Fun with Graffiti

I got a fun opportunity to paint a huge mural on the wall of the new building the Crossfit St. George gym is moving into.  It is made up of words that we use in the gym... names of workouts, movements, etc.  

It was so much fun and I'm so glad that Ali trusted me with such a huge project.

Here is a fun Before and After.

Here is a bigger version.

Super Hero Surprise Party!!

We had this great idea to cover 4 birthdays in the family with one awesome Super Hero Surprise party. It was a success and soo much fun! 

On the right you will see the list of birthday boys... 

Cunning Clint! 

Atomic Andrew! 

Blaize the Bomb! 

& Super Shaw!

Yeah that's right cheesy and ridiculous but FUN! FUN! FUN!

Other decorations included cool super hero words/sounds.  Like Kaboom! Skadoosh! Pow! You get the idea.  We made them out of some inexpensive poster board and some markers.  

Shaw couldn't help but fly away with his cape on : ) 

Yup we were taking pictures of ourselves while we were waiting for Cunning Clint and Atomic Andrew to arrive for the surprise.

The dress code was pretty simple... stick to some primary super hero colors.  Blue, Red, White, Yellow,  and Green.  We made these awesome wristbands with duct tape.
*Shaw wore his wrist bands for 3 days after this... he just couldn't get enough!*

We painted on "masks" with some inexpensive acrylic craft paint.  Directly around our eyes we used some metallic silver eyeshadow and it blended perfectly with the metallic silver paint.

"SUPER HEROOOOOOOOOSSSSS!!!"

 For the capes we found this fabric at Wal-Mart for only $1.50?! a unit.  There were 2 "dangers" per unit so 6 capes only cost us $4.50!  We gathered the top of the cape and pinned it onto some scrap pieces of fabric that we cut for the ties.  Then we just did a straight stitch across the gathered area.  These were so quick and easy and I'm sure you could even hot glue them if you didn't want to pull out the sewing machine.  

The entire super hero posse!

Sisters are great... if you don't have one you should get one. 

Now, I will be honest we only wore these boots for the pictures then we put our flip flops on... it was almost 100 degrees and that weather is not made for boots : ) 

*a super power was used on this photo* 

Now onto the funnest part of the party... we did a Super Hero Slip and Slide!!! 

A large sheet of black plastic + some dish soap + water = AWESOMENESS  

This one deserves a video so enjoy!

We also did some interviews with our Super Heros.

For those of you with iMovie I used the "Cartoon" effect on this video.  I think it really give it a fun comic book kind of feel.  : ) 

Sleek modern "Wallet"

My friend busted out her wallet today and I will have to say that she has a very sleek modern slightly industrial approach to fashion. Enough talk let's see the pictures.

Father's Day Craftiness...

UPDATE: IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A GREAT GIFT I AM OFFERING THESE CUSTOM MADE MEMORY BOARDS FOR $40 +shipping.  CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFO: jesscoffelt@gmail.com

I was trying to think of something original for Andrew for Father's Day.  I remember him saying he wanted to eventually have a frame with pictures of all the kids as babies.  Then, I ran across this idea (where you can order your own customizable print here)...

**photo credit: Connie at www.thememorygallery.etsy.com***

that I really loved.  So, I decided to combine the two... what's better than important dates + a photo (a picture is worth a thousand words)?  Not to mention this would greatly increase the chances of my husband remembering all of my kids birthdays... I don't blame him for forgetting there is A LOT of them.

I had a piece of wood left over from a previous project that was a nice long rectangle shape that just happened to be about 10" wide and about 30" long.  Then, all I had to do was track down some pictures add some dates and format them 2 to a page on an 8x10 photo.  After googling a coupon code for Walgreen's I had the prints ordered for 40% off the normal price : )  Then, after painting my board black I cut the photos in half and Modge Podged them to my board.  I have to admit it was embarrassingly easy and quick.  I love the finished product and so did Andrew.

The dates include:
#1.  The date that he confessed to me that he had loved me for 2.5 years... mind you I thought we were just friends the whole time. *(this story should probably be a post in the future)

#2. Our wedding.  The quote "the promise to out serve" is what we committed to as a couple before we even got married.  That the rest of our lives would be dedicated to out serving one another... it's worked out pretty great so far : ) .

#3. Our first baby Marinn + the meaning of her name.

#4. Our second baby Taurin + the meaning of her name.

#5. Our third baby Shaw + the meaning of his name.

#6. *see a pattern yet?  Our fourth baby Blaize + the meaning of his name.

I did this project on my own but you could easily involve kids on this one,  it would be pretty hard to mess up.

To add something special I wrote a note to Andrew on the back telling him how much I appreciated him as an amazing father to all my babies.  Then had all the kids sign their names (well, the ones that could) and we traced their hand prints.  I'm not a big fan of cards because they end up in a box somewhere or the trash, this way the sentiment that would be in a card ends up in a permanent place on the gift.  Not to mention it saves you like $4.99+.

Taco Bites

 I saw this recipe on Pinterest for Taco Bites and it sounded like a great idea because tacos are messy... especially when feeding them to children.  So, I tried it out and substituted the won ton wrappers for Raw Tortillas (pictured below).  I just cut the tortilla into 4 pieces and then folded the corners over the filling, which helped hold in the meat and cheese even better.  It also gave the tortilla a fried crispy texture without the grease.  Yay!  For those of you on the east coast I'm not sure if you will be able to find these but if you do buy them!  They are delicious!

I was able to reduce the baking time down to just 5 min and the kids loved them!  And, they weren't as messy as tacos.  I'd like to try this with an enchilada flare to it and fill the tortillas with flavored chicken and cheese and then smother them with some enchilada sauce : )  I'll definitely be posting that recipe when it's created.

Breakfast picnic with the Kindergarteners

Marinn brought home 3 different flyers about a Mother's Day breakfast at the school today.  

It advertised Cinnamon rolls and milk with your child on Friday morning at..... 7:45am!

Nothing say's "Happy Mother's Day!" like having to wake up and extra hour earlier. 

Marinn seemed so excited about it I gave in and drug my butt out of bed at 6am and got the kids ready to go.   Mar Mar gladly hung out with Taurin, Shaw, and Blaize while me and Marinn headed to the school for our "nutritious" breakfast.  

Here we are enjoying a beautiful morning.... and I have to say it was kind of nice having someone else make breakfast.  : ) 

Let's take a ride....

At the park this evening the girls found some balloons and filled them up with water... all of them got popped except for Taurin's pink balloon.  She wanted to bring it home with her in the van but I said NO WAY!  But I told her it could ride on the top of the van and if it made it home I would let her bring it in the house.  

Here it is on the top of the van after a ride on the interstate, up hills, down hills, through 3 round-a-bouts, and over 2 speed bumps.  Our van has four awesome sun roofs in the back so the kids had a full view of the balloons ride home... the whole time they were yelling, "It's on Taurins side! AHHH... there it goes!"  It was pretty hilarious and entertaining.  Other than being a bit dirty it's still fully intact and currently residing in the kitchen sink.  : )  

Marinn gave me a high five for my awesome driving that saved the balloon... it did have a bit of help with the rack on the van but I'm still impressed.