Shocked

Today I ventured out to a local mall and struck gold when I hit the Disney store.  They had a little sale going on with their Princess/Prince dolls.  Since my children are in VERY short supply of boy dolls (they have torn the other "ken" dolls apart.... in their defense, they were older "ken" dolls) I decided I would buy each girls' favorite princess and her accompanying prince.  Then I couldn't be 100% sure I got #1's choice correct so I tried calling my hubby.  No luck, the kids were sleeping.  I made my purchase and hoped they would love it.  Ariel and Eric went to  #2 = she loved them!  Belle and Beauty went to #1 = not so grateful.   Off we went BACK to the mall (which was getting even more crowded than earlier in the day).  As we were walking through Macy's to get to the Disney store, my little girl clung to my hand and walked safely with me to our destination.  After we made the exchange and I allowed her to carry her dolls in her bag BY HERSELF, she didn't want to hold my hand for safety anymore.  (Maybe she saw all the other kids walking without holding their parent's hand)  I kept my hand on her coat as we made our way to the escalator to head back out to the parking garage.  She wanted to get on the escalator by herself too!  As we went up - I couldn't help but feel my heart tugging a little.  #1 is growing up SO fast, soon she will be making purchases with her own hard earned money and walking to school by herself.  Not too long after that, she will be driving!   I think I will break down and cry someday about it, but not today.  For now, I will just really try to make all those little moments into memories and to hold onto that little girl as long as I can. 

Oh yeah... for anyone wondering what her favorite Princess and Prince are:  Tiana and Naveen

CHRIST is the reason for the season

I really hope that everyone had the time to reflect on the reason for this wonderful season.  Christ was the perfect gift for all of us and has given us SO much - the LEAST we can do is to remember Him and all He has done for us this time of year especially.  I think it is most appropriate to remember that all year long, but at the very least this Christmas season.  I wish you all  a safe and blessed Christmas day surrounded by those you love and safety for those you love who can't be with you right now.  Our family has a few of those right now.  Some live too far away, others are serving our country in different parts of the world.  We love you all and pray that you are remembering Christ and his many gifts to you. 

Have you thought of what you are going to give CHRIST this new year?

Teacher Gifts

I always struggle to find a practical gift for #1's teachers.  This year I opted to go for ultra-practical and to take a chance on them being a little sentimental too!  I got a mug (dollar store) and took my cricut vinyl that I have had for what seems like forever and cut their names out of it.  Then I stuck each of their names on their mug and filled it with store bought (because of the silly rule with bringing food to school - I figured the teacher's might have the same standard) hot chocolate mixes in several different flavors with a candy cane to mix it with.  Then, I gave them a homemade ornament with #1's name and year on it so they could remember which year they taught her.  Then I printed out the CHRISTMAS card and had #1 sign her name.  It was SO cute to watch her take the bags up to school with her on the last day before CHRISTMAS break.  She is so grown up!

FHE

Maybe FHE should mean Family Hibernating Evening instead of Family Home Evening.  At least that is what #2 got out of it two weeks ago! Notice: Her right hand is on her bum. Poor girl was WIPED OUT!  She cracks me up......... sometimes.

First taste of Snow

Our first bit of snow (that stuck) hit a week or two ago.  It wasn't much, but it was all that was needed to cancel school for the day.  Hooray for snow days!  I let the girls go out (eventually) and we made a VERY small, pathetic looking snowman.  Go easy on me, I was wearing thin gloves and I was cold (the girls had to use my warm weather attire since they didn't have any in their size - now they have PLENTY).  Keela (dog) seemed to like the snow alright.  She kept licking it (crazy dog)!  
As for the yellow snow, I didn't see any.  =)

ANYWAY..... take a look at our handi-work.  We didn't have much to decorate a tiny snowman with.... so, it looks a little poverished. (is that a word???  probably not)  Don't ask about the name...... for some reason they seem to name everything that lately.  I have NO idea where in the world it came from!

Her name was Rihanna Sunday 

My Birthday Cupcakes

Well, my birthday this year was a disaster.  That is alright though, since I am rapidly getting used to the way people are treating me lately.  After coming home from work (late day) the night before my birthday I was informed that it was requested of me to bake some goodies for the people J works with.  Hmmm.... do I really want to be baking something on my birthday!?  Not really.  In lieu of it being my birthday, I wanted to make something special, so I wracked my brain about what I could possibly do and remembered this yummy recipe a friend gave me.  They have a cookie dough filling - Yummy!  Needless to say.... I ended up cooking these VERY late on the 8th and waking up early on the 9th to frost them instead of hitting the gym.  Ugh!  I also had to bake more stuff to ease the burden on some other people going through some challenges and then had to show up AGAIN to another activity as the only leader from our ward.  

Most of my day was spent doing stuff for everyone else.  It was really hard for me, because birthdays were a big thing in my family growing up.  My family always treated it as a special occasion. Thank Heaven my husband came home and gave me a few hours to go out and do something on my own.  Even though that time was also spent finalizing our Christmas shopping for the children.  I can't complain though - because I had these waiting for me, and at least it was time ALONE.

Rewind

Rewind about a month with me for a second.  Yeah, I guess I really need to do much better about loading my photos on the computer more often.  I just loaded them all on a couple days ago and have pictures from over a month ago on the memory card.  Hm... time flies I guess! 
A friend of ours had a First Birthday Nursery Rhyme themed party for her little girl.  We were invited to join in the fun.  There was a lot of hard work and creativity put into this shin-dig and I think all who were there had a wonderful time!  The little girl is so beautiful too!  Another friend of ours did the majority of the cake (serious cake decorating skills here) and momma made a bunch of different food for the guests to eat. 

The amazing cake (only really half of the decorations)

My daughter (2nd from left) beaming about the egg race)

And...... they're off!

Birthday Girl, blowing out the candle!

Flat Stanley

My eldest child has a flat stanley project.  For those of you who have not been introduced to flat stanley...... i will enlighten you to the best of my ability.  For starters, Flat Stanley is a book in which a boy named Stanley gets squashed like a pancake by a bulletin board.  He then learns some of the advantages of being flat.  Sending Stanley in the mail to different places instead of buying a plane ticket is one of them.  For this project they will be sending Flat Stanley to come visit for awhile with hopes that he will come back with some cool stuff from the area. 

So, in talking to my mother about stanley's upcoming visit, my first born said, "I think that Stanley likes eggs and ham...... and pancakes"  She went on to tell my mom that she would get in big trouble if she lost her Flat Stanley and that she had to be sure to send Stanley back.   It was too stinkin cute to hear her talk about Stanley and to realize how much she is growing up.  Unfortunately, she seems to have gotten a lot of her personality from me. =/  

December already?

I've been going full speed ahead all day today and have now decided that sitting down feels REALLY great.  My posts have become less and less frequent.  As I sit here and enjoy the relief it gives the rest of my body, I will fill you in on the last little bit. 

The Christmas decorations are up (minus the tree.... which I then realized is pretty much the ONLY Christmas decoration that I have!!  haha... we are working on that) and I am starting to bake already.  I truly do enjoy baking.  I have some crafting I hope to get to today as well in preparation for an ornament swap later this month.  I am very excited to see what others have thought of! I was cleaning my house and baking to the sound of Christmas music.... it's wonderful when I feel that I can break out the music and start feeling the warm fuzzies of the season. 

This Thanksgiving we decided to spend it with friends.  Unfortunately, we were unable to get out to see my parents this year (we alternate holiday's each year).  We hope to see them sometime after school gets out so that we can have a little more time to enjoy them.  I was looking forward to having a great time with friends, and overall.... that is what happened.  Unfortunately, I came away from the event feeling a little lonely.

Since that day, things have been trying.  I decided a little over a month ago that I was going to cancel my gym membership.  I made a plan to attend the gym on base (literally 2-3 minutes drive) in the morning before my hubby has to be at work.  That entails me getting up at 4:45am and to be home about 6:30 am everyday.  The early mornings have required me to get to bed early in the evenings and have taken away some of the "me" time I used to have after the kids are in bed.  I have found that it is perfect for me though.  I wake up, throw my clothes on, head to the gym, enjoy a great workout, and then come home to stretch and prepare for my day.  I am already losing weight!  The best part is, I don't have to pay any money to lose this weight!  Before I was going to the gym on a pretty regular basis (when I could) and could not lose a pound.  Now, everything has turned around!  I am not sure how long this will work, but for now it is great.  I find that I have less of an appetite when I go to the gym right after waking up.  I also feel a lot better after my workouts than I was at the Y.   I will always love the Y and the atmosphere that it upholds, I am just grateful that I listened to the spirit and decided to cancel my membership for now.  It truly is what was best for me.

Things with my calling at church have been trying for some time now.  There have been frustrations and misunderstandings.  Through all of this I have tried to understand each side of things.  I believe that is what Jesus Christ would do in this situation.  I try to be optimistic and to bring peace to the calling and the people it influences.  Unfortunately, I am exposed to a lot of criticism which makes this an especially difficult trial.  I have been wanting to get away from criticism and negativity for a long time now and have been looking for people with the same goals to surround me.  I have been praying about it and asking for guidance.  I feel that the Lord is helping me to do what is right and what is pleasing to Him.  These past few days I have found myself amidst all the mess and am enjoying life a lot more.  Much more than I have for a long time. 

I apologize for all of this being so cryptic, this is my blog for me to be able to look back at as a form of journal.  I hope to be able to gain inspiration and strength by seeing what lay in these posts.  I guess this post is more for me to document my feelings and hardships and to remind me that I know I will get past them and how I already have gotten past some. 

I would like to share a small part of my testimony with you.  Jesus Christ lives, He was resurrected and did indeed atone for our sins.  He loves us and wishes for us to be with Him again someday.  If there is ever anything you need help with or strength to get done, He will be there for you.  Amidst the world filled with flawed people, He is the perfect friend.   I love Him dearly and hope to one day hear Him say, "Well done".  In the mean time, I know I have a LOT of work to do!  I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.