Don't be an Angry Bird {FHE lesson}

Can I just say I'm glad its not just me who has and angry bird living in their house.  Four and a half is a tough age to deal with all that emotion I guess.  I ran across the most fabulous teaching thing ever and thought I'd share since its that great.  Cuz really who doesn't love Angry Birds.  The game.  And yes, even the ones living in your house.  I gave the Don't Be an Angry Bird lesson by the Home Teacher  last Monday for family home evening and it has helped a lot.   I cut out my own angry birds from construction paper but there are plenty of downloads to print off if you aren't feeling like it or are short on time.  The purpose of the lesson is to talk about how we deal with our anger and ways to do it more positively.  Its a great lesson for everyone not just 4 year olds.    There are several additions to the first lesson so be sure to check them out on her side bar.  Happy Monday!

May the 4th be with you.

Today is national Star Wars day.  Not a big deal to some, but it is in this house.  We will be having a marathon tonight when D gets home but I thought we'd share some of our favorite Star Wars finds to help you get in the spirit of things!  

{Darth Vader Face}

Its easy to make your own light saber to have Jedi battles.  We used a length of pipe insulation, duct tape and electrical tape for ours.  You could also use a pool noodle if your kid just has to have a colored one.  Our 97 cent length of pipe insulation made us two.  Just  cut it in half, wrap the ends with duct tape and add an electrical tape "switch".  Super easy and hours of battles.  

Toy-a-day has printable Star Wars guys that are super fun to play with and easy to assemble.  You can find them here.

Wookie the Chew.  The illustrations by this guy are SO dang cute.  He also has some other really fun art prints you should check out.  All proceeds go to help his daughter.

Girly Darth Vader.   via Crafster

Ivy's favorite line is Can someone get this walking carpet out of my way?"

Chewbacca softie pattern form Draw! Pilgrim.

And of course every true Star Wars fan needs their own R2D2 underwear!

You can find the full tutorial here.  Also if you want to make your own with your silhouette email me and I'll send you the .svg.  

Happy Star Wars day!  And May the 4th {and the force!} be with you!

Insanity Week 8

note to self:

 

 I was thinking this morning about how I just get up every day and do this. How I complain and sometimes I wanna cry or throw up its so hard, but I just do it.    How its just a part of my life now.  How I get excited about finding $20 and then go and buy a pull up bar.  Who is that girl, seriously?  I guess that girl is me now.  It took me eight months of doing it every single day to become that girl.  

Its funny because in some ways its like getting back to the girl I was before.  More like the girl I was when Darin and I first met.  Not just in size{!}, but the happy girl that he married.  I started out walking because I wanted a smaller butt.  But, NOTHING has helped me more with my sad heart that I've had these past few years than exercising and getting stronger.  It has made my heart and my mind stronger too.  It has healed me on the inside, which is a result I didn't expect. So I'll keep doing it, every single day.  Cuz if eight months can make that much of difference, I might as well see what another eight can do!

But enough of my sappiness about it.  Here's my results for Week 8{ish}...

Grrr.  Typing week 8 just made me get mad all over again that I got sick cuz I'm so ready for it to be over.   This second half of Insanity is tough guys, but it is making me tougher and that, I love.   I had another fit test Monday and I am getting better, which I also love.

So with only two weeks left I still don't know what we are going to do next.    I'm itching to get outside and do fun things for exercise.  Riding my bike is first on my list.   I've also been missing strength training so that needs to be thrown in the mix too.  Have you got any thing you have been doing that you love?  What works for you?  I'd love to get some new ideas.   

Hello Monday! 4.30.12

Hello silly girl.  You make me smile.  

Hello new skills.  Changing and patching a tube is  a vital skill around here.

Hello sleepy head.

Hello peaceful Saturday night celebrating a family being sealed together forever.

Hello 90 degree day.  I can't wait until you are here to stay for awhile. 

Hello beautiful

Hello pedicures and a girl weekend!  

Hello we stayed up WAY too late chatting.  Silly girls.

The Friendship Bracelet Kit {with free download}

I have 8 nieces and they almost all have birthdays in the spring.  The younger girls were easy to get gifts for but the older ones needed something pretty cool.  Cuz I gotta be the cool aunty ;)  So I put together some friendship bracelet kits to keep them busy this summer!

They are quick and easy to put together.  You just need to head to the craft store armed with coupons and they are pretty cheap too. 

Since I made multiple kits I started with a huge value pack of embroidery floss that was about $10 on sale.  The pack had 150 flosses in it and I was able to make 5 kits.  I also got these awesome floss organizers that, after using a coupon were $2 each.  

I created a tag in photoshop {which you can download it at the end of this post!} and attached it to the lid with double sided tape.  I also added a bracelet that I made just for fun.  

I found clipboards at that one big huge store I don't like that has a ruler on each side which I thought would be perfect for measuring out floss and knowing how long to make each bracelet. I got it all tied up with some yarn and its ready to give to my nieces!

I've uploaded some tags if you want to print out for your own friendship bracelet kits.   Just click on the link under whichever one you want to download.    

Wouldn't these be awesome for road trips this summer?!

Pink

Brown

font: blackout

arrows: courtesy of Amy Morby