4th of July Crafts

I have been wanting to do a Fourth of July wreath/decoration for the front door for a few years. The above picture was my first attempt. I came up with the idea a few months ago, when I saw a ruffle contest on the rufflesandstuff blog. I never got it done for the contest, dang it! But I did get it done:-) I used a piece of rectangle shape foam, that came in a package. I saved it a while ago, thinking I'd use it sometime. I covered the foam with white fabric (it has a floral pattern in it) and then gathered strips of the red for the ruffled stripes. Then I cut a piece of navy blue and hot glued it all together. Buttons for the stars gives it just the right touch! I am really happy with how it turned out; but just could not put it on my front door like I had planned. Soooo....

I was in Hobby Lobby one day, just meandering around, and I happened to walk down the isle with all of the plastic canvas. My eyes fixated on a package of 10 plastic canvas stars for $1.49, then just below the stars I saw a package of about 4-5 inch circle plastic canvas, also for $1.49. Then my mind was taken back to a trip to JoAnn's, where I had purchased white and red fabric on clearance. My thoughts continued on, mentally going through my fabric stash, and I realized I also had navy blue and other fun fabrics that would work just fine for this idea that was whirling around in my busy little mind. This is what I did after purchasing one package of circle and star shaped plastic canvas.....
I cut out squares of fabric that would cover my plastic canvas. To give it a little "poof", I used some batting and covered the canvas with the batting and my choice of fabric. I used a hot glue gun to secure it to the canvas. Then I took a needle and some navy blue yarn , and stitched around each piece. Then, of course, I hot glued all of the pieces together in a circular shape. I ended up with an extra circle and star, so I made a bow out of yarn and hot glued the star to the circle, and attached them to the wreath part. I would like to find some star buttons to add to it, but other than that, I am happy with how it turned out.
Ahhh...and now I feel ready for July;-)

Just some updates:

The past few weeks have been so great! It all started when this lovely woman and her son came to church. They sat in front of our family, and I assumed they were also members. I learned that they were not. And a couple weeks later the Elders started teaching her in our home. What a blessing it has been in my life! I have learned so much, and gained a wonderful friend! Her baptism was this past weekend. It was, of course, beautiful. I am so happy for her and her son. I love them both dearly and feel so grateful to have had the missionaries in our home teaching her, because like I said before, I have learned so much; about our Saviour and his love for all of us, eternal families, a really cool way to remember the 10 commandments, scriptures, and witnessed a really cool object lesson involving fire!! :-) lol

These Elders are great! They have strong testimonies and I know they will be so blessed for serving the Lord for 2 years!!

Aubrey is loving summer! She loves playing in the water. Usually if they don't hit the trampoline first thing in the morning, then it is just to hot for it. Sometimes we put the sprinklers under......Aubrey likes that. Aubrey still loves to sing. I really enjoy listening to her play and hear her start singing the primary songs, songs I didn't even know she knew. She really likes to tease Wesley (and all the older boys for that matter) and can definitely stand her ground now. She is not afraid to beat the daylights out of anybody that messes with her. And then she can turn around and be so sweet playing babies and dress up.

We are constantly saving this girl from dangerous situations. She has fallen down and over and in and out of so many things! She is brave and curious and that is stressful for me. I am exhausted trying to make sure she is safe all day long! I don't hover....really. But sometimes wonder if I should. She is such a sweet heart though, and is so grown up. She loves to play with her older siblings. She loves animals, and playing Polly Pockets with Aubrey. She loves to sing and dance and laugh.

We had this dove, I think it is a dove, nest on our fence. I waited and waited to see the babies, and then went out one day and there was nothing there! The mama was gone, the babies were gone, and there was no evidence of shells.?? I just hope nothing got them, and that they just flew away!!

Something I meant to post a while back.... Wesley got to participate in the announcements at school one day. He was really excited to do it, and did a great job.

Wesley is enjoying the summer break and doing great with swim team! He improved his times at the last meet...although I am not sure where he is at. I will post after we go to practice Tuesday. He has won some ribbons and is enjoying the season. Divisional is this weekend, so we will make sure to post about that.

Wesley and Aubrey are both participating in summer gymnastics. We started last week, and Wesley liked it. Aubrey is just continuing on from the spring.

Brady and I are just tired. Someday we may get some good sleep. lol

The Croc's swam against the Wipe Outs this week. Last week we did a practice meet, and it was over cast and not hot. Yesterday's meet was rainy and cold. The grass was soggy and the kids shivered the whole morning. I think I will start bringing two towels for Wesley.
I don't know Wesley's time this week for freestyle, but last week he did around 58 seconds. That is much faster than last year. And, he has back stroke down, which is great. He swam in 1 minute 13 seconds last week and this week swam back stroke in 1 minute and 3 seconds. So a 10 second shave....GREAT!! He hasn't placed, but will hopefully keep improving his time. He really wants to swim a relay....we will see how bad he wants it though. He needs to swim just a bit faster for that.


He is doing much better with technique this year. Still brings his head straight up sometimes for air instead of side to side. But doing well.

Brady is chief timer..... I am the team parent for the 6 and under group. That is fun.

Hopefully Wesley will keep improving his time. It is fun to watch him. Really needs to learn to dive. It cracks me up to watch all those little kids jump in looking like frogs. lol

Aubrey wanted a scooter so badly. The one she chose at the store, is the cute pink one right behind her in this pic. She rode it all over for about a week and then decided she needed a Razor like Wesley. My neighbor was kind enough to let her borrow one of her daughter's old Razor Scooters. So, now Aubrey feels like a big girl. I am so grateful to have kind neighbors.

We enjoyed attending the kindergarten program this year. It was cute and Wesley did a great job on his one line speaking part, "I'm gonna yawn, yawn, yawn my sleepies out". Wesley is very obedient and loves school. I was able to go read to his class this week, and I was pleased to see that he is friends with most of the kids in his class.

Cali loves to be outside and tries so hard to be just like her older siblings! One of her most favorite games right now is 'Run from Mom and Dad as fast as I can to places I should not be'. So fun;-) ha!

Cali has also taken a sudden turn from being little Miss play-by-myself and happy-with-baby-sitters, to Miss I-want-my-mom-and-nobody-else. It's great to be loved! Hence the third wheel on my date with my hubby tonight;-) *sigh* At least she was pleasant.

Swim practice started a couple weeks ago. Aubrey thought the water was to cold and is afraid of the Coach, so her glory days of swim team totalled about 4 days. She loved the warm-up exercises and is pretty good at doing lunges around the pool; but getting her in the water was not easy. Oh well. She is 3. We will see if she has interest next year.

Wesley is still going strong and is really excited for the first meet on May 8Th. He is doing better and if he could only get his breathing down, he'd be a rocket, I'm sure. :-)

Oh!! And I don't have a picture of this yet to show you, but thanks to my friends daughter, who is Wesley's age, Wesley is now riding his bike WITH NO TRAINING WHEELS!!! Hooray! He is sooooo happy and it was so great to see his eyes light up and to hear his little "I did it" laugh. Wesley saw Mallory ride up on her bike with no training wheels, and decided if she could do it, so could he! So, he set to work practicing on his little red bike - then moved on to 'the big green' bike.

Even though it is warm here now, the water in the pool is freezing! It hasn't warmed up here like in past years. Last year at this time, I thought I was gonna melt.

GO CROCS!!! We will keep ya posted on Wesley's swim season....May he do better and improve his time from last year. Success!!!

Teacher Appreciation

Wesley has the greatest kindergarten teacher! He thinks the world of her. So, I was trying to think of something special to do for her. And then I remembered an idea I got from a friend of mine (thanks Rebecca B.). She does teacher appreciation dinners for her kids teachers. So, I asked Wesley if he would like to invite Mrs. Hasbrouck and her husband over to our house for dinner and he didn't even hesitate before excitedly answering "YES!" We grilled some steaks, had dutch oven potatoes, fruit, salad, and bread. It was all yummy, except I couldn't seem to get my steak done enough! I am one of those " very-well-done" people.

Wesley wanted to do 3 things with his teacher; Roast Marshmallows (we invited a few of the kids from our street that were out to come on back and roast a few),

have an Easter egg hunt, and jump on the trampoline, which I did not get picture of;-) Wesley filled all of the eggs himself and then hid them.

This is Wesley with Mrs. Hasbrouck. She is so beautiful and fun, it is no wonder Wesley loves her so much! At school, when she catches the kids doing something good, she will give them a little picture of a frog and write on the back something like, "You have earned a Fabulous Frog for working quietly during math." It is really fun for the kids. So, Wes and I decided that Mrs. Hasbrouck has definitely earned a Fabulous Frog for making kindergarten so fun and for being an outstanding teacher. Her Fabulous Frog award is in the form of a cute wreath she can choose to hang up in her classroom, or at home for a Spring time. It was fun to make, and frustrating because I couldn't find the frog I had pictured in my mind....but it turned out pretty cute.

THANKS AGAIN MRS. HASBROUCK FOR ACCEPTING THE INVITATION TO COME FOR DINNER AND FOR BEING SO WONDERFUL TO OUR INCREDIBLE SON!!!

Just a quick update...

I have not been very good at taking pics lately. Not a whole lot new, yet. Swim practice starts next week and Wesley is really looking forward to that. I don't think Aubrey is going to make it. But that is okay.
Brady has been busy playing church basketball, working, and playing with the kids.
I have been busy playing with the kids, cleaning, cleaning some more only to have to start over and over. I wasted 45 minutes today trying to get my play list up and going again so the kids could dance. By the time I got it up, they had lost interest in dancing. And I made fajitas for dinner, which the kids turned their noses up to! (shocker, I know.) I have been doing pretty good on my daily bible study. Not saying that to brag, just feels good to have stuck with it more than 2 days in a row;-)
Wesley has an appointment in the morning to get his one cavity fixed. That should be fun.
Aubrey still does gymnastics and really loves it.
Cali is a handful, to say the least. She is so grown up. Happy girl, but very demanding!
I feel a little sad today because the middle child is making me crazy with her baby talk and whining. So, I lost it with her a couple of times today. Hate that. She really is a sweet girl.
So, over all life is good. Brady and I are taking a strengthening marriage class...really enjoying it.
And that is about it for now. I will get pics of the kids and swim practice next week..... so stay tuned:-)
Oh! One thing I have loved, and I will get a picture because it is sooo cute, is that I inherited a bike trailer from a good friend of mine. So, I have been riding and pulling Cali and Aubrey around with me. They love it, and it is good exercise for me. I have only wrecked once. I was trying to swat at some gnats and ride and, well, that just isn't a good idea. Luckily the only thing hurt was my pride. lol

California, Proof We Had Fun!

Cali officially loves candy.

One and a half scoops??? Wow!

We had an Easter Egg hunt with all the Tingey's. It was so fun and great for us to be able to do something like that with family. Grandma put money in some of the eggs and after we all went through our eggs and counted up how much money we found, grandma surprised the one who found the least amount of money with a 100 dollar bill. Uncle Nick was the winner. I think he ended up with a grand total of $101.somethin'. He was pleasantly surprised.

Of course, the kids all got to go out to the barn and see the cows and chickens and help feed the cows. They always love that.

We went to Chuck-E-Cheese for Cali's birthday. Everyone had fun.

Cali loves to slide about as much as she loves to swing.

This was a fun slide at a park in Berkley...it is cement and you slide down it on cardboard.

On of the calves died, and another calf lost its mama. So, grandpa took the skin of the dead calf and put it on the living calf to "trick" the mama so she'd take care of the living calf. Grandpa Tingey said it only took a day for the mama to take to the orphaned calf.

Aubrey in one of her lovely ensembles...She has on a size eighteen month dress.

Brady teaching Wes to mow the lawn.