It's been a while

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted.... I will try to get something real up in the next few days. But to tide you all over until then. I present to you the some of the family pictures I took of us on Thanksgiving day.

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Nativity in Black

Yesterday, I was bored. Really bored. Since it was raining-- which I love, but tends to limit activities-- I decided to do something I'd not done in quite a while. I pulled out my paints and played around. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to paint... so I just started playing for a while and this is what I ended up with.

Nativity In Black

Nothing fancy, but it was fun to make.  I used my acrylics and painted the background and the silhouettes, along with the stars; this way they would lay on the canvas smoothly. Then what I did that I had a lot of fun with was experiment with the swirls. They are not paint.

I took matte finish Modge Podge, and mixed in different colours of food colouring. I then brushed one colour at at time all over the canvas in swirling designs. Blow dry it and then add another layer. Some are really faint and as you can see I added heavier swipes too. When those were all dry, I took a mini roller brush and rolled a thick layer of normal modge podge over the entire thing (so that the whole canvas had at least one coat of it) and then took a #8 sized brush and did swirling strokes in it across the whole canvas-- originating at the star. 

Simple, but a fun way to spend an evening/this morning. And now I have a nativity to display at this year's community creche. 

Mist and Shadow

This much I know

*Nothing tastes better than a birthday truffle from a friend.

*Autumn will always be my favourite season.

* No matter how mad I am at Frog Prince, my heart will always hurt when his little froggie is missing.

* When a best friend is lost it's a mother's job to drop everything she's doing until he can be safely restored to his little boys arms.

* We all must choose our own paths.

*Nothing saddens me more than to see the empty hole where a stone is missing from my wedding ring.

*Doing dishes always makes me happy.

*I would be rich if I could make a candle that smelt like freshly baked bread.

*My bedroom will never be clean.

*SMILE

         *All we need is....

A Rare Happening

Now, I had decided that this blog was not going to be infused with my personal feelings or views of what is happening around the world-- I have a whole different blog where I talk about current events and my personal life... however, I was so profoundly struck by a recent youtube video I saw, that I feel compelled to post it.

I love Elder Maxwell (he was an apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and has passed away). He was always one of my favourites. It is so nice to hear the worlds of some years ago still ring loud and true in today's society.

(( If you don't normally turn the blog music off, don't forget to before listening to this video.)



Thank you Elder Maxwell for reminding us of truths that are being rapidly forgotten.

Thoughts on Motherhood Part Three

And then there is my sweet Boy. When I look at this angel on earth I am remind of the some of the lyrics to one of my favourite songs. "There's something in your eyes; make me want to lose myself, makes me want to lose myself in your arms. There's something in your voice; makes my heart beat fast." later it says,"if you knew how happy you are making me, I never thought that I'd love anyone so much...it feels like home to me. It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong."

It seems almost strange that with my third child this would be the case, but in my Boy, I have this ability to just look into his eyes and know that were I am right now, at this very moment in my life, is right. In so many ways, already in his short life, he has been my child who is teaching me to over come the challenges in my life. From his premature arrival to his inability to nurse, to his recently budding skill of sitting up, I am learning from him that it's okay to let go of things. I have always said that having my kids be 'on track' and hitting their milestones with other kids their ages wasn't important, and when your kids are as advanced as Frog Prince and Sheepie, I guess that'd be easy to say. Want to know a secret-- I think I lied. But guess what... last night, after months and weeks and days of me worrying and fretting, and his struggling and fighting, at 8 months old Boy sat up for 15 mins. And you know what... it's okay-- in fact, it's better than that, because it taught me to let go.

I do not need to spend my time worrying over why he isn't doing something the 'other kids' are doing, because it only take away from my noticing what he is doing. And now that I know that piece of my journey in motherhood ... it's a whole new ball game.

Boy, thank you for putting up with a mother who worries too much. From now on, I will no longer make excuses for you, 'because you were premature'; I will try not to expect too much, and I will learn to find the joy in the journey.

Thoughts on Motherhood Part Two

Frog Prince may be my first born, but there
never has been, nor will there ever be another little boy like my Sheepie!

I don't even know where to begin with this little boy, all he has to do is look at me and my heart melts! With Sheepie, I get the pleasure of learning that motherhood really is about teaching. Each day Sheepie and I are constantly teaching each other how to relate to one another; and for every knock down drag out battle that we have, there is an equally powerful and tender moment were we can cuddle up together and grow.

This is especially true because in addition to being Sheepie's mother, I get to be his actual teacher as well. This last Sunday, I took my nursery class into the primary for the first. They only have a handful of weeks left before they are officially in the primary program at church, and we are prepping them for what it will be like. I will admit that I got a little teary eyed seeing my sweet Sheepie sitting so reverently and happily, surrounded by all the older children in our ward. As a nursery teacher you really have two choices-- use the two hours as a glorified babysitting for parents, or use the special time you have with these children to give them their first exposure to the truth that Jesus loves them, that they can learn to make good choices, and if you're lucky help them start to feel the sweetness of the Holy Ghost. Sheepie has made this opportunity all the sweeter for me, as he is constantly a ray of happiness and willingness in class. It never gets old hearing him remember the things that he is learning and doing at home, and sharing them days/weeks/even months later in class.

Thank you Sheepie, for teaching me that the faith of a little boy is real-- I will miss having you in my class!

Thoughts on motherhood Part One

The other day I was sitting down to write out my newsletter for my family. It seemed to morph into my recent thoughts on motherhood and my children. It's not like it was anything amazing but I thought I would share them anyway. Sorry if you happen to get my newsletter and this is a repeat. Also, it might read a bit strange since when I originally wrote it, I used the kids real names.

Lately, I have found myself reflecting heavily on my life as a mother. Frog Prince is only a few weeks away from turning five years old. I hardly seems to me that the time has flown by this quickly. My niece just celebrated her birthday, and my sister in law was commenting in her blog that even though, as parent, we love all of our children, there is just something about that eldest child that tugs at your heart strings in a special way. I couldn't agree more.

Frog Prince has always been my special boy; he is the child that made me a mother. He is the 'experimental child' -- as we are often experimenting new ideas of parenting on him. He is the eldest child, and has always taken his job as the 'protector' of his brothers very seriously. Over the last five years he has blossomed into such a vibrant little man full of compassion; giggles; spunk; endless amounts of energy, and the AMAZING imagination to match. He's giving, helpful, shockingly mature and insightful for his age; and has an insatiable desire to learn and know everything!

Already, at his young age he has such a strong testimony of the Saviour's love for him, personally. He is endlessly forgiving to me when I am short with him, or as I bumble my way through keeping up with his daily life. Yesterday, he told me that his favourite part of each day was getting to hug me. Thank you F.P.-- that's my favourite part of the day, too!

I do believe in Magic

Dear Sheepie and Frog Prince,

Today on the drive home from Nana and Papa's house, I have to admit I was spying on your conversation. You see, sometimes I do this. I can't help but listen to the interesting and funny little things that you say to one another. I hope you don't mind.

I just wanted to let you know that you are right. Christmas is full of magic.

And no, Sheepie, Santa will not come until you've fallen asleep. It's the law. But yes, Hobbsies can stay up to talk to him for you.

But most importantly, I want to you know that no matter what those, "big kids" tell you; there is still magic everywhere.

Santa is real and I hear his sleigh bells every Christmas.

Sometimes, if you're lucky and you wish hard enough that 'magical' first snow will happen on Christmas eve.

Yes, Frog Prince, my sweet heart, I do BELIEVE in faeries.

All you need to fly is a little faith, hope, and some pixie dust.

Yes, I DO still believe in Peter Pan. I promise that if he ever comes to our house I will neatly iron his shadow, and sew it back on for him, before you all fly off to Neverland.

And No, you never have to grow up.

Love,
Mommy

Magical Mondays

~ It didn't rain!

~ Boy sat up for 15 minutes straight; without falling.

~ My spinach quiche was amazingly good! (I'm having more for breakfast this morning.)

~ Family Home Evening was perfect.
Frog Prince conducted the meeting for the first time.
Sheepie 'played' the piano for us during the songs.
I decided to use my new nursery manual to do the lesson and it went GREAT.
The kids kept coming up with one activity after another.

~ Where we were in the scriptures that night actually talked perfectly about what our FHE lesson covered; without trying.


***

As a side note, does it seem normal for my son, who is only a CTR5 to have spoken three times already in Primary this year? We have a decent sized junior Primary, but he just came home with another slip saying he has to give a talk next Sunday.

I mean, yes, FP does rock. He can stand up there and deliver his own talk, which he wrote by himself, ( I can sit in the back and watch) at only 4 years old...but 4 talks in a year seems like it'd be a lot. Maybe I just don't know how primary works.

Either way, FP you are a rock star... and give the best talks in junior primary!

Super Saturday

Super Saturday was great! I taught my class.... which went well, since really I just had to supply the stuff and be there to troubleshoot.

I got caught up on several projects that had fallen by the way side.

I didn't get the froggie quilt worked on at all, but that's okay because my sewing machine was being EVIL today.

And I found out that the fabric store will have it's flannels on sale for 99c a yard the day after thanksgiving ( I have a lady from my church who works there and was teasing me because she hadn't seen me come into the store for almost a week).


I made a super cute demi apron out of some old sweet dinner napkins and lace that I found at Goodwill.

I did, however, really burn my finger on a hot glue gun. It makes typing a bit tricky, but now I can call it my war wound for a day of productive crafting.

Oh yeah, and the Wassail (from the Apple Lady) and the soups were fantastic. This year there was finally something that was vegetarian-- two actually-- that I didn't have to bring!

Long Winded

Gosh it feels like I haven't posted in several days. Oh wait, I haven't! Well, I have always said that I'd rather be too busy living to write about it than to write all the time about a whole bunch of nothing.! So here are some cute pictures of the kids. Boy has been growing in leaps and bounds lately. He is FINALLY starting to really sit up, although he still gets a bit unstable when he is trying to see things that are above him (the girth of his head causes him to tumble backwards). Now we just have to get the crawling going. I, personally, think he'd like to just skip crawling and move straight on to walking. He already loves to hold onto the side of things-- like his crib--and stand.

He is also eating like a small monster these days. Last night, I made Ratatouille for supper, and much to my surprise he at an entire portions worth. I have teased Hubby that I am going to raise him in the dark ways (vegetarianism) like me, but right now I think I am just happy to see him eating healthy, large portions of his food. I, thankfully, have always been blessed with good eaters.It really seems hard to believe that in just a few weeks he will be 8 months old. Time sure did fly by; I found myself startled the other day to see such a large and grown looking baby staring at me from his crib .

These two hams never cease to make me smile. This is just an example of the daily clothing choices around our house. People think, when we go out dressed like this (Yes, I do let my kids leave the house dressed like faerie tale characters and super heroes) that it's because of Halloween. I have learnt that the best answer is just a knowing smile and nod of the head.

Frog Prince is over the moon this week because Saturday is his best friend's fifth birthday. Every day he gets up and asks me if it's "Chad's birthday party day".

I also realised how quickly he is growing up. In less than a month, he, too, will be five years old. The time seems to have flown by and I can't believe what an amazing; respectful; bright; joyous; adventurous; loving; funny; smart kid my baby has become. Yesterday he wrote his first letter to Santa, and did so all by himself! As I was making supper, he sat down at the kitchen table and had me write out the words he needed help with, so that he could copy them out, and then he went to town writing Santa for a new blue frog doll, a frog quilt, and a frog video game. (any guesses why I chose the alias for him that I did?). May Santa make all your dreams come true, my sweet Frog Prince. (and may he also get to the fabric store quickly is he's going to knock out a frog quilt before Christmas!!!)

Sheepie is truly my squishy boy!!! In this picture you can see him helping stir the whole wheat batter for pancakes the other morning. This was done in conjunction with the 'pancake dance'. I wish I could get videos of such things, because they literally make me have to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

He is his little brother's biggest fan these days. He will hold him, kiss him, feed him, read him books, and always, always, always has to give him kisses before naps and bed time. It's amazing what tender mercies we are granted in life. I recall being so concerned over how Sheepie would handle not being the 'baby' anymore, and now he is the first to make sure his baby brother is being taken care of and included in all we do. Sheepie, you are my hero!

He has also give me a new nickname that makes me laugh! I have been dubbed 'icky-pie'. My mom calls people, 'sweetie-pie'; she called me that, she called my brothers that, and now she calls my children, 'sweetie-pie'. This tickles the kids to no end, and they proudly tell me all the time that their grandma calls them such. Now, add to this that Sheepie loves to be contrary for the sake of silliness. One day I told him, "I love you, Boogoo (a silly word/name we made up around here). His first response to me was, "Love you, Sweetie Pie". This elicited quite a laugh from me... cue Sheepie antics. No longer was sweetie=-pie good enough, it had to be something sillier. The next time I called out that, "I Love you Boogoo." I was returned with a, "Love you, icky"-pie. Why? Because Icky is the opposite of sweet, apparently. Long story, probably more than you wanted to know, but I found it quite cute and funny, and now laugh anytime I hear the word icky-pie being flung my way by passing three year olds!

And lastly, I will wrap up with what just about every other person in the world has blogged about too-- the election! All I can say is that I couldn't be happier (sorry Dad). I will save you all the political debate and reasoning, but let's just say that I voted for and quite heavily supported Obama. In him I see quite a bright hope for our country's future. And it makes me proud to live at a time, in our country, when the idea of a minority citizen being president is finally something other than the fodder for science fiction movies. (And that's not at all why I voted for him, but come on, you know it's true... Look at most sci fi movies.... I can count a dozen where the president is either a woman, black, Asian, or in some amazingly rare and completely improbably case all three!<-- okay not so much on that last one.)

Hope everyone's been having a good week. I'll catch ya on the flip side... The babe's calling me and I still need to make tortillas for tonight's dinner....although now that I think about it, I don't, because I forgot to set out the pinto beans to soak and cook this morning. I guess we can have burritos another night. Sorry, honey!