Michaels Crafts Cricut 101 Class

As you all know, Princess has started her own crafting blog and she has been doing a great job posting nearly every day. People are starting to notice her amazing Cricut skills. On Friday she helped our little girl scout troop with a cute little autumn acorn craft.

Then on Saturday night, I took a carful of the kids down to Orem so we could attend Princess's Cricut class at Michaels Crafts. She taught 3 of them this week and I didn't want to miss out since she wasn't sure when she might be teaching again.

The class cost us only $20 and it included her expertise and equipment plus a cute plastic storage box for us to decorate that included the vinyl. Each one of us were able to choose a design on the computer or a phone and then she helped us make it come to life in vinyl and then eventually transfer it to the box.

Guess what I spent my time doing?

Scout put volleyballs on her box, of course, and Curly put a football helmet on his. Teach made hers with a cute dinosaur and set it up to keep all of Twizzler's paperwork. Our sweet little guy is going to have to have a bit more time having some of his issues repaired over the next few months. Drama Queen put an amazing and intricate design and a quote on hers, and Baby Doll wants a kitty, so she turned hers into a box dedicated to kittens.

After we finished with the boxes, we still had a little extra time, so Princess helped us with some t-shirts. Baby Doll's turned out so cute! Curly's was football-themed, and Teach made a super cute shirt for Twizlet and Scout helped her make a shirt for Twizzler.

I'm afraid we kept Princess a little longer than our allotted 2 hours, but the folks at Michaels were so sweet and supportive that I will definitely be going out of my way to shop there and you probably should too.

If you get a second, check out Princess's Instagram @craftinkiy for even more fun crafts.

Purple Flurp

In case you hadn't noticed, we are reaching the end of canning season and that means that with the first big freeze, my dear friend, Pauline, will be sending me that text I wait for every year, "Come and get 'em!" Of course I mean her beautiful concord grapes!

Over the last few days, I have juiced 4 gallons of grape juice and last night I finally gave up on the possibility of making jelly anytime soon and I quickly processed them in half-gallon jars for storage until I am ready.

The Dog Walker was close by during this operation, working on his Midterm for his Race in Society class. As I was pouring off the last couple of jars, out of the blue, he said, while still hunched over his reading materials, "Remember Purple Flurp?" Funny he should mention that because a few days ago, when I was juicing the first batch, Drama Queen asked me the same question.

Now if you are a fan of the old-time Jimmy Neutron movie, you would understand that reference, but at our house, as a young boy with Autism, Dog Walker wanted to be just like Jimmy Neutron, so we created our own version of Purple Flurp to satisfy his cravings.

Back to our original conversation...

"Do you want to make Purple Flurp?" I asked as I tossed the flat metal canning lids into a pan of steaming water. He looked up at me and grinned, pencil paused for a moment, "Do you?" I couldn't help but want to please this amazing son of mine, with all of his hard work even in the most difficult circumstances. "Run up to my room and see if you can find a can of Sprite while I finish up these jars and then we will make some."

He was back in a moment with a can of Sprite Zero and I had him reach up to the highest shelf and reach down the fancy blue glasses. After filling them with ice, I put about 3 tablespoons of pure concord grape juice in each one. Then the Dog Walker filled them the rest of the way with the soda.

Ahhhh... Purple Flurp!

National Honor Society

With all the craziness, it seems like we have been missing a few important things, so tonight I went back and looked through the pics on my phone just to make sure. A few weeks ago, Sport got all dressed up and the two of us headed to the high school so he could be inducted into the National Honor Society.

If you remember, Sport was an officer in 9th grade when he was in the NJHS or the middle school version of NHS. He loves hanging out with the smart and motivated people, particularly the girls, and service has always been part of our lives, so NHS was a great spot for him.

I am so proud of him for his hard work and good choices!

Guest Blog - Update on Twizzler by Teach

Life has been so busy and crazy here as we count down the days until Crafty leaves for her mission to the Philippines on October 30. But I didn't want to lose track of the fact that our sweet baby grandson has been in the NICU and now that he is finally home, he is still on oxygen and he still has some battles to fight.


Teach wrote this part for you.

Twizzler was born after 18 hours of labor on October 5, 2019 @ 1:47 PM. He weighs 8 lbs 7 oz and 20 inches long. We are enraptured by his long fingers and mysterious hair color. (Sometimes it looks brown, sometimes red, sometimes blond!) Twizlet is still getting used to her baby brother, but was tenderly gentle when she met him. He is awake more often than not, and smells like heaven. We are so blessed to be his parents. 


Teach has some beautiful pictures, but I want to share the ones I took today. I swear he is smiling in the second one!