Easy Felt Cards

I forgot to add the cards that I made. These are super easy and require no sewing, just some felt, buttons, some beads if you have some, paper and hot glue.

The pre-schoolers were a hoot today as they made astronaut puppets!

With training, today was a rest day (I ran 3 miles on Monday and it wasn't so bad) so tomorrow I have 5 miles. It should be pretty easy. Gone are the days of the 4 miler Wednesdays. The miles just go up from here until the LA Marathon. Sorry It's so short but I Gotta keep writing to make my deadline :)

It's been a crazy week and a half and it doesn't seem to be letting up. My house goal this week is just to get caught up with laundry and have at least 3 dinners this week. I always know when I do too much is when the family meals are lacking. So here is the picture version of what I did this past week and a half.

This is the Blue and Gold Dinner that was for over 65 people. I was in charge of planning the meal for it! (I guess we did have at least one family meal together that week) And thank you to Liz for helping me with that!

Here are some of the cakes that I did at work over the past 2 weekends.

Here is a picture of the activities day art class I taught. These girls are soooo sweet!!! I took Charlotte along. She is such a fun and talented little girl. We are going to have a blast when she is older.

Here is some fun painting we did in pre-school! The kids love the messy painting projects the best!!!

And here are the cupcake bar(brownies, cookies and cake all made into mini cupcakes so you could have a taste of each and not feel as guilty) I made for my sister's B-day get together. And also the Cupcake Skirts I made and video taped me making (thanks Mom and Sis. for the help). When I edit it I will post it!

Now back to writing my Lost Art of Parenting book. I gotta finish the intro and first 2 chapters by Friday!

Yesterday I wanted to get a project done before I started my next book, The Lost Art of Parenting. I wanted to make some cool cards and this weekend I want to video tape it! Here are some of the cards I did. The kids loved them, I did too. Scott said they were funky and I think that is a great compliment from him :)

Here is the necklace I did last night. I didn't have a lot of time because we bought an awesome range!!!! Yeah! I have been living with a broken one for a year and a half (can you believe that! Me not have a good over...I know! I had to bake things at work, or small things like cupcakes or mini cupcakes because our oven only worked to temperature for 15 minutes and then shut off until it was completely cooled. It took hours to bake a simple thing!!! Now we are getting a convection oven, so things will be done in no time!!!

Work went by fast today. We had a Valentine's party!!! I love parties with kids!!! After our normal routine we made alien heart headbands (the theme this month is space, they are learning about our solar system). After that they decorated their valentines bags, frosted and decorated cookies, and then passed out their valentines! We were having sooooo much fun!!! We had some games planned but we ran out of time.

I decided that since the laundry is caught up, I would make a new necklace every night (if possible) while vegging in front of the TV. So here is last nights! Today I am making cards while watching Jack and Ryan (friends little 2 year old). I'll have to post more pics tomorrow!

Also, I need to start video taping some "How To" stuff and post it on U-Tube. Maybe by saying it to you all I will finally do it! It seemed to help with the running thing ( I have 4 easy miles today!) :)

Mini Cupcake Heaven

After the crazy day on Saturday I still wasn't finished!!! I had to bake a million mini cupcakes for a family get together and a YW activity. I love, love, love mini cupcakes! They are sooo easy to do, look adorable and take little time (comparatively speaking). I made 4 types of minis for a dessert bar effect. I made chocolate, vanilla, brownies and even sugar cookies (I just place a little ball in the cupcake paper and baked it). I then frosted them with either chocolate frosting or vanilla and topped each with a different colored heart. Here are some I-Phone pix:

The best moment I had while doing this was asking my daughter to fill the bags with frosting. She filled them easily with no mess and all by herself! You might think that is crazy but I love it when my kids learn from the things that I do with them and they not only do it right but they can do it all by themselves! She also did her hair really cute (all by herself) and got several complaments. She is such a talented young woman that I have to tell you all how proud I am of her. She tries so hard to be good and righteous. One grade was slipping a bit and she talked to the teacher about extra credit to bring it back up and has been working more diligently at all her studies. She has a 3.8. Wow! I am so impressed with her persistence and efforts. Also, after we turned a dress of hers into a shirt, she took the extra leftover fabric and did the cutest thing with it! I'll have to get pix. SHE IS AWESOME!!!

I Did It!!!

There is a lot to catch up on! It has been a pretty busy weekend. I helped a friend plan, decorate, and conduct a party with over 25 kids. It was no problem! I have a great system that I have been using for years I like to call Pattern Parties. It fits any theme and a large age group and a large group or small. It keeps them busy and happy for 2 hours of party time! I decorated the house and made the party area bigger by moving furniture.
We notice that her dining room chairs were stained and I suggested we re-cover them. I measured, we went to the fabric store, and I recovered them. it took about 1 hour and a half for 6 chairs and only cost $24. Here are some before and after pix I took with my I-Phone:

I decorated the cake because I LOVE doing that :)

The next morning I went to work and I asked my boss for a raise and he didn't even realize that I had been there a year already and he told me that I would of course get a raise. It might not be very big but that I would get one. I decorated some interesting cakes. One was sooo huge that we didn't have a big enough board and used a platter instead.

This was the Mardi Gras B-day cake:

After work I had to rush to pick up my daughter from a sleepover, go home and wrap a present, grab some games for the party and go to the party. The kids had a blast! I am telling you Pattern Parties is fool proof and once I get it published you will know the secrets to great parties too :)Her are some pix:

After that I was so tired and my feet hurt but I had to stick to the marathon schedule, so I did the 5 miles. It was hard for the first 1.5 miles and then I got into it and it was more enjoyable! I found a good pace and I was even able to shorten my walk time. For long run days I run as I would the marathon with a run/walk method. This time I was able to shave off a minute of my walk time. So instead of run 4 minutes/walk 2, it was run 4 walk 1. If I could run the entire marathon 4 minutes run/1 minute walk....I would be a happy camper. I walk almost as fast as I run/jog.

Now it is time to continue watching my family play Spore.

???Questions and Answers???

Jack's asleep so I have a few minutes to spare before I gotta go! I wanted to post a picture of him sleeping but he looks dead. Bad memories so I will spare you the details....anyways...
It's Wednesday already! I just finished running 4 miles ...on the pavement with a friend (thanks again Belinda you are awesome). It was a good run. I learned a lot about myself and that my time isn't as bad as I thought. She has this awesome GPS watch gizmo that told her I was running a 10-10.5 minute mile! How cool is that. I am very excited! I can feel those endorphins running through me :)
Now I need to finish up making food assignments for the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Dinner and make the final plans for the dinner, make up costumes for my kids in the school talent show (thank you Dan for making that possible), clean my house and a couple other projects that I am really excited about.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make inexpensive monkey suits. I have a couple of ideas but a couple more wouldn't hurt. I'd love to hear from you :)
Also I need to figure out how to get music on my blog. If anyone knows how to do that PLEASE PLEASE drop me a line.

4th Row Center for Sister Beck!!!

Sunday was an amazing day full of testimonies and uplifting words. In the evening came time for the multi-stake fireside with Sister Beck, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints General Relief Society President. I did not want to go because of the crowds, no parking and fear of not finding a seat (mainly the crowds of people). My friend asked if I wanted a ride, she did not want to go either but if I came she would go. My husband told me that I really should go, if not for me then as an example to my daughter, she thought it was soooo cool that I was actually going to see Sister Beck live and not on TV. So time came and my friend called to see if I was going. I said yes and my husband dropped us off at the chapel. We were 10 minutes early and the parking lot was already packed. As we entered we saw many women standing around. Oh! NO! It was sooooo full there were no seats left! As we peaked inside the chapel we saw many seats in the front that were empty and we thought that they must be saved for church leaders, so we moved on only to find that it was packed inside the cultural hall as well! As we moved through the crowded hallway we peaked in at the back of the cultural hall, some other friends waved to us and told us some woman had just left to go to the Spanish translation room. As we sat, we felt fortunate to be able to be in the same room as Sister Beck, even though she was a meer speck in the distance. We were all very excited and I found out that most of the woman around me had their husbands tell them that they needed to go tonight as well..

As a side note, in sacrament meeting that afternoon the Bishop had said that he did not think anything was a coincidence and I believe that is true.

As we were sitting there with about 5 minutes til starting time, a member of our ward and stake presidency came by and told the woman behind us (who were also in our ward, that told us of the open seats that we were now sitting in) that the reserved seats up front were now being opened up. As they left for those seats I asked the women that I was with if we should follow. We were undecided and I told them that I would go and see if there were any seats left. Brother Paterson told us all to go and that he would save our seats if needed. So we walked, rather swiftly all the way to the front of the chapel and the 4th row center was available. WOW! It was amazing. We were in shock and excitement. We were able to hear her voice without the aid of a microphone and see her in person and not on the big screen(better that in HD). Not only was that a treat, but the words that were said were inspiring. She spoke a little about her counselors and herself and then asked us if we had any burning questions. My mind was blank. I waited to hear what others wanted to ask. The first woman asked if her child could be taught by her husband, basic school and homework. She said that yes, children can learn from family members friends etc. but that the real mothering can not be delegated and that we have the leadership responsibility of Eve to teach and raise our children. "A mother's job his her job." She also mentioned that mothers have to work all hours/ all shifts. She mentioned that during "Swing Shift" (that is from 5:00pm-til bedtime for me) that mother's need to be at the top of their game! This is when we are needed the most. This time was the golden opportunity time to teach! "You prepare missionaries on Swing Shift".

Many more words of wisdom were spoken and great council given. This fireside has left me with a deeper understanding of my role as a mother. When 5:00pm rolls around I am no longer going to dread it because I am tired, the kids are tired and there are mounds of homework and dishes to do. It is the "Golden Opportunity" time to teach!