Claire's Faces

Marker Face: Claire decided it would be a good idea to mark up her face with markers. And the funny thing about it is that she did some of it sitting right in front of me on the table. By the time I looked at her and realized what she had done it was too late.

Then she came out of the bedroom covering her face like this. That's when I knew she'd added to her masterpiece while hiding away in one of the bedrooms.

Nutella Face: Around our house, a toasted Nutella and peanut butter sandwich really hits the spot. I was making one for Emma and this is what I found when I came back to the counter when the toast popped up. I guess Claire really likes it too!


Craft the Night Away Spring 2010

Craft the Night Away went really well tonight. Jason and one of his Deputy friends helped me set up all the tables and chairs. That was so nice. They did it so fast and put them right where I wanted them. I set out all the orders and supplies last night and so things went a lot better this time around. I was so grateful for all the help of others being in charge of crafts and helping clean up and put everything away. It was a fun night!

Who's Erin?

We had to do some last minute errands today for Craft the Night Away. When I told the kids Paul questioned, "Who's Erin?" Ha! "No, errands," I had to clarify.

Here we are at Ace trying to find gel stain. Aside from Paul poking Benjamin in the eye with a dowel, we had a pretty good time.

This is after the dowel incident

Me and photo a day

This is how I see life lately - from behind my camera. Not that I'm claiming to be anything but amateur level. I do enjoy thinking each day of how to capture the little things that make up our daily activities.

"hat" & Cleanup Crew

This morning I told Benny that he couldn't go out in the rain. He simply said, "No, hat." As if to say, "Come on mom. The hat makes everything OK."

Jason was cutting my block sets for our Craft the Night Away this Friday and these two little helpers came in to clean up the mess. Claire got so mad at Benny when he dumped the dustpan out in the grass before she was ready.

puppet show

I caught Emma and Paul putting on a puppet show to no one in particular. Once they saw the flash of my camera they quickly hid. They were occupied for quite a while though.

Grandkid Luncheon 2010

We held our second annual Grandkid luncheon out at my Mom's today. It went really well. Planning a day to honor such a great group of kids was fun for me. We took our customary group photo before we ate.

Here's Claire & Emma this morning as we got ready for church. Claire actually kept her headband and flower on all day. Her and Emma looked so cute!

For lunch we had sub sandwiches and chips and salads - potato, pasta, and green - Yummy! It was a little chilly to be eating outside, but the fresh air and sunshine was welcome indeed. You can tell the boys liked the grub.

After we ate, I gathered them all together for my little message. This year I chose "I know who I am, I'll take a stand" as my theme. Last year we talked about who they are-children of the most High (Heavenly Father). And so this time I had them tell me different things that we stand for and how important it is to stand up for one another. I also just reminded them we love them and that we recognize their efforts to be obedient and do what is right.

I kept the message short, but I felt the spirit throughout the rest of the day as I interacted with each of my nieces and nephews and even my own children. I just felt an increase of love for these wonderful children that are part of our family. I couldn't thank them for their help cleaning up or helping each other out enough. I want to remind them how special they are as often as I can.

A Good Book

We (my mom, sisters, and sisters-in-law) had our book club this evening and this is the book that we discussed. I really liked it and the new perspective I gained about the Atonement. Thanks Mom and Dad E for watching my kids so I could go.

"Bird died"

So I was sitting at the computer checking my e-mail when a loud bang startled me half out of my chair. A couple of unsuspecting birds ran into our huge family room window next to me. One of them didn't make it, and of course, all of my little ones wanted to see the little bird. We put him in a sack and then I led a processional out to the garbage. Then we all waved and left him to his peace. Ben and Claire kept saying "Birdie died?." (A question and statement combined.) Paul and I had a great conversation about guts.

Blocks of Inpspiration

I have been working on some Inspiration Blocks and a photo block just for fun. I have wanted to do them for a while and since I needed to do some blocks for my sister-in-law, I decided to break out all my stuff and finish mine. Oh, it was so much fun! Not a lot of work involved, just a lot of pausing in between steps, or in the middle of steps, depending on what the kids were doing or how late I was on getting lunch and dinner going. I've wanted to do the photo block for a while when I found the idea at Little Birdie Secrets. I finally got it done. I haven't stained it like they did; I painted mine yellow - so bright and happy. The other two blocks sport quotes that I liked and wanted to have around to remind me of choosing each day to follow Christ and to become a better person.

5x7 photo on a 7x7 block

7x8 block

6x8 block

Fun in the Dirt

Lately we've been doing a lot of this - digging and playing in the dirt. They come in just covered from head to toe in dirt. We have to escort them back out the door to brush them off and tousle their hair to get somewhat clean. But what can I say? They absolutely love playing in the dirt. This area used to be over run with weeds and debris from previous renters until Jason cleaned it up. Now it is the favorite play spot of all the kids. (Paul is holding his shorts up because he fell and scraped his knee.)

Gettin' Ready and a Clean Car

This morning I was trying to usher the kids out to the car so we could take Emma to school. Ben was the last one, holding us up terribly. He came out with a pair of socks and so I tried to hurry him by telling him I'd help him in the car. Well, this is as far as he made it before he sat down to put them on himself. He has become quite the independent boy.


My sister works at a feed lot doing their office work. Needless to say, her car gets very dirty and stays that way because a lot of the time it feels like "why clean it, it'll just be dirty again starting tomorrow." My mom brought her car in to be serviced and so Jason decided to surprise her by washing it. Doesn't it look great! We love you Shelly!

Sugar Cookie Madness & Mystery Cookie Monster

I have been on a sugar cookie spree. I have made about three batches in the last three to four weeks. I have found something that Paul absolutely loves. He passes up popcorn on movie nights, chocolate chip cookies, and anything with peanut butter in it. But not sugar cookies. He is usually up before me and "neaking" (sneaking), as he calls it, onto the counters or into the cupboards to get at the cookies where I've tried to stash them. He will grab one and then run and hide to eat away the evidence. Although the empty spot on the tray is a tell tale sign that the cookie monster as been at it again.

Look who I found hiding behind the couch eating a cookie just about 10 minutes ago.

Baskets

I love baskets! I was at Michael's and happened upon a 50% off sale and a cute variety to choose from. Who could pass that up? These are in Emma's room.

Turn it off!

We're not too fond of the ice cream man. We went to feed the ducks and geese at Columbia Park and this guy was parked blocking all of the parking spots just talking on his cell phone. What! Sell ice cream or move on! OK, I know I sound a little harsh, but the music gets to a person after a while.

Leftovers

Some leftovers I can't stomach. They sit in the fridge forever until I finally get the energy to clean out the fridge and then they go in the garbage.

Not the case with these fabulous leftovers from Othello's very own Checo's Restaurant in the part of town so fondly referred to as Lil' Mex. This may seem like just a glob of something indistinguishable and rice, but it is actually my favorite dish - Pollo a la Crema (chicken in a sour cream sauce with carrots, onions, peppers, and mushrooms). My mouth waters just writing about it.

Checo's is one of those places that if you ask the locals where to eat they recommend it. It's definitely worth the date night and the leftovers for the next day. My sister ordered their Posole and it was heavenly as well.

Late! Late! Late!

I woke up a little late this morning. Emma needed to be at school by 8:15. We totally made it! She took a shower last night and was able to get dressed in record time. I made her toast with cheese and a banana to eat on the way. She brushed her teeth first to get rid of the night time gunk. ( she was a little concerned about eating afterward, but I assured her it would be OK for one day.) We sprayed her hair down, popped a head band on, and we were out the door. Ben and Claire had coats, but no shoes and Paul had shoes but no coat. She walked across the lawn to school just as the last bell was ringing. Phew!

Ants in Your Pants

Poor Benjamin! We looked outside to see the little guy taking his pants off. I went out thinking that he'd tried to go to the bathroom in nature. That was not the case. He informed me that there were "an" in his pants. And sure enough, there were. The poor guy had sat in an ant pile outside. You'll have to click on the photo to see them better, but they were crawling in his underpants and pants. He had tons of little red bites on his back from the little pesky creatures.

Spin Cycle Bear

Benjamin was very concerned that one of our Care Bears was taking a spin in the washing machine. I think he would have reached in and pulled it out if I wasn't there to hold him back.

Friendly Vultures & Cinnamon Ben

Jason came home for lunch today and invited Officer Gilbert with Othello Police Department to come and enjoy the meal as well. As you can tell from the look on Jason's face, he's had enough of little fingers digging into his salsa and salad. The kids had already eaten, but they just couldn't stay away as Dad broke out the good stuff - chips and salsa. These are our friendly vultures.

Cinnamon Ben

Benjamin strikes again. I had to mix up some more cinnamon and sugar, so the cinnamon was down from it's safe, high cupboard. Benjamin was all over that. My kitchen smelled nice for a while though.

Patches of Purple

These little patches of purple bring me joy. I know they're just weeds, but I love to see them blooming as I drive around town and the surrounding area.

Yard Sale Challenge

As I was gathering stuff for our yard sale, we came across these lovelies. They held 2 oz bottles of paint used for toll painting. I didn't think they would sell at all. My sister-in-law Julie Marie thought we could totally get someone to see them in a different and useful light. That became my challenge: to see if anyone bought these racks. People sure asked a lot about them, but we had no takers for most of the morning. I did sell one right at the end. I met the challenge only a third of the way.

Emma helped us man the cash box.

We were selling one of those Host a Murder games from my sister. We thought it quite funny that the Deputy was selling such a game.

Gearing Up

We were putting price tags on everything today. Of course the kids wanted to see all the cool things that we were getting rid of. Here's Ben gearing up for the big sale.

Tumbleweed Race

We drove through a nice dust storm on our way out to Mattawa today. Tumbleweeds were rolling everywhere. These looked so funny to me - like little furry creatures in a race. They were just rolling so fast in such a tight cluster. It made me smile.

Fashionable Organization

Emma was getting desperate for another craft project and I was getting tired of her flower clips just being piled everywhere in her room. So this is what we came up with. I've seen plenty on other blogs (which I can't seem to find the links for at the moment) and because of this yard sale we're having I had an old frame I didn't want. Emma picked the paper and the ribbons and voila.

"Ga-lue"

Ben's been busy. Last night he decided to try his hand at some sharpie art. Only he used this quilt for his canvas. I know, I know. Some of you may think the orange thing was actually improved by Ben's ministrations. But we love orange in this house and this blanket stays so cool on your skin when you're using it.


Today he decided that he wanted to have some fun with the slushy flavoring. We had shaved ice for our home-tel and so the flavoring was still out. I told him to put it back twice and I turned my head for a minute-OK probably two- and this is where the 3/4 full bottle ended up. Blue raspberry was my personal favorite too. The only thing he said to me when I was cleaning it up was "Ga-lue" as he pointed at the mess. That's his way of saying blue. Yes, it is indeed blue. I guess I can be grateful that he's learning his colors. :)


Look at that little sad face with a drop of slushy syrup on his nose. He probably tried to sample the syrup once he'd poured it out onto Emma's rug. Silly boy!

memorization mesmerize-ation

One of the notes I have from Elder Perry's talk in Conference is: Exercise your mind- Memorize scriptures (not a direct quote). I remember the thing about memorizing scriptures popping out at me several times during conference. It's something that I have wanted to do in order to expand my store of familiar scriptures and just to keep my mind working. In preparing for a talk this upcoming Sunday (laugh all you want, your turn will come) I came across these scripture lists from my mission binder-one is from the discussions and one is just other scriptures I chose on my own. So I have evidence that I've done this memorization thing before and I can do it again.

Conference Coloring

This is how I took notes during Conference. Doing it this way is so much fun. I started last year by just coloring with Emma to keep her occupied. Now I think of the good quotes and sound bites I hear in the talks and how I can mix writing and pictures to remember them better.