The Only Regret About Not Having Television is ....

... is not having PBS. Drew loves and will only watch PBS.

A "Pumpkin-y" Singing Time Activity

One of the church callings which I have held in the past that I truly, truly enjoyed doing was the Primary chorister. Darin would laugh at how much time and effort I would put into games and things for the kids to do to help them learn the songs. I have a lot of fun coming up with cute ideas. For our homeschooling, I have a singing time. Drew kind of fights me, but I am just as stubborn as he is and make him do it anyway. But to make it at least bearable for him, I use my primary chorister ideas to keep him engaged. Yesterday at church, I actually got to go to Relief Society. Some things about the woman's lesson were truly disturbing, but one thing she said hit home. She talked about the importance of keeping a record for our posterity. I thought "wouldn't it have been fun to get recipes and church calling ideas from my ancestors?" If anything, it would get a feel for them as a person. Any of you out there who would like to use my ideas for your callings, you have my blessing :D Anyhow ... this weeks idea is the "Goofy Goard Pumpkin Patch" idea. I have begun doing my fun activities so that it would fit into a binder. Easier storage that way. But if you wanted to do them, bigger, that would be great too. If I was actually doing this for Primary, chances are I would do it larger so that the kids could see them from their seats. It would work either way I would think though. Okay .... let's get started!

Step 1: The Background

Get two light blue pieces of paper and a piece of green paper. Cut green paper in zig zaggy lines to create a look of grass. Glue onto the bottom of the blue paper.

Step 2: The Fence

Cut a white piece of paper into strips. Cut half of the strips in half and give them a point on one end. Glue them down a few inches apart from each other on the blue paper.

Take a couple of the uncut strips and glue on top of the 'fence posts' to complete the look of a cute little rickety fence.

Step 3: The Leaves

Take two different colors of green paper and cut into strips about the same width as you cut the fence posts. Fold a strip in half, in half again, and in half again so that you are left with your paper folded over each other to make a square.

Now, cut out a leaf shape. Make sure that you make the leaves into different shapes, as below. And because we folded the paper, you may only cut out one shape, but get several leaves with that one shape.

Intersperce (spelling???) and glue down the leaves on and around your fence. With a thin green marker, draw the to connect the leaves and make it appear they are part of a pumpkin vine.

Step 4: The Goofy Gourd Sign

Cut out of one quarter of a white sheet a rounded, oblong rectangle. You can use your black marker to print the words, or if you don't like your writing, you can print them out from your computer, then paste the words "Goofy Gourd Pumpkin Patch". I drew in the corner a pumpkin with orange and green markers, but that's a personal choice. I also glued a couple of the leaves onto the sign as well. It's up to you if you want to do that. Glue onto one of the background sheets in the 'sky' area. Place sheets into sheet protectors.

Step 5: The Pumpkins

On an orange piece of paper, draw several differnt shapes of pumpkins. You can use my shapes below if you would like :D Cut out the pumpkins, then outline them with a thin black marker. Cut out pieces of green paper to create the stem of the pumpkin. Glue onto the pumpkins. You may even want to put a leaf or two on the green stem. Laminate pumpkins. I use the self laminating sheets myself. They just need to be laminated on both sides. Glue onto the pumpkins a pair of those cute 'googly' eyes.

I write on small pieces of cardstock papers the songs I use, then tape them on the back with a loop of masking tape, so that I can remove them and use them for other singing time activities. Saves time and effort. Then with another loop of masking tape, I tape the pumpkins onto the sheet protectors so that they are ready to be chosen. Voila! You are done!!! Aren't they cute???

Halloween 2009 Note to Self ... DON'T Put in the Stuffing!!!

They had Halloween activities on Friday, the 30th and Saturday, the 31st here in Overton. Friday came around and I started getting Drew ready for the party. As M & M's are plump and Drew ... isn't (big grin), I started stuffing in some stuffing. We put on a smile and tweaked his hair and he immediately said "Take the picture!", so I did. Then he started saying "Off! Off!" He stripped his costume off, had me wipe off his smile and wouldn't come out of his room for the rest of the night. So .... lesson here .... don't stuff the costume ...

Saturday, I didn't put any smile or stuffing on, so he went to the community trick or treating activity. Hmmm ... wonder if that stuffing felt scratchy to him or something?????

It's Autumn Time ... It's Autumn Time ...

.... the leaves are falling down ...

It's Autumn time ... It's Autumn time ...

.... it's all around the town.

We made these cute little Autumn leaves one day. Drew LOVES crafts ... I think I finally have things figured out ... we have arts and crafts day on Fridays. :D Anywhoo ....

For those of you who would love to make these with kids or grand kids, all you need is some fingerpaint paper, some tempera paint in yellow, red, orange, brown and green and a big brush and scissors. Swirl each color one at a time with your brush on the paper until they swirl together and they get all mixed up. Wait to dry and cut out in a leaf shape. Simple. And as you can see, it's kid approved :D

Check Out Song Number One ...

Because in this life, we could all use a little more cowbell! :D

Getting ready for Halloween 2009!

Since Drew was 6 and discovered that when you dress up and go house to house on Halloween and they will give you CANDY, Halloween has been a real favorite for him. :D One of the tricks though is that doesn't like anything scary; which is fine with me. I had been trying to figure out what he wanted to be for Halloween this year. There was this cute coon skin cap, so I thought he could be Daniel Boone, but he said no .... a cowboy then??? Nope. How about a knight. Uh uh. Well, one day we went shopping at the grocery store and they had these cute M & M displays. One was the red M & M, one was the yellow M & M and one was the green M & M. He got this huge grin on his face as he really likes the M & M's (not necessarily the candy ... but the little M & M people) So, just out of the blue sky, I asked if he would like to be an M & M for Halloween. He got a big grin and said YES! "Do you want to be the red M & M or the yellow M & M?" "Yellow!" So, on Saturday, I got a big yellow sweat shirt (and can I say that was NOT the easiest task) and some white stick on felt. I came home and cut of the sleeves and cut out the M and stuck it on there. I showed it to him and he got this HUGE grin ... very excited. On Halloween, we will be adding stuffing so that he is a more well rounded M & M, but he was very excited. Not bad for a scruddywink, huh? :D

No, We aren't dead ... we just feel like it sometimes ...

It has been a while. I know. The sleep battle continues. So, you may have thought Overton was bombed and we didn't make it, but that's not true. We only FEEL like it's been bombed and that we didn't make it. heh heh heh ... anyhow ...

There is much to be said. I have repented and mended my ways. So, this post is to let you know that more are coming. And I had a thought that I would like feedback on. One of the blogs that I follow has given me a thought. As I love cookbooks and things, I am thinking about posting a recipe of the week. As I am homeschooling, I thought I would perhaps post a weekly fun craft or game idea. As I get asked all the time 'what does this spot on my foot mean?" questions, I thought perhaps I may share the wealth of foot reflexology spots and such. As we are trying to do FHE, I thought perhaps I would post a FHE lesson and such idea weekly. I thought it would also be a lot of fun to have "blast from the past" pictures posted and talk about what happened. What do you think? This is my way of 'being a record keeping people". So, I was thinking ... wouldn't it have been fun to have these types of things from MY ancestors? I think I would have enjoyed that. And the beauty part is that cutestblog .... has a thing where you can print your blog out in book form. How cool is that??? I would really like you thoughts.

No Rest For the Wicked ...

Can I say that I am EXHAUSTED??? Drew was up until after 4 am (I really miss Melatonin working ..... deep sigh) and YET I woke up at 9 am. So, I am a zombie today ... I think I even LOOK like one. And Darin got woken up at midnight with some problems at the store ... and wasn't home when we went to bed ... and was gone when I got up ... so I guess we BOTH are zombies. Anyhow ... I am TRULY wanting to take a nap today ... but you know what Drew wants to do? That's right ... unpack boxes ... I know it needs to get done but can't we wait a bit? Uh oh ... now he's wanting to make cookies ... this picture is looking MORE and MORE like me every second! And the kid is looking MORE and MORE like Drew too! Sleep ... I want sleep ....

First Day Back to Homeschool

Well, as public school started today, so did we. And Drew had a very good first day. I think he was very happy to get back to schooling. We were able to do so much more than last year as well, so I think we will be able to progress at a good pace for him. We are excited!

You need to hear this guy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-h8fip81Ts

I tried to just put it on here ... but I guess it's still smarter than I am ... anyway ... his name is William Joseph ... I would love to know what you think.

Life has finally slowed down a little ...

It has been a while since I have posted an entry or even looked at other blog sites. We have been a TAD busy ... but now that we are moved in and surrounded by boxes that need to be emptied and put away, I can breath a little and get back to communication.

Since our last post, I do want to say that we DID get to pick the watermelons. YAY!!! I wanted to take a picture of this momentous occasion ... and Drew thought he was supposed to stand IN FRONT of the watermelons ... (big grin). That is OKAY ... he is a cute boy and can get away with that.

I only weighed two of them ... because I wanted to cut one open to make sure they were ripe before I picked the other two, so I didn't weigh that one, but ....

they were ripe! YES! And they were quite sweet. But I did weigh the other two. One was 23 pounds and the other was just shy an ounce or two to be 18 pounds. Not bad for a volunteer plant! (lol)

Sorry, you get to see other stuff around the pics as we were in the midst of packing up the house at the time. Anyway ... the landlord finally had the yard and trees taken care of (because I found someone local and licensed to could do it ... friends of ours) and they tore up our garden while they were at it. It was a great garden while we had it. We really enjoyed it. But the sun was just drying up our tomatoes and all but one of our squash plants ... the watermelon took the heat in stride. But the guy was absolutely amazed that it was only ONE watermelon plant. He thought it was 3 or 4 plants because of the size and spread. It was fun.

I had to put in this little picture of Drew. He was on a Disney Channel kick again and wanted me to cut out the old Disney Channel logo. Not bad if I do say so myself. He wanted to make sure that this made it to the new house fridge. So my new fridge is wearing it with pride (big grin)

Then, of course was my birthday this month ... on the 30th. We moved into the new house on my birthday ... were supposed to have a bunch of help, so I bought 6 pies and some ice cream for the guys as a birthday celebration and thanks for helping .... but only 3 people showed up ... so now I have pies a go-go. I am going to cut them into single servings, put them in tupperware and stick them in the fridge. That way when we feel the strong urge to have something sweet, we can have a single serving, rather than having to polish off an entire pie!



Drew did pretty well with the moving ... until the day we had to take his legos and computer and other security blanket items over. He melted down big time. I don't know why, but evidently he thought we were throwing his prized things away. So, I had to take him over to the new house and have the rest of them bring things over. He has been a happy little camper ever since though.

Well, I think that is it for now. I will post again soon, but it is time to get off the computer. :P

A Virtual Tour of the New House

Ashley the other day asked if I would take pictures of the new house so she could pick which room would be hers ... so I thought I would give a virtual tour. Ready?

Okay ... let's walk up the steps of the house and unlock the door ...

and enter the foyer. Nice flooring ...

To our right ... is the future school room/office ...

that has a direct line to the kitchen. You can leave it open ... or you can close a door between the two. It is one of those doors that slide like we had in the Lincoln house when we were kids that separated the kitchen and the living room.

Now, to the left ...

is the sitting room or living room if you prefer. Nice place to visit with visiting teachers or home teachers or something like that. This is where my piano is going to go as well in hopes that as this room as well as the school room/office has doors that close. I am hoping that if I close the doors, it won't bug Drew too much if I play some piano again. They have told us that ALL the walls are insulated, as well as a squat load of insulation in the ceiling, so I am hoping for the best.

And we're walking ... we're walking ....

when you continue down the foyer, you enter a large open area that contains three important pieces to the house. To your left ...

the kitchen complete with all new appliances; microwave, stove with the kind of stove top that I like that is so easy to clean and a very cool oven, new refrigerator with water and ice in the door. I will probably use the ice, but not the water as the water doesn't run through a filter unit and water in Nevada leaves a LOT to be desired. They strongly recommend you either get a reverse osmosis or soft water system because of how hard the water is ... or you drink bottled water. When this becomes officially ours, THEN we can look into a filter unit ... but until then ...

But it has work area island where the sink is. Love that. Gives lots of working room ...

OR you can just stand there and play in the water. And yes, it also has a new dishwasher. I am seriously going to talk to a place to ask what I can do to keep it at its best performance. The hard water gets everything all gummed up. I want to know how to stay on top of that. Anyhow ...

If you look straight ahead, you will see ...

the family room. Very open. I like that. Has some carpet which will be nice for family prayer time, but is surrounded by the bamboo flooring. Because of the light coloring, we are going to not wear shoes in the house. I guess you can say we are thinking Eastern. Wouldn't you? Lori, if you are looking at this ... note: I know there are a LOT of arrangements I would like done, but per our agreement, I would like three arrangements done ... and two of them are going to be here. On top of the electric fireplace, I want a rose silk arrangement. And can you see that little cubby shelf above? I think a nice wandering green arrangement would be nice there with some knicky knack stuff. Just thought I would throw that in there.

The third important factor is a ... I guess you would call it a breakfast nook, but that's where we are going to get a table and chair set .... again. What a concept. Trying to all sit down together as a family for meals at night.

A picture to give perspective to the space. Nice and open. I like that ... I believe I already said that. Okay .... moving on ...

Now, if you continue past the eating area, you run straight into the utility room ... with it's brand new washer and dryer! (Don't I kind of sound like Bob Barker on Price is Right? You just won ... a BRAND NEW CAR!!!) Aaaahhhh ... to have a laundry ROOM again will be very nice indeed. the cleaning closet was fine, but having a room will be very nice indeed. I am hoping to get a little table in there for a folding table ... as well as a table if I wanted to do crafty things, like scrap booking or something, I can leave them there and close the door. Sweet!

To the left of the utility room is a door that goes directly to the two car garage. And in the garage, there is a place where you can pull down a ladder and have storage space in the attic. In this heat, I am not really sure what you could put up there though. Anyhow ... if you go to the right ... you go into the master bedroom. Now I do have to admit, I don't quite understand the dream behind the window selection, but it is a workable thing as far as I am concerned. Now let's go on into the ...

master bath with shower AND jet tub! My lower back is REALLY looking forward to that jet tub I can tell ya. Now, this bath has ...

his and her sinks. All the drawers but the very top one are working drawers ... nice. And don't you like the picture of me taking the picture? LOL On the opposite wall is the linen cupboard. Sweet! And if you walk past the sinks ...

you enter into the walk in closet. I think I would like to put another bar halfway up the wall in the center, so you can have a section for shirts, pants, and skirts and then the sides can be for the longer things. I think that will have to wait until it is officially ours though.

Now, if we went back out to the Family Room area and went to the opposite side of the house we would find ...

a hallway. If you go left ...

You know how in the White House they have the Lincoln's Bedroom? Well, at OUR house, we have the Ashley's bedroom. It has a door that goes directly out to the back porch and back yard.

If you went straight ahead, you would go right into the guest bathroom. Love that tile, don't you? If you headed to the right ....

You would enter Drew's room.

So, do you feel like you have ACTUALLY been to this house? You SHOULD! Ashley, I hope this gives you a really good idea of what the house looks like, as per your request.

Our Fourth of July .... ummm ... adventure?

Okay ... so ... here we were ... heading up to St. George to celebrate the 4th with my family ... and four miles out of Mesquite ... my car WIGS OUT!!! It all of a sudden is making this weird noise and can't go over 40 miles an hour.

We were planning on having sub sandwiches and I was in charge of bringing the meats and cheeses! .... Drew is FREAKING OUT (I don't know why, but when the car is in trouble, he can't handle that ... melt down a go-go) we tried calling tow service that we have in an extended warrantee insurance that I had gotten for the car ... but where we were was NO RECEPTION ... we were in a swiss cheese hole ... oh no ...

Well, we turn around (no police watching please ... but this was an EMERGENCY) and drove back the 4 miles to Mequite with the hazzard lights blaring and going 40 mph on the shoulder of the road and pull into the McDonalds there. We get something to eat and let Drew play in the playland (whew ... thank goodness) and get our bearings.

We call around to friends in Overton and find that our new bishop to be has family in Mesquite that runs a very reputable auto repair establishment. They aren't open ... as it is the 4th ... but we have our friends, the Kuenzli's (pronounced Kinzlee's) come pick us up and help us tow our car to the place then take us home. That took 5 hours of our holiday ... I have to be so grateful that we were able to get to a place where we could be stranded in an air conditioned facility with food and a place for Drew to play. And good friends that were happy to help.

As I was planning on getting the big dog fireworks up in St. George as Lin's in Overton can't sell fireworks due to Nevada State laws, all we had were poppers and snaps. So Drew and I went outside and did those (as Darin was exhausted by this point and was fast asleep). But evidently we have some new neighbors (wasn't sure ... but I guess we do) who didn't know the rules and had some fireworks ... and Drew decided to invite himself to their party :S

So we have now been eating sandwiches everyday ... and we ate the Marie Callendar's Key Lime Pie I was bringing up as well as my Pink Stuff jello salad (I guess I should say I am eating it as Darin doesn't like it ...) So, as you can guess ... a memorable day.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!!! I hope everyone has a safe and happy day today. I hope everyone feels the love of their country today. And I hope that we are worthy as a nation to receive God's blessings.

I am hopeful ....

that these ....

three big bad boys ....

get fully ripe before we have to move and pull the plant up!