Matthew and Jordyn's Wedding

Funny thing about this blog post is that it's titled Matthew and Jordyn's wedding and I didn't even get a single picture of them or any of the wedding for that matter. But that was the reason for our visit to wintery Idaho. We even visited with lots of friends and family but I didn't get any pictures of that either. I'm kinda bummed about it. But there is always next time.
We had a great time, and it didn't take long for the kids to unpack their winter coats, gloves, and hats out to go play in the snow. While the kids were out playing I was busy baking. My mom and I made cookies for 3 days straight for the wedding reception. I was so sick of baking, but definatly not sick of eating them. LOL I think I gained 10 pounds while on our little vacation.

I sent Cris out to get some pictures of the kids in the snow since we don't get much here.

They made this cute little snow man.

And played for hours. They got so wet, but it didn't slow them down a single bit!!

Benson dicovered the dryer while we were busy cooking, and I had to stop to get some pics. He was pretty proud of himself for getting up into it.

We were able to go skiing at Targhee while we were there. It snowed on us, but we still had a blast. The kids did really good skiing. My brother David really helped Jocelyn and after about a hour she was a pro!!! Kennedy and Kaden did good too!! It was Cris' first time skiing(he usually boards) He really enjoyed it, and I think we may have turned him into a skier. Cole, and Benny boy enjoyed a day with Oma. And in return I think Oma enjoyed it too.
Here we all are in front of the ski shop we rented our skis from.

New Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken while we we're in Idaho for my brother Matthew's wedding. Amber(Amber Hall Photography) did such a great job, and I love all of them. The hardest thing to do is to pick which ones to get printed for our house. Here are some of my favorites.(which was about every picture she took. LOL)

Chore Charts

I just have to say I love my Silhouette!!!! I have so many things planned to do with it. This was my first project with it.

My kids seem to do their chores better if they have a fun visual so I came up with these chore charts. I had seen some kind of like them around blog land. Here's how I did them.........

I started with some cheap frames I found at the local Dollar General. I didn't like the black color so I spray painted them, white for the girls, and brown for the boys.

I then chose some fun papers, cut them to size the inside of the frame, and mod-podged them onto the frame.

I then used my Silhouette to cut the list of chores with their premium white vinyl. When you use the vinyl make sure you mirror the image so it cuts the right way to stick on the inside of the glass. Use the transfer paper to transfer the vinyl onto the glass. Then put your frame together. I got some fun colored dry erase markers and velcro them onto the frame, so then when the kids finish a chore they can cross them off. This has worked wonders having my kids get their chores done, and even better yet, they think that doing them with this chart is much more fun!

Also if you don't have a Silhouette you can just print the chores on a piece of card stock and them put it into the frame.

Benson Turned One

I had my first birthday last month. Mom has been busy so it's taking her a while to put it on the blog. Grandma said she needed pictures, so mom is finally doing it. :)

I woke up really excited to get my party started.....

Mommy made me a cute monkey cake. This is the big one, she made me a smaller one just like it so I could have my very own cake.

It was very good!!!

I was really sad when they took it away. But what can I say. "It's my party and I can cry if I want to."

Oh, and p.s. I got lots of fun presents that I play with everyday!! And some of them are really noisy. Mom and dad go crazy when I play with them.

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Benson's 1 year stats

* 22lbs

*27in

*He walks everywhere and is now starting to run. He's got the cutest short legs, and it's fun to see him go.

*He follows the kids and think he's just as big as them

*He loves all food, and is always willing to try something new.

*He says Momma all the time.

*He's got the cutest little voice. He constantly grunts and if you grunt at him he will grunt right back.

We sure love you Benny and are very glad that you joined our family. We can't wait to see you grow and learn. We love you so much!!!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Ahhhhh, I Won, No Way!!!

Ya that's me, and I won!!!! I won, I won, I won!!!! I still can't believe that I did. :) I won one of these babies.......

I have been dying for one of these ever since I discovered them in blog land. I entered probably close to 50 giveaways for one, if not more. Last Sunday I was checking a few of the giveaways to see if I had won. Cris told me I was wasting my time in checking them since I had failed to win one yet.(he even told me he would buy me one with our taxes) I mean what were the odds. I was dying to win on along with thousand of other people. So I checked the last blog that was giving one away and I about died when I saw my name on the computer screen!! I screamed so loud that I scared everyone in the room! I still can't believe that I won, and can't wait for it to arrive so I can play!! This thing cuts vinyl, does glass etching, heat transfers, fun rhinestone projects, I can design temporary tattoos for the kids with it, it cuts card stock for scrapping or card making, and it will even cut fabric!!!! I get the Silhouette, 2 rolls of premium vinyl, and a roll of heat transfer. When I get it it will look like vinyl threw up in my house, and the kids will be donning a t-shirt I made!!! I can't wait!!! :)

Jocelyn's Felt Playhouse

I sewed Jocelyn a felt playhouse for Christmas, and boy was it a hit!!! I made this for probably about $30 total, but with all the time and effort I put into it I think it was worth well over $200. I sewed morning, noon, and night for over 2 weeks. But it was definitely worth it!! She loved it, and so do the rest of the kids. Now on to the tour....

Welcome to Jocleyn's house....one of my favorite things is the apple tree. I love how it turned out!! I'm going to probably make some lemons and even some oranges for it. The apples are all removable with velcro on them.

Here's a cute little basket that she puts the picked apples into....

The mail box, complete with a working door.....

The cute flowers, that she can remove. I twisted some pipe cleaners together and then twisted the ends up so they wouldn't poke through the felt to make the stems bendable. If I were to do this again I would probably use double the amount of pipe cleaners or maybe a heavy craft wire to make them a little stiffer.

Here's a sampling of the fruits and veggies I made. Squash, pumpkins, apples, lettuce, carrots, potatoes and corn. Don't ya just love the basket weaving I did to make the corn. I found this idea on another blog.....

The garden side... I used quilt batting to make the sun puffier, and wished I would have done the same to the clouds. Everything is "pick able" and is used to "stock" the farmers market.....

The farmers market......I should have made the window smaller, the kids tend to use it as a entrance and exit. The open/closed sign can be reversed when playing. Jocelyn asked me where the money was. I guess I need to make here some felt money too.....

Cute little bag that is attached with velcro so she can shop.....

Post office........

Letters complete with removable stamps that I made......The letters are made to Grandmas, and Grandpas, and Aunt Crystal.

The big mail box has a slit/pocket to put the letters in...

Things I discovered while making this.......

*I love, love, love printer fabric!!!! It made making the letters, signs, and stamps sooo easy!!!

*I actually love to sew. Ya, I may have said a few choice words with sewing this project, but it felt so rewarding that I made it.

*Felt is fun!!! While making this I found so many other fun projects I want to make for the kids. Next on my list a quiet book for Benny boy.