today

1. Our car is dead. Pretty awesome. John called halfway to work and the car was burning white smoke again (it happened yesterday too...probably should have driven the van). Anyway, he's pretty sure that best case scenario, it would cost $1000 to fix, which is about as much as the car is worth.....so we're in the market for a new (to us) car. Awesome. Luckily he has a nice boss who picked him up and let him drive his work van home until we figure out the car scenario.

2. We went to Hadley's school for the Terry Fox run. It was kind of crazy, and in hindsight, I should have just watched them run, instead of actually taking part whilst pushing Sam in a crappy stroller and flip-flops. I walked most of the way, and jogged a little with Hadley and Brian here and there. Elijah took off at the beginning, and luckily some friends of ours stopped him at the school to wait for me.

3. Brian found a small skateboard at the thrift store yesterday, so he and Elijah have been having fun going on it down our driveway.

oreo face

5. Hadley told me what books she wants from the book order at school. ha.

6. I taught Hadley piano. Too bad I can't get mad at her parents for not getting her to practice.....oi.

7. Finished off the day with bath time.

corn

This is what we did on our Friday afternoon last week.

 

 

We husked 113 cobs and froze 35 bags.

Thanks to Nancy for the corn! 

forget not

After attending the Relief Society General Broadcast, I decided I needed to have a visual reminder of Pres. Uchtdorf's talk, so I made this. I plan on printing it out and hanging it in our bedroom.


His talk was wonderful and helped me remember what is really important in life. The gospel is so simple. I'm looking forward to General Conference this weekend and hearing more inspiring words from our church leaders.

If you missed the broadcast, here's a summary of his talk. It should be available in full text soon. Love it.

Click here to download the image

thursday

Here's the picture from the fall fair that I talked about here

I love it. Too bad I didn't roll Hadley's jeans up though....and I had to crop it so that you couldn't see John's shoes. Pretty fun though.

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Last year John fried up some zucchini with squash from his Mom's garden for me. It was delicious. I never thought I liked zucchini until I tasted it. So, naturally this has become a favorite thing for us to make with our zucchini from the garden.

This was my lunch yesterday. I would say that it was healthy, but with the amount of oil and margarine I fried it in, I may have to forgo that comment. I guess the healthy vegetable stuff is still there, right?

To make it, just sautee cut up zucchini in oil/margarine/butter on med-high to high heat until it is a little translucent and browned. Add salt and pepper. So yummy.

wednesday

Today is feeling like a lazy day. I'm sitting on the couch watching the boys play with cars on the floor. Sam included. He loves cars and even drives them around making a car sound. Pretty cute. He throws a fit when the kids all go downstairs to play and I stop him from going with them. He always wants in on the action.

Hadley was really grumpy this morning. She was so reactive to everything!

I lay out her clothes every night before she goes to bed. Last night I laid them out after she was asleep and she didn't want to wear what I picked. NOT GOOD! Oh man. She was not happy, and wanted me to pick out new clothes RIGHT NOW! Not happening......but after a discussion about how she needs to talk to me nicely....blah blah, I helped her decide on what to wear.

Last night we ate supper at a friends house.....which resulted in a late bedtime......which resulted in the fun morning today......so I can't really blame Hadley much.

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Does anyone need a website made for them? My husband's friend (whose house we went to last night) designs websites and is looking for more business. He also is doing a workshop where he will guide you in building your own, and it's only $199 - a very good deal (coming from someone who paid a lady way too much money to make a simple website and then ditch us and ended up having to finish it on my own) - anyway, if you are interested, let me know and I'll hook you up!

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I've been listening to show choir music nonstop. I'm turning into my mother. I remember my mom would never listen to the radio, always show choir music. I understand why now! I've got to get those creative juices flowing. This idea of coming up with choreography is kind of freaking me out.

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Source

Happy Wednesday!

fall fair

Our church puts on a family fall fair every year for everyone in the town to attend.

There were a bunch of pioneer games that kids could play and get coupons to use at the "trading post" for toys.

After the games, we headed to the "photo emporium" where the town Playhouse Society used their costumes to dress us in old west garb and then took photos of us. It was pretty fun and once we get the picture emailed to us I will post it here.

By the time we were done there, we were starving and headed to the big gym to eat. We filled up on hotdogs, chips, and pop, with ice cream for dessert. The kids ate and danced on the stage and then we headed home.

A great night had by all! - although we did miss out on the hayride, pony-pulled buggy rides, and calf roping - oh well, there's always next year!

choreography

I recently started helping with the local Show Choir. My mom started it way back in 1990. I was raised listening to show choir music and hanging out at the school or theatre during practices. It was our life. My mom helps with the show choir still, and I decided I could help too.

I just got back from the first choreography meeting, where we just talked about how to choreograph a song. I'm not a choreographer. I was in the High School Show Choir. That's my only experience. SO. This should be interesting.

Anyway, I hope I can be like this guy someday.......

plethora of pins

Some of my favorite pinterest finds.....

etsy

this would be cute in a wall collage - I will do one some day.....I have all the frames, just need to spray paint them.....

couldn't find the source...

cute idea - we've got a big pile of reclaimed wood!

whatever

love this - I need to get some crayons while they're still on sale - this would look great in they playroom or craftroom

southernliving

so lovely

seven thirty three

this would be great for church

source

this is practically free to make - my kind of craft!

source

another practically free project!

source

I really need to either buy this or make one before my kids are grown!

Follow me on pinterest here
 *warning - if you haven't checked out pinterest before, use caution, it is VERY addicting! 

a good reminder

from mbartstudios on etsy

boy do I wish I had this quote fresh in my mind last night at bedtime.........

babywhispering

There are SO many different ideas out there about how to get your baby to sleep.

With Hadley, I was determined to get her to be a good sleeper (whatever that means). Someone recommended the book "The Baby Whisperer". I tried it...and tried it.....and tried it. Man did I ever stress out about that stuff. So dumb. I was kind of impatient so it didn't work out so well. I couldn't handle her crying so in the end she slept in the swing until she was too big for it, and then I bounced her to sleep until she was around a year old. By then I think she would go to sleep relatively well on her own....I can't really remember actually....foggy mom brain.

With Brian and Elijah, I was pretty much in survival mode. They slept in their swings or in their bouncy chairs. We would swaddle them and then bounce the chairs with our feet while reading or on the computer. It worked well for us, until the week where both swings and bouncy chairs broke! Awesome. Elijah slept well on his own, but I ended up bouncing on an exercise ball to put Brian to sleep. Majorly bouncing! Besides the bonus of getting a workout, it was way lame and would take forever. Enter baby whisperer tactics. It kind of worked, but not really. I would still give in and bounce him to sleep every once in a while. By the time they were about 14 months old, John decided to take matters into his own hands and just laid them both down and walked out and closed the door(this was after doing the baby whisperer for a couple weeks). They did great and didn't cry. They just jabbered for a bit and went to sleep. I think having each other in the room together helped for sure, AND they were old enough to sooth themselves.

With Sam I figured I would do whatever to help him sleep. They are only babies for a short while, right? And, I only had one this time! So, I would nurse him, and if he was still awake I would bounce him in his bouncy chair until he fell asleep......until last week. While John was bouncing Sam to sleep, our $3 used bouncy chair broke. I was planning on just bouncing him to sleep until he was around a year old and then figured he'd be old enough to withstand the baby whisperer deal. Close enough, I guess. He's 10 months old now and is actually doing alright without mr. bouncy chair.

This is how I do my own version of "the baby whisperer" for Sam:
1. Nurse him and hope he falls asleep.(btw - the real "Baby Whisperer" says NOT to do this.....whatev)
2. Lay him down if he fell asleep nursing.
3. Exit the room as quietly as possible, trying to avoid the floor creaks (which is pretty much impossible)
4. If he doesn't fall asleep while nursing, I lay him in his playpen
5. Sit by his playpen where he can see me.
6. He cries/plays around
7. When he stands up and is crying, I pick him up and the second he stops crying, I lay him back down.
8. Sometimes I leave my hand on him so he knows I'm there
9. repeat steps 6-8 until he falls asleep
10. sneak away and do a happy dance

There are few reasons behind the method of our put-to-sleep madness. I've always had an issue with the "cry yourself to sleep" method. The issue mainly being.....I can't handle it. So we've adopted the "doing whatever you can to help them sleep with minimal crying" method, which usually results in a LOT of bouncing......

After reading the book "The Science of Parenting", I felt good about my new found "method". Here's an excerpt from this book:

"Earlier generations of parents let their babies cry because it "exercised their lungs," having no idea how vulnerable the infant brain is to stress. In a crying baby, the stress hormone cortisol is released by the adrenal glands. If the child is soothed and comforted, the level of cortisol goes down again, but if the child is left to cry and cry, the level of cortisol remains high. This is a potentially dangerous situation, because over a prolonged period, cortisol can reach toxic levels that may damage key structures and systems in a developing brain. Cortisol is a slow-acting chemical that can stay in the brain at high levels for hours, and in clinically depressed people for days or even weeks."

"--it is not crying itself that can affect a child's developing brain....It is prolonged, uncomforted distress. So I'm not advocating rushing to your child as soon as her bottom lip starts to wobble or after a short burst of protest crying that lasts a few minutes....Prolonged crying is the crying that any sensitive parent...will be able to recognize as a desperate calling for help. It is the type of crying that goes on and on and on, and eventually stops when the child is either completely exhausted and falls asleep or, in a hopeless state, realizes that help is not going to come."

Now, I'm not claiming to be a baby expert. I'm far from that. I've let my babies cry before. Sometimes I just can't handle it and need to let them cry for a few minutes while I relax or else I might do something I regret. Obviously, that is the best thing for me to do at that time. However, this book has opened my eyes a little bit and has fortified my ideal of comforting my babies to sleep.

grade one

Hadley started grade one last week. Weird. I'm still debating on whether I like her to have a lunch or not. Lunch break is only a half hour so she's only home for about 15 min. Since we live so close to the school, I think I will have her come home at least until it gets too cold for her to walk. I sure miss that girl during the day!

Brian and Elijah have been playing really well and differently together, and it's been fun to watch though.

She was ready for me to leave, but I had to snap one picture of her in her desk

Hadley loves her teacher and is reading up a storm. It's so fun to listen to her read and get excited about it. Her last take home reading phrase was "No Lad. No Jill. Is Lad here? No. Is Jill here? No."
She kept cracking up while reading it because of the question intonation she would do. After reading it the required 10 times, she was practically peeing herself laughing. It may have been getting late......

restart

So, I'm wanting to kind of change up th'old blog a bit. I don't know about you, but I like to read blogs. Especially blogs written by real moms, about real stuff. Throw in a few tutorials, before and afters, organizational tips, and you've got a blog that I subscribe to!

I have been writing my imaginary blog in my mind for quite some time, but have been reluctant to take the plunge. Who needs another blog written by a stay-at-home mom anyway?

I do.

I need somewhere to record my life. Somewhere to share my creations. Somewhere to write ideas and things I'm learning.

So. Here is my new blog. Same place. Different name. And hopefully more consistent.

Life is fun!