Don't let the door hit you in the .....

Monday was Katie's first day of preschool and she was excited! After a week of seeing her older sister and brother go to school she wanted her turn.

Here is she is in her best back to school pose, complete with her school bag.

Now in my mind I had envisioned we would have a nice tender moment as she walked into preschool, with a little trepidation about mommy leaving her for three hours, being in a new place, with unfamiliar kids, you know the usual stuff.

Ummm....forgot to check and see if that is how Katie pictured the first day of preschool. I no sooner parked the car and opened the door to let her out and she bolted for the school door. She was at the door and headed inside before I even locked the car. Once I determined that she was inside the school, I just let her be, because it was apparent to me she was going to be just fine. Now me on the other hand......well that a different matter altogether......

Waiting to exhale....

While at the county fair, waiting to get screwed over, cough, cough, I mean fairly judged, I took some cute pictures of Lauren and Katie. (Yes I am still bitter....)

My two cute girls!

Look at those blue eyes!

A beautiful smile.

The fashion pose.

Fabric Flowers

Recently I have been inspired by fun fabric flowers, and decided to try my hand at making some. I started with a trip to the fabric store in search of polyester fabric. I bought a 1/4 of a yard of different types and colors of polyester fabric.

I found circle objects (lids, cups) to use for a pattern for my petals.

I used the flame of the candle to melt the edges of the material.

By melting the edges it resulted in the circles curling, making my circles really looking like petals. (Note, not all polyester fabric had edges that melt really well. The cheaper the fabric, the better the fabric melts and curls with the heat, who knew???!!)

After I melted all my edges, then I put my flower pedals together and hand sewed them together in the center.

Then the fun began! I hot glued all sorts of embellishments to the center of the flowers.

I used jewel glue to glue on a clip. I wanted to use a flat clip so that the flowers could either be worn in the hair or pinned onto an article of clothing.

I took this flower and pinned it to one of my necklaces.

This flower I pinned on a dress.

Finally here is the flower in Lauren's hair.

Fashion Review

No 4-H clothing project is complete without the fashion review competition. This is where you model your clothing project, followed by an interview with the judges, and then the award of a trophy if you are among the best. (I have to say, I liked it better in MY day, when you got a ribbon for modeling, and then the judges chose a Grand Champion Fashion Review, and a Reserve Champion Fashion Review. FYI, I do have BOTH of those trophies, ...., which is probably why I like it.)

Since Lauren had two outfits, she got to model twice. First up was the dress she made.

Here we are "poppin" a pose.

Just look at that smile, she sparkled on stage!

And here she is in the interview.

I could not hear the questions, but I could tell she was doing really well. Her face lit up as she talked, and she was actually answering the questions as opposed to other kids that just kind of look lost and answered yes, no, or I don't know. (We had practiced our interview skills. Lauren would really like to do pageants when she is a teenager, so I told her this interview was good practice for the pageant interviews.)

Next, it was a quick change and she modeled with Katie in their matching leopard print dresses.

Yep, that one had an interview too. In this photo she is showing the judges the trim on her dress.

They asked about how she made the flower and she promptly started talking about polyester fabric, cutting out circles, and melting the edges.

Then Lauren had to change AGAIN, back into her dress, so the judges could have a final look at all the fashion review candidates. (Last year it was a mad dash between the stage and the bathroom for outfit changes. We got smart this year and Lauren wore a tank top and her dance biker shorts so we could just change in our "staging" area in the audience.)

Now the way this works is Lauren got judged two times, once for her dress, and once for the outfit she decorated. They have all the kids model in one big group interspersed with both the fashion review clothing and the decorate your duds clothing, so Lauren was not the only one changing outfits.

Ok, now here is where the story get interesting or rather a little dicey....About half way through the competition I looked over at the judges for fashion review and noticed that one of the original judges, who initially judged Lauren had been replaced by a different judge. It was about that time that they called Lauren and about 8 other girls back to model. (This was before the final look at all the girls) So Lauren modeled AGAIN, and had a second interview AGAIN.

Then we waited.....finally they were ready to announce the results of fashion review and decorate your duds. They started with fashion review. They were awarding trophies to whom they deemed to be the top contestants. As the list was called Lauren and I patiently waited for her name to be called. It was not called. I was stunned. About 12 girls received trophies.

Then they announced the decorate your duds winners and the group has about 6 kids and Lauren received a trophy. As you can see from the smile on her face she was very happy, I was still upset. (Can you say stage mother?)

So after awards the kids received their judging sheets. I was anxious to get my hands on the sheet to see what had happened and why she was DENIED.

This was her judging sheet. You can see from the marks that she earned an excellent in nearly every category. (Oh yeah, that is steam escaping from my ears....) So my inner Hertha came out and Lauren and I promptly marched ourselves over the the judges table. (I really do need come with a warning label....) I approached the judges and said "This was my daughter's first year being judged modeling, and she didn't get a trophy, and I was just wonder what suggestions you might have so that she can improve for next year." I do believe I caught them off guard. They asked to see her judging sheet, which I handed over, and the stammering began. I mean really, when you give those kinds of scores, and then don't give a trophy, you had better have a GOOD reason. The decorate your duds judges were right next to the fashion review judges, and said "She got a trophy for decorate your duds, didn't she?" I said yes, but I was just curious about fashion review and what we could do to improve. Meanwhile the lead judge for fashion review is struggling to come up with a story. She said that she needed more accessories and the girls that received trophies had accessorized more. (NOT true, besides with the pattern of Lauren's dress an accessories would be too much, and would take away from the outfit.) Finally the lead judge admitted to me that they "cheated" and that they looked to see which girls were getting awards for decorate your duds and if they were receiving an award for decorate your duds they didn't give them one for fashion review because they wanted everyone to get a trophy.

Grrrr......grumble, grumble, grumble......NOT happy. Here is my beef. If the county 4-H wants everyone to get a trophy, then give everyone who participates a trophy, OR allow kids who earn trophies in two categories to have two trophies, and let it to be the competition that I was told it would be. Might be writing a letter......probably need to cool off first.

Organized for School!

With the relaxed attitude of summer, Lauren's room was a little relaxed too. So to honor the start of school and the organization it brings, we decided that it was time to do a bit of housekeeping.....

Here is the before.....

Two tubes of outgrown clothing left the room.....

The after, much better! Yep mornings will be made easy with our organized clothes!

So hot they sizzle....

These photos are so hot they sizzle! They were taken only moments ago as Mark and Lauren headed off for the first day of school!

Look how big and grown up my man looks, almost makes me want to cry!

(And yes that is an armful of silly bands)
Not to be outdone by Mark, here is Lauren looking equally big and grown up.
Would someone please explain to me why they keep growing?

Its the most wonderful time of the year!!!!

I think I love back to school more than Christmas.....is that bad??? I have enjoyed the kids this summer, and we have done a lot of fun things, but I have to admit I am looking forward to school starting. I. Need. A. Break.

I need a break from:

My children telling me they are bored and I should do something about it.
Cleaning up endless messes, spills, and toys from one end of the house to the other
Fixing meals and snacks ALL day long
Mediating fights
Carrying on three continuous simultaneous conversations from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Answering the same question over and over and over AGAIN

Mostly I would just like to be able to start and finish a thought during day time hours, without that thought being interrupted by a blond, blue eyed child.

So before back to school could happen, school supply shopping needed to occur. We made our list and we checked in twice.

Mark found himself some glue

Hand sanitizer is a must.

A few folders for important papers.

Of course Katie had to have a folder too.

Can't forget the crayons.

The basket full of stuff, which translates into $$$$$ for mommy.

Upon arrival home, Lauren had to immediately organize her stuff and get it into her school backpack.

This year Lauren and Mark will be in school all day and Katie will be in pre-school Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9-12. Holy cow I think that is wonderful! Do you hear that sound, its the Hallelujah chorus...., I told you it was just like Christmas, only better!

Lagoon, round TWO.

Last weekend the Tanner's came to visit, so of course a trip to Utah's Disneyland, i.e. Lagoon, was in order. We arrived when the park and rides opened at 11:00 a.m, ready to do some serious amusement park damage.

These two are the "lost boys." Within the first 20 minutes of being in the park they wondered off by themselves, leaving two frantic parents trying locate them. Thirty minutes later these boys were no longer lost.

We brought a yummy picnic lunch.

Then it was on to Lagoon-a-Beach. Katie found the kiddie area delightful.

Here are Lauren and Shelby with their tubes in the Lazy River.

Mark enjoyed the slides in kiddie land....(don't tell him it was kiddie land...)

The boys on their tubes enjoying the Lazy River. (It is in my opinion, the best part of Lagoon-a-Beach.)

After about three hours in the water park it was on to the rides, and the LONG lines for the rides.

Katie passed the time by demanding that Darrin hold her.

Other children thought making your sibling have a funny face seemed like a good activity.

The go-carts were a favorite.

Here is Issac motoring along.

12 hours later.....this is how we left....

Happy Birthday!

The Tanner's came to see us last weekend, and since it was birthday week for Shelby, we decided we needed to celebrate!

Shelby is a big fan of peace signs so we had a "peace out" birthday party.

Here is her birthday table.

She is ready to blow out all 11 candles!

Of course no party is complete without presents, so Lauren and I made some fabric flowers for Shelby to wear in her hair or on an outfit!