Evening in Excellence and Other Stuff

Young Womens, Young Womens, Young Womens. Here is a post of some things we have done in the last couple of months.

Evening In Excellence

The theme for Evening in Excellence this year was Find A Treasure. It obviously centered around finding a treasure. We started the evening with a dessert bar of fondue and tons of yummy dip-ables. I wanted to start the evening with dessert so that we could end the night on a spiritual note. During dessert is also when everyone was able to walk around and see the girls' Personal Progress project displays.

At the end of the dessert portion, every girl opened up a treasure map that had been placed in a treasure chest on every table. The treasure map (which was just a simple download after googling treasure maps...I tried making my own but an hour later realized that was the least important thing to do right then) lead the girls to three different stops before the final treasure. Each stop was a room, marked with an image correlating with the clue. In the room was a leader who read a quote about their divine worth. The final room was marked with a giant red "X".

This room was decorated with tons of mirrors of all shapes and sizes. The purpose was to imply that the treasure was themselves. Once all the girls filed in, we had a guest speaker who centered her talk on the scripture Proverbs 31:10 combined with talking about their divine worth and recognizing that in a world that would have them forget it.

Each girl got to take home an individual mirror with a jeweled tag on the back that said, "Remember what a treasure you are".

The night truly was spectacular.

Another idea from our September activities--

The whole month of activities was geared toward learning about Joseph Smith and the time he lived

    

     learned to embroidery

learned about Emma Smith

     fact scavenger hunt

     the girls worked on individual projects to help them gain a testimony of him, which included learning a    hymn, drawing pictures, reading, embroidery

    the month ended with a program with guest speaker and musical number that was set perfectly to a section of the church produced film on the restoration

Some of the activities we have coming up:

making family trees and "remember when" books for each girls family

visiting a family history center

a progressive dinner at the leaders homes

Not Your Everyday Brownie

I heart brownies. Chewy, chocolatey, not-all-the-way-done brownies. I can make a pan and then be indignant when half of it is missing...and then chagrined when I realize I am the one who ate that half a pan.

So when I browsed this recipe from Picky Palate (ps if you want a sinful dessert just browse her concoctions) I knew I had to make it. Enjoy all of it's caramely, chocolatey, nutty, appley, cream cheesy goodness.

Roasted Apples and Cream Caramel Topped Brownies

I linked to her recipe, well because it is hers, and I am being a little lazy today and don't want to re-type out the recipe.

I will give you some hints...

use foil like she says...it really does make them come out better

you can do it in a 9x13, just cook for less time

really do let them cool completely before pouring over caramel, it will stick better

I only used three apples

when you make them...make them for a function so they are not sitting on your counter daring you not to eat them...you will lose.

Na-Nu Na-Nu

This year's Halloween came from one lone inspiration--an episode of Blue's Clues where Steve dressed up like an Alien with an attached UFO. Saw it a year ago and pistons firing ever since. Cole would be the alien, Jack an astronaut, and baby to be (obviously didn't know what we were having last year) would be a shooting star.

Ironically enough, the only costume that didn't turn out great was the alien...too many construction problems for too novice a sewer. Still, my boys looked pretty cute and we had a great Halloween (even though here they do it two nights before and call it Beggars Night...LAME-O).

Here is a little run down of Trick-or-Treating...

Spencer had to work

Hot gluing costumes minutes before leaving

Jack made it to one house then stayed in wagon rest of the time

Cole took off Alien head 5 houses in

I put it on

Cole took off Alien hands 6 houses in

I did not put them on

Cole now looks like a green hill beside a race track

Case had hacking cough

Case fell asleep in sling

Jack wanted a sucker

Jack lost his sucker

Jack wanted another one

I gave him another one

I asked Cole to ask for candy for Jack at every house

Cole got candy for Jack at almost every house

I found out at almost last house Cole was just asking for another piece of candy...not stating it was for his brother.

Whew we were done

Oh no...Case threw up all over the place.

Clean Case up

Go home

Go to sleep...

for 2 weeks.

if you are curious, yes I already have ideas for next year...hahaha

Blue's Party Final Installment

This was a really fun party to throw. Here is what we did for the party--

Welcome and wait for all the kids to arrive with coloring pages of blue.

Took pictures of each kid with Joe in front of (plastic table cloth) Blue's house. Talked about Blue's Clue and that we needed to use Blue's Clues to find out what Blue's favorite part of Jack's bday is.

First Activity Built Tickety the Clock from paper plates and paper...lead to finding first clue on a paper plate.

Got handy dandy notebooks from side table drawer and drew first clue.

Second Activity played musical paw prints. Each child stood on a paw print with a number on it. There were matching numbers in a bag. Music started kids walked around. Music stopped and so did kids. I pulled a number out of the hat, whichever child was standing on that number got a piece of candy. Went as many times as all kids got two turns....lead to second clue on a number candle.

Drew second clue.

Third Activity was mail time. We sang the mail song. Each child had their own envelope with Shovel inside. Then we matched up Shovel to a giant Pail that was on the wall (a little like pin the tail on the donkey). At the end of this activity it lead to third clue on a yellow fork.

Drew third clue.

Now that we had all three clues we sat in thinking chair and figured out that Blue's favorite thing at Jack's birthday party was Eating Birthday Cake.

Had birthday cake.

Opened presents.

Handed out goodie bags (light blue bags with dark blue spots), which had

     Blue cake pops

     felt finger puppets

     3 coloring pages of Blue

     4 crayons

Said our "thank yous" and "good byes"

Mom promptly collapsed on couch.

I am super happy to share any and all details on how to pull all of these ideas off. If you want more detail on any part of this party feel free to email me see side of blog.

Little Love My Way

My friend (who makes awesome cakes, way more awesomer totally a word than me) told me to submit my Blue's Clue's cake to http://www.easy-birthday-cakes.com/. I debated, most of you know my inability to do something with out getting all twisted up about it not being good enough to do that...yes I am working on it.

So in working on it I totally submitted it to this site. Yay it was accepted and even more yay it totally already has some comments, totally sweet to have a little love sent my way from complete strangers. Don't get me wrong friends and fam...I love your comments and positive reinforcement, but you have to say it, you love me because you are my friends and fam.

Here is the site link.

http://www.easy-birthday-cakes.com/blues-house-cake.html

More party pics to come soon.