Pay it Forward... A handmade gift from ME!

I am joining in the "Pay It Forward" Blog Fun... and I hope you will too!

How does it work?

Here are the rules:

• I will send a handmade gift (of my choosing) to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this "PIF" exchange

• The only thing you have to do in return is PAY IT FORWARD - on your own blog. Make a pledge to send a handmade gift to the first 3 commenter's on your blog "PIF" post.

So, if you want to get a homemade goodie from me, and are willing to do the same via your blog, let me know!

(Note that you'll need to give me your real (snail mail) address... which you can do by private email.) Just leave a comment and I will contact you.

So, who's up for it?

FFF... Spending a little $$ on Myself

I'm in the habit of spending $$ on Bryant and Zac... yet I feel the need to shop clearance racks and garage sales for myself. I think I'm much like other mothers who neglect or sacrifice their own needs for those of their family.

Well, two weeks ago I got a wild hair up my butt and decided to buy a crazy pair of eye glasses at the opthamologist's office. I don't even wear glasses... I wear contacts. But, I felt like I needed to do something for myself... something a little out of character for me. So, not only did I spend a fortune on the glasses, but I purchased pretty sassy and modern glasses too!

Guess I could have smiled a bit... but what do you expect when I'm concentrating on taking a self portrait. I can barely chew gum and walk at the same time! Of course we had to make it a family affair... both Zac and Bryant tried on the glasses.
Believe it or not, the pair of glasses I purchased are pretty conservative for this particular designer. If you want to see some other fun ones... check out his link... http://www.reflectionsbytraff.com/eyewear.html

Eating a Chocolate Easter Bunny... What does it Say about You?

The sinking of teeth into a chocolate Easter bunny requires a bit of strategy on Bryant's part...

Should he attack from the ears?

Or should he respect the head and nibble first on feet?

Will he pluck the candy eyes off so that he can indulge in a sea of uninterrupted, creamy chocolate?

No... He decides to devour the bunny beginning with its face...He nibbles a large crater in the Bunny's face and then eventually moves on to the tip of its ears.

Watching him eat it, I was wondering what this all "meant" psychologically.

After doing a google search I found a fun quiz:

http://www.blogthings.com/theeasterbunnyquiz/

According to the Quiz, the way Bryant ate his Easter Bunny means:

You are a very expressive and sensitive person. Connections to people (and even animals) mean a lot to you. You are adventurous, and you love to tell the stories of your adventures. You're definitely a talker. You sometimes rather talk about things than do them. You make friends easily. You are naturally charming. You're the type most likely to pass out chocolate for Easter.

Yep... that basically sums Bryant right up!

How did you eat your Easter bunny this year?

Tell me what the quiz says about you! Leave me a comment.

A Perfect Easter

The Easter Bunny worked late into the night at our house. He knew that Bryant doesn't really like candy... so he had to come up with other things for his Easter Basket.

The Easter Bunny gave Bryant some very cool gifts this year... beef jerky, binoculars, a baseball bat, chapstick and 2 Boise State University t-shirts. And of course, a package of Peeps (even though they're totally nasty) and a giant Chocolate Bunny!

The Easter Bunny also left Bryant a bowl of eggs and a note. The note said that he was too tired to hide the eggs and he was also afraid that Bryant's new dog would eat them... so he asked Bryant to have his mom and dad hide them in the morning! Bryant thought it was REALLY cool to have a note (and paw prints) from the Easter Bunny. And guess what... the Easter Bunny left a similar note at Karsyn and Cooper's house for their mom and dad... :)Bryant got dressed and grabbed his Easter basket while his mom and Karsyn and Cooper's mom hid 2 bowls of eggs in the front yards.
Bryant's dad was just as excited to hunt Easter Eggs as Bryant was... he'd never hunted egg's until he met Bryant's mommy.

Bryant's Aunt Su-Su, Princess and Uncle Ostridge also came over to experience the annual "hunt" And then the hunt began. They were off... each kid for themself... eagerly finding eggs. A good time was had by all... even though it was ABSOLUTELY freezing outside.
The kids were all smiles in the end...
Bryant was even happier when he learned that some of the eggs had $$ inside them...

This lucky blue egg contained a $1.00 bill and 2 quarters!Bryant ended up with quite the stash of eggs... they contained balloons, candy, toys and money!

We spent the rest of the day playing games, eating a yummy dinner and hanging out with family and friends.

And don't worry... we remembered the REAL reason we were celebrating Easter by doing a "family" art project with Bryant...

We hope you all had a great Easter as well!

FFF... Favorite Foto Friday... Spring has Sprung

Baseball always marks the start of Spring for me... and thus I know Spring has Sprung because Babe Ruth Baseball started for Bryant this week.

He was SO excited for practice to begin... and games start the 31st!

This is Bryant after practice... sound asleep in the car before we even got out of the parking lot. Seriously... that's no joke!

An Art Project Gone Wrong...

From reading my blog you probably know how much I love to do art projects with Bryant and his friends... well Sunday I thought I would show them the art of tie dyeing shirts for St. Patrick's Day (not that I'm into tie dye... but as I kid I LOVED to do it at Camp.)

Bryant and I spent all morning getting the supplies together. I couldn't find plain white t-shirts (that were cheap) so I ended up buying t-shirts that said IDAHO on them. I figured the kids wouldn't care. I also remembered the key ingredient... Vinegar (to set the green dye).

I gathered Karsyn, Cooper, Bryant and Jen (K and C's mom) together for the project. We decided we better do it outside since the project encompassed Dye and kids!

The kids twisted, knotted, tied and rubber banded their t-shirts into giant abstract formations (which they decided to pose with on their heads??)
We even made sure to have latex exam gloves on so that our hands wouldn't turn green.
Bryant was the first to throw his shirt in the dye and vinegar mix. Look how much fun is it to make a mess!
It didn't take too long before I had to take over. The kids were getting dye all over their other clothes. Even being an adult, I still managed to get dye on my hands and feet. It was a messy project...
Three t-shirts later we were done. Whallla. Perfectly tie dyed green shirts. The kids were amazed by the designs the rubber bands and twisting created.... but boy were they stinky with all the vinegar in them!Seeing as they were so stinky, I decided to rinse the t-shirts out so they wouldn't smell. I put them in the washer and ran them through the rinse cycle. When I took them out... low and behold... they were as WHITE as when we started. The green tie dye was gone!

Bryant started crying. The other kids were sad. I had no clue what had gone wrong. Eventually I called my mom to ask her advice. Well guess what... I learned from my mom that you can't use McCormick's food/egg dye on clothing... you have to use RIT dye (made for clothes). OMG. How could I have not figured that out?

I didn't want to go searching for the RIT dye on a Sunday NIGHT... so I had the kids paint their St. Patrick's day t-shirts. That's where the "lovely" shirt on the St. Patrick's day post below came from :)

And the kicker of it all... the McCormick's dye still hasn't wash off my hands or of my shoes! Go figure!!!

The cutest little Leprechaun...

A Boy's love for his DAD

Bryant spent hours working on this sign to hold at the airport when Zac returned from the Nike Football Camp.

He missed his Daddy so much....

Figuring that Zac might like to keep it forever, I had Bryant draw it on an Artist's Canvas.He even wanted to spend $1 of his OWN money to buy Zac a football balloon at the Dollar Store (see 1st picture for the balloon).

We're glad to have Zac home... and we're looking forward to spending time RELAXING with him.

Park+ Mud + Snails + Cat Tail Fights + Ice Cream = BEST DAY EVER!

Since Zac was gone this weekend, I asked Bryant what he wanted to do.

I expected him to say things like "Go to Chuck E Cheese"or "Go to Boondocks Fun Center."
But what he decided what he really wanted to do was invite his friend Cooper to come over and play outside.

I guess his request didn't surprise me too much... Bryant loves to be outside.

But I decided that we needed to do something special so I loaded Bryant and Cooper into the car and drove them to a big public park (that we NEVER get to play at).

The boys thought it was SUPER COOL that the park I took them to had a Merry-Go-Round. Neither boy had ever played on one before.

(Most parks around here have omitted them since they've been deemed "dangerous")

Bryant and Cooper even took our dog, "Big Sweetie," for a few rides on the Merry-Go-Round.

But... boys will be boys!

They saw MUD looming on the horizon and wanted so desperately to go play in it.

This is their, "Come on Mom.... PPLLLEEEAAASSSEEE" look...

You see, there is normally a huge pond in this particular park. I'm not sure where all the water in the pond has gone... but now there is only MUD.

The boys played in the muddy "pond" for hours. They collected about 1000 of these vacant snail shells.

Soon thereafter they discovered the Cat Tails that were growing on the perimeter of the pond.

Here's Bryant showing off his newly plucked Cat Tail... can you see the mischief in his eyes?
One guess... see the Cotton like fuzz all over the end of it... well with a few shakes of his hand the Cotton fuzz floated into the air and all over ME!

After the boys covered me with fuzz they turned on each other.

A good 1/2 hour of Cat Tail fighting ensued. They laughed and laughed and laughed.After 3 hours of playing at the park we left.

I took Bryant and Cooper to Dairy Queen (which they think is called FAIRY QUEEN) for ice cream treats. I told them they were the "best boys" in the whole wide world so they could pick whatever they wanted.

The ice cream was so yummy... as you can tell by the evidence on their faces.
And in case you're wondering... the boys told me since I was the "best mom" I should pick whatever I wanted too!

So I did. A delicious Peanut Buster Parfait ... with a diet coke

Congratulations Coach Randolph!

This week has brought lots of reason to celebrate in the Randolph Household.

My extremely talented husband has been living his dream by coaching High School FOOTBALL for the last 5 years. Over the years it's been awesome and humbling to see his dedication and enthusiasm for his players and team.

Early this week Zac received a big promotion in the world of "football coaching staff." He's still at the same high school... but has a much better position.

Towards the middle of the week, Zac was asked to step in and c0-coach one of the high school baseball teams! He's never coached baseball before (although he played all the way through High School)... but his excitement to coach will surely get him and his team a long way.

The season begins next week!

At the end of the week, Zac was invited to attend an "all expenses paid" Nike Training/Coaching Camp. He's currently in Oregon with other coaches from around the U.S. to network and learn all sorts of "secret" coaching skills! And to make things even better... one of the keynote speakers is a famous High School coach from Alabama... GO BAMA!

Bryant and I are very proud of Zac and all he's accomplishing.

Teacher, Coach, Father, Husband, and Friend. He's successful at everything.

And for those of you who don't know... on top of everything else... Zac is getting his Masters Degree. He goes to school 2 nights a week. Thankfully he'll be done this winter!

We love you ZAC!