4-H Fashion Revue!! (Now with pics of all 3 girls!)

Congratulations Keira, Janai & Malea!! All three girls participated in the 4-H fashion revue last week. Keira's personality is really coming out lately, she's become a bit more outgoing. She used to freeze up in front of people, but at the fashion revue this month she simply shined! For those of you who don't know, she bought her outfit mostly secondhand. The top was such a cute floral fabric & she found these amazing fabric beads & other accessories too. We worked so hard together to get her paperwork & outfit ready! So finally at judging she jabbered the ladies ear off about her outfit & everything she knew about fashion, buying and caring for her clothing. Then on stage she struck the most drama-queenie poses possible, with a big smile on her face the whole time! Afterwards they handed out certificates, ribbons & trophies - Grandma said Keira looked just "pleased as punch" with herself. She got her little trophy, certificate, and a rainbow ribbon. No matter what I tried to say, she insisted that the rainbow ribbon was the best ribbon she could get. I think she felt sorry for Janai for getting a plain blue one. But since Janai is old enough to compete, we're proud of her for winning a blue!! Hahaha! Congratulations girlies, we're all so proud of you!

Bargain hunting addict....

My name is Tiffanie and I'm a bargain hunting addict.....

Call me ghetto, but vintage is awesome & occasionally I like shopping secondhand!! I browse games, books (esp children's books!), clothing, purses and scarves, and whatever else catches my fancy. Probably at least 1/2 of my kids clothing I buy used, but I'm pretty picky. I pay attention to the quality of the material, how used it looks, but a missing button, minor tear at a side-seam, or problem with sizing won't daunt me. I like buying miniskirts designed for teens (because they come in such cute fabric!) and turning them into longer skirts for Keira. I have no problem altering a dress to fit myself better - and this way I have a customized wardrobe for a good price!

In the past, I've found things at thrift stores with price tags still attached, for a very small fraction of the price. But my LATEST great find was this: A huge bag sale (as much as you can roll up & tuck into a paper grocery sack) for $4.00. I bought 2 bags, and let me tell you, I fit TONS of baby clothes (a few ADORABLE baby girl dresses), 5 or 6 items for Keira, sporty pants for the boys, overalls, nice button-up tops for the boys, an entire set of illustrated hardbound classics, a hardbound set of kids books, 3 of the cutest summer dresses for myself, a pair of pants, and a couple other things for myself, church dress pants for Jeff & who knows what else! Granted I ended up at the sewing machine for a little while altering dresses to fit better and I'll probably have to put on a button or two. Maybe a couple of the things I'll only wear a few times, but who cares? It didn't cost me hardly anything! Woo hoo!

Easter fun & festivities

We kicked off our Easter fun with 2 easter egg hunts on Saturday! Saturday morning we headed over to the park in Grandview for a huge Easter egg hunt with the kids. It was Kalani's first time, and he had so much fun picking up those eggs, especially after he figured out there was candy inside them! Afterwards, Jeff took Keanu & I took Keira to the older kids egg hunt. The kids each got a special prize inside one of their eggs - a certificate to go to the prize pickup for water bottles.




After the hunt we went to the petting zoo, where the kids petted piggies, little lambs, bunnies, goats, and the most gigantic bunny rabbit you ever saw (not pictured - but seriously, he was bigger than our dog).


After Grandview, we went to an easter celebration put on by Grace Brethren church in sunnyside. Several of our friends go to that church, so it was nice to spend time with them & get to know them better. And the food for their bbq was amazing, they did another hunt, some face painting (Keira was a tiger) and games (Keira participated in her first gunny-sack race!) Jeff had a friend to hang out with & I got to socialize lots, I think we all agreed that we had an amazing time!!

Saturday night after Easter Devotional & bedtime, Keira and I played Easter bunny for the boys. She had so much fun filling plastic eggs and hiding them all over the living room! After she went to bed, I did her basket. In the morning I think it really was a joy for her to help the boys get into their baskets & see the excited looks on their faces!



All good things must come to an end though, and boy am I glad to put all that candy away! The kids ate so much candy it caused multiple sugar burnout meltdowns (one of them during sacrament meeting!)

My very own square foot garden

We did it! We got tons of compost, peat moss, and pearlite. We mixed it all together and filled two large raised beds and a 2nd bed (not raised). I marked off my squares with string and planted presoaked seeds just as the chart said to. It took me two mornings. In years past I've only planted tomatoes, peppers (that didn't grow), cilantro, and strawberries. But this year (hopefully) we will have green & yellow beans, pea pods, spinach, lettuce, cucumber, carrots, radishes, tomatoes, onions, watermelon, zuchinni, yellow squash, acorn squash, beets, banana peppers & green peppers. I'm going to keep it watered & hope/pray that the seeds sprout and my garden grows! This is my first time trying to grow from seed so I hope it works!!

Scone Recipe

Now that conference is over and we've been fully fed to the brim both spiritually AND physically, I thought I'd share a little recipe with you. It's my scone recipe and I make them each conference weekend. I got the base of the recipe from Betty Crocker, but I've changed the recipe somewhat from the original (to make it yummier!)

Ingredients:
1 3/4 c. flour
3 T. sugar
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/3 c. butter/margarine
1 egg
1/2 c. dried cranberries
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1/2 T. shredded orange peel
2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 c. shredded apple
4 T. milk

Mix dry ingredients and orange zest, sift together. Cut in butter/margarine (just as if you're making pie crust). Add cranberries, nuts, and apple - mix together. Then add egg and milk (just enough milk so dough leaves the sides of the bowl). Turn over onto a floured surface, cover with flour and knead 10 times. Shape dough into a patted-flat round on an ungreased pan. Cut into wedges with a knife. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes (give or take) until golden brown. Eat with butter & honey or jam. YUM!

This can be done without the apple, I've used lemon peel instead of orange & topped with a lemon glaze, you can omit the nuts or cranberries, substitute raisins, poppy seeds, shredded carrot, or whatever you'd like! Happy baking!

2009 General Conference is here!

And what is your family going to do to keep the kids occupied and focused for two whole days while you watch conference on TV?? Or are you planning on going somewhere to watch? Well, last year I went to puzzlemaker.com and created some LDS themed puzzles, then printed out this little booklet I found for the kids to color. I put out reverence tents, one for each kid and each kid had their own crayons, booklet, blankies etc... in their own space facing the TV. I made TONS of scones for breakfast, and we had dinner with my parents.

This year however, Kalani has the flu (And maybe Keira too). I am planning on making scones again (that's the tradition) and doing the tent thing, the kids seemed to really enjoy that. I found some great resources online, booklets and puzzles to print out. We'll be having pizza the first night & salmon/sweet potatoes the second night. Because of the flu thing and Jeff being on night shift, I'm sure I'll be all alone at least for the 2nd sessions with the kids!

My burning question is, what will you be doing & do you have any conference traditions? Please share in the comments section!!

Links to the booklets are:
http://d.scribd.com/docs/1y8qkrk113z9gvo5cbsu.pdf
http://www.sugardoodle.net/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4295&Itemid=484

I'm so glad when daddy comes home!

The kids really look forward to special times with daddy. He reads to them, wrestles around on the floor with them, plays games wth them, takes them swimming, cooks meals for them, tries really hard to be a good daddy. We love him so much!