This weekend we had a very tight schedule! We celebrated the wedding of Rich’s childhood best friend Josh, to his lovely bride Shelby… as well as the girls’ end of the year dance recital! Friday night was the rehearsal dinner. We had a wonderufl time catching up with all of our friends, some whom we haven’t seen in over 5 years! It was a great time of catching up and honoring the bride & groom. Saturday was the girls’ dress rehearsal for their recital as well as the big wedding day. Our scheudle was crazy! Rich went to be with the groom early for moral support, plus Rich was the best man, so he had many duties Avery’s call time was 8:45, Lorin’s call times were 1 and 2 and Haley’s call times were 3 & 6! My aunt came to stay with Avery & Santana while I left for the wedding & my mom graciously helped with transporting the big girls to and from rehearsal LIFE SAVERS!!!!
The wedding was absolutely gorgeous! It was held at the Fine Arts Museum in Saint Petersburg. Here are a few pictures of us with our friends
The recial was great! The girls all did a fabulous job. I took pictures of them before hand, so sorry, none in costume…
And here’s sweet Santana at the recital… He did great. We had to be there at 1 for Avery’s young childrens showcase that began at 2, then the older children’s showcase went from 4-6:30, so he did awesome!! Plus Oma got some snuggle time
This week, Haley & Lorin have their school dance performance & this weekend we have NO PLANS! Hurray! Maybe we can actually go to the beach for Memorial Day? Sounds like a plan.
So, I’ve not been very good at keeping up with my blog
Most of our readers are probably on FB, so I don’t feel too horrible, however, for those family members that are not on FB, I appologize for my procrastination!
April/May has been as busy as ever! Shocking, I know, but seriously, I haven’t hardly been on my actualy computer, just mainly on my phone while in the car, driving from one event or appointment to the next, so I’ll give you the highlights, since I probably won’t recall what we did anyway
The Brandon Ballet Company put on a wonderful production of Cinderella in late April. Haley was a Winter Corp and danced with the Winter Fairy. Everyone loved the show. The dancing was beautiful & the show was hilarious, thanks to some very talented “Step Sisters”. Here’s a pic of the kids after the performance! Haley has lots of fans
Lorin was at a new gym, working on her tumbling & guess who was there!!!???? RICKY from our favorite show “So You Think You Can Dance”. He was there hanging out and practicing some of his incredible tumbling with some of the other students & coaches. Very cool and VERY sweet to take pictures with all the kids!!
The girls have their dance recital coming up this weekend and they have been preparing during class & excited for the performance!! Here’s a shot I got of Haley in her pointe class.
Santana has been spending Wednesdays with Mimi, going to her bible study class. She always takes him for McDonald’s and to the park afterward. Here’s a great pic she took of him one afternoon…
We have been very excited for BEACH weather!! We’ve gotten to go twice since it warmed up & look forward to many more upcoming beach days!! I just adore this picture I got of Rich & Lorin when we stopped for ice cream at our favorite ice cream place, The Shake Pit!
Last week, our adoption group had a playdate! We gathered at a friends home, had a pot luck lunch and let the kids play for about 2 hours. There were 19 kids and 5 mommies! Here’s a shot of the “little” kids having lunch. I just love it!
The upcoming weeks we have lots of end of the year programs. Last week, we had the privilage of watching Lorin’s orchestra concert. We were so impressed with the program and so very proud of Lorin for taking up the Cello and loving every minute of it! Her shcool was also invited to perform at Disney, so she got to go last week as well! She had a blast!
Lastly, this Sunday we celebrated Mother’s Day! I had a wonderful day, which began with breakfast in bed prepared by only little hands, gifts and cards galore, followed by church with my beautiful family, then back home for lunch, prepared by my awesome & handsome husband & we shared it with our moms. I was so thankful that we were able to celebrate all together, honoring the women who helped shape me to be the mother I am.
Easter is one of my very favorite holdiays! Not only do we get to spend QT with our family, but it’s the most amazing day as a believer in Christ to celebrate HIS triumph over death with His resurrection.
We had an extra special treat/challenge on Firday when my cousin had surgery and asked if we could watch their 3 little boys, ages 3, 21 months and 10 weeks! I hesitantly said yes and then was hugely blessed by having them for the day (and the older boys overnight ) Here are a few pictures of our adventure with 7 kids.
Saturday, we had a Latin Festival at our church to celebrate the grand opening of our Latin American ministry and their new worship center. There was live music, games, lots of food, snow cones, cotton candy and a great time of fun for everyone.
Late in the evening we went to my dad’s friends church, for an event/play on the last days of Jesus. It was wonderfully organized and captured the atmosphere of what Jerusalem was like in the final days of Christ’s ministry here on earth. We got to walk the streets of Jerusalem, see Jesus heal the sick, witness what the Last Supper would have been like. We saw how He was arrested, charged and beaten before He was crucified. THEN, we witnessed the empty tomb and his reappearing to Mary… It was a fabulous production & will make this part of our Easter tradition from now on.
Easter Sunday! The kids got their baskets of candy & a few Easter treats, we went to church and then over to my cousins house for lunch & an easter egg hunt!
After lunch we headed over to the Lazzara Ranch (aka Rich’s dad’s place), for egg dying, egg toss, scavenger hunt, egg hunt, swimming, golf cart riding, dog playing, nail painting & dinner.
And this is how we all felt at the end of the weekend
How quickly time flies. I can’t believe my baby girl is turning 8! it seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital, but here she is… 8 years old!
Sunday we clebrated with a party at home with family. Avery wanted to make a yellow cake with chocolate icing, chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter filling & vanilla icing & some cookies.
We got pizza and salad from our favorite pizzeria & celebrated with some of our favorite people.
She recieved way too many Barbies, much needed summer clothes and ca$h to spend
We are so grateful that the Lord chose us to be Avery’s parents and delight in her every day!
Spring Break! Yay! Sleeping in, relaxation, beach, swimming… WooHoo!
Our Spring break was wonderful. Rich went to Brazil with the youth from our church (5th year) and I scheduled activities each day so the kids would be entertained and relax and recharge. No school, no dance class, no major commitments, makes mommy happy
Monday we went to Anna Maria with my BFF, Tina and her (almost 3 year old) daughter Lily.
Monday night Avery had a sleepover at Mimi’s with cousin Ava, so on Tuesday I had the big girls & Santana. We went shopping for Avery’s birthday gifts, ran some errands, had lunch and spent time with cousin Christina.
While we were out shopping we had fun playing a game we call “Pretty Dress, Ugly Dress”. This is really fun in the girls dress department at Dillard’s.
Pretty Dress
Ugly Dress
Dress Mommy made me wear when I was 5.
Tuesday afternoon we picked up Avery & dropped off Haley & Lorin to sleep over at Mimi’s, so Wednesday I had Avery & Santana. Wednesday was relax, visit Granny and go grocery shopping day. Then we picked up Haley & Lorin & collected Ava (for a sleepover at our house). Wednesday night, JuJu babysat the little kids & I took Haley & Lorin to an American Idol Watch Party. One of the contestants, Shannon Magrane is a local girl who we support, so we went out and watch Idol with friends & rooted for Shannon. Sadly, she was eliminated on Thursday
Thursday we me tup with our cousin Christina again & headed to Siesta Key! This is one of Florida’s most beautiful beaches The sand is like powder & the ocean is so gorgeous!
We had a “Drippy Sand Castle” contest & asked these cute little ladies to judge.
great day at the beach+great kids= ICE CREAM!!
Friday was hair day, along with clean up the house and get ready for Avery’s 8th birthday party day…
What a wonderful time we had & welcomed Daddy back home Friday night. The perfect ending to a perfect break!
March 9- today, Rich left with a team of high school students to share the gospel in Cubarita Brazil. They will go into local schools and perform skits, dance, sing and proclaim the name of Jesus!
The kids begin spring break next week & we already have our schedule filled with sleepovers, beach days (weather permitting) and sleeping in!!
I haven’t blogged in a few weeks, so left catch up on some stuff from the end of February
Something pretty cool that happened to me specifically, is that I sang a solo at church (something I do from time to time) and I got a FB shout out from our Pastor!!
Later that Sunday afternoon, our church had an event “This is MY Church” for the preschoolers. It was really nice and well put together, we got to ride the church bus and travel the grounds and see all the buildings and our tour guide explained what we do in each building. We also toured the craft room & got to do a craft! Next we went into the worship center and met Pastor Doug, our worship leader & got to go on stage and sing Jesus Loves Me. Next we got to see Pastor Rummage’s office and then get a picture with the Pastor. Lastly, we toured the kitchen and ended our event with apple juice and cookies!
Santana and I have had a few playdates with our cousins & got to spend some time playing and eating together. Our favorite things Last week, the girls had their 6 month check up with the dentist & they all looked great, so good in fact, that they left the office with cotton candy & candied apples! Ha! Our dentist is a good friend of ours & he had been to the Strawberry Festival & brought all this food for the office staff, which they were eager to get rid of..
Thursday night is Haley’s Pointe class. This class is late (8pm) & when Rich is home, it gives me the opportunity to watch her class without taking the 3 other kids, who could care less to watch pointe class. She is doing amazing. I have to say, I think she’s the best in her class, but I think I’m a bit biased
Friday, Lorin went with her orchestra class to compete in the local MPA’s. This is just a time when all local orchestra classes come together to play and sight read to see where the measure up with other orchestra’s in our county. They did awesome! The got “excellent” in performance and “superior” in sight reading! We are so proud of our little Cello player!
Friday evening, Bell Shoals Baptist Church was invited to sing at the local Strawberry Festival in Plant City. I just love the Strawberry Festival! Rides, good food that we never get to eat, time with friends & livestock! Haha! BSBC had a 3 hour time slot where our students got the first hour to perform, the worship team had the second hour and the college band, Refuge, had the third slot. Some of the girls on the worship team went over early to walk around & eat! This was my favorite thing we ate. Mini donuts with strawberries & “real” whipped cream!
My friend Tracey really loves chickens, so we went to the livestock tent & let me tell you there were some HUGE, beautiful and weird looking chickens!!
Saturday was jam packed with fun things! Haley had her audition for the summer intensive program with the Brandon Ballet, which we just learned she got into the all day program (yay!), so we dropped her off, then headed to the park with our cousins, Jason & Lauren and their 3 boys! Later on, Rich and I attended a beautiful wedding of some friends, Micah & Rachel, which was at a gorgeous, rustic barn!
Rachel & Micah’s wedding
This week went by really quickly, probably because we can’t wait for SPRING BREAK!!
Tuesday night was Haley & Lorin’s monthly 6th Grade Serendipity, an outing with fellow 6th graders from our church. This month, we did LASER TAG!! This was so much fun. I got to chaparone, so of course, I wanted to play too! We were well into our hour session when Lorin came over to me, very quickly, said “My tooth fell out!”, handed it to me and ran off to keep playing. Yep, she lost a tooth mid-game, put in in her pocket until she could give it to me and kept on playing! That’s my girl!!
That’s all for now, next week we’re off of school and dance and we are thrilled to have turned off our weekly 6AM alarm!!
We celebrated early because Rich would be heading out-of-town to the Fort Lauderdale Boat show. So the girls decorated the table very festive and fancy and we had spaghetti & meatballs, salad and cupcakes!! We had cupcakes twice this week. Vanilla with chocolate frosting for Valentine’s Day & then chocolate with vanilla icing, filled with peanut butter to celebrate my brother’s birthday on Friday. Needless to say, we are all cup-caked out!
I sometimes will come to my computer and randomly check what the girls have been up to & am always cracking up at watching them do “photobooth” on our mac. They take hilarious pictures and can record themselves with weird effects on their faces. Here’s a favorite that Avery did this week. You see what she does in her free time
We also have loved American Idol this week! There have been some really great performances & we are excited about this season. It appears to be the most talented group so far. I like to watch while viewing the “spoiler” list to see who “allegedly” made it through to the top 24. Here are some of my favorite performances this week!
Of course the lovely Shannon Magrane from Tampa! Shannon and I met at a Christmas party this year, as we both have served as members of the same performing group, obviously not at the same time…
I also LOVED the group performance of Jessica, DeAndre & Candice. This was awesome!!
This week was full of doctors appointments for the kids. Avery & Santana both saw the cardiologist on Tuesday. Luckily they see different doctors at the same practice, so we’re able to get the same appointment time
Avery had a holter monitor to make sure that her ticker is still working correctly! With Atrial Tachycardia’s after an ablation, if there was to be an issue it is typically within the first year. She had a normal holter result back in July and we are praying that this last monitor results will come back normal as well. She did a great job in keeping track of her activities and keeping the holter journal during the day at school. It was very funny to read because she wrote EVERYTHING down. She was very thorough!
Santana has to have check ups every 6 months to do ECHO & EKG. Everything is going well, he is off of his medication and the doctor will continue to monitor him… forever.
Lorin has had horrible headaches pretty consistently for the last year, so we finally made an appointment with our pediatrician to see what’s going on. We had a headache log for a month and she started her on a preventative medication. After our follow-up a month later, she saw that the medication was not working and referred us to a neurologist to prescribe different medications to see what will work and try to get her down to 1 headache a month, rather than the 25-28 per month that she usually has. We did an MRI & blood work and everything came back normal. She is now taking Inderal to help prevent the headaches and it should take a week to begin to see an improvement. The doctor also ordered an EEG next week. We have a family history of migraines, so this is probably what her headaches are leading up to, however, the area of her head that hurts, the times the headaches occur and the type of headache she has, isn’t consistent with a migraine.
“In my spare time”, I have just stared the series of LEFT BEHIND books! I read the first one & am on to the second one. I love this series and recommend everyone to read them! Reading about the end times has always been confusing to me and after reading the first one, it became easier to understand, SOOOOO after I read them all, I will be more confident in sharing what’s to come after Jesus returns! For now, I know there will be the Rapture, then the Antichrist will be revealed, he will then rule over the nations, for 7 years, the Tribulation. During the tribulation there will be time frames of mass destruction, plagues, earthquakes etc. I’m not far enough in to tell what for certain happens next, but at the end of the 7 years of Tribulation, Jesus will make His second coming… I’ll keep you posted!
Lastly, I have to talk about the Whitney Houston Funeral, or should I say, HOME GOING! I loved the coverage. I thought it was done very respectfully AND, the GOSPEL was PROCLAIMED!! If you didn’t see it, you can watch clips of everything on www.youtube.com I love how CNN did a recap story and titled it ‘The Nation went to Church today!” Because that’s exactly what happened. Yes, it is very sad that Whitney Houston died, however, she is at Home in Heaven with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Singing with the angels, what a beautiful picture! Some are saying it’s a tragedy and yes, it’s sad when anyone dies, but she KNEW the Lord. God used her life and her death to HIS glory. She would always say, “But, the Lord”, this and “My Savior” that, so she was a true living testament of what standing by the Lord will do in your life. Sure she had struggles, like we all do, but she still leaned on the Savior. She had a powerful testimony and God was glorified, even in her death. HE used her to share her gift of song with others, to uplift her friends and family, even in her darkest times, but HE ultimately used her death for HIS glory. The Grammy’s was opened with a word of prayer, Amen! and when everyone does a “search” for her last performance… she sang “Jesus Loves Me”. THEN, The Nation went to Church on Saturday. I can only imagine the amount of lost people who heard the good news of Jesus while watching her funeral. So, even though it’s terribly sad… God is so good all time.
In conclusion to my very long post, here’s our little angel singing Jesus Loves Me.
Rich & I participated in Straight Up Weekend this weekend & are still trying to recooperate. It’s an amazing weekend for 7-12th grade students who come on Friday night, hear an awesome guest speaker, Brent Crowe, worship with The Zack Olsen Band and have “family time” in a small group setting. We also had “Late Night” with HGA (His Glory Alone) before heading back to our host homes (I hosted my group at our house & Rich stayed with another family with his kids). Saturday morning we start all over again. Breakfast, praise & worship, teaching, small group, lunch, service project out in the community, home to shower, back to church for dinner, praise & worship, teaching, small group & ended with a MMA sparring match! Saturday night our grade (11th) had a bon fire at one of the host homes… Sleepover again Saturday night & then back to church in the morning for breakfast, big church & our last session with the Zack Olsen Band and Brent Crowe.
We had great kids in our groups and really saw God working in their lives. SUW was incredible. Sooo, if you have a 7-12th grader next year, send then to SUW at Bells Shoals! Haley & Lorin will be in 7th next year (AHH!!) and can not wait to go!
Here are a few pictures of my team
Our service project was to wash the inside & outside of 5 vans at A Kid’s Place.
Our girls were very hard workers & used a lot of team work
Here we are at our “family time”, where we discussed the teaching & worked on some letters to send to a local nursing home.
There is a set up called “The Point Beyond”, this is an incredible display of 12 different charities which the kids are able to donate to. We collected rice for Metropolitan Ministries, $ for various local organizations, such as A Kid’s Place & Good Samaritan Mission. We also helped raise funds for KGEA and their water projects worldwide, World Vision, wrote notes to the elderly in local nursing homes & encouraging notes to the widows of our church. We also got a chance to write the names and pray for lost friends and family members. There were a lot of awesome displays and we raised over $4,000!!!
I’ve got a lot of LINKS on here, so click away & learn more!!
So I am doing horrible at my New Years’ resolution to try to be a better blogger. My last post was about 2 weeks ago on the how to’s on the menu board and I do have to tell you that my menu board has been life changing! It’s really awesome, we’ve tried a lot of new things, which is great because 2 of the 4 kids are terribly picky eaters & our rule is you have to try it and give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down, so that’s a great way to get them to try things! If more than 2 people dislike the recipe we won’t use it again. The only thing banned from the list so far is brocoli slaw.
Here’s a recap of our January highlights. I literally downloaded pictures off of my Facebook page to make this post. So sad! At least you know if you are my Facebook Friend, you aren’t missing anything
Avery had a homework assignment to compare & contrast 2 family members using a Venn diagram. This was too good NOT to take a picture of! A friend commented, “Give that boy some money!” HA!
Loli & Tanny showing some love during car line
Haley’s newest trick ouch!
Santana had his frist date a few weeks ago! We and our wonderful friends have arranged the marriage of Santana and their daughter, Jane. We know it’s old-fashioned, but these two belong together
They had eggs, bacon and a muffin together, drew some pictures, made silly faces and told on each other when misbehaving.
Last Saturday was Loving God’s Children’s 2nd annual walk for orphans, “The Walk Home”. We gathered at a local park and raised funds for our upcoming trip to an orphanage in Kazakhstan! We walked, talked, laughed and scootered for orphans!
So, as I’ve stated before, I’m now with the “in crowd” and have joined and become obsessed with Pinterest. At least it’s helping me with my addictions to FaceBook and Words With Friends! I have also “invited” Haley & Lorin to join me in the pinterest craze & they love it just as much as I do. It’s nice because they will find recipes they want to try! Haley looked super cute for school the other day & told me she got her outfit inspiration from pinterest… Proud moment!! Lorin has become slightly obsessed with hair tutorials. She watches youtube videos on how to do hair braids and hairstyles ALL THE TIME!! Then she practices on Avery.
Last Wednesday was “Craft Day”!!!! With some of my besties. We were doing Valentines Day projects, but I opted for a more “Spring” project, since I don’t have a ton of spring stuff. I made this super cute front door wreath!
I got an inexpensive wide rim 8×10 wooden frame from walmart- I think it was $3.50
Bought these adorable tiny flowers from the $$ store. I got 10 bunches for $1 each
Hot glued all the little flowers on the wooden frame (and burned the heck out of my fingers)
I hung it on my plain black door hanger & added a little bow. It was looking REALLY plain to me, so I went back out to Joann’s & got a “L” wooden letter & some glitter paper. Traced the “L” and cut out the paper & ModPodged the glittery paper on. More hot glue & there you go! The frame did not want to balance, so I used some double-sided foam tape on the back of each corner to get it to stay in place. THAT SIMPLE!!!!
You can visit my friend Amy’s blog, AKA, the PolkaDotDiva for some inspiration… She hosts our craft day’s at her house, which is pretty exclusive (hehe!), but guess what??? She will plan a party for you!!
So, at craft day, we obviously craft, but we also (obviously) eat! Here’s what I made. Sticky Biscuits. Yes I got the recipe on Pinterest.
random….. OH!!!! This kid, UUHHH- MAAAA- ZZINGGG!!!! I’ve watched this video at least 20 times and it never gets old.
Back on track now. Last night, the girls were playing “pageant”. Yes, we watch “Toddlers & Tiara’s”, “Dance Mom’s” and all of the other crazy kid shows. Some people think it’s awful and for the most part, the kiddie pageant, I agree, are awful. I started competing in pageants and talent competitions when I was 11. I had no interests in sports, partly because I am very uncoordinated and was legally blind by age 10. Thank the Lord for contact lenses!! I had friends at school who did pageants and we had a wonderful music teacher who taught voice lessons after school as well as a lady (one of my oldest, dearest friends), who came in after school and taught modeling lessons. Somehow, Cynthia (my modeling coach extraordinaire) saw some potential in me & began giving me lessons and preparing me for my first ever beauty pageant. This turned out to be a wonderful mother/daughter bonding time for my mother and I and we enjoyed pageantry very much! It was not crazy back in 1990, like you see it on TV today. I was allowed 1, maybe 2 competitions in the summertime. I did well & by the time I was a teenager, I was extremely well-known in the Teen pageant circuit. Not to toot my own horn, but I won a lot, ahh, the “glory days” as my husband would put it I won my first national teen title in 1995, Miss Teen All American, followed by 2 other teen pageants in the years following & then was Miss Florida USA in 1999. Anyway, I had to give back up to the interest in playing pageant & the reasons why I’m cool with my girls watching these shows with kids. Sooo, I busted out my old crowns & sashes for the girls to play with as they won their titles.
I found this gem on www.pinterest.com. My first day on the site & I come across the most exciting, useful thing!! I completely swiped this idea bcs it is absolutely brilliant! I cannot take ANY credit for the idea, but here’s my version of the ultimate menu board!
Here’s the idea and How To.
What I love about this particular design—
1) It’s weekly. I shop weekly and plan my dinners weekly.
2) Meal cards have ingredients listed on the back, so I just gather my cards for the week, flip them over, and jot down the ingredients I need on my shopping list.
3) Using the two pockets I can store all of my meal cards right on the board. With a rotating system, I start with all the cards in the lower box and then after we have that meal, I place the card into the upper box until we go through the majority of the cards. Then, I start over choosing from all of them again.
4) It uses clothespins so no slipping and no holes. I was afraid that after I laminated my meal cards that they would get too thick/heavy for magnets.
5) The base is a picture frame—easy to hang and by using two nails I can keep it from tilting under the lopsided weight.
HOW TO MAKE THE ULTIMATE MENU BOARD
You will need-
11×14 picture frame
2 sheets of decorative 12 x 12 scrapbook paper
2-3 additional coordinating decorative papers
several sheets of solid colored card stock (for meal cards and pockets)
7 clothespins
the boxes from two 16 ct crayon packs
Elmers glue
Hot glue gun and glue
Mod Podge
Meal cards—
Before using your board, gather several meal ideas and their recipes. I have about 30, some are new recipes that I can’t wait to try & some are things that I make all of the time. Make a 2 column word document- typing your menu on one side of the page and the ingredients in the column next to it. One thing I messed up on the first time was on the side of the card that says what you’re having. Make sure you have that column centered to the RIGHT hand side, otherwise the clothespins will cover the words=not fun when you have to reprint them all! You should have room to print about 5 menus/ingredients per piece of printer paper. After printing, cut the meals/ingredients out into strips and fold each strip in half, giving you a front and back. Laminate the cards. I used self-laminating paper which worked okay but not perfectly, I have a love/hate relationship with the self laminating papers! My cards measure around 1 ½ inches tall (some are wider because the recipe calls for more ingredients) and then half of the width of an average size paper (4.25 inches) across.
This picture was taken with my FIRST batch of meal cards BEFORE I decided the left column needed to be all the way to the right, so the clothes pin wouldn’t cover the words.
Frame Background
Trim the decorative scrapbook paper to fill your frame. You will use one full sheet and just need a couple of inches of a second piece of paper in order to fill the entire frame. Where the two sheets overlap, you can place a thin piece of coordinating paper across the width to hide the seams (I didn’t think mine needed it). Put the title above that line using scrapbooking letter stickers OR, what I did was just print the word “menu” on my fancy paper. Make sure you practice on plain paper first. Place in the frame. Secure the background into the frame. Everything else will be done on top of the glass.
This is another BEFORE picture. I printed out “menu” and then realized it needed to be more to the RIGHT, so the menu cards wouldn’t overlap and then not be able to see that it says menu. **learn from my mistakes!! Always reference my TOP photo of the completed board. I made several mistakes, until I got it right.
Clothespins
Trim strips of paper to fit on top of your clothespins (I traced my clothespins and cut them out). I printed out the days on white cardstock and put them on top. You could do a variation of things , like M, T, W, Th, F, etc with stickers or whatever, but I like to print things out & use girly fonts, so…. Using a mixture of 1 part elmers glue to one part water (homemade mod podge, or Mod Podge, if you already have it,) brush the glue onto the clothes pin, place the paper on top and add more of the glue mixture. I think I did about 3 layers of the glue. When the clothespins are dry.
Pockets-
I used 16 count crayon boxes as the base for my pockets. Turning the box horizontally, cut out one long side- this will be the opening of your pocket. Lay the box out flat onto a piece of card stock and trace it. Cut the card stock out and glue it on top of the crayon box—making folds to match the boxes folds as you go. Reassemble the box, gluing or taping together the open sides. I left just about a half-inch extra along the long sides so I could wrap my paper over the top edges of the box for a smoother look. After assembling your boxes, cut a strip of coordinating paper to use as an accent and glue around the pocket. Hot glue the pockets directly onto the glass of your frame. One of mine stuck fine with the hot glue and one fell off. I think I waited too long to figure out where to line it up. IF this happens to you, instead of going out & getting another crayon box and re-doing it, do what I did. take the hot glue of the back and just use some heavy-duty tape. Packing tape did the job!
Here’s my finished project after all the re-dos and mess ups. It turned out SOOO cute! (it’s the same as the top photo)
And… here are my girls, excited to pick out what we’re having for dinner next week
Avery’s call time was 8:45, Lorin’s call times were 1 and 2 and Haley’s call times were 3 & 6! My aunt came to stay with Avery & Santana while I left for the wedding & my mom graciously helped with transporting the big girls to and from rehearsal 
