Family Photo

Yay! My first tutorial!!! I saw these little people at Hobby Lobby last week and HAD to make something with them. I thought about the stickers I see on so many cars around me and since I'm not wild about stickers on my van, I thought I would make a little home decor.

Here goes . . . .

I found these thin, wooden people in the aisle with the wooden letters. They were about $2 per package and there is 2 men, 2 women, 2 boys and 2 girls.

Using black spray paint, thoroughly spray the front of all the people you need to use. I chose black because that matched the fabric I wanted to use. I think it would be really cute to do some other colors. If you miss some of the sides, you can use a marker to color it. I didn't think of this until all my fingers were totally black! (No pics of that tho :) )

Use the paper from inside your frame to cut a piece of material big enough for the back. Don't worry about ironing it. The frame will flatten it out.

Place double stick tape on the back of each figure. (Make sure it is not visible from the front.)

Arrange the figures like you want them.

I like the mom and dad on the ends and placed my kids in birth order but feel free to arrange them however you like.

Finished products!!! Both are 8x10 but that's because I couldn't find a 5x7 I liked. I am using the matted family as a new baby gift.

BTW- Some of you may see these again in December because I think they will make great (and affordable) Christmas gifts!!!

I would love your feedback on the idea and how smoothly (or bumpy) the tutorial went. I want to do more tutorials in the future so let me know how this one went.

Green Thumbs

For their birthdays, Jayci and Cade got Sesame Street seed planting kits. (A really great gift. See previous post!) So today we decided to plant some seeds . . .

Jayci planted "Abi Cadabby" Pumpkins.

Cade planted "Oscar the Grouch" Green Beans.
I'm hoping this will help them eat vegetables. (Fingers crossed!)

Birthday Frustration

So I have a little venting to do -

Birthdays. More specifically, Birthday Parties.

My kids have spring birthdays so we are in full swing of birthday season. I am happy to report that we are surviving with one more birthday of our own to go, but my problem is all the parties we are invited to. Jayci is just now getting to the age that her friends are all having parties and of course we have church friends that invite us too.

I never mind going but we CANNOT afford to give people the kind of presents we are receiving from people. Make sense? I would LOVE it if our party guests would limit the amount they spend on my kids but I'm not sure how to say this in an invitation, etc.

Then I feel cheap because we show up with a small, inexpensive gift among MANY pricey presents. I know that is my issue and I shouldn't feel like I have to measure up to someone else's standard. Yet, I do. I set a price limit for myself but even that cannot last for 3 kids' friends over the years. I try to buy on clearance too but can't afford to buy a years worth of gifts even on clearance.

I want to bring inexpensive gifts but not CHEAP ones. Make sense?

Any suggestions???

Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt

I've been thinking of how I'm going to make it this summer, taking all 3 kids to the grocery store. One option is to go at night or naptime when Matt can watch them and I'm sure I'll do that many times. But sometimes that just isn't the best choice. So I tried to think of something to occupy their time.

It took me about 20 minutes to make a grocery store scavenger hunt list. I just made 3 columns in a table in a Word document. The first column is the word. The second column is the picture and the third column is blank for a check mark. (You can get great pictures on Google images - even name brand specific if you want.) I'm going to give each one a clipboard with their list and a crayon or pencil. Because it is a word doc I can change it each week if I want to. At some point I might give Jayci my actual list without pictures and let her try to find things that way. I was also thinking I could use expired/actual coupons sometime.

Anyone have other ideas??

An Awesome Day!!

Today was such an awesome day! I remember the last time I felt like that - day after Thanksgiving, 2008. That sounds terrible. It's not to say we don't have many really good days. But sometimes we have a truly awesome day that seems too good to be true.

We started off the day by sleeping in . . . .I should have known that things were on my side when all 3 kids slept passed their usual bedtimes. They owed me though. 2 of them were up VERY late last night - not their fault, but still, they owed me.

We went to the park and played with friends for a couple of hours. I packed a picnic lunch but our friends all went home before that. It was no big deal. The kids didn't fuss about it at all. We packed up our fun stuff and ate together. I caught a glimpse of peacefulness just sitting with my little guys have a great picnic lunch. It was one of those moments.

They all went down for nap fairly easily. The only glitch in the day was that naps didn't last very long but I still got to sit on my butt AND get some things done. YAY! After SHORT naps, all three kids got up and we baked. Karis entertained herself (a new thing for her) while I baked with the older guys.

It was an unusually fun time for all of us. . . . .

Karis is 1!!!

I really can't believe it - my BABY IS ONE!!! ( I sound so old. )

So far she can:

- walk around while holding on

- stand for brief seconds by herself

- say "Dada", "Saysee" (Jayci), "nana" (banana), "yumumum", "hey", and "yea"

- smile so cutely while wrinkling her nose

- eat like a man

She is so cute and growing so fast. Don't worry. I'm being realistic about her perfection - I can see the temper from a mile away. It's really fun to watch her grow and learn.

Look Ma, No Wheels!

A couple of weeks ago we took the training wheels off Jayci's bike. We've been running beside her for many days but this time we let her go and Man, did she!

She was thrilled with herself!