Day #29 Bleached out t-shirts

The plan for this Make it Monday was to use freezer paper to create designs, and then spray them with bleach to look "totally awesome" (the big boys' words...not mine) I scored a few t-shirts at the dollar store, but they were rather giant on the boys. So, I did a bit of quick fix-it work with my sewing machine, and we were in business. The dollar store had no little guy shirts, and there was no way I was paying $3 per shirt for something I intended to spray with bleach, so I promised the little guys super hero capes. The t-shirts took a little  couple hours longer than anticipated, so the capes are still a work in progress. The t-shirts turned out almost perfect though. Unfortunately, the spider design was too narrow and the bleach does bleed a little, so the last shirt just looks like we randomly sprayed bleach all over the front. The older boys were very happy with their designs though. So, if you intend to try this, make sure you choose a template that is not narrow. For the awesome tutorial I found on Pinterest, just click here. You can find the tutorial under "DIY bleached t-shirt tutorial".
Here are a few pictures of our "process" I got pretty handy with the x-acto knife, and the fellas went a little crazy with the bleach, but tons of fun was had by all...so that is really all that matters anyhow! :)

iron on the freezer paper

spray with bleach

the finished product

the "too narrow" freezer paper spider

To keep the little guys busy while we traced, cut, and bleached...we decided to microwave some ivory soap. They had a fun time playing with it, and smelled nice and fresh when they were done! :)

I never did get a picture of the entire piece all huge, the kiddos descended upon it rather quickly each time and dismantled it in record time! Want to microwave soap? Just cut a bar in 4 pieces and microwave for about 60 seconds. It expands super fast, make sure the kiddos are close by to see it! Then play with it. I hear you can still use it, but we played with it until it was tiny little dust particles, so that won't be happening. But, 3 full bars cost less than a buck, and we only used 1/2 of one bar; so I think its okay.

Day #26 Fieldtrip Friday @ Monte L. Bean Museum

When I was a kid, my Dad was the General Manager at an Auto Auction. The owner of the auction was a huge hunting enthusiast, and his interests were not limited to elk and deer. Everything the man ever shot was stuffed and on display at the auction. Growing up I was always a little freaked out by the dead animals everywhere that we'd see while visiting Dads' work. When I got a bit older and worked summers there, the fear of the animals subsided, (mostly because a 10 ft. grizzly is less intimidating to a teenager than a small child). Anyhow, a few years back, we discovered the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum at the BYU campus. The kids have been hooked ever since. We go every year, sometimes a couple of times, and they love it. We made it just in time this year, apparently it is closing for renovations on July 1st and will be closed for nearly a year and a half.
So, we re-arranged our Fridays (I may have been putting it off...) and we went. As usual, the boys had a great time. They love the variety of the displays and the real-life size and look of everything there. The Africa display is certainly our favorite. My little Von Bon shared my childhood inhibitions and had to be carefully coaxed into the room with the gigantic grizzly bear. He found pretty much everything else fascinating. Unfortunately, I could not convince these little boys there was no need to go down to the  dungeon  er, basement of the museum to see all the mice, voles, snakes, and bats. ICK! To salvage the day (just kidding, it's not THAT bad) we headed over to the Creamery to pick out some ice cream to share on the lawn, in the shade. We chose "Sparkle Sherbet" which was pink, how very un-fitting for a group of little boys! :) Thanks to our friends the Low's for inviting us and sharing their orange sherbet (a much more manly color) with us. I was a tad busy scooping sherbet, so there are no pictures of our little picnic, but here are some cute shots of my darling boys...with the less darling animals:

The "zay-bwahs" are his fav

cool action shot!

is that a monkey or a skunk?

he likes hippos

the great grizzly stare-down

the Africa display

Day #25 (Thursday)

Today was an awesome fun day. Once again, we strayed from our Theme day plan, but it was over 90* so it seemed like the perfect day to sit in a cool movie theater and watch a movie for a buck. Then, what better way to spend a hot afternoon than running around the splash pad with our cute friends! This time we caught Despicable Me (after it ended I realized I had never seen about 90% of it). Splash pads, I believe, are a moms best friend. Most major dangers associated with water are eliminated because its not a pool; but all the fun of getting wet and exerting energy while running about still exist. After a couple hours of playing in the water, then playing on the playground, then back to the water...I had 5 very tired little monkeys on my hands. In fact, I got them home and fed them and told them to go to Siesta to rest, and within 20 minutes, every last one was fast asleep! :) Two hours later their poppa came home to a silent home and me relishing the peace and quiet. Of course, as we learned from Newton lo those years ago in High School, to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In this case, that reaction was a house full of active fellas who were bright eyed and bushy tailed for hours after their normal bed time! ;) Oh well, that is the joy of summer. And as these photos show, it was well worth it! :) Happy Thursday my friends!

You might be a red-neck if...

Due to my not-so-recent obsession with Pinterest, I at any given time have several ideas swimming around in my little head. They vary from topic to topic, and from day to day. Speaking of swimming though, you might be a red-neck it...your version of swimming involves: duct tape, plastic sheeting, and staying dry; well, mostly dry. While perusing around Pinterest one day, I found this fun moms' blog. Over Spring Break, we had a blast with their idea of playing with water marbles. So, out of the blue the other day, I decided it was time to make ourselves a redneck water bed. The taping took for-eve-er! But once it was done, the kids were able to play on it, even when it was filling up. Perhaps next time I'll remember to add some food coloring for extra fun. Now, this is not an activity that allows for endless play; but the boys had a blast for about 2 hours. (There is only so much a thin layer of plastic which is being held together with duct tape while 5 boys bounce all over it, can withstand.) That being said, I think I had as much fun watching them play, as they had; playing. :)

All filled up and ready to play

silly boys

"swimming"

love those eyes

tons of fun!

Prayers: Asked...and answered

Today's post has nothing to do with a fun plan I had, or a craft or field trip I devised. This post is being written to stand as a reminder to me that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me, knows my joys as well as my struggles, listens when I pray, and answers those prayers. If you aren't familiar with my beliefs, just click here. Or feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

Our families experience yesterday helped re-new my faith a bit and reminded me that despite sometimes feeling lost in a world of people, the Lord is watching over my family. Now, in the past we have had medical scares and health issues, financial struggles and other trials. We've experienced the loss of loved ones and been amazed and humbled at the miracles wrought in our behalf. This story may not seem as compelling; but it will always hold a special place in my heart. And for that purpose, I am recording it here today.

Earlier this week I realized that my freezer was not living up to its name and purpose. Monday evening when I grabbed the carton of my favorite ice cream, I discovered mush. I figured one of my little friends has messed with the dial, so I turned it up a bit and forgot about it. The next morning when there was no new ice for our smoothies, I realized the freezer was barely the temp of the fridge. I set to work moving everything that hadn't thawed too much into the chest freezer. I figured while it was inconvenient, there really was no worry because we had a chest freezer and the fridge was working fine. That night we cleaned all the dust and build-up out from under the fridge on the coils.

 Wednesday morning when I awoke, I discovered the milk was barely cold to the touch and the left over chicken from dinner didn't smell right. I noticed that despite the lights being on the "running" sound was absent. I grabbed my keys and headed to a friends house to borrow a cooler, then stopped at the grocery store for ice. I unloaded the entire fridge with the kiddos and we determined what was still cold enough to eat, and what had to go. The contents of our entire fridge filled 4 ice chests. We needed more ice though. As I headed back to the store, I started to fall apart a bit. Now was not really the ideal time for this to happen. Payday wasn't for a few days, and even at that, we weren't exactly in a position to drop nearly a grand on a new fridge; despite it being a necessity and all. So as not to "lose it" in public, I called my little sis, who often is my sounding board. I knew she'd listen to me vent and then I could go "be the mom" again. As I knew she would be, she was helpful and upbeat. She even got on KSL while we were talking and started browsing classifieds for me. Feeling ready to tackle the day that lay ahead, full of searching through ice for things, cooking all the pounds of thawed sausage, turkey, hamburger and chicken that I couldn't re-freeze or fit in coolers, I hung up and got more ice.

 Back home the boys started helping me cook, and cook, and cook. I tried calling a few repair men who informed me the fridge had lived a good, long life by any standards. I was distraught. Now what? I hesitated to spend money on a random listing in the paper, there was no guarantee it wouldn't break next week. New was out of the question unless my lotto ticket came through...wait, I don't gamble. My husband called to tell me to stop what I was doing and to read an article he found. He told me to gather the boys and pray after I read it. Clearly he was a few steps ahead of me "spiritually" because I had been so caught up, I hadn't even thought to pray. The article was uplifting and beautifully written. If you'd like to read it also, just click here. I enjoyed the entire article, but this part stood out to me the most; the author said :

It is not the velocity of the storm

that makes our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ

willing to help us.

It is our faith in Christ’s calming power

and our hastening to call for His help

that allows Him to calm our hearts

during life’s storms. 

I knew this storm probably wasn't the worse I had ever faced, or will face, but that didn't matter. I just needed to have faith that if I asked, he'd calm my storm. So, I gathered the boys and we knelt together in my room and we started with the youngest and were making our way to the oldest. Each was taking a turn praying, asking in faith for something to work out; we needed a miracle. What happened next was a series of events that only Heavenly Father himself could have orchestrated. Half way through the children taking turns praying, we paused and were about to start the next prayer when my phone rang. Normally, I'd have ignored it. However, I felt like I should answer it. It was my sister. Since we had spoken, she had called her husband to chat and he reminded her that my brother had just re-done a few things in his office and removed his old fridge and replaced it with a mini fridge instead. He was going to just leave it on the curb for someone to haul off, but his sweet wife said they should put it in the shed in case someone needed it. My sister had called my brother who said the fridge was available and we could have it. He arranged with my sister to have her pick it up, load it in a van, and deliver it to my house...TODAY. As she spoke, I could barely remain standing, the tears flowed freely and  my body shook with each sob. I was overwhelmed with the feelings of love and generosity my family had for me; and in awe of the Lord's hand in my life. We had barely even begun to ask, and He had delivered our miracle. 

This was a moment every mother hopes for as she spends years teaching her sweet children that they have a Heavenly Father who loves them, and hears and answers their prayers. My faith had been a little low that day, in my discouragement earlier in the day, I had asked my sister what the Lord wanted me to learn from this trial. She answered that question as we finished our current conversation. She said over the years she had always wished she could help someone but often found herself as the one being helped; she loved that driving this fridge to us was something she could do to help. She also said that sometimes we need to be reminded of the importance and strength of family; they are a precious gift and we need to stick together. I echoed her sentiments as I hung up and hugged each of my boys, telling them what had just happened. We gathered again in my room and finished praying; only this time we were thanking the Lord instead of asking for a blessing. As we took apart the old fridge and got it out of the house and cleaned the floor and waited for my sister to arrive, I found my mind fixating on a talk recently shared in our General Conference for Church. The entire talk can be found here; but my favorite excerpt was this:

"If you came upon a person who is drowning,

would you ask if they need help-

or would it be better to just jump in 

and save them from deepening waters?

The offer, while well meaning and often given,

"Let me know if I can help"

is really no help at all. "

My sister didn't have to do anything, just listening would have sufficed. However, she jumped right into my deepening waters and found a way to save me; and my brother was right there beside her. She and my brother have always been great examples of this and I am so blessed the Lord placed them here with me, and provided a way for them to answer our prayers. They will probably never know quite how grateful I am, or what an impact they made. I hope to repay the favor someday, in the mean time, I will find ways to follow their examples and just "do" instead of ask. 

Day #23 It's Cherry-pickin' good y'all

The fruits of our labors!

I hauled the fellas up bright and early this morning (okay, it was bright...but by no standards was it very early). We were out the door by 9:40 and during the summer, that only happens on Sunday's when we go to church at 9:00. Anyhow, we headed out to the beautiful orchards of West Mountain to a u-pick farm where the cherries had recently become ripe.. Originally the plan was to go for a Field trip Friday with some darling friends of ours; but our scheduling conflicts pushed cherry picking to today. Which ended up being better anyway. We met up with our friends just off the freeway and then wound our way through the country until we found our destination. Armed with a few grocery bags and a basket or two, we took to the orchard and started picking. We learned quickly that it does not take long to pick several pounds of cherries with a small army of children. Our families each consist of 5 children. We have all boys, they have all girls. Apparently the older kids had decided to make it interesting, to see who could pick more cherries. They are competitive little souls...we won; by one pound. (They were outnumbered though, Rach was M.I.A. for this event, she was at a day camp.) Within minutes we had acquired about 6 lbs. of cherries and determined that was plenty. I actually took me longer to track down each of the boys and take their picture that it did to accumulate the 6 lbs. of cherries! Either way, it was a cool and beautiful morning, and we were the only ones there picking; so it was awesome. Plus, you simply can't beat the .75/lb. Best money I've spent on produce in a while. We can't wait for the end of July so we can head back out there to pick berries. Yum!

Love this little bed-head! :)

ooh, and action shot!

all done picking, ready to weigh in!

Day #22 Let's Make a Journal

For quite some time now I've been trying to get the boys to get in the habit of writing in a journal. I have gotten notebooks for them and encouraged them to write in them, but they have generally turned into scrap paper or drawing books. So this time I picked up 3-ring binders and loose leaf lined paper and let them decorate their own front and back covers. After lost of stamping, gluing, cutting, printing, and coloring; we finished our super awesome journals. They are very "manly" which is rather important in a family of boys. G even wrote 2 pages in his, which I found very encouraging. Hopefully now that they have something personalized about it, they will take the time to record some thoughts..."feelings" might be pushing it; but events and thoughts are a good start! :)
Here they are hard at work:

And here they are with their finished products!

The days just keep flying past! How is your summer going?

Happy Father's Day Big Daddy Erik!

Aah, hello! And welcome to Monday morning. With Father's Day now behind us, I am now able to reveal what I was so darn excited about! I could not have been more pleased with how the day turned out, and was especially pleased with the ideas I {finally} had, and was able to pull off...even at the last minute.

So, I saw a couple of pictures on Pinterest that sparked all of my inspiration. One was of a tie shaped banner, and the other was a message painted on the bottoms of the kids' feet. I set right to work making our Daddy a book, banner, and treat poster. The pictures of all the boys together were, by far, the hardest part of the entire process. It is not an easy thing to get them all smiling and looking at me while holding a banner in just the right place. And it was even harder to paint on the bottoms of their feet and have them line up just right so we could read the message on their darling piggies. However, we managed to do it and thanks to the one hour photo lab, we had all the parts to our book finished before Daddy arrived home from work. I used their Saturday video game time to scrapbook it to my liking, the headed to a copy shop to bind it with my new favorite binding machine. Now, for the big reveal! (Drum roll please...)

Front cover of book

flip-side of book cover

Since I wanted to bind a book, and you can't have a book with 2 photos, I helped the boys create "filler" pages. First, they each drew a picture of themselves with their daddy.

On the back of each of their drawings, I did their hand print with their name and age. (not pictured). Next, I printed out a basic little questionnaire with questions to answer about their dad. They included things like his age, favorite color, favorite sport, and why they love him. Some of them were hilarious. I spared you the images of each one of these, you get the idea! On the back of their questionnaires, I took a recent photo of them and scrapbooked it with their name, like so:

To finish is off, we had the last page of the book be the photo of their painted feet. I love the finished product! So simple and affordable. With enlargements and binding the book I spent all of $4 on this endeavor. Here is the last page:

back cover of book

So, there you have it. Probably not worth all the hype I gave it, but I sure loved it and so did their Dad. I made him a candy poster (really thoughtful, since he is diabetic and all!) :) Don't worry, he's already had lots of help with the eating of the candy.

Here are a few shots of the big day. It was a beautiful Sunday and after church, we enjoyed corned beef, steamed cabbage and mashed tates for dinner. Followed by gift giving, a long nap, and a relaxing evening hangin' with the kiddos. 

"wearing" a tie from the banner

candy poster

cards and pictures from the boys

reading the book with daddy

more reading...

still reading!

we also got him a boutonniere

So, there you have it! Our Father's Day celebrations! (In case you wish to make a book too, ours was 8 1/2 x 8 1/2)