A Handful of Blessings

Week One of Valentine Candy-Grams

2012-02-09T06:21:00.000-08:00

Several years ago, my mom saw an idea in one of the crafting magazines that had big hearts with sentiments and a candy attached to them. The kids got one per day until Valentine's Day. My kids didn't remember us doing it, so I did something similar this year for them.

Every day, they get a surprise. Sometimes it's on the table when they wake up, maybe in their lunch box the next day, or they might find them on their pillows.

Treven is the most excited about finding his surprise each day. The girls have kind of figured out what's going on. Treven just keeps asking me if they get something EVERY DAY until Valentines! If he gets up and doesn't find his treat right away, he asks and asks until he finally gets one!

Most of the candy came from the local dollar store, but I had to supplement a few things from Wal-Mart. I also tried to find some ideas that weren't chocolate. Mikayla doesn't like chocolate, so it was interesting to think of things that went with Valentine's Day that were fruity or non-chocolate!

The presentation on each of the treats is very simple. Initially, I wanted to jazz them up and make them so cute. But time started running short and then I got to thinking that they are just going to throw away the packaging anyway! So I just printed the sentiments on the computer and inked the edges and attached with staples, double stick tape, and twine.

Valentine's Day Love Notes

2012-02-07T10:18:00.001-08:00

I was trying to think of something fun to do for Gary for Valentine's Day. I made 14 3x3-inch cards and stamped various Valentine sentiments on them. I wrote a different reason I love him inside each one and every day from the 1st to the 14th, he will find a card in a mysterious place. It might be on the seat of his car, in his jacket pocket, or maybe behind his bathroom mirror. I wasn't sure how he would like it at first, but he's really been fun to watch as he looks for them. I try to tell him I love him every day, but sometimes it's nice to have a written reminder!

Survival Mode

2012-01-30T09:12:00.000-08:00

Ellie started getting sick last Thursday. She started with a slight cough and then she got a runny/stuffy nose and a fever. Today, she is still not feeling well. She is still playing and being her crazy little self, but she whines constantly. She wants held all the time. She needs something every second of every day and every night. I don't think I've gotten 1 full night sleep if I added the sleep I did get the last three nights all together.

I'm trying to be patient! I REALLY wanted to do some crafting and Valentine decorating today as it is my ONLY day off this week. I bought some supplies and had the house clean and ready to go so there was no excuses to not get it done...

but instead, I find myself rocking my baby. Rubbing her tummy, her arms, her legs, her back. I'm getting up to get her a drink every thirty seconds or so. I'm taking her potty every 45 seconds because she is drinking soooo much! I know in my heart that this is where I need to be right now because she needs me. No one makes you feel better when you are sick than your mommy. So I will continue to spend my day off trying to make my little one feel better.

Making Wedding Plans

2012-01-24T09:48:00.000-08:00

When Braquel and Keven announced their plans to get married last summer, I didn't think much about it. After all, they had been seeing each for 4 years, living together for a year, and we had kind of known this was coming. Now, we are actively planning the wedding. We are starting to purchase some of the details of the wedding. Now, it's becoming real. Now, I'm not sure how I feel about this whole thing.

Sunday night, I was looking at You Tube to try and find some ideas for the father/daughter dance. We had talked about a few songs, but had never come up with just the right one. As I clicked from one song to another, I was flooded of memories of my sweet little girl. Then I started thinking about how we'll never have her at three years old singing Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree. We will never have her first day of kindergarten. The wedding is it; it's the last of the last we will have with her. She's all grown up and ready to be on her own; now someone else is responsible for her happiness. It's a little more than I can take in right now! I start crying every time I think about it.

I'm not sure that I can make it through all the planning and worse, the actual day. I'm a mess already, how will I get through her big day without being a total cry baby? Chelsey and Gary both keep asking me if I am premenstrual because I just keep tearing up. Hopefully, as things progress and time passes I can come to grips with the whole idea of losing one of my babies.

On a brighter side, I keep telling myself that without the wedding part, I'll never get the grandchildren part!

Valentine's Day Project

2012-01-20T07:10:00.000-08:00

I saw this idea on one of the blogs that I like to use for inspiration last year. I was in the process of making a page for our retreat so I had a ton of wallet-sized family pictures. When Wal-mart prints wallets, you get two of each one, so I wanted to use the leftovers on another project. Then, I saw this cute little collage the lady had done with the same size of pictures, so I did the same sort of thing for ours. I went to the dollar store and bought a foam wreath and some red ribbon to wrap around the wreath. Then, I used paper I already had to back the pictures, some flower embellishments, and some rub-on stickers for the words.

I pinned all the pictures on the wreath and hung it up. I love it so much and have gotten so many compliments on it, that I left it up all year! Not bad for a two dollar investment!

2012-01-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from the 4 Girls and a Dream retreat from a year ago! To be totally honest, the last retreat pictures are still on my camera! But, since we just opened up registration on the 3rd and we are already full, I wanted to show everyone who is not coming what they are missing! We have lots of fun playing around and being silly. We had three girls put together a little song for us that had all of us just about busting a gut! It was so impromptu and funny that we just rolled! I think it was Stephanie, Marcy, and Abbie, but I could be wrong! If I named the wrong lady, I'm so sorry! It's hard to tell from the chins!

Here is a little more of the fun...I believe that there was a certain person that held Marcy down and one or more other certain people that drew this lovely face! Believe me, ladies, there is no sleeping at these retreats...except for if you are talented enough to sleep with one eye open!

One of the best things about the retreats is that there is no law saying you have to create! Sometimes it's good just to relax and enjoy one anothers company.

This is Sabrina taking a picture of me taking a picture of her! Crazy fun! I can't wait for April to get here so we can do it all again! I've really grown to love these ladies that take the time out of their busy schedules to come and have fun with us! It's been an absolute joy to get to know everyone and spending time with them.

First Day of School 2011

2011-12-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

I'm a little (ok...maybe a lot late!) posting the latest back to school pictures. Things have just been so hectic that I haven't had time to even download my pictures to my hard drive, let alone actually post anything! I guess I will have to work a bit harder at that! Anyway- this is Chelsey on her very first day of high school. She is a freshman at Declo this year and has been working really hard on her grades. She wants to go into the medical field, so good grades are a must! She ran for freshman class secretary and won so she is really looking forward to planning some fun things for the school.

Here is our not so little man! He turned eight just a few days after he started third grade so he was incredibly excited to start Boy Scouts! He has had the same teacher for the last three years in a row, so he finally got to move up to the bigger class and get a new teacher. He likes school so much better this year and has been behaving himself for the most part. Now if only he would read more and work on his AR points!

And last, but not least is Mikayla. She is now in her Junior year of high school and loves going to all of the games and supporting the teams. She is old enough to drive and date now so that is an adjustment for her dad and I! She also has been working really hard on her grades and had a 4.0 on her first report card!

Grandpa Stapelman's birthday

2011-09-20T07:56:00.001-07:00

On this date in 1919, my grandpa, Lester William Stapelman was born and the world was made a better place!

I was only 6 when my grandpa passed away, but I still have lots of good memories of him! He used to tease me all the time about the way I couldn't pronounce my r's. He would ask me to say,"put your shoes on the porch" every time he saw me. Of course it all came out funny and he would just laugh!

I also remember riding with him on the back of Lucy. He made her buck and it scared me so bad! I remember just wrapping my fingers around his belt loops and praying they didn't come loose from his pants.

We almost always went to grandpa and grandmas on Sunday evenings. We would watch Lawrence Welk and the Disney Sunday movie. Grandma would make popcorn and homemade fudge. Sometimes, it would get a little rowdy and the ropes would come out. Grandpa would tie the kids up and see how long it took us to get loose.

I remember how hard grandpa worked up until he got sick. He was always out doing something: farming, hunting, working with his horses. I don't remember seeing him relax much.

I also remember going on a trek with my grandparents. We went with another family and we took the horses and the wagon that my grandpa built. They cooked chicken over a fire and let me tell you, it was BLACK!

So many good memories! Just wish he had been around longer to leave us with more. I know he still looks down at us and sees what kind of people we've become and I think he would be proud!

Dad's 65th birthday

2011-09-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

Dad and Alta came up for a few days at the end of July. We decided to go to the Minidoka Dam and have a little birthday party/get together while they were here. Everyone was there; all of the kids and grandkids from both families came. That really doesn't happen very often! My aunt Shawna even showed up! We all brought our own dinner and Chelsey made a german chocolate cake and some cupcakes for the kids. The kids got to splash and play in the water and some got to tube and jet ski.

Lindsay had just gotten her belly button pierced and this was the first time she could get wet after the piercing!

In typical grandpa fashion, my dad let ALL the kids help blow out the birthday candles...one can only imagine how many germs were just blown over it!

My dad moved to Pendleton about 15 years ago or so. I sure wish he lived closer so the kids knew him better. They only see him about once a year, twice if they're lucky. I feel bad that they won't ever really know him or how much he loves them.

Jason and Sally got there late because they had another family reunion earlier that day. The kids had already been swimming so they didn't want to get wet. This is Whitney! She's getting so tall and beautiful!

CJ took each of his boys out on the jet ski. They both really loved that...guess what CJ will need to buy next?

Braquel and Keven are getting married!

2011-09-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

They've finally decided to pick a date and get married! Braquel told me the whole time she was in high school that she wanted to get married and start a family right after high school. I told her she was crazy and she had all the time in the world to get married. Luckily for me, Keven agreed. He didn't want to jump in right away so they agreed that they would live together for one year and see how it goes.

Well, I guess it's been going well because he proposed earlier this summer! I know how much it means to her that he asked her and didn't just assume they would tie the knot! It's so cute when they start planning things because she tries to include him in every decision. (and he's actually really good about giving his opinion on even the little things.) I'm so excited for them! One night we were having a bonfire and I told him thank you for asking her; it made her so happy. And he looked at me and said,"She makes me happy." It was so sweet!

Jones Family Reunion

2011-08-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

The Jones Family reunion is pretty much always held at Indian Hot Springs. The kids really look forward to it because they enjoy swimming. Ellie was too small to let in the pool without Gary or I so she spent a bit more time playing with some of the other little kids. They all know each other pretty well so she was a bit hesitant at first, but by the end of the day, they were all good friends.

This is Gary's cousin's little boy, Nick! He's a bit on the shy side, but I think he is so adorable, I had to get a picture!

This is Gary's cousin, Shawn and his wife Carrie, and their son, Quentin. Shawn and his twin brother are close to Gary's age and it's always fun to get together and hear their stories from when they were kids.

This is Gary's cousin, Mandy and her niece, Akosha. Mandy is getting married next month and we're excited to see her and Colby start their lives together.

This is Sadie, Gary's cousin's daughter. Aren't her cheeks just totally pinchable? She's a doll and we can't get enough of her long hair!

Of course, the best part of any family reunion is the food! There are certain things that people always bring, and this year was no exception. Gary's aunt Sharon always does a spaghetti-type dish that everyone loves and there is always dutch oven food along with fried chicken, ham, salads, pies, etc. We never go hungry, that's for sure!

More Water Fun

2011-08-27T06:44:00.000-07:00

First off, I have to apologize for the out of order pictures! I forget that blogger puts them up in the opposite order that I pick them! ha ha! We took the kids out by the KOA one night when Gary got home from work. Everyone else wanted to be in the water, but Ellie just wanted to fish! She got a princess fishing pole for her birthday and she wants it in the water all the time!

These two pictures are before we got the boat into the water. Ellie has discovered that she can play on the boat ramp and get in as much or as little water as she wants! It's her favorite place to play now.

Here is another out of place photo! Should be one of the last...Treven was pretty afraid of the water last year, but this year, he's done so much better. He likes to jump into the water and do tricks.

Here's one of those tricks! He wanted to do a back flip into the water, but since we don't have a boat that allows the bounce, he had to try a front flip!

My crazy husband! He told the kids he was going to jump from the edge of the boat, onto the tube, and then into the water! He did it in that order, but he barely hit the tube! He's a nut when it comes to the water...thinks I should drive the boat all the time now so he can tube! Then he acts like he's so bored and that I drive the boat like a grandma!

We have a hard time getting Ellie to put down her fishing pole and getting into the water! She gets pretty nervous when there's so much water around her.

Here's our other water nut. She'll tube, ski, dive, whatever into the water! Her and Treven were trying to outdo each other in their tricks. I hate water, but I'm so glad that my kids are little fishies!

Treven attempting another dive! I think this one was on the less risky side! He has to gear up for the big tricks!

I'm afraid we're going to have to say goodbye to summer and the boat soon! It's so sad and we didn't get to spend near enough time on the water!

tubing

2011-08-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

On hot summer afternoons, we love to go out on the water for some cool down time! On this day we went to Minidoka Dam with some friends. Braquel and Keven came out for awhile and went, too. Sometimes it takes awhile for Braquel to get convinced that she wants to get on the tube!

Someone pretty much has to hold on to Ellie when we're out on the boat because she likes to stand up and lean over the edge. Braquel was taking her turn with her baby sister!

This is our friend, Tad. The week before, our tube ripped while Tad was on it and we had to order a new one online since we couldn't find one locally. We let Tad have the first try on the new tube! It really gets air if only one person is on it to hold it down!

What a little face! Gary says that when she is graduating, this is the picture we're putting on the slide show! She's such a little ham.

There was a small inlet where the kids played while we waited for everyone to show up. There are lots of little rocks and Treven and Ellie had a ball playing there. Treven loved messing around on the tube and doing tricks with it.

Treven tried to tell us he found diamonds in the water when really he found little clear rocks. Ellie went along with him and started digging for her "diamonds!" It's always fun to relax and spend time with the kids out on the water.

4th of July

2011-08-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

One of the main entries every year in our local parade is this bell. It belongs to one of our neighbors and it comes through town at the beginning and end of the parade. It's kind of neat to hear it and sets the mood.

Treven and a few of his friends wanted to ride their motorcycles in the parade instead of riding on the school float. They got special permission to ride on public streets since they're not actually supposed to ride on the roads without a drivers license. Treven was so excited he couldn't even stand the wait!

About halfway through the days events, Ellie finally gave up and took a short nap. She fell asleep on Mikayla and then Chelsey took her home for the rest of her nap. It's always such a long day and a rest is much needed! I really wish that I could have come home and napped, too!

They did the greased pig, a bunny, and kitty catch again this year. I'm so happy to say that Treven missed all of the creatures and we didn't have to worry about finding anything a home!

These a few of the local kids that were riding bikes in the parade. The kid in the front had a big tube full of confetti and he shot it off right by us. I missed the actual confetti popping out with my camera, but it looked really cool.

Mikayla's softball team took 2nd in state, so they were asked to do an entry. She asked me if I would pick up some water things at the dollar store, and against my better judgement, I did! They thought it was pretty funny to soak everyone! I didn't think it was too funny!

We sat toward the end of the parade route, so while we waited, Ellie got a bag of cotton candy. That kept her pretty busy while the floats made their way toward us. It turned out to be a good 4th and made me very thankful and proud to live in this country!

Strawberry Thief

2011-08-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

We have a flowerbed full of strawberry plants and every year I anxiously wait for strawberries. Every year I am disappointed because the bugs and birds get the strawberries before I do.

Not this year! There is a certain two year old little girl that has beaten the birds and the bugs! She combs through the plants every day and picks everything that is even close to ripe! (Some not so close, too!)

She is so thrilled with each little strawberry that she immediately eats them; she won't even wait to get them washed! I'm pretty sure she has been so over zealous that she has eaten a few of the stems,too.

How I love this precious girl! She was the biggest surprise ever; but our family just wouldn't be the same without her. She brings so much joy to all of us and is constantly saying and doing funny things to keep us laughing!

Wood Family Reunion

2011-08-10T21:24:00.000-07:00

We went to North Heglar for the annual Wood Reunion over Father's Day weekend. I had to work Saturday morning, but we left as soon as I got off. Right about the time we got there, it started raining; just a drizzle at first, but then a pounding rain. We all took cover under anything we could, but we were all pretty soaked! Treven talked Gary into taking his little 50 motorcycle and he and Sam had lots of fun taking turns on it...until they ran it out of gas!

Family Bonfire

2011-08-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

We wanted to have a family bonfire at some point this summer. Chris and Tiffany had custody of Traci's girls and we weren't sure when they would be going back to their dad's. I had been promising them a bonfire so we decided to get it done in June just in case.

Everyone came up and we roasted hot dogs and had chips and watermelon with them. Then we roasted marshmallows for the wouldn't-be-summer-without-them smores! We were having fun with the kids and just hanging out until it started raining!

Everyone helped put tables, chairs, and food away very quickly. I've never seen such a quick clean up after one of our parties!

more Ellie mischief

2011-08-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

When we got home from the dam, we left the cooler on the deck because there were still some pops and water bottles in there. The kids will just get some out when they need it and pretty soon it's all gone. I was at work and Gary called and said that we REALLY needed to get Ellie a pool.

Of course I asked why and he told me she had been playing in the icy cold cooler water all night. He tried to get her out several times, but she would just end up right back in there!

Needless to say, the next day I pulled the kid pool out of the shop and set it up for her! She was splashing and playing in it while the water was still coming out of the hose! Apparently cold water doesn't bother her one bit!

Oakley Reservoir Fishing Trip

2011-07-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

We went to the Oakley Reservoir as soon as the weather cleared up for a day or two! The water was unusually high this year so we took our chances that we would even get any fish! We took a can of corn to put on the line with the worms, but Ellie kept reaching into the can and eating all of the bait!

Leave it to these two hams to smile for me! Chelsey likes to hide when the camera comes out, but these two will really put on a show for me!

One of Gary's complaints about taking the kids fishing is that he spends so much time redoing the lines on their poles. Someone always has a snag or needs more sinkers or something! He rarely gets to spend time fishing himself.

Along with having to mess with poles, he spent a lot of time taking the fish off the lines when they did catch something! None of the girls want to touch the fish, so he gets stuck with that job, too! He's not complaining that they catch fish, just that they refuse to take care of them once they are on board!

Mikayla didn't want to fish this time. She just wanted to lay on the front of the boat and work on her tan! She ended up quite sunburnt! I have a picture that I am not posting on the blog that shows just how badly she fried! When Gary had all he could take of redoing lines and taking fish off the lines, she started driving the boat so he could actually get a little fishing time in, too.

This made one happy daddy!

Our little fishermen! Ellie loved trying to put her pole in the water. She never did realize their was no line or worm on hers! She was happy just to lean over the side and drag it along the water.

You can see the beginning of Chelsey's sunburn along the straps of her tank top. She refused to wear sunscreen because she wanted to work on her tan, too. I don't think she will make that mistake again!

Treven loves to fish! If only we could convince him to leave the line in the water. he likes to cast and reel instead of leaving it out there for awhile!

We ended up catching 5 or 6 trout and 1 walleye that day. The boys came home and cleaned the fish and we ate them for dinner that night!

Shoshone Falls

2011-07-25T12:43:00.001-07:00

Gary had been wanting to take a road trip to Shoshone Falls for a few weeks, but due to bad weather, we didn't get to go until the end of May. I can remember seeing the falls before, but never this much water pouring over the rocks. It was awesome! We walked to a look out platform that was surrounded by gates. Treven loved looking over the gates at the water. You could feel the mist from the water on your face from the platform. Mikayla kept freaking out because she was sure the platform would fall or the gates would come off or something...she wouldn't even walk out there!

Ellie tried walking part of the time, but it was just too far and too steep for her most of the way. We all took turns carrying her around!

There was a big rock wall by the platform so Gary had all the kids line up and he took about 20 shots (all of the exact same line up!) It's really weird now to have pictures of just 4 kids instead of 5. Still seems like someone is missing!

When you look down from the platform where the waterfall stops and hits the lake, there is the most beautiful rainbow in the mist! I tried to get a good shot of it, but my camera just didn't do it justice!

This is the view from the look out straight out and ahead. It seems like so much water and it comes down so fast! I would sure hate to think about getting caught up in that! I've never been a fan of water, so there's no way I would ever get closer than the look out! This last picture is from our walk back. Treven and I were lagging behind so he could look at every rock, every bug, every wild flower we could see. I looked up and thought it was so cute how everyone else was walking along together!

Mikayla's Sweet 16

2011-07-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize that I hadn't posted anything from Mikayla's 16th birthday until last week when I was scrolling through some of my old posts! What kind of mother does that? We went with kind of a sweet shop theme and lots of hot pink, black, and white. We set the bar up to have lots of treats in her colors. We wrapped the Hershey bars and added the "M" labels and the "16" labels. We used the same labels on toothpicks in her cupcakes. We had hot pink buckets filled with Good and Plentys, black licorice, oreos, pink whoppers, and pink gummy rings.

Mikayla sure got spoiled for her birthday! She received everything from clothes, to shoes and jewelry, to candy and perfume! What a lucky young lady!

Gary's brother, Craig was teasing Mikayla at Ian's birthday party right after Christmas about her not inviting him to her parties. She told him she would be turning 16 soon and he said she had better invite him...so she did! He works a lot so we weren't sure if he would make it, but he showed up as promised and gave her $50 toward a new car!

I decided we needed some sort of sign for the goody bar so I made the sweet shoppe sign. I don't know if you can see it, but each of the scallops on the sign have a rhinestone on them adding to the "bling" factor. We also put the rhinestones on each of the labels for the candy bars and cupcakes. You can see a little bit of the pink bucket with black licorice and the stands that are empty held cupcakes. I didn't put them out too early as Ellie really likes cupcakes! I bought some glass-looking plates and cups at the dollar store and glued them together to make the stands. They ended up looking really pretty with the cupcakes on them.

Easter Invitation

2011-07-18T07:43:00.001-07:00

These are the invitations that I made to send out for our annual Easter egg hunt. I had just bought the butterfly stamp and punch from Stampin' Up and I was so excited to use them!

Christmas Card

2011-07-14T07:27:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, Robin held a crop for the March of Dimes at her new house. Mom and I drove down and I took supplies to make another set of Christmas cards. They turned out pretty cute and I now have 4 more cards for my collection!

Easter

2011-07-13T07:59:00.001-07:00

We make the kids stay in the house while the adults hide the eggs They get pretty antsy and excited to get out there!

Braquel and Keven came up and enjoyed the festivities, too! I'm glad they still come and take part even though they are grown-ups now!

We were only missing a couple of the grandkids! This is the first picture with most of the crew that I've gotten in a long time! I'm so blessed to be close to my family and have these get togethers!

2011-07-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

and the race is on!

Mikayla

Danisha

2011-07-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

Cheyanne

Natalie

Ivy

2011-07-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

Jovianne

Ellie

Sally

2011-07-13T07:34:00.000-07:00

Sam

Kylee

Morgan

2011-07-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

Ashlynn

Justice

Whitney

Last leg of Easter relay races

2011-06-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

The last part of our relay races was supposed to be a light kicking of some hard-boiled eggs around the chair and back. Treven and Sam started us once again, but Treven kicked his egg so hard right off the bat that it broke all over the grass...whose idea was that? We altered the game a bit and we used the spoons from the cottonball race to gently push the eggs. We still went through 6 or 7 eggs! This is Tiffany and Chelsey tradng spots.

Sally was coming home as Brooke takes off for the other team. Notice all of the broken eggs on the grass!

Stephanie and Whitney racing their eggs toward the finish line! The games were so much fun and gave the kids a little something to do before the egg hunt! Stay tuned for more pics of the hunt!

Cotton ball relay

2011-06-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

The second leg of our relay races was the cotton ball relay. Each team had a serving spoon with a cotton ball on it and one team member at a time raced around the chair and back. This is Jason and Chelsey racing.

This is Natalie coming in to pass off to the next member of her team!

Sam and Treven started things off again on this game. Sam is already home and in the background you can see Treven stopping to pick up his cotton ball!

Easter Hop Race

2011-06-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

We had a family Easter party at my house on the Saturday before Easter. To help keep the kids less bored, I planned a few relay games. The adults were suppose to play, too, but there were a lot of party poopers! Mostly the guys! We divided into two teams and the first relay was the bunny hop race. This is Lindsay getting ready for her turn in the sack.

Treven and Sam got to start the teams off. We had a chair about the length of that section of the yard. The boys got too pooped to go the whole way and back, so we moved the chair up about halfway!

Justice was quite the hopper! She really could move since she was only as tall as the sack!

Brooke and Ivy were up against each other. The racers were pretty much lined up by size and age so no one had an unfair advantage!

Play time

2011-05-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

Treven has been playing baseball every Saturday for the past two months. Normally we freeze our behinds off, but this Saturday was almost nice. We got there a little bit early so I let him and Ellie play on the toys while we waited for his coach.

These two pictures are backwards. I wanted the bottom one first. Ellie climbed up this board that was pretty steep all by herself to get to the slide. Notice the concentration on her face and the tongue sticking out to help with said concentration? Gets it from her grandma Lois!

Even when she gets to the top and is ready to slide, the tongue stays out! Cracks me up to see things in my kids that come down the line from past generations!

It's so fun to still have little ones that get excited to go to the park and just play. They don't need expensive x-box or wii games or lots of friends to have a good time!

Go Hornets!

2011-05-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

The Declo softball team left to Orafino yesterday morning for state competition! They are so excited! There has been so much that this team has been through together and I know they will give it their all!

One of Mikayla's coaches lost her 15 month old baby in a drowning accident right before Easter and she was at a game when word came. The girls all helped look for little Jayci and it hit all of them really hard when she was found in the river the next morning. They all had little Jayci patches sewn onto their uniforms and she is in their minds at every game. Mikayla called me when they got to Orafino last night and said that the same coach's husband and his mom were in a car accident yesterday and totalled their car. They both had bumps and bruises, but they were both okay for the most part. How much more can this family possibly take? I pray that they keep up their faith and maybe God could help them win state! They sure deserve it after all of this!

More Prom 2011 -in color

2011-05-18T07:59:00.001-07:00

Mikayla borrowed the dress from a friend at school and my mom made her the sash just to make it slightly different. Mikayla made the big flower with the bling to finish it all off. She looked so beautiful! Made me wish I had gotten to go to prom just once!

I took a bunch of pictures by the cabin and then we still had some time to kill so we went down to the park and took some. The gazebo ones are my favorite!

This was Mikayla's wrist corsage. They made it on a diamond-looking bracelet that she can wear later. Pretty cool! After pictures, the group met at Sage Mountain and Brad's mom cooked them dinner and then it was off to the dance! I hope she takes away great memories!

Prom 2011

2011-05-18T07:52:00.001-07:00

Mikayla went to the Minico prom with Brad on the 30th of April. For their day date, they went with a group to a miniature golf course in Twin and then had lunch at Johnny Carrinos. Then they went skating and then home to get ready. Braquel came up and helped Mikayla with her hair and then I got some pictures! Lots of pictures! I think that Brad wasn't too excited about them, but he's such a good kid that he complied anyway!

Mothers Day/Birthday

2011-05-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my 36th birthday and Mothers Day all rolled up into one! I always feel jipped a day when this happens, but everyone made up for it yesterday! The kids had the house all clean when I got up and Gary made french toast, bacon, and hash browns for breakfast. Chelsey bought some strawberries and whip cream to put on the french toast, too! Then Gary and Chelsey did the dishes (one of the only times I have EVER seen Gary do them! That was a gift in itself!!!) We laid around and watched movies for awhile and then I got to take a super hot bath all by myself! Not even Ellie came in! (another gift!!!) For dinner, Gary grilled some tri-tip roasts (thanks, David for turning us on to a new favorite!) and I threw together some salads. As I was making them, Gary tells me,"I feel really bad you have to do this on your day, but they just wouldn't be as good if I made them." I'm thinking it was a total line of bull, but it was okay; I really didn't mind! Gary's parents were celebrating their 40th anniversary so they came up and ate dinner with us. It was a really relaxing day and I loved every minute of it!

A big thank you to Chelsey for spoiling me! She worked her tail off and saved enough money to go all out and spend it on me! I loved it, Chelsey; thanks! Also, thank you to Mikayla for the flowers, I can't wait for the weather to turn better and get out and plant them. They will remind me of you all summer! Braquel and Keven, thanks for the awesome purse and candle and the garden set. You guys are the best!Thanks for spending your evening with us. Thank you for the rockin' necklace and earrings, Treven and Ellie! You're so sweet! And to my dearest husband-thank you so much for your gift! I can't wait for our family pictures to be done! I love you all and I am so proud to be your mom and wife!

Retreat Challenge #9

2011-03-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

This weeks challenge was to spend some time on yourself and do a layout about it. We had two birthdays within a 7 day time period, so I chose to do a home pedicure. Obviously, funds were limited and honestly, I was so tired that I didn't even feel like going anywhere! My girls and I set up a pedicure station and repainted our toes and put some bling on our toenails. Then it was on to facials.

You can't see them very well in the picture, but I added lots of sparkly jewels to the page to recreate the bling on our toes. I also did my title with glittery letters to mimic the toe nail polish look.

Retreat Challenge #8

2011-03-13T10:24:00.001-07:00

This weeks challenge for the 4 Girls and a Dream Retreat was to make a layout about an important event in your life. I chose to do mine about the births of the kids. My favorite part are the butterflies with the numbers of the birth order by each picture. I can't believe the retreat is only a few weeks away and I don't have anything thought out or ready to go! AAGGGHH!!

Our birthday princess!

2011-03-10T07:27:00.000-08:00

Ellie was so excited for her birthday. We had ice cream and cake and invited her grandparents over to help celebrate. I found this adorable outfit at Wal-mart and knew it was the perfect outfit for a birthday princess!

Gifts

2011-03-10T07:17:00.001-08:00

so many gifts...Ellie wanted to open her gifts before everyone even got here! She kept trying and we kept telling her that she had to wait until Braquel and Keven got here. The second they came through the door, she grabbed her first gift and started ripping! She got several new outfits, a toy puppy, shoes, jewelry, a new tea set, the cutest swimsuit ever, a camping chair, a fishing pole, and a toybox! She was definately spoiled!

Cake

2011-03-10T07:09:00.001-08:00

Every time we would ask Ellie what she wanted for her birthday, she said cake...with sprinkles...and candles! I made her a lemon cake to match her party colors and we topped it with pink sprinkles and two candles. She loved it and I love that she is still easy to please! Right after she blew out the candles (of course Gary had already put the camera down so we missed getting a picture) she put her head down right into the frosting! I don't know if she was trying to eat her cake like a dog or what!

Balloons

2011-03-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Every good party must have balloons. We decorated with some pink and yellow balloons and the kids got to play with the rest of the package. They love getting to blow them up and hit them all around the house! Ellie is our first birthday of the year and I'm glad we've got at least one under our belt now!

and now...the rest of Ellie's story

2011-03-08T07:43:00.001-08:00

After Gary and the kids left that night, I needed to get Ellie awake enough that she would eat. All of my kids would fall asleep a few minutes after starting to eat, so I needed her awake and hungry! Otherwise, she would be staying at the hospital. I changed her diaper and clothes and started a little photo shoot of our new angel.

She cooperated somewhat, but she was still pretty sleepy from that trip through the birth canal. I played with her for as long as she would and then fed her. Luckily, the nurses were pleased with her eating and when the pediatrician checked her out the next mornng, he couldn't believe she was so healthy. He said she was perfect, just tiny. He told me that since I had taken four other kids home and not killed them, he thought we would be just fine with Ellie going home!

So we loaded our sweet but teeny tiny baby in the car seat that was WAY too big for her and took her home. She was such a trooper. She never had to have oxygen, she never got jaundice, nothing that you would expect such a little one to have!

Ellie's story

2011-03-07T07:22:00.001-08:00

I accidentally posted these in the opposite order of what I was wanting...sorry! Ellie was so small and I really wanted to catch how tiny she was before she grew. She is about a week old here and I tried to compare her tiny head to Gary's.

This was still at the hospital before we got to bring her home. Treven just couldn't get enough of her! He was wanting to hold her, kiss her, smell her the whole time! He even told her he was going to be the best big brother and when she got older, he would take all of her spankings for her! He was so sweet. I'm not sure he still feels like he wants to take her punishments, though!

When Ellie was born and they immediately took her to the warmer, I was so scared. I had caught just a glimpse of her when she was born and she was so tiny. My heart nearly stopped and I just knew they weren't going to let me take her home. I've only seen one baby smaller than she was. They dried her up and checked her out and I really was worried when they announced that she was 4 lbs 11 oz. I was sure there was no way were they letting us take her home...I was sick!

When the nurse came in my room that night, I asked her if they were going to let her come home. She said that as long as she kept up her temperature and as long as she was eating, she could go. There was a big board in my room and I had to keep track of when and how long she ate, when she pooped, when she peed, etc. I have never actually prayed for my babies to poop or pee, but that night, I prayed with everything I had! Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story!

Retreat Challenge #7

2011-03-06T09:02:00.003-08:00

I'm so glad that my job for the retreat this year was the challenges! I've had so much fun putting my layouts together and the fact that I have to post every week really keeps me focused and on track. It's also awesome that when I am all done with my challenges, I will have a book all about me. I've never really scrapbooked for me, it's always been for the kids. I had a hard time with the first layout because I don't really like pictures of myself, but the rest of them have been fun. Anyway, the challenge for this week was to create a page with advice; either some you have been given or some you would like to leave for future generations. I used a lot of smaller sayings for my advice. I really tried to use things that I tell my kids all the time.

March Blog Hop

2011-03-01T06:10:00.001-08:00

For the Blog Hop this month, I made a necklace out of beads (or charms!) I really liked the flower charm that I used in the middle so I used it as my starting inspiration and worked my way from there. Make sure you check out Lois' blog and A Creative Day to see what kind of inspiration they came up with!

The theme for next month is EGG-Citing! Have fun and remember that the sky is the limit for projects!

Almost 2

2011-02-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that my baby is almost two already. I'm not sure where the time has gone, but it sure went fast!

This little girl is one of the craziest kids I've ever seen! She is constantly making messes everywhere, getting into things, asking why or what to everything you say, and she loves to fist fight. Any yet, her kisses are so sweet and she is so loving.

When she wants something and you tell her no, she says with the cutest look on her face, "but, I love it." She pretty much always gets what she wants! She used to burp like no other; she would take a swallow or two and then let out three or four huge burps. Then she would bust out into laughter. She's been getting into the whole princess thing lately, so I asked her, "Do princesses burp?" She shakes her head no. I say," Do princesses fart?" She again shakes her head no. I say,"Do princesses fight?" She shakes her head no again. I say,"What do princesses do?" She says,"Huggies and Kissies." She is just the sweetest little thing...until she punches you in the face and laughs! We're going to keep working on the princess stuff!

Retreat Challenge #6

2011-02-27T07:36:00.003-08:00

Our challenge this week was to do a page about a family tradition that is important to us. I did mine on our annual Easter Egg Hunt. The kids really look forward to this and it's one of my favorite things we do. I love planning what treats to hide in the eggs and watching the kids get so excited over finding them!

Snow much fun part 2

2011-02-25T08:57:00.000-08:00

Mikayla and ELlie came flying down the hill and Ellie tipped to one side of the sled. Mikayla tried to stop her, but she plowed face first through some snow. I was trying to take this shot of her face as I was running to stop her! So cute!

Here are the three girls coming down the hill. There is an area that has a run (sort of primitive, though) and the girls wanted to do it so they could be on the sled longer. The only problem is that it is a much higher, steeper climb than where Gary and I were. They only did that run a time or two before they decided it wasn't worth the hike!

Treven was having a really hard time getting his snowboard to really go. It only wanted to go a few feet at a time, so Gary tried to help him get a good start. I'm afraid it didn't help much!

The best part of the day was sending Ellie down the hill by herself. It was so fun to hear her little squeals and giggles as she came down toward us. Thank heavens Gary was there to keep dragging her back up the hill!

Snow much fun part 1

2011-02-24T07:10:00.000-08:00

We wwnt up to the snowmobile lodge at Pomerelle after Christmas. It was super cold that day, but the kids didn't care. Treven had gotten a snowboard type thing for Christmas so he wanted to try it out. Unfortunately, the straps didn't go over his snowboots so he had a hard time going too far. He laughed even through the falls!

I can't even tell you how many times Gary made the trip up the hill to send Ellie down. The kid was a maniac. We could hear her squeal the whole way down the hill. As soon as she would stop she would yell More More!

Chelsey only went down a time or two. It was too cold for her! Plus, she only brought a sweatshirt instead of a coat and she didn't have any snowboots. She mostly just watched and caught Ellie on the sled!

Treven on another try. he must have climbed that hill a hundred times or better! I'll be back tomorrow with some more pictures from that day!

Retreat Challenge #5

2011-02-22T15:08:00.001-08:00

The challenge this week was to create a layout about a favorite childhood memory. I didn't have any pictures of the story I wanted to tell, so I just used my words and some embellishments.

12 Months of Christmas -part 2

2011-02-17T16:34:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, Stephanie taught us how she plans for Christmas all year. She starts with envelopes with the names of everyone she needs to buy Christmas gifts for. Then she puts extra money into the envelopes on payday or whenever she has extra to put away. Once the money is in the envelope, she seals it up and puts it away until she finds the perfect gift. I loved this idea so I started doing the same thing for our family. It's so much easier to put a little away at a time rather than come up with all of it at once. It's also nice, if something is on sale or clearance, I already have the money ready to go. Sometimes, the cashiers look at me really weird when I pull out an envelope and open it, but when I explain, they all love the idea, too! Normally, I don't fancy up my envelopes, but I decided I would use up some of the extra stickers and borders I have. It will make it more fun to open the envelopes at shopping time!

12 Months of Christmas part 2

2011-02-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

This month I did 4 of the same Christmas cards instead of 4 different ones. When I did the first one, I liked it so much I just kept going with it!

Valentine's Day Cards

2011-02-14T08:32:00.001-08:00

These are the cards I made for Gary and the kids this year. Usually I make everyone a different card, but this year I just did two cards each in three designs. Cards are a lot of work so it's much easier to do two each time! Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day and that you get to spend it with someone special!

Retreat Challenge #4

2011-02-13T07:25:00.001-08:00

The challenge this week was to create a layout using a monogram. I, of course, used the "J" from Jones!

I chose to do a double page spread for this challenge because I had so many great pictures and I wanted to use them all! Even making most of the pictures wallet sized, I didn't really have a lot of extra embellishment room!

Here are the two pages put together!

Retreat Challenge #3

2011-02-06T06:37:00.000-08:00

This weeks challenge was to create a layout about a strong personal belief. I chose to do mine on my personal belief that God personally atoned for my sins.

This is just a close up picture of the photos and journaling. All of the flowers are in my yard (although they are from last year; no flowers yet this year!).

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

2011-02-03T06:55:00.000-08:00

Every few years, our family gets to plan Christmas Eve. Dave came up with the theme of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and we had so much fun! He got online and ordered this mask thing and then it Steph almost 2 hours to do his makeup! When he walked in, some of the kids cried or ran away and some of them loved him and weren't scared at all! Ellie loved him, which is weird because she won't even go near Chelsey when she puts beauty masks on!

We asked everyone to come dressed up as Who's. It was fun to see so many that actually participated! The prize has to go to the Stapelman family, though, because almost all of them, young and not so young, dressed up. They had who clothes and who hair! This is Tarra in her finest Who-duds!

To go along with the Grinch, we needed a Cindy Lou-Who...fit perfectly by Lindsay! It is kind of funny because since she was little, she has been called Lindsay Lou! She did a really good job of putting together her costume and hair!

This is Telynn and her daughter. All three of Telynn's girls and her husband even dressed up! Thanks for making it so much fun! I'll be back tomorrow with a few more pictures of Christmas Eve!

February Blog Hop

2011-02-01T06:12:00.001-08:00

The theme this month was Be My Baby Tonight! I wanted to do a play on the baby part, but I didn't know anyone having a baby! Luckily, while at the dollar store, I ran into an old friend who was throwing a baby shower for her daughter! What luck!! I was going to cover a box that I had bought from Papertrey Ink, but the gifts that I had bought for the baby didn't fit in the box, so I covered a kraft bag instead.

The bag didn't look finished until I did a tag. All in all, I think it looked really cute even though it isn't baby-ish! At least she can reuse the bag for someone else. Be sure and check out Lois' blog and A Creative Day to see what Lois and Ashley have created...you won't be sorry! The theme for next month is "The Charmed Life" and I'm already having visions of some sort of beads and charms! I think my girls may even get in on this one!

Retreat Challenge #2

2011-01-31T08:52:00.000-08:00

The theme for this weeks challenge is to create a layout about a personal hobby. I chose to do my page on scrapbooking, mostly because it's for the retreat and it kind of all goes together. I put some pictures of one of the retreats on the page with some journaling about why I choose to scrap.

Ellie's Mishap

2011-01-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

My poor little girl; she was up early one morning and Gary and I weren't ready to get up. We put her in the rocking chair with a cup of milk and some cartoons just like she does almost every morning. After awhile, I decided it was too quiet; I got up to check on her and found her with this little face...

apparently, she learned to unzip zippers and had opened my make up bag. All of the contents were scattered on the table and most everything was dug into pretty deep! It's so hard to get mad when you're busy taking pictures!

Friends Christmas Party

2011-01-25T07:45:00.000-08:00

Every year we have a Christmas party with some friends that we have had for years. Instead of a regular gift exchange, we did a gag gift exchange. The only rule was that it had to be $1.00 or less. I bought this big pair of sunglasses for one of our gifts and Michelle ended up with them. However, it wasn't long before everyone was wearing them and getting silly!

We had so much fun! I wasn't really sure how it would turn out, but we laughed so hard I thought I would burst. Some of the other $1.00 gifts were: tattoos, toilet paper, sunglasses that were colored with fingernail polish, a kazoo, a pregnancy test, and disinfectant wipes.

trying to get a photo shoot with Ellie

2011-01-24T07:45:00.000-08:00

Trying to do photo shoots with Ellie is no longer any fun! She is everywhere; she won't sit still, she won't look at the camera, and when she does look, she gives the weirdest cheese smile that completely closes her eyes! I don't know why I even bother anymore!

Retreat Challenge #1

2011-01-23T07:36:00.000-08:00

The first challenge for our April retreat was to create a 12 x 12 layout about yourself. I asked the ladies to put a photo of themselves along with some information and facts about them. When I was typing the information about me, I had so many things to write! Everything didn't fit on the space allowed, so I had to just put on the most relatable things!

Ellie gets over her fear of Santa!

2011-01-21T21:41:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago I bought Mr. and Mrs. Claus. They are really cute and when you turn them on, they sing and dance and Ho Ho Ho every time they sense movement. Needless to say, most of the time they are turned off! Ellie loves this couple. Several times a day she will walk up to them and hug them and kiss them and carry on little conversations with them. Anytime we ask her what she wanted Santa to bring her, she would say CANDY! So, whenever she would talk to them, she would ask him for candy and then nod her head as if he was talking back to her. It was so cute the way she thought they were real! For some reason, though, they really did help her get over her fear of Santa. It might have been because they were more her size and not so big and scary! Whatever the reason, I sense a scrapbook page about it!

Chelsey's 14th Birthday

2011-01-21T07:18:00.000-08:00

I wrote about Chelsey's birthday a little while ago, but I wanted to post some actual pictures. This poor kid was so sick she couldn't even enjoy her day...her day that only comes once a year! We all came down with some sort of nasty flu that week and three of us were feeling really yucky that day. I probably should have rescheduled the pizza party we had with grandparents, but honestly, there were no extra days between her birthday and Christmas; it was now or never. We all sucked it up and went down, but Chelsey was literally throwing up as we walked into Doc's. It was horrible!

Chelsey got really spoiled for her birthday. She got money from her dad and I and each of the kids got her a gift. Braquel got her the cutest black coat with zebra stripes in the belt. Chelsey is really into zebra right now so she loved it! Mikayla got her some jewelry, Treven got her a beautiful teal shirt, and Ellie got her some zebra shoes. She also got an ipod case from grandpa and grandma Wood, her own expensive shampoo and conditioner from grandpa and grandma Jones, cash from grandpa and grandma Gibbons, and a set with tons of perfume from her Aunt Shannon. Her best friend, Linsday, also joined us and gave her an American Eagle shirt and a bracelet with her name on it. Totally spoiled!

I had preordered 5 pizzas thinking we would surely eat that much. I was way off! Since half of us were currently sick and the other half had just gotten over being sick, we didn't hardly make a dent in the pizzas! Oh well, it will be a birthday she never forgets!

Candy Making Day

2011-01-20T12:05:00.000-08:00

For the last few years, we have been having a candy making day with my mom. It's so much easier to bake cookies at her house since she has a double oven! She also has a nice cool garage by the kitchen to help the candy set faster. And...let's face it, we love spending time with grandma! The kids all look forward to this day! We did some experimenting the first year with some new recipes, but now we have a pretty set list of what we make. Gary told me I needed to cut down on what we made because we end up eating way too much sugar. So I asked everyone in the family what their favorite treat was...needless to say, they all picked something different. So, we still made a ton of candy! This picture is of Chocolate Billionaires. They taste kind of like a 100Grand bar. They have a caramel center with rice krispy cereal and then they are dipped in chocolate. Super good! Gary picked these and divinity as his must-haves!

These are pecan caramels. These are Chelsey's all-time favorite treat...she begs and begs to make sure we make these caramels. They are pretty yummy! They are nice and soft, but they take FOREVER to cook! We did two batches this year because one just isn't enough!

Braquel and Mikayla both demanded our Marbled Roca. It has toasted almonds, a toffee base, and then chocolate and white chocolate swirled on the top. They are to die for! I know this picture looks kind of gross, but I had just swirled the two chocolates. When it sets up and you crack into pieces, it is like eating a piece of heaven! We try to be stingy with this on our Christmas plates we take to the neighbors because we really want to keep it all for ourselves!

Retreat Challenges are posted!

2011-01-18T13:51:00.000-08:00

As we prepare for our 4 Girls and a Dream retreat, I am excited to have posted the challenges for April. I got to take charge of the challenges and I'm super excited about them. If and when the ladies complete them, they all go into an album and will tell the story of each of us! I can't wait to finish them and post my samples! I'm actually going to do something that I never do and that is to have a photo shoot of myself. I don't have any pictures of me since I am always the one behind the camera, so it will be fun to try something new!

As a sidenote, we still have several spots available for our retreat. If we don't finish filling up, we will be forced to cancel. I cannot tell you how disappointed I will be if that happens, but we have to have enough come in to cover the costs of the inn and the food. We can cut out the extras (the welcome bags and the projects) but if we can't cover food and lodging, it wouldn't make sense to keep it going. I have researched several other retreats that offer similar things as we do, but their prices are around $400.00! We charge $110 and we don't make any money. After we do food and lodging, the rest goes right back into our projects, treat bags, prizes, etc. We do it because we love it, not to make money! If anyone is interested in coming, please let me know...we'd love to have you! It is so much fun spending time with such creative ladies and getting to focus on our shared hobby. I come away from there with such a feeling of renewal!

PTO Gift Night

2011-01-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

The president of our local PTO had an idea that it would be fun to host an evening at the school so the parents of the kids could have a night away to go to dinner or go Christmas shopping without their kids. We also opened it up to other kids at home. It did sound like fun at first, then it sounded like a lot of work! I'm not going to lie, it was a ton of work! It was well worth it, though. I'm not sure that there was one single kid in the whole school that didn't come! We started right after school and began with a snack and then some games. This is one of the games; the kids divided into two groups and had to wrap a member of their team with toilet paper. The only trick was that each kid only got about 6 squares of toilet paper at a time! It was a mad dash!

This is another of the games. There was a suitcase filled with oversized clothes for each team. One team member stood at one end of the room and one at a time, the other team members dressed him up. They took turns being the one who got dressed, so by the time the game was over, each team had dressed 4 kids. It was a lot of fun to watch these kids try to put on big pants!

By 5:30, the kids all started to get hungry again. We ordered 18 pizzas and while we waited for them, we had the kids put on pajamas and set out sleeping bags to sit on. We were planning on watching a movie a little later, so it seemed like a good time to get settled in. I guess we forgot to tell the kids that, though! They were so wound up it was crazy! Thank goodness for Mikayla; she went to pick up the pizzas so I could stay and help control the chaos!

We had lots of other games, both indoors and out, but it would take a week to show everything! This game was one of their favorites, though. Two teams again and lots of balloons and running! Ellie loved this game the most even though she nearly got trampled! She had so much fun with all the "big" kids that night! By the time all of the kids got picked up and we cleaned up the classrooms and lunchroom, we were all worn out! A big thank you to Chelsey and Mikayla for helping so much! I'm sure it wasn't the way they envisioned spending a Friday night, but they were good sports. I'm thankful I have such good kids!

12 Months of Christmas part 2 (January)

2011-01-15T09:32:00.000-08:00

To start the Christmas organizing off right, I covered this composition notebook. Now I can keep all of my ideas and lists in one spot. Hopefully, having everything all together will keep me on track!

I kept the back really simple because I want it to lie flat when I'm writing in it. The more embellishments and thickness, the less easy it will be to write nicely so I can actually read what I wrote! I'll be back in the middle of February with next months ideas and projects!

12 Months of Christmas part 1

2011-01-14T09:16:00.001-08:00

In order to better prepare myself for Christmas 2011, I have decided to break things down into the twelve months leading up to the big event! I usually send out about 50 Christmas cards, so I decided I would start with 4 cards per month on average. If I do a set that I really like, I will add a couple more to equal out to the 50. While I was making the project for my next post (12 Months of Christmas part 2) I had some leftover paper and stickers, so I went ahead and made the first 4 cards for December. They are pretty simple because I was using scraps and I didn't feel like getting a bunch of things out that day. They turned out okay so I put them away! Join me tomorrow for part 2!

Gingerbread Houses

2011-01-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

Every year, the Sage Mountain Grill hosts a gingerbread house challenge and invites the elementary school to participate. Each of the kids bring in bags of candies to use on the houses and the Sage brings down a huge bucket of icing. They use graham crackers and icing around milk cartons for their houses and they can decorate however they want.

I spent the day at the school helping the kids with their masterpieces. Let me tell you, this is a messy experience, but the kids love it! It was really fun to see how creative the kids can be! Here is Treven's finished house. I really think he should have taken first place, but I'm just the mom!

Ellie's visit with Santa

2011-01-11T06:10:00.000-08:00

After the school performed at the Festival of Trees, I took Ellie and Treven over to Santa. There were two little boys already on his lap, and Ellie kept telling them Beep, Beep. She wanted them off and her on. As soon as they got off and I sat her on his lap, she freaked out! She started to cry and tried to jump off his lap.

I told Treven to sit down on Santa's lap and hold Ellie and maybe she would calm down. It worked pretty well except that she maintained a constant death grip on Treven's neck and she wouldn't talk to Santa or even hardly look at him. It was pretty funny for everyone watching, but I think it may have traumitized her!

Festival of Trees 2010

2011-01-10T08:04:00.000-08:00

The Albion Elementary kids sang and performed at the Festival of Trees toward the first part of December. They do lots of little jokes, recite poems, etc. One of their traditions is to also play the bells. It always gives me chills when they do because it's so soft and pretty.

Treven got to take part in one of the jokes as well as play the bells and sing. One of his classmates asked "What is in December that is in no other month?" He answers with "The letter D!" He really doesn't like participating in these little things; he's a lot like his dad and he would rather stay home than get up on stage and make a fool of himself. I keep trying to encourage him that he does a great job and no one thinks he looks dumb!

Ellie had a ball watching the kids. I was in the front row so I could get pictures and she kept yelling for her Bubba! She walked right up almost to the stage and just watched. She would dance along with the music and clap like crazy when each song ended!

Treven's rules

2011-01-06T07:44:00.000-08:00

Treven made this sign one day and hung it on his bedroom door. Apparently they are rules for those who may/may not enter. Love the "No Smoking" sign part, but the other written rules are a little weird. Here they are in a nutshell:

You may NOT ENTER IF:

You are a victim of a crime

You talk at all

You are a girl

You have secrets

You fit in his clothes

OR

You give the finger...

Don't ask me where he comes up with this stuff...must be from his father!!!

Last of the Thanksgiving Photos

2011-01-04T07:06:00.001-08:00

When all of the other kids went outside to sled, Ellie had a fit. She wanted to go outside, too. I bundled her up and she and Chelsey headed out for awhile.

Ellie must have a bit of her daddy in her because she immediately thought it would be funny to scoop up some snow and throw it! Nobody has ever shown her how; in fact, this is probably one of the very few times she has really gotten down in the snow!

She had poor Chelsey on the run! She would just giggle and giggle when she would throw the snow and Chelsey would run and scream! Devilish little thing, she is!

2011-01-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

After we ate Thanksgiving dinner, the kids went outside into the field next to the house. Keven pulled the kids around on the sled behind his Suzuki and they had so much fun...until Braquel was pulling Keven and ended up breaking the sled! The whole top with the rope came off! That was the end of that!

When Mikayla came in, she had icicles hanging from her eyelashes. It was so weird! I guess it was good that the sled broke so they could all come in and defrost!

2011-01-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

Part of our Thanksgiving traditions are the kids and I going through all of the ads for Black Friday. Even though we don't really go out and shop at 4 in the morning or fight the crowds, it's fun to see what's on sale and what we are missing. Usually, we don't miss much!

Braquel and Keven got to Thanksgiving dinner a bit late. Braquel always has to work on Thanksgiving and they like to stop by Keven's grandma's house before they come out. It's a good thing that we usually eat a little later at the Jones' house!

Can you believe that Chelsey finally posed for me? Typically she turns away really fast and all I get is a shot of her flying hair! This time she just smiled and waited for me to take her picture. Maybe it helps that she was starving and wanted to stay close to the food!

Here is Gary's dad getting the turkey ready to slice. Along with the usual turkey, we have potatoes and gravy, homemade turkey noodles, frog eye salad, rolls, and lots of pies! Gary's sister, Sheila usually makes the turkey noodles and frog eye salad, but her family spent Thanksgiving in California this year. Grandma Jones did the turkey noodles and I took frog eye salad instead. The kids said we just couldn't break with tradition!

Another tradition at the Jones Thanksgiving is pickles. Lots and lots of grandma's homemade pickles. Ellie loves them and they are great for snacking on while waiting for everything else to get done! It's very unusual to see Ellie without a pickle or olives in her hand when we are grandma and grandpa's house! Stay tuned for more of our Thanksgiving pictures in the next few days! Slowly, but surely, we'll get this blog caught up to the present!

January Blog Hop

2011-01-01T13:04:00.001-08:00

For my blog project this month, I made a New Year's Eve banner. I cut out each of the HAPPY NEW YEAR letters and glittered them. Then I attached all of the pieces to a string and added buttons and flowers in between each. The letters took forever to dry, but other than that, I was pretty happy with it!

To see another great glitter project, link up to A Creative Day! Ashley has a really cute project that she made.

February's blog hop theme is going to be "Be My Baby Tonight". You can choose a project that uses the whole Valentine aspect or play on the baby word and make something with the baby theme. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Holidays Recaptured

2010-12-30T13:48:00.000-08:00

We spent the early hours of Thanksgiving Day at the Mini-Cassia Turkey Trot. Let me tell you- it was FREZZING COLD! My thermometer in my car said 11 degrees on the way down. Mikayla and Brad went with me since everyone else wanted to sleep in! Stephanie called the night before and wasn't sure if she was coming since it was so cold, but she and Brooke and Lindsay all came down to trot with us.

Stephanie is a runner and she decided to run with the group. I did not get the running gene so I walked. Sally took pity on me and walked with me and the kids were all right behind us. Stephanie finished her three miles in about 33 minutes so she came walking back to find us. Good thing she didn't wait for us because I think we finished in 50 something minutes!

Mikayla and Brad posed with the mascot for the Turkey Trot before the race. The whole trot is put on by some of my cousins and I was really excited to take part in it this year! All of the proceeds go to a local fire department and other local causes and it was really fun to do something that was good for our community and also good for my health!

MIA

2010-12-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. There is so much going on this time of year that it's all I can do to keep up. It seems like I run and run all day and just get home in time to fall into bed and do it all over again the next day.

Chelsey turned 14 on Wednesday! Since it seems like she always gets ripped off (her birthday so close to Christmas has always been bad), I planned a night out at Doc's Pizza for our family and her grandparents. On the way there, she got sick and threw up all over outside the restaurant. She was so miserable, she didn't even look at the food much less eat any! I felt so bad for her. She got lots of great gifts, though, so hopefully that made her feel better. I told her she will never forget her 14th birthday!

The flu that got Chelsey also got the rest of us. One by one, we get it for a day or two and then we pass it on. It's horrible! I felt like I was run over by a truck! Every muscle and joint ached. My lower back was the worst; I truly wanted to die the other night! Poor Treven is taking his turn today. He just keeps telling me, "Mom, I feel yucky. Can't you do something?" I wish that I could get sick again myself so he would be his normal, happy-go-lucky self. He missed the best day of school ever!

Sally came and helped me get all of the secret santa things delivered yesterday. It sure made me appreciate how hard my husband works so we have a nice, warm home to live in! Sometimes I take for granted that most of us are all a paycheck away from being homeless...

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their holiday season! I probably won't have much time to blog next week, so please know that you are all in our thoughts and prayers and we love you!

Family Give

2010-12-04T08:59:00.000-08:00

Most of you already know that my family has been doing a series of gives each month for the past year. I can't tell you what a difference it has made; not only to others, but to me as well. It was really hard for me to quit working and go back to living on one income. I was so used to having some of my own spending money and doing pretty much whatever I wanted, that it was quite a reality shock. All of a sudden, I had to wait for payday to take the kids to the movies or out for lunch. Doing these gives has helped me see that there are those that don't get to wait for payday because the only payday they get is unemployment checks that don't even really cover their rent and utilities. There isn't money for McDonalds because there isn't money for shoes for the kids. There are people that don't have a nice warm home to come to at the end of a long day; they get to go to a soup kitchen and pray there is still food left. When I get to see my family and share holidays with them, there are elderly people in homes that dont have anyone but the workers to share their holidays with.

I am so proud of everyone in my family that has joined us month after month on this adventure. It has truly blessed me in so many ways and it has helped teach my kids that life isn't about getting the newest electronic or material things we want. It's about helping others, feeling compassion for fellow human beings, doing whatever little bit that you can to make the world a better place. That's what this life is about! About 10 years ago, the WWJD thing was really big. I believe that this is What Jesus Would Do; help others every single day of his life! He lived His life for others and in the end gave the ultimate sacrifice. None of us have ever been asked to die for anyone, so really...is it any trouble to visit old folks who have nobody or to donate a toy or a new coat now and then? I think not!!!

Blog Hop Update

2010-12-01T17:52:00.001-08:00

Ashley did some really cute packaging ideas for the December Blog Hop. Click on A Creative Day on the blog list to the right to see her fun projects!

December Blog Hop Projects

2010-12-01T05:53:00.000-08:00

This is a box that I bought several years ago from Papertrey Ink. I filled the bottom with candy cane Hershey kisses and then tucked a gift card on top. No one will guess what's inside! I covered the box with some of the new Christmas paper from Stampin' Up.

These are some of the tags I created to match my tree. I picked different colors this year and I couldn't find anything that matched, so I made my own! Love them and it only took about 2 hours to make 80 tags. I used the same Christmas paper that I used on the gift box.

Check out Forever Lois' blog and see what fun things she came up with this month! The theme for the January 1st hop, is "ALL THAT GLITTERS!" With a new year fast approaching and all the glittery snow we've had dumped on us, there is inspiration for this theme everywhere!

Blog Hop Reminder

2010-11-29T08:13:00.000-08:00

Just a quick reminder that Wednesday is the first of the month and time again for our crafty blog hop! The theme for this month was Boxes, Bags, Tags...Oh My! I'm looking for creative ways to package Christmas gifts. Please let me know if you are participating so I can get everyone's blog addresses! Can't wait to get some new ideas!!!

Thanksgiving Blessings

2010-11-26T06:56:00.000-08:00

I know that I am a day late, but better late than never! It was just too busy yesterday to sit here and post! I am so thankful for my family. A husband that works his tail off so I can stay home and take care of our kids. What a blessing! I've seen all of their first steps and I get to do the room mother thing...no greater gift that he could give our family! I'm thankful for five gorgeous, healthy kids who give me a reason to get up every morning. My sun rises and sets in these angels. All I have ever wanted to be from the time I was a child was to be a mom! I hear others complain about their kids, but I honestly enjoy spending time with them. They are awesome! I'm grateful for mine and Gary's extended families. There truly is no greater blessing than family and we love getting together with our parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews. We know that if we ever needed anything, all we have to do is ask! I'm thankful for the home that I have. I always joke that I will die in this house because I hate moving. Really, I just want to die in this house because it's so perfect for us. Aside from being a bathroom or two short! LOL! Seriously, I love everything about our house: the big lawn, the clothesline, the cabin, the creek that runs behind it, the windows in the dining room, the huge laundry/craft room that is always a disaster! I especially love living in such a small town. My kids can play outside and I don't worry that they will be kidnapped or anything. I know every single kid in the school and all of their parents. Way cool! I'm also blessed to have so many friends. I know that we don't get to see everyone as much as we would like, but I know they are there for us and we are there for them, no matter what! It's so awesome knowing there are so many friends out there who have your back! I am thankful to live in America. Sometimes I really worry about where our country is headed, but I still believe it's better here than most anywhere else. Who wants to live in North Korea or Iraq? There are so many opportunities here and I appreciate being here. Lastly, I am so thankful for God. Without his grace and mercy, where would I be? I am thankful for the forgiveness He freely gives and for His son dying on the cross to save little old pitiful me! His gift was the ultimate sacrifice and I am so thankful for it!

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Red Ribbon Week continued

2010-11-24T10:56:00.000-08:00

So...day 2 of our Red Ribbon Week festivities was "Drugs turn you inside out". The kids all wore their clothes inside out to school and I took little bags of pretzels with the phrase on it. Sorry, but I didn't take any pictures of that! I also was at the school at 7:30 am and the kids brought pictures of things they could do instead of drugs and we glued them on some big posterboards and hung them in the hallway. On Wednesday, we had "Drug Free Rocks!" day. The kids came to school dressed as rock stars (there is my little rocker above!) and I passed out pop rock candy with the slogan on it. We also gave the kids sheets of paper for them to make a poster on. They could draw a picture of something they could do instead of drugs, a picture of what you look like on drugs, generally anything anti-drug. We had some really cool posters, but in the end Kadan won for the little kids and Hadley won for the older kids. They each got a giant candy bar. The last day was our Halloween party so we combined the two themes and had "Say BOO to drugs" day. They got to dress up in their costumes and we took them trick or treating to local businesses. They loved bring outdoors and I think it was way better than playing games cooped up in the lunchroom. When we got back to the school, they each got bags of candy with our slogan on it and everyone that had participated in the fun all week got an anti-drug water bottle. We had an awesome week and I hope the kids had a good time!

Red Ribbon Week

2010-11-20T12:04:00.000-08:00

I have been helping the Albion PTO this year and our carnival was scheduled for the same week as Red Ribbon Week. There aren't many of us in the PTO and the other lady was taking on the school raffle, so I volunteered to take over Red Ribbon Week (Drug Awareness Week). On Monday, the kids were asked to wear red to school and sign drug-free pledges.

Then I went in and blew up balloons and tied the pledges to each of the balloons. We scheduled the send off for 3:30 since it's right before school gets out. We gathered in the hallway and then we went outside. We counted down and the kids released their balloons.

They were so excited to watch their balloons fly so high. The wind was blowing really hard that day and they took off like crazy! We watched and watched until we couldn't see any balloons anymore. A few days later, one of the boys said he found his own balloon on a fence post by one of the fields his dad owns. Pretty cool! If I do Red Ribbon Week again next year, this is a MUST activity!

Just Dance Part 2 (noone is safe!) ha ha

2010-11-18T13:46:00.001-08:00

Because I am feeling somewhat evil today and because I think they were so great, the guys get one more picture for the whole internet world to see! David, Gary, Jason, and Keven were good sports! They deserve an extra 15 minutes of fame for their dance!!!

My nephew, Taylor wanted to play SO BADLY! His older brother, Christopher, absolutely did not want to play and Taylor really didn't want to do it without him. He begged and pleaded and Chris still refused. Finally, Taylor gave up and danced with the girls. He had so much fun that all of a sudden he didn't care if he was the only boy dancing! After a bit, Chris wanted in on the fun, too, so he and Treven danced with Taylor. By the end of the night, I think we had more than one boy addicted to it!

One last shot of our family night. This is Natalie, Lindsay, Mikayla, and Braquel dancing. I have to say how grateful I am for my family. We don't get together as much as we did when the kids were little because it seems like we all have kids running in so many different directions, but we have so much fun when we do see each other. I especially appreciate my sister-in-law, Robin who takes the time out of her busy schedule to drive two hours each way to come and participate with us. We love having all of the kids together and it's so great to see the boys. If it wasn't for selflessness, we would hardly ever get to see them. Love you guys! Anyway, I really appreciate all of my family for being so awesome! I don't know what I would do without all of you!

Just Dance

2010-11-17T06:06:00.000-08:00

After the straw maze and dinner, we all crowded into the living room and played Just Dance 2...wow! It was so much fun! For those that don't know what the game is, you play it through the wii. There are tons of songs to choose from and you basically just do what the guy on the screen is doing. It keeps track of points for how well you do what the icon is doing and then it ranks the players. It is such a kick! This is Stephanie, Sally, and my mom dancing to Proud Mary. Robin is also there, but my living room is so small that we were too tight to get everyone in the picture!

Believe it or not, but even the guys got in on the dancing. David, Jason, Gary, and Keven all did a number. I was so busy laughing I thought I would wet my pants! Anybody that knows Gary and I very well, knows that we DON'T dance-EVER! It was really neat that he would get out there and do it, though. The girls have bugged him since we got Just Dance 1 to try it and he never would. Amazing what the peer pressure will do!

Here are the professionals of the game! Ivy, Lindsay, Mikayla, and Chelsey! They are so fun to watch because they can all keep up with the dancer dude on the screen and they look like they are in sync. It's not just a mass of arms and legs when they dance! Notice Ellie in the picture? She crowded in and danced almost every song! She's quite the little dancer with that wild hair! Stay posted and I'll get some more Just Dance pictures soon!

Gibbons Harvest Party part 2

2010-11-11T14:11:00.001-08:00

More fun at the straw maze! Mikayla and Brad started out with us, but I think we were too slow for them! Mikayla's friend, Lindsay, and her family own and operate the straw maze...which we highly recommend! It was so much fun and since we had such a large age span for the kids, it worked out really well for everyone!

Since Jason and Sally were late, we went through the maze once and then again when they got there. Sam was so excited so Dave and I decided to hide in the maze and try to scare him! I think we ended up scaring ourselves more than him! He thought it was pretty funny!

There were lots of holes in the straw. At first I thought it was animals burrowing in the straw bales to stay warm. Then I decided it was from the workers peeking through to see who was coming. I'm thinking they might even use the holes to reach through and GRAB people! I was glad we went to the non-haunted version because I can't imagine walking through the maze in the dark and not knowing when someone was going to jump out and grab me!

Gibbons Harvest Party

2010-11-07T10:13:00.001-08:00

On the 23rd of October, we had a family get together. It's been a really long time since we've had one (I think it was Easter) so I decided it was time. We met at the straw maze at the bottom of the Albion grade to start. We had so much fun! It was kind of trying to rain and it was chilly, but once you got inside of the straw, it really wasn't too bad. This is the entire crew after we got through the maze. Christopher and Taylor and Treven were maze geniuses-they had to come in and rescue a few of us!

Here we are as we are starting inside. You would think that it would be easy to find your way out, but when you're inside, you can't see anything but straw. You get really disoriented and it's hard to tell where you have already been!

These are two of my nieces, Natalie and Whitney. We had already gone through the maze when they got there, so we went again. I'll post some more of the straw maze pictures tomorrow! And coming up, Just Dance 2 pictures...you're gonna love them!

Fall Treats

2010-11-04T11:43:00.001-07:00

Our school carnival was last week and each of the kids are asked to bring some kind of homemade treat or cake for the cake walk. I made three pans of these spiderweb brownies to take. I was pleasantly surprised when they were some of the first treats chosen!

The night before the carnival, the PTO president called and asked me if I had planned on making cinnamon rolls. I really hadn't planned on it since I work on Wednesdays and the carnival was on Thursday. We were a little concerned that we wouldn't have enough for the dinner, so I whipped out a batch Thursday morning. Honestly, I have NEVER made cinnamon rolls before, but they turned out super yummy! I will definately be doing this again-only for us and not the school!

Watch out, Bad Boys!

2010-11-02T06:29:00.001-07:00

Is it just me or are the cops supposed to be after the bad guys...not themselves? This kids is just too funny!

Check out the intensity on Treven's face...he really makes me laugh. Mikayla has a great big purple bike that Treven insisted he ride while we trick or treated. It was ten times too big for him and it had two flat tires. He pouted and cried until we finally told him he could ride it until it got dark. We followed him in the car and laughed the whole way. He looked like one of the old delivery guys with his hat and bike. About halfway through the night, the chain on that poor old bike broke right in half and he had to walk it the rest of the way home. Valuable trick or treat time wasted!

Bat-a-rina

2010-11-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

Ellie loves to dance so the bat-a-rina costume was a perfect choice for her. She looked so stinkin' cute! The only problem we had was her bat wings were too big and the only way they had to attach them was a tiny piece of velcro. We tried pinning them, but it didn't work too well. I should have tried the costume on her before that night and stitched the wings right onto her shirt!

Blog Hop- House and Home

2010-11-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry this post is so late today; normally I like to post first thing in the morning. Anyway, our theme for October was "House and Home" and crafts could consist of anything that related to our theme. I made a basket to welcome a new neighbor. I also made a card to stick in the basket.

The basket included various treats: homemade cinnamon rolls, packets of hot cocoa, a bag full of marshmallows, a seasonal dishtowel, and a pumpkin spice candle.

2010-11-01T17:19:00.000-07:00

Check out the link to Forever Lois, she made a really cute project for this month's blog! You will love it! The theme for December 1st is : BOXES,BAGS,TAGS...OH MY! Show us the creative ways you wrap your gifts, fun gift ideas, etc!

Blog Hop Coming Soon!

2010-11-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

I intended to run into town first thing this morning so I could download the pictures of my blog hop project and get them posted. However, Mikayla went to basketball try-outs this morning and nearly passed out. She got dizzy and disoriented and now has a screaming headache. The ocach thinks it was low blood sugar combined with a sudden increase in pysical activity. I'm concerned it may have something to do with lingering effects of her concussion last January. So to be safe, I went and picked her up. She is sleeping now so I will go to town when she wakes up. I don't want to leave her alone just in case she feels like passing out again. I will be home as quick as I can and get the blog hop pictures up and going. Thanks for being patient!

Dusty

2010-10-31T13:38:00.001-07:00

We went to a bbq at a friends' house and ended up with this dog! Gary and I both swore we would never have another dog. We don't have the time or the energy that being a responsible do owner entails...Treven has been crying and begging for a dog for so long and we kept telling him no. At this bbq, though, Treven carried poor Dusty around all night. My friend asked Treven is maybe he could just keep him overnight for her. We finally agreed and she promised she would come get him if he was any trouble at all. That was a month ago...guess who is still at our house? Guess who will be staying at our house?

Treven loves the dog and he has been a pretty good dog. We've had to chain him up outside because he is so friendly that if we aren't home, he will go to the neighbors to find someone to play with him. I'm afraid he may end up running into the road and getting hit, so when we can't be outside with him, he has to be on the chain. He stays right with us when we are outside, though. He will run after Treven or just come sit by my feet. He does jump a little, but we are working on that. He's pretty good about sitting and lying down already. He sort of plays fetch, too. I think if we work with him enough he will turn out to be a good dog. He loves kids so that will be a plus.

Ellie loves him, too. She is the one he tends to jump on, mostly because he is excited she is out there. She loves to play with him, but she likes him better from about 10 feet away. She's not too sure about his wet kisses and wiggly tail!

2010-10-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more of the Halloween projects I have done. The flowers are part of a floral arrangement I did that sits by our front door. The bib is from the same glow in the dark fabric that I made dishtowels out of for our family reunion. It was so cute I couldn't resist. I also made Treven a pillowcase out of the same material. The ladies at the fabric store probably thought I was crazy; I just kept going back for more! The sign was just a cheap old frame from the dollar store that I put a vinyl sign over. I used some patterned paper for the background and did a bit of rubbing and VOILA! Easy as can be. It looks cool, on my shelf, though. I placed some bottles with colored water by it so it kind of looks neat!