Reading Under the Stars

Hailey and Kade's school had "Reading Under the Stars" on Wednesday. We got in our pjs, packed our popcorn and water, and grabbed our books and flashlights and headed to the school. There was an author that came and read one of her books (I don't know her name, but the book she read was a number book about Arizona). Then, everyone went out in the courtyard and read books under the stars. The kids could either read their own books or they could listen to some of the teachers read books. Kade played with one of his friends from school while Nathan chased Matt and Rachel all over. I stayed with Hailey while she read one of her books. Luckily, the rain from the day before was gone and the weather was beautiful.

Play Dough

Twice now while at my parents' house Matt has played with the play dough. And when I say play I mean sit down for an hour and play. Today I finally made him some play dough of his very own (luckily, he is nice and shares it with his brother and sisters).

Some Pizza Night Pictures

Last night was Thursday night...Pizza night for my family. It was also a farewell to Kristi and Mike who are leaving for a 3-year stint in Hawaii tomorrow. Here are some pictures of the night.
 

Tiffin, Ben, Kelli and Seth

Ashlynn, Coleton, Scott, Kristi, Tiffin

Raef playing Play-dough

Matt playing Play-dough

Caleb sliding down the pole

Kade "sliding" down the pole

Preston "sliding" down the pole

Matt on top of the monkey bars

Hailey making her potholder (she worked on this while waiting for the Clarks)

Like Father...

...Like Son-In-Law?

Joss thought her shorts were a hat

Joss

 

Emmalin wouldn't smile for me.

Neither would Mom

Well, maybe a little smile (that's the best you're gonna get from her!)

Heidi

Carrigan and Emmalin playing with the baby

Mike doing sudoku

Amberly and Hailey

Playing Outside

I swung her a little too high and it freaked her out

I guess the swing was a little too much for Amberly

Apparently, my camera was borrowed by a couple of girls. Here are the results:

Hailey's Potholder

A while ago my mom gave Hailey a hook and loom kit to make potholders. She worked on it and then forgot about it. She discovered it the other day and finally finished it. She is now working on her second potholder.

The Two Busiest Appliances in My House, part 2

I haven't baked anything in over a week. Actually, now that I think about it, I did make cupcakes last week (which are still sitting in my refrigerator) and something to take to the ward party (which won the award for sending the most people to the dentist). So, I guess I should say that I haven't made cookies for a couple of weeks (and Nathan hasn't let me forget it!). In my defense, I volunteered to make cookies to take to dinner this past Sunday. I was going to make gingersnaps, but then my mom said that my grandma has been wanting chocolate chip cookies and if no one was going to make her some, she (my 98-year old grandma) would make them herself. Well, I went to make them and discovered I had no brown sugar. Today I remedied that. I decided to try a new chocolate chip recipe (Don't tell Nathan. He hates it when I try new recipes after he has deemed one perfect). I also saw another recipe on a blog and thought, "I think I have everything to make those!" (that rarely happens) and I decided to make it as well.

So, I started the mixer and made the cookie dough. It has to chill for an hour. So, while it was in the fridge, I whipped up the other recipe:  Cheesecake Bars.  Here are the finished products (click on the pictures for the recipes):

And here are the happy faces of my kids after eating a cookie.

I think it is funny that Matt eats less messy than Kade.  (Side note for my family members: Is it just me or does Matt look like a Carlson in this picture?)

I thought the cheesecake bars were good. The crumb crust and top taste like pecan sandies, and how can you go wrong with that? But, I think there is too much lemon juice in it. Just my 2 cents.

The jury is still out on the cookies, but that is only because he isn't home from work.

The Two Busiest Appliances in My House, part 1

I fired up my Silhouette the other day and did A LOT of cutting. I love how these things turned out.

First, the Halloween silhouettes of my kids. They each picked out a shape and then I cut them and framed them. Hailey chose the cat, Kade the spider, Matt is the ghost and Rachel is the jack-o-lantern. They love to tell visitors which one is theirs. They are so proud of them. One day I'd like to get actual silhouettes of my kids for these frames. Then again, maybe I'll do leaves for fall and Christmas shapes and hearts in Febuary...

My next project was stolen from my mom. She bought a plate at Michaels that is black and has rhinestones around the edge. She told me she wanted to put a moon on it and have a witch flying in front of the moon. She must have changed her mind because now she has decided to put a haunted house in front of the moon. So, I stole her idea. I bought a plain black plate at Hobby Lobby, cut out a big yellow moon and a witch silhouette. About 5 minutes later I had this:

**Funny story. As mentioned earlier, the kids each have their own silhouettes. I was putting my plate on the shelf and Hailey said, "Oh, mom! You decided to make one for you!" I'm sure she wasn't implying that I am a witch. On the other hand...she did ask me the other day when I was going to be nice to my kids. Maybe she was hinting at something.

I saw something similar to this next project in Family Circle Magazine. (I say "project", but really it took all of 20 minutes to make.)I love how it turned out. The "or" is a little bigger than I thought it would be (and a pain to put together), but that's okay. I still like it.

And some close ups:

My last project is not Halloween related. And, if you are going to be at the card swap tonight turn away now.
I bought this kit from the Silhouette store and spent a lot of time cutting out the various shapes. I think these cards are so cute. I love them. I'm kinda sad that I have to give them away!