HANDS DOWN my most favorite thanksgiving decoration!

last fall we took hand prints that look like turkeys of the kids.

(my kids are turkeys, so they might as well make these!)

now i wish i would have done that every year, because they are my favorite thing to put up for thanksgiving!

i just got some frames at $1 store, but i bet you have some laying around your home.

nice crooked pictures ba!

they get big way too fast...

i'll be thrifting for christmas. you can count on me!

i hate to admit this, but there are actually a few board games that my kids DON'T have.

how are they functioning in society?

(don't answer that if you really know them!)

on a recent trip to deseret industries, i went down the toy isle.

let me stop there...i ALWAYS go down the toy isle. i have gotten legos and star wars toys on amazing deals. just like any thrifter knows, you never know what you will find!

this particular day, i

found...

and

this...

 for $1.50!

now, the packages are always taped shut, but believe me, i always untape them.

i stood in the toy isle and put perfection together (without the timer on!).

i have trained my kids to put all games pieces back into the baggies on all games.

i realized not all moms are as perfect as me.

(insert laughter here!)

but both had all the pieces. so after i scrape the d.i. sticker off and put all the pieces in baggies, i'm wrapping them and they will be under the christmas tree in 40 days.

and my kids will never even notice.

my (VERY) low tech kids homework organization.

please don't be disappointed in me.

here is how i organize my kids school work.

it isn't pretty.

but for the past 2 years, it has worked very well.

here is the door going from the mud room into the garage. it is a nice, heavy, ugly, boring, metal door.

perfect for magnets.

each kid has their own magnet with their first initial...

and whatever homework that cant be turned in until friday, whatever spelling test, whatever whatever that i need to keep and not return to school right away goes here.

the lunch menu gets its own magnet. the kids have to put their initial on the days that they want hot lunch at the beginning of the month. no initial, cold lunch that day.

and then for some reason. parker posted this on here and it has been there ever since.

yes, my kids are weird.

but at least they know where their homework is!

what i do when chris is out of town!

these are some older photos, but i wanted to share what happens in my home when chris goes on a business trip. (which, by the way, he is doing AGAIN today! stay tuned for some fun!)

parker was very interested in space at the time, and since his walls were blue-it seemed only logical that we paint on his walls the planets!

i wish i would have taken photos of the process, but i was so freaked out that i would mess up and chris would kill me for painting the walls that i didnt. (you see, chris used to paint walls professionally while putting himself thru college. he is VERY PARTICULAR about his walls. yes, my hubby is a paint natzi.)

parker picked out the paint colors from my craft paints (yep-i just used acrylic paints!) and i found bowls and cups to use to make circles.

that is the red spot on juipter.

we made pluto as a protest of it being down graded from from a planet. it will always be a planet to us!

if you look closely you can see we used glow in the dark paint and an eraser to make stars all over the wall.

and of course you need a HUGE SUN. we used sponges to give it that look.

we have his bed positioned in the middle of the galaxy and put glow in the dark stars over head.

yes-im the coolest mom ever!

and no-chris didnt have a fit!








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and its so very cheri

i can fly!

a few weeks back, cns stores asked that i pick an item to review for them. parker and i searched and searched and found this sweet airplane. i knew it was something he could do with his dad (meaning i wouldnt have to do it!) and that he could work on his writing skills while on summer break. a win/win for me!
the price for the air plane isnt bad and right now, it is free shipping. and that is always nice!

so here is nate, parker and chris on the way to the park to try out the new flying machine.

it does take 6aa batteries, and thankfully we had enough! and then we had to wait for it to charge. there is a little cord in the control so you wont have another loose cord around the house.

we headed to the 'ditch' which really is just a ditch that catches excess water when we get a flash storm. it also doubles as a sledding hole in the winter for all the kids. it is nice and wide open, making it safer from cars and trees.

much to chris's surprise and dismay, parker was better at controling it than he was! ha ha! dad got stuck on 'throwing duty'.

and of course nate had to shoot at the plane. he thought he brought it down. i think that plane just got out of range, but i may be wrong.

so enough of MY play by play, here is parker's review on the megatech police 2 ch rc airplane...

the airplane needs NO assembly. all you have to do is add batteries. charging is easy, you just have to plug the cord in the compartment into the bottom of the plane. my dad stunk at it but within 5 minutes he got the hang of it. me, i got the hang of it its first flight!

i would recomend this for everyone and anyone. we had a good time playing with it.

=)

so there you go, parker's first review. thank you cns! this has already brought our boys much fun!

rapunzel rapunzel let down your golden hair...

and watch out for the y wing fighter coming in to distroy your castle!

yup, that is how we roll at this house.
by nathan, age 6

reading is fun-damental!

my aunt trish teaches at a title 1 school. actually, if there was a rating below this and the school wasnt closed, that is what it would really be. and she chose to work here.
i joke about being poor because i cant shop at nordstroms evey week. but these kids cant afford to shop at walmart.
at all.
she brings peanut butter and bread to school incase they didnt have breakfast. or if they wont have dinner. there are times when she has sent 4 or 5 sandwiches home because her student has little siblings who wont eat that night.

so needless to say, books arent a top priority in most of these homes. and with english being a second language, these kids need books.

and now that i have funk-ed you all out, let me remind you that these kids have MY AUNT as their teacher! she is there for them, and when they are presidesnt of the united states or a hair dresser, the ceo of apple or a teacher...when they grow up-they will thank her for believing in them.
as the end of the year grows close, she is finding a book for each and every kid in her class. i decided to make book marks for all these kids. because what good is a book with out a book mark? (and they are easy to ship)

i just went thru all of my scraps from the years and we all know how big that box can get! i cut each one 3" by 5". i cut some fuseable interfacing for the inside just to give it some body. then i went thru my ribbon collection (i save scraps from gifts, tags on clothes, everywhere) i folded the ribbon in half and just had them stick out the top. it made the bookmark look a little better than just a rectangle of fabric.
i zig-zaged the edges on all the book marks. (i have said before-zig zag is my FAVORITE stitch)
im know that the kids see the love i put into them, and the belief aunt trish has in the kids.
so in 20 years when you see an article or an interview and that young person thanks mrs vadden, you will know who they are talking about. im linking to the little brown house, santas gift shoppe
 

my top four favorite things are used in this craft!

since i have already sent this, i feel ok about showing this card here. it is the card i made for my aunt trish. you saw her necklace earlier this week. (thank you craftaholics anonymous)
this isnt a kit, but one of those 'here is the bones for whatever amazing project you can come up with' things.  this one is called 'lace up journal' by kaiser scrapbooking. i got a KILLER deal on it back here. and with mothers day around the corner, i thought it was time i used it.

i modge podged (1st favorite thing) these with some old music paper i had. my aunt doesnt play music or anything, but it looked good.
then i used my big bite (2nd favorite thing) that i got myself for my birthday to re-punch holes. i usually do one side, punch, do the other side. i know-that means i punch each hole two times but it is just hard to find the holes when both sides are covered.

then came out the cricut (3rd favorite) to cut out words, shapes...all that stuff. i modge podged the stuff i cut out to the paper. i know tape would work but i love the modge podge.

and finally i put photos of my sweet boys (4th favorite thing-as you can tell, these arent in order!). i used modge podge as a gule on the back. but not the front.

and here is the finished project! im loving it and i know my aunt will too!

(sorry for all the links! it wasnt until i was done did i realize how much i was linking all over!)

hey now, you're a rockstar...

remember way back on april 1st, i won from this etsy shop. i choose to get 'rockstar' in this fabric for nate. i just ironed them onto a shirt fromhollby lobby and i was DONE!

he thinks he is a rockstar.

he acts like a rockstar.

at times we cater to his rockstar attitude.

he is living the dream.

(nate told me that he was sitting like rockstars do in this photo. i also couldn't get him to smile, because he said rockstars don't smile. i dont know what drugged up/out rockstar he has been seeing. i dont remember him being allowed to watch 'sid and nancy'.)

tell me im not alone...

yesterday i was running around with nate and it was lunch time. usually i throw a few granola bars in the back seat and let him play 'treasure hunt' in the back seat while i drive over to hobby lobby for some shopping.

but yesterday, but yesterday...i felt nice.

me: natey-how about a happy meal?

nate: really?

me: yes-chicken nuggets or cheeseburger?

nate: mom, can we go inside so i can play at the playland?

me: no, not today.

nate: it is because of the swine flu, huh?

me: that's right! darn swine flu! (and i actually made a fist and shook it in mock-anger)

so today when i was tell the story to  chris, he was a little upset that i would blame the swine flu and not the fact that i HATE playlands.

he actually said that that is something my mom would say.

(yes we are still married. but surely headed for counciling)

so i need to have some back up from you out there. what do you think?

***remember last spring, the swine flu hit really hard. how do we know it isnt going to happen again? (chris didnt go for that argument)***

did i tell you that i really, really hate playlands?

the end of the star wars room!

well, nate's room is done. for now at least. here are some highlights. this is right as you first walk into the room. you see his star wars death star art, his non-star wars book (we will get to the star wars ones in a minute) and his magnet board.

then we have his AMAZING clone trooper pillow. nate put his pillow sidewas for the photo. whatever...

here is nate's star wars book library on his dresser. which actually was is aunt mindy's dresser as a kid. then it became parker's now it is nates. it gets around. the frame is holding the peice of film from this post. just where it ended up.

and lastly, here is the corner near his bed. the vinyl on the wall says '3...2...1...blastoff' from years ago. there are some star wars things and some just boy/kids/nate stuff up here.

you cant see it but the worlds coolest star wars clock is right above the poster.

whew...we are DONE! thanks for haning in there with me!

and im not starting another room again until it gets too unbearablely hot ouside. so july.

im linking up with keeping it simple