Baby Shower Gifts

Kenzi, Mallorie, Sammi, Maddi, and I are giving my niece a baby shower on Saturday. We decided to make her some homemade gifts rather than go buy something. We worked on it all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday. We're really excited about it! I hope all goes well...

Here are some of the projects we made:

These are cute little boxes for "favors" that are made from cardstock, designer paper, and Tootsie Pops! The stamp set is retired but I LOVE it!! (Baby Firsts)
We also made little baby flower circles (like on the Tootsie Pops) that we put on York Peppermint Patties and Reece's Peanut Butter cups. We stuck some on the top of PixieSticks and will put them in jars as "flowers." We made HUNDREDS of the little things!! (Someone miscounted but we won't mention any names..... :) )

We are also making a 6x6 scrapbook for her. We're still working on pages and waiting for the binder to be delivered. I'll post that when we get it all finished. Here are some of the pages though. I took pictures of them as a "spread" so you get the full effect as she will turn the pages.

This is the inside cover (first page). The joke now is they aren't sure of the name: Ella Abigail. I guess Grandma jumped the gun when she told me. I'll just fix it when the baby's born or make a new page. It was pretty funny last night though.

This is the "stats" page. I ran the right side off on the computer and then cut it out. She can add pictures from there.

Oh dear...what are we going to do??

Today is the first day of FALL and naturally, we need "FALL" weather...rain! After school, Sammi went home to hang out until time to go to work and found Charlie had thoroughly been enjoying his time outside. What are we going to do???? (He doesn't seem to understand why she won't let him in the house!!??) Poor puppy...

I finished!!

Just an update on Recovering Charles...this is a super great book! Please read it with the idea that it's an allegory or metaphor for those of us who have struggles in life and need to start over. It's also about redemption and forgiveness. Like all other Jason Wright books, this one's a winner!!

A Great New Book!

I just want to take a break from reading and highly recommend a GREAT new book by one of my favorite authors, Jason F. Wright.

I'm about half way through and as usual, it's terrific! I've read all his other books: The Christmas Jars, The Wednesday Letters, and The James Miracle (OK...I haven't read that one YET...but as soon as I'm finished with Charles, I've got it to read!!). Jason's books always have a great message about what we can do to be better people!

Last fall, I had the opportunity to invite him to speak to our 9th graders at West Point Jr. High, where I teach, and share his message about service. It was an awesome experience to meet him, hear his thoughts, and see the impact he had on our students' lives. Right after he was there, our school did a service project for Sub for Santa. I got a big jar and had students contribute. In the end, we raised over $1,100. (just my students) which was added to the whole school's totals. It was amazing and very rewarding!

Check out his website and see his interview with Glenn Beck last Thursday night.

Have to get back to reading!! :)

New projects

Over the weekend, Kenzi, her sister Dana, and I made a bunch of cards and other fun projects. Kenzi, Mal, Sammi, Maddi, and I are giving my niece a baby shower so I made invitations and birth announcements for her gift. I think they turned out darling and absolutely LOVE the new designer paper!! I can't seem to get enough of it.

First of all, the invitations are a "onsie!" They are so easy to make but look really hard!! (Love those kinds of projects--they end up being very impressive!)

If you're interested in making these, I'll post a tutorial and give you all the information. I LOVE THEM and they make adorable gift cards, too!

For the birth announcements, I made a pop-up card. Since she hasn't had the baby yet (due October 20), I've just put little kits together. Once she's born, Mysha can write in the stats, glue a picture of her (Ella Abigail) to the front card and glue the whole thing together. I've made coordinating envelopes and everything! Super easy and a great gift (if I do say so myself!!) I made four cards of each design. That way, she'll have a bit of variety. I'll post the instructions to this as well (I wish I could remember who posted these originally...I'd love to give them credit!!).

I also made some bags for my dear friend and kindred spirit, Michele, who lives in Washington. She and her daughter, Ashlee, want to use them as scripture bags. I love making these and especially when they're for great friends! I love you Michele!!

I LOVE STAMPIN UP!!!!!

This family has joined the 21st Century!!

HALLELUJAH!! We have finally joined the 21st Century by getting CABLE!!!!!!!!!

Bob has been incredibly anti-paying-for-TV for so many years!! When the Qwest bill came last month and he realized we were paying $5.00 a month less for telephones, DSL, and internet service (provider) than we could for faster internet, telephones, AND cable, he was converted. We got it installed yesterday and are having a great time sitting in front of the TV watching the hundreds of channels. Hopefully, we won't all turn into couch potatoes (hahaha!) but it's sure fun finding something decent to watch late on Saturday and Sunday nights!!

Cute Project

I love the SU chipboard clipboards! I got some free with my "Great Rewards" and finally figured out what to make!! Of course, mine has to involve Charlie!! I have this hanging on the wall by my desk at school. The kids get a kick out of it and I think it's really cute!!

I have a space in my classroom on a shelf where my TV goes. Supposedly, they're coming to take it for one of the 14 portables we have out back. So...I was left with the dilemma of what to put on this shelf?? I kicked around the idea of getting a plant but that would require me to climb up and water it. Too much work... Of course, I thought SHEEPIE!! I checked around and found a sweet lady on the OES forum who had one and didn't have a place for it at her house. So...she shipped it to me!! I've put it up on the shelf in front of the TV and the kids really get a kick out of it. He's just "hanging out" in the classroom!!

Stephanie was such a sweetie to send him to me, I knew I wanted to do something small to thank her. I found pictures of her "Winston" on the OES forum and made her a clipboard of him! Of course, Charlie and I had to sign our names as "thanks" so check out the back side. He has REALLY BIG PAWS!!! (He looked at me like I was a complete moron when I was inking up his paw! It was pretty funny!!)

We love holidays!

You gotta love holidays! First of all, they're usually on a weekend. Second, they usually involve a Monday. Third, YOU GET A DAY OFF WORK!!! We had a great holiday weekend! Friday night, Bob came home after spending a week in Germany on business. The new rule at our house is: NO HUSBANDS OUT OF TOWN THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!! Sam, Maddi, and I had our hands full going to school, work, keeping up with dogs' antics, fixing meals, remembering to put the garbage out and bring the milk in, etc. We were reminded how much Bob does around the house and how much we all rely on him. We're SOOOO glad he's home (so is he...he's sick of travelling!!).

Saturday, we got the usual "Saturday stuff" out of the way early so we could go to Swiss Days in Midway. It's a great little town that has amazing landscape (up in the mountains by Park City and Heber City), beautiful homes, and a great craft fair. People sign up months, maybe years, in advance and sell their wares. We'd never been before and ended up dragging Bob who I think secretly had a good time, if for no other reason than he was with his girls. We bought a few cute little things and came back home.

Sunday we went to church and then got ready for a family party in honor of my Mom's 77th birthday. It was great fun with everyone there (except Tom and Mal) including my younger sister and her two girls and my older sister and her husband. We talked, laughed, reminisced, etc. for hours. It was really fun and I think Grandma enjoyed herself.

Monday Sam, Maddi, Bob, and I went up to Soldier Hollow where they had the cross-country skiing competitions for the Olympics. They held the "Sheepdog Championship and Country Fair." We were hoping there would be Old English Sheepdogs involved but all herding was done by Border Collies and Australian Shepherds. They were AMAZING! They herded sheep and ducks, saw the Splash Dogs (dogs jumping from a deck into water to see how far they can go), agility courses, food, some booths with Australian/Native American/Celtic related stuff to sell, etc. It was a lot of fun--when it wasn't raining buckets or FREEZING COLD!! Who would have thought you'd need a winter coat on September 1??!! Fortunately, we took hoodies, rain coats, and umbrellas but we still froze!

While we were gone, Zack and Kenzi came over to get some things and found Charlie had discovered rain and what it does to the yard when it hits the dirt. They took a picture of Charlie on their camera phone and sent it to us wishing us luck when we got home...he was literally mud from head to toe, and everywhere inbetween. By the time we got home, most of it had dried and flaked off (all over the deck), but he was still a disaster and needed a bath. I got him into the tub where I spent about 10 minutes hosing him down. The picture shows how much mud was in the bottom--that is not poo! He looks so much better after the bath and is so pretty when he's dried and brushed out! He just looks so pathetic in the process and I think this face says it all!!

When's the next holiday???