Funday Monday: Do the Hokey Pokey!

Family reunions are the best, right? Wow! All those people loving each other and chatting and hugging and being so happy to see each other, right?  I love it.

My cute mother-in-law, Margaret, was in charge of her family's reunion this year and so it was held in the small town of Tropic, Utah.  This is where I went to high school, where I was an uncoordinated cheerleader and where I fell in love with my handsome cowboy. 

Alright so onto the tips and pics....

Funday Monday Tip #7: If there's a trail, hike it. 



Zoe found a new fancy cousin friend.  Ack! They're so cute, right?

 Margaret planned a fun hike for us on Friday morning.  It was down through this narrow slot canyon called the Cottonwood Narrows.  I love slot canyons.  They're so interesting....all the different colors of rocks and formations.  It's amazing how they can vary so much.


What a fun group of hikers, right? The only one
missing is our photographer, Cindy who
was kind enough to snap the pic.

It was such a great atmosphere for getting to know new family.  Some of them I had gotten to know off and on through the years.  But there were quite a few that I hadn't ever met before, or if I had it had only been briefly.  I was able to chat with Ryan's cousin, Cindy quite a bit on the hike and we laughed and visited and it was really great.

Towards the end of the hike I started to really look forward to air conditioning.  Gnats.  Heat.  Whiney kids.  Oh.  Wait....I think that was me doing the whining.  Snap. Complaining doesn't help, right? The hike took a bit longer than was planned since the little ones wanted to touch every rock, plant and bit of sand they saw.  They loved it all.

At the end of the hike, my husband overheard one little girl say, "We made it.  And we didn't even complain!"  Oh.  What a great example that little girl is to me.   

Funday Monday Tip #8: If there's a merry go round, ride it. 

Yep. I got on with Molly because she was aching to give it a shot.  I don't usually get motion sickness.  But after a few too many turns I had to get off.  Blech.  Pizza and spinning apparently do not mix for me.  Although I did have fun laughing and chatting with the kids before I got ill.

Funday Monday Tip #9: I there is a craft, try it. 

Margaret asked me to come up with a craft for the kids to do while the adults played some games. 

I threw together a simple thing that I'd been wanting to try.  I was feeling bad that I hadn't come up with something a bit more elaborate, but with a nasty flu that stormed through each and every one of us and also getting ready for Zoe's birthday party, I just didn't have a lot of time.  I was worried it would totally flop.  So I was pleasantly surprised when it was such a big hit!  Basically we made jewelry with t-shirt yarn and beads.  Easy peasy.  But it was as popular with the adults as it was with the children! 

Funday Monday Tip #10: If there's a game, play it. 

Margaret organized all sorts of games for the adults in the morning and then a bunch of games for the kids in the afternoon.  I did not do too well at the games.  Ok.  I totally stank.  But I gave them a shot!  (An A for effort?) Although I did beat Jim at the frisbee toss.  Of course, Ryan destroyed us all with his score.  And he finally just stopped playing, not because he missed but because he didn't want to keep going!  But I missed in the tennis shot and the badmitton thing and the free throw and only got one point in the bean bag toss.  Ugh!!  It was not a good sporty day for me.  So, I slunk back to the crafting table...*sniff*...where I was appreciated....

The best part of the games though?  Margaret gave away her old trophys (and she had A LOT...she is a VERY athletic woman.  Seriously.  Amazing.)  to the winners.  OY!  It was too funny.  There was a lot of chuckling over it. 

Funday Monday Tip #11: If there is hokey pokey music, or say the bunny hop or even a good ol' fashioned Virginia Reel?  Get out there and shake it all about.



I'm not entirely sure what dance move Weston is pulling
out here.  But he's having a great time doing it!





A giant family hokey pokey session. Brilliant, right?  Ha!  It was so much fun.  I had to jump out to snag a picture.  Luckily I got back into the mix for the Whole Self part and The Backside shaking.  Yep.  Good times.

 Margaret's sister, Lois, is a square dance caller and she had us out there swinging our partners round and promenading sweet corner maids.  It was really fun.  In fact, I even had a little gentleman by the name of Paul come up and ask if I would dance with him.  The next day I asked him if he liked taller women.  He said, "Yes."  Pause. "And I like babies." Yep.  That's a real ladykiller in the making. 

Funday Monday Tip #12: If there are awesome people around, befriend them!

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to know Ryan's cousin, Paige Lad.  Oy!  She is at least Twenty Shades of Awesome.  I had heard of her in the past from one family member or another.  Someone mentioned there was another writer in the family but I hadn't had the chance to meet her before this weekend.  So, yay!  I was thrilled to have her cornered at a family reunion where I could make her hang out with me. And she was so much fun!  We talked about writing, our projects, conferences we've attended and about every other thing that came up while we were making random t-shirt yarn accessories.


I made Paige model her lovely multi-colored headband.  Oh! And
she's wearing a necklace she made, too.  Yep.  We were having fun.

Now I just wish she didn't have to live all the way in Phoenix beause I think she needs to be my new best friend. 

Tonight I noticed Paige added a new post to her blog (I added her awesome blog to my roll on the side) and was shocked to see she'd written about ME!  Ack! I think I did a pretty good job of tricking her into thinking I'm way cooler than I am.  She said such lovely things about me.  Isn't she the greatest? I'm so happy I inherited her as a cousin. 

So.  The record must be set straight. Paige is the crazy amazing one.  She is easy to chat with, she's a brilliant writer (you just have to read some of the entries on her blog to see that or check out some of her writing projects), she is so stinkin' cute with her little blonde pixie haircut and beautiful smile, her kids are Supremely Awesome (which must be attributed to how cool their mom is), she plays The Superhero Game with her children (ack! Must start playing game with my family pronto!) and she danced the Hokey Pokey.  Yep. 'Nuf said.  Paige Rocks.

Alright, here is the last one....

Funday Monday Tip #13: If there is a dog your size, by golly try to ride it!

My sweet little niece, Cambree, got to ride her grandpa's horse.  She loved it.  And she enjoyed it so much that when she found another creature with four legs willing to stand still for a moment, she climbed on! 

Giddiyup!

How to {Tuesday on Wednesday...oops} Turn Your Children into Willing Slaves

Our house has gotten a bit messy lately.  And when I say a bit, I mean a whole lot. So, on Monday I came up with a brilliant plan.

I decided we'd have a home movie night with concessions.  In order for them to earn money for their movie ticket, popcorn or candy they had to do things to help the family like sweep, fold towels or vaccum.

I cannon believe how well this worked. It was crazy cool. I had willing slaves sorting laundry, picking up toys, scrubbing walls and emptying the dishwasher. It was so TOTALLY AWESOME!

When it came time for the movie I pretended to be working at the movie theater and selling tickets and concessions.  The kids loved it.  My oldest son was able to get a lot more than his younger siblings.  It was a great learning experience for them.  "Hey...wait a minute.  Look how much Weston got!" Yep. Because he kept working kiddos.

We will definitely be doing this again.  Family fun? check. M&Ms with popcorn? check. Cleaner house? check.  A definite success. 

Funday Monday: It takes a village...

Funday Monday Idea #6: Design your own paper bag village

Emmett was in charge of Family Night and he wanted to make a paper bag village.  He found the idea in a Family Fun Craft book.  I tried to find it on their site but couldn't.  But it's a pretty simple...you color lunch sacks (or a big paper sack cute down a bit like my fancy shmancy hotel up above) to look like buildings.  Then you take another bag, stuff with crumpled newspaper and then put your "building" sack around it.  Easy, right?

We had a great time designing our village.  The kids loved choosing a store or place to create...

 We have a toy store...

A grocery store topped by some colorful apartments...

A school...

A fire station, bakery (according to Zoe) and a book store...

A sporting goods store from my handsome cowboy (with a little help from Molly)...

And even a movie theatre.  Let's check out what's playing....

Oh, wow. Look at that! My books have been made into movies?!  Score!  heh heh.

The kids have big plans for this village.  Lego men will be visiting soon.  And after a bit, when they're tired of their town and have squeezed all the play out of it, they're planning on unleashing Molly-zilla on it.

I have got to see that.   

Linking up to...

Funday Monday: Make a Summer List Poster

The summer slips by way too fast.  Before you know it it's the end of July and you barely done any of the fun things you wanted to!

The Friday Five: Chocolate Broccoli...bad idea?

#1: I bought a new cardigan yesterday for $4.38. Huzzah!

Not the most flattering shot.  And, oy! I need to clean that mirror!

#2: My kids love these things...

They're called Energy Balls.  Although we've started simply calling them Peanut Butter Balls.

Basically they are a cup of peanut butter, 1/2-1 cup of powdered dry milk (you mix in enough to make it a dough-like consistency) and 1/4-1/2 cup honey.  Mix up, roll into balls and refridgerate until they get firm.  You can roll them in cocout, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, etc. (before you refridgerate them) Or just leave them plain. And you can add dry fruit to them, too.  Yum!

#3:  I came up with a new craft idea this week.  Yay! I need to get it written up and sent off.  I really really like it.  A lot. If I run into you, I'll probably make you look at one of them.  Consider yourself warned.

#4: I have been staying up very late to work on Sam's Super Secret Birthday Project. Ack! I was trying to keep it simple. And it is...Not. At. All. Simple.  I don't think I'm going to get it done in time.  blech. I should have started sooner.

#5: I have to get my bum moving and get excercising again.  I just don't know when to fit it in! But I've got to find the time. I wish I had my own raquetball court out back.  I love raquetball.  I especially love playing with my husband and trying to beat him! I haven't done it very much.  When we were first learning how to play I managed to whoop him, but now he usually wins.  bah.   And I should probably stop eating so many peanut butter balls....*sigh* why can't carrots taste like peanut butter?  And broccoli like chocolate?

Thrifty Thursday: My Adventures in Stenciling

I wanted to make a little baby gift for a friend who had a sweet little boy about a week or so ago.  So, I bought a white onesie and a little pair of blue pants (each $2 at Wal-mart) and stenciled this...

This took me about 15 minutes (once I found the stencil and brush and paint...).  Fast and easy and cute! Yay!

I love stenciling shirts for my kids and I've made loads over the years.  I originally posted a tutorial for how I go about making the stencils at Craftster in 2007.  But I'll repost it below...

Well, there are a lot of different methods for stenciling, so I'll just tell you what works for me....

I buy clear vinyl.  They sell it by the yard at wal-mart.  It's on big rolls at mine, near the red and white picnic vinyl.  I buy the thickest they have.  Then I print out my image.  I cut out a piece of vinyl a bit bigger than my image and I place it under it and trace the image with a fine point sharpie.  Then I tape it to a thin board (it was just some scrap stuff my husband gave me) and I cut it out.  I started out last year with just a plain ol' exacto knife.  But then I discovered the world of Hot Knives!  And, oh, they cut so nice!  I just bought mine in the craft section at wal-mart.  It was about $20 and totally worth it.  (Sorry I can't remember the brand and the exact name and it's in the basement in a box and I'm trying to type this while my baby falls asleep in her sling....)  It plugs in and came with all sorts of attatchments for wood burning, fabric embossing, etc.  And it came with a stencil cutter, but I found I didn't really like that--it does something weird to the vinyl.  I just like the exacto knife-looking one. 

So, anyway, I cut it out, remembering to add bridges to the design if there weren't any in the orginal.  Does everyone know what bridges are?  Hmmmmm.....well, they are....urgh.  I'm not sure how to explain this....

Alright, this site kind of explains bridges...
http://www.iratethis.com/t-shirtblog/2007/08/how-to-stencil-your-own-homemade-t-shirt

You just have to put the bridges in to keep some of the areas not painted. 

So, then, after it's cut out, I place some cardboard between the shirt, under the area I'm going to stencil.  Then I tape the stencil in place.  I use a stenciling brush (is that what they are called?  It's one of those brushes with really hard bristles....) and apply just your regular everyday acrylic craft paint (remember to blot the brush on some paper towel after dipping in the paint--if you go straight from paint to shirt, the paint will bleed under the stencil and this is not pretty).  I probably should use fabric paint, but so far, I haven't had any problems with the craft paint.  I did robot shirts for my boys last year and they've been washed a gazillion times and the robot is still dancing on the front.

Alright,ANYWAYS (I feel like I get sidetracked quite easy...) after I paint it then I remove the stencil and use a small itty bitty brush to carefully fill in the bridges and fix any mistakes that may have mysteriously shown up (heh.  Yeah, I seem to make a mistake...at least a small one with each one!) I let it dry and then I put a thin piece of fabric or paper towel over it and iron it really good.  Now, my point of this is to set the paint and make it stay.  But I haven't ever stenciled anything and NOT ironed it.....so, I'm not so sure this is needed.  I mean, it works for me and I think it makes the paint stay better...but maybe it would stay just as good without ironing?   Ah well, it's not hard and I don't want to chance it. 

So, anyways (again) I then show my boys and listen to them rave about how cool it is (that is the best part!  Hmmmm, I don't look forward to the day when I'm no longer so awesome in their eyes!!)

And that's it.  I know some people use paper or cardboard for their stencils, but I like to reuse mine over and over.  I hate to waste time on something I can only do once. 

I sure hope this helped and made sense.

Good luck and if you all have more questions, feel free to holler! 
(I just thought of another tip.....if you make a minor mistake when cutting out your stencil, just put a couple layers of clear tape over the boo boo and recut it.)

*******************************************************************************

Now who is going to start stencling?  Hmmm? Huh?  Come ON! It's way fun. Give it a shot! You can create unique and fun t-shirts for your kids. Or for yourself. Or for your husband! (I made a shirt for my handsome cowboy that says, "Never trust a man with a mustache." Yep. He has a mustache.)

Write On Wednesday: There once was a man from Nantucket...

A couple years ago my mom told me about a writer she heard talking on a morning show about how she liked to write poems about her every day life, about her children and daily things.  My mom encouraged me to give it a shot. 

That day I wrote this...

No Me!

By Erin Shakespear

As I try to pull her purple shirt

Over her sweet head,

“No me!” she cries.

And she shoves her arm

Into her sleeve. 

As I try to pull her tights and skirt

Up her little legs,

“No me!” she cries.

And she struggles to haul them

Up and over her bum.

As I try to put Mary Janes on her

Wee chubby feet,

“No me!” she cries.

And she finally gets them on

With the toes pointed out.

Later, as I try to put the kids to bed

Her dad says, “I’ll rock her.”

 “No me!” I cry.

And with a blanket and a book I snuggle

With my favorite girl.

I can't read that without getting a bit teary-eyed. I think Zoe was around two then.  And it captures her sweet little independent spirit perfectly. 

We like to have our own annual Shakespear Talent Show.  We video tape it and then watch it while eating a yummy treat.  It's great fun. And I'm always so impressed with what my amazing children and handsome cowboy come up with.  Did you know my he can stand on his head? And whittle a whistle? Um...not at the same time though....

One year, I decided to write some limericks about my family for my talent.  Now. I'm not the best poet. And I think I cobbled these together the day of the talent show.  Maybe I started the day before.... (there isn't one about Molly because she wasn't with us yet)...

There once was a boy named Weston.

Who always had a question.

He asked night and day

How? When? and May?

Then with tape we taught him a lesson.

There was a young boy with a smile

Who caused trouble all of the while

He teased and he tricked

He flapped and he flicked

And all the while he smiled that smile.

There once was a boy named Sam.

Who giggled and laughed and ran.

But sometimes he cried

And his family sighed

Then they stuffed their ears with ham.

There once was a girl who was loved

She was often as sweet as a dove.

But then she would scream

It was quite obscene

She’d even be mean

Was she letting off steam?

She was oh so extreme

She’d create a big scene!

We’re so glad she was sent from above!

There once was a man with a moustache

Who liked saving his cash

For he often forgot

Just how much he’d bought

Then he’d buy more guns for his stash.

There once was a woman from Cedar

You could hear her before you could see her

For her laugh was so loud

She drew quite a crowd

To a muzzle they did treat her.

So, what is my point in sharing these silly poems?  It's probably pretty obvious.

Don't wait for the grand and brilliant moments to pick up your pen and write. Or maybe my point should be that sometimes the simple things *are* the grand and brilliant moments. And you should write about them. Write a poem. Write a song.  Write a list! Just write. 

And speaking of writing a song, I made this one up about our wee Molly the other day (after listening to Skippy Jon Jones, Lost in Spice too many times)...

(sung to the tune of The Mexican Hat Dance)
Oh! We love our Molly Tamale! *clap clap*
She is our one and only *clap clap* (yes I'm aware this doesn't really rhyme...but you can make it work!)
Sweet dolly, our Molly, so jolly *clap clap*
Oh! We love our Molly Tamale! *clap clap*

*************************************

Alright, writing goals.  blech. Nope. I didn't reach mine from last week. I did think about my story A LOT. I worked on some different ideas in my head and I realized I needed another Aha! moment at the end of the book and I'm vaguely aware of what it is.  I like it when you think you've learned all the surprised in a story only to learn there is more. 

I'm meeting with my Pub Club next Tuesday, so I better get some writing done this week.  I need to polish up ten pages.  Hmmmm, what ten pages? What scene? Something new? Probably not.  I'll try give a spit and shine to a scene I've already written.  Lana has requested the British dragon scene.  Maybe.  I'll have to see where my muse takes me (don't I sound so writerly? Mmmm, no? Picture me in something tweedy...or maybe with a colorful silky scarf?  Maybe that will help.)