Botanical Prints

I found this idea in Better Homes and Gardens: 

http://www.bhg.com/decorating/do-it-yourself/wall-art/diy-artwork-botanical-prints/?ordersrc=rdbhg1103522 

I usually don't do anything with the magazine except look at it.  

I knew that Florida was the perfect place to find flowers and leaves for the art.  I also thought this would be the perfect souvenir of our two and a half year vacation in Florida.  I know that I am going to miss the green around me.  So in my travels I have been on the look out for the perfect foliage.  The hockey rink has a lot of different leaves.  I think I might collect a couple from there.  Our neighborhood also has two leaves that I'm going to use.  I was thinking that a flower would be a nice addition.  

I have loved the bird of paradise flower since the first time I saw it.  It is so unique and truly looks like a bird.  So I have been looking around for one.  There is actually a pot of some artificial ones in the condo we are staying in, but I thought it might not be nice to spray paint their decorations.  I knew there were some by a gas station and some to an entrance of a neighborhood.  But that might be weird to go there to pick one.  

So today when I was coming home from getting the girls from school, on the road leading up to our road, there was one, just waiting for me.  I think it is public property since it is on a public road. Maybe?

Janiel had cleaned out her desk at school and so she had a pair of scissors in her backpack.  So with the girls on the look out, I dashed out and chopped off this lovely flower.  I hope I'm not charged with stealing.  I just picked a flower.  A lovely one.

 I felt a little guilty and sneaky.  But isn't it going to look wonderful as a work of art?  I can hardly wait to do it.  But now the questions is: where do I spray paint?  It is probably against the rules.

P.S.  I did do some research and the plant can produce up to 3 dozen blooms a year.  I don't feel quite as bad.  And they can be quite invasive if they aren't cared for.  I was just helping prune before the landscape workers pruned.

Kylie and Chandler Adventures

The Shaw's son was getting married in the temple.  Candace (his sister) asked me if I could watch her kids while they went.  It turned out that they needed to leave early in the morning, so I told her to just let them sleep over.  Kylie and Chandler are cuties.  Chandler is a mommy's boy and is sad if she isn't around.  He is the one that breaks down crying during the closing hymn and prayer because he knows nursery in next.  So we thought we might be in for a long night.  But I was okay with that.  I could do that for one night.

During dinner he wouldn't eat.  Then when we were all done, I put him down.  A few minutes later he took me back to his plate and said, "Kyee".  So I got Kylie to sit with him while he ate.  He was hungry!

 We had a few rounds of "Headbands".  It is a fun guessing game.  Brent said they used to play it as kids, but they called it Indian Poker!

 Chandler wanted Kylie to sleep by him, but Kylie didn't want to sleep in my bed-don't blame her.  So we put Kara and Kylie on lots of pillows on Kara's floor.  They stayed put and chit chatted until 10 or so.  It was pretty cute to listen to. Chandler was sad to just lay down.  So I was lucky to get to snuggle and rock him to sleep.  He was out in minutes.  He was a good boy and slept right though the night in the port-a-crib.

 We went to the park the next morning.  Chandler loves the slides.

 Kara getting all twisted up.

 Kylie is a cutie.

 What cute friends.

 Popsicles were next on the list.  Chandler knew he wanted blue!

 Kylie and Ashleigh

 They played blanket monster for a while.  It made for some frizzy hair!

We had a great time with the Lovelace kids.  

Science Fair Project

I don't really love doing science fair projects.  Shhh.  Don't tell the kids.  But Janiel decided to do a fairly easy and fun one this year.  She wanted to know what to add to bubbles to make them last longer.  So she tried a variety of different things: karo, lemon juice, sugar, glycerin, vinegar, and baking powder.

 It was a windy day, so we had to move to the garage.  Nice back drop, I know.  So it turns out that glycerin added to bubbles makes them last longer.

Collier County Champ

Wes' relay team made it to the finals for the county.  He runs the 4 by 400 relay. It was a rainy day, but the races still went on.

 I took a video of Wes running, but he is a small dot (plus my cheering is a little annoying!).  He is the third man on the relay. The first and second runners kept them in second place.  When Wes started running he stayed in second for half of the lap, then he caught up and passed the leader with 1/4 of the lap left!  The last runner is the fastest in their school, so he was able to keep the lead!  So proud of Wes and how hard he worked to help his team. 

The first place runners received medals.  So now Wes has a track medal to add to his hockey, art, and scholar medals!  He is a well rounded boy.

 This is Wes with his best friend Noah.  Noah throws the discus.  He does pretty good too.

Pictures of the Little Girls

I was going through some pictures and noticed that I had missed a few with our move and all the drama that followed.  So here are some pictures of the girls and their day to day adventures.

Sunning on the lanai.  I think I want a lanai when I get back to Utah.  Do they build those there?  It is perfect: a screen to keep out bugs, critters, leaves and dirt, a screen to keep kiddos in, pavers to make it nice, and right next to the house.  It would be perfect to keep out the mink farm flies.  (I'm not really missing those!  I have only swatted a couple flies while here in Florida! I'll definitely need to brush up on my fly swatting skills!)

Ashleigh and Erin grew lima beans in their class.  They were so proud of how tall they had grown.  Then we moved and the plants disappeared.

The girls get a little bored at Wes' hockey games.  So sometimes they use the bleachers as their jungle gym.  It sometimes makes the other spectators nervous.  So I try to limit this activity.

Blowing bubbles is also a favorite activity.

We love our girls and all the fun that they provide for us to enjoy!

Janiel's Friend Party

Janiel wanted to stretch her birthday out for as long as possible.  I really don't like doing friend parties, not sure why, but I thought this would be a good year to do it.  She has made some pretty cute friends over the last couple of years.  So we sent out invitations but I didn't know what we were going to do until the night before.  How's that for planning!

Papa Murphy's has mini pizza kits that the kids can make their own pizzas.  So we did that for dinner.  I should have taken a picture of that.  I think they enjoyed doing that.  Then we ate those with fresh fruit and vegetables (got to kind of make it healthy). 

We made button monograms.  It was pretty cute to see different personalities come out in their art.

Kara, Bethany, Macey and Kailee.

Camden, Ali, Ashleigh, Makayla and Janiel

After they had dried, I put them in a frame.  I thought they turned out pretty cute.  I later thought they would have been cuter on burlap.  So I redid Erin, Ashleigh, and Kara's onto the burlap.  Brent was disappointed that I ruined their creations...I did add a few more buttons to fill in the gaps, but I kept to their color scheme.

Makayla finishing her pizza during the craft.

 Then we opened presents.

 She got quite the stash.  It ranged from fingernail stuff, jewelry, art supplies and body spray.

 Then we decorated cupcakes.  I found an idea with marshmallows.  You cut them into five slices with scissors and toss them in a bag with colored sugar.  Then you just arrange the petals.  I think they turned out pretty cute.

 Makayla

 Ali

 Bethany

 Kailee

 Macey

 Camden

 Kara

 Janiel

 Ashleigh

 Erin

 Macey gave Janiel something she had created.  She named it Men in Black.  So cute and from the heart.

Then we played spin the bottle with nail polish until the parents showed up.  Who ever the cap points to paints one nail that color.  Then they spin a different color and keep going until every one has all their nails painted.  We had a fun time.  Glad the downstairs neighbors left the day before!