learning

I got my feelings hurt earlier this week. Just a little thing, but I felt unwelcome.  It's a yucky feeling.
My low-self-esteem-self isn't strong enough for that. Which I find so sad.  I had really hoped I would outgrow low self esteem.

I expressed some of my feelings, and I got scolded by my mom for being catty. Also a yucky feeling and also something that I wish I could outgrow.  When I explained the whole situation, we both ended up in tears that each one was hurting.  

In the end, I decided my hurt feelings were not worth it.  I realized I probably was being a little catty after all. And the kicker is I think I turned right around and said something to hurt someone else in pretty much the same way.

I'm wondering when I'll learn. Or outgrow this.

Lately Miss M...

Miss M has been on a GREEN streak at school! If she gets a week of green days for good behavior, she gets a mommy or daddy date on Saturday! With all the sickness lately, she had worked up three partial weeks of greens, so she got a special ice cream date with me! We had coldstone, chatted, walked around Kohl's, and visited Grandma's house where.....

 Grandma Mardie pulled out the wiggly tooth that she's been working on for a while!

Grandma is amazing. She totally distracted Miss M and she had no idea that Mom had pulled out her tooth until it was over and painless! 

We have been really focusing on prayers at home lately. We have been on a fabulous scripture reading kick and I can tell the difference it's making. We read the illustrated old fashioned Book of Mormon Stories that I grew up on every night.  On Sunday I watched as Miss M figured out one of the clues in primary because of what we'd been reading! We may actually be doing something right! ;)

Anyway, I had noticed that Miss M was getting pretty repetitive and speedy with her prayers lately. All of a sudden, we were praying for good dreams at dinner and blessing the food at bedtime. She was just speeding through without thinking of what she's praying for. So we've had lots of talks about talking to our Heavenly Father and what that means and how important our prayers are. We talked about thanking Heavenly Father for our blessings and not just asking for things.  The result  has been truly touching to us.  She is taking her time and saying LOOOOONG prayers :) and really going through and being thankful for things that are important to her.  She prays for all the babies on their way in our family every night and she mentions the world and how beautiful it is, and her friends and books and music and dancing and I love how it shows what's important to her.  

Miss M's reading has totally been taking off lately! It is pure joy to listen to her read! She picked up one of the Pinkalicious books recently and read the whole thing through slowly, working through the tough words.  I hope she loves reading like I do!

baby gift

My oldest brother surprised us all last Fall when he announced that his wife, who SWORE she was done many times, was not only pregnant but pregnant with twins!!!!

It has been a tumultuous pregnancy and I've never prayed so hard for babies in utero except my own, but I'm sure these babies will be blessed. One has had some complications, and we don't know whether it's a boy or a girl. However, we do know about the other baby and, that after three boys, a GIRL is on the way! 

With things up in the air, we decided a real shower after the delivery was best, but that my sweet sister in law MMae still needed to stock up. So we gathered lots of presents and love from the immediate-extended family and had a lovely brunch and mini-shower.

 My Mom always knows how to throw a party, with all the trimmings!

 I cleaned out my girls' baby clothes and passed those on, but I also made her a diaper bag. I love how it turned out, but I will definitely change a few things when I make Grace's! :) I roughly followed Angela's Diaper Bag pattern from the Moda Bake Shop. I used the dimensions but obviously not the precuts.

 Here's what I love!
-all those beautiful pockets!
-the divider!
-the outside pockets
-the big shoulder strap instead of two arm straps
-the cute ruffle detail!

 Here's what I'd change:
-it's too big! This thing is more of an overnight bag than a diaper bag but I hope they use it!
-the lovely pockets need to be shallower. A lot can get lost in ten inches of pocket!
-a few of the directions didn't make sense (or maybe it was just my brain) and I had to make it up as I went along

Overall though, I think it's beautiful and I hope they like it and enjoy it!

Our Valentines c/o Pinterest!

  A girlfriend of mine recently commented on FB that she thought Pinterest was a big letdown. Gasp!

 For me, just like FB or blogging, what you put into it, you'll get out of it. I love looking at pretty Pinterest pictures but I had a blast this afternoon actually creating some of the ideas we found for our Valentines! 

I wasn't that excited to decorate a kleenex box for Miss M's school valentines, but I found a few cute ideas on pinterest and let her pick her favorite. And so we created a birdhouse!

 Here is the best part. She kept saying the house needed a nest. I was being a little too controlling and said it was a birdhouse, it didn't need a nest. She then asked if she could draw one inside. I now admit, it's the cutest and my favorite part of the house! She drew three hungry baby birds in a nest with the mama flying in. It's too precious!

It was one of those wonderful moments where I realized how much we need to do this more. We worked together and then I let her go to town with the glittery foam stickers. We even had bird stickers!

We found a cute FREE printable valentine on pinterest and she loved them! So we printed them out and got cute pencils and suckers and we were set!

At her class party, each kid will be making two valentine pictures for their parents.  Here's our mockup of the first. Except instead of glitter stickers, they get to glue foil wrapped chocolates for their cards. 

I'll post pics of the other craft card soon!

Last but not least, we didn't forget our Dad! We made a candy bouquet, taping kabob skewers on the back of his favorite candy bar and sticking them in a vase. Hopefully he likes it!

And dinner tonight is from Pinterest too, but I'll have to report on that later, I have to go cook it now! :)

12 Squared Love Letters

Here is my latest contribution to my quilting bee. I loved this one!
You have to go visit it though. You get this picture instead! :)

In related news, I sliced off the side of my index finger making tutus for Miss M's birthday party last weekend.  It's getting better. But even non-dominant index fingers are very important and should be valued more! Especially when putting on bras or roll brushing hair!

10 things

1. my vacuum broke.  we got it when we were engaged. it's the end of an era.  and i don't know what to replace it with.

2. we are kind of obsessed with fanta zero right now.  i never knew i'd love orange soda. i feel like the natives in Joe vs. the Volcano.

3. i'm going to rip out Miss M's loose tooth soon myself. it's driving me nuts. but i also know i was a chicken about these things so i'm trying to be patient.

4. i'm hooked on lime and salt popcorn right now. sooo tasty. good thing i don't drink or i think i'd be a big margarita fan.

5. i made thirteen pink tutus last weekend.  i have pink tulle dust all around my chair where i sat and tied tutus for three evenings watching movies.

6. and a war wound to prove it.  never use a rotary cutter after 10pm. and always go with "the tutus are fluffy enough. you don't need to cut more tulle". especially when it's after 10pm.

7. i haven't had a cold sore in almost two years. add that to my list of war wounds this week. stressed, much?

8. W's new school schedule is Mon and Tues and i'm not such a big fan. it makes for a long week by the time we get to wednesday night.

9. however, i'll take it and only complain to you all because after this semester all he has left is his capstone paper!!!! yeah baby!!!!!!!

10. my baby sister is pregnant. my older sister in law is having twins next month. i have a huge crush on my newest niece, but i am pretty sure i cry every time i hold her. i keep asking her where her cousin is.

One of the best days of the year!

It's Groundhog Day!

Is it too early for flapjacks?

It's also my sweet hubby and sweet Miss M's birthdays!!!

We started our day with balloons and donuts at breakfast.

Then lulu and I joined Miss M for lunch and recess with her friends.  

She has great friends...when they're not all being drama queens. :)

 They are always so sweet with Lulu and make sure she stays with the group and is included. I love them for that.

 They are a busy bunch, always running around after each other. This is the best group shot I got! :)

Up next, dinner at Larry and Bob's Pizza, followed by a saturday birthday party! 

Happy Birthday to my loves!