Silhouette SD

Last Christmas I got a Silhouette machine....

It's a wonderful little machine.  It's like a die cutting machine but it hooks up to your computer.  I can cut out any of the fonts on my computer.  It cuts vinyl.  It makes stencils.  I haven't done it yet but I can cut fabric and iron on-transfers.  I can even print out an image on the printer and then run it through the Silhouette machine to have the image cut out. It can sketch an image instead of cut it out if I replace the blade with a pen.  I can go on-line and order any image I can image.  Or, I can create my own images.  I LOVE my machine!  Interestingly, for some reason, it has received the nickname "The Horrible Machine" by my husband.  I have no idea why.

Here's a few projects I've made... There's been lots more but I keep forgetting to take pictures.

I love love love this flower.  

I love it so much I made it in two different colors.

 One of the first vinyl projects was covering my mixer

with flourishes.  

Another project I've been working on is my 

incredibly plain white laundry room.

I cut out vinyl letters and put them on this Laundry sign.

 Then, the wall behind the washer and dryer got some love. (Also cut out of vinyl)

And then there's the kids' chore charts in the laundry room too.

I only cut out their initials for the top corner of the chart withe the machine.

But, I really like the decorative chore chart.  I don't know that it makes

them enjoy their chores any more but that's ok... It looks pretty.

Menus for the fridge.  They are laminated and I write on them with an Expo marker which wipes right off.  No more asking, "Mom, what's for dinner?"  50 times a week!  (The letters were cut with my "horrible machine").

A couple more cards cut out on the machine.....

 

And, here's my Craft Closet.  Because I don't have a craft room to store all my stuff and to decorate just for me.  Instead, I decorated the inside of my door.  I know... kind of silly.  But, I just wanted to play with the Silhouette Machine a little more.  The flowers are cut out of paper.  The words are cut out of  brown vinyl.

I'm sure I'll have more to post soon... I'm working on making a scrabble board for my fridge!  But, my printer ran out of ink :( .

June

OK.  I am just about caught up again on this blog.  Until last January I had been pretty good at staying on top of my goal of posting once a month.  Then, I don't know what happened but I let almost five months get by without posting.  Ugh.

June was a pretty busy month.  Sadie was finishing up fifth grade (sniff) and got to go visit the middle school she'll be attending.  I was finishing up my last term of classes at WOU... I still have one term left of student teaching in the fall.  The kids attended a car wash to raise money for camp.  We attended a 50's theme wedding.  And, last but not least, we all went to Wi-Ne-Ma for a week of summer camp.

50 Car Pile-Up

Curtis have a wonderful time washing my car!

Sadie spraying down a VERY dirty truck!

50'S WEDDING

We attended a wedding for Bob Friend and his new wife Jan.  They had a 50's themed wedding.  Not everyone was dressed up for the wedding but there were quite a few people in poodle skirts or rolled up jeans and white t-shirts.  The bride wore her mother's wedding dress which was from the 50's.  

Bob and Jan

SADIE'S GRADUATION

Yikes!  Sadie graduated from elementary school.  I can't believe how fast the years have flown.  She has mixed feelings about middle school, mostly because many of her friends will be attending a different middle school than Sadie.  FYI... I made it through most of the graduation ceremony without crying... until I saw another fifth grader (that I didn't even know) that was emotional and then I lost it.  

Waiting for it all to begin.

Getting her diploma

All the fifth graders

Mrs. Burton-3rd grade

Mrs. Karabinis - 4th grade

Mr. Widmer-5th grade

                    

WI-NE-MA

As usual, I had my camera at camp but was so busy that I forgot to use it.  Fortunately, I also knew that there would be many other people taking pictures and posting them on facebook as well as our camp videographer who would be posting the camp video on-line.  If you would like to see the video it's at this website (or will be at the website soon)   CAMP VIDEO

Sadie, her cousins and friends at camp

Sadie and Ellie

Sliding!  At the beginning of the week the slide was sooooo slick... I think someone must have waxed it.  Our poor nurse had a lot of kiddos in her office patching up slide burns.

Curtis chose to run down the slide.

Erik and I have great mothers!  My mom helped keep all the kids working in the kitchen on task.  Erik's mom was a cabin mom and had all three of her granddaughters in her cabin.

Curtis, working in the kitchen

The kitchen staff this year was a bunch of giants... Curtis is not short by any means but these guys had many inches and pounds on Curtis.  The guy on the far left (not looking at the camera)just turned 15, and is 6'3"!

Luke literally picked up Curtis by the waist and lifted him onto his shoulders so that Curtis could get whatever had been thrown onto the roof of this cabin.

April and May

April and May are a little foggy in my brain.  So, I'll just put all the pictures together... not sure what happened in which month.
My parents came down with Elan one evening and brought some games from the show, "Minute to Win it" to play with us.

The first game involved sucking up an M'n'M with a straw....

and moving said M'n'M to the end of the coffee table where you had to deposit the M'n'M onto the top of another straw.

It was pretty tough.

We also tried to throw/bounce ping pong balls into cups.

My mom was really good at it!

Dropping golf balls onto the floor so that they could bounce into cups.

Curtis was doing some fancy photography here.... Wow!  I look tall!

More "Minute to Win it" games with the staff, elders and their families at ACC.

Hanging nails by their heads off of a string.

Stacking three golf balls.

Yes.  It can be done.

We played lots of other games but I don't want to embarrass anyone else by posting pictures.  However, as soon as I find the pictures from playing "minute to win it" games with my siblings and their spouses, I will post those.  :)

Easter was in April.  We had the usual crowd over to our house but didn't get any pictures of the people.  However, the kids and I made some super cute easter egg cookies...

The fifth grade classes at Sadie's school always go to the beach for a field trip at the end of the year.  They visited the tide pools and a marine center.

On the bus... It's a long two hour ride!

Sadie's pointing at a green creature... I can't remember what it's called.

Friends

Letting a star fish pull arm hairs.  Fun.

Sucking sand shrimp out of the ground.  Well... trying to suck sand shrimp out of the ground.  Our group wasn't too successful.

During the Spring term I spent three days a week in a Fifth grade classroom.  I taught ten math lessons about problem solving strategies for two weeks.  I also got to teach all day, every day for one week.  I had a lot of fun along with a few tears while teaching during that time. I definitely learned more that week than I ever have sitting in a classroom listening to lectures at WOU.  In the fall I get to do my full time student teaching in a first grade classroom!  Yay!

I don't have any pictures of the kids to post but here's a picture of the classroom:

 

February and March

Yikes!  It's been a while since I've posted anything.  As you can see by the date this was posted, it's actually June!  Life's been a little busy.

FEBRUARY
In February we took a spur of the moment trip to Lincoln City.  It was such a beautiful day we could hardly believe it was February.  Really, it was better weather than the beach in August!

MARCH

For spring break we went to Florence and stayed in a cabin for 5 days.  Craig, Erika and the girls joined us for two days, we went swimming with them, played at the beach and visited the Sea Lion Caves.  The rest of the week we relaxed, watched the entire three extended editions of the Lord of the Rings, played lots of video games, scrapbooked and read lots of books.  It was a wonderful relaxing time.

The kiddos at the sea lion caves.

Did I mention that it really stunk inside the cave?

Curty True and me

Sades and Erik

Erika and I freezing on the beach while the kids played.

The real reason we love Florence is all the drift wood on the beaches.  This fort was already made before we got there but Erik and the kids have built log cabins out of driftwood at this beach before.