Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Days Til Christmas...

Way back in November I saw this and decided that I wanted to make one of my own!! Luckily Joe had been cleaning out the garage (one of his never ending tasks!) and dug out these old cupboard doors, which were exactly what I needed!

First I dusted them off since they had been collecting dust in our disaster garage!




Then I painted it black with some magnetic paint... Although this paint didn't do what I had originally planned...



While the paint is drying you take your little paper mache boxes... Mine were from Walmart and Michaels... I cleaned both stores out... Maybe I wasn't the only one doing this! I wish I had a little more shape variation, but it didn't really matter too much!


Then pick out your fun scrapbooking paper in several different patterns!!

and using an Exacto knife to cut the scrapbook paper- I just outlined the boxes...


and glued the paper to the boxes using this stuff!


Then I used a sharpie and put the numbers on the boxes... That was after I figured out how I wanted the boxes to be layed out! This actually took a lot longer than you would think! I didn't want any of the same shapes next to each other or the same pattern of paper etc.. so it took some arranging!














Then came the fun part... I painted Mod Podge on top of each box to seal it... If you've never used this stuff you should try it out.. It's super cool! This was the first time I've ever used the stuff and I can see using it for a lot of fun stuff!


Finally I glued all the boxes to the frame... Added the "Days Til Christmas" on top and the ribbon to hang it !! A fun little advent calendar for Christmas.. and like the blogger before me... I put the kids vito-bears inside the boxes for their treat! Maybe next year I'll be organized enough to put little projects/fun stuff we can do together inside too! Such as, "make gingerbread houses" or "Go look at Christmas lights" Two things we still plan on doing before Christmas!!



Problems with Blogger

For some reason I am having problems with blogger and it's driving me crazy! Maybe this is what happens when you stay up too late! The stupid annoying strike through key is not working properly on a post I was trying to do... Once I've used it it will not go back to normal writing no matter how many times I try clicking the button!! ARRRRRR!!!!! Maybe it's me, but it's driving me crazy!! Especially since it's working on this dumb lame post!! Oh well, off to bed I go!



Sunday, December 13, 2009

Pee Wee Soccer!

It's done and over with now, but I signed Chloe up for a little soccer class through our community activities for the month of November. It was really funny to watch all these little kids trying to kick and chase a soccer ball around!!

Eli was too little for the class, but he was always trying to play with the big kids!!


Showing us his moves!


Gotta stretch and warm up those muscles!!



Some more warm up!


This is Chloe's least favorite part of soccer! They called it "little kicks," but I think it was basically dribbling. Whenever they did this part of the class Chloe would start out okay and then if her ball went too far from her she would come running over to me crying and saying she didn't want to do it!!


What a cute little spectator!


Getting ready to play soccer!





Here comes Chloe!!


This was hysterical!! They would go running around and around the gym!!





Thursday, December 10, 2009

Thanksgiving!

Well, I am finally posting our pictures from Thanksgiving! We got together with all of the Ziniker family this year to celebrate grandpa's 80th Birthday and to spend the Thanksgiving weekend together! It was a family reunion of sorts which made it an extra special Thanksgiving!


Grandma and the girls had to figure out how to seat 50 people! I didn't get any pictures of the actual food, people sitting down etc... too busy eating and trying to feed my kids I guess!


After our Thanksgiving meal everyone headed outside for a family picture... It was cold!


Thanks to Kyla for organizing and taking these pictures!


This is such a nice picture of Grandpa and Grandma!


My great Aunt Rosie (and Uncle Ronnie too) was there for the weekend! Fun to see her and hear her laugh... it's very distinct and infectious! She was always helping do something!


Chloe loved playing with Taylor!


They absolutely loved the carriage ride!


It was so nice of Gary to ride around in the cold for so long!





We had an auction, which turned out to be pretty fun! Everyone brought items that reminded them of Grandpa to be sold and then everyone bid on them!


More play time!


Lincoln and Elijah playing with the yahtzee cups and dice!


More playing... Turns out Elijah doesn't share!! Something to work on!


Playing with Grammy!


We thought Maverick and Elijah looked a lot alike!!


Sweet little Westley smiling at his Mama!


Elijah and Cora bouncing on the air bed!


Another one of the look-alike boys!!


Baby Westley!


This was hilarious!! Mom was reading a story to Chloe and they both fell asleep!!!


Playing outside!


A LOT of football was played... Elijah wanted to join them!


Playing on the haystack!


Chloe was calling it her castle!


Yay!!


Playing with cousin Cora!


Going for a walk...
Jill, Maverick, Cora, Rachael, and Chloe


Giving hugs along the way!


Reading books together!


Big smiles from Remington!


Kyla and Camden


These three are 4 months apart... Lincoln-Feb, Tiana-May, and Elijah-June


Kason and his Daddy!


Saturday night bath time!