Dinosaur Dig

The cubscouts in our ward asked Josh to help them do a dinosaur dig for pack meeting like the one he did when he was cubmaster a few years ago. Josh was really excited to do it again and I made sure to take pictures of the process. It's really a cool thing to do, especially if you have little people interested in dinosaurs.

Josh makes a rough sketch of a dinosaur (this year it was a stegosaurus) and then makes a few batches of salt dough, grabs his plaster of paris and plastic wrap and he's ready to get to work making bones. The process takes awhile because it takes time for the bones to set up but in all it isn't that difficult.

Josh uses the salt dough (in this case pink) to make the molds to pour the plaster into. The plastic wrap helps keep the dough from getting sticky and sticking to the bones. Josh roughly follows his sketch and makes impressions in dough to make the bones. He does it in batches and changes the mold as needed. (Pictured are some vertebre.)

The result is a pile of plaster bones. The thicker you make them the less likely they are to break. The biggest threat to breakage is trying to pull them out of the mold too soon. I figure that a broken bone is okay because that's the way you find them in the ground.

The fun part is putting it all together. Our stake has a pavillion and volley ball court on one of the chapels' property. We used the sand in the volleyball court to bury the bones. Josh layed them out first to look like our dinosaur and then you bury them. To hide the evidence of where we put it, Josh tossed on top. Sam and Elijah were very much interested in the whole process from pouring the molds to laying out the dinosaur and covering it up. Sam was off somewhere when it came time to excavate the bones but Elijah was in the middle of all the action.

The cub leaders and Josh brought paint brushes for the kids to use to excavate the bones. It helps them to go slower and be more careful at uncovering the bones and it makes it feel a bit more authentic. It was quite fun to see this hord of kids gathered around a spot in the dirt exclaiming that they had found a bone in the sand and carefully brushing away ll the sand. (Another cool thing is the way the bones look with the sand filling in the little crevase from the plastic wrap. It makes them look old.)

The whole process of uncovering probably took 10 minutes and I think everyone was rather pleased with their work --especially Josh.

Menu Board Revisited and LOVED!

A few months ago I picked up a few wall charts. I blogged about possible uses for the charts and I am still using one of those ideas. I thought I would show a few more details about my menu board and how I use it.

The menu board is working really well for me. I like that it is big, dead center, and hard to miss. Planning and actually cooking what I plan has become a lot easier. When it gets to be 3 or 4 o'clock and dinner starts to weigh heavily on my mind, I can look at my board and feel relief knowing what is on hand for dinner. All I have to do is throw it together, all the brain work has already been done.


I have created for myself a little menu planning station. I have a maganet clip on the fridge with my printed grocery list along with a magnetic basket to hold a pen, dry erase marker, and my menu cards. You can print off a copy of my check-what-you-need grocery list and/or save it on your computer and customize it for yourself (which is what I did with a list I found online).

I'm a sale shopper so I keep tabs on what's on sale in grocery ads for the week and they greatly influence what I'm cooking. I can go through my menu cards and pick out the meals that use the ingredients I know are on sale. It is so much easier to do this with the cards in hand then trying to dig through all the recipes or do it mentally. If I decide to do a paticular dinner I circle what ingredients I need to buy, make a note on my grocery list, and put the card up on my board. Some meals I generally always have the ingredients for and others I will have to complete with my shopping. By circling the needed ingredients I can remind myself at a glance whether I have the ingredients yet or not depending on which day I actually make it to the store (always an iffy thing depending on whether I have the car and what mood myself and my children are in).

Also on the cards I can make note of what leftovers are in the fridge so Josh knows what is availible for lunches.

For those recipes I decide to try that are new or haven't yet been solidified into my regular cycle of meals, I simply write them in with the dry erase marker on the back of an existing card.

Chart Follow Up

Last week I posted on my random find in the Target dollar section. Thank you for all your comments and ideas. I eventually made my way back to Target and bought myself more of the hanging charts because I simply couldn't choose just one use for it. I'm still doing a bit of plotting but I have some progress to share. So far I have used one for my menu, one for Elijah and one for Sam. I'm still planning on doing a Chore Chart and possibly a FHE one (yes I bought 4 more at Target, call me NUTS)

For each of my charts I utilized my handy thermal pouch laminator. If you do not have a personal laminator of your own, put one on your wish list! They are wonderful to have. Great for FHE lessons, charts, flash cards, primary etc. I got mine at Walmart for around $25 and it will laminate up to 8.5x11 sheets. Walmart sells 20 pouches for around $8. My exact machine is made by Scotch. There are many other options out there for laminators, some of them rather expensive, but you don't have to invest a lot to get a good result.

For my MENU chart I typed up the meals that we eat on a regular basis and included the major ingredients. The idea is that I will go through and pick out the meals for the week, post them on my handy chart and highlight any items that I need to pick up at the store. I laminated each of the cards so that I can use a dry erase marker on them to make notes on needed ingredients. I hung the chart at the end of my alley kitchen in plain sight. Hopefully there wont be any more "I don't know what to make for dinner" panic moments.

For ELIJAH's chart I laminated blank 3x5 cards and used a dry erase marker (they make washable ones, great for kids!) to write different words for him to learn to read (thanks for the idea mom). He got very excited and wanted to write some of them himself. I'm thinking we will work on them everyday for a week and then erase them and write new ones. This idea is likely to evolve as we use it. There is still room on his chart for more cards and I am thinking of taking a picture of a clean room and putting him in charge of keeping it cleaned up for the week. Another idea I'm still toying with.

SAM's is similar to Elijah's but I laminated smaller cards and wrote letters on them for him to recognize and match the upper and lower case letters. I hung the boys charts in their room and I think we will work on them in the morning and before bed.

Thanks again for all your ideas and sharing in the creativity!

Giveaway WINNER

Sorry I'm a little late doing the drawing and it has been awhile since I have posted anything at all. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of eating and shopping. The last few days have been the after vacation low. Yesterday was a crazy day full of Christmas decorations, a disastorous house and Enrichment stress. Today started off with a call to poisen control because Sam smeared diaper rash cream all over his face, ears, and hair getting it into his eyes and possibly eating some of it -oh joy-, but things have settled down enough for me to announce the drawing for the crocheted monkey.

Drum roll....

Elijah assisted me in drawing the number and the winner is Maren!

Send me an email, Maren, with your address and you will soon have a little monkey for one of your darling girls.

I appreciate those of you who commented and I know there were many more who didn't. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families and friends.

The Christmas season is now in full swing! Sugardoodle has put the Christ Centered Christmas blog on her Random 10 list and we have been getting a lot of hits. It's pretty exciting. One of the links on her random 10 is to a photoshop template for a photo book using the Family Proclamation. It's free to download and pretty amazing. I got into a little bit of digital scrapbooking to do the banner for Christ Centered Christmas and was excited to see these templates that all you have to do is add your photos and then print it through one of the many photobook sites online. It would make a great gift, though I'm not sure there is time to get it done before Christmas.

Coupon Organizing

Recently my sister in law was initiated into the world of coupon clipping. I was writing a long comment on her blog then decided I might as well post it here complete with pictures.

I have been clipping and using coupons for about a year and a half, off and on. There is a kind sister in my ward that is crazy about coupons and has shared her know how. She helps watch the grocery ads locally and lets us know if there are any great deals and what coupons might be available. Until recently I was using the same method of coupon organizing as "the Pro" which consisted of a three ring binder with baseball card sheet protectors and dividers. The sheet protectors allow you to easily flip through your coupons and see what you have. The down side for me was that it was so large to carry with me to the grocery store and because of this I didn't carry it with me regularly (a carnal sin for the avid coupon clipper).

A few weeks ago I read in some random place (blog or magazine, can't remember which) about someone using one of those cheap 4x6 photo album books to carry her coupons in. I jumped on the idea and conveniently had one such book lying around. I divided it into sections using labels folded in half as dividers and then slipped my coupons into the sleeves. Granted it can not hold as many coupons as the three ring binder method, but for me it is more readily usable and limits me from clipping coupons for things I really don't use. The book fits easily into my purse/bag where it stays unless I'm adding new coupons or using it in the store, thus it is always accessible. I can also easily hold it in my hand while going through the store. Because of the smaller size I have labeled some pages specifically for certain brands that I get coupons for often ie. general mills cereal, Pillsbury, Loreal makeup, etc. If I see that brand is on sale I can easily pull out all the coupons in that specific sleeve and pick out the ones that apply.

Overall this new system is currently working well for me. Ultimately it comes down to you finding something that works for you and your particular style and needs.

As far as coupons go... I subscribe to one paper and get coupons on Sunday with a single duplicate packet on Thursday. I check http://www.boodle.com/ regularly for coupons that you can print off online. It allows you to print two of each coupon per computer (ie. I can print two of the General Mills cereal coupons off of my desk top and two off of my laptop even though they are using the same router). Also many stores will take expired coupons up to a month past date (depending on the store and the cashier) and you can combine store coupons with manufacture coupons, especially wonderful at Walgreens.

Please share any tips or ideas you have gained from your experiences.

Happy coupon clipping!

Thankful Turkey Count Down

Tonight with it being Fast Sunday and Daylight Savings, we had dinner early and had time after dinner to do something as a family. I had read yesterday about a turkey feather countdown for Thanksgiving and decided it would be fun for the boys to make and do throughout the month. (I found the idea that you are slowly plucking the turkey in preparation for Thanksgiving to be amusing.) As I was getting my craft supplies out some popsicle sticks caught my eye and the gears turned from there. This is what we ended up making.

We ended up coloring enough popsicle sticks for everyday until Thanksgiving with markers to add color. It was something that Sam and Elijah could both do. I threw together a turkey head and feet and attatched them to a small teracota pot with hot glue. He's a bit of a funny lookign turkey, but you get the idea. The idea is that each day we will take out a "feather" and then write something we are thankful for on it and place it in a jar near by. There are also additional blank sticks in the jar for additional thankful notes.

Tonight Elijah picked the first feather and said "I am thankful for my SELF." So Elijah's name went down on a stick. Then Sam wanted in on the action and we put his name on a stick too. (That crazy kid can't say his name but he recognizes many letters and can SPELL his name, it seems a little backwards if you ask me.) Anyway, I'm excited for the opprotunity to share what we are grateful for as a family throughout the month. We truly have a lot to be grateful for.

I put a stick in tonight too. Mine said I was grateful for testimonies. Every first Sunday of the month members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have the opprotunity to share what they know about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today's meeting was particularly moving. Strong witnesses were born, I felt the Spirit, and my own testimony was strengthened. There were a few children that bore their testimonies. It's kind of a Mormon joke that the kids always get up and say "I know this church is true, I love my mom and dad, I love my brother's and sisters... etc." But today it hit me differently. Last week I read an article by Elder Oaks of the Twelve Apostles titled "Testimony." He talks about how it is that we can KNOW.

"What do we mean when we testify and say that we know the gospel is true? Contrast that kind of knowledge with “I know it is cold outside” or “I know I love my wife.” These are three different kinds of knowledge, each learned in a different way. Knowledge of outside temperature can be verified by scientific proof. Knowledge that we love our spouse is personal and subjective. While not capable of scientific proof, it is still important. The idea that all important knowledge is based on scientific evidence is simply untrue."

Anyway, the talk goes into some good detail, but I was struck today by the simple connection of the love for our family and the love of our Heavenly Father. That we can come to know of our Heavenly Father's love and feel it- like and through the love of our earthly family.

There are many things that I do not know, but I DO know that there is a God and that he is my Heavenly Father, I am his daughter. He loves me, he knows me and he has provided a way for me to return to live with Him again. I know that Jesus Christ lives, that He is my Savior. The Atonement is real. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has His priesthood authority on the earth today. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. I love my family and know that we can be together forever. And for this knowledge I am daily grateful.

I promise... I'm still alive!

This morning I got a call from my sister-in-law checking to see if I was still alive and well. My mother and sister have also commented on my absence from the blog world. I'm sorry! Thank you to all my faithful readers (aka family and friends) that have been checking in on me just to be disappointed to find nothing new.

So the question is what have I been up to in my absence?

Well, I posted earlier (I guess its been a few weeks) about how fall brings on the project bug. I have been busy doing a plethora of projects (just about everything except cleaning my house, which is in shambles). Unfortunately none of them are completed YET! I will give you a sneak peak into what I have been working on though.

There are the makings of a scarecrow. I have been searching for a few weeks now for a flannel shirt at a garage sale and have still come up empty handed. We'll give it one more week and then I will have to head to the thrift store.

I finally picked up my Babbett afghan again. It was my project rampage of last fall but it never got all pieced together. I am about a third of the way through putting all the squares together...finally! I'm really excited with the way it is turning out.

I had a cell phone scare a couple weeks ago when my battery completely died. I was afraid I had lost all the phone numbers in it. That would be a sad day! So I put together our own personal phone book. It includes our ward list, my cell phone numbers, our address and our own personal numbers too, as well as our doctors. Handy for those emergencies when my brain might not be working.

I've started my holiday planning. The last couple of years I have used a cheap composition book and glued paper on the front and put tab dividers down the side. This year I have been very loosely following the suggestions from a blog called One Hundred Days to Christmas. I have included in my binder a calendar for the rest of the year, project lists, shopping lists, menus, gift lists for ideas and what I have and how much I've spent, etc. This is working not only for Christmas but Halloween and Thanksgiving too in addition to the three family birthdays that also fall in that window.

I have started my Christmas shopping. I have some things I've found at garage sales and the consignment store in town and I am filling in the rest by shopping on the Internet. There are deals to be had! I am so addicted to searching around for the best price and reading the reviews and figuring out if I can get free shipping or not. Elijah is pretty much done but I am stumped on what to get Sam (especially from Santa). What do you get a two year old that isn't crazy about any one thing and has all his brother's toys to play with?? Any suggestions? Anyway, one of the things I have lined up for them are the crayon rolls that Skip to My Lou does a great tutorial for (she is doing a bunch of links to homemade Christmas gift ideas. A great blog to look at!). I found the fabric for mine at Walmart and got it all for under $2.00 (with enough to make two and about enough to make at least one more). I picked up the crayons when they were super cheap at the beginning of the school year.

I've also still been working on the Ami Animals, though they have been back burner-ed as of late. I have an elephant in the works with plans for more!

There is one more thing I've got my hands in currently, but I can't share it here, too many ears! Lets just say I'm enjoying the whole homemade Christmas thing. There are a lot of amazing ideas out there. I'll post some links to my favorite toy stores and blogs with ideas soon.

So there you have it!

What projects are you working on? Have you even started thinking about Christmas? I'd love to hear!

Flannel Board Stories from the Friend

The amazing woman from Chocolate on my Cranium has put together a list of all the black and white flannel board stories that the church has printed in the Friend magazine over the years. They are stories from the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Church History. She has even gone one step further and colored them using a computer program. All you have to do is save, print, cut them out, laminate, and use. (She also has a link to the original black and white ones on LDS.org)

I've been coloring some of these stories myself when I come across them on the lds website. To have them all collected into one place is SO helpful! They make great visuals for kiddos when doing Family Home Evening (FHE). I put a little square of magnet tape on the back and then they stick on a small cookie sheet I use as my "flannel board" (not all cookie sheets are magnetic!).

I'll be adding her link to my sidebar for future (and likely repeated) use.

What do you do/use to help teach your children the scripture stories?

Nature Bracelets

This is definitely on my list of things to do with the boys. It comes from the blog maya*made. You simple take a piece of heavy duty tape long enough to go around a child's wrist and still be able to slip off. You then make it into a ring with the sticky side out. While you are on your nature walk you can add flowers and leaves to your tape bracelet making a beautiful token of God's creations that you can wear.

I can see Elijah loving this and Sammy with his grass pulling interest is sure to be interested in this too.

***maya*made was featured on The Crafty Crow for her Art Organization and Display idea. This is an idea I am definitely filing away for the "someday" when I have a house. (Hmm maybe I could pull it off in my small space now. I do have the art to fill it. I'll have to talk to Josh and see if I can talk him into it.)

Jazzed up Burp Cloths

I found this idea off of A Feathered Nest. She does such an amazing job with her tutorials. They are so easy to follow. All you need is half a yard of flannel (makes two burp cloths) and cloth diapers. I made some for my little niece and new little nephew (the boy themed ones I made are pictured above) while I was in Utah (thank you mom and Chris for letting me crash on your sewing machines). I was excited about how they turned out and how cheap they were. I have left over fabric and cloth diapers to make more. I just need to find some babies to give them to.

Grocery List Cards

I have an idea of my own to post!

I read somewhere, probably family fun, about a mom that made picture grocery lists for her kids before they left so they could feel like they were helping with the shopping and be less bored/troublesome. I thought this was a great idea and last week I made my own spin-off.

I decided to make and laminate (I'm loving my thermal laminater!) individual cards with the name and picture of the items I buy regularly at the grocery store (ie. eggs, milk, juice, produce) I then punched holes in the cards and put them on a metal ring.

Before I go to the store I can go through the cards and pick out the ones we need and put them on the ring. When we get to the store I pull them out for Elijah to look at and help me remember what we need. We did it yesterday and it worked pretty well! I realized that I missed a few things I could put on there so I'll have to make some more cards. Not only did it get Elijah involved in the shopping but it actually did help me remember what I needed to buy.

If anyone happens to be interested in making your own--I have the file I made and would be happy to email it to you (I don't know how to put a file download on my blog, does blogger even let you do that? I would love to know how if they do.)

Craft Ideas

The past few days I've been reading other blogs more than I have been posting to my own. I've come across some good craft ideas for the kids and some projects for me too.


I came across this blog, the children's nest, where a mother of four posts projects that she does with her children. I love the post for the children's apron made out of kitchen towels. I can just imagine the possbilities. I'm going to go hunting at the dollar store for towls now to make a couple of these for my boys. She also has an idea from Martha Stewart about recycling old wool sweaters and making them into animals etc. Very cute! Also a cute idea for an applique on a onesie.


Another blog, glittergoods, had a tutorial on how to make "pink princess party flags". Granted I don't have a need for pink princess party flags (yet! someday I'm hoping for a girl), but you could use any kind of fabric you have to create your own fun reusable birthday flag decorations.


She also has a turtorial on how to make your own little books out of paper and cardstock, in minutes! I did this one and was surprised at how easy it really was. The possibilites for this are amazing. I know Elijah will love to fill the pages with his letters and pictures, maybe even write his own story someday.

Finally, there is the crafty crow. This woman has done a compilation of different projects she finds and has pictures and links to them (one of which will lead you to glittergoods). Talk about loads of ideas! Craft projects, outing ideas, games, art books, etc... for all ages! I particularly liked the idea for the atribute game. I'm going to start gathering stuff to put together my own. Plus it is a great place to branch out to other blogs and see what other creative people are up to. I have a feeling this will be a blog I go to often in search of ideas.

Anyway, I've got plenty to keep my busy and I'm still looking for a simple/cute pattern for my throw pillows I bought. If you come across one, send it my way!

I would love to hear what projects you are involved in or fun ones you find while surfing around.

on the road again...

well, today is the day where i scrounge the house looking for all the things we need to take with us on our regular road trip to Utah. I can't tell you how many times i have written down lists of things to take with us. I've got this all down to a system. This trip will be a really fast four day weekend --two days driving one day with my family and one day with Josh's-- a real whirl wind of a trip.

The biggest trick is keeping the kids occupied in the car for 8 hours.

Anyone have any new and bright ideas for entertaining a 3 year old and a 1 year old while traveling? (I'll also be flying to Oklahoma next week alone with the boys, any travel tips for planes would be appreciated too!)