OK...New funniest thing EVER!!!

I found this BYU video on YouTube and I laughed so hard I almost peed! I like the original Old Spice one too, but this one sure made me laugh! Hope it makes you laugh too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Holy Cow, this is possibly one of the funniest/lamest things I have ever seen!!

http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/Home_Page.html

Love My Hubby

As most of you know, I was asked to be the Matron of Honor at the wedding of a very dear friend of mine a few months ago. One of the perks of this request was getting to spend a lovely evening with my sweet hubby. We spent the night dancing, laughing, and remembering the amazing night that we were joined together for eternity almost 12 years ago. I can honestly say that I have fallen more in love with that man each and every day that we have been married. Our friendship has deepened and our trust has grown. I am very blessed to have been given such a perfect companion. The wedding photographer snapped a few pics of us that evening. Here is my favorite:

Free Giveaway!

My good friend Kristen posted on her blog about a giveaway being offered by one of her friends. I REALLY need a new shower head so I figured I'd throw my name in the hat!! The link is below if anyone else wants to enter.

Free Giveaway Here

Thanks Rachael!!

Bridal Shower

On Saturday I hosted a bridal shower for my good friend Erin who is getting married next month. We had a couples shower BBQ and it turned out really fun! I made the theme black, white and red. We put tables on the patio outside and opened the pool. I used fresh red roses and pictures of the couple as the centerpieces. It was a lot of fun and I am so happy for the cute couple!

Here is the table I had set up as the guests entered the front door. They could put their gifts on one side and the baskets each held goodies. One basket held blank envelopes - the guests would address them and then we gave thank you cards to the bride with the envelopes already addressed. The next basket held advice cards for each person to fill out and we gave the bride a memory album holding all the advice of her family & friends. The third basket held scratch off lottery cards with the couples' names and shower date on them. The winning card got a prize!

Here is a close-up of the tables outside.

It was a little windy, but the breeze felt nice. Thank heavens for gorgeous Phoenix weather!

This is the amazing cake my talented friend Marcella made for the party!

As favors I put out Chinese take-out boxes and bowls filled with different ice cream toppings. Each guest filled a container with toppings and got a jar of hot fudge and an ice cream scoop to take home!

The prizes were spoons with Hershey's kisses on them, wrapped in tulle and ribbon and a card that said "With a spoonful of love and two little kisses, soon Carson & Erin will be Mr. & Mrs!"

All in all, it turned out really well and, even though it was a lot of work, we had a really good time! Congrats Carson & Erin!!

Brady's Butterflies

Brady's class has been learning about insects this quarter (hence the spider pinata - see previous post). Today was their 4th quarter event and I was lucky enough to be a parent volunteer! First we constructed butterfly habitats and each child got to paint them. Then the kids came home with a container of caterpillars to watch as they change into butterflies! Once the caterpillars make their chrysalis then we can move them into the habitat Brady made. They will turn into Painted Lady butterflies and then we can set them free! Too much fun!

Here is Brady painting his habitat!

Such a serious artist!

All of the kids did a great job!

Finally, the caterpillars come home! Can't wait to see them hatch!

Seriously?!?!?!?

OK, so I think this whole Kindergarten homework thing has gotten completely out of hand! When I was in Kindergarten, our homework was to color, cut, and paste. Getting creative was when we had to make the requisite "turkey in disguise" each year before Thanksgiving (mine was a ballerina). But Kindergarten homework now is a whole different animal! Enter, the insect pinata. Remember last year when Parker had to make a pinata? It started out as frog and ended up a banana tree. Not such a successful venture. This year's assignment was for Brady to make an insect/creepy-crawly pinata. (Anyone else of the opinion that homework was meant to be for the kids and NOT the moms?)
Well, we settled on a Black Widow Spider pinata. I got smart this time, though, and sidestepped the paper mache all together. We used two paper bowls, stacked them and glued them together, then covered with tissue paper and foam. I think the teacher may be a little unhappy that we took the assignment out of context, but I'm willing to live with that. Let me know what you think!

Mother's Day Social

Last week Parker's first grade class held a Mother's Day Social. They had cookies and punch, made crafts, and put on a darling play! Here are some highlights:

Parker as a cowboy. His only line in the play was "Howdy, Partner!"

This is the class presenting their poems and handprint flowers to the moms.

Parker also made me a gift - a handmade book with drawings and sentences about why he loves his mommy!

Thanks for letting me come to the Mother's Day Social, Parker! I had so much fun! And thanks for letting me be your mommy every day! I love you!

A Mother's Mantra...

"I Love My Kids..." I Love My Kids..."
That's what I kept reminding myself as I spent over 4 hours creating cookies for Carly's volleyball team today. Her championship tournament is tomorrow, they will spend 12 hours playing their hearts out, and I was assigned to bring brownies and cookies for the team. Usually, this would be an easy task for me. I however, got the bright idea to be creative. Note to self: Bad idea!
I found a darling cookie cutter on clearance at the grocery store, it was a flower shape with an extra petal shaped cutter. The idea is that you make the flower shape, then frost the petals a different color and stack them on top for a 3-d effect. Cute, right? Well, little did I imagine the chaos that was about to begin. It turns out the flower shaped cutter was VERY large. My sugar cookie recipe ended up making only 14 cookies. Then, when I went to cut the petals, I realized that each cookie required 8 petals! Ok, elementary math... 14 x 8 = 112 petals!!!! So I spent the rest of the afternoon baking, frosting, and stacking petals. The outcome was cute, if I do say so myself....
Next time, please remind me to follow my mother's advice and "just buy Oreos!" Now lets just hope the cookies spur the girls onto victory - GO MATRIX!!

Way To Go, Brady!!

A few days ago Brady came home from school toting a brand new "Monsters, Inc." book. His teacher told me that he was the first child in his class to read all 15 level readers on his own! Now he gets to move up to first grade reading! I am so proud of my kids, all of them have been avid readers, and Brady is no exception! We're proud of you, buddy!

Here is Brady showing off his new book!

Here he is showing how well he reads!

Sweet Thing...

How cute is my little Brady-bug? Let me give you an example... His Kindergarten class is learning about ants this week. His homework assignment last night was to come up with a list of things ants have in common with people. He did well, coming up with comparisons like "Ants have eyes, we have eyes," and "Ants eat food, we eat food." He even came up with "Ants live in families, we live in families." He started struggling then, so I gave him a nudge. I said "Well, do ants have a leader?" He said "Yes! the queen ant!" Then I said "Good, so do we have a leader?" His eyes lit up and he enthusiastically responded "YES! Jesus Christ!" At that moment my heart melted into a big mound of mush. But I continued..."Good, and what about our country? Does our country have a leader?" He pondered for a while so I prompted "President..." Then my little boy jumped up and down and said "President Thomas S. Monson!"
A Mama could never be any prouder.

Yummm!

Mmmm...homemade hot rolls and honey butter! My house smells so good!



I love pulling freshly baked goods out of the oven and feeling a sense of accomplishment for what you have created. I LOVE staying home every day!!

Spring Break!!

My kids are on spring break for the next two weeks, so we have lots of fun things planned to keep them busy. A few days ago we went to a free kids clinic at Lowes where the kids had fun making table top basketball hoops! They looked so cute in their little safety goggles, using tiny hammers!




For St. Patricks day we made "pot of gold" cupcakes. We had fun layering different colors of batter to make a "rainbow." White "cloud" frosting, topped by a Rolo "pot of gold" made for a fun afternoon!





We are looking forward to many more fun times over the next few weeks! Hooray for Spring Break!!

Wild About Animals!!

Today I had the pleasure of being a parent volunteer at Parker's class field trip. (A first for me!!) The class has been learning about animals this quarter so the field trip theme was "Wild About Animals." Each child was given a colored t-shirt to place them into groups. And everyone was given a really cute animal hat to wear. Parker was excited because he was given a panda bear hat! We are extremely lucky because the amazing Wildlife World Zoo is only a few miles down the road and they brought animals to show the kids. It was fun seeing all the cute creatures, including an albino ferret, an Australian bushbaby, and a sugar glider! I wasnt as thrilled with the reptile exhibit, which included a corn snake, giant poisonous toads, gila monsters, and a massive boa constrictor. The end piece was a HUGE tarantula that climbed all over the instructors arms! (Shudder!) Parker had fun feeling different fur pieces/textures, making a jungle photo frame, and looking at the display of the dioramas that all the kids had made for homework. All in all it was a smashing success and I look forward to the next field trip! (Which would be Brady's St Patty's Day celebration tomorrow!)

All of the darling first graders in their shirts and hats

A giant boa constrictor named "Ceasar"

Check out the guy's hand - you'll find a tarantula named "Charlotte"

Panda Parker

Making a jungle photo frame - they turned out really cute!

Mommy loves volunteering at school!

Three Updates in One!

I know it has been many months since I have last updated my blog, so I thought I would give you all several updates at once! It has been a VERY busy few months, with MANY big changes in the Walters home! James got promoted to the position of manager at the hospital! Although he is still working nights, it has allowed him to cut down to only 3 days a week! Jill quit her job and is now staying home with the kids. It has been a good change that has brought a cleaner home, volunteering time at the kids school, and more time for family prayer and FHE (and hopefully it will also mean a frequently updated blog)! Carly is super busy with volleyball club, and the boys start baseball season next week! Here are some fun pics to show you how we are growing!

3-D Farm Animals

Brady has been learning about farm animals in school this month, culminating with his class play "The Three Piggy Opera." Brady was thrilled to be given the part of Wolf! One of his homework projects was to create a 3-D model of a farm animal. We settled on baby chicks.

Here is Brady putting paper-mache yarn on a balloon to make a "nest."

Here are the cute "chicks" we made out of pom-poms!

Ta-Da! The finished product!

Here is Brady holding his nest at the play! We had so much fun!!

My Little Man

I can't believe that Parker turns 8 this year! We are working on getting ready for his baptism, reading the scriptures and, of course, looking forward to scouts!! Here is a cute pic of my little man all ready for church!
He has been wanting a white shirt and tie for so long, but they are difficult to find down here. We were lucky to find this set (and one for his brother!) when the Easter outfits came out. Yippee!!

My Crazy Kids

We have been having so much fun with our kids lately! They have grown into wonderful, fun, loving little people! Here are some cute pics to show their silly side.

Hooray for spring time!

Being goofy at the park.

Aargh, you are defeated!!

Triumphant Victory!!

So, as you can see, the Walters five is alive, well, and having a great time!