So, I bought some foam “Pilgrim people” that we put together and we cut out our pictures for the faces! These have made us laugh daily! You have to be able to laugh at yourself sometimes, you know?




I also found some magic art leaves that were cool. You just scratch off a design of your choice with a small pointed stick and colorful rainbow-like designs appear underneath.

Then, I purchased some small turkey cut-outs. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do with them. I thought I might use some to make some napkin holders. Then, I thought we could play a “hunt for the turkey” game with one.

So, I put blue painting/masking tape on the back of a turkey cut-out and called the kids over. I said, “We are going to play a fun game each day until Thanksgiving. Someone has this turkey, and tries to put it on someone’s back without that someone knowing about it. When the turkey person realizes it, they continue the game by putting it on an unsuspecting someone’s back, until the end of the day.”

The kids said that sounded like fun, pats on the back and all, and the game began. We all chuckled behind the back at our little turkey friend on the back of our loved one; the younger ones pointed and laughed. It was all in fun.

When daddy came home, the kids were quick to explain the new turkey game, as BC wondered why Paige had a turkey on her back. The master quickly caught on, and got my back, unbeknownst to me. So, when I had to trot over to Walgreens last night around 8:00 p.m. for some dry eye lubricant and pads, you guessed it…turkey went along for the ride. As I was checking out, there was a line behind me, and I felt like people were staring (I usually feel a little self-conscious when buying pads anyway.), and they were smiling. I just smiled back and attributed it to the cheerful Christmas music.

So, when I arrived back home, my husband sent me a text with a picture of me with a turkey on my back. I felt like I was a roasted turkey! I did laugh, though, but wondered if there was fowl play. I’m thinking we should keep this game “in house only”. As BC laughingly chided, “I got your back!” that saying took on a new and opposite meaning. But as I said earlier, “You have to be able to laugh at yourself sometimes, you know?”

About a week ago, we were watching this video on you tube, and I was inspired to learn, and teach my girls, how to cross-stitch! Uh…you probably will want to watch this video, as it explains why Tim’s life verse is so bizarre.

Tim’s Life Verse

So, our family made him a “special”, brick-shaped pillow (and we even found brick material…for his “Dodge Brick” Tim’s Good Advice And Violent Sons connection) with his life verse cross-stitched on there (“My loins are filled with a loathsome disease.”). I found a cross-stitch font at dafont.com and downloaded it for free. I just printed the verse in bold and used it as my pattern. I traced the X’s in pencil on the white fabric. Then, we just used black embroidery thread.We’ll probably make more now that we know how easy it was (same font, different verse though).

We were blessed to be allowed to meet him personally, and shake his hand, due to our hand-stitching efforts. I had wished that we all (not just my immediate family) could have met him, but that is how Tim’s brother needed it to be (and I had to beg just to bring my own family along). After shaking hands with Tim, I turned towards my family and exclaimed, “I shook his hand!”,  and we joked about using the hand-sanitizer. However, Tim really does deserve a hand! He is crazy funny!

Guess how many similar pillows he has received with his “life verse” on there?  A laughable thirteen! So, evidently, there really is nothing new under the sun! Paige wrote more about our weekend on her blog…

Here is Tim’s new homeschool song…

The Homeschool Blues

This was our second picture with Tim. He's too funny!

We were going to be out of town for “National Cow Apreesheashun Day” at Chick-fil-A. Anyone who knows us, knows that we are big fans of Chick-fil-A (See other blogs for more proof). On the second Friday in July, Chick-fil-A gives you a free full meal for dressing like a fool full cow, or a free half meal (like a sandwich) for dressing like half or part of a cow (like wearing a shirt with spots, hat, etc). So, this has become a new little holiday for our family. Thankfully, we were with a sweet family that mostly didn’t mind dressing up like cows and saving some moolah (and they had a local Chick-fil-A).

Oh...the girls had to paint their hooves!

Are cows white with black spots or black with white spots? Well, the girls were white cows with black spots. They donned angel costumes, and a few girls wore white tops and white skirts. Then, we added black felt spots (from last year) using duct tape to stick the spots on this time (instead of pins). Some outfits actually had black spots that were cut out from duct tape.

How will the spots stick?...duct tape to the rescue!

Oh...the places you'll go! Thanks guys!

Most of the herd

Cowabunga, dude!

The guys were black cows with white spots.  We had some black contractor bags for the guys to wear. We cut  a hole in the bottom for their head, and cut out some arms. We used black duct tape to tape down the top and sides…giving the cows a more updated (less 80s) look. They all had white spots cut out from white duct tape. I used a pattern that Chick-fil-A had on their website. Oh, and some tails were created from duct tape which was taped together, then cut into thin strips leaving an inch uncut at the top. Some had yarn tails, and some tails were made from a brown plastic tablecloth.

Tails are important! I added spots to a friend from another family that went with us to Chick-fil-A. Thankfully, I added a tail, because that was the deciding factor that allowed her to receive a free meal versus just the sandwich. So, as you heard from my tale, the bottom line is to have a bottom line!

The purse was created on the car trip. I’m not exactly sure what mooved me to make this udderly bovine purse. I think it had something to do with having time (and assorted duct tape) on my hands.  It is so chic! However, don’t worry this purse will only be used by this crazy chick annually:)

This year, we made our entry a little more dramatic (like twenty cows mooving into Chick-fil-A wasn’t dramatic enough). I was thinking along the lines of more bells and whistles. Earlier, I spied a big ol’ cowbell down at our friend’s farm. They use it to call the kids in for dinner. So, I used it to call all of the herd in for dinner (and for laughs).

Little did we know that after our arrival, a man from the local news would arrive and start videotaping. I thought…Let’s show some Chick-fil-A spirit, and I picked up the cowbell and started ringing it. The ladies I was sitting with were laughing, and some quickly mooved to try to conceal their identities (hoping that we weren’t on the news). I guess I wasn’t thinking about the possibility of being  moo-vie stars when we dressed up for the night out. So, we watched some of the local news at ten, and sure enough…some of us locos were on there, including the “cow-cophonous” cowbell:).

The world needs more cowbells!

The news at tenMVI_6703

All in all, we had a great time and our sweet friends thanked us for the fun memories. Even one of the anti-dressing-up-like-a-cow girls thanked me. So, mission accomplished. I think it is safe to say that we will be supporting Chick-fil-A on “Cow Apreesheashun Day” until…well..the cows come home!

Cowgirls and cowboys sure know how to have fun!

You can't just make one!

I mentioned in my last post how I would be making duct tape wallets with my boys. Well, my husband (my biggest boy) requested that I make him one, too! He went on and on about how nice it was…especially about how thin it is. Personally, I would think a fat wallet would be preferred over a thin one:). But…these size matters never really mattered to me-probably because I don’t carry a wallet in my back pocket:).

He asked me for a see-through flap for his driver’s license. So, I sent him on a “plastic hunt” through our house. He was successful! He brought me the packaging lid that stored our thin-sliced cheese. I was hoping the wallet wasn’t too cheesy-looking!

Here are some more pics…

Making the cool duct tape "fabric"!

Completion of the back pocket

Out with the old, in with the new

Let's add some color

A card holder

Two inside side pockets were added on this one!

I think I got carried away with the wallet thing...here is my clear wallet!

I went on you tube and a very helpful boy showed us how to make these wallets…

The best thing about these wallets is that you will always have duct tape handy!

I must admit that I really do love and use duct tape…for more than just household repairs. One time, it came in handy when Paige’s I.V. pump needed to stay in place during the night (or should I say wee hours of the morning). The tape that the doctor gave me ran out, but a little duct tape worked just fine. Our surprised oncologist laughed the next morning, as he just shook his head and said (in his educated-sounding British voice): “I must admit, I have never seen duct tape used in this manner before, but, it does…indeed, work!” He also gave me more tape:)

Another time it came in handy was with Bradley’s broken arm. My advice is that you save your child’s cast, even after it has been removed. At our follow-up appointment, the orthopedist wasn’t able to take x-rays with Bradley’s cast on, so he took the cast off to see if it had healed properly. He told me that Bradley’s arm had not quite healed, but to just keep him (the three-year-old) from running for one week or so. Hello? Keep a two-year-old from running, you say? That’s crazy talk.

So, there I was in a predicament. He took off my son’s cast, yet told him he couldn’t “take off” (run around like he does). Just before the orthopedist took off, I cast a disapproving grimace in his direction, and asked him if I could put duct tape on that old (thankfully waterproof) cast, and put it back on him. He said that would be fine, because he agreed that it still needed some more healing time! Bradley absolutely loved wearing the cast, and didn’t mind that it was duct-taped. Thankfully, it was cooler weather, so his long shirt covered up his cast! So, he wore it for one more week. That piece of duct tape gave me great peace of mind.

I was even able to repair my boys’ toy rifles and swords with a little duct tape. I even remember using duct tape on one of my boys diapers for a few weeks. I bought generic diapers, and half of them did not have Velcro to hold the diaper on (only on one side). So, being the frugal mom that I was, duct tape saved our hides! The duct tape went into the diaper bag, and stayed there for awhile.

Lately, I have heard of all sorts of “quacky” (okay, some of mine probably qualify too) things that you can do with “duck” or “duct tape”. There is even a scholarship contest if you come up with a prom dress made out of duct tape. So, I guess I’m not the only one! My grandfathers and fathers were very influential with their high praises, and creative uses, of duct tape. I guess their opinions really stuck…like duct tape. I still remember how cool I thought duct tape was because you didn’t need scissors to cut it—you could just tear it with your hands!

What are some ways you have used duct tape? I’d love to hear about it. Yes, and the classic nerd in me has used it to temporarily fix my glasses. But shhhh…don’t tell.

Well, I’m off to hopefully make some neat duct tape wallets with the boys!

Enjoy…

http://www.sciencetoymaker.org/index.html

My Industrious Friend: “CC, Do you have time to talk?” (This question is always appreciated by me. Sometimes there are better time slots to talk on the phone than others)

Me: “Uh, well, not a whole lot of time tonight (we were listening to the Bible)…what’s up?”

My Industrious Friend: “Well, I just wanted to tell you that you are “the bomb”.

Me: “Hey, I can listen to you talk all night, if you’re saying stuff like that!” (We laugh). But I’m just curious, exactly why am I “the bomb”?

For those of you who don’t know, to call someone “the bomb” is the equivalent to saying you think they are totally awesome, cool, etc. I remember hearing, in my early days, when someone referred to someone else as a “walking time bomb“…uh…that was not very complimentary!” But this was definitely meant as a compliment, and yeah…it was pretty powerful. Oh…but if bomb is used as a verb, it basically means that you failed. For example, “I totally bombed that pop quiz”.

Getting back to our story…my friend proceeded to explain how I had helped her to finish her quilt by telling her earlier in the day, during our church break, what to buy, and how to sew it on her quilt. So, I no longer felt like the bomb, but I passed that title back to my industrious friend, who had actually completed her quilting project that same day.

Meanwhile, I was feeling inspired. The girls had started a quilt almost three years ago, and we were almost finished, but we lacked the ruffled trim (okay, and maybe motivation). So, on the Thursday afternoon when we read about the sluggard who doesn’t finish what he started, we all knew what we had to do-finish the quilt. The girls worked very hard and finished the quilt late that evening. Amazing! So, they were also dubbed as “bombs”!

Here is the finished quilt. They have worked on this project with their sweet Nonnie during the summer break, and here and there, as time allowed…sweet memories. I did very little work on this project. I was delighted to watch my little women using their hands in such a practical way. They plan to make more.

Praise the Lord, the “Balm in Gilead” (Jeremiah 8:22). I remember hearing BC’s grandmother remark that “There is a Balm in Gilead” was her favorite hymn, and I thought she said, “There is a Bomb in Gilead”. It never sounded  very “hymn-like” to me. As we completed this quilt/comforter, we thank God for the comfort that He alone gives, and we praise Him for the ability to accomplish everything we do!

While making this quilt, I have especially been reminded of a dear great Aunt Colleen, who made each one of my sisters (there were four of us) our own hand-made quilt-back when we were living at home. She was the ultimate bomb in quilting! She is no longer living, and is missed. I wish she could see this, but this totally pales in comparison to Whom she now sees!

Okay, so what exactly did we do on “Yes Day”? Well, when a child would ask me if we could do a certain activity…sometimes my  answer was “No, but write that down, and put it in the “Yes Day Jar”. This was simply a can and not a glass jar—I probably don’t need to explain why, right?—that I had painted yellow with the words: “Yes Day” in red. “Yes Day” usually happened once a month. Sometimes, “Yes day” was planned and looked forward to with great anticipation. Other times, it was spontaneous, and just as fun.

“Yes Day” helped to insure that I followed through on my answers of “No, not now…” (which sometimes was translated as “maybe in a hundred years”  to a few of my children).  We always had strips of paper and a pencil in the “Yes Day”can. So, we got their requests in writing. I would have the child write it down, or have my younger ones dictate their request to me (or an older sibling).

It’s been over a year since I have had a yes day (did life get that busy?), and I was reminded of this when I was talking with some mothers of young children the other day. I think one mom said she felt bad saying “no” to her children all the time. Then I interjected, “There is only one day a month that I say ‘yes’!” Boy, did that come out wrong. Then, I went on to explain the “yes day” idea. This was not my original idea. I believe I read about it from Family Fun Magazine (which was one of the only magazines I read during that time…and a great one at that).

So, we had our “Yes Day” on Monday (yesterday)…and we had such a nice time! The kids could hardly wait! We went out for pizza and then we went on a hike. Next was out for ice-cream, and the park. Back home, we did a 500 piece puzzle, watched 2 movies, and we had some fun food along the way! I am so thankful for my family, and the fun we have together. We look forward to our next “Yes Day”

What is black and white and red all over? Our embarrassed family walking into Chick-fil-A dressed like cows! Yesterday, we made total cows of ourselves (in more ways than one)! It was National Cow Appreciation Day at Chic-fil-A, and so we dressed the part and had a moo-valous time!

We were supposed to dress “head to toe” to get a free #1 meal. So, we spent $11.00 on supplies (black felt, safety pins, and cow material). We saved $59.00, and the memory of seeing my herd dressed up is so “udderly” worth it (you too, BC)! We even found white and black fingernail polish (I had no idea we even had these), and we painted our hooves (girls only)! We used angel costumes that we had made for our Christmas play. Then, we just cut out the black spots from thin felt, and used safety pins to attach them. We made tails out of black and white yarn. Then, with the cow material, we made scarfs for our heads, bow ties for some necks, and “moo shoes” (a few strips of cow fabric tied to our flip flops…really tied it all together!). We were last-minute “calf-sitting” for a friend. So, we quickly made an outfit for her (our little five-year-old friend). She was thrilled to get to eat at Chic-fil-A twice in one day. Who does that?

We “moo-zeed” on over there for lunch and dinner (at two different locations). We met some sweet friends for lunch, and they were adorably dressed up…painted faces too! Then, we met my sister’s cute herd for a late dinner. So, we were eating free with herds of friends and family…what fun! Unfortunately, we didn’t have the additional stomachs—like cows do—to digest all that great, free food! We definitely need to get mooo-ving! Well, earlier today we did help a friend pack and mooo-ve. That’s got to count for something! And no…we didn’t wear our moo-ving costumes.

At Chic-fil-A we sure felt like mooo-vie stars—people asking to take our picture (on their phones to show their friends how crazy some people are); signing autographs (waivers for restaurant photo contest); people staring and pointing at us (never mind the fact that they were exclaiming, “Look at the cows!”); people clapping as we walked in—some of us were wearing our mooo-vie star shades…to hide!

Then, reality…as I was clearing our trash from the table, a lady tapped me on the shoulder and asked, “When you get a chance, will you clean off that table in the back with a wet rag? To her shock, I calmly explained that even though I was wearing a cow costume, I really wasn’t employed by Chic-fil-A. But I told her I’d let somebody know. I laughed and remembered the times I have asked red-shirted people at Target for help, to quickly find out that they don’t work there.

Well, it looks like we took second place for “largest herd” at dinner (14 total). They will let us know what that means later. When I went to ask if I could get a refill, the manager said, “Dressed like that , you can have anything you want.” I was thinking, “Wow. I think I got some brownie points (and their brownies are the best), but I better just stick with the refill.” However, when I asked the managers if they had heard of the Chick-fil-A song by Tim Hawkins, they had not. So, some of us (those who wanted to, and didn’t “chicken out”) proceeded to sing that cute song to them. They loved it, and said, “Ice cream for all the singers”. You know, he reminded me of my grandpa and grandma. They jokingly loved to have us “sing for our supper”!

At relay, we had two huge slides for $3 all night, or 25 cents per slide. We also had a bread basket, and sold tea at Relay. It feels great to raise money for A.C.S.

For fun, we had a donkey pinata, too. It added to our South Texas birthday party celebration at 1:30 A.M. The thought here was: “Thanks to A.C.S., more people are celebrating more birthdays.” The cancer survivors were the first ones up to bat. We do hope and pray that cancer is on burro’d time!