My how they've grown!

Jeremy and I were looking at the old camera to get it ready for his trip to Guatemala and we found this fun video Kathryn took on 11-16-2010! I can't believe how much they've changed in a year and a half!! Rachel's hair is longer and thicker, and she's potty trained! Kathryn's voice is more mature and well she's as bossy as ever! In case you can't tell they are saying:
Kathryn: Now do a video
Rachel: I'm Rachel
Kathryn: What does Buzz Lightyear say?
Rachel: And Beyond!
Kathryn: What does Woody say?
Rachel: Reach for the sky
Kathryn: What does Bullseye say?
Rachel:
Kathryn: Nothing?
Kathryn: What does Jessie say?
Rachel: Yeehaw!
Kathryn: Yeehaw?
Rachel: Yeah
Kathryn: 'Kay, What does the penguin sing?
Rachel: Noone
Kathryn: Noone? That's silly!

As you may have guessed at about this time one of Rachel's "tricks" was quoting things from Toy Story... Kathryn was a very good interviewer!

Enjoy!

It's Summer... and I'm afraid

Yes, you read that right. It's summer and I'm afraid. For some reason I am afraid of not doing enough fun things this summer. I'm afraid of missing opportunities to play at the park, go run in the fountains, or see an outdoor movie. I am afraid of missing chances to hang out with really great girlfriends and let our kids play together. I am afraid of not being a good "summer" mommy. But what I am beginning to realize is that my girls are happy! They don't need huge adventures to have a fun summer. They can be quite content just blowing bubbles on a sunny afternoon :-)

 Daddy is perfectly happy with that too :-)

My Craft Fair Booth

This year when our MOPS group was finalizing plans for our annual craft fair, I decided to try my hand at having a booth. In the past I have put together little kits for Moms to buy and make crafts with their kids. These have been pretty popular but they don't have a huge profit margin. So, I decided to make a few of all of the things I love and just see what would sell. My expectations are pretty low so I don't think I'll be disappointed :-) My greatest hope for this Saturday is that I will have a fantastic day at a craft fair next to a fabulous friend who has helped me immensely to get me to this point. I am so glad to have had her help!! So, if you are in Rapid City this weekend, stop by and see our craft fair (and buy something from me)! We will be at the Minneluzahan Senior Center from 8 to 2 on November 12th! (And if you won't be here - I take email orders ;-) ) So, here are few pictures for those of you who like crafty things. The booth layout pictures are first, followed by some of my favorite things.Beaded Spoons
Stretchy Headbands that go well with the Flower Barrettes
Flower Barrettes and Flower HeadbandsBent Spoons that can be used as business card holders, picture holders, or even cell phone holders
Towel Hangers - Crocheted rings that neatly hold the kitchen towel that you already have.Scarf Holders - These are my own invention that I came up with to hold all of the girls winter scarves in our coat closet :-)Kitchen TowelsA cute little purse made out of a baby dressPicture Frame Earring Holders (I don't have any earrings to show you how they work - oops!)Snowman Candy Bars - They come in 5 varieties: Hershey's, Hershey's w/Almonds, Reese's, Mr. Goodbar, and Snickers. If they don't sell one you may just get one from me this year!
Kid's Craft KitsFlower DishclothsI didn't have a picture of the fuzzy flip-flops currently on my camera (other than the layout picture) but they are really cute, too! Seriously, if you know anyone that would love to come to a craft fair (and bake sale) send them our way, this Saturday! Thanks for looking at all my pictures :-)

My sweet Rachel

Crafts, Crafts, and more crafts

We've been doing some crafting here at our house to get Mommy in the right mindset for MOPS. This weekend is our Steering Team retreat and I have to be all ready to present my ideas for the year. I'm about 1/2 way there at this point but an unexpected flu bug kept me from getting too much done this weekend. Thankfully Grandma Pat is always very happy to babysit if I need some extra time to get things ready for the weekend. (I may just be calling you Grandma!) So, in the spirit of crafting here are a few projects the girls and I worked on last week.
These are the girls' new chore charts that I got finished about a week 1/2 half ago. Then I made up some quiet time boxes for them. They worked really well this last week.

Then the girls and I picked up some 3/4" blocks at Hobby Lobby this week. We tried two new projects with them. Story Dice and Puzzle Cubes. I wasn't 100% satisfied with how the puzzle blocks came out but I may try again after I am caught up on MOPS stuff. Here's another cute way to do them.So, while we had the Mod Podge out I had to try this great idea for making window clings. I didn't have a really smooth surface to do this on but I think they turned out all right anyway :-)

And that just about sums up my busy crafty week. (Other than the mending that I don't have a picture of :-) ) I did work on one MOPS project for this September but I don't want to spoil the surprise! I hope I've inspired some of you to have a crafty time this summer!

Kathryn's First Ballet Recital

This year was Kathryn's first year in ballet. She really enjoyed her class with Miss Christy and is excited to learn more next year in Kindergarten Ballet/Tap class. To finish up the year they had a very large (humungous) recital at the Civic Center here in town on May 14th. Her good friend Lily also takes ballet at Prima School of Dancing so we met up with Lily and her mom for some last minute hair and make up before the dress rehearsal. This is a picture of the girls all ready to go for rehearsal.The theme for the ballet recital was Good Night Moon and 3 other children's classics. Both Lily and Kathryn were in The Velveteen Rabbit. Lily was a Toy Soldier and her dance was right before Kathryn's. Kathryn was a Raspberry from the scene where the Velveteen Rabbit gets left outside. She loved being a Raspberry and she did a fantastic job too!

Here is a picture of her waiting for her turn before the big recital. She wanted to do a pose for me so the picture is a little blurry. I think it does a good job of showing some of the things she has learned this year :-)Here is a picture caught by a real photographer during the dress rehearsal. These pics were put up on a website so I bought this one. My little ballerina is 2nd from the end with her toe pointing out. After she saw this pic she told what move she was doing at the time and what she was supposed to do next, etc. She seems to have a really good grasp on this stuff!


And finally, part of Kathryn's dance was performed behind a raspberry bush. After the recital we could go on stage and take pictures.

They even had a raspberry bush out for us take pictures with! The set up was perfect but my little anti-picture girl would not let us take her picture peaking out from the bush. So, these are pictures of the bush and Kathryn hiding behind the bush. She thought she was pretty funny when she saw the pictures. :-)

FTC Deal

This ended up being such a good deal that I couldn't help but share it! At FTC (Family Thrift Center) this week they have a deal where you get $10 off when you buy 6 participating General Mills Cereals. They also give you coupons for $5 off eggs and milk for your next visit. Since I had some manu. coupons for General Mills cereals I ended up paying about $3.60 for all of this cereal!


Here's the Deal:
2 boxes of Fiber One cereal about $3.80 each
4 boxes of MG Cheerios at $3.50 each (I bought all they had ;-) )
Total $21.60 - $10 off coupon in this week's ad
$11.60 - $3 in coupons (coupons were at coupons.com and were for $1 off when you buy 2 GM cereals)
$8.60 - $5 for future purchases of milk and eggs
= $3.60 for 6 boxes of cereal or about $.60 each!

I just thought this was too good of a deal to not pass along. Happy Breakfasts to you!