Ashley’s Baptism

          

Both sets of grandparents were here for her baptism.  They have actually been at all of our kids’ baptisms.  Each of them bore sweet testimony to us during her little program.  I sat there thinking how lucky my children are to hear from each of their grandparents.

We had some refreshments there at the church.  I didn’t take a picture of everyone that came to her baptism, BUT I made sure to grab a picture of just “us” as we came back to the house.  I’m mad that I didn’t get a picture of everyone else.  :(

I had printed up and framed pictures of Ash.  We had a big bouquet of fall flowers.  Mom had a fluffy towel with her name embroidered on it.  Grandma Brenda had given her a mini hymn book to match her scriptures.  Keith and Janelle had brought her a journal with fun pens.  I gave her a set of scriptures and then that white glass ring, that is SO Ashley and will always remind her of the day.

What a beautiful day with such a beautiful girl.  Love ya to the moon and back Miss Ashley Ann!

Pinecone Turkeys

It’s Thanksgiving break, which means lots of cleaning and cooking to get ready for company.

It also means play dates with friends.

 

These cute girls made pinecone turkeys.  After they finished I told them to go outside and play for a bit.  Yet, all three begged to do another craft project.  Girls are so different than boys!

Slinky

Ashley takes an acting class with her best friend from school.  This year they performed the musical Toy Story.  Ashley was Slinky, which is NOT an easy costume to come up with!

She started her scene in a bucket with a blanket covering her.  When everyone starts looking for her she springs up saying, “Oh I’m sorry I had to hide, last time Andy’s sister got me ALLLLL tangled up”

She was so cute as she said her other lines, and was right on pitch and strong for her solo in “You Got a Friend in Me”

I told her as we we heading out for the performance last night, “Come on Ash, let’s go break a leg!”  She was already in character and quickly replied, “Don’t you mean go break a paw!”

This girl LOVES the spotlights and crowds!

 

You were Awesome Ash!

Snow Delay

Half day Friday + 2 Hour Delay = No School

Perfecting snowballs and snow angels = Pure Fun!

Indian Hot Chocolate

Jerrica has been keeping the Indian dress on since we are now in the month of November.  Today was BITTER cold, I’m talking like 12 degrees with a wind chill factor on top of that!  We froze as we ran to the van from getting groceries.  I of course cranked up the heater as high as it would go, but was still cold.

I kept thinking about the pioneers and the pilgrims.   They didn’t have fancy coats or shoes.  They didn’t even really have food to sustain them.   I can’t even imagine being out in that cold for hours on end.  We are so blessed to have heaters to crank up, hot showers to jump in, down comforters to wrap up in, heating pads, and even fuzzy slippers for our feet to enjoy!

And let me not forget the hot chocolate, which warmed Jerrica and I right up!

   

As I was discussing all of this with Jerrica, she reminded me that at least they had fires.  :)

Thanksgiving Traditions

We have traditions for the month of November.  One is to pull out random cards each night at dinner and then put our focus on it the next day.  For example, last night’s card was we are grateful for our teeth.  So we had to floss and brush our teeth while thinking how much we use them daily.  Another one was we are grateful for Dad.  Each of us tried to show our appreciation in some way to him the next day.

One of my favorites is the Thankful Poster.  We have been doing this since Stephen and I were newlyweds.  I smile as I look at past posters.  They include new babies coming to our home, Stephen’s heart surgery a success, a new house,  special trips… I feel like they tend to capture our year of goodness.  I’m glad that they are on a poster that is easy to save each year.  I ended up hanging last year’s poster in the mud room to remember these year round.

I treasure the newlywed ones with all of the sweet notes to each other, but I’m also really liking the ones that have the kids’ phonetic writing on them.  Here is this year…

I love that Kaylee said she is grateful for “her personality”.

Ash mentioned “the constitution” probably because they have been studying it.  Hairstylists also gave me a smile because I am her hairstylist each morning.

I like all of Jerrica’s spellings, “vecht bols” for vegetables,  “Estr Bne” for Easter Bunny, “lacktrisaty” for electricity, and “the anamls” she LOVES our pets.

Rebecca’s “warm sheets out of the dryer” is one of my favorite things as well.

I’m noticing that Stephen and the boys to get busy adding to this poster.

We really are grateful for SO many things!

Sunday Morning

Jacob has been working on a colored pencil self portrait masterpiece for art.  I hadn’t seen him much over the weekend so Sunday morning we decided to crash his room.  I deemed his room, ‘the room’ where I was going to do the girls’ hair for the day.  It was fun to hang out in there and see how his picture was coming along. 

I wish you could see the eyes up close.  They are amazing!  Even that brown background seems to have a texture to it, yet it’s just blended colors.  This boy is so talented!  I will have to post a follow up of the finished piece.

Toothless

Little Miss Jerrica came up to me with this picture and said, “I drew a picture of myself so that I don’t forget what I looked like without all of my teeth.”

I said, “Girl, we are heading straight outside to take pictures of you so that we don’t forget!”

At first she wouldn’t smile and reasoned that it’s SO embarrassing when you don’t have teeth.

But then the giggles and laughs just started coming out…

I really don’t like seeing those new big teeth trying to poke through.  I am totally loving this smile and lisp!  She is definitely my baby! 

Ashley’s Birthday

Ash had her birthday all planned out from morning to night, and as she said, “my birthday was glorious”!  She started out having breakfast in bed, which was at precisely 6:15.  Stephen made her breakfast requests.  Personally I would have skipped breakfast and enjoyed a few more minutes of sleep.

I took cupcakes into the classroom.  We had four left over.  Ashley was relieved to see the extras.  I thought it was due to the fact that she wanted them for herself.  BUT instead we had to take them down to the office for the office staff and to her first grade teacher.  They all hugged and loved, and I could totally feel how much they adored my Ash.

We brought Hayley home with us for a play date.  Ashley loves friends and insisted on having Hayley over for the afternoon. 

That evening Stephen and I took Ashley up to Denver for a date.  We first stopped at the American Girl Doll store to get Saige.  Ashley has been waiting all year to get her. 

 

We then walked over to the Cheesecake Factory.  I was sad when Ashley realized that she didn’t really like cheesecake.  I guess we should have bought their cake instead.

   

We ended the evening walking around the Denver Temple and talking.  I loved hearing her questions and comments.  She is such a sweet girl!

Ashley is a performer.  She still loves doing her acting and dancing classes.  She sang a little solo in church for the Primary program.  Ashley is also getting really good on the piano.  I can always tell when she is in practicing because she usually is singing along to her own accompaniment.  Reading is also a favorite past time for her. She is a big crafter / maker.  We often find her in the craft room watching youtube videos and trying to create whatever they are showing on the tutorial.  One last thing about Ashley is that she really wants to do something with fashion when she is older.  She LOVES fashion, and is always quick to point it out.

We love you Ashley and are so very lucky to have you in our family!  Hope you had a great day!

Action

I love lifestyle photography because it catches moments and memories.  A friend of mine once told me that photos are more interesting when the subject is actually doing something.  They could be eating, playing, dancing, cooking, laughing, kissing … even sleeping!

When people are doing activities, you get pure emotions on their faces!

 

Yesterday Ashley was posing in her new birthday outfit.  At the end she started twirling around in her long flowing shirt.  I snapped just a couple as she was doing it, and wouldn’t you know it was one of my favorites because of the genuine emotion on her face.  Yes her hair is wild and you can’t really see her outfit, but that face is Ashley’s face of pure bliss.  LOVE it!

Homemaker vs Houseworker

Not too long ago I was asked my occupation.  I replied that I was a homemaker, but then noticed that he wrote down “houseworker”.  I quickly corrected him and he gave me a look like “lady, it’s the same thing”, but humored me by correcting it.

I have thought about how different the two terms really are!  Even the words “house” and “home” have different meanings.  I am not a worker that simply checks in to clean and work!  No, I’m a mother that is trying to create a home filled with love and memories.  I’m creating a place to retreat from the world.  I am helping to mentor and love those that dwell in my home.

This quote sums up a home to me-

“I believe that a godly home is a foretaste of heaven. Our homes, imperfect as they are, must be a haven from the chaos outside. They should be a reflection of our eternal home, where troubled souls find peace, weary hearts find rest, hungry bodies find refreshment, lonely pilgrims find communion, and wounded spirits find compassion.”
― Jani Ortlund

Yesterday I felt like a homemaker.  I had an apple cobbler baking in the oven for our dessert.

  I didn’t have to do Kindergarten carpool, so I busied around getting a lot done around the house.  Sheets were washed, floors were vacuumed, bathrooms were scrubbed, and little messes were picked up.

Then to top my day off, I sewed Ashley’s little scripture bag for her birthday tomorrow.  Cleaning, cooking, and sewing, I felt like a homemaker!

A house worker would not have had that extra love in sewing that bag just right late at night.  A housekeeper would not have smiled to herself at the thought of sweet bathed kids climbing into their fresh clean sheets.  No, it’s a homemaker that does those things.

Years ago I taught a lesson in Young Women’s about homemaking.  I remembered a little part of it and had to go back to glean over the job description.  Here it is:

Job Overview

1.  You will accomplish something worthwhile that can affect the happiness of those around you.

2.  You will help choose the working conditions and establish a pleasant atmosphere for others.

3.   You will help control expenditures.

4.   You will decide what work will be done, when it will be done, and how it will be done.

5.   You will enjoy being around everyone in the entire organization and will have the opportunity to bless their lives and help them accomplish great things.

Isn’t that list so true?!?!  We are in control of so many different aspects of our homes.  I truly feel that the influence of a homemaker is vast.  There are so many that our touched by what we do.

“The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only - and that is to support the ultimate career. ”
― C.S. Lewis

I will get off of my soap box now.  I was just really feeling and loving the fact that I am a homemaker.  SO young man that sneered at me, there IS a HUGE difference between the two, and I am a homemaker!

November Randomness

Oh my goodness I’m loving all of the Fall desserts.  I’m already rolling and Thanksgiving hasn’t even arrived yet.  We made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies last week and I couldn’t keep my hand out of the cookie jar.  There is just something about pies and cobblers and pumpkin….

We decorated for Thanksgiving and got our Thankful Poster hanging up.  I smile as I read some of the sweet things that have been written on it so far.  One of my favorite decorations is this Indian that my mom bought me years ago.

For some reason Jerrica thinks my mom is an expert on Indians because she taught on the reservation years ago.  Love her comment in her letter asking her “to teach her about the Indians”.

 

I noticed that someone helped her write the movie Despicable Me.  I’m glad she didn’t ask me because I don’t think I even typed it right.  I also hope whomever helped her was patient with her sometimes we have a hard time with patience around here.  :/

Kaylee and I did a Souper Saturdar a few weeks ago.  I signed us up for the pocket potholders.  I’m determined that my girls will be able to sew when they leave home.  The potholder were so quick and easy to make that I couldn’t resist sending each of my sisters one for Fall.

Alesha suggested that we start a tradition of trading favorite recipes from the year with each other during the month of November.  Doesn’t that sound like a perfect Thanksgiving tradition?!?!

We have a new smile around our house and I can’t help but smile myself when I see it.  So sad that this is my last toothless grin.  Her lisp makes me want her to talk non-stop.

 

So many fun date nights, championships, activities and projects that I’m behind on sharing.  I need to get back in my routine or else 2013’s Blog Book will have so many special memories left out.