The Catch-Up Begins, back to the 4th of July!

Okay, I have slacked on blogging! In my defense, I have a crazy schedule as seen before only a little busier because Natalie is doing 2 preschools AND I am pregnant with my 5th child! Yes I am going to pull out that card because how many of you have 5 kids! (Robin, I am pretty sure you are the only one) Anyway, canning season is slowing down and although I still have a to-do list a mile long I have decided I need to take time each day to do a little catching up on my blog. There will be some days that this won't happen, like Friday when we leave for Utah for the third weekend in a row, and possibly Wednesday when I am teaching my sister-in-law how to can tomatoes, but I will make a valiant effort to get caught up. So here we go...

THE 4TH OF JULY!!!

We started out our 4th celebrations on the 3rd by going to a BBQ at our awesome friend's the Laytons. One of my friends e-mailed me this adorable picture of Lilly and since I didn't bring my camera, this is the only picture I have of that day. Arin and Jaren (but mostly Arin) are amazing at having get-togethers which I love because if they didn't do it, I would probably have to!
The next morning we got up nice and early to go to the parade. Jaren Layton went even earlier and scored us a great seat! I made some muffins and took some fruit so here the girls are enjoying their breakfast and waiting for the parade to start.
Dave and his kids came over from Boise and we always love hanging out with them. Lee and Jean also met us to watch the parade.
Here are all of the kids (and Allan) lined up after the rest of the Laytons got there. Hailey is actually down past Allan sitting with Anna if you look closely.
I started a craft group a few months back and as one of the projects we made t-shirts for the 4th. You can't really see Lilly's in this picture, but it says USA like Natalie's.

Ally wanted a flag like her friend Ila Layton. I was really happy with how cute they turned out! I also found them all these super cute shorts at Walmart.
I also went to Target's $1 spot and grabbed these headbands and the sticker/tatoos which the kids were pretty excited about!
Here are the girls with Ila. You can also see the cute bows that I made for Natalie in this picture.
After the parade we went over to the river and camped out our spot for the fireworks with Allan's family. We went over to Chilie's for lunch with Dave and the kids and walked around the river. The kids were obviously pretty tired because a little later in the afternoon they looked like this!
My parents drove up to watch the fireworks with us and after a quick nap we went and let the kids play on these fun toys that were set up.
Here is Natalie coming out of the maze.
And Hailey after finishing first in a race against Ally
And here is Ally coming down a giant slide. They obviously had a lot of fun.
Then it started to rain and luckily we had taken the Layton's canopy so we all huddled under it and made a little necklace project that Jean had brought.
Of course later that night we watched the fireworks show. The halarious thing to me is poor Natalie was sitting on my lap and about the time the first firework went off she said to me, "I'm tired" and fell asleep basically missing the whole show. It was a late night for everyone and I am not really sure any of my kids actually stayed awake during the fireworks. Oh well, they still had a fun day.

It's a....

Boy or Girl??? The Boys Have It!

Well, I went to my doctor's appointment on Thursday and even though my ultrasound isn't until September 9th, I mentioned to my doctor that I haven't felt the baby much and he said lets just go take a look. We did and the baby looks great and is a little boy! We are so excited, I think the shock is finally starting to wear off. Now we are going to start talking about boy names, something we have never done before, maybe that is why we haven't had boys yet, we can't decide on any names! I was so sure it was going to be a girl I already had a name picked out! SURPRISE!!!

Hopefully after the kids get back to school I will get on here and post about all of the things we have been doing this summer. In the meantime, I just thought I would let you all know that 4 weeks from today we have our ultrasound. So, what do you think...boy or girl???

(Emily, here is a picture of the bump, Allan took it, and you can see why I am the picture taker in the family, he has no patience, he took it and it wasn't on a great setting and it's a little blurry and shaddowy, but he was done so this is what you get!)

I was inspired

key:
Hailey-pink
Ally-blue
Natalie-green
Multiple Kids-purple

My friend Nat was talking about anticipation for school to start and for a schedule to begin and her mixed feelings of happiness and stress. Anyway, she made up a weekly schedule of her activities and I thought it looked like a good idea.

Now I think I am feeling a little stress. I haven't quite decided somethings like if I am going to work out in the morning or run in the evenings and when I will be volunteering in the girls classrooms. My day is actually not so bad because I will have one at home all the time, one in preschool 2 mornings a week, one in kindergarten 5 mornings a week and one second grader gone all day long. (for me this is a piece of cake compared to four at home all day long all the time in summer) What stresses me out is our afternoons and evenings. Once Hailey is home we have ballet two days a week, piano lessons one day, I haven't gotten a soccer schedule yet so that is not on there, but I hear it will be practice on Tuesday and games on Thursday. Luckily, even though they will be in different age groups soccer should be at the same time and place for both Hailey and Ally. Add all of that to homework and chores and piano practice and making dinner and baths and reading and I am just hoping we can get it all in.

Wish me luck.....why did I want to have a 5th child???

Bow Tutorial--Just for you Lacie!

My cousin Lacie e-mailed me from California, wanting to know how to make some bows for her adorable twin girls. I have never done a tutorial, but I figured this would be the easiest way to show her.First of all the supplies that you need are ribbon, alligator clips (metal single prong clips), elastic thread, hot glue, scissors, and fray check. To decide how long your ribbon needs to be you fold it in half once and then in half again part way. The double fold will be about the size of your finished bow and the extra will be your tails.
Press each of the folds tightly so that they leave a little crease in the ribbon.
Fold back the tail and press tightly again leaving creases.
Unfold the ribbon and it should look like this so you can see five creases.
Take the first crease and fold it over the second so it lines up.
Fold the ribbon over again and line up the third crease with the others.Tuck the fourth crease so that it lines up with the other creases and is on top of the first two and under the third.
Take the last crease and put it on top of the others.
Take the folded ribbon and fold it like an accordion.
Wrap the elastic thread around the middle several times and tie in a not. Trim the ends of the thread.
Stretch the bow so that each of the loops is the same length and the elastic is in the center. Put it to the side at this point.
Now we are going to wrap the alligator clip with ribbon. This is optional, but makes the finished bow look a little nicer.
Take some 3/8 inch ribbon and place it inside the clip then wrap it around the clip.
Trim the ribbon. Take it out of the clip.
Put hot glue on one inch at the end of the ribbon and place it on the inside top of the clip.Fold the ribbon over the top of the clip. There should be enough glue to pinch it to the top. If not, put more glue to secure.
Put glue on the rest of the ribbon.
Wrap it around the clip and secure as shown.
Now we are going to attach the clip to the bow. Place a drop of glue on the center of the clip. Line it up with the elastic in the center of the bow and press it down.
Now take the 3/8 ribbon and open the clip and place a drop of glue underneath the clip and place the ribbon on the glue. Close the clip and wait for the glue to cool.
Pull the ribbon around the clip.
Place another drop of glue on top of the ribbon underneath the clip.
Pull the ribbon tight and press onto the glue. Hold it while the glue dries.
Trim off the ribbon just below the clip.
Now trim the tails to a desired length in the front and back.
Now you have your finished bow.

To keep the bow looking nice, apply fray check to the edges of the tails and let dry.
Hope this helps Lace! If anything doesn't make sense, just let me know. Now that you know how to make a basic bow, you can add extra loops or put one bow on top of the other before you secure to the clip, and all sorts of other fun things. Have fun experimenting!