Something Cooking

I woke up when I heard something in the kitchen. I thought Jenny was making something special. Boy, was I surprised.

Vacation Incentive

The little kids are thrilled. The big kids - not so much.

Our incentive for the trip this summer involves doing chores to earn some of these:

And using your tickets to purchase things like these:

The only catch is - we are practicing delyaed gratification. Every prize they earn goes into their "trip backpack". Then I will sort their prizes by the legs of the trip - drive to Denver, first flight,
second flight, and drive to Vermont.

The big kids are not very interested in the toys, exp. Robby and John. Any suggestions for what I sell to them to make their trip more fun?

I LOVE MUSTARD!

Act I
Over the Christmas holidays we went to a cabin for a couple of days. While we were there Joshy burned something really badly. Too bad I can't actually remember what it was. Anyways. One of my sis-in-laws suggested I put some yellow mustard from the fridge on it. She knew she sounded crazy, but really thought she had heard somewhere that it worked. So, I gave Josh some medicine and then applied the mustard. It was past bedtime and I was desperate. Soon, and much sooner than the medicine would have helped he calmed down and was peaceful. I soon forgot about this experience....

Act II
Tonight I was making corn on the cob for dinner. I opened the pot to shift the corn around and proceeded to splash the boiling water on the underside (the tender side) of my arm. Ugh. After a while it started to burn so I ran water over it. Then after another minute or so it started burning again so I did the water thing again. You know how it goes. Do the water thing enough times until you are sick of hanging around the sink and then let it burn. Well. As I finished the second water trip I remembered the mustard tip. I then applied a nice layer of my favorite yellow mustard from the fridge and felt the miracle happen. NO MORE BURN. Sure, I looked funny, and yes I smelled like a hot dog but I didn't hurt. About 20 minutes later I washed it off in cold soapy water and still no burn. Yeay for a burn cream that works!!!

Really Bad Hair Day

Yesterday I was informed that today would be crazy hair day at the elementary school. I took one look at my boy's overgrown buzz cuts and decided to go for it. Wednesday would be Mohawk day. Last night, I teamed up with my handy dandy pair of clippers and made my boys into the image of true rednecks. Keep in mind - my plan was to trim it off, just as soon as they stepped foot off the school bus. They were pretty impressed.
Here are the results:

It appears now, however, that the joke is on me. The children who were so certain YESTERDAY that today would be crazy hair day today began to mention this morning (the morning after rednecking my own children) that maybe, just maybe

crazy hair day is..... ullp......next Wednesday.

After verifying this with a teacher, I once again pulled out my trusty shears and am now sending them to school almost bald.

Sad day for hair in the Stowe household!

A (More Real) Love Story

I thought you guys would get a kick out of this....

Easter Dress! FINALLY!

So, I have been working on Lilly's easter dress for quite some time now. I made some really good progress BEFORE easter and had it nearly finished, but then easter came and went with General Conference, and I didn't get it done. Well, then easter was over and I had not reason to hurry. So, Brent was gone really late Saturday night, so I stayed up to nearly midnight finishing. All in all the dress probably ended up costing me under $8.00. I got teh fabric a few months ago for $1.50/yard and just held onto it. Then I had a vision of an easter dress made from the fabrid with a great pink sash. After finishing the dress I couldn't help but try my hand at a hair thingy. I never make hair accessories, however, I don't buy them either and Andra says I will regret it. So hair thingy I made. I am very happy with the outcome! And where did Lilly wear it her very first time? The Conference Center in Salt Lake. Yeay for cute little girl dresses! Yeay for me being able to figure out new sewing stuff!