Having a bad day?

This just might cheer you up. I always love the pics that we just happen to take that make me smile or laugh EVERY single time I see them. This is one of those. This was taken back in April... Mia was having a ball- swimming, eating chocolate popsicles, and wearing her new goggles. So happy. Totally excited about life. Looking slightly handicapped but oh so cute. Love it. Hope it made your day too. ;-)

This one took a close 2nd...

Almost October... Still Swimming!

It's still in the low 100's here... it hardly feels like fall so we are making the most of summer! After morning soccer games on Saturday we were all hot and sweaty, so we came home with friends Cason and Sage and jumped right in! The kids swam off and on- between lunch and jumping on the tramp and playing on the waterslide- for almost 3 hours! phew!

Flower Bows 101

I get asked a lot where I get the bows for my girls hair... 90% of them are ones that I have made for them! They are super easy and so much cheaper to make them yourself. Here's the scoop on how to make them if you haven't tried!

*Buy Alligator clips (seen above right) or snap clips at Sally Beauty or Walmart. DON'T buy them at the ribbon store- you will get ripped off. ;-) You can usually get a pacakge of 12 for around $2.
*Buy flowers you want for clips at Michaels, Joanns, Scrapbook stores, or even Walmart! I'm pretty picky- they have to be a good quality flower that is not already fraying at the edges. If you want to use rhinestones find flowers with small centers. Typically the flower needs to lay pretty flat.
* Buy rhinestones if you want to bling out your bows! (I think they a bigger trend here in AZ) I get them at Art Gems that is a local wholesale jewlery store and they come in packs of 24 for under $2, but you can also buy them at Michaels or Jo-Anns. Try to buy them on sale there otherwise they add up fast. And make sure to get the Swarovski crystals because they are the BEST. The other ones just look oh so fake. (Sorry- I really am picky! It has to be the real deal!)
*Buy E-6000 glue or Flip Flop glue if using rhinestones.
*Buy picco ribbon (with looped edges) or velvet or whatever ribbon you want to line the clip- that matches the flowers you have picked out.

Then get to work!

*Cut ribbon so it goes around the entire top part of the clip and glue with your glue gun.
*Cut flower stem in back as short as you can. Glue together layers of flower if you need to and then put dap of glue on back of flower and stick to barrett!

It's that easy.

If you are doing rhinestones you can glue them on with the E-6000 (bigger rhinestones) or with Flip Flop Glue. For the rhinestones on the flower petals I put a dot of Flip Flop glue, pick up the rhinestone with a crayon tip, and stick to the glue dot.

If you are making headbands, make them versatile by making them interchangeable with a velvet strap. This way any clips you have can be clipped to the top- how great is that!?!
*Cut the elastic headband material in the length needed (measure babies head and then cut elastic to that. When you glue you will lose 1/2 inch but that will keep it tight to their heads!)
*Then cut velvet to go all the way around the elastic headband- overlapping slightly.
*Glue headband ends together- overlapping 1/4-1/2 inch.
*Glue velvet to one side of headband, then loop it around the top and glue end of velvet to other end WITHOUT GLUING THE VELVET TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HEADBAND. Do it in a way so you can't see the glue or seam- it takes a little practice. There's all my secrets. ;-) Hope I explained them ok. Super easy and fun. If you are in the market to buy, here are the websites I like that are cute but well priced:
http://cutiebowtootie.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5497895
(Etsy actually has a lot of sellers that have some great bows- I sometimes go on to just browse for ideas!)

And if you want to make your own bows, here is a great site with instructions:
http://bowdesigns.50webs.com/perky_loops.html

Mmm... Homemade Oreos!

Yummy! This is a family favorite that is fun to make with kiddos, on a group date (right Chris and Abby!), or to make a lot of to take to a party. During the holidays you can make these and switch out the white frosting for a colorful frosting appropriate for the holiday... Halloween is coming up so orange frosting would be super cute on these. Maybe they are a favorite of yours too!

Homemade Oreo Cookies

2 boxes of Devils Food cake mix

1 1/2 c. shortening

1 tsp. vanilla

4 eggs

Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese

1 cube margarine or butter

5 cups powdered sugar (I always end up adding more since I use reduced fat cream cheese)

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together and then roll into small balls. (I use a TBS to measure out dough- you want pretty small balls. Then Sydney and Mia roll it into nice balls- as seen in pic above- and put it on the pan.) Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes- but don't overcook. (I can tell mine are done when they are crackled on the top and don't look "wet." Cool and then frost. Spinkle with powedered sugar if you want! (You can frost them like a cookie or pipe them for a "cleaner inside frosting" look! You can see how I piped mine above.

We just made about 115 oreo cookies for the Primary today (230 cookies in all since each oreo has 2 cookies- thank heavens for double ovens!). We had our Program and since I'm the chorister I had "bribed" them. They sang AMAZING! In fact when I arrived at church the Primary President's main concern about the program was, "Kim, what are you going to do if they really sing TOO loud?!?" I thought that was funny. Let me know if anyone has any other fun ideas of things to do with Oreos!

Dirt, Red Rocks, and our Ranger!

"Appreciate the wonders of nature and give thanks to the Creator for this beautiful world. It is important for every human soul to see and appreciate the glory and grandeur of God in everything about us." M. Russell Ballard

When Gerron bought our Ranger a year ago, it was one of those purchases we had talked a lot about and I had concluded... No, we really don't need to spend our money on that right now. While Ger concluded... WE TOTALLY NEED THAT! Funny how that happens huh!?! So he went out and bought one- to my dismay at the time- and a year later I am honestly so glad! A lot of our guy friends are into the motorcycling or 4 wheeling down here (and that's OK!)- going to the Dunes is a big thing- but Ger wanted to make it a family affair. The Ranger seats 6 and is an amazingly fun and safe ride. (Right Abby?!?) It's been so fun to take it out for rides in the canyons which are just about 20-40 minutes away from us, depending on which ride we choose to take, and we've even taken it up to gorgeous red-rocked Sedona. So anyways, this past weekend we went with the Stums to Bulldog Canyon. It's getting dark so fast, but we were able to get a fun ride in, hike around, play in the dirt, look at some bugs, take some pics (of course!), eat our dinner and then make a fire and do smores. It was a blast- the kiddos always have the funnest time- and it was just a gorgeous night. So nice that it's at least cooling down in the mountains now so it was the perfect temp. So fabulous!

Welcome to the Neighborhood Idea...

My sister Melissa is an amazing chef, baker, decorater, flower arranger, seamstress, etc. and is always inspring me to think outside the box when it comes to these kinds of things. Whenever I see or hear about her ideas it encourages me to try and be a domestic Diva too! She is far more professional than I am though... she makes cheesecake just like Olive Garden... fruit arrangments as beautiful as Edible Arrangments... and can make just about anything out of fondant for her fancy cakes! Currently she is finishing up her last semester at the Y and works in the Floral Dept. for the Joseph Smith Memorial Building- making florals and decorations for that building, the church office buildings, weddings and special events in the JSMB etc. (Lissy- my florals still need your help! When are you coming?!?)

So back to the post... Here's an easy and yummy thing we like to do for new neighbors...

*Wash however many strawberries you want to dip and let dry well

*Heat a bag of chocolate chips (Guittard is my fav) in a glass bowl in the microwave for 45 seconds and then stir. Heat for another 30 seconds and stir, until it is smooth and melted.

*Put wax paper down on a cookie sheet

*Dip strawberries in chocolate, gently shake off excess chocolate and place on wax paper

*Once cookie sheet is full, place in fridge

*When chocolate is firm, melt 1/2 c. white chocolate chips in a sandwich size ziploc for 30 seconds. Cut a SMALL hole in corner. Drizzle chocolate across strawberries. Place in fridge again until ready to deliver/arrange.

*Then you can take them just like this on a cute plate

or

*You can buy a metal can at the Target Dollar section

*Place floral foam in the bottom of it

*Place a handful of that basket fill shredded paper stuff on top

*Gently stick a skewer in each strawberry and then stick in the foam (i usually cut skewers in half)

*Add tulle or ribbons to can, add welcome sign with a cute note/your phone number on back, or whatever you want to do...

*Refrigerate until delivery!

Super easy, super yummy, super cute. Everyone loves a chocolate covered strawberry, right!?! Any other yummy neighbor treat ideas?

The Scorpian Hunters

If you've ever been to AZ to visit us... you've probably been scorpian hunting with us... So fun. For those who haven't or those faint of heart... don't look at the pics below. BAH! Ugly! Scary!

Gross! Ok, so here's how scorpian hunting goes- we get our LED flashlight- it is an ultra violet light that makes scorpians glow in the dark! See pics below. Scorpians are night creatures so it's usually pitch black when we go- we shine the light along the bricks around our house and when we see a scorpian we either torch it or cut it in half with an old grill spatula (like Colby is carrying!). Sounds pretty nasty huh! I thought it was at first and got all creeped out but now it's a great time and we are just happier to kill them outside then find them in our house! I only torch them- you have to be fast because these guys can really fly.

Oh- I should mention one other option NOT to use... Chris and Lissy were out here and we were on our little hunt and our lighter ran out. We still were finding a lot so Chris picked up a brick to use- "Great idea!" I thought. Well not so great because the first scorpian he smashed splattered literally ALL OVER ME! My mouth was open and I started screaming and they shined the flashlight on me and I was had splotched glowing scorpian guts all across my neck and chest! Luckily I had a tank underneath because as I was freaking out I tore my shirt off right then and there. AND washed myself and my mouth out like 100 times. So note to self: Don't use bricks to scorpian hunt. Effective but messy. ;-) And just for the record- three of the five of us have been stung by scorpians now so we really aren't too scared. It's just like a super bad bee sting. I was stung in TX at Ry and Lena's house, Colby was stung on his foot in his bathroom, and Mia was stung at George and Susie's. We have this special ointment now that is seriously magical in taking away the burning and itching and pain- so if you are around here and ever need it... Come on over! On this particular hunt we found and killed between 10 and 15 scorpians. NASTY. But it's been a while since we have seen one in our house so for that we can be grateful... Who's in for the next scorpian hunt?!?

Oh the many things you can do with Fruit Loops!

Sydney, Mia, and Colby all LOVE crafts and activities and making messes. Fruit loops have been a staple of our summer fun crafts! From bracelets made on pipe cleaner to necklaces made on that skinny round elastic bought at JoAnns... it is fun for all ages and a great way to teach colors and patterns too. The latest thing the kids love to do with Fruit Loops is make pictures! (I think half of the excitement is just getting to use glue!) They glue them in patterns, shapes, pictures, or stack them on top of each other with glue to make all sorts of crazy creations.

This is Maggie and Mia- Maggie lives just around the block from us and is in Mia's Early Learner's Kindergarten class. They are best of friends!

Colby loves to sort the Fruit Loops by colors in muffin tins. We used to do this in muffin tins with colored pom poms but this seems to work just as well! Let me know if you have any other fun crafts featuring Fruit Loops!

Proud Soccer Mom

Go Mia! We may just have an athlete in our little family after all. Gerron got a little sick and tired of the dance concerts, piano recitals, and gymnastic events that we finally convinced Mia and Colby to sign up for soccer. Mia LOVES it. YAHOO! She is out there grinning the whole time- if someone takes the ball away she doesn't get frustrated she just runs after them to get it back grinning from ear to ear. She even scored a goal in the first game! She really is quick and can outrun most kids her age- seriously. So we are proud parents already. ;-) Ha ha- I love the soccer mom mentality that's kicking into full gear here. So Gerron coaches her team and Colby's. This is what Colby thinks of soccer...
He's number 7 and he's standing next to his cousin JJ! The sad thing is Colby isn't even 3 yet so really he shouldn't even be playing. (PLEASE don't report us to the Arizona Soccer Club!) It was George and Gerron's idea to have them on the same team and coach them together... so I believe the wrong year was put down for Colby's birthday... or something to that effect. (Is that right George!?!) Anyways, I'm trying not to feel like a horrible parent forcing my son into this. Really they have a blast at practice and playing but aren't ready for the whole competition level... Colby did get into it more last week- he scored a goal even- but would throw himself on the ground bawling if someone took the ball away. But... we're gearing up for a big game tomorrow- better get some sleep!

Happy Birthday Mia B!

Wow. It's hard to believe our little 4 pound baby- born 8 1/2 weeks early- is a healthy and strong and beautiful 5 year old! Woah! Time has flown. We had no idea at the time how big a part her personality played in her arriving so early. (We thought it had something to do with me. ;-) Crazy thought huh!) But if any of you know Mia, she is just as fiesty and spunky and impatient as she could have come. (We call Syd "sweet" and Mia our "spice!") Whenever Ger talks about Mia's conversation with Heavenly Father before she was born, he says that Heavenly Father knew that when Mia wanted something she was going to work until she got it and he finally said, "Mia, go right ahead."

We are so grateful that Mia is so talented and healthy and happy! She is already reading kindergarten level books, loves dance, loves soccer, loves piano, loves swimming... loves gymnastics... loves playing computer games like starfall.com and pbskids.org... loves playing with her "sissy"... loves playing with Colby... LOVES playing with Brescia! She also loves music and has loved it from a very very young age. She loves listening to it- it calms her down when she is mad- and she is always singing. She can memorize songs crazy fast and her latest favorite music is Mama Mia! We don't even have it- her friend Maggie does- but she is always begging to listen to it on ITunes and I can't believe all the songs she already knows the words to. She is always busy doing or playing something! She is a very determined and is a hard worker when she puts her mind to it. Mia is funny- so funny she is always making us laugh. Her Mia dance (especially just in her underwear, right Lis!?!) is hilarious- we never get tired of seeing it! Her grin and dimples are adorable and laugh is so infectious... WE LOVE OUR MIA!! So what did Mia want to do on her birthday? Out of all the gazillion choices we gave her it was easy- she wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese! Ger really quizzed her to make sure she had considered all of her options... and she was sure she had... so off to Chuck E. Cheese we went! We met Grandpa and Grandma Dover there and Brescia, Marcus, and JJ. Wow- seriously they had a crazy good time. It really was so fun to watch them and everything went perfectly. They all shared their tokens and tickets and played hard and then ate pizza and then went and played again and got prizes (cotton candy and crayons!) with their tickets...
Afterwards we headed back to our place for Hello Kitty cupcakes and ice cream and of course presents! She was SUPER excited to get a beautiful soft blankey from JJ, Marcus and Brescia. She has wanted a soft blanket for a LONG time and she has been snuggling with it ever since she got it. She got a fun little carousel from Grandma and Grandpa Dover and we gave her a new big girl bike (since she has ridden without training wheels for a year now), her birthday outfit, a pink soccer ball, a new book... Grandma and Grandpa Hallows had gotten her a new doll and stroller and also sent a book with crafts and Activities on America and another book and some treats too... Cousins Jackson and James sent a gift card for Target- yes Mia screamed when she opened it and knew right what it was! And she LOVED talking to everyone who called her on her birthday. (Heidi thanks for being so patient while she talked your ear off!) She also enjoyed Happy Birthday to you in Dutch from Chris... a few days after the fact since Chris kept calling after she was already in bed! Whew- I've gotta wrap this novel up. It was a fabulous day- she was happy all day and everything turned out sooo great! Happy Birthday Mia-b!

Snack of the Day!

Here's our latest and greatest find for after school snacks! Litehouse makes these great little 6-packs of Caramel and Chocolate dip that are sooo yummy. We have used the caramel dip for a while with apples and pretzles (and sometimes mini marshmellows) and then I found the chocolate and they LOVE it. You can dip stuff right in the mini container or open a plastic baggie and pull the sides down (like you would a frosting bag) and put the chocolate in there. Then just cut a small hole in a corner so you can squeeze it out on the banana like shown at left.

Another great snack is to put peanut butter in the baggie to squeeze out on bananas! YUM! A no mess yummy and healthy snack. (Thanks Susie and Patti for letting me in on that great idea!) I Even put sprinkle mini-chocolate chips on top of the peanut butter on the banana for an extra special treat.

Our banana, nut, chocolate snack is great because it gets the kiddos another fruit in for the day, the nuts are great protein which satisfies their hunger, and the dip adds just the sweetness they need to satisfy their sweet tooth. Let us know your favorite after school snack that's yummy and healthy and a little different than the same old! We are always up for trying new things around here!

Dress up Time!

Colby is in the whole Power Ranger/Toy Story/Spiderman phase of his life... and LOVES dressing up... so of course he wants a costume of all his favorites. After last Halloween I was doing my after Halloween costume shopping and disneyoutlet.com had Woody and Buzz outfits for 75% off! You can't beat that! (It may have been in January even that I bought them because I waited for them to come down in price a little...) But they are super high quality and ended up being around $10 each. Also, Toys R Us has some great costumes- Drs, Policeman, Fireman, Construction worker, Nurse, etc- that come complete with all the props. Last November for their Christmas Sale they were buy one at $20 get one free. So for $10 a costume I bought 6 and gave the kids a tupperware full of new costumes! It's one of the most used Christmas gifts we gave them last year.
ButI just love when they are so confident in whoever they are dressed up as that they go out in public all suited up! You can see in the above pics that Colby went to the Park as a Power Ranger- I just haven't taken any pics when we've gone to the grocery store or school in costume. It's always fun to get strangers comments and stares.

When Chris was here he would totally dress up and play with Colby. In fact he even wrote a Buzz Lightyear song on his guitar for Colby. In the chorus part Colby would yell (and jump off whatever he was standing on!) "To infinite and deyond!" (He still can't say "beyond" for some reason...) Fun memories! Now the decision... to be Woody, Spiderman, or Buzz for Halloween?!?

Happy Pancakes, Happy Kids!

I love Crafty Crows website- if you haven't checked it out you need to! She has great crafts/kids activites/ideas that are super fun and also features crafts from other bloggers so there's a good variety. I think this is where I got the pancake idea! You just mix up the batter, pour a little into a cup/bowl and mix with food coloring, and put the colored mix into a medicine dispenser or whatever else you have! My kiddos love these and you can really get creative with them- do a few different colors and make all sorts of things...

Just in case you were wondering ;-) our fav pancake mix that we have used for as long as I can remember is Aunt Jemima's Whole Wheat Blend. It's not heavy at all and the kids love it. Plus it's always voted the Chef's Best Taste so you know it's good. I am always looking for those labels! The only place I can find it is Walmart though.

Let me know what fun breakfast ideas you have at your house!

Grandma Comes to Town!

Wow- we never thought we would get Grandma Davis down here to AZ! Her and my Grandpa really don't travel much at all anymore... but she had a funeral to attend in California and she traveled with my mom and Aunt Janine and ended up with a 3 hour layover right here in AZ! The kiddos were so excited to go to the airport and see her- it was a lot of fun. We had dinner at Chili's and just loved talking and laughing and catching up. Grandma is so amazing- I want to be just like her when I am her age! She is always so opptomistic and happy despite whatever challenges might be going on... and she has had her fair share between her health and helping family out. She has an incredible amount of faith and such a strong testimony- she is just such a joy to be around and I have so much love and respect for her. And it's always a pleasure to be around Janine and get updated on her fun family! The kids just couldn't get enough of my mom though before they had to head back through security- they just talked her ear off and giggled and laughed with her- it was definitely worth the trip out to the airport to get to enjoy that time with them. What a fabulous time!