Sophie's Sleepover

Here's a look at Sophie's sleepover Friday night. We had pizza for dinner and fake fondue for dessert. One of the girls has a nut allergy, so this was much easier that making cake. I meted a bag of chocolate chips (check the brands, they are not all nut free) and then set out bowls of fruits, big marshmallows, donut holes, and pretzel waffles. Easy and fun to eat.


There was a lot of this late into the night. The girls watched Night at the Museum 2 and then fell asleep watching Nim's Island a little before midnight.


They were up by 7am (curse them!) and we made a craft - same one I did with the little kids except different frames.


Sophie requested puffy pancakes for breakfast with sausages. I made the pancakes in individual ramekins and then set out syrup, raspberry freezer jam and heavy whipped cream. Yum!


After breakfast they all painted their nails until their parents arrived to pick them up. Sophie had a ball and it really was not much work for me. I love that.


** For puffy pancake recipe, go here.

Butterfly Cake

This cake was picked up Sunday morning for a baby shower brunch. They do not know the sex of the baby so went with orange and green as a color scheme. The ribbon and butterflies can be purchased at Michaels.

Princess Daisy Cake with three layers of lemon curd and cream cheese vanilla bean icing.

Fire

Yesterday at church we learned that a family in our ward had lost their home to fire in the middle of the night. They had just enough time to get out of their home but lost everything. After a call to the Bishop, unable to do anything more, the family sat with him for several hours watching their home burn to the ground.

I cannot imagine.
I am glad they were not alone.

The spirit was so strong at church yesterday, and I could not be more proud to be called a member of our church. We serve. It is the cornerstone of every teaching of the gospel. This family is even as we speak, being wrapped in the loving arms of the members of our ward.

They are loved.

Having been on the receiving end of service these last few years more times than I can count, I know what a comfort it is to know that there are friends there to help hold us up when we are lost in the dark shadows of grief.

The children and I sat on my bed last night talking about this family and their loss. We talked about what is most important - each other. Everything else dims in value when we think what could have been lost that night. We talked about what we could do as a family to help.

My heart hurts for them.

Pride and Prejudice 3D? It Could Happen

That may be the only way you'd get me to wear a pair of these things to watch a movie.

Valentine Crafts

This is a really simple craft for young kids. All you need is dollar store frames, glue and candy hearts.


Start by filling the center of your frame with glue. Yes, right on the glass. If you want to, you could paint the center pink or slip a piece of pink paper in there, but I did not think of that before we started and I had 6 kids 5 and under making this craft. Keep it simple.


Help your neighbor.


Next, just start stacking the Valentine hearts. You can make a pattern or have the kids counts the number of hearts or shout out the colors and then you can call this a teaching moment.


As long as you have all that stuff out, you may as well make one of these as well.


Take a paper plate and have each child draw and X and an O with a permanent marker.


Trace along the lines with glue.


Add hearts and you are done!


Yes, I did let the kids each 5 hearts each after lunch.

Question for you: the Sweetart Twilight candies I pulled out (left over from our New Moon party) tended to bleed when they came in contact with the glue. Do you that was intentional on the part of the manufacturer?
Bleeding . . . vampires . . .

Your Daily Dose of Darling

Yes, I did make her wear the hood the whole time she was here. It was just that cute.

Puzzled?

I made it through Thursday on pure adrenaline. I had these kids here (not all at the same time) 9, 8, 8, 8, 8, 5, 3, 3, 3, 2, 13 months, 7 months, 4 months. I had three diet cokes - ok, maybe four but whose counting?

Once they all left for the day at 6:00pm, I went to the grocery store, dollar store, library, McDonalds (kids dinner on the run) Chipotle (my dinner on the run), Target and Papa Murphys (birthday party dinner). Somehow when days are that busy, I do not feel tired until the next day.

Friday morning I woke with a horrible stomach ache, nausea and other issues I will spare you from and spent the morning on the couch with a heating pad clutched to my stomach. The kids ran wild. There was no school which means it was LOUD all day long. I did manage to make them breakfast and lunch and even do a project for a friend, but there were no crafts on Friday. Instead, the kids did a lot of puzzles and play foam. Sophie's girlfriends started arriving in the afternoon for her birthday sleepover.

It is now Saturday. It is 2:00, the last girl just left and took Sophie with her for a play date. The house is suddenly quiet as Max is reading somewhere and Calvin is having a Star Wars battle with himself in the toy room.

I have a date with my bed. Do I clean now and nap later or nap now and clean later?

Crazy

Today is insane. Lots and lots of kids. Max forgot his planner at home and I had to ask a daycare mom to drop it off at the school. The kids are out of school tomorrow. Sophie is having a birthday sleepover tomorrow night. I have a cake order due on Sunday morning and I need to get to the store tonight. I am making a banner for a friend tonight.

I had my first diet coke before 10am. It'll be crazy today, but that's just fine.

Misery Loves Mondays

I never revealed what I got done last weekend. Not a whole lot. I watched a bad movie (The LDS version of Pride and Prejudice - so awful), read a lame book, stayed up late and slept in, watched a fairly good movie (The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain), packed away the last of Christmas and got it stored away for the year, did a bunch of bills and paperwork, loads and loads of laundry and some cleaning. I did not fill my etsy shop, clean the craft room or my bedroom nor did I get to the store. I stayed in my pajamas all day on Saturday and that was lovely. Lovely.

Just in case you thought 2010 was going to be bump-free because 2009 was the year of potholes, let me tell you that you are wrong. On Monday, Sophie went to the dentist to have her cavity filled. They gave her laughing gas which made her feel like she was floating off the chair. A little later they came to see me in the waiting room where I was holed up with three other kids. Sophie's $160 cavity was infected/large and is now a $650.00 cavity/baby root canal/crown procedure. I said pull it out, they said they would have to put in a bridge. She has to go back in two weeks. They did not give me any laughing gas though I could have used some.

On Monday my ex-husband though not legally ex yet, lost his job.

2010 is not going to be some walk in the park.

Valentine Garland

I liked the pom pom garlands so much that I made one for Valentine's Day. I finally got Christmas packed up and put away this last weekend (hallelujah!), but decided to leave out one tree in the living room. The kids get such a kick out of decorating the Christmas trees, I just decided to have one out year round. Why not? Currently it is sporting pink and red Valentine decor and we kind of love it.

Pom Pom Garland

On Tuesday we made pom pom garlands. They are very simple to make and require only pom poms, a needle and some thin twine. A friend of mine stopped by last week with a plastic bin full of pom poms leftover from craft projects with her now grown children.

There will be a lot of pom pom crafts in our future (thank you Kathy!).


I cut the twine length to hang from above our sliding glass doors, tied a knot in each end and that's it. The kids just keep threading pom poms onto the twine, pushing them down one at a time. You do not need knots in between each pom pom, they just magically stay in place. I did this craft with 3 year olds and a five year old - you are using a sharp needle so keep an eye on them. Somehow we had no poking incidents. Encourage them to thread through the middle of the pom pom. These would be adorable hanging down from your mantle as well!

Views From My Window - Snow Football

The weather is hovering around 10 degrees and the boys are playing snow football with a hunk of ice as the ball. What else can you do when you live in the frozen North? Last week they tried playing football in my family room until I lost my marbles and made them all do silent reading until their parents took them away.

The pattern of play is the same in 8 year old boys as it is in toddlers.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Shrieks of laughter, Ha! Ha! Ha!
Thud.
Crying, wailing, tattle tailing.
Repeat.

Somehow it is easier to handle the cycle in a 2 year old than with an 8 year old. A few weeks ago, the boys would not stop throwing a ball around in the house and I finally took a pair of scissors and popped the thing in front of them. It was actually really hard to do because I am so cheap and kept thinking that I paid $2.50 for that stupid ball. The visual lesson was worth the $2.50 though.

This Baby

This baby is so cute.
Sometimes I want to keep him.
Instead I nibble on his cheeks and send him home.