Kids Craft - Umbrellas

An appropriate little craft for this weekend as it is supposed to rain, rain, rain.

Start by giving each child a piece of white card stock. Roughly draw the shape of an umbrella
on the paper. Have each child paint the umbrella with different shades of yellow. Set aside to dry.


Take an old book and draw big raindrops on the pages (ours was a Happy Potter book that fell apart after too many readings!). Have the kids cut them out.


When the paint is dry, cut out the shape of an umbrella - and now it's time to assemble.


Give each child a piece of blue paper, a pipe cleaner and a bottle of glue and start putting it all together. The pipe cleaner will stick best if you use a lot of glue and then do not push on it - just let it sit until dry.


Any now you're done! My flowers are going to love the rain this weekend. They'd love me more if I could get outside to weed!

Meet Speedy

Sophie is at it again. Meet Speedy her new pet caterpillar. Sophie took Speedy to school today for show and tell - but the thing is, Speedy was "sleeping" this morning when she checked on him. I think Speedy croaked from the constant attention he has received this past week.

I wonder how Sophie's teacher really feels about all of the dead critters she brings to class?

Happy Things - Garage Sales!

Yard Sale season has begun and I could not be happier! I have a serious problem this year as I have way too many kids on Thursday to be able to hit any yard sales. Instead, I have to see what I can find on Fridays and if I am around, on Saturdays.

I managed to go to a couple of sales on Friday on our way to the zoo and these are the treasures I found.

Funky vintage necklaces for Sophie and me $1.00 each.


A handful of vintage buttons - free! These will be used as centers for my flower pins and hair-clips.


Two pair vintage earrings $0.50 each. I will use these in pins as well.


A new (tags still attached) summer dress for Sophie $5.00.


Garage Sales are much cheaper than therapy or mood-altering drugs. Try it for yourself!

Scrambled Eggs and the Weekend

It was a busy weekend around these parts. The kids left late Friday night to spend some quality time with their Dad and I had the house to myself. I tend to want to spend alone time lounging in bed with a good book and a cup of herbal tea - or a diet coke. I have to make deals with myself. "I can read one more chapter, but then I have to get up and clean the bathroom". "OK, I'll just finish this one book and then I have to clean out the storage room that flooded last week. I absolutely will not start another book." Reading is my nemesis. Actually everyone in this house would be perfectly happy if we were all quaratined to the house for a month or two. We have at least a 3 month supply of unread books. How's our food storage? Errr . . . not so great - we might be hungry, but we certainly would not be bored.

On Saturday I baked a cake for the Young Women dinner and auction which I attended alone. It was not as awkward as I thought it might be and Susan and I went out afterward for some chitchat which was really nice. BTW, did you know Barnes and Noble closes at 10:00? We ended up chatting in a restaurant in the same parking lot whose name escapes me.

On Sunday I spoke in church and sang with the choir. I was nervous about my talk because my topic was developing a personal relationship with the Savior. I was trying to figure out how to talk about my own personal experiences without really mentioning anything from the last two years because : 1. my kids were in the audience, 2. I did not want to break down and just bawl in front of the entire congregation, 3. many of the members do not know that I am getting a divorce - they just think Bryan is inactive since he had not been coming to church for so long and 4. I'm not quite sure how to talk about the divorce and the assurance I feel that everything is going to be alright for me and the kids. In a church where marriage is so sacred, it often feels uncomfortable to talk about losing that gift. Though I did not feel comfortable talking about it in front of the congregation, I have felt comforted throughout this journey and absolutely know that I am being lifted and strengthened every single day.

In the end, I was happy with my talk - I certainly learned a lot as I studied and have a renewed desire to make sure my children hear my testimony and have regular opportunities to feel their Heavenly Father's love for them in their lives. I did not break down and cry - at least not much.

It is a new busy week. I have a ton of kids tomorrow. I need to put together the gift basket for Max's class for the Spring Art's Night. I am also donating a basket of hair clips to be auctioned for the school - I need to put that together. The pinewood derby is tomorrow night. Last year it was a horrible experience for Max - his car did not even make it down the track. Lots of tears. *sigh* Sometimes I feel ill-qualified to raise boys on my own.

I'm off to bed after all of these rambling thoughts. I am allowing myself two chapters and then I must go to sleep!

20 Years Young

This summer is my 20th High School reunion - yikes. I know there are many people who look back at High School as a nightmare they would never consider reliving. I am not one of those people. Middle School was truly awful, but High School was so much fun and I have really wonderful memories of that time.

I had two best friends in High School - Greg and Maria. Maria actually attended a different school, but we performed together in the local community theater. Greg and Maria are both Catholic. Though we did not share the same faith, we shared the same values and because of that, I never felt any pressure around them to be anything more or less than just me.

I attended a pretty laid back High School. I felt no pressure to wear the latest fashions or have the latest gadgets. My hair was straight and long - I don't think I got it cut at all during those four years. I attended early morning seminary at the church from 5:30-6:30 am and then school started about 7:00. Almost every day, I wore a pair of my Dad's pajama bottoms (pegged of course) a t-shirt and animal earrings. I had a huge collection of tacky wooden animal earrings. I wore no make-up. Clearly, I had no care for what others thought of me - frankly, I think I was too tired to give it much thought.


Greg and I shared a big locker in the band room which we decorated with wacky photos pulled from vintage National Geographic magazines. I hung out with the chorus/band/drama crowd though I was on the cross country ski team as well (I was terrible). I was kind of a nerd. I did not really date or go to parties other than cast parties. I had a blast.

I have never laughed so much as I did in High School. We were not always model students - one time we "borrowed" MJ's Dad's car and took the day off (I had excellent parent handwriting skills and wrote us all excused absences) to travel up to Montreal Canada for the day. Another time we pulled our friend Lena out of school, phoned an early dismissal to Maria's school (without her knowledge - she was told her Mom was coming to pick her up for a forgotten dentist's appointment) and then drove over and kidnapped her from the front of her school for a picnic in some farmer's field. Our exploits never got us into any trouble because we were model students - mostly.


I have so many fond memories from those years - lots of All-State and All-New England Music Festivals, a student exchange trip to Russia, theater and musicals with talented friends, hanging out in the little hall by the band room before school . . .

Maria is now married and living in Indiana with her three gorgeous children and husband. She still performs and teaches voice. Greg lives in a beautiful condo in Boston and travels with world as The International Man of Furniture. As soon as he wins the lottery, we are headed out on a year-long trip around the world. Greg was in town on a business trip this past weekend. We spent Saturday catching up and reminiscing about all of the fun we had in High School. We dug up a lot of old photos which I have been posting on facebook including photos of Greg and I from Prom and the Winter Ball. I made lemon bars (Greg's favorite) and Saturday evening, we took the kids out to dinner at Mai Village.

I hope my children find some really wonderful friends to help them navigate the challenges of High School. What do you think? Should we go to our 20th reunion? It is in Vermont in August. Part of me thinks it would be fun, but a lot of our good friends were either a year older or a year younger.


(pretty sneaky that you cannot see my chunky face in this photo - must stop eating lemon bars immediately)

She's At It Again

Sophie has two new pets - bees. Stripy and Buzzer. With her track record, their days are numbered.

Just so you know: When she pulled out this bug house from the garage, she found the corpse of her butterfly Sunshine (pet from last summer) in the bottom of it. Guess what she brought to school for show and tell today?

Views From My Window

After-school cupcakes to celebrate a birthday. The weather has been so nice that the kids are eating most of their lunches outside again. Hallelujah!

P.S. Yes, Calvin is in his pajamas. Are you really surprised at this point?

Wedding Clips and Headbands

One of the daycare moms is a bridesmaid in a wedding this week on an island off the coast of California. The wedding colors are Tiffany blue and black and she asked me to come up with some funky clips and headbands for the bridesmaids to wear. I sent them all with her to the wedding, but whatever is not sold, I will list in my etsy shop next week.

Views From My Window

We are spending more and more time outside - it is possible that this is actually spring and not some cruel teaser soon to be covered in three feet of snow.

The older kids are currently obsessed with yo yo's because Dazzling Dave (I've never heard of his either) has been visiting their school.

After-school yo yo performances:


Look! the flowers in my yard think it is spring!

Sunshine Craft

Quick craft for busy days.

Give each child a sheet of white card stock. Set out different shades of yellow and white and ask them to paint a big circle on their paper.


Give each child a bunch of Popsicle sticks and have them paint them with the yellow paint. They only need to paint one side. Set everything aside to dry.




Try not and weep about the state of your table - or the kids.


When dry, give each child a sheet of blue paper. Cut a cicle out of their yellow painted sheet and have them glue it to the blue paper. Glue the Popsicle sticks around the sun. Let dry.

Storm Cloud Rainbow Craft

Great craft for a rainy day. You will start with two white paper plates cut into the shape of a cloud. Set out blue, gray and yellow paints and let the children paint a storm cloud complete with lightning. Have them paint both paper plates.

On this day we had both a bride . . .


. . . and batman crafting with us.


While their plates dry, give them some white paper to paint more storm cloud since you will inevitably have paint left over.


When dry, tear 1/2 sheet of newspaper, crumple it up and stuff inside the two paper plates. Staple the edges together leaving the bottom edge open.


Cut some strips of tissue paper and line them up inside that bottom edge and then finish stapling the edges together.