Kids Christmas craft day!!!!

So it was a success!!! Overall 32 kids came with parents to create some fun items for Christmas.  It was a bustling event with 5 tables set up inside-for fear of rain-and lots of glue and laughter.  We had cookies, lemonade and chips.   A friend took some pics for me because I am still waiting for my camera from the repair center (thanks Alex!).  I was able to pull it off with lots of help from my sister, but also small things Jason did before he took off to California to watch the Chevron World Challenge Golf Tournament.  My friend Alex also helped by loaning me a few tables a chairs that allowed me to set up a few more stations.  I think at one time we had about 15-20 kids outside playing in the backyard before it started to rain.  They would come in a craft a bit, then run outside a play a bit, inside to craft, outside to play.  Lots of planning...but totally worth it.  My kids were so excited to have so many friends of every age here at home to hang out with for a few hours.  It was just great!!! Thanks to all that came and enjoyed the day with us. Hope your memories are a good as mine are. 




          

Makayla and friend Kayla



JJ with friend Hayden

   

           

              Tyler taking a lunch break, along with a
                break from the chocolate chip cookies



Carter mostly played with all the little
 kids and hung out ih his room

   

         

Friends enjoying the day

  

                  

                           Outside play. Makayla with friends Brianna,
                         Mia, Michelle, Jakob and Matthew





          

Working together



                      

So much fun!!!

 

Thanksgiving means family...

I think this is the very 1st Thanksgiving that I didn't have a drop of Turkey on Thanksgiving Day.  We shared an early Thanksgiving feast with Jason's family in California the Wednesday before.  It was great.  Love sitting around a table with my in-laws, shooting the breeze, making jabs at eachother and laughing while the kids run all around us in enjoyable chaos. We talked a little about some serious stuff, but I love that this crowd is always looking to smile, rather than staying in the gloom that life can sometimes deal you.  On Thursday, after a quick visit with in-laws and a goodbye, we headed to Parker to visit my family.  We stopped to see my niece, nephew and sis-in-law (my brother already went to work :(, which stunk) for a few minutes before heading over to the theater to watch Arthur's Christmas with my mom.  That was an awesome show.  We all loved it.  We chatted with mom for a few minutes and were on the road by 7, heading home.  We needed to get home and get the kids in bed so I could go...shopping!!!  Yeah, well, not really me, but I wanted to check out the laptops that were super cheap and get two games for the kids and I-hey I play the Wii too..ha, ha.  Well got the games, but the lines for the laptops were ridiculous.  Some were in line for about 6 hours.  Sorry, but I'm not that dedicated.  Friday, we decked the halls with Christmas cheer.  Got it all up except the lights to hang from the house-stucco house (new territory).  I love the warmth that comes from holiday decorations.  Saturday my family came for a visit. My sister from California with her family and my parents.  We did not have another feast, but we did enjoy some tamales my mother brought with her-yummy!  It was fun talking and chatting with everyone.  We went to JoAnns to pick up some material, and I bought a cricut (craft machine). Hello toy! My mother and I also sewed a few dresses for my niece for her Charlie Brown's Christmas play she was in.  It was nice working on a project with my mom, and I think they turned out great.  On Sunday, we went to church, then came home to finish up some projects-like my sons' new bunkbed and prep for an art class I was teaching on Monday.  I look back and am glad that I have the family I have, they are all a part of me and help me be a better person.  For this I am truly thankful!

ahhh...Sunbeams

I am currently the Sunbeams (3-4 yr olds) teacher in my church.  I love my calling.  I find that this position, as well as Nursery Leader, are probably the hardest in Primary, and God must really love us to try us, and trust us this much...lol. I prepare my lesson each week with a few "in-case" scenarios.  I have about 3 children who have a tendency to become disruptive, and I have to plan for these interuptions and how to steer the children back to listening and participating in the lesson.  Somedays that can be a real challenge-like today.  One child stuck her fingers in her ears because she didn't want me telling her to sit down in her chair, then proceeded to skip around the room.  We played fishing as an activity in our lesson and another child threw a temper tantrum because someone else got a fish that they wanted, and another because they didn't go first.  So I felt like just giving up-I already struggled through Sharing Time with some more disruption than usual behavior, and I was tired.  I had a few more words to share and sum up the lesson and a question to ask (but doubted anyone heard or listened).  So I asked, "So we all have callings to help the church...what can you do to help our church, or help our church building?"  I was completely in shock when a child that usually adds to the comotion says, "clean up our mess and love eachother".  And from there the last 5 minutes of class was awesome! :)  I guess you can say I live for those 5 minutes..ha, ha.

Life as we know it..

The trials of life are just that...trials.  How we embrace or tread through them is what can change us for the better or worse.  I've been thinking about this a lot lately.  Recently, as recent and Thanksgiving weekend, I have had some friends and family, who are struggling with health related trials.  One dear friend was put in a position of choosing between her unborn child and her life.  How horrible this choice she would have to make.  She is one of strong conviction of life, and being place with a decision that seemed to have no clear pathway seemed unfair.  She is such an example to me because of her strength and her faith.  She went straight to the Lord, but was still tormented with this choice.  She prayed and asked that His will be done, and to help her make the choice.  Shortly after she miscarried.  In a way, you could say, God removed the burden of choice from her, and yet the dark cloud stays. She grieves the loss of her child and feels guilty to have the choice taken from her because now she knows that she will live to keep watch over her other three children.  It's an emotional and confusing time for her and all I can do is pray for her as she treads through her trial. She knows that the Lord is with her and that she has friends and family that love her.  She is one that has already endured many trials, and she has always stayed positive. It may take her a little longer to get back on the Sunshine road, but she will get there, her spirit is too strong to not to.

Friends are friends, whether gold or silver-at least with me.  I have a friend that I met while working at American Express.  She was so giddy and happy all the time.  A few years after our friendship began she married a co-worker that I had the opportunity of being friends with as well.  It's been a couple of years, but through Facebook we still stay moderately in touch.  They have two beautiful children, 4 and 7mo.  A couple of weeks ago she found out that she has stage 4 colon cancer.  Talk about shock. She's only 2-3 years older than me.  Still, her and her husband stay positive.  They have the love and support of friends and family.  Prayers are said for her daily, sometimes hourly.  She's a beautiful person, and she now struggles with this trial, that has a high percentage of taking her away from her family.  She too has a strong spirit, and she can be very stubborn.  I will pray and hope that her strength and the strength of her friends and family will be enough to conquer this disease.

Cancer does not discrimnate.  My father-in-law has been living with his for sometime now.  He's been on so many experimental drugs to help him with pain, or to help slow down the process.  There has been times (even before Jason and I were married) that we almost lost him.  But that man is a stubborn one.  When first diagnosed, I believe they gave him 3 years.  That was over 12 years ago.  He's been up and down many times, still one thing has stayed constant, his will to live.  That will hasn't always been strong, sometimes just a flicker, but it's been there. He believes and trusts in God.  He understands that life isn't fair, but still goes on. I feel blessed that he's been around these years.  He's been able to make some memories with his grandchildren.  They have come to know him as well as any young child can.  Sometimes I wish we could freeze time, to do more with what we have.  In the near future, my dear father-in-law will depart from this world.  I am saddened by this, and my heart goes out to his children and grand-children that love him despite all the differences. His trial of life will soon be over, but that leaves us to the trial of loss and grief, which we have already experience earlier this year with the unexpected loss of Jason's mother. We banded together to get through it, that's what family does. 

I sometimes feel guilty to have a happy day, or smile because of the unfortunate events that have been placed on those that I love.  But God loves me, he wants me to be happy, and I have days that I have to tread through from time to time.  None as extreme as those I've mentioned, but still.  I look at thier lives and learn from them.  They are examples of strength, love, optimism and will.  They all have one thing in common.  They know there is a God that loves them, they have friends and family that love them and pray for them.  We were not placed on this Earth to be alone.  Together, we can make it through anything. Although God's will may not be what we want, He did not leave us alone to go through the trial-we need eachother.

Introducing my family....

Since I will be sharing stories of my life, it's probably important that I introduce my family. I have 3 boys and a girl. JJ is my oldest at 8, Makayla is 6, Tyler is 4, and Carter is 2.  I have been happily married to my husband, Jason, for almost 11 years-but we've been together for 15 (that makes me feel old..lol!). When I say happily, it doesn't mean that we don't have our ups and downs, but together we manage to plow trough our differences.  Where I am very out-going and social he's reserved and quiet.  Then, on the flipside where I, at times, can be a hot head, he seems able to retract, reflect and then address (which is sometimes annoying when I geared up for a really good fight-it never happens...ha, ha). So we tend to balance each other pretty well.  Now that the kids are older, we have been doing more together, like vacations and dates-let me tell you...I'm having a blast!

JJ is a 3rd grader this year and so full of energy.  Wasn't sure what to think about having so many boys (I grew up with girls in my home), but he is definately a good teacher...lol.  He is very bright and engaged when it comes to learning new things.  He is a gifted student and tries daily to challenge himself when it comes to math or reading.  His favorite author right now is Dan Gutman.  He insists on me buying him his newest completed series.  We will see. JJ has always enjoyed music and dance, and is now very involved in Hip Hop.  He goes to a gymnastics class to try to strengthen his flexibility and learn balance so he can perform floor tricks like flywheels and hand stands along with his others that he's already mastered.  Right now he is working on spinning on his head-that's a fun sight to witness.  He also enjoys sports of all kinds, and loves to play basketball.  His favorite team is the Phoenix Suns (which he's been to a few games), and he is bummed that the season this year may be called off.  Another niche in his belt is his love for playing piano.  Every week I see some improvement, and he has surpassed my understanding of playing.  He can't wait for our winter snow trip.  Every year we find somewhere to play in the snow and he gets a chance to go snowboarding.  He truly enjoys it. Legos, legos, legos-the kid has legos in every nook and cranny of his room.  He has his own sense of style and I am very happy for all he's accomplished and all that he's doing. Not to say there are days he drives me crazy, but he is now at the age that we can have full blown conversations-which is nice when understanding something is necessary.

Makayla, my only girl and a true princess. She's is artsy, loving and kind. She's always trying hard to think of others.  She is currently in 1st grade.  At her parent-teacher conference her teacher told us that she will be submitting an application (if we approve) to test her for gifted.  Apparently she is the teacher's right hand in class. She finishes her work promptly and then asks to see if she could assist her fellow students.  I guess I shouldn't be shocked.  She opened her own little school at home for her little brothers called "Apple Fun School".  She brings home projects and tries to replicate them for her "students" and then reads to them books and she's even taught Tyler how to play 3 small songs on the piano.  Teacher in the making??? She can easily be fustrated (like mom), sometimes with added drama flare, but doesn't give up until she figures it out.  She also has discovered her love for dance.  She is currently enrolled in a dance class with some friends from school and is loving it.  She also is taking a gymnastics class with JJ and that along with a small cheer class has helped her break out of her shy shell.  She has become a ball full of entertainment with cheers to share, showing off her flexibility and some new dance moves she and JJ are trying out. Along with all this is her love for piano and art.  She has this uncanny control over her drawing, according to her art teacher, and she loves practicing it on any scrap piece of paper.  I will post some off her art in an upcoming blog, just about her ;). When she plays piano she shines-her face just lights up, it's fun to watch her play. She also is a snowboarder.  Some may say she's a little better than JJ (just don't tell him that). She will be 7 soon, and she cried about that.  I asked her why she was crying, and her response, "I don't want to grow up!" added with dramatic flare and voice to match-ahh girls...ha, ha.  She is loving her 6 yr old year I guess, but I tried to help her understand that when she turns 7 she has a lot to look forward to.  Her favorite example was that she will be able to ride the rides at Disneyland by herself..ha, ha. 

Tyler is my outside, sensitive and fun-loving kid.  He loves to laugh and to make others laugh.  I wouldn't call him the class clown just yet though.  He loves school and we go through more alphabet and number workbooks than I ever did with my older 2.  If given a chance he is outside at the crack of dawn and as long as someone is out there he's happy.  He likes to kick the ball around and was enrolled in soccer a couple of times this year.  He likes to play school with Makayla and is learning to read, little by little.  He's also my big helper-particullarly around the trash can.  He loves to pull out the bag and put a new one in it-well sometimes it may not be full, but I'm not the one who is going to stop a good habit in the making..lol!  We have been spending a lot of time together through his preschool by going on field trips to museums, aquariums and through watching them perform songs for the parents in front of the school.  He truly loves music and picks up on songs like no other kid I know.  Our Sunday Primary Program was last month and he was the only Sunbeam (3 & 4 yr olds) to know every word in every song whether he was suppose to stand or not.  He just sat on the ones the older kids performed and sang along.  He also tries to copy JJ and his interests.  When JJ gets out to try to practice his Hip Hop, there is Tyler asking questions on how to do it and JJ is there placing his feet or holding him up in some convoluted way-so fun to watch. I'm glad he has such a great realtionship with his siblings, although one with Carter can be a little tricky because of age understanding, but they are working on it!

Carter is a little ball of fun!!!  He has his moments, but since he's been talking, he says the funniest things.  Right now he is potty training and half the day is naked because he understands how to use the toilet, but would rather use his diaper, so it forces him to use the toilet!  I know that's a little risky with the floors and all, but so far, so good.  He can count to 10 now and likes to mix up the numbers when he counts then laughs about it-so funny.  He sings little nursery rhymes and likes to input his own words and then laughs about it..ha, ha.  He tells knock, knock jokes, but the punchline is obscure, but he still laughs at it.  He loves Mickey Mouse and pretends to be him sometimes as long as Makayla plays Minnie (which she will for a short time). He's a goof ball and tries to find ways to make me laugh and our family.  Sometimes it can be discouraging-say like at the dinner table, especially when it's inappropriate (making rude sounds, blowing bubbles in his milk with his straw, or squishing his food).  Doesn't help any when the kids all laugh at him, therefore encouraging the behavior even more. Yet, we make do.  He loves to color, and not just on paper...he's had some practice washing walls-thank you magic eraser by Mr. Clean!  He's learning to play well with his siblings, but they are well aware that they won't be able to push him around-he's getting tough, and knows how to handle himself. 

So there is a blurb about all of us, so when I reference them in the future...you will know.

Thanks for reading ;).

And my husband says I have a project of the day.....

It's been such a long time since I have been on here.  Not sure what I wanted to do with it.  Then I decided that it would be a great way for me to journal.  Writing takes such a long time, and I am missing some of the cute stuff my kids are doing.  Like right now my younger boys are playing with a toy that my husband and I decided was long forgotten and was on the "give-away" list, then just out-of-the-blue, here are my boys playing with the dang thing-scratch it goes off the list. Anywho...this will make for a great journal, memory, and family update tool for me...so I'm going to use it.  My husband has teased me constantly that I should post a blog of my project of the day since I seem to always be carrying around items "to-do" in a list in my brain.  Let's just say it's been a crazy few months. 

Jason (my hubby) and I went to Hawaii for a fabulous 4 day vacation sans kiddos in September. In October, the family, went to Disneyland for our fall-break which seems all Disney fans from the Phx metro area met us there..ha, ha.  Also in October I worked on our Halloween costumes.  Our family were the Fletcher's and Flynn's (Phineas and Ferb's family) and that took some time sewing the costumes for the kids, but I felt it was well worth it and we had fun.  My sister needed help with her costume (Sally-from The Nightmare Before Christmas) and so she came with an idea and I pulled out scraps and we put together her costume.  (see pics below).

Then this month I have finally finished the two blankets I have been promising my boys.  My son turned 8 (in May!) and I told him I would make him a larger and more "grown-up" blanket/quilt, since his old one has Lightning McQueen on it, plus other toddler like emblems.  I finally finished and I love the results.  The underside is so soft and silky made of Black Lycra-well he love it!  Then my youngest loves...LOVES...Mickey Mouse and so the theme of him room.  He's 2 1/2 and his little infant Mickey blankey is getting a tad small for him.  So I put together a twin Mickey themed quilt.  He's in Heaven ;)!!!

Since our move to our new home in July, I've been on the go.  Now I think I need to take some time to finalize my home.  I still do not have pictures on the walls and my Hutch/China cabinet has finally found a home.  Yesterday that was my "project-of-the-day" to get everything in it and redo the lighting.  I quite like it.  I get my replacement glass for the cabinet doors today, since everytime we move something breaks on it-poor hutch. 

On top of everything else, I volunteer at the elementary school my kids attend.  My sister makes that possible by only living less than a mile away, and our boys have a blast playing together.  Next week we have the Turkey-trot, where the kids do this mini-marathon-it's cool.  I also have art masterpiece where I go and teach a bit about artists and their works and allow the kids to try some of the artist's techniques to create their own masterpieces.  It's fun and I'm learning more about art too! This last time was about an author named Jackson Pollock and we focused on his "drip paintings", so the kids were allowed to use popsicle sticks to create thier own-my daughter is in the bottom right with her creation and all the creative mess that comes with it!  lol...love it!

My next challenge this month is getting together names and ingredients for my holiday goody baskets.  This year will be a little different, will new items since some of my friends have found out that they are allergic to Gluten.  I will have to tweek it a bit, but none-the-less, it will be delicious!  My usuals are cookies of all shapes and flavors, fudges, and some traditional loaf breads.  So I will make my usual batches, then adjust accordingly for my gluten-free friends.  I also want to throw a kids christmas craft day, where friends of my family and their kids can come and make some awesome christmas things for the tree or as decor or something to put a picture in.  I am hoping to throw it the first week of December, but we will see :).  So much to do so little time....how will I fit it all in....stayed tuned to find out..ha!