Our Family Project

As mentioned in the previous post, I made a cake for my friend's little boy.  It was a challenge because I had no idea what BeyBlades are ... and he wanted his cake decorated like a BeyBlade.  *sigh*  To my relief, my friend's oldest children brought one of the little toys with them when they came to help me decorate the cake.  They both wanted to learn how to decorate cakes, so we did a little mini lesson about the different consistencies of icing, holding the piping bag, and how to ice the cake without crumbs.  Then, they tinted all the fondant for me (yay, that's the most tedious part!), and our time was up.  We got the cake covered in the gray fondant, rolled all the border balls, and got all the letters cut out (by hand ... I think I need to get alpha fondant cutters), and they had to leave.  It was so much fun having my own little helpers ... almost made me feel like the "cake boss."  I still see all the imperfections and wish I knew more ab...

Last week I made a cake for my friend's little boy.  She wanted fondant on the cake, so I set about making the fondant.  Most of the premade and packaged fondant in the stores is actually quite gross-tasting.  Almost like eating plastic.  So, when I first took my fondant cake decorating class I decided I would set out to make my own. A lot of people who make their own actually just use a marshmallow fondant recipe which consists of basically a package of marshmallows, melted, with some powdered sugar.  From what I hear, it tastes pretty okay.  But, I'm not that big on the marshmallow flavor, so I needed something different.  Thankfully, in the archives of the Wilton website I found the perfect recipe.  And, because the recipe calls for adding vanilla to the fondant, the possibilities for different flavors are endless! So, when I told my friend about my fondant, she and her daughter were instantly interested in trying it.  I add some vani...

I know I've made tons of these in the last few years.  In fact, I've altered the pattern and actually made about four or five variations based off of my original group of reusable sandwich/snack bags.  But, this if my favorite so far.  Super easy, and I think the cutting takes longer than actually running them through the serger. (Pictured below are my first two groups of bags.  The ones on the left are the initial group I made in August of 2008, on the right are those made in April 2009, and in August of 2009 I made a large set for my sister-in-law and a set for us that are the same patter as the bags I just finished making.)   This group of bags I just finshed was prompted by the fact that I'd run out of Ziploc baggies.  Who knows where my old reusable sandwich bags are.  I hadn't realized they were missing until school started and all of a sudden I can't find them anywhere.  I'm sure some are packed {somewhere}, but I do no...

During the first week of school, Kate had math homework for which she needed help.  She brought me her worksheet and I proceeded to outline and use examples to show her the method that I thought was the easiest way to figure out her difficult math problem.  Several minutes of this went by and then Kate said, "Mom, I already figured that out.  Here, it's on the back."  She turned her paper over and showed me how she figured it out.  It wasn't the most efficient way (at least to me) of figuring out the problem, and I don't think the way she figured it out will make it hard for her to understand more advanced mathematics.  In fact, I think the way she did it actually shows that she understands the why she gets the answer, not the how. It just made me remember that we are all different and have our own ways to figure out and fix our problems and assignments.  Just because I believe all the plates need to be loaded in the dishwasher facing the middle, does...

The other day, I was determined to spend my time on the floor with Adam and Maryanne.  And, it was hard!  I'd never realized just how much time I spend cleaning, or doing all the other things that I "think" need to be done (like blogging, for example ☺).  On this particular day, Maryanne grabbed a paint brush and a cup of water and proceeded to "paint" my face.  Boy, was it relaxing.  I was so ready for a nap, but when her brush got me in the eye, I know it wouldn't last.  This picture is absolutely atrocious, but I had to document our day of face painting as a reminder to myself of how much fun and relaxing it can be to just play.  (Oh, and incidentally, Maryanne once found a paintbrush in the bag we took to church and that was the only thing that kept her happy during our sacrament meeting .  I don't know how it got in there, but I was so grateful it was there!)

When we got back from our Utah visit in August, we picked up our mail and Eliza and Kate were ecstatic to see that they had each received a special invitation to spend a day at the castle.  The following Saturday, I took them to our stake center to spend a day with all of the girls in the stake ages 8- to 11-years-old. It was such a great experience for my girls.  At the church they were split into groups and they made wands (with blinking lights!), then took classes about modesty, personal hygiene, ettiquette, and combating the forces of the adversary.  They also had their pictures taken ... a "before royalty" picture and an "after royalty" picture.  All of the mothers were invited to come watch their daughters be presented, and then we got to watch a slide show of all the photos.  Some of the girls were so cute posing as princesses.  And, I could not believe how much the girls acted like teenage girls: screaming and yelling when their photos show...

Our art co-op this year has changed a little bit.  Last year one of the families in our art co-op had a daughter in pre-K who went to Kindergarten in the public school this year.  So, that family no longer is part of our art co-op.  But, my friend who we still do art with knew of a family that would be homeschooling again this year after last year's public school experience.  And, there are a a couple of wonderful things about this new arrangement: there are two boys in the new family (yay! Andrew and Adam are not the only boys!), and the mom is an artist (yay! No more craft days, and much more true art instruction)! Because one of the moms is an artist and feels comfortable teaching art all the time, we decided to change things up so we wouldn't be rotating the art instruction.  But, in order to make it a co-op, the other mom and I needed to help out in some way.  So, we decided to add a couple of subjects to our art co-op: cooking and music. ...

A while ago, our family read an article in The Friend magazine , entitled "Vitamin L."   After reading the story, Eliza had the idea to make our own Vitamin L.  So, she took our jar of vitamins and gave it a fashion makeover of sorts.  I wish I could say that giving our children the "vitamin L" changed the way they acted, but it rarely did. This is something that I'm sure a lot of families struggle with: teaching their children to be kind to each other.  I've always found it odd that we seem to treat the people who we love the most with the most disrespect.  Many of the things that our children say or do to each other are things that they wouldn't even consider saying or doing to their friends.  And, yet, they are not eternally bound to their friends.  What is it about the friend or stranger status that makes it "okay" to respect them, and not "okay" to respect family members? Or, perhaps my children just haven't been taught as ...

Eliza was invited to birthday party for a girl in her class at school.  So, I we sat down and picked out some fabric to be made into a buttercup bag.  I know, I know, another buttercup bag?  Yes, I am making them for everyone who has a birthday because they are so easy to make, I have the pattern memorized so it takes a relatively short period of time (I think it takes longer to pick out the fabric!), and I'm sure it's something that girls will love!  Eliza even helped make some extra flowers (of which I don't have a good picture), so her friend can swap them out according to her desire. Again, I had to remember how to make the wallet, but it wasn't as bad this time around.  I followed the pictures I took of the last wallet, and still messed up.  Oh well, it's not in a place that anyone would really notice (the inside of the coin pocket).  I think this is by far my favorite fabric scheme for the outside of the bag. The inside is a little bit too mono...

My mom brought over Uno Attack the other day and has let us borrow it for a while.  Andrew is in love with this game.  He is constantly asking others to play with him.  I've never seen him get so attached to a game before.  I love it!  He wants to play this instead of watch tv, or play the computer and video games.  I don't know which is his more favorite part, the suspense when touching the button and not getting any cards shot out at him, or when he gets more and more cards shot out at him on every turn.  At any rate, he loves this game so much that he's played it at least six times in the week that we've had it here.  And, I love that he is so animated during game play, just being a boy having fun.

After our first week's theme of water, we continued to learn about it.  We measured water into glasses and played a water xylophone.  Adam could literally do this everyday and be content.  He loved it.  We talked about pitch and sound, air and water.  It was great to watch him put the glasses in order by pitch after I'd mixed them up.  And, it was all so satisfying, knowing that he is learning and growing, and it didn't cost me a cent.  By far, one of the best days of preschool this year.

For Jon's birthday this year, I decided to do something a little different.  I'd read on a blog about a couple who would give each other a children's book instead of a birthday card.  On that blog, she even suggested a book to give as the first one ... which was so hilariously funny, and perfect for Jon, that I chose to give him that book even if I don't make it a tradition.  Yes, it might be a little abnormal, but if you are familiar with Jon's childhood, you'll know it is absolutely applicable and appropriate.  When he opened this present, he sat there silently laughing for a full 3 minutes.  The children, who hadn't seen the book yet, were all jumping on top of each other to see what the book was. And, my mom also gave Jon a most appropriate gift this year.  Something that I've been hearing about for quite a while now.  I don't think I've ever seen him so excited about a birthday present ... well, except for the time I got him a high-power dr...

We went to the grocery store right before lunch.  Probably not the best time of day to venture into a store filled with food, and expect my children to behave and not be cranky.  Surprisingly, they were relatively good.  After picking up the "essentials," I decided that we deserved a treat and bought a couple of frozen pizzas. When we got home, I dropped the bags on the floor, turned on the oven and put in the pizzas, then proceeded to put away the perishables.  Once that was complete, it was almost time for lunch, so we cleaned up the table and set it, then ate lunch.  I'd totally forgotten about the canned goods, until I heard some little noises coming from the kitchen. I found Maryanne in the pantry, putting away the groceries.  She was doing a masterful job, getting all the canned goods on a shelf and sometimes the bucket of flour.  She even did a little sorting and moved things around to make room for the cans she was going to place on the...

Remember this post ?  When I explained how things get done in our house?  Remember this post ?  When I talked about Maryanne eating grapes while I was helping to prepare out dinner with my good friend in Utah?  Here is more proof that she only wants to be my little helper.  Sunday, as I was preparing dinner, I sat her on the counter and we tore the lettuce leaves apart for the salad.  Not exactly a job I would have thought to give to her, if it hadn't been for the fact that I remembered she likes to tear paper.  She wanted to be with me.  I was making the salad.  I handed her a piece of lettuce, and showed her what to do.  She loved it!  And, I loved that Jon was thoughtful enough to grab the camera and snap a picture. 

Several years ago ... and I'm talking at least eight years ago ... I really got into a "file folder games" kick.  At the time I was looking for something that would entertain Eliza during the 70 minutes sacrament meeting at church every Sunday.  I was looking for something quiet and self-directing that would also provide some sort of learning for her.  There were a couple glitches when it came to making file folder games. I'm sure most of you are familiar with them.  There's a base picture with velcro pieces on it, and little cut-outs with the opposite piece of velcro on their back sides.  The child matches the little pieces to the pictures on the base (which is glued to the file folder). There were a couple of glitches when it came to making and utilizing these file folder games.  One: I didn't like covering up the pictures with the tiny velcro pieces.  Two: I didn't like the noise/sound that would occur when taking the small cut-out pictures off th...

We were able to spend time with Jon's brother and sister and their families this last weekend.  It was so much fun to watch our children play with their cousins and remember what it was like to play with my cousins. Ever since I can remember, my family was invited to my grandparent's house (on my mom's side) just about every month to celebrate all the birthdays that would occur in that month.  This is one of the things that I've always cherished about my childhood: the fact that we lived near our extended family.  This is also one of the things that I hated about living so far away for those seven years we were in Minnesota. Now that we are around more family, it has been so delightful to get together with them and watch our children's relationships with their cousins blossom.  One of the benefits we have is that our children are pretty much younger than Jon's sister's children ... her youngest is Kate's age.  So, Jon was able to say, "Watch...