Um... yeah, It's been a while

Well, Oakli finally lost her first top tooth. (Apparently it was make your own freckles day too). Loosing teeth is significant because she IS loosing teeth, and Chase, ISN'T. He is older and 7 years old. He is starting to think he will be the only kid who makes it out of 2nd grade without loosing a tooth. Maybe. Here's the cheezy, hope-your-teeth-are-clean-and-no-pepper-in-the-cracks up close picture. Just a few days later this happened: (Maybe it was more than a few days. I'd like to think that it was because the lighting is so different, but I'm sure it was probably just a few.)

And here's a more normal picture of the situation:

In other happy news, our yard flooded. BIG TIME. This is a picture from the upstairs window looking down at the backyard. We've never had water up this high before. Usually if it does flood, the trampoline and play set are on their own deserted island. Not so much this year. The water got up to the top of the trampoline. Crazy! We were fortunate to have no flooding damage.

The bus wouldn't come pick the kids up for 2 days, because the water was too high. (We still were able to drive them though.) As we started to drive around to see how all the neighbors fared with the water, we came across this. It is a chunk of road that got washed up onto the other section of road. Lots of water still coming across the road here.

Feb 3, 2012 Bryce had his Eagle Scout Court of Honor. Wahoo! It was such a great night. We had a lot of family come. Bryce had a lot of his uncles there that are also eagle scouts. There are 9 all together (dad makes 10). The actual ceremony was nice too. Uncle Tyler did an awesome slide show for Bryce that can now be seen on YouTube: http://youtu.be/DwRBiM6rSW8

This is a picture of all of the Boy Scouts that were at the Eagle Court. Bryce has a few merit badges now. His total is up to 83. Only 48 more to go (unless they add more).

Taking the Eagle Oath:

Receiving the Eagle pin:

Let there be cake: I wanted to show close ups of these cool medallions, but the picture just isn't good enough. Maybe when I get better pictures back. The lady who did the cake actually made merit badges and stuck them in the cupcakes.

Bryce worked very hard to earn his eagle so young. He was 12 when he earned it. He has the goal to get every merit badge, and 20 eagle palms. He had his first BoR last week for his first Eagle Palm.

Each winter we have tried to do some skiing with the kids. This year we have finally made it! All 4 kids can ski on their own. No more crying and whining. No more tears from mom and dad. No more screaming. No more holding up kids as we attempt to ski down the hill. No more holding onto mom and dad's poles. No more forgetting to get off the lift. Oh wait, that still happens (Chase). Kids can get up on their own when they fall (except for one). No more threats. What does that mean? Dad is finally happy! (I'll admit it, we gave in and put Chase and Oakli in Ski Camp. That made all the difference.)

Bryce and Ambri on the chair lift.

Here is Oakli. Love that helmet. Personalized and all!

In other news (too bad I can't put that in newsprint type)... Ambri tried out for High School Musical with her BFF. She came home from school on Monday and asked to try out. Of coarse I said yes. She said she had to sing a song. Uh, yeah. So she whipped out a Taylor Swift song. Good ol' Taylor. Then they had to do dancing. Uh, yeah. I mean, Ambri has lots of rhythm and can hold her own, she just hasn't had any dance classes. They taught them a small routine there. Ambri went dressed to kill, not for functionality. She wore her big Ugg-like boots. They had try-outs 2 days in a row. The 2nd day she didn't really have to do much. I looked at the rehearsal schedule and it is M-Th, 7-9pm. That right there made me wish she didn't make it. Does that make me a bad mom? Ambri was only trying out to be a cheerleader. Seriously. Between piano, guitar, Achievement Days, and soccer, now potentially play practice too? Well, needless to say, she made it. She was so excited! Me, not so much. Practices start tomorrow and go like, every day until the day of opening, which is like the end of May. Just make my life more complicated, why don't ya?

It's not your day...

I've been wanting to do a post for a long time, but I've been having serious issues with the new updated blogger interface. Maybe it is new computer syndrome. I don't think it's that. My new computer seems to be working just fine, but needless to say, I'm back to the old one for this. I can't find the button that says "new post" with the update, on the new computer. Good thing I didn't click on the "Try the updated Blogger interface" on this old computer. If you haven't done that yet, don't give in to the dark side! Maybe I'm just totally missing something. I don't think so. I've been dealing with crummy ear issues (which I think I got fixed, and may be having a re-lapse), and now eye infection in both eyes, which is forcing me to wear my glasses. Not a happy momma! This about sums it up for me:


Then I saw this and found the logic to be extremely awesome!

And lastly, this one just made me laugh out loud, and think of my brothers. I don't know why, but for some reason it just did.

I'm thinking about it... (I'll be back!)

Star for Life (not on your Life), going on 39

Today is the day I brag on my son. He is great. Sometimes a little cranky, but what pre-teen isn't, right? (Or any of us, for that matter.)

Bryce is a Boy Scout, and a very determined one at that. He is 12 (and a half, that part is very important for this brag post). He is a very determined Boy Scout. So this is already very confusing. This post has 2 parts to it. It is most definitely all about Bryce, but I'll just get right to it. First off, Bryce had a court of honor on June 1st, and was awarded his Life rank, which he earned on April 27th. That makes him eligible to earn his Eagle Scout rank as early as October 27, 2011. (Eligible, is the key word.) He could quite possible pull it off! Now the 12 and 1/2 part that I told you was so important... Bryce won't turn 13 until December. So, if he does pull off earning his Eagle at his eligibility date, he will EARN (I am a firm believer the term earn, versus given... another rant for another day) his Eagle Scout Rank before he turns 13. So early you ask??? (You are not the first...) We'll get to that in a bit.

Second. Bryce also EARNED 16 more merit badges. This brings his total up to 39 now. (A Boy Scout only needs 21 to be eligible for Eagle.) Bryce has put in A LOT of hard work for each of these merit badges. He has earned 3 with his troop and all the rest on his own. He has not been to scout camp yet. Bryce has set the goal for himself to earn all of the merit badges that are currently offered. Right now he can earn 130, so we'll see where he is at when he turns 18. So that kind of brings me back why would he want to get his Eagle so young? If he can get his Eagle when he is still 12, AND he stays active in his troop until he is 18 (among other things), then he would be eligible to earn 20 Eagle Palms. There is a time requirement for each Eagle Palm, thus the time crunch. At this point he seems committed, we just have to keep him on the right path, so we'll see how long it lasts!

This is a list of the Merit Badges that Bryce has earned so far (in the order that he has earned them):

First Aid*
Swimming*
Tracking (2010 only)
Pathfinding (2010 only)
Cycling*
Music
Communications*
Signaling (2010 only)
Carpentry (2010 only
Lifesaving*
Law
Family Life*
Personal Management*
Fingerprinting
Electricity
Citizenship in the Nation*
Reading
Leatherwork
Basketry
Snow Sports
Aviation
Insect Study
Space Exploration
Scholarship
Sports
Computers
Genealogy
Citizenship in the Community*
Citizenship in the World*
Astronomy
Salesmanship
Golf
Soil and Water Conservation
Environmental Science*
Oceanography
Automotive Maintenance
Art
Coin Collecting
Public Health

With all of that out of the way, he has a few more merit badges that are in the completion stages and then he'll be taking a break for a while. Bryce has 3 more required MB's that he has to do before he can qualify for Eagle (one almost finished, one that he'll be doing in July, and one that he won't finish up until after Scout Camp). Right now he is focusing on his Eagle Project which he is in the final stages of approval on. He is a great kid with lots of ambition. Way to go Bryce!

Here is a picture from the Court of Honor:

3rd Annual Super-Duper-Cooper-Looper Marathon

On Saturday May 28th, 2011, we had the 3rd annual Super-Duper-Cooper-Looper Half Marathon. What a smashing success! Thanks to everyone who helped out this year. We had a great time, and thanks to everyone who came out and participated. We had 54 recorded finishers. Great job everyone. A special thanks to Doug and Connie Asay who came out just to help, and Dave Burton to helped with the aid stations as well. We couldn't have done it without your help! Now, I only have one picture to post, sorry! That is what happens when I participate. It is of the wisest of the bunch who finished (way to go Grandma!) and one of the youngest (almost), great job as well, Chase!

I am not going to take the time to sort the times by first to last, so just scan down the list to find your number (if you remember it) and your time. Just remember, these were bikers, walkers, and runners mixed in. Next year I'll try to keep track of who did what.

301 Oakli Burton 1:49:08
302 Chase Burton 2:00:15
303 Bryce Burton 1:16:54
304 Ambri Burton 1:29:55
305 Kari Burton 1:48::45
306 Mike Dedera 1:55:55
307 Jodi Dedera 1:29:58
308 Maddi Dedera 1:23:55
309 Mya Dedera 1:28:58
310 Danny Dedera 1:57:53
311 Angie Dedera 1:29:13
312 Josiah Dedera 1:24:00
313 Lilly Dedera 1:29:13
314 Steve Farrar 1:54:12
315 Kris Farrar 3:04:16
316 Kraig Farrar 1:42:25
317 Joe Phair 1:42:10
318 Katie McGowan 1:58:28
319 Kyle Latimer 1:39:10
320 Goldie Burton 2:00:23
321 Jamie Stover 3:26:51
322 Raine Morris 3:26:47
323 Debi Burton 2:15:43
324 Jamie Pierce 51:36
325 Cody Bush 1:16:50
326 Garrett Burton 1:17:03
327 Jenna Burton 1:29:46
328 Sam Burton 1:39:28
329 Kelly Merrill 2:11:08
330 Sarah Merrill 2:11:08
332 Maria Burton 1:39:28
334 Tom Burton 1:39:30
335 Nathan Tolman 1:40:22
336 Nick Tolman 1:17:06
337 Satina Tolman 2:10:19
338 Tatiana Tolman 1:40:22
339 TJ Hafner 51:36
340 Heather Clark 2:05:42
341 Jason Hawthorne 1:28:09
342 Angela Smith 2:07:07
343 Bethany Marteeny 1:29:54
344 Doug Marteeny 2:28:39
345 Hannah Marteeny 1:11:08
348 Allison Parmenter 3:04:17
349 Jennifer Madsen 2:06:28
350 Rachel Madsen 1:21:01
351 Larry Sykes 1:18:57
355 Teresa Gardner 2:17:21
356 Rob Simmons 55:22
357 Andrea Simmons 55:22
360 Crystal Sublett 1:57:32
361 Paul Tappana 1:27:57
364 Brady Tappana 1:32:57
365 Ryann Tappana 1:27:57

If I have made any typo-s or left anyone off the list, please, Please, PLEASE, let me know. The list was very long this year (a good thing) and I could have made any number of mistakes. Feel free to pass the good news along to everyone who is on the list so they can check out their good work! I'd be happy to post pictures as well, if you would like to email them to me as well.



This is the logo that Bryce designed for this year's race. It was also on all of the finisher's medals. He did the design this year for his Art Merit Badge that he successfully completed after the race was over. Bryce is a Boy Scout and is now working on his Eagle Project. Awesome job Bryce!




Great job everyone, and thanks for coming out. We'll see you next year!

2010

I definitely didn't blog much in 2010. I still blame it on the blog post a day for a whole month. (You can go back and find it if you are interested.) It pretty much killed me, but I did it. It was hard. But, here I am now. I don't really make resolutions, so don't expect me to say that I am going to blog more. If you see it, then you get it. BUT, I did figure I'd do a re-cap of the last half of the year (and maybe some stuff I missed) considering I didn't blog for the last half of the year. Don't expect any pictures at this point, that is asking a lot. Maybe I can update the sidebar pictures, what do you think about that idea? Maybe tomorrow. Maybe.

Where to start, I don't even know! I'll just jump in, so this may be a little random and crazy. I think I'll do list format, and then expound if I need to. That way my fingers (and sanity) will still be intact when I am finished, AND I'll still have a desire to do another post SOON.

Bryce - That kid, you just HAVE to love him! He is CRUISING through his scout stuff. He shot through Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, 1st Class, and is now sitting pretty at Star (but only for a little bit longer.) He has earned about 15 merit badges so far, and is not slowing down anytime soon. Okay, maybe he will once soccer starts again. Wait, it never stopped. (I was supposed to be doing list format.)
Excelling at Piano (still)
Turned 12 and ordained a Deacon
Outgrew ANOTHER suit
We FINALLY Painted his room. It is an awesome Red and Black, with silhouette images of him (and Chase) on the walls in soccer action shots. There are also some cool quotes and other things. I'll try to get pictures posted (as soon as they clean it up!)
6th grade now, and "afraid" of girls
Academic All Stars for Science (this means he got the highest score on his science test, IN THE WHOLE SCHOOL!)
Student of the term for academics. (Bryce is not at all "nerdy" though, he makes being smart, cool.) He has gotten a few of his friends interested in reading, and is working on the Reading Merit badge right now.

Ambri - She is still "Taylor Swift's Biggest Fan", and has every one of her songs on her iPod.
Turned 9 this year and started 4th grade
She loves school, and still wants to be a teacher, because of the great 3rd and 4th grade teachers that she has/had
Still doing soccer and piano
Student of the Term in June for Academics, which is very hard to do, because there are so many good students, and there are only 3 chosen for the whole school year!
Last year her "Rock Band" did a great recital in their music class. They Rocked! This inspired her to buy her own guitar and she is working on it again this year, with her awesome music teacher at school.

Chase - He had an awesome "Wings of Wonder" field trip at the end of Kindergarten, where they went to a Butterfly farm and saw all kinds of butterflies and got to go into the greenhouses where they fly around and live. Amazing!
Kindergarten graduation last year and thoroughly got into each and every song that they sang for the program. He has quite the personality.
Turned 6 over the summer and then started 1st grade.
Soccer
Chase is an amazing reader. He is challenged at school, and reads the scriptures very well.
He was Santa in his class play, and was hilarious!

Oakli - She also has been doing soccer. She turned 5 over the summer, got her shots, and zipped off to Kindergarten. She has waited for this day for SO long. She is loving every day of it, and she brings mom along with her 2 days a week to help out. She asks mom every day if she is coming to help out, just to see if she can talk Mom into coming a little extra.
Oakli was also student of the term, for the first term of Kindergarten. Way to go!

Doug - In June brought a new challenge for Doug, he was called to be the bishop of our ward. He has made some interesting changes, and we have been blessed as a family for all of our sacrifices.
We had a good wheat harvest this last year (17 acres) and then part of that land, Doug planted with more blueberries. The rest he put back into wheat for this coming year.
We made it through a strange flood in June, of all months, and the blueberry harvest was good, better than 2009, so that was a blessing.
Doug participated again, in the Newport Marathon in June, and finished again, just like he always does!
November took Doug and Kari to Santa Barbara where they did another marathon, hoping it would be warm. It was warmer than Oregon.
The summer found us at OMSI with Grandma and Grandpa Baxter, boating, water skiing (Ambri tried for the first time) Doug water skied with his own flag (hilarious, maybe I can figure out how to put the video up... you know when the skier goes down and you have someone hold the flag up? Doug skied with his own and held it up. So funny!) We also spent time camping, swimming, a little fishing, and time with cousins.

Halloween found us with 2 pirates, a rockstar, and a security guard. We had a wonderful Christmas that we got to spend with Grandma and Grandpa Baxter here for a whole week, what a surprise for us! All in all, we had a wonderful 2010! Here's to hoping for a great 2011.

January 6

Today is my sister's birthday. I don't know how to contact her, besides e-mail, sad I know. So I decided that I'd do a blog post to say "Happy Birthday". (Okay, I admit, I did wish her happy birthday on Facebook, but since I don't spend half of my life there, I don't consider that really counting, plus everyone else gets a reminder for it, so that is cheating.) Besides that, I don't know what else I am going to type about. I guess I'll see how far I get until I have a child come in and see "what I'm doing". (Sadly, I probably won't get far, but here's to hoping... maybe that's why I haven't blogged much lately.) Someone came in. Here's hoping for tomorrow.

2nd Annual Super-Duper-Cooper-Looper Half Marathon

Things have been so busy that I just haven't had time to do any blogging, sorry!

Our 2nd annual Super-Duper-Cooper-Looper half marathon was on June 19th this year. We started off with a shot-gun start from Doug:

Here are a few other pictures:

(starting line)

(Kari, Oakli, and Ambri)

Here are the results. This year we had 23 participants. Here are the finishing times, in no particular order:

Bryce Burton: 1:55:40 (bike)
Ambri Burton: 2:31:40 (bike)
Chase Burton: 2:16:50 (bike)
Oakli Burton: 2:41:00 (bike)
Kari Burton: 2:41:00 (bike)
Brent Baxter: 1:46:09 (bike)
Karen Baxter: 1:46:08 (bike)
Preston Baxter: 2:16:40 (bike)
Kaeli Baxter: 2:16:07 (bike)
Caiden Baxter: 2:16:10 (bike)
Kate Merrill: 1:48:50 (bike)
Kyle Merrill: 2:24:06 (running)
Goldie Burton: (walking)
Michele Burton: 3:31:20(walking)
Nathan Tolman: 2:03:30 (bike)
Nick Tolman: 1:55:40 (bike)
Debi Burton: 2:30:38 (running)
Taylor Burton: 2:05:07 (bike)
Jace Burton: 1:56:40 (bike)
Garrett Burton: 1:55:50 (bike)
Jessica: 2:05:07 (bike)
Kendyl: 1:56:40 (bike)
Hunter: 1:55:40 (bike)

So that's it. Any questions? We'll be doing it again next year if you would like to join in!

Life...

So obviously life is passing us by, and I need a serious reality check. Here we go.

I missed posting about Ambri's 9th birthday, sorry babe! Here's a picture of the AWESOME cake! No, I didn't make it. It seems that our tradition includes Safeway. Our kids have come to expect the annual trip to the bakery to pick out their cake. Sounds good to me. This year Ambri adapted the Mother's day purse for her own purposes. It turned out cute. She also had a huge sleepover for her party. She invited a lot of friends, thinking only a few would be able to come, and I think they ALL came. What a bash!

Oakli is seriously my dramatic child, and she is hilarious! She has a sense of humor that is second-to-none! We were driving in the car 2 days ago (remember, she is 4) and she was looking out the window just talking to Bryce (who is 11, so naturally, he wasn't listening) and then after she made a random comment she said, "did I just say that out loud?" Um... hello??? I better watch what I say. Sheesh! She is freaking funny!

Okay. Other things on the agenda. We have been so busy! Doug just ran the Newport marathon again. He did so awesome! After working really hard to get ready training only (well, I shouldn't say) not as much as he should, he came in only 30 minutes after last year's time. That is REALLY GOOD because his goal was to finish before they stopped taking time and he blew that goal out of the water. I'm sure no one ever feels completely ready, right? This year's marathon makes 3 years in a row. We didn't take the kids over this year, so I got to go 8.5 miles with Doug on the course. It was great! I only got sunburned on one shoulder. Guess that is what happens when you only put sunscreen on once, and you do it yourself. Doug put it on like 4 times. Good for him!

Life has been super crazy with end of the year school activities, assemblies, field trips, and parties. We still have a few days to go, but I think we are going to make it. Ambri got the Academic Achievement award for the 3rd graders for the semester. Go Ambri! It was great to go surprise her at school. Chase had kindergarten graduation, and it was fun too. Just like the older two kids, and it was fun to see Bryce and Ambri singing the songs, even though they wouldn't admit to that. Oakli can't wait to be in Kindergarten next year! She has gone with me to help out in the classroom so many times, she is an honorary member of the class, and gets angry when I won't let her do the projects, because I know she gets to do them next year, even though Mrs. Graham would gladly let her do them.

The horrid spring rain hasn't stopped here in Oregon yet. It's pretty sad, actually. We had flooding last week. This is JUNE, people. This is worse than in the winter. Do you hear me people... FLOODING... IN JUNE!!! Oh, when I said that my shoulder got sunburned, don't let that fool you, that was at the coast. That doesn't count. That was FAR away from here. :-)

Bryce has been working really hard on his scouting stuff. He is one camp out away from getting his 1st class rank. (That camp out is tomorrow!) Yippee!!! He has been doing so great. He turned 11 in December, so he has been really working hard. He has also earned 2 merit badges. He is going to try to earn the 4 centennial merit badges this summer as well. We'll see how that goes. If he can do that, then he'll have his star earned before he turns 12. That is his goal. You go Bryce! He is also super busy with Soccer, still. All the other kids finished up, and Bryce kept on going. He had try-outs for a new team. He actually tried out for 2 clubs. He made both of them, and decided to go with VFC. (Valley Football Club, which is actually Soccer. - Think Spanish, people.) The team is very good and making great progress. It is kind of a new team because most of his old team is on this new team with him. So it is really a good fit for him.

Broken arm boy: AKA: Bryce. Don't tell the Dr. that he played soccer with a broken arm, or this mom will be fired. (YOU DON'T SEE THE CAST IN THE PICTURE BELOW... YOU DON'T SEE THE CAST IN THE PICTURE BELOW...) Bryce's coach even put him playing an offensive position, which is a position that Bryce normally doesn't play. Bryce got a chance to play up during this game because his team was totally creaming the other team.

Bryce normally plays defense, and is really good back there. Okay, back to the broken arm. Bryce was riding 4-wheelers with a friend and his friend was in front of him on a quad and stopped. Bryce wasn't watching and rammed right into the back of his friend on his quad and flipped off his quad, and fractured his arm. We made him go to practice that night and play in hi99game the next day with the broken arm, before we even knew it was broken. (It happened on a Friday.) We didn't take him in until Sunday afternoon, which happened to be Mother's day. The Dr. at the urgent care, said absolutely NO soccer. Um, I don't think the mom was there to hear those instructions, because she made him go to soccer try-outs on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. Actually, I think he played soccer 5 nights that week. Scratch that, make it 6, he had a game on Saturday and played with his card cast on. The ref came over to make sure he didn't have any weapons INSIDE his cast. Hello??? Whatever. The next weekend I took him to the game and that ref wouldn't let him play with the cast on. He said it was too hard. Luckily it was one of those hard casts that was just held on with a couple of ace bandages. It was Bryce's last game, so being the executive decision maker, I told Bryce to take it off, and play with just the ace bandages. Being the last game and all... you know, priorities. All was well, we never went back to the Dr. and he stopped wearing the cast after 3 weeks. Oopsie.

Overall we are stressed out, overwhelmed, and super busy, BUT, we are making it. Bryce now has soccer practice 2x a week in Corvallis (which is 30 minutes away) for 2 hours, and they call it "training". I guess that means you are big time. Well, no "guessing" about it. You know it is big time when your coach goes to England to get your teams uniforms while he is on his way to the World Cup. Kind of embarrassing when I had to explain to Bryce what the World Cup is. I told him not to ask anyone at practice training what the World Cup is, because they are taking the next month off of practice training for the World Cup. I guess they are hard core.

Blueberries are "trying" to ripen in all this rain. I guess the one good thing is that Doug hasn't had to run the sprinklers much.

Hunh.

Family Night Board (FHE)

Here's the board that we use for family night (FHE). It helps us rotate through to know who is doing what and cuts down on the fighting. Ironic.

I don't have any "production" pictures, but it was pretty simple to throw together. Here's a list of the supplies that I used:

12 x 12 pine frame

12 x 12 sheet metal

2" tiles (that really aren't 2". I never could figure out the way men measure their supplies - you know, how a 2 x 4 really isn't "2 x 4"? Whatever...)

strip magnets
hot glue
vinyl cut outs for words
black paint
clear paint or top coat paint
sand paper

I used coupons for the frames and sheet metal. The sheet metal I just picked up from the craft store and it was already the size I needed. I loved it because the magnets will stick right to it!

Paint your frame black. After it dries, give the edges a light sanding for some personalization. Give the whole thing a once-over with your top coat to seal it in.

Put your sheet metal in, so you know how much room you have to work with for your words. Depending on how many names you have, you can make the tasks larger or smaller, add a few or leave some out. We had to "make some up" so that we all had something to do. In the past, we did not have "Scripture" on our list, but now that our numbers are larger, I added that. Just do what works for your family.

You need to cut the vinyl to fit your space, or order it from your favorite vinyl source. You could also use stickers. If you need help with the vinyl, let me know. Add the names to your tiles, then hot glue the magnets to the tiles and you are good to go! I used 3 strips of magnet across the back of each tile. I wanted to be super safe. Now the only thing my kids fight over is who gets to rotate the names each Monday night!

2 of 2 New Projects

OK, here's another one for today... (truthfully, I forgot to list it in the last post.) I was at the dollar store yesterday, while hubby waited in the car. I just had to run in for ONE thing, (don't tell him...) and I found these babies: (Sorry for the fuzzy picture, but that is the least of these buckets problems right now, if you know what I mean.)

I know, I know... they are hideous. I thought so to. (um, I hope you aren't secretly in love with them because, I would really be embarrassed.) So anyway, I bought 3 of them. I am slowly learning to see the potential in things. I tried to look past the horrid orange and yellow flowers and see what they could become. (Again, not so much my style, I'm more of a black and white kind of a girl.) So... with a little Goof-Off... (hooray for the good stuff)... read on...

you get this:

then with a little more of the good stuff, you get this:

Keep at it just a bit longer, add your vinyl numbers, and then you get cuteness!

1 of 2 New Projects

Here's 2 new projects... I have so many projects that are half way done, I hope to have many posts coming soon!

First, here's some Easter eggs for you.

I was making these, intending to give these babies a dunk in some great color, and then peel the "stickers" off for a negative effect, but after I got going, I loved the black/white effect and decided to stop.

Here's what I did.

After hard-boiling my eggs (of coarse) I cut my vinyl to my desired size. This may take some trial and error. The first size was way too small. I tried 1" first. It will all depend on the size of your eggs. We have our own chickens and I've been saving the white eggs for weeks. (We have white and brown laying chickens - only 2 white and a lot of brown, so it has been a bit of a chore...) Our white eggs are HUGE! So I had to go back and change my vinyl to inches.

Tape the vinyl on your egg where you think you want it to go and make sure it is in the right place. (It's inside the tape so the egg won't roll off the counter) :-)

Then go at it, rubbing the vinyl onto the egg. Then Viola! I struggled with how I wanted to display the eggs, knowing that I couldn't hold all of them in my hand like this... but finally settled on those cute little candle holders. I picked them up at the dollar store.

Happy Easter! (Stay tuned!)

Thoughts from the 4-year old...

Today Oakli said:

"Steak is my favorite vegtable."

(short slience while she thinks for a moment)

"Mom, is it a fruit?"

Hunh.

Easter Family Night Treat

So once again, my pictures really are lacking, but I hope you get the idea. I guess I should take some photo classes. Anyway, here's what we made:

We just called them "Nests". Aren't they cute?

I just whipped up some "No-Bake Cookies", you know, from back in the day... and then I added 3 Cadbury Mini Eggs on each. Mmmmmmmm

Here's my "during" pictures. Stirring the sugar and butter...

I scooped out the mixture with my cookie scoop. I used a little guy and gave each "nest" 2 scoops. Then on the 2nd scoop I nestled it down in to make a little indentation for the eggs to sit. I did let them cool just a bit so that the eggs didn't melt. Then Viola!


I think they were a success!


"Die eggs, Die!" Only from an 11-year old, right?

Water With No Ice

I have a really great frend.

I mean, you know... how many people can go out with you and order your drink and get it just right for you? Your spouse? Probably. Your best friend? Maybe. If you go out with them a lot. But how many people order water. With no ice? Me. I know it's not that big of a deal, really, but just a random thing that I was thinking, here. In the wee hours of the morning. When I should be sleeping. As the train is just going by. But I am actually working on a project. But instead I'm thinking of my really cool friend. Who ordered my drink for me yesterday. While I parked the car. You are so cool. Thanks Jamie!

Scripture Fix-Up

I finally got around to changing the tabs on my scriptures. I had some that fell off and I couldn't find them to put them back on, so I HAD to replace the tabs, because I didn't want to replace the scriptures. I decided to shake it up a bit and make them PINK. Yes, I knnow, big surprise. I also decided to go an nontraditional way, and do it in my own handwriting. Several years ago, I had my handwriting made into a font, so I did not have to write them all out. Here's what I did:

sad. missing. labels.

Print out the new tabs onto fun colored cardstock. I couldn't use plain-jane black, that would just be boring. Plus I can't print on black. Make sure you test so that your words will fit in the small space.

Remove the existing tabs. I did this one at a time, so I didn't get anything mixed up.

Cut out each new tab with a circle punch and put glue on the back of each circle. I used a glue stick.

Put it in the right place and rub it down so it is secure.

Trim the new tab so it is flush with your page.

See the awesome progress?

Now it is done! Sorry for the bad picture, it got late and I had to use the flash.

It turned out so great! I am glad to have it finished. Now I have fully functioning tabs again.

My Tower of Cuteness

So in my house, we have pretty tall ceilings, and in the kitchen I have A LOT of upper cabinets that have nothing on them. Tall ceilings + lots of cabinets = funny looking empty space. I mean, seriously, we've lived in this house for what, almost 5 years now??? I dare say there is stuff up there that DOES NOT belong. Why do I write this you say? Well, I am in the (long) process of collecting items to go up on the tops of the cabinets. You know, to decorate it really cute-like. I've spent soooo much time searching the internet for pictures of decorated kitchen cabinets that I like, and I just can't find anything. BUT, I made this, and I'm thinking it is going up:

I saw one here, and decided I liked it enough to make my own. For my purposes, I didn't like the pictures hanging off in all directions, so I just left them off. It was super easy to make. Here's what I used: 2 x 4, scrapbook paper, modge podge, ribbon, and vinyl letters.

The wood pieces are cut starting at 10" (for the bottom) and then they decrease by 1" until I got to the top. If you have long names to put on there, you may have to go with longer pieces to start. I basically just figured out which name was the longest on paper, and then towered it up to the shortest name. (My 4 year old immediately told me that they weren't in "order". Smarty pants.) I put our last name on the bottom, knowing that it may or may not show, once I get it up on the kitchen cabinets.