Kids Pick Up On Everything

It's a well known fact that Richard Bean is an emotional and tenderhearted guy. Several people in the ward comment or joke with him about the tears he sheds while sitting on the stand in Sacrament meeting. He can't help it, he leaks over something tender almost every week.

While Alece and I were in a little meeting after church yesterday, our kids decided to kill some time in the chapel. I know, not the best place for them to "play" and we weren't thinking much of it until Cole Ercanbrack came in to report what they were up to.

Apparently, they were playing "Sacrament Meeting". Ethan was pretending to be his dad (the Bishop) and Gavin was his dad (the Bishop's counselor). The girls led music and played the organ. When Cole happened upon them, the two boys were sitting on the stand and Gavin, true to character, had a tissue in his hand and was repeatedly dapping his eyes to wipe away the "tears". We all got a good laugh over that one... except Richard.

Before and After

I hesitated posting this because some of you aren't going to really care, but for those of you who play around in Photoshop, I thought I'd share. Once again I spent way more time on this then necessary, but that seems to be my habit these days.

(BTW - these girls are 5 of the 13 girls my activity day group. We had a big parent night with them last night and I made a poster with their name and photo on it. They turned out pretty cute, but most importantly the girls loved them.)

I admit, she's my favorite!

Smoothed the hair, whitened the teeth (and took the food out of them) and lightened the dark circles under the eyes.

Peep hole and glaring highlight: First you see them, now you don't!

Who knew a few clicks of the mouse was as good as a brush?

This is very subtle. You almost have to look up close to really tell. I couldn't get her to smile much when I took the shot, but in the end, I won by using the Liquify technique.

Mom's Gone Crazy!

The science fair project has been taking up the week's spare minutes. We didn't even think of what we were going to do with the valentine's boxes for school until the night before they were due (common occurance, I'm afraid). This year needs to be be different the kids keep saying. They want something really cool. Not just a box wrapped in valentine wrapping paper with a hole cut in the top. So, we gather supplies to the table. Alli gets paper and stamps while Gavin starts making a check list of body parts for the robot he wants to create. It's already 8:15pm -

The kids went to bed at 9:00pm. That's right, they lasted 45 minutes. Mom continued to work on boxes all the while remembering the fun she had in elementary school doing this sort of thing with HER mother, only she remembered actually doing it together. Then mom called her friend and they talked and laughed at each other because they were both still up working on valentine's boxes after the kids were long gone from being a part of it.

Dad returned home at 10:00pm from meetings and mom was still working. Punching, glueing, stamping, wrapping, cutting, glueing (again)...

Finally, after 11:00pm, the boxes were complete and certainly not cool enough for the time put into them, but isn't that the way the cookie usually crumbles? Mom has only one thing on her mind that late at night and that is, "why does she feel the need to blog this event before she goes to bed?!"

Supplies:

RODNEY ROBOT- shoe box, foil, nerf football, milk lids - one from the jug scrounged from the bottom of the big, stinky, black garbage can outside and the other off the still full jug in the fridge (my kids are going to be waking for bathroom breaks all night from the milk I made them drink in order to use that lid), toilet paper roll (cut in half), pipe cleaners, a sign that reads "Love-O-Meter" (but only if you have a really cool robot-looking font) and a disposable container spray painted black for the hat (and it doesn't matter how tired you think you are, it really is better to wait for the paint to dry before glueing it on top of the football head).

GROOVY FLOWER BOX - shoe box, swirly wrapping paper meant for wedding gifts (any kind will do as long as you use the expensive stuff that really isn't meant for projects such as this), cookie cutter to use as a template for groovy flowers (I don't think I have ever used a cookie cutter for actual cookies...), two different sized circle punches because two is always better than one (and it's important to feel you've got your money's worth out of those punches you rarely use), alphabet stamps and coordinating ink colors to match the paper you've chosen (once again, coordinating will make you feel better about all those stamp pads and paper you have purchased specifically to match your project. Really, despite what you might think, 4th graders do notice those kinds of things).

And there you have it. Now every mom will have the resources to be as crazy as this one, just don't let the sleep deprivation or collosal aftermath deter you.