Teeth

So since this is a blog about the stuff my family and I make, here is some stuff Jarrett has made:

He's making the transition to "waxing" teeth at work, instead of pressing/investing.  It's a long weird process to try and explain.  Google "Dental Technician" if you want to know more.  I'm sure someone has already written a much better explanation than I could.
This is what I did before I had kids as well.  "Waxing."
They look super good and I'm super proud!

Baby Shower gift

Made this a few months ago for my visiting teaching companion who was having a baby.

Used fabric paint on the onsie and just free-handed it; the painting was done with Watercolor.

Duffle Bags

Made some little duffle bags for the kids.

Someone asked me if I could make one for their kid, and I made these 2 for practice before sewing the one I was giving away.

They were really pretty easy.

I used this tutorial HERE.

Reflections Contest Winner

 About 3 weeks after Lilly turned in her reflections submission (HERE) She came home from school with a generic invitation to come to the school Thursday night at 7 for an awards ceremony.

The year she won, they called us and told us she had done so.  So I assumed she hadn't won anything.

We arrived at the school and went to look at the display of pictures and drawings.

Lilly's wasn't there.

She was starting to a get a little worried and they were about to start, so we had no time to ask why her picture wasn't there.

Once we sat down I noticed her picture up by the table, sticking out of a rubbermaid container.

They announced her name first as not only first place in her age category, but first place overall in show!!!

Her best friend Kodie who also entered (and helped push Lilly to enter I might add) didn't submit any paperwork and consequently didn't win a place.

She was a little let down but was a good friend and congratulated Lilly many times.

I took this photo of them both and somehow cut out Kodie's ribbon.

Lilly's picture moves on to the District level.

We were told that they might not accept her painting the way it's matted. (The real way I might add)

They said they would double check, but the PTA lady said she thought the picture had to be glued to a piece of matte board.  

What????

So you want us to ruin it, is what you are saying.

First of all it isn't a piece of paper, it's nice Watercolor paper and unless we use superglue or rubber cement , it isn't going to stay glued to a piece of matte board, which will buckle when it get as wet as it will need to be to have a piece of watercolor paper glued to it.

Thus making it so it can never be matted the right way again or hung.

Not sure what to do if this is the case.

She doesn't want her piece ruined and we've already spent money on the nice  (correct) matte form.

I read all the instructions and I didn't see anything about ruining glueing your work.

If this is the way it is supposed to be, why wasn't it put on the form?

Anyways enough about that.

We are proud of Lilly and the work she did. 

Proud of her for sticking to her idea (even though Mom though she should do something else.)

She's pretty headstrong. (I wonder where she gets it?)

Zombie chase 5k

The race was fun.  It was warm and I was ready.  We got our numbers the day before and the address to the race which they kept a secret was given out about a week before.  They did however mention that is was going to be on the outskirts of Springville.

We were down in Provo helping my grandparents on the Saturday before the race.  We had received the official address , so we entered in the address on Google Maps and we drove to the site and it was at a cemetery and closer to opposite end of the "outskirts"  we were thinking.  It was at a cemetery though  (which is what they had vaguely mentioned) so we thought "Awesome" and didn't think of it anymore.

The night before the race we decided to take my sister (who was also running the race) to go see the site.  This time we decided to follow the freeway instructions since that's the way we would be going on race day.  

We ended up out by the lake.

Nowhere near a cemetery.

Or the previous address we went to.

Apparently the address that ended up by the cemetery was Mapleton.  

What are the chances that the exact address in the next town over was a cemetery?????

Needless to say, we were glad we had figured it out before race day.

Like I said before, most of my pictures didn't get imported before I erased them so these two crappy "Instagram" photo's are the only ones I've got.

Halloween

 So 90% of my my photos are lost and these are the only ones I have.

Funnies

Max is always saying funny things and I always forget to write them down.  Lilly though, was by far the funniest.  I wish I had written down some of her funny things.  I think it was because she talked so well so early.  I'm talking full sentences by the time she was 2.   She's always been a talker I guess.  But I'm just going put a few things here that he said yesterday and maybe some others that I can think of.  Part of his funniness comes from the fact that he can read (short words without blends and sight words).

Yesterday Max was looking through his Halloween candy when he said "Milky Dudes"  what the heck??

Also yesterday, he was opening a piece of peppermint hard candy that the wrapper was really stuck to. I said to him "looks like that candy is kind of old"  after a few more minutes of trying to open it Max said mostly to himself  "People shouldn't give out old candy to kids because they get can't open it."

While playing Monster Jam Wii with Max he often talks to me about random things.  A few days ago he said "I really like my body, do you like my body??"  I replied "well of course I do" while thinking that was a weird question for a 5 year old boy to ask.   After a few minutes I realized that he had meant the "body" of the monster truck he was playing with.

He also always comments about things when I'm reading to him.  One story in particular is a scary story about a girl who always wears a green ribbon around her neck, she meets a boy and they get married all the while he keeps asking her why she wears the ribbon.  (If you hadn't guessed it's because its holding her head on) At one point when the boy asks the girl why she wears it she replies "It's not important." One day after we had  read the book several other times, Max blurted out "But it is important!"

In another book,  Arthurs Halloween Costume (the books about the monkey not the TV show)  Arthur can't find a Halloween costume and says something like "I can't find anything wear"to which another character says "Just find something to make one" Arthur replies "I don't have anything to make one"  Mx again blurted out in a most annoyed voice I might add, "Just ask your MOM!!!"  I laughed so hard.


Max asked me what Bombastic meant.??  I had to look it up to be sure I gave him the right answer.

When we were at my Mom's last Sunday all the kids were downstairs and after a while we kept hearing a pounding sound so I went down to check it out.  Lilly and William (4) were laying on the couch together watching Hocus Pocus, Jeffrey (1 and a half maybe???? 17 months) was trying to pull movies out of the cupboard and my sisters weights off the top of the cupboard and Max was running around trying to keep him out of everything.  When I came down Max said "jeffrey keeps getting into everything" It was so cute that Max was so worried about it.

Max doesn't like to have sticky fingers or face.  When he was at a birthday party he refused to have any cupcakes.  After we left,  I asked him why he didn't want one he said "That's because I saw all those kids with frosting all over their faces and hands"  Where did this kid come from???

Reflections Contest

Lilly entered the Reflections contest when she was is Kindergarten and we haven't seen or heard anything about it since, until this year.
Maybe I should clarify.  She won a few awards in the contest she entered in Kindergarten.
The last 2 years though we haven't heard anything about the Reflections contest.
This year Lilly came home and said she saw posters in the school about the Reflections Contest so we went to the office and got an application and more info.

The theme was "The Magic of A Moment"

I did my best to try and explain to Lilly what this meant, and this is the painting she came up with and submitted.

She said "it's magic that the cats can see their faces in the clouds"

We'll find out in about a month how she did!

Watercolor Wednesday

Look at me!  Two Watercolor Wednesdays in a row.  Let's hope it sticks again!

Both of these paintings are Oriental inspired.

My Grandma lived in Japan for 2 years while her husband was stationed there in the Air Force and she loved all things Japanese and especially their Watercolor techniques.

Before she passed away she gave me a few lessons on the subject.

I am quite pleased with how they turned out.

You can view my other Watercolors HERE.

Astronauts Lost in Space

My family (sisters and families and Mom and I) have decided to get to together on sunday's and make movies.  The first week we will film the movie and then my husband will edit and put it together during the week and then the following Sunday we will get to together and watch it and make it a movie night.

The movie I am showing today was the one we watched last night.

I got the idea from a (true i might add) story my husband told me about an astronaut who almost floated away from the hub in space and I got to thinking about freaky it would be to have that happen and not grab hold of a pole at the last minute and just be floating around in space alone until your air runs out.

That is the story line for this movie.

Enjoy!!!

We won't have another movie until December 10th.  We are doing something special.

December 10th is my Dad's birthday and we have an awesome idea inspired by my daughter's "invention" for the movie!!!!!

Finally Stained the Fence or Finally Blogged about it!!!!

 About a year and a half ago, we put up this section of the fence.  You are supposed to wait a year before painting or staining so that the wood can acclimate to the weather or something.  

I finally got around to doing it, about a month ago. 

 I also stained the fence post.

Pretty snazzy!!!!

School Carnival

For some odd reason (maybe for money) Lilly's school had a Fall Carnival.  That or maybe I've just never paid any attention and they have always had one???

Anyways here are a couple cute pictures Jarrett took with his phone.

Aren't these two so cute??

I hope they always stay good friends.

You'd never know they are 3 years apart.

One of these days real soon Max is going to pass Lilly up in height.

Jarrett has a knack for catching the kids with awesome faces.

When I take photos of them on something they should be excited about, they look like they are having the worst time of their life.

Lilly "Ooooooo, I just found a ticket."

My children are monkeys.  

They have been since they could walk

at 8 months....if that tells you anything.

I see all these kids struggling to climb these things and my kids are up and down the other side and through the thing a second or third time before some kids have made it up once.

Talent.

Maybe they will be in the circus.

Acrobats.

Little Blue Jacket

Made this cute blue on blue jacket for Lilly  and it's awesome,except that it's a huge failure.

For one, it doesn't zip all the way to the top, the fabric stretched and now the zipper is too short.

That would be fine.  I could live with that.

This fabric is super thin and I didn't want a heavy metal zipper on it so I bought a lighter weight zipper. Problem is, it's made for a skirt or dress.

So it doesn't unzip all the way.

FAIL!!!

Learned my lesson though!  

Watercolor Wednesday

Inspired by a photo I took.

Saturday Cleanse

So I started out the day by running.  I'm training for the THE ZOMBIE CHASE.   It's a 5K.  I hate running.  With a passion.  But running through a haunted house/obstacle course might just be worth it.  I'm up to running 2 and a quarter miles.  I'm almost there!
Then we went to Costco and Target and picked up a few things we would need over the weekend and then headed home for lunch, mowing the lawn and cleaning up the yard.
The lawn got mowed and we had every intention of separating bulbs and pulling weeds, but a quick trip into the garage to grab another garbage sack quickly side tracked me.
We ended up completely cleaning out the garage, getting rid of 4 large Rubbermaids full of little kid clothes and finally setting up the teeter totter that goes along with the swing set we bought 6 years ago.
Lilly was an only child and 2 years old when we bought the swing set and we've just never put it together.  Today was the day!!!! The kids played on it for 2 hours straight and then another hour after dinner.
I love just knowing that the garage is cleaned up enough to pull our car into now.  It felt so good to get rid of all that stuff!!  We donated it to D.I.  so hopefully some children somewhere can use those 4 large Rubbermaids of clothes.
One thing living in a small house has taught me is to constantly get rid of the stuff we don't need or use.    I'm amazed at the amount of crap I accumulated when we lived in much larger places.  Although there are times when I feel our house is much too small, It is enough and we are grateful we have it!

Picture Day

Today was picture day at Lilly's school.  

We got photos of both kids taken this year at the school.

I always like to get a photo at home first though.

Lilly

8 years

Max

5 years

How to Make a Zombie Pinata

First of all I'd just like to say, I'm not an expert on making pinatas.

Second, give yourself at least 4 days, I made mine in 3 and it was cutting it close.  

Third, this was just about the funnest pinata to make EVER!!!

Ok to get started, I  taped a balloon to the top of a cereal box to get the basic shape of a head and torso.

TAPE IT VERY, VERY WELL!!!!  

I wish I would have chosen a more "head like" shaped balloon.

One that isn't so round.  If that makes sense.

Second mix up some paper mache paste.  

1 Part Flour to 2 Parts water

so 1 cup flour 

2 cups water

I also added some salt maybe a teaspoon, I heard it helps keep it from mold.

I just added it for good luck!

Mix it up with a whisk or fork.

Rip up newspaper into strips and dip them in the paper mache paste and lay them on the balloon and box until there is maybe 2 layers and then let it dry.  

Takes about 24 hours.

Next I came in an layered on another layer of newspaper, this time make eye nose, mouth and ears.

I just took my strip of newspaper and ripped a hole in each piece and when I laid it down, I shaped it to look like an eye hole.

The nose I just kind of bunched up the newspaper and the mouth I did the same way as the eyes.

Ears the same as the nose, just kind of bunched up the newspaper and place it in a "c" shape and then covered it with a flat strip of newspaper so the "bunchiness" wasn't as noticeable.

This doesn't have to be perfect, it's a zombie for goodness sake, the weirder the better right?

Let this dry.

Repeat a third time.

The last layers I added a ton of newspaper around its neck.  At  one point I took a wad of newspaper, dipped it in the paste and wrapped it around its neck like a....neck brace!! Then added a flat piece over the neck and up onto the face and down onto the body to "hide" the bunched up newspaper.

Lastly paint it. 

Place your candy or goodies inside the box, fold in the flaps and tape it up.

This would have looked better with a black duct tape or something not so noticeable.

Once the head came off we tied it up by its torso and the fun continued.