Sydney's Birthday Part 2

Sydney had a Hannah Montana slumber birthday party with friends on the 23rd of May. This was her first slumber party at our house. She has had friends sleep over and has spent the night with her friends as well as going to their slumber parties. This was also the first time she had a pinata at her party. We had one for Tyler a looong time ago but have just never had one for Sydney for some reason. This pinata was shaped like a guitar! If you look in the background, you can see a poster of Hannah Montana on the wall. We used this to play pin the microphone on Hannah. By the way, Sydney is not a hard-core fan of Hannah, she just likes her. We don't have cable tv so Sydney has only seen a few episodes of it. When the girls got here, we had pizza and pop as well as veggies. Then we played pin the microphone on Hannah. Next we headed outside....... Outside the girls played on the trampoline and swingset as well as hitting the pinata. They put the candy and toys in their treat bags. After eating candy and jumping some more on the trampoline, we went back inside to open gifts. Sydney loved all that she received from her great friends.

Next, the girls wanted to go outside again for a few minutes. This gave me time to set up the next activity. They came inside and made beaded braclets. This was a great winding down activity. But silly me, I got out the birthday cake and we sang to Sydney. This wound them all up again!

Soon after eating cake, it was time to get ready for bed. Sydney got the Parent Trap movie starring Lindsay Lohan and wanted to watch that before bed. This last picture is of the girls watching the movie before going to bed. Although sleep didn't come until after 11:30 pm. The next day the girls played up in Sydney's room and ate breakfast. At 10 am the parents showed up to take them home! Sydney had a great time with her friends! Dallin loved having all these little mothers to play with and Tyler helped me with the games and took a few pictures. Ryan teased the girls and hung out with us until after the presents were opened, then he retreated to the basement to do some more work. It was a fun, busy evening!

Sydney's Birthday Part 1

Happy 9th birthday Sydney!

This was to be the first party in a weekend of parties and get-togethers with family and friends so I chose to make cupcakes since we would be having a couple of different cakes over the next few days. She turned 9 on May 22 and we had a small family mini-party with one present from mom and dad. Of course it was a gift that she could play with right away.

She has been wanting more Littlest Pet Shop toys and I found a great deal on ksl.com for a bunch of accessories and pets! She was so excited and played the rest of the evening with them. She is a caring, thoughtful person with a strong personality. I learn so much from her and how she deals with life. She is among the tallest in her class. She picks her friends carefully and doesn't like those that are showy and like to hurt others feelings. She doesn't have to look "perfect" to feel better about herself. She chooses friends who like her for her personality and not because she has the latest clothes or toys. She tells me that I don't need to wear makeup to look good. She will still do makeovers with her friends though so she gets to practice putting it on. She is just not afraid to be herself and that is a testament to her strong personality. I love you Sydney!

Dallin contemplating his next adventure..........Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks?!

Handy tip of the day

Do you have a chainlink gate that you want to keep little ones from exiting, but don't want to totally lock it or don't want to mess with a pad lock because it takes too long to open? My solution was to get a little carabiner type thing and put it through the hole. The little kids don't know how to undo it but the bigger kids can get out if they want. Also, it is much faster to unhook than trying to remember a code or mess with a key. Of course this is not super safe, but what 4 foot fence is anyway?

Mother Natures Feather

Curiosity

Ever dream only to realize you were awake?

Ever watch a cloud turn into recognizable shape?

Ever touched a cheek that was warm and soft?

Ever felt the wind as it blew a feather aloft?

Curiosity......

Ever kiss a toad then watch it hop away?

Ever hold your breath till you gasped and swayed?

Ever jump into piles of crisp fallen leaves?

Ever danced for joy when good news you've received?

Curiosity.....

by Julie Hoyer

Katherine's Paintings

Many people in my family are curious to see the art work of my Sis-In-Law Katherine. When she stayed with us for a while this winter she had a mini studio in her room. Here are some of my favorites that she has photographed in order to sell. Since moving to a bigger place in town, she has been trying to establish herself among the galleries in Utah. Enjoy looking at her artwork! If you are wanting to purchase one of these paintings or see more of her work, just email me. She said recently her style has improved even more in a couple recent paintings.

Handy tip

Here is one of my favorite tips for mothers of little baby girls with fine hair. I used to like to put my daughters hair up but when her hair was growing in, it was so fine that it was hard to work with. Most baby hair brushes were too wide. I found that using a new toothbrush with a dab of hair gel worked perfectly! Voila!

Tagged by choice....

Here is a fun tag that I found on Mama Nirvana's blog. It is to list three random facts about yourself. So here it goes:

1. I occasionally get inspired with little "inventions" or things that would help people's lives if only I knew of a way to market them. It happens about once a year or so and they are NOT big money making ideas- just small things that I think would be handy. Here is one random idea I had last night. It is for scouts or anybody learning to tie knots. Get a string about 12 inches long and color half of it red and half of it blue. It really doesn't matter what colors you choose. Now whenever you wrap the string around a pole to practice tying knots, just remember what color was in your left or right hand and then follow the directions. The pattern will show up much better than using just one color. I just had a great idea for the name of this string- Knot So Simple........
2. I want to learn to play the guitar.
3. I still have bad dreams once in a while about forgetting my locker combo in high school and having to go to the office to get it. Sometimes I have a dream where I am late to class and don't remember which one it was! Then I have to go to the office to figure out my schedule!

Ooops!

Did I do that?

No use crying over spilt milk Dallin!

It was mostly my fault since I left him for a second to give something to Ryan. Dallin loves playing with the lids of things like his soy milk carton and taking them on and off. I knew the milk carton was mostly full, but I got distracted and thought he would be okay for a second with the carton since it was on the floor. Silly mom.

Active Wonders Daycare- open for business!

It's official! I was able to get my State License for Daycare last week. I worked hard for two months getting my home up to code and getting organized. We also had to install a fence around our playarea because our backyard isn't totally fenced. I repainted our entryway to cover up our 5+ years of scratches and dings on the walls. It has been a long process, but totally worth it. I am caring for a 5 year old boy now and he made this really cute dinosaur. I was totally surprised with how well it turned out. I didn't help him- it is his own creation! When my kids came home from school, they wanted to play with it too. I hadn't bought playdough for a couple of years, not since I last did childcare, so Tyler and Sydney played for a long time with it. The other boy in the picture is Tyler's friend from our neighborhood. I won't be posting pictures of my daycare kids on the internet.

Sydney playing with Shrek and notice his pearly white playdough teeth!

I've been trying to get a nice picture of Sydney lately, but she won't smile for the camera now. This is the best I could do. Isn't she looking older- She's only eight! She will be nine at the end of this month!

Helpers

One great thing about having family here in Utah is being able to ask them for help! A couple of weeks ago we needed some help installing a fence around our playarea. This is a requirement for me getting my State License for daycare. Randy was on a break from school and was able to help us out for a couple of days. Micah, his third child was able to come and hang out with Dallin. They had great fun and Randy got a really good burn......ah tan......on every exposed area! Thanks for your help Randy!

Cousins

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9

Ryan bought this program called Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9 for editing photos that he takes of snakes. I have really enjoyed using this to edit my family photos and outdoor photos. Here is one example of a feature I played with for the first time. I love the outcome! It is the Kaleidoscope feature. The second photo is the original. Enjoy!

Blossoms a-plenty

Popcorn Popping by Moiselle Renstrom

I looked out the window, and what did I see?

Popcorn popping on the apricot tree!

Spring has brought me such a nice surprise,

Blossoms popping right before my eyes.

I could take an armful and make a treat,

A popcorn ball that would smell so sweet.

It wasn't really so, but it seemed to be

Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.

- Children's Song Book pg. 242

This tree is in our mini-orchard and is a Shiro Plum tree. I love how you can get lost looking up through the branches into the beautiful sky. I also love how there are hundreds of blossoms clinging to each branch. This tree literally puts on a cloth of flowers each spring!

This is a variety of ornamental weeping cherry that is in our neighbors front yard.

Bleeding hearts

Ever wonder why they call this plant Bleeding Heart?