Carpe Diem!

My friend Janelle did a great post titled, "Yes, Please DO Carpe Diem!!!" I clicked on it when she first posted it but saw that it was a long post and I didn't have time to read it then, but I read it today after she had posted a follow up post apologizing for her previous post. Ironically, I have not read the apology yet, I read the other post and loved it, no apology needed Janelle. It was a great post and something I think can far better help mothers than the article it was written in response to. I want to include a excerpt from her post, but if you are or were a mother of young children, or are going to be one, take the time to read it, please.

From Janelle's blog...

Also, I think that as women we compare ourselves to others and set ridiculously high and unrealistic expectations for ourselves that cause us to get frustrated and discouraged. We feel like we need to hand make our children's hair bows and church ties and dresses and pillow cases and quilts and volunteer in each of our children's classes at school and be involved in the PTA and in our communities and provide 3 homemade fabulously healthy meals a day and study the scriptures with our family for an hour every day and run an etsy shop and blog and scrapbook and dress in the latest trends and have time to train for a marathon and exercise daily and of course have a spotlessly clean home and no dirty laundry or dishes! Well no wonder we get stressed out and frustrated!! The problem is that we ALSO want to be able to play barbies and dinosaurs and cars and build legos and play dress up and have dance parties in our jammies and play candy land and chutes and ladders and blow bubbles and go to the park and go to story time at the library and roll on the ground and laugh and be silly with our kids all day every day! And then what about the bills and the grocery shopping and the dishes and laundry and other household things that need to be done? We can't do it all ladies! And when we try to we will get burned out and frustrated and stressed and feel like our children are getting in the way and holding us back!

I loved it all, but this was such a pearl of wisdom that I thought everyone could use. Janelle, I hope you don't mind me sharing. To read her entire post please go here

The best cake ever...

because I let Miss P decorate it all by herself! She used half a bottle of red sugar sprinkles (literally) and some other sprinkles as well. She had requested a Strawberry Shortcake strawberry shortcake. Yes, I meant to put that twice. The cake was to be a strawberry shortcake decorated as Strawberry Shortcake. I did neither. It was a strawberry heart cake, close enough right? Well, I was not in the creative cake making mood and I didn't think it out very well, I used 2 boxes of cake mix in one square pan and 2 round. I didn't want to bake it in layers and thought this would be a simple solution. WRONG. The cake completely oozed over the edges of the pans, so I decided to self clean my oven afterward and made the house smell like nasty, burnt, something for her family party. NICE. Those who ate the cake said it was delicious, a few said the sprinkles were a bit much.

I was also short on frosting and didn't want to make more, notice the sides of the cake aren't covered? I am so glad my family isn't picky!

Birthday Girl

Wow, my baby is 4! She just started Primary, sunbeams, finally. The other day she fell and hit her head and immediately said, "It's ok, I'm ok, I'm in Primary now." That comes up a lot lately, "I'm in Primary." She is a big girl now. She loves to help me, especially in the kitchen. She loves Pink and Purple, Barbies and baby dolls. She REALLY doesn't like her hair done. She loves to have jammie days, most every day lately. She has her bath and everything and then goes right into another pair of jammies. She loves to watch Scooby Doo, have stories read to her at night, mommy to sing to her and then mommy to lay with her.

Here she is helping to knead our favorite, homemade naan (Indian Flatbread)
Here she is in her new dress from Nana Paula on her very first day of Primary.

Reggie, our elf on the shelf.

We finally got an elf on the shelf this year! Micah named him Reginald and we call him Reggie for short. He doesn't leave us any treats or surprises like I've heard some elves do, but he does hide or go to a different place every night. The kids had a fun time looking for Reggie every morning. Here are just a few of the places we found him.

On a date with Taylor.
Practicing the piano
Hidden in a drawer in the bathroom.
Playing football with one of the boys build a bears.
Atop our Christmas presents from Santa! He's back in storage now and we are looking forward to seeing him again next season.

We Believe

Merry Christmas!
No Christmas card this year. Things have been busy, like they always are I guess, so I'm going to make this my Christmas greeting.

Tyler is still with CalTrans, serving on the Greater Valley Credit Union Board of Directors, was released as 2nd counselor in the bishopric and then called as 1st counselor. He is no longer the one to issue a plea to those asked to give talks, so life is much more enjoyable for him now.
Micah is still taking piano (almost 4 years now) and just started violin lessons with my mom as his teacher, he was Student Body VP and was in his school's production of Cinderella as the Prime Minister. He still loves to draw and I find artwork all over the house. He also was asked to join the GATE program at school and enjoys that, chess club and trail partners.
Jacob is also still taking piano (about 2 years I think!). He saved up for many months and bought himself an ipod touch and has been loving that. Jacob is also in GATE this year with Micah. You can often find him with a thick book in his hand, just like his mom!
Ben, what can I say about Ben? He is a funny, cute, little boy. He still loves games of all sorts and loves to read, especially his scriptures, just like his dad! He is fearless and daring and often getting hurt (latest injury is a rope burn on his neck, look closely and you'll see it), so it's a good thing he's our toughest kid!
Peyton is my best buddy. She is a tom boy and a princess. She likes to play Barbies and Ninja Turtles a lot. She is always chattering and singing and enjoys private time in her room making messes that she always apologizes for. She is very grateful when I clean her room as she likes it to be clean but does not like to clean it! Her favorite thing to wear is a sleeper and I often let her wear one as her day outfit, I'm such a nice mom.
As for me? Not sure what to say about myself. I am happy, I still enjoy crafting and reading and have been working on keeping a schedule since I am horrible at balancing my life! I have washed my Van more in the last 6 months than I have the last 6 years! It's true. Every Friday you may find me in the driveway cleaning the Van inside and out. As for eating right and exercising, that took place for a year ending this past June, sorry if you missed it. You may catch it again starting this January, that's when I'll stop cleaning my van and probably my house too. I have been having fun with my activity day girls (ages 8-12) they are a rather large and very talkative group of girls and I love them!
I hope your year has been a good one! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Violin Lessons

Micah has been asking for violin lessons for a while now but with him already in piano we didn't want to spend the additional money and we didn't want to take him out of piano. My mom pulled through for us and for Micah's birthday gift she got him a violin book, lent him one of her violins AND is giving him lessons! She used to teach violin years ago and has been wanting to start playing again, so it works out for everyone!!! They had their first lesson together today and it was fun to see my mom in action, Micah has a great teacher.

Here Micah is playing pizzicato (finger picking). This is one of the first skills before he goes on to bowing.

My mom tuning her violin, next week we'll move them to the music room (aka sewing room) with chairs and music stands.
Micah and Nana Paula after his first lesson.
Thank you mom!!!

Accomplishments

Micah turned 11 on Friday! I cannot believe I have an 11 year old. He's in sixth grade this year, student body VP and he's going to be in the school's play, Cinderella as the Prime Minister this Thursday night! For those of you that know Micah, this is incredible. He has really come out of his shell this year and is realizing his talents and interests. He just crossed over from cub scouts and is now in boy scouts. Life is incredibly busy but good. We have 2 boys in soccer, 2 in piano, 1 in cub scouts, 1 in boy scouts, 2 in the play (Jacob is stage crew) and I'm sure there's something I've left out. Tyler is always busy with Bishopric duties and I am in activity days now (8-12 year old girls week night activities).

Micah got a rip stick (like a skate board but only has 2 wheels) for his birthday. He was the only one that could do it, now Jacob can do it too. When no one was around last night I tried it...I definitely can't do it. I'm so glad I tried it in secret!

Tyler and I were the proudest parents last month, we had all 3 boys get Sparthenian of the quarter! It is like student of the month, they used to award it monthly, this year they only do it quarterly, and this was the first time it was given this year. We are trying our best to make a big deal out of any of their accomplishments so as to encourage them to continue accomplishing things, so we rewarded them with dinner out at Red Robin. It is times like these that I feel like I'm not completely screwing up as a parent!
I am so excited that it is now November, and cold! My favorite time of the year. Time for soup and hot cider, jeans and sweaters, warm pajamas and blankets, cuddling up to my husband at night instead of pushing him away! Thanksgiving and our Anniversary, and of course...Christmas! My sewing bug should be kicking in anytime now, I can't wait!