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9.28.2011

Wednesday Whimsy: I've got my Eye on you!


Evy got a hold of one of the Googly Eyes that we had been decorating with and stuck it on her face.  
I couldn't resist re-positioning it and taking some pictures ;)



9.27.2011

Lunch Box Fun

Here are some pictures of what Ady and Tayden have been taking in their lunch boxes lately

(sorry for the poor picture quality.  My camera has been having major issues lately and things have been so blurry! 
 It is driving me crazy!)

Sunny Sandwich with Green Beans

I cut the sandwich into a circle and added carrot triangles to make the sun rays and made a face with carrots. Unfortunately this one did not hold up to well in her lunch box.  Ady said that when she opened it the carrots were all on the side.  Oh Well!

Pizza Face mini pizza

We actually made these for dinner one night.  We used pita bread and then each made our own pizzas.  Tayden and Ady wanted mini pepperonis so I made theirs to look like a face.  They thought it was funny.

Do it yourself Lunchable

Cheese cut out like flowers, mini pepperonis and crackers.  Served with strawberries, Vanilla Joe Joe's and a slice of homemade Banana Bread with butter.

Puzzle Sandwich with Strawberries

I found a fun Puzzle Sandwich cutter.  I used White Wheat bread on one side of the sandwich and whole wheat on the other then flipped a few sections over to add interest.

Ham face

This was Tayden's.  (Sorry for the blurry pic!) He wanted a Ham and Cheese sandwich.  I cut it out into a circle and then made a smile with Ham and added Ham hair.  I cut out cheese circles for the eyes and then added some Edible Eyes too.



Pizza Faces

The Pizza face was so popular I got requests to make them again.  We were out of pita bread so I just used regular bread this time.  I served it with carrot sticks and a hard boiled egg shaped like a bunny (I will post more about how to do that later)

Haystack Face
Last night we had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner.  Ady wanted to take the leftovers in her lunch so I layered her rice, chicken and cheese and then added her peas as a smile and added Edible Eyes again.  I kept her rice noodles separate for her to add later so they would not get soggy.  She also took Strawberries and some key lime yogurt.  I put Evy's cute toddler utensils in for Ady to use.

Have a Fun Lunch!

Some of My Favorite Lunch Supplies:

Mahna Mahna

At last year's Movie Night activity at church, (I previously talked about this here) Dave thought it would be fun to have the Bishopric* make a video for the activity.  We love the Inside Out A Capella CD Sharing Time and Dave loves the Mahna Mahna song, so he decided to use that for a lip sync.  After we filmed the lip sync part of it I felt like we needed more footage, so I suggested that we make puppets and film it a second time.  We thought the Fandango Puppets were fun and easy, so we made some like those.  We threw it all together and I think it turned out great!  Enjoy!


*for anyone who is unfamiliar with the term Bishopric.  My husband is the Bishop of our Ward which means he is the head of our local congregation of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He has two Counselors (sort of like assistants) who serve with him.   Everyone in our church holds some type of calling, whether it is teaching children, working with the youth or other things.  All of these positions are volunteer and last for about 3-8 years.

9.21.2011

Wednesday Whimsy: Epic Rap Battle Jr.

A few months ago we had a Movie Night at church. Groups were invited to put together videos and submit them and then we all watched them with popcorn!  This was the 3rd year in a row for this activity and we always enjoy it.   The boys decided that they wanted to make a video for it this year.  We have really been enjoying watching videos by Rhett and Link on YouTube, so the boys decided to do a lip sync to one of their songs. Ady is also in the video as well as a few friends.
Here is the result.  Enjoy!


It is based on Rhett and Link's version here.

9.19.2011

Halloween Lunch Box Jokes

Ady and Tayden love having a little note in their lunch box from me everyday. Sometimes I just use a little scrap of paper and write a little love note, sometimes I add stickers to the paper.  Other times I will write the note on their food wrapper or even on the banana peel.  

Many bloggers have shared printable lunch box notes on their sites that I have downloaded and used as well.  
Some of the ones we have used are pinned on my pinterest account here and here.
We recently had some that were little jokes.   Ady really liked these (even though she didn't get some of the jokes!)

I love making cards and invitations on the computer, so I thought it would be fun to make some of my own lunch box notes to share.  I made some with jokes for Ady to enjoy.  Fall and Halloween is my favorite time of the year, so I had fun making up these Halloween lunch box joke notes.  Feel free to print these out and use them for your loved ones!

For more Lunch box notes and jokes, check out my Pinterest board here!
Enjoy!

Linking up to these parties:              

DIY under $5HookingupwithHoH





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9.16.2011

We have a winner!

Thanks to everyone who shared their favorite things with me on Friday Favorites!  It is fun to see what everyone's comments were.

The winner of the Joe Joe's is

Comment #7 - The Widdisons!

Congratulations!  I will have your Cookies for you when I see you on Sunday!

Thanks Everyone!

9.15.2011

More Fun Lunches


We have been having a great time making our lunches each day. I thought it would be fun to document them here each week.  Here are some pictures of what we have been eating so far this week.

 Here is another picture of Tayden's Train lunch


Yesterday Ady had Carrots cut in flower shapes, ranch dip, heart shaped cheese with crackers, watermelon cut in flower shapes, star fruit and a boiled egg shaped like a heart.

Tayden wanted a Train sandwich again.  He had watermelon and a star shaped boiled egg with it.  He has a cute froggy ice pack.

Here is Ady's Egg smile from today. 

Ady thought it would be fun to have a train sandwich too.

Have a happy lunch!!

9.14.2011

Wednesday Whimsy: What's in your Lunch?


This is part of Tayden's lunch yesterday.  We have been doing fun, creative lunches.  I bought some Bento Box supplies to make our lunches more exciting. I made a sandwich with white bread on one side and wheat on the other.  I used a train cookie cutter and then some small circle cutters for the wheels.  I flipped the wheels over so the wheat side showed to give it some contrast.  With the leftover sandwich bits I cut a rectangle for a smoke stack and some flower shapes for smoke.  The little bear is an animal pick for Bento box lunches.  We also cut out some fruit for him in fun shapes and made a star shaped boiled egg.  I will post more about those later.   

I have a pinterest board with other fun ideas here if you are interested.  There are some awesome ideas!

Enjoy!

9.12.2011

Striped Skirt

Over the Summer we were given a sack of hand-me-down clothes for Ady from a cousin.  Ady and I went through them and decided what to keep.  Ady doesn't like tank tops so she decided not to keep the one that was there, but I like the stripes in it so I decided to use the fabric for something else.  It is a nice stretch jersey fabric and was still in good condition so I didn't want to throw it away.  At first I thought I would take it in a bit and make a dress for Evy, but I decided that the way the straps were would be complicated to take in without looking strange.  I forgot to take a before picture, but here is a picture of what is left.  You can get the idea of what it was.
I started by cutting off the top part.  I cut it straight across.  Then I turned it under and sewed a casing for elastic.  I measured the waist of one of Evy's skirts and cut my elastic to that size, then fed it through the casing and sewed it closed.  


I had one long strip of fabric left so I cut it in half to make two flowers.  To make the flowers I sewed a loose stitch all the way across, then pulled it to make a ruffle on one side, then twirled it around into a rosette.  I sewed one onto the skirt and then decided to make another to sew onto a T-shirt.  I decided to make it into a pin rather than sew it on so the T-shirt can still be used under dresses. 

Here is the finished outfit.

I think it turned out so cute!  

It started out as a girl's size 7/8 tank top and is now a 6-12 month size skirt.
Since the tank top was a hand me down, the total cost for the project was basically free!  I had the shirt already, and it can still be used for other outfits.

Here is Evy modeling her new clothes :)


She isn't standing independently yet, so it was hard to get a good shot of her in the outfit.  She loves to stand hanging onto furniture though, so I tried some different poses.



This project was so easy!  I will definitely be on the lookout for other T-shirts and Tank tops to make into skirts for Ady and Evy.





DIY under $5

9.09.2011

Friday Favorites and a Giveaway


My friend,  Shannon, recently posted on her blog about some of her favorite things.  She thought it would be fun to hear about favorites from others as well, so I thought I would join in! 

One of my favorite treats right now is Vanilla Joe Joe's sandwich cookies from Trader Joe's. They are so yummy with little bits of real vanilla bean.  They are the perfect non Chocolate treat!


I have been enjoying trying new Root Beer Brands and right now my favorite is Goose Island Root Beer


 It is made with Cane Sugar instead of Corn Syrup, so it is really smooth. 

We recently came across another brand of Root Beer that we tried, Boylan, and while I didn't love the Root Beer, they also have a Creme Soda that is awesome.  It is also made from Cane Sugar and has that smooth and creamy taste.


 image source
Enough with food!  Tayden got some new converse sneakers for school and I am LOVING them!  I wish I had bought a pair in my size. I still might.....



Buy Me! You know you want to!

Actually Ady's are pretty awesome as well.  She has a purple pair and we put rainbow shoelaces in them.  I will add a picture of them when she gets home from school.  They look so cute with jeans or with a skirt! ♥


Buy Me Here!


I am looking for an orange pair for Kyler, but I haven't found them in his size yet. 


Now for some favortie Baby Things!  It has been so fun to "start over"  with Evy.  We are limited on storage space, so I hadn't kept a lot of baby things from when the older kids were little. So it has been like starting over.  There are so many cute and clever baby items now that didn't exist 10 years ago, or at least not that I had heard of.  It is also fun to be buying it all in pink and purple this time!


One of the best things I discovered early on is Baby Legs Newborn Legwarmers!  I expecially love these for a little winter baby.  Her little legs were so tiny that tights would not stay on and looked so baggy and ridiculous.  Baby legs are great for keeping little legs warm during diaper changes too because you don't have to take them off to get to the diaper.



I am also loving these Aden and Anais Muslin Swaddling blankets.



I wish I had discovered them when she was younger.  They are lightweight and easy to tick into the diaper bag, but they still keep her nice and warm.  She gets sweaty with thick blankets so these are perfect for her.  They are really soft too. 

This time around I am cloth diapering.  There are so many options available now and they are so easy.  I actually really like them.  They come in lots of cute colors and patterns, they are less wasteful and expensive, and you don't get diaper rash or poop outs!  Here is some of my stash.



I have tried several brands and the ones I like the best are Blueberry, Fuzzi Bunz, and Bum Genius.  They are all similar and work well.  I have also found a brand that works just as well and costs about a third as much, Alva Baby, so I have several of those as well.  At some point I may do a blog post reviewing different brands.

And now some of my favorite Websites.


I have really enjoyed using http://www.picnik.com/ for editing photos.  It is a great, free website that allows you fix blemishes and red eye, adjust the exposure and color saturation, at matting, frames, and other effects and add text to your pictures.  It is really easy to use and I love how I am able to make my photos look so much brighter.

Another site I am in love with right now is http://pinterest.com/.  If you have not checked it out yet, you should!  It is like a photo bookmarking site.  Any pictures you see on almost any website can be  "pinned" on your boards and kept for you to look at later.  It's fun to put together boards for inspiration for craft and sewing projects, party ideas, photography and decorating.  It reminds me of when my mom would cut out pictures from magazines of ideas she wanted to make and keep them in a file in the filing cabinet.  It is also a bit of a social networking site.  You can "follow" other people, if you like their ideas and keep up to date on what they have "pinned".  If you want to be my follower, you can find me by clicking on the pinterest icon at the top of my blog.


I will stop now.  If you are even still reading after all that!  I will occasionally be posting my favorite things on Fridays.  Today's favorite things is also a giveaway.  Leave a comment below telling me one of your favorite things.  If I get at least 10 entries, next Friday I will select a winner using a random number generator at http://www.random.org/.  The winner will receive a pack of Joe Joe's in the flavor of their choice.  Yumm!