Today was SEW cool!

I started giving both my girls sewing lessons about a year ago when I got my new machine. This machine lets you adjust the stitch speed so I figured it was a good time to teach them. The funny thing is my 8 year old gets really frustrated while sewing but still wants to do it. My 5 year old (Ruby) sews like she has been doing it all her life. My machine has lot of buttons and does lots of tricks and Ruby knows how to use them like a pro. A few weeks ago Ruby was complaining that Haley takes Piano lessons so she wanted to take sewing lessons from a real teacher, not her Mom. I thought that was a great idea, but after calling everywhere that teaches sewing lessons to children I realized that there was no place that would teach a 5 year old. I tried to explain that she is a really good at it, but everywhere said she had to be at least 8.

So I called a lady in our church that is great with kids and a great sewer and begged her to teach Ruby. She said she would LOVE to do it. Ruby has been in heaven with these lessons. She tells everyone she meets that she is taking sewing lessons. She has sewing home work and can’t wait until her next lesson. Well today was the best day, she finished her first project with Ms. Laurie... a pink floral skirt!

I think you can tell from the photos how proud she is.

Baby Jesus
So Christmas decorations are up and the tree is decorated. Lucy and Ruby love taking all the Jesus dolls out of the nativities and playing with them. After watching them play with these little dolls all day long, I had an idea. I decided to make them their own Jesus baby dolls. After the girls went to bed I pulled out stuff I already had, tea died some muslin and got sewing. I had their new babies in their beds when they woke up. What a hit. To say they LOVE there new dolls is an understatement.

Thanksgiving Day

What a fun Thanksgiving! We went to Ken and Natalie’s house (Eric's Dad and Step Mom) and had a feast all prepared by Natalie and it was all ready on time. The sad thing was everyone was late to the dinner. One of Eric’s brothers even got a ticket trying to get there on time. It was so fun to have Eric and his 3 brothers (and their 14 kids) all together for Thanksgiving. After dinner the sofa turned into a big dog pile of people.

The little girls loved playing dress up and put on a play of Little Red Riding Hood for everyone. We all had a great time.

A Perfect Pilgrim
I have already switched over to Christmas but I need to back up and write a little about Thanksgiving.
The day before Ruby’s Thanksgiving feast her teacher told everyone that she would randomly select who would be Native Americans and who would be Pilgrims. Ruby came home stressed. She wanted to be a pilgrim so bad she even asked Heavenly Father in her prayer that night to make her be a Pilgrim. The next morning Ruby decided that if she looked like a pilgrim, the teacher had to make her one. So she wore a white skirt, her apron and asked me to put her hair in a bun. When I dropped off the food for the feast the teacher said to me “So it looks like Ruby REALLY wants to be a Pilgrim- I’ll make sure that happens”. Ruby was in Heaven. She was so excited she got to wear the “bonnet” as she called it.

Dead Rats in Butter!

This is my favorite Thanksgiving dish.

It is basically potatoes cut super thin with the skins left on, a pound of butter then chives and kosher salt on top. Bake it at 400 for an hour. My Mom has made this every year for as long as I can remember. Why do we call it Dead rats in butter? About 15 years ago at a Thanksgiving dinner my Uncle Fred asked my Mom how she got potatoes to taste so good. My Father said “You put this much butter on dead rats and they will taste good”. I just made this for a recipe exchange and when my girls heard what I was making, Haley and Ruby both said “Oh I love dead rats”.

My many talents...

For months when we would get in the car in the morning Lucy would ask me "Why do you have a mouth on your forehead Mom?” I used to try to explain reflections, but one day I just started talking funny and moving my lips like crazy. Now every morning she askes me to talk out of my forehead and every time she cracks up. I never knewI had so many talents.

Black Friday is coming…

are you ready?

I love to shop the big sales the day after Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day I used to sit and study the ads (with my friend Jacki O.) and make lists. Then Jackie and I with cell phones in hand would sneak out of the house at 5am to get to work. I have not been able to shop with Jackie since we left New Orleans, but I still love the early morning rush of a good deal.

Now you do not need to wait for the ads to come out. You can view them all here. They have all 206 of Target's sale items listed with prices and Toys-R-Us they have the actual scan of the ad. If there is a store with a Black Friday Sale- it will be listed here.

Lulu's turn with Dr. Wacker!

Haley’s 1st trip to the Dentist was all tears and freaking out, and they only counted her teeth. Ruby’s 1st trip to the Dentist she was nervous, but went in the chair after Haley. No Tears. Today was Lucy’s 1st visit to the Dentist-Dr. Wacker the Great! She kept telling me she didn’t want to go, she just wanted the treat bag her older sisters got last week when they went. Once we walked in the very cool fish themed office. Lucy was scared speechless and motionless- that’s a 1st. I filled out a sheet when we got there that asked all about her. One of the questions was her favorite hobby- I was honest and wrote lipstick. I know, not a hobby but to Lucy it is.

She did everything they asked her to do but never spoke. She even had x-rays and a real cleaning. When she was done with her check up the Dental Assistant said she was so good she had a special gift for her and handed her a vanilla flavored Chap stick with the clinic logo on it along with her goodie bag(bouncy ball, stickers, floss, toothbrush). Lucy was in Heaven and obviously can’t wait to go back.

Famly Home Evening

Last night was Family Home Evening. Even Eric made it home in time to participate. Ruby taught the lesson. It was the 1st time she has willingly taught a lesson that is not about being kind to animals. She taught (with help) about how we can follow the Savior by making good choices.

Haley was in charge of the treat and the treat for Family Home Evening is a big deal. She always puts a lot of thought into her treats. She loves to go through my cookbooks and choose what she wants us to make. One time she found this chocolate lace bowl that she wanted to make to serve ice cream in. It looked way too hard and messy, but we tried it anyway. It was so easy and the girls loved it. You line muffin tins with tinfoil then melt chocolate and put it in a thick (freezer) zip lock bag. Cut a Small tip off one of the corners and just squeeze out a swirl design inside the cups. Then we put them in the fridge and the chocolate cups came right off the foil and looked so cool with chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce & whipped cream-just like she wanted them.
Last night she wanted to make cupcakes in ice cream cones with flowers. So as is the norm, I had 3 girls on the counters and a dog on the floor during this process(That how you get 4 bodies into a 1 body kitchen). We all had a great time making them and eating them too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!
Today is Eric's Birthday so I thought I would write some of the reasons why I think he is the greatest!
Eric is hilarious. But sometimes I am the only one that thinks so. His humor is so dry and usually a little inappropriate- I love it!

Eric is the best gift giver. He puts a lot of time, research and thought into the gifts he gives and gives them in the most creative way.

He is an incredible Dad. He works long hours, especially this year as Chief (he is working all day today-on his Birthday!) and has a time consuming calling so he makes sure that when he is home the girls (me included) know how much he loves us. Eric takes one of our girls on a special date with him every Thursday night. They love this time with him and look forward to their date each month. Even when he has been super busy and really doesn’t have time to go- he always does. He schedules a vacation day so he can go on the girl's school field trips. He never comes home grumpy or acting tired, he walks in the door acting like he missed us and couldn’t wait to see us again. Last night the girls and I made Eric a cake for his birthday. He says that he loves wedding cake (translation white cake and white frosting) but we thought it would be funny to make a real wedding cake.

I really admire his self discipline, ability to focus, set goals and complete them. He never quits or gives up. Such a good example for me.

I love the fact that he wears bow ties, and only wears a strait tie to church for Halloween. He loves bow ties and thinks he needs more…I won't tell you how many he has.

He not only tolerates the creative chaos I create in our home, but often helps me when I am in over my head. In several ways he is more creative then I. He has taught me to pay more attention to details and do things the right way.

He is so supportive and appreciates me and anything I do.

I know that he is one of the greatest blessings of my life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!

Bad News

I will admit that recently we have had more candy in our house then usual. This year I had an insatiable addiction to Target’s candy corn (yes there is a difference)

and my girls received TONS of candy for Halloween.
Yesterday I took my two oldest girls to Dr. Wacker (The greatest Pediatric Dentist in spite of his name) to get their teeth cleaned. I was completely shocked that both girls had cavities-plural! So big changes are happening in our home. I have made a healthy snack chart for the fridge with photos so the younger girls can “read” it and from now on only a parent can brush their teeth.

I had been giving into the “I’m not a baby, I can brush my own teeth”- not anymore!

New discovery

As we were leaving to go to school Lucy forgot her backpack. She hopped out of the car to go get it. After several minutes I realized that Lucy was just standing behind the van. I got out and told her to hustle so we wouldn't be late. She just stood there I asked her what was wrong and she said "Look how tall I am". I then realized that she was looking at her shadow and how "tall" she was. I carry a little camera in my purse was so glad that I could capture her discovery.

Priceless artwork

This is a poster titled “Jorja” is by an artist named Christine Rosamond. When I was 16, I purchased an original AP (Artist’s proof) serigraph from Christine Rosamond's gallery in Carmel. She was impressed that I was so young and buying her art work (I was making good money at the time) she signed this poster and gave it to me. It hangs right above the table where we eat and spend tons of time.
The other night while we were eating dinner Eric casually said "You know, I wouldn't mind if you sold that picture on Ebay". I have been known to sell lots of stuff we don't need- but I like this picture. After talking it over I realized that no guy would be thrilled to have two large pictures of women (Ya, he doesn’t like the other one either) that he doesn’t even know hanging in his house. We compromised. I kept the Serigraph and sold the poster on Ebay for $200. This left us with a really nice frame and nothing to put in it. So I commissioned three of the most elite artists in the area to do a custom work of art for our home. I choose the colors and let them do the rest. I have to admit, I don’t miss Jorja at all.

When we lived down in Louisiana everyone would eat red beans and rice on Mondays. According to my mailman (Gilbert) it was because Monday was laundry day and you could put the beans on the stove and leave them all day while you worked. I liked the idea of doing all the laundry on one day, so I started doing this when we lived down there and still do it today. I also started making red beans and rice as well.
Monday is still my work day. I don’t shower, I stay in grungy clothes (sometimes my pajamas) and I do ALL of our laundry. Wash, fold and put it away. While I am waiting for loads to finish, I mop the floors and vacuum ect. I love going to bed and knowing that everything is clean, even if it will only last for a few hours.

The Missing Sucker

Today Lucy was sucking on a sucker (from her Halloween stash) walking around the house. She came in the kitchen and said that her sucker dropped. I asked her where and he said "here" and pointed to the kitchen floor. Our kitchen is tiny. We looked all over the 3ft x 4ft floor and couldn't see the sucker anywhere. I told her she must have put it down somewhere, but we were unable to find it. Two and a half hours later we are sitting on the sofa petting Max and there was her sucker stuck in his hair. Of course as a typical three year old, Lucy pulled the sucker out (hair and all) and was anxious to eat it. I got her a new sucker.

Halloween night

What a great night. The girls had a blast at the trunk or treat. Haley had asked me to make them candy bags that matched their costumes, that was a great idea.
Mrs. Incredible is their Primary President- she really is an incredible woman!

Eric and I decided to go along with the "Cat" theme of the night so he went as a litter box and I a ball of yarn. One of the ladies in my ward told me that she was so glad that she was not married to Eric. Apparently she did not care for his costume. I love the fact that Eric is willing to dress up and have fun with his girls and I love the fact that he is married to me!

After the trunk or Treat we went over to Olive St.where everyone goes all out decorating and they close down the street. I took the photo below before it got dark because I wanted Ryan and Weston to see the Pirate ship.

On the drive home we were all exhausted. I said "As soon as we get home you girls need to brush your teeth really well and scrub your faces." Lucy said "But Mom, I didn’t eat anything with my face".