Cousins

We had the Lawsons over today! SO fun!

You would think 8 kids would involve a lot of fighting and such, but they were very good all day.

I kept Karaia, Beckham, and Tennyson home from school to soak up as much cousin-ness as they could.

It's going to be a sad day when we don't get to see them whenever we want.

Male vs. Female

We all know boys and girls think differently right? Logically I know that. Still, when I am faced with the reality of that fact I find myself totally surprised by just how BIG a difference there is.

Example:

I submitted some artwork to a brand new fabric manufacturing company about three weeks ago. Today, at 9:00am I noticed an email from them.

I stared at it in my inbox.

I walked away.

Came back and stared some more.

Walked away again.

Repeat that about 15 more times and you will have a good idea how I spent my morning.

I just couldn't bring myself to open it. What if it was another no? What if it was THE yes I had been dreaming of?

So I sent a text to my husband and my best friend looking for moral support.

I sent them the exact same text that read,"There is an email in my inbox from (Insert Fabric company name), the new company I sent designs to, I can't open it....."

Kevin immediately wrote back, "Let me look."

Me "No! I want to do it."

Kev "Oh I thought you meant you weren't able to open it."

Me "No, I mean, emotionally, I can't open it."

Kev "See, that nonverbal information doesn't come over by text message. What does it say?"

Me "Or that boys and girls think differently. I sent the exact same text to Tobi. We will see how she takes it. I don't know. I haven't opened it yet."

Kev "Of course it will be different for her, you wouldn't be asking her for help opening it"

Me  "I wasn't asking you either"

Now remember, I sent Tobi the SAME initial text. Her response was

Tobi  "Open...open...open "

Done and done.

And this, my dear readers, is why sometimes, although you love your husband dearly, it is a necessity to have a girls night out every now and again.

PS The company wants to see more!!!! YAY! Fingers crossed and lots of prayers!

Sucking resources

I have been on the computer allllllllll day!

Cyber Monday is super crazy if you work for an online company.

Fun. But SUPER crazy!

Especially if there are a few computers that suck all of the available resources and cause the site to crash which in turn requires all orders to be entered in manually.

Oh well. I'll just look at it as a crash course in my training. :)

Thanksgiving day two

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom and that side of the family today.

The food was great and EVERYONE was there!YAY! The Lawsons were able to make it. The kids were in cousin heaven.

We even got to do a first run for family pictures with the new duds Grandma Candace got the kids.

The color scheme will be a bit different, but the black, white and gray are fantastic.

We also FINALLY finished decorating the tree this morning! The kids were SO excited. I told them we would start decorating at 8:05. That meant we heard this the rest of the morning, " OK! It's 8:02! Now it's 8:03!..."

Complete with "Christmas" morning hair and everything!

Morning Run

This morning we ran and walked 3 miles.

Our friends organized their first fundraiser for cordoma cancer research in honor of their 7 year old son they lost to the desease two years ago.

It was a 5k. Beckham beat everyone in our family. Karaia didn't think she would be able to complete it, but she did. It was hard, but she did an incredible job. I was so proud of her!

The weather was perfect. Not to cold and the sun had the best color. It was lovely.

We were very happy to be a part of it.

Why, my sweet little tot...

"There's a light on this tree that won't light on one side. "

 And that would be our tree. 

But it's more like, there's whole rows on this tree that won't light on all sides. 


I swear we checked them all before they were strung. Ask Sanders, he'll tell you. He was supper excited about the whole process. 


On the silver lining side of things, I guess this mean new lights for the tree this year! Yay!


My kids were SO happy to be getting the tree up. Dance moves would break out spontaneously all afternoon.


My favorite was Sanders' dance WITH words, "Jump, jump, kick!"


Darling.


My favorite quote today came from Karaia. I've really been focusing on teaching the kids that I don't care if they get something perfect but I DO care if they try their best and they are their very best selves they can be. Karaia said, "Mom, was I my very best self today?"


Sweet little girl.

Thankful

With so many reasons to be thankful it is a challenge to begin writing anything.

Along with the usual family, home, etc. that I am thankful for, I am also thankful for this unique opportunity I have had of documenting my life this past year in such a public way. There have been some days that I have had to force myself to write. And others that writing has left my heart with peace. Also, the encouragement and support I have felt from YOU is incredible. It's odd to think that the year mark for this goal is coming up and I may not blog every day after that. We'll see if I can talk myself out of the guilt I just know I'll feel ;)

I hope you were able to recognize all you have in your lives and feel a deep sense of gratitude and contentment.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

German precision baking

As I mentioned last week, my husband is a fantastic baker.

He was working his magic again tonight. This time he decided to apprentice two ankle bitters named Karaia and Beckham.

Turns out he teaches how to bake as well as he bakes. They learned how to WEIGH ingredients vs. measure them with with measuring cups and why weighing is superior. *Ask Kev if you would like to know the reasons*

There came a point that the batter needed to be divided into thirds. (They were making pumpkin cheese cake) This required the food scale. Kevin instructed the kids how much the scale should read when they needed to tell him to stop pouring. They took his directions REALLY seriously.

"Almost....almost...aaaaalllmooooost...stop! STOP! STOP!!!!!!!"

Right on the money every time.

At this rate I'll know that when they leave from home they will be able to survive on killer homemade cheesecake.

It's such a weight off my shoulders. ;)

Branching out

Earlier today I found the two little guys like this....

Yes, Sanders is fake sleeping. He does that in the car when you just come home too.

They had formed their own little nest and they had made plans. BIG plans.They informed me that tonight, they would like to sleep here.

We compromised and let them have a sleepover on the floor in Sanders room.

We had to settle them down after Tennyson described the glory and magic of Christmas to Sanders and Sanders just HAD to tell us that, "Santa is coming HERE!!!!!!" That child's eyes could have led Santa's sleigh they were shining with that much excitement. 

After going in there a few more times they finally fell asleep.

I'm a pretty lucky mom to have such fun kids.

You decide

Tonight, for Family Home Evening, we played a rip roaring game of hide and seek per Sanders' direction as he was in charge of the activity.

We learned a few things tonight.

1. Sanders is an incredible hide and seek player. He was often the last or second to last one found because he was always SO still and SO quiet. No wonder he loves this game.

2. Either I am an excellent hider or Karaia needs to buff up on her seeker skills as she "checked" physically, feeling with her hands, my hiding spot in the closet TWICE and never found me.

You decide.

Enlightenment

Time Out For Women was perfect for me. There were a few talks that spoke right to me, but mostly I had ideas pop into my head that had nothing to do with the topic of the speaker and everything to do with a question I had been pondering.

I think I will break up all I learned into a few posts. I wish I was able to truly convey all I feel I've learned, but, well really it comes down to me being unwilling to take the time. The time to really write down what I learned would equate to a book...literally and right now I'm going to focus on one big project at a time. I'm hoping that as time goes on each of these areas will be interwoven so much in my life that I will in essence share little by little just how much I learned.

One of the favorite things said during the weekend was said by Brad Wilcox, "God's delays are NOT denials. " I'm sure you can guess why this would strike a chord with me.

Even though I knew this principle before it is so comforting to hear it again and be reminded of it's truthfulness. God's reasons for delays may never be known, but that's not the point. The point is what we do during the delay. We need to continue to work and study and most importantly have faith.

Hilary Weeks shared a little project she started early this year that I will be incorporating into my life. She said that every morning, during her prayers, she asks Heavenly Father what the MOST important thing was to accomplish that day. Often it was something simple, an email, a note, etc. but time and time again she noticed the small things making the biggest difference.

That alone will completely change my self focused tendencies to an outward searching to help. Only good can come of it.

OK, tomorrow I will focus on the things that I felt inspired to implement into my children's lives.

How you know

I was going to blog about all the wonderful insights I was given at Time Out For Women this weekend. I've been blogging all day in my mind.

That will still happen just not tonight. Tonight I want to touch on something else. Something closer to home.

If your husband willingly, without any hint of complaining, watches the kids, by himself, for a whole weekend so you can pamper yourself spiritually. If your husband, during that same weekend makes the children pasta carbonara---from scratch---for lunch. If you find that your husband has cooked marinated grilled chicken with green beans and peaches for you and the children for dinner upon your return. AND he has also baked this...

...Triple layered cheese cake with a chocolate layer in the middle, oreo cookie crust, topped with chocolate ganache--- every. last. bit. from. scratch, because you mentioned 2 days ago you were craving this very thing. Meanwhile you come home to children laughing and the house looks better than you, the mom, left it because he know that will lighten your load. You will know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you have married the most caring, kind, selfless, brave, thoughtful, man that there ever was.

I am a pretty lucky girl. Don't think for one second that I ever forget that.

Thank you, for everything, Kevin. You are my best friend. I'm not just throwing that phrase around. I mean it. My wish is that I can make you feel as incredible as you make me feel. Thank you for letting me take time for me and then making coming home even better than having me time. I love you.

Time Out

I had the opportunity to go to Time Out For Women with my mom and Tobi. Thank you mom for the tickets!

Time Out For Women is this wonderful two day event that gives you a break from everyday life, fills you up spiritually, and then sends you back into the word better prepared. It's wonderful.

There are always messages that touch me, but the one tonight that particularly landed close to home was this,

"God's delays are not denials."

Love that.

I get to go again tomorrow. SUPER early. Like leave my house at 7:30am early....in appropriate to be seen in public clothing.

Good night.

'Tis the time of year

The first thing out of Sanders' mouth this morning was, "Mom, my tummy hurt."

10 minutes later the poor thing was dry heaving into a bowl. That's right. I have a two year old that made it into the bowl all 6 times today.

It's hard to watch your baby throw up. I think it's even harder to watch them dry heave. Their little bodies trying to expel what isn't there with such force that I am always surprised that their little face return their normal shade after such an experience.

By 3:00 pm he was begging for food. Sneaking into the kitchen any time he got out of my site and ramming anything he could find in his mouth before I could stop him. Thankfully, he never threw up after he started eating again.

When Kevin return home at 6:00pm a bouncing, running Sanders greeted him with high energy, "Hi Dad! I'm sick!" before disappearing around the corner to play some other game.

I wish I knew what made him so sick this morning, but I'm glad he's on the mend.

I am praying no one else get it.

Keep your fingers crossed.

The exact day Sanders truly understood his mom

I was talking to the younger boys about Disneyland and all that is magical concerning that blessed place.

"And we will go to Mickey's actual house and give him a hug! And we will go on rides like we do at Lagoon! *insert HUGE grin from Sanders* And we will have our Mickey ears on..."

Tennyson piped in, "But Sanders doesn't have Mickey ears. "

"And Sanders will get his very. own. Mickey ears.....and mom will cry!"

"Why mom?" asked Tennyson.

"Oh because when I am REALLY happy sometimes, most times, I cry."

To which Sanders summed up, "Mom, you cry? You cry like a baby?"

"Yes, Buddy, yes I do."

At least he won't be shocked when it happens.

Teching parlor tricks

This post is for my dear friend, former roommate, all around fantastic girl. She will TOTALLY know I am talking about her after she sees the following picture as it should remind her of....well, her.

I am passing on the fun parlor trick of playing the piano in unexpected ways that I learned from my friend.

Karaia was both shocked and delighted that I suggest she play a song she had memorized this way. She had no troubles whatsoever. I thought she was just using her memory skills, she hardly made any mistakes and THEN I realized she was READING the music upside down!As if playing backwards with your hands crossed wasn't tricky enough. Amazing little thing.

Lori, thank you for being the inspiration to what will be one of my favorite memories with my daughter!

Big Boy Room Rugby Stripes

The painting in Sanders' room is done!!! It's not perfect, but it's as good as I care to get it.

I'm far from being done with the room. It still needs curtains, art on the walls (all though very minimal), and his big boy bed (which he is refusing to even consider).

However, when a paint job takes 3 weeks to complete it deserves to have a reveal all it's own!

Remember how I used  this method for the stripes?

Source: houseofhepworths.com via Emilie on Pinterest

Well it's AWESOME! It 100 % works! There were very minor touch ups, but I'm convinced that it would have been a ton more had I not used this technique. I also used  Edge lock painter's tape






which I think helped as well. But I know that it wasn't only the tape that gave such amazing results because when I went to do the touch ups I re-taped a few areas and did not use the above mentioned method and it was miserable. Leaking under the tape all over the place.

Without further ado let's see those stripes!

Loving the gray furniture I painted with the stripes!

This is what happens when you have the camera on the wrong settings and you really have NO clue how to photograph a window. Cue celestial angels.

It is surprisingly very, very calm in that room. You wouldn't think so with all the color and pattern, but it just makes you happy to be in there.

It also makes for an extremely cute backdrop for some very wiggly boys!

That book shelf on the floor is going in the blue stripe between the chair rails right at Tennyson's shoulder height.

I think I am going to go with gray curtains....we shall see. Oh do you want to see a quick Before and after side by side? OK twist my arm.

PS I don't hate the blue stripe next to the orange. I kind of adore it.

Well....what do you think?

Who can follow that

Let's be honest. Who can follow a post like that?

Anything I write today is going to be boring just in comparison. So I guess I'll just jump in.

Church was a little different in that I taught the Young Women a lesson on Missionaries. I adore Young Womens and wish that was my calling. But I will settle for being able to pop in now and again.

Sanders wanted to do anything and everything other than sit during sacrament meeting.

We had dinner at my Dad's and the company and food was perfect, as always. Although the cold weather means the kids are indoors and they have SO much energy after a Sunday of being asked to be reverent.

Beckham was super sad to not be at the grown ups table. There just wasn't enough room. I don't ever remember wanting to sit with the grown ups, but that was probably because I always had a TON of cousins my age and my gender. Beckham doesn't really have that. I think he's just trying to find his place.

He has also developed a very strong fear of that dark and being alone. Including with hyperventilating and the whole bit. Not sure how we are going to help him through this....

The Perfectly Pulled off Surprise

As promised here is the post with pictures.

I made sure the camera was right next to me before I sat down :)

Here is the back story.

I help Mrs. Pickett's class every Wednesday. This last Wednesday was no different beside the fact that it was the day immediately following the sad results of the election. Kevin was still in the dumps and I was still trying to brain storm ways to help him see the silver lining.

Talking with Casey we came up with the idea of throwing Kevin a surprise party to congratulate him for having the guts to run in the first place AND it would give the opportunity to educate the students on the process of campaigning and voting.

It worked out perfectly that Kevin had Friday off for Veterans Day. I told Kevin that Mrs. Pickett had asked if I would be able to help her on Friday with a Veterans Day activity and that she had mentioned needing one more parent. I told him that I had volunteered him as well and Mrs. Pickett had said it was ok to bring the little boys with us.

Everything was perfect! He bought the story without so much as a second thought. Karaia and Beckham were REALLY good about keeping it a secret for two whole days and Mrs. Pickett had the brilliant idea to invite the Big Mac class as well.

Kevin, never wanting to be late, suggested we leave early. I told him to wait in the hall with the little boys so they didn't distract the class and I would peek in to make sure they were ready for us. I popped in the class and told them we were here. I then told Kevin to bring the boys in and I ran back inside to get ready to capture the moment with the camera.

Isn't he cute?!?!?

Karaia and Beckham LOVED showing off their dad!

Nothing  better than 50 kids and two teachers giving you a standing ovation! Before he had come in they had listed qualities that they thought someone who was running for city council should have.

After the applause died down the floor was open for questions. The kids had some fantastic questions and Kevin did a really good job answering them and keeping the kids entertained for about 20 minutes. Most of the questions were right on topic and offered some very informative answers from Kevin. My favorite question how ever came from one little boy who asked, " Are you really Green Lantern?" Kevin answered, "Maybe I am!"

The kids also made some posters to applaud Kevin's efforts in campaigning.

Including one HUGE sign

He was totally surprised! It was a much better ending to a very trying week.

Thank you Mrs. Pickett and all her amazing kids! You were the best part of the week!!!!