Hell has frozen over - I have a tutorial for you.

Alright, some more cards.  This was the card I made for Benny Bones for our anniversary:

He approved.  He liked the swirls and that I used black.  A manly card, I believe he called it.  (With a lilac purple on it and a heart???  Haha!  I love him.)

My sister, Beads, asked me to make baby shower invitations, and here is one of them:

I love those little flower stickers I found for the front.

I really, really am a fan of how these ones turned out - they were for my stepfather-in-law and stepbrother-in-law:

My cute friend Kathleen always gives me a challenge in my cardmaking.  Her nephew just signed on with a major modeling agency, and she wanted to send him a congratulatory card, but not just any congratulatory card.  A male modeling congratulatory card.  It took some thinking and a little bit of downloading from the silhouette shop, but I figured it out, and it turned out really fun:

It was actually a paper doll!  He had several winter outfits for me to choose from.  I liked this one.  Nice and laid-back. :)

And this is one I made for Ben for Valentine's Day:

My friend, Megs, has a craft blog, and she just got a cool webcam thing, so she asked me to do a video tutorial on how to make a card.  So if you want to see me design and make this bad boy, go here.  Megs' husband said that she and I were funny on the video, our interaction and all.  We laugh a lot when we're together.  She's just the best.  I used a sponging technique around the white squares - my friend Jen's signature in her cards.  I loooooove Jen's cards.  They're some of the most gorgeous ones in my card exchange group, and I firmly believe it's because she's so skilled at sponging.  Sponging creates a lot of interest and depth in a card.

I have a sad postscript to this tale, though.  Ben caught a glimpse of his Valentine's Day card, and he was like, "Pink??"

I was like, "Um, it's Valentine's Day.  Pink! Red! White!"

"But I'm a man, Kar.  This isn't very manly."

"So do you want me to, like, save one of Gage's Kung Fu Panda valentines for you??"

"Nooooo, I want a homemade one for you that I can put on my bulletin board in my cubicle."

"And people will give you crap if the card is pink."

"Yeah."

Soooo it's back to the drawing board, but I inherited some paper from Megs a couple of weeks ago, and it is quite manly, but still Valentine-ey.  I just have to find the time to make it. :)  That, my friends, is the trick.

My mom's random songs - a treasure trove.

My new calling in my new ward is Activity Days.  And boy, was I relieved that the Bishop didn't ask me to be in nursery.  Whew. 

I was a little nervous, because my area of expertise is usually with the youth, but I'm starting to get a feel for it.  And you know why?  These girls are wild, just like little boys.  And you know, since I have three little boys, I was like, Oh!  Okay.  Clicking into Boy Mode.

I don't know if my sisters and I were the exception, but...we didn't run around tackling each other.  Or tickling each other.  Or jumping on each other.  Or running around screaming and yelling.  We...read books.  Occasionally spanked each others' bumbs while the person was in front of us on the stairs.  Had the occasional food fight.  But we were really pretty docile.

But these girls...wow.  They're cute as heck, but I really thought I'd be dealing with a different dynamic. 

At my first activity, there was some down time where the girls drew names out of a bowl for Secret Sisters, and during that time, they just ran wild throughout the house where we were meeting.  I was just kind of watching and getting my sea legs.

Yesterday, there was again some down time while two of the leaders were deciding how to deliver these sugar cookies we had made to some ward members - should we caravan?  Should we split up?  Who has how many spots in their car? 

And I was watching them basically play a wild game of tackle football in the living room.

And my 8th-grade-teacher-EFY-counselor gene kicked in.

"Who wants to learn a ca-razy song???" I yelled.

Teenagers would have given me The Look.  But these girls immediately all jumped up and down, yelling, "Me!  Me!  Me!"  Like popcorn. 

So I taught them this really weird campfire song my mom taught me when I was little.  It has all of these nonsense words, and you repeat what the leader is repeating, and it's silly and funny.  I remember how hard I worked to memorize the song, because when I was a kid, I thought it was so cool.

And so did these girls!  They asked me to keep singing it with them until they got it.  So we sang while the two leaders decided the logistics of cookie delivery and while another one videotaped me on her phone (which will be embarrassing if she posts it on facebook, because I looked freakin' AWESOME yesterday.  Three huge boils on my face, no makeup, hair pulled back, muffin top hanging over my jeans...).

My sisters and I have always good-naturedly teased my mom about her knowledge of these random campfire songs...and just random songs in general...but DANG.  I can see where these are going to come in handy.

I texted my mom when I got home and said, "I am going to need your book of campfire songs STAT."

Student of the Week

This crazy kid is student of the week in his class this week.  We filled in a little poster thing about him to display in his classroom all week, and on Friday he gets to do Show and Tell.  I'm really hoping he doesn't choose to show his My Little Pony collection.  That will just open him up to a world of teasing. :)

Here's his poster:

I thought I'd tell you what his answers were to some of the questions.  I thought they were funny.

I like me because... I am happy and I play with friends.  I like me because I like my brother and sister. (I kept trying to rephrase the question - "What are you good at?"  "What do you like about your personality?"  But he didn't get it and kept repeating that he is happy and likes to play with friends and with his sister.  Ben finally had me add, "I like me because I'm good at drawing and because I have a good imagination.")

How I would make the world a better place:  I would make Jesus come.  I know Jesus.  Everybody knows Jesus.  I would tell everybody to be happy.  I would tell my family to be happy.

My Hobbies:  I like to play cars with my best friend at school, Trayson.  I like to play with all my friends.  I like to play outside.  I pretend my trampoline is up.  (Note - he hasn't ever had Trayson over.  Perhaps they allow the kids to play with cars in Kindergarten?)

One Wish:  I wish the world would be better.

Favorite Book:  Cars

Favorite Movie:  Cars

Favorite TV Show:  Total Drama Island (We can thank his dear big brother for that.)

Favorite Food:  Noodles

Favorite Color:  Lellow.  (I love how he says yellow.)

Favorite Season:  Winter and Summer.

Since this post is all about Mikey, I thought I'd write down some funny stuff he's said to me over the past few weeks. 

We were eating Cashew Pork and Pea Pods for dinner (one of my favorite dinners of all time), and Micah said, "Um, I just want grace."

"You want grace?"

"Yeah, just the white stuff.  Not the stuff with nuts and green stuff."

"Oh, riiiice.  You just want riiiiice...."

My mom came over to baby-sit one day, and Micah was so excited to see her.  He yelled, "Gwamma!  Us so happy to meet you!"  (Note - I love how he starts sentences with "us" instead of "we."  I don't ever correct him, though I should.  It's just so cuuuute.)

Mikey hit Gage the other day, and I sat him down on his bed in time out.  "Why would you hit your brother, Mike?" I asked.

"I thought he was a spider."

Have I ever told you the language Micah uses when he prays?  I don't think so.  He says the funniest things.  When he's asking Heavenly Father for blessings for our family or whatever, he says, "And Hope Sure we get along, and Hope Sure we do good in school..."  Hope Sure.

He also says "Our Chuthers"  instead of "each other" in prayers.  "And Hope Sure we can get along with Our Chuthers and help Our Chuthers."  I love that.

As far as how our little dramatic Mikey is doing, he seems to be doing really well at his new school.  He saves the drama for his mama.  Literally.  He holds in all of his angst and naughtiness until he comes home, and then watch out.  It's difficult.  I asked the school counselor if she could test him to see if he has some kind of mood disorder or something, because in my heart of hearts, I think that's what he's struggling with.  But where it's not affecting his school work or his relationships at school, she can't do that.  We'd have to go to a child psychologist and pay $400 to do it.  So for now we're just going to take a "hopeful watch and wait stance."  (What movie??)  There are many, many times a day that I think to myself, "He is single-handedly destroying our family."  He's happy maybe 1% of the time, and I'm not even kidding about that.  The rest of the time, he's mad, he's yelling, he's hurting someone.  It's difficult.  I thought it was so funny that he kept saying that he was happy and that he wanted everyone to be happy.  Because really, he's not that...magnanimous.

We have small moments of bliss, like the cute times listed up above.  I love him with all my heart and soul and want him to be happy.  We just...have to figure out how to do that.  For now, I snuggle with him a lot, I read with him a lot, I play games with him a lot, and I take him places with me, not only because it makes him feel special, but because then it separates him from the other kids and there can be some peace at home.  We'll figure this out.  All I know to do right now is to love him.