Ten on Tues.

OKC TOFW CONFERENCE

1. Managed somehow to survive some serious bad weather. A huge tornado hit a town 45 minutes north of us in Joplin, MO. To close to home, if you ask me! We ended getting hit two times with hail. I kind you not, the hail was the size of ping pong ball. We're expected to have some more storm systems coming our way, for the rest of the week.

2. My new neighbors went on a camping trip up to the Elk River in MO. I agreed to watch their two kids which one of them has special needs. Boy, did I have my work cut out for me. The boy is really good but he requires me to to keep an extra eye on him. I decided the best plan was to keep the kids as busy as possible. Yes, I did managed to take all five kids with me to the school carnival. Plus, we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese on Saturday for 2.5 hours plus we hit up a couple of garage sales. On Sunday, we took the kids to church by the time we got home from church. I was DONE! Luckily, their parents were back and I told them not to come over for at least a couple of days. The next morning, Leah was asking where all the extra kids went. She forgot that they went back home. The kids were back together the next day playing again. I guess, you could say that I'm the house on the block that all the kids like to play at. I don't even know why I bother to clean the house during the day.

3. Last night, my friend ask to me to watch her two girls for the evening. I told her no problem but when she came to drop off the girls. The her boys wanted to stay to play, as well. I didn't have the heart to say no. So, I had my three kids and her four kids plus the two neighbor kids. Yeah, nine kids under the age of 8. Let's just say the kids had fun but the house looked like a tornado tore thru it. The kids had fun but I was exhausted by the end of it.

4 . I decided to go ahead and make these really cute bandanna dresses for the girls to wear for the upcoming holiday. I couldn't believe how fast these dresses came together. You should of seen the look on the girls faces when I pulled the dresses out for them to wear. I even made a matching purse to go with one of the dresses. The dresses literately only take 15 minutes from start to finish. Just google it and you will find the directions.

15 minute dresses-could be worn as a top, apron, or dress!


5. Running update...my knee is still a little bit sore. My pace time is way down in the dumps. I mean a 11 minute pace isn't wonderful. I'm trying to be grateful but it's going to be a long time before I will ever get back to my fast pace:(


6. I'm still lifting weights and working on 100 pushups and 150 dips. I'm really struggling with week 3. I might have to ditch the program and try again. My arms and shoulders are starting to look awesome but it's so hard!


7. Landon is still playing baseball. All of this rain, is causing so many delays. I thought we would be done by next week but it's going to be pushed back another week. I'm so ready for baseball to be over with. I would like to know who's idea it was to have baseball games at 8:oopm at night?


8. Logan is graduating from Kindergarten on Thursday night. Where did all the time go...I can't believe it. My boys are growing up way too fast! At least, they still like to give kisses and cuddle.


9. Leah is so bossy. I cringe every time she has friends over. I should tape record her. I'm surprised anyone still wants to play with her. I guess, I wouldn't have to worry about her getting picked on. She's tough as nails but I'm really worried she will end up with no friends. Right now, she's getting put into timeout for being overly bossy.


10. I signed the boys up for nature camp in July. I was really hoping to find someone to ride share but it turned into a no go. Oh well, I will be wanting them out of my hair by the time July comes. I'm still trying to plan our summer vacation. I'm thinking about going Kansas City, Mo or a couple of state parks in our great state of Arkansas. Any ideas??????
 

Ten On Wednesday

1. Spent the past weekend at Time Out For Women with a wonderful group of friends. I haven't spent the next away from the kiddo's and my hubby in a long time. A girl's weekend away was just want the doctor order. I almost peed my pants from laughing so much on the ride over to OKC. My batteries are recharged and new friendships were made. Life is good!

2. After the conference was over, we decided to head over to the Oklahoma Memorial to pay our respects to those that were injured/killed from the bombing. I'm planning on taking the kids back sometime this summer, so they will be able to pay their respects as well. If you haven't been, it's definitely worth going to.

3. Yes, you might of heard but my IT Band/knee is acting up again. We started off on our Sat. day run only running 3 miles but we managed to squeeze in 6 miles. I felt really good until the last mile and I'm really sorry that I pushed myself to hard. I'm going back to only running 5k or 4 miles or less.

4. Important note, for my running friends...if running in a new area make sure to check out roads and running trails. We started off running from the hotel and didn't have a clue where to start running. We decided to make a right and head down the street. We didn't know where to go but we were worried about getting hit by a car. So, we decided to run around in a trailer park. I know...not the greatest idea. So, half way around the park this half naked guy jumped out of nowhere which freaked out my running partner. She took off running super fast. I could hardly keep up with her. I finally caught up to her and told her to slow down that the guy was coming after us. We decided to head back to the hotel but we wanted to finish up at 3 miles. So, we started to run past the hotel and to our left side we discovered a walking trail that went along the riverfront. So, we decided to try out the trail and we ran another three miles like I said turned out to be a mistake. Now, my knee is killing me, again. So, the moral of the story is to scout out the area before running in a new area. We could of avoided the whole trailer park incident and had a nice peaceful run along the river front.

5. Upon returning home, I decided to give the house a complete scrub down. The house is nice and clean. I'm not sure how long it will last. I'm babysitting the neighbor kids for the weekend. They're going on adult only camping trip no kids allowed. I'm sure the house will be a wreck by the end of the weekend.

6. Landon is still playing baseball. I decided that baseball is way too stressful for ME! I can't take it. It's so painful watching Landon playing his position out in field or batting. I'm sending Leroy to the next game. Good thing, I brought my knitting. It's a great stress reliever. I almost managed to knit one whole dishrag. Nerves...at least, I wasn't chewing my nails.

7. My neighbor told me that she has squirrel legs in her freezer. She told me that squirrel and dumplings is really good. I'm not sure how I kept a straight face but my new neighbor is from East Texas and she's always telling me the strangest things. I didn't realize Texas is so different from Arkansas. I'm really hoping she doesn't bring any over to try.

8. I also signed up for Thrive food storage. I haven't had much luck in food storage but I decided to give it a try. All of the food is freeze dried and the surprising part is it taste pretty good. I will post a review, once I order my first order.

9. I'm also getting back into digital scrap booking. I gave up on it a couple of years ago but I decided to give it another try. I'm using a new program called Heritage Makers. I'm hoping to get caught up and hopefully, get our family memories written down and recorded.

10. I'm also working on 100 push ups and 150 dips in less than six weeks. My arms and shoulders are starting to really good. I'm trying so hard to get into shape it's almost swimsuit season.

Well, that's all...I'm going to work on typing up my list of ten from now on!

Double Sided

It's been a long time, since I have used my sewing machine. After Christmas, I had very little to do anything crafty. I came across this great fabric at Hobby Lobby. As soon as I laid my eyes on it. I know that I had to have it. It's very spring like fabric.

This apron is double sided which is just fun...it's not very praticial about it. You can only wear one side at a time but it just keeps things interesting. Surprising this apron only took less than two days to put together. One day to cut out and one day to sew! Anyone came make this apron. It's not perfect but that's okay because I'm not prefect either.

So, what do you think?
 

The All American Sport

Bentonville Youth Baseball

Team: The Yankees

Spring 2011

Landon looks really good in his uniform!

Landon's very first time playing baseball. It turns out all of the kids on the team have played at least 3 or 4 years already. I had no idea that parents start off their kids at such a young age. I personally, find the game real boring. Landon is really enjoying it. It's a lot of sitting around in the dug out or standing out in the field. I wouldn't lie but I haven't been completely happy about the whole baseball thing. I didn't realize their is a lot of politics involved in the game. I know the coaches want the kids to win but I think at this age it should be about having a good time not so much on winning every game. Landon hasn't had too many opportunities but the coach is giving him more chances out in the field. He told me at the beginning that Landon has the potential to go far. He just lacks experienced compared to his teammates but that doesn't stop him from preforming well.

If you closely, he is holding the game ball. Landon plays third base which he is still learning. I'm learning as well. I don't appreciate the mom sitting in front of me criticizing Landon on third base. The little guy is learning...I'm not going to be so nice next time. Everything she was saying was true but it's little league back off lady. Next time, I'm going to say something and it would be pretty. Y'll know I'm pretty straight forward!

Okay, back to the game. Landon went up to the bat. All of the bases were loaded. Landon hit the ball. It just barely rolled in front of him. All of the kids managed to run into home. The other team tried to throw the ball to the second base man but he missed the ball. Landon didn't run into home because of some rule about limited number of runs allowed. The score went from visitor 3 and home 6. The scored managed to come up tied to 6 and 6. The other team came up to bat after this and they managed to get in one more run in and Landon's team lost the game but that's not the point.

Landon was able to bring the team back from nothing to almost winning the game. Everyone in the stands were jumping up and screaming when Landon hit the ball and the kids managed to get three balls. Landon was selected to receive the game ball for his outstanding performance. He never thought he would get a game ball. I'm so proud of him.

I hope, I'm making sense. It's not my thing but it's not called the all American sport for nothing.

Teacher Appreciation gifts

Let me just say, I feel like the worst homeroom mom at the moment. I completely forgot that it was teacher appreciation week for the boy's school. Hello, I'm the room mom and I didn't plan anything special to do for Landon's teacher. I know teacher's are stressed and busy grading papers. I feel like the most I could is come up with something to show our appreciation.

I decided with the week half way over that it would be best to keep things as simple as possible. I have Enrichment this week plus other things going on in my life. I wanted to go to the school and have all the kids take part in making a tied fleece blanket to give to the teacher but I'm short on time. So, the next best things is come up with some homemade gifts.

First things first, I found this cute label that says "I'm a little STRESSED right now...(just turn around and leave quietly and no one gets hurt.)" I decided to go with a garden theme kinda...it's last minute. The kids attached flowers of sticks with a small label that says "A teacher helps a child grow". We attached them on a packaged of Hawaiian Isles Kona Coffee Co. Thanks, William for the coffee...No, I don't drink coffee but I'm not going to take someone agency away. If teachers want to drink it then go for it.

I just finished knitting a couple of dishrags which we wrapped around the coffee bag. Plus, Leah and I made a batch of Pumpkin Bread which had to be thrown out in the garbage. This is the problem with having little people helping in the kitchen. I forgot to add the baking soda. It was such a sad state of mind when I realized we forgot a thing or two. We had to completely remake the bread. ARGHH!!!!!! Oh, I don't even want to go into all the drama to day with Leah...Oh, I was fuming upset with her earlier at the dentist office but that's another post.

The kids finished the project with some cute homemade cards to go with all the treats.

I hope my kids teacher's know how much we appreciate their hard work. I know the pay isn't the greatest and it's not always easy but both of my kids love their teachers.

It's all about LOVE

In years past, I wouldn't lie we have had a hard time balancing out the commercialized side of Easter and the true meaning of Easter. The area we live in makes it hard sometimes to keep all of the Easter celebrations under control. Every city and church offers a full range of activities from Easter egg hunts and carnivals. It's very easy to get caught up with all the fun activities and not enough emphasis on the true meaning of the holiday which is the Savior.

While I think it is really important that the true meaning of Easter (and of other religious holidays) be the focus of the day, I do think it is ok to have a little fun with holidays as well. Basically, there needs to be a balance. Leroy and I managed to make it back in time to celebrate Easter with the kids. We only had a few days before Easter to come up with our plan of action. The weather caused most of our plans to change at the last minute but to tell you the truth it really helped us to keep the holiday more simple and more spiritual.

Here's what we did to make the holiday more special with the kids plus grandma and grandpa Nichols were here to celebrate Easter as a whole family. We dyed Easter eggs, indoor Easter egg hunt, and we attended a very nice Easter egg hunt at Landon's friend church which was really nice plus it had a good balance between learning about the atonement and the fun side.

My mom made Resurrection rolls with the kids. Everyone really enjoyed this activity and they taste good as well.

Ingredients:
One can of crescent roll dough
8 large marshmallows (or one for each roll you’ll be making)
Melted butter
Cinnamon sugar
Bible or Easter storybook
Assemble rolls and read the story:
1. Read John 19 while the oven is pre-heating according to the package directions. If you’re really on top of things, spend the week before reading John 12-18 with your kids.
2. Unroll the crescent rolls. Explain that this is like the cloth they wrapped Jesus in.
3. Give your child a marshmallow and explain that it represents Jesus… all white and pure because He was without sin.
4. Roll the marshmallows in the melted butter. This symbolizes the embalming oils.
5. Roll the marshmallows in the cinnamon sugar. This is like the spices used to prepare his body for burial.
6. Wrap the marshmallow in the crescent roll cloth, pinching the dough together securely. Don’t worry about the shape so much, they’ll taste the same no matter how you roll or bundle them. This represents how they would have wrapped Jesus’ body. I like to brush them with more melted butter, but it’s not necessary.
7. Put the rolls in the oven (symbolizing the tomb) and bake for the amount of time specified on the package.
8. While the rolls are baking, read John 20:1-18.
9. Open the tomb and remove the rolls. When they’re cool enough to handle, break one open and discover what happened to the marshmallow. Jesus is risen! At this point, I also read 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. Jesus is coming again!

Several years ago, a good friend gave me this Easter bunny cake pan. She told me that every year she would make this cake for her kids and it was a special tradition and she was going to pass it onto me. I made it one time, several years ago. Every year, I would feel the guilt of not making the cake. So, this year I decided to stop making excuses and I whipped up this really cute Easter cake.

The final three activities:
1.) Easter baskets that contained only candy no gifts. I'm really surprised how many people give their kids bikes and all kinds of material gifts. This I used to give the kids bubbles and kites in their baskets but I wouldn't be doing that anymore. I don't want the holiday to turn into a huge production plus I don't want it to be so commericalized.
2.) Several years ago, I put together my own set of Resurrection rolls. I just googled it and made one that fits our family. The kids love this lesson and I just have the older kids read each strip of paper. The set contains twelve eggs with a message and symbol that tells the Easter story.
3.) I pulled out all of the pictures from my gospel picture kids. I had the kids take turns telling the story about the Resurrection. I'm super surprised that Landon knew every picture and story. This was the last activity we did on Easter which was followed up with Easter Bunny Cake!

Oh my, I'm not sure if any one is still reading this post but I just have one more thing to say about celebrating the Easter holiday. I love getting the kids new clothes to wear for Easter Sunday. While in Hawaii, I was able to pick up my mom and the kids matching Hawaiian dresses.

I know that the Savior lives and he made it possible for us to return to him because of the Atonement and Resurrections. The greatest gift he gave us was LOVE so we would be able to return to him and Heavenly Father in Heaven. So, it's all about Love.