2012 Blue Jeans Week 34

We made it through the first full week of school.  We had some changes on the home front with church callings.  Ben was called as early morning seminary teacher.  So he teaches high school kids (4 kids total including our Miss A) from our church from the New Testament every morning from 6:10 a.m. to 7 a.m.  He teaches in our basement.  I was released from the Relief Society (women's organization) presidency and put in the Young Women's presidency so I get to be with my two oldest girls.  I meant to get a picture of Ben teaching in the morning this week, but honestly I don't get up that early.  Maybe next week :)

 

Sunday:  Mr J and Miss E wanted to make cookies today.  They wanted the peanut butter ones with the Hershey's kisses in the middle--yum!   I was happy to oblige.  They are one of our family's favorite cookies.

 

Monday:  For our family night treat Miss E was in charge, and she made ice cream cookie sandwiches-yum!  Our family really likes cookies, and ice cream makes them even better!

 

 Tuesday:  Today after school it was windy out, and Miss E decided it would be fun to 'fly' on the trampoline.  She had the best time as the wind whipped her blanket as she jumped.  The trampoline is one of our family's favorite things.

 

Wednesday:  Mr J had a rough night last night.  He is starting to develop bad allergies, so he was up for several hours during the night because he couldn't breathe through his nose, and then he had some nightmares.  After being up from 3 a.m. to 6:30 a.m.  I was not waking him up for school at 7, so I let him sleep.  He slept until 10 a.m, and then he woke up, walked down the stairs and said to me in a very groggy, sleeply voice, "Mom, you forgot to take me to school!"  :)  so we quickly got him ready and to school by 10:30. 

 

 Thursday:  Sonic happy hour is another favorite thing of our family's.  It is very convienent that Sonic is right on the way home after picking up the kids from school.  Vanilla limeades are my kids' favorites, and I love a lemonberry fruit slush.

 

 Friday:  Sometimes I substitute in the kids' elementary school.  Today I was working in their library, and Mr J's class came in.  So I snapped a picture of him reading at his library table, atleast he was supposed to be reading, but then he saw his mother taking a picture of him, and he stuck a book over his face because he was embarrased.  Yes, I am that kind of mom :)

 

Saturday:  Our girls had a church basketball tournament up in the city today.  They played really well and got 3rd place, but it was a very long day.  We left at 7 a.m. and didn't get home until 5 p.m., and after 6 basketball games we were very tired!

 

Thanks for visiting.  I posted the directions for the bleached shirts on the post before this if you didn't get to see them.  Have a great week! 

How-to: Bleached t-shirts

So for a fun back-to-school craft we made bleached t-shirts.  I shared them in my last post, so I am posting how we did them today.  Super easy, and way fun!  My daughter and her friends made them at a back-to-school party at our house.

Supplies needed:

*t-shirt:  100% cotton, cheap ones work great, and darker colors work best (don't need to prewash them, and no problem if they are already washed)

*clear contact paper

*spray bottle filled with regular bleach (no water added)

*big bottle of regular vinegar

*big bucket to fill with vinegar

*design you want to put on your shirt

*piece of cardboard to insert into flat shirt to separate front and back

So the first thing you do is figure out what design you want on your shirt.  I have a cricut, and my kids chose designs from my cricut, and we just put the contact paper in the cricut and cut out their designs.  If you don't have a cutting machine, simply trace your design onto the contact paper and cut it out.  Make sure if you do letters that you get them the right way.

Peel the paper off the contact paper and stick your design on your shirt.

Place the cardboard in between the front and back of your shirt so the bleach won't bleed through to the back, and take the shirts outside.

**remember you will be spraying bleach, so wear appropriate clothing when you do this--i.e. clothing you don't mind getting a little bleach on.  And do it in an area you don't mind bleach getting on.

Have your bucket full of vinegar near to where you are spraying your shirts.

Place your shirt on the ground/table or whatever in the sunlight.  Hold your spray bottle with bleach over your shirt and lightly spray your shirt.  You can move around the shirt and spray or just spray in one spot.  Doing it different ways makes different results.  Let it dry in the sun for a few minutes--it is cool to see the shirt change.  The change happens faster in direct sunlight.

As soon as it has bleached as much as you want it to (several seconds to a few minutes), quickly slide out the cardboard and dunk the whole shirt (with the contact paper still on) in the bucket of vinegar.  This stops the bleaching process.  You may want rubber gloves when you do this.

Rinse the shirt in the vinegar, and take off the contact paper.  Ring out the shirt over the bucket and let dry outside.  Stick the shirt in the wash and wash it to get out the lovely vinegar smell :)

Ta-da!  Cool new shirts!

You get different looks depending upon how you spray your shirt.  This one was sprayed really close and with lots of bleach.  The other discoloring happened because??? we had bleach on our hands?  Not quite sure, but it is the same on the back, so it looks like we meant to do that :)

This was was sprayed a little farther away and not so much.

This one was sprayed closer and more concentrated.

This one was lightly sprayed.

This one was lightly sprayed all over the front.  (This is Miss O at her back to school night showing off her locker)

Hope those directions are clear enough.  If you have questions, just post them in the comments, and I will answer as best I can.  

Thanks for visiting and happy t-shirt bleaching!

2012 Blue Jeans Week 33--Back to school

Let it begin. . .so school started this week.  Miss O just had one day and the other three kids had 2 days of school.  It went pretty well.  Miss A seemed a little overwhelmed by high school, but I think she will get used to it.  Anything new is always a little overwhelming at first, I think.  Miss O was a pro with her second year in the middle school, and Mr J and Miss E are very at home in their elementary school.  These are some pictures from our back-to-school week. . .

New lunchboxes!  Everyone's backpacks were in good shape, but everyone needed new lunchboxes.  I found these are Costco, and they are a big hit with the kids.

Our back-to-school craft--'bleached' t-shirts.  I will post how we made them later this week.  Super easy and fun!

First day for these 3.  They sported their new shirts they each made.

Mr J and his 2nd grade teacher.  He came home from school the first day and said she was "awesome!!"  Good way to start the year.

Miss E and her 5th grade teacher who is also awesome!

My beautiful and very cool 7th grader on her first day!

My beautiful freshman!  Ugh, that is still hard for me to say-- I have a freshman in high school--high school!   When did that happen?  Because I am so not old enough to have a child that old :)

Hope your back-to-school weeks go well!  Thanks for visiting!

2012 Blue Jeans Week 32

School officially starts this week.  Summer is over.  It has been a hard summer with it being so hot and dry.  It seemed similar to a long, hard winter where you were home bound and had cabin fever, because when it is triple digit temperatures the last thing you want to do it go outside and play, so I think we had some cabin fever going on here this summer.  I think everyone is happy to be starting back to school.  I will have a high schooler!  Ugh!  When did that happen?  I have kids in 3 different schools this year--elementary, middle school, and high school.  That should be fun :)  Sunday night I was looking at the week's schedule, and I told Ben, "Crazy officially starts tomorrow."  Here we go. . .

Sunday:  I have no picture, but I cut out the symbol for the London Olympics and asked everyone what their favorite sport/event from the games were.  So in my scrapbook I will have the Olympics symbol and these responses. . .

Ben:  Men's 10 M platform diving and David Bouda getting the gold, volleyball, swimming, and the awesome finish in the men's 5000 M when British Mo Farah won.

Jen:  the 15 year old American swimmer Katie Ledecky that won so easily the 800 M, she was amazing!  Watching Michael Phelps win more metals, he is just awesome, and I always love gymnastics!

A:  volleyball and swimming

O:  When 15 year old Katie Ledecky won the 800 M swim

E:  Swimming, diving, and track and field

J:  The trampoline!!

What was your favorite thing of the Olympics?

Monday:  My mom is a librarian at my kids' elementary school, and today we went and helped her get the library read for school to start.  Mr J is on the ladder to hang leaves and apples in the 'tree.'

Tuesday:  I am proud to be an American and to be able to vote today!  I take that responsibility very seriously and haven't missed an election since I turned 18.  

Wednesday:  Miss O went over to my mom's today, and she got a lesson in roll making.  She did a great job, and these were delicious!!

Thursday:  Miss E got her glasses in today!  They look really cute on her!

Friday:  Mr J has been begging all summer to have a picnic at the park, but it has just been too hot.  Thankfully the weather cooled today--the high was only 90--so we were able to have a picnic before the end of summer.

Saturday:  We really have not been outside much at all this summer.   It is sad, and we haven't been able to do many house/yard projects because who seriously wants to be outside working when it is 103?  Not me.  So today it was actually not too bad outside, and Ben and Mr J got on the roof to check out some things--getting on the roof and strutting around is such a guy thing :)  Miss E watches from the window.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope the end of summer and beginning of school goes well for all of you!

2012 Blue Jeans Week 31

We took one last summer trip last week before school starts next week!  We went to Nauvoo, Illinois which is a significant place in the history of our church--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It has a restored town from the 1830's and 1840's with people in costume and showing you how they lived then and what they did--blacksmith, bakery, brick making, candle making, etc.  In the summer they have an outside pageant in the evening, and they had a fun county fair before, and the great thing about it all--it is all free!  The kids had a blast, and it was a great time!

The kids sack racing at the fair.

Ben and Miss O going at it with the stick pull.

The kids getting ready to race with a handcart.

A scene from the end of the pageant--awesome!

Sis. Elaine Dalton who is the leader of the Young Women's organization for our church world wide was there, and the girls got to meet her.  She gave them a hug, and we got a picture.  She is awesome!

Getting a brick at the brickyard in Nauvoo

Nauvoo is located at a bend in the great Mississippi River, and the lily pad flowers were in bloom and amazing while we were there.  This is looking across the river.  

On our way back home we stopped in the big city overnight and spent a day shopping for school stuff--i.e. lots and lots of shoes :)  

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you all have a great week!