Whirl Wind Project: Completed

Well, I got bit by a whirl wind project this past week. We actually I guess it was two.

The first one was to crochet a shrug for my good friend Christina to wear with a formal gown to a banquet. I used a free pattern by Moda-Dea called Sassy Stripes. We liked the design but not the yarn so I went to the ever resourceful Hobby Lobby to search out a black yarn in the same weight as called for in the pattern. I ended up using the Baby Bee Yarn Light Licorice which is a super soft baby yarn in a charcoal gray color. I am very happy with the way it turned out and I'm on edge to see pictures of how it looked with Christina's gown. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it came together. The weight was nice and it actually seemed a cute way to cover up a sleeveless formal gown.

Anyway, this post was originally to show off my newly made curtians, this weeks project #2. My boys have been getting up increasingly earlier with the sun, much to my dismay (I am not a morning person and poor Josh is still getting up at 4:30 to leave for work so I'm on my own with the boys in the morning). I was in Walmart and happened to notice that they had bolts of denium for $2 a yard that got my wheels turning. Eventually I made my way back and bought 3 yards of it with the scheme to make new curtains for the boys room our of it. Well, a few hours later (not consecutive hours mind you) and Wahla!!! We have new curtains that make the room practically dark even at midday! In all they cost me around $10 with the addition of large plastic buttons. Well worth if for the hope of more sleep, especially come summer when the sun actually rises around 4AM (I miss Utah's mountains for blocking the insainly early surises).

I also, at the suggestion of a friend, went to the dollar store to check out some wall stickers they have. I snatched up the cute robots you see in the picture above and did an easy border pattern around the boys room. I love the look and it was super cheap and do able in an apartment. Now my gears are turning (ha ha gears) on what robot decor I can add to the room. I'm thinking art work, pillows, softies... I've been surfing around looking for various ideas. Here's a few I found. I'll keep you posted on what actually comes together.

• Cute Robot Pillow/Softies from Revoluzzza
• Gears painted on the wall of a darling nursery
• Robot Applique

Sam Sam the Dancin' Man

This morning Sam and I had fun dancing to our little toy piano. It's a little aligator piano made by Little Tikes that has a demo mode that plays random songs. It was Sam's idea to dance. He would hit a key to start a song and dance for a bit then run and hit another key for a different song. We danced slow, fast, on our toes, marching, like butterflies and planes; we danced ourselves silly. And after mom was all tuckered out and dizzy Sam did a solo show, that's when I ran to grab the camera. Somewhere Sam got the idea of rolling around on the floor doing dance moves. He dubbed it the noodle soup dance. (Warning: these are mostly for the benifit of the Grandparents, though I personally think they are super cute!)

You probably notice Sam is wearing a pull-up. The kid loves to wear them but he is not potty trained, YET. He goes pee pee in the potty probably 2 times a day and as a reward gets to wear the "big boy pants".

Now that I think about it, Sam might have picked up his floor moves from watching gymnastics on tv last Saturday. Hmm... interesting.

Gr-8 to be ME

LIST OF EIGHTS

List of eight tag:
1) Post rules on your blog
2) Answer the five '8' items
3) Let each person you tag know by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV shows:
LOST
Numb3rs
Clean House
Rachel Ray
American Idol
Curious George
Blues Clues
Masterpiece Theater


8 (+) things I did yesterday:
DanceDanceRevolution
Got the boys ready to go to the park
Put the boys in time-out and didn't go to the park
Picnic lunch in the living room while watching Curious George
Took Elijah to school and ran errands with Sam
Picked up Elijah and dragged him to the car
Talked to Christina and my Mom
Made dinner and ate with the boys
Picked up Josh from the bus stop
CRASHED


8 favorite restaurants:
Ali Baba Grill
Rumbi Island Grill
Hunan
Thai Kitchen
Papa Murphys Pizza
Inta Juice
Chilis
Cafe Rio

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
Seeing Christina
Going to Utah next week and seeing my family
Going to the Draper Temple Open House
Josh getting published
JOSH GRADUATING!!!!
Figuring out where we will be in 6 months
Summer and playing outside with my boys (husband included)
Getting the top three things on my wish list


8 things on my wish list:
House
Mini Van (Toyota Sienna)
Baby (a girl would be nice)
Dog
Family trip to So Cal
Live closer to family
A craft room and a back yard
More time with Josh

8 People I tag:
1. Anna
2. Mom
3. Christina
4. Ashley
5. Cami
6. Cammie
7. Celeste
8. Jessica

Question from the HEART

At breakfast this morning Elijah stops eating and says "Mom I have something to ask you." He then says "Mom, do you know I love you?" in the sweetest voice. Then Sam chimed in with "Mom... 'ove" and reaches over for a big sticky hug.

MELT MY HEART!

I love you too, Elijah and Sam!

The Grandson of two Engineers

Friday the boys and I watched Curious George (our favorite show that unfortunately has been stuck in a rerun rut, except for Friday -thankfully) and George was trying to make a bridge for some chicks to get across some water using toothpicks, marshmallows and playing cards. The show took George through multiple tries with each attempt building on the previous and getting better until he finally had a bridge that would support the weight of the chicks. Elijah was GLUED.

I try and get a project or activity going for Elijah to do by himself while I put Sam down for his nap. Friday he wanted to build a bridge with marshmallows. I pulled them out and he took off running. By the time Sam was down (we do some mommy-Sammy cuddle time) Elijah was well into making his bridge. With just a little reminding from me he managed to get the shape of the bridge just like Georges complete with triangle sides to support it.

In all it took him probably 1 1/2-2 hours to make his bridge, 85% by himself. We even tested it to see if it would hold up between two Tupperware containers and IT WORKED. Elijah was so pleased with himself.

Josh came home and saw the bridge and was overly impressed. What can I say, I guess it's in his genes.

And if you're wondering... Yes they did eat the bridge for dessert that night.

Happy Love Day to YOU!

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day on Saturday and put to use some of Chrisy's wonderfully creative ideas from her HOT blog Let Me Count The Ways. Saturday was actually a bumb day for us, Josh worked ALL day and got home late. Blahhh. He did redeem himself yesterday though with an amazing steak and shrimp dinner.

Elijah worked hard this week to make his Valentines for school. He decided to do the Butterfly Sucker Valentines from Skip to My Lou. We printed them out and I cut them out while Elijah got to work writing his name on the back --21 times. It took me a few days to coax him into doing all of them but he did make it. He then put stickers on the butterfly wings and glued eyes on the suckers. He was very excited about how they turned out and very proud when he passed them out to all his schoolmates.

Sam wanted in on the action while Elijah and I were working on gluing on the eyes so I cut out a heart for him to decorate. He had so much fun using the glue to put eyes and trinkets on his heart. He did it all by himself and was more than happy to let me take pictures of his finished valentine.

Thank you to Grammie and Grandma who sent packages. The boys loved their valentine surprises! We LOVE you very much!

another milestone *6000+ visits

My sister mentioned to me yesterday that she was my 6000th visiter (well she was my 5999th and then refreshed the page). It then occured to me that I haven't posted anything in awhile. It hasn't been for lack of things to say but I guess I've just had a lot of other stuff on my mind including -but not limited to- enrichment meetings, coupon clipping, learning to knit, exercising, cooking, digging myself out of my pit of a bedroom... you know, all the usual stuff.

I've got a few cute pictures of the boys on my camera I'll try and get posted later today. But for know I'm making a bee-line to the shower!

The BEST food with the BEST Boys!

For Josh's birthday we all went out to eat at our favorite Arabic restaurant Ali Baba Grill. The food there is heaven and we go there every chance we get. We both always order the King Combo which comes with a little of everything. I love the Kobideh kabab and the falafel. Mouth watering! I had my camera with me that night so I snapped some cute pictures of my dates.

We chose to sitt in the upper room with the couches and low tables. The ceiling is drapped with fabric and the walls are covered with intricate Middle Eastern art and decor. Elijah is lounging on the couch while waiting for our food. There is a fountain in the middle of the room that kept Sam occupied when he got bored with dinner. (Isn't the birthday boy just the handsomest! I love that man!)

Family Outing: Museum Free Day

Josh took the afternoon off on Monday and we headed down to the Nature and Science Museum for their free day. I was worried that the museum would be mazo but really it wasn't that bad and we all had a wonderful time. The museum is HUGE! We went with my mother in November and saw maybe 1/3 of it. I think we only got to see another 1/3 of the museum on Monday. We saw their gem collection, the north American wildlife exhibit, and the prehistoric exhibit. The boys loved the buttons that made the animal sounds in the wildlife exhibit. The dinosaur bones were pretty interesting too. They even had a skeleton of a pteranodon (Elijah's particular favorite).

Throughout the wildlife exhibit they had long benches down the middle of the room. The boys enjoyed "resting" on them. It was pretty amazing to be so close to the animals and really get an idea for how big the actually are. Walrus' are HUGE, moose are MASSIVE.

The deer exhibit had rubber ears you could play with the see how they funnel the sound. They also make you look ridiculous.

They also had phones where you could listen to information about the exhibit. Sam thought they were pretty cool.

If you look closely there is a pteranodon (not sure if that is technically correct but Elijah has labeled it such) hanging above their heads with massive fossils behind them.

The had a chart on the wall that compared the sizes of a T-Rex and a Bronciosaurus to a measure stick. Elijah didn't even make it to their ankle.

I would recomend the museum! There is so much to see and do and getting in FREE made it all the better. We had so much fun as a family. They are great people to be with.

Other Museum Free Days in 2009

Wednesday, March 18

Sunday, April 19

Sunday, May 31

Wednesday, June 10

Monday, July 13

Wednesday, August 12

Sunday, September 13

Sunday, October 4

Monday, November 2

Sunday, November 22

The Birthday Boy's Cake

Josh celebrated his birthday this past weekend. He has now breached the 30 mark. It's pretty crazy to think about. Anyway, he requested a German Chocolate Cake so I went to http://www.tastespotting.com/ and did a search. I found the most HEAVENLY cake recipe! I have never had a cake turn out so perfectly and it didn't call for any random ingredients I didn't already have. I had to take a picture of them still in the pans. I was amazed that they rose straight up without any little mound in the middle. AMAZING! I froze them over night and then let them sit for 20 minutes or so before I cut them in half horizontally to get four layers. The frosting recipe that came with the cake recipe was also really good. I took a liberty and toasted the rest of the coconut left over in the bag and used it to garnish the top of the cake. The result was an easy and quite stunning looking cake. (I am a bit proud of my self but I give most of the credit to the recipe)

Just writing about it I can still smell and taste it. MMmmmmm.

We had friends over to help us eat the cake. Josh had 4-5 kids helping him put his 30 candles on the cake. There definitly were enough to go around. Then it took us 5 minutes to light them all -Look OUT!







My attempt to get a picture of Josh blowing out the candles resulted in me getting a picture of the cloud of smoke. It was ALOT of candles.



Happy Birthday JOSHUA!




I am so grateful for Josh and that we get to spend our lives together. Every year gets better. I look forward to growing old with him.

Happy Birthday Anna

I am grateful from my sister Anna. It was so good to see her over Christmas. She always manages to make me laugh--especially when we play pillow red light green light and bum tag. She knows how to have good fun. I admire her and appreciate her friendship and good example. She has really grown up since I moved out of the house. It is amazing to see what a beautiful, talented woman she is. I am grateful that we have grown closer through the years and look forward to growing even closer as the age difference between us grows even more insignificant. I am grateful for the reminders I have of her that hang around my house. She has such an amazing artistic talent and has given me some of her work and has also picked out other beautiful pieces that grace my walls. They remind me of her love, talents, testimony and friendship.

Anna did this painting for Josh and I when we got married for my family history wedding display.

She did this little sketch of Sam shortly after he was born. My mother has a large watercolor of Elijah at her house that I'm quite jealous of.

This picture is a paper cut from China. Anna picked it up for me when she was out there last summer with my Dad. It's a really cool piece. The tree is cut out of tissue thin paper and is VERY detailed.

It took me awhile to figure out an economical way to frame it and accentuate the fact that it is a paper cut. I ended up putting it in one of those floating frames with double glass. Then I attatched a piece of cardstock on the back of the fram whick left about 3/8 of an inch between the cut and the cardstock.

This year for Christmas Anna gave us a gorgeous print of the Savior by Simon Dewey. That artist has a special place in my heart and his picture of the Savior is beautiful.

Happy Birthday last week, Anna! I love you!

Boys will be Boys... and Someday Dads too

It amazes me how boys and girls are so different, even at a very very young age. There is no question in my mind that they come that way. In my case, my boys are facinated by guns. I don't encourage this and we don't own any toy guns BUT anything and everything becomes a gun... blocks, sticks, balls, pillows, pretzels, you name it and it can and will be used as a gun. Elijah is the one that really gets creative but Sam is following suit. This morning I caught Sam shooting Josh with his SLEEVE, complete with sound effects. And he made sure that Josh put his "gun" away so that he could shoot him.

Another funny story from Elijah. I was cleaning up the dishes this morning and Elijah yelled at me to look at him and he was standing on a chair doing the Yoga Tree pose. I complemented him and said "You'll be a Yoga Master some day." He quickly replied "I don't want to be a Yoga Master, I want to be a daddy when I'm big like you, Mom." He got a big hug for that comment.

YIP-PEE

It was another wonderful slow Saturday morning where I woke up to the sounds of my boys cooking in the kitchen. This morning though the conversation was super cute to listen in on. There were pancakes on the griddle and Elijah and Sam were getting all excited because they were almost done. Elijah I'm sure was doing his excited wiggle jump on the chair and was saying "Yipee". I guess Sam thought that was great and wanted in on the action. This led to Elijah teaching Sam how to say Yipee...

"Sam you say 'YIP'"

"ZIP"

"Pee"

"Pa"

"No Sam. PEE"

"Pa"

"YIP-PEE, Sam"

"ZIP-PA"

"Look Dad, I taught Sam how to say Yipee!"


Super Super CUTE!

Grateful

I am grateful for sunshine in January and snowfall in the mountains.

I am grateful that my two boys are good friends and are cuddled together sleeping in the same bed.

14 Days of Valentines

I was thinking the other day and figured out that Josh was my first true Valentine. It is also true that that first Valentine's day(s) he won me over big with the 14 Days of Valentine's, a tradition he carried over from his mom and that still continues between Josh and I. Much like the 12 days of Christmas, the 14 day's of Valentines is a daily expression of the holiday for the 14 days of February leading up to Valentine's Day. For two weeks you have the opprotunity to express your love everyday in extra ordinary ways. I highly recommend it!

This year Josh's mother has jumped on the blog bandwagon (with a little help from her daughters and myself) and has created a Valentine's Day blog where she shares the many creative ideas she has come up with throughout the years of celebrating the 14 Days of Valentines.

Check out her blog and the plethura of ideas she has then try out the tradition yourself! It doesn't have to be fancy or cost a lot of money, just a little time and creativity.

Go grab a button and spread the love!

It's a Zoo... or maybe a Farm?

Over the past week or so Elijah has been going through a phase where he has been acting like a dog. Complete with barking, crawling on all fours, licking, panting, and sleeping on the floor. He has gotten Sam in on the action so I've had two little dogs running around the house. The other day they got themselves breakfast and had started licking it out of their bowls on the kitchen floor by the time I got to them.

Yesterday, though, the game changed and I am now the mother of two baby pigs. Elijah squeeks and squeals and Sam goes around saying "uck, uck" (his version of oink). Their beds are pig stys and their oatmeal is pig slop. Elijah was even acting like a pig at preschool yesterday.

I have some imaginative, silly little boys on my hands. They make life interesting and fun.

Gratitude Moment

Today I am grateful for:

• Josh being swamped at work because his qubits are looking promising--maybe even "very" promising--maybe
• The boys going to bed easily tonight when I was doing it solo
• For the internet that allows me to stay in contact with my family and friends and also provides a place for me to learn, try and share new things.

My Own Custom Template: Made By ME!

So my project for the last few days has been to create and figure out how to do my own template. There are some great resources out there that have taught me how to manipulate, add to and change the html in a blog. You may have been checking in on my blog the last couple of days and seen something random for a minute or two... that was me testing the results. Anyway, if you are reading this you are seeing the final result --for now. I may play around with it a bit more. Do you like it? Is it readable? Improvements?

If you desire to have your own custom template it's not that difficult. You will need a photo editing program like Photoshop, digital scrapbooking papers and elements, and a photobucket.com account.

I have an old version of Photoshop Elements that did the job well. The Cutest Blog on the Block says you can also use less pricy programs like "Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft PowerPoint, or a very cool program you can download for free online from a site called Paint.net"

As for digital scrapbooking paper and elements there are many availible for download for FREE, which is what I did. There are also kits that you can buy for a minimal charge. Check out these sites for details. I personally got my paper from the Shabby Princess.

www.shabbyprincess.com
www.designerdigitals.com
www.digitaldesignessentials.com
www.digitalscrapbookplace.com
www.scrapgirls.com
www.scrapbookflair.com
www.sweetshoppedesigns.com
www.twopeasinabucket.com
www.littledreamerdesigns.com

After you have downloaded your papers and embelishments (and unzipped them) you are ready to use them in your photo editing program. Shabby Princess has great video tutorials on how to do this and Cutest Blog on the Block has some step by step suggestions. Cutest Blog on the Block also has suggestions as to page size and resolution.

Once you have your image the way you want your background to look save it as a .jpg or .gif. You are now ready to upload it to photobucket. You need a photobucket account so that you can utilize them to get the html code for your image that you will need to add into your blogger template html.

The exact place to put the html is explained in the steps on Cutest Blog on the Block. You must have your blogger template in "minima" for it to work.

Are you totally confussed yet?

I have also come across helpful information at the following sites as to how to manipulate the html code to change your blog format in addition to The Cutest Blog on the Block:
www.delightfuldots.com shows you how to change the colors and remove the header border. She also has some really cute premade templates for free.
http://sjhblogdesign.blogspot.com/ is very helpful with code changes

When I did my own template I wanted to change the column width of the text and sidebars as well as center my header to better fit my new background. I had to play around with the html in order to do this and found out that in order to shift things I need to change "wrapper" width. Originally the "outer-wrapper" was 660px. I changed it to 850px which made my posts and side bar more spaced out. I also changed the "main-wrapper" width to 550px. To shift the header more to the middle I changed the "header-wrapper" width to 780px. Don't be afraid to play around with the html. Use the preview to see the results of your changes without saving them but be sure to save the changes you like so you don't loose them.

One more thing I learned in all this experimenting. There is a way to have your text colors match your background that you made. In photoshop there is an eyedrop tool. If you go to choose a color but roll over your image the eyedrop tool shows up and you can pull a color off of your image. (Not sure how this option works in other programs) In that same color choice box a number will come up specific to that color. The number is called the color's "hex code". Copy and paste that number into a little box labeled "edit color hex code" in blogger where you can adjust the fonts and colors.

I'm also working on a post on how to create and share your own button but the html is proving hard to blog with. Hopefully I'll figure it out eventually.

Anyway, if you've gotten this far on this post you are probably as nuts as I am. I hope I haven't scared you off but intrigued your interest. If you have any questions I would love to help!

Have a happy day

Gratitude

I am grateful for hugs. Good squeezing hugs from all of my boys

I am grateful that despite all the wrestling, squaking, fighting, yelling, and sometimes hitting Elijah and Sam do have some tender moments when they hug each other and play really well with each other.

I am grateful tomorrow is another day

Chart Follow Up

Last week I posted on my random find in the Target dollar section. Thank you for all your comments and ideas. I eventually made my way back to Target and bought myself more of the hanging charts because I simply couldn't choose just one use for it. I'm still doing a bit of plotting but I have some progress to share. So far I have used one for my menu, one for Elijah and one for Sam. I'm still planning on doing a Chore Chart and possibly a FHE one (yes I bought 4 more at Target, call me NUTS)

For each of my charts I utilized my handy thermal pouch laminator. If you do not have a personal laminator of your own, put one on your wish list! They are wonderful to have. Great for FHE lessons, charts, flash cards, primary etc. I got mine at Walmart for around $25 and it will laminate up to 8.5x11 sheets. Walmart sells 20 pouches for around $8. My exact machine is made by Scotch. There are many other options out there for laminators, some of them rather expensive, but you don't have to invest a lot to get a good result.

For my MENU chart I typed up the meals that we eat on a regular basis and included the major ingredients. The idea is that I will go through and pick out the meals for the week, post them on my handy chart and highlight any items that I need to pick up at the store. I laminated each of the cards so that I can use a dry erase marker on them to make notes on needed ingredients. I hung the chart at the end of my alley kitchen in plain sight. Hopefully there wont be any more "I don't know what to make for dinner" panic moments.

For ELIJAH's chart I laminated blank 3x5 cards and used a dry erase marker (they make washable ones, great for kids!) to write different words for him to learn to read (thanks for the idea mom). He got very excited and wanted to write some of them himself. I'm thinking we will work on them everyday for a week and then erase them and write new ones. This idea is likely to evolve as we use it. There is still room on his chart for more cards and I am thinking of taking a picture of a clean room and putting him in charge of keeping it cleaned up for the week. Another idea I'm still toying with.

SAM's is similar to Elijah's but I laminated smaller cards and wrote letters on them for him to recognize and match the upper and lower case letters. I hung the boys charts in their room and I think we will work on them in the morning and before bed.

Thanks again for all your ideas and sharing in the creativity!

Radical Redbox

Josh and I often rent movies from our local Redbox. We rarely make it to the movie theaters so we wait for the movies to come out on DVD and then rent them for a dollar a night. I'm sure many of you have heard of and probably used your own local Redbox's found at McDonald's, Walmart and even some grocery stores. BUT if you aren't using their internet options, you are missing out on the full beauty of the Redbox.


It's amazing, you get the urge to watch a movie, you sit down at your computer, go to redbox.com and instantly you can search by movie or redbox location. It will tell you what movies are available and where AND then you can reserve it ONLINE. You simply create a log in, enter your credit card info and the movie is reserved. Then all you have to do is pick up the movie at your own convenience knowing that the movie you want is saved just for you. Simply swipe the same credit card at the correct redbox and out pops your movie. If you can't make it or forget to pick up your movie Redbox charges you for one night and makes the movie available for rent the next day.


Many times I'll get the urge to rent a movie early in the day, reserve it online, and Josh will pick it up on the way home. Easy!


Anyway, Josh and I got one such urge to watch a movie last night on our newly upgraded TV (we have finally graduated from 13"-land) and on a whim rented Eagle Eye not knowing anything about it other than what info Redbox had online. It turned out to be a great movie! It's a really good conspiracy movie and we really enjoyed it. The storyline keeps you guessing and on the edge of your seat. There are two characters who are "enlisted" to do a mission for some unknown person who knows everything about them and is able to manipulate technology to do just about anything. If you are in the mood for a great action movie check out Eagle Eye.

New Year, New Look

It is hard to believe that I have been doing this blog thing for a YEAR now! I've learned a lot about blogging in that year. I've journaled and linked and uploaded pictures and videos and now I have quite a collection of posts in my archive. I've hesitated to change my boring, standard blog template for fear of loosing all my link lists and side bar information. It wasn't until today that I realized that if I used one of the templates that is simply an html gadget that I wouldn't loose anything. DUH! Anyway, I'm toying with a new look but I'm tempted to utilize my new found (very basic) digital scrapbooking skills to come up with something original... we'll see.

Also, with the close of year I am wanting to some how make a hard copy of my old posts. I like the idea of putting it together into an actually book. Has anyone looked into or tried any of the websites out there that allow you to do this?

Eating Rubber

Elijah is becoming more willing to try new foods or at least take one bite of foods he claims he doesn't like. The other night I made Chinese Hot and Sour Eggplant for dinner (a very good recipe despite the story to follow). Neither of the boys were thrilled, but there was rice involved so they ate. I had added red pepper to the eggplant and we told Elijah he need to try a bite of either the eggplant or the pepper and we put both on his plate. He opted for the red pepper, liked it and eventually ate more. What really surprised me was that eventually he tried the eggplant too. Well, the eggplant skin for some reason, either that paticular eggplant or me not cooking it quite long enough, was a little bit squeeky against the teeth when you chewed it. That intrigued Elijah so he proceeded to chew the eggplant despite his original disdain.

After finally spitting out the eggplant Elijah exclaimed, "The eggplant squeeked on my teeth like when you put a bouncy ball in your mouth!"

mmmm, YUM

Game Review: Lost Cities

We received this game for Christmas from my parents. It is a two player card game that has has one a few awards, has many positive reviews and has been on the top seller list of Fun Again Games for months.

Josh and I have played it probably 5 or 6 times now and I will be honest the game has really frustrated me.

The rules are simple enough, game play is pretty straight forward, but the stragety was (and still is a bit) hard for me to figure out. I was extreemly frustrated that I kept loosing and didn't know why or how to change it. There is a lot of luck in the game as to what cards you end up with and if you don't get the cards in an ideal order you are likely not to do well that round.

I will say that once I got through my initial frustration I like the game. Josh even says he likes it better than Canasta, another 2 or 4 player card game. My need to figure out the best way to play has proved to be addicting and I can say I am getting better.

Overall, I recomend this game but be warned that there is a lot of luck involved in the game play and for those of us that like to have a little more control in a strategy game it may prove frustrating for awhile. (Though I don't think Josh ever got as frustrated with it as I did)

My Buddy

I am grateful for my little buddy, Sam.

Sam is out growing his nap and that means that Tuesdays and Thursdays while Elijah is in school Sam and I get to spend some one on one time together. The last few times we have been running errands together. Sam is the cutest little helper and a great shopper. He loves to just sit in the front of the cart and jabber to me and many of the people we past. He says "fast" and "slow" for how he wants me to drive; he comments on the colors of items and says whether he likes it or not; he says "Hi" to random people and always says "Bye" to the cashier. Overall it makes for a fun shopping trip and I am grateful to have the cute little guy with me and I am grateful for his friendly example.

My little Christmas Elf

Elijah's preschool put on a Christmas program at our stake center. Elijah was super excited about it for weeks and he sure didn't disappoint come performance day. Call me a little biased, but he was the cutest little elf, BY FAR!

Their first song was "'Til Winter Comes". The school director does daily music time with the kids and has created her own selection of songs that the kids love to sing and dance to while she plays the guitar.

The second song they did was "Jingle Bells". I guessed they would be doing this song because Elijah has been singing it a lot at home, even the "dashing through the snow..." part. When it came time to perform though, it seems that all of the kids, Elijah included, forgot to sing. But they got the bell part down.

Elijah has been absolutely loving preschool! We had parent/teacher conferences in November and both his teacher and his teacher's assistant love him and consider him a great verbal model for the class. He is great at sparking class discussions with his thoughtful questions.

Creativity in Question

I found this at Target last week in the dollar section. It was just screaming with possibilities, the question is what exactly should I do with it?


It is a green canvas wall hanging that is 16" by 26" with 8 clear pockets in which there are white strips of cardstock each 2" wide. It came labeled as a schedule board.


Some of the ideas that I have been throwing around include:

• a menu board
• activity planner
• projects list
• chore chart

I'm throwing the question out to YOU... any ideas on how you would use this? (and then you can run to your nearest Target and nab one for yourself, you might just see me there!)


PLEASE SHARE!





Side note: for those of you bitten by the annual get organized aka dig yourself out of the Christmas-created clutter, Target also had some darling cardboard magazine file boxes in their dollar section.

The Sounds of Gratitude

I am grateful for Saturdays...

This morning I woke up to the subtle (and some not so subtle) sounds of my three boys cooking breakfast in the kitchen. There was Josh giving directions on what and when to add stuff to the bowl, Elijah jabbering constantly with inquisitive questions and random insights, and Sam excitedly using his FINALLY growing list of words including "Faffle" "'poon" "s'ir" "hot" "on" etc. I lazily laid in bed enjoying the peace of the moment to actually think (imagine that!) and be grateful.

That is why I'm grateful for Saturdays.
(That, and Josh is cleaning the bathroom as I type this!)

Take a deep breath---and just dive in

Long time no see!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I'm sure some of you are wondering where in the world I have been. Well, we made our annual 2+week trip to Utah for the holidays and thus I was mostly AFK (gaming term for "away from keyboard" for those lucking enough not to know the lingo). We got home Sunday night but I'll be honest and say I've been avoiding blogging. With the things that have built up, like all the holiday news and events, I have been waiting for the perfect moment to regurgitate it all for your reading pleasure. Unfortunatly days have passed and the ideal moment has not come along. So I sit here writing while my husband and two year old mess up the kitchen making dinner just to let you know that I'm alive and well and I am still planning on keeping my blog up and going.

I will say that we did have a wonderful trip seeing family and friends. I love the holdiay season because it's all about FAMILY, and it is one of the few occasions when all of Josh's family is in town at the same time. Elijah and Sam had such a great time with their grandparents, aunts and uncles. It was so hard to pull them away from them. We were lucky enough to have storms come through that initiated us to leave a little earlier than planned and stay a little longer than planned. I'm sure the extra time with family was appreciated by all.

I am so grateful for the blessing of family- my little family, the family I grew up in, and the family I married into. Their unconditional love supports me and sustains me even from a distance. I am grateful for the Christmas season and the opprotunity it gives me to focus my thoughts and efforts more on my Savior and the special gift of His birth and life. I am grateful for childhood and the wonder and joy of seeing life through the eyes of my children. I love sharing that joy with our extended family. I am grateful for the New Year and the symbolism of renewal and the resolve to change. (Expressing gratitude is a renewed goal of mine)

Well, I'm still trying to dig myself out of the residue of Christmas decorations and chaos. After I do I have a few projects and cute pictures to share!

Edible Snowflakes

I've done a fair amount of blog surfing lately so I don't remember where I got this idea BUT I did it today and I had to share it.

You will need:
Tortillas
Cinnamon and Sugar
Oil

For my tortillas I buy the fresh, uncooked ones at Costco. If you have never had these you are missing out. Fresh tortillas are wonderful, soft, and melt in your mouth. Perfect for tacos, egg rolls, floutas, chimichangas, etc... If you don't have fresh tortillas you can use the store bought ones. You will need to heat them a bit in the microwave or get them a little wet so that they don't break when you fold them.

Fold your tortilla in half, and in half again. Cut it like you would a paper snowflake with your kitchen scissors. I made triangle cuts on all three sides.

Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a large skillet. While the oil is getting hot mix your cinnamon and sugar together. Make sure you have everything ready before you put the tortillas in the skillet, they cook lightening fast!

Once the oil is hot, put in a tortilla, flip it, and remove it to a paper towel covered plate. Sprinkle immediately with cinnamon/sugar.

Eat them warm and yummy! They even sparkle like snowflakes. Mine didn't last around long enough for me to take a picture of them.

Star Wars Tribute... Needs your VOTE

Check out this video performance of a Star Wars Tribute by an acapella group called Moosebutter. A friend of ours is one of the group members who helped write and sing this song. It's quite a creative song.

After you see the movie and have the song stuck in your head go vote for it for the CBS People's choice award.

1.Go to http://www.pcavote.com/

2. Enter the security code

3. Look at the nominations for 'user generated videos' and pick one (the video's appear in the next set so click "next set")

Enjoy and thanks for voting!

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I need to Clarify: The person in the video is actually lip-singing the song. The actual voices you hear are from the group Moosebutter, one of which used to be in our Ward.

Did you VOTE? you can vote again! EVERYDAY

Deck the Halls

I've also been busy transforming my home with my Christmas decorations. I LOVE Christmas lights all over my living room. Thanks to the boys I have them on all day and I love it! I also have nativity scenes all over of various sizes. I'm a big fan of the Little People nativity. My kids love playing with it. They have new additions to the set availible this year that I have been drooling over (hmm... after Christmas sales, maybe). I've also been busy making stuff for family and friends with more to be made, I hope I get it all done. Maybe I'll actually finish my Christmas stockings this year. Here are some pictures I took today using the candlelight mode on my camera and descriptions of some of my decorations. I love the way the camera mode captures the "mood" of the Christmas lights.

I have a collection of Christmas books that I get out every year and add to most every year. I wrap them up and the boys get to open a book (this year one each) every day and we read them before bedtime. I have them tucked under my large buffet with icicle lights amungst them. I also have my big ceramic nativity lanterns on either side with some lights tucked in them.

I have many of my nativities on a tall black shelf. The lower shelves have nativities for the children to play with including the Little People one. The Christmas plates are from a yearly series, one from the year I was born and one from the year Daniel was born.

We finally decorated our tree last night. It has been up for about a week without anthing on it but lights. The picture is what the result was with the kids doing a majority of the ornaments. I have yet to move any of them around, and I'm not sure I even will.

Christ is the reason for the season and my Christus statue is displayed near the front door. It is because He lives that we have reason to celebrate His birth.

I'm very fond of my Willow Tree nativity and it sits front and center on top of my buffet.

MIA... playing catch up

It has been a long while since I have really posted to this blog. A lot of my time has been sucked up with the Christ Centered Christmas blog. If you haven't checked it out recently, I will say you are missing out. My mom and I are adding new stuff regularly and thanks to sugardoodle and my new button the word is getting out there. I'm very excited about it! There are also new recipes up on Everyday Recipes including a really yummy recipe for Strawberry Cream Puffs.

Thanksgiving was wonderful other than we were unable to go to Utah and see our families. My dear friend Christina was able to come out, kid free, and we had a grand girls weekend. Thanks Josh for watching the boys! We basically ate and shopped the entire weekend and had a lot of fun. Thanksgiving dinner was made by my amazing husband. Everything turned out so delicious and we timed it pretty well. We had some friends over from our ward and they brought the most wonderful recipe for sweet potatoes with a coconut topping (I'm still working on getting the recipe, I'm not usually a fan of sweet potatoes but these were SO good). We just lounged around the afternoon, looking at Black Friday ads and plotting the next morning. Sam was so tired he fell asleep in the middle of the living room floor amidst all the bussle with his bum in the air. I was worried he would have a hard time going down. We had transfered him to a toddler bed the weekend before and he takes advantage of the new found freedom of being able to leave his room when he is supposed to be sleeping. The poor kid was so tuckered out like the rest of us after such a large Turkey dinner, that my problem was solved.

A couple nights ago the boys decided to sleep together in Elijah's bed. Melt my heart CUTE! Most of the time they just play together and make a mess in their room when they are supposed to be sleeping (Sam did it until 9:30 last night) but there are those rare nights when they are just cute and go to sleep so well.

One of the random things I picked up at Walmart on Black Friday was a Eureka lightweight vacuum cleaner. It was $9 bagless, lightweight, telescoping handle, lime green vacuum so I grabbed it. I love it! Mind you it is not a Dyson (which I also drool over) but it is so light and agile that I can whip it out and get most of the mess off my floor in nothing flat. Another big plus is that my boys love it. Unfortunatly I have yet to have them push it around while it is on, but they are practicing by running it along the floor. The telescopic handle makes it the perfect size for them. Sam is really good at moving the chairs around to get under the table. I'm trying to catch a video of them doing it. I'll post it when I do.

Elijah has been making more labels. The other day he asked me how to spell butterfly. I then found that he had done some other labels by himself and that Sam had gotten in on the action and done one too. I think it's great practice to get Elijah to learn how to control and contain his letters while writing.

We had a really cold day last week. Temps in the teens with powder snow on the ground (and all over my car). We trudged out in it because Elijah need to go to school. When I got home to put Sam down for his nap and took his hat off I had to grab the camera and get a shot of his crazy hair. He was less than pleased with me, but what else are mom's for.

Giveaway WINNER

Sorry I'm a little late doing the drawing and it has been awhile since I have posted anything at all. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of eating and shopping. The last few days have been the after vacation low. Yesterday was a crazy day full of Christmas decorations, a disastorous house and Enrichment stress. Today started off with a call to poisen control because Sam smeared diaper rash cream all over his face, ears, and hair getting it into his eyes and possibly eating some of it -oh joy-, but things have settled down enough for me to announce the drawing for the crocheted monkey.

Drum roll....

Elijah assisted me in drawing the number and the winner is Maren!

Send me an email, Maren, with your address and you will soon have a little monkey for one of your darling girls.

I appreciate those of you who commented and I know there were many more who didn't. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families and friends.

The Christmas season is now in full swing! Sugardoodle has put the Christ Centered Christmas blog on her Random 10 list and we have been getting a lot of hits. It's pretty exciting. One of the links on her random 10 is to a photoshop template for a photo book using the Family Proclamation. It's free to download and pretty amazing. I got into a little bit of digital scrapbooking to do the banner for Christ Centered Christmas and was excited to see these templates that all you have to do is add your photos and then print it through one of the many photobook sites online. It would make a great gift, though I'm not sure there is time to get it done before Christmas.