Cupcake Liner Umbrella Craft...and Healthy "Mud Dip" Snack!

Today we did a fun craft and had a yummy snack that were all about our crazy Spring Weather!!  Of course, living in Utah, that could have included SNOW...but I decided to stick with rain in hopes the snow is gone for the year ;)

I was inspired by Rachel over at I Heart Crafty Things to do this craft, she has done a bunch of adorable crafts with cupcake liners lately that made me decide I HAD to figure out something to do with all the ones I had on hand.

What you need for this quick and easy craft are some cupcake liners, pipe cleaners, glue sticks and cotton balls...easy-peasy!!

 

First up I put out all our different cupcake liners out and let the kids pick out their "umbrella tops".  Then they chose what handles they wanted from the pipe cleaners sent to me by my favorite CraftProjectIdeas...LOVE the bright colors!!

Once we picked out all our supplies the kids got to work.  First we cut a pipe cleaner in half and and folded the bottom up to make the umbrella handle.  Then we glued that on to our paper.  Then you simply fold a cupcake liner in half and glue it on top of the handle.

Then you'll want to glue the halves of the liner together to finish off your umbrella top!

After your umbrellas are all done you can add a few cotton ball clouds and then watch it rain!! 

And by rain I mean spraying the picture with blue water ;)

Here are the finished products...I love seeing my kids pride in their creations!

While I was whipping up our yummy treat, my kids made their own "umbrellas" :)

We talked about how one of the things that happens when it rains, especially at our house, is we get LOTS of mud!  Then I told they kids they got to eat some yummy Mud Dip for a snack...they were not super excited :)  Until I told them what was in it ;) 

For our Mud Dip I just stirred together a few spoonfuls of all-natural peanut butter, 1 TBSP of cocoa powder, a few sprinkles of crushed pecans, and some sprinkles of wheat germ for good measure.  Then I sliced up apples and celery and let the kids go to town! 

 The nuts and cocoa powder gave it the awesome color and texture of real mud, but the peanut butter made it a YUMMY mid-morning snack!

And this is what I got to see after leaving the room for 5 minutes to switch over a load of laundry :)

Yep, we had an early bath time today! :)

Thanks so much for checking out Blue Skies Ahead today!  If you like what you see, follow us on Facebook and don't miss any of the fun crafts, snacks and activities coming up!!

Spiritual Crocodiles Family Home Evening {Jacob and Sherem}

 Man its been a LONG time since I posted a Family Home Evening!!  It feels so good to be back on schedule, and last night we returned to our study of the Book of Mormon by learning all about Jacob and Sherem.  

While I was looking for inspiration on ways to teach this lesson to my kids I found the idea on Sugardoodle to incorporate President Packer's talk on Spiritual Crocodiles.  I loved the idea of comparing Sherem and his ability to turn people away from the gospel to Spiritual Crocodiles.

First up, we read from The Book of Mormon Stories Chapter 10, Jacob and Sherem.  We talked alot about the different ways Sherem got the people to stop believing in Christ.  He was flattering, nice, and very smart!  We talked about how people got close to him, and in turn ended up losing their testimony of the Savior and becoming very wicked.  

Then I introduced the kids to this YouTube video HERE.  Just a note...there is some graphic animal violence you may or may not want your little ones watching.  I felt it was okay for my family, but you know your kids so I would suggest watching it before you show your family :)

After we watched the video we talked about Spiritual Crocodiles.  How just like the animals couldn't always see the real crocodiles, we have to be cautious of spiritual crocodiles that will hurt not only our bodies but our souls as well.

I made up this printable to hang up in the house for the week to remind us:

Then we went on a "Crocodile Hunt" to find some specific Spiritual Crocodiles that may be trying to take bites out of OUR testimonies!  I hid these crocodiles all around the house and the kids got their binoculars and were on the search!  Remind your kids...even though some of these crocodiles look cute and happy...just like Sherem they can be damaging to our testimonies and to our souls!

I included a blank crocodile so you could write your own things specific to the needs of your family as well :) 

After we had found all our crocodiles we talked about how each of these things can hurt us and how important obedience is.  I think the message hit home...when my little almost-4-year-old said family prayer last night he closed by asking Heavenly Father to make sure we don't get eaten by crocodiles :)  Haha!  Sometimes thats the best we can hope for, right?! ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I have a lot of fun things planned for this week with my kids learning all about Spring Weather so make sure you come back and visit again!

Smiling this Sunday!

 Hello my friends!  How are you this beautiful Sunday morning?!

If you are new to Blue Skies Ahead, every Sunday I try and pick a few moments that made me smile this past week.  I truly believe there is SO much good in our lives...if we can remember to look for it :)  This is my attempt at finding the good in my life!

The first thing making me smile this week is my 2 boys.  Britton is almost 4 and Cohen is a whopping 2 weeks :)  I love to see them together and the love Britton already has for his little brother.  Last week I was out with my oldest daughter on a date when Paul sent me this picture of the two asleep next to each other.  Made my heart melt just a little bit :)

On Friday night me and the hubs went out on a wonderful date night with our bro and sister-in-law.  We wanted to thank them for helping us SO much while I was on bedrest and taking such great care of our kids.  It was wonderful to take a little break and enjoy some adult conversation and yummy food! 

Not a big surprise this guy is on the list for what is making me smile today ;)  He really is the most precious little baby.  And I do mean little...he weighs just over 6 lbs and the only chub on him is in those cute little cheeks :)  He pretty much sleeps all the time and the kids are dying for the days when he starts to open his eyes a little bit more.  I am just trying to treasure every moment...knowing he is probably my last makes every little thing that much more tender to me.

This little girl is making me smile this week too!  Its so weird, she has always been the "baby" in the family.  Even though she is the second oldest she always has acted younger than her years.  In the last few months she has really grown up and is becoming such a beautiful young girl!  She is doing great at school and I have loved seeing her read books to her little sister and help out more around the house.  She has a VERY sassy personality, and we sometimes butt heads, but that little smile can melt my heart faster than just about anything else!

This week has been very interesting.  We are right back into normal life.  I remember with my first two babies, life pretty much stopped for 6 months until I felt normal again.  HA!  Not so with the 5th!  This week is was back to carpool, grocery shopping, dance classes, doctors appts and everything else!  There were wonderful moments of PURE content, as I would look around at my 5 kids and KNOW my whole family was finally here together.  There were also moments of PURE insanity :)  Avrie running wild at the drs office, Avrie undoing the deadbolt and running outside every second she got...hmmm, I'm seeing a trend here ;)  Honestly, there were a few "Why in the world did I think I could handle 5 kids?!" moments this week!  

BUT...they were totally outnumbered by the smiles, laughter and joy we have had being all together.  That is why I have to constantly remind myself to look for all this good...even amidst the chaos, it is always there!

Hope you are having lots of wonderful things in your life to smile about too!!

It's Time to Mingle!  

Hosted by Blue Skies Ahead,  Happy Go Lucky, I Heart Crafty Things, and Keeping Up With Kristi.

  This week's guest host is Jourdan from Two Million Miles  

  There are no rules to this blog hop.  Just link up your blog's main page.  Then have fun reading new blogs and making new blog friends.  We would love for you to follow the hostesses in the first four spots and our guest host in the fifth spot.   

We are always looking for co-hosts to join the party each week and post the party on their blog.    Sign up HERE if you are interested in Co-Hosting!   Grab our button and help us promote our blog hop by sharing it on your blogs, facebook, and twitter.     There will be a new list every Thursday, so be sure to come back every week.

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We hope you have fun and thanks for joining us!  We are so excited to find new blogs, share great ideas, and inspire each other!  

 

Baked Rocks Crayon Craft

Hello everyone!  How are you all doing??

Things here have been great...just busy, busy getting acclimated to 5 kids :)  The little guy so far has been an absolute angel and the others are as crazy and fun as usual...but that is nothing new ;)  I am feeling SO good, just grateful to have my little man here safe and sound.  I am planning on getting back on a good schedule next week including a Weekly Theme for the kids and a new FHE, but in the meantime this is a really fun project we did at our house yesterday that ALL the kids loved.

Baked Rocks Crayon Craft!

This is a great craft if you just want to do something last minute with things you always have on hand. Hopefully you are like me and grow rocks in your backyard ;)

Make sure when you are choosing your rocks, you find the smoothest rocks possible.  We didn't have success with half of our rocks because they were too rough.

 

Once you have your rocks, bake them in the oven at 300 degrees for 15 minutes.  While your rocks are baking find those old, broken crayons and have your kids help you peel them.

 

When the rocks are done use a heating pad to place one on each paper plate and let your kids go to town coloring them with your peeled crayons.  The hot rock will melt the wax and your kids will love "painting" their rocks with crayons!

Our favorite technique was to use two different colors and then swirl them together, making these cool  colored rocks!!

This was a great way to enjoy time together while the little one was napping and it we had some freezing rain outside :)

I would love to know...what is your favorite go-to craft with your kids when you need something last minute?!  

Gift of Marriage Printable {General Conference!}

 

What a wonderful Conference weekend we had!!  I was so inspired by the many messages shared and personally received inspiration and guidance that was a direct answer to my prayers.

One talk that I especially loved was from L. Whitney Clayton all about marriage.

I find that I am ALWAYS praying and searching for ways I can be a better mother.  I'm embarrassed to say I don't always devote that same attention to being a better wife to my amazing husband.  I was so inspired with the counsel given on ways we can have a better marriage, and this particular quote really stuck out to me...

I am so inspired to re-dedicate myself to doing everything in ability to strengthen our marriage...and in turn become a better mother as well :)  

Did you have a chance to check out General Conference this weekend?  If so, what stuck out to YOU?  What are you inspired to work on in your life?

General Conference Ideas {Re-cap!}

Hello friends!!  I can't believe its already time for General Conference!  This year I haven't been able to do my prep as early as I usually do...I blame it all on this little face ;)

SO worth it!!

However, I did want to share some of the fun things we have done in years past if you are new to Blue Skies Ahead.  Conference weekend is something we look forward to all year long.  I love spending the weekend with my family and listening to the words of our modern day prophets.  I also love finding different ways to get my kids excited for conference....

 

THIS is a fun treat to leave out for your kids a few days before conference...also great for YW"s or primary classes too!

A fun spin on Conference Baskets...Don't let one minute of Conference go to WASTE!

A fun idea for post-Conference FHE...General Conference UN-Wrap Up!

Finally, one of our favorite family traditios...Conference Socks!!

I got some great ideas from different family members for things to do this year...hopefully I will have to time to share them with you all tomorrow!  Thanks so much for stopping by Blue Skies Ahead!!