The Nine Days of Back to School

To celebrate going back to school we put up a banner with fun activities for the remaining days left. Each day the kids would pick a card and we would do the activity each day.  

Here is what we did...

Nine days left...get shaved ice

Eight days left....make marshmallow masterpieces.

Or just eat them.

Seven days left- Build a fort

 

Six days left...make foam bookmarks.

Five days left..visit Thanksgiving Point.

Four days left...Make chocolate chip cookies

Three days left...have a swim party

Two days left...movie night at Grammy and Poppa's

One day left...make suckers, they were blue but cherry flavored.

So adios summer and welcome back school.

Laine and Eve throw a party

One of my goals for the summer was to let each kid have a swim party, well some how the summer got away from me so we ended up with the girls having a joint party for ten friends and after a few scheduling problems we finally settled on a day.  And then the girls got to work.

They made their own invitations, which I wasn't able to get a picture of and then they took my Disney Family Fun magazine and planned their refreshments and activities. 

So the day before they started preparing. They dipped t-shirts in water and froze them for an activity. 

And they made delicious yogurt melts topped with fresh berries.

The girls then set up the wadding pool and our slip and slide and before I knew it we had ten young ladies and two little boys running around the back yard.

 The girls decided to have their guests try to put on frozen shirts. It worked out pretty well, they had a fun trying to wrench the frozen shirts apart and then there were squeals abounding as they put on those frozen shirts.

Even Matty decided to get in on the fun before his nap time.

 Then we played a bottle squirting game where they shot water into their partner's cup and tried to get the ping pong ball to fall out...some got a little closer than others.

 After the games the girls planned it was just playing around in the water.

 And serving some yummy treats.  We had lime and coconut slush, chocolate chip cookies and yogurt  melts.

All in all it was a fun afternoon and a great first party planned by the girls.

While the kids are away mom will....craft?

Recently my three oldest kids went on vacation with their mom for two weeks and I was home with just Matty. It was odd, I have never had just one kid. Since I was married I have had at least three kid at home. With only one child at home now, and that being the one child who usually took two naps a day, I had a lot more time.  I read three books, went shopping at the mall with my mom, cleaned the house top to bottom, and actually did a few craft projects.

First one that I did was the girls quilts. There were problems after problems with those. Eve's took me forever to sew for two reasons: 1- I didn't get the double flap on the binding so I had to fold it over myself which was difficult. 2- After pinning the quilt a whole bunch I realized that the pin heads were too big to go through the machine so I had to stop every few seconds and pull out the pin. Needless to say there was a lot of sewing and resewing this one.    Laine's was a bit easier but then the bobbin tension went off and I didn't know that until I was almost finished. Yeah. They turned out pretty well though.

Then I made a few banners- one with Back to School activities 

 And one as a Welcome Home banner for the kids

 You can read the full story about these banners on my personal blog.

When I was finished with those I made James and Matty some quiet books for church. To get the story on these easy babies you can check the personal blog too.

So it was nice to have a bit of extra time on my hands, but I am so grateful they are home.

Training domestic princesses

I remember one fall while I was growing up hanging out at my Aunt Rita's home while she and my mom tied a Christmas quilt for my dad. It was a large red and white checked quilt with a hand stitched University of Utah logo in the middle. I was so entranced with the quilt. I loved watching my mom and aunt make the stitches they needed. I loved sitting under the quilt and I wished that I could join them.  

Many years later I learned to tie quilts while in young women and then later I went on to tie countless quilts while in college and for many years after. 

I love making quilts and having hand-tied quilts on hand. The quilt that my college girlfriends made me after my engagement is still on my bed. We have quilts made of t-shirts, quilts that were gifts, quilts made of old jeans, and quilts that were pieced together. 

I have made a few quilts since I got married but every time I put them out the girls were entranced. I remembered that feeling and decided that this summer I would teach my girls to tie a quilt.  I took them each to pick out their own fabrics and then we got out the quilting frames. 

Eve was up first  she picked a delightful cup cake pattern.   

 The girls were quick studies and a great quilters. They understood very quickly how to tie the quilt and they did a fantastic job.

Matty especially loved the quilt when we started to take it off the frames.

Eve with her quilt.

 Laine went a bit brighter and more Lainey with her fabric. It was tie-dye all the way and though I wasn't sure they matched turns out she has a pretty good eye for fabrics. This quilt was one of my favorites when it was finished.

James enjoyed laying under the quilt and making it his own personal fort.

And the girls thought it was nice to snuggle in even before I had a chance to finish it.

The girls left on a trip so as a surprise when they get home they will have a surprise waiting for them. I finished their quilts last week.

They are so proud of their work and I am proud of them.

Summer Vacation #3- Bradley Family Weekend

We took our final summer vacation at the end of July to Oakley, Utah with the Bradley family. We were missing a few members though. We missed seeing Grandma and Grandpa Bradley who are on their mission in Germany; we missed Uncle John, Aunt Nikki, Marshall, Coen, and baby Hudson who live in Missouri; we missed Aunt Kate who is studying in California; and we missed seeing Uncle Paul who  was studying for finals. 

The remaining twenty of us  (yes you read that right twenty, as Christian says "we don't do anything small.") stayed in a gorgeous pioneer home for the weekend where we played a lot of board games, had a hootenanny, participated in a talent show, went swimming, ate (or is it drank) root beer floats, and just had a relaxing time together. 

It was a fabulous weekend which in addition to the list above included: 

 Super good food- and tons of it.

Our own opening ceremonies led by the kids.

 The opening ceremonies  kicked off a fabulous Bradley olympics which included balloon javelin...

Discus hoola-hoops....

M&M straw stacking.....

Boogle Balance... 

pedometer head banging....

and Nylon Knock over!

I did come across this sweet moment though when heading into the house. 

The next day we continued the fun and after a trip the Kamas pool we set up a great slip and slide.

There was a moment when the babies decided to have a moment of cousin love, but that only lasted for a brief second, as you can see one of them was not happy.

Little James was a tad nervous to go down the slide, that was until Uncle James picked him up and took him down.

Then Matty went down with Uncle Michael and though that was awesome.

As we were with the Bradleys there was a lot of music going on...even squidgy got in on the action.

It was a fabulous weekend and we are so grateful to be part of such a wonderful family.