How I Paint Eggs

This is what I used to paint Easter eggs when I was growing up...

I was so excited when I found it at the local grocery store!

Easter Craft

I decided to do the paper eggs with the kids, like my kids did on Friday night at the Schmid's house.  The kids loved it, over course because it involved glue.

Below is the egg Tanner decorated.  I put the glue on and gave it to him and he put the stuff where he wanted it...

In the picture below you can see the 2 that Jayden and Tanner did when they were at the Schmid's house.

Below is Carolynn with her egg...

Below is phase 1 of Ben's egg...

Then he turned it into this...

He has quite the imagination.

Mall Seek and Find

This past Wed. night activity we took our girls to the mall.  In one of our presidency meetings Natalie had asked me to put it together.  So I did and I thought it was fun and good idea so I emailed it to sugar doodle and they posted it...

Here is a close up...

 

We wanted to teach them about budgeting (but I learned that I should have only given them $60) and dressing modestly.

Preschool Valentines Day Party

Because of the snow Jayden's preschool Valentines day party was postponed until Feb. 16th.  We signed up to bring the treat bags to take home, so here he is holding some of them up.

 

 The bracelets Jayden made were inside along with some valentines day candy and a baggie of cookies.  Jayden put together the bags too, he was so excited to put them together.

Below, Jayden is showing me his muscles...

  

Jayden was supposed to be the special helper the day of the original party, I didn't tell him in case it was canceled.  So I was sad for him, he loves being the special helper.  It turned out that one boy dropped out of his class because his mom got a new job and then twin girls dropped out because of personal reasons.  So one of them was supposed to be the special helper, so they let Jayden be the special helper, 2 days in a row it turned out.  I was surprised when I saw him come out and announce the kids were ready, 2 days in a row.  He was so excited and proud!  Actually, the day of the Valentines day party they came out wearing these crowns and Jayden said "the kings and queens are ready."

  

 Jayden's crown has little hearts on the back of it.

  

 He couldn't wait to get home and look at all the valentines he got.  Really he just wanted to eat the candy, he didn't want to wait for me to read each one.

I'm Published in the March 2010 Issue of FamilyFun Magazine

Here is the link to see the page with "My Great Idea"
                                                                                                                                                           

	I was published!
March 2010

If the Link doesn't work for you, there is one on the side too, but I print screened it, here it is...

 

 

I wish they would have used a different picture, like one with Jayden playing the game, but whatever... it works!!!  And I should be getting $100 for it!  FYI - they also changed around what I actually said, but I knew they would, they tell you that when you submit it, and hey, I'm not a writer so that's okay!

YAY!!!  So excited!!!

What do you think?  I actually did like 20 different game pieces!!  I started making this a year ago, you can tell by the pictures of Tanner and Carolynn and I didn't finish it until right before I sent it in to Family Fun, I finished on Nov. 8, 2009.  The pieces just sat here on my desk waiting to be laminated, for a very long time!

Oh, I'll post the pictures I took to submit to Family Fun...  I only sent 4 of these, I don't remember exactly which 4, but of course I told them I had more if they wanted them and I could send them at full resolution too.
Here are the ones from November 8, 2009, the night I finished making them...

 

 This next one is the one they used...

  

  

  

  

  

  

 These next 2 pictures are from Nov. 9, 2009...  And I do know I sent these 2 pictures in to FamilyFun...

  

 Above is Carolynn, Ben and Jayden.  They enjoyed playing the game.

  

 At night we invited Pappy and Granny over to play with us and so I could get a picture to send into FamilyFun.

Yay Me!!!

More details and "how to"...

These are double sided.  To get them double sided I used a software editing program (I think you can do this on snapfish.com) to flip the image, so I had a mirrored image.  I ordered my pictures through snapfish.com.  To make sure they were small enough I created a "collage print" on their site with the image and it's mirror image, just 2 pictures in a collage at 9 cents a print.  You could just order wallets, but it's cheaper to create a collage print, and it's super easy!

If you don't let the glue dry in can squeeze out when it's going through the laminator and make a mess, it happened to me with another project.  

I used construction paper with mine, but I recommend colored card stock because it's thicker.  I have to put a piece of clear tape on the bottom of mine so they stay in the stand better.

The plastic stands are the ones that came with the game.

I didn't submit these pictures, but here you can see most of the games pieces I made...

  

  

Bracelets and Keychains

Jayden was supposed to have his Valentine's day party at preschool on Thursday, but school was canceled because of the snow.  So it will be post-poned until Tuesday.  Jayden (me really) signed up to bring the take home treat for the party.  We put together little goodie bags and in them we included bracelets for the girls and key chains (to put on the zipper of their back packs) for the boys.  We put everyone's name on them.  Jayden did an amazing job!

 

  

 Ta-Da!  There are 10 girls and only 5 boys in his class.

  

I had bought 2 bags of letters so we'd have enough.  It turns out there were not enough "N's" but plenty of the other letters.  So Dave drilled holes in the "Z's" so we could turn them into an "N."  We were going to make ones for Carolynn, Damean, Finn and Tanner, but... ummm... not enough "N's!"  I wasn't going to buy another pack just for one letter.  I wonder if at Michaels or AC Moore if I can just buy one letter.  Does anyone know?

The Cake

Jayden's birthday isn't until Thursday but we decided to celebrate on Saturday.  It worked out better for us to do it before his birthday this year.  Anyway, we found a fire engine cake on familyfun.com and Dave modified it and made this...

 

 

 

 

 Those are people riding the fire truck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We didn't let Jayden see the cake until later.  But he decorated the cupcakes.  The cupcakes are pink because we bought strawberry icing to add the red die too, in order to make it red.

 

 

 I was away all afternoon taking some pictures for a friend at their Lego League Expo, so Dave had the boys by himself and had to make the cake and had to keep the house clean (the hardest part), but Tanner did sleep almost the whole time.

Did he do a great job?!?!?

Jayden's Bird Feeder

On Thursday in preschool Jayden made this classic bird feeder; pine cone, peanut butter and bird seeds.  When he came home he immediately hung it on a tree and waited for birds to come.  But we told him it may be awhile before birds realize there is something here.

When Jayden woke up on Friday morning he ran down the stairs so fast I thought something was wrong.  (It was even faster than Christmas morning.)  I came running to see what was wrong and he was headed to the window yelling "the birds!  the birds!  Did the birds come and eat the food?!"  Wow, he was so excited to see if the birds came to eat his food.  But then so sad and disappointed when he didn't see any birds there.

Made Another Hooter Hider

During Tanner's nap time I made another hooter hider for a friend of mine in Maryland having her first baby.  We were best friends in junior high and high school and lost touch (long story.)  Then we reconnected through Facebook.  Anyway... here it is...

 

 Oh, for those that haven't figured it out... a hooter hider is a nursing cover.  It helps you to see the baby while the baby is nursing but doesn't let anyone else see and the strap around your necks helps so the baby doesn't pull the cover off, like they would a blanket.

Photo Editing

I actually enjoy sitting down and editing photos.  My dad also just gave me a newer Photoshop elements and I can take group pictures, and combined them into one...

 In this picture Dave has his eyes closed.

 

In this one my mom is looking away.

 

 So I combined them to make the picture above.  Fun!

 

 I didn't really like Dave's face in this picture.

 

 And I didn't really like Tanner's in this one, although I liked me, but because our faces are too close, I couldn't change just him.

 

 So I combined the 2 pictures.  I took Dave and JJ from the second picture and put them in the first.

In order for this to work, the background has to be the same and the camera has to be held in relatively the same position and the people need to be in about the same spot.  If Dave and I switched holding kids, it wouldn't work.

 

 Here is the original picture of Carolynn and Katelynn.  Notice the braces?

 

 I took the braces off and cleaned up her face a little.  What do you think?

 

 Here is the original (above)

 

Here I cleaned up his face.  (I often do it to mine, or the boys.)

 

 Here is the original, see the pictures on the mantel?  After the fact I decided they shouldn't be there.

 

So I took them off and took the numbers off of Trevor's shirt.  What do you think?