Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Funny kids

I realized I have posted so funny things on facebook that I wanted to share here so I don't forget them.
#1 Today Ruth and I were discussing what women can do when they grow up and she said, "I want to be a doctor or a hairstylist, how can I be both. ...I know I'll do doctoring one day and hairing the next! Ya that's how I'll do that!  Feb 16,2016
#2 Loving listening to me newly 12year old daughter's sleep over. They are now having sing along dancing in the living room. .. when I turned 12 I had a slumber party and I remember singing and dancing to Bon Jovi. This may shock some of you who know I'm a die hard New Kids on the Block fan. But right at age 12 I also had a HUGE crush on Jon Bon Jovi. So there is a little known fact for you all. (Except my mom who may remember listening to us belt out Bad Medicine, and you gave love a bad name, and wanted. ..) he only came second to my love for NKOTB. ANYWAY my daughter is having a sing along to Disney songs, mixed with a few from our dance classes. Makes me smile! Feb 5,2016
#3 Today picking Ruth up from school we heard a boy teasing a little girl calling her a "poo poo" over and over. I hesitated to say something only long enough to hear Ruth yell "NO! That's a bad word and I shouldn't hear that! " I did ask him a little softer to be nice. She is so bold! Not afraid of the big kids. I'm not too worried about her taking care of herself and asserting what ok and what's NOT. She must get that from aunt Emily Apilado. Jan 28th 2016
#4 After a long morning of fits over homework, I made the wrong breakfast and all the food I make is disgusting, and don't comb my hair, your putting my socks on wrong. ... I told her she could eat breakfast at school and talk to her teacher about her homework because I tried to help with all of the above and she chose NOT to let me help. ..(I also kept reminding her she had choices this or that, this or that... you don't choose I choose for you. ...) we get in the car, only because I KNEW she won't walk to school in that mood.... we get in and on the radio the song says "don't have anyone to blame but my self" over and over. I turned it up for effect.... Jan 6, 2016 
Just keeping it real! LOVE my kids and their funnies!

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

District swim meet

This was last week but wanted to share anyway. Ethan swam in the district swim meet and did such a great job!  He's improved so much.  He made it to the second round in one of his races and took 7 seconds off his personal record!  I guess shaving your legs was worth it ;)

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Sunday fun

Our family has been working on how to keep the Sabbath day holy. We watched the training video that was done by the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. After we watched it we asked the kids what they thought we could do to improve our Sabbath day observance. Three of them said play games together. So we have tried it two weeks in a row. I'm worried it will cause to much fighting but we will work out the bumps. Last week we played Disney trivial pursuit. This week we tried this one Larry found at the church in a free pile. It's older than me but it was fun. Only one kid melted down due to losing. But I think it was mostly a success. We may only play games one Sunday a month if it becomes to much. ... we'll see.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Valentine's day

Every Valentine's day I make my kids a special cookie with their name on it, and we have red dinner. This year we had the missionaries, grandpa Davis and grandma Lucy over for dinner too!  It was so much fun. We had lasagna, red jello, beets and strawberry ice cream with our cookies. I made special ones for our missionaries too. We love our elders. They are so nice and always being such a sweet spirit to our home. Ruth calls them the missiomaries.

The "compano"

For a long time Ruth has called the piano the compano.  Then today she was at her friends house and asked if she could play the compano,  so I got this picture via text. So she finally DID play a compano.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Cocoa gravy

For years Jace and Kade, two boys I have baby sat for 6 1/2 years, have told me about their grandma's cocoa gravy. I finally decided to make it and let's just say it totally lived up to the hype!  Yummy! You can see the recipe on my food blog. 

Friday, February 12, 2016

A few pictures...

Last summer (2015), all of my family was together for the first time! So my mom did a photo shoot with all of us and then as families. I only got copies of our family this week so I thought I'd put a few up since we haven't had family pictures taken in 3 years! Unless you count Disneyland then 2. So these are the most recient and they are 6 months old. So that is pretty good! These were all taken in my parents back yard. It's like a magical place my kids love to play!
 Not ONE picture had all of us looking the same direction and not making a weird face. This was the closest one and it just looks like Brock is just a head...
 Sassy Ruth age 5 1/2
 Hayden 8 1/2
 Brock 13
 Ethan 15
 Amelia 11 1/2

Just the two of us!
 A few funny ones with a few of the cousins. I wish I had some of everyone. But I thought Johnnie would like these.


Thursday, February 11, 2016

Elephant hooded towel

This is my first attempt at a craft post. I love to craft and do regularly but I never have posted a tutorial. So I thought I might try one today since I actually had to make this one up as I went. I searched pintrest for a pattern and couldn't find one so I winged it and figured I'd share.
So I made this elephant hooded towel. It is for a baby shower I am going to next weekend. I doubt she will see this so I'm not worried about sharing this. So I bought a large grey bath towel, hand towel, and wash cloth. I also used some scrap minky fabric I had in my stash and 2 black buttons.
I started by cutting the hand towel in half. The fat way so you have 2, almost, squares. (I thought I took a picture of this step but it isn't showing up.) Then take the washcloth and cut it in half corner to corner like this
These are for the ears. I took a piece of paper and drew a large B
Then I cut this out on both of the triangles. I also cut it out on the minky. You can use any fabric, I suppose, or another towel, Or you could just serge the edge and leave the ears at the shape you cut them out!
Then I sewed the ears together right sides together (leave a small opening on the straight edge to turn them right side out) Then sew the whole shut turning edges in.


Next I took the left over piece of hand towel and cut it at and angle like this...

 Then you are going to fold it over so it looks like and ice cream cone. Like this.
Then I cut the tip off. This is the trunk.!
 I laid it out and folded it like this and sewed the side edge shut.
 I took a tiny piece of the minky and tucked it into the tip of the trunk so it will show at the bottom of the trunk. I know sooooo technical. But again I was winging it and that's how I roll. I sewed it into the bottom of the trunk as well
When you turn it right side out it will look like this.
Now you have your ears and trunk ready to attach so first I attached my elephant ears so that I wouldn't have to try to attach them while the hood was already a triangle. So I folded the towel, like it is going to look when it is the hood. Like this
Then I pinned the ears to the fold don't pin through both layers of the towel! You are only going to sew it at an angle pin it on like this.

My ears were bigger then the triangle but I planned it like that. I wanted to add a few pleats so that the ears would be big and floppy. You can cut the ears so they are the same size as your triangle if you want. Then open the triangle and sew it just like that. (I wanted the seem to the back of the hood and the ears to be able to flop forward.)
Now both my ears are on like this. Be sure to leave a little space at the tip of the triangle so that you can sew your hood shut with out having to sew through your ears.
The next step was to sew the hood shut so fold the hood shut with the right sides together. (Ears in side like this.)
Sorry I didn't realize that was blurry! But you are going to sew the top of the triangle together. Then turn right side out.
Next pin your trunk where you want it to lay
I sewed it on right there. Then add your button eyes (sorry I missed taking a picture of that one. I'm assuming you can figure that part out!)
Next I folded my towel and my hood in half to find the middle and pined the middles together and sewed the hood to the towel!
That is it! I rolled it up to show the head for the bottom one. I hope this was helpful. Since I couldn't find a pattern anywhere.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Thoughts...

So my baby (Ruth) started school in September. Kindergarten is all day! That just started this year all my other kids went half day so we really ripped the band aid off with our last one! I have had kind of a strange adjustment to this and I wanted to put a few of my thoughts about this down before they are gone forever. 1st off I am just NOW adjusting to the empty house during the day in a few ways. In the fall I am super busy preparing for the Holiday Bazaar. So I spent every minute while they were at school doing bazaar projects, paper work, advertising.... work. That or I was teaching dance (I do have one day time class for preschoolers), helping in the classroom, or helping out with Grandma Lucy. Then as soon as the bazaar was over I go in to full Christmas mode. I am doing all the things that mom's do to make Christmas magical for their family. During that time we got the news of Larry's mom's cancer and I knew I wanted to help more. So right after Christmas (even before kids went back to school) I started spending many of my days in Salem helping Glenn and Nadine or Grandma Lucy. Then after Nadine passed I spent the next week doing things to help with funeral arrangements and such. After the funeral was over it was the first time I really had my days be so free of structure that I could really look at my days and decide what I wanted, or needed to do. There is still plenty of things to do trust me but as I do these things with NO ONE here with me my mind has been thinking of somethings that I am surprised at. After 15 1/2 years of always having little ones here to fill my day I thought I would feel so lonely that it is quiet I wouldn't be able to stand the quiet and I would have music playing all the time. For the most part I LOVE the quiet. Which really surprises me! Once and a while I do listen to music but it was mostly during Christmas time and it was all carols. If I listen to anything it is usually another conference talk or a lecture from "Mother's who know". Which I highly recommend!!! Another thing that if funny to me is that every time I vacuum (which is a lot lately), when I am done I realize I miss having a little kid run to unplug it for me. Not that I can't do it, it was just a fun thing my kids always loved to do. I thought I would miss sitting at the table listening to the chatter at lunch and some times I do, but I also am enjoying the fact that I can "work" through lunch. Grab my shake and just keep going! I remember being overwhelmed one day (ok probably more then one day) and calling my mom, feeling exhausted and like the diapers, fits, and way to short of naps to get anything done, and always trying to put shoes back on every time we get in and out of the car would never end... I remember her telling me it was going to go by faster then I thought and I honestly didn't believe her. I thought yeah right 10 years is a LONG time. Well here it is 15+ almost 16 of me being a mom and I can't believe it. I think I blinked and here it is. I remember thinking the mom's with teenagers, or all their kids or even some of their kids in school were so much older then me. Now I think I am the same age as the mom's just starting out and forget that to her I am the "old mom". I spent my WHOLE live wanting to be a mom. I remember taking a doll to school on "career day" because I wanted to be a mom. I dreaded them all going to school because then what would I DO! Well I still DO a lot and I love it and I wouldn't trade one minute of it! It is the best job the hardest job, the most exhausting job, and the most rewarding. My heart is full with the gratitude I have for the privilege I have of getting to do this most amazing thing that I always wanted to do. It fulfills me in more ways then I ever dreamed of. I get to live, do, love, and grow as an individual as I get to help these other 6 (yes I am counting my husband not because he is my kid but because in all honesty we help each other grow in more ways then I imagined as well). I am full of gratitude and love and just happy to be living my dream! I have many goals of things I still want to learn to do and I will start working on them as well. I just wanted to stop and take note of these thoughts that have been bumping around in my brain for the last few weeks before they were gone. (That tends to happen to me, after 5 kids I don't remember things all that well unless I write them down).

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Amelia turns 12!

Twelve years ago this happened. Two little boys met their baby sister for the first time! It's funny how things can seem like they flew by but at the same time that feels like forever ago! I can't imagine my life with out this amazing girl in my life. She is such a kind, loving, fun, sweet, girl who has filled our home with love from day one!

She gets to have a slumber party this weekend with her friends and tonight she gets her favorite dinner (spaghetti) and ice cream cake! Then she will be off to Young Women's activity tonight! BUSY day!

Monday, February 1, 2016

Valentine's day

In 2014 I made these Valentine bags for my family. I put them up on February 1st and all month we are suppose to write a note to tell each person one thing we love, appreciate, or an act of service given to show love for one another. This helps strengthen our love for one another, and reminds us to show love for one another. I some times put little treats in them too!  I have a bowl filled with paper hearts for them to write on. Let the love fest begin.