Little Toy Trains

Music for me is as much about the memories it invokes as it is about the the song itself. Christmas music is no exception. It seems sometimes my favorite songs are because of the memories it brings of my childhood. This song is one of those.







I remember my dad putting this record on and it playing throughout the house as we went about our various Christmas preparations.

Today it has an extra special meaning since I have a little boy who is just at the perfect age for the wonder of Christmas. It has been so fun to watch his excitement and his eyes as he comes to better understand what it all means.

Who knows maybe this year there will be a train coming out of Santa's sack for that little boy.

Now to just make it through the day until it really is time for that little boy to go to bed.

Sweet Dreams 

 

and 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Birthday Wish

                                                                                Picture from here

I love this time of year!

Most people are generally happy.

There are so many fun events and activities to look forward to.

I would much rather be cold than hot.

I love sweaters, the calming sound of heat blowing through the house, wrapping up in a blanket, socks, hot wassail, mint.

I have often wondered if we are born during our favorite time of year or it is our favorite because we born at that time.

Over the years I have often been asked how is it being born so close to Christmas. I don't really mind it. I'm sure it was hard on my parents but they were good at making me feel special on my birthday. A fact I'm very grateful for now that I'm a mom. It can take a lot of planning and brainstorming to do two major events of a child's life and make each one special.

My birthday is typically the day school lets out for the Christmas break. I loved it growing up. If you have to go to school on your birthday, could there be a more fun day? It's usually only half day and then it's many days after that of no homework and regular activities. Just fun times spent with family. It is usually a day of parties at school. This year I get to help out with two class parties.

Last year we had a pretty major snow storm the evening before my birthday. In fact, many friends had so much snow they cancelled school. Much to my kids delight ours wasn't so they could still have their parties. We then came home and played in the snow. It was a perfect way to spend my birthday-playing with my kids in something I love.

Most years we never seem to get enough snow. I always find myself wishing for one more big snowstorm. I guess I'm of the thinking if I live where we are supposed to get snow and are prepared for it then bring it on. My husband has to remind me that in reality we live in a desert. I know, but I have memories of years with a lot of snow and want it every year desert or not.

It's not looking like mother nature is going to agree with me this year and give another birthday gift of snow. A girl can always hope.

I have always loved this song and this year it is my birthday wish. Please send some snow!

Look A Like

Over the years my girls have loved to get sponge curlers put in their hair. There was a time when this was quite a production as all four would want curlers on the same night. We would have to scrounge around just to find enough curlers.It was then assembly line style while we watched a movie before bed. They then slept the night, loosing a few in their beds, and in the morning we had a bunch of curly heads.

Every once and awhile the hair was just the right length and they were at the right age that we would get what we have come to term the Shirley Temple Hair.

Now how about some animal crackers in your soup for lunch.

Neighbor Gifts

Do you do them?

We do and it is something my girls have always enjoyed delivering.

It is always a dilemma for me if we should do treats or not. Sometimes the amount of goodies at this time of year can be overwhelming. I know it was when we were first married. Now days it's not a problem. Lots of kids means the treats are consumed pretty fast. Because of this concern I am often on the look out for unique gifts that aren't treats. The trick is finding something that fits in the budget. Especially when we give out so many. This year alone we gave out over 30 and that was after trimming the original list that my girls came up with. That many gifts can get expensive so most years we end up making treats.

This year was one of the first years where my kids were heavily involved in the making of the treats and it was actually a help and fun. They were all at a good age where having their help was easier.

This year we made cookies to go along with this poem that we gave out

Christmas ABC's

   

A is for ANGELS

With robes so bright

Whose carols were heard

On that first Christmas night.

B is for BABY.

The Christ Child so dear.

We celebrate His birthday

On Christmas each year.

C is for CANDLES

That so brightly shine

To give a warm welcome

To your friends and mine.

D is for DOORWAYS

With garlands of green

To make Christmas merry

As for as they're seen.

E is for EVERGREENS

A Christmas decor

We see at the windows

And hung on the door.

F is for FUN

The whole season long,

From trimming the tree

To singing a song.

G is for GREETINGS

A merry “Hello”

With a heart full of love

For people we know.

H is for HOLLY

With berries so red

To make into wreaths

To hang over head.

I is for ICE

On snow covered hills

Where sledding is fun

Along with the spills.

J is for JINGLE BELLS

Merrily ringing.

To the whole wide world

Joy they are bringing.

K is for KRIS KRINGLE

so happy he stands.

He's also called Santa

In some other lands.

L is for LANTERNS

I'm sure that their light

Helped Mary and Joseph

That first Christmas night.

M is for MARY

Her heart full of love

For her Son, little Jesus,

Who came from above.

N is for NOEL

The angels did sing

To herald the birth

Of Jesus, the King.

O is for ORNAMENTS

So shiny and bright.

With lights on the tree,

They sparkle at night.

P is for PACKAGES

Presents so gay

All ' round the tree

For our Christmas day.

Q is for QUIET

Christmas Eve night

With snow covered hills

Glistening so bright.

R is for RED

A color so gay,

Makes thing look bright

For that one “special”day.

S is for SHEPHERDS

Who first saw the star

Over Bethlehem's manger

And followed it far.

T is for TREES

We decorate so gay

They wait for old Santa

To hurry their way.

U is for UNIVERSE

All countries and places

Where the spirit of Christmas

Shows on bright, happy faces.

V is for VIXEN

That lively reindeer

Who always helps Santa

Deliver the toys each year.

Wis for WISE MEN

Who brought gifts so rare

And fell down and worshiped

The Christ child so fair.

X goes with O

And expressed much better

The kisses and hugs

In our Christmas letter.

Y is for YULE LOGS

Whose bright sparks fly high

And give a warm welcome

To friends passing by.

Z is the last of the letters, and yet

It's the only one in the alphabet

That doesn't stand for something you see

And usually found on the Christmas tree.

But as Santa said as he ZOOMED out of sight,

“Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

JOY

Oh the JOY of pregnancy.

I have one normal leg and one purple leg from the calf down to my toes. Gotta love varicose veins (which I swore I would never get by the way).

Joint pain. My right hip hurts almost constantly. Thankfully some days it is easier than others so I can walk around without a limp.

I feel huge. Maybe I could play the jolly old man at the Christmas Eve party and wouldn't even need a pillow. Of course the beard might be a problem.

I feel huge but then I put on some maternity clothes and it's depressing how much bigger I have to get (maybe the pants have just lost their elastic).

My youngest two complain that I'm always in the bathroom. I swear some days  I can pee upward of five times an hour.

I feel like a punching bag on the inside and some days I think this little one is working on a gymnastic routine or maybe she is just dancing to all that Christmas music (really though this is a JOY for I know all is okay with each little movement).

I don't need an excuse to enjoy some of my favorite things of the Holiday season:. Cuddling up to watch Christmas movies or reading by the light of the tree.

Now if I can just survive my glucose test today I might even get to enjoy some Holiday treats!

Honesty

Is it always the best policy?

In my opinion,  Yes!

But that doesn't mean it is easy.

Sometimes the honest thing can be easy to rationalize when it isn't in our favor. Recently my husband found a great deal on a flat screen monitor. Of course when he went to buy it they were all  sold out. He did the next best thing and went to another store that advertized that they price match They had the monitor and he left feeling he had got a great deal. When he got home, upon closer inspection, he saw that they had given him a larger monitor than the advertized size. Talk about a great deal getting better. Of course the honest thing was to take it back but it meant time. My daughters remark was, "but it was their fault. You did nothing wrong?" True, but was it honest? For us this decision was easy for we couldn't fit the larger monitor in the allowed space.

What about those time when the honest thing isn't obvious? The other day I bought some yogurt and used a coupon. It was buy six and get 40 cents off. While checking out the checker sure seemed to be doing a lot of transactions  I figured she was just making a lot of mistakes and didn't think anything of it.  A few days later, when I was doing our finances and going through the receipts, I happened across the receipt for the yogurt. I'm still not sure what had happened but as I looked over the receipt I wondered if she had scanned the receipt six times.  That would have meant I got 40 cents off each thing of yogurt instead of 40 cents of all six. I wasn't sure, though, since I had used quite a few coupons that day. I had to stop and wonder what was the honest thing?

Sometimes the honest thing is so inconvenient. Take yesterday, I had bought some butter. I told the checker I had 12 boxes. After coming home, while putting the butter in the freezer, I casually counted the boxes. Things seemed a little more than 12. Sure enough, after carefully counting, I had 14 boxes, not 12. Immediately there was no question I needed to pay for those two boxes. I tried calling the store to see if they could just charge my credit card. Nope!. So of course I had to drive back to the store. Let's just say I hit every red light on the way. When I got to the store I couldn't find a parking place (it's a pretty small store).My daughter and I circled around to the other side of the store, which meant waiting for the light, and again no parking place. We again drove around, waiting again for the light, and proceeded to wait until someone came out of the store. It would have been so easy just to say it wasn't worth it for two boxes of butter. Especially since it was lunch time and we both just wanted to go home and eat. Talk about adversity when you are trying to do what is right.

Being honest is often the harder thing to do. It can be inconvenient and most often not in our favor. Over the years I have learned, though, that the peace of mind that comes when I do the honest thing far out weighs any inconvenience or great deal I may have gotten. I am also being an example to my children that honesty is important, which probably was the main point of the situation in the first place.

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Well maybe if it is this cute

I love the waddle as they come onto stage






For my mom's benefit here's the other dances we enjoyed at the girls Fall Concert.

The Big Bad Wolf





This was Minnie favorite

Briony



Tight Rope

Tator Turns Six

Tator is V.I.P at school this week. As part of this she made a poster to share with her class. Here is some of the things she choose to share.

• Favorite Color: pink and red
• Favorite Food: pizza and strawberries
• Favorite Treat: salt & vinegar chips and cookies & cream ice cream
• Favorite Candy: Sour Patch Kids
• Favorite Animal: horse
• Favorite Game: UNO Attack
• Favorite Holiday: Christmas
• Favorite Number: 6
• Favorite Book: The Biggest Snowman Ever
• Loves to paint, dance and swim
• Likes to go places with her family
• Loves to wear dresses

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

to a girl that truly has a an explosive personality, 

is a great playmate for her brother 

and loves surprises! 

By the way, the gift is a FurReal Friends GoGo My Walkin'Pup. If you have a girl around this age we would recommend it. It works well, encourages imagination and as Tator put it, "I couldn't have asked for a better present!"

Just a Nightmare

A couple of nights ago I had a dream. Like most dreams the details are hazy but my husband and I and some family members where in some exotic place. My husband and a friend had gone out on a boat at night and decided to jump into the water. The next thing I can remember is finding out my husband had died. Something to do with hitting his head on the blade of the boat's motor. It is amazing how intense emotions can be in a dream. I truly felt just like my husband had died. Such extreme sadness it truly felt like a nightmare. I woke up with tears streaming down my face and the words, I just can't do this by myself running through my mind.

I am so grateful that it was just a nightmare. Like most of you, I don't know how I would live without my husband and truly hope to never find out. Here's some things I love about this guy.

His charitable heart. Recently my husband celebrated another birthday. On a Sunday, in fact. Sunday's are long for me. I can't imagine how it is for him. Especially this time of year with tithing settlement. He starts with meetings at 7:00 am and goes all day until our 1:30 church time. After church he gets to come home for a few minutes where we do a quick family counsel and dinner and then most Sundays he heads back to the church from 6:00 until about 8, sometimes 9 pm. I'm sure it can be tiring trying to listen and meets the demands of each ward member. He seems to do it though in such a way that each person feels important and understood. He is also ever willing to help someone. I can't count how many times he has loaned someone tools or cars without a second thought.

His sense of humor. I think his ability to make all of us laugh is what helps me stay grounded and loose my temper a lot less. And of course his hugs. I love it when he comes up from behind and wraps his arms around me. Life just seems better.

Quite often he can be found like this-talking with someone. He has an amazing ability to relate to people and seems to have something to contribute to just about every conversation.

For his birthday this year I took all the mementos his mother had saved over the years. They where just in a big pile and scrap booked them. It was fun for me and especially my kids to see a glimpse of what his life was like before we knew him. I was impressed by comments from various teachers that at his young age so reflected who he is and what he became. As an example was one that said, "He has natural abilities in math". This is so true. My daughters benefit from his homework help on almost a daily basis. More than just his understanding of math is his ability to assess and teach it in a way they understand.
 

Kind of cheesy, I know

I am so grateful for his handy man skills. While sometimes I have to learn patience as I wait for him to have the time or desire it is so nice to know he can fix most anything.

As one of his biggest fans said today, "Dad is awesome. Dad can do anything!"

I don't think Bud Boy could have said it any better.

Love ya!

(and NO boating at night)

Feeling Grateful

                                                                                                                                  picture here

In preparation for a recent activity day I reviewed a talk given by President Monson entitled, The Divine Gift of Gratitude. In this he shares the story of when Jesus feeds 4,000 with seven loaves and a few fishes. President Monson points out that the Savior took the loaves and fishes and gave thanks. Then a miracle followed-he fed everyone until they were filled and had seven full baskets left over.

President Monson states, "Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God's love."

I love this! I have definitely felt this in my life lately.  The last few weeks I have stayed pretty busy with a variety of projects.  Mostly things centered around this time of year with the holidays and birthdays. Amongst that have been projects that I haven't been able to do the last few months and things in preparation for having a new baby. My husband says I have five months of morning sickness and then five months of nesting. I don't know about that. I do know that I have been so grateful for the timing of things. I don't know how I would survive all that moms do during this holiday time of year if I was still dealing with morning sickness. This is one blessing I have recognized lately and so grateful to the Lord for the timing of things.


Another part of this talk that I loved was this statement:

A grateful heart, then, comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort-at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude. Often we feel grateful and intend to express our thanks but forget to do so or just don't get around to it. Someone has said that "feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."

I know for one that I can do better at expressing my gratitude to others. I loved the gift analogy. Seems especially fitting for this time of year.  I hope to do better at actually giving "presents" to those who bless my life.

Seasons of Color

Yesterday we spent a good portion of the morning cleaning out the dead flower beds and raking leaves. It is hard to believe that the vibrant colors of Fall are almost gone.

This year Minnie decided to capture these colors in her entry for the school reflection program.

The theme was "Diversity Means...." She choose to show this in the color, texture and shape of leaves.

She was pretty surprised to learn that she won first place. 

Congratulations!

Like many of you we also spent time this weekend putting up Christmas decorations.

While I will miss the natural color of nature it was fun to see the colors of this holiday season as we enjoyed the glow of Christmas lights.

Full Circle

When my husband's sister was a young mom her mother (my mother-in-law) gave her a suit for her toddler son. 

When I had a toddler of my own she gave me that same suit coat. 

Not quite sure how I ended up with it for my toddler was a girl.

Anyway, I made a little skirt and much to my mother-in-law's delight she wore that suit coat with it.

It has been passed down to three other toddler girls. 

Now.............it is finally worn again by a boy (only with pants of course this time around).

He's all about the big cheesy grin right now

How we did it this year

Today I threw out our jack-o-lanterns. I couldn't help think of the memories from carving these and decided I wanted to remember this year's experience.

It was fairly warm the Saturday before Halloween so we carved pumpkins outside. I love it the years we get to do this.

Bud Boy was all giggles as he cleaned out the inside. After carving his requested face he spent time trying to put the shapes back in. Nice impromptu puzzle. Halloween night he refused to let Dad light the candle in his pumpkin.

We were able to grow our own pumpkins this year. I guess we didn't pick them quiet early enough, though, for as Karebear cleaned out her icy pumpkin she kept complaining about her frozen hands. She is all pro at carving and got two jack-o-lanterns made this year.

The boo was pretty cool at night. Wish I had thought to get a picture

After about 2 hours Jolly J came into the house exclaiming, "I just spent two hours carving a giant hole in my pumpkin." She was attempting to create what was called Bug-A-Boo. Let's just say the creature didn't quite stay connected. Her solution, super glued it back in place. Pretty creative and amazing what that stuff can do!

Minnie must have been into the green this year as she picked two green pumpkins. She carved a  Frankenstein in one and then painted another. Being outside she got mom to say yes to painting for the first time this year.

And lest we forget Tator rounded out this year with a bat carved in her "perfect"pumpkin she got on her Kindergarten field trip.

Guilty Pleasure

A few years ago, for an enrichment activity, I volunteered to help out with some of the food. I was asked to make a praline sauce and fell in love with it.

While they used it to top ice cream that is probably the way we use it the least.

We especially love to make it at this time year to go with apple slices.

My absolute favorite is to smother cornbread with it.

Judy's Southern Praline Sauce

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (I use the very finely chopped; can cut this amount in half)
1/4 cup butter (not margarine, water content is too high)
1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white corn syrup
3 Tablespoons flour
small (5 oz) can evaporated milk

Spread nuts on baking sheet; bake at 300 for 15 minutes. Set aside. Melt butter in medium saucepan; add brown sugar, corn syrup, and flour, stirring well. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes,stirring constantly. Remove mixture from heat and let cool til lukewarm. Gradually stir in milk and nuts. It will seem like it isn't going to mix at first, but it will.  Taste great straight from the pot but absolute divine a day later when the nuts have softened a little.

Fall Tradition

One of our favorite things to do each Fall is to go camping. The weather is great and we love the colors. As expected we also have to take pictures. While my kids may not always like it for they are are usually dressed in their least favorite clothes and hair looks like they are roughing it; it is so fun to catch a little of unscheduled life.


As I look back over the years at these photos, I'm amazed at how much they have grown. I guess I often don't notice it living with them and having them change a little at a time.

While they have definitely grown over the years they are still just as much fun to take pictures of

Where's Waldo?

This was a phrase we heard a lot from dad during our holiday activities. 

Can you find him (or her)?

picture source

Hidden Blessings

Tiny miracles. Call it what you may but I'm thinking about them today. First off I'm still amazed that we are posting about pregnancy and a baby on this blog. Deep down I never really thought that would happen since I started this blog after my son was born. Pregnancy in and of itself truly is a miracle.

To let our kids know that we where having a girl we brought home a boxed pink ice cream cake. After going around and having each child say what they thought the baby would be, they opened the box for the answer. My son has always said this baby was a boy. The girls were an even 50/50 split. Bud Boy was pretty disappointed about it not being a boy and for the next few hours was quite angry. It broke my heart to see him so upset and I was amazed how much he actually understood.

Things are fine now and back to normal. It was nice to hear him say yesterday, "I'm so excited for my birthday and the baby" (He's knows his birthday hopefully will come right before this baby. I say right before because they both have the same due date so we are just hoping they end up with different birthdays). Anyway, so grateful children are resilient and adaptable.

There was a part of me that thought we were having a boy as well . Mostly this stems from that it would have been very convenient. We could put all the kids together in groups of two. I've done the baby girl thing in a group and could now do the boy thing in a group. I already had all the clothes for a boy. A couple of years ago I gave away all our baby girl things (except for the few precious ones that held memories to dear to part with) to our younger two nieces. Giving those things away was a decision I thought long and hard about. They were given freely with no expectation of having them back. It was something that I felt really good about. This fact alone was why I really thought we were having a boy.

Convenient is not always the Lord's way. This weekend my husband and I got away for a couple of days. It was perfect timing and just what we needed to process this new turn of events.

One major concern with adding another child was what rooms everyone would sleep in. If we had a boy we would have needed to move our five year old (who currently shares a room with her brother) upstairs into her 12 year old sister's room. While this was the easy solution it was a big concern for me because the upstairs is on a different schedule. Later nights because of homework and activities and early mornings. My five year old is one who really needs her sleep. Having a girl is a hidden blessing for it alleviated this issue. She can now stay downstairs and share a room with her new baby sister.

Of course it means we need to find a room where Bud Boy can have his own room. The means a lot of moving around. We are going to move our computer/craft room (ie the office) upstair into a sort of family/toy room. The space available to put the computer is quite small. Thanks to some shopping at IKEA (love that they cater to small spaces) I think we found a desk that will work. The hidden blessing is things will be a lot more organized. I love organization!

For a variety of reasons I won't bore you with we also needed to purchase a new car seat and stroller. This was something else we spent some time checking out this past weekend. We had decided on the model we wanted but knew we needed to save up some money. Just before leaving we turned around to see  the travel system we had wanted marked to almost half. It was a design they where discontinuing and thus it was on clearance.  It was pink!  I would have never thought of buying pink before. Always thinking of what future kid might need to use it. We just so happen to be having a girl and not worried about a future kid (I really hope this is truly the case for I can't do another pregnancy again- so hard this time around). It was a hidden blessing.

Having a girl means a little more work as we reorganize our home and need to buy girl things. I can see that those things are actually for the better and the Lord is blessing us with the means to be able to do this. I spent yesterday going through all the baby clothes and pulling out what might work for a girl. I waffle between sadness over all that I have to buy and excitement of new things. If things go anything like the car seat we bought this might just be the most spoiled girl we ever had.

Introducing.......

Our FIFTH DAUGHTER

Yep it's a GIRL!

It will be fun to see how this one looks and what her personality is like. Currently she is one active girl. The ultrasound tech spent a lot of time chasing her around. Most importantly she is healthy and all things appear to be normal and right on schedule. 

We are excited for this new little one that has already stolen a piece of our hearts.

First Field Trip

I love Kindergarten for it is filled with so many firsts. Tator was so excited to go on her first Kindergarten field trip. I think she was even more excited for her first bus ride. Oh if I could just bottle up her joy and enthusiasm over the bus and save it for when she is older and rides it everyday.

Traditional to this time of year the field trip was to pumpkin land.

When asked what her favorite part was she replied, "EVERYTHING!"

Inspiration

                                                                             photo source

Have you ever wonder what to post about?

Felt like most of what you think of to post is pretty common, nothing new, everybody's heard it?

Sometimes I do.

I started thinking about this and then about the various blogs I read. You know I've never really thought that about what I read. In fact quite the opposite.

Sure sometimes I'll read a post about a pretty common subject or idea that isn't new. I realized, though, that often I needed a reminder at that current time in my life. A reminder of hey, I should be doing that or I could do better at that. Oftentimes a suggestion is given to help me have a little more focus and motivation to do better in that area of my life.

Sometimes I'll read a recipe someone has posted. It may not be a recipe I would try but I'll be reminded of something similar that I haven't made in awhile. It's inspiration to go and make it.

Or I'll be inspired to do something better for or with my kids.  Like the other day I read about some great after school snacks. I was just inspired to actually make my kids something for snack rather than the usual fend for yourself. We sat down together and enjoyed a few minutes talking.

The inspiration I get is one of the things I love about reading blogs. It's the reason we shouldn't worry too much if what we are blogging about isn't the next greatest idea. Rather just write about something we feel a desire to tell someone else about. Hey it just might be inspiration for someone.

Saving Money: Credit Cards

 photo source

Kind of a oxymoron I know. The other day I heard someone say credit cards were eating them alive and they were going to cancel them. I'm all for people finding ways to get out of debt and stay within a budget. For some this is what it takes. For us credit cards is one way we make money.

First off the key is to have a credit card that doesn't have an annual or minimum fee. Second pay the whole bill each month. Interest rates will "eat you alive". Also be able to have a budget and stick to it. If you can't then credit cards aren't for you. If you don't have the money for it in the first place then don't buy it.

We make money by having credit cards (I have two different ones) that offer cash back. Ours currently give 1%. With current bank interests rate at 0.2% we get more money from cash back. Every three months there is also certain areas that if you sign up for them you get 5%. We then pay almost everything with credit card to earn the most amount of money possible.

I love having a statement listing where our money was spent. It also helps keep us on budget for I can go online whenever I want and view the recent activity. It helps in knowing when to spend our money. Like when trying to decide if we should go out to eat. The statement is often categorized. I can view what has been spent at restaurants (plus see expenses I may have not have been aware of such as my husband going out for lunch) and see if we have already spent the budgeted amount for the month.

Everyday Life

Today is one of the those day where I just feel like complaining.

I'm tired of always butting heads with one of my children. It seems no matter what I try I just can't get it right.

I'm tired of kids coming to me complaining of something their sibling is doing to them. The next thing I know they are then doing the same exact thing to their younger sibling.

Just how much toilet paper does a family of 5 girls use?

Oh, the joy of varicose veins.

But alas, that isn't very fun to read so instead I'll fill this post with random things I want to remember but can't seem to think of a fun way to make a blog post out of them. Plus that's pretty much what this blog is for-me and my kids and the ability to remember everyday life.

• I cleared my garden out the other day. Most of the plants aren't producing or got hit by a recent cold spell. I sure am going to miss home grown tomatoes this winter. My five year old highly disagrees. She thinks "I'm disgusting" for eating tomatoes.

• I think my youngest two are going through zucchini withdrawal. Normally we plant one plant and it is more than enough. It's all we can do to keep up with that one plant's production as we eat anything possible made from zucchini-muffins, bread, casserole, pizza and even freeze grated zucchini for later. This year that one plant could hardly produce enough for my youngest two to eat. The standing joke was if you want any zucchini you had better get it before it gets passed to them.

• To help Jolly J prepare for her upcoming belt test we have been going to the indoor track. It's a good thing she likes karate for I think we have something related to karate every weekend for the next few weeks. One of which is her brown belt test. If you remember from this she has to run. This time it is 3 miles. We have made it a family affair. My youngest two thing it is the greatest. The love going to the track! Recently when discussing what to do for an upcoming school vacation their first suggestion was, "We could go to the track!"

• I am so grateful to be feeling well enough to make bread. I'm glad my kids can make memories of playing with the dough just as I did as a kid.

• My son dumped out the plastic tub toy box the other day and spent a few hours pretending he was a turtle. Boy do I have memories of playing with big cardboard washer boxes in my front driveway. They were good for so many things.

Hey, it's Friday and only one more week until we find out if we are having a boy or a girl (any guesses?)

Have a great weekend!

Saving Money: Cable, Phone, Internet

It seems there is a lot of things people have done to save money in this area. I have heard such terms such as Netflix, Hulu, internet streaming, thrown around. I haven't paid much attention for we have been in a two year contract. It has made getting rid of salesman pretty easy.

But, like all things, time goes on and our contract has expired. To renew our contract we have to sign up for another two years and the second year of the contract the rates will be raised. I don't think so.

As you can guess we are now looking into options.

I think we have decided to stick with our current company for internet.

We are looking to stop the phone and cable. My kids aren't too happy about losing cable (not that they watch it very much-too busy!) For television we are looking into using an antenna and TiVo.  As we looked at what we will loose versus what we will get with an antenna, we won't be missing too much. At least not worth paying more for. Maybe we will be able to get what we miss by using Netflix. Still need to look into this more.

For phone, we feel like we need to still have a land line and are looking into options for this such as Ooma.

We'll have to post again in a few months to let you know what we officially have done and what we think of it. All I know is with what my husband is thinking of trying out, after initial equipment costs, he thinks we will save about $ 70 a month. So worth it to me.

How about you? What have you done for these items and what do you think?

Saving Money: Price Matching

The other day I had my oldest with me when we went grocery shopping. This is a rarity for usually I shop when she is at school or she is the one staying home to babysit. After many years of always shopping with kids it is so nice when I don't have to. Any way, as we shopped I took the opportunity to share a little of what I do in terms of grocery shopping.

I shop at Walmart a lot. This wasn't always the case. In fact, I hated shopping at Walmart for I felt like I could always find things cheaper at other stores. Then I had a friend turn me on to price matching. I still wasn't sold until after many attempts and learning some things a long the way. Now it's a blessing to do one stop shopping. I know this won't help some of you for you don't have a Walmart near by but here's a little of what I shared with my daughter. She even commented on some things that the people in front of us didn't do and how things weren't quite as smooth for them.

Preparation

This is before you even go to the store. I lay out all the ads and go through them one by one. (I know there are some sites that do this for you but I never really found one that worked for me. It seems I spent more time trying to find a site I liked, figure them out and often they missed some of my favorite local stores/ads).

On each stores ad I mark items we need with a big red X. If I find that item cheaper in another ad then I will cross off the X on the more expensive ad.

Generally I am looking for two things.

• Items we need to replace in our food storage (which is mostly what I buy). You know good deal items that I stock up on. 
• Things on sale that week, that I don't stock in our food storage, which I meal plan around. 

After I have marked all the ads I take a piece of paper and go through each ad writing down what I have marked. I list the item, size, price (make sure to include if it's per lb) and what store.

I then go through my coupons. I'm not a major coupon user but I do keep coupons I get in the mail and will print out some coupons. I keep all of these in a binder. I go through and see if any coupons match up with sale items. If I have a coupon I make sure I mark on my list "coupon" and write the number of items I need to buy to meet the coupon.

I then take the coupons I'm going to use out of my binder and put them with my grocery list in a sheet protector. I put the ads in my coupon binder. Generally I bring my binder into the store for the off chance I find something on sale that matches another coupon. Plus the binder has my ads. Walmart's current policy is you don't have to have the ads with you. I have found, though, that just having my ads in the cart and a list of pricing I rarely get questioned. Unlike the lady in front of us last week that was just saying prices from memory.  My daughter picked up on that. Plus, having a list of the prices take less time then looking through each ad saying the prices as you go. So much nicer for the customers behind.

Shopping

• Carry a pen. Occasionally I find an item cheaper at Walmart so I cross that item off my list so I know not to price match

• Cart. Put any items you are price matching in the same place in the cart. I put all of mine towards the back.

• Conveyor belt. Put all the items you aren't price matching on first. This way the checker can start to scan your items first while you are still loading. I let the checker know from a certain item on back it's all price match.  Try to keep similar items together. 

*Note on coupons. Most checkers want the coupons at the end. However, if you have a buy one get one most of these coupons require the checker to write in the price so give these coupons to the checker with the item.Saves time later for they have to look up the price.

Brands.

Generally I am not a name brand person (except for a few items). I will buy generic or store brands because they are cheaper. One of the main reasons I didn't like price matching originally was I could never find the brand advertised. Walmart will substitute their store brand for the advertised brand. For example if it's Western Family on sale then buy Walmart's store brand (Great Value). I haven't found any difference in the quality of food.

Produce.

Walmart used to be price per item and not per lb. Ads are often per lb so I hated price matching. Walmart has changed a lot of this and checkers/scanners are a lot better at making this conversion. To know which is a better deal use the scale. Weigh the item (say cantaloupe) to figure out the lbs. Times this by the advertized per lb price and see which is cheaper- walmart's price or the ad. All you have to do when checking out is just say the price per lb.

Meat.

This is the one area I still don't price match a lot. Every store is different on what they price match. If I do price match I just make sure what I buy is labeled exactly the same as the sales ad.( ie if it says center cut pork chops I make sure that what I buy is labeled center cut). 

Happy Shopping!

Prayers Are Answered

A couple of weekends ago, like so many of you, we gathered together as a family to watch General Conference. One of the things I like about Conference is that each person can get something different from the talks. Something that relates to what one is currently going through and thinking about. A personal insight and sometimes an answer.

This year I was particularly touched by two different talks. The first was by Neil L. Anderson entitled Children.  In this he states, In our day prophets and apostles have declared, “The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.” 

This commandment has not been forgotten or set aside in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We express deep gratitude for the enormous faith shown by husbands and wives (especially our wives) in their willingness to have children. When to have a child and how many children to have are private decisions to be made between a husband and wife and the Lord. These are sacred decisions—decisions that should be made with sincere prayer and acted on with great faith.

This is how my husband and I have always approached the decision to have more children. In fact it is the only way we have been able to have the children we have. I have needed a strong feeling of peace and a lot of faith to make it through each pregnancy.

As many of you know this current pregnancy was a little bit of a surprise for us but definitely not an answer to prayer.  The decision of how many children we were to have has been on our minds a lot over the last couple of years. With each of our previous children before we had them we felt very strongly that we were to have another. In thinking about and praying if we were to have any more children we never really felt like were to have another so we kind of felt like we were done. For me, though, I would often come back to, Are we really done? And wonder if we had been given an answer to prayer. We never felt very strongly that we were to have another child but also never felt a strong confirmation that we were done.  And I knew that I had a strong desire to never go through another pregnancy.

It is now obvious we weren't done and I wondered a lot lately,  Were we just ignoring inspiration? Not in a position to receive it? Not really wanting the Lord's will?

As I listened during conference to this talk by Robert D. Hales I had some of these concerns addressed.  I realized that we had been honestly seeking an answer to prayer but were waiting on the Lord for our prayer to be answered. As Elder Hales stated, What, then, does it mean to wait upon the Lord? In the scriptures, the word wait means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust. To hope and trust in the Lord requires faith, patience, humility, meekness, long-suffering, keeping the commandments, and enduring to the end. That was exactly what we were doing.

Elder Hales then stated,  In my life I have learned that sometimes I do not receive an answer to a prayer because the Lord knows I am not ready. When He does answer, it is often “here a little and there a little” because that is all that I can bear or all I am willing to do. As I look back I also know that was exactly what was happening with us. That was why I was often still questioning and seeking a confirmation of if we were done having children. I also know he was gradually softening my heart until I was ready.

When we first found out we were pregnant there was a lot of peace that came. As I have thought about things I have realized this was the Lord's way of answering our prayer.

I know the Lord answers prayers. Sometimes he answers right away and then the trial is trusting in that answer. As I listened to a story, shared in the first talk mentioned, of a couple who knew another child was to come but that child didn't come for eight years I was reminded of a time with one of children where this was the case. While we didn't wait years it was a trail to trust in the answer that immediately came while waiting to get pregnant. Other times the trial comes in waiting upon the Lord for the answer and most often having our hearts changed in that waiting process.

One of my concerns or reasons I was thinking we were done having kids was a worry for my other children. I worried I wouldn't be capable of meeting their needs if I was physically suffering either from morning sickness or exhaustion from late nights with a newborn. During a time of prayer when I expressed these concerns I felt on overwhelming assurance that my kids would be fine. I have seen answer to that prayer through these last few months. Now I have to just trust in that answer when we have a newborn and dealing with late night feedings plus late night homework help and chat sessions. Thank goodness we have a few months to prepare for that.

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears ! Oh, my!

Our kids had Monday off school (not sure why) so we decided to make a day of it and went to the Zoo.

We were disappointed to learn that the bears are off exhibit while they build a whole new area called Rocky Point. I guess we will have a reason to go next year.

For a few years there hasn't really been any lions. Unless the drinking fountain counts. We saw it plenty as Bud Boy loved to get a drink every time he saw it. 

I remember a lions exhibit from my childhood trips but this was torn out a few years ago and a tiger exhibit put in. While it is a lot nicer looking for the animals (more than just animals in cages) it has pretty much been a disappointment in terms of seeing the tigers.

Just a lot of sleeping was all we ever saw

And a chance to get this traditional picture

This year was far from disappointing.  We were greeted by this





 Later he was joined by his two brothers and all three let us hear them roar.

Wouldn't want to meet these guys by surprise in the jungle

 We also got to see one go for a swim






That's the neat think about the zoo. It always changing and each time we see animals do things we haven't seen before.

Can't wait until next time!

Taking a Moment

To savor, To celebrate, To enjoy 

Things are not completely out of the water but we are having more good days then bad.

It feels so good to actually be enjoying food again (and seeing a little less of the porcelain throne).

Feeling very satisfied to be accomplishing some tasks each day. Recently I have been able to:

• Weed the flower beds. It was getting to where you could hardly tell there was any flowers. 
• Made bread.
• Done a little scrap booking. 

It is so nice to attend some of my kids events and ENJOY them rather then just endure them.

And hey it's earlier than seventeen weeks!

Trinkets, Treasure, Junk

Do your kids have a collection of treasures?

Little trinkets and items they have collected from parades, fairs, carnivals, parties and prizes they have won.

Things that at first glance just look like a bunch of junk but if they loose one they know exactly what is missing.

It seems like we are over run with these treasures. Which often, in my mind, serve no purpose but just to sit in a box and take up space. Occasionally, they are lovingly dumped out and then it's a chore to have them put them all away. Threatenings of if you don't take care of your stuff then I'll throw it away can be heard through the halls.

It's enough to make one hesitant to attend the next event where more treasures will sure to be collected.

After a few years of not attending, we decided to go to the city services fair for our recent family home evening. They girls enjoyed bucket rides. It was fun to see fire trucks, ambulances and police cars up close. We saw the firefighters in action as they once again saved that burning Christmas tree and the kids,of course, came home with a bag of stuff.

I was surprised how useful that bag of stuff turned out to be.

• There was a plastic, red fire hat that is perfect for dress-up. Just what my son is wanting as our current supply, after four sisters, is severely lacking in the "manly" items.

• Small football-didn't have one yet in our collection. Bud boy was thrilled since this time of year has tuned him on to what football is (even if it was red, still holding out hope BYU with redeem themselves this Friday).

• Plastic water bottles. Just what we need for soccer season. Water is a must and it seems we are always leaving behind a water bottle or two each season (not a big deal when they are free to begin with).

• Mini flashlight and book lights (already caught a few kids putting these to good use at night)

• Pencils and Pens. We can never have enough of these.

• Chap stick. Not too bad of flavor either

• Home Depot gave each kid:

             an orange apron. You know they ones that say Hi, my name is ________.
             Perfect for helping out in the kitchen.

             a building kit. 

The youngest two, with dad's help, thoroughly enjoyed building bug houses.    

      (Thanks to my oldest we even got pictures of the fun)

 The perfect companion for Tator's plastic bug collection 

(a recent prize for completing the summer homework program our school does).

 Bud Boy can always use a home for the potato bugs he loves to collect.