Molly's Preschool Graduation

Today Molly graduated from Preschool.

She has been so excited, especially since her teacher promised them each a surprise! It was held at a nearby park in their pavilion. Luckily we were at least shaded since it's 100 degrees today!

The kids sang 2 songs before they were handed their diplomas.

Molly receiving her diploma from Mrs. Hammer. Molly says she is excited for kindergarten but she is sad she won't see Mrs. Hammer anymore. She is such a sweetheart.

Throwing their caps!

Molly with Grandma and Grandpa Galbraith. It was nice of them to come.

Mom and dad with with graduate.

Poor Ali hurt her nose today as she was walking up the stairs. She tripped on her towel and hit the banister when we were coming home after swimming lessons. Poor thing.

Molly with her diploma. A proud graduate! We are so proud of her and all she's learned and accomplished this year. She knows all of her letters and can count to 100. She has gotten very good at coloring and staying in the lines and loves to make pictures with anything she can find. She has learned how to tie a shoe and is still perfecting that. She has had a lot of fun in preschool this year. Love you, Molly!

4th of July Wreath

Inspired by this wreath above that my SIL Sunny made, my mom and I copied it and made our own!

Here is mine.

Isn't it fun? I looked on pinterest for some wreath ideas before I knew I was going to make this, and let me tell you, I was not very impressed. I didn't really like hardly any of them.

My mom and I found many videos of how to make a burlap wreath on youtube that we watched, so feel free to google it if you are interested. We had to watch a few to figure out really what they were doing. We had to kind of figure it out as we went and pulled the loops out, then re-did some, but finally got to where we liked what we saw.

The pinwheels are from Shopko, of all places. They are 60% off this week (last week they were 50% off). The rest of the supplies we used are as follows: I used a 16 in. wire wreath form (my mom used an 18 in. one but really it doesn't matter because you make the loops as big or small as you want),  a 10 yard spool of burlap ribbon from Michael's (Hobby Lobby also has some but the roll isn't as big), a 15 ft. spool of red burlap and the land of the free ribbon is from Hobby Lobby (can't remember how long that was...?), natural colored pipe cleaners cut in thirds (any craft store, we found at HL) and of course scrapbook paper for the pennant banner.

Looks pretty cute on my mom's red door! Mine will be hanging for now on the storage room door where I can see it downstairs. But one day it will be on my very own front door. The sun was pretty bright as I took these, so the colors are a bit duller here than they are in real life, but you get the idea. From start to finish it probably took us about 2 1/2 hours or so.

Destructo

That's what we call Jackson sometimes...Destructo. Because that's what he does! If you are on FB and friends with Justin, you may have already seen some of the damage.

This has all happened in a week! Yes, 7 days. He broke the lid to one of my pots above. I have now moved them out of the bottom drawer.

Yesterday he broke this vase. He also broke my large ceramic serving bowl that matches my dishes. And I'm pretty sure they don't sell my dishes anywhere anymore :( dang! So I'm out of luck there.

We have had to keep moving our breakable things. And they are somewhat locked up! I think he got my bowl when I was doing dishes and I had the cupboard open.

He found the hot chocolate several days ago after we had eaten dinner. My mom and I were chatting at the table and suddenly noticed it was quiet...the little stinker!

And he, of course, was VERY proud of himself!

I wonder where he ever gets it from? See for yourself!

Yep! Like FATHER like SON!

thrifty finds

We ventured into our local Deseret Industries today after picking up Molly from preschool (Yes, you read right. She is finished on the 27th. Her teacher has more of a year-round approach). We didn't come home with much, but I was pretty excited about the few things we did find!

 First up. I saw this as we walked through the toy aisle. What is it? It's a Leap Pad case. Molly got one for Christmas, but I figured we didn't need to spend any extra money on a case. Amazon's price currently: $19.34. Our price: $1.

 The case pretty much looks brand new too. Just needs to be wiped down on the outside is all.

Here's where the actual leap pad goes. Molly was excited. I am too. Now I can have her put it where it goes!

Next up is little Rapunzel. This we found on our second time down the toy aisle. (If you don't know, it can be a good idea to go back to your favorite places because they are always putting out new stuff!) We used to have this very doll, but her arm was broken off and Justin threw her away. We have a few skirts for her still, so I was pleased we found her. She was priced $1, which I was happy to pay, but upon checking out, the teenaged boy said, "$1? That seems over priced, don't you think? How about 25 cents?" I said, "Sounds good to me!" I'm sure he didn't know that these are originally $8.05 on Amazon right now. (That's being sold with the 2 skirts, which I we already have)

Her hair needs to be brushed, but my girls don't care!

This isn't terribly exciting. But Molly has a couple of Lisa Frank folders that she loves. So she was excited when she saw this coloring book. We paid $1. Amazon $3.30.

Next up is the horse. I can't take the credit on this one. Ali actually found her and said, "Mom, can I have this pony?" At first, I thought she was kinda ugly.

But then I saw this. The tag. It's from Build A Bear!

Well how do you pass up an expensive toy that looks practically new and hardly used that your daughter wants? (ha ha!) She even had a cute princess shirt on.

Ok let's be honest. I knew we would get her for practically nothing when she originally cost a lot. I'm guilty. But, Molly has a build a bear bunny that a neighbor gave her and Ali has never had one. I keep wanting to get Ali one, but then I decide she has plenty of other animals to use and play with. Plus they are so expensive! I've even looked and found some in the classifieds, but I've never been able to justify the purchase.

Well we got to the register and she didn't have a price on her. The kid told me the stuffed animals are one dollar! Yes, we will take it! Build a Bear price: $22 for the horse and $7 for the princess shirt (not the exact same, but similar). Their price: $29. We paid: $1.

In the end our total was $3.25 versus $59.69 brand new! Do you love this game? Finding things second hand for cheap? What have you found lately?

I've been hacked

Just in case you were about to tell me, I know my email account has been hacked! If you see some random email from me, just delete it. I've changed my password, but if you are just seeing an email from me sent yesterday sometime, delete it!

Summer fun

Bear with me here. This is all a bit random and thrown together, but I'm documenting anyway.

I put Ali down for a nap a couple of weeks ago and I think I took the other 2 kids outside to play. We came back in and I was headed downstairs when I saw the following :) Ali sleeping on the top step. I picked her up and she finished off her nap in her bed. My parents have a picture of me asleep on the stairs when I was little too. Funny.

Ok. Have you EVER seen any cuter beach chairs for kids? I think not! 

Our neighbors invited us swimming at their parent's pool last weekend. We had a great time!

 We also got to have a sleepover with our cousins! Fun fun.

 Jackson checking out the pool water. It was a bit cold...

Some neighbors gave us an old bike that belonged to their daughters. Molly is beyond thrilled to have it! It has training wheels on it now and is really meant for probably at least a 7 year old, but that doesn't stop her! My friend is also letting us borrow their balance bike. (Thanks Karen!)

Guess who else has a new bike?! Me!! Justin and I both got road bikes. I have been wanting one for a while to use in triathlons. We are going to do the Layton triathlon next month. My second time and Justin's first triathlon! My old mountain bike just doesn't cut it for these. You know it's bad when people are passing you going DOWNHILL!! Anyway, we are pretty happy with them. (Happy Mother's Day and Father's Day to us!)

Just for fun and totally changing topics, I saw this ad and am in love with this living room! If only kids did well with light furniture...But I can dream! And a baby grand piano. I would love one one day!

Lastly I dropped off a bunch of stuff at Saver's the other day (thrift store). I happened to see this very cool mirror sitting next to the building and asked how I could get it. They told me they were going to tag it and have it on the floor in about 10 minutes. For $9.99 it's now mine! I am holding onto it for our future home. But wouldn't it look so pretty painted another color? I'm excited about it!

And in other news before I quit here, Justin has a second job interview tomorrow with a firm downtown. Please cross your fingers for us! It would be a great job! He's made it past the partners and will meet with the senior associates tomorrow for the call back interview.

My girls IN their dresses

Alright I showed you the new jumpers I made for the girls. Now here they are wearing them! Ali HAD to wear a sweater over hers. I'm not sure why, especially since it ended up being 90 degrees here yesterday. I tried talking her out of it, but hey, at least it matched!

She was so funny sitting in this chair. It was like she didn't know how to sit up straight in it. Silly girl.

This is the best I got of them together. Ha! Molly's face looks like it does because I think she has a small cold, so the sun was bothering her even though they were in the shade here.

A close up of the front.

Again, that sun was getting to her :)

But this one sure turned out cute!! You can even see her dimple :) They really wanted pretty curls in their hair for church. Surprisingly they stayed in for the whole day!