Stand Ye In Holy Places Craft

This year the L.D.S. Youth Theme is:

"Stand ye in Holy Places and be not moved"

I love Love LOVE this theme. Not only is it a perfect reminder for the youth of what they need to be doing, but it is a WONDERFUL helpful reminder for me!!

I found this adorable poster that I plan on incorporating in the girls Birthday Presents for the year...

Needless to say; we wanted the kids to REALLY understand the concept. My counselors and I talked about what we could do to start the year off on the right foot, and we decided we wanted the girls to make something that speaks to them...

So we bought some Plain White T's and I brought my ilovetocreate.com collection from home and we let them CRAFT AWAY!!

The girls made some AMAZING shirts and they also learned about some new and fun products that they had never seen before...

~ Beads in a Bottle

~ Tulip Fabric Spray Paint

~ Scribbles Alphabet Stamp Kit

~ Fabric Paint

~ Stamps and Stamp Pads

~ Tulip Fabric Markers

and of course we had the good old Puffy Paint...

These girls REALLY DO amazing work!! 

I am going to LOVE working with these girls this year!!

FOUR YEARS OLD!!

This last week my baby (no not the one in my tummy) had a BIRTHDAY!!~~

LANDON IS FOUR!!

And he has been announcing to everyone and anyone who will listen to him this week:

"I am FOUR years old!"

For his birthday he wanted to go to McDonald's and he wanted a Star Wars Cake!

Matt and I thought about his request for about a millisecond then decided we could 

TOTALLY do that for our BIG BOY!!

 We started off the day with DONUTS! Landon's other request of course!!

We let him open his card from The Ray Family! He LOVED getting 4$ for his Piggy Bank! 

He told me when he was putting them in the piggy bank that this money was for him to serve a mission in Florida... (yes he thinks all missionaries go to Florida... thank you Auntie Sharon!)

 He played to his hearts content and then we hit up McyDz for our AMAZING dinner!!

The first present he opened was from Grandma and Grandpa Andersen. He got the "Star Wars Millennium Falcon" ship. He LOVED IT! Then he found out that it came with a book and of course he had to read it!

 He got a Bumblebee Transformer Car from The Richardson's that he loved too! We had to get out the instructions to figure that think out! LOL! They also got him a Marvel Coloring Book that he has already colored a few pages in! Hailey got him the movie Chicken Run and Matt and I got him a Marvel Superhero's Game for the PS3. He is playing that as I type this blog!!

 And of course we HAD to get him the Star Wars Cake... I looked at a few cakes at the grocery stores then realized it would be cheaper for me to go get some Star Wars Character Toys and put them on a home made cake... and that is JUST what we did!!

I made a Jello Type cake that Matt's Aunt Susan had made over Christmas. It was SO good I had to ask her for the recipe!! We enjoyed licking the frosting (cool whip) off the bottom of the figures feet!
You may also notice the Star Wars Shirt that is WAY to big for Landon. We found that at the DI in Sacramento and Landon HAD to have it! Best $2.00 spent in a LONG time!!

It sure is a JOY having our little boy!
He makes me laugh on a daily basis, and I just LOVE watching him grow up!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANDON!!

NEW YEAR!!

So I had NO blog posts in December...
That makes me wonder WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!?
Oh that is right... I am TIRED and OVERWORKED! Maybe not overworked, but my BODY is being overworked!!
We did have a GREAT Christmas Break.
~ Landon got to make fun Christmas themed things at his play-dates!
~ Hailey's Kindergarten Class preformed the most adorable little Christmas Concert I have EVER seen! I do have to admit I cried!!
~ Hailey had two weeks off school; which she LOVED!!
~ The kids got to make a Gingerbread House with Daddy! They sure had fun!!
~ Hailey also got to make a gingerbread house at school! She and Landon enjoyed eating it after Christmas was over!
~ I got to throw a "Hot Cocoa Bar" for my Young Women's Activity. We let the girls use Sharpie Markers on Dollar Store Mugs and we drank Cocoa to our hearts content!
~ Matt and I got to enjoy his Company's Christmas Lunch at an AMAZING Chinese Buffet!
~ We found out we are having a GIRL!!! so how does everyone feel about the name KYLIE?
~ We went to visit BOTH families the few days before Christmas. (Matt and I have wanted to keep Christmas at our house for the kids; we get a little flack about it, but it works for our family so we do it)
~ We got to see Christmas Lights!
~ We all got exactly what we wanted for Christmas... even if the kids did cry about some of the gifts they got to open early because they were "not on the list they gave Santa" Oh GEEEZZZZ!! Great to know that this is a beautiful trait they received from DADDY!! I felt a little better that Papa Dude (Matt's father) found it funny that we got to deal with this because he remembered Matt acting that same exact way about gifts that he received. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE GIFTS!!
~ We got to Skype with my sister Sharon Andersen serving a mission in Florida on Christmas Day with ALL my family!! This girl is a FAN of Group Skype!!
~ Matt got to go snowboarding with his Season Pass... thank goodness for the discount he received for being a student again!
~ We got to Celebrate the NEW YEAR with my family!! That sure was fun! Matt and my Dad were the only ones that actually made it to midnight. I vaguely remember Matt waking me up to announce it was the New Year; I said "Great" then went RIGHT back to sleep!
~ Oh and I found out that I gained 8 (YES EIGHT) pounds since just before thanksgiving. I was a little shocked then I realized that was Thanksgiving, Christmas AND New Years and I did not feel as bad! I was expecting more than my usual 3-5 lbs...

So as you can tell it was a GREAT time had by all!!
I am not a BIG "Resolution" person... my real resolution is to just TRY to be better... Try to be a better mom, sister, person, leader...
For sure I plan on having this baby this year, and trying to enjoy every newborn second I get with her!
I plan on getting Landon into pre-school and getting Hailey to pass all her milestones in Kindergarten!

Enjoy some Pictures:

 The kids making the Gingerbread House ~

 Hailey POSING for me at the Christmas Concert ~

Hailey and her Daddy after her Christmas Concert! SO PROUD!!

Christmas Craft ~

My son has a play-group every Friday. Myself and three other friends rotate watching the kids for a few hours in the morning so the other moms can get a little break in the week! This worked out PERFECTLY for me because Friday is my CLEAN DAY!! I have a routine down now!
~ I wake up and Start Laundry
~ I get Hailey and Landon "ready for the day"
~ I switch over the Laundry before we drop Hailey off for school
~ We come home and finish getting Landon ready for his play-group and hopefully switch the Laundry over again...
~ Drop little man off (except when it is my turn for Play-Group... then my house does not get clean)
~ CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN...
~ I hit the bathrooms, then sweep, then hand mop all while working the Laundry...
~ If I have time before I get Landon I vacuum the house...
I have a FOCUS room every Friday that I just switch around. The kids rooms, the kitchen, my room, the bathrooms, and the family room. I make sure to do a DEEP clean of at least one room! My house is not PERFECT, but it is mostly clean!
ANYWAYS...
this post is about a Christmas Craft that I did TODAY when it was MY turn for Play-Group!!
(see how easily I get sidetracked these days...)

I asked Landon what he wanted to make and he said a Christmas Tree. I knew one of the others mothers was planning on doing something with Santa, another was going to make Gingerbread Houses (we missed out on that one because of Vacation) so I thought that a Christmas Tree was the PERFECT thing to start off with!!
Then I remembered something I had made in Kindergarten. These kids are only THREE years old, they are beginning to learn to count... so WE are going to make Christmas Tree Countdown!
This craft was SUPER EASY and I had everything on hand!
Green Paper... CHECK!
Red Paper... CHECK!
Yellow Paper... CHECK!
I had originally planned for the kids to color the Christmas Tree however they would like... THEN I remembered something REALLY COOL...

I HAVE BEADS IN A BOTTLE!!

What is THAT you ask... hit the hyperlink to see... 

or prepare for me to AMAZE you with this new product description...

Have you ever wished that the Puffy Paint you have would just STAY exactly HOW and WHERE you put it? Beads in a bottle is made to kinda do JUST THAT! It is a unique formula that somehow when you put it on your project that it makes self-rounding beads. Like it does not fall flat or run... it takes form and is SO fun for embellishing stuff!!
This is really made for Fabric or Jewelry  but I figured HEY... those would make PERFECT Christmas Lights on our little Christmas Tree Countdown Things!!

So easy even a group of THREE year old's can do it!

These bottles are easier to squeeze for little hands, and they made PERFECT ornaments!!

Landon LOVED making His! He went a little Beads in a Bottle Crazy, but it was a FUN easy craft!!
We put 25 chain links under the Christmas Tree so the kids could tear one down every night in December!
That was fun helping the kids tape and link those suckers... I tried having them write numbers on the links, then we just decided getting it in a pattern was going to be work enough!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! and Happy Crafting!!

Thanksgiving ~

We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!
We were able to have FAMILY come over!! John & Ally Jensen, and a "special guest"
I will be referring to the "special guest" as S.G. He is a little foster boy John & Ally have the pleasure of being able to help right now.

 We divided the CHORE of cooking all the meal and it was

 SO nice to relax most of the day...

Doing HALF duty for Thanksgiving is my kind of Thanksgiving!! 

We had EVERYTHING you would ever want, and these pictures do not even show the desserts!!

 Hailey was in charge of setting the table. She picked out the RED table cloth and put all the things out (with help from Daddy of course) We had contemplated getting out our nice China we got for our wedding that has NEVER BEEN USED... but with kids I was too worried to let them be the first ones to TRY OUT my $80.00 a place setting Wedding China... so we just had the REGULAR old stuff we use everyday!

And I must have put down the camera in a "Landon Friendly Area" because he turned the sucker on and got a few pictures of his own. He has become quite the photographer!! The pictures above are courtesy of Landon Bird Photography. You will notice Hailey is helping to feed "S.G." The kids sure loved having a little baby around. It makes me think that this little one will be LOVED when SHE gets here... :)
It was a nice relaxing day! The boys did a little "Black Friday" shopping Thanksgiving night while the girls just relaxed the night away!
SO THANKFUL for my little blessings!!

GUESS WHAT!~?

For those of you who are NOT on Facebook...

It's A GIRL!!~

Yeah! Baby Bird #3 will be a

 BOW-WEARING,

 DRESS-Swirling, 

PINK and PURPLE ray of light to this household!!

Most of you know I wanted Baby Boy Vibes sent my way, but the thought of being able to dress up another little princess has me ALL giddy!! Once it was confirmed that she was going to be in our family I thought of ALL THE BOXES of baby girl clothes that would go to GOOD use again...

Ahhh... I don't think I really realized how much I missed it!

Y.W. in Excellence

Our Y.W. Presidency has been PLANNING for this event for MONTHS!

Young Women's in Excellence is a yearly celebration we have to showcase the girls working on Personal Progress. And it is a celebration of the girls that received their Personal Progress Medallions that year as well. My main thought was

 "How can I show these girls how important Personal Progress is to their Daily Lives?" 

We decided our Theme was going to be "Becoming YOU through Personal Progress"
We also decided on a black and white color scheme.
(It quickly turned into Black and White Polka Dots after I went shopping for the decorations!)

We made a special gift for each girl to remember the night with. I saw this wording "Be-YOU-tiful" on Pinterest and I REALLY wanted to make something to give the girls with that. Those signs are HOMEMADE! We cut, sanded, painted, stuck on the vinyl, and put ribbon on each one ourselves. (ok, i have to admit our husbands cut them down, but we did everything else!) We also had AMAZING treats thanks to our Secretary Kimmy Sorensen. She is co-owner of a local cupcake business All Things Frosted. I LOVE her cupcakes! And she and my second counselor Katrina Reider made sure we had plenty to drink!!

 The girls were asked to pick a value and then present and display something they did (either an experience or the project) for that value. I think at first the girls were a little worried about what we were asking them to do. I had prepped them for 2 months. They were to go on stage and talk for 1-2 minutes about that value, what they did, and how personal progress has helped their lives...

 It was SO fun to see these girls LIGHT up on the stage. We had a few girls that were sick or had prior engagements that were not able to attend. However, I have to say EACH and EVERY girl that go up to share with us about personal progress touched my heart! These girls are SO amazing and it is nice to know we have young women in the world choosing the right path

 We have had one girl receive her Young Womanhood Medallion since we were put in as leaders. We had her display her own table and she got a special Willow Tree statue for her hard work! She had made a decision when she became a YW that she would complete the Personal Progress Program while she was a Beehive. She kept that promise with herself and finished a little bit before her 14th birthday.

We also had some special Musical Numbers. Two of our girls did a Piano and Oboe duet that was BEAUTIFUL! And all our YW and Leaders sang a song His Image in your Countenance. Our Bishop ended the night and we were able to eat and mingle. I am SO thankful for these girls in my life! I LOVE being YW President and I know they are changing lives of others around them just by being amazing!

I would like to thank ALL the people who helped plan, set up, take down, and help have the evening run smoothly! We would not be able to do this without support from our ward! GREAT JOB CLOVIS 3rd YW! You are THE BEST!!

Breaking Dawn PART 2

SPOILER ALERT!!

Yes I am a "Twilight Fan". No there is nothing you could tell me that would make me feel bad about it!! Ha ha!
I was able to see the new movie "Breaking Dawn: Part 2" last night with a group of girls from church. (yes a group... a BIG group) It is kind of a tradition that we go in a group to go and see the movie. Ever since I moved into the ward I have gone to see the movie with them. The other part of the tradition is that we have a movie MARATHON. The movie theater sets this up for us and we LOVE it! There are always TONS of people waiting out for the midnight (or in this case the 10 P.M.) showing ALL DAY LONG... and we get in get our seats... get to relax... and watch all the movies to prepare us for the NEWEST!
This year I was really looking forward to it, I sent Matt all the info and planned on getting a ticket... however about a week before the showing he told me that was the SAME night he had a meeting in Madera for school. So I was just waiting around to see when the meeting was and when he would be back crossing my fingers. So LUCKILY I did not buy a ticket... because I missed EVERY MOVIE but the last one! AND I ended up able to take someone else's ticket that was not able to make it... SCORE!!~
I made it to the theater 15 minutes before the showing... I was SO ready to let this part of my life be full filled!! I started reading the books because of my sister SHARON (the one on a mission SHOUT OUT FLORIDA) before I was pregnant with Landon. He is almost FOUR... so this is a LONG time coming to see the movies played out.
YES... I know the first movie was BAD. But I still loved it and watched all the other movies. OF COURSE these things are not possible... this is not real life... but I have to admit I got sucked in and I love it!! SO... I have to say THIS LAST movie was the BEST of the whole Twilight Saga!! I was watching Taylor Lautner on a talk show and he mentioned that there was a "TWIST"... MAN the twist was good!!
I wish I would have re-read the book before going to the movie because I almost needed a reminder. It was nice watching the movie not sure what was going to happen next... I laughed... I almost cried... and I almost had a heart attack! I know I said spoiler alert at the top, but I do not want to ruin it for anyone who has not seen the movie yet!
My recommendation if you are a TWILIGHT FAN... GO SEE IT! MIND BLOWN!!
LOVED the ENDING! Perfect way to finish off the series! Looking forward to possible spin offs with all the new characters introduced in the last book! I love me some Stephanie Meyer!!

In case you did not know... I am STILL TEAM JACOB!!

(still wearing it the next day!!)

Being a mommy SUCKS sometimes...

Suck it! I know I have become "one of those people" who "HAS a blog" but never posts anything new on it... WELL...
I guess I better catch up!
I have TONS of excuses but today I am going to tell you a story that will make you feel sorry for me so I won't have to go through my list of excuses...
Today yesterday was a normal day... get the kids up, fed, dressed, teeth and hair brushed... you know. Story of my life. But today I was motivated to WORK OUT! I have not been motivated because of sickness lately (yes pregnancy sickness and kids being sick and ME being sick) HOWEVER... I has been 2 weeks since I worked out. So I started my day off right!
So I am working out on the elliptical machine.  A few minutes after I start two guys (possibly a little older than me) start working out next to me. One on each side. There are PLENTY of other elliptical machines but they choose to be RIGHT BY ME. I feel them looking at me... it was a little awkward to say the least. So I finish my 30 minute workout... (2.54 miles 245 calories burned... not bad for this prego right?) So I walk over to the wall to get the spray and paper towels to wipe down my equipment. As I am wiping it down one of the boys asks me if he can ask me a question. I kinda try to act like I did not hear him, but he asks again so I look at him and smile. He says "My buddy here and I can't figure something out... are you pregnant or just fat?" My mouth drops open and I look down at my belly wondering HOW COULD I JUST LOOK FAT AT THIS POINT... I answer... "Thank you for asking... I am pregnant." So the other boy gets off and says "See I told you pregnant people can still work out... she was not fat." SO they had this DEBATE and decided to some work out next to me to try to figure it out... THEN the guy who thinks I am Fat is determined to know because OBVIOUSLY I must look fat... thanks... no complex here at all...
So I move onto the stairs machine in utter dismay and try to move on with my life... about 5 minutes into that workout I hear over the intercom "Can Melissa Bird please come to the day care center..." AHHHHHHH
REALLY LANDON?
So Landon did not want to share so he hit a kid and I had to put him on time out and SUCH IS MY LIFE..." I hit up the showers and get Landon and GO HOME..
I plan my Y.W. activity for the night... make dinner... make cookies for the girls... do the activity... go home... SLEEP.
THE NEXT DAY started off normal too... (that would be today)
However just after lunch I get a call from the School Nurse. "Hailey had an accident... can you please bring her a change of clothes to school."
Pack little man up... grab change of clothes... head to school... hit up nurses office and run into her Teacher's Aid... she tells me the story. They were playing at recess and Hailey was in line to play wall ball or something and all of the sudden she runs for the bathroom... only not to make it in time... AND it was numba 2... watery numba 2... she wont come out so her friends get the Teachers Aid and LUCKILY none of her friends have ANY idea what was wrong...
So I take Landon in the bathroom with me and I am thankful I am past the first trimester of pregnancy because I was gagging the WHOLE time. Hailey was gagging... Landon was gagging... they were BOTH saying things REALLY loud in the bathroom and I KNEW the people outside we just LAUGHING at the conversation going on... Poor Girl said "Mommy I am so sorry... don't be mad at me... it came too fast and I am not a fast enough runner!" I decided this was embarrassing enough for the poor girl that I was not going to make her feel bad about it... Like someone WANTS to have an accident at school...
After about 30 minutes of cleaning her off... down the leg... ugh... GLAD I BROUGHT SOCKS TOO... I take her back to class.
There is only 45 minutes until I have to pick her up at this point so I take Landon to the local playground where he picks up my spirits and makes me laugh. I text my brother about the incident and he gets a good laugh then I call my mom and tell her about my HORRIBLE day...
Sometimes it SUCKS being a mommy!! AM I RIGHT??
So now I sit here telling you my story because I am PRAYING my husband gets home soon... he had to work until about 3 then left at 5 for a school meeting not to be back until AFTER 9... the new Twilight movie is out tonight and I would LOVE to go... but who knows if I will make it...
I think two bad days in a row is calls for a good movie with friends right?? I will have to let you know... :)

The LITTLE things in LIFE...

I woke up the morning of my birthday to this...

 The YW in my ward "heart attacked" me for my birthday! They think they are sneeky... but I know the girls handwriting and EXACTLY who was leading the charge! This makes all the work I put into these sweet girls SO worth it!! THANKS GIRLS!!

And this just makes my heart Happy. When I was a little girl; one of my favorite things to do was rake the leaves in the yard with my dad then JUMP into them! We were able to visit my family this last weekend and my kids got to enjoy this with my dad. He is the BEST! Always willing to play and do things with the kids! Thanks Grandpa for be AMAZING!