Ella has been busy lately. She is very determined with her eating habits. She wants to use a fork, but can’t always get the food on it. So I have to put the food on the fork, set it down, and let her put it in her mouth.

Playing follow the leader, apparently.

Any chance she can, Ella sneaks into my jewelry. She loves to put on all the bracelets.

(Sep. 29th)

We had a new girl move into our ward, who is pregnant with a boy. I asked if she had a baby shower, and found out she didn’t. So I put together a quick baby shower for her before going out of town. I chose the “Around the clock” theme, to help her get a variety of things, since this is her first baby.

The invitation read:

The clock is ticking, the time is drawing near

Rachael is preparing with baby boy gear.

Each time of the day, requires different needs,

Let’s pick our favorite item, to help her get through diapers and feeds.

The clock will tell you, the hour  of the  day,

Your help is needed, in any kind of way.

Each invitation had a time of day on it, but I forgot to take pictures of those. As guests arrived, there were a few bowls full of snacks with a sign that read, “Snack time.”

For dinner, we had bacon wrapped green beans, coconut rice, sweet and sour meat balls, and pasta spinach salad. The first 3 entree’s were from Our Best Bites.

I also went to The Rootbeer Store and picked up lots of different rootbeers for us. I used a baby bath to hold them in with ice, so they would be cold.

For dessert, we had some cake chocolate and vanilla cake. I dyed the white cake blue, so her cake matched the colors of the party.

We played a game where I played songs that included the words, “baby, boy, dad, or mom.” If the guest could sing it, say the title, or say the artist, they got a hershey kiss. Then, at the end, whoever had the most kisses got the prize. I think I mentioned my polaroid camera earlier. I used it to take pictures of everyone that was there. Then, I had a little book to put the pictures in. As she opened presents, we wrote what the gift was next to the picture of the person.

As a “Thank you,” I had a little box with a candy watch inside. The card on top read, “Thank you for your time.”

For some decorations, I made a few onesies to hang on the clothes line. I also wrapped a few onesies to a diaper wreath.

And there you have our “Around the clock” baby shower. It worked out well for not having too much prep time.

(September 27th)

Ella has some new tricks up her sleeve. If I put her in anything with a zipper, it is off the second I turn around. Last night, she mastered more than zipper pajamas. She was able to get a long sleeved pajama shirt off. I put her in long sleeves to keep her warm.

I think it back fired! I couldn’t even find the shirt. Eventually, I found it down between the crib and the wall, but common’ child! Cut me some slack.

The post below is of our Young Women in Excellence night. The reason it has a password is because I included pictures with our young women in them. If you would like to view our night, let me know, and I will send you the password. Once I get around to blurring out the girls, I will take the password off.

Last week had to be one of the craziest weeks I’ve had in a long time. It started with Young Women In Excellence. This is a night where we honor the young women in our ward, and the projects they have been working on. This year, we did something a bit different. I found a book by The Redheaded Hostess about scripture heros. The book is meant to be completed over 2 weeks, and the individual compares themselves to their hero in the scriptures. The topics each day pertain to themes from For the Strength of Youth book.

I taught the combined lesson this month which happened to be on “Service in the Community.” I had a few of the girls talk about fundraisers they’ve organized and other projects they’ve been part of. Then I introduced 8 women of the scriptures. We talked about what made them a hero, and how they did service in their communities. I bought the Young Women value card set from Real Hero Posters and had them displayed on the board. The women included: Ruth, Esther, Hannah, Mother’s of the Stripling Warriors, Women in the Wilderness, Mary, Emma, and Eve (had my own picture). At the end of the lesson, I introduced the book and explained that our Young Women In Excellence would be focused on their experience. Then, each girl got to pick a picture off the board of the hero they were going to focus on. (We wanted to stay away from the girls displaying things such as soccer balls or sheet music meaning that’s what they’ve been working on. We know they work hard on those things, but we wanted them to think outside the box this year.)

The girls had 3 weeks to work on their books. Tuesday night, we set up the room with pictures of the girls and their hero’s. We printed 11 x 14 pictures of each girl and mounted them on black mats. We also had the women of the scriptures in poster size 11 x 14 and mounted on black mats. We staggered them around the room, and they filled the walls from one side to the other.

Last minute, I had the idea to make some lanterns for the girls. We used the technique of modge podging strips of tissue paper around a vase. I found an awesome deal at the thrift store, where I got 3 large vases for 19 cents. How awesome was that!? I got 27 vases for $1.89. Anyway, then I cut vinyl lettering that read, “Be a light unto others, be a Hero.” We got the little light candles so that we could light them up around the room.

We had a great program. Part of it included the girls singing “Guardians of Virtue.” We also had a few of the girls talk about their experiences and what they learned about their heroes. We also spotlighted each girl. We had talk to the girls parents beforehand, and told of ways the girls have characteristics of a hero, and how they show it.

For dessert, I made a fruit trifle. Instead of layering in a bowl, I bought large cup cake liners, and then crumbled cake into each one. We added a spoonful of cream, and value colored fruit to the top. I believe I had mangos, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and kiwi. I also meant to add, but ran out of time, pineapple, grapes, bananas, and pears. (That’s if you want to do all the value colors.)

It turned out to be a very successful night, and I think everyone really enjoyed it. I at least know they all enjoyed the dessert! 🙂

A friend and I decided to start the decorating season by making some pumpkins. I got the idea from Not So Idle Hands. I always save jars, because, really, who knows when I’ll need a jar for something. Something just like this craft idea. So we put our kids to bed, and I joined her on a night her husband was in class to help fill time. We set to work, and made these cute pumpkins.

They look even better, all lit up. Which inspired a whole other idea.

Ella loves strawberries. She also loves when I do not cut them up for her, because she has a special way of eating them.    

(Sep. 19th)

We broke down. For our family home evening we headed to the pet store. We found a new fish tank, and Jameson picked out some plants and rocks. We were going to get fish, except the water needs to be filtered for a few days before adding fish. How are you supposed to tell a 3 year old we’re getting a fish tank, but no fish? So instead, we brought home a snail.

Jameson’s view of the fish tank…

The only living thing in this whole fish tank? Meet Elmo.

Elmo roamed the tank for a bout a week. Everyone that came over would look in the tank, and wonder what was in there. Then when we pointed out the snail, they looked at us like we were crazy to get that big of a tank for a snail. I am happy to report that Elmo has now been joined by Glowy and Spike the 2nd. (By the way, if you need any pets named, just ask Jamo. He doesn’t even hesitate when naming pets.)

(Sept. 13th)

There’s been an unfortunate accident around here. Remember Spike, the goldfish? Well, this morning, I asked Jameson to feed Spike before we left to run some errands. He climbed on the chair, looked in the bowl, and I heard, “Uh oh, Mom. Spike is dead.” My first thought was, “Shoot. I should have checked that before I sent him to feed the fish.” But, sometimes this fish likes to lay on his side to sleep. As soon as you move the bowl, he would start swimming around. So I walked over to the bowl and shook it. Nope. He was dead. He moved with the water. But, we were in a hurry, so taking care of the dead Spike would have to wait. Jameson agreed that we would check to see if he was still dead when we got back.

We ran our errands, and arrived back home. Jameson checked, and Spike was still dead. Once again, we talked about how Nemo was flushed and went to the ocean. So we headed with the bowl to the bathroom. Jameson wanted to dump Spike in the toilet.

Jameson said good-bye and flushed the toilet himself.

When Dad got home, Jameson told him what happened and asked him what we should do about it. Dad told him maybe we needed a better fish tank and new fish. Great, is Dad going to clean that and make sure the fish get fed? Judging by this pose (taken by Jamo)…

I’m starting to wonder.