Rain, Rain, We Welcome You

So we are having an extremely dry year.  Our State has made the national news a couple of because of all the fires happening here and in AZ.  We were under a thick cloud of smoke for a couple of weeks due to the fires in AZ.  Then our own State lit up in a couple of different areas.  Up until this rain, we hadn't had any significant rainfall in about a year.  The only thing the lack of rain is good for is that I am not out in my yard pulling up weeds every day.  I think it takes 1 drop of rain to produce 100 weeds!  Other than that it is not good.  Our grass has been suffering this year and all the forest areas are closed down and we are in extreme fire danger warnings.  No open flames of any kind including smoking outdoors.  We can't even roast marshmallows in our backyard in a contained fire pit. This is the kind of drought that we fast and pray as a Stake to beg for rain.  Well, we finally got some and we have had 3 fairly decent rainfalls.  The only crazy thing about NM is that it doesn't rain everywhere.  You get little pockets of rain and it may rain on your side of the street, but not the other.  Weird, wild stuff.  Coming from the Pacific North West I have seen a lot of rain.  Too much rain and too many clouds and never imagined a day when I would be wanting it to rain.  So when it gets cloudy here or it rains, it is a major event!  We love to listen to the sound the rain makes and go out and feel it drop on our faces and dance and play in it.  Then we go inside and pile up under the covers and watch tv together.  We are so grateful for the rain we have received and hope to get lots more so that our State doesn't burn to the ground....and maybe a few green things will grow!    

SOBBMGH

The paint drama from earlier in the day just kept on going.  When Nate gets home from work early enough we take the dogs on a walk together.  When we left out the door the kids were putting a movie on to watch.  How much trouble could they get into while a movie was on?  Apparently quite a bit!  The kids seem to be getting better at covering up the trouble though because we didn't even find out about this one until we were all piled on my bed for scriptures and prayer.  I guess the kids decided it was a good time for a confessional.  My kids are very cleaver.  They didn't start their story with the trouble they had found themselves in while Nate and I were on a walk, they started out with their solution.  Which was:

Mom, I am starting a new business called SOBBMGH: Save Our Butts Before Mom Gets Home.  I started laughing so hard I started to snort.  Then they told me why there was a need for such a business.  Apparently Jordyn decided to help out by taking a paint can back to the back garage.  The other kids told her not to and come in.  Well, if anyone knows Jordy, she is stubborn.  She proceeded and was tripped by the pool brush pole, that "jumped out in front of me."  Crashing to the ground the gallon of paint went.  The lid wasn't properly on and it went all over the cement and all over her.  She started crying and headed for the house and apparently tried to walk in sideways with the side that wasn't covered in paint showing.  When she turned the kids saw that she was covered in green paint and looked like an "alien."  The kids jumped into operation "Mom will never know about this" mode.    Funny how they are more afraid of me than they are of Dad. They got out the hose and scrubbed the concrete and threw Jordyn in the tub and scrubbed on her and her clothes.  It was like it never happened.

Emma decided to give Jared a cut of the business and they even agreed upon a percentage, Jared gets 30%, and they shook on it.  This business has a jingle, a logo and plans for fliers.  They even have cleaning products, an emergency kit and Emma also makes house calls because she is a "professional" now.  She also reveled some of the other "Jordyn catastrophes" that she has had to deal with including an entire bottle of pink nail polish that somehow exploded all over the bathroom and Emma only had 10 minutes to hide the evidence.  Something I was never told about until now....hmmm I have been wondering how we went through a bottle of nail polish remover so quickly.....  These other messes she is going to add to her resume.  It is really hard to be mad at your kids when they are so inventive and cute.  If you've got a big mess on your hands, you know who to call. :0)

Awkward

Had myself a nice little awkward moment involving a delivery man today.   How is this possible you ask?  Here's how:
The kids ordered some nerf guns and they finally came in the mail today by another carrier service.  They decided that the first thing they wanted to do with them is paint them, of all things!  So they rummaged through the back garage for some house paint, picked their colors and then preceded to tell me that they weren't painting yet, just getting ready.  I should have known better!  There was taping off to do, so probably tomorrow I would need to worry about the paint they assured me.  I was in the pool with Jordyn getting some exercise and working on my tan when this was going down so I stupidly took assurance with this plan.
10 minutes goes by and Jared is in the backyard wondering if we have any stain remover.  What is the kid wearing for this project.  A very expensive pair of jeans that were purchased for him and the end of the school year.  Can you see the steam coming from my ears?  Paint doesn't come out for heavens sake!  How many times to kids need to be told this?  I told him to take them off and put them in some water so the paint wouldn't dry and I would see what I could do.  What happened to "the plan?"
I figured I better go and see if the other 2 were painting as well and check on the clothing they were wearing.  So....... I marched myself from the backyard through the house and out the garage calling out for my kids.  I was in my bathing suit that was still wet and yelling for my kids when...... I came within a few feet of my kids accepting a package from a delivery man.  Awkward.  Neither one of us knew what to say.  So I offered a "hello" with a wave and wanted to slink off back into the house, but I stood my ground with as much dignity as I could muster.  I think he was too stunned to move so he just stood there for a minute offered a return hello and then looked back a couple of times on his way to the truck.  "Hello!  I can see you looking back!"  Is what I wanted to yell out after him, but I didn't need to look any more crazy.  What are the odds???

Scripture Case

By request from Shayla, here is the scripture case I made at a RS activity years ago.  Emma used this for a couple of years and now Jordyn is using it.  I am surprised at how well this has held up.  It is definitely showing signs of aging around the edges, but it still holds quite a bit of stuff even though it is made with paper and held together by ribbon.  Jordy carries a huge set of scriptures and a notebook and several little dolls and things.  It is stuffed and heavy every Sunday. 

 So, here's what you need:

1 set of handles....  you can find them at any craft store.  

4 pieces of 5x7 paper in 2 complimentary patterns, so 2 of each for a total of 4.

4 pieces of 4x6 paper..same as above

2 pieces of 4x8 paper 1 of each kind.

4 grommets 

ribbon

hole punch

heavy duty laminate sheets... I have a laminator but you can take it to a copy store to have them do it for you

You want to take 1 color of each of the 2 colors of paper and stick them together right sides OUT and laminate them together with the heavy duty laminate sheets ALTHOUGH,  now that mine is coming apart it looks like each piece was laminated 2x with a thinner laminate on the inside and a very thick one on the outside? Play around with it until you get the sturdiness you desire.  Leave a nice little edge around all the sides when you cut them to size and round your corners.  If you are doing 2 "coats" of laminate make sure you trim up each coat individually.  You should end up with 5 pieces to assemble the bag.  

Next you need to punch the holes around 3 sides of each of the pieces. All of your pieces are a bit bigger now because of the laminate and the holes can go on the edge of the paper that's inside.  Just make sure you have the same amount on each connecting piece and they somewhat line up with each other. 

Now you need to get ready to assemble.  The 1 4x8 piece in your bottom piece.  You also need to decide if you want the outside of the bag one color or if you want to mix it up like I did with the end pieces and the bottom piece reversed.  

Next you are going to "sew" them together.  You will want to measure out ribbon that will criss cross down 1 side and along 1 bottom edge or you will end up with a lot of useless ribbon.  Start the ribbon on TOP OUTSIDE of one of the corners and make your way down the side criss crossing your ribbon.  Think of lacing your shoes.   Then you can start along the bottom BUT put a secure tie in there at the corner.  When you reach the end of that you tie it off.  Then you start at the top of the next corner with a new piece of ribbon and repeat 3x.  All of your ties will be on the inside of the bag in a bottom corner.  Just knot them good and clip the ends.  

Last you tie on the handles.  You want to leave some slack in the ribbon so that your handles can rest on the inside or outside of the bag.  Knot and then make a nice bow.  Now fill it with stuff and be on your merry way.  :0)  Does any of that make sense?  I hope so.  I don't think I will be getting a job anytime soon writing instructions  ;0)  

Duct Tape

This little craft actually occurred on the 1st day the kids were out of school for summer break.  So many things were happening at once that I forgot all about quite possibly the quickest way to a headache....duct tape projects.  I don't know about where you live, but here it is all the rage.  So we tromped off to the library to procure books on how to make projects with the magical tape.  Could we pick something simple for our first attempt?  Not a chance.  Go big or go home is our motto.  After staring at the directions for what seemed like forever my brain slowly began to comprehend the directions.  1st order of business.  Get a pre paid postage box from the post office.  We stood in a very long line for the guy to give me a funny look for trying to pay for the boxes.  

"the postage is included when you bring it back and ship it."

"I'm not coming back with the box, ever, to ship it."

After asking what we were going to do with the boxes he laughed and said

"Well even if they try to pull my nails out to find out where the boxes went, I wont say a word."

So home we went with our boxes to make this book bag.  Well, it only took the entire day, but we managed to get 3 book bags made out of duct tape that look like keyboards.