The Best Gift EVER!

This is one of the gifts I received from Jason, for Christmas. At first glance it looks like a regular free calendar, sponsered by the Wienhoff Drug Testing Services... and it is.

At second glance, you may notice the circled date and notation.

Several years ago, Jason and I attended a couples conference. In one of the mini classes we went to, we learned about the book, "The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman. (I recommend it, if you haven't read it.) After reading it, we were able to understand one another's "love language" better. He likes to receive love through "physical touch" and by "words of affirmation". I, on the other hand, like to receive love through "quality time" and "service".

Whenever Jason asks me what I want for a gift, I usually come up with some sort of "honey-do" I'd like to have done. He usually says, "I'm going to eventually get to that any way. So what do you REALLY want?" What he's now starting to understand is that IS what I really want!

As the circled date got closer, I started to make a list of what I'd like done. It was hard to prioritize or eliminate, so the list got long. I warned him it was long and he warned me that he might not get ALL of it done that day...but then also reassured me that he would still get it all done eventually. Here are a few of the things that got done, off my list...

Clean shower doors.

Hang iron decoration above door.Fix laundry room light. Yea, it's so nice to be able to see what I'm doing in there!

Hang bamboo shade in garage window.

Help arrange and hang family pictures.
I've had the "FAMILY" wall hanging for about 10 months now and have been dying to get it hung up. The spacing and hanging accuracy was intimidating me. I like the way it turned out.

There were several other things he accomplished too. Another part of the gift, was having him home ALL day. That is rare. I appreciate his thoughtfullness and willingness to tackle my big "honey do" list.

Thanks Jason! That was the best gift EVER!!!

X is for X-Ray

This week in pre-school we learned about the letter X. The best thing I could come up with for the letter X, was x-ray. I know xylophone starts with X, but it sounds like Z.
I didn't want to confuse the poor kiddos.

The first day, we made pretend x-rays of our hands (black paper and Q-tips). Today we saw some REAL x-rays of teeth (thanks to Dr. Blaisdell) and then made pretend x-rays of our insides (thanks to Mommy Blaisdell). For our x-ray we had a heart and then ribs that flapped over the heart. The girls were confused about the life-like shape of the heart. They said, "That doesn't look like a heart. That looks weird!" They turned out pretty cute.

We also played tic-tac-toe.
It was kind of a hard concept for 4 yr olds, but I had to do it because of the X's.

Muffin Girl

Sing these words to the tune of, "Do you know the Muffin Man?"

"Oh, do you know my Muffin Girl, my Muffin Girl, my Muffin Girl?
Oh, do you know my Muffin Girl, her name is Abree Au-tumn!"

Abree has many a "bad hair day" or should I say, "rag muffin moments" (before we do her hair for the day). Because of her cute rag muffinness, I just started singing this to her one day and it stuck. Now it's become a term-of-endearment for me to call her my little Muffin Girl.

Isn't she just the cutest little muffin you've ever seen???

Tawnya & Karen's Baby Shower

Last Friday, I hosted another baby shower, this time for Tawnya and Karen (sister & sister-in-law). They were both having girls, so our colors were pink, spring green and white. (There are A LOT of baby girls being born right now!) I chose to decorate with what is starting to be my signature, flower balloons. I just love how they look and they are really quite easy to make.

I also made them a diaper cake. Once again, I kept it simple because my financial resources were spent other places. Even in it's simplicity, I like the way it turned out.

Almost everywhere you looked, you could find "pink stuff", including pink candy and pink sugared popcorn for favors, "Thanks for POPPING by."





I also had fun painting and pok-a-dotting clothes pins to hang baby clothes for decoration.








These clotheslines had 2 functions; decoration and gifts for the new mommies. Karen, Tawnya & Amber got to take home all these cute outfits.

We had a nice gathering of friends & family. Missed you, if you didn't come!

Here's a sweet picture of Candice & Baby Sydney. Look she's waving at you.

A 4 Generation picture; Karen, LoraDawn (mom-in-law to Karen),
Great Grandma Ison & Sydney.

Karen opening gifts.








Tawnya opening gifts.






For games, we played "Makin' Babies" (again) & "Baby Catch Phrase". Catch Phrase was really fun. Play was normal, except we used baby/pregnacy/delivery related words.

Another new baby girl in the family, Jordan. She and Sydney are only 2 days apart. Both of them only weigh around 6 pounds. They are so small, but SO CUTE!

Jordan & her mamma Amber Munt.
Congratulations Amber (it was SO nice to see you)!

It was so nice to gather for the celebration of all these new little ones. I'm so glad Sydney is here safe and sound (even though she made her entrance a month early). I'm also looking forward to meeting Tawnya's new baby girl, as she arrives in the next week or so. And then in a little more than a month, I'll get to meet Amber (Croff)'s baby girl. This is so much fun!

Mark your calendar's for Amber Croff's baby shower. It's coming up Friday- March 20th. If I didn't see you at Tawnya & Karen's shower, I'll be looking forward to seeing you at Amber's. If I saw you at Tawnya & Karen's shower, I'll STILL be looking forward to seeing you at Amber's. :o)

Kissin' Frogs

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Sometimes you've got to kiss a lot of frogs, to find a prince"? This is a philosophy that I have adopted from my parents. In other words, some times you've got to go to a lot of yard sales or a lot of second-hand stores or a lot of clearance racks, to find "treasures"...oh, I mean "princes".

My family LOVES to find a bargain...maybe you could call us a bit obsessed. When we get together, we talk about what our latest bargains have been. We like to show our wares and say, "Guess how much I paid for this!" Growing up in it, I didn't give it a second-thought. When my brother-in-law Josh was married into the family, at first, he thought we were all nuts..or at least a little strange. Since then, he's been converted or should I say he's been turned to the dark-side?

My most recent "kissin' of frogs" has been at the Idaho Youth Ranch (Boise Headquarters). They have a big warehouse and yard that has TONS of stuff (either from their stores or donations that get sorted through to go to all their different stores). They have opened it up to the public to pick through and find "treasures". This warehouse experience is NOT for the faint-of-heart and is NOT for everyone. If you're worried about sanitation or getting your hands dirty, stay home. :o)

The drill: If you are a serious Youth Ranch shopper, you're there at or before the time of the opening of the gates. When the gate has been unlocked and pushed back, you run for the biggest shopping cart you can find. Then you rush inside and start picking, sorting, and rummaging through big blue bins, as fast as you can. There's a bit of competition and a bit of ellbow-throwing involved (believe it or not). --There are also "regulars" and my dad is one of them. The workers know him by name and he has made "friends" with some of his competitors. --When you have collected a cart full, then you go to your self-designated "spot". You sift through all the junk...I mean "treasures" and decide what to keep and what to throw back. Then if you're a real die-hard, you stick around for several more big blue bins to be brought out. This sometimes takes a few hours to feel like you've seen enough. Each time a bin is brought out, the "regulars" hover and swarm around them. A bin is "devoured" in less than a minute, usually. When you feel like you've had enough fun, you go to the register and have them give you your total. Usually the fee for a good cart full is from $3-$6. Yes, the WHOLE cart is 3-6 dollars! That means you're getting things for pennies on the dollar. Amazing!

Here is just a small part of what my dad and I have found at the Youth Ranch recently...




A HUGE box of Legos, with hundreds of pieces, characters and bases.











Lamps and almost brand new shades.








This now sits on my entry way table. I LOVE it!











Decorative glassware








Lots of Build-a-Bear clothing and accessories including; a cell phone, shoes, boots, purse and a bathing suit.









Lots of Build-a-Bear animals.







More fish food and accessories than we could ever use up.







Tons of like-new Play-doh and tools.









Holiday decorations galore.










Games, puzzles and art supplies out the wah-zoo.








We had a lot of games to begin with, but now have 2 whole closets FULL.









We've also found; cameras, cd/dvds/vhs and tapes, new chalk, bubbles, tons of different types of toys, yarn, thread, sewing supplies, pens/pencils/crayons, coloring books, bells, an old movie camera, brand new puppets, sterling silver spoons and much, much more! It's amazing what people donate or throw away. We've found a lot of things that are brand new with tags on... or many things that are like-new.

We don't plan on keeping ALL the stuff we get from the Youth Ranch. My dad has big plans for a Spring yard sale and we have been doing a little Ebaying too.

Sad sidenote: On Feb 14th the Youth Ranch warehouse began charging $.50 per pound. That's just WAY too much for us to frequent as often. My dad is more of a die-hard than me and still frequents the warehouse a few times a week. Now he only buys what's most valuable to him, instead of A LOT of extra stuff we couldn't use anyway. Whew!

What's the latest "frog" you've kissed??? I LOVE bargain stories!

Techy Valentines

Ok, last Valentine post... my kids and I made 75 of these Valentine candy cell phone's for their class mates.

I was told they were a hit and that the kids were talking and texting for the rest of the day.
Good thing the party was held at the end of school. :o)

The buttons were made from those "button candies" with the paper backing. Making 75 was a lot, but it actually went much faster than I anticipated. It was fun to make Valentines, instead of just purchasing and write names on all of them.