Bow Holder

A good friend called us Friday evening and invited us to her little girl's 4th birthday party on Sat. She said it wasn't a 'party party' so we didn't have to bring a gift, but I didn't want to go empty handed. I'm pinching pennies until pay day so I decided I would try to make something(crossing fingers)----try being the operative word here because my last few projects haven't turned out so great.

After checking with my friend about her daughter's bedroom colors and searching the internet a little bit, here's what I came up with.

 

I took an old, unloved picture frame and turned it into a super cute bow and barrette holder. 

Instructions:

1. Take the back off the frame and remove the glass. I also removed the staples. 

2. Give it a light sanding. You may not need to sand the frame, but this happened to be a plastic frame and I wanted to make sure the paint had something to adhere to.

3. Give it several coats of whatever color paint that makes your skirt fly up. I chose white.

4. Attach 4 to 5 strips of coordinating ribbon (wider ribbon would work well) to the back of the frame with hot glue. I don't have an exact measurement for this. I just turned the frame over, eyeballed it, and cut. 

5. Eyeballing again, cut a length of ribbon for the hanger and tie it on to the frame. I tied it with the knots in the back.

6. Embellish with more ribbon, buttons, glitter, beads or sparkly gems. Again, whatever makes your skirt fly up. I used what I had on hand because I'm broker than broke.

Here's the finished product with Lauren's bows on it for show and tell. Finally, a project that's not on my craptastic list! My only problem is . . . . what the heck happened with this picture? I have no idea why it's sideways. It's not like this on my computer. Oh, well, I guess there always has to be something to stress me out. 

Oh, and btw, the bow holder was a hit  . . . . at least with the mom and grandma. :o)

Just call me Supermom . . . NOT.

Another dreaded sports season started yesterday and I have not one, but TWO children playing baseball in TWO different locations. Yes, they're on separate teams and yes, they wouldn't practice together anyway, but normally all the teams practice somewhere near the kids' school, i.e. football field or at someone's house close to the school. It's the central location and makes it easy for parents who have more than one child playing. This is not the case this year and I'm not thrilled about it, but I'm trying to be the supportive, encouraging parent. I'm also not happy about the team Zack is on, but that's a story for a different day.

So . . . in my attempts to be the supportive, encouraging SUPERMOM, I planned crockpot meals or other easy meals that I could prepare earlier in the day so that we could eat as soon as we made it home from practice. I found a Teriyaki Chicken recipe to try out in the crockpot. First mistake---don't attempt a new recipe when you might possibly be gone from home longer than you think. The recipe said 4-6 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. It also said the final product tends to be too salty if it's overcooked. Ok, got it! I opted for the 4-6 hours on high, started it around 1:00 thinking that it would probably cook till 6:30 at the latest. That's 5 1/2 hours, well within the time guidelines. Right? No problem. I had some steamed veggies and a salad to complete the meal.

As my luck goes, and one of the reasons I dislike my children playing sports, we didn't make it home until 7:30. 7:30! Passed supper time, passed bath time, passed bedtime! Ok, so my kids are usually just heading to bed at 7:30, but still, our normal routine is severely disrupted . . . . and I. DON'T. LIKE IT!

(Oops! . . . . stepping back down off my soapbox.)

Back to the story . . . we walked in and my fears were confirmed. The Teriyaki Chicken looked more like Blackened Chicken. My attempts at making life easier went down the drain. Well, actually, it went out the back door for the cats and chickens if you want to get technical. *sigh* So, to the snarling, gnashing of teeth, spitting and hissing dismay of my family, the backup plan was sandwiches and chips. I honestly don't know if anyone ate sandwiches because I hid in my bedroom after being showered with such a positive response. I do know there was cereal consumed because of the evidence left on the table. I guess that tells you how much my family enjoys sandwiches. This is causing me to rethink my plan to have a picnic lunch after Stake Conference this weekend because it will involve the DREADED SANDWICH. And Zack has a field trip next week and has to take a sack lunch. OH NO!!! NOT SANDWICHES AGAIN!!!

(Sorry. Another soapbox. *stepping back down carefully so I don't step on a small, foot-piercing toy*)

Because of the Blackened Chicken incident I will attempt to revamp my plan. I will start a different crockpot meal (one we've tried and enjoy) earlier than usual so we can eat BEFORE practice. Wish me luck . . . and sanity so I can make it through the baseball season.

I'm off to start that recipe, Crockpot French Dip . . . . SANDWICHES!!!

(I just had to do it. ;o))

Playing Catch Up!

Here's what we've been up to lately.

Since all three boys have birthdays in the first two weeks of March, we decided to have one big party for them. We haven't done this in a couple of years and, since there's a new gaming place open in a neighboring town, we thought it would be fun to have their party there. What kid doesn't like video and arcade games, right?


Zack opening presents---He got a Ben 10 Lego set, a yo-yo, and enough birthday money to buy a Star Wars Lego set. My house is being invaded by Legos!!!


Here's Mr. Matt. He got a Mater(from Cars) something-or-other that shoots out of a canon. I'm sure Ian will correct me after he reads this, but I can't remember what it's called. He also got an Elmo Phase 10 game, and enough birthday money to buy a Dragon Castle thingy that makes lots of noise. I'm sure I'll be corrected on this one too.


Blowing out the candles. Two wanted red velvet cupcakes and one wanted chocolate cupcakes so that's what we made. I didn't have a good picture of Todd opening his gifts, but he got a Mini Ninja's game for the Wii, a bike, and enough birthday money to buy a slew of Bakugan stuff.


Lauren had fun, too. I spent more time plucking her down from the skiball game than anything else. Thankfully no one was trying to play at the time. She also kept trying to win something out of the claw machine. She never did, but one of Todd's friends offered her a stuffed fish he won. She was too shy to take it from him, but she saw the fish sitting unattended later so she swiped it. Oops!

Here's Matt trying out the Air Hockey game.

One of Todd's classmates and his little brother.

Zack and his best bud.

Even the adults had fun.

We also had our Pack Pinewood Derby the same day as the birthday party.


These are the sibling cars that entered the sibling race. Matt's is the Superman car. If you look closely you can see a Fly Boat(Wonder Pets), a princess carriage, a Hannah Montana limo, a pink bunny, and some other creative ones. I have no idea who won this race, but I do know it wasn't Matt. :o( I was busy judging cars. Matt did win Most Futuristic Car and received a medal so he was happy with that.


Here are a few of the scouts' cars. The orange and blue one is Zack's.


These are the winners of the pack race. 1st place is the shark. It was very well done and even had a hand sticking out of its mouth. 2nd place is the red one. This is one of my Tiger Cub's car. He and his dad made it without using any power tools. And Todd came in 3rd place---the black and red car. He came in 3rd last year in our pack race and then went on to win 1st in the district derby. I'm anxious to see how he does in the district race this year, which is today.


Here are the 1st and 3rd place pack winners. The 2nd place winner couldn't be there because his family had to be out of town that weekend.


We've also had some scout advancements happen in our house. Todd earned his Webelos badge and Zack earned his Tiger badge last month.


Funny that they're both busy putting on their belt loops in these pictures. I just realized that as I'm typing this out. :o) Way to go Todd and Zack!!!


On a less important side note, I wanted to show off my honkin huge egg.


A size comparison: The honkin huge egg, a duck egg (which is the size of an extra large chicken egg), a standard size chicken egg (which is a medium-large egg), and a Silkie egg (which is a little larger than a bantam egg, but not as big as a standard chicken egg).

The honkin huge egg was a double-yoker. This is the first one we've had. I can remember Grandma Gregson's chickens laying double-yoker eggs every so often. All I can say is, that had to hurt coming out! Oh, and it made some really yummy cupcakes for the boys' birthday party. :o)

A Visit with Smokey the Bear

These are my 3 little Tiger Cubs. Aren't they cute? They worked really hard to earn their Wildlife Conservation belt loop and pin for the month of February. Two of the requirements were to visit a state or national park and visit with someone who works in wildlife conservation. It just so happens we have a wildlife biologist at our state park. Who knew? We were able to knock out 2 requirements at once. Yay! Mr. Chad was great and shared lots of info. If the boys didn't learn anything, we parents sure did. Mr. Chad even arranged a visit from Smokey the Bear. The scouts don't look too excited, do they?