Friday, October 30, 2009

Halloween Parade 2009

Today was Katelyn and Taylor's Halloween Parade at school. They walked the track in their Halloween costumes while all of us parents and younger siblings watched out for our little ones! They went in descending order so it took a little while for my kids to come out but when they did they had huge grins on their faces! Katelyn was all dressed up as a witch and Taylor was a skeleton. Right after we went over to Taylor's classroom and played games. We had plenty of activities: Monster Freeze (Freeze Dance), Musical Footprints (Musical Chairs), Don't Eat Casper (Don't Eat Pete), Paper Jack-o-Lanterns, Halloween Cookie, and goodie bags. This was all before their actual party! They all seemed to enjoy themselves.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Just Thrilled!


This past Saturday I went over to the What Women Want Expo with Goldie, Stephanie, Katelyn and my mom. It was fun to see all the booths and sign up for FREE stuff! Well, I am thrilled to say I received an email and call from the lady, Susan Clawson, over at Pampered Chef booth this afternoon informing me that I won their prize drawing. Some very cute decorative plates! I should be receiving them in the mail shortly! Wahoo! I'll post a picture after they arrive. I absolutely love pampered chef! They have some of the cutest items, I own their pizza cutter, cookie scoop, microwaveable pots/steamers and spatulas which are wonderful, I ordered their oil spritzer too. I thought I would share my good fortune!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Rough Night

William has really been struggling with sleeping at night lately. Zack set the bunk beds up so they are in an L shape after the boys were trying to jump across the room onto the other bunk bed. Yikes! Fortunately no one got hurt. It gave William better access to Joshua and has caused many problems since. William figures sleeping just isn't as fun as being awake. He hasn't taken a nap for a couple years so it isn't that he's not tired. He is rather obnoxious about sleeping. He doesn't just stay awake but wants a little company to play with. Joshua has been his buddy but usually crashes rather quickly. We've tried about everything we can think of: bed changes, removing him from the other kids, putting him to bed early, getting him up early and so on...

This is how he fell asleep a few days ago after we put him back to bed three times. I'm up for suggestions but have tried most everything already.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Our little man is 8 months old today!


Sweet baby Matthew is already 8 months old. He has grown up so much! He is an absolute doll and loves cuddling. Matthew is scooting in circles and up on all fours. We'll need to put up a gate for the stairs pretty soon. He melts your heart every time someone comes to visit with his sweet smile! He is a joy to our family. He loves everyone and especially his Mama. I cannot seem to do much of anything unless I have the little guy with me. I think I've mastered vacuuming, sweeping, eating and anything else I need to do while carrying him around.

He is so in love with his Daddy. When Zack walks through the door he will squeal and keep complete focus on Zack until he pays attention to him and then demands to be held. Katelyn is his favorite for sure! He loves to play with her and especially swing outside with her. She takes him everywhere she goes when she's home. He even puts up with her dressing him up. Taylor always makes sure to hug his little brother and talks to him about what he has done that day. Matthew grins from ear to ear the whole time. William and Joshua love him a little too much but he seems to know how to hold his own. He sure can squeal when he needs them to let up on the loves! He loves their attention though, if they leave the room he cries for them.

Matthew is very into trying new foods and wants whatever you are eating. He seems to enjoy all kinds of new things and doesn't hesitate to try something. He really has started to get into playing with toys and enjoys grabbing things out of his little bucket. The little man is so much fun to be around! We sure do love him!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Crafts: Place Mat Pillows

Since it's Fall I've been having fun decorating a little here and there at home. Here's my shelf all decked out for the season:


I found this great idea to add a little decor to my home. The pillows I had in my front room matched my couch exactly, I wanted something that would compliment the room. I found these place mats at Kohls for $2.80 a piece, a great deal when you think about the price of a pillow.

Here's how to make your own: take a place mat and open up about 5" on one end. Stuff the pillow with regular padding for a pillow, I used some leftovers from another project, and then stitch it back up after it is as stiff as you like. It is very simple and takes just a trip to the store and about 20 minutes to make 4 pillows. They turned out really cute!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Raptor Romp 2009

Katelyn and Taylor participated in the Raptor Romp, a school fundraiser. They have dinner/pizza and then each grade level participates in a dance out on the field. The first graders did a little country dance and the third graders did a line dance. They both did a great job!

Taylor - 1st Grade

Katelyn - 3rd Grade

We took a few photos next to the dinosaurs which the kids loved doing. Katelyn and Taylor had quite the fan club: Dad, Mom, brothers, Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Tim, Uncle TJ, Grandma, and cousins: Braxton, Awsten, Hailey and Jaerick!

Cute little guys!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Crafts: Pumpkin Topiary


I found these great white pumpkins at the DI for $1 a piece and thought it was a great deal! I had seen several pumpkin topiaries online and loved them. Such a cute festive idea. I first started the project by painting all these lovelies orange, a much more festive color than white! I bought 3/4" thick dowels and about 18' of garland to add to them. I put the dowels through to center of the pumpkins leaving plenty hanging out of the bottom for extra security and making sure not to go too far on the one on top. Then I had Zack fill up our cute gardening pots with rocks. I had found these babies at Walmart for $5 earlier this summer! I added the garland to the pumpkins for the extra little touch which definitely was worth it. They turned out just as cute as the others ones I've seen, at least I think so!

Activity Days: Prayer


This idea came from: LDSActivityDayIdeas.blogspot.com
We began by discussing when to pray and remember to really talk with our Heavenly Father instead of just saying the same thing over and over. We gave the girls a paper and pencil. We told them to take a few minutes and write down the things they could pray about. We then had them share their first idea with the group. We then talked about how sometimes we can't hear the Spirit, even though we are doing good things.

We did a couple object lessons to help them understand these concepts a little better. First: We told them it was Saturday and that we they preparing for Sunday by playing church music - the church music represented the spirit of the Holy Ghost. Using a CD player we played a song quietly for a second. Then we had one of the girls turn a vacuum on. We could no longer hear the music so we turned it up above the noise of the vacuum. While that was going, we had another girl play with the baby. We then had the other girls talk with each other but no one could hear! Although everything that was going on were good things, when we don't take time to listen and pay attention to the spirit, we will let the world distract us from our what our Heavenly Father has to teach us. Second: We paired the girls off in two with partners that they don't normally hang around with. We gave them about 1 minute to talk to each other, study each others voices and come up with a plan. They were going to have to find each other without saying each others names and without seeing each other. We then had one girl from each partnership go with me and the other with my partner. We had took them in my backyard and blindfolded them. They then were told to find each other. They loved it! We told them this was like trying to listen to the spirit and recognizing it.

Next we had the girls come inside and decorate prayer rocks. That got a little crazy with painting and all but they enjoyed themselves. I hope they remembered a little about what they learned about prayer and now are to say the prayers for FHE to pass off Learning and Living the Gospel #5.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Halloween Costumes

I have been feeling rather blessed lately with some wonderful finds. I went to the DI this past week in the hunt for costumes. I figured it was best to find them at a thrift store and accessorize if necessary rather than spend $30 a piece for my kids costumes! Boy did I hit the mother load! I got Katelyn a witch hat for $8 at Joann's Fabric store and then a witches dress at the DI for $7. Taylor wanted to be a skeleton but not just any skeleton, a glow-in-the-dark skeleton for Halloween. I found his costume at the DI for $6! William was very lucky since we found a dragon costume for $6 at the DI. Joshua being only 2 struggled to decide what he wanted for his costume but decided on the 101 Dalmatian which I purchased for only $4. Matthew's costume is a clown costume that we got at a school sponsored garage sale for $1 two years ago.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Caution: Political

With all the fun changes that President Barrack Obama has made and plans to make in the next four years, I appreciated this little work of art. I respect the President of the United States because of his position in this country, but do I agree with him -- frankly no!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Crafts: Hair Clip Holder

I was having a little crafty moment this morning and whipped up this cute hair clip holder. Stephanie made one for Julia's birthday party and I have seen several on crafters' blogs. It is just a flat board that I painted dark brown then I added the extra ribbon from Kelsey's diaper cake that I previously made. It really was quick and super easy but looks really cute and very useful. Now I just need some more hair clips to add to my collection!

General Conference Weekend

We had a great General Conference weekend with a tent set up in front of the TV just like in the Book of Mormon and King Benjamin addressing the Nephites. Our latter-day Prophet Thomas S Monson and other church leaders addressed us while we sat in a tent in our family room. The kids loved it! We also ate waffles with strawberries and whipped cream with pork sausage. It was delicious and kept their attention during Saturday morning conference. Later Saturday night the girls got together at my mom's house and worked on crafts. We stayed up until after 1:30am. The next day we watched Conference at my mom's with her, Goldie and kids. It was nice to have a little extra running around room for the kids while we watched conference, played with babies and just enjoyed the company. Later on we traveled over to visit with Grandpa and Grandma Belt. Joshua slept the whole visit but Matthew made up for it by being so sociable! He jabbered and jabbered at Grandpa, Grandma and I laughed at the little man. He's such a cutie and growing up too fast!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

We got ourselves a serious teether


Our little man is growing teeth like weeds! At only 7 months he already has four teeth. His two little front teeth finally made their way through his gums yesterday. He's been rather miserable for the past week with these little teeth pushing their way through. We decided to try a little watermelon to relieve some of that frustration. He loved it! Cameron's brother in law, Dave is a local area farmer who sells to the grocery stores here in town. He is always giving Cameron and Jennifer some extra produce which they share with us. They gave us a huge watermelon and it was some of the sweetest and juiciest watermelon I've had! The boys were showing off the watermelon juices dripping down their bellies aren't they cute!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Recipes: Skookie


Outrageous Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Skookie
Suzanne Eliason-Utah’s Down Home Cook Off Winner!

2 C. oats
1 ¼ C. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 C. butter
1 C. peanut butter
1 C. sugar
1 C. light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 Lg. eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the sugar(s) until blended. Add eggs and vanilla then add flour mixture until combined. Stir in chocolate pieces. Refrigerate dough 1 hour or more.

Spray Camp Chef Skookie pan (or the dish you found) with cooking spray. Add hand full of dough to skookie. Press onto Skookie pan ½ in. thick, leaving dough ½ in. from outside of pan. Bake for 10-15 min. or until top of cookie becomes light golden brown. Top with ice cream, caramel sauce and hot fudge/chocolate sauce.