Hmm, since I already don't keep up with this blog, I decided to start another blog.

I decided to start an etsy store to sell a few items that I have hanging around from different ventures over the years. 

I have discovered that if I have things in my life to keep me motivated and working towards some goal, I am typically more productive in all other areas of my life. So this is my current motivation.

I also started a blog to go along with it. I will use this blog for my more crafty posts!

Erin this is for you

Yeah, I've totally been a slacker for what....the last 2 years. We moved about 2 years ago, and the whole process just threw my schedule off, and blogging never made it back into the schedule. (but I did manage to make an awesome photo book of my blog during that time with Blurb.com).

So Erin, after your funny comment on facebook, this post is for you so that next time you check in there is something besides "Ms. Benjamin Franklin" for you to read!!

Look I even put our most recent family photo here for you, (even if it is almost a year old and we all looked lovely at the end of our week at Lake Powell)

And then here's one of Shawn. He's in the phase of never having a normal photo face. Or actually this IS his normal photo face.

"Miss" Benjamin Franklin

Danielle's class just did a play called "The Thirteen Colonies", and she played the part of Benjamin Franklin. The incentive for her to play a male role, came in the form of the great solo "he" got to sing. She did an great job! (As if I'd say anything else). And did you know baseball pants make great colonist costumes?

How to Torture a 7th Grader

Jiffy Mixer,

Popcorn,

Cotton Eye Joe,

Mexican Hat Dance,

and The Chicken Dance

to name just a few.

It seems as if the current P.E. unit is Folk Dancing. You know it's bad when Micah says "The Chicken Dance" is the best of the bunch.

He wanted to borrow $100 from me today to bribe his teacher. He says he would pay big money if he never had to dance these dances again. I think I would pay money to see his gym class. It has got to be painful, but I told him he need experiences like this so that he will have good stories to tell to his kids. His response, "Good and folk dancing don't belong in the same sentence."

How I spent my day on the kids first day back to school after the holidays.

Okay, I admit it! I had a few too many late late nights during the holidays, but I actually felt like I was getting back on track the last few days.

WRONG!

I did not want to get up this morning!

It might have been the early morning semimary wake-up that hit me hard, so I was headed back to bed before Shawn even headed out the door. How come when it's early and cold, I always forget going back to bed is a mistake? Just as I fall back to sleep, it's time to get up again with the younger ones, and it always leavesme feeling more tired than if I'd just stayed up.

So to put it nicely, our morning routine was a little rusty today.

I did resist going back to bed, again, after everyone had left, and I keep away from cuddling up on the couch with a book, but instead of heading out the door for a walk like I had planned, I attempted to tackle the laundry room. There seemed to have been an overabundance of dirty clothes this morning since two suitcases of vacation laundry were added to the mix.

And then is it just me or does anyone else do things like this?
After putting in the first load of laundry and doing a little folding, I went to eat breakfast. Thought I'd warm up a little wassail to drink while I fixed breakfast, so I got out everything I needed and set it on the counter by the stove.
Then I needed a spoon. I realized there was none clean in the drawer, so I started unloading the dishwasher.
Then as I was unloading the cups, I noticed that the insides of the cups weren't quite clean. Uhgg. I hate that, so I started fideling around with the dishwasher. Ended up getting Steve to come and look into what I thought it might be.
With him in charge of that, I headed to the laundry to switch loads.
Then I remembered that I needed to clean off the Sunday piles from the dressers in our bedroom, so taking advantage of the fact that Steve was still working on the dishwasher instead of the computer in our room, I hurried to our bedroom to do some cleaning.
Of course, putting the piles away lead me to most of the rooms in the house, and since I was already in "cleaning mode" and our house seems to sprout up clutter on the weekends, I ended up touching up each room.
And of course a few more laundry changes.
And, finally, back to the kitchen and my forgotten wassail.

I ended up just eating lunch!

(And then I snuck in a nap before the kids got home from school!)

Favorite Christmas Gift...okay maybe just one of them--but it's up there.

Could also be the cheaspest one, too.

Supply List

-Some PVC pipes from the garage.

-A couple of Water Noodles. This actually required a little bit of work. Not many people carry them this time of year. In fact, I could only find them at Leslie's Pool Supply. Probably their only customer of the day. The clerk says he gets in a lot of movies this time of year.

-A little elbow grease to get the noodle onto the PVC pipe after you cut both in half. It was a little harder than Steve expected it to be.

And wahlah.....a boffing sword!

We made 6 of them this year. Enough for everyone who wanted to have a friendly whacking competion on Christmas Day.

I think everyone even survived with no injuries! (But I guess that's the idea behind the foam!!)

"The Friend" magazine link

Haven't had time to check this out extensively, but I was excited to see some additions to "The Friends" homepage on http://www.lds.org/. Looks like they've added some coloring pages and recorded stories for kids to listen too. If you haven't seen it yet you can check it out here.

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ae20e975d2a2b010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0

Christmas at Disnyland!

The kids were so sad when we told them that we were going to Disneyland a few days before Christmas.

Actually, when we told them, they looked at us in disbelief. Then seeing that Steve wasn't just trying to pull their leg, they started jumping up and down.

We took Shawn and Micah when they were 6 and 4, but Danielle and Lucas have never been. They have wanted to go for forever and have spent the last few years making sure that we know that we have been depriving them of one of their childhood rights.

Even though I know they would have always loved it, it was fun going with all of them at these ages. They all still got excited, but all of them were old enough --and tall enough--and brave enough to go on all the rides. Danielle was a little nervous waiting in line for some of them, but at the end she was going on and on about how awesome the ride had been.

My kids really got into the Disney pins this trip.

All their friends have been talking up how fun it is to collect and trade pins, so our first stop was a gift store to stock up. One of the kind Disney workers pointed out all the clearance section, so Micah decided it was worth saving a few dollars by wearing the cast of High School Musical on his lanyard for a few hours until he found a worker willing to trade him for some better pins. He ended up with a collection of Star Wars pins, but not before I'd documented his willingness to be a good sport.

All in all it was a perfect day! Great weather, short lines, awesome Christmas decorations, lots of smiles and excitement. Steve loved it when Danielle said to him, "We could be a commercial. Micah and I have riden on all the rides together and we haven't fought once!"

The only complaint of the day was from Lucas. FYI the second seat is the one that gets the spray from the Splash Mountain ride. At least it was one of the first rides of the day, so there was plenty on time for his pants to dry before it got dark and chilly.

Steve was the die hard, who convinced all the kids that they needed to keep going until the bitter end (12:00 midnight since it was special holiday hours). I think that we were one of the last ones out of the park.

2008 Family Pictures

My sister was nice enough to update our family pictures during Thanksgiving Break. Here is a preview of some of her images. I can't wait to go through them all and figure out which ones to print up!

Going Private

Been thinking about it for a while now, and my plan is to make my blog private by the end of the year. I have an idea of who checks in on me and my family, but if you are interested in still being able to log on, let me know and I will make sure you get an invite. If you aren't sure if I have your email, then please leave it in a comment. I'll make sure to delete all emails after I get them.

Thanksgiving

Our "Thanksgiving Weekend" was great. Wonderful food, lots of hanging around, a couple family movies, a little knitting, a lot of kids playing, a LOT of trampoline jumping, some baby holding, hanging out at the park, and a family photo shoot (Thanks Beth).

The kids were ready to dig in by the time the Feast came around. They we apparently starving even though we'd been snacking all morning. After they were done eating, they immediatedly went out and jumped on the trampoline. When I suggested that activity to the other adults we just all groaned and held our bellies.

October Travels

Grandpa's 80th birthday was a great excuse for a family trip down to Southern California.

We were able to connect with lots of family that we haven't seen for a while, and spent the weekend playing, eating, laughing (a lot), and eating some more.

Grandpa spent his 80th birthday playing soccer and volleyball in the park. Steve had to stop and realize how old he was when Grandpa stopped for a break, and Steve commented that he hopes he's in that great of shape at that age.

Lucas was fascinated with this Hummer Limousine when we got to the park. The driver was a great sport and let us all take a peek inside while he was waiting for the wedding party to finish up their pictures.

A kind biologist was nice enough to inform us of all the sickness our children could get because they were sticking their hands in the duck water. Do you think I should still be worried after three weeks?

One day after getting back from Southern Cali, I headed East for a sister's weekend in New York.

I have been homesick for New York, and what better time to travel there than the Fall. We get some Fall colors here, but nothing like what I remember. It was absolutely gorgeous.

It was the greatest time hanging out with almost all the sisters. Heather even made an appearance through the web cam, because she was enjoying her new little boy. Next year, Heather! And hopefully all the sister-in-laws.

We did an excellent job of keeping to West coast time, and spent many late night talking and laughing and being reminded to keep it down because of the college kids who lived downstairs. Never got around to doing half of the things we wanted to do, but there's always next year for that.

I do have to admit that it was a little bit of an adjustment going from wearing shorts one day to gloves the next. Since, I tried to pack light, I left out winter attire knowing Jana would have some I could borrow if needed. The second night there, I asked her son if he would get me a pair of gloves.

He came back with these.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but besides being mismatched, they are also both right handed! I gladly wore them the rest of the week.

I guess that I became a little too used to mismatched mittens because during our "MAKE and TAKE" winter mittens fest, I unknowingly made both of my mittens right handed!

Sunday, I took a pilgrimage back to Rochester. It almost didn't happen because of transportation issues, but as I told one of my friends--if I didn't make it back to Rochester after being only hours away, I would never be able to tell anyone back there that I had even been in New York. I can't even tell you how wonderful it was visiting our old ward and seeing so many friends!

I had to swing by our old house on the way out of town. I can vividly remember all the times it was me raking up those nice leaf piles in the gutter. That part I actually miss! As for shoveling snow...that I can gladly skip.

small update

Flipping through my camera today, I realize that a lot has happened in the last month--including being out of town for two weeks on two different trip. Since I never have computer time anymore (husband working at home all day on computer--schoolwork after school), I have time for one small update (husband is showering--gotta get computer time when I can.)


Remember this???

He has been de-vampirized--just in time for Halloween.


He is much happier.

Okay, time for a few more pictures.


Micah has come up with a whole new style! This is how he looked this morning when I got home from Seminary carpool. I'm wondering if maybe Steve should start driving carpool so that I can make sure our kids look decent when they walk out the door for school.

Oh, by the way, in case you were wondering the reason behind Micah's makeover--It's Spirit Week at Junior High. I think today is "Mixup/Crazy Day." Always gutsy dressing up at home like this, and hoping that you aren't the only one who remembered as you walk out of the door!

UPDATE: To be fair to Micah, I can't leave out Shawn's school attire for today. After stressing over "what he wants to be when he grows up" (haven't we all), he decided on a Jedi knight for "Career Day."

Tomorrow I think the plan is Darth Maul for "Hollywood Horror Movies". Micah has decided to give up his Crazy ways and will wear a normal BYU T-shirt for "College Day."

sometimes time seems to fly too quickly

This week I felt time passing. My oldest is gone, my youngest started cub scouts and my middle son had a birthday.

Shawn took off with his acting group TNT for a 5 day trip to Utah. They were going to attend the Shakespeare Competition in Cedar City and to do some workshops at BYU. More details on this are sure to come after he fills us in on some of the happenings. I say "some" because as much as I would love to know everything he did and felt and thought, the reality is my son is getting older and I don't experience near as much as I would like to with him. One goal I have consciously been working on in the past few years is to help him develop greater independence. I rejoice in his maturing, but it comes at a cost to me as I realize how little time I have left with him full-time at home. A part of me wonders how mothers bear the moment when they hug their child goodbye and then watch them walk away. I’m sure it’s a bittersweet moment. (He just called. He’s in town now, and on his way home.)

I send our small camera with him, so I've been without it for other events I wanted to document this week.

Lucas started Cub Scouts. He has been so excited since he turned 8 to finally get to join the scouting family—and to now be the one with the weekly adventure to go to. It didn’t really affect me when he was baptized, but somehow starting the Wolf Den has made me go WHOA! What’s going on? But how can I not smile when he rushes to put on his uniform on Tuesday nights and asks the whole way to the church building what I think they might possibly be doing that night.

For weeks leading up to the big day, Micah has informed us of his plans to finally watch Pirates of the Caribbean on the night he turns 13. The only bummer for him, was the fact that Shawn was gone. Although, Shawn did call him on his birthday to wish him happy birthday. The phone call with my son who had been gone for 3 days went something like this.

"Hello"
" Hi, Mom, is Micah there?"
"No"
"Well, can you hang up so I can call again and leave him a message."
!!!!

Actually I laughed. In all reality, how was he to answer all the questions I had in less than an hour. That could wait. I was just glad that he had thought to call Micah, and the birthday message he left was great.

But I regress—back to Micah’s birthday. Although he would have liked Shawn to have been there, he looked passed it and invited some church friends over to watch the movie with him. The other 2 had probably each seen it at least five times, but they were willing to watch it again. For a few minutes they did try to encourage the watching of another movie that one of them hadn’t seen, but Micah stuck to his guns and they watched Pirates. I was impressed with Micah because sometimes he gives in and then is miserable about it later. I guess he’s really is getting older!

Lucas's front teeth

I got a dreaded phone message from school on Wednesday. "Lucas fell on the climbing structure and took big chips out of his two front teeth." I called the office back and since he had wanted to go back to class, and it was almost time for them to come home, I didn’t go and pick him up. I spent the next few minutes wondering how much of his teeth were gone. I meet him at the door, and he very sheepishly smiled to show me what had happened. The two inside corners of his front teeth were gone in decent sized chunks.

He said that it didn’t really hurt, and that it hadn’t bleed that much. When I asked him when he knew he should go to the office, he said "It was pretty obvious," and he showed me the teeth chips that had been knocked off into his mouth. He said there were probably other little chips that flew out of his mouth, but they couldn’t find any of them. I can almost imagine what his frantic brain must have been feeling, as he was panicking and wondering if there was possibly anything he could do to minimize the damage that had just happened.

We took him to the dentist on Thursday, and the dentist wants to cap them—but we have to wait to see what insurance will cover. Robert (Steve’s brother) has also said he would be happy to take care of it when we go down there in a few weeks for their dad’s 80th birthday. So either way it will be a few weeks before we get to have it taken care of. Poor little guy. He definitely got a lot of attention from it this week