I am old!

My husband and I were talking to our oldest son, Andrew tonight. Apparently we are a little outdated. Andrew didn’t believe what we were saying so he said, “That must’ve been what it was like in the 20th Century, but not in the 21st Century”. I used to joke that my Dad lived in the time of the Dinosaurs- but I was joking! I never imagined that one of my children could claim I grew up in a different century- and be right!

My Baseball Player is Only One!

We are not a very sporty family- even with 5 boys… but that might be changing.

My youngest son has always been interested in balls. We have a whole box in the playroom of various balls that we put there for him. He is always throwing a ball at anyone who will catch it. One day we were loading in the van. Everyone was in the van except Steven. I knew he went in the garage, but he wasn’t there. I found him in the backyard playing baseball with a baseball tee, bat, and ball. He sets up his own game with any ball and stick he can find- he‘ll even use a small plastic hockey stick and a ping pong ball. He’s not very happy when he has to come inside.

He has started playing imaginary baseball. He gets his imaginary baseball bat ready and asks me to throw a ball- then he swings!

Scrapbook Night Sketch Challenge

We had another fun scrapbook night. I love when my friends come over to scrapbook with me. If they didn’t come over, I would have a hard time setting aside time to scrapbook.

We did a challenge this time. We voted on a sketch and then created pages based on it. Here’s a few of the pages.

  

Children's Responsibilities

So I haven't blogged all summer! It's busy around here- and I'm enjoying it. The first week of summer was an adjustment though!

I just read Christina's blog, and it spurred this post.

My children have responsibilities, and each summer I've had a different approach to handling it. This is what we have done this year:

 

My 3 oldest children (ages 10, 8 and 6) have a set of 4 magnets. They each have their own color on the front and black on the back when you flip it over. I bought the magnets at Learning Palace. I used my label maker to print out their responsibilities- learning, music, cleaning, outside.

I talked to each child individually about what they needed to do to flip over each magnet. But basically, learning is writing, playing a math game, etc. Music is piano or violin practice. Outside is to play outside (one of my children doesn't choose to do this otherwise. He'd rather stay inside with his Legos all day). Cleaning is to do their "dinner jobs" and clean a bathroom (yes- we clean each bathroom everyday. Sometimes more than once! I have a can of Clorox wipes in each bathroom- love them!)

These are our dinner jobs:

During the summer we do these jobs after both lunch and dinner. During the school year- just after dinner. They keep the set of 2 jobs for a week, then we rotate.The first job (wash table, sweep floor, and clean chairs) is the food clean up. The second job (Loft, Scavenger Hunt, and Play room) is the area for them to pick up. (Scavenger Hunt means to walk through the downstairs hallways and pick up anything on the floor to put away.) Dinner jobs was hard to start at first- but now we've been doing it for over 3 years. At first we used my husband's old trophy that he was going to throw away as a reward each night. We would watch and see who did their jobs without complaining, did them quickly, and well. That person was awarded the trophy for a day. It worked well for awhile. Then the person on the top of the trophy broke off, and one child wanted the trophy more than the others, so everyone started giving it to him. We eventually let it sit in his room and we don't use it anymore.

We also have an hour of "Book Time" everyday. During my younger children's nap's, the older ones go in their rooms and read to themselves (or listen to books on tape). This gives me a chance to get something done and get dinner started. I have also started having "Mom ad Me" time during that time. Once a week, a child stays downstairs during Book Time with me and we do something together.

 

If they flip over all their magnets- then they earn their "screen time" for the next day.

 

We still get some complaints, but they seem to really enjoy flipping the magnets over (and playing with them- we are currently missing one).

I saw this SUMMER BINGO idea and it looks like a lot of fun. I think I'll try it out next year. I especially love the squares where it encourages playing with younger siblings.

We still have a month of summer left! Yea! (I'm not ready for the homework to start yet!)

Cookie Sheets

My 3 year old says the funniest things! I was putting him to bed and he told me that he did not like the cookie sheet on his bed. It took me awhile to figure out- since there was no cookie sheet anywhere in the room. He meant the bed sheet! I had put a brown one on instead of the car one. Apparently we eat more cookies here than I change their sheets!

Scrapbook Night Challenge and another 4X6 Photo template

Last night I hosted Scrapbook Night. Terri came up with a creative challenge for us. She gave us each 1 sheet of patterned paper and 2 coordinating colors of cardstock. Everyone's paper was different. She also supplied clear buttons, colorful eyelets, green ribbon, and circle and scalloped circle punches. We got to design a page any way we wanted using just those supplies. It was fun to get ideas from each other and start a page with supplies rather than the other way around. (I usually choose pictures and then see what embellishments I want to add to it.) Everyone's pages turned out fabulous and it added a new twist to our night. Thanks Terri!

Here's my Photo for the day from yesterday for Project 365.

It's actually a collection of 6 photos and I put them all on one 4X6 print.

I made a simple template again to make the process easier. It makes it so nice to add photos to the template and then resize them rather than cropping the photos and putting them together. I was able to rearrange the pictures and zoom in and out with out having to recrop.

I explained how to use the templates in my previous post. Here is a link to download this Photoshop template.

http://www.4shared.com/file/108644583/bd131e7/6_2X2_photos.html

 

PS- Hey Tiffany! Who gets the $100?? LOL!

Multiple Photos printed on ONE 4X6

I often like to print more than one picture onto a single 4X6. I know I will use the picture as a smaller size, so printing them together is cheaper and more flexible than having them printed as a wallet size. I got this idea from Becky Higgins. I learned how to make templates from online classes by Jessica Sprague, so I have made easy to use templates that I can use over and over that simplify the process.

I thought I could share the templates with you in case you want them too.

There is 3 templates to download- one for 2 photos, 3 photos, and 4 photos. The templates are horizontal, but you can rotate it to be vertical as well.

2 4X3 photos download

3 4X2 photos download

4 2X3 photos download

Here’s a little tutorial to show you how to use the templates in Photoshop. I use Photoshop Elements 6.

Open one of the templates. I chose the template with spots for 2 4X3 photos:

Open the 2 photos you want to have printed.

Drag one photo down onto the template in the photo bin. Make sure it is arranged in the layers pallet on the top- above the “Photo 1” layer.

Hover your mouse over the line between the photo’s layer and the “photo 1” layer. Hold down the “alt” key and click with the mouse. It should mask the photo to the “Photo 1” layer.

This means you can move the photo around and resize it- and the only parts of the photo that will be visible is in the “photo 1” layer’s area. This is the magic of using the template. You can resize and move the photo without cropping it. Just click on the photo and drag it around. Click on the corner of the photo and pull it in or out to resize it.

Repeat this for your second photo. Make sure you arrange the 2^nd photo so it is right above the “Photo 2” layer in the Layers Pallet, then hover over the line between then, hold down “alt” and click. Arrange and resize the 2^nd photo how you want it.

Now you save it as a Jpeg and it’s ready to be printed as any other 4X6 photo.

After I have mine printed, I cut the pictures apart and use them on a scrapbook page. I will also occasionally create a collage and leave them uncut on a scrapbook page.

 

Let me know if you are interested in any other photo templates- I’d be happy to make some more.

My Favorite Designer

A couple weeks ago Beth decided to stop selling her digital scrapbook designs. I am bummed because she is so talented, and I have loved everything she made. Lucky me that we are face-to-face friends too so I can still be blessed by her creativity and friendship. A few months ago she and Mary came over and made amazing and yummy chocolate butterfly cupcakes. Lucky me!

Thanks Beth for introducing me to Digital Scrapbooking and for being my friend!

Hoppy Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend together.

On Saturday we enjoyed the "Easter Bunny" traditions- baskets with yummy chocolate candies and dying Easter eggs. I found really helpful egg dippers this year. They look like two spoons hooked together like scissors and decorated like a bunny. It made putting in the eggs and getting them out MUCH easier. The decorated eggs didn't last long. Our boys promptly started making them into "egg boats." Deviled eggs with a toothpick mast and cheese sail. David and Andrew enjoyed making them more than eating them though, so they kept trying to give them away as "samples."

 

On Sunday, we enjoyed celebrating the true meaning of Easter. We talked about our Savior's last week on Earth. We had an egg hunt with objects inside the eggs that represent events from that week. I am always impressed when we do this how calm and attentive they are! I was so lucky to go to Israel a few years ago. When I was there, I bought a crown of thorns and a replica model of the Garden Tomb. I love to share these with them and show them pictures. It was a very special experience to be at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.

I watched this new video with Andrew, and got to spend time with him preparing a talk he was giving in Primary. This talk stood out to me during General Conference. I love how heart felt his testimony is and the beautiful way he explains our Savior's sacrifice for us.

What a difference a Decade makes!

 

My oldest is now ten!! It's amazing to think back on all that's happened in the last ten years, yet it seems like it has gone so fast! He's ten already!!

 

He is now tall enough to drive race cars. He's proudly showing off his drivers license- he'll be 16 all too soon!

Egg-periment

Before I got busy with Spring Break, I made another Digital Scrapbook page using Beth's new kit Joanne's Eggs. Everything I used is from the kit and I used a free template from here which made it super fast.

My page doesn't even scratch the surface of the kit. I just saw the eggs and the splat and knew I had to scrap this memory!!! Aren't 18-month olds so fun!

The kit is amazingly unique. Not the typical Easter kit. It showcases her mom's pysanky art. The eggs are AMAZING! I missed an opportunity to go to a class taught by Beth's mom to make an egg... I'm kicking myself now. They are beautiful! At least now I have them in digital format- I can still create with them. LOL!

Here's some pages that Julia made that beautifully show off the eggs.

 

 

http://digital-scrapbooking.org/shop/joannes-eggs-p-2236.html

http://digital-scrapbooking.org/shop/joannes-eggstra-eggs-p-2237.html

Things I Wish I'd Known Sooner

I read this book by Jaroldeen Edwards.  She shares highlights and insights of being a mom of twelve children. I liked the tidbits I got out of it- and they don't relate only to moms.

She told about a business trip she went on with her husband  to Barbados. She expected paradise. But the flight was long and by the time they got there- all she saw was the airport, then a taxi with no great views out the window. Then they got to the hotel- and it was not as glamorous as she expected. Her cottage was small and dark. She says she was frustrated, tired, and disillusioned. "Nothing was as I had dreamed it would be. Nothing made sense. Where was I?Supposedly somewhere on an island in the middle of an ocean- but at that point I was not sure either the island or the ocean really existed, and I was certainly in doubt about the whole "tropical paradise" thing!"  But then the bellman swept open their floor to ceiling shutters "and there right before us, where only darkness had existed, was the huge, splendid tropical sun sun... All that glory not fifteen steps away! I just could not see it in the darkness. The glory had been there all the time, and I had not known it. I had not been facing darkness, but a window onto eternity. I was just a  breath from all I had dreamed and I had not even guessed it. Light made all the difference."

I like this perspective- I don't know all that is ahead of me, I'm not aware of all that is happening around me, but there is a plan for me and a beautiful forever ahead- even if I don't know all the details.

 

This was another of my favorite quotes: "If we spend our life wishing away the mess, the noise, the obligations, they will be gone- but so will the children! This fact is true of every moment of life. If we do not see its joys, if we do not make the most of it, it will pass- and so will all of its opportunities."

I'm so thankful to be a mom and for all the joys that come with it! I'll take the dirty walls, laundry, noise (though yesterday I seriously wore ear plugs so it wasn't quite so loud!), messes, etc for the privilege to be a mom!

This quote sums it up for me- "I never thought that you should be rewarded for the greatest privilege of life (motherhood)."  May Coker- mother of the year)

Addicted to Scrapbooking

I just got back from the CK Scrapbook Convention. It was so much fun that I am not ready to sleep! It was great to rejuvenate and learn and enjoy and see so many creative things and people! I got lots of freebies this year-I always love that!

I went with my friend Caroline- and we were crazy. At the crop they had a contest to see who could make up the best song about the Cricut. 6 finalists would sing and one would win a Cricut! I've used a friend's so I know it has lots of neat options... Caroline and I both were finalists (and sang silly songs in front of more than 500 people!). AND Caroline WON!!! 

Here's my song:

To the tune of "I've Got Rhythm"

It's got letters, it's got shapes. It's got pictures. Who could ask for anything more!

It's got a library of cartridges. Shapes and fonts- Who could ask for anything more!

Cartridges like George and Jasmine- Calligraphy, and San Serifs.Disney too and Makin' The Grade. Possibilities are endless.

It's the Cricut, personal electronic Cutter. I want it! Who could ask for anything more!

(silly- I know!)

 

I have been a little addicted to Digital Scrapbooking this month too. I love the possibilities and the way it stretches me creatively.

Here's a page I made this month:

I love how many pictures I can resize and put onto one Digital page. Maybe I went a little overboard with 28 pics... but I wanted it to be one spread. For our family reunion we had a talent night together- I learned a lot about everyone that I didn't know!

I got the neat swirls and from a digital freebie given to me for participating in an online challenge. I just had to scraplift a page and I was given this cool page kit designed by Beth.

You have all of March to play in the challenge to get this kit for free. See the swirls!!

The yellow paper I used came from another freebie from this month- and I didn't have to do anything to get this one! Beth is giving it away free on her blog.

I also made this page yesterday. Also pictures from the reunion of a nature walk near my house.

I used Beth's brand new digital kit Natural Moods.

There still so much left in the kit to experiment with. You're amazing Beth!!

 

O'kay...can you tell I'm addicted! Maybe now I can sleep since I've told someone (everyone wise is already asleep here!)

Picture Tag

So- I was tagged by Beth. I didn't think I'd actually do it, but decided to just peek and see.

Here are the rules:

•Go to your photo folder in your computer
•Go to the 6th folder of photos
•Go to the sixth picture
•Put the picture on your blog and a description of it

I figured it would be some random, old, yucky photo... but it was cute, so I'll post.

It's from the year 2001. My oldest son's 2nd Birthday. That is his birthday cake...

Gone are the days of his obsession with trains. Now it's Star Wars and Pokemon.

 

I guess I chose to ignore the last 2 rules:

•Invite six friends to join the challenge
•Link them in your blog.

 

If you want to do it, just comment and post it on your blog. It was actually kinda interesting.

Shutterfly Book

My sister had a free 8X8 Photobook coupon from Shutterfly. I've been anxious to try it out, so she gave it to me. I wanted to design all my own pages, but because of the coupon's deadline, I used one of their pre-made books. It was so fast and easy and the book amazes me. It's like I published a book. Something about holding a hardbound book... it's just so cool. I included just pictures of my boys interacting with each other.  I am going to give it to them on Valentine's Day. I hope they think it's just as cool to be inside a "real" book as I do!

 

Children's Bookshelf

This post is for my friend Christina. She wrote about wanting one of those bookshelves that Preschools use so you can see the front of books. They cost a surprising amount of money, so 7 years ago, when I taught Preschool for my first son, my fabulous husband made me one- and it wasn't that hard!

He cut three pieces of wood- two sides and a bottom. Then he screwed them together. I sewed fabric for the book slots (instead of wood shelves like most of the commercial bookcases). It was cheap muslin. It is in one long strip and every so often I sewed a pocket for a dowel to go through (5 pockets).  I don't know the measurements anymore- its been too long- I just made something up anyway. The further apart the pockets for the dowels are- the deeper the book pocket will be. I actually made different size book pockets (some books are taller than others). Then  slide the dowels through their pockets and screw into the frame.

I really like the book shelf for 2-3 year olds. My children sometimes climb on it like its a ladder though- but it hasn't broken.

Here's another idea I use and I didn't have to make anything for this one!

This was a bookshelf I found at a garage sale for 25 cents. I put a basket on each shelf. It doubles as a bookend and as a way to display books so you can see the covers. Sometimes I sort the books in the baskets by a series they are interested in, or with books I want to encourage them to pick. We keep our library books on top so they don't get mixed in.

Happy reading!!

He's Walking... well trying!

We convinced Steven to take his first step on Feb. 6th. He loves to cruise around furniture and he is very good at walking when he holds one of my hands, but he won't let go! Rob and I sit a couple feet apart and try to get him to walk to each other, but he just stands there and laughs until he falls! Yesterday, he took 2 steps. Tonight he took three steps! He was very proud of himself. We all clapped for him, so he stopped and clapped too- and then fell over! Each of his brothers is so excited to help. They try to get him to walk to them... so many people to walk to! And they walk around with him. Here's a video Andrew took (The best part is the very beginning. You can stop watching after that. I couldn't figure out how to cut the movie! Sorry about the quality!!)

Watching him walk reminds me of something someone wrote about cheering for our children. We get so excited watching our babies attempt to walk. We cheer even when they "fail". We need to remember that our older children are still learning new things all the time. We should cheer for them in the attempts that they make- even if at first they fail.

Gotta Catch Them All!

Happy Birthday David! Right now David is VERY interested in Pokemon and wants to "Catch Them All". He amazes me with how much he knows about each Pokemon without being able to read the cards! I've been learning more than I need to know about Pokemon lately too.

For his birthday we celebrated by becoming Pokemon Masters. We played eight games and after each game, we won Pokemon cards and a badge (Ash collects badges too). After we had all 8 badges (just circles of paper I made to match Ash's badges), we were awarded a Pokemon certificate, and a Pokedex (really just a coloring book I made).

Here's my attempt at a Pikachu cake... (it's a round cake pan on bottom and top with two circle cakes in the middle. At the point I assembled it- I thought uh oh- it's an egg! The ears are tips of sugar cones. I used Twinkies for the tail, feet, and hands. Oreo eyes, and fruit-by-the-foot cut for cheeks and mouth)

Here's the games we played:

Pokemon Bingo (Everyone loved it! I gave information about each Pokemon after I drew it. So glad I found http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo/ - it has lots of different Bingo cards you can print.)

Pokemon walk (like cake walk, but Pokemon pictures instead of numbers, and you win cards instead of cake)

Hungry, hungry Munchlax (throw beanbags into Munchlax's mouth- the Pokemon that eats everything)

 

Pin the tail on Pikachu

Catch a Pokemon (Fishing)

Ash, Ash, Pikachu (Duck, Duck, Goose I was surprised how much they liked this one!)

Pass the Pokemon (Hot Potato)

David had a lot of fun- I hope his friends did too!

This book is Great for FHE!

We have had a few lessons out of this book for Family Home Evening. It teaches in fun and easy to understand ways the Standards that are in the For the Strength of Youth booklet- such as Gratitude, Agency and Accountability, Honesty, Service... I love all its great ideas- they even keep my boys attention! We've gone on treasure hunts, played silly games (like crawling around trying to get each other's socks off), done object lessons (It really surprised my kids that they could not pick up the word "choice" without having "consequence" come with it. And of course they had to think of tricky ways to try to do it!). It has yummy treat ideas too.

If anyone has great FHE ideas- let me know!

MORE SNOW!

My older children got on the school bus this morning... then it began to snow! It snowed enough (as you can see from the picture- it doesn't take much!) that they canceled afternoon Kindergarten and kept the morning Kindergartners at school all day instead of half day. David was not disappointed for another snow day! It all melted by the afternoon when the bus came home.

Beth made an AWESOME kit AND she asked me if I'd be on her CT!!!!

Beth Long is the one that got me interested in Digi Scrapping. I’ve been paper scrapping for over 15 years and when Beth started I said “I’ll never digi scrapbook. I like paper too much and I don’t like sitting at the computer”. Well- never say never!!! I am hooked! (I won't be giving up paper scrapbook anytime soon though!!!)

Well- Beth has designed some high quality, beautiful kits. She gave me her Autumn Splendor kit to create with and this is what I came up with:

Credits: Autumn Splendor by Beth Long, Title font Sidewalk

Credits: Autumn Splendor by Beth Long, Title letters (re colored) By Lori Cameron

I really loved the colors and the textures. And the glitter splotches were fun to use! She made the photo corners just for me!!! I love them- especially the cute stitching!! I've never used leaves before, so that was a fun challenge.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of your beautiful kits Beth!!

My life is like a Cinnamon Roll and other bits of Tribal Knowledge

A couple weeks ago Robin taught a great lesson in Relief Society at church. She had lots of great things to share. Amy posted about some.

For me, the thing I liked best that she shared is that my life is like a cinnamon roll. (She even brought cinnamon rolls for everyone! Maybe that's why I liked this part. LOL!) A cinnamon roll is made of lots of ingredients. Flour, sugar, salt, butter, cinnamon and so on- pretty ordinary ingredients... but the end result is fabulous. Each ingredient isn't always all that great- especially alone. Even the sugar alone wouldn't be tasty for more than one spoonful!  Just like in my life- I have LOTS of things to do, and some of them APPEAR to be ordinary or even yucky. But, if I can find joy in each ingredient in my life- then it will roll up into something great. I do believe that. I think I can find joy in everything I need to do- not just the ones I want to do when all the work is done. (Is it ever done anyway??) These last couple weeks have been better as I've tried to think of everything I do as important and meaningful and contributing to something great!

She also shared some random thoughts- she called them "Tribal Knowledge".  Things that should be common knowledge and passed to each other. Here's are some of my favorites:

"Fake it till you make it"

"You have no more right to steal someone's sunshine than you do to steal someone's silver"

"This too will pass"

"Have a sunshine day even if it's raining!"

"Good habits are hard to form and easy to live with. Bad habits are easy to form and hard to live with."

"Memories are made today."

"God never gives you more than you can handle."

 

Edited- I've been wanting cinnamon rolls ever since this lesson... I finally made them Feb 3rd and took a picture... Yum!

Magic Middles

My friend Heidi emailed me a new recipe a couple days ago. I made it for after school snack today. It's a chocolate cookie with a Peanut Butter middle. YUMMY!

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter

DIRECTIONS:

1. In small bowl blend flour, cocoa and baking soda. Mix until well blended.
2. In large bowl beat sugar, butter or margarine and 1/4 cup peanut butter, until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg, beat. Stir in flour mixture until blended. Set aside.
3. To make Filling: Combine confectioner's sugar and 3/4 cup peanut butter. Blend well.
4. Roll filling into 30 - 1 inch balls. For each cookie, with floured hands, shape about 1 Tablespoon of dough around 1 peanut butter ball, covering completely. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with glass dipped in sugar.
5. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 7-9 minutes. When cookies are done, they should be set and slightly cracked.

 

We all liked it, though some of my family prefers the cookie dough.

I have 2 cookie tips-

I learned this tip from my mother in law (an excellent baker!!)- whip the wet ingredients (shortening, sugars, eggs, and vanilla) together for a long time (5 minutes is not too long!). Her cookies always turn out light and tender.

Another tip I came up with is for the day after you make cookies. I really like cookies fresh out of the oven, so if you microwave your cookie for 8 seconds it tastes almost as good.

2009 Calendar

My friend makes a calendar each year. She collects pictures from each of her siblings and has a completed calendar printed for each of them and her grandma. This year I made the calendar for her.

Here's how it turned out:

Supplies: Patterned paper and frame- Beth Long bethbydesign.blogspot.com 

 

Supplies: Star embellishment-Heidi Larsen of littledreamdesigns.com Glitter Star Overlay- Janel Scraps

Supplies: Turkey and patterned paper- kimscrapping.blogspot.com 

I made a basic template to use for each page. I modified it sightly depending on how many pictures were on each page. It made it to drop photos in quick and resize them all to fit.

If you have a use for the template- you can download it here:

http://www.4shared.com/file/79546083/1f517da2/JA_calendar_template.html

It is a psd file sized 10X7.5

I printed the calendar at www.artscow.com I've never used them before. I was happy with the paper's quality, but some of the colors were printed a little wrong. But the price was amazing- only $6.99 and free shipping (from Hong Kong! so it took awhile!). I was wanting to make a photobook from them because the price is unbelievable, but not if the colors come out wrong. Has anyone else used Artscow?

 

NOTE: I originally made the template to use for a calendar from Staples.com It is sized to fit that calendar exactly. Artscow was cheaper, so I used it there instead. I just zoomed in and it fit.  Also- I used Artscow's calendar template for the actual calendar part.