Last Ditch Effort to be a super crafty mom

As the summer was winding down, I had a panicky feeling that I hadn't done enough hands-on activities for my kids during the summer...okay, none really. Our summer was chalk full of video watching, computer time and video game playing. Emmy had been asking me to do an art activity that she had done at school last year, and I finally broke down and did it. Yay me! (For those of you with kids at Emmy's school, you may have already seen this project...)

Items you will need:

Food coloring (I used the food coloring gels)
Shaving cream
White paper
Shower squeegee (the thing you wipe down the water from the shower walls)
2 cookie sheets

Begin by squirting out a bunch of shaving cream onto a cookie sheet, like SO...

Use the shower squeegee to spread it out in the pan to an area slightly bigger than the size of paper you will be using, like SO...

Randomly dot the shaving cream with various food coloring colors, like SO...
Use the head of a pencil or pen to drag through the food coloring into swirly shapes, like SO....
If you have a 2-year-old who INSISTS on doing this himself, give him a pie tin, an apron, a dollop of shaving cream and a minute amount of food coloring and let him have his way so that you can continue this project, like SO...
Continue swirling the color until the entire area is filled with color, like SO...Take your sheet of paper (we used plain old 8 1/2 x 11 copy paper) and gently lay it down over the colored area, smoothing your fingers over the entire paper to make sure it is in contact with the shaving cream/color everywhere, like SO...
Grab the corner of the paper and slowly lift it up out of the shaving cream. Lay it down in the second cookie sheet shaving cream side up, like SO...
Take the shower squeegie and scrape off as much shaving cream as you can. The food coloring has already soaked into the paper so you don't have to worry about smearing it or losing the beautiful design.

The beautiful result!
Hang it up on the fridge to dry for a few days. It will give your kitchen a nice fresh shaved scent!

That time already?

Now that I have fully recovered from my nightmare about not being able to find my classes (happens every year without fail), I can document how my kids' first day back to school went. This morning dawned bright and early at 6:00 when I had to get up and showered so that I would be bright and cheerful for my kids when I woke them for their dreaded first day of 5th and 10th grades. Both were nervous and scared, Emmy quite a bit more so than Connor which is always the case, but they both made it to school on time, looking their best.

Connor got a bit daring with his style this year and decided to don a hat. They don't allow hats at school so this is just a wear before and after school hat. Should be interesting to see if this gives him hat hair for the rest of the school day.


Emmy, bless her heart, allowed me a bit more time to capture her 1st day look than just the 1 quick shot like Connor did as he was headed out the door. You wouldn't know it from her beautiful smile, but she was so sick to her stomach with nerves that she just about lost her breakfast right before this picture.

Walking to school with Si...

Emmy caught up with cousins Mikayla and Ayana before class. I think these 3 make a beautiful picture together.

Part of Emmy's nerves was due to the fact that she wasn't in the same class as this little lady, Jaxynn Smith. These girls are two peas in a pod and will really miss being in the same class.

Great minds think alike!

Crazy week

I had one of the busiest weeks this last week so I haven't had a chance to post.

To begin with, Tuesday was the day that my friend Julie and I were in charge of Adventure Days which is a group of neighborhood moms putting on weekly camp-like activities for 40+ kids. Julie actually did the bulk of the work by organizing a huge t-shirt tie dye activity and a slip-n-slide kickball game. All that I was in charge of was a tie dye cookie frosting activity which turned out really well. These are what they looked like only on cookies.

That night was my first Jewel Kade party at my sister Misty's in Bountiful. Since this was my first, I was in a mad dash to have everything ready like order forms, clip boards, table displays, cash for change, etc. But we pulled it together and had a great party thanks to Misty. I love that I don't really have to do much selling or presenting. The jewelry pretty much speaks for itself and those who like it (pretty much everyone that bothered to come) end up buying a few things.

Thursday night was my actual business launch party in my own home. Since I had already done all the work for Tuesday's party, I didn't have much to prepare for except clean the house and figure out food. I ended up going the easy route and buying 2 dozen mini-cupcakes from So Cupcake on Highland Dr. They were picture perfect, except I forgot to take a picture! The party was a great success, and I came away with 4 more booked parties and another signed stylist for my team (my cousin Linsey has already signed on to my team).

Yesterday being the last week day before school starts, I felt the pressure to do SOMETHING with the kids so we settled on swimming one last time at the Murray Pool. That must have been on a few people's minds because I ran into 3 former high school friends, one of whom I haven't seen since high school who was just here for the day (Lori Lenhoff). I actually got Connor to come with us, too, which was groundbreaking because he just doesn't seem to want to leave the house these days. Glad he will be in school soon!

Today I had Zach home - HALLELUJAH. We went to lunch at Barbacoa, then to the Mini Cooper dealership to let Simon get his fill of his favorite car these days, then some school shopping both at Gateway and then Fashion Place later on in the evening. We finished off the night in our front yard while Simon and Emmy played with their tiny remote control Mini Coopers, and Zach shot off a couple of remote control rockets in our front yard, until the rocket landed on a neighbors roof and the fun ended there. Tomorrow there is no church so I am enjoying a Sat. night without scrambling to prepare a YW lesson! Good times.

Brynner B

For the past 6 years, we have had the most amazing babysitter, piano teacher and friend in Brynn Whitney. Somehow the nickname "Brynner B" evolved in our household for her. I don't even know if she knows we call her that. She started babysitting for us when she was 14, Emmy was 4 and Connor was 8. For the last few years, she has been too old to "babysit", so we just ask her if she will "hang out" with our kids, and she willingly does. She loves a lot of the things my kids do like Studio Ghibli movies and video games. I approached her a few years ago and asked if she would consider teaching Emmy piano, something she wasn't even doing at the time. Emmy wasn't too crazy about me being her piano teacher anymore so this worked out like a charm. Brynn taught her for a few years and although Emmy wasn't the best at practicing, she always loved to go to her lessons because it was like hanging out with a friend.

Well, Brynn has decided to move away to college. How dare she??? My kids will miss her SO much. I will miss her. Tonight Brynn held a solo voice recital (how brave is that?) and rocked our church stage with songs like "The Girl in 14g", "Halo" by Beyonce and "Real Love" by Regina Spektor. She has so many qualities that I hope my own daughter will possess at her age - confidence, testimony, a rockin' sense of style, and just a happiness that you can't but help feel when you are around her. We will miss our Brynner B!

Park City Mustang Show

This time last year, I was laid up in a hospital bed with my Sulfa allergic reaction feeling sorry for myself for having to miss the annual Mustang car show up in Park City. No such bad luck this year! We just spent the weekend in Park City with my in-laws (every last one of 'em!) to a) support our Shelby/Mustang lovers at the car show and b) celebrate my niece Lydia's 5th birthday. We had a total of 4 cars in the show between Zach, Allen and my sister-in-law, Melissa. Despite the cold and rainy weather this morning, the day cleared up by 1:00 just in time for me to be driving the kids home. But we did get to spend about an hour on Main Street checking out the cars. Simon by far was the most interested in the cars. My other kids have been to enough car shows that an entire street cordoned off with nothing but gorgeous cars is nothing exciting to them. A trip to the candy store kept them occupied long enough for me to take Simon up and down the street so he could name all of the colors of every Mustang he saw. He was especially fond of this one...I had thought about taking his red Mustang up but it seemed like too much effort at the time so I bagged that idea. Wished I had done it now...Thank goodness Zach has 1 child who loves cars as much as he does!

Baby Kate

Just had to post this picture of my newest baby niece, Little Miss Kate Evelyn Blake.

A little conference humor...

My one of my favorite blogs...

http://www.myregisblog.com/2009/08/youre-not-alone.html

Drivers Beware

Yesterday was Connor's first driving lesson. We've been trying to get him behind the wheel for months now just to get him warmed up to the idea of driving but he's been pretty resistant. A huge empty parking lot was the key to get him okay with the idea (really - would we have let him loose anywhere else?) and he was off! I was taking pictures like crazy from the back seat with the full intention of blogging them just as soon as possible when I got this look... and the threat of "Don't you dare blog these". Sorry buddy - I just can't resist! I hope you forgive me :)

Jewel Kade...Again

I am taking my love affair of these chunky charms to a whole new level due to the fact that Janet Kinkade, the charm designer, is taking her business to the direct selling market through home parties. I am now a Jewel Kade stylist, the very first in Utah! I'm thrilled to be able to combine my love for jewelry with a very cool business opportunity. Zach designed this catalog for them and I just wanted to share it with you not only to see his fantastic work, but the jewelry itself! I will be doing a business launch party in my home sometime in the next few weeks and then booking parties. Please take a look at the catalog and decide if you want to be one of the very first to host a Jewel Kade party (think Christmas gifts for all the women in your lives!), or even become a part of the Jewel Kade family.

Jk Core Catalogue

View more documents from plumdesignbuild.