The Very Hungry Caterpillar Turns Two

August 13th was Andrew's second birthday.  I love to plan birthdays.  I decided long ago that he was going to have a very hungry caterpillar birthday cake.  I looked at so many pictures online for inspiration and finally found one that I thought would be awesome.  It was originally an inchworm from Betty Crocker but I just changed the frosting colors to make it look like the very hungry caterpillar. 
I had my little sous chef (Katie) who is always by my side in the kitchen.  She watches You Tube tutorials on cake decorating all the time.  She helped me decorate the cake which turned out pretty darn cute. 
Andrew wasn't sure what to do with the candles. He was going to pinch out the flame.  Daddy helped him blow them out instead.  He loved the frosting and ice cream, not so much love for the cake.  He was great at opening his presents which included a potty chair and training pants.  Potty training here we come. 

Happy 4th of July

This is our third year of crafting our own 4th of July t-shirts.  I love it.  The kids love it.  We all love it.  I looked and looked for inspiration and finally came across a fun idea for their shirts.  Thanks Pinterest.  We decided to make bleached, freezer paper stenciled shirts. 
I started by finding patriotic clip art that the kids liked.  I printed the pictures, cut them out and traced them onto freezer paper, which I then cut out again.  There is probably an easier way but I was afraid to put freezer paper in the printer.  Next, I ironed on the stencil and then sprayed with bleach.  I took the shirts outside to dry a little then peeled of the paper.  Finally, I washed and dried the shirts.  The kids were so in love with them.  It was a great project.  The possibilities are endless with other holidays too.  I can't wait!!

This is what the ironed on stencil looked like.  I can't find my pictures of the finished product.  I will post when I get them off of my phone.

Eric's 11th Birthday

I can't believe my baby turned 11 this year AND is in middle school.  He turned 11 on June 14th.  I know, I'm still behind on all of my posts.  Here's a little bit about Eric.   He has always been such a good, laid back kid.  I mean always, since birth.  He will do anything you ask him to do.  He tries very hard in all that he does.  This summer he is taking golf lessons for the second time.  He really likes it.  Hopefully he will stick with it.  He really cares about his brothers and sisters and often thinks of them before himself.  He started middle school on August 13th.  I cried.  A teacher came and gave me a hug and said he would be well taken care of at school.  She even called me later in the morning to assure me he was fine.  He has been playing violin for the past two years, but this school doesn't have orchestra so now he's going to try the trombone.  Wish him luck!  Eric loves pizza and so he wanted a pizza themed party.  Pizza for lunch and two pizza decorated birthday cakes is what he got. 

Sir Francis Drake

I forgot to put this post before the graduation post.  The 5th graders worked very hard researching the Revolutionary War.  As a final chapter in their unit everyone chose a significant person from the era and learned everything they could about them.  They compiled a written report and then had to memorize it.  This was all in preparation for the Wax Museum. 

Eric chose Sir Francis Drake (frankly I didn't know who he was really or what he did).  He completed his report, made visual aids and created a costume.  The 5th graders posed around the gym and the rest of the school came to look at them.  The other classes were given tickets to give to the "wax" models.  When they received a ticket they told all about their character.  I was so proud of Eric when he told me his bio.  He did great research and memorized it all. 

5th Grade Promotion

I really hate to admit that I'm old enough to have a child going into middle school.  Why do those two words make me cringe when I say them?  Because it's MIDDLE SCHOOL that's why!!  I had a tough time in middle school and it only consisted of 7th and 8th grade kids and there were only 40 some kids in the entire Junior high.   Deep down inside I know that Eric is a good, tough, resilient young man and he will most likely be just fine, but as a mom I can still worry. 

At the end of May he moved on from elementary to middle school.  There were three classes of 5th graders and they put on an awesome program for the parents.  They changed the words to "In the Jungle" and learned a cute little dance that went with it.  I was in the back row crying and trying not to show that I was crying.  One of the girls wrote a poem (which won a literary contest) and she changed it into a song that she performed. To end it all there was a cute slide show and diploma ceremony.  He had a great teacher, Ms. McCloughan.  He absolutely loved her. 

When it was over Eric told me he saw me crying in the back of the gym.  It wasn't too long until he was in tears as well.  He was so sad to leave Grant Elementary and his friends.  They ate goodies and signed each others t-shirts.  It makes me sad to think about now. 

 He had a great teacher, Ms. McCloughan. He absolutely loved her.

Track Day May 2012

I'm still playing catch up on what's happened so far this year.  By the way, I can't believe it's already more than half over!! Yikes. 

Eric and Charles both had great track days this year.  I sure wish I had posted this when it happened because now I can't remember what place they each got in their events.  However, I just called them over here to rack their brains. 

Eric participated in the obstacle course and placed second, the high jump and placed 2nd, 100 yard dash and placed 4th, and Javelin and placed 6th.  The next day he was chosen to help with the younger classes.  He helped the first grade teacher operate the obstacle course. 

Charles participated in the 100 yard dash and placed 4th, obstacle course and placed 2nd, standing long jump and placed 1st and finally the running long jump and placed 2nd. 

Katie came along as chief cheerleader and nacho eater. She also fell backwards off the steps of a really high slide. Luckily there were no broken bones just scrapes.

 

Katie's 5th Birthday

When it comes to birthdays for the kids I like to plan well in advance.  Months before their big day I start probing about what they want for their birthday and what kind of cake they want.  Making birthday cakes for them is one of my most favorite things to do.  I really should take a class on decorating so mine don't look quite so homemade.  But no matter what they always love them.  I'm proud to say that I have only bought one cake for all 25 birthdays they've had (it was Charles's 1st birthday cake, sorry Charles). 
So anyway, back to Katie's birthday.  She wanted a princess castle cake.  I looked online a ton and watched You Tube videos on making a castle cake.  In the process, I got her hooked on watching these how to videos.  She still watches them and runs the battery on my phone down every time.  She did learn a lot.  Whenever she plays with play dough she throws our things like "cutting the dome off your nine inch cake", "put a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper over your fondant to roll and smooth it".  She's a hoot.
I thought the cake would be easy peasy after watching the tutorial a hundred times.  I was wrong.  It kept falling apart while I was frosting it but Katie kept cheering me on telling me it was OK.   Her special job was to put the sanding sugar on the cones. The cake  looked alright if you weren't too close. 

 She received great gifts that she loves and uses almost everyday. She was given everything she needed to learn how to swim from lessons down to the towel and flip flops.  The swimsuit had to be given a test run in the tub that night.  Here are a few pictures from her special day. 

Easter 2012

Next up, Easter.  We had a great Easter.  I love this time of year.  We get to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, Spring has sprung, and I love the decorations, baskets and coloring eggs. 

We tie dyed our eggs this year.  It was fun to see how they turned out each time.  We also used this metallic gel dye in a plastic bag.  It looked awesome but the gel never really dried.  Whatever though, the kids didn't care they just wanted to keep coloring egg after egg after egg. 

Katie and I made sugar cookies and a lamb cake also.  She is my little helper in the kitchen for sure.

Saturday night I put the kids to bed and was getting out a few things to "help" the Easter bunny.  Katie wandered out of her room to find me with various Easter paraphernalia scattered around.  "Mom, what are you doing with our Easter baskets?"  she asked.  I scrambled for an answer and sent her back to bed.  The next morning she announced to the others that it wasn't the Easter bunny who left the baskets, it was mom. 

The kids loved their baskets regardless of who left them.  I made a set of resurrection eggs.  Each egg had a scripture and an item that told the story of Jesus and his crucifixion and resurrection. It's a fun way to tell the story.  We got all dressed up in our new Easter duds and went off to church.  After church we had an egg hunt and nice lunch. 

Long time, no see...

I have not blogged in such a long time.  I got so far behind that every time I even thought about catching up I became too overwhelmed with the task at hand.  It has been so long that Blogger has changed entirely and I had no idea.  I couldn't even figure out how to write a new post.  I had to turn to my friend Google to figure the darn thing out. 

So here it goes,  I have to think back to January.  January 29th to be exact.  The day our cute little Charles turned 8!!  What a milestone birthday.  Charles is a Bronco fan and with Tim Tebow and all of his fame of course he wanted that to be the theme of his big day.  He wanted a cake that looked like a Tebow jersey.  Too bas Tebow isn't a Bronco any longer.  Any way, Charles loved his cake.

We celebrated his birthday a few days after the fact to incorporate his baptism.  I can't even remember the exact date (I think it was February 5th or whatever the first Saturday of the month was).  We had his party and then that evening Charles was baptized by his daddy and confirmed by my dad.  It was a special day.

Christmas 2011

Here are some pictures of Christmas 2011. I didn't get them posted at Christmas but I think it's better late than never.

Dean and I started Weight Watchers the beginning of February.  It was time (past time).  I have never been the skinny girl but never too far from a healthy weight (in my mind).  Even after pregnancy I didn't have a lot of weight to loose and the weight I did need to drop came off easily thanks to nursing.  After Katie and Andrew it came off and then crept back on.  The last five or six months I really noticed the weight in my stomach and legs. 
The dieting hasn't been too bad.  I'm glad to know how unhealthy I was eating before going on WW. We were at Red Lobster a few weekends ago and I was trying to find the most satisfying thing to eat with the least amount of points.  We overheard another table order mozzarella sticks, fish and chips and something else fried.  I leaned over to Dean commented on how many points that would be. 

We're learning to eat more fruits and veggies, smaller portions and cutting out sugary foods and drinks.  I think I am down six pounds so far.  It doesn't sound like much but I can so tell in the way my jeans and shirts are fitting.  I've had to tighten my belt a notch too.  I've got another 25-30 to go.  Wish me luck.

Weekend Update (ok more like months long update)

I can't even remember the last post that I made on my blog.  My intention for my blog was first, to be like a journal for me and my family and second, a "here's what's happening in our life" for my parents and siblings since we are the only ones who live away from the SLV. 

I haven't been to successful lately.  We moved the first week in January which didn't help.  Moving has a way of throwing me off for a very long time. 

Charles turned eight on January 29th.  He was so excited to turn the big 8 for many reasons.  1. to be baptized  2. to be in cub scouts and 3. because who doesn't love presents, cake and ice cream.  He was still riding high on the Tebow mania and wanted a Tebow jersey cake.  Not my finest looking cake but by far the best tasting.  Dean took a bite and couldn't believe that I made it.  It really did taste like a bakery cake.  I used a mix but made my own frosting (I've learned that you have to make your own frosting for it to taste really good).   This cake mix however was by far the best EVER!

The stake holds a stake baptism so we were with a whole bunch of people.  It was really nice though.  They had the opening with the standard songs, prayer and talks about baptism and the holy ghost. Then,  they called each child and their family and friends into the font area one at a time for the baptism.  While the others waited they played a montage of conference talks, stories from LDS people and music. 

I was so proud of Charles for wanting to be baptized.  Dean baptized him and my dad confirmed him.  We held a party for him before the baptism.

Pictures to come.  I can't find the cord to my camera. : (

I just realized that I haven't posted anything from Christmas either, so that will come when I can get pictures off my camera.