Matchy-matchy

I was cleaning up my bedroom/sewing room and came across some large scraps of fabric that seemed perfect for making skirts for the girls. It took me two days, but I came up with some skirts that the girls now like to twirl around in.

Well, the twirling WAS fun, until Sarah twirled herself right into a kitchen cupboard. Oops!

Here are the skirts. I love when I can makes something start to finish with materials I have on hand.

The girls were excited to wear them to school, but our morning was less than happy, so our pictures reflect some individuality. For instance...Sarah didn't even want to be in a picture.

But we did get her to turn around for a second. And Leah had been throwing a fit about her footwear. So she was emotionally unable to smile for the picture. But Rebekah was feeling fine. :)

Don't you love the white socks? We really know how to make a statement. Good thing we live in a small town. The folks around here like us anyway...I think.

Easter 2011

This is backing up a week before Easter when we made little bunnies from washcloths and put candy-filled plastic eggs into them to give to church and school teachers. I did it all a week early to keep from mixing the fun from the sacred. Who knows if that was accomplished, but the kids had a lot of fun making their bunnies for their teachers!

I actually had the dresses done with over a week to spare! I chose the material based on what wouldn't be too loud for church. :) And then that limited me. So once I came up with 3 combinations that I could live with, I decided who would get which fabric based on how much I like it. So I liked Sarah's the least. Since she's the only one who will wear it, I thought I could handle it for a couple of years. ;)

The pattern for these dresses was a long one. But I didn't take into account the "short gene" that we have in this family. Sarah's dress ended up so long that she had to hold it up like a storybook princess to walk. But she look DARNED CUTE doing it!

It's difficult to get a good picture these days. So here are all five. Sarah didn't want to even be on the couch and Daniel was having way more fun than was appropriate. They'll get it all back when they are parents! hehe

Our Easter Sunday was a nice one. Chad and I had been asked to speak (poor Chad - I took all his time!) and so we'd asked my mom if she could and would come up to sit with the kids in church. My step-dad ended up in the foyer much of the meeting because Sarah was cranky and kept reaching for the front of the chapel.

After church, we came home to a yummy, but unintentionally sugar-filled Easter dinner. We had a delicious ham with a cherry glaze, canned pears, a sweet potato pie, and Resurrection Rolls (look in the archives under April 2011). So much sugar!

My mom left after dinner (lunch, really) and we got a brief Easter nap. ;) Then we found several Easter clips and a movie and watched it with the kids and talked about it all a little.

All in all, it was a very nice day!

Easter Egg Hunt #3

You may have noticed that the post before this said Easter Egg Hunt #1. There was a second hunt, but I wasn't around for it and there are no pictures. It was hosted by my mom and step-dad. Maybe they have pictures.

Anyway...this was our family egg hunt. It's the one we colored 5 dozen eggs for. We have our hunt on Saturday and save Sunday for the actual meaning of Easter. We started doing this some years ago, and I have really like the difference it has made!

Since Daniel roped us into not eating candy for a year, we didn't even bother buying any. The only eggs we hunted for were the hard boiled variety. And those are almost gone...surprisingly.

We made the kids go downstairs and "clean" while Chad hid eggs and I set out the Easter baskets. When we called them up, they came like "gang busters." So we made them freeze and let them come through, youngest to oldest. This is a shot of them "frozen."

Their Easter baskets were set out oldest to youngest...something I almost always do. Even so, there was still some confusion. Maybe we'll have to add name tags next year.

The kids always get some kind of Easter gift, but this year was a little more extravagant than usual. I think I may have mentioned Santa's pathetic sewing machine for the girls. That went into the garbage and the Easter Bunny stepped up. Since it didn't feel right to give the girls a sewing machine and the rest of the kids something like a coloring book, all the gifts were nice.

And since then, the 4 older kids have practiced threading the machine over and over. They are chomping at the bit to start actually sewing. Too bad their mother feels too overwhelmed with life to stop for 20 minutes and get them started!

After the thrill of gifts and snacks, we headed outside to hunt for eggs. What a difference a few hours makes...it was much warmer than the weather we'd had the night before!

Sarah was really getting the hang of looking for eggs.

But not so much the idea of keeping them.

Chad hid SEVERAL eggs in the pine tree branches and on the 6-ft-high fence posts. It was entertaining to watch when the kids just...couldn't...quite...reach.

And then it was time to count (and show off) because we don't want to find any rotten eggs 3 months from now!

Yes, all 62 eggs (we used 2 from the hunt the night before) were finally accounted for. They were so pretty to see on that miracle of GREEN GRASS!

This was the first Easter Egg Hunt we'd had outside since moving to this house. I'm pretty sure it was because Easter came so late in the year. We are used to seeing come late to this area.

Easter Egg Hunt #1

The kids were invited to an Easter Egg Hunt at a friend's house this year. They held it on the Friday before Easter. The weather around here has been...unreliable - to say it nicely. But this day was a break in the storm. The sun came out. Unfortunately, the temps didn't really come up. Ahh...Spring in Eastern Idaho!

Chad followed the older kids,

and I followed the younger kids. Sarah quickly got the point.

Joseph was on fire and ready to fill his basket!
Nathan was a very serious contender.

Joseph used his small arms to reach into tight places.

We were very thorough and looked everywhere we could think to look.

(Rebekah)

But like I said, it was cold. And the wind rarely quits around here. Sarah got a little too cold for her liking!

And now the kids were primed and ready for their own Easter Egg Hunt!

Our EGGcellent Adventure

Easter was quickly approaching and our calendar was getting full, so we dug into decorating eggs on the Thursday before Easter. I purchased 5 DOZEN eggs a couple of weeks early, in hopes that they would be old enough to peel easily. It mostly worked.

So we set ourselves up with the eggs and dye and got right to work. As the years have gone by, I've gotten less traumatized by cracked eggs and colorful spills. That was helpful for this year because we now had six kids involved...of varying skill levels.

When you dye eggs, you have to be very patient. Nathan demonstrates this trait here.

It is fun to draw on the egg with crayon first to end up with a neat design after dyeing. Sarah was a quick study on this point. But she wasn't real skilled. The eggs suffered in her hands...or when they repeatedly left her hands.

Before too long, we had a nice collection of colored eggs. They were pretty!

The dye kit came with stickers. The girls put some on the eggs.

Leah put some on her face. Of course.

Sarah was nearly a decorated egg herself by the time we were finished. It did bother me a little, but mostly because she'd just had a bath that morning. (We are not every day bathers.) That onesie may be forever spotted.

My HECK! Another picture of my dirty house?!?

While we had 60 eggs to color, we did run out of them quickly. I had to snag 6 for myself before they were all gone. I used my Silhouette to cut some vinyl designs and stuck them on the eggs before slipping them into the dye cups.

I really like how they turned out!

These will be fun to search for! We're going to be eating a lot of eggs!

3000 Words

If one picture is worth 1000 words, 3 pictures must be 3000 words. Right?

I've got the pictures...I'll just add a few more words. :)

My little Sarah is growing up so fast! Is she really big enough to sit at the table? Even Leah won't sit when she's at the table. (Joseph is watching for the bus.)

I braided the girls' hair before bed. It was a little kinked, but by the time Rebekah got home about 4 hours later, you could barely see a wave. Poor girl...she has her mother's hair.

I was vacuuming the floor in Joseph's room and heard a clink then smelled a burning belt. Turns out this little Lego guy got stuck between the belt and the pin that turns it. He broke my vacuum belt and lost his eye in the process. Now it looks like he's winking. Do you think it was premeditated?

Boob Tubers!

Here is what happens at our house when the kids get home from school while someone is watching TV (or a movie...in this case).

THEY ARE GLUED TO THE SCREEN!

It drives me crazy. I try to have things turned off before they get home, but sometimes I don't get to it in time.

Sheesh. I keep posting pictures of my messy house. I usually reserve this glimpse of my life for in-person visitors!

Spring cleaning the closet

I recently went through the closet and cleaned out all of my old bags and purses. I was surprised at what I found! I have switched fashions and needs several times over the years and in an effort to "de-clutter" I have not always taken everything out of the old bag. Whoa. What a trip down memory lane this created.

You can see that there is quite a pile here. Included were nursing pads (definitely don't need those anymore), some tampons (a necessity at times), expired medicine, hand sanitizer, pens and pencils, business cards, lotions, lip stick, a For The Strength of Youth booklet, temple schedules from 1999 for the Provo, Jordan River and Las Vegas temples, some hair accessories, a grocery bag, toys, receipts, breath mints, floss, fruit snacks... and several more things. Wow. Some of those things were over a decade old! Maybe I should attack some other closets.

And Joseph tried to be very helpful this morning. Here he is changing Sarah's diaper on his bed. He had just gotten the dirty diaper off. I can't believe Sarah is staying still for him!

Joseph is at the age where he FEELS "big", but can't seem to convince the rest of us to let him do the things he wants to do.

No, I don't usually trust this little job to a 3-year-old. On the other hand, Leah is VERY helpful in this area.

Decorating with vinyl scraps

I've already shown you some of my projects I've done with my Silhouette machine. I was busy with it a couple of weeks ago because I wanted to make a new sign for my front door.

What do you think?

Of course, I had a lot of space around the word and didn't want to waste the vinyl. So I filled it up with stuff. I ended up with these canister labels. I thought they turned out so cute!

I also decorated my dish washer, stand mixer, a light switch and the bedside lamps in my room (I'll spare you the pictures of those).

This was the day that Rebekah came home and decided to keep her coat and backpack on. She wore them for hours...including during lunch. We really do have heat in our house!

Wow...that computer desk is messy. Someone really should clean it up!