My Little Angel...
Yesterday, we were driving to church, and talking about boys who wear white socks with their dress shoes. (Scott forgot his Sunday socks, and we were out of town.) I mentioned that I hope we teach our little boys to wear matching socks. (no I am not prego)
From the back seat, I hear Miss P, telling us that she has a little brother.

Miss P: Jesus is my little brother mommy.
Mommy: Yes Jesus is your brother.( Thinking...sure, she can think he is her little brother.)
Miss P: Mommy, is baby Jesus a real baby?
Mommy: Yes P, Jesus was a real baby.
Miss P: Where is he mommy?
Mommy: He is with Heavenly Father.
Miss P: Did he come from your tummy mommy or Heavenly Fathers?
Mommy: No P, he came from Marys tummy, his mommy.

She is always so inquisitive, and comes up with the cutest things.

Crazy, Crazy Week

This past week was one of those weeks where Miss P and I should have locked ourselves in a padded room.
Early last week, Miss P was upstairs playing with the girl I babysit. All of a sudden I hear Miss P totally crying. This was not the cry that "someone took her toy", or "I don't want to go to bed" cry, this was "I am really hurt cry". I ran upstairs to see what was going on, only to see her covering her mouth and blood all over her hand.
After cleaning her up, checking out her wounds of cut and bruised gums, I found out that she was jumping on her bed, even though she knows she is not suppose to, fell and hit her mouth on rail of her bed.
Of course she has not learned from it, as she was jumping again on it tonight when we were getting ready for bed.

Wednesday of last week, Miss P and I were out doing some Christmas shopping for Daddy S, since he was at work. We were heading to Target, and were just around the corner from it, when I stopped for a pedestrian. All of a sudden, I realize we had just been rear ended. I was so ticked off, Hello People can you NOT see the brake lights and stopped truck??
I hop out to see the back of my truck, and notice it was a teenager in the car that hit us. We were blocking a lot of traffic, so I told him to follow me around the corner, into a parking lot.
This kid, his friend and I all get out of our vehicles to check out our vehicles.
The punk kid went back to his car, it looked as if he was looking for his insurance info. I went to my truck to get a pen and my phone to call My Man.
When I got out, I look up to see the little jerk driving away. If you thought I was mad that he hit me, oh no that was nothing when I saw him drive away. Of course I was in total shock, I didn't get his plate number, it was totally dark so I didn't get the type of car he was driving, so there was no hope on turning him in.
HELLO JERK!!!! Did you not see my three year old daughter in the vehicle, as you were driving away. Does it ever cross your mind, how she was, if she was hurt, if I was hurt. Yeah, so my vehicle was fine, just a scrap, as you hit my hitch receiver, which I hope put a nice BIG hole in your front end. GGGRRRRR
Miss P was fine, just really scared, thank heavens. I have been blessed with daily headaches and back pain which comes and goes, and a knowledge that if it EVER happens again, to not move my vehicle until I get at least a license plate number.

We should have gone home. Miss P was fine and wanted to go to Target. After we talked with the police and had some time with My Man to calm down, Miss P and I headed over to, one of our fave store which is going out of business, before we went to Target. We were trying on some clothes, Miss P was taking some pants off, slipped and hit her head on the bench. Yup there was that "I am hurt" cry again.
I have told her, she is going to have to start wearing a helmet if she continues to hit her head.

Yes, this past week, was one of those weeks, we should have just locked us in a padded room. Hopefully, this week will be better, and the headaches go away.

More Spiritual Insight

I have not always been very good at Visiting Teaching, as you could ask some of my companions from the past. I am trying to be better.
This past week my companion and I went out, and I had the opportunity to do the lesson. I am so grateful that I did, as it gave me the opportunity to review the talks from General Conference, which of course I used for VT, but I was also able to use it this week with my Sunday School class.

I told the ladies who we visit, I am not sure if it is that I am getting older and appreciate conference more, or if it was just so dang good this time, I truly enjoyed listening and learned so much.
I thought I would share some thought from what I learned and taught, from the different talks, yes more then one talk, I was unable to just choose one.

For me, conference was a lot about being prepared as hard times are to come. I started off with Elaine Daltons (link) talk and her quote "In the strength of the Lord, I can do all things." She goes on about temples and virtue.
What a great reminder that, it is only through the Lord that we can do all things. As I read her talk, it made me think about Temples and how we can go to the temple and find peace, but also we need to make our homes like the temple, were we can retreat to our homes when times are hard, and have that peace.

Elder Godoy, (link) his talk on Testimonies was excellent. I loved how he said "Great events are not a guarantee that our testimony will be strong." We are NOT guaranteed a strong testimony. A testimony is something that has to be worked on, on a daily basis.

“But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe [and I think that was my case as an investigator], let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words” (Alma 32:27).

If we just start with a particle of faith or desire to know, the Lord will bless us with a true knowledge and a strong testimony of the his gospel.

Elder Aidukaitis (link)talked about the Book of Mormon. Here is a quote from him that I loved.

“. . . Without reservation I promise you that if you will prayerfully read the Book of Mormon, regardless of how many times you previously have read it, there will come into your hearts . . . the Spirit of the Lord. There will come a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to his commandments, and there will come a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God”

I love that he reminds each of us, if we prayerfully read the BOM, not just read it, we will have a stronger desire to be obedient and have a stronger testimony of the Savior.

Elder Cook (link) was the last talk that I quoted from.

...he gained comfort and then reassurance. Our prayers are that way when we go to our Father in Heaven. We know He cares for us in our time of need.

What a great reminder that our Heavenly Father loves and cares for us, and also is there to comfort us in our time of need, IF only we will seek him in prayer.

there will be lean years and plentiful years.²⁰ The Lord expects us to be prepared for many of the challenges that come. He proclaims, “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.”

How true is this today. How many times have we been told to get prepared. From talking with one of my dear friends a while ago, I was reminded that when we are told to be prepared, how much more that means then just our food storage. We must also be spiritually prepared. We never know when our testimonies are going to be challenged. It might be that we become ill and are unable to attend our church meetings, it might be through people we come in contact with who fight against the church and our beliefs. If we are not prepared spiritually, how will our testimonies withstand the trials.

“Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you.”

The Lord knows each of us personally, he knows what we are feeling and going through. We have been promised with the blessing, that if we are prepared, and are obedient to the comandments, we do not need to fear, as the Lord will helps us with whatever we may face.

Spiritual Insight

These past few weeks have been full of spiritual insight, which I am so grateful for.
Last weekend we had Stake Conference. In the adult session, Saturday evening, one of the talks was on Tolerance for others. This hit home, as the thought came that our children watch, listen and learn from our actions. I have noticed with with Miss P a lot lately.
Earlier that day, we had been out in the vehicle dropping some stuff off for donation. There was a line, and we had to wait a few minutes.
From the her car seat in the back, we hear Miss P chirp up to the car in front of us
" Get out of our way" and "Honk at it Mommy." (I am not the honker in the family.)
Oh yes, our three year old has slight road rage from watching mommy and daddies example. Needless to say, when I have the desire to express my thoughts on others peoples driving abilities, I remember the little ears in the back.

My Old Man

My Man turned the big 30 on November 19th. For the past year and a half he has pretended to be 30 so he could play on a soccer team for 30 and over, so we joked last year that he was going to turn 30 twice. He no longer needs to pretend.

Poor guy,I am sure when he woke up on the 19th, I had forgotten his birthday. Since he woke up to a half done cake, I told him it was going to be a carrot shaped cake, as it looked like an orange tear drop. I was having difficulties at 10:30pm coming up with the top, as I was exhausted. I am also sure he must have thought, why did we spend all this money on cake classes.
(Ha ha, he didn't know his surprise)

A few days ago, while he was outside, I had one of his friends at work send me pictures of his truck. Monday night, I baked the cake, then had to hide it outside (yes, it was completely covered so animals didn't get into it) so he wouldn't find it. Tuesday, I had to wait till he left for work, put the girls down for a nap, then I started to decorate the cake. When I finished it later that night, I had to hide it so he wouldn't see it, and ruin the surprise.

The afternoon of his birthday, just after he left for work, Miss P and I headed out and bought him some balloons, then headed to his work to drop off the cake. He had no clue what we were up to, so it was a great surprise when he walked out of the shop and we were standing there with balloons and his "real" cake.

Happy Birthday My Love!!

How do you not laugh...

This afternoon, Miss P and I had just gotten back from the store. She had opened the passengers side door, and then decided to climb out the drivers side. I went around the truck to shut the door, and she headed to the house door. All of a sudden I see her out of the corner of my eye, run around the front of the truck to meet me. She didn't make the turn and ran straight into our neighbors car and fell flat on her back.
While I was holding in laughter, making sure she was okay, I was totally thinking it was the funniest thing I have seen in a while.

Tooth Fairy

And We Get Upset When They Lie to Us...

When Uncle R and Aunt J were away, Cousin E had a loose tooth. There was some extra drama, as it was her first tooth to loose, and her parents had left her with her crazy aunt who tried really hard to talk her into to just letting us pull it out.

She was almost ready to let Daddy S pull it out one night. He was being so kind and patient. She was complaining that it hurt, so he got her the anbesol and put it on so it wouldn't hurt. He was about to pull, when she chickened out. The next morning, G-ma W being the genus that she is, gave each kid a chewing vitamin C, and that tooth came out within two bites.

I decided that it needed to be a little special as this seemed to be a traumatic time for her. So I made her a card with a picture of the Tooth Fairy and a personal note. I put the note in a zip lock with 4 quarters (even though we all joked around about putting $50, since Uncle R and Aunt J were gone, just to mess with future visits from the tooth fairy in their house.)

It was fun to watch her excitement. She was talking about how she got a picture of the tooth fairy, and that the tooth fairy left her a note.
Bad thing is, Miss P was watching all of this, and has talked about it since, "When the tooth fairy comes and leaves her a note." I am going to have to remember I did this for when Miss P looses her first one, as she has a really good memory.

Hanging Out with the Kids.....

Aunt J left melting chocolate, one afternoon we decided to let the kids each have a bowl of chocolate and let them dip away. Poor W, he missed out since he was napping.


One morning I woke up to find, W had taken off his PJ's and was playing dress up. He had the dress on upside down. That is the leg hole over his shoulder. Such a pretty boy.

One afternoon while the girls were napping, G-ma took the boys out back to play. Yes W put my mixing bowl on his head for a hat, and the purple bow goes to one of Miss P Mr. Potato head ride on toys.

It was such a blessing to have nice weather, so the kids could go out back and play. Thank you to My Man for letting me keep the sandbox and slide/swing and for not getting rid of it. And thank you so much G-ma and G-pa for the fence and making more room out back for the kids to play. It has been such a blessing to have.

Pumpkin Patch

J Feeding the goat. Then J licking the fence. YUCK!!!!

Miss P(yellow vest), W (Blue coat) and E(in pink) climbing the hey pyramid.


Me and Miss P on the hey ride to the pumpkin fields. Daddy S and Miss P with her pumpkin.
I guess the rule was the kids must be able to carry the pumpkin, they are not that strict as my child had to get the biggest one.

When my bro decided he needed to take his wife to Hawaii......

Uncle R and Aunt J planned a trip to Hawaii without kids in October. Uncle R, talked my mom into watching the kids, who then talked me into helping.
I was scared to death for them to leave their kids, as this was the first time that they had been away for this long, and the boys are really attached to their mommy and daddy, and usually end up in mommy and daddy's bed.

I am totally shocked how well the week went, and know that Heavenly Father was there answering prayers. We decided that instead of going to their place to watch the kids, we would just stay at our house.
I thought I would be all smart with sleeping arrangements. We put G-ma in the spare room on the futon, which is downstairs. Then we put R and J's three kids in Miss P's room, and Miss P with us on our floor. We had it all planned out that R and J would sleep downstairs the night before they left, as they had to leave early, and hopefully the kids would stay asleep, so there would be no freaking out that mommy and daddy were leaving them. That back fired, as their two year old woke up in the middle of the night, then their 5 year old went down, which woke up the the one year old. I didn't know this was all going on, so I went in and grabbed Cousin J who was crying, brought him into my room, trying to calm him down. Aunt J came up to get ready, and told me the rest of the kids were downstairs awake. Well that ended sleeping in, and of course then Miss P was awake, so they all went downstairs to hang out. I think Miss P had more of a melt down that I left with Grandpa to take Uncle R and Aunt J, then their kids were.

I changed the sleeping arrangements the first day, and put J (one year old) in our room, easier for naps, so the kids could still play in Miss P's room, plus if he woke up, he wouldn't wake up the rest of the kids.
After about four nights of being woken up in the middle of the night, one night sleeping on the couch because he wanted to play and not sleep and I didn't want to wake up My Man and Miss P. His pack in play very quickly ended up downstairs in the living room. Why I didn't think of that at the beginning.

We had some fun times. We tried to do activities to keep them from getting bored and killing each other. We visited the pumpkin patch, library for story time, McDonalds play land, shopping, we even had the tooth fairy come for a visit for E who lost her first tooth.

Over all it was a really fun week, with lots of memories made. We all survived, grateful for the beautiful weather, and were really excited to see Uncle R and Aunt J
We were all very impressed with My Man, he was very calm all week long with the kids, even when E (5 year old) started choking Miss P over a toy.

Uncle R and Aunt J, look out for when I get knocked up and have my septuplets.

Teenager

I think I am raising a teenager stuck in a three year old body.
Today has been full of interesting moments with Miss P, which have ended her up in time out, to give her time to think of these moments.

Daddy S: P, come help clean up your toys.
Miss P: No, You have to do it, I don't want to help.

*******
Mommy A: P, no you can not watch tv, we are cleaning, and you need to take this stuff to your room.
Miss P: Your so mean

*******
Mommy A: P, sit up to the table and eat your dinner please.
Miss P: I want to watch my movie. (She has a little DVD player we let her use to watch movies on.)
Mommy A: No P, leave the DVD player and come to the table.
Miss P: Your so mean. (Repeated a few times, yes it seems to be her favorite phrase today)

******
Mommy A: P, it is time for scriptures and bed, pick up your toys.
(Five minutes later, as she is playing with the toys, that she is suppose to be picking up, with me continually telling her to pick up)
Mommy A: P, just stop talking and put your toys away.
Miss P: You hurt my heart.
Mommy A: What? I hurt your heart.
Miss P: You hurt my heart, telling me that I can't talk.
Mommy A: If you don't talk you will focus on picking up and not playing.
Miss P: You hurt my feeling, you hurt my heart, you hurt my belt, you hurt my doll. (Yes, she starting telling me that I hurt every toy that was around her.)

Poor kid, she is getting over being sick and I am starting to get sick, so she really had no chance for sympathy or patience today with her attitude.

Cutest Little Equestrian

This year, I was having a hard time coming up with a costume idea until we saw a horse costume at Target, which Miss P loved, as she loves horses.

After some thought, I came up with an idea, asked our good friend K, and decided that Miss P would be "Aunt K" for Halloween. Thanks K for making it happen, the helmet cover made it extra cute and authentic.

It has been really fun, getting the costume together this year. Miss P was the cutest, telling everyone that she was going to be "K" for Halloween. She was so excited, when I showed her a picture of K, when she was in competition, that even though Miss P's horse was black and not brown, she was going to look just like K.

My Man had to work, so I dressed her up, and went out with our neighbor, her son and another boy in our complex.
We made it to about three houses before I decided that the poor horse was a little much for her to wear around, as she was not able to keep up.
Then about 45 minutes into it, as the other kids were shedding parts of their costumes, she didn't want to wear the helmet any more. So in the end, she ended up just wearing the coat, and getting a lot of candy.

My thoughts.....

DISCLAIMER......So no one gets offended, first off, These are MY THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS!!! I am not writing this to make anyone feel bad or to offend anyone. I have just been thinking about this for a bit and now I am going to blog about it. Ok, there is my for warning.

About a month ago, I read a blog about a book, that I have been told that I need to read. I don't have a lot of desire to read this certain book, but was interested in reading the blog to see someones thoughts about it.
They said how this book made them feel like something just was not right. In the end, this person decided to not finish it, as she finally decided the contented was something that she did not want to put/ store in her mind.

This has made me do a lot of thinking. What are things in my life that I am putting into my body, either by watching, reading, eating, that is harming me or my spirit.

Some of you know, I love Greys Anatomy. My brother lived with us, just after Miss P was born, and he introduced me to the show, which has caused a love addicted to the show. Of course, I had to pass this addiction onto others.

I have been a faithful watcher. If I missed the show for some reason, I could be found watching it on the laptop, as soon as they posted it on the internet. I just had to see who was with who, who was fighting with who, and when they actually did surgeries, what twists they had.

At the end of last season, I was probably just like all the other fans, dying to find out what happened, to all the characters, especially since it had been a short season due to the writers strike.
The season started again, of course I have been watching, waiting to see what happens with Derrick and Meredith, are they actually going to make it this time? Is George going to get to take the test and is he going to pass? What twists are they going to throw at us this year? You get the point.
I am a total fan and loving my addiction until Thursday. This seriously opened my eyes, and reminded me back to the book thing, and what are we putting in our minds.

For those who don't watch, this is what is disturbing me. There are two female actresses on the show, who the writers have decided to have them try a lesbian relationship. At first you think it is not going to go anywhere, based on what the one is saying. In the end of the episode, they make it very clear, that this relationship is not over where it got to the point of almost showing two girls having sex. Hello, this is not some cheap adult movie. It was for me very disturbing and very disappointing, that this is what the show is coming to.

Now, I know this is a common thing in the world today. No I do not agree with it, and strongly believe that relationships are to be between a man and a women, not a man and man or women and women. LINK
Do I hate or shun people that are in these kinds of relationships, No. I do not agree with the choice though.

Ok, back to Greys. I am so disappointed in the show. Come on, there are some things that just do not need to be shown or implied.
It was very interesting to see the next day, how many other people shared the same feelings as I did, regarding this episode. We are all very disappointed with the show and the writers. I am to the point, that my next letter is going to be to the network and show. If we want to see a change, we must stand up for what we believe in.

I have been trying hard to improve my life, make it better, live the kind of life that I am trying to teach my daughter to live and also the kids in my sunday school class. I am really trying to declutter my life and mind of things that don't live up to these standards. Am I perfect no, not close, but I am trying to be better.

As I am trying to make a better me, to have the spirit with me more and in my home, I am sad to say, this love addiction with Greys must come to an end. This episode, has crossed my line with content which I do not wish to put into my mind. I am sure it will be hard, as I am sure it is with all addictions,( maybe one day i will be rid of my sugar addiction) but in the end I know it will be worth it. On the brighter side, I will get to bed earlier on Thursdays.

Miss P's Cute Moments

The other day, I wanted to tell My Man something but did not want Miss P to hear it, so I thought I would try the "plug her ears" thing. As soon as I said plug your ears, I look over and she has plugged her nose. Were going to have to work on that.

Tonight, I had put Miss P to bed, and I was folding laundry. I opened her door, she looked like she was sleeping so I went and put her basket of laundry on her floor. On the way out, of course I had to stop and take a look. She is extra cute while she is sleeping. I kissed her on her forehead on the way out, only to see her little lips make the kissing motion back.
Hmmm, I thought she was a sleep, is she making this motion in her sleep?
Of course, I have to try it again, same response, with an added little smile from her, as she rolled over.

Miss P is a little singer. If we let her, she will sing at the top of her lungs in church. On key-sometimes, right lyrics- nope, happy and loving it- always.
Sunday was our wards Primary program. Miss P was loving it. She was standing on the bench, singing away. We had to stop her when she continued to sing while the kids were doing their speaking parts.
We were reminded that it is going to be our little girl up there next year, as she will be a sunbeam. I decided to come home and make her a CD of the songs that they should be singing next year. I love LDS.org.
She is having a blast. When we are driving she asks for her "church music", and then as a song starts she wants to know the name, and what the song is about. Then she trys to sing along, mostly just humming the music, throwing in "Holy Ghost" or " Jesus was baptized".
Can you tell what she is learning about in nursery and our FHE.
I am so glad that she loves to listen and tries to sing along. I love that I have this opportunity to sing with her, and also talk and teach her about the gospel, while we drive around.

KIM.....I NEED YOU!!!

I have this wonderful, amazing friend, who offered to help me loose some baby weight after I had Miss P, and went walking with me. When she first offered, I thought I was going to die, as I was totally out of shape, but she was so kind and patient, and soon I realized that three miles was not that much, we were able to have some wonderful conversations, and made some good memories. It was going well, until I started to take some school classes, and things got busy, and I stopped working out, then Colorado stole her from me.
I have tried to start walking again many times since then, I even at one point talked My Man into a treadmill, which later had to find a new home.
Yesterday, I braved the scale, always a scary thing to do, and have come to realize that, it is time to try again.
Kim, I need you here to go walking with, and make me get into shape.
My Man was not going for my plan to walk 5-6 miles. I was proud of us though, to get out and walk 3 miles today, and maybe over time I can work us up to the 6 miles. Miss P even got into it and ran about a 1/4 of a mile with Daddy S, without stopping. Oh to have her energy.
So even though, Colorado has stolen you away from us, I thank you Kim for your patience, your friendship and for getting me started on walking, I hope this time I can keep up with it, and one of these days we can all do Mt. Saint Helen's.

Update on Dance Class

Miss P's teacher called this afternoon. She said that she had been thinking, and that she doesn't think that this dance class is right for Miss P. According to her, Miss P is just not "getting it", doesn't follow her, and has a hard time staying on the tape line, and since they were doing some hard dances this session, this probably is not the class for her.
We had made plans at the end of the last class, that I would sit in on the next class to see what Miss P was doing, plus I wanted to see how the other three year old's were doing. The teacher doesn't feel that it will help, and that it would be more of a distraction for Miss P.
Then of course she wanted to know what I thought. People really should know not to ask a parent that, after they have just put their child down. I didn't think it was to appropriate to tell her off, as she is Miss P's nursery teacher, and we have to see her at church. Even though, I wanted to yell at her and tell her how dare she make me feel that my child was not good enough for her class, because she didn't constantly stay on a tape line. Like I said before, HELLO SHE IS THREE!!!
The teacher actually sounded shocked, when I told her that Miss P was doing some of the dance moves at home. So yes, my child does pay attention in her own way, and does know how to do some dance moves, even though she may not stay on some tape line.
My Man plans to talk to the teacher, and probably tell her what I refrained from and maybe more. I will have to try and calm him down about the issue before Sunday.
The teacher wants Miss P to finish off the month, as they will be doing tumbling and just have a fun class this next week. My Man wants her to go as we have paid for it. I feel there is no point, as the teacher doesn't want her in the class. It's not going to help my child's self esteem to go to a class that she knows she is not wanted at.
So the search is on, to find something else to put her in, maybe swimming, gymnastics.... We will update when we find something else.

Imaginary Friends

As of tonight, Miss P has a house guest, named Miranda.
At dinner she was trying to tell me to look at Miranda, and I was a little confused what she was talking about, looking to see if she had a doll on one of the chairs, that she had finally given a real name to, instead of "big baby" or "little baby".
Nope, it turned out that she has an imaginary friend named Miranda. Who according to Miss P has red hair and pink clothes.
When I told My Man about her new friend, he actually was very unimpressed. I just had to laugh, as he plans on teaching her that we don't have imaginary friends, and they are not real.
We shall see what tomorrow brings, if Miranda is forgotten over night, or My Man makes her go away.

The Savior's Visit to the Nephites

I know I promised an update on my lesson, sorry it has taken so long. Life has been busy at our place the past few weeks.
In church, I have the wonderful opportunity to teach course 15. It took me a while to figure out the best way to teach them so they would actually pay attention. Yes teenagers are very similar to primary children, so it has worked out well since I served in primary for over two years before I was called to be their teacher.
Ok, enough rambaling. The lesson was on the the death of Christ, the destruction at the time, and the visit to the North Americas. I had read over the lesson Sunday night, trying to think about how to teach it. I was talking with My Man, and had the idea to recreate the destruction. When it popped into my head, all I could think of was, I NEED A FOG MACHINE!!!
I started asking people their input on how best to teach the lesson. I wanted this to be a lesson that the kids would remember for the rest of their lives, and hopefully help with gaining a testimony.
I origionally had the thought of having someone come in and pretend they were there at that time. As I was debating on who to ask, one of the boys in my classes name kept coming to my mind, so I called him and asked him if he would do the part. I gave him the chapters we would be talking about, told him kind of what I had planned, and then let him take it from their. He did a great job, the other kids in the class listened, which was huge, as they like to talk.
My Man, our Niece N and I had gone to the church Saturday night to test the fog machine and set the room up alittle.
Sunday, I had My Man leave early and start the fog machine, I had the kids meet me in the kitchen, were we started the lesson. I started with telling them that this lesson meant a lot to me and asked for their reverence. I read from the bible about the crucifixion of Christ, what he endured for each of us. I was trying to help them picture what it would be like if they were there at that time. We then left the kitchen and headed up the stairs, which My Man had turned out the lights so it was kind of dark. The kids then entered the fog filled room, which we had a picture of Christ on the cross, that they could see when they walked in, and had scattered the chairs, so they were not sitting right next to each other. We had a small lamp for some light, and I let them watch the part in the Testiments, which was the destruction part. When that was over, I told them that we had a visitor who would like to share his experience of being in the North America's when Christ appeared there. That is when I had the boy in my class do his part.
After he was done, I read some more scriptures of the experience and bore my testimony to them.
It was a great experience, I had a lot of fun planning for the lesson, and making it something that they would remember.
I am so grateful for the gospel in my life, and for how much I grow from the different callings. As most of you know, I was scared to death when I was asked to teach this class. I can now say how much I love each of the kids in my class, and am grateful for the opportunity
to teach them, and also to learn with them.

To Dance or Not To Dance

In September, one of our friends told us about a little dance class for three and four year old's. The class is inexpensive and more on the casual side, which I thought would be a great way to introduction Miss P to sports/clubs. I wouldn't be putting out to much if she didn't like it, which is a bonus.
The class is set up, that the parents drop off the kids, and come back after class is done. The teacher ( who is also Miss P's nursery teacher) really doesn't want the parents in the room or in view of the kids. I can understand, as she wants the kids to focus on dancing and not the parents.
Miss P has only been to four classes, and I sit in the hall with two other mom's from our ward and talk while our daughters are in the class. The first two classes, as far as I could tell, she seemed to be doing fine, of course she likes to do her own thing, as she is three.
Last week, she had three melt downs. I thought it was because life was crazy, as I had my brothers kids here, so she was tired and her normal schedule was off. Miss P also told me that she had hit her head on the floor, so that was the cause of one melt down.
Today, we had bought her new dance shoes, and she came out complaining that her feet hurt.
The teacher in the middle of class when I went in to try and get Miss P to go back and dance, told me that she just wasn't sure about Miss P and the class. She repeated it again after class was done, that she just wasn't too sure about Miss P and getting it. The teacher said that Miss P seems to be in her own little world, and has a hard time staying on the tape line. HELLO, she is three!!!
I feel that the teacher doesn't want her in the class, and that is her nice way of saying it. Since she doesn't let parents be in the room, I have no idea what they are teaching to help at home. I asked if next week, I could sit in the back and watch to see if I can help Miss P, as we have one more class this month that I have paid for.
Miss P tells us that she likes dance class and still wants to go. We tried to talk to her, telling her that she really needed to listen to the teacher. My Man doesn't want me to pull her from the class, as he doesn't want her to quit.
What do I do, I have a kid who likes the interaction with the other kids and something to look forward to each week, even if she doesn't "get it." I have a husband who doesn't want her to quit, and a teacher who seems like she is implying that she wants our kid out of her class.
Any Suggestions.......

Oh The Imagination Of Three Year Olds

Today, I have had to have my camera at arms length, as my little princess is starting to be very creative.

This morning as I was doing laundry, I had folded a blanket and put it on the couch. Instead of using the blanket as a blanket, she decided to play with the blanket and that it was going to be her puppy. Now the blanket has nothing on it that resembles puppies. What made it even funnier, was she had three dolls and a stuffed bear on the couch, but insisted on using the blanket.
She had me hold and pet her puppy while she set up its bed, which was the place mats. After she made sure her puppy was comfortable, she had me move out of the way, so she could up a place mat down for her pillow, and lay down herself.

Later this morning, I asked her if she would like to get in the bath. She said no, she wanted to watch her "kid shows".
I was doing some stuff and went upstairs, which she decided to follow. I was in her bathroom doing my hair, she had come in and was leaning over the side of the tub playing with her toys, I asked her again if she wanted to get in. Next thing I know, she is in her tub, fully clothed playing with her toys. No, there was no water in the tub. She was really happy to just be playing that she sat in there for about 15 minutes, until someone came to the door.

Tonight, one of our neighbors came over and asked if we wanted any crab, as her husband had been out at the beach working, and came home with extra. I am not a seafood lover, but told her I would come grab some for My Man.
Miss P was on the potty doing her business, so I decided to run out and grab some, leaving the door open, so she could come out when she was done. I was talking with the neighbor for a few minutes, and kept looking back at my door, amazed that Miss P had not come out.
I headed back to the house to see what she was doing, thinking she was just watching TV, as we were watching a show together before the neighbor came over.
I walk in the door, and call out her name only to hear her say...
Miss P: Mommy, I in here.
I walk down the hall towards the bathroom, shocked she is still in there, only to see my little girl sitting in the sink.
Miss P: I clean myself mommy.
She had striped down to her birthday suit, climbed into the sink, and filled it with water, and was taking a bath in the bathroom sink.
The things she thinks of, really makes me laugh and keeps me on my toes.

Life is not that bad.....

I have been thinking about writing this post for over a week now, and just have not taken the time to sit down and do it.
Most people I have found, I am included, find things to complain about our lives. When something is not perfect or the way that we expect it to be, we feel that life is too hard and unfair. I have had my fair share of self pity days, oh poor me, why me. Looking back at these times I chose to give into self pity, it really didn't get my anywhere.
I read an amazing blog the other day. Someone I know shared three different experiences of people I believe she knows. This blog made me really ponder my life and my little challenges. It has also made me change the way I deal with the trials that I am given.

One couple, was in a horrible plane accident, they are in the hospital with severe burns, and their four young children are now in the care of family members, until their parents can recover. http://blog.cjanerun.com/

The second couple was pregnant with twins, they found out that the twins needed surgery, they were able to do the operation and then place the twins back in the womb. Things didn't go well, and the twins were born four months early, both passing away shortly after birth. http://marcandmegan.blogspot.com/

The last couple,went through the whole pregnancy, two days before her due date, she found out that the baby had passedaway.http://www.babymckallister.blogspot.com/


I am at awe of the faith and strength of these couples and their families. I don't know these people, but they are each amazing examples to me. As they share their testimonies of their faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and expressing their knowledge that there is a purpose and reason for each of these trials.

For those of you who are close to us, know that My Man and I have had some challenges over the years, that have been hard. I have learned and am reminded that the Lord loves each of us. He know the trials we face, and that as we are faithful, they will make us stronger. He is with us, to help carry our burdens.
Back in March, there was an article in the Ensign, The Atonement At Work. Jesus Christ experienced every emotion, as part of the Atonement, that we will ever experience. He knows what each of us is feeling, He knows our sorrows, our heart ache, or bad days.
http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=cb0bd9ab50758110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1

I hope that as I go through out my life, that when I am faced with a "poor me moment", that I can focus on the many blessings in my life and remember things could be worse, and Life is not that bad.

Shoe Fetish

I am coming to realize my child has been blessed with my love of shoes. As soon as I found out I was having a girl, I started collecting clothes and shoes for her. She has always had a variety of shoes, way more than anyone really needs. She has a drawer in her dresser reserved just for her shoes.

About a week ago, I peeked in on her before I headed to bed, only to find my little girl had put on her rain boots and fell asleep. I started to take them off, only to have her wake up and tell me, "no mommy, I need them."
What a good girl to want to be prepared. You never know when it is going to rain in the house.

Monday morning, still half asleep I rolled over at 5:30am to my little girl standing at my door in my high heels,

"mommy....mommy"
"yes, P"
"mommy, I sleep on your floor."
"yes, that is fine. go get your blankets."
Clomp, Clomp, Clomp went my three year old in heels back to her room.....
"mommy, I need help"

I guess I could have told her that if she would take off her heels, she would be able to pull the blanket and pillow a lot easier. How special am I, that she got dressed up to come and sleep on my floor.

Laundry....Yuck!!!

I have heard you should learn something everyday. I have been doing laundry since Sunday, first at my brothers house, then to come home and wash everything in our house, due to a bug that has invaded Miss P's hair. I was so excited because I could see the end, I only had a couple of loads left. I threw in two pillows, and walked into the other room to list something on the computer. I had just been in there about a minute, only to have Miss P run in, telling me it spilt everywhere.
As I got up, I thought, crap what did she spill now. I asked her, and she just repeated, it spilt everywhere.
I walk into the kitchen to see water gushing out from under my washer and dryer, flooding my kitchen floor. Supposably, if you put too much in front of the water that drains into the machine, or over fill it, it tends to puck its water guts all over your floor.
Lesson of the day, if your husband works grave yard and has been a sleep for only an hour when you kill the washer, good luck on him helping or even hearing that there is a flood in the kitchen. Second, unless you have a strong desire to clean under your appliances, two big pillows don't always fit in the washer at the same time.

She is too smart

This morning, I had made a pitcher of juice with Miss P. I poured a glass took a drink and left it on the counter for her to drink.
I was on the internet in the other room talking to my niece, when Miss P came in asking for a drink of juice. I told her I would get her some, if she would get a cup. She didn't come back right away, so I thought nothing of it, and she was probably watching "her kid shows." (as she likes to call them). A little bit later she came back in asking for some juice and also asking if we could make some more juice. As she was saying this, I was walking into the kitchen to get her some juice, telling her no to making more, as we had just made a full pitcher, only to find an empty pitcher on the counter. She had dumped the full pitcher down the drain and wanted to make more.
I told her to go to time out, trying to control my laughter. How can I get mad when I was not in there watching her. Well of course she saw me laugh. Make matters worse, when I went back to get her out of time out, I started to laugh again.

Later today, we were sitting on the couch, and I was asking her different questions on what she wanted to do, so I asked her if it was right to pour juice in the sink.
She replied no.
I reconfirmed that we don't, and it was not good that she poured the juice down the sink.
Only for her to reply, "But you laughed."

She is so smart and remembers everything. I think daddy is going to have to start disciplining on the funny ones

Way to Much Dora

Miss P was out playing in the front yesterday with one of the neighbor boys. They came to the front door,and I could hear their conversation.

Miss P: Where do you want to go?
Junior: I don't know?
Miss P: Let's look at the map.
Junior: You watch way to much Dora!

She makes me laugh, and yes she watches way to much Dora. We were in Target last night, and she had a bunched up napkin. When we were washing her hands in the bathroom, she gave it to me to hold. I asked her if I could throw it out, only for her to tell me no, because it was the "treasure map." Oh I love that little girl.

Fairy Doors
For those of you who have little girls, you have to check this out. The girl that I babysit for called me this morning, to tell me about Fairy Doors in Ann Arbor.
The first link is telling what this is all about. The second link has pictures of where people have put fairy doors. You can also google it for more links.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/21/AR2006042100588.html

http://urban-fairies.com/

Seriously, I am sure every little girl would love having fairies live in her home. I am for sure making Miss P one, I just have to find the perfect spot, and I want to make the pumpkin one for Halloween. I will keep you posted when I have it finished.

We are here too

I have decided to use blogspot again, as well as keep our vox blog,

schmittfamily.vox.com.

Hope this makes it easy for everyone to choose which they like best.
Check us out often, to see what adventures we have had.

(For those new to reading our blog, our vox blog has the posts for our past year.)

One Of Those Days

I have had a head cold for about a week, which finally let up yesterday, so of course my house was a mess, as I had been really lazy this past week. This morning I decided it was time to tackle the mess.
After I had cleaned up the dishes and started on mopping the floor, My Man and Miss P started to pitch in with the fun.
Miss P is a great helper when she wants to be, and when she is not throwing attitude, her favorite line at the moment is "I don't want to". I am taking any suggestions on how to break the attitude.
This was a good morning for her, as she really wanted to be mommy's little helper. She helped mop the kitchen floor, I have to say she did not to bad of a job, and then she wanted to help while I was cleaning the bathrooms, so I let her try the toilet. After a few hours, we finally had it all cleaned up and was looking really nice.
This afternoon, I had Miss P and a little girl that I babysit a couple times a week, her name is P as well,( we call her P Sue to help out with the confusion.)
Miss P decided around 5 that she wanted a bath, I was fine with that as she had not had one today, so I put her in, and asked P Sue to go and play in Miss P's room while Miss P had a bath.
I came down stairs to get my cell phone, only to come up to a huge puddle of soap on the floor and the two of them trying to get the pump part from one another. Yup my kid had taken the top off the bottle, the bottle fell on the floor and dumped out about half the bottle. Of course it is the huge Costco size one too.
I get P Sue out of the bathroom again, and Miss P is still in the tub, asking for more soap for bubbles. Yeah right kid, not happening. I should have given her what she had dumped on the floor.
As I was getting paper towels to clean up the soap mess, I see P Sue heading towards my room, forgot to shut that door. I had a little container of salt on my night stand that I had used to put in the steamer. With in just a few seconds that girl had it all over the night stand and herself.
I finally got her out of my room, back into Miss P's, so I could go back to the bathroom, finish cleaning up the soap mess. When I got that done, I headed into my room to clean up the salt, just as I was finishing that, I heard a lot of laughing and slashing. Back into the bathroom I go, to see Miss P in the tub slashing and P Sue standing next to the tub now soaking wet slashing as well.
I love those two little girls, they are keeping me young.

Wii Fit Baby

When I first heard about Wii Fit a few months ago, I had told My Man that I really wanted it. We were in Best Buy the day before they were suppose to be released, and the worker there told us that they were suppose to be getting ten in the next morning, and would probably sell out within the first few hours.
Miss P and I had gotten up the next morning while My Man was still sleeping (He works swing shift now), and headed to the doctors as I was not feeling that great. After the doctors, I decided to head over to Best Buy to see if I could get a Wii Fit, as Scott said I could get it for my mothers day gift.
We got there about 30 minutes before the store was to open, and there were a few cars in the parking lot with people sitting in them. About 10 minutes later a few people started to make a line up outside the door. It was not the best day, overcast and a little cold, welcome to Washington weather. Miss P and I decided to go and stand in the line, so we were sure we would get one.
For the next 20 minutes, Miss P decided to keep everyone in line, which grew after we got in line. She ran up and down the sidewalk, singing, dancing, asking everyone what type of cars were driving by, yes my little girl is far from shy.
A few minutes before the doors opened, a worker came out with 10 pieces of paper, and gave the first them to the first ten people in line. We received paper number 7.
OH YA BABY, I HAVE A WII FIT!!!!!!
Have I played with it, nope not really. I have to fight my 2 year old for it. The first day, I swear she played with it for a few hours. There is a running game, where your little person follows a trial, as you run. She played that game about 5 times in a row, and still wanted to go more. Poor me, I need to work out, I was dying after about the first time.
I think this is one of the best mothers day gifts I have picked out.

Oh How She Makes Me Laugh

Today I decided that our house was a a big enough mess and it was time to clean it up. I told Miss P that she needed to go clean her room, while I worked on mine. Well an hour and a half later she had it done, of course she had to play with her toys and books while she was picking up.
At one point she came to the door and told me that her toys were taking a nap. Me being the mean mom, told her that was nice and that she still needed to finish her room. Sorry Miss P, no getting out of things when mommy is in cleaning mode.
I went to her door a few minutes later and heard her say "scriptures first, and books". She had her put her baby dolls in her bed, and was getting her Book of Mormon out so she could read them scriptures.
Her bedtime routine is that we read from the Book of Mormon, then she gets to pick out two books to read, then we say prayers. She is so cute and blows my mind some times how smart she is. I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life, and that I have the opportunity to teach it to my daughter, and for her desire to learn.

Final Cake Course 2

The final cake for the Wilton's course 2, had to have royal icing flowers and basket weave design. Dang does that ever take a long time. For this course we took three weeks and made flowers, which we put on our final cake on Thursday. It was fun to learn, but glad that it is done.
Fondant is next week, and I am excited!!

Super Husband

On Wednesday night, I received a phone call from one of the counselors in the bishopric, asking if My Man and I would speak on endurance/ enduring to the end in church on Sunday. Of course I said yes we would, and then called My Man to let him know we were talking.
I had put some ideas together throughout the week, and Saturday night, I finally sat down and worked on my talk until 2am.- not the smartest idea with 9am church.
Miss P and I had were all ready and waiting for My Man to come home to pick us up from his morning meeting. I had tried to get Miss P to eat some breakfast, as I had decided last week, that we were no longer taking snacks to church. She kept telling me no, she didn't want breakfast, even though I told her she was going to be hungry. She told me that she got snacks in nursery after play time. (little turd, she is very smart.) Well about 10 minutes before My Man came home to pick us up, she threw up all over, there went speaking in church.
My Man came home, just to be told that she had thrown up and there was no way I was taking her to church.
He went back, gave his talk, had to use up 30 minutes, since the on the spot speaker only used 5 minutes. Then he went and taught my sunday school class, which as he was walking out the front door, I told him to tell the Sunday School president that he would have to teach, instead My Man took the class. He said that the kids should show more respect to me now. I have two guys who like to talk all through the class and ignore me.
After Sunday School, he went into Elders Quorum, and with it being his month to conduct, he also had to teach the lesson.
So Miss P and I are calling him our super dad/husband for all that he had to do yesterday. I love him and he is a great man.

No More Primary

It was a sad day on Sunday. I walked into church, kind of in a hurry to find My Man, as I had some stuff to prepare before Sacrament started. At the door to the chapel was one of the bishops counselors, which is also one of our good friends. I shook his hand, as I was searching for My Man, and almost had a thought like he wanted something, but didn't say anything. I couldn't see My Man, so I took off to do my stuff. I came back a few minutes later and there was the counselor again, but this time he asked if he could talk with me.
He asked if I would be willing to be the teacher for the 15/16 year olds. WOW SHOCK!!! He asked if I would, and what my thoughts were. At this point My Man walked in the room, laughing as he already knew and had warned the guy that I would probably get some grief from me, for taking me away from primary.
Even though the calling scares the crap out of me, as I have never taught teenagers, I grew up being taught that callings come from the Lord and he will bless you, so don't say no to a calling.
After joking around, giving grief for a few minutes, I am now the new teacher for the 15/16 class.
I am really going to miss primary, as I have been in there for the past two years. I am really going to miss teaching the 9 year olds, as they were a great class.
Even though I am still a little scared, I am looking forward to this new calling.
If any of you have any suggestions on teaching teenagers,I would love to hear them.

Cake Decorating

Just before Easter, I went into our local Michael's store to check out the classes which they offered, as I have had a desire to learn how to decorate cakes.
After doing some research, I decided that I was going to take the classes, so I could stop pretending to know what I was doing, and actually know how to decorate.
There are four courses, starting with basic decorating leading up to using fondant icing, which was the big pull to take the classes. Each course is four weeks long, which is perfect, as I will have the know how to do Miss P's 3rd birthday cake in July.
I just finished course 1 on Thursday, and I start course 2 on this Thursday. I am totally loving the classes and having a lot of fun practicing. I can handle this homework, to bad it wasn't this fun in school.
I also have an amazing husband who made sure I had all the "toys" a cake person could or would need. He told me one day, that if I was going to do this, that he wanted me to have what I needed and not have to improvise. AAHHH, he is such a great guy and I love him so much.
The first class the instructor went over the book and told us what we would need for the class, and what we could expect to accomplish in the class.
The next three weeks, we had to bring an iced cake each week so we could decorate it during class. The first cake, Miss P wanted a clover, yes I know it is purple and not green, but heck I have a little girl, who is going through a princess stage, so I thought she would like that more.
The second cake (week three), we practiced the "Wilton Rose". Pain the the butt rose is more like it.Yes that is something I really need to do more practice with. The teacher taught us that it can look a lot better with accents, as she added some leaves to the cake. (Pink Cake).
The third cake (week four) was our final cake for the course. We spent most of the time (class is two hours long), practicing on the rose, learning how to do leaves, and a few other tips.

I learned after the first cake and the time that is spent to decorate and practice, I just make the cakes, I rarely eat them.
I either send them to work with My Man and they get to enjoy them or the neighbors get dessert. Which Miss P sad, as she thinks they are all her "birthday cakes", and when they come up missing, I have to start explaining.
Miss P loves Dora the Explorer, so I told her that if we gave the neighbors the pink cake, I would make her a Dora cake. Poor girl, in the end I don't think she ended up eating any of it, as it sat on the counter for a few days, then went to work with My Man.

Random 056

On Sunday, after one of our good friends found out I was doing these classes, mentioned that it was her husbands birthday on Tuesday. The husband has been working with My man to try and help him get into law enforcement, as he himself is a Sargent for the Washington State Patrol. I decided instead of a Dora cake as we had joked about, I would try and make a police car. After two cake batter disasters, and many hours, it turned out really cute. They were totally shocked and loved it. Since Miss P loves police cars and anything police, I might have to do another one for her birthday.

Children's Museum

My Man has Mondays off as he works Saturdays. Yesterday we decided to take Miss P to the Children's Museum, as I had heard that it was a really fun place.
We had a great time after Miss P warmed up to the idea. First she was tired and hungry as it was nap time, and then I kind of scared her, as you walk in they have a large alligator chair (like a dentist chair) with its mouth open so you can brush its teeth. She strongly dislikes dentists as she had her first trip to one about two months ago. I know, I know... go going mommy.
One of the first rooms was a toddler grocery store and restaurant. She loved this area and wanted to stay in it. They had tiny carts, and check out stands. The kids could take the carts around to do their shopping and then cash themselves out. When we took her to different areas, she kept saying " I have to go do my shopping". Oh she is turning into such a girly girl. Scott told me I had to give him a boy, after we ended back up in the little shopping market so Peyton could do "her shopping."
They have building areas, a big sand pit that had little rubber pieces instead of sand, clay shop where the kids could play with clay, train set area, water area, a hospital area with an ambulance, doctors office with exam tables, a place to look at x-rays, a scale, they had one table with a wooden doll that had parts to take off and see the organ underneath.
It is a great place for kids to have hands on and to expand their imaginations. I am adding a few generic pics from the internet until I can get the pictures off My Man's phone. Yup we didn't take a camera with us, I will have to start carrying one with me, now that I have a big bag again.

Cirque Du Soleil

Corteo

My Man surprised me this year with tickets to Cirque Du Soleil. They have come to town every year since we have been married. Every time we would drive past the tents while they were in town, I would always comment that one day I would go, as the tickets are expensive.
This year was my year, and I was so excited. This year on their North American tour they were performing Corteo. Now, I wish I had done some research before I went to the show, as it would have made a lot more sense, as the show is french based.
I liked how our local newspaper has described the show, as my description is picture Tim Burtons idea of a funeral.

"Imagine your death bed, with just a little bit of time left to reflect. What kinds of thoughts go through your mind? Do you wonder about your funeral? Who will go? What they will say?

An elderly clown shares such an experience in “Corteo,”

This isn’t a somber moment for the clown. It’s a raucous revival, blending his most dramatic highs and lows.

The show demonstrates that Cirque du Soleil isn’t just about amazing acrobatics anymore. “Corteo” extends the company’s exploration of more structured storytelling.

As the dying clown begins to look back at the loves of his life, the young women start swinging from ornate chandeliers in a sinuous dance symbolic of the passion and energy of youthful relationships.

The clown then recalls being a little boy and having nonsensical fun bouncing on his bed with friends — that is, before the militaristic authority figure in his life, his father, snaps him back into the world of pragmatic concerns.

That’s where the show loses focus on the story. It strays into random circus acts as the clown fades in and out through the rest of the piece...."

http://www.columbian.com/lifeHome/lifeHomeNews/2008/03/03112008_Cirque-du-Soleil-Death-bed-clown.cfm

I have attached the website if anyone wants to read the full story.

Honestly I have mixed feelings about the experience. I really enjoyed the show, as am grateful I had the opportunity to attend. Now the down to it...within the first ten minutes of the show, about four girls were twirling dancing around on moving chandeliers. They would hold on, run in a circle to get them to spin, hold on and then the chandeliers would move up and down. Well one girl was on her chandelier and it was about 20 feet in the air, and she fell off it onto a wood stage extremely hard. She literally fell right in font of us, as we were 4 rows back from the stage. The last update the news paper gave, was the girl was ok, was released the next day from the hospital and was going to take time off to recover, then planned to return to perform with the show.

I admire the cast to be able to continue on with the show and the rest of the air stunts, which they did an amazing job. For me it just made me really uptight watching them, not wanting to see another person fall.

Over all it was an amazing night and I would be totally okay if My Man surprised me next year with tickets again.

They don't allow you to take pictures in the tent, so I found some off the internet from Cirque Du Soleil, as they tape every performance.

My Man

being the wonderful man that he is, bought me a "funny purse" as Miss P likes to call it. I saw it and fell in love with it, which is strange for me because when I was younger, I hated the things and was determined to go though life not having a purse. Now I seem to collect them.

Purse

My Little Princess

For as much as Miss P loves cars, trains, and balls, her inner princess is starting to come out.
Aunt Tammy and Uncle Jim gave her this outfit for her birthday, which she loves. She also got a chest of dress up clothes from Grandma and Grandpa W, so this outfit goes perfect for those dress up moments.
On this particular day, don't tell My Man... She was watching Barney, and the kids on the show were dressing up and dancing around. The next thing I know, she ran upstairs, and came back with this outfit and asked for help putting it on, so she could be like the kids on the show.

Thought for the day

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It all works out in the end. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers."

-President Hinckley

I thought I would share this quote which I came across by President Hinckley. I was again reminded, that no matter what we are faced with in our lives, if we have faith in Heaven Father we will be okay. I am so grateful for the gospel and for my testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ, and that we are never alone.

General Conference

I have been in and out of primary over the years. In our current ward, I have been serving in the primary for about 2 years. I started out teaching CTR8, then when January came they asked me to teach CTR 6 for the year. This past January they asked me to teach Valiant 9. I have loved all my classes which I have taught, and have loved to watch the kids learn.
This year I was a little nervous, as I would be teaching the adult lessons, and no longer the "picture/ little kid lessons."
I truly have to say, this is the best year. I love the lessons, and studying the Book of Mormon with my class. I challenged each of them at the beginning of the year to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. It has been great to hear them, as they come to class to let me know where each of them are at, and to see there excitement as we are doing the lessons, and to hear them say, "I read that".
I have great kids and I love them. As they are 8 turning 9, they are continually challenging me to find ways to get them involved and keep their focus. I have been blessed to find a few websites dedicated to teaching primary and one especially for senior primary. I was thinking last week about General Conference, and remembering when I was a child, knowing that it can be a hard time to sit for that long and listen. So I knew I needed to come up with something that would help my kids in my class.
Let me tell you how much I love the website Sugardoodle.net. They have such great ideas, to use for primary.
Saturday night, my amazing husband, who I sucker in quite often to help me with my crazy ideas, and I put together 10 of these activity folders for my class. It seemed to go over well when I gave them to them, and I look forward to hearing what they thought after conference.

Easter

Easter 2008

We were blessed to have a wonderful Easter. A few weeks before Easter, my sister in law called and asked if they could come spend the weekend with us. We were excited as they live in Canada, and had not seen them since Christmas.
They arrived Friday night, and then we suckered my other brother who lives about 2 hours away to come up on Saturday. We did some last minute shopping to prepare for the Easter Bunny on Saturday, and then just relaxed at our place while the kids entertained themselves in Miss P's room.
They did really good this time, I think they emptied all of Miss P's toys, and only fought a few times. Many thanks to Aunt L for reading to them, painting nails and playing with them, while the rest of us were bums.
Uncle R and Aunt J and the kids headed for home Saturday night, as they had church responsibilities.
We had decided since church was at 9am, and to let there be focus on the true meaning of Easter, the Easter bunny would not come until after church.
Miss P was excited to go to church, as she got to wear her pretty "aunt L" dress. We had gone shopping the weekend before to target, and picked up this dress, and told her that she would be able to wear the dress, when aunt L came. My kid may not have a princess room, but I do make her dress up like one every once in a while.
Miss P had been looking forward to the Easter bunny coming to our house. She even sat next to him at Walmart one day. This was a big deal for her, as she is usually afraid of "holiday characters." She likes the idea of Santa, but sitting on his lap, no way.
After she had lunch, we told her that she needed to go take a nap, and then the Easter Bunny would come. Poor thing, I really wondered if she thought she was actually going to see the Easter Bunny, as she kept telling everyone he was coming to her house. While she was napping, we set up an easter egg hunt in the house. Yes we live in Washington were it seems to rain a lot, and it was yucky outside.
It was the cutest thing to watch, as she went on her easter egg hunt. Every time she found an egg she would go "ahh haa" She loved her "po po" cars,I swear she is going to grow up to be either a cop, fire fighter or ambulance driver, as she loves the lights and sirens. She also loves her baby which Grandma Watson sent to her, she takes that baby with her every where. Miss P being my sugar baby, she loved that she got lots of candy and mommy was letting her eat it.

Miss P's New Bed

When I found out I was pregnant with Miss P, I started to watch for different items for her room.I am sure when most people find out they are having a girl, the babies rooms are decorated in "princess" or a very girlish theme. I had that thought for awhile, then the concept of having "cool toys" won.
I originally saw this bed on a website and fell in love with it, and of course at that time she was way to young for a toddler bed, and My Man was not going for it, as it was close to $100. So needless to say when she was old enough to move to a toddler bed, I really wanted to get her this bed, but we didn't have the money, so I found her a nice wood toddler bed at a garage sale last spring.
About a month ago, I was looking on Craigslist for a bed for my brothers little boy. While I was searching, I went under the free section and saw this bed. I was ecstatic as this was the bed that I always wanted to get Miss P, and it was FREE!!! Now all I had to do was convince My Man that we needed it, which actually turned out to be easier then I thought it was going to be. With a little "honey, how much do you love me", My Man and Miss P were headed out the door to pick up her "new car bed."
Miss P has always loved cars, so naturally she loves her bed and loves to pretend she is driving. We are working on Scott to see if he can figure out how to attach a steering wheel to it, so she can "really drive".
Once she had her bed, of course she had to have the car mat to go along with it. My brother was planning on coming for a visit, so I found this huge 9'x6' car mat on his local Craigslist, and they brought it up for her. Scott likes to call it her replacement carpet, as it is so big.

Daddy's Little Helper

Miss P is truly a little helper. Ever since she was little, she has always wanted to help do things around the house. Like most children she loved the dishwasher, always there to help unload the dishes, especially the dirty ones.
One Sunday after church, My man let her help make lunch. From then on, she is always at our feet with her arms in the air saying "up, up", and "me help" or "me do it." Thanks to that Sunday lunch, she thinks she is a pro at cooking Mac and Cheese, as she was able to make it by herself, with Daddys supervising.
This past weekend, Miss P has perfected her baking skills. Our friends Uncle O and Aunt K were in town from Colorado, and we went to dinner at K's parents house. This made Miss P's day, as they live on a farm and have a few types of different animals. She was so excited about this goose which her parents had walking around. Miss P stood at the door and then later at the window, just so she could see the "beautiful goose."which she was calling it.
After dinner, K's mom asked if Miss P would like to go out to the barn and feed the goats.It was really fun to see her excitement over the animals, after she warmed up to them. She talked all the way home about feeding the horses carrots, even though mommy and aunt K did the feeding, as she was a little afraid. Miss P was able to help K's mom collect duck eggs. I was telling her to be gentle when she picked them up, as being 2, she can be a little rough. Well she did her gentle pick up with two hands, being so careful, then tossed it into the bin. Oops I forgot to mention, she needed to be gentle with that process too.
After she collected all the eggs, we headed back to the house, and she was chattering away at us about the eggs and the horses. Then all of a sudden she asked where was the "holy ghost". and she kept asking for it.This was kind of a shock and random, but K and I just thought it was something that she has learned about in nursery, and explained it to K's mom as she is not a member. My man and I figured out on the way home, as she continued to ask the for "holy ghost", that she was asking for the goose.
When we came back into the house with the eggs, K's mom let Miss P sit on the counter by the sink and wash off the egg. Miss P of course was in heaven, as she loves to play with water in the kitchen sink. She then received her science lesson on discovery (K's mom is a science teacher and a wonderful, patient lady.) For probably the next half hour, she taught Miss P to break open the egg to see what was inside. After they were done discovering three eggs, she let Miss P play with a bowl of mushrooms that were by the sink, and break all of them, then throw them into the sink. K's mom sent home the rest of the eggs with Miss P, which she is so excited about, as she says they are her eggs, and can't wait until she gets to use them. I do have to watch the fridge and eggs though now.