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!

School Pictures

We are getting better each year.

Hailey--2nd Grade

And Kade--Kindergarten

Children's Museum

Yesterday we had the chance to go to the Childrens Museum (and by we I mean Matt, Rachel and me along with Kelli, Joss and Grandma).

We started out at this play structure.

I think we could have spent the entire morning here. The kids loved it. Well, at first Matt hated it, but he warmed up to it. The "ground" of the structure is made out of plastic crates (like milk crates). He didn't like that he could see through to the bottom. I guess he didn't feel secure. Then there are these wooden half-tunnels that get you from one level to the next. There is a bathtub with wings that they liked climbing in and on the other side there is a boat (it is the orange and red striped thing). One end has a platform that is just kind of out there. It was a little scary to be on it (at least for me). We never made it into the switchback-crawl-space-thing, thankfully. Matt said it was too high for him. I think it was too claustrophobic for me. Way up at the top is a rocket ship that Kelli, Joss, Matt and I found out only fits about 4 people at a time. There is also a house where you can sit on the roof. It is carpeted and slanted and I didn't feel too secure up there. Call me crazy, but plexiglass and wire don't make me feel too secure when I am on a carpeted slide three stories from the ground. **A funny story: Matt, Joss and I were standing on the platform trying to get Grandma's attention. We were all yelling for her, but I guess she couldn't hear us. Rachel came over looked out and yelled, "Grandma!" and instantly my mom looked up. For those of you who have heard Rachel you understand. Apparently, her deep voice carries much better than the rest of ours.**

Also on the ground level is this tube thing that the kids stuff scarves into and the air blows the scarves through and out of the tubes. They had a lot of fun with it.

(Yes, these pictures are taken on the same day. We had an issue in the bathroom that resulted in a shirt change for Matt.)

We went shopping.

We picked and planted flowers.

We raced cars.

We rode bikes and got rides through the car wash.

We played Super Plinko.

We played in forts and tents.

And we played with air, pvc pipes and ping pong balls.

It was a very fun-filled day and we were all very tired when we left. We can't wait to go back and take Hailey, Kade and Dad with us.

The Real Reason You Shouldn't Let Your Kids Watch TV

They become addicted.

And then, in that 5 minutes worth of commercials before the next show starts, you have to deal with this:

The worst part is that she knows we have "her" show on tivo so she brings the remote to me, screaming the whole time, trying to get me to turn it on. It is awful.

Hair Dos or Hair Don'ts--you decide

First up, Rachel. This is after we went to McDonald's for Hailey's birthday. The a/c was out in the play area and the kids (and adults) were dripping.

Next we have Matt. He loves when I do a mohawk (faux-hawk?) except for the gel. Maybe he prefers booger?

Students of the Month

Earlier this week Kade brought home a notice saying he was chosen as student of the month for his class. There was an assembly at the school on Friday and we were invited to attend. He was so excited.

Friday came and I packed Matt and Ray up and off we went to the school. The vice principal explained that this year the kids were focusing on Character Pillars. This month's pillar is trustworthiness. He went on about the program and then he started announcing the awards. He started with the 2nd grade classes and announced the first winner. Then came Hailey's class. It was Hailey! We had no idea and my camera wasn't ready (Not that it mattered. I was too far away to get a decent picture anyway). Finally, he got to the kindergarten classes and he announced Kade. Kade ran up to get his award with a huge grin on his face. It was a big day for both of them.

With their awards they each got a blue bracelet (blue is the color for trustworthiness), a ribbon, a gift certificate for a free kids meal to Red Robin, and a free ice cream in the school cafeteria. They were so excited.

Nathan and I decided to take them to Red Robin that night to acknowledge their good behavior. As we were getting ready to order Scott, Coleton and Ashlynn walked in. We had room at our table so we had them sit with us. Hailey and Kade had so much fun eating at a restaurant with their cousins.

(Interestingly, since they received their awards for trustworthiness both have been caught lying to me multiple times.)

Hailey's Birthday

Hailey turned 7 this year! When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday this was the list she came up with:

an MP3 player
a camera
a cell phone like dad's (a droid)
a laptop
littlest pet shops

She takes after her mother...expensive tastes.

We got her an MP3 player and some littlest pet shops. I think she was happy.

She got some more littlest pet shops and a book from her grandparents and some tinkerbell figures from her aunt.

Our weekend went like this (all chosen by Hailey):

Saturday we went to Old McDonalds (McDonalds for those of you not in our family) for lunch and then to Grandma and Grandpa Ericksons' house for dinner (spaghetti) and swimming. Grandma Erickson made Hailey a birthday cake.

Sunday we had Grandma and Grandpa Wilkins, Patrick and Joss (Kelli was in the hospital having just delivered Seth the day before), and Uncle Ben over for dinner. Hailey chose enchiladas, rice and beans with ice cream pizza for dessert.

She had a great birthday listening to her music and swimming. She even started jumping off the diving board without floaties. It was a big day!

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Kade also jumped off the diving board without floaties. Rachel started jumping off the diving board but she was wearing floaties. She is our little water baby. She LOVES swimming. Matthew climbed up on the diving board and then climbed back down and said, "It not my turn." Then he jumped back in to pool from the side.

First Day of School

Hailey and Kade started school yesterday.

Kade woke me up at 5:45am telling me he had to get ready for school and couldn't find his new clothes. I couldn't convince him to go back to bed for an hour so we got up and started to get ready for school. Needless to say, we were ready very early and 7:45 couldn't come fast enough.

Both kids went to their classes with no crying or clinging (we didn't expect any).

When we picked Kade up from school, Nathan asked how his first day was and he answered, "Good. I didn't even get sent to the principal's office!" Not sure how that bodes for the rest of the year.

Hailey likes her teacher and class so far. She wasn't very talkative about her day other than that it was good.

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When I was taking pictures in the morning Kade wouldn't give me a good smile. He kept posing all goofy for the pictures. I told him I'd post them on the blog so everyone could see how silly he was. Every single one of these is posed. It is not my poor picture taking abilities.