I love wood

Ok, I'm really loving making picture puzzles. Yesterday I mounted a 11x17 picture of Helaman and the Strippling warriors onto some wood and made it into a puzzle. Then today I made a wood box to hold it in. (Well actually I took a pine ammo box and cut it down to size then re-glued it and clamped it, then made a lid for it with a picture of the puzzle on top)

Reading on an autumn day...

Last September when the weather finally cooled off enough to be outside, I let the kids take some books and blankets out to read. Alan loves to read to his little sisters and brother. I'm posting this now because for some reason I couldn't get it to upload before, and I thought it was worth posting. Notice Alan's goofy voices? He really get's into character when he's reading.

William's Furrowed Brow

William has a look that he gives anyone he doesn't know, or when he's just thinking. We call it his "furrowed brow". His face is very expressive. I'll try to get more pictures of his different expressions.

Family Fun Day

We didn't do our annual Family Fun Day on New Year's Day this year because Tom was spending time with his brother Chris who came here for a few days. So, this last Saturday we chose to have our family day. We usually spend the entire New Year's Day doing nothing but playing games and eating fun snacks we make. This year, because we have a new wii game system, we had a wii tournament. It was so much fun!
Here's a picture of Kaitlyn and William helping me make some caramel corn. Their favorite part is watching the popcorn pop. Here's a video of Kaitlyn and Alan playing boxing.

My arms are sore from boxing, but I'm the champ!! I even beat Tom!!

I love this picture...

The theme for this year in Primary is, "My Eternal Family". I found this picture on sugardoodle.net

My new favorite wood project: Pass-along puzzles

I was trying to think of something to give out for Birthday presents for the kid's in primary that reminded them of the things we're learning and yet still be appealing to them as gifts. So, I thought of making them some mini wood puzzles out of church pictures. All I did was mount "pass-along" cards on 1/4 inch plywood using spray adhesive, and then cut them into puzzles. I don't even need to spray a finish on them. My kids liked them so much it was hard to keep them from playing with them. I'll wrap them up in clear wrap with a nice ribbon, and let them pick what puzzle they want.

Happy New Year!!

New Year's Eve was a busy one at our house. In the afternoon, I decided that I wanted to make something special for the sisters I visit teach, and since December's message was about Jesus being the "Light of the World", I decided to make some simple little candles in jars. It was the first time I'd made colored candles, and it was really fun! I made layers of 4 different colors by putting the jar in the freezer for a moment between each layer. In the evening I went and delivered them.

Also on New Year's Eve we had about 9 young men stay over the whole night and play video games and eat junk food. Another couple in our ward brought their little boy over to play with our kids, and they stayed. We adults played games in the front room while the kids played games in the rest of the house. At midnight we all counted down and watched the ball drop on TV. It was alot of fun. We didn't get much sleep though.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve is always a day for making fun and yummy treats at our house. For the first time I tried my hand at making some home made candy canes. They turned out really well. And yes, I know they only cost a few cents each at the store, but it's way cooler to give away "handmade" candy canes.

I also like to make home made Almond Roca. I call them Roca Rocks. Here the kids are dipping some pretzels in chocolate as they prepare goodies for Santa:

Then we carried on the McGiffin (my side of the family) family tradition of acting out the Scriptural account of the birth of Jesus. Tom read the scriptures while I helped the kids act it out.

Here's Kaitlyn the angel standing in the "clouds". (It's a big white down comforter)

Then, Christmas morning Alan and Sarah wait patiently in the Hallway for the time when they can come out and see the gifts.

And here is the Family Room after Santa has visited, and before we all came in to open presents. Santa left a little 2-wheeler bike for Kaitlyn and a full-size basketball hoop for Sarah. Alan got some nice starwars stuff, William got some cute baby toys, and we all got a Nintendo Wii and a Wii Fit. I swore I'd never have a game system in our house, but Santa knew I wanted to be able to do the aerobics andyoga with the wii. I'll tell you how that goes as I use it.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas Tree...

As I've said in previous posts, we have two Christmas trees in our house. One is in the family room for the kids to decorate, and one is in the living room that I call my "pretty tree". I decided to put some "snow" on the tree this year in honor of all the snow my family is getting up north. These pictures don't do the tree any justice. It actually does look alot like snow is on it, even if it is just quilt batting :)

Alan's Gift wrap

These were the first gifts under the tree at our house. Alan used everything from an empty plastic spoon container to one of his Dad's old gun boxes. He even put some printer paper around one present and wrapped it with a belt of his. I guess I should've told him where the wrapping paper was. He didn't buy any of these gifts. These are his toys that he is giving to his family and friends. So even though it just looks like there's junk under the tree, we're keeping them there.

Candy Cane Cake

Kaitlyn wanted to make a "Christmas Cake" today. One of our favorite flavors is chocolate mint, and so I thought I'd try out making a chocolate mint cake. I just used a chocolate cake mix and added 2 tsp of "peppermint extract". You can also add some crushed candy canes. For the shape, I just baked the cake mix in an 8" square pan and an 8" round pan. Click on the picture below to get the details on how to make the shape.

I also added 1 tsp peppermint extract to the white frosting I made to give it a candy cane flavor as well. It was delicious and fun to make!!

Sarah's homemade Basketball hoop

Sarah and Alan have been learning to play basketball at school. Sarah told me before church today that she loves basketball, and that she wants to be a basketball player when she grows up. She then proceeded to build herself a basketball hoop out of some of the PVC pipe that I let the kids play with. Here's a picture of her "hoop". She also decided to use one of the giant soft blocks I made a few years ago as a the "ball". I think Santa knows what to bring her now.

YAY!!

Tom is finally home. We're so happy. It's Christmas early with him home now. I don't mind if I get no other presents this year. Just to have him back is enough. He's going to take the next 3 weeks off of work. We're all so excited. Each of the kids are going to have a special "Daddy and me Day". They all missed him so much. He's a super hero in our house right now. And now, after two months, I think I might be able to relax.

William the Conquerer...

Alan loves to build little traps around William to see if he can get out of them. Today he used some PVC pipe and joints we have. Sorry the the video is a little dark.

Simple Wall Art Nativity

I made this in Relief Society about 2 years ago, and this year I had the idea to hang it on the wall. I thought it looked so cute that decided to list it with my other nativities in my Arts Of The Heart biz. It probably won't sell, but hey, it's worth a try right?

You probably can't see it very well, but here it is in our front room hanging on the wall behind the tree and next to the door. (This is our living room, where I decorate my "pretty tree". The kid's big tree is in the family room where I let them decorate it, and the decorations from the bottom half of the tree go missing by mid December)