Happy October 1st Day!

I decided to start a new tradition of sorts.  It has been a long time since we have had a "FUN CRAFT DAY", and I feel badly about that. Sometimes, believe it or not, I get so focused on academic side of our homeschool, that we don't do enough of the fun stuff.  So, I decided this morning that today would be "Happy October 1st Day".

We put on our Halloween earrings, and put our Halloween bows in our hair. We put our Halloween socks on and started to craft.  Addie is painting her bat made out of egg cartons.  We are going to suspend them from light fixtures as soon as they dry....

We went to our neighbor's house for a housewarming party this weekend and she had done some crazy-cute crafts with her daughter.  She found the ideas on pinterest, which I hardly ever get on.  The one we tried involved mixing Elmer's glue and shaving cream and finger painting them on a paper bag.  Once dried, it is similar to puff paint.  Homemade!  Even better!  We colored ours black, purple, green, to see if it would work.  Our neighbor kept hers white and made dang cute ghosties with googly eyes.

Audrey had fun with her paper bag and painted for quite awhile.

Yes, even my Sethy came and joined in.  He made the cutest pumpkin!

Sasha making a witch.

This is Addie's creation.  We can't wait for them to dry all the way so we can put them up.

I decided to decorate my house a little more for Halloween, so I did this.  I made the banner out of scrapbook paper and strung it on black tulle.  I put scrapbook paper in some frames and put ribbons of ripped up fabric I had around to make it look spooky but not TOO spooky.  (Poor Addie is afraid to go downstairs alone, AGAIN.  Dang  that Spirit Halloween store and their freaky, gross decorations).

I have decided I won't be buying any more of that fake spiderweb stuff!  Soooo messy to clean up!  I found these spooky mesh, net things at the dollar store a few years back and picked up a few more this year.  They are super cute, and way easier to work with!  I put the ripped up ribbon do-dads on the banister and called it Spookified!  I love Halloween.  It is a fun holiday that kinda helps us get over the fact that summer is over.  We love summer, have I ever mentioned that??

I am glad we took the day "off" from school and crafted.

I needed to.

Sometimes as mom's we tend to loose ourselves and it's ok

to take the time to do what WE love.

I LOVE to craft and decorate, and if I didn't

homeschool, that is what I would be doing all the day long.

I don't have time to be on pinterest much.  Even if I did find something I wanted to do or try, I am sure it would take me FOREVER to actually do it.  Unless it takes 15 minutes and then I might get it done.  UGH!!

I have felt kinda run down lately and like my work is

never done.  Always something I should be doing.

My dad asked me the other day if I EVER just stop.

Well, today I did and it felt wonderful.

"Get BUZZY...."

My calling right now is Enrichment Leader and I am loving it! We are having a Prepardness Night this month and the theme is "Get BUZZY and BEE prepared". We are having mini-classes taught by some sisters in the ward, so I thought it would be cute to have them all dress in either black or yellow, to go with our "bee" theme and I wanted to make them a pin to wear that night. They get to keep the pin as a thank-you for helping me out. My friend Destree came and helped me make them and I LOVE them! I hope they do too!

Here is mine! I am teaching the class on Food Storage and how to cook from it daily. All our ups and downs the past few years has taught me to use my food storage! I am crossing my fingers the night is a success.........

Cheap wall decor.........

I have been trying to hang some things in little Audrey's room and came up with some ideas that were cheap..........yay me.....

I didn't really want to hide her blessing dress in the closet so I figured it might look kinda cute hanging on her wall. I like it there.......

I am making her crib skirt out of this dang cute fabric and had some left over. Why not put it in a frame, add a scrap of lace and call it "wall decor"??? I like how this looks. The frame here and below were given to me by a friend, so this truly was CHEAP.

Ok, this is actually the top of a dress I made for Addie several years ago and it started fraying and would not be able to worn again. So, I thought I'd just cut it up and put it in another frame. I like it; it looks kinda vintage or something......

Here is her wall just above her crib (yes, she has one FINALLY. LOL)!!! The sign was already up for Addie (it actually fits Addie's personality better than Audrey's at this point, so I might put something else there eventually). The wreath was from the same friend that gave me the frames. I am thrilled with how it looks. Sometimes the creations I create end up looking not so good and I end up taking it down. But, I do like this and LOVE that is cost me NOTHING!! So if I ever decide I don't like it anymore, I will just turn it into something else!! I love decorating
using stuff I already have. The only drawback to doing this is I don't want to get rid of things..."What could I use this for????"......."I don't want to get rid of this, I MIGHT need it"......oh dear me. If I become buried in "stuff" will you come and save me and make me make a trip to the DI, for heavens sake??? Thanks. You rock.

p.s.

I LOVE Frank Sinatra and have been listening to his cd for days........ahhhh......LOVE that era.

p.s.s.

I am not taking nearly enough pictures of Audrey. She is growing so fast. She goes to bed between 7pm and 8pm but she still wakes up every three hours from midnight on.........What in the world??? I KNOW she can sleep all night, she just won't. Oh well. At least she eats and goes right back to bed except for the 6am-ish feeding. I am a morning person anyway.........I least I think I still am.....???? :)

Take this, make that....

I have been saving plastic containers like this for awhile "just in case" I have a use for them! Well, I found a use for these puppies! Will LOVES this stuff and I had a ton of empty ones in the cupboard. We wanted something for the kids to put their money in, so lookie, lookie!

I put scrapbook paper around each one, used my Cricut machine to make the letters, and put a layer of Modge Podge on it to seal it. Yay!

Addie's.

Sasha's

I have a new blog on my blog list that Rocks!! I saw this on there and HAD to try it! I just put a layer of Modge Podge on the back of the scrapbook paper, put it on the clipboard and finished with another layer of Modge Podge. So dang cute. Perfect for sending around a sign-up sheet for the ward party. I better get them back, though....... :)

Our week....

Some things I did this week... I found these darling decorations at Hobby Lobby this week for the girls' rooms for $2.99 each. I am not sure what they are meant for, but I suspended them from the ceiling and love how they look. They were in the outside decor aisle. I also got a blue dragonfly, and a big yellow daisy for each of them, but am only posting pictures of these. Super cute, if I do say so myself.

I also found a cheap $1.99 letter "R", spray painted it black and hung it by our front door. I like it a lot. Yay.



Casey.......

Then there is the POOCH! He sleeps like this sometimes and it is hilarious. Such a BOY!! We have figured out how to get him to stop yipping all night: put his kennel in our bedroom at night!!! A friend of ours suggested it and it really worked!! The potty training is going.......well.......I don't know what to say. Some days I think he's got it and then the next day he has lots of accidents, so then I think we are back at square one. The kids are having a ball with him and hate to be away from him for too long. If we run an errand, we put him in his kennel so he won't have any accidents (they won't poop or pee where they sleep) and when we get home, they kids run like mad to let him out and give him loves. He is so playful 1st thing in the morning, like 5:30am!! Geez. He really is cute. Such a darling little puffball.

About Homeschooling....

School went well this week. My set of McGuffey readers came, so I was thrilled to not have to borrow anymore. We really spent a lot of time on counting money and telling time. I also had her do at least 2 math worksheets a day, or more if she wanted. I decided I really want to have us all memorize The Articles of Faith, so we are working on the 1st one and I will be having Sasha have them as her handwriting assignment during the week. I found a great book at the library full of winter activities; experiments and such, so we will be doing that in the coming weeks. Our homeschooling friends, the Shingletons, will be joining us once a week for our "winter fun". They are great friends!

This week was the 1st week back after Christmas Break and it was not as hard to focus back on school as I thought it would be. (I'm talking me too, not just Sasha!!). I am however on the hunt for another book to supplement my curriculum. The book I tried, that outlines what she needs to know this year was not as in depth as I would have liked. Live and learn, I guess. Trial and error. I am just glad I have a great network of homeschoolers I can seek guidence from. Anyway, things are going great and I am still glad I have gone this route......just in case you were wondering.....

Craft update...

Addie's room was lookin' a little sad and neglected so I made some things to sprouse it up a bit. I love how the "A" for Addie turned out.






This green may be too bright......I dunno if I like it or not. I painted\dabbed green tole paint on an old, dorky frame and used my Cricut Machine to make the letters for her name. Hmmmmm.....I hate when I don't LOVE what I make. Can anyone else relate?




My cedar chest is in her room and so I decided to make some pillows out of some pieces of fabric I have laying around. They turned out ok. Her curtains are the same kind of thing: lots of patchwork, different colors, and really cute. So, these pillows work in her room.



Lastly, this was our activity at Young Women's this week. We painted the blocks, sanded them a bit on the edges, rubbed a varnish on them, pounded a nail in the top, put some curly wire on them and glued leaves and berries on and TA-DA. They turned out very cute and the girls had fun.



p.s.
I am still working on Sasha's Dorothy costume for Halloween. I am trying to get the skirt sewn on the bodice and I have unpicked it twice. I am taking a day or so off since I am kinda stuck. But, I will get it done. Have no fear.........