Austyn's Sleepover!

Yesterday my great-niece Austyn came to spend the night! We have been planning this FOREVER!!!!! Finally, Cannon was out of school, and the time was right! My kids were so excited! I think they were even more excited about the sleepover than the 4th of July!



The whole way to pick her up Cannon and Harper argued over who loved Austyn. "I love Austie!" .... "NO! I love Austie!".... and so on...


We took her with us to play with some cute friends at Bear Park. Then we came home, had ice cream, and the kids played and played. Then we had pizza for din-din, and after baths we did pedicures. SO fun to paint Lou-Lou's little toes!

Austie entertained us with many stories, my favorite one began, "A long, long time ago, on April 26th, my dog Tilly ate a white spider!....."

Then we made some popcorn, and settled in the bed for a movie. I put on Ponyo. A Japanese film, which I thought was pretty cute. A bit looonnng in some spots, so the kids got a little fidgety. It was after 9:30, and I was wondering why NONE of the kids had passed out yet! High on sugar and excitement I guess.


Tinkerbell And The Great Fairy Rescue was on TV, and that settled them down very nicely. (even Cannon!) But still, 11:00 rolled around, and even Harper was still awake! So I gave up on her, and put her to bed. She protested for about 3 seconds, and then passed out cold. I should have done that earlier! By the time Harper was asleep, so was Austyn.

Cannon finally followed after the TV was turned off. :)


Luckily, they all slept in, and woke up to a waffle breakfast. After lunch, I had this great idea to make tye-dye shirts. YIPES. I have never done this before, and as I sit here typing with my blue and green fingers, I wonder if I'll ever do it again! HOLY COW what a messy process! AND... AND you have to wait 8 hours for the dye to set, and then wash the shirts before you can even wear them.... needless to say, all the kids bailed right away and I finished the shirts.. Perhaps I'll post pics if I ever get them finished!! Oh well, they'll each have a new shirt to wear anyway!

We love love love our Austyn!! She is the sweetest, funniest girl, and we can't wait to have her over again!!!

Easy, Cute July 4th Banner

I love the 4th of July!! So it's surprising that I don't have more Patriotic decor for the holiday. While perusing the internet yesterday, I found this HERE. So cute! And I love that she used a turquoise blue!

So, I found a quick star template, and copied it onto some colored card stock. I cut mine out by hand, which took about 45 minutes. Think how quick it would be if you had a Cricut or something like that!!

It took about 10 minutes to sew all the stars. I just alternated red, white, and blue, and left the machine running in between to keep them all connected. Ta-da!!! I am well on my way to very cute decorations! A quick and cute project, under an hour, with supplies I had on hand. LOVE IT!

Happy Fathers Day!

Greg is the best Dad! He loves his children. He protects them. He has fun with them. He teaches them. He guides them. I hope they know how lucky they are to have such a wonderful Daddy!




Since Cannon was a baby, I have had him, and now Harper, make handprint cards each Fathers Day. Greg keeps all the cards, and it has become so fun to see how the hands grow each year! This year was extra cute, because Cannon was able to do most of the writing. I LOVE LITTLE KID HANDWRITING!! And it's so cute to hear the kids' perspective on why they love their dad so very much!



Happy Fathers Day! 2011



















Cannon:
I love Dad Because:
1. He takes me golfing.
2.He takes me rock hounding
3. He takes me golfing. (that one must be very important!)
4. He takes me golf ball hunting.

Harper:
I love Dad Because:
1. He takes me to the park.
2. He listens to the radio.
3. He rock-a-byes me.

Top Reader

All year at school, Cannon has been filling out a monthy reading calendar. The goal is to read 20 minutes each day. Cannon is a wonderful reader, he reads over a full grade ahead! I always find him in his bed at night reading a mini book of "It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", or his Halloween I Spy book. We have been reading the Harry Potter books together as well, so sometimes we go over the 20 minute mark.

Last week I got an email from Cannon's teacher, saying she had added up everyone's calendar, and Cannon had the most minutes!!!! I was so excited for him!

She said there would be a reading assembly the next day, where the certificates would be presented. But, the assembly was in the afternoon, and Cannon has a.m. Kindergarten. No problem! We could still go! I didn't tell Cannon why we were going. I told him that there was an assembly at school, and we were going because I had to take pictures at it. So, not a
full-on lie to my kid! ;)




Oh my, the excitement!! They said his name, and he SPRINTED to the front!!! Chief, the reading dog was there to help pass out the prizes. Cannon observed, "That dog likes to mess up everyone's hair!"



He got a pin, a certificate, some coupons and free passes, and he got to pick out a book. So, what do you do, when you win a book for reading? You sit down in the middle of the assembly and read the book, of course!


Harper about flipped when she saw Chief. She kept saying, "Oh, I love zat doggie! He have a hug for me! I want to hug zat doggie! I want to give him a high five!"

So her cute Aunt Stacy took her up so she could meet the doggie. (yep, he likes to mess up kid's hair!) And let me tell you, she was stoked. "YES! I did it! I knew zat doggie loved me!"



So everyone was happy, and rewarded, and I am so very proud of my reading boy!








Top reader, YAY! Way to go, Cannon Boy! (and, thank you , Aunt Stacy and Grandma, for coming to cheer him on!)

PROOF!

Oh my, it doesn't happen very often that you get caught RED-HANDED! (or footed)




Yesterday, we went to the park. I was trying to get my kids to cooperate for a picture. I got distracted by someone walking by, and when I looked back, Harper was crying.



I asked Cannon what had happened, and I heard the good old, "I don't know.... nothing." answer. WHATEVER.



I thought nothing more of it until I put the pictures on the computer... lo and behold... what do we have here? PROOF! That a big brother can sometimes be a big pain! I must have kept snapping while my head was turned.

Now, I will never admit this to Cannon, but these pictures make me LAUGH! Ha! Little terds! Gotta love 'em!

Hogle Zoo

Yesterday, we went to the Zoo! Memorial Day. It. Was. Snowing. Geez!!!


We decided to go to lunch, and see if the weather cleared a bit. Luckily, it did. So we got on our jackets and trucked around the zoo.


This was Harper's first time at the zoo, and you know what her favorite thing was? The animatronic dinosaurs. Go figure! Silly silly girl.




The good 'ol Hogle Zoo. It's exacty the same! I remember going there on field trips in elementary school, and even junior high.



A lot of the animals were indoors, because of the cold, but there were still lots of things to see. There are two baby lemurs, so cute! A baby elephant too!










And you just can't pass a fountain without putting a penny and a wish in!




Utah's Hogle Zoo. A definite classic! :)

Sweet!

Yesterday, we joined some of our neighbors for a tour of a local candy factory. Sweet's Candy. It's on about 1100 south and 3800 west.
Did you know they give FREE tours? My cute neighbor organized the outing, along with some other kids from our area who are "off track" as well.

After fighting with drama-girl Harper about wearing a hair net, we were on our way. How cool to tour a live, working candy factory! Did you know it takes 7 days to make a jelly bean? Did you know it only takes one hour to make taffy???

If you're in need of something to do with your kiddos, especially on a potentially BORING rainy day like yesterday was, I suggest you check it out. Super fun, entertaining, informative, AND free samples of CANDY! Now, who can resist that??