A visit from Captain Kotsur

Casey had a visit from a true, live fireman at school. The benefit is that he is Mrs. Kotsur's husband. Casey loved climbing all over the old fire truck and even kept his hat on part of the time. Thanks, Captain Kotsur!

Hello, Anyone?

She learned to talk on the phone at the Porter's. What a shock.

Culture Pass

I got this information off of my friend's blog. She says it better than I do, so I directly copied her post. Thanks, Jess.


Some FANTASTIC money saving, culturally enlightening news for my Arizona pals...


Starting on April 1, it’s your ticket to local museums, the Phoenix Zoo, and other must-do attractions (like Desert Botanical Gardens and The Arizona Science Center) FREE. FOR SEVEN DAYS. FOR FOUR PEOPLE.

Here’s how it works - you pick up a Culture Pass at your local library anywhere in Greater Phoenix (that means it includes Chandler, Scottsdale, Glendale, Tempe, Mesa). The pass is good for seven days, for four people. Some of the places it gets you in: Arizona Museum of Natural History, Arizona Science Center, Children’s Museum of Phoenix, Heard Museum,Phoenix Art Museum and more are all covered by the pass.

I know you’re asking, “What’s the catch?” There is no catch. Economic times are hard and everyone is looking for something to do that’s free and entertaining. So a bunch of sponsors got together and decided to influence the community with arts and activity.

To see a full listing of FREE attractions, as well as more details, visit: http://www.theculturepass.org/. And be sure to tell your friends - there are enough passes to go around!

PWD

What's that? The Pinewood Derby. Enough said.

Kids

What unbelievable kids. I know all kids are extraordinary. I am constantly amazed at the many abilities kids have. They can show love when you least expect it, they forgive in an instant, they show complete trust even when you don't deserve it, and most of all they exhibit all the promise and hope for the future. Each of my kids show and teach me different things. My life is sweeter, better, fuller, and definitely more hectic with kids, and my life would be full of empty without them. It was so fun to spend a week without school and schedules and be able to enjoy our kids. Thanks to my kids for making my life what it is.

Piggies

Walking home from school today I noticed the cutest little piggies. I had to run in and get my camera to preserve the sweetest little toes ever.

Hiking the Y

When I asked the kids to name off favorites from our trip to Utah, one was hiking the Y. It was rated as an easy hike, but we all decided that wasn't accurate.
Even so, we all made it - even Kat


and Casey - and it did provide awesome views of BYU campus, the football stadium, the MTC, and the Provo temple. It was all topped off with milkshakes and fries from Stan's. Definitely one of our favorites.

Just a great week

Spring Break was lots of things so here is a list

1. Nik's return from Italy. We had so much fun listening to all of his mission stories and about Italy. What a great missionary for all of us to learn from.
2. CREPES that were so delicioso. (We learned that all Italiano words end in a vowel unless they are stolen from another language.) We ventured down to Provo twice for crepes and were sad that there wasn't time for a third.
3. No sleep. Kids up until after midnight and other kids up with the sun. The Porter's are just too much fun.
4. 24 people trying to get ready for church in 3 bathrooms and 24 people sharing germs. There was vomit, coughing, headaches, earaches, and one ultra black, black eye.
5. Action and entertainment all of the time. When it was over, my 5 had a hard time being at home without someone to entertain them. (I am not the entertainment committee.) There was bowling, hiking, a stop at D.I. (if you haven't been to the D.I. on State Street, you are missing out), t-shirt making thanks to Hannah, swinging in the hammock, Pokemon tetris (that's a little embarrassing), Wii fit, a visit with Helen and her cutest baby, a stop at "the house with no rules and 5 boys", bike rides on the tandem, a picnic in the canyon, an obstacle course competition, visits to BYU and the bookstore, many viewings of Little Rascals, eating and more eating, and just enjoying family.

It was a great week and we loved every minute of it. It is always sad to leave and we are counting down the days till we get to do it all again.
THANKS FOR SUCH A GREAT WEEK.

p.s. this picture of Sam says it all

Sewing too much

Here is my latest creation. I dreamed of this one night. I had fabric running through my brain and a birthday party on the horizon and this is where those two thoughts met. An apron for a sweet little girl whose birthday party we are going to miss.

Dressing Jillie

I've been itching to try making a dress for Jill. This one is refashioned from a thrift store buy. I used an old men's dress shirt, and a great tutorial, to create this cute new wear for Jillie. She is such a pretty girl in a "new" pretty dress. She is such a busy flutterby and hard to get pictures of, but here are some of my favorites.

Whew . . . it's just sew late

Last week I spent quite a few late nights finishing some of my sewing projects. I have a few more on the list to hopefully finish this week. I really think Ron is beginning to wonder what has happened to me. But, I've got to finish these projects while I still am feeling crazy about sewing. I made my first "from scratch" skirt. Jill finds it very fun to twirl in. I definitely will be making another one of these, hopefully with cuter fabric next time. I tried to capture a picture with her in the skirt, but she just kept sitting down. Oh, well.
Maggie and I ran across some minky and chenille scraps and I had seen a tutorial on monogramming by machine. I wanted to give it a whirl, so a pillow was made. When it was done, I told her we would have to go and find an insert or some stuffing the next day. I should have known better. I walked by Sam's room to find Maggie tearing apart one of his small pillows and stuffing the insert into hers. She is resourceful.
The art case is a surprise for Maggie for our trip to UT. The tutorial for this was a little tricky (Ron had to come to my rescue.) I couldn't figure out the inside and the outside of the fabric and my brain had to work overtime. Anyway, I am just hoping the brain power pays off and the art case provides hours of entertainment in the car.

skirt pic

The $6 revamped size 10 skirt.

a tiger on the loose

i was reading, or stalking, blogs tonight and honestly laughed out loud when i read this on craftster.org. this lady was doing a tutorial on the cutest dress that i want to try to make for the girls and her first suggestion goes like this:

Step 1: Convince your wee one she is a tiger and an empty box is her jungle. Apply snacks frequently.

This is followed by a hilarious picture of her daughter in a cardboard box with snacks and a plastic tiger.

Ahh, motherhood. After I thought about that for a little while I wondered if she had ever heard of Tom and Jerry, Looney Toons, Star Wars: Clone Wars, or Max and Ruby. All staples on our DVR. You see, a strange thing has happened to me lately. I don't know if it is my rebelion against small child activities, but, I, who absolutely hated sewing lessons, and ignored constant pleading from my mother, have actually enjoyed sewing lately. There are so many fun things to do with a sewing machine. It kind of all started with my rag quilt. I enlisted Nana to help me with this Enrichment project and it is nearly completed. Nana has talked me into adding a border to make it a little bigger, so after that adjustment, it will be done. And, I actually like it. I like to look at it and see what became of the millions of little squares I cut out. Well, then I decided the sewing machine is not too scary and I made a small squishy pillow for Maggie. I even machine embroidered an "M" on it. That was way fun. I am in the middle of a surprise for the trip to Utah for her and am debating whether or not Casey will cry for want of one. (The completed project will be posted later). I have sewn on dozens of scout patches for my two boys, and a friend (wink to kim). And, today, I did a little fashion redesign. A $6, size 10 skirt, was scaled down to fit Maggie so that it would be long enough. Her delight made the short work worth it. Well, this post went a little longer than was wanted. But, thanks to stalking craftster, tomorrow when I open up the sewing machine, maybe the tv won't be my babysitter. Instead, I'll insist a tiger is on the loose.

p.s. I'll have to post pictures tomorrow. My camera battery is charging.

Famous Frog

After my last post, my mind was intrigued as to how many frog poses I could find on the computer.

Cutting Class

Today, Zach and Maggie cut class midday to venture to the zoo.
They decided to let Jill, Casey, Ron, and I come along.
Too bad Sam felt like he had to go to school. At least for today, he was the responsible one.
It was a balmy 90 degrees and so we were hopping from one shady spot to the next water fountain, hoping to keep cool.
The most desired animal was the cougar. Any guesses why? We even got a bonus. There are now two cougars.
A trip to the zoo is not complete without a picture on the frog statue. So, here it is.