Scatter Sunshine

We just had our RS Birthday Party - I know - a little late, but we had good reasons.  It was a fun theme and all the ladies really loved it.  We used the theme of "Scatter Sunshine", which if you read the words to the hymn is all about service.  We started the evening by singing Scatter Sunshine and then talked for a few minutes about service and introduced our service campaign.  We asked each sister to take a few sun cut outs and each time they perform an act of service (no matter how small or large) to write it on one of the cut outs and return it to us.  We will be placing it on a display that will be up outside the RS room over the next few months.  The women really got into this and took a bunch of cut-outs.  Several of them even came up to me and asked if I had more.  I am really looking forward to seeing our display fill up with sunshine.

I only took a few pictures, but I will try to explain what we did.  The invitations were sunshine wands.  We just cut small dowels into about 8 inch pieces.  We tacked some yellow and white ribbon and fabric strips to the top and then punched holes in the top and bottom of the paper invitation and slid it onto the dowel.  They turned out really cute.  Unfortunately, I did not snap a picture before I gave them all out.  I have pictures of the centerpieces, which were made with thicker dowels cut into 24 inch pieces.  We tied long pieces of ribbon and fabric strips around them and topped them with a Scatter Sunshine topper.  These dowels were secured in yellow cups filled with plaster and then they were put in little baskets that had the sunshine cut outs in them.

(Sorry about the picture quality, the lighting in our church is not the best.)

We also put up posters of good quotes on service by church leaders past and present.  We had favors of three pieces of salt water taffy tied up in little cellophane bags with a scatter sunshine tag at each place at the table.

We served curried chicken sandwiches on croissants, spinch strawberry salad, and lemon cooler cake.  The ladies loved the theme and the food.  It was a really successful evening.

You can download my toppers and treat bag tags here.

Easter Grass

My boys and I planted this Easter Grass just a little over two weeks ago.  Look how it has grown (and we have cut it down a bit too!)  The kids loved this activity.  We just put a bit of potting soil in three containers, had the boys sprinkle in some grass seed and then raked it in lightly.  We then watered it lightly and made sure that it stayed moist until it started sprouting.  It took about a week for those first blades to come up, but then they grew like wildfire.  My boys have loved watching their easter grass grow.  My husband also did this in baby food jars with his 5th grade class.  Some of the kids overwatered their grass and did not get any results, but most had the same great results that we did at home.  A fun and easy spring activity!

Preschool Treats

It was my sons day to provide treats for preschool.  We made these fun little easter themed snacks.  They are just disposable pastry bags filled with whole grain Goldfish and then tied with a green ribbon.  So cute and relatively good for the little ones too.

Stretch Mark Preventer

Since I am well on my way to baby number 5 (yes 5!! - crazy I know!!), I am using this little concoction every day on my ever expanding belly.  I got the recipe from my cousin who, after three kids, can still wear a bikini with not a single stretch mark to be seen.  I have used this during all my pregnancies and have been happy with it as well.  I'm not sure if it really works, or if we can just thank good genetics, but I'm not taking any chances.

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 c. aloe vera gel
6 capsules vitamin E (I just prick them with a pin and then squeeze the liquid out)
2 capsules vitamin A (I never have these on hand, so I leave them out)
Blend together and store in fridge.

I usually double this recipe and then keep a large jar in my refrigerator.  Since I don't like to trudge out to the fridge every time that I want to apply this, I keep a smaller container of it in my bathroom.  It tends to separate a little, so I just give it a good shake and then apply.  Caution!  This can be a little greasy and messy, so be careful as you apply it, and watch what you set your container on.  Otherwise, I hope you enjoy!