Am I really this far behind?

Miss Maya started taking dance a while back. She loves it. They had an evening where we could come watch and take pictures of our little darlings while they had their lesson. It was only her 3rd lesson. MOST of the other girls had taken the year before and had also been taking for 2 months before Maya came in. I have to say she has held her own prety well. She's the one in the black leotard and tights and purplish skirt.


This first video is from Tim. He wanted to capture her teacher's accent. Maybe I've been in the south too long but I don't hear any accent. Can anyone else tell? I'm sure those of you in AR don't hear it either.

Not too bad. Sometimes a little hard to watch all those girls moving at different times but still dang cute.

Christmas Fun

Thanks for everyone's thoughtful comments and ideas for our 12 days of Christmas. We went with the idea of doing a nativity and giving her a piece every day. The kids are loving it and I have found it is helping me focus on something every day that is a little extra special as I run around frantically trying to finish everything up. (Don't tell Tim, but I just bought some fabric to make the girls skirts for Sunday - he'll give me the lecture about that I try to do too much and I stress myself out - but tradition is more important, right?)

Anyway, we had a fun Ward Christmas Party last Saturday and they had a fun little activity to do at our tables while there was a pause in between the program. I thought maybe if there was ANYONE out there that is sooo organized and everything is all done you might find the time to try and figure out the songs. It's called "Guess the Christmas Carol". Let me know how many you get right. If you want I can post the answers later. (Mom, I'm sure you don't have time to do this but I know you will do it - you can't control yourself when it comes to puzzles.)

“COLORLESS YULETIDE”
“CASTANEOUS-COLORED SEED VESICATED IN A CONFLAGRATION”
“SINGULAR YEARNING FOR TWIN ANTERIOR INCISORS”
“RIGHTEOUS DARKNESS”

“ARRIVAL TIME: 2400 HOURS, WEATHER: NOT CLOUDY”
“LOYAL FOLLOWERS ADVANCE”
“REMOTE IN A FEEDER UNIT”
“ARRAY THE CORRIDORS”
“BANTAM MALE PERCUSSIONIST”
“MONARCHIAL TRIAD”
“NOCTURNAL NOISELESSNESS”
“JEHOVAH DEACTIVATE BLITHE CHEVALIERS”
“RED MAN ENROUTE TO BURROUGH”
“FROZEN PRECIPITATION COMMENCE”
“PROCEED AND ENLIGHTEN ON PINNACLE”
“QUADRAPED WITH VERMILLION PROBOSCIS”
“QUERY REGARDING IDENTITY OF DESCENDANT”
“DELIGHT FOR THIS PLANET”
“GIVE ATTENTION TO MELODIOUS CELESTIAL BEINGS”
“THE DOZEN FESTIVE 24-HOUR INTERVALS"

Any Ideas?

Ok! So we are trying to make our Christmas more meaningful around here. We have decided that we wanted to do the 12 days of Christmas for a widow who lost her husband only a few months ago. The problem is that I've never done it before. I started looking on line for some ideas but realized that all my dear friends and family that read this blog are MUCH more creative than a lousy web site. So, if you have any clever things you have done - send them my way. Thanks for you help. Hope you are all enjoying the Christmas Season. We sure are.

WORTH READING!

So, after the whole climate-gate thing with the e-mails proving once again that global warming is a hoax, I wanted to post something but never got around to it. I was going to write about how I saw a smart car for sale by owner and how I figured he was selling it now that he realized he doesn't have to look like an idiot driving a roller skate to "save the planet." (Have you seen those things? One little fender bender and you are toast.) I also thought about posting something about how NBC has their "Green Week" so they encourage you to go green as long as you are watching TV (kind of a contradiction, huh?) Or how I just heard that it would take the whole world using no electricity or any sort of energy for 30 years to drop the earths temperature by one degree - NOT GONNA HAPPEN! Then I thought about cap and trade and how frustrating that is and how I don't want to be taxed out of my home over energy taxes - but I thought I would save everyone from my ranting and raving about that. But this morning I was looking at my brother, Bart's blog and he had this great article that makes me hopeful for not only our country but maybe even the world. Read it. I'm sure that NBC won't be covering this story.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=514118

Amish Store

Our friends here in NC took us to a fun Amish store a few Saturdays ago. After an entire week of awful weather, the sun came out just for that day and it was absolutely beautiful. We had such a great time. They had so many fun things to look at and buy. Yummy pastries and some AWESOME spaghetti sauce that we took home. They had a little playhouse outside for sale so the girls played in there while we sat on the front porch of the store and visited. It was such a relaxing day. Afterwards we went back to their house for lunch - yummy sliders, salad, and treats. The girls love going to their house and playing. They have lots of land to run and play (and a basement with books and toys.) That's also where I got to shoot the gun (see Tim's earlier post.)

Every General Store has to have a dog, right?

The Jenkin's and the girls!

Our family in front of an Amish buggy (not to be confused with a southern shopping cart.)

Thanks, Jenkin's for a fun day! Can't wait to do it again. You are so nice to put up with all of us.

Watch out, Cinnabon!

A few weeks ago Alexa had seen the Cinnabon store and couldn't get the smell out of her nose. One Saturday morning she woke up and told me she wanted to make cinnamon rolls. I said that was fine but I was going for a run and she would need to get started on her own. When Tim and I got back she had the dough all made but was just mixing it with a wooden spoon. We got it in the bosch and everything was fine. She did tell us that she had to start over and that was the 2nd batch. We worked together from then on with her doing most of the work. She did a great job and her reaction when they were done was, "Boy, this takes a LONG time." (Did I mention we didn't eat breakfast until 11:30 that morning?) I don't know when she'll want to try this again but I'm always proud of her when she wants to learn and try something new. It was nice to leave for a meeting the other night and ask her to make some rolls for dinner (with a little help from her dad.

The finished product - good thing I went running that morning! But, if all 4 girls want to learn how to bake - I think I'm in trouble - I may need to start running twice a day!

"I'm a Big Kid Now!'

Here again is our darling, McKenna. Back in October I MENTIONED to Tim that we probably ought to consider putting McKenna in her toddler bed and out of her crib. It was more my way of getting used to the idea by talking about it. Well, Tim took that as, he better get on it and take care of things. So while I was gone one Saturday, he took down her crib and put up her bed. I came home and he told me he had a surprise for me. Poor guy, he thought he was being such a good husband and doing what I asked but I wasn't too thrilled. In just a few hours he had taken my baby away. I had a big girl. I didn't think I would have such a hard time with it but I did. The REALLY sad part was that she was absolutely thrilled and has never looked back. She now thinks she is as big as her big sisters. Sigh!

Here she is on her big girl bed. I was having so much fun taking her picture, I thought I'd share them all. (Mostly to make the grandma's want to come and see her in person.)

McKenna with her FAVORITE elephant. She doesn't sleep WITH it she sleeps ON it like it's her pillow. Strange. I wonder if I'll ever have to buy her a pillow.

Can you tell she LOVE'S to get her picture taken.

It was time for her nap after I got through taking her pictures so she climbed in to bed ready for one more photo op!

Here she is pretending she's asleep so we could get an ACTION shot.

Halloween 2009

It feels like Halloween was forever ago now that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Here are a few pictures of the kiddos from our ward trunk or treat and Halloween night.

McKenna

I love this picture of Livie. She can be so timid around people sometimes but this shows her cute personality.

A 50's girl, Pippi Longstocking, a smiley face and a pirate

(All recycled costumes this year - gotta love Dave Ramsey.)

"Clinging to our guns and our religion"

As I opened up our blog to share this experience I had today, I saw the last post that Tim made (without my consent.) and laughed. One week we are talking about guns, the next, prayer - I new EXACTLY what this post title needed to be. . .

Maya's class had a Thanksgiving lunch today and there were a few parents there helping. The teacher, who I really enjoy the more I get to know her, was reading to the kids while the parents were serving up plates. The teacher would send a few at a time to come get their plates and sit quietly at their desks. As it got down to the last few kids getting food the kids started getting a little impatient since they had to wait to eat until everyone was served. First, the teacher started to tell them to smell there yummy food. "Clothes your eyes and smell." Then I about fell over when I heard her say, "Think of all the things you are thankful for. Thank God for all those things you are thankful for." I was so glad. I wondered what the other parents were thinking. I looked around the room and they didn't seem to mind. The teacher continued, "Ok, what's the first thing you should do?" All of a sudden a kid shouts, "PRAY". The teacher said, "Uh, well - uh, no we can't - well, wait, yes, we can. If I make it into a lesson I can." She sort of looked around the room and looked at me. I was thinking, what in the world is she going to do? From everything I know, we are FORBIDDEN to pray in school, I mean, I think it's up there now with, Thou shalt not kill, isn't it? She then just said, "OK, bow your heads like we do for our moment of silence in the morning. Ok, Dear Father we are thankful for . . . ." And ended with Amen. The kids all had their heads down and eyes closed. I loved it. I have to say, it was the best feeling I've ever felt in a classroom and the quietest and most respectful I have ever seen a classroom of children. I can only imagine that's how it was back in the day.

By the way, to answer a few questions about my first shooting experience - I thought it was pretty cool. I think I'd like to try skeet shooting sometime. We haven't bought a gun but I seriously have been thinking about discussing it more with Tim. That's as far as I have gotten with it. I would be fine having one in our home with our children - I think I'd be most concerned about Maya though. When she came outside and saw the gun, she, of course, asked if she could have a turn. That girl can't let anything happen without her.

The new look of Casey!!

Well, we do live in the South, and as many of you may or may not know, Casey is quite fond of politics. Recently she was saying that with the current governmental regime in office, maybe it is time to start collecting some guns (or a single gun).
While at our friends house over the weekend, we were talking about this very topic and the following is what resulted from that simple conversation.
I have kept this post very short, sweet and to the point becasue Casey is out of the house right now and will be mad as HE%% when she sees this post. Enjoy--

PuMpKiN FuN!

Our scary pumpkins

Recreating the pumpkin

Livie with her pumpkin.

(That's all she got from her $15 fieldtrip. - Don't EVEN get me started.)
I realized that I am terrible at recording memories. I think this is the first video taken of McKenna talking. Enjoy Grandmas!



Of course, it wouldn't be a post without showing off how AWESOME my husband is. Not only did he do all the carving but he cleaned up after himself. You go, GUY!
All Lit up!

How did this happen?

How did I become the mother of a 12 year old? A young women? A middle schooler? I know it was just a few days ago that she was sleeping in her crib. Nevertheless reality is that Alexa had her 12th birthday. She is such a doll. We absolutely love her. The nice thing is that we know we aren't the only ones. I don't know anyone who doesn't just see what a wonderful girl she is. She is kind and loving. She is so good with little children. She is responsible, fun and level headed. She is creative, smart and thoughtful. I could go on and on but I'm sure you just want to get to the pictures.

On her birthday she wanted to come with me to a craft show where I tried to sell some of the things I have made (that's a whole other story.) While we were there one of the other vendors let her pick something from her booth since it was her birthday. After we got home and I rested up a bit we opened presents and then went and saw the movie 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' in 3D. The girls had never seen a 3D movie before so it was a lot of fun for them. Then Alexa picked Jason's Deli for dinner which we all love so it made it nice for everyone.

The Birthday Girl

Opening presents

She always wanted a vest (when she was little she used to call them zeffs.) So that's what we call them around here.

Jason's Deli

(If you have never been there, you gotta try it. Great sandwiches, soups, kids meals and free ice cream cones. We can eat there for less than it would cost to take the fam to McDonald's.)

While we were at the craft fair the YW came and heart attacked Alexa's room and through candy all over the place and hid some in drawers and in her closet, etc. She was so excited.

The traditional in front of the decorated door picture.
We love this girl and enjoy teaching her and learning from her. She is a great example to all and basically just a lot of fun to have around.

(if you're counting, that's birthday #2 down for the season.)

School Projects! (This is a definite Grandma post.)

The other day Alexa and Olivia both had projects due on the same day. It made for a busy afternoon for all. I had to run to the store because, of course, Livie didn't tell me that she needed a poster board. Not to mention it was family night. Then she had to cut out pictures of food for the board. Luckily we have a few cooking magazines (thanks Maren!) I figured I better blog this since so many of you were involved with it. Livie had to find out what foods people would want to eat at a fall festival (carnival.) Here's the final project.

Alexa had been studying Greece and she did her project on the coliseum. She decided to make it out of clay. The only thing I had to do was find the clay in the closet and cut some off for her. Then she obviously had to do some research and junk. This picture doesn't do it justice. The inside had seating and everything. She did a pretty good job and worked hard on it. I love that she is so confident and just figures out what she wants to do and does it without complaining or questioning if it's going to be good or not. Or if it's good enough. (I have so much to learn from her.)
Since I had to run to the store for supplies and the other girls were busy I pretty much put Maya in charge of playing with McKenna. When I got back they had made there own project. They recycled our recycling (beat that Al Gore.) They pulled out all the things they could find from our recycling bin and made this great train. Complete with stickers and art work.

It's BIRTHDAY Season!

While most people are gearing up for the holidays our family is getting ready for all of our birthdays. 4 out of 6 of us have our birthdays from October to December. (All about a week before every holiday - I know, bad planning.) We started birthday season off with my birthday. Tim invited a few close friends of ours to have cake and ice cream. In fact, he had them bring the cake and ice cream. Talk about delegating. It's always nice to know that others are thinking of you on your birthday.

You can't tell here, but this cake says 36. Yes, I'm closer to 40 now. YIKES!!!!
The Robinson's.

The next day my visiting teacher's took me out to lunch. It was nice to get out since my days events included laundry, picking up Alexa from school early because she wasn't feeling well and cleaning.

Neighborhood Block Party

When I was a kid I remember our neighbors had a few block party's. I also remember that as a kid I wasn't invited but loved the idea. We live in a new neighborhood and so EVERYONE is new. My neighbor, Heidi and I decided to put one together. We DID include the kids however. We put out fliers, set up tables, and rolled out the bbq's in the middle of our cul de sac. It was so much fun. Everyone brought a side dish, drink, or dessert and their own meat. We sat around and visited while the kids ran amuck. It was a great way for all of us to meet each other. We had about 15 families show up. We are hoping to have another one in a few months. I love going out for a run now and waving at my neighbors and actually calling them by name. Here are just a few photos (I was so busy talking that I forgot to take more.)

You can't see it in this picture but we had a ton of food and all different sorts. We have such a melting pot in our neighborhood - people from the Phillipines, South Africa, the Middle East, India, etc. With backgrounds like that, you can only imagine the wonderful food that was brought.

Merry Christmas to Us!

We scored big time. A guy in our ward GAVE us this great sink that he had laying around in his garage. So for Christmas we bought ourselves the faucet to go with it. It's so nice not to have an "apartment sink" in our kitchen. I love it. Oh! And yes, those veggies in the window were grown by me. The first produce that actually survived my black thumb. Can't wait for next year.

Close up of the tomatoe!

Asamom.org

You have GOT to go to this new website: asamom.org.

If you feel like me and are frustrated with what is going on in our country and are concerned for your children's future - come join the site. I just did.

I recently watched an episode of Glen Beck where he had a panel of concerned moms. Moms that are concerned about their children's future. They discussed things like What the schools are teaching, the taxes that the next generations will be paying, loss of freedom, etc. I loved it. All these women came from different backgrounds and different parts of the country with the same concerns that I have. My own conversations with some mothers led me to believe that maybe I was the only one with these concerns. So many that I have spoken with are so complacent and don't see any problems or even a reason to be concerned. After watching the show I realized I was not alone. Every single topic that was brought up I completely related with.

About a week later, Glen had a few more women on again. One woman started a website after watching the same show I had the week before. She felt so compelled to help all of the mothers in the country come together and have a place where we can gain support and strength. Come join the site and find other mom's in your own area to converse with. Here's the website again: asamom.org. See you there.

Freedom, Where has it gone?

Yesterday, Tim informed me of a headline he saw in the newspaper. (I think he likes to tell me these things to see how high my blood pressure will get.) The paper said that now in NC it is illegal to throw away a plastic bottle. WHAT? ILLEGAL? I am now being told what I can and can't throw away?

Now, before I get all the comments about the environment and how we need to save the planet, this message is NOT about "Going Green". However if it was, I would have to say that our Heavenly Father is in control of what will happen to this earth, whether we spend our lives trying to "save" it or not. What we should be spending our lives doing is saving souls, not the planet.

Back to the subject at hand, I am getting pretty fed up with the government telling me what I can and can't do. Why is it that these politicians think it is their responsibility to tell me what kind of light bulb I can have in my home, what kind of toilet I can have and when and how often I need to give my child shots? Who do they think they are?

I remember when the seat belt law first came out. It was taught at school about the importance of wearing a seat belt. I remember one day we were picking up my older brother from high school and I was wearing my seat belt. I thought, oh, Dave is not going to want to put his seatbelt on right here in front of all his friends. That would be so uncool. I was obviously a child and my concerns were very shallow. As time went on, the law was reinforced and I heard it told over and over again that we needed to "buckle up" for our safety. One day, I heard someone comment that this law is a terrible thing. It's taking away our rights and what will they come up with next to control us. I didn't understand, I just remember thinking that I couldn't believe that someone wouldn't want to be safe. It was years later and many laws passed when I finally figured out that it wasn't about the seat belt at all.

It saddens me to think that there are people who are fooled by the idea that socialized medicine, government health care, or what ever you want to call it would be good for this country. I can't believe that people don't see it for what it really is, a way for the government to control us. They are trying their hardest to spend money like crazy and get our country into so much debt so that it will ruin our lives and we will all be dependent on the government to take care of us. Sick, I tell you.

I have recently heard that Mr. Obama wants the government to take over all student loans. The only way to get a student loan is through the government. If they take control of that, will they next be telling us what we can and can't study in school? Will they say there isn't enough money in one subject or another? If this healthcare passes and doctors decided to quit practicing will they force people to become doctors? Where will it end?

Like I said, the plastic bottle isn't about the environment, just like health care isn't about everyone having health care. It's all about the control the government wants to have over us. I have to say I am grateful for those that are standing up and trying to do something to save our country. We can NOT be complacent anymore.

I can't believe that I am going to have to tell my children, "Don't throw that plastic bottle away, you might get arrested!"

Father/Son Overnighter

I'm sure this title intrigued you all as you know we only have daughters. But as Tim reminds everyone he is both a father and a son. This year Tim decided to go to the overnighter. Which meant that I was at home with the girls and not much different than how our life is normally. The girls and I decided to invite a few friends that were going to be home also just with the moms and daughters. We made pizza, ate, and then the girls were upstairs playing their hearts out which left us moms to sit and visit for a few hours. It was so much fun for me, so much fun for the girls and Tim loved getting some guy time. His first remark coming home: "I forgot how crude boys can be."

While we visited these girls formed a band! (Livie is the bodyguard.)

McKenna and her little friend Bianca (McKenna calls her Wonka.