A million stuff

I decided to homeschool again next year. I copied some of these "reasons why I homeschool" from an article:
Our mornings and evenings are peaceful, family-filled times.
Your children can focus on their schoolwork without worrying about the troublemakers in class, what they're wearing, or being "behind" or bored.
I love seeing the light on their faces over something new they finally 'get' and I love knowing exactly where they are at and what they are learning.
Your children would never find a teacher who loves them more than you do.
_____________________________________________________________
Ryan and Shannon came over last night. Usually they have to leave early because they work at 4am. But last night they stayed until after midnight because the got new jobs. We were explaining to the boys that now they work 4:30-1am.
Alex asked, "Are they spies?"
______________________________________________________________
Alex riding the dog:


















Some things I love about Katherine:
Her hands:

















Her pretty blue eyes:

Her kissable cheeks:

Her chubby legs and feet:

Her ear tag-- same as mine!

diaper bum:

chubby tummy and soft skin:

Her pouty lips:

Her happy smile and giggles:

Her curiosity and innocence:

Her sticking up pony tail:

Her cuteness:

More KiSsAbLe cheeks!

She's pretty:

Kisses for the kids!!

(This one was playing video games at the time--an unsuspecting victim!)

Videos per Tawnya's request:

P.S. Anybody else experiencing MUCH difficulty with Blogger lately???!!!!??

Alex's hair for church

This is how Alex left for church today:
Don't worry, Todd watered down his hair when we got there. My boys got Todd's CRAZY hair!

Phase I of another part of the playroom

This is the Ikea bookshelf I got to organize the school things and toys. A HUGE THANK YOU to Todd for putting this big thing together! I got this at Ikea, no deal or anything, but it will be a great thing to keep everything organized.


The green and white bins are for paper and I am going to get things for them to slide on so they will fill the entire square. The colorful rug is also from Ikea- only $20! The one lonely big bin is waiting for its brothers and sisters (when I can afford to get 19 more) and I will put fabric on it (like I did on this lonely one), the same fabric as on the frames. The 2 empty boxes in between the paper bins are where these suitcases (see picture below) will go (again, when we can afford it-- hence "Phase I"):

The frames say "CREATE" and I put fabric on each frame (only $1 for each frame at Micheals).




Such a cute baby!

Another part of the playroom finished

Here is another part of the playroom/schoolroom that is finished:

We took the table and chairs we already had, and painted the table ice blue and the chairs cherry red. The shelf was $4 at Ikea that I also painted red, that holds a red pencil sharpener and a pencil holder that is an old seasoning jar. There is a ribbon and I put vintage scrapbook papers on clothespins and the kids can also display their work on the ribbon with clothespins.

I love the colors of the "pencil holder" with the light blue, red and yellow walls. I wish my camera captured the colors better.

I had the boys paint pictures on canvas ($10 for the 2 at Micheals). Here is Nathan's snail with pom pom antenae and button flowers and sun:

Here is Alex and Daddy's castle and button dragon. Todd did the dragon and drew the castle, Alex did the moon button and painted it:

I loved these scrapbook papers! It's the same collection as the banner papers and fits my theme perfectly (vintage bright colors):

Happy Earth Day

Today is Earth Day. Most people plant trees on Earth Day, but I painted a tree on my wall in the school room/playroom:I'll have the kids decorate the tree with the seasons. What do you think about the color of Mr. Owl? I mixed brown and yellow for him, but I don't know about that color. I also painted the outlet brown on the trunk.

I've been busy working on the school room/playroom! The walls are painted a butter yellow. I'll take more pictures when it's finished (with Phase I- aka I don't have enough money to do everything I want all at once, but I'm happy with how much I could do!) but I really liked the way the tree turned out so I couldn't wait to show you!

UPDATE: It's now *Ahem* early in the morning, and I just stayed up all night to finish a project: a banner that says "just add imagination", and now I have to show you that too!

I love it!

PS I used scrapbook paper for the banner mostly from this collection: click me.

Dear Baby Katie

Dear Baby Katie,


Ever wonder what the boys do after you go to sleep?


They turn on Star Wars music and play with their Star Wars space ship plane thingys:

and help me paint:

Salmon the fishy

Last night Todd made THE best salmon I've ever tasted! Check it out on his blog: http://www.bythewayblog.com/

First haircut

I cut the hair over her ears because it is growing faster than the rest of her hair:

Here she is looking at her brother Nathan (in his underwear and wearing his army helmet pretending to fight bad guys):

Look at those cute chubby cheeks!!

Side note: I am doing some spring cleaning! Today and last night I cleaned up the downstairs(including finally emptying all our suitcases from our trip), cleaned the light over the kitchen table, organized the laundry/pantry, cleaned the schoolroom/loft (but not finished organizing it), and put away all the laundry. Each day I'll clean and organize a little more until the whole house is done!

I also had the boys put away the clean dishes for the first time and Alex can take the trash to the outside trash can!

Teddy Bears' Picnic Easter basket

I like to make gift baskets. Here is the Teddy Bears' Picnic Easter basket:
It had a book (Teddy Bears' Picnic cookbook in one, and an interactive pop up book (highly recommend, my boys love it) in the other; a Build-a-Bear gift card to get their bears an outfit for the outting; a bear plate from the dollar store; a bear cookie cutter; a classic giant lollipop (not picture because it was already eaten); a bear brush from build-a-bear (Nathan's always wanted one); and a $2 teddy bear on sale after Val. Day; and a picnic blanket made by my mom that has bee fabric on one side and plastic tablecloth fabric on the other:

We made a menu and we'll go on a picnic this Sat. (weather permitting) with the bears and boys.

A welcome home gift (not well received)

We're officially moving


Yes, that's a pipe cleaner coming out of his hood, and mismatched gloves.

This is just wrong...

very WRONG!

Looks like Rocket is enjoying it, though.

(Yes, we kept Rocket. How could I give up my best friend??)

It's STILL snowing as I write this...

So should we move to California, Florida or Hawaii?

You are INVITED!

You are invited to a vinyl lettering party (Uppercase Living brand)! It's Thurs. April 30 at my house- 372-0372 or shop online--but don't order online until you talk to me or melissa first so I can count it toward my party (or just browse products) at

http://melissasmith.uppercaseliving.net/Home.m

Disclaimer: I really don't like doing these types of "parties" but I'll do vinyl lettering because it's something I like. Sorry about this kind of "party"-- come if you want but don't feel like you have to.

Happy Easter and we're home!

After about 5 weeks away, we are finally back home! We got in last night. I will sort through the 280 pictures I have of the trip to post, but for now, here are the pictures of the kids in their Easter clothes outside of the church building. It was 65 F and sunny!
(I forgot about the airplane tatoo on the boys' arms...)

Todd made us monkey bread for breakfast (pictured below) and salmon, rice, homemade bread, green beans and strawberry shortcake for dessert. He spoils us!!!

My Craigslist Rules

I love Craigslist! You can find some great deals if you have patience. The boys' furniture, our coffee table, the headboard in our room are some Craigslist treasures we found. (Pretty much all the other furniture my dad made). We've also gotten baby items, toys, clothes, etc. I got a baby swing for $15 and then sold it (she doesn't use it anymore) for $20.
Let me tell you about some of my Craigslist Rules:

1. check often-- especially the "free" catagory. I once got about 10 big garbage sacks of wood chips/mulch for the front flower beds for free. She said she got a ton of emails, but mine was the first!
2. For furniture, you can always reupholster, paint and change knobs and drawer pulls. Look at its potential.
3. Never Never Ever pay the price they are asking! Always Always Always ask for a lower price! 90% (or more) I have asked for a very significant lower price and got it! Even if I think it's a good price, I always ask if they are willing to go lower. It's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

I wanted to get 2 things in particular right now- furniture for Katherine's room and an Ikea bookshelf for the playroom (see earlier post). I really liked this dresser in this room: so I was looking for something like it. I found this as an ad on Craigslist:

http://www.lindasfurniture.com/product/used646 (it wouldn't let me add the picture, sorry)

I'd paint it all white, add glass knobs, maybe a few finishing touches, and I think it's pretty good! Best part, They were asking $695 for the whole set (2 dressers and a mirror, a nightstand and the bed), then lowered it to $595, which means to me that they can't sell it, so I asked if they'd take $500, and they said yes. Since it's a shop, they have layaway and financing options as well.

And I did find the Ikea bookshelf, $90 at Ikea new, plus tax, and it is listed on Craigslist for $60 and it's 8 months old. I asked if he would go lower, so I'm hoping not to pay over $50 for it- half price!

I also saw this on Craigslist:
It would go perfect in my retro/vintage schoolroom/playroom (see earlier post)!
However, she's asking $150 (not likely). She probably got it for $10, repainted it and added the cool knobs. So, I could either offer a really low price, or just take her idea.

Here is another find:
Just add white paint, new knobs and it would be a great desk for Katherine's room; or add black paint and new knobs and it could go in me and Todd's room. They are asking $60, so I'd offer maybe $40.

The only problem with Craigslist, is that there are so many good deals but not enough money to get them ALL!

good stuff

http://lds.org/move/index.html?type=conference04-2009&event=april179&lang=english

Do I have brain damage?

I am in Conway, Arkansas right now visiting my parents. I was looking on the internet, and found this house I want in Greenbrier (population about 1,000? right outiside of Conway population 50,000). It has 4 bedrooms and is on 2 acres!!! It's listed at $235,000. I would love to live close to my parents and have so much land. I would have a big flower garden, a big vegetable garden and orchard, farm animals, and a kids area.
Even a fireplace!

I decided to blog about it because I was thinking that if I saw this post when I was a teenager--that I wrote that I wanted to live by my parents in Greenbrier, AR-- I would have thought I had brain damage. I wanted to live as far away from AR as possible. Kerry, my sister, wanted to live in San Francisco, and she ended up in Little Rock, AR, and Allison wanted to probably live in my mother's lap:), and she ended up in Tucson, Arizona. We'll see where Ryan ends up.

I forgot the camera cable at home in Utah, (to get the pictures from the camera to the computer) so I didn't want to blog until I had the pictures, sorry about the lag in posts.