WHAT WE DO ON WARM DAYS

Warm days don't come around too often but when they do, we are going to take full advantage of it!

Today was really warm. The girls (mostly Cori) are getting little colds and were a little tired today but this got them going. The big two had soccer practice at 6:00 so I knew I had to get their blood flowing before then.

Cali has been wanting to do something exciting and since this was the first time for this (this summer) it definitely could be called exciting.

Of course the big two started a bubble/water war right away.



Cali just liked filling and emptying the soap bottle again and again.





After the girls left, she settled in and I seriously thought she might go to sleep there for a little while. She was quite relaxed.



I finally convinced her to head inside. She agreed but left a few bubbles behind. :-)


Wish you were here!

Calling for Your Prayers

You all know Kelly. She has been my best friend for as long as I can remember and is as much my family as any other. Her mom Jana is like a mother to me and I am blessed to call her my friend. We have shared many things over the years and she has always been there for me.

This past Friday Jana was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. She has already begun chemotherapy (on Saturday) and will continue treatments over the course of the next 18 weeks. She is doing well and the doctor seems quite positive about her prognosis. She is a very strong woman and isn't the type to allow something to keep her down. I know she will do everything in her power to get better and conquer this cancer.

I am asking all of you for your prayers. She means so much to me and there is nothing more powerful that I can do for her other than ask that you all include her in your prayers and pass on the request. Thank you.

Now, in light of this trial a wonderful thing happened. Here is my story.

Jana has been in and out of the hospital since February. She has had multiple visits with doctors and ended up back in the hospital about two weeks ago. When I found out she was in the hospital I sent a plant to let her know I was thinking of her.

She was diagnosed with cancer on Friday. On Saturday she was moved to the cancer ward. That night I was talking to Kelly and feeling a bit worthless; I mentioned that I should send flowers this time since I'd sent the plant last time. We snickered and went on.

The next morning Kelly told me she'd learned that fresh flowers weren't allowed for chemo patients as the standing water posed a risk to patients with low immune systems, which is caused from the treatments.

Well, (as I mentioned in my most recent post) I have been perusing many blogs lately and one really special one I'd stumbled across was titled Love-Stems The story is fairly simple. This mom and her family make flowers from toilet paper rolls and deliver them to those they believe could use a bright spot in their day.

Since Jana couldn't have fresh flowers this seemed the most perfect solution. Well the idea grew and we decided Jana would love receiving the flowers but she might also love giving some away. The girls and I had a lot of discussion about the gift of giving and why it might be just as wonderful to receive the ones she could pass on as the ones we made especially for her. So, the last few days we have been busy. And the finished result is wonderful.

I can not possibly tell you how fulfilling a project it's been but I encourage you to try it just once. Even if you don't have it in you to pass them out. Make some and take them to your local hospital. Tell them this story and I am sure they will pass them on. Once you make them you will find that you may want to do it again. We are already saving more toilet paper rolls.

This is fairly early in the process. Cassi and I had painted most of our rolls with the outside color and were starting to paint the insides.


We gave most of our flowers many patterns and LOTS of color.


We were spread out about the table for the past several days.


Cassi was probably the most committed to the project. She is also quite the artist.



I loved doing this with her, with all of them, but I think it is a bond we will remember for a while.

As you can see, when the weather got better, we moved our assembly line outside. It was joyous.

Even Cali got in on the painting action. Mostly she painted red and yellow, her two favorite (obsession is more like it) colors. Here we managed to get her to think pink, just for a minute.


Some of our final products.


And some close-ups.



They really are wonderful, don't you think?

Here is what you need to do to make yours.

• Collect toilet paper rolls. I would suggest starting small as you need to see how much time it will take.
• Paint on your outside color. I used acryllic paints since it's what I had. I think tempera paint would work too. We wanted a lot of color choices too. I would also suggest painting the insides at the same time. I would paint the insides before cutting them. I didn't do this but I will next time. I suggest foam brushes although we used fat craft brushes. I think the foam ones would cut your time down.
  
• Paint your barbecue skewers (stems). I think they are also called bamboo skewers.
  
• Cut strips on your roll. Some of ours are two sided and some are one. I did notice it is easiest to have the same style in the cup rather than one of each.
• We used colored paper cups from the party store. Anything inexpensive would work but we wanted these first ones to be really nice and the girls really wanted the purple and green cups.
• Mix plaster-of-paris and pour into cups. I think I filled about a third of the cup.

• Once it has set a bit, push in your flowers. Making sure your flowers are assembled makes it easier to see which way they will sit in the cup. I fiddled with this a lot. I suppose I was being a bit of a perfectionist. Making as many as Love-Stems does one might get a little more carefree.

• Lastly, get some easter grass or make your own shredded paper from something you can recycle and put it around the cup. I had blue that I found at a garage sale so I used that. It was colorful and cute. I did notice on their website there is a photo of flowers in a flower pot with real grass. If I had access to real grass I'd probably use it as the photo looks darling.

Hope you guys enjoy the pics and seeing what we are up to these days. It was a fun past couple days and knowing we are doing something to make a better day for someone else was really cool.
Love you all.

LOOK AT THE FUN WE'RE HAVING NOW

I have recently stumbled across the plethora of blogs in cyberpace and am completely obsessed. Everyone is doing it and there are lots that have some really fun ideas to be found.

I have been visiting the Crafty Crow a lot. We decided to try an easy project listed there and see what happened . Boy, Did Cassi and Cali LuuuuV it! The girls made balloon balls. These are very much like those little stress balls you find out and about for about $6.00. These were waaayyyy cheaper! We tried many with flour and a couple with rice. The directions are here if you have the desire.

As you can see, it can quickly become rather dusty but in our case that made it all the more fun. We used balloons that seemed a little larger than the normal ones; it might have worked better with the normal size ones but who knows? Also, we seemed to keep getting an air bubble at the bottom but we worked at them the best we could and they turned out fairly well. Anyway, hope you enjoy our fun.

Scott's Early Father's Day present

I thought Scott might be missing us while working in Nowatak, AK. ( We are certainly missing him!)

We made this for him yesterday. The girls chose the photos and music. This is an attempt at something new for me. I hope it works and you can view it!

A break for some SUMMER FUN

Here is what the kids spent the last hour getting together. Before tumbling practice and the soccer game that will follow that.
Hope your summer is filled with sparklers, glitter, skipping and tons of FUN!



Here is a still photo since you probably couldn't see the faces so well. Cierra is in front, then Cori, Alli and Cali, and Cassi with Booger.



It's a little blurry but you get the idea. I will take both cameras out next time. I need to get a digital video recorder; it will make posting videos so much easier. Then you'll be having fun!
Love you bunches!

AJ the Soccer Man

A few days into the trip AJ started Regions. A tournament-like series of games to determine which teams will play in the State tournament. These are a few photos of the Boy in action. This particular game went into overtime, twice then onto a shoot out which Kenai won.




There would be no way for me to tell you what was going on here other than to tell you they gave it their all and in the end it worked. These photos are mostly of AJ-number 18, as I am sure you wouldn't know anyone else on the field. I think there are two photo that don't include AJ however I thought they were good shots and I liked the pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good ones of Barry; I would have liked for you to see him in action as well. They have become men and it is very fun to watch them play. I only wish I had more photos of them in action in their early years; it would be fun to compare them.







The cheer squad was there throughout the entire weekend and grew as the weekend went on. They were brave, committed and loyal. It was cold and windy the entire weekend but they persevered and made a huge impact on the mental state of the team. They were fun to watch and to cheer with.


Cori, Amber and the other girls were there too but none of them would wear face and body paint! Wimps!



I hope you enjoy these. AJ is an excellent player and valued on the team. You will notice many shots of him taking goal kicks and corner kicks. He takes most of them due to his power and precision. In case you weren't aware, I am quite proud.

Enjoy!

~THE FIRST GET-TOGETHER~VISITING WITH GRANDMA, AUNT JERRI & AUNT KAREN

Hi all,

I'm sure everyone is just dying to see photos of all of us together. :-)
I am going to try and do these somewhat in order of the visit. We didn't get home until nearly 2:00 am on the night everyone arrived. Someone had the brainy idea to stop at Red Robin and have something to eat.

Grandma was convinced the trip from Anchorage to Kenai took 5 hours when I'd told her we'd be there in 2 1/2. I think the other 2 1/2 we were at Red Robin.

I think most everyone took a lazy day around the house recovering from the trip, the first day here. I was at school with the kids the whole day. That night we went out to Dad's house for a late dinner.

It was pretty cold that night. It's a good thing Aunt Karen sent Cali that snow suit last month. She has used the heck out of it since it arrived from Florida.

Aunt Karen found the swing right away, go figure!

Cori quickly followed suit and then Cali had a turn.




Cassi spent some of her time showing off her talents on the trampoline. She spends a lot of time there.




Being the competitive sisters they are; Cori tried to make her mark on the trampoline too however... well you get it. :-)



Scott found Grandma making her way down to the gazebo and met her half way to give hugs and kisses.

Cassi took time out from the tramp walk with Aunt Jerri.



As I mentioned it was a pretty cold night (in fact its been a cool start to summer). Even having Grandma by the fire, she had to stay bundled. Everyone else stayed fairly warm although none looked quite as cool as I in my fabulous hat!





It was a really fun night and was just the beginning...