Winter Craft Time

Since we've finally finished going through the alphabet for craft time, I've decided to take a brief hiatus and focus solely on winter crafts. It's been really fun and every one has a song and movie to go with it which makes the day go by splendidly fast!

First, candy trains! Who doesn't love candy trains?? We read Polar Express, made the trains, played with trains, and then watched the movie...

I could NOT find LifeSavers anywhere!
Loved this one. We read "If You Give A Moose a Muffin", sang "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (moose/reindeer=same thing in my book), decorated yummy "muffins" (muffin=cupcake in my book), and then watched "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

*Notice the drink in the background? That's mine, not Cooper's. Here's your sign: we went out to eat the other night and Cooper told the waitress he wanted a diet coke. That is sad, real sad. And no, he didn't actually get a diet coke! I'm not that bad of a mom!

Our fleet of reindeer:

Today we read a snowman book, sang "Frosty the Snowman" and "Once There Was a Snowman" then made a super colorful snowman. Then we made a snowman for window art.
You see that sad face? Cooper got a hot glue gun burn. Blistered right away. So sad:(.
I got this cool window art thingy from co-op this week. Coolest art stuff! Cooper is really good at them and has 10 x's more patience with me with filling in all the empty places.

Honey Nut Cheerios Christmas Candy Trees! Yeah for sugar!
Just because they're so darn cute!


How cool is this? My mom's buddy made this for her. I love it!

Xmas Gift Sharing

Okay, I'm kind of proud of these so I'm going to share. I'm giving to Jennefer this year and she is into wreaths. I made these "4 Seasons of Wreaths" for her. Hopefully she'll like them and hopefully she doesn't check my blog...she's never told me she does!
Winter

Fall

Summer

Spring

What Do These Have In Common?

Look closely at these two photos (above and below). What is the common theme?

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You're right! No Luke! What is the point of trying to get a family photo picture if one of the family is terrified of Santa? Not much point. That's exactly my point. This is how Luke occupied his time...which is way more difficult than it looks because Jake wasn't there for either pic opp. Oh well! One day I'll look back on these days and laugh!

December Goals

First of all--I added lots of posts. Look all the way down!

We're gonna do some new ones and some ones from last month that I didn't accomplish.

1. Reach my goal weight--FINALLY!
2. Make Froot Loop necklaces--and eat it!
3. Plan a fun, different, creative date for Jake.
4. Spend 10 minutes per day with Cooper.
5. Spend 10 minutes per day with Luke.
6. Spend 10 minutes per day with Ethan.
7. Throw a Christmas/Fondue party.
8. Make a Christmas list for Jake.
9. Stay within my Christmas budget.
10. Act out the Christmas story with the kids.

Who loves Ethan? I do! I do!

Who can resist that cuteness? My little baby is getting so big. I'm sad!

November Update

It's really sad how my updates are now monthly. Oh well!

Best news: I have found my new babysitter.

Yes, this is the Wii. Yes, my children are obsessed. Is it sad that Cooper can now complete a race course faster than me? Yes. Do I care? Yes. Do I care enough to do something about it? No.

Let me explain. I HATE video games and always swore to never own one. However, I do feel that the Wii is different. We have wholesome games and we play it together. So...get off my case!

In other news, Thanksgiving was great! Jake's parents came to play as well as Julie, Beau and the Crofts! We had a full house and a fabulous potluck feast. Afterwards--we were all sick!
After we played we worked. We worked hard. Ever try to rake 52 acres of a forest? Well, it stinks. My poor in-laws worked harder than anyone. That's why I love them. They didn't even complain. Thanks guys! We love you!

Thought I was kidding when I called this place a forest? Check out that roof.
Jake turned 30!! I hate that age. It makes me feel so old. Happy birthday honey! We love you and miss you so much! I couldn't even plan a party because we didn't know if he'd be home. He was able to be a home for a day and a half. I'm just smiling about it so I don't cry about it!

Oh yeah, and I got bangs. I'm enjoying them but still getting used to them. It was time to do something different. Actually, I would encourage doing something bold! Come on...who has the guts??

Crafts

Lots of crafts! We finally finished the alphabet so here are our last 2 letters. Y is for Yellow.
Okay--awesome, awesome quiet toy for church! I bought a cheapy photo album ($1 at Big Lots). Printed off cartoons from here. (This is the only site I could find where I could print a 4x6 cartoon.) Inserted them into the protectors. Then I bought these mini dry erase markers and through in a felt eraser. Stapled it together and VOILA! A perfect church toy! Cooper loves, loves, loves this. Plus, when he gets a new obsession I'll just print those cartoons off and take out pages he doesn't like anymore. I feel brilliant...oh wait, I just copied the idea from some blog!




Z is for Zebra...and not much else! It was rough trying to come up with Z examples!

First-Goals--Met or Not Met?

Man, I stink at these goals. I'm trying though, and that's what matters. Right?

November Goals

1. Perfect the Christmas hymns on the piano.
PERFECT? THAT'S SUCH AN AMBIGUOUS WORD. I PLAYED THEM SEVERAL TIMES--AT LEAST THE ONES THAT EVERYBODY KNOWS. I WAS ASKED TO PLAY AT ENRICHMENT AND I STUMBLED THROUGH IT WELL ENOUGH. SO, YES, I DID THIS ONE. SORT OF.
2. Make rolls for Thanksgiving that are actually good and tasty.
CHECK. HAH! I MADE ROLLS. I CAN'T STOP MAKING ROLLS BECAUSE I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT! THESE ONES WERE DECENT. WERE THEY BECKY JEWKES QUALITY? NOT EVEN CLOSE. MY QUEST FOR THE PERFECT ROLL CONTINUES.
3. Make stellar Thanksgiving favors.
CHECK. I THINK THEY'RE STELLAR. YOU?
4. Reach my goal weight.
NO CHECK. STILL NOT THERE. I JUST CAN'T GET THE LAST 5 OFF. I'VE GOTTEN COMPLACENT, AND I'M MAINTAINING BUT THIS GOAL WILL HAVE TO GO TO NEXT MONTH TOO.
5. Finish the alphabet crafts with Cooper.
CHECK. FINALLY!
6. Make Froot Loop necklaces--and eat it!
GOSH. I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THIS ONE. GUESS I NEED TO PRINT OFF MY GOALS AND ACTUALLY LOOK AT THEM.
7. Give at least one sincere compliment a day.
NOT EVEN CLOSE. WELL, THAT'S SAD. LET'S JUST SAY I DIDN'T KEEP TRACK. I WOULD HOPE I WOULD NATURALLY GIVE A SINCERE COMPLIMENT A DAY.
8. See "New Moon". Only once.
CHECK. MY LAST OUTING WITH MEREDITH. TEAR DROP.9. Go canoeing with the kids.
IT WAS COLD. LAME EXCUSE. THEY DID GO WITH JAKE AND GRAMPA, THOUGH. THAT'S A HALF CHECK.
10. Plan a fun, different, creative date for Jake.
NO. BUT I HAVE A PRETTY GOOD EXCUSE. HE WAS GONE FOR 3 OUT OF THE 4 WEEKS OF NOVEMBER AND THEN WE HAD THANKSGIVING/VISITORS/HIS PARENTS/ETC. WE DIDN'T EVEN GO ON A NON-CREATIVE DATE.

What a Day!

Seriously, what a day!

I had a crappy night because I was all alone in the big, dark house. Jake is on the road, mom and dad are out of town. It's scary and vulnerable here! After restless sleep, I jumped awake at 9 AM--overslept by an hour! Luckily, I heard no screaming from the kids, they were happily just playing. I know, I love them! Then I opened the door....

Bad, rotten stench. Lukey had thrown up everywhere! There were massive chunks of pizza all over the place. So gross! Who knows how long he'd been sitting in it!! Let's not think about that. Got him out, undressed him, got Cooper. Turns out all 3 kids were poopy, Cooper with diarrhea. Then Luke pooped again right after I changed him. Having already lost an hour, I was running like a chicken with my head cut off to get everything done before church--now including cleaning up nasty throw up all over the place--and trying to make a cute Enrichment poster. Went to church and had all 3 kids in sacrament by myself. NIGHTMARE! They were actually well behaved, but we sound like a jungle. I cannot get them to understand how to whisper.

Home from church and rushing to get house cleaned up, scrub out the nasty pack and play, and dinner cooked. Luke kicks the living daylights out of Ethan. Over and over. I am irate! Want to bop him, but I don't. I'm not sure he knew what he was doing (long story).

Fix dinner for us and Allred's, Luke starts kicking Lincoln. That boy is trouble. Time out for him. A while later I tell him he can get down and then I went back to my room to straighten things up. Well, about 45 minutes later he still hasn't come back. I went out to find him...
Totally sleeping. If that's not cute! I guess he didn't hear me tell him he could get down and sat in that chair for a good hour. Poor kid. Made my day end well, though.

One Small Step for Most, One Giant Leap for Cooper

I want to do it. I really do. So, I set Cooper up on the toilet with a movie. He had soda for drinking and gumballs for rewards. Near the end of the movie, he finally peed. Yeah! We kept his underwear on and then he peed all over the place 30 minutes later. Argh! I'm so frustrated! I don't know if I'm ready for this yet, anyhow. One day.