The Daley News

Super City Super Bowl Pictures- Indianapolis

2012-01-27T22:31:00.001-05:00

Did you hear? The super bowl’s in 10 days. You might not care so much, but around here, it’s bit news. Tonight the super bowl village downtown opened. John and I went for our date, got some King David’s dogs, a hot chocolate and cake at South Bend Chocolate company, and had a fun time people watching. It seemed like mostly Indy folks out tonight- lots of colts gear.

Conseco is now Banker’s Life.

A horseshoe light! People on stilts!

An ice sculpture. Pretty amazing with all the colors.

Ice bar back drop.

The zipline everyone was waiting in line for hours to do. But only 10 bucks a person!

Around 7:00 some loud music started coming from one end of the village…and who do you know, the only Jersey Shore tv star with a marketable skill was there….spinning some obnoxious dance music.

His hair was the most amazing part. It looks like a ken doll’s plastic coif. He should really have a hair gel line. Not pictured- all the 15 year old girls freaking out about seeing someone they’ve seen on Mtv. I think it would be awesome to see his computer though- I bet he’s got some amazing mixing software on there.

At circle center they have a huge light show that plays music and audio clips from past Super Bowls.

And there were race cars for all the NFL teams. Gotta represent the Skins.

Last stop was the South Bend Chocolate company. Amazing hot chocolate, and great Raspberry mousse. I saw this gem of “cheesecake on a stick.” Covered in chocolate. I’m guessing it’s frozen and then dipped? Either way, this would be great for a grownup summer party.

Disney on Ice

2012-01-27T15:46:00.001-05:00

For Natalie’s Birthday we visited Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream. I took over 500 pictures. The girls loved it, but of course.

The show finale suceeded in being a jaw dropper, this was Sophia’s reaction:

Hooray for Ice Skating and Disney tunes!

Rhythm Discovery Center

2012-01-27T15:22:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday we went to the Rhythm Discovery Center for a mini field trip with our friend Sarah and her son Jacob. The center is downtown in Indy- we saw some of the prep for the superbowl next weekend, and lots of signs and posters on restaurants for the big day.

The center features all kinds of percussion instruments- to play with, to experiment with how sound works (vibration, tone, etc) and features exhibits of percussion instruments and videos of how they’re made.

And percussion instrument used for radio- each button makes the instrument play in a different place, with lots of different sounds.

The center was right up Leo’s alley- so many things to bang on! After the center we ate lunch in the mall food court, shopped at H&M and got a cinnabon. Great day!

Valentine’s Decorations

2012-01-27T15:12:00.001-05:00

I made some valentine’s decorations yesterday, method found here at Thrifty Decorating’s Wreath Tutorial.

On the book shelf….

Above my piano

And on the front door. Hooray for Valentine’s Day!

Puppy Dog Adoption Party

2012-01-21T16:57:00.001-05:00

My little Natalie…is not so little anymore. On her birthday on Wednesday we went to Disney on Ice. Today we celebrated her birthday with her friends. A few weeks ago we sent out an invite to come to the Daley Puppy Adoption Center. Most of my ideas came from a puppy party put on by the Crafting Chicks.

The kids were greeted by a sign on the front door.
Entryway décor (Dollar store paw print and polka dot wrapping paper and green butcher paper)

Their first stop was the Puppy Adoption Center, where they picked out a puppy.

Each dollar store puppy came in a cereal box, with one side cut off, and paw print paper hot glued around to cover. On the inside was a paw print fabric mat. Glued to the front was a name tag. To make it even easier, you could use gift box bottoms/lids instead of cereal boxes cut up, and then let them color them instead of covering with cute paper.

The kids were asked to name their puppy.

The polka dot trays seen above were the cereal box pieces cut off- with slits cut diagonal from the corners, then the sides folded up and hot glued together. I didn’t spend too much time on those, and was distracted watching Downton Abbey while making them..so they’re not very, ahem, professional looking.

They signed an adoption certificate, which I slid into their box under the fabric. It was nice to be able to check there and see who’s puppy was whose!

We put their name on a tag, and slipped it over their bodies to be on the puppy. (5 inches or so of ribbon hand sewed into a collar)

From the Adoption center they went to the store- Puppies R Us. At the store they could buy puppy vitamins (M&M’s in condiment containers, found with the plastic forks in walmart), a bouncy ball for their puppy, and puppy food (cocoa puffs).

Sophia was my puppy store employee- she wrote the person’s name on their paper bag so the supplies wouldn’t get lost. This room also served as a puppy kennel- a place to put their boxes and things while they played games or ate lunch. I sewed Sophia a puppy coat by copying the design of Natalie’s vet coat.

I bound the edges and pockets with satiny ribbon, which made it look like a little kids version of a smoking jacket. Still turned out cute though. I even added a clear pocket for a name tag- which is a little hidden under her hair.
Next they went to the puppy doctor and beauty salon. Natalie was so excited about her veterinarian kit from Christmas, we had a station for her and others to weigh, listen to the heartbeat, and do all the doctor things to the puppies. I sewed her a simple paw print skirt- which in this picture looks more like shorts. Weird.

At the puppy beauty salon the kids sprayed and brushed the puppies. I put a little bit of hair conditioner with lots of water in spray bottles. One kid kept asking- we can spray this FOR REAL, not for PRETEND? He was super concerned.

It took the kids about 45 minutes to get their puppies and for everyone to go around to every station. If I had to do this party over again, I would have done this during the last 45 minutes of the party. Then their parents would come and they’d still have all their supplies together- but more on that later.
Next the kids decorated party hats and little bowls for their puppy- aka water cones (bought in bulk at GFS, also great for making little trees, but I digress) and nut cups from the dollar store. I punched holes in the cones and tied elastic thread across. They decorated with markers.

Here’s pictures of two little puppies ready to get their party on.

Next we played games. We pretended to teach our puppies how to do tricks, like beg and sit and stand on one leg, etc. I tried to play a dog version of duck duck goose, but that crashed and burned. We had a barking contest, then my oldest daughter was pretty much ruining it because she wanted do overs and practice runs and everyone’s attention was gone, fast.

So I sent them to the last game, a bone hunt. I’d hidden bone sugar cookies all over the play room upstairs, so they had their puppies sniff them out. I had to remind them to only take one and to help their friends find one once they’ve found one.
You can see the sugar cookie here in this puppy’s party box:

Then I sent them off to play while we I made up the food. Here’s some pics of the dining areas- paper once again from the dollar store, and the puppy bowls are too.

I wish I would have bought enough of the long skinny balloons to make balloon dogs for everyone (we blow them up with bike pumps so it's easy to do).I was 2 short of enough for every kid, so I was ready to bring them out if I needed to, but we ended up rushing at the end.

We served hot dogs, french fries, apples and chex mix. I baked a funfetti cake with green icing and put on tinted coconut. We placed the little pet shop puppy on right before she blew out the candles.

We opened presents and ate some cake- and then everyone’s parents were here.

The best part of the day has been the last 4 hours of nonstop playing. Our friends were so generous, and it’s been quiet, not a peep out of Natalie, like Christmas all over again!

Overall the party went pretty well. Like I said before, I should have thought better about party order and starting times. I should have started the party at noon, fed them lunch, then do games, presents, cake- and the puppy stations last rather than first. Having the puppies first meant lots of lost puppies and lots of reminders to put their supplies in the dining room while they play. And serving lunch in the middle meant having free play time while we cooked everything and made up the plates.
I also learned my lesson with the guest list- everyone invited came- which almost never happens! I think I’ll be letting Natalie pick just a few friends next year, not everyone she goes to school with or sees during the week. (And yes, I say that every year and the next year rolls around and somehow there’s over 10 kids we HAVE to invite). But the kids were well behaved (for 5 year olds) and they had a great time. Which is all that matters.
Hooray for Puppies! And Happy Birthday to my not so little Natalie.

Curly Hair

2012-01-15T21:39:00.001-05:00

I’ve been curly for almost a year now. But only a month ago did I get my hands on this book. Curly Girl by Lorraine Massey. The book is all about how to take care of curly hair.

A year ago I read about the key elements of her method- shampoo little or not at all, wash with conditioner, squeeze hair dry rather than rub with a towel, use sulfate free products. Those things helped my hair a lot, and I was able to pull off curly hair every day. But reading her book made my good hair days even better. She explains how to find conditioners that will help your hair (what to look for in the label), how to pin curl the top of your hair for more definition, which styling products you need (clear gel- that’s it).

My sister and I went on a trip to Walmart over Christmas and bought a bunch of different conditioners. I was tired of waiting months to try new conditioners and oils. And I kept looking at curly hair websites with web order only conditioners, and thinking I could maybe find what I wanted now that I know what to look for in shampoos and conditioners.

My favorites so far have been:

Organix coconut milk conditioner. It has coconut milk, and egg white proteins. The curly girl book has a homemade recipe for soaking your hair in egg whites to nourish it. So I figured it wouldn’t hurt- and it’s been great. My hair isn’t as stringy and has bigger curl with this conditioner. Found at walmart!

The other one I’ve loved is

Burt’s Bees Super Shiny Grapefruit and Sugar Beet Shampoo and conditioner.

I use the shampoo once a week, and do the sugar beet conditioner or organix (above) the other days. My hair does look shinier afterwards- and smells so good. And it’s free of sulfates and the other stuff that strips your hair of natural oils. Now that I’m convinced I can be curly all the time and not be frizzed out, I just have to figure out how long I want to grow my hair out. I always chicken out about this length and cut it short. I’m going to see how long I go before I feel like an amazon woman.

Hooray for curly hair!

Book Worms

2012-01-15T21:17:00.001-05:00

Natalie and I spent way too much time in Half Priced Books last week. We found so many good books at super low prices- and even a paperback Barbie book that I can force my kids into slavery to earn. Um, I mean incentivize them with.

See all those clearance stickers? None of my books cost over 2 dollars. Now where can I find some free time? I just finished our February book club book, Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. Not a plot driven but character development driven book. It’s about two couples who are friends from their young assistant days, about their friendship, their trials, and how they all face one of the spouses battling cancer. I saw parts of myself in the characters, yet some of it was so foreign to me. The scenery and summer home in the book made me want to be rich and home a summer home and raise my kids in the woods. I’d recommend it if you want to ponder yourself and your spouse and how you value life and friendship.

And these pictures have nothing to do with books. Leo does love books these days. But he’s turning into quite a little character around here.

I am in love with so many little things about this guy- the way he laughs when he sees an animal, the way he holds his bagel so proper, the way he scowls at me in the mornings when he’s still tired.

Recently he’s given to impersonating me doing kickboxing- he likes to cast spells with his fork and yell at the top of his lungs to us at the table, usually about when the girls are in fits of giggles about something. His intensity is hilarious to us all- and he will smile after his spells and punches to show he’s in on the joke. Man I love this kid.

Hooray for books. And kids, who are the best characters I know.

The craft room…of my dreams

2012-01-15T21:08:00.001-05:00

I’ve sorted out my craft room and made it neat in the past. But this time, I moved furniture, dejunked it and two other areas in the process, and surpassed past levels of meticulous sorting and organization. In the past I’d just stick things on top, stash it in the corner and forget it was there- and never use it. All that craft crap is gone. And what’s left doesn’t look like a magazine picture, but it’s all totally functional- which is better to me than matching bins of every size.

This redo took me all week. On Monday I moved furniture from the office into Leo’s room, moved book shelves around. Then on Tuesday moved the teal craft center (and entertainment center with added shelves) down stairs, moved a desk over and started filling it up. On Tuesday and Wednesday we went shopping for organizational bins and file folders, and spent Thursday and Friday throwing things away and putting it all in the right place. Plus cleaned out my former office area and organized all the preschool things there. Doesn’t it sound exhausting? It was.

Here’s my finished craft center- bins of fabric on top, with cans of dow rods and vinyl. The thinner bookcase has all my papers- magazines, binders of patterns and my kids school scrapbooks, bind it all goods and printing cartridges, paper and scraps, etc.

My huge desk (from Goodwill) is super heavy, made of metal, and best of all, has a huge surface that can handle a computer and a sewing machine or two, plus enough room to cut out patterns, etc. And I put the computer behind the monitor. Leo can’t even see the buttons he used to threaten me with pressing. Take that Captain Electronic Destructo!

I was excited about my ribbons- tutorials and organizers abound on the interwebs, but I went the cheap way with a bin with holes and dow rods. I love having organizational bins that can be used differently in the future. And notice how some of the ribbon spools are loopy- that’s because they’re toilet paper tubes. They’re more compact and can be cut to ribbon size.

I spent a whole afternoon on this file folder bin. Folders for every party décor I’ve got, folders for every color of cardstock, etc. It felt so good the next day to be able to find the exact color quickly, without making a huge mess.

The major process of this craft room is what you can’t see- the 4 garbage backs of broken organizers, fabric scraps way too small to use, etc. I organized the fabric by type- cottons, silky fabrics, knits, flannels, etc. That’s usually how I do projects- I think of the type of fabric first, before I think of colors or motif. So it works for me.

This is my cereal box letter carrier. I made this a few months back. The cereal boxes I used don’t fit full papers- but it works great for all those little things that clutter your desk that get lost in drawers. And now I have a spot for church receipts, stamps, and all the other little papers. And I just noticed there’s a calendar in there I forgot to bring to my family last weekend. Whoops.

The other pics are the drawers, not yet full of junk- a sewing drawer and a drawer with paper clips, rubber bands, etc, in separate containers. I post this picture because this was so against my old philosophy- I’d think- just stick it in the bin somewhere out of the kitchen so I can’t see it, I’ll find it when I need it. My new goal-when kids ask “where’s a…” I’ll have an exact location, not 5 possibilities. We’ll see how long these little bins last!

On the bottom of the teal organizer is my camera shelf- which includes my new Jo Tote. I love it. It’s an expensive camera bag, that only a camera obsessed father would buy for his daughter, wanting to protect all that camera gear. I’m kind of excited to go on vacation with this bag.

Last but not least, this is the view on the side of my desktop. A family calendar, a pretty cup of pencils and scissors, a book of Mormon and a picture of the Savior. Lest I ever forget what all this busy is about, it’s about those things- Making my family happy, making my world pretty, emulating my Savior through Service. I feel so blessed to have luxury to even make a room all about my hobbies.

Hooray for organization!

Desktop Family Scrapbook- and a obvious tutorial

2012-01-04T21:45:00.001-05:00

This year I did two editions of the family calendar- One focused on just my family and my siblings with us on vacation, and one with John’s side of the family- where we were just on one page, rather than all 12.

The Ingram family calendar has all the great pictures I took this year in one place, my backup plan if I never get to scrapbook this year. It takes me a couple hours to go through all my pictures, stick them in a publisher document, and do an auto calendar for the side. I usually sort pictures by season or kid, then do pages based around a vacation, a photo shoot, or a kid (each kid has their birthday month as a minimum). I like having enough space for the nicer pictures, or a bunch of small shots that are funny or telling, but not perfect. This calendar is 8.5 by 11.

This year for the Daley family scrapbook I switched things up. I made it half size, did 12 pages, some holiday, most family pictures of each of John’s siblings, with their family year in review above. I added a page at the end with birthdays and anniversaries listed by month.

There’s a plastic cover for the front so it stays semi protected while not in use.

The main innovation was an extra full sized page on the back, folded so it could have a stand and sit on your desktop.

I also formatted the family letters so you could hold the back page up, and see the family summary while looking at their pictures. I think most people will have the top page down on the back side and not keep it facing up- it looks silly to me in the above picture.

Here’s how you fold the extra page for a stand-

Just a reminder- the book is half page sized (8.5 by 5.5) , the extra page is full page sized (8.5 by 11)

Fold the page in half over the front of the book

Accordion fold it back two more times, in thirds, Then prop the book up, you can stick some of the pages under the final flap to keep it stable. It’s not very hard, you could glue it, but I didn’t think that was necessary.

Hooray for family pictures and calendars!

Dino Hats and Ruffly Scarves

2012-01-04T21:29:00.001-05:00

For Christmas I made up some Scarves. Ruffly ones. Basically a basting stitch down the middle, and gather and you’re done! I made pink and purple ones for each of my Beehives….(that’s 10!) and some white and black ones for my sisters in law and older nieces. Hope they’ve gotten their presents by now! If not, hope you like it, ladies!

For my sister, her boyfriend, and my little nieces and nephews we made some dino hats. Leo’s is a little bit small. I’m hoping the other kids in my family have small heads!

I made up a larger one for Leo and have yet to take a picture of him in it, and one for Sophia, that was supposed to be a unicorn, but the ears went on backwards….let’s just say, I am no longer the invincible seamstress in her eyes. Sad day. At least I’m still Carrie’s hero.

Hooray for fleece and hats!

Christmas Eve and Morning…straight into New Year’s Eve!

2012-01-04T21:24:00.001-05:00

This Christmas there was lots of movie watching….my kids finally think Charlie Brown is funny!

We had our family and friends over for Christmas eve. The Daleys…

and the Adams made our feast full of laughter and lively discussion.

Jonah showed us how to use the Iphone…while all the other kids ransacked the upstairs and wore themselves out.

After everyone went home we read the Christmas story and I went to look for the Christmas eve present, at which Sophia said “I hope it’s not pajamas, I hate that….when it’s pajamas!” Sorry kiddo…. she was pleasantly surprised that they were night gowns. (Made em myself! )

And this was the best picture I got. Poor bubba would stand in place then I couldn’t get the girls to look natural, and by the time they were smiling and not being supermodels, Leo was running away.

Christmas morning brought all the good stuff… exercise equipment, movies, books, crafts, stacking toys….but none of them compare to the big present under the tree……

Guitars! One for each kid. Leo LOVES them, and John’s pretty excited about the family band he’s going to have. I guess next year I’ll be getting a tambourine so I can play with them too.

Natalie’s most exciting present was one from her grandparents- A veterinarian kit. It has everything- a scale, a clipboard, various instruments, vitamins, lab coat, even dorky glasses…

She kept telling me all day long- “Mom, if you forget who I am, just look at my name tag. Dr. Natalie. Veterinarian.”

I found a 5 dollar air hockey set for my mom. She loved it. You just have to play on a table with raised sides….which basically means an air hockey table, lol. So when John played with my mom it was 2 plays then retrieve the puck.

We also had lots of quality time doing puzzles with Aunt Carrie (8 in all, 100 piece minimum!) . I think I’m going to start doing a hard puzzle during conference- it can keep my kids attention (and mine) for hours.

Leo really bonded with Grandpa while John was on his YM camping trip. He would bring his blanket to Grandpa and snuggle up while Dad was watching football or editing photos.

Natalie also had some time to pretend to be me while I was at the temple with John. And we rung in the new year with a party at noon, the day my parents left.

Nothing says “Happy New Year” like an oatmeal square. Hooray for Holidays!

50 mm Christmas shots

2012-01-03T22:28:00.001-05:00

The photography bonanza starts once my Dad walks in the door. Especially when he brings a wrapped 50 mm lens. Ooo lala I am in love.

I pretty much tried every cliché shot in the book this Christmas holiday.

Portraits with super low aperture. Check out the fuzzy coke can and board game. Low aperture, low.

I loved these mini camera keychains from the dollar store. I’m sure this is what the picture would look like in a camera that small.

I’m in love with these two boys- Leo and his various scars and red nose from sticking his face on the cold sliding glass door, and John all suited up ready for the first snow fight of the year.

I tried out of foreground and background bokeh. And blurring the main subject.

Solar flare and unique angles at the Louisville Temple.

The children’s museum took on a whole new life as I used this lens. I’ve taken so many pictures there over the last 2.5 years, it was fun to see it anew- extremely closeup, with a lot more light into the camera without having to rely on flash. A fixed lens forces you to move closer or farther away to frame the shot- forcing you to look at the scene from different angles. Not to mention maddening crowds that mean you’re squatting up close and shooting from afar at a funny angle- simply because there’s no where else to shoot.

This was the first trip where Leo was talking- Choo choo choo choo was pointed out for every train he saw- all 500 hundred of them on the lower level.

He also found a bat, um, I mean coral reef that he could clobber unsuspecting sisters with…

This was my favorite place to take a picture of Leo at the museum- the enormity of those lights, his small hand, the stretching and concentration, not to mention the hard part of getting a shot at the right angle- we were putting the camera way up high above our heads straight to his hand and trying to catch the shot above.

The carousel is always breathtaking, but even more so with a portrait lens. Leo wasn’t cranky this time around, he was in total awe of the lights and song and dancing monkey in the middle next to the organ.

On the way home Leo occupied himself for all 30 minutes with a cup and a straw and lid. It’s the little things.

I made a yummy breakfast the last day my family was here- and my mom totally made fun of me for taking these shots. Whatever lady, this is exactly what my food looks like to Carrie in her 10 am wakeup daze. Yummo. (Orange poppy seed muffins and Pampered Chef Hashbrown Breakfast Bake, if you’re wondering)

Last but not least I made a little bokeh filter to putz around with. The first one was a flower to take a picture of the Christmas tree. Love it.

Hooray for new toys!

Incredible Pizza Company!

2012-01-03T21:49:00.001-05:00

During my parent’s visit we went to the Incredible Pizza Company in Greenwood. We had a late breakfast, so we went around 1 pm and then had a late lunch at their pizza buffet, played every game in the place, then had a dinner at the buffet again (don’t worry, we picked different junk food for our second meal and they have a huge salad buffet) then went home. They run a deal for 22 dollars per person- unlimited buffet and drinks, 2 hours of attractions (bowling, go karts, mini golf, bumper cars, laser tag) and 10 dollars on your game card. 2 hours was just enough for all the attractions, and between the 7 of us that was 70 dollars worth of games- it was great. Definitely a place to go on a date night or with your extended family- especially if someone is feeling generous. They have youth nights with a 15 dollar fee to play- I’d recommend it for all my young women.

The go karts took forever and then you only got 7 laps. I was lucky enough to beat that punk 11 year old and my sister who got a dud cart. So sad.

Sophia liked learning mini golf and seeing what she might look like in 10 years. Natalie loves the animals- of course.

I love this picture because this is my Dad’s ornery face- when he’s concentrating, or if you give him sass. Either way you get that accompanied with a distinctive pig noise. Love him.

Carrie rocked at the laser jump. I went in with Natalie. Failed miserably.

John spent pretty much the whole time with Leo getting their electronics fix. Leo loves buttons. So it was pretty much his paradise.

I loved the bumper cars- you could go different directions and bump into people, or just spin in circles. And the music was pumping, so we danced. A little.

The mini bowling was so much fun- you can really make those little balls fly. Especially when you have great form like John is demonstrating. We went bowling recently with friends, so my girls knew the drill and were stoked to get spares and strikes. They had a 1 minute second timer on each player’s turn too so it went really quick.

Leo’s favorite ride. And his favorite thing- a huge button to press. And hit.

Last but not least we played laser tag. At first Sophia was scared. But once she realized we were spies trying to find the other team, she got way into it and was shooting everything she saw. I thought the course was too small with too many people in side. Once someone was shot they would just walk around, so there were people just walking around all the time rather than being stealthy. I think I would have liked a course better that requires a goal in mind- capture the flag or something of the like.

Fun times. Hooray for Electronics and Pizza Buffets!

Daley Winter Wonderland: Ingrams come to visit

2012-01-03T19:47:00.001-05:00

Sophia was the first one out, ready to make a snowman…

Carrie came across some snags and hated trying to find supplies for her pinterest snowman…

My Dad took some pictures of the Ingrams working it like supersnowmodels.

Leo loved the snow. And John throwing snowballs super hard at the barn door next to him.

Hooray for snow!

Girl’s Dance Recital

2012-01-03T18:06:00.001-05:00

The girls had a Christmas dance recital at Brownsburg High School. They had so much fun practicing and wearing their special Christmas outfits. Here’s pics with the girls and some friends from church who are taking the class with Sophia.

December crazies- John’s Birthday, Lily’s Birthday, Dance Recital

2012-01-03T17:05:00.001-05:00

I’m getting nuttin for Christmas, Mommy and Daddy are mad. I’m getting nuttin for Christmas cuz I ain’t been nothing but bad.

I spilled the flour all over the kitchen. Somebody snitched on me!

I stole the cups to box with my sister. Somebody snitched on me!

I poked everything Mamma cooked. Somebody snitched on me!

I took apart the dishwasher to spin arm. Somebody snitched on me!

I took over the computer and shut it down. Somebody snitched on me!

I dump every bowl on top of my head. Somebody snitched on me!

I stayed in my pj’s until time to go to bed again! Somebody snitched on me!

Good thing I’d already bought them presents!

For John’s Birthday we had a mini party- complete with target shooting for his gift (which was hunting accessories).

His German chocolate cake was delicious…we ate it for days and days and days….

For Lily Bug’s Birthday we went to Monkey Joe’s, a play place. It was great, traffic non withstanding.

This was the best picture I got of the girls. They could care less that I was there.

Leo loved the balloon on Lily’s package. And Jonah loves his powerade. Lily’s party was the perfect start to our Christmas vacation. Hooray for Birthdays!

Christmas at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

2012-01-03T16:38:00.001-05:00

The children’s museum really lets my kids personalities shine through.

Natalie’s dancing side

Their love of magical animals

Leo’s love of all things mechanical and electronic

Sophia’s love of hiding

Natalie’s creative side

And my kids incessant need for pictures. I have 3 editions of this picture. But we must take another every time we build it at the museum. Sophia loves to pose Natalie too and tell her exactly how to stand and pose. Big Sister plus perfectionist is not always a good combination. I’ve got to channel that energy into being a leader rather than a nag.

At any rate, we love the museum and the time we could spend with Daddy on a busy Saturday.

Thanksgiving and Letter J Preschool

2011-12-05T15:27:00.001-05:00

For Thanksgiving we had a great little preschool.

We read “Thanks for Thanksgiving,” reviewed the story of the Pilgrims and Indians, and learned the song “Thanks to our Father” from the LDS Children’s songbook. The link is for a list of Thanksgiving songs, the blog author, Tiffany, has Scribd files for flipcharts. I used the one for Thanks to our Father.

We made turkeys out of Apples, toothpicks and fruit loops. Marshmallows are essential as end caps to keep the fruit loops on for longer than 2 seconds. A marshmallow head could also be added.

We did some counting with turkey feathers. I had the kids put eyes and a beak on their turkey body, then I would call out “Put two yellow feathers behind the turkey. Put one orange feather…take any two off…etc.”

Then I had them glue the turkey feathers behind, and they listed off what they were grateful for to write on each feather. Some kids rattled off their blessings, others just said “Mom.Dad. That’s it.” The best was one little girl said “Santa”- she’s thinking ahead!

We also did some Thanksgiving tracing and letters from this Thanksgiving Preschool Pack, and had some yummy freshly popped popcorn for a snack.

Letter J- for Jelly! And Baby Jesus! And Jumping!

For letter J we talked about jelly- we spread jelly on bread (good skill I think preschoolers should learn)

We colored in our favorite jelly onto the bread for our journal.And sang the “Peanut Butter and Jelly” song. First you take the peanuts and you smash em, you smash em…

We copied the letter J and colored in a picture of Jesus (from lds.org Friend coloring pages). We read a storybook retelling Christ’s birth.

For wiggles time we did actions relating to jumping and Christmas. I copied off action cards from Oopsey Daisy’s Christmas advent activities. I sent home a copy with all the kids so they can do it at home too. And a copy of Christmas jokes.

Last but not least, we made some simple beaded jewelry. Which I forgot to take a picure of. Whoops.

Hooray for Thanksgiving and the letter J!

Over the highway and through the air…to the Daleys house we go…

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Over Thanksgiving our family Holly, Braden and Lydia came to visit.

Lydia loved all the excess of toys we’ve got around here….

And the crazy kids that believe they really are dogs in people’s bodies…

Holly and Braden were given lots of time to read as their holiday gift.

And all the cousins had fun coloring together…

And posing for pictures. Lydia is a natural in front of the camera- no crawling away, just a pretty smile and laugh at my not so great duck impression.

And my hair and clothes looked kinda cute on Thanksgiving, so I had Holly document it for my posterity- See kids! Your mom was cute back in the day!

These kids begged me for a “silly picture.” Much more their natural state then their posed pics I usually get.

What a touching photo, with some of my favorite people and my favorite sippy cups (why didn’t I see that when I took the picture!!??!)

Jonah took immediately to playing with their new nativity set.

And Leo took immediately to watching Braden demonstrate Angry Bird for us.

There was lots of rock paper scissors…but no lizard or spock games unfortunately.

Evie is becoming quite a little goofball.

That face pretty much sums up our whole holiday. Love you Daleys!

Art Party!

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Sophia is all about the ART- she’s always spent a lot of time drawing, but lately she draws for stories, she is able to draw “what I see in my head” and has been able to paint and absolutely LOVES all the extra credit art projects she can do each week at school.

So the theme of her 7th birthday party was a no-brainer: ART PARTY!

We printed out letter envelope sized invitations that the girls and I painted a few weeks before the party.

Then we got started on the décor. I bought two packs of rainbow bold colored cardstock at Michael’s, and cut it into 1 inch by 8 inch strips- which I used to make the loop banner seen below hanging

I just kept stapling and stapling, and ended up with a few long strips- enough to go around my living room and kitchen and the above entryway.

I also used those strips to make hanging strip mobiles ala Oh Happy Day’s instructions.

I also bought some popsicle sticks at the dollar store, and made 2 dozen popsicle stick easels. So cute. I found pictures of famous paintings I love to put on the easels, to display on the table. I came up with the black and white frame idea while looking for scrolly frame clipart. Having found nothing that made me happy, I saw a simple frame and thought- I could do that easy. I drew it with lines on MS publisher and carried that theme of white and black frame/colored art to the rest of the party.

I used some packing newsprint to draw up this entryway sign. I freehanded the font based on a font from the computer, but my printer doesn’t print over 11 inches, so I did my best. I colored it in with colored pencils. (Love me a new pack of colored pencils all lined up like the rainbow!)

We hung balloons from string over the table, and I found a valentine heart tablecloth in my dish cupboard, I bought it last year on Target clearance after valentine’s day, it worked great for the table cloth- so colorful, and looks like something Sophia would draw.

I also found coloring pages for famous paintings online. I thought about printing one for each kid, then remembered my friend who has a large scale printer for her carpet business. A phone call and a few emails later, and we had huge paintings to color.

Food:

For the food I made Jello Popcorn in every color but red, then did Red Hot Cinnamon Popcorn for the red kernels. The popcorn cups are from the Boxes, Bags, Tags, and More cartridge for Cricut.

Each color of popcorn makes 8 cups. So I spent a few hours making this popcorn in the separate colors, then mixed in a freshly washed and dried rubbermaid bin.

We ate only about 1/3 of the popcorn, so I’m using the rest for a Young Women’s event at my church next week.

Chocolate covered pretzels, posing as paintbrushes…

M&M cookies (I made these for me more than anyone else!). And tie dye cupcakes- I’d recommend the gel colors or thinned out icing in piping bags to create the stripes and circles. I was using a spoon and it was not working so well. Luckily the kids could care less.

We made blending punch- the kids could pick two of the primary colors of kool-aid to drop in their lemon lime soda to see what colors it made. It ended up really really sour. If I do this again I’ll make up 3 pitchers of kool-aid and have them mix in their glass with normal amounts, rather than little sprinkles of kool-aid.

Last but not least, the favors:

Oil Pastels- I bought 2 packs of oil pastels at Michaels (love the 40 percent off coupons!). They’re usually only 5 dollars for 48 to begin with, so not expensive. I divided up the pastels into sets of 5, mixing up the colors to get one blue, one green, one citrus, one black or brown, etc. I cut out crayon boxes from the Boxes, Bags, Tags and More cartridge (had to play around with it to find the perfect size to fit them in). I assembled with scotch tape and glued on the labels I’d made in Publisher.

Sketch Books: One day the week before I spent an afternoon making boy and girl themed doodles on a white piece of paper. I then scanned it in and printed multiple copies on cardstock. I put a good amount of white paper in the book and bound it with my bind-it-all.

Front

Back

Last but not least, I made Art Portfolio labels to go on simple file folders. I put a 5 inch or so strip of tape on each side to make it into a pocket folder. The kids took home their artwork, sketchbook, pastels and halloween sized playdoh for their favors.

Now onto the party itself…

The guests arrived and we colored some paintings on the walls. At the beginning they were asking which color was “right” so I suggested they pick a color they think was right, and maybe do something silly…which is how Mona Lisa ended up green with a rainbow behind her.

Next they colored the front of their “Art Portfolio”- aka goody bag to take home artwork and supplies in.

Our only real game was Pictionary. I had a few ideas on paper, or they could come up with their own secret to draw. Because most of the kids are in the same class at school, it was hilarious to hear them speak in first grade terms- one girl drew a “Landscape” for everyone to guess. At another point in the party everyone was discussing “statements” vs. “questions” and “exclamations.” First graders are so sophisticated these days!

Next we drew with crayons and then painted over with watercolors. This was a backup activity after Sophia vetoed a game the morning of the party- but it ended up being the quietest and most popular. Guess there’s no substitute for painting!

I gave the kids straws too to blow on the watercolors for a cool effect- but nobody really caught on.

Next we sang to the birthday girl and had some food.

And had some balloon fights to get off some energy:

Then we went back to the table for sculpting.

We opened presents and had some more balloon fights- and then it was time to go!

Overall the party went swimmingly well, considering there were over a dozen kids and just me and John. The main things I learned from the party is to have some activities kids can do if they don’t like the one we’re focusing on. In this case, they were always welcome to go play with balloons, draw on the easel or color more on the walls. I’m thankful for all the fun kids that made Sophia’s day so great and most of all, thankful for my little Sophia sunshine and the love she has for creating.

HOORAY for ART!

Letter I- Ice Cream Preschool Ideas

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Ice cream pack from 2 teaching Mommas- I cut out and laminated 4 sets of the dice game to build an ice cream cone. We took turns rolling the dice and taped huge stacks of ice cream on the white board, then compared the different cone graphs and talked about least,most etc.

Musical Islands game- played just like musical chairs, but with carpet squares, pretending they were islands we jumped onto when the music stopped

I balance beam made out of masking tape:

Balloon ice cream cone- Balloon decorated with paper sprinkles (small strips of paper or hole punches glued on or stickers, red pom pom on top for cherry). Cardstock stapled to make a cone to put it in. You can play a game where you toss the balloon up and try to catch it with the cardstock.

For snack we had Ice Cream- of course!

For Journal we colored an ice cream cone the color of our favorite flavor.

For tracing and letters they traced I, completed a pattern with Ice cream and cookies pattern, and matched upper and lower case letters on ice cream cones (from the 2 teaching Mommies link above).

It was a fun preschool and I think the kids are starting to expect sweets everytime they’re at my house. Hooray for Ice Cream!

Halloween Monster House Party…at the Daleys!

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We had a great Halloween this year. The festivities started with me sewing Sophia’s rainbow pillow costume and Natalie’s modest mermaid gown (shown above with puff sleeves and seaweed boa).

Our cousins came to the ward party. Here’s dragon and cute flower Evie…

The beehives ran the spider web toss during the halloween carnival. We sewed bean bags on Wednesday night then hung a spiderweb the day of the party.

On Halloween we had a few friends over. I had signed up to host a party through houseparty.com, so I got some free goodies to hand out (mainly trick or treating bags and mini flashlights.

I hung some simple spider and bat silhouettes…

I made a simple trick or treat banner, and hung halloween pictures from years past on our memo board. Then added spider webs to our fancy candle holders.

The piano got some spider webs too, and we propped up the skeleton that’s literally on it’s last leg.

I made some Halloween blocks out of scrapwood and vinyl. I’ve had these on my list of things to do for a while, but never got around to it until my friend Sarah wanted to work on some of her own with me. It was fun to sit and talk and make things for a few afternoons, I’m thinking I need to have craft dates more often!

Last but not least I hung a spider web between our balcony railings and added webbing and a paper spider Sophia brought home from school.

(Imagine party pics here that I was too busy to take…)

We served Halloweenies, ham and cheese calzone strips, Pumpkin Soup with Jalapeno Pesto, breadsticks, spinach dip and a big salad. For dessert we had red velvet cake eyeballs, black cat cookies (chocolate cookies shaped like cats) and Knock em Naked Cake (chocolate cake, pudding, coolwhip and toffee bits) . We went trick or treating and came back for dessert and some Halloween pictionary/charades.

Fun times. I love having a houseful of people. I need to be a better time manager so I can make it happen more often!

October Happenings

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This month has been full of excitement.

Leo’s started building his own towers. I can feel my productivity increasing just thinking about it and all the time he’ll now spend occupied…

We visited some frogs at the Children’s Museum, and I got a bunch of other shots that I’m sure would bore you…

And we love the vampire fags that they gave out at the Haunted house…(which was not worth the huge long wait at all…)

Leo’s a big fan of hats now…

We also had a fun day at the Pumpkin patch. Leo loved watching all the various entertainment- huge tractor wheels, pumpkin eating dinosaurs, etc.

And we love jumping off hay bales (that’s our friend Rachel on the left)

Fun times. We’re glad we had a day off with Johnny.

Preschool Letter E and F

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For the little preschool we did E is for Eggs and Elephant:

The kids went on an egg hunt, and each egg had candies in it- they had to count them out and find the number card from the table.

Then we talked about the letter E, did an egg race, and an egg toss into the buckets from across the carpet.

We made little elephant noisemaker from Family Fun. Jacob loved it. Then we painted an elephant with grey paint and watched Elephant movies on Planet Earth.

Yesterday we had letter F with the big preschool. We fished little fish with activities to do, like be an octopus, sing the shark song, make a fish face.

I made funnel cakes during free play time…made to look like the letter F. They were delicious, and a lot easier than I thought!

Other F activities:

Sang “The Goldfish” by Laurie Berkner

Read “The Pout Pout Fish”

Pasted black triangles, circles and rectangles on pumpkins to make feelings pumpkins.

Took pics of our faces doing different feelings, then I made collages in Picasa real quick during lunch time.

Today for little Preschool we did Frogs- (sorry no pictures)

We played a graphing game and did fish sorting from the Pond life preschool pack on Tot School.

We played leapfrog, pretended to be the different parts of a frog (egg, tadpole, frog), and pretended to jump in and out of the pond, to catch flies, etc.

We painted frogs, added circles to them, cut and pasted the life cycle of a frog.

We watched frogs on National Geographic kids. (Natalie’s favorite site)

We read “In a Small Small Pond” and “Froggy goes out to Eat”

We sang “Five Little Speckled frogs” and had frog toys to throw off the log.

I’ve taught a lot of Preschool in the past 2 months, but I’ve got a break for a few weeks, Natalie’s attending the preschool at the local high school by our house, and I don’t have to teach “Big Preschool” until November. I love my preschool kids, but it will be nice to not have that in the back of my mind for a few weeks!

Fun around these parts

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We recently went to the town celebration at the library. John made the bell ring, Natalie caught some coupons, we dressed up in silly props, and caught some candy from the bucket truck.

I took some pics of our YW during Mutual, and before hand tried out some poses on Natalie. She’s always willing to smile (or make funny faces, or hug a tree) for the camera.

Leo’s got a bucket on his head…

Natalie was taking pictures with my camera yesterday. It was on rapid mode, so she took about 200 in about 20 minutes. Pictures of all kinds of exciting things, like the bathroom and a magnadoodle, and pictures of princesses on her walls. Here’s our 4:05 happenings yesterday, from Natalie’s perspective:

Hooray for Stylish and fashionista bus stops!