"
She half showed us one or two other frying pans, one for $80, the other $95. After this sad attempt at customer service, I asked Grandfather if he wanted to spend $105 on a frying pan, because I was pretty certain I could find a similar style frying pan at another kitchen store (or even Target for that matter) for less than $105. We left the frying pan for another customer to purchase, got a bag of whole oats and left.
Rebecca didn't pack her PJs and when she didn't get exactly the reaction she wanted from me, she made sure to have a private conversation Sunday with both Great Grandfather and Grandma Mutti to make sure we could make a stop Monday to purchase new PJs for her. So after lunch at Chuck-a-Rama (It's tradition, when ever we have lunch with my grandparents in Utah, we typically have it at this buffet style restaurant.) we made a stop at Target for PJs and a $30 frying pan.
The other stop we made in St. George was at the LDS distribution center. In the last 4 years or so, I've managed to loose three sets of scriptures. And I figured since I was in Utah of all places surely I could find a set of scriptures. I found a set at a Desseret Book and opted to have my name stamped on the front cover ... 45 minutes later, I was on my way.
As a treat for the kids being SO patient for me while I waited, and waited, and waited for my scriptures, we stopped at McDonald's for ice cream cones to eat on our drive home.
This afternoon, after eating lunch and playing with Cheerios and cars in his highchair, I picked up Alex and discovered a red blotch on his forehead. At first I thought he'd gotten bonked by something ... making for a concerned and not so happy mama ...
My first inquiry of Emmy and Sam got me no where, so I gave them a little time to remember what happened on their beds. Sam came down to tell me one of his cars might have bonked Alex on the head, and that he was sorry. I took that as a reasonable explanation, (although I hadn't seen the bonk happen nor had Alex made any - that hurt - sounds), until another little blotch appeared above his eyebrow... I started to watch it intently ... I played back everything we'd done, place we'd gone, things we'd touched, eaten, sprayed, washed, that day, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing new ... and so, I started to take pictures of the blotches, just in case I needed a second opinion on whether or not this was serious.
By 3 pm Alex finally drifted off to sleep for his afternoon nap, and when I laid him down, I found more blotches, bigger blotches!
I changed the lens on the camera, took more pictures, and called GR for that much needed, calm down he's probably fine, and yes call the doctor just to make sure. I pilled everyone in the car, snapped one last picture of Alex, put the camera in the car, and called the Dr. in route - amazingly they had a 4:15 appointment. Alex cooed and played the entire drive, and wouldn't you know that by the time we got there (3:55) all the blotches were gone. Every single one of them, gone!!
But I had the pictures, with time stamps of when they were taken.
I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to take a pictures of my child and email it to my Ped, and say, Is this serious? do I really need to come in? is it worth the 45 minutes there and back for you to look at my child? I know this isn't practical, but ...
To my surprise, the Dr was glad I had pictures to show him! Looked at them, studied them and felt very confident to assert Alex had hives. He's also pretty sure Alex's body is reacting to a mild cold he has - odd I know, but Dr. says it happens. I also learned that since his hives were isolated to his face and neck, not all over his body it probably wasn't something he ate. So we're watching him, and when he has another outbreak (which he did after we got home from getting some dinner) we're giving him a bit of benadryl, and monitoring his breathing so we can jump into action if things change.
So I'll be taking more pictures of my kids weird bumps, and taking the camera with me to Dr appointments ... just in case.
Spring Break, Friday, 16 March - Sunday, 25 March 2007
My Grandparents turn 90 this year. In January, my dad and his siblings had a 90th birthday party for both of them and all my Aunts and Uncles were there and a few of the grandchildren where also in attendance for this celebration. I debated long and hard about whether or not to take the children for a short weekend for this celebration, and finally decided we'd wait when we could visit them for a longer period of time and really allow my children a chance to know and experience their great-grandparents. I decided that spring break made the most sense, and so we put it on the calendar, gave ourselves a budget and started to prepare for this trip.
Southwest has amazing ticket prices from KCI to Las Vegas ... but when it's spring break, that isn't the case. When flying was out of the budget, I decided driving would be the most economical way to get from Kansas to Nevada ... 1800 miles.
We left home Friday morning a little after 7am (CST) and pulled in to my grandparents driveway around 10:30pm (PST). I learned a few things along the way:
A $3 ice bucket makes a great "puke bucket" and will now accompany us on every major road trip.
Samuel's car seat washes up quite nicely.
I-70 through southwestern Utah just might be worse than western Kansas - there isn't anything for 100 miles!
Don't buy gas in Beaver, UT it's atleast $.40/gallon more than the towns before and after it on I-15. Instead, stop and have a cone at the Creamery - you get a huge, cone for less than $2 - yummy!
The Junction City Doubletree has the most comfortable bed I think I've ever slept in other than my own.
I now know how to drive down a mountain, very slowly, in a spring snow storm.
When it's late at night and you have four sleeping babies, staying in a hotel on the ground level where the room door opens to the outside and you can park your minivan right in front of the room, is so nice! Under other circumstances, I might have moved on, but this was exactly what we needed, and they served a full hot breakfast.
CO and KS are incredibly long states.
I much prefer making this trip in two days instead of three. We went in two days and took three days to come home ... three days in the car was more than any of us wanted to endure, so next time we'll push a little harder, and do it two.
Ice can last in a styrofoam cooler for three days.
We had a fantastic trip and I'll be posting at least one more round of pictures of all the things the children helped with in Grandfather's garden. But here are a few pictures from the trip:
In an effort to learn more about ETSY and promote my shop, I've spent way too much time on their website, and wanted to share some of the cutest things I've seen!
Friends, Peter and Michelle invited us over to their home to decorate heart cookies for Valentine's Day. It made for a really fun FHE. It was cute watching each of the children decorate their cookies, as you can imagine, each one had a slightly different approach. We had a great time and the cookies were oh so yummy!
Last night was the school's annual Cuddle Up and Read night, and our family has come to really enjoy this tradition. The kids get dressed up in their PJs ... we take blankets and pillows and cuddle up on the library floor and read any and every book we can get our hands on, while munching on homemade cookies.
Here are the books we read: Milo's Hat Trick, by Jon Agee Clifford's First Autumn, by Norman Birdwell Baby Bear's Books, by Jane Yolen Double Trouble in Walla Walla, by A. Clements Do You Want to Be my Firend?, by Eric Carle Arthur's Chicken Pox, by M. Brown Beach is to Fun, by P Brisson Armadillo Rodeo, by Jan Brett
All of you up to your eyeballs in Primary, and/or who's children love Follow the Prophet as much as ours do, I thought might find this little project of my sisters interesting, I know I did:
Two years ago I purchase a pair of heels ... a pair of real heels, not "I"m the mother of young children" heels, but stilettos, real heels, something I hadn't owned in years. They are my Alyson-Shannon shoes and I love them.
One of the first couple times I wore them to church, a friend who, hadn't known me long, complemented me on the shoes and then said with a smile & slight chuckle in her voice ... "Kathleen, I didn't know you had it in you."
Ahh yes, underneath my sad tired wardrobe that hasn't changed in years, and the six year old shoes I'm STILL wearing day in and out, there is a little fashionista who, if she had the time and money, would show herself.
So in an effort to invite a little bit of style back into my wardrobe, I purchased these two pieces - note they aren't from any grand mecca of fashion, and Miranda Priestly would no doubt purse her lips at this, but I'm hoping my younger much more fashionable sisters will approve none-the-less:
The shoes - Target - $22.99. Black open-toed, sling-backs with bows ... paid full price, something I don't think I've ever done for myself ...
The skirt - Wal-mart - $16.97. Black-n-white print, black ribbon waistband, and wide black trimmed hem.
def.:a disposition to tolerate or accept people or situations
This was January's character word and earlier in the week Mrs. C told me Emily would be given the star character award in Friday's all school assembly. I wanted this to be a surprise for her, so I didn't tell her why we were going to attend the assembly - we just went. I asked GR if he might possibly be able to get off work early, so he could attend as well, and he was able to pull it off!
We got there just as students were starting to gather in the gym, and took a spot on the floor along the outer edge of the gym and waited. While we waited, Emily turned to me and said in a really excited tone, "I hope Becca get's another award!" - ahhhhh! Could she be any sweeter!? - if she only knew I thought!
Her face totally lit up when Mr. F called her name ... this time around they started with the 6th graders and worked their way down the line, so we'd listened to a lot of names ... and it never stopped beaming.
This is what her teacher said about why Emily was awarded the Acceptance Award:
"She is kind and caring to all her classmates and often tries to get others to accept people as they are."
Wednesday 28 February 2007
At PT conferences last week Mrs. C was so complementary of Emily. Her progress reports blow me away, not to mention her ability to read and spell! She is a real example for other children in her class - and there are some kids who are really, really struggling to get some of the basic concepts this year.
Mrs. C was asking me about how Emmy liked class and if she seemed comfortable with the kids she sits around. Em sits next to a little girl who's had a pretty rough life for a five/six year old. Lately she's been obsessed with everyone at her table and in the classroom knowing that her father is in jail - for a solid week that is all she would talk about constantly! It was driving Mrs. C, and all the kids, crazy!
Anyway, Mrs. C was worried Emily might be concerned about another students father being in jail ... she hadn't mentioned it in any of our many conversations about school and her classmates. This week I've been asking more probing questions in an effort to get her to open up and tell me more. Still no mention of this little girls dad or her concerns about it. When she talks about T, the impression I get, is that Emily puts absolutely no stock in what this child says. Emily likes her, considers her a friend, accepts her, but seems to instinctively know it's not worth her time to internalize anything she says ... so wise!
*Warning ... this is so much more than you will ever want to know about this topic... but for the sake of family record keeping, I'm telling it. I promise more interesting things about the kids will follow after I get Sam to preschool.*
Wednesday & Thursday, February 21-22
Six weeks or so ago the girls school sent home a flier about at PTA fund raiser that would be held during parent teacher conferences, called a Shoppers Fair. Home based businesses could rent a table for $25 and sell their products. It took GR and I a long time to decide whether or not we could pull this off - but we did and all in all we were pretty successful.
Truthfully, we were both confident and ready to promote his photography. His pictures are excellent, and his prices - affordable, and he gave out 25+ price sheets - and given the traffic at the shoppers fair, that's pretty amazing!
For at least the last three years I've wanted to sell my baby blanket bundles - my standard baby gift that I've been giving new babies for the last nine years. I wish I could say how many babies have gotten my blankets, but I've honestly lost count, the number of blankets I've made must be to 100 by now. (Kristy, I still need to send you directions on how I do these, I haven't forgotten!)
The baby boom is slowing (I only have six friends this year who are pregnant, instead of the 10+) while my stash of blanket fabric isn't getting smaller. I needed to clean house and let others enjoy these cute blankets.
So many things have kept me from doing it ... one of the main ones was finding an avenue to sell them. I wanted a way to sell them online - craft fairs/booths I've never felt would be worth my time - and having watched similar blankets on ebay I knew that wasn't the avenue for me.
This past summer my friend Heather started a shop on a website called ETSY.com - heatherhalesDESIGNS - selling super chic clothes and accessories for babies and toddlers along with unique housewares and other one-of-a-kind designs. And over the last 8 months, she's really well promoting and moving her inventory. Ever since Heather set up shop, I've known that if I ever decided to sell my blankets (and at the time I NEVER thought I would take this step) this was a perfect place to set up shop.
I started preparing to sell my stuff back in January, I knew that if I was going to do this I would do it all the way or not at all. That's just the kind of gal I am. I can't do a sloppy job of something like this to save my life. All the details had to be put together or I wasn't going to put myself out there. I needed a real name (Barb suggested, Tiny Stitches), a logo (created it in Publisher of all places), product tags, shopping bags (packaging), a functioning way to sell online (etsy.com) AND I needed inventory.
Given the demographics at the school, I decided to broaden my focus from just baby blankets to things older kids would also enjoy. So I went with three baby girl blanket bundles, two boy blanket bundles, two nuzzies, and an assortment of themed standard size pillowcases. I sold three pillowcases, one nuzzie, and two baby girl blanket bundles. And I'm hoping to sell an additional 2-3 bundles to women who requested specific bundles. We'll see, my shop has been live with true products since Wednesday night and people are taking a look which is fun to see. I'm hoping with some additional promotion on Mormonchic.com I can start moving my inventory.
Ding, Ding, Ding! Thanks to the internet's ability to let you cheat and google your hypothesis, many of you "guessed" correctly. Extra points to those who simply thought it through and gave an educated guess with out the guidance of modern technology.
Needless to say we all thought this was pretty cool! And none of us came even close to guessing what happened in the microwave. Sam wanted to do it again and again, and if I'd remembered that I had Ivory soap in our food storage, we probably would have done it again and again. Instant cheap fun.
It was interesting to try and get Sam to describe what happened to the soap ... he didn't have the vocabulary (?) to describe it's dry, fluffy texture.
No matter, 'cause it was still really, really cool!
At the beginning of the month Sam got to bring home the Adventure Bag from Preschool. Inside was a fun book, a little friend to go everywhere Sam went, AND a small cube of Ivory soap. The soap came with instructions to place it on a paper plate and microwave it for 1 minute on high and see what happens. Any guesses before I post the results?
Today Emily turned 5-1/2. Ever since Sam's half-birthday she has been paitiently waiting her for her turn to take birthday treats to school. She requested mini-cupcakes (because with mini-cupcakes everyone gets 2!) with pink icing and sprinkles. I made the cupcakes late last night and then got up early this morning to frost and sprinkle them. Once again I got to you use my favorite cake decorating tool - and the cupcakes turned out perfectly! Emmy was really pleased with them, and I even had extras to freeze for later!
Observations from cleaning the church building: * It takes two women three hours to clean half a church building. Double the women, and I'm told it can take only 45 minutes. * Wear layers, it's hot work. * The youth eat a lot of candy ... a lot of candy ... and they all do the same thing with their wrappers ... wad them up in to very, very small balls and forget to put them in the trash can. * "Polish all wood surfaces" ... Have you ever noticed how much wood is in a church building? Lots, and lots and lots.
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Last Thursday the Desktop decided to start working after having not worked for a full week (it simply refused to turn on). Over the weekend GR backed up all essential files and rebuilt the desktop for me. I have now added the following items to my list of essential files for the next time this happens:
My Outlook Address book
All downloaded Fonts not native to Windows
My bookmarked "favorites" (family please email me your blog addresses, again)
All passwords and user names for websites I use frequently (blogger, lds.org) and infrequently (yahoo)
********************* Alex had his 6 month check up Monday. He continues to be perfect in every form. He's been eating solids for the last two months and LOVEs every bite! He eats huge portions, and uses every bit of it! He's now in the 25% for weight ... weighing in at just over 16 pounds. He's built just like Sam ... long and skinny. We finally purchased him an excersaucer and GR's on the search for a Johnny Jump-Up. Sam loved the one we borrowed for him and I'm sure Alex would too.
************************* When the batteries in your thermostat die and need to be replaced, the heat shuts off - duh. When I discovered this on Tuesday, I couldn't for the life of me get the cover off to access the battaries. By the time GR got home, it was 63 in the house.
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Wednesday we got a couple inches of snow - the entire town looked like it had been coated in powdered sugar. This afternoon Emily spent a good hour out side shoveling our driveway and most of our neighbors driveway. She specifically worked on GR's side of the driveway ... I'm not sure he knows this, and I need to make sure he does, So he can call her tomorrow from work and tell her what an amazing kid she is and how nice it was to have a clean driveway.
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Until this morning I thought Sam was back to 100%. A week ago, out of no where, he came down with a fever, weird body aches (his eyes hurt, his knee or legs hurt - all at different times), occasional cough and slightly runny nose, additionally he hasn't had any real appetite for food and has missed dinner more than once because he's fallen asleep early on the couch or big blue chair. Monday I kept him home from preschool and he did well in the morning, but by afternoon his fever seemed to be back. Tuesday AM he was doing really well, and spent a quiet afternoon with Grandma. Wednesday he went to preschool, and last night I thought he slept well ... he even slept in. But he spent the morning screaming ... every little thing set him off... so at noon I put him in my bed for a nap ... 2.25 hours later, I had to wake him up so we could pick Becca up from school. We'll see how tomorrow morning goes ... for his little bodies sake I hope he's kicked this.
********************** A number of weeks ago a girl from Emily's Sunday School class sent her a chain letter for a sticker club. The idea being that you send a package of stickers to the address listed in spot number 1, move your friend to spot number 1 and put your name in spot number 2 ... and then send letters to six of your friends ... they do the same thing and in 2 weeks your child gets 36 letters in the mail with stickers. I still don't know why I got so excited about this particular "project" ... but I did. I thought it was such a cute idea and so do able - stickers are cheap, they are easily accessible (grocery store, wal-mart/target - we're there multiple times a week) and who doesn't know six other kids who'd love to get stickers and mail.... I'm gratefully Emily has forgotten about this little project ... I'm grateful I can't remember who Emily chose to mail her letters too ... tomorrow, I'm mailing her Sunday School little friends an envelope of stickers.
*********************** One of the gals on the Mormonchic.com forums is losing her job due at the end of the month because her boss is an alcoholic ... his drinking has led to the slow demise of the company. She posted this quote and I thought I'd pass it along as food for thought.:
“Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended. … Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other.” (“The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword,” Ensign, May 1992, 18–19).
We had two weekends in a row of snow. Our first weekend of "snow" left us with nearly 2 inches of sleety ice. It started Friday evening (1/12) and ended Sunday night (1/14). Monday the kids didn't have school for MLK Jr. Birthday and begged to play outside, but the temps didn't even got into the 20s, so we stayed inside. Tuesday wasn't much better. Wednesday (1/17) it got to the upper 20s so I decided to try and shovel a pathway from the driveway to the front door - 15 feet or so. The snow shovel didn't even make a dent in the ice, so I spent a good hour using the garden rake to chisel a path just wide enough to get to the door.
The next day, it warmed up again, and this time Emily offered to shovel snow for me. For those who haven't seen my driveway, it's pretty long ... you can easily park 8 cars - 2 across and 4 deep - on it and since our house faces north, the sun doesn't get much of a chance to work it's magic. But Emily was excited about shoveling; she worked really hard and did a fantastic job. Between the two of us, we got 1/3 of the driveway cleared. Friday after school, we worked on it again and got another 1/3 cleared. I had really wanted to get it all done, because I'd heard something on the news about more snow coming over the weekend. And I really didn' t want to deal with snow on top of a thick layer of ice.
***** Monday (1/22) after school the children played out in the snow and did a little sledding on the kid sized sledding hill we have next to our house. Sam took some kind of a spill and came in screaming hysterically. From what we've been able to piece together from his account and Becca's, He came down the hill at an odd angle and ended up going under the trampoline and we think, he hit one of the tramp legs.
The result was a bump on his right forehead the size of a large marshmallow - black, purple and yellow with a small red line running down the center of it. I have never seen a true goose egg protruding from a child's forehead. We watched him pretty closely for the rest of the day and by morning the swelling was gone, but the discoloration went all the way down into his eyebrow.
Every day Sam has been going into the bathroom to check on his goose egg to see if it's healing. At dinner Thursday night, after having checked it earlier in the day, he told Becca, "Becca, it's healing, now my goose egg is smaller!" Without missing a beat, Becca replied, "Now it's a chicken egg!"
***** Saturday afternoon (1/20) I mentioned it started to snow ... by Sunday morning we had 4-5 inches of perfect snowman building powder. It was beautiful and wet and sticky. We didn't get out on Sunday to make a snowman - huge disappointment! - Monday the snow was more like ice so the kids couldn't make a snowman then, but Tuesday it softened up, and Becca made this beauty after school all by herself (Emmy and Sam were at Grandma's for the afternoon). I was so proud of her ingenuity and determination to make this snowman.
Years ago my SIL gave us a snowman kit - complete with eyes, mouth, carrot, pipe, buttons, and hat. This is the first year we've had snowman building snow and it was so nice to pull out this kit and use it. It was such a great addition to Rebecca's already perfect snowman.
So one of the gals I serve with in the Stake RS Presidency is best friends with Sheri Dew's (CEO of Deseret Book) sister Cindy and got me signed up to help out with this years KC Time Out For Women - a huge Women's Conference for LDS Women.
The public seminar woman in me simply can't pass up events like this. When I first attended in StL a few years ago, I walked in to this huge room and couldn't help but start calculating ... women, seats, back of the room sales, I calculated it all ... if Janette only knew that four years later I still can't shake the seminar marketer in me!
Last week they sent me a huge stack of brochures that I'm suppose to distribute ... and since I have to avoid official church channels ... let me know of women you think might like to have a brochure, I have a stack everywhere I go. Also, scholarships are available to those who can't afford the full ticket price.
Cost: Group discount for groups of five women if you register by February 10th. The difference ... You save $10 per person off the preregistration cost of $52. (box lunch costs an additional $15)
Friday (6:30-9pm) - Saturday (9am - 3:30pm)
Event Host & Musical Guest - Hilary Weeks
Anyway, I haven't registered yet, so if you'd like to go in with me so we can save together, let me know.
Saturday, 20 January 2006 One of Emily's classmates invited her to his bowling birthday party this afternoon and I got to take her. The bowling alley is clear across town, the party was only for 90 minutes (just enough time to bowl, eat cake and open presents), and with the snow that had started to steadily fall, I decided going home during the party was a waist of time.
I'm so glad I stayed to watch. Emily had a great time and with a little coaching along the way, she did fantastically! she got a strike her first frame! A few frames later she got a second strike followed by a spare! Needless to say I bursting with pride and very disappointed I didn't have my camera with me.
Her team didn't get to finish all 10 frames - they only bowled 7 - but with only 7 frames, her score was a 79 and her team was well on their way to beating the other two teams from the party. With her two strikes and the spare, had she finished all 10 frames, she'd have had the highest score.
I'm not a big bowler ... I went a few times in high school and I must admit the thought of taking young kids to that kind environment NEVER crossed my mind. Plus, I couldn't see how a 6, 5 & 3 year olds could bowl and enjoy it. We'll I've now learned that today's bowling alleys aren't quite as gross as the ones I was in 15 years ago (the no smoking ban makes a huge difference!!) and that little kids can bowl and enjoy it. There were a few other Mom's with younger kids who were bowling. I guess it's all a matter of finding the right weight ball ... and gutter guards!
Emily got a coupon to go back and I'm thinking that will make a fantastic FHE activity or Saturday afternoon family outing - we never get enough of those!
