Um....July through September?

I am the most horrible blogger in the world. But you already know that. Now, on to the next subject.

Aaron turned 4 on July 30th....WOW! He is one solid little man. He loves Star Wars, Transformers and Bear Grylls (the guy on Man vs. Wild) He is usually outside playing in the dirt, pretending to build a fire, and we have had to stop him from trying to eat bugs. He is all boy, no doubt about it. I have to tuck him in every night, and he is still inseparable from his stuffed puppy. His other prized possession is a stick that he found outside which he carries around in his pocket, he is convinced it is his pocket knife. The boy is a riot! He'll make a FANTASTIC scout some day!


Whitney started school on August 16th. She is doing great! We met her teacher in Alamosa for DIEBEL testing, and she is just flying along! I love K12 so far, I can't get over how well structured it is, it's exactly what I was looking for. I love that they sent all her books, supplies, and even her own personal computer for her...I just can't say enough good things about K12! Our division of K12 is actually called Colorado Virtual Academy, or COVA. Most states have their division of K12, and it's usually free. If you're ever thinking about homeschooling, K12 is absolutely the way to go!!! They even have field trips...our first one was 2 weeks ago, and we all met at the Pueblo zoo. That will have to be another post though, I actually took pictures. :)

Next subject of discussion, my Dad ran another marathon last week, and we got to be there to cheer him on at the end, it was so great! It was in Colorado Springs. The weather was BEAUTIFUL, and the energy there was incredible! He was amazing, as always. It was awesome to be there to support him and cheer him on. Aaron yelled out, "Do Drandpa!" As he ran by...


And, it's been a long time since I posted anything about Kate. She's getting so big! Okay, that's a lie. I don't think she's growing at all. But, she's still cute! :)

ToothLESS

Sometimes life sends you a giant wake up call. "HEY, YOU! YEAH, I'M TALKING TO YOU! YOU'RE OOOOOOOOLD!" And, then you hang your head and cry for a moment. My wake up call is that Whitney lost her first tooth. I know most 6 almost 7 year olds have already lost a few teeth by now...so we've been waiting for this day for a long time. She was more anxious than I was, of course. She has been working on this tooth for months! Finally, it was just hanging there so we got out the dental floss. That poor girl. I gingerly tied it around her tooth, recalling the days when my dad used to yank my teeth...I was so scared! Then, "pop", my tooth would be out and I wouldn't even have known accept for my dad's "Here you go, Noot Scoot!". So, I figured I could do the same for Whitney. No big deal right? In just a few seconds, her fear would be over and she'd be holding her very first tooth. WRONG. It took 7 yanks for that tooth to come out! Each time was followed by, "Okay, this is the last one, let's try again! One...two...three!" "OOOOOWWWWWW!" After the 6th time I finally bribed her with a Barbie doll of her choice for one more try. She got up the courage and finally, it flew out. We couldn't find it at first...but when we did, her tears of pain and fear turned to tears of joy and my tears started up. She looked adorable. :) So...I am now the proud parent of a toothless...well, one toothLESS child. And...I AM OLD.

Black Thumbs and Evil Ants

It's been a while since I posted. I guess it's time for an update, eh?

Well, I started a garden! FOUR times, actually. The first time, I used an idiot proof indoor green house. Guaranteed to grow, it says so right on the box. Nope. I killed them. They started to grow beautifully, and I thought they were ready for the sun. I forgot to take off the lid, and they got baked. Poor little babies.

But, that week I grew a beautiful onion in the fridge. (Not on purpose, unfortunately.)

I was determined, went and bought another greenhouse and more seeds and started again. Cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, and baby pumpkins. They grew beautifully, I didn't put them in the sun until they were a little bigger than the previous attempt, and they kept growing and growing! I was so excited!

My dad and I have started these square foot gardens...so we built boxes together and made the dirt mixture together. It was a lot of fun and a great bonding experience!


I planted them outside in my 4' x 4' garden box. It was great! I did a happy dance. The next morning I went to check on my little baby plant garden, and ALL of the plants were gone. I did see red ants exiting the premises with chunks of green leaves in their dirty, EVIL little chompers. The ants ate my second garden. They looked just like this, I promise.


The third garden...I went ahead and bought plants from Walmart. Time was running out and I had already wasted a month trying to grow plants inside. The growing season here is really short so I was desperate.


I figured maybe they were too big for the ants. The ants left them alone, but a terrible wind storm came through the valley! I heard we had upwards of 75mph winds, and I believe it! Shingles from houses were gone, trees down, signs blown over....and my poor little garden blew away. I'm not kidding. There were holes left where the plants were! I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy crying.

Pretend she has brunette hair and green eyes. The red lipstick and fancy nails stay.

The fourth garden seems to be doing okay. I put cayenne pepper all over it and the ants seem to be leaving it alone. I have tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, sugar snap peas, strawberries, baby pumpkins and cucumbers growing. I'm sure I'll jinx them now that I'm typing this and there will be a deep freeze tonight, or a plague of locusts...but I'm so proud of my little garden. I'll have to take a picture of it now!

Lesson Learned!

I started a new blog. Here's the story. You know how I got a new camera for Mother's Day? Well, since then I have learned a lot of things. In my eyes, I feel like I learned the hard way. I was an idiot, and posted some of my pictures on facebook. Pictures I thought were beautiful and I did a great job with. I think ignorance is bliss, and although I like it that way because it hurts less, I'll never learn and grow. Anyways, what I wasn't expecting were photography friends and family who honestly felt they were helping me by critiquing my pictures. Oh boy. It hurt! I was taken completely by surprise and cried pretty much all day. I even contemplated listing my camera on ebay. I realized I wasn't a good photographer. So sad. But...after some good friends who knew how to comfort me I have decided NOT to throw in the towel and keep trying. I'll get better. I did learn some useful things though.

1. If you put a watermark, it is like...coming out of the closet and declaring, "I am a professional photographer and I want you to pay me to take your pictures. I am awesome." Oops! I thought it was to keep people from stealing your pictures. So...I'm sorry if I offended anyone by watermarking my pictures, I am NOT competition and I will not charge anyone for taking their pictures. That being said, I will continue to put atleast my name on my pictures so nobody steals them.

2. Photographers are feisty. They don't like other photographers. They don't like competition. It's brutal out there! They will try to tear you down and make you feel worthless and talentless and humiliated. Seriously...they could make a reality TV show about it. This will be hard for me because I'm really sensitive. I'll try to use it as a good thing...gotta toughen up this skin, ya know?

3. If you tell one person you'd love advice or input on your pictures, you are inadvertently opening it up to the entire photography world, and they will speak their mind. So...lesson learned, prepare for a flood, or don't ask for help where people can see it.

Anyway...I learned a lot. If you are interested in the new blog, it's

PictureAlmostPerfect.Blogspot.com

Pinata Instructions

(Before you read this...put your brain in Martha Stewart voice mode! It makes it much funner!)

Hello and welcome to the second part of cheap birthday party decorations! I'm going to try to show you how to make a cheap and SUPER EASY pinata! (Wait...Martha wouldn't say "super easy"...) No paper mache mess or balloons or letting it dry for days. I made this entire pinata in about an hour! You will need:

A large bowl (If you want yours to be a circle. Mine was about 14" wide)
A smaller bowl about half the size of the large bowl
Cardboard- I just cut up an old cardboard box.
Crepe paper- It looks better with several colors. I got a roll of pink, yellow, red, and orange.
Glue gun- Have it heating up when you start.
Glue stick or a scrapbooking tape dispenser
Scissors
Candy-I just went and got some bags from Dollar Tree for cheap!
Gift ribbon- You know....the kind you wrap around gifts and make the ends all curly?
Tape
A box cutter
A ruler
2 pieces of 12 x 12 cardstock or scrapbook paper.

Okay. First step. Take your bowl and trace it to make 2 separate circles.

Then, you take your box cutter and CAREFULLY cut out the circles. Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to erase all of the blood from my accident! Just kidding, just kidding. It didn't bleed.

Cut out 4 inch wide strips to glue around the edge of the circle. Make sure they're even and straight.

Glue the strip around the edge of one of the circles with the glue gun. Make sure if there is any sort of print on the cardboard that it goes on the inside.

Then, glue the other circle to the piece you just made.

With your box cutter, CAREFULLY cut out a 3 sided opening to put the candy into. Mine was about 2 1/2 inches wide by 3 inches long.

Now comes the fun part. take your glue stick or scrapbooking glue, and run it along the side. Take your crepe paper and stick it to the glue, and trim the ends so it doesn't hang over the edge. Then, snip the edge of the crepe paper to make it nice and frilly. Do this all the way around the edge of the pinata. Ole!

You will do pretty much the same thing to the front, and back... just in a circle. Do this until you fill it about half way to the middle. Then, you'll take your 12x12 piece of paper and trace the smaller bowl. Cut out the circle.

Glue the circle you just cut out to the top of the pinata. Do the same for the back of the pinata.

Then, you can decorate it however you want! I just printed out a big number 1 and stuck it to the front with mounting foam tape to make it stand out. I also did the frill thing around the back of the 1.
At the top of the pinata, poke 2 holes about 3 inches apart. Thread a really long piece of gift ribbon through the holes until both ends come out of the trap door. Tie the ends together in a knot, that way your pinata has a handle to hold it by.

Then, fill it with candy. Make sure you eat all the good stuff before you put it in. The kids will never know. :) When you're done filling it, poke a hole in the middle of the "trap door". Sorry, I kind of forgot to take a picture of this part, but it's not hard. You will cut out about twice as many strips of gift ribbon as there will be kids. I did mine about 2 feet long. Thread them all through the hole.

Now, you have two options. This can either be a "beat the crud out of it pinata", or a pull string pinata. With a pull string pinata, there is no violence or crying because one kid hit the other kid with the stick while he was blindfolded. With a pull string pinata, instead of taping all the ribbons inside the pinata, you will only tape ONE string inside of the trap door. If you want, you can tie some knots in that ribbon, too...it will make it harder to pull it out. Then, you close the trap door. You can tape it closed with a piece of tape if you want, I didn't even bother taping mine. It just depends how heavy your candy is, I guess.


Now for the fun! We did it inside, and my Dad just held the pinata by the handle and stood on a chair. It was so fun to see the kids disappointed faces as their string pulled right out of the pinata...mwahahaha! It was even MORE fun to see the trap door open when the right string was pulled and candy spill out everywhere. The kids went crazy! LOVE LOVE LOVED IT!


And that, my friends, is how to do a cheap, easy pinata! I got the crepe paper, ribbon and candy all at the Dollar Tree. GRAND TOTAL: $7! Not bad, eh?

Tissue Paper Flowers

Here is the first edition of the birthday party decoration series! Okay...there will only be 2. But the first one is really easy. They are all made out of tissue paper. I think I only ended up spending about $25total for the entire party. That's feeding 16 people, too. Maybe $7 for the decorations total?




These are HUGE TISSUE PAPER FLOWERS that are super easy to make. You can make them all one color, or change it up with several colors. We did red, orange, yellow and hot pink as our color theme. Like...a cute fiesta! Thanks to Martha Stewart for the great idea and easy instructions!

*I should note that for the center of my flower, I just made a smaller version of the flower using only one color of tissue paper and glued it to the middle. And I didn't puff the whole thing into a circle, it was flat on the back so I could hang it on the wall. *

Also, a cheap meal idea when you're feeding lots of people, a nacho buffet! (Joke time...what do you call a buffet that isn't yours? A nacho buffet. Get it? Not yo buffet? Har har harrrr) I bought a big thing of nacho cheese (like you'd find in a #10 can at Sam's Club. I got mine at Walmart), a few bags of tortilla chips, and then in smaller bowls I had toppings like olives, jalapenos, taco meat, sour cream, and green onions. It was a huge hit! I put the cheese in the crock pot to keep it warm, and the chips in a huge yellow plastic bucket and let them at it. It was a huge hit! Even the kids loved it. :)



As for drinks, a fun drink is BRAZILIAN LIMEADE. Sooooo good!

First Run

For Mothers Day, Michael got me a new Canon Rebel! Seriously, BEST Mother's Day EVER! I have been drooling over cameras for a long time now, all I have is a point and shoot. I seriously started crying when I saw what he got for me! I am still in shock. Just looking over the manual that came with it is overwhelming, there is so much to learn and remember when it comes to "real" photography. I think it's going to take lots and lots of practice to get it right! Ethan came over to play today, and he was so patient with me...bless his heart. He was a great subject, though! Here are a few from my first run with the Rebel!