Joy Is...

having your two oldest children sit on your lap to read bedtime books

even if you can barely see passed their heads.

Spudnuts

One night, Jeremy made spudnuts- donuts made with mashed potatoes. It takes up the whole table to make them.

The next morning the kids came out when it was time to frost them.

Here are some of the things that were heard-


Nichole: Oooh, they look like like donuts.
(pause to take a bite)
And on the top they taste like donuts.


When Jr. woke up and came out-


Nichole: Daddy's making spudnuts into donuts and donut rolls. Try it. It's delicious?

Did you know those are yummy, too?


Jr. (in a confused voice after picking off the sprinkles and eating them): No more sprinkles.


Nichole (while watching Daddy frost the donuts and holes): There's some of those sauce on the donut rolls.
It's going to be a sprinkle pie donut roll.

The KAT's Meow

Daddy: Yoink.
Jr: Daddy said that.
Mommy: Yeah he’s silly and funny.
Jr: And awesome.
Mommy: Yeah, Daddy’s awesome.
Jr: Like a pig.

Me Time- Scripture Bag

I'm happy to get a little Me Time once in a while. I guess the more I do it, the less guilty I'll feel about it. Me Time is good as long as I'm not neglecting my family. Jeremy is happy to support me and it's working out.

A couple weeks ago I planned to make a scripture bag for Jr. during Me Time. Guess what. I ended up being too tired to try to start something like that, so instead, I rested on my bed watching something on the portable DVD player. Ate a little snack, took some time... until my Me Time was cut short when Jr. came in with an ear ache. Poor little guy. It's a good thing I didn't start my project. Instead I got some cuddle time with my little boy. We gave him some ibuprofen, put some My Friends Tigger and Pooh on the DVD player to distract him, and I just held him until he'd calmed down and the baby needed me.

Last week I did get some uplifting Me Time. Sister Beck, the General Relief Society president, was the special speaker at a special Tri-Stake Relief Society Meeting in our area. Wow. That woman is really neat. She basically had a question and answer session and she turned to the scriptures many times to help explain her answers. One of the things she talked about (and some of you may have heard her speak on this before) was Essential Things- scripture reading, prayer, etc. things that lead you back to Heavenly Father, Necessary Things- laundry, dishes, groceries, etc. things that need to be done in order to live, and Nice To Do Things- hobbies and such that are nice to do when you have time. She said the greatest danger facing young mothers today is escaping. Turning to those nice to do things to get away from the essentials. We get distracted too easily. She clarified it and said those nice to do things are important because they provide balance, but when we put them ahead of the essentials and use them as an escape and neglect those essentials, that's where the trouble lies. So I've realized that scheduled Me Time does provide balance for me. It's okay as long as my priorities are in the right place. Which so far it is working out. Like when I was willing to stop my Me Time when Jr. was hurting. I didn't just say, Jeremy, you deal with it. He was already helping with the baby.

Anyway, I got more Me Time (sort of Me Time, I took the baby with me) last week when I went to our Stake Women's Conference- also uplifting. Our stake president was the special speaker after classes, and I was reminded again what a blessing it is for us to be in this ward and this stake.

So, on to this week- Me Time.

I finally sewed Jr.'s scripture bag. I used Nichole's that she got from the Primary for her birthday last year as a reference.

It turned out really well. Of course I have ideas of things I can do next time to improve or be more efficient, but anyone looking at the bag wouldn't think that way. It is perfectly adequate, and Jr. was pleased with it, too.

So we'll see how it works out on Sunday with his new scriptures he got a couple weeks ago.

Penguin

Nichole learned about penguins at school then got to put together a paper penguin of her very own. Cutting, positioning, gluing.

It's even got a cute little bowtie.

It's amazing what you can make with simple shapes.

Return of Frosty the Cheeseball

Last year, the kids and I made Frosty the Cheeseball. Mmmm, he was yummy. This year we wanted to do it again. We were out of carrots however, so we simplified him (and used a peanut for the nose).

And later I made Frosty the Cheeseball's cousin.

He doesn't have much to say. But he sure tastes good.

We Matches

Jr. and I bumped chins one evening. Oof!
I don't even remember what we were doing to cause the collision but I did notice our matching red chins after the incident.

Nothing serious or we wouldn't be smiling in the picture.

Hot Chocolate

One night the kids and I decided to have hot chocolate. It was the perfect opportunity for me to use my new mug Jr. got me for Christmas. Jr. wanted pumpkin spice hot chocolate. Nichole's not a fan. We only had enough hot cocoa left for one person but it needed to be used up. So I had to open another can of hot chocolate for me.

So we ended up with three different kinds of hot chocolate, I got to use my new Christmas mug, and Jr. insisted we use pumpkin straws.

Halloween pumpkin straws in Christmas mugs? Why not?

Joy Is...

Taking time to dance with your little boy.

Stickers

You know that folder fiasco a few posts ago? Well, in the back of her folder she found her stickers. A bunch of stickers. Guess what she decided to do. Use every single one of them.

Mostly on her person, though I've found some on papers, chairs, me. After a while the stickers don't want to stay on some objects, so now I'm finding them on the floor, on the bottom of my slippers, on me again.
But you have to admit, she sure is cute.

Mommy, Look

I look like a walrus.

How about a game and a movie?

The other day, the kids reminded me of yet another place in our apartment that needs to be organized. We have a bunch of board games and miscellaneous toys in a cupboard under our bookcase. I really need to go through and decide what to keep and what to get rid of. They are often forgotten because they are hiding in that cupboard (out of sight, out of mind). Since the living room was clean (thanks to super helper, Jr.), the kids decided to get into the cupboard and start playing with the things in there. And yes, everything did get put back. Yay, kids.

Anway, this playing led to the kids and I playing a board game that I've had for years (but haven't played for years). It was a Wizard of Oz trivia board game. It was simple enough Jr. and Nichole were able to play it with me. They did pretty well guessing things (and knowing some, too) about the movie and story. Now for those of you who knew me in high school, it wouldn't surprise you to know that I have quite a few Wizard of Oz items around. So it was a good game (we all finished a little after each other).

That evening, I let the kids watch the movie. They had been good that day, so I was happy to let them watch it.

Good bonding time with the kids.

How Does She Clean?

She delegates.


Mommy: Nichole, clean up your stuff in the living room, please.
Nichole: Jr., will you clean up my stuff... with me?
Jr.: I can.

Nichole: Jr., can you clean up my stuff?
Jr. (while playing): I am.
Nichole: It's a big big big big mess.
Jr. (continues playing): I don't see a mess.
Nichole: Yes, see? Look around. It's all over. You didn't clean it up!


It went on like this for a little while. Eventually, Nichole threw everything in the folder. As I picked it up, little pieces and crayons came falling out all over the place. I helped her realize there was a better way of doing it. Clean up the crayons first. Put the papers into piles then put the piles in the page protectors where they go.


A little while later I was going through the exact same thing with Jr. and his activity folder. Didn't he learn anything from this experience with his sister?

Family Home Evening- Oceans

For Family Home Evening, we did an ocean theme for our activity and treat. Daddy made us squid dogs to eat while watching Oceans by Disneynature.

We combined it with dinner so Jeremy and I had ours in some chowder (which we didn't even bother offering to the kids- I didn't want to hear any complaining). It would have been more appropriate if it was clam chowder, but we didn't have any so we enjoyed cheesy potato instead.

Along with the squid dogs and chowder, Jeremy cut apples in the shape of turtles with fish to the side.

It was a nice family activity.

Our Little Politician

I'm going for sister of the year award. Please vote for me.

And she doesn't kiss babies and shake hands. She shakes babies' hands.

Teaser Trailer

More Dress Up Fun

I just love to see my daughter's creativity during dress up.

Isn't she a cutie?

Handmade Christmas Gifts

Amazingly, even with the new baby, I was able to make a couple of gifts for Jr. and Nichole this year. Thank you, husband, for helping me out.

My friend, Brittney, made a fairy princess skirt and talked about it on her blog. It was so cute, I wanted to make one for Nichole. So, I followed her tutorial but made my own changes to personalize it.

Instead of gluing jewels to the bottom (I found it is helpful to put something down there to give it a little weight), I strung beads through the ribbon, as well as a few bells to give it some jingle (but not too much).

Nichole loved that it had bells on it. She got all dressed up in some of her other fairy gear and enjoyed posing with her new fairy skirt.

Jeremy suggested I make a tool belt for Jr. to use with his Handy Manny tools. He even drew out a diagram to give me an idea- pockets and loops to hold the tools. I am learning to sew as you may remember from Halloween, but sometimes it takes me a long time to figure things out- did I mention I'm a beginner? Handmade Christmas presents require the recepient to not know what's going on so I was trying to work on the tool belt while Jr. was asleep (Nichole's I was able to do in my bedroom during the day as it didn't require any sewing). Unfortunately these days I get tired and sleepy a lot earlier since my nighttime sleeping is so broken up with taking care of the baby, so I just could not concentrate and figure out how to do the tool belt like Jeremy was suggesting. It was a great idea, though. Some day I will have the skills. I ended up simplifying it to the point of just having two pockets. And Jeremy gave me a spot in his office for setting up the sewing machine and ironing board so I was able to do it during the day while Jr. was awake and I could concentrate better.

So here is the finished product.

It will fit his tools just putting them in the pockets. Or he can put anything else he wants in there. This tool belt has room for him to grow, which is good because he's not really interested in it right now. That's okay. I finally convinced him to wear it long enough to get a picture.

Catch of the Day

And... We Danced!

The kids and I were having kind of a rough time while Daddy was out doing some shopping. (I think it's the Winter). At least they were willing to eat dinner- plain spaghetti noodles with ham, carrots, and jello salad (they were much worse with last night's enchilada pie). I decided as they were finishing up and I was washing some dishes to turn the radio on. It might be nice to listen to some music to help our mood.

Nichole got up and started dancing when she was done eating so I joined in.

When Jr. finished eating, he joined in, and our little Jr. Jr. even kicked a bit in his bouncer seat.

It felt really good to just let go and be silly with the kids. We all needed it.

Me Time

I have a hard time taking time for myself- that time when I can go away and do whatever I want for a while, even if it's just in another room for a few hours. I have a hard time for many reasons- I feel guilty about leaving my husband to take care of the kids by himself (although he's perfectly capable), I feel that I shouldn't have time for myself because I haven't earned it (there are still dirty dishes in the kitchen), I feel like I'm abandoning my family (but they will be fine without me for a few hours), any time I take for myself is time my husband isn't able to take for himself (though he says he gets a lot more time for himself than I do), I think I already took me time when I sat at the computer and blogged and was on facebook (even though I had to keep stopping to help the kids, etc. etc.- not actual me time). There are a number of reasons I don't take time for myself.

Often what happens when I don't take that time, though, is that eventually I get burned out. A lot of you know what I'm talking about. My wonderful husband wants to support me in getting time for myself. He'll hold down the fort while I go out or go in the other room. If the baby really needs me, he can get ahold of me. But I often don't take the time, even though he encourages me.

So, the other day I said, I'm going to take Me Time. I told my husband when I wanted to do it and we knew that there shouldn't be any conflicts. We didn't have anything scheduled for this evening so I was going to do it. After dinner I would go in our bedroom or the office and do whatever I wanted to do for a few hours. And guess what? I did.

I only had to stop a couple of times to feed the baby and for family prayer but I got my time.

I decided what I wanted to do with my time was mending. We have a box full of items to fix and some that I want to turn into other things (like t-shirts into bags, or pants into shorts).

So I popped a girly movie (heh heh) into the computer in the office and set to work mending.

The sewing machine was already in there from a Christmas project I did before, so I did some mending with the machine and some mending by hand and ended up with a nice group of finished projects that can now leave the mending box.

There are still a number of projects to do but I feel good that I was able to get that time for myself to do what I wanted and be productive at the same time.

Yay Me Time!

Baby Blessing

Our little Jr. Jr. had his baby blessing. The place where we found his blessing outfit- this was the smallest size they had (2XS). They said it was the premie size. Well, considering this little guy is over 11 pounds now at 2 months old, I wonder what a premie would look like in this outfit, especially before 2 months.


We also had him wear these sweet little booties and white socks Jeremy's aunt sent us. Thanks, Aunt Donna.

And thanks to those who were able to make it to the baby blessing. We really appreciate you coming.

Have a Groovy New Year