DID YOU KNOW!??!

Just a little bit of Information that can be useful...
DID YOU KNOW???
1. Budweiser beer conditions the hair
2. Pam cooking spray will dry finger nail polish
3. Cool whip will condition your hair in 15 minutes
4. Mayonnaise will KILL LICE, it will also condition your hair
5. Elmer's Glue - paint on your face, allow it to dry, peel off and see the dead skin and blackheads if any.
6. Shiny Hair - use brewed Lipton Tea
7. Sunburn - empty a large jar of Nestea into your bath water
8. Minor burn - Colgate or Crest toothpaste
9. Burn your tongue? Put sugar on it!
10. Arthritis? WD-40 Spray and rub in, kill insect stings too
11 Bee stings - meat tenderizer
12. Chigger bite - Preparation H
13. Puffy eyes - Preparation H
14. Paper cut - crazy glue or chap stick (glue is used instead of sutures at most hospitals)
15. Stinky feet - Jello !
16. Athletes feet - cornstarch
17. Fungus on toenails or fingernails - Vicks vapor rub
18. Kool aid to clean dishwasher pipes. Just put in the detergent section and run a cycle, it will also clean a toilet. (Wow, and we drink this stuff)
19. Kool Aid can be used as a dye in paint also Kool Aid in Dannon plain yogurt as a finger paint, your kids will love it and it won't hurt them if they eat it!
20. Peanut butter - will get scratches out of CD's! Wipe off with a coffee filter paper
21. Sticking bicycle chain - Pam no-stick cooking spray
22. Pam will also remove paint, and grease from your hands! Keep a can in your garage for your hubby
23. Peanut butter will remove ink from the face of dolls
24. When the doll clothes are hard to put on, sprinkle with corn starch and watch them slide on
25. Heavy dandruff - pour on the vinegar !
26. Body paint - Crisco mixed with food coloring. Heat the Crisco in the microwave, pour in to an empty film container and mix with the food color of your choice!
27 Tie Dye T-shirt - mix a solution of Kool Aid in a container, tie a rubber band around a section of the T-shirt and soak
28. Preserving a newspaper clipping - large bottle of club soda and cup of milk of magnesia , soak for 20 min. and let dry, will last for many years!
29. A Slinky will hold toast and CD's!
30. To keep goggles and glasses from fogging, coat with Colgate toothpaste
31. Wine stains, pour on the Morton salt and watch it absorb into the salt.
32. To remove wax - Take a paper towel and iron it over the wax stain, it will absorb into the towel.
33. Remove labels off glassware etc. rub with Peanut butter!
34. Baked on food - fill container with water, get a Bounce paper softener and the static from the Bounce towel will cause the baked on food to adhere to it. Soak overnight. Also; you can use 2 Efferdent tablets , soak overnight!
35. Crayon on the wall - Colgate toothpaste and brush it!
36.. Dirty grout - Listerine
37. Stains on clothes - Colgate toothpaste
38. Grass stains - Karo Syrup
39. Grease Stains - Coca Cola , it will also remove grease stains from the driveway overnight. We know it will take corrosion from car batteries!
40. Fleas in your carpet? 20 Mule Team Borax- sprinkle and let stand for 24 hours. Maybe this will work if you get them back again.
41. To keep FRESH FLOWERS longer Add a little Clorox , or 2 Bayer aspirin , or just use 7-up instead of water.
42. When you go to buy bread in the grocery store, have you ever wondered which is the freshest, so you 'squeeze' for freshness or softness? Did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week? Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a different color twist tie.
They are:

Monday = Blue,
Tuesday = Green,
Thursday = Red
Friday = White
Saturday = Yellow.

So if today was Thursday, you would want red twist tie; not white which is Fridays (almost a week old)! The colors go alphabetically by color Blue- Green - Red - White - Yellow, Monday through Saturday. Very easy to remember. I thought this was interesting. I looked in the grocery store and the bread wrappers DO have different twist ties, and even the ones with the plastic clips have different colors. You learn something new everyday! Enjoy fresh bread when you buy bread with the right color on the day you are shopping.

Don't forget Gatorade for Migraine Headaches. PowerAde won't work. Pass this information on to friends so they can be informed.

Funny Story Time

I have an old story that I need to get up on this blog, but I have to tell you about what happened to me today NOW...
Yeah... prepare yourself for a good old time.
So I am pregnant right?
And when you are pregnant you have to go to see a Dr. Right?
So that is just what my plans were for the day. I get up a little bit earlier than normal because I have to get Hailey ready, Landon ready, and myself ready. I have been planning my Dr. visits early in the morning so I am not waiting forever in the lobby...
SO I do a GREAT job getting everyone ready! I pull up to the school; help Hailey get out of the car; give her a big hug and kiss and watch her little legs run to the play area. I just love this every morning. As long as we are a little early she has a few minutes to play and that makes her happy! Now the mornings that the bell rings as she is getting our of her seat is another story! So I jump back in the car; put on my seat belt and head to the Dr. Office.
I pull up to the office with about 5 minutes to spare. (Stupid Traffic; I had planned on having an extra 10 minutes; I guess I am not used to the morning rush...) I go to unlock my seat belt and it is stuck. I usually do this without having to look so I look down and I realize what I have done. So it is chilly outside so I am wearing a jacket. Today the jacket of choice was my Juicy Couture jacket. It is just a normal black warm jacket; on the zipper part is a little "J". And my friends that little J is my new enemy...
Somehow when I jumped back into the car after dropping off Hailey the "J" conveniently got pulled into the seat belt lock while I was putting on my seat belt. You think I am kidding... no... this is not a joke. SO needless to say this prego begins to panic. Landon who has learned to un-do his seat belt is already out of his seat waiting for me to open his door. Here I am in a sitting position trying with ALL MY MIGHT to push that stupid red button down to release my pregnant belly from the belt. I try a few times and realize that I am STUCK...
WHAT WOULD YOU DO...???
Landon patted my head and said "It is OK Mommy, Daddy can fix it!" He tries a few times telling me "All you do is push the red button mommy..." yeah I was at that time WISHING my son was some kind of secret superhero and was going to save my life...
Oh... did I mention that I am in a dress? Oh, I forgot that part. So I pull myself together; by this time I have a few tears running down my face and say "You are a GROWN WOMAN GET YOUR LIFE TOGETHER!" and I come up with my plan... I am going to wiggle my way out of this seat belt. No problem right? Ugh... PROBLEMS!!!
Problem #1 ~ My jacket is still ON my body, and the zipper part is STUCK... imagine having a seat belt on and trying to take your jacket off...
Problem #2 ~ imagine you are pregnant trying to do that... I don't know many people that can maneuver that trick when they are NOT pregnant. And I am between 7-8 months pregnant people... we are not talking just a little baby bump... we are talking a HUGE BUMP!!
Problem #3 ~ I have a dress on. Wiggling my way out of the belt in normal clothes would have been hard... add in that dress and I can assure you there was more than one wardrobe malfunction...
Problem #4 ~ I am between crying and laughing at this point at the thought of anyone seeing this monstrosity... again I have to remind myself to PULL IT TOGETHER!!
I finally break free...
I have to admit my first thought was "you are FREE cheesy bread... FREE!" (anyone remember that commercial)
After twisting and turning and pushing and tears I finally got myself free!! I quickly fix my clothing mess and slam my door. I open the door for Landon who knows that mommy is a HOT MESS... I walk into the office COLD and SAD. No jacket on and I am getting stares like what is wrong with this lady... it is not summer! It is JANUARY! My son has a jacket on so at least I can still win mother of the year... I sign in, and by this time I am a few minutes late. DANG IT!
So I text Matt about my special morning and he does not respond. I have my apt. have a great time, and head back to the car. I had just about forgotten about the whole thing; put Landon in his seat and head over to my side of the car and then I opened the car door... and I remembered.
So NOW... how do I drive without a seat belt? I am HORRIFIED at the very thought that I am going to have to drive home and the ONE time I don't wear my belt and I am pregnant I am going to get into a crash...
SO I call Matt because he still has not responded to my text about being stuck. As I tell him the story I can hear him laughing. At this point it was a little funny to me, but I was still in a predicament. So he tells me to drive by his work so he can have a look at it. I decided I would drive EXTRA safe and I just swing the top belt over myself for half protection and head to his work.
I pull up and he comes out laughing. I get out of the seat and he looks at me and realizes I was not kidding. It takes him a few minutes of tugging, pushing and pulling on the belt and then it comes loose. I can tell he is trying not to laugh hysterically and tells me he better get back to work.
I jump back into the car; grab the "J" zipper thing and hold it in one hand as I carefully put the belt into the lock and head on my way home... what a GREAT start to my day... right?!

 (the bottom of the "J" was caught in the side of the belt... holding the red button from releasing)

I felt like this little kid...

I swear this kind of stuff ONLY happens to me!! 

YOUTH WORKOUT/YOGA

The Laurel Class was in charge of Mutual this month... and we had not had a REAL Presidency Meeting yet this year. Being in my current AMAZING- PREGNANT- FORGETTING- THINGS- ALL- THE- TIME- STATE I realized while I was with the youth on our Temple Trip that we did not have a plan for THIS WEEKS mutual... AHHHHHHHH!
It really was lovely that we were at the Temple because I was able to get inspiration like never before. It just came to me... YOGA. My Laurel Class President (whom I LOVE and ADORE) was at a Choir Performance, but her little brother and parents were on the trip so I was able to talk with her mom about my ideas...

After I told her YOGA she let me know that she used to teach aerobic classes of some sort and this was right up her ally! OH that made me feel SO much better! She offered to help her daughter lead the class (which she did AMAZINGLY!! Thank you Sister Escobar!!) 

and I was SO grateful  I was having NIGHTMARES that my prego belly was going to try to show these Young Women AND Young Men some "workout moves" can you IMAGINE?? UGH!

SO we decided to make it a LITTLE more Young Men friendly and made it more of a "Workout Night" than a "Yoga Night"... I think it was a success!!

We had 32 youth show up, and it was fun watching them WORK IT!

 They started out with warm ups. They did them walking around in a circle... 

See the Video Below for how fun that was!!

 Then they moved to the floor for some stretching moves and exercise!!

Then they got up and worked on some balancing and core strength moves... 

At the end of the workout Sister Escobar informed us that they had worked out 

EVERY MUSCLE in the workout! 

It is a TOTAL BODY WORKOUT that she had them do!

Then ended the night with a little YOGA and Relaxation...

Video with the kids Just Beginning the night having some FUN!!

We promised an AMAZING TREAT...

I made Healthy Banana Muffins with Oats and VERY little sugar

Smoothies with only Juice, Fruit and Ice...

and Cuties (California Clementines) for extra measure!

What a GREAT way to start of the Year with our Youth!!

Scribbles Stamping Letter FUN!!

SO LAST YEAR...
                            yeah I said Last Year...
                                                                     I know I know...

Anyways... Last Year our YOUNG WOMEN had a WONDERFUL idea for our weekly activity!!
They decided they wanted to write letters to our Missionaries. We currently have two missionaries out serving, and we thought it would be nice to send them something to remember US by!
SO we came up with THIS...

The "Here Lies Elder..." Missionary Pillow

And this is how I made them...

I got THESE amazing Stamp Letters from ilovetocreate.com. I just LOVE this set!
It has all the upper and lowercase letters, punctuation marks and 6 fabric paint colors with paint brushes...

I opted to try the Stamp Pad instead of the paint.
I thought it would be less mess, and I could do it faster this way...

It took me a little bit to find all the letters I would need AND follow the instructions on the back of the Stamp Pad... but I was READY to go! I laid out the letters on the pillow case so I would know where to place them. This is an important step to take!! Then, I opened my stamp pad and gently pushed my first letter into the ink. Then I took the letter stamp and pushed it down (pretty hard). I noticed that the first letter I stamped was not as dark as I would have liked it... so I just re-inked the letter stamp (a little less gently this time) and went over where I had previously stamped. And it looked perfect! It was easy to line up the letter stamp the second time, no problem! I did have to re-ink and stamp every letter; but I am sure this is due to the GREEN pillowcase that I opted to use. Dark colors need a little more ink I suppose...

I cleaned out the letters right away in my kitchen sink and left them on a paper towel to dry. After I had Stamped out my Saying, I let it sit overnight. (the instructions said I only needed to wait 3 hours, but I was not ready to complete this project that day... so it sat a little longer) The next morning I pulled out my Ironing Board and Iron. This in itself is a HUGE feat... my poor iron and board RARELY get used; (and unfortunately I hear about from "those we do not speak of"... I TRY to buy clothes that do not need to be ironed... I HATE ironing) Anyways... sorry for that rant...
I put a thin piece of fabric between the iron and my craft and applied heat. The instructions said to "Heat dry iron to cotton setting; place a thin cloth over designs and apply heat for 2 minutes."
After that was complete; I washed them inside out and put them in the dryer on low. I did not wash them with anything else, I was worried the ink may have run... so I can't say if that happened or not. After they were done I turned them right side and was happy to see my project complete!!
The girls wrote the letters that night and we put them inside the pillowcases! And they are READY to go! Quick Easy FUN idea!!

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!