Painting Statues

I told little Melissa (who is five today!) that I would take her to paint a statue a few months ago. Melissa loves arts and crafts and kept begging me to keep my promise. So this month I took her to Paint Away. We went while the big girls were in school and of course Nathan came along. Had I been thinking I definately would have left Nathan with Grandma. But hindsight is 20/20. Melissa spent 10 minutes looking at all her painting options. Nathan took this opportunity to pick up over 20 breakable items (Yikes!). Finally Melissa settled on a mermaid sitting on a rock. We picked out paint colors and got to work. But of course Nathan was not at all happy watching and wanted to paint too. I handed him a small truck to paint and it kept him busy for all of 2 minutes. Here he is during that two minutes. Notice how low the shelves are with pottery. Just the perfect height for a toddler to grab things. Melissa with her mermaid.

Nathan with his blue truck. After painting it for those happy 2 minutes Nathan got down from him chair and grabbed a train and put it up on the table saying "now let's paint the train". These statues are expensive so there would definately be no painting a second one. He was quite upset by that idea and I had to strap him into his stroller for the rest of the painting experience. Then I painted the rest of his truck while he ate a snack in his stroller and struggled to get out.

A week later I returned to the painting place to pick up the fired pieces. Here is Nathan with his truck while eating chicken nuggets for lunch.

And Melissa with her beautiful mermaid.

I did alot of the painting on both of the stautes because the kids got tired out. I would recommend waiting until kids are 6 year old to do this type of painting project.

Melissa is so excited that today is her 5th birthday. We opened a few presents this morning before dad went to work and will open more after dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Her birthday party with friends will happen tomorrow.

Today I am thankful that:

*We had several sunny days last week because today is very gray and rainy.

*I got 5 movies from the library so my kids could watch one together each day of spring break.

*We got a new computer printer that actually prints when you click print.

My one hobby

Since I have five children I don't have alot of "free time". I spend most of my time doing mom things like cooking, washing clothes, bathing kids, fixing snacks, reading stories... But one thing I have always made time for is scrapbooking. I made my first scrapbook when I was a teenager and have been making them ever since. These are my kids books. I am very proud of them and the fact that they are up to date. Most importantly, my kids love looking at them, and doing so reminds them of all the fun things they have done.
Every six months I go through the pictures I have taken (during the last six months) on my computer. I get out a paper and write down each of the pictures that I want to print out. Then I go to kodak online gallery, costco.com, or shutterfly and upload all the pictures. This first step takes several hours. Once they are at a online gallery I select how many of each picture I want and then I place an order. Usually I am ordering about 300 pictures. I am always so excited to get them in the mail.
The first thing I do once I get them is open them and sort the pictures into piles. One for each of the kids and one pile for me=six piles. Yes, I make a different album for each of the kids. They love looking at the pictures in their piles.
Then I put each person's pictures into their own envelope. When I have a free hour I pull out one person's envelope with pictures and get to work. I usually do the youngest child's scrapbook first. This is my work station, the kitchen table.

A close up--pictures, colored cardstock, printed paper, cutters, and double stick tape.

Usually in 1 hour I can place all the pictures. Then when I have my next free hour I type up captions for the photos. In my third free hour I cut apart the captions and attach them to the book in addition to stickers (my favorite).

The last part is the best. I slip the pages into page protectors and into the scrapbook. Then I tell the child whose book I have just updated to come and see their scrapbook. Even Nathan gets excited to see pictures of himself.

Today I am thankful that I am alive--a friend of mine who has struggled with cancer for many years and has 2 small children is dying. Sometimes I complain that my kids whine or that being a mom is too hard but when it all comes down to it, I love being a mom and I'm really glad I get to raise these children.

Leap Day

Today is a leap day. That means that teachers have a planning day and my kids have no school. As a result I decided to take my kids to the chocolate store. This store makes and sells yummy (but expensive) chocolate. First we went inside the swiss looking store.
Look at the adorable Easter candy display.

I let each of my kids pick 3 of these foil wrapped chocolates.

Then we walked around the store to the chocolate factory behind so we could look in the windows.

This display was in in the window for us to see. Cool, but that chocolate must be old and dusty.
Then when we got home my kids got creative. Holly made a rainbow of cars. The orange tow truck at the top is Nathan's favorite.

Meliss pulled some root beer bottles out of recycling and learned how to make music by blowing them.

Megan made this cute hat.

Here is a close up of the hat. It is a stage with a pop up microphone, guitar, and girl playing the drums. Very creative!

Today I am thankful that:
*My mom tended little kids yesterday at her house so I could prepare my talk for sacrament meeting this Sunday in peace.
*My mom sent them home with enough Saint Patrick's day cookies for all us.

*Scott has march madness basketball to watch and talk about with co-workers which makes him happy.

Art

Every year our school has an art night. Each class displays a fun art project that they have made. Here is Emily with her "highways of color". She started with just four colors; red, yellow, blue, and white and then mixed them to make this.
One class took a large picture of the school mascot and then covered it with magazine pieces of the coordinating color.

These are water bottle papier-mâché statues. Each child made one that represented what they want to be when they grow up.

These are pottery houses.

Clay butterflies for the garden.

Flower paintings made with sponges I think.

Aren't these the cutest bees made out of yarn?

I loved these rainbow sunflowers and of course the cute girls in front of them.

Here is Megan with her class's project, glass puppies.

I love that the puppies are on fake grass and this cute dog in the doghouse.

Today I am thankful that

*I was able to wake up early (despite being woken up during the night) and go to the temple

*Melissa likes to help me clean now that I got this feather duster.

*Nathan still takes a nap everyday. He naps on the couch with his special blue blanket.

What I've been up to

My visiting teachers didn't make it for a visit in February but they did drop off flowers. I can't decide which I like best, having a visit with them or getting these flowers, both are so nice. I enjoyed these Daffodils all week. Thanks!The house behind us recently sold and I am just waiting for the new neighbors to move in. I hope they have children and are friendly.

My kids continue to watch lots of TV (it's too cold to play outside) and I recently found them watching TV like this, pretty creative.

I am the Beehive counselor at my church so I plan weekly activities for the 12 and 13 year old girls. We had a motherhood activity last week with silly games like changing diapers (on dolls) in the dark, stroller races, and drinking juice from a bottle the quickest.

I sold concessions after Emily's Seussical performance. I even bought her one of the overpriced fancy brand cupcakes that were being sold when she asked for one. $3 for a cupcake, how did that happen? You can buy 6 candy bars for that price (which I'm not recommending) but really? Doesn't she look beautiful in her bird girl costume.

One day I made masks for my little kids. Scary, right? Melissa made the mask that she was holding. Nathan thought it would be funny to drink with the mask on.

Here is a cute shot of the two of them. I love it when my kids get along.

I also superglued Nathan's two favorite Lego cars together piece by piece. I got tired of rebuilding them when pieces fell off.

On Saturday we attended my niece's baptism. I love that we get to participate in these special occasions since we live by family. I didn't take a single picture of my niece but check out this awesome cake her dad (my brother) made.

Today I am thankful that;

*My visiting teachers came for a visit

*It is sunny outside and I got to take a walk with my kids

*Holly's tooth is coming down at the right angle (or so says the orthodontist)

Suessical

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