Kaleigh's 9th Birthday

FUN IN THE SUMMER SUN!

Kaleigh's invitations for her party.

We put an otter pop in each one with this saying...

I'd OTTERly love it if you

could POP on by for some fun,

summer birthday fun.

She was so excited to be able to have a friend party this year and we came up with "summer fun in the sun," as our theme.

She loves being 9 and is having a blast!

We love her so much and we're glad she is a part of our family. She is so bubbly and can give smack like no other. She fits right in and really can dish it out just like her daddy.

I've been procrastinating this post because it turned out horrible for her and for me to see my 9 year old in tears sitting on our grass. She invited 7 of her good friends and she was excited to play all the games we came up with. We had a balloon catching game, silly string tag, tug-of-war over the filled kiddie pool, water sponge ball game, and of course her cake and cupcakes. It all came to a screaming halt about 20 minutes into her party time.

I hadn't received any RSVP's but just thought people just would show up. Insert my BIGGEST pet peeve-no one RSVPing whether coming or not. Well not one of her friends showed up. Picture that cute, bubbly girl, balling on the grass. Heart-breaking!!! We called up some cousins to see if they could quickly come over and a couple of neighborhood kids who weren't doing anything and our very upset lit'l girl was once again happy.


These were our party favors. I didn't want to just give trinkets that would break in about 5 minutes, nor did I want to give them a ton of candy. Insert the dollar tree, I found these cute beach buckets, bubbles, water, silly string, and chalk. I made 8 of them and the total worked out to be only $3 per kid. Not bad if I say so myself. Love that Dollar Tree store.
We added the leis at the last minute(I got them awhile ago at Walmart in the clearance section)and the candy was left over after making the cake and cupcakes. I fancied up the water and bubbles with some cute paper to tie into her theme. Each kid got to pick the colors of sponge strips to make their own sponge ball and then they got to take them home.

I love these little waters, perfect size for the kiddos.

The beachy, ocean cupcakes. Kaleigh loved them and so did all the kiddos.

I made a surfboard to serve the cupcakes on. I know the fin goes on the bottom, but K wanted a pic of herself on it. The birthday girl gets what she wants on her party day.

Here it is with all the cupcakes on it. The kids were thrilled to find out they each could have TWO!! Wanna make kids' day... give them more cake to eat. They'll love ya for it!!!

I like to make a little cake for the kids at their friend party. Kaleigh absolutely loves sharks, so I made this one for her especially. The cake was rainbow too, which she also loves.

It was windy outside, so the second we lit the candle it blew out. We sang "Happy Birthday" to her and she dug in and ate the shark right away.

Friends and Family enjoying their good eats.

We gave her our presents we had for her and she was over the moon when she saw them. I made 2 hair clips for her, one was a flower and the other one was a corker ribbon bow. I used them in place of a bow and it turned out really cute.

This is one outfit we gave her. It came with some guitar leggings and a skirt. She also got a new pair of pants and a bop it game. Alexis has one and Kaleigh has been wanting one ever since.

Here are the leggings that go with the shirt. She loves them and put them on first thing Monday morning. Glad I could make her happy and I was very glad we could find some friends and cousins to attend the party. I was afraid she was going to hate this birthday. In the end we found out that it just so happened that all her friends she had invited all had other family plans that day. It would have been nice if the parents had RSVPed, but oh well. I think however, if it ever happens again with another friend party I will not be doing them anymore. I just don't want to see my kiddos so upset again.

Craftin', Bakin', and Pluckin' the garden, make this woman VERY satisfied!

I love being busy! And man, have I've been busy with tons of stuff and it's only getting busier for me and my bunch. You would think summer was our busy time, but nope, come August, we don't stop until the end of January. I guess that's what ya get when you have four birthday children within 2 months. Then we have the 3 major holidays and closely followed by the oldster's birthday(and it's a big one, she'll be 12 ya know-insert tears welling up). Anywho, I love creating new things out of old and trying my hand at new things. I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE finding treasures at the D.I. I found this lovely beauty... It used to be a cork message board, but the cork was all scratched(knifed up is what the hubs called it) and it had drawings and some sticky stuff on it. I saw its great potential and for only $8 it was a steal! It is really big and thick and I had to have it for our new craft room.

So began the transformation. I took it all apart so I could cover it with fabric and spray paint the frame. The frame was in really good condition, It just didn't match the decor in the room.
Here's the piece all covered and ribbon on it to make it my new message board. I love the birdie fabric. I love it because Bella says "birdie" everytime she sees it.
And here it is all done. We hung it up on the wall in the dining/new craft room. I love it and can't wait until the room is all done!

I also made up some stuff for Kaleigh's party. We were going for some summer water fun. What's better than buckets of water and throwing homemade sponge balls. This was so simple, but the kids LOVED it so much. I just went to the $ store and bought a pack of sponges.

You cut each sponge into 3 long strips

Then you stack 9 strips together and tie with twine and VOILA...a homemade sponge ball! I let the kids pick their colors so each one was unique and it was a craft project for them at the same time. I just did this one to show them how they would look.

I have also feel in love with the corker hairbows that we see everywhere. However, they start to add up when you have 3 girls who love hairstuff. These bows are sold in boutiques and at kid to kid, but cost about $5 for one. Way too rich for my blood these days, so i decided to try making them myself-guess what, they are super easy!

You just wrap your ribbon on dowels and bake them!

Then you unwrap them after 25 minutes of baking and this is what I had. I cut each strip into 3 pieces(4 inches) and just sewed a bunch together.

Then I wrapped an alligator clip with ribbon and hot glued the corker bow on top and voila... the cutest little hair bows ever. I love making things that my kids wear and I'm getting really good at it. The hubs says I should sell them because I like making them so much.

Oh how i love fresh garden veggies. Aren't these gorgeous! Unfortunately, the rest of the garden didn't turn out so well, but we did get about 10 lovely zucchinis. Maybe it'll go better next year when I have more time to help with the garden. Poor hubs, he was so frustrated with the garden that he nuked it a week ago with weed killer. Oh well, we'll just try again!

I have also been trying out my new recipe concoctions. I've had this one in my head and wanted to try it out. I think I have finally come up with the best blueberry muffins! I've been trying at this for awhile now. They have been either too dry or too sweet, but this one is so YUMMY!

Blueberry Crumb Muffins

3 c flour 2/3 c oil

1 1/2 c sugar 2eggs

1 tsp. salt 2/3 c whole milk

4 tsp. baking powder 3 c fresh blueberries(Costco's are great)

Topping

1 c sugar 1/2 c butter 2/3 c flour 3 tsp cinnamon

Mix sugar, eggs, milk and oil together. Add salt, flour, baking powder, into the wet ingredients. Fold blueberries in. Drop into cupcake liners and fill about half way. Mix the topping ingredients together until crumbly and sprinkle some over each muffin. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Eat and Enjoy!

This is one yummy, easy dessert that is quick too.

Ice Cream Cake

24 ice cream sandwiches

16 oz tub of cool whip

whole bottle of magic shell

In a 9 X 13 pan lay out 12 of the sandwiches(unwrapped in case ya didn't know), you need to kinda of squish them so they all fit. Then spread half of the cool whip over the top, then layer the next 12 sandwiches on top. Spread the remaining cool whip on top and then pour the magic shell on top. Put it in the freezer for at least an hour. Slice and serve. People will be amazed at how easy and DELISH this is. There are so many flavors of ice cream sandwiches, you can make all kinds of cake. This one was Neapolitan layer and a vanilla layer with heath topping.

Eat and Enjoy!

Leapin' Lizards!!!

Well, it's finally over and man alive, are we ever so pooped! We had a blast doing "Annie," but it was time consuming and a lot harder for me juggling things than I thought it would be. Mental note: don't do a play while still nursing a baby, it makes it extremely stressful when rehearsals last 7 hours the last week before the play. Other than that, the girls and I enjoyed ourselves so much we are thinking of the next play we can do. It's loads of fun, and life needs to have a load or two of fun in it!Cute lit'l sister orphans. They made tons of new friends and managed to stay on top of school work too!

Here we all are dressed in our parts. This costume was extremely hot up on stage, however, it could have been the fact they forgot to turn on the a.c. during our performances. Oh well, the show MUST go on =)!
I'll be posting more pics of rehearsals and our last show later. If you missed it, you really did miss a very cute show. The orphans stole the show. So cute, we had 70 orphans and they did a WONDERFUL, AMAZING job. It was a fun cast and crew to work with and we will DEFINITELY be doing next year's BAAB's play. The hubs may even join in on the fun. He misses the theater, I mean stage. Can't let it out of the bag that he has a love of theater now can we. Until we meet again our lovely audience. We bid you farewell! =)

And through it all...I Still Got You Babe

Can I just say how grateful I am that God knew so well what life would/could throw at us he gave us all the opportunity to experience it with a helpmeet(aka a wonderful spouse). I love my hubby more and more every day, but lately I've come to love him more than I ever thought possible. I know, crap this post is another personal/mushy love fest for the hubs. I just wanted to write down some thoughts about life and the ever so much hard times that are made bearable by having him in my life. We have experience many hardships and have had a lot more to deal with as of late, spinning my life upside down as I know it, but it has been made easier knowing I have my love of my life spinning with me. The world is a scary, stressful entity right know for our bunch, and at times I have wanted to just throw in the towel, but then I look at the hubs gorgeous, Hazel eyes and I know I CAN'T just give up. I would lose him, our seven children that we share and our wonderful promise that we will be eternally together. Now, why on earth would I ever want to lose us. He makes me laugh and giggle when all I want to do is roll up in a ball and cry, he reminds me that we have always come out of our trials stronger, and that we have/and still are surviving the greatest loss anyone can experience in this life-and doing it ever so slowly, but with strength. He lifts me up when I have fallen into the deep pit of I'm-feeling-sorry-for-myself hole, and he rarely ever loses it when he has every gosh darn right to. I love this man who has been my Mr. Hansen for a lovely almost 13 years. I try to be the best I can and the best I know I am, but when I'm not he reminds me of who and what I am. He has more confidence in me than I do at times and he makes me believe I can do whatever I want, because I am great! You gotta love having a partner like that live with you through not only the good, but the bad, ugly, and the oh -man- I -don't- think -we- are- in -Kansas- anymore- moments! Man, I love that man of mine. I know that with him and with God in my court, I can get through anything that is thrown my way. Life may not always be roses, and it hasn't been much in our 13 years, but the bad makes me stronger and it makes me grow and realize that I am lucky to be married to such an amazing man. Here's to the hubs, may we always keep our chins up even when the world is spinning out of control around us.

Cute lit'l Pixies!

Look at these two cute lit'l pixie girls!

These two girls are so giving and loving, and brave too! They cut their hair off and donated it to locks of love. I love that they chose to do this. I did it back in April when I cut off 11 inches and they wanted to do it too. Well we waited, and waited, and waited, until finally we had 10 1/2 inches to give. It's a little shorter than I thought it was going to be, but they couldn't be happier. I mean look at those smiles. With their hair out of their face you can really see how much they look like their brothers. Laney looks so much like Christian, and Kaleigh looks so much like Logan. Funny, how kids pair up in families and look like siblings. We have Alexis and Noah, Kaleigh and Logan, Laney and Christian, and well Bella looks like Kaleigh and Logan.

Anywho, I'm so proud of these two girls and I am proud to be their mom. They give so much and LOVE doing so! These girls are going to make awesome adults and they bring so much to our lives. I love them tons and hope they always remember others and serve one another always! They did this out of love and remembrance for their brother and I know that our family's tragedy has made them(and all of us for that matter)stronger and more aware of others' needs. They have a greater love for family togetherness and serving others than anyone I know. It has given our family a different perspective on life and made us all value each other a little more everyday.

A Release Party and Have your Cake and Eat it Too!

Calling Bishop D. George Hansen

We thank you for your service and you are now officially

RELEASED!

My lovely FIL was released this past Sunday after a long, dedicated 5 years of serving as a bishop in the hubs' childhood ward. Coincidentally, my FIL's childhood ward as well. They both grew up in the same house, same neighborhood, same schools, same major, same career. Hmmm, I wonder if the hubs will follow his dad's steps and be called as a bishop some day. He says ABSOLUTELY NOT, but I say, you never know.

Anywho, the family had a dinner/party-it's what my kiddos called it, and I made this beauty for the dessert...
It's a red velvet cake with raspberry buttercream frosting covered with chocolate-covered strawberries on top. It tastes as good as it looks, trust me! I know this not only because I had some, but everyone liked it. My MIL even liked it, so much that she took a 2nd piece before we left, so she could have it later. She hardly ever does this, she's not into the sweets much(I need to be that way a lot more, but alas, I like my treats). I love to bake and love it even more when I can share at family functions. I get better every time I make something(the hub's words, not mine)and this will help me in the future when I open up my dream bakery/cafe. I like to try new things and this beauty was my first attempt at making a "pretty" cake as well as tasty one.

I've been a BUSY lit'l bee!

I love the feeling of accomplishment! I love de-stressing! I love seeing my kids' smiling little faces when I complete something for them! I have been able to do this all this week. I've been busy with some small crafting projects for my kiddos. I have loved it so much that for Christmas I'll be doing almost all of their presents. Here's some of the projects I have done this week...

We got these stickers for free in the mail and the magnets are off the phone book-also free. I put the stickers on the magnets and then cut them out into...

These! The boys love playing with them on the fridge while I make dinner. I love them, because I'm not tripping over the boys and their toys while I make dinner.
Gotta love a new, FREE, toy!

I also made another trip to the dollar store and bought a wreath form, and some curly ribbon bows and made this...
Isn't she lovely? I saw one like this in a store for around $25 and thought, "I could so make that," and so I did. Mine, however, only cost me $8 for the whole thing.

I have also made some more bows and hairbands for Kaleigh and Laney. This one is a felt pom-pom bow that can interchange on different headbands. She loves it! Making these things inspired a present for Christmas, but I can't show it yet-they sometimes look at the family blog. I have had some really stressful days as of late, so all the crafting has brought me down a bit. Good thing, the hubs is stressed out himself, so someone has to have their head on right to run the house.

Some of the fabric flowers I made and put on headbands. The girls have been in need of some cute, girly, hair accessories due to their new hair(more on that later). I love these flowers, they are the no-sew kind. Just a hot glue gun and scissors. Gotta love me some easy crafting!

One of thee cutest headbands! I just sewed on some buttons to an elastic headband to spice it up a bit. The girls again love it and want all kinds of different ones. Good thing I have lots of buttons in my craft supplies. I don't think I'll ever buy another hair accessorie again, I'm having way too much fun making my own. So that's just a snipit of what I've been up to lately, plus school starting for the girls, new haircuts, boys going to the dino museum with cousins, making 4 batches of jam, making all kinds of bread, and oh yeah, keeping the house running! Busy, busy, busy lit'l bee I've been!