Wyatte Turns 5

Since Wyatte’s birthday fell on a school day I decided to make cupcakes and send them for snack.  I looked around the internet, but didn’t find anything that I liked.  So I came up with this!  Isn’t he cute!??!?!??!?!  This is what I started with, a circus peanut.  I cut some off the bottom so that one end was up higher than the other. (I enjoyed that part!!!)

Then using these wonderfully expensive cake making tools (yes I am talking about the pop can and fork!!!) I frosted the circus peanut green.  Then I cut a jelly belly jelly bean in thirds, and used the two ends as nostrils.Then I frosted over them.  Using another jelly bean, this time only cut in half, I made eyes.  Using white sprinkles I added teeth and wala!  Cute crocodile cupcakes!!!then I put the whole thing on a blue frosted cupcake, and there it is!  I think they turned out pretty cute.  They did take me a while, so if you are going to try them budget out a little more time than normal!!!

 

Grandma Linda was wonderful enough to bring Wyatte to school and pick him up afterwards, so that I could get stuff done for Wyatte’s family party that was that night.  Grandpa Stan came over for lunch and brought presents for all the kids!  Aubrie and Nevaeh got books.And Wyatte got a camo shirt (that in these pics is the wrapping paper!)Inside was a camo coat, and in the hood, sleeves, and pockets were all kind of treat!  A camo hat, gloves, and TONS OF CANDY!!!

 

 

 

Here is the start of the crocodile cake that I made for him family party, and am going to make again when he has his friend party in January (there is WAY to much going on in December to have a party so we are just doing it one weekend in January!)Here is the cake that I kinda went off of.  Not the same in any aspect, but it gave me a starting point…The feet are cupcakes, with marshmallow claws/toes (I used french vanilla snowman ones, trimmed a little bit because that seemed the easiest) The eyes are strawberry marshmallows, frosted, then another snowman cut a little, with a blue mini m & m’s as the pupil.  The nostrils are parts of french vanilla marshmallows, frosted, with brown mini m & m’s.  The teeth are the marshmallows, cut into slivers…For supper I made a version of Penne Alfredo.  I loosely followed this recipe for Alfredo sauce, cooked penne noodles, used a deli rotisserie chicken and stirred it all together and then baked it for a while.  When I make it again I will double the sauce, it was a little too dry for my taste, but was great!  I did add minced garlic, and onions.

Then it was time for presents.  He got a truck with horse and trailer, a farm lego set, a marshmallow shooter, a monster truck, a book for special school papers and pictures, flashlights, and a digger/truck magnetic puzzle, and a sweatshirt and warmup pants.  I am sure I am missing something, but…

I can’t believe that I have a 5 year old.  Crazy how the time goes by.

Craft Challenge (kinda)

My camera crapped out on me last night, and so instead of having pictures of the things that I made for this month’s craft challenge, you have to look at the pictures that I got the ideas from.

My mother-in-law gets GREAT magazines that I love to browse through.  In the past I have never had the money to actually buy anything from them, but it was fun to dream.  Well now that my hubby is back to work I could order some things from them, but the only things that I really liked I decided that I could make!  So off to Walmart (we don’t have a “craft” store in town, and with three young kids you don’t make any extra trips out of town, unless you have to!  So I made do with what I found!!!

This was the first picture that I fell in love with.

Taken from The Country House catalog.

Or at least the mittens!  For these I got some off white flannel and dyed it burgundy (stained the tub in the process!!!) I made them smaller than they are in the catalog and because of that they were really hard to sew, so I used some super glue for now, and have to figure something else out if they start coming apart!  I got some tiny clothes pins and some twine to hang them on.  Don’t quite know where they are going to end up finally, but they are sure cute!!!

Next I saw this frame, and loved the idea, but not the whole thing…

Taken from The Country House catalog.

I found a wood frame at Walmart, stained it with a light stain, and then started picking out papers.  The first one I did is green and blue, the second one I did is the same color scheme as the one in the picture, and then I have papers cut out to do a black and white one, and a beautiful gray/silver patterned paper.  No words on them, at least for now.  I would like to be able to change the pictures if I want, and not be limited to a certain type…

Last but not least, was this idea.

I couldn’t find tags like this in Walmart, but did find some scrapbooking “scrap” pack that had tan/brown cardstock in it.  So I found a couple of tag patterns in another scrapbooking pack that I got, and traced them and then cut them out.  Darkened the edges (used some stain and some gold/bronze paint), used some of the circles that are used to strengthen whole punched holes (do you know what I am talking about !?!?!?!) and painted them a gold/bronze color and put them at the top.  I painted Merry Christmas on mine, but have plans to make at least another set with a different saying.  I also got some thin crafting wire to string them together.

All in all I was pretty happy with them all.  If I get a new camera, or figure out what is wrong with my old one I will take pics and share them with you all.

Can’t wait to see what everyone else has done!!!!!

 

Merry Christmas!!!

 

**** Whoops!  Forgot to add in the link to Blue Eyed Blessings! So here it is!!!  Go check out some of the other Christmas Crafts that everyone has made!!!!!

Christmas Crafts

So I know I said I was going to do this for the fall craft challenge (and I did something just not until after it ended!!!) Since I have already started working on stuff for Christmas I figured I am safe in doing this!!! So I am doing this challenge

Anyone want to join me? Click the picture and it will take you to another blog with all the details. Come back in a couple of weeks to see what I made, and check out what others have done too. If I get around to it I might post what I made for the fall challenge too!

I also have done a couple of posts with pics of the kids, but for some reason they disappeared… So I have to find my camera and redo the posts. So look for those soon too!!!

A day in the life…

So Friday was Wyatte’s picture day at preschool.  Miss Heather decided to have both her AM and afternoon preschool classes come in the morning so the afternoon class wouldn’t have to come for part of the morning and then back again a couple hours later for school.  This meant she was going to have 12 4/5 year olds for 3 hours!  She asked if I would be willing to come in and be an extra adult in the room!!! 

So I left the girls home with John (who didn’t go to work because of a rain day) and headed to school with Wyatte.  It was actually FUN!  To see them, especially Wyatte, do “school” things.  At home he is pretty hard to get to pay attention, but in school he does better.  Fun to see them turn on the charm for the camera guy! 

I don’t think I was a huge help, but maybe seeing the two of us in there made the other parents feel better!?!?!?  Here are a few pics of stuff.  (Heather if I shouldn’t have these on here let me know and I will take them down…)  I am not going to name names, or even really narrate the pics you can pretty much see what is going on!

Wyatte had show ‘n tell, and since they are on the letter “F” he brought a FISH and a FROG!

 

So just a snippet into my “Day in the life of Heather L”

You want to see my kids!?!?!?!

Ok, so here are a few pictures that I took on the camera that I bought late last night!  I really wanted to have one for the pumpkin patch outing that we went on today, so last night when I was done with the laundry (at 10 PM) I headed to Walmart to get one!!! Aubrie waiting for the kids to come down a “tornado” slide, she loved watching them come out, but wouldn’t go down herself!

Wyatte pulling a friend in the wagon.  Wyatte enjoyed pulling and Sam loved the ride!

Here is Wyatte on the rope swing in the hay barn maze.  My old camera had a setting for action, and I thought I was on it, but looking at the pictures, either I don’t know what I am doing, or the camera doesn’t work like I thought it would!

Here is Nevaeh on the swing too!

 

Aubrie enjoying a seat on some of the hay bales while the kids swung!  Isn’t she adorable!!?!?

Nevaeh was checking out the llama that they had.  In the cages towards the back right of the picture they had bunnies that you could hold too, but we didn’t have time to do that.  The kids were bummed at first but I don’t think they remember at all now!

 

Aubrie didn’t want to get close to the animals!  She did enjoy watching them though…

Wyatte, Rorey (red and black coat), Joseph (tongue out) and Matthew (spiderman hat) all on the hay ride getting ready to go feed the cows!  Oh, Miss Heidi W. is in there too!

 

Just a part of the group that we went with!

Wyatte getting ready to feed the cows. 

 

Nevaeh and Aubrie getting ready to feed the cows!

Tried to get a good pic of the three of us girls, but you can see how that turned out!

 

The cows came right up to the trailer and took the hay right out of your hands, or from underneath you, depending on how fast you were!

Aubrie liked looking at the cows, but not so much when they came for the hay she would throw it at them!

 

I guess she did get fairly close!

Wyatte really enjoyed himself, he wants to have cows at our house, in our barn (when we build it again!) so he felt right at home.

 

 Look of fun?  Or what!?!?!

 

Aubrie really liked the chickens!  I think helped that they were in a cage!  She has always like our chickens to, come to think of it…

Trying to feed the horse!  She wasn’t scared of it at all…

 

And then we tried to get a few pics of the kids, alone and separate…  Aubrie’s is ok, and then it got worse…

First Wyatte started throwing pumpkin’s around, then Nevaeh wanted to sit on them, and Aubrie wanted to get down…  So this is the best one!

 

Nevaeh wouldn’t sit still, and she wouldn’t look at me, and she kept giving me funny faces…

Wyatte wouldn’t smile, he wouldn’t really look at me, and he wanted to get down to get the pumpkins that he threw…

 

I did get them to look at me when they were in here! Well almost!!!

Picking out a pumpkin after we were done.  Not really sure where they are right now, guess I am going to have to find them!

Does she look like the Michelin Man or what??!?!?!?

A link to a fall craft giveaway!

Ok, so I was going to do this whole craft challenge thing, and couldn't some up with any cute ideas that I thought I would actually put out, well looking around the blogs that I follow I realized that that month was over (duh!) and the links were up to those creative people who actually started and finished their projects.

One of the crafters/bloggers is doing a give a way on her blog for the things she made and they are SUPER CUTE!!! Even if I don't win I am going to take her ideas and try them myself. They are all ones that you could do for any holiday/season that you wanted! Way awesome!!!

So here is the link to her blog

My April Snow GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

OH these are pretty!!!

My April Snow GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Preschool Pics...

Ok, so I forgot to tell you all this in my last post, but Miss Heather (Wyatte's preschool teacher) has a website that she puts pics of the preschool class on, along with some short notes about what is going on. If any of you family would like to be able to see those pictures let me know and she will send you an invite to see the page. It is private right now, so that is why if you went to click on the pics of his first day of school you couldn't see them bigger... So let me know if you would like to see them!

Long time (still) no see

So I still don’t have a camera, trying to be patient and not covet the cameras that I see.  Trying not to be disappointed that I missed Wyatte’s first day of preschool.  Or Aubrie jumping off the dock.  Or Nevaeh playing dress up, here at home and with friends.  Such is life.  I think partly I am trying to pay more attention to what is going on around me so that I can remember instead of looking back and seeing the pictures.

Anywho, Wyatte is in his second week of preschool and LOVES it!  He seems so grown up all of a sudden.  He told me today that he knows all the letters, and proceeded to sing me the song.  Previously he would say H, R, K, K and other letters in the wrong order.  He also totally got the concept of right and left, and understands that one is different from the other.  Such a big boy I have!  Tomorrow marks the first night of Cubbies and I know that he is super excited for that to start. 

Nevaeh has had lots of play dates lately because there is a group of us that is getting ready to sing a special in church next month and since one of the moms’ piano is in her basement with the toys we go there and the kids play and we sing.  Works great!  On Monday there were 6 moms and 13 kids.  There were 5 missing (in school) and one on the way.  So 19 kids between 6 of us!  All 6 1/2 and under!!!  So Nevaeh had tons of fun playing with all the other kids, along with Aubrie!  Nevaeh gets to do Cubbies this year too!  She is pretty excited too, so hopefully she does good!  She is really ready for preschool too and if we had the money I would send her to Miss Heather too, but right now we just don’t have it.  Later in the school year I might enroll her, but for right now, I am just going to try to spend some extra time with her while Wyatte is in school.  We are going to do Story Time at the library each Monday, and have our Growing Together class each Friday so that is some extra attention that Wyatte won’t get.  I am trying to find someone who will watch Aubrie during story time so that I can focus on Nevaeh, but haven’t found anyone yet… 

Aubrie is getting pretty big too!  She started jumping off the dock today when we went swimming.  She would run down the dock to wear I was standing and say go, then lean out to me and wait until I grabbed her!  It was super cute!  She loves the water, and is a daredevil.  She toppled a couple of times, but did great keeping her head up and I WAS right there to help her up right away.  She has a floaty that she can sit in but she doesn’t really like that because she can’t “play” in the water as much.  She is also ready to start potty training.  She tells me “poop butt” and either needs to go, or has already gone.  She hates to have a wet or poopy diaper which makes it easier to do this.  We have started putting her on the potty chair some, but with all the running around we are doing right now it is pretty hard to keep consistent.  I am not pushing her at all if she is poopy we change it, and if she says she has to go we try.  She doesn’t usually go, but we are getting her ready!  Aubrie will go to the nursery on Wednesday nights during Awanas because I am going to be helping with the paper work part of it.  I can’t listen to the kids say verses or do anything else with kids because we aren’t members yet.  To do anything with kids in the church you have to be a member and pass a background check.  Both of which aren’t going to be a problem, just haven’t made the commitment yet.  We have the papers, just need to do the steps.  So pray for us as we embark on that.

Singing has always been in my heart, and I have missed doing specials and worship.  God speaks to me though music and I love to share that with others, and haven’t felt right doing it lately.   Our small group did a Beth Moore Bible Study called Believing God.  One of the weeks homework was to ask God for a specific verse to use in prayer over a specific person or problem.  I did that, and asked God for a promise.  A song that he would give my heart so that I new he was going to give back to me.  As I was asking, “Everything to me” by Avalon played on the music station that I was listening to on TV.  A few other things happened and I knew he had answered me.  Well to make this long story a little longer… on the 4th of July we had a Watson church service and Ann sang a song called Hosanna, by Brooke Fraser (of Hillsong) and it dug deep in my heart and never let go.  I bought music and got the group together and we are singing it next month at church.  God has totally blessed me with a wonderful support group of Godly woman, most of whom are music!  How totally awesome!!!  I am also praying about joining a worship team once a month.  Plus working on a couple of other special songs!  So when God blesses, He really BLESSES!!!!

John still isn’t working on the pipeline, he did join the union.  But is still waiting for the call to start.  We heard through the grape vine that they might stop until frost hits because they are in the swamp/wetlands so much…  So that kinda stinks, but God blessed us with wonderful friends who thought of us when asked if they knew anyone who needed work.  There is a green house in town that also does landscaping and the owners go to our church, and their son and his wife are part of our young marrieds group and we both have girls the same age.  (Aubrie and Hannah are 2 months apart, and Nevaeh and Taylor are about the same, not totally sure of the dates though…) Back to my story…  John Clark (the son) talked to John Hoard (my hubby) in church a couple weeks ago asking him if he was interested in working for Bloomers for a while.  So John has been blessed with pretty steady work for the last 2 1/2 weeks through them.  So much nicer than unemployment…

I think this is a long enough post right now, so enjoy that and I will hopefully get some form of pictures up at some point in the future.  God Bless!!!

Wyatte's first day of preschool

Click here to view these pictures larger

Here is a picture from Wyatte's first day of preschool. Since I don't have a camera right now, I was waiting for Miss Heather to put some up on the school website that she made. I finally remembered to look there and she had put some up! So here are a couple.

I have been really neglecting this blog lately and I am sorry. Since I don't have a camer I haven't felt like just putting our life on here in words. John has been working for a gardening/landscaping company the last couple of weeks and starts with the pipeline on Monday. So hopefully once we have a steady stream of income coming in I can get a new camera. John did promise that I could with his first paycheck after we get all our bills caught up. So hopefully soon you will all be back into the swing of our life!!!

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Click here to view these pictures larger

Here is a picture of Wyatte's first day of preschool. He is in a class with 6 other boys, and 2 girls! He really enjoys going, and I have enjoyed the morning that I am down to 2 children!

Craft Challenge thru Blue Eyed Blessings!!!

I added a craft challenge button on my right side bar, click it to see the details. Not sure what I am going to do yet, but thought I would try. Good times! Not really into halloween decorating, but fall decorating I am all about! So wish me luck, if you have any idea's let me know!!!