An Economic Christmas, Day 2

For today, I want to focus on the girls. I found some really fun things that I'm going to do for Kendal.

One thing I'm going to do is get a fishing tackle box (hear me out) for all her hair and nail stuff. That way it can be organized and easy to find. I'll add some pink and purple vinyl flowers, polka dots, or hearts to make it cute. Then I'll stick some hair and nail stuff in her stocking. Easy, fun gift! For those on a very tight budget, check out this link.

Next I'm going to do these cute baby legs (arm and leg warmers). They would be perfect for her because she hates to wear long sleeves. This way she could wear them outside and then take them off inside. I found these on littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com. Here's the link.

Look how cute!

The really cheap way to do the baby legs is to head over to Children's Place and go through their clearance bin. Just don't go before I get a chance to head over! You can usually find some really cute tights or knee socks for pretty cheap.

Kendal loves jewelry and I found these cute rings and hair things on littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com.

They look really easy and I can raid my button jar to make them. I can get the rings for the buttons at Roberts or Michaels and use a 40% off coupon to make them even less expensive. I'll just slip them in her stocking and she can put them in her tackle box.

For more bows, headbands, and clips, head over to thirtyhandmadedays.blogspot.com. I found tons of bows for you here, here, and here. So have fun!

I think, if I have time, I want to do a couple skirts for her to go with her baby legs. I found this skirt on thirtyhandmade days, but it's originally from Grand Revival Designs. Here's the link.

They look really cute and easy. They would be perfect made with some cute Christmas fabric. Hopefully I can find the time to get these done. I know she'd love them.

Tomorrow, we'll focus on what we can do for our boys. I think sometimes they're the hardest to shop for. Let me know if you have any additional ideas or maybe some things I've missed that everyone needs to know about.

An Economic Christmas, Day 1

This Christmas, as in Christmases past, we're on a budget (I guess that's not any different than any other year). This year though, I decided that I'm going to give my kids things they can use. I'm tired of buying them toys that they get bored with that I end up throwing away in a few months anyway. So, I decided to do a homemade Christmas. We are getting them b-i-k-e-s (you have to spell it so they don't know what it is) but I can't make them so we do have to buy them. But other than that, I'm going to use my semi-craftiness and make some fun things they'll like.

I thought I'd share because I know other people might be in the same boat. I'm going to try everyday to post a few things that I'm doing and that you might like to make yourselves.

For the first one, this is something we made at our Super Saturday this year. I found it online and loved it the moment I saw it. It's a crayon roll. I found it on skiptomylou.org. Here's the direct link.


This isn't the one I made (I'm too lazy to take a picture). For mine, I used flannel from Joanne's. For Kendals I did princesses, polka dots, and stripes and for Brandon's I did bugs, stripes and light green. I bought a half a yard and I think I was able to get 4 or 5 out of them. You do need three different prints, but it's still really inexpensive if you look for a sale or print off a 40% off coupon. The ric-rac was about $1.50 and I was able to get 2 done from one package. It does take a little while to make, about a 1/2 hour to 45 minutes for each one, but the outcome is awesome. We take them to church with us and get so many compliments. I've given them away for birthdays and the kids love them. Easy and cheap!

The next thing I'm giving them for Christmas are rice bags. I found these rice bags with a removable outside on Sew, Mama, Sew. Here's the direct link.

Again, I used the flannel from Joanne's. Kendal - princess, Brandon - bugs. I made mine a little bit different though. I wanted mine shorter and squatier so the outside bag is 7x12 and the inside bag is 6.5x10. Also, I used stick on velcro dots instead of one big piece of velcro. It cuts a little bit of time off. I filled mine with rice, but next time I'm going to use dried corn from IFA. The rice was a little too spendy for me. I know....I'm cheap!

Next, is rainy day playdough. I haven't started on this yet, but it looks pretty self-explanatory and easy (that's always a plus!). I found this on littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com. Here's the direct link.

You could easily use a scrap of fabric to do this one. It'd also be a great gift for your kids to give their friends.

I'll be back tomorrow to post more cute make-it gifts. If there's anything you'd like for me to find instructions for, leave me a message and I'll scour the net.

Are we there yet?

On November 8th, we decided to take the kids to the Nellis Air Force Base Air Show in Las Vegas. Originally, Derek was going to take the priests in our ward but none of them wanted to go, so we went instead. The gates opened at 9:00. We left home about 8:30 thinking that that would be plenty of time to see everything. We got there between 10:30 and 11:00 and saw a line to get in to wait for the buses to take us to the air force base. The line we got in wasn't way long, but it got longer as we waited. Below is the line after we had waited for about an hour. To say it was about a mile would probably be an understatment because it was long. From where I took the picture, we still had about a half a mile.


By the time we got to the air force base, after a bag search and a bus ride, the kids were ready to go home. So we decided we should get them something to eat. We had thirty dollars in cash to eat lunch with. Sounds pretty resonable huh? Not when 5 chicken fingers and fries are sixteen dollars. We decided that instead of eating there we'd look around for a little while, munch on the string cheese and trail mix we managed to smuggle in, (don't look at me like that!), and head out to eat lunch somewhere a little cheaper. We could've gone to a steak house and eaten cheaper. Derek and I loved looking at the airplanes in the sky, but after waiting so long and being hungry, the kids weren't really into it. We had a fun time, but next time we'd leave the kids home and head out by ourselves.

Brandon and Kendal in front of this huge plane. I can't remember what it is but it was big!

Halloween

We had such a fun and great Halloween this year. In the morning I had to head to Brandon's school to be a witch for his class. It was so much fun! It reminded me of my "drama geek" days. Those were definitely the days!! Below is the picture of me, yep, it's me. None of the kids knew who I was which is pretty amazing since they all know me. Most of them were scared and wouldn't talk to me. I think my most favorite part was driving down the road. I got the best stares! It was so much fun that I think I'm going to do it again next year!


Brandon and Kendals costumes turned out great! Kendal was a cat and Brandon was Anakin Skywalker. We got Kendal's costume from Childrens Place and my mom made Brandon's. She did such a great job. We headed out to a couple trunk or treats and then went to a neighborhood that we go to every year. It's one that looks like it's out of a movie. It has the big oak trees lined down the street and the white picket fences. We dream about living there someday. So we got there and it was amazing. They had blocked off the whole neighboorhod so nobody could drive down it. It was decorated like you wouldn't believe. They even had mini spook alleys. We had such a great time and got a ton of candy. Which I promptly ate. No I didn't. I'd still be puking if I had. We had a great time and can't wait till next year.

You can't be a kitty without black toenail polish!

Real daddies don't wear pink, they paint toes...

How cute is this!? This is what I found one day when I walked downstairs after a nap (that my wonderful husband let me take). It warmed my heart and made me realize that I'm so lucky to have such a great guy.

She wanted alternating colors on her toes, so some are pink and some are shiny light pink.

$230 Dollars and Two Missing Teeth Later...

This is not a story for the faint of stomach. It's kind of fun to read about but be glad you weren't there to witness it.

About the beginning of October we noticed that one of Brandon's front teeth was loose and his permanent tooth was already up behind it. He's been asking us since Kindergarten when he was going to loose a tooth and the time was finally here! He wiggled it and wiggled it (we weren't allowed anywhere near it for fear we might pull it out) but it wasn't coming out. I told him we could have my dad (Papa) take it out. When I was little, he tied my tooth to string and tied the string to a doorknob to try and get it out. It didn't work, but I thought maybe it could with Brandon. Not a chance. Even his cousins tried to get him to pull it out. One suggested that he bite down on a carrot. He tried, biting down softly, but it didn't work. So his cousin said, "Try again." And then when Brandon went to bite down his cousin pushed on the top of his head. It's the thought that counts, right? So, since no one was allowed to touch his tooth and he wasn't going to pull it out himself I had to take drastic measures, it was time to call the dentist.

We go to a great pediatric dentist. His office is so cool (because that's what matters right?) with tvs in the ceiling and video games they can play while they wait. So we headed over on October 22 to pull out not one but two teeth! I guess they do them both at the same time so they can come in correctly.

This is Brandon's loose tooth with the new tooth coming in behind it. Sorry it's blurry, I was in a hurry. Perpetually late... No surprise there.

The above two pictures are of Brandon laying peacefully in the chair while watching Open Season. Who was to know that as soon as the dentist walked in all heck would break loose.

It was horrible! The dentist walked in and just wanted to look at his teeth but Brandon wouldn't open his mouth. It was full on thrashing, squirming, sitting up, etc. Anything he could do to keep his mouth shut. And this was after he'd been on the gas for about 10 minutes. I felt so bad for him because I knew how scared he was. But his teeth had to come out. Finally we were able to get him to open his mouth so the dentist could look in. Then, he had to have a shot to numb his gums where they were going to pull both teeth (the other tooth wasn't even a tiny bit loose). The dentist is really good about giving shots so the kids don't even know what happened. But that wasn't the case with Brandon. He felt the needle and screamed like he was dying. We tried to calm him down, but he wouldn't stop screaming so the dentist put the gas mask over his mouth so the kids in the waiting room couldn't hear him (they still did). He was still thrashing and trying to sit up so I had to almost lay on him to get him to calm down. He never did, the dentist just grabbed the pliers and yanked. When he pulled his teeth out, blood went flying out of his mouth and I almost lost my breakfast. Then Kendal started crying because she had seen everything that happened. And then it was over. Thank heavens. I think next time I'll have to give him a horse tranquilizer before we head in. I'm kidding! If anyone has any advice for next time, since I'm sure there will be a next time, let me know and I'll be sure to try it.

I want to run many, many miles!

A few years ago I decided I wanted to run a 5k. I bought the shoes, ran a few times, dragged Derek out with me, and eventually ran it. Then I was done. I ran it, I accomplished my goal, I was done. But not him. He went on to run a 10k, a half marathon, and on October 4, 2008, a marathon. What an accomplishment. I am amazed and in awe of his determination to do something that....big.

He is awesome.
He is amazing.
He is astonishing (as Brandon would say).
He is an inspiration.
He is mine.

Let's pick up and move!!

After a fun day of pottery, we decided to get even crazier! We went to Lin's. Not the crazy part. Tricked you, huh?! We left Lin's. Still not the crazy part! We drove by a house that we like and saw that it was for rent. This is where it gets crazy! (And a little spooky.) So, we drove by this house that we've liked forever. It was built a couple of years ago so it's fairly new. We've always liked it and would have loved to live in it, but it was always a little above our price range. At the time we were paying $775 - I know! Cheap! Who'd want to move?! Anyways, we drove by and saw that it was for rent. We then decided to be really, really crazy and call to see how much it was. We called and found out that the people renting it out were friends of my family. We also found out that the rent was only $50 more a month than what we were paying. So we set up an appointment to see it at 7:30 that night. Our friend said she was showing it to someone else at 7:00 but then she'd show it to us after that.

At 7:30 we showed up and we loved it. We gave her the deposit and it was ours. We decided that since we were living on the edge we'd go for moving in on October 3. Yep, that's the day before Derek ran the marathon. It was all very, very crazy and I'm really only now recovering.

I love it here though! It's two stories and all the bedrooms are upstairs. It's not huge, but it's bigger than what we had before. It's nice to be able to send the kids upstairs and let them play while I'm doing stuff downstairs.

Our ward is pretty amazing too! We moved at the perfect time because they split our ward and we would have been in a different ward not knowing anyone. It seemed like the perfect time to venture out. Another funny thing about this house is that our landlord is the Bishop. Crazy! What's even more crazy is that our first Sunday here we had a meeting with the Bishop. He gave us both a couple new callings. Me, I have the best, most intimidating, scary job of being Primary Chorister. Every Sunday I stand up there hoping they won't laugh at me. I know they're 5 and 6, but they look so intimidating and scary. Derek, he got the fun job of being Young Men's President. He was shocked (to say the least). I think he's going to do amazing. He loves the youth and is excited to be with them. He has some really good goals for the boys and I think he'll be awesome.

In a nutshell, that's our moving story. It was crazy, jam-packed, and meant to be.

Making Pottery!

On September 20th, I had the best idea ever! I thought, "I'm so tired of doing tons and tons of dishes so I think everyone should have their own plate. That way, they can do their own dish and if their dish is dirty they have to wash it before they can eat and then I don't have to wash a million, trillion dishes every day." (Did you know the secret to not having that many dishes in the sink is to do them after every meal? I know!!! Who knew!!! I don't do that. I wash my dishes after every meal so I never have that problem.) Whew! It's good to be back and doing run-on sentences!! I've missed this!

Anyways, I thought we could go to a pottery studio and make our own plates; have them personalized so they would be sentimental and all that. Well, it was a good idea in theory until we got there and I learned that each plate was $15 and there was a $6 studio fee on top of that. So, instead the kids made piggy banks. They turned out so cute! And they made them their own. I love how creative my kids are! They're pretty dang amazing!

I love this picture! I took about 10 of her trying to get her to smile sweetly, but this is my daughter and her crazy, sweet, fun personality. I sure think she's pretty awesome!

What can you say? That's an awesome looking camouflage soccer ball! He did a great job! Still an amazing kid!

After we finished with the banks, which were considerably less than plates for a family of four, we headed to Tai Pan Trading where we picked plates AND bowls for under $5. Can't beat that!

I'm Back!!!

I'm here! Finally! I know it's shocking, surprising, a little overwhelming, and quite possibly a tad bit scary! I know it's scary for me because I have a whole month I have to get through. And you, you have to read about this whole month! I'm sorry ahead of time for putting you through this.

I bet you're wondering where I've been. I could come up with some good stories I'm sure; for example I could use the "I took a trip to Paris and stayed for a month." excuse. But really, I know you're smarter than that. You know I'd never go to Paris, there's too many people and I'd get claustrophobic. I really went to the Bahamas. It's warm there. It was nice. No, not really, I was here. So, read on and you can see the exciting adventures I've been through in the past month.