Happy 1st Birthday Sterling!

One year ago, Sterling made his surprise arrival, 6 weeks early.

Did I get that right Amber?

He was tiny, but healthy.

Today he is a typical, healthy, one year old that melts my heart whenever he giggles or bursts into a huge smile.

Amber did such a good job with all his party details. Everything turned out so cute!
She made these photo canvas' by using a blank canvas, a photo printed on tissue paper and Mod Podge. They turned out nice. So fun to see his growth from infant to big one year old boy.

The S was cut and shaped out of cereal boxes. Then she paper mache and painted it white. Looks like something you could purchase at Hobby Lobby doesn't it?

She made the message board from a Dollar Store silver tray and chalkboard paint. So clever.

The party theme was circus monkey... heavy on the monkey, light on the circus. :)

Sterling's monkey cake turned out soo cute!

The cupcakes were adorable too.

Can you tell I helped with the 1 shirt... looks kinda familiar doesn't it??? :)

Amber made his monkey hat out of old wool sweaters. I LOVE how it turned out. Nice job.

When it was present time, Sterling didn't know what all the fuss was about.

Daisylyn however LOVED present time and couldn't wait to SHARE Sterling's gifts.

Sterling was super patient and happy. What a sweet boy.

Cake time!

Yummmm, chocolate.

When the GO was given, the kids descended upon the candy and dessert table like vultures... and so did some of the adults. :)

I also helped with the pennant banner hanging above the table. We made it out of red/white striped fabric and ribbon. Turned out great.

Sterling, we're so glad that you are a part of our family.

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Love you.

PS- It was actually Jackson's birthday (Sterling's was the next day),but he had celebrated with friends earlier and graciously let Sterling have the spotlight. Happy 7th Birthday Jackson!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Two weeks ago, it was announced that there would be some changes happening to our ward.... a ward split!

Our ward was super big..like 730+ of mostly active members.

From 2 wards, a third ward was created. We knew it was coming, but was still so sad to see some of our ward family go.

On that next Wednesday, we got together one last time, for IHOP -Individual Hour Of Personal Progress.

Girls wore their jammies/sweats, we ate pizza and some worked a little on Personal Progress... but mostly it was just a big going away party...or should I say, see ya around party. :)

Maddi-Savannah-Lessa-Megan-Jennifer
Brittany
Melissa-Madi-Emma-Karly

Taylee-Brittany-Maddison

Emma

Kaylee-Emily-Perry

Emma-Taylee

Our NEW YW president, Jessica.

She and her counselors had just been put in about 6 weeks prior. We bonded quickly and were having so much FUN together. We are SO SAD to have it end so soon.

I was looking forward to girl's camp together....... really. :)

Laurie-Danielle-Karly

Abbey-Bella-Hannah-Laura-Lauren

Lexi-MacKenzie

Maddison-Sister Eldredge...actually working on Personal Progress.

Katie Givens-Kiley Thompson-Danielle-Jessica Whiting

Brittany-Hailey-Kamryn

Stephanie Young-Savannah

Shelby-Livvy

Savannah-Erin-Lessa-Megan-Rylee-Melissa

The MiaMaid Huddle

Rylee was so bummed. Her good friends (including Melissa!)are now in the other ward. There are only 3 MiaMaids in our ward now. Such an adjustment!

Friends Forever..... right?

Some of the Laurels

Some of MY Beehives.

More of MY Beehives.

We went from 22, down to 10! Class was quiet on Sunday. :)

Sister Young had promised some of the girls an arm wrestle match. She had to make good on her promise. Sister Young, we will also miss your "speed walking".

Me-Katie-Jess-Kiley-Shel-Steph

Missing Sister Merrilee Ellsworth who was sick that night.

What's that saying? "All good things must come to an end"... I guess it's true.

More changes ahead.

With all the "holes" to fill in ward leadership and callings, we're not done adjusting.... oh, but I wish we were. I don't like change.... I'm not "used to it"!!!!!

On to the next chapter .

Happy Halloween!

It's no secret... I LOVE Fall.

Each year as Fall approaches, I get excited.

I anticipate the smell of autumn leaves, the crispness of the night air, the shorter days, birthday time and Halloween.

I think Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I don't know why I like Halloween so much. I've never been one who LOVES dressing up and I don't care for dark or evil things, but... I still really like Halloween. I guess it's fun to dress up my kids.... and the candy may have a little to do with it. :)

Although this year I really haven't eaten much candy. Zero on the actual day of Halloween and really only one day of indulgence..5 or 6 mini candy bars. That's it..which is kind of amazing. I am serious about this weight-loss contest!!!

This year has been different for me. I didn't get that same excitement or thrill as Halloween approached. The kids and I are usually heavily involved in costume idea/creation the last week of October. This year we talked about costume ideas, but didn't go all out creating. I was more hands-off and basically directed them to find what we had around. And although I missed the creative part, I didn't miss the intensity. It was almost stress-free.

So this is what they came up with...

Taylee-Napoleon Dynamite (again), Rylee 80's girl, Treyson- Magician and Abree- ballerina.
I guess I was most involved in Treyson's costume. We borrowed the cape from Amber, we had the magic wand, but then I bought the hat, mustache and bow-tie.
Wish his hat was a bit less Pilgrim-like and more top hat-ish, oh well.
Abracadabra!
Rylee has been on an 80's kick recently. That night she dressed up kinda Madonna-like.

It was cute to see her research 80's make-up ideas on line. She artfully recreated this look by bringing her make-up downstairs and putting it on while looking at the computer images.

Taylee used Jason's costume from a few years back. Such a brave soul to sport that wig, glasses and boots.

"What are ya gonna do today, Napoleon?"

"Whatever the heck I feel like...gosh!"

Originally Abree was going to be a pig. I had found some ears and a snout second-hand, but didn't have anything for the body of the pig. So on to plan B. She said she wanted to be a ballerina. Ok, that's easy. She ran upstairs and pulled her costume out of our dress-up boxes.

The tu-tu was made by Taylee a few years ago for a Christmas present. We had the leotard, tights and ballet slippers. I put her hair up in a bun and called it good.

Rylee and Taylee went to a Halloween Party at a friends house. Jason took Abree and Treyson trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. I blasted Halloween tunes and passed out candy at the door. I hadn't done that in a while, so it was kinda fun.

One of the little girls said, "I like your music" as Ghostbusters was playing in the background.

Another little guy came to the door, yelled "Trick or Treat" and then thrust his hands out towards me (no treat bag, I assume his parents had it). I handed him 2 pieces of candy, then continued passing candy out to the rest of the crowd. He then got my attention and handed one of the candies back to me and said, "I don't like that kind!" Soooo, I gave him a different one. :)

Another cute little boy thanked me graciously for candy, as I put it in his bucket. Then as he was walking away from the door, his dad asked him if he had said thank-you. He turned around and said, "Oh thank you... oh so very much. Thank you, thank you." Fun-ny!

Abree and Treyson made quite the haul. I had them choose 10 candies each, to give to their party-going sisters... and then the sorting began.

Then it was Treyson's turn for a party. We dropped him off, then picked up the older girls and headed to Grandma McKinley's. Missed the Croffs and Dean/Candice's families, but hung out with Tim/Karen and their girls.

The kids also did a quick round of trick-or-treating in Grandma's neighborhood. Rylee and Taylee wanted to get in on the trick-or-treat action. :)

Happy Halloween!

Minnie Mouse Party Prep

This is Sophie.

She is turning 2.

She LOVES Mickey and Minnie Mouse!

When I knew her birthday was coming up and that she loved those Disney mice... I had to offer my services as "Party Decor Lady". I begged her mom Christy, to let me come over and help. She said yes. :)

After looking and "pinning" many party ideas, we decided on a banner direction. We first cut out circles of colored and patterned paper. Then we decided on our favorite combinations of circles, then I zig-zaged (with the sewing machine) the circles together.

We also cut out Minnie Mouse heads for the beginning, middle and end. I sewed around them with a regular stitch and then hot glued ribbon bows to them.

We LOVED the dimension and texture of the stitching and ribbon bows.
Christy tied the banner together with ribbons also... so cute!
I think Sophie likes it too.
She kept asking her mom all day, "Today my Happy Birthday mouse party???"

Finished banner minus the lettering. "Happy Birthday" lettering to come.

You may not be able to see it in the photo, but there's hot pink stitching around the mouse shape and zig-zags around each circle... so cute!

We also punched out smaller circles and I sewed them together for some garland.

Doesn't it look great on their chandelier?

Christy made this adorable outfit for Sophie to wear on her birthday.

Love it!

I also made that Minnie Mouse shoe, Christy made tissue a pom-pom, we talked about cake decor and other decoration details. I think this party will be super cute and way fun. Hopefully I'll get to see pictures!

Nice Combo!

There's a phrase we use around our house... it first came about when Rylee was little and was becoming more independent and started dressing herself.

She came up with some doozies!

Instead of saying, "That looks funny" or "Try again" or "You don't match", we came up with the phrase, "Nice combo". It basically means, "That looks funny", "Try again" and "You don't match", but maybe a degree nicer... or at least a little more light-hearted.

During RED RIBBON week at the middle school, they had several dress-up days. One of these days was what Taylee referred to as, "Mis-matched" day.

Taylee went all out. I'm guessing she could have won a prize with her combo!

Button-up shirt with a lacy vest, sports shorts and leggins, boots and dress shoe footwear, scarf around her neck and mis-matched ribbons in her hair.

Nice combo Taylee!!!

After school, she informed me that it was actually "mix and match" day.... but basically the same thing as "mis-matched" day in her book.
Another day of the week was "Celebrity Day". She dressed up as Napoleon Dynamite.

Check out those boots. Aren't they awesome?!

Jason and I are impressed with her bravery and desire to dress-up and be so unique... at middle school!

Go Taylee!