Two Little Hummingbirds Sittin in a Tree

Awwwwwww, I can't help myself - these little guys are so CUTE!!!

I have hummingbirds every day still - love it!! Do you love my new camera? I can take pictures from far, far away and they still look pretty decent:

No tricks needed here, they're fun to watch when they're just sitting around ;) I just want to cuddle one between my hands!

Double Date . . . Double Idioms

handout found at www.jackshandsjillsheart.com - only need to purchase it once and then print as many as you need - but please do not redistribute or share work purchased from my site - thank you!

I taught the YW Group Dating Lesson and made up some Dating Rules (I created a handout idea and rules myself!) after finding idioms with 'double' in it.
On the other side of the handout, it has a message to Try all the Flavors - message - date lots of people before dating just 1 person steadily. (this idea has been around for a long time, but I did make my own graphics and word art for it)

I attached a Baskin-Robbins tasting spoon and a button - yeah, I'm always giving out buttons ;)

After I bought the gum, I was sad because it didn't have the ' labeled paper' for a gum wrapper - only the foil! I think that's standard now. So I had to print out a Doublemint graphic to attach! Always making more work for myself ;)

Birthday Earrings

I made a pair of fresh water pearl earrings for one of my visiting teaching ladies:

So I made a postcard birthday card and attached the earrings right on it. Her favorite color is blue. I couldn't find any blue beads that I loved . . . so hopefully she'll like pearls!

I dropped off cupcakes too - spice cake with maple frosting, that's what the YW will get for 1 of the girl's birthdays on Sunday too.

Beehive D.A.N.C.E.S.

I made up an acronym for DANCES for activities for just the Beehives to be held on the same night at the Stake Dances for the older kids 14 & up. It represents 'Date Among Novices Convening Exactly @ Seven-thirty':

We started in October and got together at my house for 2 hours. We did a little of Personal Progress, decorated Journals, planned activities for future D.A.N.C.E.S., ate munchies, practiced talents for the upcoming talent show and painted nails. It was a success . . . although no one had any sitters available for that Saturday night ;)

Nurture the Rising Generation VT Message Oct

VT Message for October 2009 and a handout:

I baked a cinnamon roll (because they had to 'rise') and put this with it:

You could also give away some homemade canned goods because of the 'preserve' phrase.

Loved that quote!

2 Doors Down ;)

I bought 5 solid wood doors that all match off Craigslist for $40 each =) Saved us a lot of money, but then again, they were A LOT of work sanding them down, prepping and painting!

Got Brady's doors in - took us 1 evening, amazing how much time everything takes to do:
We are getting carpet on Friday morning - oh, and 1/2 price (yup, another Craigslist find) - whoop, whoop! LoL

more jewelry

Still making more jewelry . . . wonder if I should make some for Christmas presents?? =)

I tore apart a very ugly necklace from World Market that I got on clearance for $4 and made these earrings out of semi-precious freshwater pearls.

I made a smaller pair for a trade with someone and will probably make a bracelet and a necklace to match my earrings as well. Should help Jonathan upstairs before playing around too much more ;)

Gingersnap Cookie Recipe

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 cubes)

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, (or grated fresh if you have it)

1/2 tsp ground ginger, (fresh is good too)

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add in egg and molasses.

Combine flour, soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and salt together. Mix together and then add half to butter mixture and mix just until combined. Add second half of flour mixture until combined. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 3 hours.

Roll into balls and coat balls with white sugar and place on greased baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or convection oven for about 8 minutes.

Makes about 30 cookies.

YW Handout for the Second Coming

I had to fill in for the lesson last minute on Sunday. Lesson handout for the Second Coming. Made a shrinky dink crown, glued gems on it and put a jump ring through a hole for the girls.

Coconut Macaroon Recipe

Baking today . . . we're going to a cookie party!

Keaton: What are those!!!???

Me: Cookies - they only have a little coconut in them. ;)

Brady: NO!! Those are ALL coconut!

Keaton: Those cookies look gross!

Me: Maybe I made them with the intention of knowing you don't like them so you won't eat them all.

Brady: That's mean.

Me: Well, Keaton said 'ewwww, those cookies look gross'.

Brady: You told me that I can't say something mean back even when someone's just said something mean to me.

Keaton: Hypocrite!

Me: That's true, but I'm the parent you can't say that to me - LoL You will always have to respect me because I'm your elder.

Keaton: Not when we're missionaries though! (haha)

Too quick ;)

Dipped the bottoms in melted dark chocolate and then drizzled the tops:

14 oz sweetened shredded coconut, toasted

14 oz sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp almond extract

3 eggs whites

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup chopped almonds

6-8 oz melted chocolate

Preheat convection oven to 325 degrees (toast your coconut while the oven is warming up)

Whip egg whites and salt until stiff peak. Combine coconut, milk and extract in a separate bowl. Fold in egg whites. Refrigerate 1 hour. Use cookie scoop (spray with Pam) and line 2 cookies sheets. Bake both pans at the same time, switching top rack with bottom rack after 10 minutes - full baking time is 20 minutes. Allow to cool, melt chocolate and dip bottom of cookie in it and once that dries, melt the chocolate again and drizzle on top.

Makes 24 cookies.

Possible Halloween Costume?

I don't think he minded he couldn't even see . . . where he was going OR what he looked like - this is Keaton's hat and Keaton never thought of this trick, but it was the first thing Andrew thought of when he saw it ;)

Entertaining! =)

Vertical Stripes Done!

Brady's chore yesterday was to stick up long pieces of tape where I marked off the sections - the tape is only stuck on at the top of the wall - and it was VERY helpful =)

Jonathan & I then leveled out the tape lines and secured them to the walls today. Long process and extremely nice to have help with this =)

I love it . . . but now there is touch up work . . . I'll have to tackle it tomorrow or the next day!

Another great task to assign as a chore is rinsing out the paint rollers - LoL I am a mean mom ;)

Paint Permit?

Research says most of us are scared of color on our walls and stick to neutral colors with the most popular color being taupe. (and I only painted Keaton's color neutral brown because I am letting him have his walls as a canvas - he's going to paint right on it!) Hmmmm, I might be the complete opposite end of that spectrum ;) So much so that my boys are actually scared of the color I chose for their closet - LoL We designed a Jack-n-Jill closet between their 2 bedrooms. It's very practical and fun to have something out of the ordinary:

Yup, that is a spice orange on the closet wall. Still have to put in the bead board and trim (it's SO nice not having to tape everything off! but taping off 50 straight lines for Brady's room makes up for that - haha). Orange is one of my favorite colors and this is what (someone who thinks they're the expert) states about orange: likely to be outgoing, creative, expressive and young at heart. I like that definition =)

Window sills and window trim - ahhhhh, it's coming together people!

Love those finishing touches - it is finally feeling almost done =)

Keaton's bedroom

Keaton & Brady's rooms before:

With the new window:

Redone and primed:

Painted with brown walls and ceiling:

The bead board in Keaton's room will be dark brown as will the moulding be too. Looks like we're almost ready to order the carpet . . . yea!

A lot of work!!

Working on the upstairs remodeling it from scratch is a lot of work . . . so much so that I don't recommend YOU ever thinking you'd like to do it one day ;)

Skylight framed in, new lights, electrical outlets, bay window seat, walls completely mudded (so there's no bumpy texture), sanded and primed. It takes a lot of time to do it yourself - thanks Jonathan =)

I just like the painting and decorating part myself, but I try to help out with the grunt work a little ;) Brady's room is 4 shades of blue, the lightest blue being on the ceiling only. I started today and did the smallest wall with random stripes. I was going to do horizontal stripes, but Brady wanted vertical - I think it'll look cool when it's done. We're going to put bead board on the bottom and a chair rail around the top of that. We'll add crown moulding to the top so painting isn't that bad when I don't have to be exact!

And still have to finish the bench seat, order the ceiling fan, give the window a sill, carpet, closet, construct a Murphy bed, 2 doors - ahhhhh, I think I will stop with my list as it is seeming like a long ways a way to be done still =(

Matching Beaded Jewelry

I made some matching jewelry using pinks and purples, this is the bracelet:
Earrings:
Necklace:
Hair pin:

The bobby pin in my hair:

The whole ensemble:

Now to check my closet to see if I have to buy an outfit that will match it - LoL

YW Value Colors Charm

For our YW activity tonight, I was in charge of the craft, so I came up with this dangling charm which has each value color - we added it to a chain to wear as a necklace:

We attempted shrinky dinks too - but I couldn't supervise both, so sad to report the shrinky dinks did not turn out - LoL I guess I need to communicate directions better =)

Education YW Lesson Handout

I made a paper graduation cap with green paper (for the YW knowledge value color) and put a quote on the top 'The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth. Light and truth forsake that evil one.' and side quote is from President Kimball 'Some are inclined toward formal university training, and some are inclined more toward the practical vocational training. We feel that our people should received that kind of training which is the most consistent with their interests and talents. Whether it be in the professions, the arts, or the vocations; whether it be university or vocational training, we applaud and encourage it.'

I filled it with miniature graduation caps made from rolos (similar shape!):

Lesson 46, Manual 1

Lariat Necklace and Matching Jewelry

I wanted to make a Lariat Necklace - so I got out my cable chain and beads and put it together in about 10 minutes! Loved how quick it was =) I also made a matching bracelet and earrings:
Then the next day I made a hair pin:
it's cute in:
I think I need to make some MORE jewelry now . . .

Grandma

Andrew says Grandma's name is Cynthia and knows her last name too. Ask Andrew what her middle name is and he'll tell you 'Grandma Cindy'. Ohhhh, of course it is!

Personally, I think she was going for the shrek look or something ;) LoL
I can't believe she LET me take those pics - haha

Catch Phrase

Natalie (9 years old): This is Kaylee's favorite thing.

Andrew (5 years old): Oatmeal!

Natalie: Noooo! This is Kaylee's favorite animal.

Andrew: (pause and then exclaims:) Baby cheetah!!

Natalie: Well, this is what baby cheetah's grow up to be.

Andrew: (so excited) Parents!

Auntie Cheri: (laughing - how cute!)

Natalie: (giving clues now) Baby boy cheetah's grow up to be lion's and baby girl cheetah's grow up to be . . .

Andrew: Tigers!

Auntie Cheri: (huh? at least they're on the same thinking level)

Natalie: Right. Okay, this word is a place and it's 2 words. First word is Tiger and second word is what trees are.

Andrew: Bark!

Natalie: We burn it in the camp fire.

Andrew: Wood!

Natalie: Right. Tiger Woods

Auntie Cheri: Uhhhh, Tiger Woods is not a place, he's a person . . . a famous golfer.

Natalie: (Pause) Whatever.

That was definitely an entertaining game - the kids played it in the car driving from one park to another on Orcas Island - we should have played it more! LoL

Squirrel

Awww, cute shot of a squirrel . . . Jonathan took this picture - nicely framed!