Harry Potter's Book of Spells

As you may know, kids in school equals lots of friend birthday party invites. I have a philosophy of not spending a lot of money on friend gifts... especially if I don't know the friend well. Because of this, I have GIFT BINS. I find things on clearance or super inexpensive and then put them away in a Rubbermaid tote, until a party pops up.

Just recently, my GIFT BINS have been getting low and my gift funds, even lower. So when Treyson was invited to a birthday party a few weeks ago, we made the gift. We put together a MAGIC TRICK set. I got on the internet and looked up simple magic tricks, then printed them onto cardstock, cut them up and bound them with a metal binder ring. Next, we gathered all the supplies needed for each magic trick and put them into a little plastic carrying tote. To top the kit off, we made a magic wand. I painted a wooden dowel black and then added glitter to one end for that magic sparkle. His friend's mom loved it...hope the friend did too. :)

Treyson was again invited to a friend's birthday party this week. Funds still being low, we decided to make another gift. The theme of the party was Harry Potter.

I went onto the internet and looked up "homemade Harry Potter gifts". I found a site that showed how they made a Harry Potter wand with a wooden dowel and hot glue. First gift idea, CHECK!

Next, I found a site that had all the Harry Potter Spells listed. This was a detailed list. It had the pronunciations, descriptions, where the spell was used in the movie or book and some even had the Latin roots to the spell's name. Second gift idea, CHECK!

I took the wooden dowel and sanded down one end to make it tapered. Next I hot glued around the dowel to give it some texture and make it look wand-like.
Then I spray painted it brown and called it done.

For the cover of the Book of Spells, I used an empty cereal box and paper grocery bag. I sprayed adhesive to the box and bag and then trimmed the bag around the cardboard. Next, I used brown ink to "age" the cover. I also burnt the edges with matches in some places to give a worn look. Finally, I took a cool metal button and some red ribbon and made a closure for the book.

For the inside, I copy and pasted the spells from the internet sight, printed them off in brown ink, then "aged" the pages with more brown ink.

I thought about many ways to bind it, but decided I would try and machine sew the 24 pages together.... and it worked! Then I hot glued the group of pages to the cover.

It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned initially. It was more of a Spell binder/folder, than a book, but I think it turned out fine.

The mom of this birthday boy loved the gift and emailed to tell me. Hope the birthday boy loved it as well. If not, at least I'm scoring points with the moms. :)

Happy 12th Birthday Taylee!

With all the partying last week, Taylee's actual birthday was pretty mellow.

We ate Taylee's birthday dinner request (BBQ chicken shepherd's pie casserole), then she opened her presents. She received lots of artsy type gifts (surprise, surprise), a make-up bag, mascara, swim goggles and some food items.

Treyson's gift to her was bubble gum that dyed your mouth.
I asked Taylee if she wanted something other than cake, since we had cake at the party. She was indecisive and indifferent, but finally said, "Surprise me."
So we had BIRTHDAY CAKE SURPRISE.
Instead of running to the store again, I used what we had on hand. We topped our "fun fetti" cake with cherry pie filling and whip topping. It actually tasted pretty good.


The kids decided to try out the gum Treyson gave Taylee.
Treyson's tongue turned Bronco Blue.

I think the red dye has gone straight to Abree's brain.

Ewww, Taylee has a BLACK tongue!

Next, we went to the YMCA for a free family day. Taylee was looking forward to rock climbing. When we got there, the rock climbing wall was closed and the swimming pool was PACKED. They gave us a family day pass to come back another day to try rock climbing. On to Plan B... Merrill Park.

We chose Merrill Park because it has a rock climbing wall.

Taylee was surprised at the size of the hand/foot holdings... small.

Don't know where Abree learned it, but she likes to give me peace signs now.

We didn't stay long, because it was so windy and COLD. We decided to head back home, get our jammies on, snuggle up and watch a movie together. It was a nice evening.

Taylee is SO EXCITED to be 12. She's had her primary and bishop interviews and will be going to Young Women's for the first time, on Sunday.

She can't wait to go on Trek, this summer, but is worried that they've already done all of the FUN activities before she came in. She's just sure of it.. ask her. :)

PS- Rylee left for Anaheim, California, Thursday evening, with her Cantus Choir group. She'll be competing in the Heritage Festival and then playing in Disneyland all day on Monday, then coming back on Tuesday. Lucky.

Happy Easter!

Along with our normal Easter tradition of a Jerusalem dinner, I like to try something new. In the past its been a lentil soup or fruit/nut salad that's traditional of passover.

This year I decided to make "flatbread".

I don't know if you're familiar with flatbread, but it's not "unleavened" because it does contain yeast. I didn't really know what I was doing, but the family seemed to appreciate and enjoy it.

Our Jerusalem dinner, minus the variety of figs, because no one really likes/eats them. Also minus the grapes and olives, because I forgot to buy them. Oops.

The beloved goat cheese WAS there, so hopefully the forgotten food was forgiven.

Another new idea this year was to talk about Christ's week, leading up to Easter (Palm Sunday, cleansing of the temple, etc.). My idea was to show a picture and read scriptures each night. With a busy week and too much going on, we got through the first 3 days, but fizzled out. So on Sunday we made up for lost time and talked about the additional days. This was an especially good discussion.

Next, we watched a two part movie called, "The Last Days in the Life of Jesus". It was done by "Living Scriptures" and was narrated by Dr. W. Cleon Skousen. As he walked through the modern day Jerusalem, he talked about Christ's week leading up to the crucifixion/burial/resurrection. It was VERY interesting and really helped, even Jason and I, put together days and events in a chronological way. There were many details that I had never imagined quite the way he told it. I guess I only had artist pictures to illustrate the story in my head.... and it was different than that.

The movie could have been considered boring by the kids, but even they settled down and found some interest in it... maybe the popcorn helped too. :)

When you get passed the cheesy beginning, poor film quality and 1985 styles... it's GREAT! I would highly recommend it. We may make it a part of our Easter tradition every year.

Anyone want to borrow it? I'll just need it back by next Easter, thanks.

Egg Hunt in Parma

Last week, Amber (McKinley)Munt came over and hung out with me for a day. She briefly mentioned her dad was in town and they were getting together on Saturday, for an Easter egg hunt and lunch, in Parma. She casually asked if I would be interested in coming. Initially I almost dismissed it, but then the more I thought about it, the more I decided I WOULD like to come.

My kids and I had not seen Dennis for a long time. He currently lives in Florida and I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to see him, while he was in town. Abree didn't know him, but the older 3 knew him as "Grandpa McKinley".

As we talked about our plans to go to Parma, the kids got WAY excited. Rylee of course had the most memories of Grandpa McKinley. Taylee could remember him too. Treyson's memory of Grandpa was, "He always had a BIG mug of SODA...I think it was rootbeer." --No, it was Diet Coke most likely, but of course he would remember something food related. :)

So Saturday, around noon we headed to Parma. Great Grandpa (Carl) McKinley and Grandpa (Dennis) McKinley, were outside as we pulled up. We greeted each other with hugs and pats (for those of you that know Great Grandpa, you'll know what I'm talking about).

After a little visiting, introductions and a hug from Great Grandma (Lucille) McKinley, we went outside for an egg hunt.

The kids found out that being on the farm, there were lots of good places to hide/find eggs.

Jordan doing her part to find the eggs.

Since my kids are older, some of them got to be hiders and some finders.

Abree was glad she was a finder, not a hider...cuz that meant CANDY!

Rylee an honorary hider.

Translation: a big kid who was too old to find, but didn't get to hide either, because there were already enough hiders. :)

Treyson a finder.

"Look mom, it's a real egg! I didn't know that there were REAL eggs out here."

Funny story- Abree found a real egg that had been colored blue. When she was told to pick it up, she would NOT. She was sure it was a bird's egg and that she should not touch it. We hadn't clued her in that there were real eggs, as well as plastic eggs to find.

Taylee a super-duper hider. She tried to make some impossible to find.

After the egg hunt, the real eggs were quickly turned into deviled eggs and we enjoyed a lunch of sub sandwiches.

It was a nice afternoon. I'm glad we decided to go to Parma to visit. Great Grandma and Grandpa McKinley were gracious and welcoming. It was nice to see them.

Dennis promises that if we are ever in Florida, we can stay at his home and he'll hook us up with Disney World tickets..... CHEAP! :) We just may have to take him up on his offer some time.

Taylee's Night Owl PJ Party!

And finally we get to the PARTY...

We welcomed all NIGHT OWLS with a sign.

Notice Taylee's new pj pants. They are orange (her new favorite color?) with an owl print. She also received an awesome owl necklace, from one of her Activity Day leaders. So cute!

Friends started arriving around 5pm.
While dinner/breakfast was baking and being prepared, the girls jumped on the trampoline and hung out.

Breakfast for dinner...one of my favorites.

Ham & Cheese Breakfast Casserole, mini muffins, bananas, grapes and orange juice.

Yum!

By this time, almost everyone had arrived.

(Several girls had sports after school, so they came when they could.)

Things were quite calm at first, but then from no where GRAPE GOOFINESS broke out.

Maddie as a bunny rabbit.

Sage as a monkey.

Lauren as.... what do you think?

Next, the girls "hatched" their owlets and started stuffing and decorating.

It surprised me how much they enjoyed stuffing, decorating and sewing their owls.

Every owlet needed a name, so BIRTH CERTIFICATES were filled out.

Rachel and her little owl FREEDOM.

Taylee & Courtney

Bella & Sage

Maddie & Lauren
Check out the "nerd glasses" , sunglasses and guitar. So funny.

Kristin & Brittany

Maddy & Bailey

All the goofy girls and owlets.

Next we played "I have never____" or some call it "Never, have I ever___".

Someone starts out by saying, "Never, have I ever water skiied or gone fishing or seen a buffalo, etc". Then if you HAVE done that thing, you have to put a candy in the bowl. Some girls picked on their friends so they were the only ones putting the candy in the bowl, others said funny/outrageous things no one had ever done. All were good sports and SO fun to be around. Some of these girls are hilarious!

Next, Taylee opened gifts.

She received lots of great things; bottle cap necklace with interchangeable magnet pictures, scrapbook set, bracelet making set, ceramic figurines, purse, lip gloss, candy, gift certificate, and more.

Thanks friends!

Next on the agenda, was the movie "Tangled". The girls each got a bag of popcorn and added candy, pretzels, raisins, chips and cookies for their NIGHT OWL MUNCH MIX.

After the movie, we sang Happy Birthday and had cake/ice cream.

By then it was late and parents were arriving to pick up their girls.

On their way out, they grabbed some COOL silly socks as a favor.

Taylee bought these with her own money and was SO excited to give them out. She loved the neon colors and weird prints.

What a FUN night. Happy 12th Birthday Taylee!!!