Humble Pie a la mode

This past Saturday was our Branch Christmas Party. Jayce and his friend Jack were singing a duet, Away in a Manger. Of course Jason had to work and asked that I try and record the performance for him. I told him in advance that I didn't think I could. The performance was going to be in The Chapel, the most sacred room in our meeting house. This is where we partake of the Sacrament.


After getting everyone dressed for the party and arriving late, I asked our Branch President if I would be permitted to use a camcorder during the performance. He informed me that it would be okay, since this was a very relaxed meeting. I was still feeling nervous and guilty about it. Under normal circumstances recordings of any kind are not permitted in the Chapel, no pictures, no audio recordings and no video recordings.

I had it all planned out, I was going to sit near the front and very discreetly video the performance of Jayce and Jack singing. When it was their turn, I sat Charlotte on the bench next to me (so she would not shake the camera) and started to get ready to record. She started to cry, which meant you would not be able to hear the singing.

So, I stood up to dash to the back of the room with Charlotte and camera. I think everyone noticed us and my camera. I was dying. A great friend offered to take Charlotte for me. A little relief, still dying of embarrassment.

This was quickly replaced by pride as Jayce and Jack started singing.

Then Sunday night when Jason was home we hooked everything up to the TV to watch the performance and wouldn't you know it, there was nothing. I must have forgotten in all the craziness to push record. I am taking it as a further lesson that some things should not be done in Holy Places. I try very hard to teach my children the sacred nature of our church buildings and I think I still need lessons also. Humbling!!

My Ramblings about Santa

I often have mixed feeling about Santa Clause. On one hand he is a wonderful embodiment of Jesus Christ and on the other hand he inspires gluttony. I guess like so many things in life there are a good side and a bad side (if you can call it that).


Today, I decided that Santa Clause does something wonderful for children. Besides helping to teach children to give and of course try to be their very best. He teaches them about faith.

Jayce is at that age where they start to question Santa Clause. I was beginning to think this might be our last year of him believing. He told me his friends don't believe in Santa... and then he added that they needed to watch Polar Express and then they would know. However, after a rough morning and one phone call to Santa - I realized that he had made a decision (perhaps not a conscious one). He was not believing because he always has, he has chosen to believe inspite of what others say. Perhaps his ability to choose to believe in Santa is a luxury of a child, but I believe he has had a fundamental lesson in faith. There will come a point in your life where you have to choose to believe, not believe because someone else does or because you used to.

I try to bring Jesus Christ into Christmas when ever I can. I compare Santa Clause to Jesus for them. This time of year parents can easily back themselves into a corner by threatening no toys from Santa if the kiddos don't perform well. We have done this several times, in fact last night the 10 minutes allotted for playroom cleanup was closer to an hour - because we had threatened no toys (oops).

I explained to Jayce that just like Jesus will do anything for us because he wants us to live in Heaven with him. Santa does not want to bring a lump of coal and not give you toys. He loves us and wants us to be happy.

I Believe!

If...

If all our student loans were paid off and I had some money.  This is what I would do with it.  Check out Ashley Hackshaw.  This is my favorite style.  They are just gorgeous.  I wish comissioned painting were done a little more (and what I could afford right now).  I guess I will save my favorite pictures, so that one day...

My Eyes Are Bigger Than My Stomach (Or Something Like That!)

Do you ever think a project or an idea is going to be easy, take just a little time and come out perfect!  Oh - good, I thought it was just me.

Well I did it again.  Every time parent teacher conference time rolls around, we have a bake sale at his school.  I usually sign up to bring Oh! Henry Bars (glorified, peanut butter with chocolate rice krispy treats), but ooohh so easy and fast.  I had the brilliant idea, mostly because I did not have any rice krispies on hand, to make Cake Pops for the bake sale. 

I can make Cake Pops pretty darn fast, but I thought I would cutesie them up.  I would have to individually wrap them so they could be sold. 

This is going to be fun!!  Well it took lots longer than I thought and it didn't go as well as I had hoped.  The little white chocolate Fleur De Lis are too hard to do with any of the tips I had, so I did some with a toothpick.  After 10 (plus the 3 or so tests) I scraped that idea and went with white chocolate drizzles!

It was such a good idea!  Live and learn!

Tip for Cold Season!

It is cold season and I have one.  So I thought I would share one of my favorite tricks.


Whenever you have a runny nose you end up with a red, sore nose.  That eventually gets dry and flaky - eeww gross!

At night before you go to bed and hopefully you wont have to use a tissue again until morning.  Rub on some Lanolin!  You know that big tube of stuff you bought or someone gave you when you had your last baby, that has been sitting there half unused.

Seriously this works!  By morning my nose is not red or sore!  You do have to get over the feeling of putting it on, this stuff is not thin.  Unfortunately the cycle starts again in the morning, but atleast it doesn't get worse and I am not afraid to be seen in public.

It works great on really chapped lips, too. (Feels really yucky on your lips, but I like quick fixes)

If you don't have any get some. I keep it in my medecine cabinet all the time - super great for kids who get really sore noses on top of already not feeling well.

Is It Gender or Age?

Today we were laying around in our room.  Jason decided (as is his Sunday ritual) to offer the boys treats or quarters in return for a foot rub.  They usually put up a fuss and want to know exactly how long they have to rub in order to recieve their reward.

Well - they started rubbing his feet.  Charlotte, who was snuggling me, decided she wanted in on the action.  So she simply said "my feet" and put her feet up toward her Dad.  Daddy quickly obliged.  She wanted them both rubbed and for along time.


I thought the whole thing was hilarious.  Here is Daddy being taken care of by this two little slaves,the boys.  And then he ends up being slave to Charlotte who has nothing to do, but lay back, relax and enjoy.  Does she have "little princess" syndrome?

Sweater Pillows Suck!!

Maybe if you don't have kids and hardly ever end up sitting on your pillows these would actually be great.  However, I have kids - so they are constantly skewampus (actaully a word).  Every time I walk by, they need adjusting.  The sweater part is too stretchy.

I removed the tutorial.  If you want it let me know.  However, these suck!

One More Reason!

Another reason I love my husband.

The other night he had to iron his dress blues for his uniform inspection.  He decided he wanted to listen to music while he did the job.  What did he grab?

ABBA ( Momma Mia!)

His music likes are as diverse as mine!!

You have to still love me - even thought I just shared that!!!

The Winter Coat!

Why do I sew?  Is it to save money - absolutely not.  Sometimes it saves a little - if my time is free.  I sew simply because I can and I get a lot of satisfaction when I complete something and it looks good.  It can be very frusturating - patterns can be horrible.  But - when I sew something like this...



I decide that it is so worth it.  I really like to sew coats.  I am not sure why - maybe because I only make one once a year.  Next year I hope to make 2 or 3.








I do sew for the boys occaisonally.  I will have to post some pictures of Grahm's pants the next time he wears them.

The Fall Dress!

She wore her Fall Dress to church this Sunday.  I think it turned out cute - but I think she may be finally growing.  I am not sure it will last until Spring.  This is actually the same dress as her Easter dress.  I just didn't put the collar on and I made the sleeves 3/4 length.

This was my first time sewing with plaid (other than the dress shirt to todller dress).  It took some learning and I will do things differently next time.  I should probably go grab some more plaid - just so I can do it again before I forget.

Please ignore the white tights - black thick tights don't seem to be available this year.  We are on the hunt!