Toddler Kitchen - Part II

We set the "parts" out to make sure that we had everything that we needed. We cut the base with about a half inch lip all the way around. I also made sure that the back was tall enough that we could fit the "window" above the sink.

Then we did some sanding and routing on the base, top, and back of the Toddler Kitchen and Book Bench. We also did some assembly (glueing and stapling).

It's going together really well. The boards are cut, routed and all but two are attached.

It was dripping hot.

We used liquid nails and then clamped the pieces together.

We finished it off with a pneumatic staple gun.


I should be able to paint sometime this week or next!

Bronson Received His Mission Call!!!

He will be serving in the Ukraine, Donetsk Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He reports to the Mission Training Center in Provo on December 17. He will be serving and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ for two years! Wooohooo!

We are so excited! More to come on this - for sure!

Ephesians 6:10-20 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Puppy Love

Really these pictures need no words. It's all about a boy and his dog. Only it's not his dog. It's Grandma's puppy. But he wishes it was his!

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September Card Club - Oh Baby!

I nearly forgot about card club again! So at the last minute, I went window shopping for ideas on Etsy.com

I found this darling idea from the brilliant artist at HappyDayStudio! Way cute stuff over there!

See some other cards here.

Vote Life.

I'm not a Catholic, but I loved this! Beautifully written, well produced, wonderful message.

Vote Marriage - one man, one woman. Vote Family. Vote Life.

Vote your conscience.

Vote.

Decluttering for the Holidays!

I'm working hard at letting go. I finally decided to give up my cassette tapes. (So hard to part with them once I started looking to see what I had!) And my VHS tapes (except for Disney's - saving those for the babies to watch). And bagged up two huge garbage bags full of my old clothes! Flylady would be proud of me!

My Baby Sister's Family 2007

I absolutely love how this picture of my little sister and her family, at our family reunion, turned out. There is so much fun and personality in it! Everyone is letting their individuality shine through. I had seen a family photo where they turned the little boy upside down, for some reason it made everyone loosen up! It worked here too!

This sis makes flamework glass beads. Check out her site at Snozberry Beads.

There's still time to enter her giveaway for a darling handmade Halloween Bracelet!

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Nutritious and Delicious

I could not resist taking pictures of this peanut butter and honey covered face.

She carefully avoided the whole wheat bread and licked all the guts out of her sandwich.

Ummmm, nutritious and delicious. Good thing for full-coverage bibs!

Oh Mom!

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100 days to Christmas!!

Laura at Organizing Junkie referred me to a new site, 100 days to Christmas! Since I've been planning for Christmas since the first day of School, I'm all over this one! The challenge today is to gather the bones for your Christmas Planner. Thank goodness I made a Flylady, Christmas Control Journal a couple of years ago. For the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas it does not leave my hand.

My Christmas Control Journal has master list of everyone I need to give to: kids, family, teachers, scout leaders, home teachers, visiting teachers, visiting teaching sisters, neighbors, etc. Then, each year, I make a graph with each child and what they are giving to the others. Since they're making their gifts for each other this year, we started a month ago. Santa keeps his lists in there too. Thus, the need to keep it under close surveillance.

I also make notes in it throughout the year of cute gift ideas that I run across. It's where I keep the kid's letters to Santa, so that I can remember their requests as I shop. Black Friday ads go in it, along with my shopping plan, and I like to keep my receipts in a page protector too, to make returns and accounting easy!

Most importantly, I have kept the lists from the last couple of years in there. That way I remember what I gave to whom, who mailed me Christmas cards, and what kind of treats I made. I even keep my holiday menus and recipes in there! I couldn't survive the holidays without my Christmas Control Journal. (Well, I guess I could. But, I wouldn't want to!)

Haven't got one yet? Get one!

52 Blessings - Family Snack Night

I love my family! We are so close and really enjoy spending time together. Every two weeks we have an evening to spend as an extended family. My Mom and the seven kids, spouses, and grandchildren all have "snack night" or Family Home Evening. We take turns and rotate responsibilities and houses. Tonight my sister Julie (Crazymama) was in charge. She baked about 6 different kinds of homemade cookies! They were heavenly! I just couldn't resist taking pictures of the super-fabuloso treats!

All the adults sat around visiting while the kids played in their backyard park. They have a giant playset, a rocking airplane toy, and a wheel of death! The wheel of death is a heavy duty, playground merry-go-round that the schools and parks have determined are too dangerous to be in public places. Wolfman was the only injury. We heard that he didn't fly off or get crushed under, but it was possible that he got stepped on. There was no blood or broken bones, so some cookies and hugs fixed him right up.

Thanks Joobs, YOU ROCK!!!

50th Birthday Cake

Swiss Chocolate Carmel Chip and Yellow Vanilla Cheesecake - 10" x 5" = 4 cake mixes, 4 pudding mixes, 8 eggs1 bag of Dark Chocolate Wilton Candy Melts
The Best Chocolate Frosting Ever for the filling and Chocolate Buttercream for the Icing and borders.
Serves about 50.
Price: Sincere Friendship and a Family Photo Shoot.

September 11

Seven years.

God Bless America

Wordful Wednesday - No Cooperation

Wanna win a Bracelet?

My tiny girl was sitting in the 60 year old rocking chair that belonged to Grandma J when she was a tiny girl. So I ran to grab the camera thinking it would be a darling family history picture. No chance. I got NO cooperation. The minute I pulled out the Easy Share, Tiny Girl was everywhere but in the chair. I tried getting her to sit and rock a baby doll, hold a toy, everything I could think of. She just didn't want to be my model today. Oh well. Grandma's rocker isn't going anywhere.

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Good Mail!

We were doing the Arsenio cheer around here today because Princess S and I BOTH got good mail!!! My awesome, amazing blogfriend Mamarazzi sent me a fun pedicure-in-an-envelope, cool bloggie stickynotes, AND POP ROCKS!!! (Notice I ate the Pop Rocks before I even stopped for pictures!) Thanks Sweet Friend!!

Princess S's good mail was from Mamarazzi's sweet daughter Jordan!! They have been exchanging good mail for a couple of months now! So much fun for two cute girls!

52 Blessings - Awesome Sister!!!

Thanks Aunt Vicki!!! You made our day!!

We sure love you and appreciate all the nice things you do!

Simple Pleasures

Tomato Worms! You cannot imagine the excitement that these little beauties generated today. (First, I must explain that our tomatoes are done producing for the season, or we might not have been so thrilled.) We found some yesterday and Wolfman had to put them in a bottle and watch them eat. "Mommy, I just wove animals." (So excited to have pets of his own.) We took one nice fat one to show Grandma today. Then, when she and Julie's girls didn't find any corn worms in the dozen ears they helped her shuck, they came to pick some tomato worms instead. Everybody left happy. They even ended up with a chrysalis! We're pretty easy to please.

Didger and I ran to Goodwill to see what fabulous treasures we could obtain on half-price day. He was excited beyond belief to find an REAL typewriter! I don't think I have to buy him a Christmas present this year. He says he's going to write a book on it. (If he can ever get the other kids to stop playing with it.)

*Edit* This morning Princess S. said "Now, I want a typewriter! If I had a typewriter, I wouldn't need a computer!"

P.S. We paid $6 and it's a vintage Remington, from the late 50's or early 60's. I just hope there's somewhere that you can still order typewriter ribbons. Apparently, it's going to see lots of use.

My big excitement was finishing my auction pinafore's today!!! So fun to have them done and get them shipped and delivered on Monday! Plus, an experiment turned out better than expected! LOVE the blue/brown combo!!!

So it was a hap-hap-happy day around here!!!

Photostory Friday - Basket Case

Today My Mom, sister Vicki, and I all got together to finish our cakes. At class we were only able to finish our basket weave frosting and borders.

We had already made the royal icing flowers in the previous three weeks. So all we had to do today, was assemble our masterpieces!

This is Mom's. Her's had these lovely sprays of mixed flowers around the sides.

This is Vicki's gorgeous cake.

This is my supercool cake. My cute birds broke :(

It just has two larger sprays along with the little picket fence garden.

We didn't bake this session at all. For these final cakes we used royal icing over styrofoam blanks, so that we can keep our beautiful cakes and display them on our lovely footed cake stands. Mine will reside in my china cabinet for the next four or five years. It will replace this one...

from the first time I took this class. It was white buttercream when I originally made it and has mellowed to an antique cream. Not bad for four years of decoration!

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