Bend Out of Shape

I have this great friend 

Lynnae Boyer Weller.

She owns a little business called

Savannah Balloons.

You can learn more about her through her 

website or facebook page.

Her balloon skills are awesome.

Here is her version of

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I love it when people

can make our world

a better place

with their

amazing

artistic

abilities.

I wish I had more artistic abilities.

I plan to read

The Artist's Way

to explore

if there is something

I have been missing.

Remember I blogged about Lynnae's mom here.

I miss her mom,

she always made me smile.

I hope you all have a great green weekend.

I plan to make some shamrock

sugar cookies

clean house,

squeeze in a date with my hubby,

and enjoy

every last minute

or our last lazy Saturday

before Spring sports begin.

I wish you all the

luck of the Irish.

And just so you know

if you google

funny + st patricks day

you are going to

see a lot of stuff about beer

and even some naked redheads.

Romance for Poor People

LBJ and LadyBird courted over 90 love letters
and we can read them online here.
I know what I will be doing all afternoon:
reading real romance for free.
The love letters are
living proof
that you can have romance
at the price of a few stamps.

LG and I have an honorary membership in
America's newest poor class.

The middle class is taking some serious hits.

Add in four kids to the mix,

and it was time for a frugal

Valentine's Day.

LG and I started a new Valentine's tradition.

We each got $10 to spend on each other

at our favorite local Dollar Tree.

I made up a package called "Dreams come true" for LG.

I used some of his favorite things

and added in some dream hearts explaining.

- He loves lemon juice in his water. 

   (I wish I could make all your lemons into lemonade)

- A toy stuff basketball 

  (I wish I was always your soft place to land)

- Toy airplanes

   (I wish I could take you on a getaway)

- His favorite gel pens 

  (I wish I could do all your work for you)

- Sugar-free candy for the diabetic 

  (I wish you could eat as much sugar as you wanted)

- A McDonald's giftcard for the man 

  who loves breakfast 

  and is married to a lazy breakfast chef.

  (I wish I could hire you a breakfast fairy)

LG wasn't quite as cutesy, of course,

but it was still so fun to see what he picked out.

He knows me well.

And isn't that what Valentine's is about?

thinking of each other

and showing that you know one another

better than anyone else.

I feel loved

just knowing

that LG knows me.

I'm a huge believer that gifts don't have to cost a lot of money.

My dad talked at my Grandma Dorothy's funeral
about how she would always pick up little things
here and there and the five and dime to show
that she loved you.
One of his favorite gifts:
a portable toothpick holder.
That is one of the things he remembered
most at her funeral.

I love Valentine's Day. It may be my favorite.
I also love the love language of gift-giving.
I look forward to all of our future
Dollar Tree romances.

And for the record,
last night we got a tray of
chicken nuggets from
Chik-fil-a
wrote off all the evening
activities
and sat home as a family
and watched
Pirates of the Caribbean.
It was pure bliss.

2CUL Craft

Somehow I always get stuck

with doing the crafts for

the kids' school parties.

All the other moms are

too afraid.

So here is what we are

doing for Valentines

this year.

And this crafty-challenged

lady

has made a tutorial

for you and yours

with all my V-day love.

1 - Use graph paper

to make block letter

conversation heart sayings.

2- Cut out

3 - Apply glue on graph side.

3- Stick onto sandpaper

from right to left.

Remember it will iron on

like a mirror image.

(That's why you glue on the right side)

4 - Outline well with crayon.

5 - Color in rest of sandpaper.

(I plan to actually have hearts

but this was the scrap I used

today for the prototype)

6 - Heat up iron to cotton/dry setting.

7 - Cut out a square of an old white sheet.

(600 threadcount egyptian cotton

 is optional but soooo soft)

I happened to have a perfectly great

topsheet leftover

from our tragic "ruined by talon toes"

sheet set

shown here on instagram.

7 - Sew up the 2 cut sides.

I will use the already folded over side

for the yarn-tie.

(Use a sewing machine if you want)

8 - This is what I did to make it go faster

(I hear you screaming you seamstress people)

I actually may just use fabric glue at school.

9 - Safety pin your yarn.

10 - Lead it through the fold.

11 - Tie big knots on each end.

(So they won't ravel or go back into fold)

12 - Place sandpaper on finished bag

that I turned inside out from stitching.

(Hopefully you guys are smart enough 

to understand that part)

13 - Turn sandpaper crayon side

 onto the fabric.

Cover with parchment paper or a tea towel.

14 - Iron (moving iron in circles)

for about 30 seconds.

Wa-la

Inspiration for this craft

came from alphamom.

Like I said above,

I plan to make them actual hearts

and either pre-make the bags

or have the kids glue them

(because of school time limits)

or do t-shirts

or just make the

sandpaper cut-outs

and send

iron on instructions home with kids.

Happy V-day

crafting all you cupid moms

who like me

 are suckers for love.

Feel free to leave

all your suggestions for betterment

below in the comments.

I have til Thursday to fine-tune.

Or just tell me how cool I am

because moms need

to love other moms.

And you're so welcome.

I couldn't find a single

thing good enough

on my beloved forthekids 

pinterest board

so I had to tweak.

I'm thrilled

with  my mom 

abilities

today.

As you should be too.

My fashion designer

I posted about Sophia the other day
and it got me thinking I should brag on my other girls too.

This is Abigail.
She is so super creative.
Which is interesting
because she is even more smart
than she is creative.
I think smart and creative
can be a
dynamic duo
towards an amazing life
full of discovery.

Here is Abigail's
50's outfit
she threw together
for a dress up day
back in Fall.

She is pretty amazing.
She is our go-to girl
for all things
fashion, hair, and make-up.

I so appreciate that she has taken on this role as it's not one that I want. At all. This girl loves clothes and shoes. I took her to a half-off day at the thrift store on Monday and she picked out nothing. I went to check her temperature and she said, "Mom, I really am getting a handle on my shopping addiction." I do take pride that as a mother we have created a family where open communication is not just encouraged but valued above mostly anything else. I want nothing more than real for me and my little family. Sometimes it can be painful to navigate through the real, but anything less would be a life of denial and fake.

This year Abigail took a Tech class at school where she as the only girl learned the beginnings of engineering.
She was really good at it and kept right up with all the male students. Her teacher sang her praises to me. That's my Abigail. She refuses to conform to society's norms. She says she wants to be a surgeon when she grows up. She loves to dissect things. I do believe she can do it. Even though she's not inherently organized she is extremely disciplined when she chooses to be and she is as bright as her hero Einstein.

Abigail is athletic  She lives for soccer. She is a great runner: fast. She is fun to watch on the field as she can always catch any other player even from halfway down the field. She makes a great mid-fielder. She got the PE award at school last year. This may seem kind of funny when you consider how smart this girl is, but it's totally perfect as she loves healthy living. She loves to be active, she will be the first to tell you when she needs to move. Moving helps keep her ADHD in control and so Abigail takes PE at school if she has holes to fill. When Abigail was a toddler her favorite foods were milk and salad. She continues to live in this tradition: eating the healthy choice over the non-healthy 9 times out of 10. LG and I watch her green with envy whenever she eats dessert. She can eat whatever she wants and has to focus on weight gain. No fair!

She also loves music. She loves to sing in choir and she can always be found attached to her iTunes  watching YouTube videos, or plunking away on our piano. She is so much like her dad in the smarts that I forget that she is also a lot like me too. She is teaching herself how to play piano just like I did (she, like me, doesn't have the patience to take lessons.)

She is also a total extrovert. She gets her social side from me. She gets her easy-going from her dad. She is learning to have more meaningful relationships and to be more considerate of others' feelings. In one way the fact that she is wired without an overabundance of emotion is really nice: 1.less drama and 2.she makes her way fine in a man's world, but in another way it has been a challenge as Abigail struggles to understand other people with an overabundance of emotion. She forgets that people have feelings. It is so fun to watch her with her best friend Katie who we love and adore and would adopt if we could. We so appreciate Katie's total acceptance and loyalty to Abigail. It has been the driving force behind Abigail trying to learn to be more kind: she will never admit it but I think she wants to be like Katie in this regard.

Abigail is gorgeous which means that there is always a plethora of boys trying to vie for her attention. She is only 13 1/2 and has been dragged into the world of boys too soon for her own good. She has had two experiences where she has let boys too close and then felt suffocated. From a mother's point of view this is a good thing, but it has also been hard to see Abigail trying to make sense of it all. I guess that is the part that makes letting your kids grow up the hardest: you don't want them to hurt and you don't want your kids to hurt others. It seems though that Abigail has learned a lot about herself from those experiences and that is all a mother can ask for really.

Take it all away. Say Abigail gets into a life-changing accident where she no longer is pretty or athletic or smart, what is she? I have thought about this often. One of Abigail's life challenges is being praised for her abilities, it seems to mess with her sense of worth. She feels a pressure to live up to her picture perfect expectations. In fact this year at school when she had an assignment in choir to go out of  her comfort zone for a week, Abigail chose to wear sweats and no make-up to let go of her perfect image. Thank you to good teachers who really teach the important things in life, this is a project that will stay with Abigail forever. I hope she will learn to be true to herself and her morals and never do anything just for the sake of people pleasing.

Here are some inherent personality traits of Abigail:
curious
open-minded
determined
creative
hands on
energetic
adventurous
fun
funny
detail-oriented
risk-taker
courageous
analytical
observant
spontaneous
capable
durable

I love my Abigail. We adore her. We know she has it hard being the oldest but we so appreciate the example that she sets for her sisters. I am so proud to have such a capable daughter. I know she will be able to accomplish anything she wants to do and I can't wait to see all that her life will hold. I just kind of hope that sometime somewhere down the road her and I will be able to take some cool adventures together. If I have to travel I want Abigail to come with me. She can figure out anything. She's plain awesome.

Sophia the Wise

The name Sophia means wise.

When my Sophia was born 

I took one look into her eyes

and I knew she was an old soul.

Sophia was on our short list,

I knew it meant wise,

and I knew the name belonged to this

little one.

Whenever I take the time to think about it,

I realize that I made the perfect name choice.

I was supported

when yesterday Sophia came home from school.

Her teacher is really into the Chinese zodiac

and Sophia's class has been getting their fill.

Sophia said that she was born in the year of the snake

and that snakes are wise.

What a coinkydink.

I am so proud of my Sophia.

She is many of the traits listed above:

quiet, unassuming, prefers to work alone,

sympathetic, intuitive, and amorous.

She is an angel.

Truly.

She is also very talented.

I would love to take all the credit

for her compassion, kindness, and nurturing ways,

but she came to us with them.
I know that she is

not just special to me and LG

but she is also special to God.

She embodies God.

She embodies love.

She has blessed my life so much

and she makes me want to be

a better person.

The school rewarded her

yesterday

for being the way she is.

I told her she should call her Grammy

and tell her thanks

because she is so much like

my mother-in-law.

The funniest part of Sophia's

character connection award

is that Sophia came home

and said,

"Mom, I was so weird-ed out.

I am 11,

I don't want to be known

for love."

I am so glad I don't have to retire yet,

we obviously still  have a lot to learn

about love.

Well Sophia doesn't,

she has it down.

Maybe I just need to explain.

Happy December

Sophia's drawing was chosen

as the December feature

in her elementary school

calendar.

It makes me smile

every time I catch a glimpse

of it

hanging on my fridge.

It also makes me smile

that we live in a state

famous for its

awesome snow.

Toddler survival

Last Sunday, we found out last minute that it was one of Caroline's nursery teacher's birthday. 

(Is that too many possessives in one sentence?)

Anyway, you know how we feel about Sabbath worship, so we couldn't go to the store to get her a gift.

While having my Sunday nap, I woke up to an idea for a gift. I scrounged around the house to find appropriate pieces and made a homemade batch of cookies to include.

I thought the gift turned out cute even though it was completely made from stuff we found around the house.

And let's face it, we all could use some tricks up our sleeves to survive the toddler years.

The Kid Nativities

Remember how I told you
we were going to be making
nativities at Cub Scouts.

Well I lied.
It took the girls and I
two hours to come up with this.



The hour Scouts has alloted per week
just wasn't gonna cut it.

So I gave the boys the molding clay
and told them to create their own creche.

I was pretty partial to the pregnant Mary on a donkey.

It seemed to me like the artist must have some African roots.

I do believe this masterpiece

will be put away with tissue paper

and pulled out every year

to be displayed in a place of honor.

I also believe that today's equivalent to a manger

is a plastic baby pool.

Wouldn't you agree?

Kid Nativity

Today at Cub Scouts
we will be talking about the ways we worship.

While I give a lesson about how
as members of
The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints
we worship our Savior Jesus Christ,
the boys will be keeping their hands busy with this project.

Thanks Aunt Rosemary for the great idea.
And thanks cousin Ryan
for making this so very lovely
twenty years ago.

Nothing better than a vintage art project.
I believe this would make even Martha proud.
Martha Stewart and Martha in the Bible.

DIY Angry Birds - just in time for Christmas

All credit for this amazing idea goes to my amazing friend

Stori Spotten.

When her and her husband posted this idea on facebook

I just knew I had to share it with the cyber world.

The picture pretty much tells you all you need to know,

but for those of you like me who want more details,

come back for when I hear back from Stori

as to what she used to draw on the store-bought bouncy balls.

I am guessing she used paint or sharpies.

What's your guess?

Stori's answer

I used a little bit of everything, sharpies, paint & even a little green nailpolish(which i already had) on the pigs noses to give them a little depth. lol I got my paint at lowed they have in any color for around 2.97

Wha-la.

Easiest and coolest

and quite possibly the cheapest

Christmas gift for the season.

It will be perfect to give to your kids on Christmas morning

when you have a million assorted cardboard boxes

to put to good use.

Thanks Stori for having a brilliant mind.

And for being an awesome friend

and letting me be the one to crack the story on my

little personal blog.

I think I am going to get millions of hits this month.

DIY Dining Room Frames

Remember the post
where I told you about
my thrift store picture frames?


Well, here are the photos of the finished product.
Just for my mother-in-law.
She won't be visiting any time soon
to see it for herself.

My father-in-law
will be serving in the
Columbia, South Carolina
LDS temple presidency
and my mother-in-law will be
assisting the temple matron
for the next three years.

We are so excited for them
in their new calling.

I think I need to redo this one 

so that the lettering is darker and easier to read.

Your love is better than ice-cream.
And African safari animals.

Giveaway = MyMemories

No, I'm not giving away my memories.
Or I guess I kind of am.

Read on down and you'll get to take a look into my heavenly getaway with LG.
In My Memories style. You must keep reading for the giveaway. It's my best one yet.

Your love is better than ice-cream

I am so excited to present my original idea.

It's gonna put me in a higher realm

with my oh so crafty friends.

Trust me when I say you don't want

to miss out on hitting the read more button.

September's Give Away

A while back I won.

Here are the girls sporting the spoils.

Funny that you can barely see the brown headband

when it blends in with the hair on Bella's head.

I was so happy to get some

of Heather's signature pieces.

So very cute.

{keep reading for the give-away}

My Husband Loves Boobs

I remember having a conversation years ago with a lady about breastfeeding etiquette. She had whipped it out in sacrament meeting and I was a little astonished.

"Isn't that why we have mother's lounges in every church?" I prodded.

Thrifty

I have always loved this old pioneer motto:

Fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

Who knew that life would take me on paths

where I got to master the skill of thrift?

I thought that once law school was over,

life would be peaches.

Boy, was I wrong.

I'm not complaining though.

Really thrifty is my newest resume builder.

It makes me a better wife and mother.

I am grateful to God for the trials that teach me.

I wouldn't have learned without them.

Here are three examples of ways I have learned thrift.

I plan to post some from time to time.

I hope you will enjoy.

I am not one to throw handicraft out as a way of bragging.

I can't stand braggy.

I just thought that you may get some ideas of your own

on how to be more thrifty,

and we can all use ideas like that

in today's economy.

1. Make your own gifts.

(this is so much cuter on my wall

I couldn't get the picture of the picture to work well,

but trust me when I say that LeGrand

loved this for Father's Day

almost as much as the Beef Jerky.)

2. Recreate your curtains.

(My old plan panels have a new look

And the material only cost me $5 on clearance at Wal-Mart)

3. Create, create, create.

(Here is my refinished dresser

It started out dark and ugly

I bought the dresser for $35 at the thrift store,

paid about $15 for paint and new hardware.

Wha-la - A new baby dresser / changing table

I wouldn't be as in love with it

if I had bought it at Pottery Barn.)