Fun and Quick Valentines

So, today has been a little hectic.  I had to finally make a list of everything that I have to get done this week and then prioritize that list so that I don’t miss anything.

With Valentine’s just around the corner I have to get three sets of Valentines ready for play groups, school, church, and any family or friends that don’t fit into those areas.

I had to run to Target this morning to pick up my last birthday gift for Jared.  While I was there, I couldn’t help but wander through the dollar section, seeing if there was anything that could help me over the next few days.  Lo and behold, I found a two-pack of heart ice-cube trays!  It was the perfect thing to help me make my melted crayon Valentines for Joseph.

So, I got home, put the kids down for naps and sifted through the kids crayon tub to find everything that was broken.  I have meant to go through that tub and clean it out for months so I’m really glad that I was able to make these Valentines.  It has been good all around!

I ended up getting a pretty big pile of broken crayons together.  Once I had them I made sure that all the wrappers were off.  That took a little bit of time just because of the amount of crayons I had to strip.  Some of them the kids had already so kindly unwrapped for me, but there were still a lot that needed to be done.

With all the crayons paper-free, the kids and I broke them up into smaller pieces and put them into the hearts.

After pre-heating the oven at 250 degrees (no hotter or it would have melted the tray), I put the ice-cube trays on a cookie sheet and placed it in the oven.  After 5 minutes the crayons were glistening and starting to melt.  After another 5 minutes they were completely melted and I pulled them out of the oven.  If after 10 minutes they aren’t melted, turn your oven off but leave the trays in the oven for a few more minutes.  For the thicker crayons I had to actually press my finger on it (very carefully) to help it melt into the form.

While the crayons were cooking, I cut out different colored circles and the same number of white circles, but I made the white ones a bit smaller so that when I put them together I’d be able to see the color.

I have this great little scrapbook tool that made the circles in just a few minutes and with minimal effort on my part.

After the crayons had cooked for 10 minutes, I pulled them out and set them on the counter to cool.  It only took about 20 minutes before they were completely cooled off and ready to be popped out.  It was great, because during all that time I was able to prep dinner and get it on the stove.

By this point, the kids are starting to wake up and that’s when I have Joseph help me put the circles together.  We glued the white circles on top of the colored ones and I wrote “Won’t you be my Valentine, for ‘crayon’ out loud!” on each one.  I put a dollop of hot glue on the back of each crayon heart and he placed it in the middle of the Valentine!

It was so easy and simple, but turned out so adorable.  The ironic thing is that I spent $3. 79 for a box of Valentines for Emma and the same for Benjamin but now both are saying that they want Valentines like these.  I guess it pays to be creative!

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Something else really cute and very inexpensive to make is this Peek-a-boo Valentine.  I found it filed away from years ago when Benjamin was just a little over a year old.  I used some left over construction paper, but you can get as fancy as you want!

  

Fold a piece of paper in half, cut out the shape of a heart while leaving a flat edge that would attach both sides of the heart.  Mount your picture on the inside and then mark where the eyes are and then punch holes so that your child can “peek” through.

Silly Slaves

My children are absolutely hilarious!!!

Tonight’s scripture reading was about Ammon, missionary to the Lamanites.  Right now we’re reading from the illustrated Book of Mormon.  We used to read straight from the scriptures but we needed help keeping Joseph entertained so we switched.  I’m sure we’ll be back and for between these two additions for the next couple of years.  At least until Jacob is a little older (small sacrifices to keep the peace).

 Anyway, the kids seemed to be getting lost in the big words so I took a minute to try to describe to them what was going on.  When I took the time to describe things to them a little better it really got them talking and asking more questions.  I decided to do a little role play to help them get a visual idea of what was going on.  Daddy played King Lamoni and sat on his throne (the couch).  Benjamin was Ammon, Joseph and Emma were King Lamoni’s servants, and I was the bad Lamanites that came to scatter the sheep.  The role of the sheep was played by a bag of mini marshmallows grazing on our coffee table.

Now that you have a good image of what was going on I’ll describe to you what was said.

We reenacted Ammon (Benjamin) coming from the land of the Nephites (our kitchen) and into the land of the Lamanites (our family room) where the King’s servants (Emma and Joseph) captured him and took him to see the King (Jared).  Benjamin told the king that he didn’t want to fight but that he wanted to live with him and be his servant.

That’s when things took a turn.

Joseph asked what a servant was and I explained that it was someone who did things for someone else.  Since Ammon wanted to live with the King and do things for him like watch his sheep and feed his horses and anything else the King would want him to do, that made him a servant.

Then Benjamin said, ”Oh, so we’re your servants!!!  We do things that you want us to do!”

Jared and I lost it right there!  We’re normally really good about laughing in front of the kids about things that they say so that they don’t get self-conscious, but tonight we couldn’t hold it in I mean, could you???

We finished everything off with the bad Lamanites (me) scattering the sheep (marshmallows) and then the servants gathering them, the Lamanites (me) doing it again but this time Ammon (Benjamin) standing up to them and cutting their arms off.

Tonight we made the scriptures come to life, but more importantly, my children were able to FULLY understand an ancient story and come out with the knowledge that their Heavenly Father can protect and bless them if they will stand up for what they know is right!

Don’t let the bed-bugs bite!

Man, I guess he had a good bath!  And a long day!!!  Sleep tight, angel face!

Valentine’s Crafts

Okay, I know it doesn’t look like much but to eight little children it was possibly the COOLEST thing we could have made for Valentine’s Day.

Tonight was our turn to watch all the kids for our babysitting group.  With V-Day right around the corner we thought it would be fun to make a few little crafts.

I saw this candy ring idea using pipe cleaner for the band, then you hot glue a piece of candy to it.  It was so fast and simple and the kids really like them.  I didn’t have any pipe cleaner so I used some little scrunchie hair ties that Emma never used.

Another little thing we made were your traditional doily Valentines.  We had a bunch of foam stickers that the kids used to decorate the front along with extra ribbon and stickers.

Everything turned out really cute!  I have one more thing I want to try but I didn’t have enough time tonight.  I’ll see if I can get to it before the actual holiday .

What’s with the weather?

Okay, so a couple weeks ago we had a week of rain.  Well, it started back up again last night.

Dropped Benjamin off at school, 9:00 am, and it was still drizzling a little.  Enough for him to need to put his backpack over his head .  I love the smell of rain in the air, don’t you?

The thing that I thought was interesting though, was the fact that when we got home it was still fairly dark outside.  Dark enough that lamp lights were still on all along the streets outside.

So, you’d think that a couple hours later things would change!  I thought so too.  But, come 10:30 in the afternoon this is the view from my backyard.

The sky is still overcast, leaving the lamp lights on.  It just feels like one of those days that you should climb back in bed and wait for it to all go away.  Now, if only I can convince my children to do the same !!!

Bath-sink

I love that my kitchen sink is so close to our kitchen table.

Dinner tonight was one of those don’t-even-bother-wiping-up-just-strip-’em-down types of meals.  It sure was fun though!

It was great to just fill up the sink, drop him in, give him a toy, and finish clearing the table off.  Isn’t he just the sweetest little thing!?!

Pudding… from a box

I’m not quite sure if I should feel like the best homemaker ever or if I should feel horrible.

My six-year-old just finished praising his dessert by saying, “This is the best dessert ever!  You are so good at cooking it!”

Oh, man!!!

Well, to my credit I did stick a couple Nilla Wafers in the top and a dollop of whipped cream next to that.  I topped the thing off by sprinkling on some chocolate shavings.  I guess in my efforts to make it look gourmet I fooled my children!

Angel Face

a.k.a. Jacob!!!

Here are some pictures of my little man that I’ve taken over the last few weeks.  They are completely random but I think they show how incredibly cute, happy, and loveable he is!  I can’t help but smile at these pictures of him and just run over to him and plant a big wet one on his adorable cheeks.

Love you, angel face!!!

Song Of My Heart

I have this new favorite song called “River Flows In You”.  It’s such a beautiful, serene piano solo.  It reminds me of a song that I used to bug Jared to play for me all the time when I was pregnant with my babies.  It’s called “Ballade pour Adeline”.

As my pregnancies became more and more complicated and down-right scary the song would bring me back to a happier and less stressful time. 

Funny that a song would have the same effect that some smells do, in that when they are smelled they would draw out older memories associated with that smell.  Such is the case with me and these two great songs.

If you can, I hope you can find it and listen to it.  But beware, it might steal your heart, just as it has done with me!

Infant Surgery

Okay, nothing gives me the creeps more than thinking of a little baby being put under to have surgery.  Especially when it’s my baby!

Yesterday we had an appointment with the Urologist.  My mother was able to come over and watch Joseph and Emma so that I could give 100% of me to Jacob.

Again, my little man is so GOOD!!!  He whimpered when the doctor layed him down on the examination table but then he just sat there and played with a business card I had picked up at the front desk during the rest of the examination.

Now, for a little background, back in November Jacob’s pediatrician couldn’t find one of his little testicles.  He had us make an appointment with the radiologists down the hall to do an ultrasound.  We had it done a couple weeks later and then found out at his one year check-up that there was something obstructing it from coming down.  He made a referral for us to a Urologist across town, and that’s who we went to see today.

The doctor looked at the ultrasound scans, did a physical check and confirmed that one was obstructed but then also dropped the news that the other wasn’t staying in its normal position (down).  Now, they’re not supposed to have descended completely at this point, but when the doctor pulls it down into the scrotal area it shouldn’t pop back up into the abdomen, and that’s what his are doing.

There are several reasons to treat this now rather than just letting it go, even though the doctor said there is a chance that if we let it go it “could” resolve itself.  He said that if it hasn’t fixed itself by now it’s less likely that it will happen later, but there always is that chance.

First of all, by leaving them alone (and if they never descend) it will affect his ability to produce sperm which would in tern, of course, cause fertility issues.  Secondly, his chances of getting testicular cancer increase more than ten fold!!!  That right there is something that I’m not willing to mess around with.  Not that the whole fertility problems isn’t bad enough, but just the thought of something that could potentially kill my child… ugh- not going to happen!

There were other small issues like appearance.  It would lead to difformity, and not that we’re vian people but Jared was saying that boys in locker rooms talk and we don’t want that for our son if there’s something that we can do to fix it.

So, needless to say, he’s scheduled for surgery on February 12th at 8:10 in the morning.  They will have to put him under, but because of his age and size, being smaller than normal, it will only be for a few hours.  The surgery will be out-patient and they say that aside from a day or two of needing some pain meds. he will be back to normal within a week.

So there is good news to be heard, it’s just that the surgery is a little blip we’ll have to get over!  I’m so thankful that we are in a situation now where we have good insurance, a stable job to pay for this, and a healthy boy that can bounce back from something like this!

Cupcake Liner Wreath

I found this wonderful little idea for a cute, inexpensive Valentine’s decoration.  I have been working so hard at decorating my house for just every day decorations that I haven’t worked on any holiday decorations.  I have the basic Christmas  ones (stockings, trees, etc.).  I’m trying to expand to other holidays!

I grabbed a couple 12 inch styrofoam wreath forms at the dollar store.  I raided the dollar section at Michael’s and found some really cute Mary Engelbrite cupcake liners (48 for $1).  I grabbed two packages.  You’ll need about 100 liners, depending on how full you like it to look.

I wrapped each wreath with extra ribbon.  Michael’s is having an 80% off sale on all things Christmas so I picked up this thick red, velvet, 3 inch ribbon for $1.49.

I put a big dot of hot glue on the wreath and then crumpled up three or four liners and held them in place.  The longest and hardest part about this whole project is waiting long enough for the hot glue to dry.  If you let go before it’s fully dry the liners will start to move and shift.

  I did groupings of four or five all around the wreath and then went back and filled in the gaps.  Please be careful with your fingers and the hot glue!  I does NOT feel good to stick your finger into the hot glue as you’re trying to press your liner into the wreath.

 

The finished product is so adorable!  Emma and I just sat there admiring it when it was complete.  Just to show you how easy this project is, I had my four-year old daughter helping me crumple up the liners.  I would’ve had her do more but I didn’t want her getting burned like I did.  But look how sweet it is!!!

Now my only problem is figuring out where to put it.  I can ‘t tell if it looks better on the front door or hanging on something in the house.  I’ll see what the kids think in the morning.

 

Having Fun Decorating

Okay, so I’ve been on a roll with decorating and crafts lately.  I don’t know why but I have been having so much fun!

I found this beautiful saying at Michael’s craft store while I was hunting for other supplies for other crafts I have lined up to do.

I placed it over our sliding glass door, right in our eating area.  It’s a nice little thing to look at everyday and it only took about 20 minutes to put on the wall.

Birthday Calendar

I am so happy with the way my latest project has turned out.  It will come in real handy as I try to keep up with my new resolution to better my correspondence.

With our family growing so big and so quickly over the last few years my correspondence with the outside world has gone out the window.  I used to be really good with Thank You notes; Birthday/ Anniversary cards; even writing handwritten letters, but I haven’t been that good the last four or five years.

Now that the baby is a year old and is starting to interact more with the other kids and do more on his own I have a few minutes here and there to do some of these things.

This little project holds everything that I will need to keep track of family and friends’ birthdays and anniversaries.

My cover isn’t all that fancy, but it gets the job done and I didn’t want to have to go out and buy new stuff so I just used what I had or could find around the house.

Probably the only thing I would do different, or advise you to do if you plan on doing this, is to get 1 inch or 1 1/2  inch binding rings.  These are 2 inch and they are just a little too big.  Although I don’t have my little envelopes all stuffed with cards yet so it might turn out to be alright.

This was so easy to do.  The only thing that was time-consuming was cutting all the paper to size.  But once you have everything cut it takes no more than half an hour to completely assemble.  And again, you can be as creative as you want to be and you that would add or take time off.

 
 

1. Basically, you grab 13 9×6 white, vertical envelopes.  You also need 13 12×12 sheets of scrapbook paper (I tried to match the paper with the season or holiday).

2. Cut out the scrap paper to 5 1/2 in by 8 1/2 in.  You’ll have to make a pattern for the flap and then track it for the rest of the months.

3. Use whatever font you want to write out the months of the year and the numbers of that month.  I inked my pages to give them a little depth.  Cut them out 4 in by 7 in. and the glue them on top of the decorative paper.

4. Glue everything together and then at the very end punch holes in each of the envelopes and add your rings.

Voila!!!

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

It has rained NONE STOP ever since Sunday afternoon!

For most people in the world that’s no big deal, but when you live in a place where you only get 4 inches of rain per year, 6 days of rain is a big deal!!!

It’s been really funny because almost every morning Benjamin has had to run into class with his backpack over his head.  I don’t know what happened to our umbrellas but I haven’t been able to get to the store to buy a new one.

I think one of the best things that I have been able to do all week is let Emma and Joseph run around in the rain!  Sorry, there are no pictures because my arms were full holding Jacob and letting him experience the rain as well.  His eyes were all alight with curiosity and excitement as he watched, smelled, and felt the rain.  Oh the joys of new discoveries!

Brayden Bryan

Brandon and Kyrina had their little boy, Brayden at 4:27 this morning.  They live in North Dakota so it was more like 2:27 am for us (right around the time I was making cupcakes).

Kyrina wasn’t due until the 30th but she went to sit down last night before she went out with her girlfriends and her water broke!  She was in labor for a little over 7 hours (1 1/2 hours in transition) before Brayden joined this world.  He was 7 pounds 1 ounce and 20 inches long, and looks almost identical to Brandon when he was a baby.

Good luck with everything, you guys.  Give him big kisses and hugs from his aunt and uncle and all his little cousins who couldn’t be more ecstatic to meet him.

Rockin’ Cupcakes

It is 3:15 am and I just finished making and decorating 36 cupcakes for Benjamin to share with his class later today while rockin’ out to Linkin Park!

I know, odd, huh?

I do have to say, just plugging my ears with iPod and playing my workout music really helped me focus and work quickly.

I love how well his cupcakes turned out though.  It was a simple Funfetti cake mix, but I ran out of the mix after 23 cupcakes so I just made a simple white cake from scratch and added a couple tablespoons of sprinkles to the mix and then cooked them like normal.

Once they were cooled I frosted them with white frosting and then rolled the sides in the sprinkles.  I topped it off with a life saver (some are hard and some are gummy) and then stuck a dum-dum sucker in the middle of the hole.

It was so super easy but so super cute!!!  Now it’s off to bed!!!

What’s that smell?

Okay, so I thought with all the rain that we’ve been experiencing lately (6 days of non-stop raining) that the kids would like a nice warm lunch of macaroni and cheese with hot dogs!

I was right, they were all over the idea!

While I was throwing the hot dogs into the cheese covered macaroni, my mom called to give me some news about my brother Michael who’s on a mission in England.

When I was done with the call I started going over homework with Benjamin.  Then I heard a little sizzling noise and could distinctly smell something burning- but I couldn’t figure out what.  Then I realized that I had left the stove on to warm up the mac & cheese all through the phone call and homework!

Who burns macaroni and cheese???  I guess I do .

Fabric Letters

I bought these great letters to spell out Emma’s name months and months ago when they were on sale.  Today I finally made good use of them and put them up in her room.  Before I did that though, I dressed them up a bit with some cute fabric, some steam-a-seam, and an iron.  It was so easy, I’ll show you so that you can do it too if you get the urge.

Step One: Find letters that you like.  Whether flat or 3-D, it’s all up to what you want to see every day .

Buy fabric(s) that you want to use.  Again it can be any color, style, shade (you get the idea).  While you’re at the fabric store, pick up a package of Steam-a-Seam bonding material.  This is what you’re going to use to make the fabric adhere to your letters.

Step Two: Once you’re home and you have all your materials, trace your letters IN REVERSE onto the bonding material.  The best thing at this point would be for you to follow the directions on the package because they tell you in detail.

Once your letter is traced onto the Steam-a-Seam, peel off the paper backing on the reverse side (the side that you didn’t just trace onto).  It will be slightly tacky.

Step Three: With the tacky side facing down, apply the traced letter to the backside of your chosen fabric.  The package says to then cut but I like to apply a low heat iron briefly to the traced surface just to secure the two fabrics together.  It’s not 100% but it’s better than just pressing down.  You’ll need as much fusion as possible because you’re going to cut out the traced letter now!

Step Four: With the bonding material and fabric both cut out in the shape of your letter, carefully peel the remaining protective layer on the Steam-a-Seam (the one you traced onto originally).  The material will be a little more tacky than the last side but that’s so it will stick as you place it on your letter.

You can pick-up and shift the fabric letter as much as is necessary.  Nothing is final until you iron.

Step Five: With your fabric in place, and your iron warmed to a medium heat (at the most!) go ahead and iron away!

The finished product was great!  I, and Emma, were really pleased with the way they turned out.  A little fabric goes a long way!!!

New Calling

For more than a year Jared has been serving as Gospel Doctrine teacher.  That is until today.

Today he was called and sustained as the new Ward Missionary Leader.  I’ve been slowly uncovering what that calling entails and what I might be able to do to help out at all.

I do know that we’re going to have the missionaries over a lot more and that I don’t mind at all.  It’s wonderful to have their spirit and influence in the kids’ lives.  So, I guess this means that I’m going to need to expand my recipe collection so that I can feed them something new- so if you have any ideas that you would like to share, please don’t hesitate!

Happy Sunday to you!

Sunday schedule

Sunday used to mean a day in which we, as a family, could enjoy breakfast together at a leisurely pace, get ready for church while listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir broadcast, go to our meetings, come home and eat lunch and some of us would take naps before we at dinner and go for a family walk around the neighborhood.

Sunday used to have some sort of semblance and order to it.  Not so much anymore!!!

Now that our ward meets at the 1 o’clock time slot our entire day has been turned upside down.  We get up at regular time and still eat breakfast as a family, but then I have to spend the day semi getting the kids ready for church but not fully because they’ll just get dirty or all messed up before we even get out the door.  We have to fit lunch in right before we leave or the kids are famished halfway through sacrament meeting. Also, Jacob and Joseph (sometimes Emma) HAVE  TO take naps at some point or World War III breaks out!

It’s after 4:30 pm by the time we get home and I have about half an hour to get dinner pretty much ready or I’m hounded until it’s there.  And then it seems, at least the case tonight, the kids were all ready and in bed not quite an hour after we finished dinner.

The day was over and we get to get up bright and early for school in the morning.  I hope that this schedule will get increasingly better as the year progresses.