Happy November

I know I have been terrible about posting, and I make no guarantee that I will ever catch up on the last few months, but yesterday Greg's parents flew out to Australia and in an effort to keep better track of our lives here in order to report to them on the happenings of our world, I am going to try to revive the blog. :)
I also wanted to repeat what I did a couple years ago where in November I try to mention a blessing a day. If it is too cheesy for you, feel free to pretend I haven't started writing again, but today at the front of my mind I am so grateful for wonderful in-laws. They are setting such a great example to my family as the set off on their mission. I am so thankful for their love, kindness and goodness. I am so grateful for the important role the gospel plays in their lives, and I look forward to hearing the stories they have to share with our family. We have already had the chance to sit down and visit with them about their experience in the MTC, and were able to feel a tiny piece of the spirit that is there. So today, I have to share with everyone how grateful I am for Steve & Lorna. They really are the best in-laws anyone could ever have!

This is the Night We've Waited For

Tonight for FHE we had a lesson on obedience (specifically on being first-time minders) and then went to practice our obedience at the Art Museum. On the third Monday of each month they hold a family night activity for the kids & this month they had all the winners of the Pioneer Day competition on display, so we got to have a Pioneer mini-lesson as well. After looking at all the exhibits we took the kids down to the basement where they had craft tables set up to make international paper dolls. Here are the girls' beauties...

After the art lesson, we went out for frozen yogurt then practiced first-time minding again to see if the girls could get ready for bed without having to be asked repeatedly...I now get to go find out :)

Becca's Fairy Party

We have officially reached double digits. It is hard to believe that Becca is 10, but ready or not I have a full-fledged tween. The impact coming full-force since Becca got a new CD player & mixed CD for her birthday & has spent the last 24 hours in her room playing with her new gifts and listening to her music emerging only for meals. Crazy!

Yesterday we had a fairy party for our little bug & her friends...not a Tinkerbell fairy party though; it was a woodland fairy party based on the Fablehaven books. We tried to make things a little more "grown up" by avoiding Pin the Wings on the Fairy & instead serving lunch.

Here is the table we set for lunch. We tried to keep things earthy as much as possible with "spider web" linen napkins, flower-etched glasses, and mossy green, brown and red colors.
When the girls arrived they made their own flower clips for their hair. Here is a small sample of their creations...I think each girl made about 5 clips each.

When the girls were finished with their hair clips we had a Woodland Fairy Feast. The menu included raspberry filled chocolate nests, snail crescent rolls, Panko breaded-pepper chicken (Birch Bark Chicken) Broccoli Saplings, radish toadstools on a bed of fresh spinach, and some magical milk a.k.a. vanilla milkshakes, dew drops (water), fairy nectar (invisible kool-ade) and birthday cake for dessert.

After lunch the girls went on a treasure hunt. This was supposed to happen at my grandpa's house, where his huge wooded yard borders the golf course and is amazingly Fablehaven-esque; however, with threatening thunder storms I decided to keep the girls in our house & so I had to mix things up. In the Fablehaven series there is a secret journal written in a magical ink that can only be read with an umite candle. So, I wrote the clues to the treasure hunt with bleach and then we used a UV flashlight to read the secret messages. Each clue was in a different volume of the Fablehaven series, so the clues read: B 4; P 454; L 18; W 7 Or, Book 4, Page 454 Line 18 Word 7. I scanned each of the books to find corresponding places in our house...the bathroom, a hedge, the refrigerator, Becca's bedroom desk, etc. then I hid the clues really well (in an empty sour cream container in the fridge for example). and included a small 'treasure' for the girls to use to decorate a fairy house.
Each house was different & the girls did a great job decorating them. It was fun to see their creativity shine through as they decorated their houses.

After the fairy houses were finished, we had some cake and ice cream. Becca helped me design her birthday cake this year; a toadstool fairy house complete with strawberry flavored toadstool cake pops.

As the girls were leaving they received a fairy necklace in a little muslin fairy pouch. All things considered I'd have to say the party was a success...even with the more 'mature' girls who have given up on fairies.

Shake It

One quick funny...despite the fact that there are about a thousand posts that I should catch up on.

I walked in on Rachel today pumping her fists and singing at the top of her lungs "Shake Shake Shake A-Snore-A!"

then she said, "but they aren't really a-snore-ing, are they mom?"

Happy Birthday Rachel!

It is hard to believe that my little girl is already four years old. She is such a sweetheart! As far as celebrations go, we are keeping it pretty simple with a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese's (my kids have never been & have been asking to go for years), a tea party brunch with mom, a ride on her new bike and a recital for the big girls.

We also got a new camera so hopefully I can get some pics up here again :)

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Rachel gets to watch "The Cat in the Hat" every morning after her sisters leave for school before she gets ready for the day and this morning was no exception. I turned on her show and told her that as soon as it was over she needed to get dressed. I got ready and started doing a few things and kept checking in on her and she was still watching. I did a few more things and checked on her again, but the show was still on. I thought I was being REALLY efficient today until I looked at the clock and realized that the show had been on for over an hour...Yep, today is Dr. Seuss' birthday and I guess they are celebrating on PBS with a "Cat in the Hat" marathon.
Nice! Now I'm not sure she'll ever get dressed :)

fleeting childhood

Today I was given a great reminder about how quickly time passes. For the last few weeks my mind has been bent toward my little sister & her baby. Haylee's baby has a brain cyst & has had to have one surgery already and is back at the hospital scheduled for another.

Well, this morning, I was getting Rachel some strawberry milk when the phone rang. My mom was calling to give me the update from Haylee and when I came back from the phone call to see how Rachel was enjoying her milk this was the scene in the kitchen.

It was such a visual reminder to me to enjoy the moment and be there for my kids. I love being around when my kids have flavored milk because they enjoy it so much and it is a sure way for me to get a compliment on being the "best mom ever!"

So, seeing the empty cup when I came back just reminded me how important it is to be there to enjoy my kids & to be there with them whenever I can.

Ellie's Baptism

Saturday Ellie turned 8 and was able to be baptized on her very birthday! She was so excited & we had a wonderful experience. When Becca got baptized, she wanted to follow up on the theme "Black-White-Choose the Right" that the primary started, so we had black and white decorations and black and white treats for dessert.
True to Ellie's personality, she decided that it would be much more fun to alter the theme a little bit and have a "Be BRIGHT Choose the Right" party. We had rainbow pinwheels in the flowerpots, and decorated the tables with Jelly Bellies, balloons, crayons, markers and all things BRIGHT.
The baptism itself was wonderful. We were so grateful for the support of our family, neighbors, friends, and teachers (both Ellie's primary teacher & 2nd grade teacher attended).
What a wonderful experience it was for her to be surrounded by so many people on such an important day.
We had her bear her testimony last night at family home evening, and she said that getting baptized and getting the Holy Ghost made her feel warm inside all through her body. She felt so happy and was all smiles that day (as evidenced by the lousy picture I tried to grab with my phone).