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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!