The Making of Invitations

 

Look at all this great stuff I got for free in the mail!

Photo safe adhesives from Elmer's and sharp cutting edges from x-acto.

I just love new toys! This time I shared my great new stuff with the twins because it was time for them to make their birthday invitations.

First they got armed with fancy edging scissors.

I was quite pleased by how smoothly they cut. The fact that my 3 year old twins could use them with out any problems tells me that these are pretty nice. 

After they had cut out the front and their personalised side of the invitation it was time to try the corner punch. It was way to difficult for them to use so they quickly decided that it was not worth their time. I could use it just fine. If I ever do a project with a corner punch I'm sure this one will be sufficient. I do not normally use the ones I already have all that much. 

The next step was gluing. Anna got to use the glue dots and she loved them! I thought they were pretty nice as well. They did tend to stick to your finders so if you use them for a project that can not be dent at all you have to be very careful when putting them on. 

Astrid tried to use the tape runner but it was a bit to highteck for her. I really like it though so I'll be making good use of it later. 

Then she got to use the glue stick. It consistently went on smooth and did not gunk up to much on the paper especially considering who was using it. 

Anna quickly ran out of glue dots so she got to use the glue pen.

It was easy for her to squeeze out the glue and still have something that resembles volume control.  This is a big plus in my book. It did not taker her that long to figure out how to use the special tip to paint the wet glue around on the paper. 

The girls had a lot of fun making the invitations and did not burn out. They kept telling me that they were enjoying it.  

And the final result! They look very pleased with their efforts I think! 

I really enjoyed doing their invitations with them. I'm looking forward to all the many projects we have coming up in the next many years..

I've gotten to try allot of different products since I joined Bzz agent and I just love getting stuff like this in the mail to try out.

If you would like to try out these products they can be found in walmart

Here is a link for their web site where you can sign up for free craft project ideas and other great offers.

If you are not aware as a Bzz agent I get to try out different products for free. I give my own personal hones opinion. I do not get payed or get extra credit for giving anything a positive spin. If you have any questions please ask.

Date Night

I have a wonderful husband that I adore. We've been married for more than 9 years. I have spend a third of my life in a relationship with this fantastic fellow. I'm hoping for another 50 or so. The persistence required for having a good marriage has definitely been worth it. Any disagreement that we've had has been resolved. Sometime by a quick talk, sometimes by month of conflict but each time we have worked with the common goal to find a solution and to come out stronger in the end.

I have also learned that for our marriage to work best we need to follow the advise of our wonderful church leaders and get our weekly date night.

For some reason we just work together much better when this happens. Since we can just not find enough people willing to trade babysitting with us we usually end up spending the money on a babysitter.

It is about the last thing we cut from our budget, along with food. Don't panic, we're well stocked with rice and dry beans and canned goods, we even have a usually full freezer. It is just to much against my nature to not save stuff for "what if" or "just because" and it has come in handy many times. We could probably eat for a few months with what i have stored. It would be bland after a while when we ran out of certain things but we would not be starved for anything but the luxury of fresh produce and dairy. Dumb critter in my garden eating all our potential harvest.

Fortunately there are usually enough of the teenage girls (and boys) from church who's families we know well and who we trust with our children that as long as we have a way to pay we can get a night out.

by the time we get a sitter we about burned everything we can justify to spend so we often just end up at the dollar theatre. I think we have just about seen all the G, PG  and PG-13 movies that play (with a few exceptions). The down side to living here is that 6 months of the year it is to hot to spend out date outside and the rest of the year there is a great chance of bad allergies. Some times i do manage to convince him to just go for a walk with me. I really like that. I LOVE spending time with my wonderful man. He makes me happy and always makes me feel better. I love him so very much and I feel so very blessed to have him in my life.

A mighty storm is brewing

Some serious photo editing is at work here. this is the result.

this, is what i had to work with

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So you might be wondering what exactly Jed is doing running around in the twilight of our exotic backyard clad in swim trunks and accessorising most prudently with an umbrella

Or perhaps you are the type of individual who feels that there is no reason to question such behavior as long as it is contained well within your private property

Or possibly you are the judgemental kind who have already made up your mind as to exactly why such bizarre behavior could possibly be taking place and nothing further i can say can possibly sway your rash decision as of how exactly you feel about it.

No matter, I will attempt to enlighten you despite the unlikely chance of success.

You see after much deliberation and going over the possible out comes of various scenarios and waging the facts against each other we finally determined that even though chickens have a natural survival instinct of some sort our caged domestic birds seemed extraordinarily unaware the fact that they could potentially get sick or die if they did not stay above ground in shelter when the rain was creating a raging river rushing in between their little chicken feet on the ground of their run. So we deiced that Jed should err on the side of caution and bring them into our bath tub for the night. Previous experience had taught us that these birds seemed completely unaware that it was raining heavily on them, and that the darker it got outside the dumber they consequently became as though they draw their capacity to think from the sun.

I love this picture it looks like a painting.

Here is the rest of it

At this point Jed asks me to stop taking pictures of him and pick up a bird and carry it inside instead.

You will never guess what our tub looked like the next day.

Party Party all day long!

First we went to the neighborhood pool, then.......

Party number 1 

One of the boys from Ian's class was having a birthday party and his sweet mom let me bring all 4 kids. 

Here is Ian and his friend the birthday boy Jamar.

They were not all that interested in posing for pictures right then, Heh. 

And Astrid zooming down the inflatable fun they rented for the afternoon. 

So much fun! 

The kids were all wearing swimsuits because we came from the pool, and because they needed them again later. 

My 4 buggers having a blast  

The inside. 

Jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump. 

Up the slide. 

Lots and lots of fun. I made Astrid take of her glasses so they would not get destroyed.

Party number 2 

I had managed to bum a ride for the twins to a different birthday party (thanks again Janelle) because it started in the middle of Ian's party. When Ian's party was over we drove over to brushy creek to pick up the twins from Avery's birthday celebration and caught the tail end of it. 

Lost little one? you do look very clueless darling.

After the party was over .......

we played in the sprinklers at the park. See? we did need those swimsuits! 

It's a long drive to the sprinkler park and I wanted to make sure we got to do it at least once this year. 

It's such a fun place. Anna and Astrid had already played here for the party but who would not want to go back? 

Splash! 

Anna having a quick sugar fix from her party favor bucket. 

Astrid demanding a refill of blood sugar as well. 

Then my camera ran out of juice.

Slime is never "Mess free" no matter what the packaging says.

Ivy got some slime for her birthday.

Slime packed full of glitter.

One of the fun things about birthday parties is that you sometimes get stuff that you would never ever in a million years have for one second considered getting for your own child. Not. Even. Once.

And Look how much fun they had with it!

Granted this was the only time they had fun with it.

Mostly because I had no clue how to salvage it and despite the high entertainment value I was not all that interested in a repeat.

According to the manufacture it was supposed to be really easy to clean up.

I suppose it was easier than lets say glitter super glue or glitter super streangth hair gell.

Am I the only one now wishing that there was such a thing as glitter super glue? or hair gell?

It did wash out of their clothes and what I did not manage to wipe of the table dried to a non sticking resemblance of a facial peel off mask. Some of it it did need some elbow grease to liberate it self from the folding table and it did leave the table bleached where the slime had dried on it.

After a while i gave them paper to whip their hands on and told them they were making beautiful pictures.

Anna always folds her art before handing it to you. I think she got the idea from letters.

I kept rereading the limited instructions on the packaging to see what this slime was supposed to do but besides being stretchy and glittery and capable of making popping noises there seemed to be no other purpose than having a blast getting really messy.

Well, I guess they managed to provide everything they hoped for!