Merry Christmas!

One reason these

have not made it to the mailbox, even though they have been sitting in my house since before Thanksgiving, is these

I ran out of fabric to make a cuff for mine, and some kind of personalization is on  my wishlist  for next year,  but I let the kids choose the back and inside fabrics, so we can still tell them apart.

They took a lot longer than I thought when I started out on this project.  (It's a long story, at least 2 years in the making.  I used this tutorial and this one- I took a shortcut on my lining though, so the insides are quite as nice.)  We have also had a nasty head cold/flu type of thing making its way through the family, but I'm not going to post pictures of that.

I had such great intentions, my shopping was DONE the first of December (mostly online).  I had carefully planned some fun and some meaningful activities for our advent calendar.  This week before Christmas was supposed to be fun and relaxing, not full of coughing, sniffling, and "Mom, I need a tissue!"  And, I was going to make some major progress on having the baby's room ready (even though she won't sleep in there for at least a few months).  But, it just was not to be, and I am [trying to be] OK with that.  So, you'll just have to wait a few more days to find our smiling faces in your mailbox.

Getting our "To Do" lists "Done" isn't what's most important.  At this time of year, we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  We enjoy time with friends and family and are filled with that magical Christmas spirit.  We hope your Christmas is one with love, joy and peace, and we hope all the best for you in the new year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Scott, Lani, Eden, Andrew, and Jacob

Family Photos, round 2

We went out with my photographer friend again on Tuesday afternoon, with a blizzard forecasted to move in that night.  It was a little chilly (you can tell in a few of the pictures), but we had a great time.  Even the kids seemed to have a mostly fun time.  (I need to remember to prepare them a little next year.)  Now with so many more great choices, what will I do? 

This is one of my favorites.  My favorite from the first round is not color either.  But, do I want the Big Family Portrait on the Wall to be black and white?  It's always been color before. Hmmmm.......

Family Photos 2011

This year I decided not to do school pictures anymore.  Instead, we'll do family and individual shots once a year with someone who can give us the pictures on a CD to make whatever prints, etc. that we want.  That way we're guaranteed to get a 'frame-worthy' shot of everyone at least once a year.  Luckily, one of my friends here is a photographer who does just that.  (I think I'll also do some newborn shots with her early next year, which is probably kind of backward to start that with baby #4, but after realizing I had almost ZERO frame-worthy shots of my other babies, it's what I want to do.)  The individuals of the kids turned out great.  Considering the antics we had going on during the family shots, she got some pretty good photos, but I think we could do better.  So, thanks to my friend's generosity, we are probably going to try one more time.  Here's some of what we've got so far.  She also made black & white versions of most of them. 

Which one do you like best?  I want to try printing one of these pretty big to canvas at Costco, probably 16" x 20" size.

Right now, this is my favorite.

Individuals/Couple:

I've only had the CD since yesterday afternoon, and I am already liking the pictures better and better every time I look at them.  But, since we're going out again anyway, feel free to make suggestions on what to do different next time.  (We're already trying to prepare the kids for a better experience- bribery may or not be involved- something we didn't do last time. And I'm considering some slight wardrobe changes.)

(By the way, I think this totally counts as a 'more current post' for my November goal!)

Lemonade & Homework

This officially concludes my "5 posts this month [of October]" goal- yay! Next month's goal-- aside from renewing my low-sugar effort ;)-- is to adequately document our big East Coast trip from June (likely taking at least a few posts), and to do at least one post that is more current (ie. since school started). I also should probably put these 5 posts in their proper chronological order.



Shortly before school started, I let the kids have a lemonade stand. I thought they would do it for a couple hours then be done. But they had enough customers stop by to keep them motivated the whole day! (I imposed a 2-hour break around lunchtime.) I forgot to take a picture on that day. But we kept the sign and I took this picture a few days later.

This year, I decided the kids needed to have a homework space that was separate from the kitchen table. That way, things could be left there to be finished later, instead of having to put everything away and then get it all out again. Here they are 'enjoying' their new space. (Of course now that school's been in session for a couple months, some of the novelty has worn off and they are not always this cheerful about homework!)

Another camping trip

Finally on Two Wheels!

(In case you're wondering... I've decided our East Coast trip will be next month's goal. I started on it, but there's just too much. So, 2 more catch-up posts and I'll reach my goal!)

Camping with Dad

One down, Four to go...

October is two-thirds gone, and I have only 1/5th of my goal accomplished. But, I am hopeful that I will still reach my goal. The kids are finally back to a 'normal' school schedule until Thanksgiving. I am riding a hormone roller-coaster right now. It definitely has it's disadvantages, but it also (at times) makes things like catching up this blog seem infinitely more important than other tasks (today those would include scrubbing my shower and putting away the laundry among others). This one took about 20 40 minutes (this little monologue took longer than I thought) or so to put together, so hopefully I only need my hormones to work this way another 1 1/2 3 hours out of rest of the month. I do have to wonder if my slack running lately has anything to do with my mood swings. I've definitely slowed down, and have started using a Galloway-esque method to avoid potty-stops every mile. But, lately it's been more of a scheduling problem and wimping-out-to-the-weather problem than anything else. I went running for the first time this week, and I swear it's like a giant Reset Button for my mood. Sometimes the endorphine-induced high doesn't last the whole day, but it definitely helps.

I know I mentioned to some of you that I was considering a low/no-sugar diet for the last few months of this pregnancy in an effort to keep this baby as small as possible at birth (after that she can get nice and chubby). Jake was almost 9 lbs, and I have no desire to go there again! Well, we're now 3 months out and if anyone is wondering how that endeavor is going, it isn't, at least not yet. I just pawed through the jar of Skittles and Mini M&M's (Jake's potty treats), and ate ALL of the M&M's! For the past 2 weeks, I had been doing this a handful or two at a time, and only almost every day. I've been thinking it was a stupid silly (we're trying to help Jacob stop saying this word so much, he really is obsessed right now) idea to mix the two together, and today I finally rectified the situation. Yesterday, I ate about half of the 9x13 brownie pan (we MUST have treats for FHE!), frosted brownies. Thank goodness I only made half a recipe.

a new quote, more excuses, and a question

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face…You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

I just love this new quote I came across and wanted everyone to see it (it's also on my sidebar list).  Now, as far as new posting.  Here's the deal: it seems like almost every time I get enough 'on-top' of things around here that I don't feel too guilty spending a lot of time updating the blog, something happens that throws things out of wack again-- someone(s) get sick, we go on a trip, we have company, etc.  So, this morning I should be doing all the last minue things I ran out of time for last night for our weekend getaway to Provo, but instead I am giving you all some more excuses.  My goal for October is 5 posts (real ones where you can actually read about what we've been up to these days).

One more thing... people keep talking about Pinterest on my facebook page.  I looked into it briefly, and what I saw seemed to be a place to create a never-ending collection of wishes and wants, a huge time-sucker with no benefit.  (I totally admit Blogger and Facebook can also be huge time-suckers, but they have the redeeming quality of helping people stay connected).  HOWEVER, people I know and trust really seem to love Pinterest.  So, I am still curious-- do any of you use Pinterest?  Why?  What do you use it for?  How has it been helpful for you?

And now, I really must finish packing!

New posts

I have finally added a couple new posts!  Of course they're outdated, but better than nothing!

Projects

First Day of School

Just some more excuses

It's pretty sad that I have pictures of the first day of school on the same card with pictures from the last weeks of the last school year.  I finally got motivated enough (because Jake will start 'preschool' tomorrow and I have no more room on my memory card), to download this summer's pics onto my computer, the first step to getting them on the blog.

Unfortunately, the camera battery died before I could finish, so I've only downloaded pics for May and June.  And my computer and my external hard drive (where I store all the pictures), are having some communication problems.  But, I wanted those of you who still are holding out hope for this blog to know that I am trying.  Hopefully my hardware will reconcile (camera battery is charging tonight), and I'll be able to post something worthwhile soon.

ps- RE: the parenting aricle I posted a link to a few weeks ago-  I don't actually think any moms (or dads) should be truly mean.  My kids don't call me "Mean" when I actually am being mean (it's been known to happen, I'm not perfect).  My kids only call me 'Mean' when I stand firm on rules and expectations, instead of giving in to their whining and/or negotiation tactics (which also has been know to happen on occasion, again, I'm not perfect).  The article basically says it is healthy for our kids to experience challenges, disappointments, sadness and other 'negative' feelings, so that they can handle those experiences as adults.  We do them a disservice when we try to protect them too much.

Just in case...

...you are wondering why there is still nothing worthwhile (ie. pictures from the last several months) on this blog, I refer you here, it's a pretty accurate description of my current condition.

First Day of School! First Day of School!

Be a Mean Mom!

...OK, maybe not all the time. ;)  But, for any of you who may feel guilt when your kids call you "the meanest mom ever", or "evil" (I've been called both, and a whole lot more), read this article.  Being 'mean' sometimes is probably good for your kids.  Recently, I realized I often feel a sense of satisfaction when my kids call me 'mean' (and felt a little guilt about that instead of guilt about being mean).  It's nice to have some validation.

How To Land Your Kid in Therapy

Arriving January 2012

One little reason I haven't kept up on the blog lately...



....Although honestly, I've been mostly over the 'morning sickness' for a little while now, and still haven't kept up on the blog. As of right now, the kids are united in hoping it's a girl. We'll see how long that lasts.

Notice my new quote!

I know you guys are all super excited about the new addition to my quote list.  I like it. Disclaimer: I am not familiar with the book or the author, I simply snatched this quote from the blog of someone who did read it. The last sentence says people either have what they wanted or a list of why not.  I think this may need to be changed to "what they needed"; or maybe to "what they wanted even if they didn't realize that's what they wanted" or something... I think that the majority of the time we DO end up with what we want, or at least what our actions show we want, maybe not what we said we wanted, sometimes what we want changes over time.  And sometimes we don't realize that what we have is truly what we want. 

It also reminded me of something one of my neighbor/friends at Hickam said.  It was something along the lines of, "The older I get, the less I care what other people think."  At the time it struck me as a little odd (I don't remember the context of the conversation, but this woman is about 8-10 years older than me), but I have to admit, I've found that to be true.  Now, I'm not saying I am completely above everyone else's opinion's of me all of the time.  But, I do feel a lot more confident (in general), in the choices I make concerning how I spend my time and how we try to raise our kids, and things like that.  I still have moments of self-doubt and insecurity, but when it comes down to it, what other people think plays little or no role in the decisions I make.  It's really very liberating.  I think the connection I see to my new quote is that sometimes we have a hard time 'owning' our uniqueness, and spend too much energy comparing ourselves to others.  That's where some of the issues the quote talks about come in.  Sometimes we have excuses because we never really wanted that result anyway, we just thought we should want it.   It reminded me that instead of coming up with excuse why I am not or have not, I should examine my motives a little.  And if it's not something I truly want, then I should own that uniqueness instead of making excuses for it.

This may not make a lot of since (I'll blame pregnant-brain), and I apologize if you didn't want to hear a kind of random soapbox episode from me today.  But maybe if I let this quote fester for a while, I will find the motivation to do REAL updates to my blog.  Or, maybe I'll realize that I never want to blog again.  (But, I'm hoping for the first.)

Here are some potential future catch-up posts:
* Our trip to the East Coast (NOT Europe)
* The Dixon Family Reunion
* A picture of #4 waving 'hello'
* Projects started and/or completed (more the former than the latter)

And I'm sure there are more, since I don't even remember the last time I updated our blog.  So, here's to hoping I get some pictures on here again soon.

For Mothers' Day

Projects

I'm posting them for Heather, better late than never!  The framed sheet metal was a Super Saturday project- supposed to be a chart to keep track of birthdays- but I wanted to make a FHE board. Heather cut the vinyl for me and even sent me the kids' names in another font that I really liked, but didn't work for the FHE board. Now you can all see that I really did use the vinyl and finished not one, but TWO projects! Thanks again Heather!



I thought the prints I had ordered would be a little smaller, and not cover up the words so much.  Maybe someday I'll get around to fixing that.



(You'll just have to imagine a cute portrait of Jake in the far right frame. I took the picture while I was still waiting for the prints from JCPenney.)

This was an empty wall in our bedroom.  I think it turned out pretty well for just 'eye-balling' it!

some of April

Here are a couple pages for April. I still have to put together some layouts for our weekend in Mesa, AZ. I'm trying out a 12 x 12 layout this time.

Here's what happened in March...

(I've tried loading these collages again, so hopefully people can see them now)

After completing a blurb book for 2008, I've decided to try making more posts using the collage function in Picassa.  You should be able to click on a collage to make it bigger (if you're interested).

While we were away

...the kids got to play with Grandma!  My mom flew over here and took care of Eden, Andrew, and Jake for 9 DAYS!  My only regret is that she was here so long, but I only got to see her for a couple of days.  She took some pictures to show us what we missed while we were gone. 

They took happy Sunday pictures- both weeks!

reading The Friend magazine together

had crafts (funfusion beads)

played games, including math bingo, and Guess Who? StarWars

Played in our side-yard terrace, that maybe a garden soon, but right now it's a pretty fun place to play, especially since the soil around here is naturally pretty sandy.  They also jumped on the trampoline

But, they still had piano practice and homework

And chores



Jake started taking a nap again, and still slept OK at night (I thought he was about done with naps).  AND, he started using the toilet sometimes for #1.  We're far from done with the potty-training, but at least now we have something to build on. :)



We 'missed' some of this ;)

 Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom!  We love you!!!