Shirts for the Marathon

So I believe it was on Wed. that I decided to make T-Shirts to cheer the guys on during the marathon.  I wanted to keep it a surprise.  So that night I took JJ with me and we bought a shirt for Tanner and myself (I already had one for JJ).  We then stopped at Liz's to pick up a shirt for her, it's not unusual that we were out that way and JJ wanted to see Damean, so Dave wouldn't think anything was up.  When Dave went to his meeting that night I washed mine and Tanner's shirt and painted the front of Liz's and Jayden's shirt. And I hid them in Tanner's room to dry so Dave wouldn't see them.

They don't get their numbers until they picked up their packets, which Ralph and Andrew were doing Friday morning.  So I left the spot for the number blank until I knew what it was.

I printed it out and then traced it onto the shirt.  The boys shirts I could see through but the others it was a little hard.  So I made my own light board... I used a glass cutting board and taped the paper to it.  I took Jaydens lamp and took the shade off of it and put it on the floor.  I spread my legs with the cutting board on them and the light underneath, and traced.  If it was day light and warm out side I would have opened the window, pulled it out like I do when cleaning them and used that as a light board.

The front of Jayden's and Tanner's both said "That's my daddy #3361"

The front of mine said "That's my man #3361"

The front of Liz's said "That's my dad #3362" (we were afraid if it said "daddy" people may think it's the daddy of the baby in her belly, so we decided on "dad").

On Thursday morning before preschool I painted (yes, I used fabric paint and painted it with a brush) the back of mine and Tanner's and the back of Jayden's and Liz's and did Jayden's hand print.  The hand print is supposed to be like a hi five. I decided then that I would go to AC Moore and buy 4 more shirts that anyone could wear, I knew Becky might change her mind and want to wear one and her sister, niece and parents might wear one too.  And if they didn't we could hold it up like a banner.  I washed those while JJ was still in preschool.  You can read those four on the right of the picture below...

  This is the back of Jayden's shirt...

This is the back of Tanner's shirt...

  

 Then I think it was Thursday afternoon that I did the back of mine and Tanner's shirt and the front of the other 4 shirts.  And I hid them in drawers in our bedroom to lay flat to dry.  I used drawers that we don't normally use this time of year.  And two of the drawers where in Tanner's dresser that I know Dave never goes in.  I also put some in the top of some storage bins where I have the clothes the boys had out grown.

Around 1 p.m. on Friday Andrew texted me with their numbers.  So I quickly painted it on the front of my shirt, the boy's and Liz's shirt.  Dave was getting off of work at 2:30 and the paint says to lay flat to dry for 4 hours.  I had to have these dry and folded up in the bottom of my bag before Dave got home.  So I held a hair dryer on them for 20 minutes.  They seemed pretty dry after that so I just put them in the living room under the ceiling fan until I had to pack them.  I was watching Ben and Carolynn and Ben had walked into the room where the shirts were and JJ immediately said "Don't go in their, those are my Daddy's racing shirts!  You can't ruin his racing shirts!"  It was so cute!

 

 I knew I wouldn't have time to paint the numbers on the back of Liz's shirt, the back says "and my brothers, #3360, #3361."  So when Dave thought he was going to sleep with his parents so our boys didn't wake him up, I quickly used a fabric marker to write them on.  Then I moved her shirt to the closet shelf to dry and a couple minutes later Dave came up and decided to sleep with me and take the chance of the boys waking him up.  I was glad I moved it so he couldn't see it.

I had told Dave the boys and I were going to wear red to match him.  I had their red shirts laid out and and had my on when he left to get Andrew and Ralph so I could get a picture before they left.  Then I decided he would be looking for a group in red and decided to put my shirt on and show him.  So he knew what to look for.  He liked it but only got to read the front.  He didn't see the back until after the race.

While I was waiting for him around mile 13 one of the runners yelled "I'm your man!"  It was pretty funny.  I got a lot of compliments on the shirts and one lady asked where I got them.  I'm grateful for the compliments, it made me feel good.  But I'm really glad the guys like them! 

Jayden was the most excited about wearing the shirt!  After I get it washed I think he's going to wear it to preschool.

Another Handout Online

Yea!!! I made another handout that is now on Sugar Doodle! I couldn't believe that no one had already outlined this and had a hand out. So I made one. I wanted my girls to have it. And the best part was that when I handed it out the were all like "wow, this is pretty." So I was excited because I put it together.

Becky's Table Runner

I finished the table runner I made for Becky's birthday. There are lots of mistakes in it and I am very sorry. I really wanted to get it finished so I didn't take the time to rip seams out and re-do it. And I was hurrying.

I was originally planning on using the green that is in the middle for the binding. I measured it and thought I might not have enough or I might be very close. Usually I have tons left over so I thought I'd just go for it. I had half of sewn on when I realized that I didn't have enough. I bought the fabric so long ago that I couldn't buy anymore. So I had to rip it all off and start again.

The tulip is from a pattern that I did before, for Carolynn's quilt. I added the leaves and arranged it different from the pattern I did for Carolynn. I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to put it all together and so I actually have another set of the tulips minus the leaves. This is the first one I did that I didn't draw it out. I had an idea in my head.

Here's the one I made for Carolynn...

Zucchini Muffins

I made some yummy Zucchini muffins with zucchini from Ralph and Becky's garden and I wanted to share the recipe with you. Here it is straight from the website...

Zucchini Muffins Recipe

For those of you who prefer to use oil over butter, be my guest (use 1 cup vegetable oil instead of the butter) but I have to tell you, I've made these both ways, and the butter version just tastes better.

Ingredients

• 3 cups grated fresh zucchini
• 2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

Method

You don't need a mixer for this recipe.

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add these dry ingredients to the zucchini mixture. Fold in the walnuts and dried raisins or cranberries if using.

2 Coat each muffin cup in your muffin pan with a little butter or vegetable oil spray. Use a spoon to distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, filling the cups up completely. Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick or a thin bamboo skewer to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin let cool another 20 minutes.

Note, if you are including walnuts and dried fruit, you will likely have more batter than is needed for 12 muffins. I got about 14 muffins from this batch, and that included filling the muffin cups up as far as they could possibly go (above the surface of the muffin tin).

I didn't put nuts or raisins in it, instead I put chocolate chips. I doubled the recipe and put it in cupcake wrappers. I used a whole bag of chocolate chips since I doubled it. I got 45 cupcakes out of it. I thought they were very yummy. Below is Tanner enjoying a muffin...

Last week I attempted Zucchini bread and after it baked as long as it said I took it out and when I went to dump it on the cooling rack the top came out and pool of goo was in the middle. I quickly put the top back on and put it back in the oven. I had planned on giving it to the Disney's (a couple in our church who moved a couple miles away from us) but then I decided not to since it wasn't so pretty. I actually ate it and it tasted good to me, but I decided not to use that recipe again.

So we took them a plate of the muffins last night, they were much prettier and tasted yummy!

Published Again!

YAY! Another one of my little things for my lesson is on Sugar Doodle! It's so fun to have your name published on a website that is well used by millions of Young Women Teachers!!!!
Too bad it's all I can come up with. I would love to come up with my own cute little demonstration or something. For instance, this past Sunday I took a can of oranges in to class that I took a green bean label and glued to the outside so the girls thought it was green beans. I asked them if they would like to eat some with me and of course they did not. But once Teressa opened the can and poured out the sweet contents they all wanted some. The point was that sometimes people and things are missed labeled and there really could be something sweet inside that is worth getting to know and enjoy. It wasn't my idea I found it on the internet, but I wish I could come up with ideas like that. So maybe one day.
Here is the book mark I made for my girls...

http://www.sugardoodle.net/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4852

The best part of my lesson was when I asked "what would you say to a less active girl that you invited to class with you and she replied that she didn't like class?" and sweet little Julia Bruchez said "I'd tell her that we have the best teacher ever!" with a huge smile on her face.

Fun with Sparklers

This is Dave's cousin, Lori Zaspel and her boyfriend, Kevin...

Below is Rhett Robinson...

This is Dave's cousin Anna Staus...

Yay, JJ is holding the sparkler... (he fell asleep before we started doing these so Dave woke him up)

Below is Kevin (Dave's cousins boyfriend), Dave's Aunt Alverna and her son Paul Zaspel.

Austin Robinson...

Mike and Carolynn Robinson...

Dave's Uncle Kurt Staus was the official "Sparkler lighter"

Trevor Robinson...

After the sparklers the Robinson boys lit some fireworks in the driveway. Tanner is scared of the big fireworks and the little ones. It was so cute! He just wrapped his little arms around my neck as tight as he could. Every now and then he would turn and look and then quickly turn back around and hug me. I loved it! I loved the big Tanner hug!!! Then I passed him off to Becky so she could enjoy the big Tanner hug and because I was getting uncomfortable and wanted to stand.

Ring Pops

Here are two of my girls with their ring pops from our lesson on Sunday...Teresa Smith (she is the counselor over beehives) Julia Bruchez (class president), Marie and Mary Jane Doney (she is the young woman secretary).

Since I've been teaching I usually had 5 girls to teach. So of course the day I bring ring pops and want to take a picture because of my earlier post about being published for this idea (well really just putting the graphic behind the words) I only have 2 girls show up. Oh well, they each got 2!

If you don't understand this, you'll have to see my post "I'm published".

Wedding Cake

Saturday afternoon there was a couple that is investigating our church that was getting married. They weren't planning on doing anything special for it or making a big deal. Honestly they also didn't have the money to do anything. So on Thursday Dave volunteered to baked them a wedding cake and then Helen Bruchez sent out emails and organized other people bringing more food for after the wedding. Dave has been giving this couple rides and since he's the ward mission leader he also knows who they are.
Being that Dave volunteered meant that I was also going to help. Dave is capable of baking a really nice and tasty cake. But to save time and also because we had a lot of other things to do I baked the the cake and did the filling and then he did the icing and raspberries (Dave loves to do things like this). Here is the cake he made...

We had a birthday party to go to and a farewell party for Dave's aunt who is moving to Florida so we couldn't attend the wedding. Dave just dropped the cake off at the church. I also made chocolate cupcakes with white icing to insure there would be enough cake for everyone.

Here is the same cake that I made for Easter in 2005...

I don't know why the one is so much more yellow than the other one. Dave thinks I didn't put the vanilla in the other one but I don't know why i would have left that out.

I posted the recipe on Facebook. For some reason I cannot copy and paste it into here. It is also in our ward cookbook if you have that and it is originally from The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook.

I'm Published!!!

Last night I was working on my lesson for Young Women, I teach the beehives (12-13 year olds) and I put this little picture together using an idea on sugardoodle.net. So I decided to email it to them (the people on the website). It didn't take long to make but I thought maybe others would like it too.
I emailed them (the website people) with it late last night and I just received the email that they posted it. YAY! I'm a little excited about it!!!!

Here's the link...
http://www.sugardoodle.net/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4684

The Wreath Liz Made

Sorry, it's not the best picture. It was kinda getting dark out and I tried standing so you couldn't see me in the reflection.

Isn't it pretty? I bought the flowers and Liz arranged it for me. She's so talented!!!!

My Pictures for Class

Today was my 3rd day of my 5 days of photography class. It is a beginner class so most of the stuff I know, like how to put your pictures onto the computer and then what to do with them. But I'm still glad I took the class because it's making me learn a lot about my camera that I didn't know. And I may just take most of my pictures in other modes other than Auto. Especially since I learned about changing the output of the flash and how it affects my kids faces.

Anyway, after our first week of class (it's just on Monday nights) our assignment was to take 10 pictures of something that didn't move, print them and bring them into class. I really liked the pictures I took and so did Liz and her mom, they say they are actually going to frame them and hang them in their houses. Liz is going to turn them black and white first.

I couldn't narrow it down to 10, of course I took close to 100. I had set the sun flower different ways before I decided to cut it off the stem and take the pictures like this. It is sitting on the window sill of our shed. Our shed looks like crap to be honest. It needs a new roof and windows and it has a hole in the floor of it. Actually I think they used half of it as a chicken coop. There is a little door out the back with a wired fence and with a wire fenced thing over top, so they don't fly out. Anyway, I think it actually looks nice in the pictures, very country like. And the crappy wood pile with all the weeds growing over it, that I think looks awful in the front of it but have been to lazy to move (mainly because I have more important things to do) since we've moved in, actually adds to the rustic appeal.

I think this first one is one of my favorites, I like the paint chipping in the picture.

What do you think?