Sunday Quiet Books

I have been tearing out pages from The Friend magazine for a few years now with the thought that I would put them into notebooks with top loaders and let the kids use dry erase markers over and over again on the pages. Dry erase markers, however, do not wash out of clothes (or anything else, for that matter) so I had these pages tucked away with my crafts for a "someday project".
That "someday" came today. A few days ago, I saw on a blog (yikes! can't remember the one at the moment) my exact idea but with DRY ERASE CRAYONS! What?! When did these come out? How cool is that?! I decided to go to the store and grab 3 boxes and I assembled these little books for my kids to work on in Sacrament meeting. I took the magazine pages and backed them on colored paper for stability and gave each kid their own notebook filled with age appropriate activities. Jayden's has the crossword puzzles/word searches/code breakers/find the hidden object pages. Riya's has coloring pages and a few "find the pictures that match" pages. Emma's just has coloring pages - mainly those with babies in them because that's what she likes to look at.
Each book has their name on the front, a "sketch" picture of them to color and then their individual papers behind. I made it so that I could rotate the papers out to give variety from week to week.
Genius. Thank you blogger (I will post when I remember) for telling me about these crayons! My kids are going to LOVE them!

Worms!

When I picked Jayden up from school today, he had with him a bird feeder he had made in his enrichment group from a recycled milk container. He was all too anxious to put it outside so when we got home, that is exactly what we did.
It has been very windy lately and raining a lot and that pirate ship behind Jayden likes to go over to the neighbor's yard if blown just right. John put it very close to the back door to keep it from blowing as easily so we had to move it to get outside. The rain brought in about 15 worms seeking shelter under the pirate ships sides. Riya, who moments before was so excited to draw with her chalk, took one look at the worm colony and took off back into the house. Jayden, on the other hand, decided it would be fun to hold them. He gave me all sorts of facts that he'd recently learned at school and proudly posed with his worm.
Yum!
(Jayden's hands are not cold. They are colored from the awesome bird feeder he made. In case you were worried.)

Secret Basement

Today, while I was driving around trying to not get lost in a certain difficult area of town, I was stopped at a light and noticed this cute little door on the side of a house. At first glance, it didn't seem like anything special but after looking more closely, it began looking like a secret, magical door that would lead into some mysterious place. The little kid in me got really excited and had to take a picture to try and capture this magic that was going on in my head... but after looking back at the picture and trying to explain, it doesn't seem quite as awesome.
But believe me, it was. :)

These Shoes are Made for Walking...

Yes, I really just used that as my title.

So - yesterday on my mall shopping spree, I found these adorable shoes for the girls. They both got a pair and if you know Emma, you'll know how much she loves clothes and shoes. She loves to be "pretty". I put these shoes on her today and she walked around so joyfully waiting for the compliments to come. She got them from me but John doesn't like them very much.

He said, "She's not even 1.5 years old yet and she looks like she's getting ready to go out on the town."
I said, "And why is that not cute?!" :)
Then he said, "I just don't really care much for the style."
Aw, John...

Now, don't worry - he doesn't dislike them enough to forbid her from wearing them (I think he secretly love them) so I don't have to take them back or anything. Emma gets to strut her stuff in style. :)

What do you think??

(Just for the record, Emma stood still while I took pictures of her new shoes. She even let me put my black shirt under her feet for a better background. She's so funny!)

Sorry!

Our computer has had some issues so I had to delay some posts but here they come....

Dress for Me!

Tonight, as I was putting Riya to bed, I had a sudden thought of how to use some fabric I bought last fall. I decided to make a spring dress for me. The fabric is brown and beige but it has flowers so I have decided it is Spring-y. :)
It was pretty simple to make - I used a DownEast shirt to make a pattern for the top and just did a gathered skirt for the bottom. I had to add the middle section like I did because I almost ran out of fabric - I literally only had a scraps left over (and I used those for the ruffles in the front). The fabric is jersey knit and it is seriously the most comfortable dress I have ever worn. I worked on it all night and when I finally went to bed, I ended up falling asleep wearing it!
I tried putting a belt on around my upper "waist" but I can't decide if I love that look or not. I think it would be super cute with a short sleeved cardigan over it as well - maybe both. Oh, the possibilities! :)

Side note - today's picture was going to be the kids playing at the play area in the mall but my phone died while we were shopping. Bummer.
Side note II - today was my first time actually shopping and discovering our mall. We've lived here for almost a year and I've never been there to shop. How sad. :( It's actually a pretty great mall! I think we will become great friends...

Symmetry

I have always had a thing for symmetry. In decorating my house, I have tried to let myself not have perfect balance but it is very hard for me. Things have to line up just perfectly - and this branches into many areas of my life. I blame it on the Libra in me. You know, the whole scales thing....
Today, Riya was interrupted from her playing to go have a snack and when she left, I noticed this.
Nearly a mirror image - the bottom almost looks like the top's reflection. Hmmm... is she destined to a life of balance just like me?? It's not always a bad thing!

Funny thing - these toys are all things I've posted about this year... see my Halloween post from earlier this week, my little people post from January and the green thing is a jelly bean shaped egg from the egg hunt posted here.

Easter!

In all of the fun this morning before church, I didn't get a picture of all 3 kids in their Easter clothes. I managed to get this picture of Jayden and Riya after church while Emma was napping. It doesn't show how cute the girls' skirts turned out but it does show Jayden's handsome new tie! :)
The Easter bunny hid our decorated eggs all over the living room and they each got some little goodies by their "baskets". They each got a new stuffed sheep in their favorite color (John cut all of the pieces out and I sewed/stuffed them), candy, a picture frame with a picture of Jesus for their rooms and a little something special to them. Jayden and John got new ties and the girls got new hair clippies (to match their skirts, of course!).
Our sacrament meeting was amazing - with a Music and the Spoken Word feel to it. The Primary kids also sang a song. It was a very spiritual meeting and I found myself tearing up frequently. Gotta love meetings like that!
We had a yummy roast for dinner with carrots and potatoes and just relaxed, enjoying each others company.

Also - Riya was the "Spotlight Child" in Primary today and she was so stinkin' excited! She told me over and over again when John brought them to the nursery room after church. She got a badge and everything! "How did they know my favorite color was purple and my favorite show is Dragon Tales and Hello Kitty?!?!" She just couldn't believe it!


Happy Easter - I hope yours was just as great!

Easter Egg Hunt

Today we got together with some friends and we had an Easter egg hunt for all of the kids. Here is the line up of the kids just before they were set loose - quite the group, huh? And - yes, that's Jayden with the red bucket... on his head.
They had a lot of fun searching for eggs and then opening them to see what they got in each egg. Emma quickly learned how they open and she found a new hobby. :)
We had a great potluck dinner and visiting afterwards.
Happy Easter Eve!

Earthday Party

Okay - it was actually just a birthday party on Earth Day with an Earth Day theme.
Today was Riya's good buddy's birthday and they invited us to help celebrate with them. This was the best shot I could get of Riya during the celebration!
It was fun and the kids got to take home a small potted flower and a butterfly net in honor of Earth Day - cute huh?
(Haha - notice John, Emma and I in the mirror? Oh, and Melinda and Heidi too! Oops...)

Ow, Mouth!

Remember, last week, when I went to the dentist? Today was my first of several (probably four) appointments to fill those lovely cavities. This was the worst (and most expensive) visit that I will have to endure. But, guess what... it really wasn't THAT bad!
I had the top left back three teeth taken care of today - the last molar being the worst. The dentist wanted me to see the decay so he had me look every once in awhile and it was pretty disturbing. He basically had to hollow out my last molar (number 15 to be exact :) ) and then fill it. Gross.
I felt okay until as soon as the numbing started to wear off shortly after I got home - it was beginning to hurt so I took one tylenol and I was fine. A little sore for the rest of the day but otherwise, I was fine. I sure love a good dentist!
This picture was taken right after I got home and the left side of my mouth was still numb. I looked pretty funny when I spoke. John got a kick out of it, anyway. :) See how my left side (right side in the picture) of my mouth is drooping ever-so-slightly?
Don't I look so amused? :P

Halloween - in April...?

WAY back in October, my friend, Sarah, and I put together a big Halloween scavenger hunt (my Texas readers know how this works...) and invited most of the ward. Each couple was placed on teams of 6-8 people and set out on a crazy quest to figure out the final location. It was a ton of fun! When it was all finished, we put all of the "ingredients" and buckets together at Sarah's house to divvy up at a later date. Sarah placed them all under her buffet in her kitchen - sort of hidden, sort of not.
Today, we finally "divvied" it up (6 months later! haha). She brought all of the buckets (7 to be exact) and all of the clues, spiders, rats, snakes, etc over to my house and we tallied up our $$ spent. At the end, she didn't want any of the stuff. It all stayed at my house and my kids were in heaven. This is a small snapshot of what my living room looked like at bedtime. Jayden was carefully crafting one of his stories when I interrupted him to tell him it was bedtime.
Now - how to get rid of all of this stuff.... :)
(Notice the mouse on top of the upside-down spider... there were also some snakes pointing their tongues at the scene. Pretty scary stuff!)

An Apple a Day...

Riya will sometimes request an apple to eat whole. Usually, she doesn't finish it like this so I end up cutting one for her. Today, she decided she wanted to eat a whole apple. I was visiting before my grandparents and mom left so I reluctantly let her. She took about two bites before I realized it hadn't been cleaned yet so she put it on the table to eat it after I washed it.
Fast forward to this afternoon, a very hungry Emma spots that apple sitting on the table and she couldn't resist trying to out too. I saw her doing this and decided to let her continue after I washed it. She was not happy with me taking that apple out of her hands but I gave it a quick rinse and put it right back in her reaching hands.
This is what the apple looked like a little while later when I found it on the floor.
Good job, Emma!

A Visit from Great Grandparents

We love to have visitors! We were lucky to have my grandparents stop by from Ohio on their way to Iowa today. This is my Grandpa with Emma. She was a little unsure about our company - even when my mom came a few hours later. She was pretty distant to all of them most of the time. At one point, while Grandpa was talking, she climbed up on the couch and stared at him. I tried to get a picture of it but she was moving back off of the couch by the time I snapped it. Oh well - proof that she did go within a foot of great-Grandpa! :)
It was a lot of fun and we even got in a great game of Yahtzee on the Wii.
However, Grandpa was sending a text last night and he asks, "How do you spell 'boring'?"
Thanks, Grandpa. Glad to know you were having so much fun with us! Haha. We laughed about it when he asked and he just laughed along. Not denying anything. :)
Oh, G-pa. Funny guy!
Grandma and Grandpa stayed in a nearby hotel because they could - haha. My mom stayed at our house and slept in Jayden's room with Riya in her bed with her. :) Riya sure loves Grandma!

Pretty Little Things

Remember when I used to make hair bows? Remember when I used to get requests to make them and I had buyers? I still love making them but my tastes have changed a bit and I'm more into all of the adorable varieties of flowers to put in the girls' (and my) hair. They are about 75% faster to make and they try my patience about 99% less. :) And, because of my hair bow making days, I have about a bajillion (I counted!) varieties of ribbon to use!
This is one of the beauties I made last night to wear in MY hair for church today. 
Pretty little thing, huh? :)

Clean House

Who doesn't love a clean house? I certainly do! I love it even more when I get help cleaning it! Today was a little bit busy for us but we managed to squeeze in some clean time. This is our freshly straightened living area - with Pandora playing on the TV. Music always makes cleaning more fun!
(don't mind the pile of blankets on the chair - the kids were in charge of folding them and they decided that was a good place to put them. haha)

Spring Dress

Check out that pose! She is becoming quite the little model! :)
The picture is slightly blurred - there must have been movement on one end - but I still had to use it!
The sewing bug must have hit me because I made this cute little dress for Riya today after making the cute shirt for me yesterday! Ahhhh, I love to sew....
This dress was made from a women's size 20 button front shirt. One of the local thrift stores was having a $0.75 sale a few weeks ago and I found this cute Tommy Hilfiger shirt. I instantly pictured a dress for one of the girls. I asked Riya if she wanted a green and white dress or a pink dress (future post) and she chose this one. The ribbon belt is looped through belt loops that I made from the cuff of the original sleeves. I followed THIS tutorial but I didn't add the waist band. I just added the belt loops and ribbon.
She loves it. I love it. It can be dressed up for church or dressed down for play. AND - it cost under $1... PERFECT!

Spring/Summer Shirt

Today I made this cute little shirt for me. It is hard to tell that it is for me and from the picture, it looks like a dress for Riya. However, it is mine.
What did I do? I took a button up shirt dress (it was long - meant to be a dress so it hit me about mid-thigh) that I'd bought from Old Navy a couple of years ago and got rid of the inside pockets that I never like while I was wearing it. It was extra fabric right in the waist area - who wants a bulge there?!  I then cut the sleeves and shoulder/neck off and shaped the top to be how I wanted it. I sewed the button closure closed (now it's just a facade). Then I sewed 3 or 4 rows with elastic thread across the center - it hits just below the bust. For the straps, I simply cut the cuff off of the original sleeves and attached it to the designated spots. Simple and it turned out super cute!
Maybe someday you'll get to see a picture of it on. I love it!

Dentist and University

Today was a little crazy for balancing with John's schedule and watching the girls. We managed and I'm loving the flexibility of John's schedule nowadays!

I had a dentist appointment this morning to get my teeth cleaned/examined and Riya had an important job at the University.

Confession time: It has been almost 5 1/2 years since I've been for a cleaning. I knew I needed it but for various reasons, it never happened. Well - remember when THIS happened? I got a little worried about my teeth and, yet, a little less frightened of getting them cleaned.
The office I went to in January has two dentists. One seems to be the "head" and the other seems to be the "assistant". The "assistant" worked on my tooth last time but had the "head" dentist take a look at my mouth briefly.
He took one look in and said, "Wow! You've got great teeth!" 
Ummmm... isn't that what EVERYONE wants to hear a dentist say to them?? Nevermind the fact that I was in there because one of my molars had broken. I had great teeth! So... I felt semi-confident going today.
Today, I saw the "head" guy. He counted.... ready for this.... SEVEN cavities. Are you kidding me??? What happened to my great teeth?? My gums were healthy and that was what my biggest concern was so I was somewhat relieved it was just cavities. But really, SEVEN? This is in the mouth of the girl who always got a clean bill of health from the dentist as a little girl. Never a cavity until after I married John. A few months later, I get my wisdom teeth out and they find a cavity. I get my first filling at 23. Then my tooth broke from a cavity a few months ago and now I have seven more. That means I went from zero to NINE! 
I guess John really is too sweet.
Yes. I just went there. :)

The second order of business today was to do with Riya. Last week, I signed her up to be in a study of 3-4 year olds and how they learn to ask questions in English. She was promised a free toy for participating so why not? :) It was pretty cute. She got to meet two puppets named Teddy and Giraffe and she got to ask them lots of questions. Today was the second day of the two tests. She chose sidewalk chalk for her prize this time and, of course, immediately upon arriving at home, she had to try it out on our back patio. Cute girl!

(I know you were hoping for a picture of my teeth but I thought Riya was much cuter! ;) )

Bakugan, Hot Wheels and Legos

That's what little boys are made of.
Wait. Maybe not.
That's what my little boy is in love with!
Today I tackled Jayden's room for my decluttering. His room was sorted a few months ago and he generously gave up several of his toys for the garage sale. He told me that he wants to sell his Little People airport for $0.01 because some other little kid would really like it. I told him that we could sell it for more than that but he insisted that he only wanted a penny for it. I still think I'll up the price a bit more than that. ;)
I was able to get a trash bag of stuff to throw out - and possibly some more to add to the recycling bin once he goes through his papers to decide what must be kept. He keeps every paper he brings home from school and turns them into Origami. It's cute and he's pretty good but I am going to need a storage crate for just his Origami creations soon!
Cute little guy!

Seriously?

I spent $60 to fill up our van's tank today. Really? That is ridiculous. I'm going to start walking everywhere. :)
I even picked the cheaper of the 3 gas stations.
I guess it's a good thing I'm not having to drive to Dallas every other weekend like I used to do. One tank usually lasts close to two weeks now... I think.
And, yes - I took a picture at the gas station. I might have looked a little crazy but I really couldn't believe it. It had to be my picture for today! :)
Please stop going up. Please? Pretty please? (My kids think begging works - I've got to try it too.)

Game Time

John and I love to play games. That is something I'm soooo glad we have in common! We used to play more games together - just the two of us - but it seems like we very rarely do anymore. Tonight, we decided to play Phase 10 Dice. The kids were in bed and it was just the two of us rolling away and trying to get our phases. What was kind of funny was that we found ourselves helping each other instead of having a heavy competition. I'm not too sure what happened because that is usually not how John plays. ("What?! I can't help it! Grow up in my family and you learn to be competitive in games!" he has said.)
It was nice. We enjoyed ourselves. He won the first game and I won the second.
And for the record, I beat his winning score from the first game when I won the second game! It almost never happens that I beat John so I have to make note of it when I do. :)
Love ya, babe!

Saturday is a Special Day...

...it's the day we get ready for Sunday by.... cleaning the stair railing!! Haha. I decided the kids needed to do some light cleaning today that they don't normally have to do. You know, beyond the "clean up your toys" cleaning. They each got a wipe and Jayden started at the top with Riya at the bottom - they had to wipe the rails down. Somehow, they have gotten bits of chocolate or other beautiful colors wiped randomly on them right at their hand level and I was tired of looking at it. They did great!  By the time they were finished, the rails were white again. Look at those looks of concentration!
Lovely. :)
Thanks Kiddies!

Muddy Bears

I asked John tonight if he knew what my favorite candy was. His guess was Twix. That is probably my favorite candy bar but not my favorite candy. I gave him a few more hints but he didn't get the answer correct.
It is Muddy Bears.
What are Muddy Bears?
They are chocolate covered gummy bears. Mmmmmm....
These are kind of hard to find but are usually with the movie theater candy. If you find some, try them. It's worth it! 
We had some gummy bears left over from our conference treat buckets and I have lots of chocolate left over from my Dove days so I decided to make some.
Yummy!!!

"... Where a kid can be a kid!"

Today Jayden got to go to Chuck E. Cheese's for a friend's birthday party. My kids love that place and I'm not too sure why we haven't taken them yet since we've lived here. Jayden was having so much fun - I barely saw him the whole 3 hours we were there! This is the best shot I got of the birthday gang - they were all pretty wiggly! (Jayden is the one in the green hoodie on the right side.)
Jayden ended up with 111 tickets and Riya/Emma ended up with 41. The girls mostly rode rides and played with things that didn't get tickets so John had to help them out a little bit. :) Emma kept trying to steal the balls from the skee ball game while other people were trying to play. What? She just wanted to help! :)
We all had a lot of fun!

Riya the Artist

I had to run to Target today and decided to reward the kids for good behavior while I was shopping - they each got to pick something from the dollar section. Jayden picked some bouncy balls, Emma picked a book and Riya picked a paint set. Immediately upon getting inside, she insisted on painting with it. Riya thrives on anything to do with art - coloring, drawing, painting, etc. She could do it for hours at a time if I let her. The kit came with a little planter pot, paints and a paintbrush. She got her apron on and went at it. Look at that look of concentration on her face! She's really quite good at it too! She's always drawing or coloring pictures for John and I and we are always so impressed with how well she can stay in the lines. She loves to use many colors so all of her art comes out very vibrant! We love that she is so artistic!
(Please excuse the bathroom shot in the background. I didn't notice the door was open until AFTER I took the picture - oops!)

Baby Party!

Today, Heidi and I hosted (at the church) a Baby Party for five expectant moms. We invited pretty much every female in the ward and we had such a good turn out! It was a lot of fun to put together and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves!
Basically, we had each guest bring ONE gift to add to the gift pool. We then had 5-6 games that the pregnant moms had to play to get a gift. We also had 5 small tables set up with facts and props as clues to guess which mom went to which table. We had clues on them for what the mom's favorite fairytale was as well. The guests would go to each table and put their guesses on a slip of paper and put it in a jar. One correct guesser from each table won that mom's favorite candy as a prize. It was pretty cute!
I wasn't able to get any pictures of the actual party because my phone battery was too low for the camera to work. Bummer! I'm glad that I took this picture of the yummy cake balls that I made for the party! They were so good and so easy!
What a fun night!

Visitors Only

Jayden goes to a charter school that is currently using a Baptist church as it's location. I have noticed these signs on the gate that goes around one side of the parking lot but never looked at them very closely. Today as I pulled up, I happened to notice what it says and it made me laugh. If you click on the picture, it should enlarge it so you can read it.
It says, "First Baptist Church, Visitor Parking Only, City Ordinance Number 75.11,  Trespassers May Be Baptized And Their Chariots Spirited Away"
That's awesome! :)

General Conference Weekend Continued

Today, we were invited to watch conference with some friends of ours at their house. They had freshly baked cinnamon rolls that were delicious and we ate some yummy burgers for lunch in between sessions. YUM! I think we were a bit spoiled. :) This is what I caught the girls doing during one of the sessions today. I love it when they play together - especially now that Emma is bigger and she can physically take the play that Riya likes to do.
Today was another great day of messages and I look forward to reading and re-listening to them. I think at one point during the last session, after the yummy burgers and fries (with John's special seasonings), all four adults had drifted off to sleep. I heard Riya telling John and I that it wasn't nap time and then another time I heard Jayden and his buddy, Dalton, noticing that "They are all asleep!". Oops. It's a good thing we can review the talks later, right??

General Conference Treat Buckets

Today was the start of General Conference weekend for our church. I look forward to these two weekends all year! This year, I found an idea to help the kids pay more attention to the talks given and I knew it would be perfect for my kids. I filled those 5 buckets up with various candy and wrote on them (with a dry erase marker) 5 different words that they were to listen for. Every time they heard the word, they got to get a piece of candy from that bucket and add it to their bag - or eat it. This was such a hit! We used the words "Scriptures", "Temple", "Faith", "Prophet", and "Family". However, after the first session, the word "scriptures" hadn't been used (that we heard/noticed) so we changed it to "Priesthood" for the second session. Guess what one of the first talks in the second session said several times... yep, scriptures. :) I loved how Jayden kept trying to figure out how he could get more candy - "They said 'President Monson' - does that count for Prophet?" or when the choir would get ready to sing and it would show the footage of the Salt Lake Temple "OH! Does that count for Temple?!" At least he was paying attention, right? :)
I loved all of the messages we heard and I look forward to more tomorrow!

Phineas and Ferb Day

Ever since we found that Netflix had Phineas and Ferb, we've been talking with our friends (and fellow Phineas and Ferb fans) about having a marathon day. Considering the fact that they will be gone to Texas all summer, we decided Spring Break would be perfect for it. Today was the day. I had some trivia for everyone to earn candy and we had Candace's (P&F's sister) favorite sandwich for lunch (grilled cheese). We then watched several episodes. John had to leave for class for about 2 hours and by the time he returned, the marathon was nearing completion. However, you can't get our two families together and not play games! We had pizza for dinner and played some games while the kids played/watched P&F or Pokemon. Ticket to Ride is one of our new favorites to play! They introduced us to it a few get-togethers ago and we've played it a few times since. We really like it!
Here's a picture of the board at the end of the game. Thomas won the first two games we ever played and Heidi won today's game. Next time, it will be a victory for the "R" family. :)
After 12+ hours of playtime, we were all pretty tired but we had a great time!