4th of July

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays! I love the family time and the fireworks!! We always eat with my parents and then walk to the Boys Ranch. You can usually find us in the same spot at the park too, so we always sit with our good friends.

This is the only picture I got of the girls together! They are getting less and less cooperative for pictures.

Sweet Friends ~ Landrie & Channing!

Landrie in awe of the awesome fireworks show!

Lake Weekend

Saturday we went to Lake Whitney with one of my friends from Junior High and High School. Her family has a beautiful house.

Sunset Saturday Night

We spent most of our time in the pool, but after dinner we took a Jeep ride around to look at the houses.


The girls loved riding around and swimming like "mermaids" all day long!


They should have been exhausted from all the swimming, but Karsyn kept us cracking up with her excuses to get out of bed. We finally put her up on the top bunk where she couldn't get out!

It was such a nice getaway and I loved getting to spend time with MaryAnn!

Mommy's Helpers

We made fruit pizza the other day for a family dinner at Lolly's House. The girls helped put the fruit on.

Karsyn loves to make patterns and Landrie loves fruit, so this was fun for both of them. I think when it was time for dessert, Karsyn took all the fruit off and just enjoyed the cookie and icing.

Singer/Songwriter - Updated w/ Video

Landrie has been writing a lot of songs lately. This is what she wrote tonight:

I am new because I know everything about God.
I want to talk like Him
I want to walk like Him and look like Him
We all want to be just like God.
I know you. I love you.
We are together and I know that you like me.

Her "theology" isn't all correct all the time, but whose is??? I am just proud that she has a concept of who He is and wants to know more.

(She performed for us, but told me that she didn't want it to go on facebook. I never promised it wouldn't go on the blog...)

The Jokester

Landrie has always liked to tell jokes, but until recently she would miss the punchline completely.

Here's a few of her newest ones:

• Q: What do you call a chicken in Antartica?
  
• A: LOST!
  
  
  
• Q: Why did the gum cross the road?



• A: Because it was stuck to the chicken's foot.
  

I love her quirky personality. She cracks me up!!! I'm loving 6 1/2!

**Pictures are self-portraits by Landrie

Tie-Dye Beach Towel

I started teaching my craft class to middle schoolers last week. We started off with an apron so the kids could tell me about themselves through their drawings and so we'd have the apron to protect or clothes for our other projects.

I found our project for this week online and it seemed easy, fun and something that any age would enjoy.

The supplies:

• White "beach" towel - I bought 27" x 52" white towels from Walmart $2.50
• Simply Spray Fabric Paint - Hobby Lobby $24.99 - kit says it will make 24 shirts
• Contact Paper (must have adhesive back)
• Pencil
• Paper towel
• Scissors

The first step is to sketch your wording onto the top-side of the contact paper. **I messed up and used a marker that bled once it got paint on it, so make sure to use a pencil or ball-point pen.

After you sketch it out, cut it out. Before I stuck it to the towel, I laid the letters out to make sure I centered it and spaced it evenly.

Next take the backing off and stick it to the towel. Make sure to press down on all the edges so paint won't bleed through.

After all the letters were stuck on the towel, I moved the project outside.

Scrunch up the towel, to get the tie-dyed effect.



When you're ready to start painting, fold up a paper towel and start spraying on it before you move to the towel. This will prevent the paint from dripping.

I painted 3 colors and then spread the towel out to see if I missed any spots. I still had more white showing than I wanted, so I re-scrunched it and added some more color. You can do this several times to get the desired effect.

Paint will pool up on the letters, so you need to wipe the letters off before you peel them off.

Here's the finished product! It needs to dry for at least 30 minutes and you're supposed to wait 72 hours before washing.

This was so fun and easy! With supervision, it would be an easy kid project.

BFFs

We are blessed with great friends. Growing up we lived next door to the Cheathams. Lolly and Tina were and still are BFF's nearly 25 years later! Now, their grandchildren are also BFFs!!!

Landrie, Channing, Campbell & Karsyn

Landrie and Channing at their Kindergarten Awards Day

Lolly with Karsyn and Gigi with Campbell at the Leopards soccer game!

Lolly and Gigi with Landrie and Channing

Soccer

Both girls played soccer this season. Karsyn cried through most of Landrie's practices and games last year because she wanted to play, so we decided to give her a chance. I got a small taste of what my mom went through getting us to all of our practices when we were younger.

Landrie will tell you that she LOVED soccer, but mostly I think she loved playing with her friends. She tried her hardest and it started to click at the end, but I doubt we'll have a soccer star in the future.



Most of the time she had this look on her face. When she was on the bench, she was either in her own world or looking at the game going on behind her.

Karsyn's team was the Leopards! She got to play with her friends Ella and Campbell. She hated practice and only enjoyed the games if she got to start. If she had to wait a quarter to go in, she would lose interest and prefer to play with Landrie on the sidelines.

They both made CUTE soccer players, but I don't think they were as into it as I expected. We're going to try cheerleading or dance next and see how my girly girls handle that.

I Made it Without My Hubby ~ Message Board

I am teaching a craft class to middle schoolers over the next 3 weeks. I had to come up with a craft for each week that would take 1-2 hours at a time and be interesting to 7th and 8th graders. I decided on a locker message board, a tie-dyed beach towel and one of my clipboards.

The cast of characters:

• Fabric
• 2 colors of coordinating ribbon
• 12 x 12 cork tiles (mine came in a 4-pack at Hobby Lobby)
• Magnetic strips
• Measuring tape
• Low-temp glue gun

I cut the fabric to 16 x 16 and laid it face down with the cork board centered. I glued one side down and then pulled tightly and glued the other side.

For the other sides, I folded the corners in like wrapping a present and glued them down tightly too.

I cut 3 pieces of the pink ribbon with 1-2 inches to spare at each end, and did the same with the blue.

Then, I flipped it over and started at one corner. I glued it down and then pulled it tightly to the other corner and secured it with hot glue. I followed the same step for the center blue piece too.

After all the ribbons were secured, then I added magnetic strips. They had a sticky back, but I added some extra glue too.

I also added a ribbon to the top so it could hang as well.