Blue and Gold Banquet

Tonight was the Blue and Gold banquet for our cub scouts. Bryan is in scouts right now and they invited the boys that were turning 8 this year to come also. I am sad to say that means Tyler was invited. I am only sad because that means that Tyler is turning 8! Yikes!! It is very hard for me to wrap my head around that. Times sure flies. Anyhow, the kids were asked to make a cake in a patriotic theme for tonight. Tyler "made" a cake that looked like a flag with twizzlers as stripes and blue sugar and yellow stars. He actually helped make the cake and he iced it and mommy did the decorating for the most part. He won most creative cake. Bryan's cake wasn't a cake at all. My mom helped with the idea of a candy cake. He glue candy to half of a paper towel tube. It turned out super cute. His award was the craziest cake. They both had fun. Now I have to figure out what to do with the 2 pounds of spaghetti that I have left over!  

Sorry about the second photo of Bryan's cake. I can't figure out how to make it go away!

My Mantle

I have been looking for apothecary jars for my mantle for a long time. I really wanted them but I didnt have the funds to get them. I was always shopping around though. I took Spencer's grama, Joyce to the vet out in Dover and we had to wait for some results for her dog. Next door was a furniture business that was going out of business. We decided to wait out our time there and look around. There were many beautiful things but they were all still very expensive. One of the sales ladies told us that all of the table top accessories were 50% off the lowest price. I found one apothecary jar that was marked down to $59! Yikes! That was still not cheap enough for me :) We kept walking around and found another that was bigger than the first that had a yellow tag on it and it was marked down to $14! I asked the sales lady if that was right and she said yes and reminded me that the sale stated half off of the lowest price so it would be $7! I said of course I had to have it. I mentioned the other one that was similar being so much more. She went to look at it and brought it back and said that she would sell it to me for $7 also! I got TWO apothecary jars for $14!! That was the best errand I have taken Joyce on in a long time! The one in the middle my friend Sarah Perkins got for me at T.J. Maxx and it was $25. All of the eggs are from the Christmas Tree Shop. The ones in the big jar are wooden eggs and the ones in the tall awesome jars are gumball eggs. I have been told by my husband (the big kid) that the gum is really nasty. Nothing is safe in my house. I really really love my mantle. I love changing it so these jars are so fun for me!!

Valentines Day for School

Ok, I love to make Valentines. I have to say that I am over it for right now though. Four kids time 20 plus or minus valentines is a bunch!! Craziness to say the least. I hope I have the energy to make my own now :) Dylan was the easiest. He decided that all the matters is the candy. I know that everyone is shocked to hear that about Dylan. He put a lollipop and a candy heart and a pinball game in a treat bag and signed his name and he was good to go. Tyler and I made arrows out of a glow stick and four paper hearts (thanks to the cricut) We sandwiched two on each end making cupids arrow and added a candy heart to one end. Super cute if I do say so myself. Madelyn used heart shaped doilies and a vintage valentine that I bought at an antique store and copied. They turned out super sute too. I so wanted to add glitter but there wasnt enough time. Boo hoo for me. Maybe for our close friends we can add glitter. I might die without being able to use some glitter on them :) Bryan decided that he didnt need my help any more. He cut squares out of card stock and then he stamped all over them and even stamped "From Bryan" on the backs. He added a piece of candy to the front. He did a great job. Now I have to unbury the table again but no flat surface is ever safe (ask my dad) They had fun and so did I . I cant wait to see what they bring home today. They have no school tomorrow or Monday. yeah me!

Primary Bulletin Board

I was in charge of the bulletin board in the hallway for primary. It is the one that will stay up all year. I decided that it needed to be in line with our yearly theme which is "My Eternal Family" I thought that a picture of the temple closest to us would be awesome. I asked my daddy for one of his pictures that he took of the Washington DC Temple. He sent me one that he took in 1981. The picture is as old as my baby sister!! I had it enlarged to 11 x 14 and then I "painted" it with modge podge to make it look like an oil painting ( an awesome trick that I learned from Spencer's mom Cindy). I then made a picture frame out of balsa wood from Michael's. It was too boring so I stained it with scratch coat. I found this beautiful wide red velvet ribbon in some stores Christmas clearance so I used that for the border. One os my favorite parts of the board is that I used my cricut to cut out all of the last names of the kids in primary in navy blue vinyl. I stuck them to the red velvet border. I have to say that I love it! It turned out just the way I had planned. Isn't it great when that happens? I might do some touch ups but the kids love it. They love to find their last names when they are switching classes or coming to primary. I personally love to see my daddy's picture of the temple every time I walk down the hall. There is something comforting about it! Thanks dad!! (and mom too) 

Drum roll please..................

Here is Tyler with his 100 DINOSAURS!!! He loved this project and he really loved that he fooled everyone! He is kind of sick right now so he doesnt look as cute as normal. It was so fun to be able to share this with everyone with the click of a mouse. The internet is so awesome! Love to all!

Merry Christmas to ME!!!

Joanne (Spencer's sister) told Spencer and I that she would make us a quilt for Christmas. She took me to pick out a pattern and fabric. I picked out a hard one!!! I found lots of fun fabrics. It was hard for me though to pick out fabrics that didn't "match". I am not creative like that to be able to see the final picture. I love it now! It is so cool. She did a beautiful job. I know that it took her many many hours. We really love it and appreciate all of her hard work. THANKS JO!! 

Creative kids

Madelyn, Dylan and our friend Eleyna have been making playdoh things. They laid them all out so I could blog them. Everybody wants to be on the blog. I guess you arent cool unless you have been blogged :) Anyhow, here are their creations. Enjoy!!

100th Day of School

Tomorrow is the 100th day of school this year and in the younger grades they make a project. Each teacher gives their own instructions. Tyler's teacher is doing a browng bag with 100 things in it and three clues written on the bag to see if his classmates can guess. He wanted to see if our friends and family can guess too. So leave comments with your guesses please :) Dylan had bring in something that he made out of 100 things. He has a couch and two chairs made out of clothes pins. He painted it with finger paints. I also helped George with his project. He has a poster with a space ship and 100 aliens on it. I think that this is a fun thing to do. 

Every morning at our house

Every  morning at our house Sam sits in the chair by the window and cries for a few minutes when the kids leave for school. He is so funny. He waits in the same chair at about 3:30 until the kids get home. He is a great dog. Yes, I said it... Sam is a great dog. He and Mack are a lot of fun and they love the kids so much.

Military Display

Spencer's sweet grama, Joyce, asked me to frame and display photos in her new apartment of her late husband, Truxtun Spencer and her sons, Barry and Mike Whitney. I was pleased to do so for her. I found the flag that she received from Truxtun's service in the Air Force when we were moving her into her new place. She said that she had always wanted to display it but never did. I got her a flag box and the frames and this is the results. Truxtun is the middle photo on the top. Barry is on the left and Mike is on the right. I love how it turned out but I love it more that she loves how it turned out. She is the sweetest and dearest lady.

What happened right before the haircut...

Dylan was running to the bathroom (as he always does) and he ran in there full speed. He slid from one side of the bathroom to the tub on the bathmat. He hit his eye just right (or wrong) on the side of the tub and instantly started crying. He was black and blue in one second. The poor kid! I took a few photos so you could see how bad it was. The first one is this morning and what his teacher and friends will see. Yay for me! I get to worry if child services will be visiting today :) 

Dylan's haircut

I had Spencer take a before photo of Dylan when he was going to cut his hair yesterday. Here it is....