A multitude of blessings

EDIT: This is in the wrong place, oddly. I found this post as a draft clear back in January or something.... I can't figure out why it was never posted so I hit 'post draft'. Apparently it doesn't post it to the day it was written but rather today. so this post is actually from back during the holiday season.


Well, we survived the first of the two major holidays this season and I think we did so quite well. Right now, I'm taking time to reflect on how grateful I am for the many, many blessings I have in my life.

Here are just a few of the innumberable blessings which I've been given this year.

~Seven years of marriage to a man who makes me love him more every day. He drives me crazy, he makes me laugh, he holds me when I cry (even if he won't admit it), he supports me 100% in all that I do, and I know every day that he loves me!

~ The most darling and perfect for me kids that I could have ever hoped for. They make me proud to be a mother, and to call them my own.

~ The birth of a my fourth beautiful son, who is smily and delightful, and warms my heart.

~ The fact that my sweet baby is happiest when snuggled into my arms.

~ That my little Boy who was born last year prematurely is now so healthy and strong, and that the Lord has blessed me with enough of a sense of humour to be able to keep up with such a wild and free child.

~ A home that I love, that is filled with choas, and laughter, and crazy children running through ever inch of it.

~ I am grateful for friends who I love to be with; who help me to want to be a better mother, wife, and most certainly a friend.

~ I am grateful for the countless acts of service that have been offered up to my family.

~ I am thankful for the chance I have to serve others; in doing so I am given a chance to become a better person. It always makes me happy.

~ I am grateful for the good books that I have read and uplifting music I have to listen to.

~ I am grateful

The thing that totally made my holiday!

If you don't know Shauna and her darling little family, get to reading.... she is amazing and the news that her husband just guest posted actually made me tear up I am so very happy for this friend of mine!

http://shaunaburnett.blogspot.com/2009/11/guest-post-from-hubby.html

What better day than Black Friday to remind people that the best and most important things people share with one another can't be found in a Walmart.

Thanks sharing with us all Shanua!

Peppermint Stick Holiday Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Peppermint Stick Holiday Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!\


Oh my golly goodness this dress would just make my christmas... maybe she will post a tutorial for it!

Charm Design Bags and Totes $50 gift card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Charm Design Bags and Totes $50 gift card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I'm flattered

I have to say that I'm not normally one for posting such things, but I thought the idea behind it was fun so I wanted to share it along....








I am apparently the recipient of this charming blogging award, and wanted to say thank you to the lovely Rachelle for deeming worthy of such a thing. She is such a peach to follow in her blog and facebook, and I'm flattered that she thinks my little blog is worthy of note.

Now, onto the reason why I thought I'd share it. The request that comes long with the award is that I post seven things about myself that people don't know... Since a great deal of my blog focuses on my children I thought it might be of interest to those who read to know some more things about me.

Without further ado:

1. Having just celebrated my 27th birthday, I found myself reflecting on how I don't understand people's hang up on getting old. I enjoy it. I find the older I get the more comfortable I become with who I am.

2. I did not look forward to having children until I met my husband and fell madly in love with him. Now I can't imagine anything else I'd rather do than stay at home with my kids and watch them grow up; while providing them and my husband a loving and well tended home.

3. Before being called as a Young Women's advisor for my church, I used to have all sorts of crazy hair colours and styles. Most people find that hard to believe now, but it was common to see me sporting different hair almost every week. Purple, blue, fire truck red, you name it I had it at one point. (Upon reflection of older pictures, I'm thankful for my rekindled love of all thinks classic and the much cuter hair I have now. Why wasn't my husband locking away my hair supplies during that whole phase?)

4. I have detailed memories going back to when I was two years old. I can tell you specific day to day events for several extended periods of time in my life.

5. My greatest fear in life is that I will fail as a mother....that can mean in several ways, but mostly I worry that my children will grow up and feel unsatisfied with their childhood, and that it was lacking things that are important.

6. I consider myself a jack of all trades, and love to try new things. I'm mostly self taught at all that I do, and am a big believer that in order to achieve greatness we most make big messy mistakes along the way and make them often (trust me I DO make them often, just ask Mr. C).

7. Finally, the last little tid bit that I will share about myself is that if I could be anyone but myself (and I'm getting to where I am pretty darn okay being myself) I would want to be like Audrey Hepburn. I believe that she was the embodiment of style, grace, class, genteelness, selflessness, and a truly devoted mother. She was not afraid to embrace being a woman in every sense of the word, and realised that by being so one didn't have to lower or debase them self. She is a role model in it's best form.

So there you have it. Thank you again to the ever lovely Rachelle....This was sure fun. Hope you guys enjoyed it.

Another give away I do so love

http://cwazylawa.blogspot.com/2009/11/giveaway_20.html

I have been reading here blog for a while, and she's great. She just started making these lovely head bands (I would wear it a bit differently than she) and I really love this one. Even though I'm not a Twilight fan, I have a lovely new dress that I think it would look classic with, given the right up do.

Manners Can be Fun

I'm always so proud when I hear from others about things that my children do well.

Sheepie was invited to a birthday party last week. The little boy goes to his preschool with him, and although they've not always been the best of friends, Sheepie wanted to go so I let him. Since FP had karate, I just dropped Sheepie off.


Fast forward a few days, to when I'm picking Sheepie up from preschool. A mom of one of the little girls who attended the party, stopped me and told me that Sheepie was one of the most well mannered and polite children she'd met. Apparently, he was liberal and well timed with his "please" and "thank yous", and made certain, unprompted to let the birthday boy know that he was grateful to be invited to the party, that he was having a good time, and that he hopped that the boy was having a good birthday.

It sure is nice to know what some of what I'm trying to teach him is sinking in and that I can send him places alone without having to worry about how he acts.

I sure do love that boy!

Currently, all is quiet on the homefront...

Thank goodness we have the Sheriff around though, just in case!

Crafty Goodness

Here is the apron I made for my niece's 8th birthday. It's double sided and I just traced the pattern out free hand on some news paper before cutting it out in fabric. I wish I'd grabbed a picture of the button I put at the neck, because it was the cutest blue flower thing ever. Also I wish I'd remembered my real camera so it wasn't so blurry.





I sure do love making cute stuff! It only took me about an hour start to finish to make so if anyone is interested let me know and I can walk you through it.

Boys will be Boys!

Watching a movie. Do you see that beautiful grin on TT's face!



To Infinity and Beyond!


"You are a TOY!"

At our house, we take our movie watching very serious.

What about your house?

Randomness is fun

Here are some random pictures I found when I was uploading my cell phone today.

Sitting with Daddy on the bike cuz the biggies did it.

Taking his first ride on the bike. It was cold and rainy, and we went so slow I could walk next to it at a job, but he loved it anyway.

If you look closely at his pocket you can see that little Froggie snuck a ride along with Frog Prince.

FP waiting in the Urgent care to have is Swine Flu diagnosed as Pneumonia.

This is what happens when both parents take a Sunday nap at the same time.

Watching 3D Toy Story 1 and 2 in the theatre, please not the buzz light year costume and toy, and the Woody toy and Cowboy hat.

We're so glad when Grandpa comes...

My Dad is in town this week visiting our family and my little brother, who goes to school in town at OSU. We always love it when Grandpa comes to visit because it means it's play time all week.

Grandpa helping Sheepie play golf on the Wii.

Grandpa and Frog Prince read a book before bed about the Titanic.

Halloween Toy Story Style

Every Halloween, we have a family theme, because my family lovingly goes along with my craziness of Halloween goodness. This year, I give you... Toy Story, the Might C's style.

Bo Peep

(our tripod has gone missing and it was SOOO hard to get a remotely decent picture of me. What you can't see is that my skirt has the pink polka dots like she has in the movie. I also ended up wearing white tights and light blue high heels to match her more. well and I didn't look like I was about to kill my camera, too.)

her Sheep

(this kid got so freaking heavy through out the day, and now that I'm making christmas presents, his fleece got recycled into soft building block stuffing. But I kept the hat, it was too darned cute!)

Buzz Lightyear

(Don't you just want to give that face all the candy in the world!)

Rex

(I originally went for this theme thinking FP would want to be Woody. Go figure that he'd want to be the dinosaur... oh well, he makes the best one around!)

Mr. Potato Head

(This kid's so cute I want to bake him up --get it? and eat him with some sour cream! He now sleeps with the potato and pulls all the pieces off every night. I made them with velcro so he could play with it.)

Sheriff Woody and the whole gang.

(Sadly, we don't ever seem to manage a decent family picture in our costumes. If you remember last year we took it at the end of the night, so we were all tired and cranky and covered in candy. This year, Hubby's receptionist took it, and really tried hard, but did't manage our camera well.)

Happy Autumn Everyone!

A trip to the patch

Duck Races are always fun!

Never have I seen a boy so excited to play in the corn box. He was hiding his rubber duck in the corn and then diving for it.



I take the corn canon very seriously! Poor Twinkle Toes probably when deaf since I was carrying him in the wrap.
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We sure do love our annual trip to the pumpkin patch!

Better late than never

As promised, the next few posts are our Halloween pictures from this year.

Some people say that I'm a mean mother that I insist my children earn their keep, to be able to live in my house. I, however, realise that a house doesn't run it self, and the importance of learning that one has responsibilites in a family, even at an early age.

So, today's job that must be done:

Go Dig up all the Dinosaur Bones in the back yard


What are your monkey's up to, today?

Layla Grayce Blanket Set GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Layla Grayce Blanket Set GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!


And for those of you who were wondering what might be up my sleeve this Christmas, I think this is a perfect little gift, that must find it's way into someone's home.... too bad all my fabric isn't as cute as hers.


Amazingly smart and cute scrap quilt

lovin' it

There is nothing like a nice 45 minutes of Yoga to make your body relaxed and ready to drift off into dreamy land.....

What will you dream about tonight.... me, I'm quite content to fall asleep to the sound of the rain on my window, visions of my babies snuggled down under their quilts, and snuggling up next to my warm and wonderful Mr. C.

Good night darlings.

Home made Christmas

This year is a home made/ recycle Christmas at our house. Aside from the fact that it costs way less money, my husband and I want our children to appreciate more the act of giving and things made with the intent of love that will last forever, rather than just the hype of commercialism.

I have so oh so lovely and fun projects lined up this year, so stay tuned as I show off my pretties.

I'm sad to say Santa will still bring something from the store this year though, because each of my elder children have their heart set on that one 'oh so coveted desire of their heart' and it's hard to explain why Santa wouldn't bring them what they've asked for when they've been good all year, and not crush their love of the jolly ol' fat man. But I did tell them that this year he's only bringing them one present, so they better make certain it's special. (a scooter and a green light saber are the gifts of the year).

Also my neighbour who has only one boy (who takes amazingly good care of his belongings) just brought over an entire box of children's books that he's outgrown and I kid you not most them seem to have never even had the spine cracked. They are lovely, beautifully done books, that are mostly centered around doing activities, so I'm going to hide them away and they too will find their way under the tree this year, rather than into a land fill.

What are your plans for this holiday season?

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/11/handmade-dress-patterns-guest-giveaway.html

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/11/handmade-dress-patterns-guest-giveaway.html

As you can all well tell by now, I adore everything that this site has to offer!

And so it goes....

Like I said yesterday, FP's big desire was to have a loose tooth. Well would you believe that it happened just that quickly. He told me his gum was hurting him after school yesterday, and I felt his teeth, thinking it might be this, however none of his teeth were loose. Later he ate a pear, and complained of it hurting to chew, so I just figured maybe he'd not been brushing well enough.
When Hubby brought him home from Karate he announced that Frog Prince had a loose tooth. I figured maybe he'd been hit in the face or something, but sure enough it was the tooth that he'd been saying the gums around hurt.... Today it was even looser, and he let me pull it out for him.

Doesn't he look so grown up?

Aunty Ollie $100 Gift Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Aunty Ollie $100 Gift Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Ohhh yeah!

Blogged until I can blog no more....

For now, at least.
I was going to try and get all the pumpkin/Halloween pictures up today, but I have spent hours uploading, editing pictures, and blogging today and I think my brain might explode any minute.

That being said, I wanted to give everyone a quick update on what's been happening of late (besides what you've gathered from the pictures).

Hubby was called several months ago to be our wards Executive Secretary. He is perfect for that calling and it makes him quite happy to be able to serve the people of our ward in such a way.

Kate The Great was recently called to serve as a Seminary Teacher, and now teaches the high school seniors. What is seminary? Find out more here and here. It's an amazing experience, that I'm humbled to be able to have, and I find that I actually enjoy getting up at 5:30 every morning, believe it or not.

Frog Prince recently returned to school after a two week absence due to his flu and subsequent pneumonia. While he was home he was over the moon to have his first real homework (all the make up work he was missing at school). He is now able to count to twenty in Spanish, tie his shoes all by himself, count to 100 in English by single numbers, tens and if he really thinks about it by twos. He ran a jog a thon for school not too long ago and ran 40 laps around his school gym. Today he goes in to test for his third black tip in Karate. That means that in just six more weeks he will be ready to test for his yellow belt! He is no anxiously waiting to get his first loose tooth, as that is what the new excitement at school is all about.

Sheepie is happy just about any time you look at him. At school is constantly being fawned over by his teachers. His letter recognition has really taken off of late, and if you catch him in a mood to try, he has even begun to sound out basic words like dog. He too will be testing this week in Karate for his third yellow tip. In his Little dragons program that is one tip away from getting a white belt with a yellow stripe through it. So, basically when he's old enough to enter the real belt program he'll be an advanced white belt. He was over the moon about being Buzz Lightyear for Halloween this year, and I finally had to pry his costume off of him after days of wearing it non stop.

Boy has been growing in leaps and bounds lately. He is really started to get a hang of the talking thing and has mastered such words as, "Cowboy Woody," "Choo Choo," "Three," and "What's That." His new loves in life are Toy Story and Thomas the Tank Engine. At any give time he can be seen carrying around his Woody doll or a train. I've never had a child who has taken such a pronounced love to something like this, this early, so it's fun to watch him go gaga over his toys and watching the shows. While we were all sick, he sat through Toy Story four times without movie. No joke!

Twinkle Toes is turning 3 months on the 8th, and I can't believe it's been that long. It seems like we were just coming home from the hospital. He is a full fledged character now! He will smile all day long if you catch him right, but will scowl at you if you take him away from someone he wants to be with. He has already managed to roll himself a few times, and I fear that he will be an early mover, give how much muscle control he already has. Perhaps, with three older brothers, who love to, 'help,' it's his survival instinct kicking in?

That's about it, for now. Stay tuned to tomorrow, when hopefully I will get up the rest of the back logged updates.

Star Student Day

Every child in FP's class has A special day all about them, called their Star Student Day. They are encouraged to bring four or so items that are special to them into class and give a special presentation about them. They also get to sit in the special rocking chair that day. He was over the moon about it, and started planning from his first day of school what to bring.


Sitting in the special rocking chair

Showing off his Snuggie that he and I made together

Telling the class about his best friend, Little Froggie

Showing everyone his frog quilt that I made him for Christmas last year.

Explaining what the black tips on his karate belt mean.

He also gave a karate demonstration for his class.

It really is amazing to watch this little guy grow up. I can remember when he was just a chubby little lovely lump in my arms, and now he's so articulate and confident in what he does. He has a skill for public speaking and I was very proud and happy to see that so many of the things he chose to share were things of sentimental and familial importance, rather than materialistic things. Sweet boy that he is, he's got his priorities in life right!

Franklin Came to Visit

At Frog Prince's school, his enchanting teacher sends out Franklin to spend the night with each student. Frog prince had such a wonderful time with him, that we decided that we needed to dedicate an entire blog entry to their adventures.



After coming home from school the boys taught Franklin how to play, 'red light, green light.'

Frog Prince was very happy to have a special friend come to visit.

Since Franklin is always spending the night at people's homes, FP decided he needed a night cap to sleep in.

The Finished Product

Even when spending the night, you might want your own room, complete with toys, to nap in.

Later during the day, Franklin got to come with us when I donated blood. He wasn't nervous about the needles at all!

After dinner everyone wanted to play a rousing game of, 'Tractor Tipping.'

Finally, the two tired friends curled up in bed for a well deserved night's sleep!

Ever the good friend, Frog Prince even helped Franklin use his special tooth brush to clean his smile before school.

We look forward to having Franklin come spend the night with us again. Thanks for visiting, Franklin!