L I V I N G joyfully

Be My Valentine

2012-02-16T10:43:00.002-06:00

I saw many cute things on Pinterest that I hoped to make for Valentines Day. My nearly 2-week long vertigo got in the way of many of my plans, but let me show you our simple celebration this year.

When I saw these heart shaped gum ball banks at Walmart, I knew the kids would love them. One of their favorites candies is bubble gum. I love gum too, but Ben never chews it!

It's important to have a little cheese with your sweets, so my cheesy thought was:"I am having a "BALL" being your Mom!"
I surprised them on Valentines Day by putting their goodie on their pillow.

Last year after Valentines Day, I found these heart pillow and blanket sets on clearance for around $1. I picked up two sets for the girls. I knew they would be a little much for Daniel. Katie and Christina have slept with theirs all week! Christina's pillow looks so cute with her bedding, that it might stay out year round.

Last month when I was visiting with one of my neighbors, Kathy A., I commented on her neat vinyl LOVE letters. She told me she cut them from card stock with her Cricket machine. She surprised me recently with a set of my own. How sweet of her! I have always loved this sculpture and was happy to see the sculpture when Katie and I were in NYC last spring. Such a simple thing that makes me smile. I love the "O" canted sideways!

My friend went the extra mile and cut out a few hearts too. I thought they looked sweet by our family Wordles. We love our extended family!

Poor Ben had stake meetings all evening on Valentines Day. On his drive back from OKC, he stopped into Pops for gas and a soda. Ginger ale always tastes good when you aren't feeling good. He surprised me with this HOTLIPS blackberry soda. It was a yummy treat. I'm a practical and frugal gal, so this is my kind of valentine. Sometimes splurging on $50 roses seems like a bit much for a money-conscious 40-something Mom!

Don't feel too bad for us. We're going to celebrate a belated Valentines later on - hopefully this weekend!

Ben's parents sent us this cute Valentine with a gift card to Texas Roadhouse. I thought my father-in-law Bob was clever with this photo of all the grandkids! Can't wait to use our gift card on my date with Ben!

The girls made strawberry heart-shaped cupcakes on their own one evening. Katie even used the marble technique. Way to go! I decorated them for our Valentines bedtime snack. I was hoping to make sugar cookies, but they take a lot of energy.

As room Mom for both Daniel and Christina's classes, we had back to back parties on Valentines Day. They are pretty simple to organize, but I was hoping I felt up to them that day. I had signed up to do the game at each party. After doing lots of online research, I thought we'd play "Who do you love?" at both parties. At Christina's, the Pre-K children were funny and didn't want to compete for their spot in the circle. Instead, they lingered in the middle, hoping to be "IT." That made things challenging, but kind of funny too. Several parents thought I engaged the kids really well and did a good job.
My vertigo is doing much better, but you can see in this photo (even with makeup and hair actually done for the day), that I'm still not quite well. I look pale and my eyes are weird. Here are Christina and her friend Emily Stokes. Most of her classmates are mentioned with just their first name, but it's always "Emily Stokes." She came for a playdate last month.
Christina loved the yummy sugar cookie sandwiches. Whoopies are very trendy this year. I think she liked the Pringles best. I teased my friend Anne who brought them that she even made them festive with their pink/red seasoning. She laughed since Pizza Pringles come that way!

Then Christina and I hustled over to Daniel's party. His class adored the game, including Daniel, who acted like a class clown, saying, "Who do you love?" in his silliest girl voice. I wondered how the boys would respond to the game, but they were the most enthusiastic of the class! At one point, we had a collision and one boy on the floor. I hoped it was a safe enough game for this rowdy class!

Daniel and his buddy, Hunter, were silly wearing one of their Valentines - a bug catcher!

As we left the school, I realized in all this multi-tasking that I had forgotten to talk to Katie about the afternoon and had forgotten to pick her up. We all prayed for her peace of mind as we zipped next door to the middle school. She was so sad and I felt horrible! Part of this vertigo has included a brain fog and short-term memory loss. I have never done that to any of my kids and felt like a horrible Valentine! She was thankfully kind and forgiving about it.
I always envision making homemade Valentines and being clever, but I have gotten away from that with Daniel. He tends to not like most of the crafty, creative stuff, and thinks Fun Dip is hot stuff. "Everyone likes Fun Dip. I want to give that out again this year," he tells me. And a big part of Daniel's thought process is very thoughtful and choosing a treat that everyone seems to like.
However, on the day after Valentines on the way to school, he had creative plans for next year. He liked the 3D optical illusion Valentines he received from some girls in his class, but he didn't think anyone likes lollipops. He explained, "Mom, we should make a 3D valentine with Gushers next year." He detailed his vision for his next valentine and it sounded really clever. Who'd have thought? He's thinking, "No gushing. You're my valentine" as he holds out his hands wide and low to hold a Gusher packet. He encouraged me to get right on it and take his picture, so we're ready. For Valentines Day, 2013.

Since we had to pick up Katie at choir around dinner time, we decided to go to Subway for dinner. Subway sandwiches are the kids' absolute favorite. With foot long sandwiches (of every type) for $5 in February, it was a fun, easy, and healthy dinner. My vertigo/nausea is improving, but by night it starts to get worse, so let's just say we've had simple and wimpy dinners lately.

That night I gathered our conversation heart dishes and Valentines glasses (that light up) for our bedtime snack. The kids were balky, but showed me their interesting hearts. "I heart you too, kids!"

Happy Valentines Day!
I sure love these three, Ben, our extended families, and friends. This is one of my favorite holidays!

Best Snow Day Ever

2012-02-14T10:29:00.001-06:00

On Sunday the weather predicted lots of snow that night. Look what we woke to on Monday morning!
The Best Snow Day Ever!

I told Katie the night before that before she jumped in the shower, to check the news and see if school was cancelled. She is amazing and gets up on her own each morning. Yahoo! School was cancelled. She was able to hop back in bed and sleep in after all. A Snow Day was the best Valentines present that the kids could hope for. There was lots of snow and it was the perfect packing type too.

Our morning started with a 7:30 ring on the doorbell. Fortunately for me, I slept through the noise and Ben answered the door. It was Christina's neighbor friend Tucker, wanting to go sledding. An hour later we all woke and had breakfast. Then we gathered up the bags of snow gear, sifting through to find something that fit. We don't have official snow gear or snow pants, but our flimsy stuff would have to do.

Christina started out going sledding with Tucker, her Dad, and another neighbor boy, Jordan. Soon the neighbor kids were in our yard, needing snowmen supplies. I donned some gardening boots and joined them. For whatever reason, the cold and snow lifted my vertigo symptoms a little. Finally, Daniel and neighbor buddy Nolan got motivated to come outside too.

Here are Nolan and Daniel building a snow wall. Later on they took Nolan's official sleds from Germany and found a snow hill in our neighborhood. Daniel had to be cold with his regular tennis shoes and light weight lounge pants. I noticed very quickly that the girls liked building snowmen best. And boys mostly liked hitting the girls with snowballs. Especially in the face.

I'm thankful to know that getting out all my "Let it Snow" decor was not in vain!

With a little help from me rolling the snowman parts, we made this snow family. I noticed that the kids mostly liked decorating the snowmen. With all our girlie accessories, it looks like one poor snow boy who is girl trapped. Must be how neighbor friend, Sam, feels sometimes!

Tucker's stay-at-home-Dad, David, came out to have some fun too. He was teasing the boys, pretending to build snowmen, and then drop huge snow balls on the boys' heads. They loved it! He also brought his red Giant Snow Baller that made the most amazing, perfect snowballs. Daniel thought it was a fun gadget. It looks a bit like a melon baller to me. Now that could make an interesting fruit salad.

Poor Christina had to layer a coat with her raincoat, several pairs of pants, and too-big gardening boots. Her gloves of choice were some dressy, leather ones my Grandma Higgins used to wear. All day I wondered what Grandma might be thinking as she looked down on us from heaven!

Christina played outside for hours. The boots were so big that at one point I looked down and she had a huge snowball wedged in one boot! We just haven't had enough snow to invest in snow gear. She finally got the hang of rolling the big snowballs and enjoyed helping out.

However, Christina did NOT like getting hit with snowballs. After some whining and tears from both girls, they knew what they needed to do next.Get Even!
Way to go Tucker! I had to laugh at this photo. I had asked the children to not throw snowballs right in each other's faces. After consoling several of them who had snow packed in their ears and sore faces, they needed some snow play pointers. We have to remember, this snow play is new for most of them.
I think Daniel had this snowball coming!
After lots of playing in our backyard and in the house, going back and forth from all the houses, it was nice to cuddle up in front of the space heater and watch Wild Kratts that afternoon. The kids had hot cocoa and cookies at our home and Nolan and Sam's, along with cheese and crackers at our house. For yesterday, I let the house go a little, and it felt great. I was thankful I hadn't recently vacuumed and mopped. What is it about snow gear, ice, and water that makes for really yucky floors.
How often do we a get a true blue Snow Day in Stillwater anyway?

Royal Caribbean Cruise

2012-02-13T17:45:00.004-06:00

Let's just say our cruise was fabulous! Coming home hasn't been.

It has taken me all week to upload our Caribbean cruise photos. With my post-cruise vertigo and nausea, I am working very slowly at things. It has been a hard week. I think the most challenging part for me is not knowing when this dizziness and exhaustion will lift. And if it will. I know that sounds lacking-in-faith, but I have read that for some people it doesn't. After 7 days of constant swaying and rocking, I went to the doctor. She thinks my allergies and some fluid behind an ear might be making it worse. I don't see any change from a few days of antibiotic and Flonase, but I am trying to stay positive. I've read that this is called Mal de Debarquement Syndrome. The doctor is calling it post-cruise vertigo, but it's different from regular vertigo that comes and goes. This is constant. It tends to affect mostly women, in their 40s-50s, and those recently on a 7 night + cruise. Check! It all fits. Some even suspect that it mostly affects women who are NOT prone to motion sickness, but who occasionally get migraines. That also describes me. I have had more seasickness off the ship than on!

I had Ben give me a blessing and I'm resting as much as I can. I have never had any week-long "anything" require so much sleep. It's annoying. I have too much that I want to do to be sleeping this much. I am trying to use the down time to catch up on tv, pondering time, and use it as a time to grow. It is helping me have more empathy for those with health problems. So many everyday tasks make the dizziness worse, but tv and computer time is okay, in moderation. Enough of the whining.

Before I block out all positive memories of our cruise, I better write a bit while it's still relatively fresh.

The craziness started with our timing. Ben has been traveling quite a bit lately for work. Between two business trips, we had a visit from my parents and Daniel's baptism. On the day that Ben flew in from Texas, he had a few hours to pack for the cruise and rest before we drove straight to our port - New Orleans. Having him go into the cruise so tired was not a good idea. It took him 1 1/2 days to recover from the all-nighter. We won't do that again.

When we arrived in New Orleans that next morning, I took the kids to get beignets from Cafe du Monde, while Ben slept in the car. It was a lovely morning to walk around and see the pretty balconies. I know many people think New Orleans is such a yucky city, but I enjoy walking around as long as we avoid Bourbon Street. You could see they are starting preparations for Mardi Gras.

This cafe is always packed and it took a while to 1) get a table, 2) order our breakfast, and 3) finally get the long-awaited beignets. Christina was going nut waiting! On this visit to New Orleans, everyone agreed that they are delish!

Powdered sugar was everywhere! Just how we like it.
This is the classic New Orleans experience.

Jackson Square is such a pretty place to walk around, even if we felt pretty grubby, not even having showered yet for the day. That's what you get when you drive 12 hours straight!

I was surprised at all the flowers in bloom - in January!

We walked around Jackson Square and walked through this lovely church.

The kids were begging for balloon animals. I thought for $5, it was worth a little fun. Trying to kill a little more time and let Ben rest, we did some shopping and tried on funny scarves.And monkeyed around, trying on hats too.

Finally, we looped around and walked down the river. It wasn't long before we spotted our cruise ship. Exciting! I was surprised at the nervousness I felt as we were preparing for boarding our cruise. It had been 12 years since we'd cruised, but felt like a first time experience to us.

When we got to the van, Ben was nowhere to be found. He had made a bathroom run, so we waited until he returned. After we all reunited, we decided to drive around New Orleans for a bit. Ben was familiar with the Garden District and drove us around some of that area. I loved seeing the beautiful homes, colorful trolleys, and palm trees! I never think of New Orleans as being in a tropical climate.

When we spotted the infamous Lafayette Cemetery, I asked if we could stop and walk around. I've always wanted to explore an above ground cemetery. It was a little creepy. Kind of cool too. I love all the 150 year old live oaks that surround New Orleans. This town has a lot of personality.

Then it was time to park and get on board! Getting on the Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas didn't take long. We were impressed with the smooth boarding process. After lunch in the Windjammer cafe, we explored the ship a bit. After that, Ben crashed in our room, while I took the kids to play. The 12th deck was full of sports and active fun. I took the younger two mini golfing for a while, but it was really windy to play for long.

All of us had fun rollerblading. That was the only day we made time for this. Such fun!

Whhhheeeee!

Ben was still sleeping, so I took the kids to dinner. Later that night we explored the ship as a family together after Ben woke up. He was a little more rested, but still wiped out.

I noticed on our daily itinerary (Compass, they called it) that they were having family karaoke. We all (minus Daniel) sang Abba's Dancing Queen, at Katie's request. After watching, Daniel got up the courage to try, so he and Ben sang a duet - YMCA. Really fun, even though I was starting to feel wiped out by this point.

I found that it took a day or two to get our bearings and get the feel of a cruise. We were really happy having two connected rooms. It made things easier with a family. And they were surprisingly quiet rooms! We had Putu put down both bunks, giving us 4 twin options in one room. Initially, every child wanted to sleep up high. The younger two chickened out that first night.

Cruise Day 2 - At Sea

2012-02-13T16:44:00.001-06:00

The kids and I started the next day ready for breakfast and exploring the ship. Ben slept in, while we went to the sports deck. I was really starting to miss him at this point, but I knew he was tired.

Katie and I headed to rock climbing, while the younger two went to their kids club class. KT made it to the bell in two tries!

I was surprised at how challenging it was, but I made it to the top the first time. The teacher's advice to just keep going was good for me. Another weird thing about the trip was something that happened to my thumb. I ended up getting cellulitis (a skin infection) on it. I suspected a cut was aggravated from this day of rock climbing. It swelled up, became inflamed, and hurt to bend it. After visiting the ship's doctor and starting antibiotics, it went away within 4 days, but it limited my future days at rock climbing. That was a bummer, since I really enjoyed this!

While Ben slept I took a salsa dance class and walked around. Katie was anxious to check out the teen club in Optix. It was a small group of teens, but they seemed to really enjoy each other.

Daniel is a natural climber, but his legs were too short to get past the overhang. The teacher was fun with him, letting him swing and go for a ride. He tried a few times and was brave too!

That afternoon I took a mixed media art class. I enjoyed visiting with the girls next to me, who had lots more art background than I did. Although my project turned out quite elementary, it was fun. Ben and I met up afterwards and enjoyed some snacks in the buffet area. It was quiet and relaxed in the afternoons in the Windjammer.

This was one of our favorite parts of the cruise - just relaxing by the pool and ship windows. The first few days at sea were a little chillier. As we got more into the Caribbean, it warmed up. I wore my favorite gray fleece jacket most of the time the first few days.

One of the reasons we chose this particular ship was for its kids' program. Being that we were celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary, we were hoping for some time just as a couple. The kids' club made that possible! Since most of the passengers were seniors, there weren't as many families as some weeks. Someone told me that in the summer there can be 1400 children on board (too many to keep under control, they thought). This week there were 114. Just enough to have fun and play group games, but perfect for one-on-one attention. Christina loved that, along with having her face painted almost every day.

Every time we tried mini golfing, it was so windy! Still fun though."You've got the look", Daniel!

Christina and I enjoyed the hot tubs, probably the most. Daniel gets cold too easily, to enjoy them for long. I don't think Ben ever got in! The kids would go to the kids club for a few hours each morning and afternoon. Between times, we would eat and do something fun. It worked out nice. Ben and I took a 70s disco line dance class one afternoon.

After dinner in the dining room, the kids wanted to return to the kids club. We hadn't planned on having time in the evenings to do things as a couple. Most nights, we went to a show. This evening, we walked the Promenade and looked in some of the shops.

It was always fun to return to the room in the evening to see what Putu had created out of towels. Christina, in particular, loved the towel animals!

The one thing that surprised me about a cruise is how much there is to do, even when you are at sea. I had expected lots more relaxing, but there were so many classes I wanted to take and activities I wanted to try. All of the fun pulled at me, while trying to keep in mind the things that Ben is interested in doing, since a big part of this was about "us."

Day 3: First Port - Jamaica

2012-02-13T14:42:00.002-06:00

Our first port day was Falmouth, Jamaica. The seas had been a little rocky, so some new friends and I wondered that morning at breakfast if we really were in Falmouth. It was a bit disorienting to not know where we were. It was a pretty view from the ship. The big yellow building is the courthouse and the nicest and largest building in town.

Christina liked the kids club so much that she wanted to stay instead of checking out Jamaica with the rest of us. We knew this day might be a little boring for her, so I was happy she felt this way. We weren't sure what it would be like to explore a seedy town with three kids.

Falmouth is a new port, mostly developed by Royal Caribbean. They have done a nice job making the shopping area and initial impression a positive one. Lots of informative signs about the area.

These cool Jamaicans on stilts wanted money for a personal photo session. That is one thing that got very old on the whole cruise. We opted out nearly every time. Not worth the money to me. I was happy to sneak a photo of the individuals without us. You can see by the Jamaican's expression that he wasn't so sure of the photo either.

I had read a few guidebooks about Falmouth and had taken notes about the actual town. When we left the gates, we hit a street with very aggressive vendors. Many were asking to braid me and my daughter's hair, and trying to sell their wares. Once we got into Falmouth, it settled down a bit, but I never felt very safe. We explored very superficially and saw lots of poverty. It is a very historical, colonial town, but has a long way to go in the restoration. We saw a few of the churches and homes on my list, but then I was happy to return to the ship. The souvenirs weren't any cheaper inside the city either!

Later that day when I was chatting with our table mates and some ship friends, they couldn't believe we had the guts to go into town and explore. They chickened out and stayed within the port area. They kidded me that next time I could be their guide and lead them around. I never felt that fearful, but didn't want to explore much more on foot either.

This was the home of a family member of the Victorian poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. You couldn't go inside any of the homes we saw on our walking tour. I think my favorite part of the town was visiting with a funny Rasta man, selling some souvenirs. He wasn't pushy, but showed us his big hat and explained to the kids about his long dreadlocks. He taught us that "irie" means happy and hoped we were having a "irie" day in Jamaica. Yeah, mon!

I was content to have explored a bit and we returned to the more safer feeling port shops. I loved seeing all their wood carved crafts. Daniel shopped around and found a $10 turtle. One of my favorite souvenirs from the trip.

Katie spread out her $10 of souvie money, buying this magnetic turquoise (fakey, yes!) bracelet and a smaller turtle.

We also got a turtle for Christina. When we picked her up, I could tell she he loved all the attention and fun with her teachers. When we watched a slide show of the cruise for Family Night, I was curious about Christina's response to the photos she wasn't part of. She didn't seem phased or even aware that she'd missed anything. I'm glad.

I liked watching the artisans stain and paint their wares, along with listening to the lively music. It really felt like we were in Jamaica!

Souvenir shopping has always been one of my favorite things!

We had stopped at a recommended jerk chicken spot in town, but they weren't even open yet. So, we tried near the port instead. We sampled some jerk chicken and beans and rice. Yummy!

Jamaica, mon!

We had planned to hire a taxi and find a local beach afterwards, but we were all tired and ready to lounge on the ship. I found that planning too much at the ports was difficult. It would have been impossible to lug all our snorkeling/swimming stuff around on a walking tour. Simple was best this day.

We got back on the ship for a bigger meal in the Windjammer! Sampling and sharing the jerk chicken was good, but we didn't want to be too adventurous and get sick by eating a lot. I love all the clever creations made from watermelons on the cruise ship. So many artistic touches.

Daniel informed me that he ate part of his guy's mustache. Good ol' Daniel! It was nice to eat a big meal and relax. I loved walking all around the ship to see Jamaica from different angles.

I have to admit though, that there was something unsettling to me with the port stops and seeing things so superficially. I really like to go deep in sightseeing. It wasn't as satisfying to me as seeing many parts of a town and island. I don't think this bothered Ben. It was just how I felt about it.

Christina made three sweet friends on the cruise. They loved being in kids club together and eating together, if the timing was right. When we looked over at the girls this day, they were holding hands and blessing their food. It was fun to eat, overlooking Jamaica. I loved the feeling of cruising at night and arriving somewhere different the next day. Such a different experience. I didn't have a ton of motion sickness, but more than Ben did. I was surprised by this since he is usually the one with motion sickness. Barfing Ben. They used to call him.

The younger two wanted to go to their kids club for a few hours, so Katie, Ben and I hit the pool. It felt so good to relax. Port days were quiet at the pool. That was a pleasant surprise too. I had to take a nice blackmail photo of Ben, snoozing in his jacket, by the pool.

Katie Girl and I enjoyed some sunshine

This was my favorite suntanning spot, overlooking the main pool, and close enough to the lively band to enjoy their music, but not so close as to be drowned out with the noise. Finding a lounge chair wasn't always the easiest. We learned that certain spots were very windy and chilly. This side of the pool was warmer.

We all ate in the dining room again that night. One of the fun things about that evening was pulling out of Jamaica. The Jamaicans all lined up and waved goodbye to our ship. It was sweet.

After dinner we had tickets to the free Ice Show. It was one of the best shows on the ship. Very high quality and great talent. Each of us loved it! Even Daniel who was balky about going and knew he would hate it. Later on when we went ice skating, I was able to visit with some of the skaters. They are amazing!

Mardi Gras skeletons in the ice show

These three meet up again! (Neela, Chloe, and Christina)

That night we found a towel bat in the kids room. Eeeeek! Putu was so sweet to us.
Night Night to us!

Cruise Formal Night

2012-02-13T14:40:00.002-06:00

Ben and I had been really excited for Formal Night. We actually had two of them on this 7-night cruise, but the first one was the most formal. I stumbled upon this full-length, cap sleeved black formal at our local Formal Fantasy. Guess what I paid for it? Ten dollars. Ben bought a few new ties for both formal nights too. I had to allow some extra time, after laying by the pool in the afternoon after Jamaica, to curl my hair. I was thankful we didn't have an overly full day at this port. I had considered trying a bump-it or an up-do, but went with something I knew I could do. Kind of a half up-do, I guess. I felt pretty this evening! A friend thought some of these photos looked a bit like Titanic.

I liked this photo of us all, although Christina looks exhausted.

We took a few photos near the entrance to the dining room. They had formal portraits, but this worked for us.

Once inside, I wanted to get one of Katie near the sparkling chandelier. Katie really wanted a new dress too. With just a few days before we departed and no time to shop in the city, I doubted we'd find anything. JCPenney to the rescue! And it even looked nice with everyone else's colors.

Happy 20th Anniversary, Ben!

One of Daniel's favorite parts of the cruise was ordering whatever food he wanted. This evening, he ordered escargot, but then wouldn't eat it. It was especially yummy in this pesto, garlic sauce.I loved lobster night. Their starters were better than the desserts, but overall the dinner food was delish.

He and Christina would get pretty wiggly after about an hour. Another perk with this cruise ship was that the kids club staff would wait outside the formal dining after 60-75 minutes, to take wiggly kids back to the Kids Club. We took advantage of that most evenings. Daniel was especially thankful.

After the younger two left, Katie had a napkin folding class by our sweet head waiter, Herb. I loved being able to linger after meals and being attended to at the table each evening. The food was particularly good in the dining room too.
One of the funniest parts about dinner involved drinking. Not alcoholic drinks. Just chocolate milk. Early in the week, the little girls started ordering chocolate milk at dinner. The waiters seemed to think it was cute. The next night, Ben wanted one too. By the 4th night, everyone (minus Katie) ordered a chocolate milk. I wondered if we'd eat at a table with people in formal dining mode with their fancy wines, but here we were surrounded by non-drinkers, enjoying chocolate milk with a straw. Our waiters were good to us, getting us several drinks (water, lemonade, milk, etc.) and extra appetizers/starters if we wanted them. The portions were just right at dinner, helping me not to eat too much.
Many couples lingered in their formal wear all evening. I must not be a very formal person, since I was anxious to get changed into jeans and a warm jacket, with comfy shoes, right after dinner. My formal and heels were a bit uncomfortable. And to top it off, I was PMSing all week and a bit headachy for days too. Any discomfort adds to motion sickness and headaches. I had a lot more fun, exploring the ship in comfy clothes. I guess I'm just a jeans gal at heart!

Day 4: Grand Cayman

2012-02-13T14:39:00.002-06:00

The next day we arrived in Grand Cayman. Three port days in a row can really tire out a girl! And a family. Even though we were laid back the first day, we had to be up early for our excursions this day. Our cruise company gave us $200 to use onboard. We decided to use it to swim with the stingrays. In all the brain fog, I goofed up the time change and we missed our stingray tour. Stress! The explorations staff was really nice, helping us find something else to do. $150 later, we ended up changing gears to swim with the dolphins and visit a turtle farm. Even though it was more than I'd wanted to spend, I think the day ended up being more fun than it would have, just swimming with the stingrays.

We had to wait around for a while before our tour started. This port had lots of shops too, but this time they featured many seashell creations.

We drove up the coast about 20 minutes in a big caravan of air-conditioned buses. Being part of the cruise tours felt a bit like herding sheep I much preferred smaller touring groups or having a private driver.

We arrived at the dolphin experience and just across the street was the Turtle Farm. We probably enjoyed this experience more than the dolphins.

This is one of my favorite photos of the cruise!

We were all able to hold various kinds of turtles. In this wading pond, the kids were able to chase and pick up turtles. This was an amazing experience!

Love all the creatures!

There were lots of free photo pops at the turtle farm.
Katie was brave too.
These were so heavy to pick up.

Iguanas were everywhere.

We liked it so much that we went back after swimming with the dolphins for another visit.
Good bye turtles!
We arrived at the dolphins, ready to swim. Once again, we waited for a while. It was a fun experience, but I wouldn't spend the money, if I were doing it again. We have NO photos of any of this experience either. That was another big money-making racket. It would have cost $200 + to buy the cd with photos. Let's just say that our mental photo taking is sufficient. We did enjoy interacting with the dolphins, but just a little hyped.

This is where they divided us into various groups. Depending on what you spent, you had different experiences with the dolphins. We were able to pet, kiss, splash, and learn more about dolphins. Our particular dolphin, Alegria, had a more serious personality.

When we returned, we walked around the shops and picked up charms for the girls bracelets. We initially got the sets started in Jamaica, getting one for Christina, Katie, and Christy's best friend Tucker. Daniel was really into coconuts on this cruise and wanted to try one! We all sampled the coconut juice and then afterwards, they cut up the coconuts to eat! Daniel and Ben were the biggest fans!

All three kids chose souvenirs in the port and then we got back on the tender to return to the ship.
Seeing these seashell mobiles got my crafting wheels turning. I could make these!
Good bye Cayman Islands! Wish we could have seen more of you, but it was a fun and expensive day.
This was such a lovely photo of the ship from our tender.

The Caribbean waters are an amazing color.
Daniel and I were so wiped out that night. He begged to not eat in the formal dining. I was getting a migraine, so I was happy to rest with him and get room service, while he enjoyed his pizza, salad, and cookies. Free room service was one of his favorite parts of the trip. I even let him do the ordering and then I'd get on the phone and give the employee my okay. It was fun! I wasn't very hungry with a headache and ended up getting a late evening snack in the Windjammer.After the Excedrin kicked in, I felt a little better and my headache lifted, Daniel and I went ice skating. He was a real pro, doing spins on his first time ice skating. I made some senior friends that day who chose this particular cruise for the ice rink. They taught me a few things and I started doing very basic spins too. It was all about bringing my arms in and out to keep my balance, I guess! Many people asked me how long Daniel had been taking lessons, thinking he was great. It was cute. He sure fell a lot, but hopped right back up! Ice skating cleared my head a little and I was on the mend.

After ice skating, Daniel and Christina wanted to go to the kids club. Ben and I went to a show that evening (a comedic impressionist that was so-so). We met up with some friends and watched the kids in their Pirate Pirade down the Promenade. Wow. Alliterative. One of the couples met us in karaoke later. We all had fun singing some songs. Ben and I sang the Garth Brooks "Two of a Kind" song. He and our friend sang a duet, while I picked up the kids. Their little Neela sang "Rudolph". It was cute!

Day 5: Tour around Cozumel

2012-02-13T05:14:00.001-06:00

Driving around Cozumel, Mexico was one of the favorite days of our cruise.

I love reading cruise and vacation reviews and had heard about something called " Cozumel Hiring a Driver". It was less expensive than the cruise excursions and you could experience so much more of the island. It was awesome! Our driver, Chibo, conveniently picked us up (and all our swim/snorkeling stuff) in the taxi line outside the pier. He was friendly and reviewed the things we wanted to stop at, before heading out. He wanted to drive us through downtown Cozumel, by the air force base, and then headed east over to the ruins.

It is humbling to see the residential parts of the Mexico. Our driver took us by Cozumel schools and day cares, along with local markets and homes. He said their economy centers around tourism, specifically the cruise ships that arrive each Thursday. Before we entered the ruins, he stopped at a little market (similar to one he works at on his non-taxi days), to buy himself some breakfast. It was fun browsing through it and Daniel loved seeing the baby chicks for sale.

We enjoyed exploring the San Gervasio Mayan ruins next. It was a warm, sunny morning and perfect for exploring. And a little whining from the kids.Although there weren't ton of flowers in bloom, I loved seeing these tropical blooms throughout the ruins.
Colorful foliage too

We used our map for a self-guided tour through the ruins. This always works best with little ones who get bored on the longer, guided tours. Ben and I are never sure how much of tour information is fact and fiction. Sometimes it's nice to just explore and read the signs.

Daniel's favorite part was seeing and trying to capture tons of iguanas. He was so upset that he couldn't capture one and keep it. Ben finally asked someone to walk in front of me, because I screamed a couple of times when I nearly stepped on an iguana. They camouflage well and are hard to see as you are hiking.

At one of the ruins, you could see some of the color that hadn't completely faded over time.

Kind of cool ruins, but not nearly as neat as Chichen Itza.

Supposedly, these ruins were dedicated to fertility during Mayan times. Where were these ruins when we needed them in our infertile years?

Neat stop on our Cozumel tour

Another cool jaguar? dude you can pay to get your photo with. I just snapped one of him alone. For free. Great costume though! We enjoyed these ruins, but they charged you at every point. As you enter the gate. As you pass through the gates. Even for tour guides. I wondered if they'd charge at the restrooms.

All the money-stuff starts annoying me enough that I don't want to buy souvenirs at their shops. But I had planned to do at the end of the day, when we weren't paying our driver, who was waiting for us. That was something really nice about hiring a driver. We knew our ride would be waiting when we were ready to go.

I sat strategically between Katie and Daniel in the back seat. Daniel loved having the window down as we drove down the coast. Katie didn't. That's how it rolls. Daniel did pretty well on this all-day excursion, even if he did get a bit bored in the car. His beaming face in this photo makes me smile. He's a cute kid!

One of the prettiest overlooks on the east coast of Cozumel was at the Coconuts Restaurant. We pulled over to take a peek. And we saw their friendly parrot too.

Kind of a cool restaurant, but we were holding out for fish tacos at the beach.
Workin' a little Marilyn Monroe with my hubby in Cozumel

Me and Katie Girl

Overlooking the beautiful east coast

Then we continued on our drive, stopping next at El Mirador. I had heard these were neat rock formations to explore. If you look to the left you can see the little rock bridge formations. Our driver got out and took a photo of us all. We had to be careful as we were scurrying over the jagged rocks, but it was a beautiful spot to stop at!

Daniel had to get another coconut at this stop. He's so cute about trying new foods. Katie and I looked at some jewelry and considered buying some things. I'm more of a browser, than a shopper.

Before leaving, someone made this grasshopper out of leaves and grass for Daniel. Very neat!

Our driver pulled over for us to see a massive iguana (someone's pet). It was another photo moneymaker, but I still wasn't getting sucked in.

Pretty blooms all over!

Finally, we arrive at Playa Palancar, where we gathered all our swim supplies and set up for an afternoon at the beach. I loved seeing how the east and west coast varied. The west coast, where we relaxed, was so much calmer. We ordered some fish and chicken tacos, along with chips and guacamole, and sodas. The rave reviews of the fish tacos were right on! It was fun to casually dine under the palm trees.

This was a rustic and fun beach, with peacocks roaming the grounds. Katie was able to feed them some crackers.

Ben and I enjoyed snorkeling and we saw a ton of fish. This beach is located near the Palancar reef. There were several good areas to snorkel near the sandy beach. The younger kids preferred swimming with their goggles and seemed a little afraid of all the fish. I was glad I brought some sand castle supplies for them. Next time, I'll skip bringing the big rafts. Not worth the space, nor the time they were used.

If I were doing this day again, I'd allow more time at this beach. We could actually relax and lay in these hammocks. What a beautiful palm grove!

The kids gathered up their shells and we cleaned up our stuff. Just not enough time at this beach.On the way out, Daniel spotted these bananas and thought we should pick them. Not quite ripe.We weren't far from the pier at this point. It was fun to see that we'd driven around most of the island (at least the roads that aren't 4-wheel drive only). What a great and busy day! Our driver dropped us at the pier and we paid him for the day.Then the kids and I did a little shopping. Ben was sweet and sat with all our gear. Cozumel had the cheapest souvenirs of any port we'd been to. The kids had fun choosing some things and some blue maracas ($1 each) for Christina.Whew! What a full few days. Three port days in a row is a lot.Muy Bonita!

We loved Cozumel and would return in a heartbeat. It's less commercial and crowded than Cancun, but still has the white talcum sand, great snorkeling, and turquoise waters. In fact, I found out that the all inclusive closest to Playa Palancar is called Iberostar. We might just return some day. Cozumel even has an airport! After seeing my vertigo reaction to cruising, I would opt for an all-inclusive land resort any day! I'm wondering if a week of fun was worth a week of sickness.

Another lovely view of the Voyager of the Seas

When we got back, Ben and the older two recuperated, while I went to pick up Christina in the kids program. KT skipped off to the teen club. And Daniel had the mother of all melt-downs in the room, because the ship confiscated his newly discovered walking stick. We also had to give up a few seashells returning onboard. Poor Ben had to help Daniel work through his frustration about losing his beach find.

I had promised Christina that I would do whatever she wanted with me that afternoon. It sounds like a guilt trip to me! That morning was the hardest leaving her. She was sad and didn't want me to leave. The van I had reserved only fit 5 of us and I couldn't change anything at that point. I waited around the corner of the Kids Club, and thankfully she settled quickly, and had a fun day after all. She can be a stinker and I knew with this big of a day, in a car for much of it, would be difficult for her. It was honestly a little boring for Daniel too.

She and I had fun swimming in the kids' area that afternoon, before dinner. It isn't a well-planned area and is pretty much deserted most days. This pool was perfect for her, allowing her to jump and swim across it easily. I liked it too, since it was warmer than all of the pools, minus the hot tubs. We enjoyed ice cream cones together too and spent some time in the hot tubs before dinner. Getting a daily or twice daily ice cream was a favorite for us all. I kept hoping it was some low-cal frozen yogurt, but never knew for sure.

Getting ready for dinner was a mad rush. That was one thing I didn't love about cruising with kids. All the changing in and out of swim wear, casual clothes, and back into formal clothes for dinner, took a lot of my energy. It was hard on a Mama, especially considering all the medication I had to routinely give to the kids who had come down with pink eye before the trip. Isn't that life? Between their pink eye meds, Christina's antibiotic, my cellulitis meds, and whatever else came up, I felt like we were a bunch of sickies!

Katie was at her teen club this afternoon, so we waited to meet up with her before dinner.

We obviously went a little less formal for this evening's dinner. This was lobster tail night. Yum. We are glowing from our time in the sun and looking quite relaxed! Isn't Ben handsome?

One of the things I loved about dinner was watching the sun set. By dessert, it was dark outside, and looked totally different. Christina would guzzle her chocolate milk each night and then we'd have to make a potty run. It was always a nice time to check outside on deck too. One of the things I didn't love about dinner was motion sickness. For whatever reason, being in a large room made it worse. I mostly noticed it at dinner. Someone said the room size makes a difference. I knew fatigue did too! And then the battles that came, helping Daniel with his table manners.

Daniel was such a ham at dinner, struggling to sit still, use his napkin properly, and eat like a gentleman. Many of his shirts and pants ended up with stains, since it appears he prefers using his clothes as a napping. No matter how much teaching we do, I realize he's such a boy! We continued with gentle reminders, but eating in the dining room was the most challenging for him. He told me that was his least favorite thing on the cruise!

We were lucky to eat with a sweet family from Ontario, Canada - the Picards. Chloe was Christina's little 5-year old friend. We enjoyed talking with Tanya and Ritchie at meals and throughout the cruise. They were patient with our little ones' wiggliness and bad manners. And they were having similar issues with their daughter. One evening, we looked over and Daniel had catapulted some small food item across the dining room. I was horrified, but Ritchie, who saw it all, just laughed it off. They could have made the dining so difficult and awkward, but were light hearted and understanding. I am planning to email them some cute photos of our time together, but I'm realistic and know that these kinds of friendships rarely stand the test of time.
Cozumel was the perfect cruising day!

End of the cruise

2012-02-12T18:34:00.000-06:00

On our last day at sea, I had asked the kids what they wanted to do on their last day. Daniel wanted to rock climb and ice skate. Christina wanted to mini golf and ice skate. So, we headed to mini golf after breakfast. We waited around to rock climb, but the hours were goofy that morning. So, I took the younger two to ice skate once it opened. It was really crowded this day with everyone going on this last session.

I was already starting to check out and detach a little from the vacation, knowing I had to pack that afternoon, and thinking of all the things I needed to do that day - cruise surveys, calculate tips, pack, organize, etc.

It was Christina's first time on ice skates. I was glad I had gone two other times, so I could brush up on skating myself. She needed a lot of help and attention, mostly holding onto this wall. It was fun to see her experience something for the first time. After skating, we had lunch as a family, and then I got the kids settled in their kids club, while I packed up the rooms. At that moment, I realized we brought way too much stuff! I need to remember that for future trips. Since we were driving, we weren't charged for the extra baggage, but it was a lot to deal with.

After packing, it was fun to browse the Promenade one last time. I had a few questions for the neighboring Guest Relations and needed to double check our account. The Promenade is such a lovely, well-designed part of this ship. And shopping by myself was kind of fun. I never did buy anything in the ship's shops (that sounds funny!) I think I'm past most souvenirs and not in the accumulating phase, but I don't mind if the kids choose souvenirs.

One of the best things about this cruise was our rooms and location. Our room was in the best location - close to the elevators, our dining room, the kids club, and central to everything. Ben and I were thankful for that during the whole cruise.

The first and last evenings in the dining room are not as formal. I was thankful for that, since getting ready for casual dinners was easier on me. We snapped one last family photo as the sun was setting. We were all feeling a little sad about the cruise ending. It had been such fun!

Going for the windblown, glamour look!We said goodbye to our attentive waiters! On this last evening, the waiters put on a spirited show.
I wasn't sure if the kids would want to go to their last kids club and teen club evening, but they did. So, Ben and I headed as a couple to the closing show. It was a funny juggler, involving much of the cruise staff, and pretty good!

Daniel and Christina said good bye to her teachers. Christina came home with cute little Fisher Price goodie bags. These teachers were true professionals - most with degrees in child development - and worked hard and patiently to make each day fun and special. Christina loved the individual attention and sometimes had two teachers to herself.

We got all our luggage placed outside our rooms and then hit the hay!

I loved walking the top deck and feeling the breeze. Good bye Voyager of the Seas!
I enjoyed a quiet breakfast that last morning by myself. I was anxious about getting ready on time. I often woke before everyone in the family, so I could help everyone to get dressed and be to our activities on time. I would get my tray of food and take it out on the deck and eat outside. So fun. After getting everyone ready, we discovered that the buffet was closed, so we headed to the Cafe Promenade (where we usually just got dessert or snacks) for a very light breakfast. We were in a later disembarking group, which worked for slowpokes like our family.

At 9:30 we went to La Scala Theater to meet with our group before leaving. The actual disembarking was a little later than they had guesstimated, but news reports online stated that delays were due to the bad virus that spread on this ship. I don't understand how that would have affected things. While we were waiting, the kids were happy to see their favorite Kids Club teacher, Nina Ballerina, and said another goodbye. Getting off the ship wasn't quite as quick as getting on, but it wasn't too bad. Although we had a great time, I was happy to be on land again.

As we looked out over a misty New Orleans, we felt a little misty-eyed to be leaving too.
Maybe because we knew a 12-hour drive home that Saturday awaited us!
My vertigo/swaying started in the car that day. I don't normally get car sick, but had to sit in the front about half way through the day to keep it all in check. I guess that is common for the MdDs syndrome - that it kicks in the day after disembarking. Ben was a trooper and did a great job driving us home. The kids were tired from all the fun and the girls dozed much of the day.
Overall, it was a wonderful cruise and we're glad we made so many fun memories!

Daniel's Baptism

2012-02-07T17:37:00.000-06:00

Daniel recently turned eight and decided to get baptized. What an exciting time!

Since he was the only one in our ward getting baptized, our family was able to plan the program. This was a new experience for our family - some definite pluses and some challenges too. I am surprised at the anxiety it created inside of me, pulling it all together without a lot of direction. Kind of wimpy for an event planner!

When I asked Daniel about the hymns he would like to sing, he wanted patriotic hymns. Not going to work! Then he thought further and suggested "Hark the Herald Angels Sing". Hmm. Still not quite where we needed to be at. Finally, I gave him a few appropriate hymn choices to pick from. That worked a lot better.

On the Sunday before his baptism, he had his interview with our bishop, which went very well. I, like Daniel, was a little nervous for the interview. Daniel took things in stride and did his best to answer the questions and be upbeat, even if he wasn't sure of the answer. When asked to quote an Article of Faith (this was a surprise to us!), he winged it and said, "We. Uh. Believe. Uh." and paused, looking at me and Ben. We fed him the next few words of some random article of faith, and Daniel didn't seem phased. Love that easygoing second-child attitude. Or easygoing at least in this setting.

Later that evening, we attended the annual Baptism Preview for all the children getting baptized in 2012. This preview would have been so helpful - three weeks before this date! Daniel had a mock interview with our bishop in front of group and just answered with a nod, looking at his feet for almost the whole thing. At the conclusion, Daniel walked back to his seat and exclaimed to the audience with a grin, "And you get candy after the interview!"

When I asked Daniel about what mattered to him in the program, here is what he shared - he wanted lots of fun treats, Dad to baptize him, Grandpa to speak, Bro. Hudson (a previous Primary teacher) to give the Spirit (Sprite) soda talk, Bro. Gray to pray, and lots of people to be there. I have to admit that we accomplished all of these wishes!

There were some ups and downs in the planning that took away from some of the sweetness for me. I think a big part of this is just our ward. It's a loving ward, but some of the kindness gets lost in planning and administration. It was more stressful than it needed to be. We were told later that our family members were guinea pigs. We have a new Primary president. It's a new year. A fairly new bishop. And a bishopric learning to communicate together. And these little miscommunications just happen a lot here in our ward. A few weeks later in retrospect, the bumps and bruises have healed up and I've moved forward. Mostly, I was glad that Daniel didn't pick up on any of the tensions in the planning. I am so glad that the day went well. What a relief!

One of the most sweet parts of the day was having my parents here from Utah. Another was having KT play her violin and me accompany her on the piano. Daniel chose the Primary song "We'll Bring the World His Truth." KT's long time goal to play the piano at Daniel's baptism was fulfilled since she played the prelude and postlude music. She's not quite ready to accompany on the piano. It won't be long though!
I used this cute photo in a customized email I sent to close friends in Stillwater, inviting them to the baptism. We also invited the ladies in R.S. via email. Having so many friends support us that day really felt like a loving ward family. Having a full R.S. room with friends and my parents meant a lot to me too.
Proud Father and Son
Events like baptism are are sweet moments as a parent. As soon as we got everything set up at the church and we got into our seats, I felt relieved and much more relaxed.Our family before the baptism We love our Daniel son Brother Hudson has given the talk on the Spirit at quite a few baptisms in our ward. The kids love him and especially that he brings a 24 pack of Sprite for the children who attend. Bro. Hudson tailored his talk around some of Daniel's interests, like climbing trees. He brought some neat rock climbing props that he gave to Daniel. That meant a lot to him too. I was touched by the ward friends who gave Daniel little gifts. Sr. Valega, who will be his scout leader, gave him some Rocky Mountain chocolates. Brother Gray, his current Primary teacher, gave him a Braum's gift certificate. His last Primary teacher gave him a Little Caesar's gift card and photo of the temple. Such thoughtful gestures. Having Grandma and Grandpa here was meaningful too. Grandpa gave a wonderful talk about baptism. He had photos and shared neat stories and kept it to just the right length.
Christina was a little stinker during the program, walking around, and playing with her stuffed giraffe. At one point I shushed her to be more reverent and she gave me her beloved stink-eye. Our bishop saw it all and just grinned. She was distracting to me and others, but I know that's how things go sometimes. Part of the challenge was that there were not enough seats for us all in the middle section, so she had to sit with other ward members, or on our lap. And she's not a lap sitter anymore.My talented friend, Kris Hatch, whom I worked with in the past R.S. presidency, played the piano. As soon as she started playing the opening hymn, my nerves were calmed. She plays so beautifully and confidently, and helped me to feel the Spirit. Our Primary president, Alycia Nelson, welcomed Daniel and gave him his Faith in God award. She was so sweet with him. (In case you are wondering, another ward member was taking photos in some parts of the program. Not sure how appropriate that was, but she used my camera, so we'll go with it!)

Here are the rock climbing supplies that Daniel came home with.

And some of the little thoughtful goodies.
We're so proud of Daniel and his wise choice to become baptized, becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is a good boy, trying to do what is right. We love you, Daniel!

Daniel's World Fair

2012-02-07T17:17:00.000-06:00

When Daniel was asked which country he wanted to research for his first World Fair project, he was one of the first to choose.
He was excited to pick France.
When I asked him why, he said that me and Katie had been there and he wanted to learn about it. I was impressed to see 2nd graders doing such a hefty research project. They had certain facts to learn and complete on a fact sheet, along with the main project - preparing a tri-fold poster display.
Of course, the fair had to fall on one of the busiest days of the year for our family - the day we left on our Caribbean cruise. Daniel's teacher said that some of the displays are clearly done by one of the parents and others are done mostly by the students. I can understand working on the project together, but I wasn't about to do this homework myself. We paced ourselves well with this project, doing the fact sheet, printing and cutting out out the captions and title, and coloring a map and flag all on separate evenings. It was fun reminiscing about my visit to France, pouring through scrapbooks, and reading about France online.
With all the famous people from France, I had to laugh that the one who peaked Daniel's interest the most wasn't Monet or Napoleon, but the wrestler Andre the Giant. He's such a boy! Finally, it came time to assemble the poster.
Being the good leader that he is, Daniel enlisted the gluing help of his sister, Christina.
It mostly went well, other than the occasional upside down postcard or caption. I tried to stay out of the project and let them glue things how they thought looked best, although I couldn't resist straightening just a little bit.

Initially, Daniel heard of a boy (actually his artist father) who cut his poster board to look like a castle. Daniel was hung up on this and wanted a castle too, but I knew castle-cutting was out of my comfort zone. I suggested we make a cut-out to look like the Arc de Triomphe. That's kind of clever, right? I pencilled in little dots that Daniel connected. Then we went to the garage and used an exacto knife to cut out the arch. Daniel helped me with this and was so proud. What is it with guys and tools?

Both kids had fun playing peek-a-boo under the Arc. I thought Daniel did a nice job. And a child (Daniel) very clearly put this together.

The next day was my part of the assignment - to make a French dish for 30+ kids. The morning of Daniel informed me that other classes and parents were coming, and "Could you please make at least 50 quiche?" Since that was our departure day for New Orleans, I crossed my fingers that I could pull off a mini miracle.

I had initially envisioned making homemade cream puffs, a simple and yummy dish that I've actually prepared before. Daniel reminded me that he doesn't like them and wanted something else. His brilliant idea was to make 50 crepes. I am guessing he doesn't remember how time consuming they are since you make one at a time, plus filling the crepes is half the fun and not nearly a non-messy finger food that you'd eat at a fair.

I looked for ideas online and thought about mini quiches. I didn't want to make the pie crust style, but found a simpler version using bread that we tried out one evening, a week before the fair. Daniel gave me a thumbs up and we were in business!

One of the cutest moments was watching Daniel so proudly pass out his Mini Quiche to all his classmates and parents. I noticed how friendly and outreaching he was. That will be a blessing to him in his life. And the quiche really were delicious!

Since I used the crusts of the bread, it didn't require quite as many slices of bread as this recipe states. I tweaked a few recipes I found online and came up with something along these lines.

EASY MINI QUICHE

12 slices bread

1 onion, grated

1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella and Cheddar cheese

1 cup milk

4 eggs

1 teaspoon mustard

1 pinch black pepper and salt

diced ham

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 muffin tins.
2.	Cut bread into quarters. Place mini squares in bottom of muffin tins. Distribute the onion and shredded cheese evenly between the muffin tins.
3.	In a medium bowl, combine milk, eggs, mustard, salt, and pepper. Divide between the muffin tins.
4.	Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a quiche comes out clean.

I was sure proud of Daniel son and what a great job he did with his assignment!
I'm always amazed all the homework we as parents have with each of these big projects. Whew. Another one under my belt.

Baptism refreshments

2012-02-07T16:50:00.000-06:00

Since the refreshments after Daniel's baptism were very important to him, I'll highlight them separately in this post. In some wards and stakes, they discourage refreshments at baptisms, but being a foodie, I was pleasantly surprised that they have food after baptisms in this ward. I wanted to have the food in a separate room, across the hall from the R.S. room. Sometimes it's a distraction during the program with food in the back, and it always feels too crowded to me in the hallway. It worked out great having it in this room.
I was glad to have asked a few friends to bring treats that day. I made some things too, but it all helped and made for a beautiful spread of goodies. We borrowed a drink decanter from the Lazenbys for the ice water. I brought a few cupcake stands and plates to put the treats on. My new red tablecloth (from Bob and Nana) looked festive and cute with red napkins and our red "I am special today" plate.I think my favorite treat were Katie Eggett's mint brownies. They remind me of BYU brownies. When things quieted down that afternoon and everything was all cleaned up, I sat down and enjoyed one. So delish.

I made some heart shaped cupcakes, using this method of placing marbles between the cupcake liners and pan. They turned out cute, even if a few people weren't sure what they were shaped like. I made little red and white ribbon cupcake banners for some of the cupcakes. Kind of a "standard of the nations" cutesy touch! If I'd had more energy, I would have printed a "Congrats Daniel" for the ribbon. Sometimes simple is better, though, right?

Here are some variations on these cupcake flags. I was given some years ago by my sis-in-law Lee and have loved them. Once again, when I make them again, I will buy patterned ribbon. Much cuter!

These are cute too.

And I would love to try these with card stock as well.

Okay, enough about cupcake flags, but aren't they sweet?

Eight is great

2012-02-07T16:19:00.000-06:00

Ben has waited for this moment for many years.
He loved being a Boy Scout and couldn't wait for Daniel to enter Cub Scouts. Ben is our ward cub master and helps with Pack Meeting each Wednesday night. Last week, he pulled out the new Cub Scout shirt, neckerchief, and hat that he bought for Daniel. It's not often that Ben requests me to take a photo of something. He did with this! And I loved it. They, along with the official Tagalong Christina, went to pack meeting since it was at the same time as youth night. The time might have to be tweaked occasionally in the future, so the adults with YM/YW callings could sometimes attend. Daniel was one proud boy too. He and Ben both know that he will love scouting.On Daniel's actual birthday (Saturday), Daniel woke wanting to open his presents right away. We were bustling around, trying to get things ready for his baptism at 10 am, knowing we needed to go early to set up and prepare the food table. I was okay with him opening 1-2 gifts and then the rest after we got back. He was cracking me up, adding to the stress of the morning, by making breakfast complicated. I gave hime a few choices, like cheese quesadillas, cereal, toast, or bagel with cream cheese. None would suffice. He begged, "Mom - will you make me chili cheese enchiladas for breakfast?" That was our plan for dinner! He received a big box of gifts from Nana and Bob, who were in Hawaii and unable to come for his baptism. They were thoughtful in their gifts. Isn't this the cutest baptism themed pillowcase? Nana outdid herself again with this darling Dr. Seuss quilt. I love the colors and patterns together.
Daniel had a great birthday and received some fun gifts. Here is what he received:
Our family - Wii games, Pokemon tin set, airsoft feeder container, airsoft targetGrandpa/Grandma Hadlock - Ninjago set, Mario Wii game, & BeybladesNana/Bob - Dr. Seuss book and quilt, baptism pillowcase, orange Scout t-shirt, wood airplane and other kits, birdhouse kit, & $8Anne - $8John/Carol - Paper Guitar JamzKnudsen family - Lego Star Wars key chain
I'm hoping to skip the friends birthday this year with the excitement of Daniel's baptism, a visit from family, and our cruise. We'll see if Daniel follows up with me and pesters me.

Sweetness

2012-01-23T15:12:00.001-06:00

When I looked at these random photos that I wanted to blog about, I couldn't think of a way to tie them together. I didn't have a lot of detail or cleverness to share to create individual posts, but I thought of one word that described each photo.

This word makes me think of something we often exclaimed in high school to describe anything great.

SWEET

Here are Christina with her SWEET friends Melissa (from her church class) and neighbor friend, Tucker. They were too SWEET with their butterfly and angel wings having a little snack. This picture makes me think of how magical it is (or can be) to be a child. I like to keep my kids young and not encourage them to grow up too fast. There's time for all that later!

I know it's only January, but guess what I saw popping through in my front flower bed - a SWEET little daffodil flower. It can't be possible! It has been such a mild winter that I wonder if everything will come up this spring. Maybe those 200+ bulbs I planted will bloom early. I can't wait to be surprised!

My new recipe called Egg in a Mug (I found the recipe in my dentists office, while having some cavities filled) is pretty SWEET. The idea is that you can make scrambled eggs and eat them on the go. That's a nice marketing angle, but I always eat breakfast at home. I think it's mostly fun to eat eggs from a SWEET snowmen mug, don't you? Here's the super simple recipe.

Eggs in a Mug

Coat inside of mug with Pam spray. Add 2 eggs and 2 T. milk. Beat well. Microwave for 45 seconds. Stir. Cook 30 seconds longer. Top with grated cheese.

I like adding a little hot sauce to the top and serve with toast. Fun variation on scrambled eggs!

Katie is still continuing her involvement with this SWEET bunch of Girl Scouts. We've had several people mention to us that few LDS young women are able to continue with Young Women and Girl Scouts. We'll see what Katie decides. She attends what she can and that's fine for now. Thankfully, the troop is flexible about how much the girls can attend.

This last weekend was a SWEET activity - called Library Lock In. Katie and the Girl Scouts created stations, centered around well-known book characters (Nancy Drew, Magic Tree House, Twilight, Junie B. Jones, Fancy Nancy, etc.) Then they came up with costumes and activities that they lead for the younger Girl Scouts. It was such a clever idea and all the girls were able to sleep in the library. How SWEET, right? Katie was Nancy Drew and she loved this chance to show some leadership and creativity. She was amazing, too, in that the girls didn't go to sleep until 1-1:30 am and had to way the younger girls at 6 am, so they could be cleared out before the library officially opened. Just a few hours later, she was doing a violin solo at Daniel's baptism. Let's just say that Katie functions pretty well on little sleep.

Life can be challenging, but I sure treasure all the little SWEET moments. You have to focus on the good and be thankful. I'm enjoying the ride!

Super Saturday

2012-01-23T14:30:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday was a special day.
When I looked out in the backyard, my heart was full of joy. I loved seeing Daniel and Christina and their friends, playing happily and creatively. We had a full yard that day! Everyone was getting along and the weather was beautiful. That's what Saturdays are all about in my book. I'd much rather use the other days of the week to wash the clothes, clean the house, and get ready for Sunday!
These three little munchkins (Christina, Tucker, and Sam) play most days and love to create a house in the back corner of the yard. They make rooms, using rope, and even have a tacky flamingo (squirting water toy for summertime) stuck in the flower bed. I reminded Christina last night how lucky she is to have neighbor friends. It's a blessing and a new one for her! We remembered these sweet neighbor friends in our prayers last night.
Daniel had his church buddy, Jackson, over to play that day, and they had a ball. Literally. Baseball. Football. And this pogo-bouncing ball! In the afternoon, Nolan (Sam's older brother) joined in the fun with them. They loved showing off their jumps and goofiness for me! Look at cute Jackson fly! The kids love digging through our outdoor toy bin (a great big Rubbermaid) and seeing what they can find. It does take some regular organizing, but gives them lots to do. Bubbles, sidewalk chalk, frisbees, jump ropes, bats and balls, bug catchers, kid wheelbarrows, buckets, swords, etc. Now that Christina loves to be outside with her friends, I keep her necessities in it too - some play blankets and bags. I've just decided that these blankets will be outside ones and then I don't have to regularly wash them. She goes back and forth to the two friends' homes and always likes to have her favorite supplies. Some days they are in costume. I leave this Super "D" cape in the bin for Sam. It's his favorite accessory. Christina sometimes is balky about costumes, but was a darling Strawberry Shortcake on this day.
Tucker informed me (and she does lots of informing, if you know what I mean) that Christina sometimes hugs too tight. I'm starting to think of Tucker as my 4th child. She is at our house often and quite a character. Tucker and Christina's favorite snack is Ramen noodles. Not that there is anything nutritious whatsoever about them, but they enjoy them. Tucker's Dad and I joke about who is hosting the Ramen Noodles party today? Occasionally, she'll work the pity angle at our house, whining to me that her parents didn't make breakfast or lunch, and that she's hungry. Sometimes I feed her. Other days that I've already fed my kids, I encourage her to get something at home. She was becoming a bit grumpy this day, so I put out apples and chips for an outdoor picnic. Later on, when I wasn't feeling so manipulated, I made up a big pot of Ramen for the girls.
Playdates usually require a sweet goodie too. I discovered the long-lost Big Cupcake Pan last week and was dying to make one. Daniel wanted to make it with me and the three munchkins wanted to lick the bowl after it had baked. It takes forever to cook! I had to pull out three spatulas, so they all could get messy faces!It's a pretty clever pan! I definitely like the look better with colored frosting and sprinkles, but Daniel would never choose pink frosting or sprinkles. He likes his frosting plain. And chocolate.I made a homemade chocolate cake from an online recipe and we enjoyed an early birthday celebration that evening. Jackson was able to sample a little cake with us before we took him home. Because the pans are different dimensions, the bottom and top cook differently. I need to do some research next time to figure out how to improve baking the cake, without making such a crunchy exterior.
Ben, by the way, loved the crunchy outside and moist inside. He thought it was like a brownie cake! Good ol' Ben. He tries to find the good in all my cooking, even if it's a stretch.
Don't you just love that glow on Daniel's face. It looks a bit like a UFO, if you ask me.

Grandparents come to town

2012-01-23T13:58:00.000-06:00

My parents came to visit last Thursday to celebrate Daniel's birthday and baptism with us. It always means a lot to have family support, especially when you live far from all your extended family.

You know I always like to make a welcome sign for visitors. There's something just a little reassuring about pulling up in someone's driveway and knowing immediately that they remember you are coming and are excited too!

Grandma and Grandpa Hadlock are very easy to host. They are easygoing, helpful with the children, and patient. They took us all to Texas Roadhouse one night for dinner. Daniel was excited when they had him sit in the saddle and sang him the birthday song. Well, maybe he was mostly thrilled about a big birthday ice cream sundae!

The kids loved eating the peanuts and throwing them on the ground at the restaurant. Ben keeps teasing the kids in recent weeks that we are doing "cruise dining training." The older two do very well, but Christina needs some practice in patience. It was a delicious dinner out!

I enjoyed planning out the meals at home, around the crazier nights. We had Daniel's requested favorite dinner - chili cheese enchiladas. Hands down - the easiest meal for me to make. Thank you, Daniel. I'll consider this a tender mercy. Katie made her ham 'n peas creamy penne last night. And I made a frozen lasagna another night. We kept it simple, but enjoyed some fun dinners together.

It was a particularly busy 5 days with Daniel's birthday and baptism, Katie's Girl Scout Library lock-in, Stake Standards night (for me, Ben, and KT), Ben's stake training meetings, and a bowling party for one of Daniel's classmates. And that was just the stuff that felt "necessary."

Another fun surprise from the visit was their gift of the dvd - Cars 2. Mom said she goofed and mailed our Christmas gift to their house. When she realized the mistake, she decided to bring it in person instead. I don't think I've seen Katie and Daniel laugh this hard over a movie in a long time. These are their real smiles. Looking at this photo makes me grin too!
Aside from the baptism, the most touching part of the visit for me was participating as a family in doing some family history yesterday afternoon. Christina was playing outside with her friends for hours. This made it possible to talk together, explore the new Family Search, and actually get some names ready to take to the temple. Katie has pestered us for weeks about her goal to get baptized for one of our ancestors who had not been baptized.
I saw such great collaboration too in this experience. My parents knew about people specifically and remembered who had passed away in recent years. Katie was the prompting and reminder about our goal. Ben knows his resources and was able to quickly access Social Security Indexes and be helpful with Family Search. Once I got going, I provided the motivation and "stick-to-it." I tried to tap into each person's strengths and keep looking. Initially, Katie, along with Grandpa and Ben were able to get three females names "temple ready." That was exciting and felt so good.
After Ben and Katie petered out, I continued on and was able to find two more female names for Katie, along with some other work I can personally do. The Spirit was definitely with us and I was thankful that both my parents were so helpful and interested. I could feel the scriptural promise in action - “To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers." I felt it in tangible ways with those who were present and those who had passed on. I also emailed my aunt who lives in Oklahoma, hoping to do some of this work with her, at the request of my Dad.
It was one of the loveliest Sunday afternoons I've experienced in a long time.
In case you are interested, here is that index that Ben accessed. It's pretty amazing. If you haven't checked out the new Family Search, I was surprised by its simplicity and speed. Within an hour, we had prepared a name for the temple. That's sure changed from what it was like to do family history 15-20 years ago!I loved watching my Dad play with the kids. He was so engaged with them and interested in their toys. Both of them went with me to take kids to school and pick them up. They are such caring, tolerant, and loving grandparents. I am trying to emulate them and be more like them.It's probably not fair to post this one of them, since my Mom's eyes were filled up with tears. This is my sweet parents just before they headed out to the OKC airport. (Mom, who is 5'3, got a kick out of looking taller, since they were standing on our sloped driveway. Dad reminded me that they used to kiss on steps with their big height difference). I love these two!
We will miss them, but June will come quickly. I have to focus on the future at goodbyes and remember that time flies. It meant so much that they would come. Love you, Mom & Dad!

LEGO Lovers

2012-01-23T12:58:00.001-06:00

Daniel used to be what people might call "LEGOs-challenged".
In the last month, things have turned around, and for whatever reason, he is finally understanding how to create on his own with LEGOs. It feels monumental to me because he has always loved LEGOs and he has often wanted friends or Ben to make things for him.
I think turning this corner came about because we pulled out the craft table for Daniel's room during the holiday season. I've had to overlook the crowded state of his bedroom for his (and Ben's) love of LEGOs. Another factor was the generous gift of Uncle Steve and Aunt Tiercy. They gave Daniel all of the LEGOs that their boys (Tyler and Ethan) used to play with. They were organized in still having the instructions for the sets. Ben and Daniel have been going through the Rubbermaid, putting them all together with these instructions. (Thanks again Tyler and Ethan!) LEGOs are a great thing to love, I believe. I love that they are something not media-oriented. Playing with LEGOs is smart play and increases creativity and brain cells.Most importantly, it's something Daniel and Ben love doing together.
In fact, there have been days where Daniel is playing outside and I can't find Ben in the house. I'll peek in Daniel's room and there is Ben playing with LEGOs or sorting Daniel's LEGO pieces into their little drawers. I love it! Ben and his siblings grew up, playing often with LEGOs. Even his young adult sister, Anne, still had LEGOs on her Amazon wish list. I think it's a calming hobby for both Daniel and Ben. Plus, it's another interest that draws them closer. During the holidays, Ben went to Walmart to buy these little organizers. Each container has 5 drawers, so it has given them 20 separate drawers to sort all the pieces by size. Having this system, along with an adult-sized chair and table, has added to Ben and Daniel's involvement with LEGO play.
I know Ben will not love inserting this photo since the table is a mess and he is trying to encourage Daniel to clean up and keep the LEGOs tidy. It's a challenge for me as a Mom, though. I have kidded Daniel about this Pinterest funny.

When you have kids that love LEGOs, you end up stepping on and vacuuming up a few of them!

I saw this organizing idea online, but Ben and Daniel have found their own way of organizing. I'm a firm believer in letting the "users" discover the most effective way for them to organize their things. I would do them by color, but 'to each his own.'

With all the pride in the things they have built together, we had to clear a shelf in Daniel's bookcase to showcase their creations. Some were made by Ben. Many were created together. And just a few were made by Daniel alone. Now that is something I'm proud of!
On the shelf above are some of our Chevron car collection. Ben and I started collecting these before we had children. Aren't they cute? I would love to add to the collection. For some reason, they are something that Christina and I both enjoy. She will sneak them into her room for Polly Pocket play.
I'm so glad that Daniel has added another interest to his life. I think it will be something he and Ben enjoy for many years!
P.S. A few months ago I found a LEGO party pack on Amazon (under $20) that comes with LEGO party favors, along with free kids passes to LEGO Land or LEGO Discovery Center. There is a new LEGO Discovery Center in Dallas, just minutes from our old house. On our next trip to Texas, I'm planning to take the kids here. Hopefully, we can still tap into the party favor deal!

Pretty up the doors and windows

2012-01-23T12:34:00.001-06:00

I've looked forward to putting together this Valentines rosette wreath, ever since New Years. Last week on a quiet morning, I dragged out the rosettes I made a few months ago, and assembled this cheery wreath for my front door. I decided to glue the red and white ones onto the grapevine wreath and adhered the pink ones with Velcro, so I can swap them out and coordinate with seasonal decor. It seems like a creative idea and space-saving too. I love putting out new door decor, but hate to store such bulky wreaths in our attic.I think I'll generally have the red, white, and these black rosettes on the wreath. (For some reason, the black looks bluish in this photo). Adding the pink gives it that Valentines touch.

I thought this navy gingham would be cute for 4th of July and swap out with the pink in the summer. I think I have some green ones, too, for Christmas time.

Another fun part of these rosettes was the fabric. The pink fabric has mini polka-dots in it and was actually from one of my Grandma Higgin's housecoats (mumus as my Mom calls them). It still had that Grandma smell to me. The blue gingham was in my Mom's old fabric. I love adding sentiment to things I create.

While my parents were here, I showed them how to cut the snowflakes that I've become a bit addicted to creating. Daniel even joined with me yesterday afternoon and we had fun making a bunch more. I added a few to the front door and some to the windows above our shutters in the dining room. I like being able to see them, even if our blinds are closed. I may regret taping these on the glass in a few months, when I'm scraping off tape, but for now they make me happy.

I even thought this VintageJunky.com look might be pretty somewhere in the house. Great use for clear thread or fishing line. Hmmm. Where to add this?

Here is the basic folding technique from Pinterest. You fold them in thirds and create something like this. The correct folding is vital. Light paper helps too. And sharp scissors make all the difference.I love my new wreath and can't wait to pull out my other Valentines decor this week. Since I've been blogging about doors and windows, it made me think about our french doors in our kitchen.
The bane of my existence.
When we moved in, they were the most damaged of anything in our home. The previous owner had an outside dog that did lots of scratching to these beautiful doors. I have no patience for that. I've called around to get estimates to replace the glass or the doors. I'm not sure I'm ready to splurge on this. For two years, I kept the sand-colored blinds down almost all day long, but lately I'm pulling them up anyway. I guess I'm coming to peace with the scratches, since the sunlight seems more important than hiding the damage. I love puttering around in my house in the morning, with the sunshine streaming in. Especially in the winter months! Maybe I'm learning to overlook this flaw of the house. I know we'll replace the glass someday, but for now I'd rather spend the money elsewhere.

Sisters

2012-01-23T11:20:00.000-06:00

Katie was so sweet to Christina last weekend. They had a spa night on Friday, painting nails and doing facials. Then I peeked in on them having a pillow fight in Christina's room. They were giggling and having such fun!Katie has a queen sized bed in her room and let Christina cuddle in her bed for bedtime stories and a sleepover that night. This one-on-one time meant so much to Christina and made her so happy.
On Saturday Ben and Katie had plans to paint her bedroom. For part of the day, Katie helped Ben by watching Christina, while I was away at camp meetings. The girls went for a walk to Conoco and picked up slushies and snacks.
It was heartwarming to see the love my girls have for each other.

Santa Baby

2012-01-23T10:39:00.000-06:00

Christina has always loved water play and can take hour long baths and showers.

She called for me one day and told me she looked like Santa with a bubble beard.

This must be Grouchy Santa.

We see this expression quite often around our house! I had to laugh at Daniel's baptism, when she made this face at me when I shushed her to be more reverent. Our bishop noticed it too and grinned at me. Like I've said before, we have spirited, strong-willed children. Whom we love with our all our hearts. Just not the stinker moments.

Christina loves to play in the tub with goggles, pretending she is swimming. I wonder if Pinky will become a good swimmer. She is not afraid of the water and wants to be on swim team, like her friend Tucker. I called the YMCA and she is not quite a strong enough swimmer for that, but it's something to work towards. It's only $8 to swim as a family. I think I'll start taking the kids as a way to break up boring afternoons and Saturdays. Swimming is great for wearing kids out too!

Other days she gathers all her water toys and plays in the shower. Yesterday I heard her singing an animal variation of "Drummer Boy" with her enthusiastic "Moos" and bell sounds, as she played with her animal bath stickers. She makes me laugh! All the kids prefer bathing/showering in our master bath and I have to persuade all of the kids to use their own bathroom - the camping bathroom. It kind of drives Ben a little crazy!

Look at those luscious, red lips. She's such a cutie.

I just wish her love for baths/showers would rub off on her brother Daniel!

Tire Swing

2012-01-23T10:25:00.000-06:00

Ben had an extra tire in the garage and built a tire swing for the kids in the backyard. Christina and her friend Tucker have especially enjoyed it! Little Miss Purplicious loves playing outside and enjoys outdoor hours with her friends most days.

Wheeeee!

Christina Loses Her First Tooth

2012-01-14T15:53:00.001-06:00

Christina, who is just barely 5-years old, lost her first tooth this week. She is our youngest to lose a tooth at this age. Katie was especially in shock, since she recalls losing her first tooth in 1st or 2nd grade. We thought it would take another few days before the tooth was ready to come out, but this feisty gal was proud to yank it out all by herself. That's a first in the family too. When Ben interviewed her the other day, she explained, "Daddy tried to pull it out too softly. I yanked it out super hard." Yep. Super is one of Christina's favorite words! Typically, Ben is our tooth-pulling Dad who helps the kids ease out those first teeth. He has the magic touch and often pulls them out without the kids even realizing it.
Christina doesn't seem old enough to have this cute little gap.

We pulled out her never-used-before tooth fairy pillow and hung it on her door.

These were a fun project to make a few years back. I sewed them for the children and most of my nieces, nephews, and other friends.

She struggled to fall asleep, knowing the tooth fairy would come that night.
When she woke up, she was elated to find a rolled up dollar bill in the mini pocket. She was bummed to see that the tooth fairy had taken her tooth. Guess we didn't explain that part very well.
She has another wiggly tooth next to this tooth and worries about eating apples, thinking it will cause the tooth to come out too soon. Let's just hope our home's tooth fairy will do better in the future. She has had a history of forgetting and being an air head tooth fairy. Just another one of those side effects of being super tired at bedtime!
Christina has been worried about when the next tooth is coming in its place. She seems to lack trust that another permanent tooth really will come in. I kind of like this little jack o' lantern grin and hope it stays around for a while! Christina has found it makes a handy spot to place your straw when you're drinking hot cocoa.

My week - at a glance. TMI?

2012-01-13T22:09:00.001-06:00

I used to think I was a night person, but I'm starting to doubt that's true in my 40s.

I still don't love waking in the morning, but once I get going, I find that the morning hours are when my energy is the highest. I enjoy bustling around all morning, getting things done, and then feel justified in taking a break to relax after lunch. One of my new favorite things is to eat lunch on the couch, while I'm watching a favorite tv show. That is definitely something new in this stage of my life.

Now that I've had a few months to adjust to Christina being in Pre-K all day, I think I am starting to feel a little more settled in this new season. Life doesn't feel any slower. Just different. I do find that I miss the children when they are gone all day, but I enjoy quiet. That hasn't been hard to adapt to. The quieter days make it that much easier to ponder, think, study the scriptures, or listen to uplifting music. Sometimes I don't want it quiet and blast high-energy dance tunes while I clean. Other days, I love the peacefulness of a quiet, empty home.

I had looked forward to winter and quieter days, but January is turning into a busy month. I'm actually kind of disappointed by that. I haven't posted much on the blog in January and I was trying to figure out why. I guess it's mostly because the things that have been keeping me busy haven't been photograph-friendly or fun. I tend to blog more about fun and light stuff. Sometimes that's not a very accurate portrayal of real life in our family.

Here's what I've been focusing on this week:

* One of my favorite to-do items has been planning our family cruise - what to pack, shore excursions, destination background, info about ship activities, and shopping for the trip. I have to be careful about travel research, though. If I do too much travel reading online before bed, I struggle to fall asleep.

* Yesterday on a whim I popped into a local shop called "Formal Fantasy" and browsed the clearance dresses. My Mia Maids had told me they sometimes have some good deals. I found a satin, black, floor-length, modest formal dress with a chiffon-type skirt overlay. I wasn't planning to dress up too fancy for Formal Nights on our cruise, but when I saw the $10 price tag, I went for it! I can't wait to get fancied up again. It made Ben happy too. He likes to dress up.

* My least favorite part of the week was packing up Christmas and hauling 30+ boxes into the attic. I was proud of myself though. I did most of it myself and had no mishaps!

* With all this time in the garage and attic, it felt good to organize and sweep the garage. It looks 100% better! Every time I pull into the garage, I feel quietly happy and good about my hard work.

* It has been easier to get to deep cleaning and organizing the house with the kids in school all day. I couldn't believe how many cobwebs I found in all my windows, behind the plantation shutters. I'm going room by room and trying to clean deeply. That feels nice too.

* A side effect of all the deep cleaning and organizing cabinets is making regular donations to our local Goodwill. I am not sure why I get such a high out of this kind of purging.

* Yesterday I had yet another dentist appointment. If I hear my dentist say the words, "Wow. This is a lot worse (deeper, bigger, etc.) than I thought it would be," I think I'm going to cry. This was the first dentist appointment I've ever had when they struggled to get me numb enough. By the time he gave me three shots, most of my face felt paralyzed. It took until after dinner to feel normal again. I have one more appointment to go and then I hope for a nice long dental break!

* I've felt so happy reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish with a new member family in our ward. I was asked to do this with the mother and daughter. It brings back great missionary experiences and makes me feel so good as we read together. I've printed off reading schedules for them and I'm helping them (and myself) stay on track with regular reading. This is a blessing for them and me both. Reading from the scriptures regularly is a personal weakness of mine.

* Young Women continues to keep me very busy. This week I've enjoyed preparing a lesson about the Savior. I've felt the Spirit so strongly as I've thought of things to say, music to use, and have truly pondered on Jesus. I've been reminded of his love and my deep testimony of the atonement. Each Wednesday night, I attend activities, which makes for a full week in our family.

* Evenings are busy in our life right now. Mondays are always FHE. Tuesdays are Ben's stake meetings. He is often gone from 5-11 pm. He is strengthened and enriched by his interactions with our stake presidency. I'm thankful for their love and influence. He needs this in his life right now. Wednesdays are youth night. And this week (Thursday) we had R.S. It was a beautiful "Angels in Aprons" dinner program.

* I was asked to be the assistant YCL leader for Girls Camp this year. It has frustrated me a little because I want to do a good job, but I'm not sure about expectations. I am not taking the lead and work under a shoot-from-the-hip type leader. I hope I can "wing it" well enough, since I am not sure what to expect in our all-day meeting tomorrow. All I can do is my best, right? I am hard working and pretty flexible.

* I've been planning the details for Daniel's baptism. This has been tricky too, because there are various scripts and opinions for how this needs to be planned. I was referred to the handbook, which was helpful. Mostly I am on the right track, although I would like to do some special things for him that are taking a lot of time. Too much time. I've started working on a musical slideshow of Daniel's life to a beautiful variation of the Primary song "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus." I have a vision for this project, but may not be able to complete it in a week. I envision having it playing outside the R.S. room as people are coming. It might be a long-term project that I can do for each of the children.

* With it being birthday-time, I've been shopping for Daniel's birthday and giving my Mom ideas for him too. Daniel is being difficult about a party with friends this year. He wants to do it at Chuck E. Cheese (in OKC) and we just don't have a Saturday or big enough block of time to do it there. I am dragging my feet on this plan and he won't flex. I'm not sure how to resolve it. I am also planning snacks for his class next week, along with his requested cookie cake for his classmates. It all feels like a lot of work this year.

* As if things aren't crazy enough in the travel department, I found a steal of a deal with American Airlines miles, so I recently booked a trip for me and the kids to Washington, DC over Spring Break. It's only 17,500 miles each and this destination is one both Katie and Daniel have hoped to visit. Ben is going to try and get appointments with potential donors in the area, so he can attend with us and sightsee over the weekend. I haven't even thought about details of this trip, since you can only focus on so many things at once.

* And then there's the fluffy part of how I've been using my time. I'm not sure what it is about January. I know there are lots of good deals to be found all year long, but I do more shopping for myself this month than any other. Maybe it's having Christmas money that I enjoy splurging a bit. And I do love a clearance sale! I've bought myself some clothes, makeup, earrings, ballet flats, and my favorite - new plum toggle coat.

* This is the silliest bullet item on this list. I have to work at figuring out my Christmas gifts. Typically, I don't get to my stuff until we get all the kids' toys and things figured out. New things that require "figuring out" overwhelm me. I need quiet to do that. As soon as the kids were back in school, I figured out how to use my new steam mop. I love it and it works amazingly well. Then there's my iPhone. I like some aspects of it - the music and calendar components, but still don't love the cell phone/texting part of it all. It's probably because I'm mostly home or I'm very focused on other things outside of the home. My Mom got me a Sonicare toothbrush and I'm loving that too. It gets my teeth cleaner than anything I've ever used.

And here's what I have NOT been good at focusing on this week:

* making good dinners (I just feel so scattered, spread thin, headachy, and super tired by dinner time. We've had way too many wimpy dinners and leftovers. I haven't stuck to my weekly menu at all this week!)

* packing kids' lunches - the younger two bought their lunch every day this week!

* dusting blinds - this is my least favorite cleaning task. I hate it and will do everything else, but that. Maybe I'll hire a Y.W. to come over and help me. They are super dusty and horrible!

* being fun - if I get too much in task mode, I'm not as light and fun as I should and want to be.

* naps - I can't wait to get caught up and make time for just an hour-long nap. Doesn't that sound heavenly?

Okay, wasn't that the most boring blog post you've ever read?

I have to admit that it makes me feel better, though, having written it. It helps me understand why I've felt so busy and scattered. We honestly have a lot going on.

The City - Day Two

2012-01-10T22:12:00.000-06:00

I love waking up when you know the hotel you're staying at has a yummy breakfast. On Saturday, the younger kids and I headed out for breakfast and let Katie sleep a little longer. She hadn't had much sleep the previous nights at her Girl Scout overnighter, so we told her where we would be and let her sleep in. Residence Inns always have the best breakfasts!
After breakfast we quietly got changed into swimsuits and headed to the hotel pool. We chose this Marriott because it accommodated four people and was the only Residence Inn in OKC with an indoor pool. I discovered that it probably wasn't located in the ideal part of town, but no worries. We were happy to discover that we had the pool to ourselves for over an hour. That was much more relaxing than when a group of hooligan 5-6 year old boys arrived who were celebrating a birthday party. They were crazy, knocking over tables, slipping on the floor, and screaming! Sleeping Beauty continued to slumber on.
Just as we were about to deflate the pool toys and head back, Katie arrived at the pool. So we swam a little longer. After more pool playing, we got ready and headed to OKC's Adventure District and hit the Science Museum. Our season passes have more than paid for themselves this year. This is one of all three kids' favorite spots!Most of the exhibits stay the same all year, but there were some new tornado displays. This one simulated the feeling of being in a tornado, thus my crazy hair! Another cool tornado exhibit

This is becoming our classic Science Museum shot.

All three like this space shuttle ride. Daredevil Christina was surprisingly nervous this time.

Christina and I sat in the back because she was worried about the noise levels of the explosions. They actually had a new show this time, so not quite as loud. I think she still liked sitting way in the back. Daniel and Katie sat together in front which seemed to work okay, other than the fact that Daniel got a little boisterous when the host was choosing volunteers. It doesn't help that he encouraged lots of jumping up and down, along with screaming. Don't encourage that with Daniel!

We were all sleepy on the drive back. I wished I could have joined with the girls in an afternoon nap, but I was the driver. Daniel was the only perky one in the van.

The main thing that Katie wanted to do on this trip was go to sit-down restaurant. I knew that afternoon that the younger two would be wiggly and not fun at dinner. I persuaded Katie into going out to dinner in Stillwater after we got home. She was a little disappointed, but it worked great since Ben needed a break from his projects and watched the younger two, while we went for Italian food at Joseppi's. Not quite as yummy as Carino's or Olive Garden, like we'd planned, but much more relaxing. Katie was happy to get some Italian food. I enjoyed the creamy pesto cheese tortellini and we shared some cheesecake for dessert.

What a fun weekend trip to the city!

And a great end to Winter Break.

Although I had a great time with the kids over the break, it is always a treat to have them return to school too. It reminds me of the back to school Staples commercial - "It's the most wonderful time of the year." I love routine and back to school felt great to me. I admit that I don't mind a quiet house at all. At FHE that night, Ben recognized me and had the kids say thank you for all the hard work I accomplished that day. It's a lot easier to clean, tidy, and put things away when the kids are gone all day. I did 5 loads of laundry, dishes, and put up 20+ Christmas boxes into the attic. Somehow I managed to wash the van - inside and out, sweep the garage, and do some other housecleaning too. Ahhh. That felt good.

Weekend in OKC

2012-01-10T18:55:00.000-06:00

Ben travels for his job at OSU Foundation, although not quite as often as he did when he worked for the Boy Scouts. He earns hotel points and free nights with both Marriott and Hilton and is so willing to share them with our family. I'm taking the kids to Washington, DC over Spring Break. We'll be taking advantage of his hotel points and airlines miles for this trip. Ben is hoping to get some donor appointments and join us for part of the trip too. Crossing our fingers for this!
I realized recently that he had a free Marriott night that expired on January 11, so I made a simple plan to head for the weekend to OKC. Ben loves having a quiet house and time to get projects done, so I took the kids over the last Friday/Saturday of Winter Break. He seemed to enjoy the time, started prepping Katie's room to paint, and finally cleaned his office!
With our big cruise just around the corner, I'm trying to be extra frugal, so we chose activities that were mostly free. Packing for a 2-day trip is a breeze. I had to laugh when I was helping Daniel pack his clothing. He admitted to me, "Wow. Mom. I've worn these underwear three days in a row." This is something a Mom never wants to hear.
That Friday morning before we left, I zipped over to the Girl Scout lodge to pick up Katie from her 2-night overnighter. She had fun, but was overtired, which ended up affecting her mood during our OKC outing. I'll have to plan better on future weekenders. If Katie is grouchy, it makes the whole trip that much harder. While she showered and got ready, I finished packing up the car and entering addresses into our car's GPS.
It was a beautiful day to visit the zoo. Katie is not a zoo-fan, but was a mostly good sport about the weekend. Each child was able to do at least one thing of their choice. I think Christina loved it all! She loves getting out of the house and having any adventure. I love exploring the zoo when it's cool. It was a sunny, crisp day to be with the kids. Katie and I hung out on a bench, while the younger two fed the ducks and geese.These two don't even need quarters for duck/fish food. Daniel has figured out how to jimmy these machines and taps them, jiggles the mechanism, and can usually get some food out. I remember my brother, Dave, doing the same thing.Winter isn't the prettiest time to visit the zoo, but I loved all the colorful berries on the large shrubs. Some were orange like this one and many were covered in bright red berries. Very lovely. This area with zebras and giraffes is one of our favorites, although it's a long walk to that section of the zoo. We were all pretty tired of walking by this point. Daniel took a bunch of photos, hoping to enter them in the Reflections contest this year.I like this one with the parallel lines of the zebras and giraffes.
The gorillas and monkeys were amazing to watch on this visit.

We timed our visit to the elephants well and were able to catch an interesting presentation about the elephants. They showed us some of their tricks and how they are trained. The baby elephant is growing up and so cute.

One of the kids peeked through this fence and loved what they saw. Look what they found? Pretty flamingoes!

It was a fun surprise and flamingoes are one of my favorites at the zoo.
The monkeys were the last animals we visited. They were showing off and swinging around like crazy.

They motivated my little monkeys to show off their tricks too.

Christina is my cute little monkey! I've noticed that Christina is very active for a little girl. I'm not sure if it's from having an active big brother or if it's just her personality. She often jumps and bounces as she talks to me. You'd think it was the potty dance, but it's just her. She is great at skipping and galloping and other gross motor skills.
When we were exiting the zoo, this peacock was blocking our way. Katie just beamed, since peacocks are her favorite! (She insisted it was a peafowl. What's the difference? I can never remember.) The kids followed the peacock/fowl around this area in the front.
Then we headed back to the hotel to rest. The kids watched tv, while I crashed on the fluffy Marriott bed. For whatever reason, I was pooped and dozed in and out, while Christina regularly interrupted my sleep, wondering when we were going to Chuck E. Cheese. I usually can't sleep with regularly wakings, but simply dozing helped me rest up for the rest of the evening.
You definitely have to be a rested parent to go to Chuck E. Cheese on a Friday night. It was packed that night and kind of nuts. Daniel was more excited about Chuck E. Cheese than anything else we had planned. I was thankful we had printed out coupons for food and tokens, behavior charts that gave the kids more free tokens, and some online games that gave each child tickets. It's pricey there, but the kids played games for 2 hours and enjoyed dinner, coming in under $25. Not too bad for 4 of us!
The kids had a lot of fun, playing the games and earning tickets. Since Daniel's birthday is this month, we started an early celebration for him. Being a birthday boy gave him a few more free tokens. We decided their pizza wasn't too bad. We got half pepperoni and half bacon and it was kind of yummy. Considering. I'm not an Up Chuck E. Cheese fan, but I'm willing to go for my children. That's deep love, I'd say. Since it was 8 pm, we nixed swimming until the next morning, and went back to the hotel to get in pjs. The first night in the hotel is never easy and this was no different, but the younger two finally went to sleep around 10 pm. Unfortunately, they didn't sleep in the next day, but woke in excitement for another fun day.
Katie and I had fun that evening, looking at Facebook pictures and talking. I enjoy her company and we had a great time hanging out together.
P.S. We took this photo with our camera timer. It didn't turn out too bad, did it? I'm wearing my new Christmas clearance pjs. They are winter penguins and I found them at Wallies for under $2. That was my deal of the week and just the kind of pjs I like - cotton, casual, v-neck with no buttons, and youthful.

Good Friends

2012-01-10T18:13:00.000-06:00

"A good friend is hard to find, hard to lose, and impossible to forget."

I've always wanted to have a home where our children's friends like to hang out and play. It definitely creates more work for a Mom, but I think it's important. I like seeing how the kids interact and getting to know their friends. I like knowing what the kids are doing and being involved in their play. I am thankful right now that all three kids have at least one good neighbor friend. I don't take that for granted, since it hasn't always been the situation. I appreciate sweet friends that get along well and don't need constant intervention.

Daniel's favorite neighbor buddy right now is Nolan. His younger brother, Sam, is one of Christina's favorite neighbor friends too. This sweet family (the Winslows) moved in behind our home in recent months. One afternoon I took the younger two kids and two friends (Nolan and Tucker) to the Wondertorium. It was a nice way to wrap up Winter Break. Here are Daniel and Nolan in the Japanese play area. Stillwater's sister city is in Japan. This is one of the most clever play areas in the Wondertorium.

Nolan and Daniel played for hours at this marble/building table. Typically, the table is in another spot. They moved it in recent weeks and it finally attracted Daniel's attention. This move made me think about how the location and setup can make all the difference with the appeal to children. Since we added a long craft table to Daniel's room, the kids and Ben have played LEGOs for hours. It makes Daniel's room really crowded, but it's made for lots of fun.

Christina's favorite neighbor buddy is Tucker. Tucker has grown on me and is quite a character. She talks like a 7 year old going on 17. I have had to be firm about our house rules with Tucker, but she has responded well to clear boundaries and has become a good friend to Christina. Tucker has a stay-at-home Dad (Dave) and I've appreciated his low-key parenting approach. With as much time as these girls play together, an easygoing parent is refreshing. I don't worry as much about how Christina is dressed, what her hair looks like, or even about her behavior. He takes it all in stride.

Tucker sometimes eats at our house too. One day after lunch here, Tucker's Dad called to ask what kind of Ramen noodles we buy. He had never bought them and Tucker raved about them. Can you imagine raving about Ramen? Icky, but my kids love it for lunch. I just require a few healthy sides, if we're going to eat Ramen.

In this photo, Christina and Tucker were playing doctor in the medical play area. I had to laugh how long they made me wait in the waiting room. It felt like such an authentic experience at the doctor's office.

Christina ran into another friend at the Wondertorium that day - Gracie Metcalf from church. They all had fun playing house in this fort that another Dad built for his son.

The Wondertorium has turned into such a blessing for me and our family. When we get bored at home, it's so easy to make the 10 minute drive to this fun children's science museum. It has already paid for itself and it breaks up a long day at home. Our OKC Science Museum and Zoo season passes expire in a month. I don't think I'll renew them, or our Silver Dollar City passes. I'm considering getting some kind of swim pass, maybe to the local YMCA. We'll see. For now we are enjoying our passes to the Wondertorium and consider it a good mental health break for me and the kids. Each time we go we run into friends and I'm reminded that we live in a small town. I love that about Stillwater. I get some socialization too when we go. I hibernate at home more than I used to, so the Wondertorium gives me and the kids a social outlet.

I appreciate good friends. They make our lives more fun, interesting, and rich. We learn from them, care about them, and I hope we are good examples to them too.

Winter Break

2012-01-05T22:29:00.001-06:00

Ben's family has often made these yummy sweet rolls for Christmas. Continuing with his love for holiday cooking this year, he made these one day for the family. They were delicious. And we were surprised to find Rhodes dough in our local grocery store. We haven't always been able to find this ingredient since we left Utah.
Butterscotch Pudding Rolls
1 package of regular (not instant) butterscotch pudding1/2 c. brown sugar firmly packed4 T. soft butter1tsp. ground cinnamonRhodes rollsOptional: 1/3 c. chopped pecans (we omitted since our children dislike them!)
Spray the inside of a bundt pan with cooking oil and arrange dough balls (12-14) so that they touch in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the pudding mix over the dough balls. Melt and combine the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, then pour the mixture over the dough balls.
Cover and let the dough rise until doubled. Place the pan in a cold oven and heat to 350°; rolls will be done in 20 - 30 minutes. Turn the ring of rolls out onto another dish, scrape the remaining topping from the pan onto the rolls, and serve.The week after Christmas was mostly full of relaxing, sleeping in (at least for some of the family), playing games, watching movies, and enjoying new toys. One night we went to see "We Bought a Zoo" at our local (and only) movie theater. My parents gave us some Cinemark movie passes for Christmas. They were a fun gift idea! The movie was amazing, although not as kid-friendly (for preschoolers especially) as we thought it would be. One day I posted something on Facebook, offering free passes to Silver Dollar City. My cousin, Mandy Hoffman, whom I haven't seen in 20+ (maybe even 30+ years) lives in the Tulsa area and messaged me that they would love the day passes. It was a pleasant surprise to have her family and my Aunt Peggy come for a visit that afternoon.
I made a list of fun things do over the break. Even if we were mostly relaxing, I still like to feel like we've had a bit of focus and accomplishment. So, here's how it all stacked up. (An X signifies something we accomplished).
Winter Break Ideas:
Make homemade pizzaX Do LEGOs (mostly Dad and kids)X Put together Puzzles (Mom and kids)X Play new board gamesMake Aunt Emily's rollsX Go for walksX Watch new movies (Kung Fu Panda 2, Smurfs, etc.)X Paint wooden snowmenX Enjoy a picnic dinner around the Christmas treeX Make Shrinky DinksX Shoot air soft guns - lots of this with Daniel and neighbor friends, with supervision of courseX Go to parkEnjoy park w/ sand playX OSU Basketball game as a familyX Fireworks for New YearsX Snowmen pancakesX Make and decorate train cakeX Wondertorium outings x 3X Stillwater shoppingX Cut out and tape up snowflakesBowlingX Local Cinemark movies - We Bought A Zoo as a family & New Years Eve with BenX Playdates: Christina - Gracie, Tucker, & Sam; Daniel - Srikar and Nolan, Katie - Shelby and KeatonX Claires, Walgreens, Hobby Lobby, & Walmart clearance sales - KTX Bath & Body clearance with BenRock out to Just Dance for KidsX Sewing with KatieX Snowmen decorations outX Girl Scout sleepover (Katie) - two nights at the local lodgeX Temple trip & birthday party at Mexico Joe's - KatieX Panera breakfast with girlfriends (Debbie)X Christmas clearance shopping - the girls
Our last adventure is a two-day overnighter in Oklahoma City. I'm taking the kids tomorrow and we plan to visit the Science Museum, zoo, Chuck E. Cheese, and a Diners, Drive ins, and Dive restaurant. Hopefully, we'll squeeze in some swimming at the hotel too. Ben earned a free hotel night with Marriott that expires next week. It gave us the perfect excuse for a weekend outing.
It has been a relaxing winter break, even if Christina has whined for much of it!

Ring in the New Year

2012-01-04T01:50:00.001-06:00

New Years is one of those holidays that needs to be spontaneous in our house. With all the planning I do for most holidays, I don't put much thought into New Years Eve. Maybe I could do better, but it's fun to see what evolves. Plus, I'm too pooped by Dec. 31 to do anything too creative.To celebrate both New Years and our wedding anniversary, Ben and I went to dinner at Applebee's, shopping at Bath & Body, and then to the new movie - New Years Eve. We hadn't even decided on a movie when we arrived at the theater. Although it's getting very poor reviews, we both loved it. Ben jokingly admitted that he hadn't cried that much in a movie, since he saw "Beaches" or "Brian's Song."

One of the main movie characters, Claire Morgan, gives this heartfelt speech when the famed ball in Times Square has a bit of a malfunction. It's a great quote, probably one of the best in the movie.

"It's suspended there to remind us before we pop the champagne and celebrate the New Year, to stop and reflect on the year that has gone by. To remember both our triumphs and our missteps - our promises made, and broken. The times we opened ourselves up to great adventures - or closed ourselves down, for fear of getting hurt. Because that's what New Year's is all about: getting another chance. A chance to forgive, to do better, to do more, to give more, to love more. And stop worrying about 'what if' and start embracing what would be. So when that ball drops at midnight - and it will drop - let's remember to be nice to each other, kind to each other. And not just tonight but all year long."

With a milestone anniversary and Ben's nostalgia and tender feelings with each New Years, we both felt pretty emotional and tired that evening.

For actual New Year's eve, I continued in our spontaneity.

I thought since we were getting out winter decor and snowmen, I'd make up some snowmen pancakes, dust them with powdered sugar, and use mini chocolate chips for the eyes and buttons. The kids loved them. I offered to warm up some ham slices, but everyone was happy with pancakes and syrup. And dining by candlelight makes even a simple pancake dinner seem so lovely. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy my snowmen dishes? They make dreary winter days seem more cheery! We went around the table and talked about resolutions for 2012. I was trying to keep it light and fluffy, but Ben started feeling weighed down, thinking about resolutions in a more serious way. New Years always makes him a little melancholy.

I had put together a bucket full of fireworks to do on the patio that evening. Ben had just purchased the New Years Eve movie soundtrack (which is wonderful!) and had the tunes playing on the patio as we did our fireworks and danced around. I love music on New Years Eve and would prefer dancing on this evening to anything else. Daniel was especially in heaven with the fireworks.

Even though it was only 8 pm, the kids had a ball. Daniel was hoping to stay up late, but with church at 9 am the next morning, I was not about to give in!

Happy New Year's Eve!

P.S. Katie, Ben, and I watched the ball drop in Times Square (11 pm our time), but I don't think any of us made it up until midnight. Yep, we're kind of boring around here. But we like it that way!

20th Wedding Anniversary

2012-01-04T01:36:00.000-06:00

I tend to dislike surprises.

This isn't something I'm necessarily proud of about myself, but it's reality. When it comes to gift giving, I feel sorry for Ben. He loves to surprise me and has a script that gifts are supposed to be a surprise. You know. A gift isn't any fun if it's purchased right off a wish list or requested. Or shopped for together.

With that being admitted, it makes Christmas and anniversary gift-giving between us somewhat interesting. He loves to shop and put lots of thought into the perfect gift for me. As newlyweds, he loved finding the perfect gift - that would often make me teary. That's a lot of pressure for a guy! I find that I am very practical and not the kind of gal who wants or yearns for expensive things. A lot of guys might find that to be a good quality since it's quite frugal, but I think it's a bummer to my sweet husband, who wants to splurge and get me special things I would never buy for myself. In the last week, I think the purchase that's "felt" the best to me was a big pack of fluffy, new socks. How silly is that?

Knowing that we are coming from very different places in terms of gifts, we talked together about our 20th wedding anniversary. He wanted to buy me something special, like real pearls. I have some pearls, pearl bracelets, and earrings, but none of them very expensive. He loves the symbolism of pearls for an anniversary gift - the idea of something beautiful developing, even with irritants entering in.

And then there's my perspective. Being a person who doesn't care much for expensive things, I tried to think of what was special to me at a milestone anniversary. I tried to brainstorm about what wives buy husbands for these kinds of anniversaries. Fancy cuff links? In the past month, when I've read friend's Facebook or blogging updates and I read about adventurous travels they have had or are planning, I feel a bit envious. I rarely feel this way, and that's when I realized that exciting experiences, adventures, and travel are what go deep for me. That's what would feel special for our anniversary. So, the wheels started turning.

I started doing some travel research, talked to Ben about options, and thought realistically about options with leaving our children. At this point in our life, there aren't a lot of them, and Christina can still be such a stinker about bedtime. We stumbled upon something that seemed like a win-win. Adventurous - yes! Something new and exciting - yes! Time for us as a couple - yes! A kids club for the children - yes! Passports not required for the children - yes! A Caribbean cruise seemed like the perfect fit. And then I started pricing things out. After about a week, I couldn't figure out why I couldn't settle on anything. Nothing motivated me to book a cruise.

And then one day after getting the kids off to school, I spoke with at cruise agent who pointed out an amazing Daily Deal to me on a Royal Caribbean cruise. I noticed that it had everything I had been looking for - 7 days, out of port we could drive to (New Orleans), kids club, connecting rooms (and that had been a challenge), fun destinations, good reviews, and a great price. In fact, $1500 less than a typical RC cruise. I instantly felt good about it and after talking to Ben about it, we booked this Caribbean 7 night cruise for Jan. 28! It has been so exciting and given all our family something to look forward to. Christina wakes daily, hoping today is the day we leave. She even has her bags (well, her toys and toiletries anyway) packed! Daniel said, "I can't wait to see what we do for your 30th wedding anniversary!" I'm not sure the kids will always be able to tag along on all our anniversary adventures, but it works out best this year with the kids' ages and our babysitting options.

So, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel - here we come!

If you're interested, here's a little walk down memory lane. Twenty years ago at the Provo Temple - looking young, inexperienced, thinner, and so hopeful. And one month ago at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple - looking happy, goofy as ever, and maybe a bit wiser! I love you Ben and I'm so glad I married you.

I Heart Snowmen

2012-01-04T01:00:00.002-06:00

I've always loved snowmen. They just melt my heart. It's so fun to drag them out of my winter decor boxes, after we've put away Christmas. It warms up the winter months in our home too. Although I am purposely leaving up our two big Christmas trees, I have the rest of Christmas in boxes, and waiting in the garage. I need to wrap them up nice and tight, slowly working at getting them back in the attic. I hope for no more "falling through the attic" incidents this time! This is always one of my favorite spots in the house.

I dejunked and plan to donate a few of our snowmen this year. It has felt good to think a little about which items I want to store and continue to display, and which I'd like to share with someone else.

Little corner in the kitchen

A display of our S'Mores and Big Blue Snowman in the dining room

I'm hoping this spot is less likely to attract the little ones' eyes who love to play with them if they are at eye level, and often end up scratching the sofa tables.

This Jim Shores is a new collectible I received last year. I really like it!

This family room corner came together nicely too. The subway art and spray painted pine cone are new additions.

Hey, those are the beloved snowmen from Craft Blitz. How many of those guys did we cut and sand for the ward ladies?

Today I had big plans to cut out snowflakes with Christina and her friend, Gracie, but they had no interest in making them with me. I, however, had a ball, and found some great tutorials and patterns on Pinterest for making snowflakes. This one is pretty easy. These three are fun too. I am happy with this window and love the extra motivation to clean these windows inside and out! It's looking awfully snowy around our house. I opted to not get out our winter village this year. It's a lot of work and am hoping to simplify the seasonal decor right now.

We are enjoying all our Christmas gifts, in particular this flag quilt made by Kathy, my talented mother-in-law. It looks so pretty folded over the arm of this couch. I just realized today that although I made pretty detailed lists of what people gave us for Christmas, I am lax on writing thank-yous. Need to add that to our to-do list. I'm usually more on top of that than this year.

Train Cake

2012-01-04T00:49:00.000-06:00

I've been going through our home, room by room, and dejunking cabinets, drawers, and closets. While sifting through our baking cabinet, I ran across a Williams Sonoma train pan that we'd never used before. I remember that Nana bought it years ago when Daniel was into trains. It sounded like something fun to do over the break, so Christina and I made up the homemade vanilla cake one evening.

She couldn't wait to decorate the trains the next morning. As you can see, she got started in her pjs/nightgown (she has to layer her night wear, since she's still a covers-kicker) and of course her commonly seen bed head. Christina has some of the messiest hair in the morning that you've ever seen. And this was a tame morning for her.

Daniel informed me that he doesn't like sprinkles or crunchy candy on his. He got creative and melted some chocolate Santas in little bowls, which he poured into his train cars. Not necessarily as pretty as you'd hope for, but he had fun! Since the younger two woke first, they decorated two trains. The rest of us decorated one each.

Ben joined in the fun and made an OSU train with orange mini M&Ms. I was impressed with how well designed his was. These were so easy to decorate and worked with frosting in a can. I had chocolate on hand, so we tried that, and it tasted pretty good! I used my cake decorating bags, which worked well with the candy too. The candy kisses on top and peppermints for wheels were our favorite touches. Katie woke up a few hours later and added her train to the end. Her sleeping late has been the trend all week long. I think we must have a pre-teen in the house! I love her Santa chocolate on the back of the train. It's symbolic, too, of saying good-bye to Christmas and Santa, now that the New Year is here.
Williams Sonoma Vanilla Cake: (we halved the recipe)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour1 3/4 cups sugar2 tsp. baking powder3/4 tsp. baking soda1 tsp. kosher salt16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted1 cup sour cream4 eggs1 Tbs. vanilla extractDirections:Have all the ingredients at room temperature.
Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 350°F. Grease and flour the wells of a railway cake pan and dust with flour.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sour cream, eggs and vanilla until combined. Fit the mixer with the flat beater. Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture and beat on the lowest speed until the dry ingredients are moistened, 15 to 20 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds.
Divide the batter in half and set half of it aside. Spoon the remaining batter evenly among the prepared wells. Tap the pan firmly on the countertop to release any air bubbles. To ensure good details on the cakes, spread the batter so it reaches the top edges of each well and is slightly lower in the center of the well. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes.
Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes, then invert the cakes onto the rack and let cool for at least 1 hour before decorating or serving. Wash and thoroughly dry the pan. Grease and flour the wells and repeat with the remaining batter. Makes 18 cakes. Here's what the online example looked like. We will definitely make these again and maybe even as a continuing New Years tradition!

Wondertorium x 3

2012-01-04T00:34:00.000-06:00

Our Winter Break has mostly been about relaxing and staying close to home. When we initially moved to Stillwater, I enjoyed checking out many of the local family attractions - for the first time. Now that we've been to most of the fun places, I am less motivated to take the kids on outings to Tulsa and Oklahoma City. I have realized that these outings were a stage of life thing too. They were easier to fit into our life with toddlers and preschoolers. Now that the kids are getting older, there is always one, if not two, of the children who don't want to tag along. I also find full-day outings sap my energy more, so local is good.
Our local kids science museum - The Wondertorium - is the answer to our need for family-friendly outings, while keeping things simple. Plus, we have an annual pass for our family, which makes it feel free and budget-conscious. I think we've been three times during Winter Break. Another plus is that it's so close (10 minutes away) that we can go for just a few hours to break up the day.
If you look closely in this fort wall, you might see little Daniel's face peeking out. He and a new friend worked very hard on this. One thing I love about Daniel is his ability to make friends so quickly and easily wherever we go. He drags his feet to join us on outings, but usually ends up having a blast!

Every time we go we see someone we know. A classmate of one of the kids. A friend from church. Or someone we've met in the past two years. I love that about Stillwater. Almost anywhere we go, we run into someone we know. Yep. We live in a small town.
On this occasion, we ran into a friend of Christina's from Pre-K. His name is Sam and the only thing I know about him is that he bit Christina so badly one day that she had a 2 inch bruise on her leg that afternoon. She never told her teacher after it happened, but showed me the wound that evening. Kids are forgiving and seem to be able to let things go more easily than adults. She and Sam had fun together that day. This painting/squeegee area is my kids' favorite.

Daniel loved it too, although he and this new friend were mostly into the spraying and squeegeeing. Is that a verb? It kind of makes me laugh.

One day Katie went with us. It's always more fun when she comes along. Since she is twelve now, she often feels too old for these kinds of places. In the end, though, she had a great time. Although this children's science museum is small, the play areas are very well-thought out and clever. They have some attractions we've never seen in all the museums we've visited as a family.

We noticed on our last visit that our neighbors, the Tidlands, were the donors for science/golfing attraction. Kind of fitting since Chris Tidland golfs in the PGA.

We're so glad we bought a membership here!

OSU Basketball

2012-01-03T19:35:00.002-06:00

Another highlight of our Winter Break was going to our first OSU men's basketball games. This particular game was our free Pistol Pete game, but it ended up being free to the community too. They had promised the kids club members great floor seats, but they were gone by the time breakfast was over.

However, we enjoyed a McDonalds breakfast, photos with the cheerleaders, and shooting a few hoops before the game began.

Like all the OSU sporting events, everyone shows their cowpoke orange spirit.

Me and Pinky included!

The nice elderly lady next to me offered to take our family photo.

I apologize for my goofy head angle here.

It was a fun game, although Christina gets awfully antsy through these events.

We distracted her with potty breaks, gum and licorice from my purse, and finally snacks from concessions. Gotta love orange cotton candy and popcorn!

Kitchen Hutch

2012-01-03T01:59:00.000-06:00

This probably seems like the dorkiest post ever, but I had such fun tidying up our kitchen hutch. It's not every day you can use the word 'dorky' in a blog post. I decided to place my red dishes together and I love it. I changed the decor on the shelf above the hutch and it makes me happier.
I like the blues on this shelf too.

Even though the trendier color scheme is turquoise/aqua and red, I still love my cobalt blue.
Stacks of bowls are so cheerful to me.
I have enjoyed cleaning out my cabinets and dishes. I decided to donate some kitchen items and that feels great. A little lighter. And more focused collections. It feels good to surround myself with things I truly love and not keep around because I liked them at one time.

Christmas Eve Photoshoot

2011-12-24T20:20:00.001-06:00

Doesn't every family have differing opinions on what holiday traditions matter to them?One of our differences of opinion is Christmas photo shoots.

I really love having these photo shoots in pjs on Christmas Eve when we all look relatively decent. We have our hair combed, teeth brushed, with just a touch of makeup for the girls. Not saying we're glamorous, but it is definitely less scary than Christmas Day will be! I love having this annual photo of our family at Christmas time.

Ben is normally stressed by it and would rather do it another time. Maybe never. Christmas Day seems impossible to me. By evening no one has any energy whatsoever. I am normally our family photographer, but Ben likes to set up the tripod for our family photos. He has more knowledge of cameras and photography than I do. He did a great job setting up the camera with the correct settings and took the family photos. We got one good one. After he shot a few pictures, I took over and shot a few of the kids having fun and goofing off. This is where I have more patience.

This was probably my favorite of the bunch.
Posers showing off matching lounge pants

Reflecting their true personalities

Wassup with this expression?

Now this face we see all the time!

This is probably my second favorite of the kids.

This shows just a bit of our pain and fatigue, watching Ben try to set up the tripod and adjust camera settings. Ugh. Have I mentioned that kids are not their most calm, cool, and collected on Christmas Eve?

But we got one photo of us all and a bunch of cute ones of the kids.
I say the pain was worth the outcome! Thanks Ben for flexing on our difference of opinion.

Christmas Morn'

2011-12-24T20:06:00.000-06:00

What did Santa bring this year? An iPhone, an iTouch, AirSoft guns, pellets, and target and lots of ...GOODIES!
We moved over to the living room to open gifts around the Big Tree.Christina lead out the present opening by following yarn to her gift from Mom and Dad - a play kitchen!

For photo purposes, I tried to get all three kids opening a gift at the same time. We mostly take turns, but this gives some variety to the gift opening on Christmas morning. I try to write like mad and keep track of who receives what from whom. In these moments, I feel I am taking advantage of my college degree. Gotta stay sharp in the chaos!

Next we took a break and filled our tummies with the traditional Stahmann breakfast.
We couldn't use the kitchen table, since it's still puzzle time, but the dining room was lovely today.

Ben was kind and did lots of cooking yesterday, which worked out nicely, with my full days of shopping, wrapping, and decorating for the past month. He showed off his chef skills with this yummy breakfast of ham, eggs, bread, cheese, and Golden Mushroom gravy on top.

We all had such a wonderful Christmas! The kids were happy and thankful for all they received from us, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and even a few cousins! A few nights ago, Daniel mentioned he wanted a Pillow Pet. I've decided there should be a law outlawing any new gift requests in the week before Christmas! I felt bad, but knew he'd have Christmas money to buy one later. Surprise! He got a BYU Cougar pet from Nana and Bob. What a relief! He was thrilled.

Katie loves her new iPhone and blue case from Santa.
The kids love all the junk food and treats that Santa puts in their stockings too.
Christina played all day with this horse carrier and horse set from Grandma and Grandpa Hadlock.

The kids were all anxious to give gifts too. I was proud of how thoughtful and kind they were in the giving process. It was cute and funny to see what they selected for each other. Katie gave great gifts this year. Daniel was sweet too. Christina was all smiles to give Ben her simple gifts - Mike & Ikes and these cute birds.

Daniel couldn't wait to give me these poinsettias, along with some red candles, and a candlestick.
Aren't you all happy this is my only photo on Christmas morning. I'm working the "no shower" look.

How does Christina look so cute with her morning hair? I remember how Christmas changed and became less magical as I got into my teens. I knew this was one of those transitional years for Katie, but she was positive and happy nonetheless. I was proud of her.
Huggy brother and sister
Katie was excited about her charm pack and "I Can Quilt" book from Nana. Both of us are anxious to get sewing and work on projects we've set aside for months during quieter winter months.
More cuddles with the girlies Katie is excited to have blue paint for her continuing room makeover. She just beamed when she opened this. She and Ben have big plans to do this together!
And last of all - brand new $100 dollar bills for each family member, from Nana and Bob.
There were lots of squeals with this gift. The kids and I have enjoyed brainstorming about what we might buy and how much they will set aside. They were promptly put up high in a red envelope for future shopping sprees and saving.
Ben was a great sport and helped the kids put things together, like Christina's kitchen. He had more to do in setting up Katie's iPhone and Christina's iTouch. While he worked with them, I tried to tidy the "toy tornado", do dishes, and start sorting the Christmas stuff. I actually like doing all of this, although at one point, I thought, "I generally only need caffeine for migraine headaches, but I might could use a lift just now." After drinking some ice water and sitting down for a bit, I felt my energy lifting.This little guy kept a steady stream of chocolate and video games going all day long. I'm wondering if he'll have a tummy ache tonight. I don't think he got dressed or brushed his teeth until 4 pm.
This Little Miss played with almost everything she received, required lots of attention from family members, and had a fun afternoon. She enjoyed painting the horse set she received from Nana and Bob. Katie mostly hibernated in her room, enjoying treats, sorting her stuff, watching "Monk", and texting her friends. This might just be Daniel's video game face. With our new tv for the office, we'll be shifting the video game center from our master bedroom to the "media room office." I am looking forward to this. And this is heaven to Daniel.
Yep, we had a great Christmas Day! Hope you all did to!

Early Christmas Celebration

2011-12-24T14:54:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas 2011

celebrated one day early this year

Christmas Eve - All the kids received red and navy fleece pants with already gifted red long sleeved t-shirts. It's been nice to have the t-shirts for the various Christmas parties. The girls received matching royal blue snowflake, long-sleeve t-shirts. The kids were particularly hyper and overstimulated on this year's Christmas Eve. As a result, the parents were a bit grumpy and over-tired, ready to get the kids into bed. Emotions run high as Christmas nears!

One of the funnies of the year were all the "To Daniel. Love, Daniel", "To Christina. Love, Christina", and "To Mom. Love, Mom" gifts under the tree. Daniel was particularly worried this year that we didn't know what he wanted. Yesterday while we were listening to Christmas music, "O Tannenbaum" played on our iTunes. Christina told me she didn't think it was a nice song and said, "Ah, oh. Him was saying "Tiny Bum." Kind of funny.

Christmas Day - All the kids were happy on this Christmas day when we opened gifts, enjoyed traditional Stahmann breakfast, and sampled sweets and snacks. It was a happy, peaceful day. Stockings were overflowing with little toys and lots of chocolate and snacks. All the kids received a favorite breakfast treat pack (donuts or Honeybuns), Pringles, popcorn packs, and mini cereal packs. Christina couldn't figure out how Santa knew she loves Extra Buttery Popcorn! It has worked out well having it a day early. I couldn't imagine trying to get everything opened up and get ready for church on time at 10 am. I especially don't want to be late tomorrow, since I'm directing our YW in singing "First Noel." Katie will be playing her violin for two verses.

Here is what everyone received and who they received gifts from.

FAMILY:

Anne - Angry Birds card game
Steve/Tiercy family - Wits and Wagers board game
Knudsen family - Applebee's gift certificate and Just Dance Kids Wii game
Scott/Alyssa - Story Cubes game
Andy/Sandy - Lowe's $50 gift certificate, Cinemark $50 movie passes, Quirkle game, Smurfs movie, Kung Fu Panda 2, Snap Circuits game, Bananagram game
Bob/Kathy - Americana quilt, Scrambled States of America book and game, Lehi's dream, snowmen ornaments for kids, $100 for each person - shopping spree!

BEN:

KT - OSU Football
Daniel - flashlight
Christina - Mike & Ikes, birds
Deb - books, movies, iTunes gift card, ties, soccer Santa, OSU winter frame, Canon lens hood
Bob/Kathy - ice cream scoop, silver coin, Fireproof movie, several books, 4 dress shirts, Stevens pumpkin cocoa
John - Audi flashlight and stuff
Andy/Sandy - camera backpack, Canon battery grip

DEBBIE:

KT - Christmas earrings
Daniel - poinsettia, candles, & candlestick
Christina - candle, Swedish fish, & Mrs. Potato Head notepad, Target long sleeve t-shirts
Family - cardigans, hat/scarf/glove set, large pizzas stone, iTunes gift card, winter dishtowels, & lamp
The girls - Vanilla Bean Noel spray
Ben - iPhone, Mrs. Santa book, & Mr./Mrs Santa figurine,
Bob/Kathy - red tablecloth, red dishes, sugar sprinkler, calendar, Wednesday Letters book, magnetic necklace charms
Family - pizza stone
Andy/Sandy - Michael Buble cd, steam mop, Sonicare toothbrush
Mark - pizza peel, James Taylor Christmas & Sarah McLachlan Wintersong cds

KATIE:

Santa - iPhone w/ blue case and goodies
Daniel - beach puzzle and Star Wars Pez
Christina - multi-pack of gum & glowsticks
Ben - Pioneers t-shirt
The family - snow globe, Son of Neptune book, iTunes gift card, Bath & Body stuff, shirt, Edge on the Sword book (share w/ Ben), blue paint for her room, & lamps for her room
Bob/Kathy - Josh Groban Noel cd, magnetic necklace w/ charms, charm squares & quilting starter kit, math dice, white watch
Andy/Sandy - jewelry making kit and beads, Perler beads, silver watch, & ornament
Dallin - earring set

DANIEL:

Santa - Airsoft gun, target, pellets and goodies
KT - 2 Pokemon card packs & LEGO figurines, homemade red scarf
Christina - candy & balloon set
The girls - snow globe
Ben - U Build Sorry
The family - 4-square ball, Pokemon book, Boxcar Children box set, We Fish & Wipeout Wii games
Bob/Kathy - Chevron car, AirHunter, DanDare, Fishing Wii game, Cougar pillow pet, math dice
Andy/Sandy - Nerf Vortex gun set, Beyblade arena, & ornament
Hailey - Pokemon book set

CHRISTINA:

Santa - iTouch with pink case and goodies
KT - Furry Frenzies, homemade purple scarf
Daniel - stuffed animal dogs
Ben/Debbie - play kitchen (follow the yarn), dolphin Pillow Pet, & Rudolph book set
The family- Dollie & Me matching nightgowns, dog book (share w/ Daniel), Bath & Body stuff, art kit
Bob/Kathy - horse painting kit, horse movies, "C" necklace, & Shrinky Dinks
Andy/Sandy - swim Barbie, Barbie pool, horse trailer/horse set, & ornament
Jeff - personalized purse, full of goodies

It was another great Christmas! We're so thankful to all those who remembered us with such fun gifts. I am glad we have the resources to make Christmas so fun for our children. It really does become a magical experience again when you become parents!

Christmas is for the birds?

2011-12-24T14:35:00.001-06:00

After delivering gifts and goodies to friends in town, I was inspired by a friend (Angela Allred) who had decorated an outdoor tree for birds and animals. It sounded like the perfect activity for the my kids - simple, kid-friendly, inexpensive, and outdoors. And I even had all the supplies!

We started with the pinecones. First, I tied on yarn to a bunch of pinecones I had on hand. This project is ideal for the ugly pinecones, since they are covered up anyway. Spreading peanut butter on the pinecones was the kids' favorite part. I was able to convince Daniel to make just one. As you've heard before, he is not into crafts. Christina and I made a tray full.

I even had bird seed stored in our garage shelves. Next we rolled the pinecones in the birdseed.

And then we went to choose a tree for the birds! This one had the lowest branches and worked great.

It turned out pretty, although next year I might add bows to the top!

Then we sprinkled feed corn (that we got from Angela) around the tree, hoping that deer, that often make their way along the greenbelt, might mosey over to our side of the street. Angela mentioned that squirrels have enjoyed their pinecones most of all. No luck with wildlife yet, but we have faith.

I've read that strings of popcorn is also ideal for "Christmas Trees for Birds." Katie has been stringing popcorn for the kids trees. Maybe I can talk her into some popcorn garlands for the bird's tree. Angela said the Ritz crackers were a hit too.

Christmas Eve was such a beautiful, sunny day that Christina and I spent time outside several times in the day. Later on, we went out burn off some Christmas wiggles while Ben cooked. She scootered and I fast-walked to keep up. We visited a few neighbor friends and she chased our favorite neighbor doggies, Tres and Teagan. Fun outdoor time.

I am excited about my big bucket of feed corn for another reason. I'm hoping to make more heating pillows for our family and friends this winter. It's just another sewing project I have for some quiet winter days. I have loved our corn pillows, but they are getting worn. I have never made them for friends in Oklahoma. My generous friend, Angela, showed me some of her variations - small ones for coat pockets and mittens and larger ones as bed warmers. Can't wait to make a few!

Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-24T13:53:00.000-06:00

Would you like to peek in our house on Christmas Eve?

When I was outside, figuring out my new lights timer from Ben, and adjusting our inflatable Mickey, I thought I'd snap a few photos of the house. It looked so warm and cozy. My friend Lyz always teases me that we have a Mrs. Santa house. I love making our home festive, cozy, full of light, smelling yummy, and most importantly full of love. I think the hardest part is the last, especially during Christmas, when the kids' emotions are so charged and running high.

I love this view.

Ben and the kids were inside making traditional Christmas Eve scones. Not scones in the baked sense, but the fried kind. Like donuts. They are delish with honey butter, jam, or powdered sugar. Usually Ben makes homemade dough. This year he found Rhodes dough that made his life a little easier. They were so yummy.

On a down note - the evening was stressful, the kids were wild, and Christina splashed a bit of hot oil onto Ben during the scone making, but don't we all look full of happiness and serenity? (She said with sarcasm :-)

Traditional Stahmann Christmas Eve Dinner with scones and soup

I realized I hadn't taken any photos of our house's lights this year. The colored net lights went out and about 600 others died too. So, I simplified and just did this flower bed and doorway garland.

I thought it looked welcoming in a simple, yet traditional way. I love solid colored lights in big sections. My window wreaths look pretty too.

Here is one close up of my window wreaths. So pretty and classic! Target clearance, as I recall.

Merry Christmas Eve. There's just one sleep 'til Christmas!

Puzzled

2011-12-24T13:32:00.000-06:00

Our family loves doing puzzles during the holidays. Yesterday, I cleared off the kitchen table to work on several 700 piece Santa puzzles with Katie. Ben dragged down the craft table from the attic (no one fell through, thank you!) to set up in Daniel's room for puzzles and LEGOs. I have never seen Christina complete so many puzzles in a day!

All three kids had fun working on them. They liked some of the puzzles better than others. Christina seemed to need a consistent helper to keep her going. The younger kids are most motivated on the second half of the puzzle, after the border is complete.

Daniel's favorite was surprisingly this Strawberry Shortcake puzzle. He kept trying to sneak in pieces when Christina wasn't looking. Of course, that made her mad. But then, there's nothing like bickering to show true Christmas spirit at our house.

Katie and I are plugging along with this difficult puzzle set. We'll see if we can finish them before school starts back on January 9.

On a tangent, I have learned that this lighting effect on the Christmas tree is called "BOKEH." I love how our new camera lens creates such great Christmas bokeh. It's added such a nice sparkle to our holiday photos this year.

Yeah for puzzles! They are fun and increase your brain cells. What more could we want?

Pinecones, Garlands, & Popcorn

2011-12-22T20:30:00.000-06:00

Pine cones and Holly BerriesPopcorn for you, apples for meRed striped candy, nut cracker handy When I saw these series of photos, I thought of this favorite Christmas tune.
I took this photo yesterday and was stunned at its professionalism and warmth.
I spray painted these pine cones white to look more snowy. I love them in my Pier 1 red bowl. I've kept stacks of our nicer Christmas stories in the living room. When Christina gets wired and overstimulated, I pull her onto my lap and we read from these books. It's been a fun thing this year, aside from our bedtime reading. I think my favorite part of this photo is the way our Big Tree Christmas lights look in the back. I adore all the light in our home in the month of December.I put this pinecone cluster together this week, after seeing an idea in a decorating magazine. Mine didn't turn out quite as classy as the original design, but I liked it enough to make one. I had planned to make one for each dining room chair, but they didn't hang quite right. I didn't have plastic s-hooks to use, but it was fun to make this one.

If you look closely, you can see some round candy-like garlands. This is something I've planned to make for weeks. When we were in Utah during Thanksgiving, I borrowed my sister-in-law Tiercy's round punch to make all the circles. One day, Christina wanted to watch a movie in my bedroom where it was dark and quiet. I was nearby, sewing this circles together. It took a while, but they look adorable.

Ben isn't always one to comment or praise all my crafty projects, but he said this was his favorite thing I've made for the Red and White tree. It gives the tree a little more modern feel to it, without adding much expense. Looking at this tree has made me happy all month.
In case you were wondering, the red striped candy song line links to these photos.And then to the popcorn line of the song.
Like my Mom, I always make caramel popcorn. Tucker and Christina helped me pop lots of bowls of popcorn. Katie and I made the caramel. The kids were elated to hear I wasn't giving it all away. I set aside a big bowl for them. It turned out yummy.

Gift Giving

2011-12-22T20:19:00.000-06:00

I've been amazed at how much of my time has been centered around gift-giving in recent weeks. Between shopping for Ben and the children and preparations for their teachers, neighbors, ward friends, YW and RS leaders, VT ladies, and school friends it has been a lot of work. I realize that I give to more people than many people choose to, but I love it. I remember my great grand-mother, Grany Creech, being a big gift giver and I like having that as part of my identity too. Giving to others fills me with a spirit of love and service. I like being remembered by others and try to act in a spirit of "do unto others as you would have done unto you."
I didn't realize as room Mom that one of the unmentioned, but expected job responsibilities is compiling a nice classroom gift. So, for both Christina and Daniel's classes, I gathered money and surveyed the teachers about their favorites. It was fun putting together big gift baskets, full of their favorite things: salty snacks, sweet snacks, candy, beverage, candle scent, and favorite store/restaurant. Then I added a few other things that looked fun, like cute dish towels, scented plug ins, fluffy socks, etc. It took some time getting all the items, but they turned out so sweet!I love this font for the gift tags. A few weeks ago, my neighbor Uma, came over and asked me how these cellophane bags work. I had never used them before. After helping her to compile a gift bag for a music teacher, I was hooked on these big cellophane bags (2 for $1.50 at Walmart). When I put my teacher gift baskets together, I marched over to Walmart and bought a bunch. So easy and professional looking. And wired ribbon is the best! Next came gifts for my Young Women - three Mia Maids. I had a few ideas, but I really prefer making something homemade. When I saw this recipe for Peppermint Sugar Scrub on a blog I regularly read, I knew I wanted to make some for the girls. I even had some jam jars and cute lids that looked Christmasy. I added a line - for someone who is sugar, spice, and everything nice. They turned out cute with ribbon, hole punched on each side, and tied in the back.
Peppermint Sugar Scrub
1 cup white sugar1/2 cup vegetable oil (you can also use olive oil)1 teaspoon of peppermint extract
Mix together ingredients in a large bowl. Fill each jar with sugar scrub. Recipe can be easily doubled to fill more jars. This sugar scrub is great to use on your feet.A few years ago, Katie's Activity Days group in Texas made sugar scrubs for the Moms at Mothers' Day. I enjoyed mine so much, that I hope this is equally as nice.
As of today, I think I finally have all the gifts delivered and wrapped. My Mom has a few more arriving via Amazon that I will need to wrap in the next few days, but it's all coming together.

Ben's Sopapilla Cheesecake

2011-12-22T20:05:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday after we came home from church, Ben went immediately to the kitchen to whip up a dessert he'd had at a recent work party. He was dying to make Sopapilla Cheesecake for us. I rarely seem him this enthusiastic to cook. When I asked him about the urgency, he replied, "If I don't make it while I'm thinking about it, I'll never get to it." We both agreed that it is one of the yummiest desserts we've had in a long time. And Ben's not a cheesecake guy. He informed me that he would like this instead of birthday cake for future celebrations.
Doesn't Ben look and sparkly (is that an appropriate adjective for a hubby?) cooking away in his white shirt and tie? Husbands look so handsome when cooking in the kitchen. Although, their doing dishes brings out even more handsomeness.
I didn't do well photographing this tasty dish, but it gives you an idea of the layers.
I am enjoying my new red dishes that I received as an early Christmas gift from my in-laws.
Sopapilla Cheesecake

2 rolls of 8 count of crescent rolls
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
12 ounces of cream cheese
1 stick of butter
2 tsp. cinnamon

Place 1 roll of 8 count crescent rolls in bottom of 9x13 inch pan.

Mix: 1 cup of sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
12 ounces of cream cheese
Spread over dough.
Mix: 1 stick of melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

Place 1 roll of 8 count crescent rolls on top of the cream cheese mixture. Pour melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon mixture on top. Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes.

Growing Up

2011-12-22T19:53:00.000-06:00

Before Christina's recent hair cut, we were having battles over hair combing because it hurt when I combed her hair each morning. Now that it's easier to comb through, our battle is that she wants to do her own hair. I love her independence, but as you can see, she has her own vision of hair styles. She calls this "making curls" and prefers this interesting style over any others. I can usually talk her into styling it this way after school and letting me help her on school and church mornings. I love watching her grow and learn new skills. She is so proud!
Her back up style is a headband with a flower clipped onto it. Sometimes she wants the flower on the top of her head. It looks pretty silly. Other times she wears the flower down low, so it almost looks like an ear muff. Mostly, she loves to use her spray bottle and generally goes to school with pretty wet hair. When she wakes up, she has really messy hair and what we call "the biggest rooster tails" of the family.Another way she is growing up is learning to write her letters and numbers. For a gal who mostly wants to pretend play, sitting to focus on writing isn't easy for her. This is the best I've seen her write her name. Mrs. Phipps, her teacher, said she had to re-direct her several times and encourage her to keep trying, but she did a great job with such a long name.

Yucky Sea Glass Candy

2011-12-22T19:35:00.001-06:00

I recently asked the children what Christmas goodies they like to make as a family.

Katie responded with a favorite - "Peppermint Bark" and Daniel surprisingly said, "Sea Glass Candy." I had to laugh over Daniel's response, since we've never made this candy at Christmas time. I'm not sure he understands the concept of tradition. What about gingerbread cookies or caramel corn that we make every year? Sea glass candy was something we discovered last winter. Nonetheless on Monday after school, I gathered the supplies to make the candy with the younger kids. They thought strawberry Kool-Aid would be perfect for a holiday colored and flavored red candy. Kool-Aid normally works great in this candy recipe as a substitute for flavored oils, which are significantly more expensive.

It's a simple recipe, but it takes a long time for the candy to boil and reach the hard crack stage. The kids' favorite part is hammering the candy and breaking it into pieces. Next, they tossed it in powdered sugar. Doesn't it look beautiful, but wait. There's a catch!
It tasted disgusting!
The strawberry flavoring created a bitter, almost sugar-free taste and after tasting it for FHE, we immediately tossed it all in the trash. I couldn't imagine eating it or sharing it with neighbors. It's always amazing to me when something so pretty can taste so yucky! Sounds like a potential object lesson.
So many of our experiences this Christmas (me falling through the attic, our gingerbread houses breaking apart, and finally this candy) really reminds me of the Christmas Vacation movie. It's definitely best to watch the tv version of this one, although it's still not very family friendly. I tried to show the kids "Christmas Story" this year, but was shocked to hear all the swearing and crudeness. I hadn't remembered that. We turned it off at one point and I talked with the kids about the reasons why. We have to be so careful with the media that we allow in our home.
The kids don't seem to like the holiday Bass and Rankin cartoons that I grew up watching, but seem to love the Home Alone shows (with a Christmas undertone) and Elf movies most of all. I have discovered a few ABC Family Christmas favorites. I think "Snowglobe" is at the top of my list. Another I watched today after I ran all my errands was the adorable "Mrs. Magic," starring James Van Der Beek and Doris Roberts. I love its themes of love and forgiveness. The premiering "12 Dates of Christmas" (kind of like Groundhog Day) was a cute, new one this year. The "Snow" movies are other favorites, but that's probably due to actor Tom Cavanagh. I'm a big fan of his after his "Ed" tv show. Here's an ABC Family link to watch some of their 25 Days of Christmas movies online.
I loved these series of candy making photos. You'd think we'd intentionally color coordinated the kids shirts to make the photos look extra festive. Jut a coincidence that I love.
FYI: The darling red and white Hallmark cookie jar behind the yucky candy is a new gift this year. Our friends and home teachers, the Buckners, stocked it full of Lindor chocolates and various hot cocoa packets as a gift to our family. We've enjoyed it a lot. I love that it's snowman themed. We will have it on our kitchen counter all winter!

Holiday Laughs

2011-12-22T18:38:00.001-06:00

Christina and Daniel are very excited each morning to look for Elf on the Shelf. One evening our neighbor, David, who happens to be Tucker's father, called us. He thought it would be fun to swap elves for the evening and see how the girls reacted. He and I have become friends, since the girls like to play most afternoons together. When Christina saw Tucker's elves, she was in shock. It was a fun variation on finding our family's elf! (If you look closely at Pinky's hair, you will see evidence of her morning rooster tails. And her hair wasn't as wild this morning as normal).

I love all the little magical traditions at Christmas.

Here's another funny.

One evening we'd had a ton of rain and our outdoor Christmas lights weren't working. I didn't have any lights on and scrambled to turn on some lights. We heard a knock at the door. When we opened the door, we saw all these packages on a dolly! Let's just say that Ben, my Mom, and I have done a ton of online shipping. We all adore Amazon and Amazon prime shipping!

The kids thought it looked like Santa had arrived with all these gifts. It was kind of funny and especially when I asked the delivery man if I could take a photo! Yep, I'm not shy in my picture taking. The UPS, FedEx, and mail men are visiting our house daily this time of year. I try to be friendly and thankful for their service. They sure work hard and make my life much easier, since we're pretty limited in our shopping here in small town Stillwater.My newly married brother Scott used Amazon to ship this gift to our family. My Mom had warned me about the funny shipping label. They couldn't figure out how to get the gift card/note to work and this seemed like the best option, so they would know who it was from. Is this cute or what? I just love Scott. He is trying so hard to be a good brother, new husband, and provider!
Our Christmas trees are filling up with presents underneath. It's fun to watch the children organize, sort, and imagine what gifts they might receive. Daniel is a peeker and has discovered that if he holds certain gifts up to a lamp's light, he can see what they are. He has discovered that one is a Pokemon book. I've found other gifts torn at the corners and his in gift bags with tissue paper have had the tissue paper lifted out and peeked into. Sneaky boy!

Letters to Santa

2011-12-22T17:44:00.000-06:00

When I heard Daniel share his worries about being on the "Naughty List", it made his letters to Santa more insightful. He is really working on his handwriting, although it is difficult for him. Here he shares:

Dear Santa:

I have been good, Santa. I played with my sisters (I'm sure this means Christina, since she continually pesters him to play with her). I sorted the presents under the tree with my big sister.

Love, Daniel

This is too cute to me. I love how this shows how he expounds upon being good. It centers around good things he has done with his sisters. I bet in the back of his mind he realizes that the most trouble he's ever in is because he's fighting with his sisters. I think that's very normal, especially this time of year. My Mom and I have decided that the Naughty/Nice concept doesn't work well at improving kids' behavior. I bet by December 26 things will be much calmer around here.

The other letter to Santa talks about his wishes:

Dear Santa:

I really want a 22 pistol for Christmas. I really want to shoot it at the shooting range.

Sincerely,

Daniel Stahmann

P.S. Can it be strong?

When I read this, I smiled, and remembered taking Daniel to Toys 'R Us as a toddler. I admittedly was one of those Moms who was hesitant about even buying water guns for him. When we were on a particular toy aisle, he loudly proclaimed, "I just love weapons!" Yep, this is just Daniel. We're just trying to find appropriate channels for his interest in guns and weapons.

I love his drawing. It's a reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh with lots of presents.

Party On!

2011-12-22T17:26:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was another party day for Christina and Daniel. Even though Christina already had her Pre-K Winter Party, several of us planned another party - this time a surprise party - since her teacher received the "Teacher of the Year" this week! Here is surprised and smiley Mrs. Phipps as she enters the room. She's just a darling teacher!

Another Mom made this fun poster and had all the Pre-K children sign it for her.

The Teacher of the Year cupcakes
Ta-Da!
Unfortunately, Mrs. Phipps, who is expecting her first baby, ended up in the hospital yesterday evening. They think it might be pre-eclampsia, but they weren't sure. Lots of prayers going out for her right now.I think Mrs. Phipps is very deserving of this award. She has been amazing - so patient with the children, energetic in her teaching, and a clear, consistent communicator with the parents. I also love how real and approachable she is with me. I feel like we've become good friends this year. Then I raced off to Daniel's Winter Party. I am room-mom for the younger kids this year. This party was simple to plan. Most everything was signed up for at back-to-school. I just did reminder emails. As you can see in this photo, some of the kids love to get their picture taken. Daniel is not one of those kids! We had all kinds of yummy foods, did a snowflake craft (out of pipe cleaners and beads), and played a candy cane/stocking/spoon relay. This craft is ideal for many ages. It's inexpensive, something the kids can actually make on their own, looks cute on a Christmas tree, and doesn't take too long.
Daniel seemed tired at his party. He has had a hard time falling asleep lately, sometimes coming into our bedroom at 11 pm. He has talked about feeling excited about Christmas with his mind racing being the cause, but last night as we talked, I found out that he was worried he was on the "Naughty List." I reminded him that it's what you are most of the time and that you don't have to be perfect to be on the "Nice List." This poor little guy was worried that Santa wouldn't bring him any gifts.
I am learning with Daniel that I have to make a concerted effort to communicate with him because it's much harder to get him to share his feelings. Sometimes there are real concerns and worries that he pushes down and doesn't work to resolve with me. Because Ben generally puts Daniel to bed, I miss out on that ideal time to talk one-on-one with Daniel. I know that children glean a lot from having an involved Dad, but I also find that they will never be as open about their feelings with Ben as they are with me. It's interesting. These mini conversations make me more determined to work on a close, open relationship with him. I sure love him!

Christmastime is Here

2011-12-21T16:39:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite traditions is sending and receiving Christmas cards. This year I decided to not mail cards, but send an email version. Ben wonders if we'll receive any traditionally mailed cards next year. Designing the newsletters is my favorite part. Mailing them isn't. It seems I always end up with a bunch that are returned and the cost of stamps is becoming outrageous. Here is our family photo gallery, along with our doors with this year's Christmas cards and letters.
I couldn't find any way to paste our newsletter, designed in Pages, so here is the text only. It will give you the gist our 2-page newsletter.
2011 Stahmann Family Christmas Newsletter
It’s been a wonderful year for our family! We’re feeling quite settled here in sweet Stillwater, Oklahoma. We love where we live for many reasons. We’re minutes from our stake center, elementary school, middle school, and of course - Walmart! Living here for two years, we have made some good friends and put roots down. We love living in a college town. It adds energy, academics, and great college sports to our lives. It’s a neat place to raise a family.
This year, we signed our kids up for the OSU Pistol Pete Kids Club, so we’ve enjoyed watching more girls basketball, soccer, and OSU football games. We look forward to basketball season too! Our ward is an accepting and loving place to be. We’ve stretched as a family, singing as a family for several events, and growing in other capacities with new callings too. Katie sings and plays her violin for church functions quite regularly.
We love being an hour from Tulsa and Oklahoma City when we need a little more adventure - art museums, zoos, aquarium, Science museum, yummy restaurants, or an indoor mall! Can you believe we don’t have a mall or Target in Stillwater? The kids have joked about all our family’s season passes - the OKC Zoo, OKC Science Museum, Silver Dollar City in Branson, and most recently The Wondertorium science museum here in town. Yes, we like to squeeze in some fun, amidst work, school, and the regular stuff!
LAST YEAR'S HIGHLIGHTS
January: Return from Utah, Daniel in karate, Katie in dance, Science museum family outing, & Daniel’s birthday
February: Ben receives Spirit Rider award at work, Debbie quilts, snow days, zoo and park outings, family board games, Katie in Girl Scouts, Valentines crafts & fun
March: Spring Break with Hadlocks to Branson/Arkansas/Missouri, RS Temple Trip, Illinois Stahmanns come to visit, & Easter preparations
April: Daniel in soccer, spring crafting projects, Katie violin performances & school clubs, & Daniel zoo field trip
May: Debbie and Katie - Annual Girls Trip to NYC, Christina/Debbie outing to Tulsa aquarium, family Frontier City outing, & School’s Out!
June: Swim Socials, Family Day Camp, KT 4-H Camp, KT & Mom to Discoveryland “Oklahoma” play, Mom and kids Trip to Branson, Christina in t-ball, playdates with friends, & our Texas friends, the Booths, come to visit
July: Month long trip to Utah - Park City, Bear Lake, hike the Y, Utah Lake boating, outdoor play, & cousins
August: Entries in County Fair, Ben receives Jewel Award at work, swimming & fishing, Tulsa daytrip with girls, Katie’s birthday with friends, & School Starts!
September: Add front flower bed, scootering at Boomer Lake, Ben’s birthday, Couples Marriage Retreat in OKC, & Botanical Gardens outing
October: RS Craft Blitz, Ben to Utah, OSU Football & Homecoming, pumpkin patch, Fall Break staycation, family sickness, all kids to dentist, & Halloween
November: Bulb planting, Vacation to Utah - Scott’s wedding and Thanksgiving, Pinky’s birthday, & Debbie’s root canal
December: Christmas concerts, parties, baking, & lots of holiday fun!
FUNNIES IN THE FAMILY
9/2011 Ben took Daniel fishing one Saturday. On their way, they picked up a few new fishing supplies at Walmart. Daniel told him, "Dad - you're kind of a spender. I kind of like that about you."
6/3/2011 When given various choices of activities she could sign up for, Christina insisted, "Mom, I told you I want to play baseball." So, Pinky is officially a Wee T-Ball player. Daniel overhead us talking about her upcoming game. When we drove by a baseball field, he asked, "Where are the tvs?" I didn't understand what he meant, until he said, "You know Wii Baseball."
5/24/2011 On the drive home from Frontier City amusement park, Christina said, "The Steel Lasso made my tummy feel kind of homesick and kinda great."
5/10/2011 Ben was visiting with Daniel about me and Katie being away in NYC. He said he missed us and that it didn't feel like our family made sense without Katie around. Ben was thinking how sweet that was, then Daniel said "you know how every family has a bossy one."
4/22/2011 Christina often fights going to bed due to frequent nightmares. Recently her excuse goes something like this, "But I don't want to close my eyes. I'll get wrinkles."
2/23/20211 Daniel asked me what I was doing on the computer. When I told him I was working on family history and researching our ancestors, he said, "Are there any apes in there anywhere?"
2/3/2011 Ben, Christina, and I were talking in the kitchen when Christina announced she had to go potty. As she ran off to the restroom, she yelled,"Pause the talking." This makes me suspect too much tv watching at our house!
WHAT'S NEW IN THE FAMILY
Katie (12) is enjoying being in Young Women’s. She’s in a choir, started piano lessons again, and continues with violin and Girl Scouts. She works hard in school, gets straight As, and loves Perler beads.
Daniel (almost 8) has become a good reader this year. Mr. Climber can scale doorways and climb trees, He loves video games, Pokemon, Beyblade, & LEGOs. Daniel is looking forward to getting baptized next month.
Christina (just turned 5) is in full-day Pre-K this year. This is a big change for Mom! Miss Social Butterfly wants to play with friends every day after school. She continues to love animals, pretend play, and mostly teasing her siblings. Christina eats about four bedtime snacks each night.
Ben (40 something) is now the stake executive secretary and cub master. He looks forward to Daniel joining the Cubs. He has worked at OSU for two years now. He’s a big college football fan. He and Daniel are becoming fishing, shooting, and football buddies!

Debbie (20 something - hee hee) is enjoying being in the Y.W. presidency and feels like she has a new part-time job! She enjoys crafting, blogging, outings, travel planning, friend-making, and being a wife and mother.

As we look back on the various places we’ve lived in our nearly 20 years of marriage (coming up on January 2), we treasure the friendships we’ve made through the years. We’ve learned something from each of you and appreciate what you’ve added to our lives. We echo Abraham Lincoln’s words, "The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.”

May 2012 be full of peace for you and your family! We love you and wish you a Happy New Year!

Love, the O.K. Stahmanns

The kids have enjoyed several 12 Days of Christmas countdowns, including this darling tree made by Aunt Anne. Christina loves adding the ornaments each day.

Daniel gets a kick out of the mistletoe ball in our foyer. I try to trick him and get him under the mistletoe to sneak a kiss. He loves seeing me and Ben catch a smooch too. The mistletoe has been a fun, new addition this year.

Christmas Crafting

2011-12-17T15:32:00.000-06:00

In the past year I've browsed Pinterest and the Internet for this year's "Red and White" themed Christmas tree. I saw something alone these lines and have been wanting to make them. Of course, my peppermints are getting a little melty, but I thought these turned out sweet with the Red Hots as berries.
Cute on the tree

I've made bunches of these "You are loved" candy cane hearts for our youth visits and caroling in recent weeks. It's nice to have something to leave with people and it's an inexpensive ornament.

They look darling on the tree too. We've been bombarded with wedding invites in the past month. I made a few of these to go along with some gift cards. I've concluded that when the weddings are long-distance, this is the way to go. I thought these turned out fun!
That's all the crafting for today!

Pre-K Winter Party

2011-12-17T15:26:00.001-06:00

In all Katie's 12 years of school, I was NEVER her room Mom. Yeah. Just sign me up for Mother of the year today! However, this year I am making up for lost time since I am room Mom for both Daniel and Christina's classes. I am enjoying it and it's honestly not that much work! I think I was gun-shy after one year of helping with parties, with a group full of opinionated and critical Moms who made class parties more work than they needed to be. I like to keep things simple and so far, at Sangre Ridge Elementary, they do too! This is another way that our move has been good for me. I am growing in my confidence to become more involved and feeling like it's a safe, positive place to contribute.
This past week was Christina's Winter Party. Since they only allot 30 minutes for the party, it's mostly about eating. And a little singing. And photo taking. And smiling and laughing.
They had made these foamie Christmas light necklaces ahead of time. Each light showcased a letter of their name.They kicked off the party having the kids sing a few of their favorite Christmas songs. They sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", "Must Be Santa," and "Jingle Bells". Mrs. Phipps is an amazing teacher and preschooler-whisperer type person. So patient.I had my Canon with me and couldn't get far enough back to photograph the whole class, so here's the section Christina was in. This is the nice-smiles shot.
And then the silly faces shot.
I presented both Mrs. Case and Mrs. Phipps with our handmade wooden snowmen block crafts. I'm collecting money for a group gift for both kids' classes too, but that should come together next week. It continues to be a busy time of year, even though I thought last week was the craziest of all.
One funny thing about the day was getting Christina dressed for school that day. I dressed her in black leggings, a red shirt, and a Christmas puffy skirt. She didn't want to wear it and was afraid people would laugh at her. It was the first time I've seen her show peer pressure concerns. I reassured her and somehow she listened to me and wore the outfit. Katie was concerned about how big her bow looked. I thought it was festive and sweet.
It was a fun party with my cute lil' reindeer girl!

Candlelight dinners

2011-12-17T14:58:00.001-06:00

With most nights filled with concerts, parties, and other holiday activities, it was nice to have two quiet evenings this week to have candlelit dinners. I can tell it makes Ben happy to walk in with a nice meal at the table, music playing in the background.

For our first dinner that kicked off our 12 Days of Christmas, I made a small spiral-sliced glazed ham, baked potatoes with all the fix in's, tomato and cottage cheese salad, rolls, baby dills, and sliced fruit. Eating in our dining room with our outdoor lights gleaming through the windows makes me very happy. Our neighbors across the street, the Tidlands, added lights on their tree trunks this year. It has added to our dining room view and makes it even more sparkly. Thanks Tidlands!

Katie helped me set the table, using our Spode Christmas china, and get the Santa hat napkin holders ready. We always have white napkins, so white capped Santas are becoming the dining trend at our house. I just received red dishes (a full set of 8) for an early Christmas. I can't wait to use them this month. They will be fun for Valentines and Fourth of July too! This year, I have our Santa and Mrs. Santa collection on the dining table runner.

Pure Magic!
I love dining with these four! We have a little container of dinner conversation questions, that we've been attempting at meals. I love the questions. They go something like, "Tell us about your favorite Christmas smell?" "What's your favorite Christmas song and why?" "What is your favorite Christmas goodie?" I was surprised at how much Daniel enjoyed talking about them one evening.
I always have the hope that the dim lights will calm the children. They are very hyper in these last days until Christmas. The naughty vs. nice list threats are getting very old. For a while, Christina towed the line, thinking Buddy the Elf (Elf on the Shelf) was watching all we were doing. Now, it's just getting so challenging to behave by evening! The girls are quieted by the candlelight, but the pyromaniac comes out in Daniel with the burning candles. He can barely resist blowing out the candles and playing in the wax.
Last night I prepared a Mexican dinner with our favorite cheesy, chili enchiladas, Mexican rice (simply rice prepared in our rice cooker with salsa), refried beans (you definitely have to thin the canned kind with some water) and grated cheese, chips, and green salad. It was yummy too! We ate by candle light, again, but this time in the kitchen. I love candlelight, especially during the holidays. I enjoy all the light in our home in December and always miss that when we take down Christmas decor.
P.S. While I was having more dental work this week, I had over an hour to browse magazines in between having a crown completed. In my reading I saw a clever, inexpensive idea for decorating dining room chairs for Christmas. Let's just say it involves pinecones (have those), wired ribbon (have that), and white spray paint (have that too). I think it would look nice on the four other dining room chairs. We'll see if my energy holds to create this idea this week!

Night in Bethlehem

2011-12-17T14:39:00.002-06:00

Working with the youth is busy, but so much fun. It is bringing back great memories of my years in Young Women's. Recently, it was my turn to attend the stake activity called "Night in Bethlehem." I took Katie and our neighbor friend, Monica, who is one of my three Mia Maids. Both girls thought it was one of the most fun stake activities they've been to! (See photo above: Jacob Tree, Katie, and Monica Spencer)

The stake provided dinner and refreshments that fit the theme. Everyone was encouraged to wear Bethlehem gear, but I think I was the only one from our ward who dressed up. My shepherd robe, head covering, staff, and even sheep in my pocket were set aside soon after I got there! The youth were given a pouch of coins to do all the games and buy goodies with. The decorations were cute too. Our ward learned how to make the tissue paper flowers that looked so colorful on the walls. The games were clever, active, and fun for the young women and young men. This was the best of the games, I thought. The youth circled the chair and whoever touched (or got dragged into) the chair was out. I couldn't believe how skilled, flexible, and strong they were playing this!

Here are Paiton and Bethany Gardner with Tanner Hurst, all youth from our ward. Bethany is one of the Mia Maids and Paiton will join us next month!

This was a Simon Says type game, but with a Bethlehem twist. Really fun to watch! And spunky Anna Hudson, one of my Mia Maids, who was the Queen of Arm Wrestling. She is such fun!
I look forward to getting to know our Young Women better, having fun with them, learning alongside them, and attending more fun activities!

Saturday bullets

2011-12-17T13:21:00.000-06:00

I have a friend, Valerie C., who occasionally blogs using bullets. I like the idea and thought I'd try that today, since I have been a slacker with photo taking this week.

* On Monday Katie volunteered with her Girl Scout troop at the First Presbyterian Church's Live Nativity. Since our ward isn't doing a live nativity this year, it was neat to see how another church carries theirs out. It was simply done as a still nativity with live actors, in front of sectioned parts to the Christmas story. The girls and I enjoyed some hot cocoa and seeing the live animals too.

* I was in charge of our combined YM/YW caroling on Wednesday. We tried to be thoughtful about which families would be strengthened most by this activity. We also tried to consolidate our efforts and plan our route by neighborhoods. My favorite stop was at Joy Hurst's who invited all the youth and leaders into her home. We sang quite a few carols that made her so happy. She had big bowls of polished fruit for the youth to take home. It brought joy to her, which made us all feel good. Then we returned to the church for hot cocoa. I was able to bring my new favorite addition - peppermint marshmallows. They make the cocoa quite minty and chocolicious!

* Our ward R.S. has an annual tradition of a Cookie Exchange. With all the busyness this week, I felt too tired to go over on Thursday night, but once I arrived, it was a blast. I find I am often this way. Once I get going, my attitude turns around, but I am awfully tired by evenings this holiday season. The kids were excited to see the big plate of goodies I brought home with a variety of goodies. I went the easy route and made chocolate cake mix cookies, adding in some white chocolate chips to jazz them up. The hostess, Sharon Bunker, has one of the loveliest homes I've ever been in. Her Christmas village is amazing and so intricate. I love talking with all my ward friends. It was a great evening.

* Katie had her piano recital/party yesterday. I loved how her teacher planned this event, since it was very low-stress on families. The kids played their pieces for each other, enjoyed holiday goodies, and played music-type games. She seemed to have fun.

* While she partied, I took the younger two to Dollar Tree so they could shop for each other. It was hilarious seeing (and pretending not to see what they chose for me) what they thought the family would like. Of course, Dad would love some little decorative birds. And yes, Mom loves silk poinsettias. Daniel was the funniest of all. When he went through his bag, he had chosen FOUR Hershey's chocolate bars for himself. Another "To Daniel. Love, Daniel" type of gift. His dream gift is a massive king sized chocolate bar, like Christina got for her birthday. Christina came right home and wrapped hers up, writing her name very carefully. Both of them are working on delaying gratification and waiting for their gifts. Both kids chose things they wanted too, but I am encouraging them to wait until Christmas. So far, so good.

* I am one of Amazon.com's biggest fans, but did have one package to mail this week. It felt good to get the Illinois Stahmann's package off in the mail. My mom is shipping most of our gifts via Amazon too. I told her I would wrap them as they arrive, so I am wrapping gifts most days of the week. I'm mostly done with shopping, although I like to have a few little things and stocking stuffers to buy as Christmas gets close.

* In an effort to simplify this year, I chose to do email-style Christmas newsletters. I've discovered that designing the newsletter is fun to me, but I dislike the printing and mailing. Plus, at nearly .50 a stamp, this is cost-effective too. As I work on the newsletters, it helps me realize that I can still tap into my P.R./Marketing skills that I used 12+ years ago before we had children. I am happy to report that I emailed our Christmas newsletters out today!

* For much of the week, we had a ward friend over, helping to repair our attic holes. When I fell through, I made a pretty big hole in Katie's ceiling. Bro. Neely was good about getting both holes (mine and Ben's in the garage) repaired, although it took quite a few days of work to complete it. With Katie's paint all messed up, it's just the motivation we need to repaint Katie's room. She hasn't had many Christmas requests this year, but would like to have her room painted blue and wants some new lamps, so a room spiffing-up is in order for her!

* All three kids have had playdates today. Christina woke early, hoping to play with her neighbor buddy, Tucker, at 8 am! She was motivated and dressed early too. It wasn't easy getting her to wait until 9 am, but we did it. She and Tucker played here for hours, making a messy pillow/blanket fort. I think they used every pillow and most blankets in the house. They helped me get started on caramel popcorn too. Daniel went to play with his church friend, Jackson Gardner. Katie planned a shopping spree with a few school friends. She and Ben went shopping this morning and then she got dropped off at Claire's.

The Messiah

2011-12-17T12:54:00.001-06:00

I think I have a silly new crush. Someone you'll never guess.
Yep, George Frideric Handel.
He has a nice head of hair, doesn't he?

About a week ago, I saw the coolest youtube video on Facebook - a flash mob in a food court. It was a performance of the Hallelujiah chorus from Handel's Messiah. It choked me up and made me want to pull out our Messiah music. Handel really was inspired in this powerful music. Each Christmas, I get the itch to listen to and sing along with The Messiah. Years ago when we lived in Provo, Ben and I attended Messiah Sing-Alongs each Christmas. It's a favorite memory of those years. We have several cd versions (Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the University of Maryland) that Ben and I really enjoy.

One morning when the kids were at school and Ben was at work, I got out my music for The Messiah, pumped up the tunes throughout our home, and sang my little heart out while I sat at the dining room table. I love our amazing sound system in this home. In most parts of our house, we can listen to our iTunes, streaming throughout the house and even on high volume, if we want. It was probably a blessing that no one was home that morning, but it was such fun for me!
This year, I highlighted in my vocal score's table of contents my favorite parts, along with the alto sections. Some of my favorites to sing are: And the glory of the Lord, Behold a virgin shall conceive, O thou that tallest good tidings to Zion, He shall feed His flock like a shepherd, All we like sheep have gone astray, and Hallelujiah. It's actually easier for me to sing the tenor parts, than the soprano parts. Some of the music is really challenging to sing, so I just listen or hum to those parts.
I believe The Messiah is inspired music. The words and melodies touch me on a deep level. Like I said, I'm crushing on Handel!
Later that evening, I gathered my laptop and music scores and put on The Messiah in our bedroom. Yes, we even have the sound system in our master bedroom. Katie walked in and had to chuckle at us in our pjs, cuddled up in bed, and singing with lots of enthusiasm. It was a fun evening!
Listening to The Messiah brings the true spirit of Christmas into my heart, almost more than any other thing I do. I try in all the various holiday activities - gift buying, decorating, baking, wrapping, shopping, serving, and thinking of others, to remember the Savior. As I think of Him, my heart fills with happiness and love and I find peace in the bustle. Christmas time can make me feel a bit harried, so those moments of quiet and peace are valuable.
This year I was uplifted as I thought of the imagery in The Messiah of us all as sheep in Christ's arms. The line about how he loves those "with young" made me think of all the mothers of young children. Sometimes we feel exhausted, needing to be carried. Sometimes we feel alone, struggling to meet our kids' needs and unsure of how to parent them best. I love the idea that Jesus carries us and holds us in his arms. That makes me feel love and cherished. I have definitely felt His love in my life and have thought of the Messiah all week as I've pondered on these Biblical verses, talking about the birth of our Savior.
The other line that chokes me up is "Behold, your God." I'm not sure what it is about that line and the melody, but it makes me tear up and makes me think of looking at the newborn Christ child and what it must have been like for Mary and others to look into this sweet baby's face.
All this writing about The Messiah makes me want to turn it on and go make some caramel popcorn!

Gingerbread houses - Whew!

2011-12-11T12:10:00.000-06:00

Every Christmas I think it sounds like such fun to decorate gingerbread houses.

This is not something I grew up doing in my home. And I am honestly not good at making gingerbread houses. The idea is fun to me, but I never seem to remember that it works best to have the houses made ahead of time, so the children can just start adding the candy. What's the point to a child, unless it's adding the candy? They have little interest in waiting for the house's icing to adhere and dry.

For someone spontaneous like me, they're probably not the best holiday project since they require more preparation and planning ahead. Let me tell you about this year's experience.

Weeks ago, Daniel found the gingerbread house kits I bought last year at Walmart and Walgreen's for 80% off and had stashed in my master closet ~~store~~. I had bought various kits and the one he chose had a ready made house. (I would give a thumbs up to this big Walmart house). He jumped right in with his ready-made icing and whipped right through his decorating. I had to laugh about his, though, because it was all about the roof. No window details, yard, chimney, or anything too fancy. And judging from the photo, it's always good to have a gun handy when you're making a gingerbread house.

Christina's was a Walgreen kit and boy was this house a doozy to assemble! It honestly didn't seem possible to get it perfect. I finally got the house to stay put. She was quite patient in the process, but it started to stress me out. I finally asked Ben to turn off the tv because I was having stimulus overload. Making gingerbread houses is not easy! I had her work on the roof pieces before adding them to the base. She had a surprising amount of focus on this project, once she got decorating.

After the younger two finished theirs, Daniel ran off to play video games and I put on a Christmas movie for Christina. Katie and I were anxious to start ours. And boy did I have big goals to make a darling house! Just as I was finishing things up on the front, my roof cracked and it started to fall. I asked KT to hold it for a second while I grabbed my camera. I caught it just as it crashed! How's that for a darling, smashed house?At about this point, Bro. Neely showed up to work on our ceiling/garage holes, with two of his children. We were thinking he was coming around 9 am and weren't prepared for a full house! I tried to wing it and involved their boys in the project too. Sawyer was more than happy to take over my demolished house and created a type of "Nightmare Before Christmas" themed house. I pulled out some gel tubes of frosting from Halloween and let the kids use those. Thus, the purple, black, and orange paint!
The Neely boys were giddy, albeit it messy, and were content to use what was left. Then the Gardners showed up to hang out with Ben and Daniel this afternoon. I offered to involve Jackson in making the last mini house, but he wasn't interested. With such a messy table and floor, it was probably pretty overwhelming to him. Well, it felt that way to me too. Ben, Daniel, and the Gardners headed to the church to play four-square and visit, and later returned to hang out and play at our home. When Bro. Neely finished up, he packed up his boys and hesitantly - their unique creations too! The table and floor was such a mess to clean up. Tell me again why I have a cabinet full of vinyl tablecloths and I never thought to put one on the floor and table before starting? Like I said, sometimes I don't plan well.Katie used a different Walmart kit that came with 5 mini houses, creating a festive village. I would buy this kit again, since it came with red and white icing, simple structures, and the icing worked great. The houses were easy to assemble and not so wieldy that they were on the verge of toppling. Here's a glimpse of our final houses!
Let's just say this was an interesting project and none of ours look anything like they do on the box!
When I do projects like this, I remind myself of the "why" behind them.
I spend time with my children making gingerbread houses because I love them and want them to have a childhood of happy Christmas memories!
Let's just hope they don't remember the Mom on the verge of a nervous breakdown, struggling to get the gingerbread houses to stay together while juggling all the comings and goings of a Saturday!

Home for the holidays

2011-12-11T00:09:00.000-06:00

I love having spots through my house that make the holidays magical and warm.

My kitchen table is a favorite spot. I tweaked the centerpiece and love what I've created. I read on a craft blog recently this woman's vision to combine natural elements with sparkle. When I was pulling this bowl together, I thought of her advice. I like the colors, especially with my quilted runner, made by Nana.

Here's another glimpse of our kitchen. Sorry it's so washed out.

In my notes of "Things to Remember for Christmas 2011", I wanted to try putting something on the backs of our dining room chairs. I'd considered Christmas stockings, but when I found some of these wreaths in a box, I thought I'd try them instead. The wreaths are too small for my doors, but just right here. I have three more, but not quite enough for all the dining room. For now, both head chairs have a wreath. Simple, but sweet. I would like to add more red berries to them. Another future clearance purchase.

I'm always trying to figure out how to use my horizontal spaces for all our collections. This year I have a whole box of Jim Shore collectibles that were never brought down. Falling through the attic has a way of literally "bringing down" the momentum! I like our Santa and Mrs. Santas on this table runner. Every child that comes through the front door likes to look at the red gems on the candle stick plate. I think most of them sneak one in their pocket too. They look like beautiful rubies!

I like to try something new each holiday and this was something I've been wanting to decorate for years. Last year, a friend gave me a lead on thick garlands at the Habitat for Humanity store. They had these long, thick garlands for .25. They are lit, but the lights don't work, but worth a quarter. I just camouflaged the lights with gold bulbs (plastic works best, which I learned after shattering one), gold ting, and red/gold wired ribbon. Working at that high angle is exhausting, so I stopped at this point and figured it was pretty enough!

When I was on my buntings-run, I made this CHRISTMAS banner. I like it, but now wish I'd chosen black card stock. The brown just doesn't show up well enough. The photos stinks too!

In my same Christmas notes, I'd added a note about adding a thicker garland behind the Santa collection. This definitely works better. It is actually two garlands woven together to look like one. I've noticed on various decorating blogs that many designers use two garlands and sometimes different styles of evergreen to create a beautiful garland. I want to get some different styles to add for future years. I am definitely frugal in my decorating and will wait for Christmas clearance in my hunt!

Remember that same bunting binge? I liked this new home for JOY! Maybe kind of silly, but I like it.

Now these are my kind of gingerbread houses. Katie and I made these years ago and they continue to hold up. Michaels carries these foamie versions. I miss them and need to add this to my list of "Things to Buy at Michaels in Utah."

I'm not normally one to decorate seasonally in our master bedroom, but this looked kind of neat here.

You should be thankful I am not in this mirror shot. I looked pretty scary zipping around taking these photos.

And the last bunting - some JOY in the powder bath! Pretty with the red candle.
I know what you are all thinking. Enough's enough. We're sick of the decor photos.
Thanks for letting me share what I've been doing to make a home for the holidays. I am enjoying it!

The Big Tree

2011-12-10T23:07:00.000-06:00

It took nearly a week to get the house all decorated for Christmas, but just a few days for all the bruises on my legs to become apparent. It was interesting when Ben asked me where I got hurt after I fell through the attic. I couldn't even tell him right afterwards. That must be an adrenalin thing. We've had a ward friend here for several days, patching up the two holes. What a pain and mess in the midst of Christmas!
The kids were so excited to decorate The Big Tree, but it has to be done in stages. Fluffing the branches on such a big tree took almost an hour and that was after Ben did some of the work too. Each December, my fingers get really dry and cracked with all the tree decorating. I have to keep a consistent coat of Vaseline and thick cream on my hands.
Decorating this tree requires a big ladder. Finally, it was fluffed and ready for the silver ornaments. I like to put on the ribbons and the silver bulbs, ting, and other silver stuff before the kids get involved. Then we all open up the big boxes of Hallmark and homemade ornaments. What fun memories from 20 + years of marriage and family life! Ben came into our marriage with quite a few ornaments too. This is one of my favorite parts of Christmas each year. Ben's parents always bought him an ornament that reflected the year and we've tried to continue that with our children. They will go into their marriages with a nice stash of ornaments too!
The kids were having too much fun with the tree decorating!
Daniel's face looks a bit like Home Alone to me. I told the kids that once we got all the ornaments on, they could add their two favorites - the new Jingle/Jangle elves from Nana and Bob (that Christina thinks magically climb through the tree) and the "Hide The Pickle"!
Here's another cheese ball photo of Daniel. He is cracking me up in pictures these days.
Until our Texas friends, the Lee's, introduced us to this old German tradition we had never heard of the pickle ornament. This is what our first pickle looked like. It got broken a few years ago.Here's our newest pickle that talks and loves to be hidden in the tree. The green color makes it camouflaged and extra challenging to find! The kids love hiding it and playing this game.I know Daniel looks very concerned in this picture, but he's actually getting ready to hide his eyes while Christina hides the pickle.
In case you are curious, old German tradition holds that it is customary to hide a pickle among the branches of your tree and the first child to find it Christmas morning gets an extra gift. It sounds to me like this is probably more of a myth and one of those made-up kinds of traditions, but hiding the pickle is still lots of fun in our family.
I think The Big Tree looks awfully pretty, especially for a family-style tree. You would be proud of me too. I didn't move any of the ornaments that the kids placed on the tree, even if I do like having the "bones" of it just right. Decorating this tree is never as relaxed for me because of the hard wood, although the only ornament shattered this year was good old Mom's fault! That happened when I was creating a decorative garland over the dining room hutch.

Elf on the Shelf

2011-12-10T22:50:00.000-06:00

The first thing Christina asks each morning is whether I've found Elf on the Shelf? Between that and asking if she can play with Tucker, it's like a broken record.

I get such a kick out of her squeals when she finds Elf, whom they have named Buddy. Kind of like the other famous "Elf." There are all kinds of helpful hints for hiding Elf on Pinterest. We're all having fun with it, mostly through Christina this year.

Here's where they found him today - in the powder bath on top of the cabinet.
Christina is enamored with his magic. It's fun to see the creativity in her mind being such an alive and exciting thing for her.I taped this "Elf on the Shelf" - an Elf's Story this week. Ben turned it on today, while I was gone, and he reported that she watched it with her eyes glued and barely blinking. We may have a new favorite Christmas tv show in our family!