All the Small Things...

The Stockings Were Hung...

(as always, click on pic to enlarge it)

Twice a month Scarlet gets together with all the other 8-12 year old girls in our church for something called Activity Days.  Their leaders are 2 of my closest friends, Julie and Megan, and they ALWAYS do the most adorable projects.

For Christmas they had the girls collect little socks and make this FANTASTIC advent calendar.  How cute is it?!?!?  Each sock was filled with a goodie and a lovely little task for the girls to complete that day.  Scarlet looked forward to waking up each morning and seeing what good deed she was going to do.  

SUCH A LOVELY IDEA!!!

Scarlet went with a Hello Kitty Christmas theme from the $ section in Target.  The sockies were really adorable and really added a sweet look to her room.  

Scarlet was so proud of her advent that she took these pics herself and I happened to find them on my camera looking for other pics.  Love that!!!

 

Summer Gifties...

 

So every month my bestie, Michelle, and I visit with a couple of ladies who go to church with us.  We check in on them to see if they are doing okay, if they need help with anything and to just hang out and chat.  We usually leave them with a little gift or treat to let them know how much we think about them.  Right now we visit with the best ladies- Roxana, Tonya and Sara.  

So for this month Michelle and I decided to make them WELCOME TO SUMMER posters since we kinda fell in love with ours from last year. (Michelle made them and surprised me with one last June and it was a huge family hit)  The day before school got out I went to Michelle's and we painted the posters.  We then added a cheesy poem and ribbon to them and delivered them to our girls' houses so they could surprise their kids with them when they got home from school the next day.

This was such a fun and easy gift to give and they all loved them. It has been really fun driving by their houses and seeing their cute posters hanging from their porches.  Tonya sent us a pic of hers with her cute little girl, Georgie, posing proudly under it.  Thanks for the pic, T!!!

This would be super fun to surprise your friends and neighbors with next year- or even this weekend!!!

In case you wanted to copy or semi-copy our poem, it went a little something like this:

To celebrate the end of

school in a very festive manner

Michelle and I created for you,

a very summery banner!

So on the final day of school

display this groovy art.

A fantastic way to tell the kids-

LET OUR SUMMER START!!!

:)

So, the Gum Balls...

 

Okay, I am 1 of 4 women who run our children's church program every Sunday.  It's called Primary. We have about 70 children who we are in charge of for 2 hours each week.  It's A LOT of work, but so fun and fulfilling and I LOVE it.  

This year we really tried to stress to the children how important it was to bring their scriptures to church.  In order to do this, we set up a big glass jar and every time a child brought their scriptures, we put a gum ball in the jar.  On top of that.  If a whole class brought their scriptures, they would earn an extra big gum ball to put in the jar.  We told the children when the jar was filled up, they would get an extra fantastic Sharing Time (that's the time when all the classes meet together in one room every Sunday).

At the beginning, about 1/2 the kids were bringing their scriptures regularly.  By the time the gum ball jar was about 1/4 filled, the whole entire primary was bringing them!  Maybe 1 or 2 kids out of the 70 were forgetting!  It was AMAZING!!!  

Some families aren't able to or don't want to buy scriptures for their children, but that wasn't a problem because we (and I'm sure most churches) have an ample supply in their church libraries or meeting houses.  

So, a few weeks ago the children filled the jar!  It was a fun day and we were SO proud of them!!! Now it was up to us 4 ladies to prepare the fantastic Sharing Time we'd promised them. Gulp...

We decided to have a BUBBLE/CIRCLE themed Sharing Time.  We are decorating the room with tons of helium balloons- enough for each kid to take one home, of course.  Then we are putting polka dots ALL over the walls and chalkboards and podium and piano.  Oh, and one of the ladies in charge has 2 of those fantastic bubble machines that blow the opaque white bubbles!  Have you seen those?  SO fun!!!  

We are then doing a fun Dot Art craft (the lady who invented Dot Art pens is in our ward!  What are the chances?!?!).  We are also serving ice cream cups topped with gum balls for a yummy treat. And the whole singing time will be done using balloons to pick the songs by popping them to see what song is inside.

Then after the Sharing Time is over, the kids will leave with a fun goodie... a cone filled with tons of gum balls!  What else, right?  I made up a little poem to put on the tag-

Bubble gum bubble gum

You filled the jar!

You brought your scriptures

You are a STAR!!!

It's not Wordsworth, but it will do.

 

I'm Busy With...

these:

 

 

I'll be back soon!

Easter Treats for Primary...

Some cute treats I made for our Primary for Easter.  I made 72 of these babies!

Here's how to make these cuties...

Makes 12 bird nests

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups miniature marshmallows
• 4 tbsp (2 ounces) butter
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 can (5 oz) crispy chow mein noodles
• 1/2 cup small candy eggs
• 12 marshmallow peeps
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1 drop green food coloring
• 1/4 cup white chocolate chips
  

1. Prepare a muffin tin by spraying it with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the marshmallows and butter. Microwave for 1 minute then remove and stir vigorously. If the marshmallows are not fully melted, microwave for an additional 30-45 seconds, until the marshmallows are melted. Stir the marshmallow and butter mixture until it is smooth and homogenous.

3. Add the vanilla extract and chow mein noodles and stir until the noodles are completely and evenly covered with the mixture.

4. Using a large spoon, evenly divide the chow mein noodles among the 12 muffin tin holes.

5. Spray your hands with nonstick cooking spray, and mold the noodles into a nest shape.

6. Place the nests in the refrigerator to set while you prepare the coconut. Place the coconut into a small bag and add a drop or two of green food coloring. Using your hands, rub the coconut together, through the bag, until the green color is well-dispersed. 

7. Remove the nests from the muffin tins with a knife.  They will come out very easily.

8. Sprinkle the coconut on top of the nests. 

9. Melt white chocolate chips in a Ziploc bag in a microwave.  Cut a tiny hole in the bottom of the bag to pipe the chocolate onto the eggs and Peep.  Add two or three eggs to each nest and secure them with melted white chocolate.  Do the same to a Peep. 

10. These nests are best at room temperature. They can be kept in a wax-paper lined Tupperware container for up to a week, but the Peeps will get stale quickly, so add those at the last minute if you are making these in advance.

Accomplished Today... (Saturday 8/11)

A Layout with Swirls

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Scarlet is ready to give her talk!  A talk is just a little 2 minute or so presentation that each child gives during the children's hour at church. 

This is Scarlet's:

She will hold up an 8 x10 pic of our family and say

I can show Jesus how much I love him by being nice to my family

Then she'll hold up another pic of Dan and I and say

I can show Jesus how much I love him by giving my Mom & Dad hugs and kisses

Then she'll hold up another pic of Chandler and say

I can show Jesus how much I love him by being kind to Chandler and helping him clean his room

She'll hold up a pic of Patrick then and say

I can show Jesus I love him by being a nice sister to Patrick and playing with Patrick on the trampoline

She will then hold up a picture of herself and say

I can show Jesus I love him by saying my prayers and telling him.

So that's Scarlet's little talk.  She wrote it herself.  I think it's darling.  I'm a big believer in having the kids help prepare their own talks and also having them give one that is on their level.

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Coconut Lime Pie

Frozen pie crust (or if you're an over achiever, homemade!), uncooked and defrosted

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 T. flour

5 eggs

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

juice of 3 small limes

1/2 t. vanilla

1 cup coconut

1 cup whipping cream (or a can if you're in a hurry)

Defrost pie crust

Mix sugar, brown sugar and flour.  With an electric mixer, beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until combined.  Beat in butter, lime juice and vanilla until combined.

Sprinkle 3/4 cup of the coconut over the bottom of the pie crust.  Pour filling over coconut in crust.

Bake for 45 minutes or until top appears set when lightly shaken.  Cool pie on wire rack for 1 hour.  Chill in fridge for 3 t0 6 hours.

Meanwhile toast the remaining 1/4 cup coconut in a shallow baking pan in a 350 degree oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown.  Stir so coconut doesn't burn now and again.

Just before serving whip cream and spread over pie.  Sprinkle pie with toasted coconut.

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Italian Chicken

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. seasoned salt

1 t. pepper

4- 5 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless

1 T. oil

1 1/2 oz. pkg. spaghetti sauce mix

1 1/2 t. Italian seasoning

1 c. dry white wine or chicken broth

4 cups zucchini, sliced 1/2 inch thick

prepared spaghetti

Mix garlic powder, seasoned salt and pepper in a bowl; rub chicken with mix.

Heat oil in  a large skillet over medium heat; brown chicken on all sides.

Combine chicken, sauce mix, Italian seasoning and broth in a slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or high setting for 3-4 hours.  Add zucchini during last hour of cooking and cook on low setting.  Serve over hot spaghetti.

So Far Today... (Saturday 8/4)

I'm on a roll... kind of.

Here's what I've done today, so far.

Okay, so this turned out super delicious (even the kids really liked it) and it was SO easy.

Sausage Quiche

9 inch pie crust, unbaked

1 T. butter, melted

1 lb. mild pork sausage, browned and drained

1 T. flour

1/2 C. Monterey Jack cheese, grated

3 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 C. milk

Brush pie crust with butter and bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  Mix sausage with flour.  Sprinkle cheese on bottom of pie crust.  Add sausage on top of cheese.  Blend eggs and milk together.  Pour over meat and cheese mixture.  Return to oven and bake 30 to 35 minutes more or until knife comes out clean. 

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How much do I LOVE using old scrapbook supplies?!?!!! 

                                                                                                             

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Top of our Primary Calendar...

                                                                                                       

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Plus...

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Hinge layout (this looks SO much better in person!)

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Father's Day Primary Activity...

In our church I'm in the Primary Presidency and for Father's Day we had the kids meet on Saturday morning at the church and make their dads ties.

We ordered the fabric ties from Oriental Trading Company and they just turned out sooooo cute!  We had 70 kids making ties and eating donuts and juice... fun!

The next day at church, every single Dad (except one, lame) wore the ties their children made them!  Most dads were wearing more than one tie at a time because they have more than one child in primary.  Mike Muir had 4!  lol

Such a fun activity!!!

Green Eggs and Hamlet...

I've been working... A LOT!  I'm starting to sew tonight.  I'll keep you posted.  I came up with this for one of our props.  I think Dan is going to make a 3' one for the corner of our stage.  Cute, huh?

Crazy New Adventure...

Every other year in our church the youth ages 12-18 put on a 15 minute play with all the other church branches in our area and then on the same night, all the plays are put on.  They are called Roadshows (because we travel to different church buildings to put them on).  So for this years Roadshow the theme was "Books" and our brilliant Roadshow writer came up with GREEN EGGS AND HAMLET!  Seriously, how cute is that?!?!??!!!

We kind of have an advantage though because in real life he (Ken Daurio) is a fabulous hollywood screenwriter!  He's also the fab husband of my super fab amazing friend Michelle (luv you, Michelle).

The script is hysterical... the songs are brilliant... the whole thing is to die for.  I'll post the script sometime and you'll see.

So, where do I come in on this?  Well Dan and I were asked to do sets and costumes.  SUPER CRAZY!!!  The even crazier thing is that we are excited!  We've done this for the last few Roadshows, but this time it feels different because our son, Patrick, will be in it, so we want it to be extra wonderful!  Also, all our friends are in charge of the whole thing, so we want to help them out.

I will be keeping you posted on how things are going... the show is on February 24.  YES!!! That soon!!! OMGOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!