The Christ Book

When I saw this post on Sew Dang Cute I knew I needed one.  It has 17 different topics about Christ with an explanation, scriptures, picture and song for each.  She has all of the pages ready to print and where to get the pictures.  My girls loved looking through it as soon as it was done and have requested we read one each night.  Its the perfect way to put the focus on the true meaning of Christmas. 

 They thought baby Reagan needed to see it too :)

 

organizing missing sock

I have a cute lost sock board but lets be honest we have way more then 4 missing socks in our house.  I normally put all of our extra socks in a basket that I could look through when I had some time.  However that rarely happens so most mornings we have to dig through the basket and hope to find a match.  I finally came up with a solution that works for us.  First I had to dump my basket and sort all of the socks by person.  The matches were put away and the ones waiting for a match were separated into individual bags (one for each person).

 The four bags are kept in our basket.  As I fold clothes I match up the socks from the dryer and any extra are tossed into the correct bag.  Every couple of days I sort through each bag (most of the time there are only 3-5 socks per bag!).  This makes finding a match so much quicker and in the morning when we are in a rush its a lot easier to pull out 1 little bag to look through instead of a whole basket.

Easy baby quilt

 

I used 2 charm packs (40 5" squares).

This cute girl helped me place them.

 I sewed the squares together and added a minky back.  Perfect for our new little one.

Temple Pictures-wedding gifts

 

I loved the quote "A true love story never ends" and this printable but her etsy shop was closed.  So I decided to make my own.  I used free pictures from the church website  I downloaded them to my computer and opened them in Picmonkey.  Added text (the quote and wedding date) and edited them to have an aged appearance.  I made one for each of my 3 siblings that were getting married and while I was at it one for myself, my parents, and my other sister that is already married.  Most of the pictures I was only able to print 5x7 to have it look nice.  Mine I was lucky and was able to do an 8x10.

Swimming teacher gift.

my girls finished swimming lessons today. their teachers were so sweet and wonderful and Livy (5) ended up being the only kid in her class. This was perfect since she is terrified of water. She made a ton of improvement and at the end even put her whole head under water. Her teacher had to work hard to get her to try anything.  It was pretty amazing to watch.  As a thank you here's the gift we made. 

Its a cute bag topper that says "Thank you for teaching me to swim like a fish.  from your little guppy"  I had them sign it

 and color a cute little fish on the back.  The little baggie is full of Swedish fish (goldfish would work well too).

 

Click on the picture and copy and print (formatted for 5x7) or let me know if you want me to send you the pdf form though email. 

To make it:

1. print out your bag top.

2. have your little swimmer sign the front and color the fish

3. fill a Ziploc bag with Swedish fish.  fold your bag topper in half and staple over the top your your candy bag (I did roll my plastic bag a few times so it wasn't so long)

 

We gave them their little gift today and the teachers were so excited about it. 

Tiny Mermaids

This first image helped launch my etsy shop and the mermaid set has been my most popular set ever since. 

Laundry Room Before and After

So here is my embarrassing before picture.  The builders put in the shelf on top (I'm not a huge fan).  I had my hubby add the shelf above the washer and dryer and I helped my dad build the awesome folding table.  Basically it was a mess.

 After: Its so clean :)  The stuff on the top shelf is extra cleaning supplies, its so high that I keep my back up stuff up there.  I am thinking some cute storage boxes with labels.  I still need something for the wall but I can't decide what so I left it blank.  Vinyl, frames?  thoughts? 

So my table is my favorite thing in this room.  I absolutely LOVE it.  I had a terrible habit of folding clothes on my couch after they sat there for days.  This helps eliminate that problem.  I try to fold and put everything away right after each load but as you can tell from the before picture that doesn't always happen.  The top of the table is actually left over flooring we had.

 green basket holds lost socks because lets be honest my cute board doesn't come close to holding all of them.  Some cute pictures.

 Printable from here (I love this quote) in a frame Livy painted when she was 1.  The green tin hold my laundry soap and dryer sheets.  My grandma made the little bowl and it will be great for loose change and whatever else I find in pockets.

 Sock board and I changed my old board above with this printable.  I printed it on pattern paper and glued it right over the old one.

So I am not finshed yet but it looks so much better. 

New home printable

 

When I saw this canvas I knew I wanted one.  I can't paint so I a printable is the next best thing right?  I still love hers more but I do like how it turned out.  If you want one click on it, save, and print.  If it doesn't work, email me and I'll send you a copy.

Clean up made easy

okay at least a little bit easier.  One of my New Year's resolutions is to become more organized (our home, schedule, etc.)  If any of you know me or have followed me for a while probably know this is going to take a miracle for me to accomplish.  I am hoping as I go along I will find a system that works for me (someone who is not naturally organized, can't keep her house clean, and thinks schedules and plans aren't very fun).  I am sure none of you can relate :)  but hopefully there will be a trick or tip that you find useful and of course please share you ideas with me. 

So here is the first thing I have done that I absolutely love.  It makes cleaning up so quick and easy.

Here's my supplies:a laundry basket, a grocery sack, and a small bucket (or whatever you have around your house)

Pick a room to start in.  toss all of the trash in the grocery sack, all of the little items such as buttons, crayons, legos,etc. into the little bucket, and everything that doesn't belong in that room in the laundry basket.  Straighten up the rest of the room (if you are like me there probably isn't a whole lot left to do).  If you basket is pretty full its time to empty it.  I glance to see what I have in there and then do a circle around my house stopping at each room and dropping off what belongs in there.  Then carry your supplies to the next room. 

This may not seem like much but it eliminates the multiple trips in and out of the room.  I often get distracted on these little trips and start cleaning other spots or doing something else and the end result is nothing really gets finished.  This system keeps me focused and  rooms get finished.  It also eliminates little piles that I would normally worry about later by being able to toss them into the laundry basket or garbage keeps everything under control.

1st week sharing Time Ideas for january

I have Sharing time this month (15 min. lesson for all of the children 3-11 in our church).  There are a lot of great resources but I thought I would share what I have planned as well.  These also would work great for FHE.

Theme: God is my Heavenly Father. He knows and loves me.

 Sharing Time Ideas from the 2013 Primary Outline
IDENTIFY THE DOCTRINE (playing a guessing game): Tell the children that you are thinking of someone who loves us, knows each of us, helps us, and lives far away. Ask them to guess who you are thinking of (Heavenly Father).Discuss our relationship with Heavenly Father. Invite the children to repeat together “God is my Heavenly Father. He knows and loves me.”

ENCOURAGE UNDERSTANDING (reading scriptures): Divide the children into groups. Have each group read Enos 1:5, Moses 1:6, and Joseph Smith—History 1:17 and discuss how the Lord addresses each prophet. Ask the children, “If Heavenly Father visited you, what would He call you?” Bear testimony that God knows each of us by name.

ENCOURAGE APPLICATION (singing songs): Have the children stand in a circle and pass around several items that represent God’s love for His children as they sing “I am a Child of God” (CS, 2–3) or “I Know My Father Lives” (CS, 5). Items could include scriptures, a picture of the sacrament, a piece of fruit, or a picture of a family. Randomly stop the singing and have the children holding an item share one way they know God loves them. Repeat as time allows.

I plan to play the guessing game above.  Then expand with the idea that Heavenly Father knows our names, our likes, dislikes, where we live, etc.  and then ask how do we know Heavenly Father loves us.

I am going to share this video

 

As they draw and color this page.

To Finish I'll either end up sharing what is on the handout here OR I really liked this quote from President Uchtdorf talk found HERE. (found through Sophia's Primary Ideas) "My dear brothers and sisters, it may be true that man is nothing in comparison to the greatness of the universe. At times we may even feel insignificant, invisible, alone, or forgotten. But always remember—you matter to Him! Brothers and sisters, the most powerful Being in the universe is the Father of your spirit. He knows you. He loves you with a perfect love.
God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child. He sees you as the being you are capable and designed to become. He wants you to know that you matter to Him.