Derby

Tanner participated in his first Pinewood Derby, and we are so proud of him!

Between Ryan, Tanner, and I, we got the car done, and had lots of fun doing it together.  It took EVERYTHING I had not to just do it for him.  :)

While we worked hard, and did some research, we didn't do as well as he had hoped....But Tanner sure was a good sport, and we all resolved to work harder and do better next time!  Somebody has to bring up the rear!

Pinterest Success....er....not.

It's spring break around here.  It's also in the mid 60's...65 degrees to be precise.  My kids could be playing on a slip-n-slide or with water balloons, but *I* wanted to try this:

It's a newspaper fort, in case you're not well versed in the brains of parents who have nothing better to do, or kids who are super creative!!!

I found it on pinterest last night.  Pinterest is such a time waster, in more ways than one.

I figured that after our AWESOME (and I honestly mean that!) 30 minute piano lessons (they each did a 30 minute practice and we are going places, let me tell ya!), they needed somewhere fun to read.

Why the heck not a newspaper fort?  Our neighbor generously donates his newspapers towards our heating bill (aka, the wood burning monstrosity of a stove we feed every day), and we were getting a bit of a pile-up.

So I stopped at Staples, for....a stapler, since my cute little boys broke mine a few months ago.  We came home and promptly started rolling and rolling and rolling and rolling....

...and rolling till we had a pile of 48 (the recommended amount) rolled and taped paper tubes.

Being the DIY'er that I am, I didn't bother to read the instructions, we just started rolling and taping single sheets of newspaper.  Half-way into stapling them into triangles, I realized we needed to probably do 3-4 sheets per roll.

Oh well.  (Ryan just walked past and said, "Thanks for making it easy for me to start a fire tonight!")

We got one done, and I decided that each boy should have their own little reading space to avoid any FIGHTS....because you KNOW there's going to be a fight in a glass house.

At least one child was enjoying it!  Tanner was having a hay-day with my camera, too.

By the time I (yes....I am the only one left working this circus) finished the second house, there were no rules remaining.  The whole "triangle contraption" went out the window because some kids don't know how to roll corner-to-corner, resulting in very short tubes.

The frustration in the picture above is clearly evident.

What I thought would take us 30 minutes to build, took about 3 hours....and that last 2 hour time frame was just me and the newspaper tubes....and a baby who turned black from newsprint.  Took more than 10 minutes to clean up her shredded mess.  LOL!

Well...now that everyone is outside enjoying the sunshine, I'm going to cozy up in that Newspaper Fort with a good book and read....for as long as it is quiet!

Time does not stop

I often think that if I could just 'freeze' this moment, all would be right with the world....but time does not stop.  Nor will it ever.

Keetley is growing up much to quickly!  She's only 10...wait!  11 1/2 months old!  

Some day she'll be our little dancer.  She just realized she can stand for a moment before toppling over.  

I am thinking the baby legs are much cuter with just the baby and not the whole outfit.  Hehehehe!  Ruffles, piggie tail, and all!  

I know that she is doing as she should be...but I'm SOOOOOOOOOOO not ready for my baby to be learning how to walk!  She's too little.  She's too sweet.  She's not yet one!  

That's it.  I want time to stop RIGHT NOW!  

Time Out For Women

I, my mom and my sister, Deseret, had an awesome chance to attend Deseret Book's Time Out For Women Event here in Idaho Falls.  

It.Was.AMAZING!!!  It did not disappoint!!!  

I thought I'd have a page of notes for each day....and came away with at least a page from each speaker, and a very long list (that had to be reasonably whittled down) of things to implement NOW to be a better wife, a better mother, and a better person.  

We tried to get some pictures, but either someone is squinting, or I have a silly curl in the middle of my forehead, or we're not looking at the camera.  LOL!  Oh wait...here's one.  Taken at the end of the day, when our makeup had been wiped off with the backs of our hands for crying, our lipstick gone from snacking, and our shirts wrinkled from sitting.  

THANK YOU mom, for this wonderful weekend! Thanks also goes to Ryan for being an amazing daddy and having fun with the kiddos while expanding our garden!

And for your viewing pleasure:

someone else had a time out today, too!

There was a LOT of mud to be washed down the shower drain!  I think we used half a bottle of soap and shampoo getting these boys squeaky clean for Sunday. 

My new focus includes:  recognizing the gifts that my children bring to our family, and helping them to develop those gifts; come to know that God made me the mother of my children (they were meant for me!); being patient with myself because God is patient with me.  

being a mom

There are some chores I procrastinate till they must be done.  Laundry and dusting my blinds and cleaning window tracks make the top of that long list.

However, there are some tasks that I find therapeutic, like vacuuming, organizing the kids' drawers, making beds, ironing and making bread.

I could make bread every day and not even feel bad about it.  I might gain a thousand pounds, but I will never tire of tasting the yeasty dough, rounding the loaves, taking them from the oven and slicing a heel to make sure it tastes good, always with room temperature butter (not margarine!) and homemade jam.

Today I had a helper!  She wanted that dough hook as bad as I wanted that scrumptious and freshly ground whole wheat dough!

Tried a new recipe, and it turned out pretty good (getting used to swapping butter for coconut oil)!  You know you're obsessed when you have more than one "whole wheat bread" recipe book, and you keep checking more out from the local library on a weekly basis.

Needing both my hands for loaf making, and Keetley needing lunch, I had to set her down for a few minutes.  :)  Such a cutie, my darling daughter, piggie tail and all!

My favorite tool:  a retro-electric heating pad from the 60's, given to me by my mother-in-law for a kinked neck and backaches during my pregnancy with Tanner....It has stayed in my kitchen, and the cover washed, because it is the heat source for raising these beauties!!!

And of course these loaves were gone by the time I got around to taking a picture of the finished product.  We ate one and gave the other three away.

Being a mom includes many joyful moments, but this is probably my favorite.  ♥

So Happy

I love these little monsters of mine.  They find joy in the simplest of forms:  Playing with baby sister on their bed, building blocks and making her giggle!

I cannot believe that in less than a month, she's going to be one year old!  Crazy at how quickly times goes by. 

Tanner is working on a 'collection' requirement for Cub Scouts....can you guess what he is organizing for his collection???

Yup.  Stickers.  He has THOUSANDS of stickers (some of those are books of 2-1000 stickers!).  The more we do together, the more I realize he is so much like me.  Maybe that's why we don't always see eye-to-eye.  

Simple Joys

Our area is badly in need of snow!  During our family and personal prayers, a plea for more snow and rain to help our crops (not only the garden we'll plant this spring, but for the grass the animals on Grandpa's ranch will need) to grow has been included.

Imagine our huge smiles when our 'bird watching' was interrupted by a spring hail storm, and an inch or so of heavy wet snow!

The two youngest boys didn't waste any time enjoying our answered prayers.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Birding

For the past week or so, Taylor has come home from kindergarten, unloaded his backpack, and reloaded it with fruits, a water bottle, a book and a blanket.  He then hangs his binoculars around his neck and says, "see ya, mom!  I'll be watching for birds.  Please don't come outside because, you know, it will scare them away!"

He then proceeds to quietly shut the back door and scale up our tree.  And then he sits.

And waits.

And watches.

On this particular day, I was able to sneak outside and capture these pictures from the cover of our back porch.

I think Grandpa Poulsen would be proud!

Squeals & Skills (& squirrels)

Been busy with my new hobby....

I'm loving the time I have to do something I've shied away from for years.  It's been fun learning a new skill, and putting it to good use!  Below are a set of leg-warmers for Keetley, and a sweater that is giving me a headache.  LOL!  I am loving the work, but it's tedious, and when I make a mistake, I feel like I've wasted an entire day undoing and redoing.  Yet I still keep working on it.  (not loving the variegated yarn as much as I thought I did, but I'll figure out something to make with it.  It's yummy stuff for a beginner like me...I had some delicious yarn in my hands, and then saw the price of over $30....I gently put it back on the shelf of the little shop I was in.  hehehe!)

I'm very grateful for the help I have received from my mom's sister and my dad's sister, and also dear friends here in my area!!!  What a wealth of knowledge I'm surrounded by!  In the picture below, the bonnet is on bottom (I took it apart, as it was too big, but will re-attach as the hood to this hoodie in due time) and the sweater on top....the bottom of the sweater is done (the detail work) and I need to figure out how to decrease or do sleeves or something....It should be a quick finish!  

I've also been busy playing with this little darling!  She's still army crawling, but is faster than a three-legged cat.  She's learning to pull herself up to this toy and the bar stools, and recently likes sitting on her knees.  She's so clever, and has her brothers wrapped around her fingers!  Truth be told, her daddy and I are also smitten.   ♥

Boys are busy with their usual antics.....being boys!  I've managed to keep them off the roof this spring, but not out of the field, which has many adventures awaiting them each day!  The other afternoon, I was tidying up my counter so I could start in on some strawberry jam, when Taylor came and insisted I look out the front door.  Reluctant to be distracted (I'm SO EASILY distracted!!!), I followed, thinking they had a cute little song they'd rehearsed for me, and upon opening the door, I found THIS:  (warning, graphic dead animal below)...

It's a miracle that it's still in one piece!!!  Hahahaha!  Poor little thing, probably wasn't watching where he was going and tripped some electrical wire somewhere....and happened into the hands of little pranksters in the making.

As much as I wanted to laugh and pretend I was scared, I decided these little sweethearts of mine needed a stern talking to.  So with three fingers, I told them, "One, if I wasn't your mother, you'd have the police called on you!   Do not EVER put a dead animal on someone's porch!  Ever!  Two, I will need to take all four of you (the neighbor girl was over) to the doctor's to get rabies shots.  You can pay for the gas to get us there.  and Three, get in this house to practice your piano!!"  Then I turned around and upon shutting the door, giggled, shaking my head with a great big smile on my face.

I quickly prayed that nobody actually touched this critter with their bare hands....last thing we need is hantavirus or the likes.   I got my kids hands washed with hotter than hot water and soap, then donned some gloves and a garbage bag to give the poor thing a proper burial.

Later that evening, I took care of business and made a flat of lovely strawberries into a flat of delicious jam (with a few containers of whole fruit for snacking).

All in a day's work as a stay-at-home mom.  Today was one of those days where "I LOVE my job!"

The Finest People

Today's been a wonderful doozy of a day, and I really want to record it.

I had all the kids dressed and ready for school, lunches made, ready to kick them out the door, when Ryan texted me, "Check the news....it's -15 outside".

In trying to stay optimistic, I pulled up the district's website, and had Tanner read what was in BIG RED BOLD letters.  A grin spread across his face as he read that school was indeed, canceled, because of freezing weather conditions and extreme wind chill.  Woot!  SNOW DAY!  *deep breath*  I put aside all hopes of making a knitting needle case, and just decided to make a day of it.

I sent the boys to play in their rooms and I headed to my own room to fold a load of laundry.  Just trying to stay on top of the pile of clothes that inevitably end up on my bed each day.  Then the phone rang.  I could see it was the school, and assumed they were calling about the canceled day....I usually get a text, but didn't this morning....funny enough, the secretary said that my boys were right there at the front office!  What the whaaaaaaaaaaa?!  I SWEAR they were playing Legos 5 minutes ago!  Then I remembered telling them "no" when they asked if I'd take them to get their money out of their desk so they could buy a goldfish (Tanner recently read a book about taking care of pets for a Wolf Arrow Point...he's determined to get the rest of that elective finished.  LOL!).  I mentioned this to the secretary, and she offered to unlock the classroom for them.  I told her that would be great, and to send them straight home.  She asked if I wanted to come get them, and I was like, "nope!  They walked there, they can walk home!".  And they did.

I was picking up pajamas from the front room floor when Tanner burst through the front door, "Mom!  Taylor's tongue is bleeding!!  Hurry!  Call dad!!!"  As if *I* wouldn't know what to do about a bleeding tongue?!  I asked what happened, and was told that he stuck it to a metal pole.

go ahead.  laugh.  I certainly did!

I asked how that could have possibly happened, and Taylor explained that he had tried it before, but that the metal wasn't thick enough....this time it was...and this time, it worked.  Much to his surprise.

Well, since we were off to a FANTASTIC start of a snow-day, I decided to jump right in, feet first, and make the day an AWESOME day.  I replied to an invitation to come play in the church gym, and decided we had better run our errands and then we could go play.

After finishing breakfast dishes and bandaging the finger I sliced cutting veggies for my morning juice (I REALLY need to sharpen my knives!), we loaded up in the van, and set out to get a few odds and ends at the grocery store, stop at the pharmacy, and drop something off to a friend.

I'm really not CRAZY to drag all 4 kids to the store...I just have a LOT of faith in them!!!  As I was zig-zagging my way back to the produce isle to get some celery (it's so hard to get everything on the list in order when there are so.many.helpers!) an elderly gentleman stopped his cart and complimented me on my cute kids.  Thankfully my little rascals were actually being obedient and I thanked him, to which he replied, "I don't know if you know this, but mothers are the finest people."

I told him he made.my.day, and smiled like I'd won the lottery.  I almost forgot the celery.

This being a mom thing is not always easy.  There are so many days I want to go get a job outside my home and say "to-heck with all this!".  But then there are days like today, when strangers notice that I'm trying to keep it together and not wring any necks.  There's moments when my oldest two have their hands around each others' necks, kicking and screaming, scratching and wailing, and I put them in timeout for one hour....two hours...and silently say "who are you kidding.  You just punished yourself!".

There are days like today when you're in the throws of a play-date with 9 other moms and there's seemingly 70 children running around the church cultural hall, and you decide that an hour is long enough...it's naps all around!  And you can't get out of there and home fast enough.

There are days like today that you decide that time-out can be educational, so you whip out the manual wheat grinder, slap on those burrs, and dump in those peanuts and make the oldest two make their own peanut butter!

There are days like today that you don't really care if the 3 year old is getting chunks of ice with his brothers, but he's wearing only underwear and cowboy boots....and you let them melt the ice in the steam bucket on the wood stove.  Don't sweat it, right?

There are days like today when you realize that you haven't practiced spelling or reading all.week.long and so you send the other kids to bed to spend time with that ONE CHILD and promptly fall asleep on the couch, giving him words from last week's list in between REM cycles.

There are days like today when I realize I'd rather be nowhere than HERE.  IN MY HOME.  WITH MY CHILDREN.  Teaching them, loving them, laughing with them, bathing them, wiping their snotty noses and dirty bums, feeding them split-pea & ham-hock soup and them licking the bowl with their little fingers.  HERE, picking up toys, tripping around forts, unplugging the computer that gets turned on one-too-many times, sitting side-by-side on the piano bench with tears streaming down both my face and theirs as we learn that practicing something ten times is indeed equal to imprisonment.  HERE, stoking the fire, making bread, washing dirty stinky socks, drying out sopping wet snow clothes, cutting one sandwich in triangles and leaving the others' open-faced.  HERE, reading stories, singing songs, blowing kisses and giggling till we've assumed our workout is complete for the day.

There is NOWHERE I want to be, other than HERE.

The finest people may have to endure some of the most un-fine moments, but it's the little moments of joy that keep them going and waking up for more.

And THAT is what I hope to become....the finest mother my children could ever ask for.

Edited to add:  My microwave just blew up.  Yup!  Smoke, sparks, and flashing of lights!  My day would not be complete without something blowing up.  It gave us a good 10 years!  

In Love

Last week my boys were anything BUT reverent in Sacrament Meeting.  So they got all 'things' taken away for the following week; not allowed to bring colored pencils, crayons, or notebooks to draw in.  Toys are already not invited to come to church with us, and I thought I was being generous in letting them bring something to color with.

Anyhow, after Ryan pulled out his iPhone for Kortlen to play on his phone for the last few minutes last week, I lost it.  I shot daggers at each of my children (minus sleeping beauty) and immediately after the closing prayer, let them have it.

All that escaped my mouth were the words, "you're all done.  Next week WILL be different." and I left it at that!

Upon arriving at home, I laid it all out....NO NUTHIN' next week.  Ryan kindly smiled and said, 'Good idea.  And....I'm working next Sunday".

uh...huh.

He said that.

And it lit a flame inside of me!  I worked all week long, preparing my nervous self  for what lay ahead.  I encouraged my children to find joy in reading their scriptures.  I talked about what it means to make and keep baptismal covenants, and then how neat it is to renew them.

...I played my cards well.

Sunday morning I emptied all scripture bags of everything but scriptures.  Then I packed my bag with a diaper and wipes, and my own scriptures and we walked to church.  Again, I lovingly and gently discussed the reason of going to church with my very smart, and very obedient children.

Can I just say, I am in love with them.  These little boys of mine are growing up so fast.  So quickly.  And I'm responsible for them!  I'm terrified for them.  I pray for them...

They.were.angels.

They listened to the speakers, who spoke on (get this) The Sacrament.  They shared personal stories that touched me and my children.  These same children who think they need to go potty and get a drink 30 minutes after the previous trip....these same children who sometimes make me want to pull my hair out.  These same children sat very still (as far as I could see) when I got up to sing with the ward choir.  THAT right there, was pretty AWESOME!!!

For the first time in a very long time, I was spiritually fed by the Spirit in Sacrament Meeting.  It's often a challenge to not be hushing and holding and calming any one of my children, but today was bliss.

I'm in love with these little monsters of mine!

walking home from church

Missing. Please Return.

Keetley is getting to be such a big girl (despite not even being on the charts at her 9 month check up today!!)!  She's figuring out the whole crawling thing and it's comical to watch her cute little legs lunge her cute little self towards her brother's Lego pieces, puzzles, marbles, and pieces of bark that falls off the wood that inevitably get's dropped when the fireplace is loaded....Don't worry....I pick up and throw away all chocking hazards as soon as she see's them...which is often before I see them.

But she's not the only one with legs!!!

Apparently some of *my* things have sprouted legs and gone missing in the last 3 days.

I have my suspicions, but cannot pinpoint where a certain little boy and his brothers may have helped these things to hide!

So, should you see any of these items floating around in the space called "I don't know.  He did it!", please let me know!

In exchange, we will return any and all pieces, parts, and things we find that don't belong to us.  

*sigh*

Off to check pockets and the washing machine.  And under the couch that I vacuumed under the other day.  And the lazy-susan in the kitchen....where I found my keys a few months ago.

Tanner's Baptism

What a fantastic day our family had!!!

Tanner was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Despite all the planning and checking and double checking the details, there were a few minor hiccups, that luckily I'm laughing about now that it's all over.

I tried to take my sister's advice and tone it down on the 'party' side of things, and really focus on the reason for the gathering.  The saving ordinance that Tanner participated in is/was definitely more important than any decoration.  Together, Tanner and I carefully planned the program; who would talk, who would say the prayers, what songs would be sung, to invite the Spirit into the service.  I tried to delegate the 'details' out as much as willing souls would allow, and I'm forever grateful for the helping hands I had!

There was a mis-communication about filling the font.  And while it doesn't matter, it is very comical that we were filling the font with water from the kitchen with water coolers and any receptacle that could hold water. At the time I was VERY frustrated and more than stressed that the font wasn't filled with warm water, and that the faucet (once unlocked and turned on) was running during the talks.  But when all was said and done, we had a total of 12 inches of ice cold water (usually there's 3 feet of nice, warm water).

My siblings sang Tanner's favorite primary song, "I Like to Look for Rainbows", which is about baptism...and was also sung at all of our baptisms!  Ryan's mom spoke on baptism, and my mom spoke on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Grandpa Poulsen and Grandpa Crandall were witnesses to the baptism.

Tanner and Ryan were troopers though!  There were no negative words muttered about how cold the water was once they entered the font, and Tanner was surprisingly calm. As Ryan brought Tanner out of the water, I could see a silly smile cross my dad's face (he was one of two witnesses to make sure Tanner was fully immersed)....and then I knew....a toe had popped up.  Well, as is was, TWO toes popped up!  And So Tanner was baptized again, having the first time not count.  Poor kid was nearly purple from the cold!  But he did great, and we will never for get this experience.

By the laying on of hands, Ryan confirmed Tanner, giving him the gift of the Holy Ghost, as a constant companion if he keeps the covenants he made.  Those who stood in the circle included Ryan, Ken, Kevin,Gary and Mitch Poulsen, Craig, and Reed Crandall, and family friends Nick Croft and Matt Hansen (bishopric member).

I had the luncheon all set up the night before.  First thing in the morning, I took soups and crock pots to the church and loaded them up with yummy goodness, plugging them in to warm so immediately after the service we could have a luncheon and feed all our family who drove hours and hours to join us.  Even though I had carefully planned, when we got back to the church to eat, three of the main crocks were COLD!  The one I had plugged into the kitchen was warm, but apparently the outlet I used in the cultural hall was tripped.  Oy!!!  THANKFULLY my mom and other family members came to the rescue (yet again!) and got all the soups heated as quickly as possible....and we all really enjoyed the food and company.

There was one detail that I was adament that happened.  Because we were birthday'd out, Tanner didn't get a birthday cake of his own (I had convinced him that rootbeer floats were much more cool!), and I promised that for his baptism he'd have a lot of cupcakes....

So I made 100 cupcakes.

And they weren't too shabby!!!

I am so proud of my little boy, who is quickly growing up!

We WILL get along!

New Year's Eve...and we're all itching to be in our own space!

The trouble with that is, it's harder to keep your hands to yourself, and you're likely to be a little more irritable than normal, and well, when mom doesn't come to the rescue as you're duke-ing it out, you'd better resolve the issue at hand before....

...you get to wear the "WE WILL GET ALONG" shirt!

Thank you, Pinterest!

Did I mention the fighting, arguing, and general contention started well before 6 am this morning???  No???  Oh, I must have been tired and forgot to mention that this 'incident' was ongoing for just under 3 hours.

Let me paraphrase:  Kids woke up, fought over something, squabbled over something else, and finally got yelled at around 6 am.  While I finished feeding the baby in my warm bed, they settled down briefly, before I was yet again woken up by contention in the living room.  After breakfast and making quite an effort to keep a happy disposition, the fighting would.not.cease.  They got time out.  Had to say 10 nice things to each other, while facing each other as I listened at the kitchen sink....they had to say 10 nice things multiple times....coming up with a new list each time.  When time out didn't sink in, they got to wear THE SHIRT, and when they ripped down the middle, they returned to time out.  Boy, did I have a clean kitchen when I was finished with them!!!  They were not allowed out of time out till Ryan came home from his first shift...around 10am....and luckily for them, they were getting along, playing a made up game at the kitchen table at 9:45...so I let them continue to play PEACEFULLY!

What a morning!!!

We spent some time in the afternoon running errands and stopping for a quick and brisk walk along the greenbelt downtown.  I insisted they wear their hats, they insisted they sit on the horse....WIN-WIN.

As one of my sister's pointed out, I'm SO glad Pinterest wasn't around when my mom was mothering us as young children.  LOL!  We would have killed each other.  Ha!

We {heart} Scouting

I have waited a long time for this day, and it has come, and my heart is full!

Part of Tanner's birthday gift was a whole lot'a scout stuff!  We took some time after school working on the Bobcat Badge (memorizing the Scout Promise, Motto, Handshake, meaning of Webelos and other character traits).  In the beginning, memorizing the Scout Promise was a little daunting, but first thing Tuesday morning, we could hear Tanner reciting it and practicing each of the phrases to get them just right.  At 5 am, we assumed he was talking in his sleep, as he often does, but he was working very diligently to prepare for his first day of scouts!  He watch intently as I carefully stitched badges in their proper places.

Tanner is so excited for this new adventure that we know scouting will bring to his life (and ours!).  He came right home from school and put on his brand new crisp cub scout shirt.  I handed over the rest of the uniform necessities, and he spent a good while getting everything perfectly buttoned, tucked in, and straightened out so he'd be ready for scouts in four.long.hours.  :)  He was so excited, he even wore his uniform to group piano lessons!

Taylor and Kortlen were both a little envious of their older's brother new milestone.  I overheard Taylor admiring, "Wow, Tanner!  You look really sharp!  That's such a cool shirt!"  Or Kortlen eyeing the cool new belt and asking if he could try it on.

We discussed his really neat patch that his Grandpa Crandall got him at the Church History Museum earlier this year.  There is a FANTASTIC scouting exhibit there  commemorating 100 years of scouting in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This patch is a really fun souvenir that Tanner is really proud to wear.  I feel like it also represents an amazing scouting heritage that he has.

I am so proud of Tanner and share in his enthusiasm.  I hope we can keep the positive attitude throughout this wild ride, and enjoy it thoroughly!  In his first den meeting, they talked all about different tools.  The boys then took the 10 quilts they tied at Pack Meeting last week (which Tanner was so excited to be able to go, TWO DAYS before his birthday!  LOL!) to a men's shelter downtown.

After den meeting, he carefully hung up his shirt and tucked the neckerchief in the shirt pocket (along with the belt and slide) so it would all be ready for the next meeting.  This prompted me to make a fun little Christmas gift for him that will hopefully be useful and help keep us organized.

So....to prevent THIS from happening...

(It pained me to remove Tanner's neatness to make this mess!)

I made THIS fun and simple caddy for uniform paraphernalia.

Seriously simple.  I wonder how many of these I could crank out in an hour and sell, all proceeds going to future scout camps, of course.  Hahaha!

Living life and loving it

If she could walk, Keetley would be toddling down the catwalk, winning me some more material!

I started this little gem at 10 pm Saturday night.

But when the jumper's zipper didn't go in perfectly (1/16th of an inch off...and with plaid, it was REALLY noticeable), I decided to go ahead and make the jacket to go with the dress....It was all cut out anyways, and baby girl really needed it to make THE LOOK.  I started with a pattern, but after realizing it wasn't what I really wanted, I drafted my own. (Thank you, "true major" required classes!)

I am in love with this fully lined, dropped waist, pleated, invisible zipper, scalloped edge, frog toggle and peter-pan collar ensemble!!!  Long enough to cover legs in tights, but short enough so when Keetley starts to crawl, she won't be too frustrated (which I anticipate will be happening before I can get her New Year's dress done!).

I won the plaid wool at my very first "Make It With Wool" contest when I was 13 or 14.  I think I might have cried when I opened my paper bag prize, and saw this horrid piece of material!  I have held onto it for over 17 years knowing I'd someday make a darling Christmas Dress with it.

The red wool came from a large 'donation' to the 4-H office when I worked there.  The majority of the fabric came home with me, including all the gingham, wool, vintage rick-rack and a handful of zippers.  I was floored that the club leaders didn't want to deal with it.  Didn't I get LUCKY?!

I finally turned off the sewing machine at 4:32 am.  Took this picture, and decided to shower, then head to bed for a cat-nap before getting ready for Church.

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I was asked to prepare a piano number for Sacrament Meeting.  Found a little ditty on Sally DeFord's website, and practiced every day for the 5 days notice I got.  Being as sleep deprived as I was, I am so proud of myself for getting lost on line two and ending up at the end of page two, without having to stop and start over.  Quite honestly, I don't even remember playing the song once I got to the piano, so to say I made it through, was pretty special.

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Every once in a while we have to just live a little.  Since I've re-dedicated my life to motherhood and am more focused on being at home and with my children, we decided to cut 'er lose and enjoy our Christmas decorations!

Yay for trains, exploring, pajama pictures, nativities, and ornaments that roll like balls!

Tonight we drew names.  Not to buy gifts, but to do acts of service.  Taylor excitedly wrote the name of each family member on a piece of paper and with Kortlen, they folded and placed in a bowl.  Our family could use a healthy dose of service and humility, especially since we seem to have a bad case of the gimme-gimme's.  I'm excited to see how this all unfolds in the morning!!!  We seemed to be off to a good start after dinner, and I hope it goes well.