Hoot, Hoot!

 Here are my adorable 7 owls I made from scrap fabric for the fall time. I plan on making two more larger ones, to complete the family.

 Nathan helped choose which fabric to use. I drew an owl and a piece of paper, pinned it to both fabrics and cut. Sewed around most of it, turned it inside out, ironed it, stuffed it, finished sewing it and added some eyes and a beak. Done!

Here is the back of the owls. Another cute, easy project that anyone could do. WHen Scott came home from camp he asked me why I needed to make owls. I don't know. They're cute, so I did!

Places we've lived...

 Another cute craft, places we've lived. I picked up some maps from AAA a few weeks ago. They're free is your a member! Nice! I traced the three different states onto paper and then placed the state on the map where we've lived before. I then cut the shape out of the map, added a small red heart and wallah, done!

It looks perfect on my bookshelf! Thank goodness we've only lived in three different states, California, Arizona and Utah!

Olympic Primary Singing Time

Tell the primary children that you are having your own Primary Singing time Olympics!!!

I found this GREAT idea from i heart primary music!!

Write the events on different pieces of paper and have them randomly draw one out to choose the event! Here are the events for our review:

High Jump, Shot Put, Volleyball, Javelin, Archery, Discus, High Dive, Pass the Torch and Olympic Ring Toss.

High Jump -

Put song titles on small squares of paper and stack them high on the wall. Have a child jump as high as they can and grab the song!!!

Shot Put -

Put numbers representing songs (or song titles) in the bottom of a muffin tin. Let a child stand from a line and see if they can toss a cotton ball (ahem... I mean, shot put) into one!!!

Volley Ball -

Choose a song that needs reviewing and while you sing, see if your children can keep the balloon in the air. Let them toss it around to each other (they MUST stay in their seat!).

Javelin -

Straw = javelin :)

Put down some tape lines on the floor and write different ways to sing on them. (Humming, staccato, high squeaky, just boys, just girls...) Let the child who chose "Javelin" throw the straw (javelin). Which ever line is below the straw, is the way to sing. Choose a song that needs reviewing or a fun song!

Discus -

This is the same thing as the javelin but with a paper plate "discus"!!! Have fun!

Archery -

For this event you will need paper plates, string to hang them, tape, and rubber bands.
The child will get 3 chances to shoot a rubber band and hit a paper plate target. On each target is an action to do while you sing.
Here are some examples:
Swimming - move arms like swimming forward
Running - Run in place
Rowing - row like your in a kayak
Jumping - jump up and down
Kicking - kick your foot like you are kicking a soccer ball

 High Diving -

Let a child stand from a chair and try to drop a clothes pin into a bottle. Number each clothes pin and the one that goes in the bottle is the song to sing!

Pass the Torch -

Choose a song that needs reviewing and let the children pass the Olympic Torch around as you sing. Make sure every child gets a chance to touch it! You could have the pianist stop at random and the child holding the torch must say the next phrase to the song...then, continue on.
This torch was made from a paper towel tube and tissue paper.
***(The Olympic Flame is lighted by the Olympic torch during the opening ceremonies. The flame is a symbol of peace. Thousands of relay runners from many countries carry it to the stadium of the city hosting the games. The flame is passed by hand from one runner to the next.)

Olympic Ring Toss -

 Here is a picture of a simple ring toss to make. It's made from paper plates and paper towel tubes. For the rings, cut out the inside of the paper plate and color them with markers. And for the other part, cut a small hole in a paper plate and stick the paper towel tube in it. Secure with tape.

After, I made these for each of the kids! FUN!

Again, THANK YOU i heart primary music for this great idea!!

Teething Toy

 Remember when I said I had a list of crafts I wanted to make? Well, with all the boys (and Scott) gone this past week I was able to get my craft on! :) I saw this cute idea where? Pinterest , of course! I thought, I can make that, so I did! I always have ribbon galore and tons of fabric.

 I pinned the ribbon on the "P", added some cushion and bells to the middle. FUN! It was super easy to make. Now, he needs to get a little older so he can use it! I made this for Nathan when he was a baby and he loved it!

 Speaking of the baby, HAPPY 3 week BIRTHDAY my sweet sleepy boy!!

Rosette Bracelet

 I made this cute Rosette Bracelet this morning. Total it took maybe 15-20 minutes to make and 2 burn marks from my dumb glue gun. I love a love/hate relationship with that thing! You can find the tutorial here. I have a ton of fabric and lots and lots of scraps to use. This was an easy project, and it turned out so cute!

Gardening Update

Once again, my garden is huge and I have a ton of fresh fruits and veggies. I sure love it. I haven't given my garden the attention it really deserves, but having a baby right in the middle of the season was hard to juggle. That just makes me even more surprised to see how well it's doing!

 Green peppers, onions, jalapenos, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, cabbage, potatoes, corn, raspberries, herbs, and fruit trees...

 A few weeks ago it was over 100 for several days and it burned most of my peas. This is all I have left. I could of planted more, but again, I just had a baby.

 

I also planted those huge 6 foot sunflowers all over my yard. They are so beautiful!

If you live by me, feel free to come over (anytime!) to pick tomatoes or zucchini! I have a ton!

Summer Reading Programs

Every summer I try to find some fun reading programs for my boys to participate in. I want them to continue reading all summer long and it helps when there are different incentives. Here are a few Reading programs we're doing or have done before.
Barnes and Noble
Pottery Barn
SLC Library (or your own local library) Chuck E. Cheese
Scholastic

There are also fun things you can do at home to encourage reading throughout the summertime and enjoy it. The easiest method is to lead the charge yourself by creating a simple dinnertime or bedtime routine in which a chapter of a book is read by a different family member each night. Another approach is to read through the the entire works of a given author or series, then celebrating the end of that journey with a special family day that is themed around what you've read. Make a chart, have a basket full of new books, make a cute reading chart, make creative book marks for your children to use, visit the library often...There are a ton more ideas on line. There are also book lists for age and gender of children to give you ideas of what books they may be interested in.

Zoo

Last week Scott and I took Nathan to the zoo and Nathan and I went again this morning with some cousins. It's always fun at teh Hogel Zoo here in Salt Lake.

What an awesome shot of Nathan and the Polar Bear. The Bear is so playful and fun. Everytime we've gone the Bear is always showing off for the kids and parents! I was surprised that Nathan wasn't scared at all!

Red Butte Gardens

Today Nathan and I headed to Red Butte Gardens, one of the most beautiful places in Salt Lake City. Because today is Pioneer Day, it was open to the public. As we're walking around the grounds it started to rain on us. We didn't mind, we continued to have a fun time together. We only walked around about 1/3 of the property. Nathan wanted to stay in the children's area and play more than to walk around looking at plants and flowers! We had a nice outing together. There are a ton of trees, flowers, herbs, plants...Ponds, ducks and other wildlife all around. There were a ton of people there, even with the rain! It was a fun outing!

Wart Removal

picture courtesy of singlemormonmommy

I've never had any warts, neither have my boys, until we moved to Arizona. A year or so after living there some of the younger boys started to get warts on their fingers and toes. Gross! They were small and the boys didn't seem to mind them. But, eventually Tyler's grew larger and became more abundant on his hands and feet. He didn't like the way they looked or felt. Gavin had a few too. And I found one on my heel! Ouch! We moved to Salt Lake City and went into Scott's office and them all frozen off, which hurt like hades, and it didn't seem to work. We went back a second and third time to have the same procedure done. The boys cried and screamed, it hurt so bad! Finally, a couple warts were gone! Yeah! My friend who sells Do Terra Oils told me to use Oregano oil 2-3 times a day. The small warts on Tyler and Gavin disappeared and they were thrilled! I continued to put oregano essential oil on my wart 2-3 times a day for over and month and nothing happened. I've also tried the store brand stuff, using tape, nail filing it down, picking it off...Nothing seems to work. I no longer google things first I Pinterest them and find tons of great information.
I found the below information at singleMormonMommy: On the first night:
1) Lightly buff the surface of the wart with an emery board. Wash away the dust and use some hand sanitizer, and throw away the board.
2) Break the cotton off the top of a swab. You should have a ball about the same size as the wart. In Ethan’s case, we had to use small cotton balls instead.
3) Dampen the cotton with the vinegar, put it on the wart, and duct-tape it in place, sealing off the edges as best as you can so you can sleep. In the morning, remove the duct tape, wash everything and let it dry, and then give the wart a few coats of nail polish. At night, pick off the nail polish and put on a fresh swab of vinegar with your duct tape. After a day or two, you’ll notice some black specks on the surface of the wart. It’s dying. My son said this hurts a bit. Keep repeating this process for a few days until the wart turns completely black. Then skip the apple-cider vinegar swab and duct-tape routine. Don’t worry about picking off the nail polish either at this point. Just add a fresh coat every day. After a few days, the wart will fall off and should be gone for good. This is what I've been doing for 2 days now. I sure hope this works!!

I also found some other great information at tipnut.com/wart-remedies/

2 week portraits

 Sweet baby Preston is 2 weeks old. Here are some shots I captured of him outside yesterday. He is such a great model, so easy and cute to work with. I think I'll keep him!