12 reasons...

...asking your 5 1/2 year old to, "please keep an eye on your little brother while I take a 5 minute shower" is not a great strategy.

You're A Peach!

We've been working hard to show our appreciation for Caroline's Kindergarten teacher, the para in her class who is so sweet and our fantastic bus driver! For the para and the driver, this is what we came up with:

In August I bought 2 boxes of Utah peaches (I try to buy locally, but as a Utah girl, this is my once-a-year splurge that I treat myself to. (Along with the Cache Valley cheese curds that some locals here bring back with the fruit from the orchard near Logan, Utah that they have shares in.)

I bottled half the peaches and turned the other half in to peach jam and peach salsa. It turned out fabulous! It is delicious with grilled chicken or pork chops and I usually serve it with a side of cilantro rice on a bed of lettuce or spinach.

For the Thank-You gifts, I created a tag that gives suggestions for using the salsa. I glued it to the top of the lid and just screwed the ring down around the top of it.

I wrapped some cute scrapbook paper around the jar and glued it in place.

Then I made the "You're A Peach" tag, added a metal rivet for stability and tied it to the jar neck.

Voila! Instant thank-you for the peachy-keen ladies in our life! If you're lucky enough to find some juicy peaches this summer for salsa, and are interested in printing labels to go with them, you can find them here!

You're A Peach Tag

PeachSalsaLabel

An extremely belated Easter post. Or in other words, I'm useless at documenting holidays.

It's always fun when the baby figures out what's going on. I think he ate twice as many jelly beans as ended up in his basket. Oh, well. Breakfast of champions, right?

I didn't take many pictures of our Easter celebrations this year. We had a ball! Saturday morning started us off with the early visit from the Easter Bunny (he likes to visit us on Saturday, because he knows we focus our Sunday on Jesus Christ - the REAL reason we celebrate Easter!) When the bunny comes to our house, he leaves a trail of jelly beans on all furniture surfaces. Clayton described it to his Primary teacher as "the Easter Bunny came to our house and left a big mess!"

The kids wore the cute T-shirts (uh, no pictures) they found in their baskets and loved the books they each got to read, as well as coloring and activity books!

We had a wonderful brunch with the whole Nebraska Butler bunch - including Aunt Sue, Uncle Josh, H & E who were visiting from Washington State! Following was a rousing Easter Egg hunt outside the barn. Again, useless and forgot the camera (Sue and Sarah, if you're reading this, I'd love some pictures!)

Sunday was very sweet and relaxed. Caroline was quick to remember to thank Heavenly Father for the gift of His son's atonement and resurrection when she said the Family Prayer before we left for church. It brought tears to her momma's eyes.

The boys looked darling in matching ties. Caroline's dress (an upcycled find from a rummage sale) turned out perfect. Alas. No photos. Maybe I'll try to recreate some Easter morning shots.

We enjoyed our farm-raised ham for dinner. And a pie buffet later with the whole crew. It was a pretty perfect weekend.

Like Mother, Like Daughter...

I don't think I even attempted creative lettering until I hit Jr. High. Caroline is already practicing her bubble letters! I guess the little notes I write for her lunchbox, labels I make for the treats she's taken to share with her class, and other writing I've done has made an impression

Caroline's Spring Music Concert

She just looked so cute with her long, curled hair and pretty outfit! We were proud of how well she did. It has been so much fun to watch her learn, grow & progress this year. I can't believe she's almost done with Kindergarten!

We Love Our Little Lady!

I'm missing Caroline today. I miss her everyday. You'd think after nearly a year of all-day Kindergarten I'd be used to it. Nah. I miss her amazing imagination during the day. She dreams up the most fun things and I love watching her play with Clayton in the little pretend worlds they create. Yesterday they spent the entire afternoon outside after school. They were picking as many little green grass shoots as they could find, pretending they were radishes. They put them all in a huge planter to make "radish stew". It kept them busy for 2 whole hours. Other things I love about my girlie: 1. She's a fantastic little horsewoman. Her favorite pony right now is "Bart", a very gentle, broke Shetland that she loves to ride. The other day, while she was practicing in the barn, someone came in the side door and the sound startled Bart a little. He jumped and crow-hopped a little, but our little cowgirl held on and rode it out despite being a little scared herself. She's very determined when it comes to being involved with the horses and is convinced she's going to train and ride every foal we have. She loves being in the barn and is quite helpful when it's feeding time. Mucking out stalls is one of her favorite activities right now. Let's hope she continues to like it - I'm not seeing that chore being something that changes on her job list for the next 13 years. 2. Caroline loves all things pink and pretty. She is content playing Barbies, baby dolls, and My Little Ponies. She loves to dress up and will wear anything from princess dresses to her Batgirl cape. She has a little vanity that she sits at to make herself pretty with lip gloss and pretend makeup. Makeovers are her specialty! I frequently visit Caroline's salon where I get gorgeous hairdo's, manis and pedis. 3. She loves to dance, and though she isn't currently taking lessons, she will often come home from school and immediately change into a leotard and her dance shoes and dance around the house for the entire afternoon, practicing all the dance steps she remembers from her class last year. She keeps asking when she gets to take lessons again. 4. She's a fantastic sous-chef and I love cooking and baking with her! 5. She is amazingly creative and though I'm her mama and may be a little biased, I think she shows some talent in art. She draws the most amazing things! Subjects of her artwork include horses, unicorns, pegasus' and dragons. Sometimes people. 6. She loves veggies and her top favorites include: kale, spinach, broccoli, asparagus and avocados. 7. She hates onions but will sprinkle onion salt on almost anything. She loves it on popcorn. 8. Like her mother, she prefers the darkest chocolate she can get her hands (and mouth) on. 9. Reading has come so easily to her and one of my favorite things to do is sit and be read to by her and then take my turn to read to her. 10. She is super excited to be a 4-H Cloverbud and thinks she is going to do projects in almost every category: poultry, sewing, gardening and cooking. 11. She desperately wants a little sister and loves it when her cousin Sophie comes over to play. 12. She is an incredible big sister to her little brothers and is such a sweet helper around the house! I love this little gal with all my heart and am so glad she's the big girl in our family! Caroline recently lost her first tooth. She was super excited about it, and about the tooth fairy's visit! Jake and Clayton got these awesome hats for Christmas. Unfortunately Jake's was too small, and Clayton refuses to wear his. That's okay, because I think Caroline and I wear them quite well!

I Made the Top Ten!!!

Head over to Crystal's Craft Spot to see the Top Ten in the Craft Spot Challenge and vote for your favorite! I'm in love with the burlap lamp and think I'll be recreating one of those for my bedroom soon! Go check out the crafty talent!

Upcycled Cupboard to Jewelry Box!

A while back, Caroline & I found a little chipped cupboard at a rummage sale for 50cents. It wouldn't open, but I loved the way it looked - the aqua blue color peeking through the white is exactly the color I have popping up in various spots in our house. It's been hanging in my room with a wreath hanging from it for a couple months, and I got brave this week and pried it open.

First of all, I discovered that the door (hinge-less and knob-less) was actually in backwards and that on the other side was an old mirror. There were shelves and the faint odor of denture cream. I'm assuming it was an old bathroom cabinet. After giving it a good scrub, I got to work transforming it into something really useful!
I attached new hinges and a knob I bought at the local hardware store (can't wait to go to Hobby Lobby to look at other possibilities!)


I cut scrapbook paper to line the back walls and glued it in using my trusty tacky glue. I screwed in cup hooks for necklaces and bracelets. Then I cut some plastic canvas to fit the two top shelves. I wanted to attach them to hold my earrings, but I wanted to do it in a way that I could pull it out to remove the earrings with backs. While rummaging around in the craft room, I happened upon a package of those report covers with the spines that slide on and off. I decided to try those out. I hot glued one to the top of each shelf opening and slid my plastic canvas right in. It is perfect!



It's now hanging in the same place, with the same wreath, but with the mirror facing out and filled with my jewelry - all together in one place, and freeing up lots of space where everything else used to be. I love it!

Craft Spot Challenge

So I got brave and submitted my Kiddie Card Table Makeover project to the Craft Spot Challenge over at Crystal's Craft Spot. The theme this month was fabric. I'm already blown away by the other talented crafters' submissions! I'm excited to see what else gets entered! You should head over and check out the fun projects!

Boy Joy

I miss my little Caroline during the day. A lot. But while she's off at school, I have the whole day (minus nap/quiet time) with these two guys. We have so much fun, and mostly, I just like to watch them play together. I grew up with 6 little sisters and no brothers, so having two rough and tumble boys is a whole new world for me. They chase each other, wrestle, and generally make mischief. Jake assures me it is all normal.

Clayton dresses up all day. He is really into superheroes and changes identity frequently. Connor has been watching him closely, and Clayton often will call him "Superbaby" or "Superboy" and make sure he's wearing one of the extra capes we have around. Today, for the first time, Connor initiated the costume wearing and brought me the Spidey suit for help. I was lucky enough that when I found the suit, there were actually two in different sizes(at a rummage sale - there were also 2 pairs of Spiderman slippers which I snatched up Too!) Anticipating a day when both boys might want to dress up as Spiderman, I bought them both. The day has arrived.

Connor wants to do whatever Clayton is doing. When we have school in the morning, Connor insists on sitting up to the table and coloring like his big brother.

Connor the crooner. He carries this little two string ukelele around constantly, plucking and singing with a serious look on his little face. It just tickles me that he is so into music. He alos likes to climb up on the piano bench and offer his musical stylings. But the most amazing thing to me is that he can tell the difference between a music book and a storybook. He'll look at pictues and "read" books, but if he opens one up with music bars, he instantly starts singing little tunes. I love it! I think I'm going to have to make one of these little guitars I found at Make it and Love it!

Between the wailing from being squished in front of the rocking horse and the giggles from both boys rocking together, this made for a loud, but super fun morning. I could barely stop laughing long enough to take a picture!

Clayton doesn't really love sweets. He will NOT eat candy, unless it is in chocolate chip form. But he loves cookies. He loves to be in the kitchen making them with Jake or myself (we have developed a Sunday afternoon tradition where Jake makes cookies with the kids while I nap. We get home from church and Clayton orders me to bed so he can have his cookie time with Daddy!) He was super excited to help decorate these Valentine cookies for our horseshoeing students!

Things I love about Clayton:

He's my gentle giant. He's a sweetheart who loves to snuggle and give big "super smooches". He frequently saves the day. He has a very tender heart and discipline doesn't have to be severe to get a response. He compliments me all the time - I often hear "Mom, you make delicious food!" He also is very good at "Mom, thank you for making this yummy dinner!" while we're sitting down to eat at the table. He always remembers to put his dishes in the sink. He loves his fruit and veggies! He's a self starter - he gets up in the morning, and gets himself dressed. At around 6 p.m. (or earlier, depending on the time of year and when it starts to get dark outside) he'll disappear for a few minutes and then emerge from his room with his pj's on because it's night time.

Things I love about Connor:

His funny facial expressions. He practices the "stink eye" and other funny faces because he knows it will make us laugh. He loves music and will help "lead" the signing in church. He climbs everything - sometimes it's good, sometimes not. He loves sign language and can currently sign: thank you, please, milk, water, drink, cookie, cracker, food/eat, horse, cow, bird, fish, bug, bear, cat, dog, ball, train and snail. He watches my sister-in-law sign every Sunday for my nephew who is deaf and has gotten to where he associates her with the movement of her hands. When he sees her, his little hands just start moving! He thinks he's sneaky and will push a stool up to the kitchen counter and feel around on top to find anything he can to put in his mouth. I've found candy wrapper trails through the house on more than one occasion. He is also a little tech geek and can push buttons and figure things out on the the camera, phone or computer faster than I can. And as busy as this boy is, he will sit contentedly for hours to be read to, book after book after book.

St. Patrick's Day Stuff

I've recently discovered the wonderful world of printables. I stumbled upon a couple of St. Patrick's Day printables the other day and couldn't resist printing them off. But I've never really decorated for the holiday before so I had no other decorations to use with them. I used my Cricut Expression to help me out there and am loving my new stuff!

St. Patrick's Subway Art at Eighteen25.

Lucky In Love printable at Agape Love.

Shamrock vinyl decal using my Cricut Expression and the Sure Cuts a Lot 2 program.

My own design using vinyl cut on the Cricut using the "Storybook" cartridge and a font from my computer using Sure Cuts a Lot 2. I painted a piece of scrap wood green, sanded the edges to distress them a bit and added the shamrock which I made by glueing together 4 little wooden hearts with paper modge podged over it. After applying my vinyl, I put a layer of modge podge over everything.

I'm linked up to the "Pity Party" at 30 Handmade Days!

Today's Thrifty Find!

As Caroline and I walked into one of the rummage rooms in Chadron today, ready to find some treasures, a woman asked if I knew where a particular street was located, because she said there was a moving sale being held there. Out of curiosity, we headed that same direction when we were finished with our treasure hunt. It was basically a walk through the house where pretty much everything left inside was for sale. Nothing we saw seemed that desirable, until we walked into the last room. There was an oak cabinet sitting there marked $10. It is actually a computer cabinet, which isn't something we need, but I knew exactly where a nice cabinet with shelves would be useful in our house. After a little tweaking, it now holds cookbooks, the drawer inside contains my kitchen towels, and all the home-canned fruits, veggies, salsas & jams that I worked so hard to put up this summer have a nice, discreet home. I love it!

Again, please pardon my lack of computer skills and the sideways pictures. I will hopefully eventually figure this out!

Before:

After:

$0 Kiddie Card Table Makeover

A couple of years ago, my mom gave us a little card table and chairs set for the kids. We use it all the time, and during the summer, it is outside almost every night for dinner because we spend a lot of time grilling and eating out on our deck. One night last summer, we forgot to bring it in, and it hailed. The poor table was wrecked - holes in the vinyl (not to mention that it was just ugly and faded from the sunshine from its constant use outdoors.)

I've been looking for oilcloth or laminated cotton so that I could recover it, but everything I found (though absolutely gorgeous!) was a bit out of the budget right now. But then I had a stroke of genius! I decided to use cotton fabric I already had and cover it with clear vinyl I had from this project 2 years ago. I spray painted the frames with paint I had on hand and viola! New card table set!

Sorry about the sideways picture. Still haven't figured out how to flip it on Jake's laptop. The wizard says I can't flip this photo and I'm too tech-challenged to figure it out.

Eternal Ride, Side by Side

When we were married 8 years ago, I had Jake's ring inscribed with the words, "Eternal Ride, Side by Side." He makes every day Valentine's Day with his thoughtfulness. He goes above and beyond typical Hubby duty whether it is vaccuming, doing dishes, folding laundry, changing diapers, giving backrubs, or getting up with kids and letting me get a couple extra winks. I'm so grateful for our ride together for life, and eternity. He is my Valentine and I can't think of anyone else I'd rather do all of this with! I love you, Jake!

Camera Woes and other Random Bits of Life

Connor found my camera. Every picture I have from August until just last week - gone. Including all of the Christmas and Caroline's Mini Cheer Clinic photos from Friday. I could just cry - especially since my computer is so low on virtual memory that I wasn't able to upload them to the computer and back them up. So I'm taking big deep breaths and making sure that ANYTHING that could possibly be ruined, deleted, etc... is at least 10 feet off the ground and away from anything climbable. Oh, the joys of a busy 18-month old! But I can't be mad at him. He's just too stinkin' cute! I love that he is so smart and inquisitive. So, I guess I'll take the deleted photos and messes with the learning and growing just so I can watch the amazing process of toddler development. In some ways, I feel like I missed this stage with the other two, since at this point with both of them I was so nauseated in the early stages of pregnancy that I just laid on the couch. Anything that I was paying attention to I think was lost in the sea of hormones. It's been fun to be so aware of everything Connor does and notice things that either he does differently or I just have forgotten about.

And... my New Year's Resolution to blog at least once a week has gotten lost in the other Resolution of brightening up the house - starting with the kitchen. I love my red walls, but the size of the house + the placement of the windows = cave-like feeling with the dark wall color. I'm sad to see my favorite color slowly leaving the walls, but am loving the brightness and airy feeling that white cupboards and pale yellow (my paint color is called Lemon Chiffon - I LOVE IT!) is bringing to our home. Hopefully pictures will be available soon, if I remember to snap them in the process of tackling bits at a time during naps.