Conference

First--Friday...I watched Kari's girls while she made a trip up to Utah for her grandpa's funeral. Ellie and Hattie loved the company and they kept each other entertained all day! My mom came over in the morning again and we made cinnamon rolls for conference weekend. We made whole-wheat cinnamon rolls--our first try. I put Hattie and Paige down and Ellie and Kylie alternated between helping us and playing outside. They turned out great. I do want to try using regular flour next time, but they did taste yum!




The rest of the day the girls just played and played. Things got a little crazy when Eliza and Libby got home from school, but it all worked out. I left a little before five to take some photos. After coming home and after a yummy dinner (thanks, Monique), I took Eliza and Libby to Target to pick out a gift for a birthday party Libby was invited to. It took her a while to decide as she had to look at ALL her choices!

This morning we got to watch general conference. We enjoyed our cinnamon rolls at the beginning, then the girls colored their packets and coloring books. Hattie took a nap and Brian and I did our best to watch in between taking care of the girls. The talks were so great! Some that stand out--loved Sister Allred's talk about missionary work, Elder Perry's about trials, Elder Wirthlin's about laughter (Brian says I need to laugh more) and Elder Holland's about angels. I needed to hear them all! I felt like an overriding theme was trials and enduring trials and not giving up. Lately I feel like I've been enduring a lot--still dealing with Ellie's potty issues, Libby not wanting to use a public restroom when we are out and about, sassyness, loss, etc. etc. So I heard a lot of great things in the talks that lifted me and were answers to prayers. I can't wait to get to read them again. Right after the morning session, I was off to take Libby to the birthday party. It was at Color Me Mine and each child got to pick out a ceramic piece and paint it. Such a great idea, but I'm sure it wasn't cheap to have a party there! Libby picked out a little Halloween thing--it's called a cupcake holder, but it's a little round box that has a cute cat face on top. I had visions of it being painted really cute--in Halloween colors--and put on the counter for Halloween. Well, Libby picked out purple, blues and browns to paint with. She had fun for sure, but my visions went by the way-side! But I will put it out on the counter each year I'm sure. While I was with Libby at the party, Brian got a couple of pizzas and took the other girls to the park for a picnic and playing. It was beautiful weather today!!!! LOVED the overcast and the much cooler weather. Then it was on to session 2 of conference. During the afternoon sessions, I have to be up and moving around or I usually fall asleep--not because it's boring but because I am just tired! After that was over, Brian zoomed up to the outlets to get some new basketball shoes--I think he's had the same ones for about 7 years. It was time. I got ready at home, then the girls and I went out front--they rode bikes and ran around with all the neighbor kids. Brian got home long enough to change clothes, then he was off to the priesthood session of conference. Sarah came over to babysit, and my mom and I went to Ladies' Night at Deseret Book. It sure isn't like it was a few years ago. Out in Mesa, they used to have authors, performers, great drawings, etc. It was still fun to check out all the stuff at the store. Then we met up with the boys at Babbos for some dinner. From there Brian and I went to a couple stores to look for outfits for our family photos.

Eliza discovered a new talent (not mom-approved)...climbing up the wall into my bathroom. Libby had to try, too.

Mini Albums

I went through and looked at some of the albums others did as part of yesterday's blog blitz. Here are a few that caught my eye:

--Love the cover ...
--Love the felt treatment on the cover...
--Love the scrapbook-ish look of the inside...
--Love the interactive-ness...

OK--now on to today. I had the carpool to school, so I went straight from there to aerobics. More and more people are coming, so it's fun! Again, it was another great workout! I was sore from abs and push-ups from Tuesday, but I survived!

After aerobics, it was on to making bread. Ellie had fun helping out and making her own little loaf. I had to leave "mid-rise" to get the girls from early release. They were a little hornery from the minute I picked them up today! "She touched me." "Why didn't you bring my lunch?" "I'm hungry." "I don't like early release." What?!?! Then it got worse when we got home. The bread needed to come out of the oven (my mom stayed behind to put it in), Libby wanted a piece of bread with butter and threw a tantrum about it. Hattie wanted me to hold her, etc. etc. It was hectic. My mom wondered if I always have that much fun! It's not always that crazy, thank goodness. But I was ready to pull my hair out at that moment. Once things calmed down and after the bread cooled, we bagged it up and my mom left. Then I picked up my niece and she came over to help me with the girls. She is 11 and starting to babysit, so she is learning on-the-job. First, I took a shower--I hadn't showered from after aerobics, then I retreated to my room to do some work. The class I am editing/writing for right now just started, so that is pretty fun. It has been fun to edit for Cathy--she is so organized and on the ball. Not to mention she has great content in her class!

Sara--my niece--got the little two down for naps and Eliza got picked up for her singing group, then I took off to the grocery store. I am going to like being able to have her babysit! It went well, so that is good and hopefully she'll get confident in babysitting. I took her home, then we came home and had dinner.

Everyone is soundly sleeping now...ahhh...wonderful!

Blog Blitz

Happy Wednesday! And happy October! I can't hardly believe it's already October. Libby stepped out front this morning for a second and said, "It's cold!" I had to laugh--for us in Arizona it is probably a "chilly" 80 degrees outside right now. I got my Halloween decorations out yesterday (only have a few), but they are out and up. Eliza even put hers out by the front door. A while back she had drawn a really cute vampire and witch and she finally got to put them out. I will have to take a picture for sure--especially after reading the last paragraph of today's post!

Stacy asked me to be part of a "blog blitz"--basically a lot of blogs doing the same thing at the same time. So the challenge she gave is one I give to you so you can join me and dozens of other scrapbookers (or those who like to gather supplies to scrapbook every once in a while!) in a challenge that will give each of us a present.
--Snap 10 photos of your life right now.
--Compile these photos in a really small mini album.
--Keep or carry this album with you (in a desk drawer or purse) for one year.
--Promise to glance though the album every time you stumble upon it.
--On October 1, 2009, create a scrapbook page (or maybe a journal entry) about your experience.

Here is the album I made. Stacy sent me a tiny Bazzill Mono Mini Album to put my photos in, so there wasn't much room for any embellishing, which made it go together quickly! I added a little HS tape on the front along with some jewels. On the inside I adhered my photos and wrote what each photo was on the first couple of pages.







Looking at the other albums other "blitzers" have done made me realize that I am representing the simple approach to doing this album. So if you want simple, look at mine--if you want uber-creative, look at the other blogs listed on Stacy's blog. There are some really cute ones!

I loved taking pictures of my life RIGHT NOW. It made me see the simple things as important and things that I want documented forever. For example, the picture of Ellie and Hattie eating lunch that I posted yesterday--I thought it was cute, seeing them out back eating lunch, but doing this project made me think, "I need to get a picture of that." It's cute, but I might not remember that moment in a week, month, year from now. But now I will. And I hope you'll think twice about letting those "cute" or "frustrating" or "tender" or any moment pass without snapping a photo.

Peaches

Today was aerobics. There were a few more people there today, so that was fun. It was a good workout--my legs are going to hurt tomorrow! After aerobics we hung out at home all day. Hattie took a long mid-day nap, so no two naps for her today. But I was glad she slept a while!



The big project for the day was peaches! My mom and I packaged up 32 pounds of peaches tonight for freezing. It really went a lot faster than we expected and they are way yummy! It went so easily that we are gonig to get a couple more boxes and do some more. Crazy.

Eliza's FHE

I kind of look forward to Mondays, so after everyone is off to school and work, I can get the house back in order from the weekend. So that is what I did this morning. I cleaned up a bit. Ellie and Hattie colored. While they colored, Ellie said, "Take a picture of us coloring, Mom."

Hattie didn't take much of a nap, so I got her up and we did a bunch of errands. I had to return a book to Deseret Book--I had two copies of the same book, so I took one back. Then we went to Costco and Wal-Mart.

By the time we got home it was almost naptime and once again, Hattie didn't sleep too long. Bummer! Hopefully she'll make up for it tomorrow! While they were sleeping, I made dipped pretzels. At the shower on Saturday, Olivia made the yummiest caramel-chocolate pretzels, so I wanted to make some. They were quite easy and yum. Here is what you need and how you make them:

Caramels--I used the Werther's ones because that is all I could find at Wal-Mart. But I was hoping to use either the Kraft ones or the the Brach's ones.

Dipping Chocolate
Pretzel rods

How to make them:
Unwrap caramels and roll them between your hands to make a snake (or worm).

Wrap around one end of the pretzel.

After you have all the caramels rolled around the pretzels, then you dip in chocolate and set on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

I put mine in the fridge for a little bit to set, then took them out so they wouldn't be too hard to eat (the caramel especially).

After school, we went to gymnastics and it was little crazy with Ellie and Hattie for some reason. Hattie keeps wanting to climb on this little table they have, so I spend a lot of time teaching her to sit on the seat part. Then she decided to let her scream out about 3 times. I know the parents there were like, "Wow--I am glad that is not my kid..." or "Sheesh, lady, I bet you are a terrible mother since she screams like that." I wanted to turn and say to the starers..."I bet your kid has some annoying quirks, too!" Then Ellie fell and hit her head on the wall. It didn't end. Eliza and Libby did great and had fun though. Libby has really picked up on the skills--she has learned doing "bridges" so fast and Eliza amazed me by being able to go into a back bend from the standing position. After the circus (gymnastics), we came home and I made dinner. Eliza helped out with Ellie and Hattie--like a little babysitter--she loved it (and so did I). Libby helped me with dinner. We ate dinner outside and stayed out there most of the evening. I am loving that the weather is finally allowing us to do that. After dinner we had family home evening. Yesterday Eliza asked if she could teach the lesson. She was so excited--she talked about it last night with Brian and then before school she started preparing. For her lesson she taught about Nephi and his family and building the ship. She had drawn a boat and then cut it apart and we had to put it together to resemble Nephi having to build it. Then we played a game that she made up. We stood in a line and closed our eyes. Then she tapped one of us and we had to dress up in a shawl and scarf, then everyone had to guess which one of Nephi's family we were. It was cute. Lastly, Eliza had drawn Nephi's family and she and Libby put on a puppet show and acted out Nephi going back to get the plates. We had treats and then the girls rode bikes out back for a while before coming in for baths.




My parents came over for a few minutes and we played one more game Eliza had planned (should couldn't fathom not letting us play one of them and saving it for another time). She hid the little drawings and we had to find all the members of the family. She is so creative! Finally, it was time for bed.

Broadcast

On Saturday morning, Brian went hiking. After he got home and I got ready, I went to a baby shower. After I got home, Kamille brought their kids over to play. I had told her and Brian (my brother) that we would watch their kids while they went out and did something. I think Kamille ended up going shopping or something by herself because Brian had a paper to write for school. But the kids had fun playing. After Hattie went down for her nap, I took Luke and Ellie to a boutique that Karlee was in. I needed a new scripture case so badly--mine had gotten some sort of mysterious stain on it that wouldn't come off. So I decided to get one of her little bags for my scriptures. After getting home, I made dinner for everyone--a really exciting chicken nuggets and mac & cheese--then I was off with Kari to the women's broadcast. My favorite talk of the night was President Uchtdorf. It was inspiring and I thougth it was interesting that he talked about the importance of being creative and using our creativity to bless ourselves and to bless others. After it was over, we went into the cultural hall for fondue and socializing. It was all so delicious--Kari and I wandered around eating cheese fondue and a super yummy caramel dip. We were ready to leave around 7 PM, but we wanted our kids to be in bed when we got home, so we went to some shops by Target and also went to Target and leisurely walked around. It was a lot of fun to just relax and visit. When I got home the oldest two were still awake, but they went to bed soon after.

Today was the kids' primary program at church. My parents came and so did Brian's mom. It went well and was cute like always. Eliza did great saying her line. Libby--as expected--didn't say hers. But she did sit with her class and stood up when everyone sang (even though she didn't sing). I could tell she really wanted to but was a bit too shy. The rest of church went well--Brian gave a great lesson about general conference--the history, what to expect and how we can get the most out of it. After church, we had a presidency meeting, then we rushed over to Brian's parents' for dinner. It seemed extra loud over there today, but everyone had fun and dinner was good.

Here's to another new week ahead!

Lunch

Today was a pretty low-key day. Ellie and Hattie colored some this morning before Hattie's morning nap. While Ellie colored and played Polly's, I did some sewing for a baby shower I have tomorrow. Then I had a surprise lunch--a sweet friend dropped of some Paradise Bakery for lunch--turkey sandwich, soup, rolls, and cookies! It made my day and was such a nice gesture. After lunch I watched Rachel's two youngest kids for a short time while she went to something for Boston's class. She is going to bring them back so I can feel like I really helped out, right, Rach!?! ;)

After the school pick-up, E & H took naps, and Eliza practiced a little piano, Libby did her chores and relaxed a little. Soon after Brian got home, our sitter came over and we headed out on our date. We did a couple of errands, then went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch. We had a gift card from some pictures I had taken back in May. From there we walked the mall and came out empty handed. then we went to Target and walked around a little bit before getting some essentials--milk, cheese, bagels, etc.

In other news, the inside screen of my phone quit working today. It's been a pain! And it's made me realize how much I love my phone. Hopefully I can get it fixed or get a new one.

Survivor

This morning after the school girls left, I took off with Ellie and Hattie to aerobics. It was a great workout. I feel so great after I leave. Ellie and Hattie had fun playing together and with the other kids. I was thrilled that Hattie did well and didn't want me to hold her at all. After aerobics, we hurried home and I jumped in the shower and quickly got ready. Then we raced of to Rachel who graciously watched my girls so I could go to lunch with Eliza. She has been bugging for me to come, so I thought it would be fun to see her reaction to her jump rope. I caught Libby at the end of her lunch and gave her a hug and talked to her a little bit. I had to laugh...she was sitting at the lunch table surrounded by three boys. Brian said he has a feeling that is what we have to look forward to later. Funny thing is that she couldn't have cared less and was busy eating her lunch.

Eliza was excited to see me and thrilled to see a jump rope in her lunch box. She got a kick out of the fact that I measured it to her last night while she was asleep (it's an adjustable one, so we had to measure and cut off the excess). I went out to recess with her and she jumped away--both by herself and having other people swing it. Some of the songs were kind of silly for sure. After some jump roping, Eliza moved to the monkey bars where she showed me her newest activity--going backwards across the bars. I also got a glimpse of the girl that isn't so nice to Eliza. It was all I could do to not say something to her. Not really, but if she could read my thoughts she would know not to be mean to my girl!

I picked up Ellie and Hattie and we came home for a bit, then went out to the post office, gas station, school pick up, dropped of Libby at Sadie's, home, naps, Eliza went to singing group, Abbie came to babysit, then I was off to Enrichment. It was Survivor night. First off--it was so weird to have such a small group at Enrichment since the ward split. I felt like so many were missing! We started off by eating dinner that had been made with no electricity--it was both dutch oven and grilled. We had pork, potatoes, green bean casserole and biscuits. It was really good. We enjoyed some nice chatting while eating. From there we were put into "tribes" and had some challenges that we had to do for points. First we had to put up and take down a tent. Everyone surprisingly put them up so quickly! Then we had some trivia where we had to guess the answer. Then we moved to the taste testing...we had blindfolds and they fed us something that was made with a food storage item and we had to guess what it was. First was potato pearls that were made to taste like croutons. They did! You can toast them in the oven for about 3 minutes with some Italian seasonings and spray butter. I could eat those on salad if I had to. Next was pudding that had wheat in it. Sounds weird, but it wasn't too bad. Last was the best...I thought it was chocolate pudding with oatmeal in it, but it was the pinto bean fudge. After I found that out, it didn't taste so great, but it still was good. Lastly, Bishop talked about emergency/fire safety...like how to use a fire extinguisher and he took us up into the attic of the church to see some stuff. It was quite interesting up there. Then we met back for cobbler. It was a creative night. After, I helped my friend Jenny make a video for her husband's 40th birthday...for some reason the DVD stopped burning at the end, so we ended up at Jessie's house where she got it to work on her computer. So I got home late.

Tonight Brian and I divided and conquered. There was a reading strategies/curriculum night for 1st grade. So Brian got that duty. I wanted one of us to go to at least support the teachers who put it on because I know they put a lot of work into it. I would feel bad if I had prepared it and no one came! But Brian said it was really good. He came home with some helpful handouts. They also handed out little phonogram sets--like mini cards on a book ring. Way convenient to practice with those. Busy night!

Jump Ropes

If you didn't read that parenting article, it mentioned a really great article about consequences. You can find it here. I loved that article, too, and it gave some great advice about thinking of natural consequences for kids' behavior.

Yesterday seemed like another busy day. During that day I had a couple errands to do, then after school we went over to my parents' house. My dad watched my girls so I could watch two of my laurels swim in a meet at Cactus. It was fun to see them swim, but I don't like the placement of their bleachers! Head on into the sun. Ugh! I left with a headache...luckily it wasn't a migraine. My dad had fun with the girls and he said they ate about everything in sight...strawberries, grapes, yogurt, olives, etc. We had dinner, then came home.

Today was Ellie's gymnastics class. She looked so cute in her little purple, fuzzy leotard. We came home and played. I watched my friend's little boy so she could have lunch with her husband for his birthday. Ellie and Hattie love a little playmate. So that was fun--except when I had to change 2 of his dirty diapers, one of Hattie's and an accident of Ellie's. I had a candle going, washed and washed my hands and applied lotion!

After the school pick up, Ellie and Hattie took naps and Eliza, Libby and I watched the TLC show--The First 36 Hours or something like that and Take Home Chef. They talked about how many kids they want--Eliza wavered between 1 and 4 and Libby asked, "What if I had 100?" Funny girls. I met Brian at his office with the girls and he took them back home while I went and oriented our new personal progress leader for young womens. She is living out in Surprise right now until their house is built, so I had to go out there. On the way home I stopped at Wal-Mart. I was looking for a jump rope for Eliza to use at recess. She has been feeling lonely at recess and like no one wants to play with her. She said that she asks and asks to use one of the jump ropes, but no one shares. So I told her we could look for a jump rope that she can use and share with others so maybe they'll share, too. Anyway...I found one and I am going to surprise her by putting it in her lunch tomorrow. She has also been having trouble with one particular girl at school who is mean to her and just acts sassy and rude to her. I feel so bad for Eliza because she is so tenderhearted and is so kind to people at school. Brian was able to give her a blessing last night for comfort and it was so nice and I think it really helped her feel better about things. She said today went better, so hopefully things are getting better. Her teacher moved her seat so they don't sit by each other any more. I am really in for it if we are already having girl drama in 1st grade!

Sunday, Monday

Sunday we went to church and I wish I could figure out why a couple of my kids missed the "how to whisper" class. Anyone know where it's offered?! LOL. No matter how much I try to teach them, their 'whispers' come out soooo loud. During sacrament, Brian had to go up and help with a confirmation. He got up and walked up there. Before I knew it, Hattie had put her little purse on her arm and started following him. It was funny. During YW I taught--the lesson was "Service in the Church." I talked to the girls about how important it is to start preparing now for any calling they might get later and to be willing to serve. Then at the end I handed out a note card to each girl and had them write a thank you note to someone and thank them for doing their calling. Rewind a little bit...after sacrament meeting, Kayleen came over to me and handed me a note. It was such a heartfelt note thanking me for things I had done when I was her leader, etc. etc. It was so nice and made my day, but it was so timely to go with my lesson. I obviously didn't read it to the girls, but I just mentioned how much it meant to me and that I was sure whoever they wrote theirs to would be just as touched.

After church we got the little two down for naps, then I started transferring stuff from our bedroom into the den. Why do organizing projects get worse before you can see progress? It was a big mess before it looked somewhat organized! Most of my supplies are now in there--now I can tell better what I need to organized the rest of the stuff. Last night I had a fireside--Jessie's grandpa spoke about temples. He is a sealer at the temple. For refreshments the Mia Maids had pazookies. They made them individual size in muffin cups in muffin tins. It was such a good idea, Karolyn!
Last night was a little tender mercy. Libby had a really really hard time going to bed (as she does fairly often) and on those nights I feel like I can't handle it any more. I always manage to and move on, but in the moment, I am so frustrated and don't know what to do. Luckily, Brian deals with most of her bedtime antics and does a great job of staying patient and working through it. But before bed, I turned it to BYU TV and there was an education week speaker who was just starting to speak and the title of his talk? ...Positive Parenting. Too bad it was already midnight (typical), but we stayed up to watch as much as possible, then we recorded the rest. It was really good and he gave some great ideas to try. It was in part an answer to prayers because I find myself asking, "What can I do differently with her?" She is just very stubborn and likes things to go her way. Anyway...one thing he talked about was to be a real friend to your kids. Of course, you are the parent, but he talked about truly listening to them. I think it's easy with kids to "half listen" while you are doing other things, so that is what I am going to try to do better. I also loved his comments about being "connected" with your children. Anyway...I am grateful we saw that program even though it was on so late! I just found the transcript for it, if you want to read it. (and from there you can find other great talks from several BYU Family Expos)

My day was busy today! Brian had to go in a little early, so I had the car pool drive. We came home and I got ready and gave Hattie a nap. She didn't sleep much at all. One time I went in to check her diaper and to put her back down only to find this...

Yes--her clothes and diaper off. Luckily there was no mess! She is so funny and does such funny things for a laugh. After her "nap," we did some errands--Target for part of a baby shower gift, but they didn't have what I wanted. Then I dropped a bunch of stuff of at DI. Then it was on to Wal-Mart for a few groceries. We came home, ate lunch and put Ellie and Hattie down for naps. Terri called me about 2:45 and had forgotten that she couldn't take my girls home from school (they get out at 2:40). So I raced around the house to get their stuff for gymnastics, get Ellie and Hattie up (Hattie had a dirty diaper, so I had to change that), grab a snack for them, then go pick them up. From there we went to gymnastics. It was my first time taking Ellie and Hattie and staying there the whole time. We made it! Lots of treat and coloring and we survived! It's so fun to watch E & L in class. Libby just smiles and has such a fun time and Eliza does, too. Tonight we had dinner and family home evening. We had a lesson on prayer. Libby for a long, long while has not been willing to say the prayer in a family or other public setting. She'll say her personal prayers, but not out loud. So I have been really trying to encourage her and praying about it myself that she'll have a change of heart and want to do that. Hence, the lesson about prayer. I wish I could say that she prayed out loud tonight, but she didn't. So I will continue to pray for her. Don't get me wrong...she is a wonderful girl with so many endearing qualities, but she--like anyone--has a few weaknesses that just happen to be hard for me to deal with. After our lesson we had pazookies for dinner as inspired by the fireside. Just put some cookie dough in a smallish pie tin and cook it for about 7 minutes--not fully cooked but a little around the edges, then when you take it out, plop some ice cream on top and enjoy! Everyone loved it except Ellie who didn't like the dough-y cookie part.

Tonight I put Libby to bed and so far it has gone smoother. She isn't sleeping yet, but she is being fairly quiet in her bed. I told her we'd start a chart and we'll put a sticker if she goes to bed well and she can earn certain things after 5 good nights. I hope it works. If not, I might be up really, really late looking for helpful talks on BYU TV. Ha!

First Time for Everything

Today we got up and going...Eliza decided to do some cleaning to try and earn money for a doll she wants. Libby and Ellie played a long while together--playing dolls. Hattie chased me around whining to be held (no surprise). Brian and I had a day date today. We had our sitter come over, then we took off. We went to the temple first. When we got there, we headed to the cafeteria and enjoyed a nice lunch. I always love eating there. After lunch, we went to a session. Brian and I had a nice time together. After the temple, we went to IKEA. It was Brian's first time there! He couldn't believe how big it was. We were looking for a storage something so we can get my craft stuff out of our bedroom. We found a Expedit cube thing that we got. I can't wait to get it assembled and get stuff organized in there!

As soon as we got home, we gathered up the girls and went to a baptism. A lady in our ward was baptized along with a young boy in our ward. The lady who was baptized was baptized by her husband. It was so neat to see that. He just became active again in the church and his wife decided to be baptized. It was touching. My girls LOVED the treats at the end and thought they should try one of everything! Yum!

5 out of 6

That's how many liked what I made for dinner tonight. It was actually really simple and tasty! It got it from the latest Kraft Foods magazine. It's Mini Meatloaves and you cook it in a muffin tin. Try it--everyone except Libby loved it. She didn't even try it,but decided she didn't like it. So much in fact that she would rather go to bed hungry than have 5 small bites. Hard lesson, but hopefully she'll learn to eat what she's given. Back to the recipe...I'm sure you could even put your regular meatloaf recipe in muffin tins and it would work fine, too. But I made it with the garlic powder and BBQ sauce variation.

Today after the girls got off to school, I went visiting teaching, then came home and picked up stuff around the house before the school girls came back home. Libby had Sadie over for a play date. They had fun playing dolls and making up plays. Tonight Brian and I just stayed home and we had some fun with the girls. We played outside--the limbo, which Hattie loves trying to do. She just ducks her head and goes under. Then we played a fun little game that Eliza learned in music class. You sit in a circle and someone walks around behind the circle with a little slip of paper. The people in the circle close their eyes and since a little song, while the person walks around and quietly puts the note behind someone. When the song is over, everyone looks behind them and if the paper is behind them, they have to get up, grab the note and run to try to catch the person who left the note...it's kind of like a variation of duck, duck, goose. Later, inside, we played a quick game of TV tag in the playroom. It was tight quarters but fun. ...and hard to think of shows on the spot and so fast! Now we are finishing Curious George and hopefully followed by an easy time going to sleep.

Believe

Wednesday morning Ellie and I went to gymnastics. She was so excited to do all the activities. From there and getting Hattie from Terri's, we went to Leslie's to take som pictures of her little 5 month old. Such a doll. Hattie was so clingy, which made it hard, so hopefully we don't have to do a do-over.


Eliza got to come with me to mutual last night. I had a meeting tonight, so I didn't want to be gone two nights in a row. She cares more that I am gone than any of the others. Libby asked where I was going and I told her, then she was off playing before I could say anything else. For mutual we were supposed to go to the rest home to paint the old ladies' fingernails, but the person in charge at the place never got back to us...so we opted for plan B. Our beehive counselor led us in a game like "To Tell the Truth." The girls wrote down three things about themselves, then three were called up and all had to act like it was their story. It was funny and we were fooled a few times! The last little bit we went to play dodgeball. Some of the boys were in there and decided to play, so it was a little rougher than we were hoping. Eliza got a ball to the face once, but she was tough and didn't even cry.

Today I did something I haven't done for a long while and that is going to aerobics. They just started it in our church building, so it's so close and nice. It was great to get back into it and I can't wait for it to continue (I think!). I came home and hurried and got ready and got a couple of things done around the house before leaving to pick up Eliza and Libby from early release. It was "Grandmother Day," so all the cousins went over there and we ate our lunches that we brought and had treats for Sara's birthday. Then the kids just played and the moms chatted a little, and we played Apples to Apples Jr. and Phase 10. It was fun and a little busy, too. Ellie (who is STILLLLLLLLLLL having potty issues) had 3 accidents in a short 2 hour span. By the third one I was near tears. I really feel helpless and have no idea what to do to get over it. I feel bad for her, but I wish I knew what to do to get through this.

Tonight I had a stake leadership training meeting. It was informative but LONG! I think I got home around 9:15. I got several new ideas for YW, so that is always nice. Speaking of YW, I came across a really great book (thanks, Mom) and it had a part that I really liked. It's called Believe in What You're Doing, Believe in Who You Are by Hilary Weeks. I know that I am in young womens and at the activities for the girls, but sometimes I feel like some couldn't care less if I were there or that they think I am lame, lame, lame. But I read a chapter in her book and it's changed how I think. It's from the chapter "My Motto" and her point is "Don't worry about what others think of you. Worry about what they think of themselves when they are with you." So now I make that my purpose on Sunday and at activities. If I am doing my best to making them feel important and great, then what they think of me isn't important. And maybe down the road when they are grown, they'll realize I wasn't so bad after all!

Date Night and Beyond

Friday night date night started out at Target and Pier One, then we met the Pribyls at Paradise Bakery for dinner. Actually Rachel and I had that, Ben got Chipotle and Brian got El Pollo Loco, but we all ate outside--it's so nice being able to eat outside. After dinner, we went over to a 50th birthday party for Connie Purtymun--our bishop's wife. We thought it was just going to be snacks, but they had enough to make a dinner! Oh well. It was fun to visit with about three past wards worth of people. After dinner, we got Baskin Robbins, then went home. Eliza and Libby were spending the night at my parents so they could go to my cousin's son's baptism on Saturday. So on Saturday we just had Ellie and Hattie. It was a breeze!

Saturday morning Brian went with Ellie to her gymnastics class. We weren't able to go on Wednesday, so this was the make up class. They had fun and Ellie especially had fun in class. Most of the morning and afternoon I spent at home with Hattie while Brian went to get his bike looked at which broke on his ride on Thursday. Hopefully it'll be able to be fixed as opposed to having to get a new bike. Later in the afternoon, I took pictures of Monique's darling 7 month old. She didn't offer many smiles, but we did get some cute shots.



Sunday I had a meeting then church. I was out in the hall with Hattie more than normal, but it was nice being able to have her go into nursery after Sacrament was over. I got to go into Brian's class again which was nice. I always learn so much. The lesson was about the final judgment and what I took away is that it's not like it's this one last, final judgment at the end, but we have checkpoints all the time to help us "judge" how we are doing (e.g. partaking of the sacrament, interviews with the Bishop, temple recommend interview, etc.). In young womens, Shelly taught about scripture study and something she made me think about was when she asked what it means to study something in school...well, it means to really know it...to make notes and review and memorize and read, etc. Then she asked if that is how we "study" our scriptures. Yikes...I need to do better!

After church we had a little gathering where the new people can come and meet the auxiliary leaders and get to know people a little better. Then we went home and made dessert for dinner. My parents and Brian and Kamille and family came over for dinner.

Yesterday was the usual--school and what not. After school we had gymnastics for Eliza and Libby. Libby got to go into Eliza's class to see if she should move up. I am not sure she'll stay in that class, but she was able to keep up. Eliza thinks it's fun that they were in the same class. After dinner we had family home evening and we talked about our family mission plan--as encouraged by the ward missionaries who came over last week. It was cute to hear the girls' ideas for what we could do.

Today was my early day up since Brian went bike riding. He said he was the only one that went this morning, so he was able enjoy it a little more and even do some hiking. I am always so productive on my early mornings--cleaning up, doing laundry, dishwasher, etc. The girls got ready early for school, so they got to color a while before their ride came. Today was bread day--Ellie was loving it. Hattie enjoyed it for a while (I found I can hold her and make bread--what a talent), then she whined for me to go in her room and put her down. Funny. After that was all done, I was able to get some "to do" list items done--pick up dry cleaning that had been there since...uhem the end of July, get stuff to mail some things off, grocery store, etc. We picked up the girls from school and Carson came over to play a bit and Eliza had a friend come over, too, so that was fun for them. Karolyn was so kind and brought dinner over, so that was much appreciated and I didn't have to think about dinner all day. It was great.

That's all for today!

My Mosaic

My cousin, Audi, had this on her blog and it looked fun to do. Hattie is napping, Brian and Ellie are at gymnastics (make up class) and Eliza and Libby are with my parents, so what else do I have to do?

1. AUTUMN GOLD! (KILKENNY, IRELAND), 2. Covet My Lunch, 3. Moon Cactus: Cave Creek, Arizona, 4. Are You Looking At Me ???, 5. james marsden , 6. Root Beer Caps, 7. Plaza Lights 1, 8. 4 New Flavoured Ice Cream Plush Toys from Chocolate Log, 9. vintage nurse, 10. IMG_8118, 11. Into my hands, 12. trimble5600_1

To make your own:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.
The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name (or your blog name or handle or whatever)

Now it's your turn!!

Week

What we've been up to:
School
Gymnastics
Mutual
Reading (Twilight, finally)
Life--it doesn't always go as planned, but thank goodness for wonderful family and friends.
A new haircut
Ellie making "monkey bread" with my mom--everyone loved it! It's like cinnamon rolls but easier!

Our little baker!

We made a new version of the pretzel hugs. We used the pumpkin spice kisses and the caramel kisses and added chopped pecans on top instead of the M&Ms. They turned out pretty good.

The "monkey bread" was overflowing!

After baking, Ellie thought she should wash the dishes.

Here is a funny story from Libby at school. This past week she has been saying that this boy "Chase" has been trying to kiss her at school. So she has been running away from him at recess and he hasn't been successful, thank goodness. But today I overheard her tell Eliza, "I told Chase that if he stopped trying to kiss me that I would be his friend. So he stopped." Go Lib!

Picture time! (Just in the tub because of the great lighting--no water inside!)

Eliza was "star of the week" this week in her class. We got to fill out a little favorites poster and send in a couple of pictures of her. Today we got to send in treats for the class, so we sent in Little Debbie snacks. I think Eliza enjoyed her special week.

Waldo

On Saturday we stayed around the house until lunch time, when we went to Sam's Club for lunch (Kari, we are copying you!). We enjoyed hot dogs, drinks and a pretzel for me. I even saw a friend from high school there with her mom. It was fun to see her and say hi. We walked around the store a little bit and my girls enjoyed looking at the Halloween decorations. We ended our little excursion by getting a few snacks there, too--the frozen yogurts and churros. We came home and put Ellie and Hattie down for naps. We really were trying to go out Saturday night but no babysitters were to be found! We finally found someone at the last minute and she turned out to be great. It was one of my laurels, but I just haven't had her over before. Brian and I got to go to dinner and we looked around Sports Authority for some basketball shoes for Brian and spent some time reading at Borders. Then we tried a frozen custard place that Nanci told me about. It was so good--like Nielsen's on the east side. We loved it! We ended by getting groceries at Wal-Mart. I really stocked up on breakfast foods--I've been waiting for oatmeal to go on sale for our 3-month supply and it finally did. I am sure the checkout girl thought we were crazy to have almost 20 oatmeal boxes in our cart! (and 24 mac and cheese boxes--also on sale!).

Today I had BYC, so I went early and Brian came with the girls later. Sacrament went well. Brian only had to go out at the very end with Hattie. Testimony meeting we nice--Brian got up and shared his testimony, so that is always nice to hear! During Sunday School I actually got to go to Brian's class that he teaches. He did a great job--I love learning the basics of the gospel, so I am excited that I get to go in there with him.

Young women's was great. Becky taught about a change of heart. She talked about how in the scriptures that some of those people were sent angels and had a change of heart, but it made me connect that we don't see angels today, but we can have experiences that prompt a change of heart. It could be a lesson or a talk in Sacrament or something you read--just something that prompts you to do better and want to be better.

After church we came home, fed the girls lunch and put the two little ones down for naps. Then we did a Waldo book. Eliza and Libby love those books, so last night at Borders we picked up one that we don't have. It's been fun.

Tonight Brian took the girls to Brian and Kamille's for dinner, and I stayed behind for a class presidency training meeting. It went well, but it feels good that it's over! The theme was "Picture Perfect Leadership." I did a short little talk and compared the tools I use for my photography hobby to our service as leaders over the young women. We played a game were the girls had to guess which baby picture belonged to which young women. They enjoyed that and it was fun to see the girls as babies! Then we separated and I met with all the class presidents and had a little training with them before meeting back for dessert. Yum! Karolyn made delicious key-lime pies. It was so good.

Brian and girls got home a little after me--they had fun over there and celebrating Brian's (my brother's) birthday. Good night!

Massage

This morning my mom came over to watch Ellie and Hattie until Sarah could come after her morning college class. I guess Hattie was glad to see her. I had put her down for her morning nap, but she kept fussing so my mom went in there. She said when she went in, Hattie was on her knees and said, "Grandma!" My mom picked her up and Hattie just laid on her shoulder! She finally did fall asleep though.

Today Nanci and I had a little pamper day. Last November, I took some pictures of the kids of a friend of hers. The mom paid us by giving us both a gift certificate for a massage at the Camelback Inn. We FINALLY got around to using it today. Nanci picked me up and we drove over there and got there a few minutes before our treatment. We were both laughing as they showed us around in the spa area, as this was not our element! Since we had a treatment we were able to stay all day and use all the facilities, but we only went and stayed for our massage. We found out that we didn't need to bring a swimming suit even to get in the hot tub. Yikes! We could have gone in our birthday suit like a couple other women chose to do. Anyway--we got our robes on (after changing in the bathroom, which isn't a normal thing to do either!) and we waited in the waiting room to be called back. The massage was nice. An hour went way too fast!! The masseuse asked how many kids I had and I told her, and she asked the ages of the youngest two. She said that told her a lot about where I would need the most attention during the massage. She did say at the end that considering how many kids I had, that my body was in really great shape. She is nice. Good thing she didn't see my stomach flab or comment on my thighs. Ugh. I enjoyed the massage and could have stayed for a couple more hours! We got dressed after we were done and ate at the little cafe they had at the spa. We did it more out of convenience, but I am thinking we should have gone somewhere else--it was so expensive!! I ordered a half sandwich and salad. They were small portions (intentionally, according to our waitress, so you could try several different things. ha! Not at that price for me). Then we finished it off with a little fondue for dessert. Nanci threw that in at the end. It was fun to visit though and have a girls day for sure!

I came home and tried to give Hattie and Ellie naps--they weren't having it. After Eliza and Libby got home, my mom came over and picked up Eliza. She went with her cousin Matthew on his dinner for his birthday. Since she was already gone, I stayed home with the little two and Brian took Libby on a date. They went to McDonalds for dinner and ice cream cones, to the mall to get gum (out of one of the gumball machines) and to play in the play center. They also went to the pet store and looked around. If only her dates will stay this easy when she turns 16!

Ellie was a little sad she didn't get to go on a "gate." I told her she was going with me on one. I took her and Hattie to drop something off at one of my laurel's, then we ran in to Bath and Body, then I got them happy meals. Every time we got back in the car from doing an errand, Ellie would say, "Are we on a gate?" I said, "Yes, we are on a date!" Then she would say, "Date." So cute!

Tues-Thurs

Tuesday was back to school. I can't remember what else we did.

Wednesday morning Ellie and I had gymnastics. Hattie hung out with my neighbor Heather and her little boy while we went. Ellie had no qualms this time. She was so excited and did everything. I didn't have to go on the trampoline with her this time. Brian texted me on the way home and asked if we wanted to meet for lunch. So we went home for a minute, then headed out to meet him at the Paradise Bakery by his office for lunch. Ellie and Hattie had fun and did great sharing their macaroni and cheese kids meal along with plenty of bites of Brian's and my lunch. After lunch, we zoomed home and I put them both down for naps. They went to bed great and I even had to wake them up to go pick up E & L from school. I hate having to wake up sleeping babies! We did the school pick up, then took Eliza to her piano lesson. She had an hour lesson because her teacher is going to be gone for a few weeks. I had my nephew with me, so we went home and he and Libby played. Wed. night I had mutual and it was a joint young men/young women activity that the laurels were in charge of! Ugh! We did a service auction like the one we did with just the young women a few month's back. I think the kids had fun, but they were crazy and loud! There are definitely things I would do differently if we ever do it again--like write down and monitor how many "points" each person earned and check to make sure they don't overbid their points--which I think happened several times (by the boys, of course). I am just glad and relieved that it is OVER!!! It was causing me stress!

Today Brian went biking early this morning, so I was up early with my two early birds (Ellie and Hattie), but I did get a lot done before the older two were off to school--like emptying and filling the dishwasher, making lunches, cleaning the stove top and sink and tidying up the house. Wow! Maybe I could make getting up early a habit. Not! After Hattie's first nap, we headed to Target for some grocery shopping. Hattie loves having a purse and she holds her arm up in the air like she is trying to keep it on her shoulder. She sat in the cart with her purse on and arm up during much of our shopping trip. I'll have to remember to get a picture of her doing that. It's darling.

After school, Eliza had her little singing group. She said she had fun. Libby was so sad she couldn't go. But after coloring for a little bit, I think she was over it. I made some dinner and soon after Brian got home, I was out the door to Becky's baby shower. I actually finished making her gift on Wednesday and had it all wrapped and a card made several hours before I had to leave! I made some more burp cloths, which I love doing. We had dinner at the shower--yummy cafe rio salad/burritos, and it was fun to visit and catch up with some people from other wards.

Random pictures



(what happens when my girls get hold of a bag of chips after church. ha!)

Hula Hooping

On Friday night Brian went up to his parents' cabin and on Saturday morning he got up and did a bike ride with his brother, dad and friend Jason. After lunch they went on a drive up to the rim. He said the view was beautiful, but none of them had a camera!

What was up with that storm on Friday night? Eliza and I stayed up a little late and as we were going to bed it started. Eliza was freaked out of her mind! She was so scared and I tried to calm and reassure her that she was safe. But it got a little scary with all the wind and lightening! I finally put my iPod on her and she listened to music as she fell asleep.

On Saturday, Eliza, Ellie, Hattie and I hung out at home and waiting for Libby to get home from her sleepover so she could tell us all about it. On Friday night they went to Paradise Bakery for dinner and she enjoyed--no surprise--a pasta salad, drink and snickerdoodle cookie! Then they went shopping for her gift. She knew all along that she wanted a hula hoop, so she got one of those. Actually she picked out four--one for her and one for each of her sisters. Then she also picked out a little mailbag and mailbox kit. It has little reusable notecards, postcards, envelopes and stamps. I guess on Friday night at my parents, she had a ball writing letters to everyone and putting them in the mailbox. She also worked and worked at learning how to hula hoop. She went from not knowing how to do it at all to being a pro! Just over the weekend she had gotten so good. She can now do it for minutes at a time. It is fun to watch her do it and see her so pleased with herself. Eliza already knew how to do it, but she has gotten better, too. Today she did it for over 10 minutes without stopping. I've even joined in on the fun. On Saturday, Libby got up and had pop tarts for breakfast, then for her activity, she chose to go bowling. She and my dad played and my mom took pictures. She loved bowling! Then she came home.






The rest of the day we hung out at home, went to Target for a wedding gift, got some dinner and put Ellie and Hattie down for bed. Sarah came over while they slept and Eliza, Libby and I went to a wedding reception. It was fun because my cousin from Texas was up for the wedding and my other cousin and his wife came down from Idaho. I kind of only went to see them. It was fun to visit and catch up. Eliza and Libby enjoyed all the food and trying to catch the bouquet. The girl who caught it divided it up and gave each of them a flower (along with a few other girls). After we got home, we watched Thumbelina and waited for Brian to get home.

I didn't have a meeting on Sunday so we all went to church together. We didn't have to go out once; it was wonderful! That doesn't mean sacrament meeting was a breeze--it's constant work to make sure everyone is reverent and has something to do. It was also Hattie's first day in nursery alone! It was great to be able to just drop her off and go! I guess she did great, too; no problems at all. I taught in our laurel class. I taught from two really great talks--Elder Holland and Sister Tanner's talks from conference back in Oct. 2005. They are some of my favorite talks, but it was hard to turn it into a lesson since there were so many quotes that I wanted to use word-for-word. Hopefully they could all take away something from the lesson.

After church we went over to my parents for dinner. My mom made a really tasty meal--shake and bake using chicken tenders, scalloped potatoes (a fav) and corn. I brought the dessert--I made brownies and I experimented with a caramel apple cheesecake recipe. It was easy to make and turned out pretty good. We had fun visiting and letting the kids play a little longer than normal since they didn't have school today.

Speaking of today, Brian didn't work either, so that was nice. My parents came over and my mom and I made bread. After they left we did a few things around the house before going over to Brian's parents' house to swim. Jared and Chrystalyn came over, too, and KarraLee and Michael. We had pizza and swam. Ellie was swimming all over. She was a daredevil and swimming in the deep end, back and forth. After swimming Brian's mom had made cookies and brownies so we got to enjoy that before going home.

Now it's back to the school routine for tomorrow!