Happy Birthday Mrs. Matthews!

Yesterday, was my first day to volunteer in Abree's kindergarten class. I helped kids with an alphabet exercise, played color/shape BINGO, traced and cut shapes for homework and helped them to finish up their "I Am Special" book.

While I was there, I found out that Mrs. Matthew's birthday was on Saturday. She said she planned on spending the WHOLE day, at Boise State (ESPN Game Day, tailgating and game).

Inspired by the kid's, Abree and I made Mrs. Matthews a BSU rock and card.

"Dear Mrs. Matthews,

You are a great teacher. You have fun activities. Hope you have a great birthday.

Love, Abree

PS-Have fun at the BSU game."

Kid's Weekend

Before leaving for Utah, I was feeling a little worried about the long hours the kids would be together, without adult supervision. (Jason was in town, but working, and they would be home all day Saturday by themselves.) I knew they would be ok, but wanted them to have a fun too. So I came up with something for them to DO (hopefully to distract from excessive fighting or boredom). I wrapped up little surprises for them to open throughout the days I was gone. I armed them with clues and a camera to document.

Open #1 when EVERYONE is home from school and backpacks are put away. Hint: Look in the refrigerator (yogurt cups).

Open #2 on Friday, when it's dinner time. Hint: Look in the freezer (frozen pizza).

Open #3 on Saturday morning, when EVERYONE is dressed and ready for the day. Hint: Look in the food pantry (Pop-tarts).

I'm noticing in the picture, that everyone still has their jammies on. Oh well. :)

Open #4 when EVERYONE's Saturday chores are finished. Hint: Look in the food storage closet in the laundry room (brownie/cookie mix to make for a treat).

Rylee did a good job documenting. Here are her BEFORE and AFTER shots of Saturday chores.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I also left 2 crafty projects for them to do, when Saturday chores were complete.

The first project; FRIEND mini albums. They were made from name badge holders and can be used to put friend or family photos in. I thought the kids would love to have their own little album, when they swap pictures with school buddies.

Pretty cute, don't cha think?

Next project; rock painting.

With the BSU game that night, I had them paint BRONCO rocks.

Go BRONCOS!

Taylee came up with the Boise State Bronco silhouette.

Pretty clever, eh?

Open #5 after EVERYONE has taken a bath/shower and has laid out their Sunday clothes. Hint: Look in the master bedroom closet (fruit snacks).

Open #6 before the BSU football game starts. Hint: Look in the movie closet (candy for the game).

Looks like they are ready to party.
Open #7 on Sunday, when EVERYONE is dressed and ready for church. Hint: Look where you turn on music, before church (gum to be shared AFTER sacrament).

I think the kids had fun. Treyson said after I returned home, "Mom, you left us lots of presents! Why couldn't you stay LONGER?!"

What was I worried about? They did WAY fine without me. :)

Utah Weekend

Tawnya called me up one day and told me she and her family would be driving up from Arizona to Utah, for a friend's wedding in September. She asked if I thought it would be a good idea to gather mom, sisters, cousins and aunts to have a GIRL'S WEEKEND. I thought it was an AWESOME idea!

She made arrangements for us to stay at her in-laws and worked out the details for lunch and dinner.

Mom, Amber, Daisylyn and I, drove down to Orem, Friday before school got out. We got in late and spent the night at Josh's parent's house.

The next morning, Josh and Tawnya got up early to run a 6K race, while the rest of us got ready for the day and played with the kids.

I hadn't seen Maliah, since they moved in January. She had grown up so much. She now RUNS and is starting to talk up a storm. She will repeat almost anything you say. Be careful. :)
She is also very friendly and happy. She gave me a BIG hug and kisses, as we arrived the evening before.
Daisylyn and Maliah liked sitting on the fireplace together.

At one point, Maliah patted a spot next to her and yelled, "Ky! Ky! &%#@*". Interpreted, I think that meant, "Kyrick, come sit by me, RIGHT HERE!" He did just as he was instructed.

Cute.

As I was trying to take pictures of Maliah and Daisylyn, Kyrick kept jumping in front of me and saying, "Take a picture of me doing ____. Take a picture of me and ____." He couldn't get enough of the camera.

Here he is with his Grandma and Grandpa Clawson's dog, Cloe.

Next up, IKEA.

I was an IKEA virgin, never having been before. Too bad I didn't have money to spend.... lots of fun stuff in there. I think the kid's section was my favorite, but maybe I need to go back, just to make sure.

We met cousins; Emma, Rachel and Megan there.

Cute ice cube trays.... had to take a photo with Brinton in mind.

Of course my Mom found some puppets that HAD TO be adopted and come home with her.

Mom, Daisylyn, Amber & cousins; Emma, Rachel & Megan.

For lunch, we met at Mimi's Restaurant.

Aunt Angela and her friend Brenda (from England) came to have lunch with us too.

My grilled cheese sandwich & fries were ok, but if I ever go back I'll be having the Quiche Lorraine, with fresh fruit and bran muffin. It looked SO good.

Daisylyn enjoyed her Cheerios, Saltines and Goldfish crackers, along with some of her mom's fruit and bran muffin.

The remainder of our visit, we spent at Rachel's house.

We had fun talking and hanging out, but also wrote Grandma Memories for Grandma Ison to have and read..... over and over.

Rachel made 2 types of soup for dinner; a salmon chowder and an Italian pasta soup (can't remember the name). I had the salmon chowder. It was soooo yummy!

Aunt Jana, Uncle Kevin, Chanel and Arielle joined us for talk and dinner.

After dinner, we broke out the snacks.... and most importantly CHOCOLATE! We toasted our chocolate to Martha, because she couldn't be there with us. :)

"To Martha!"

I had brought down some "conversation starter" questions. After dinner, we started the questions around the table and had lots of fun answering getting to know one another better.

We wrapped up in blankets and headed out to Rachel's back patio, as questions and chatting continued late into the night. :)

Around midnight, the party broke up and people headed home. Mom, Amber, Daisylyn & I stayed at Rachel's for the night.

Thanks for letting us sleep in your cozy beds Bryton, Nathon and Katie! And thanks to Rachel and Todd for being such gracious hosts.

It was a relaxing, satisfying, wonderful weekend.

I LOVE my family!

Wolf

Our Cub Scout pack meetings are well planned and FUN, thanks to good leaders.

This month the theme was "Cub Scout Investigators". Scouts had to use their excellent observation skills to a solve crime.

Treyson got to "post the colors" for the very first time. He was nervous, but did fine.

A uniform inspection was performed that evening. Treyson received top score, only missing 1 point for no hat. (I'll be scouring thrift stores from now on, looking for one.)His score boosted the Bears den, to top scoring den, giving them the honor of possessing the trophy until next pack meeting.

As we were sitting there, 2 dressed-up men ran across the room. One was the victim, the other the assaulter. When the men were out of sight, the cub scouts had to fill out a form describing what they saw (hair color, what they were wearing, identifying marks, what they said, etc.). The BEAR den was victorious once again, winning these silly glasses.

"Elementary, my dear Watson!"

Treyson received his WOLF badge and 3 ARROW POINTS (for extra things he had done). He also got to pin the "mother's pin" on me. Yikes!

Next up,..... BEAR badge.

"Retiring the colors".

Cross Country

This is one busy girl.

Along with school, homework, babysitting, Wednesday after-school job (helps a mom of 4 young kids, with laundry), YW, Cantus choir practice and normal family stuff, Rylee fits in Cross Country.

Each meet she's improved on her time and ranking.

This meet was against Sawtooth.

She ran so fast I barely got a picture of her crossing the finish line.

Way to go Rylee!

Grape Juice

My grandma canned.

My mom canned, when I was young.

My sister cans.

I don't can... unless you count freezer jam... but I don't.

Amber has an awesome back yard filled with nature's bounty. She and Tawnya made grape juice and grape jelly last year. This year, the birds thought Amber's grapes were yummy.

Amber called me worried that the birds would eat them ALL. She talked me into, sweet-talking my mom into, sweet-talking my grandma into, lending me some canning jars and her grape juicer.

We rescued a shallow bucket-full of grapes.

We washed. We smooshed. Then we put the grapes into the juicer, boiler thingy.

As the water boiled, the steam rendered the juice out of the grapes. We then released the clip on the tubing and fresh grape juice flowed into the hot, sanitized jars. We didn't strain the juice at first, but decided it was a good idea, when we noticed a few chunks.

Then we put the lids and rings on and turned them upside-down to seal.

VOILA!

Grape juice.

Thanks to Amber I can now say, I didn't can.