It Takes a MONTH

I'm getting smarter as I'm getting older.  I've decided that I need to go back and do this motherhood thing all over.

I have learned that you have to start a month ahead to get ready for the next month.  And let me tell you why I think this is so important.

• Holiday library books are all gone if you wait.
• All the CUTE holiday decorations have left the store's shelves
• The fun activities for the kids NEVER happen because it's too hard to throw it all together
• Packages reach the intended recipients AFTER the holiday

Are you catching the vision.  It took me quite a few years to learn this, but can I just say that life and holidays are so much easier when you have been planning ahead.  Valentine's is especially tricky because two weeks into the month, "It's Valentines Day"  I finished up the Valentines packages this last week and the kids' are working on their cards for the packages tonight.

They were fun packages to put together and mixed with the kids' sweet notes, I'm excited for those receiving them.

I also checked out my favorite Valentine's books that we don't have from the library early last week.

I have even collected all the goodies to go in the kids mailboxes each day.  Now there is no stress each night as to what goes in them.  Plus the stores still had the stuff on their shelves.  One fun little thing for their mailboxes is Jill's bookmarks.  You have to check out how cute they are.  And yes, they are made and ready to put in the mailboxes.

I just love starting a little early!  It really relieves stress so that the things I DO forget about I have time to deal with!

Weekend UPdate

Thursday Stephen and I went on a fun date with the Madsen's.  We went out to dinner.  Then to the theater to see -

I LOVED how small the theater was and the stage was in the middle between the audience.  The play was really good!  We ended the evening visiting over dessert.  Thanks Madsen's!

Friday I went with one of my most hilarious friends to see this -

Yes it's sad and serious, BUT I kept laughing so hard at all of my friend's antics.  My cheeks hurt from laughing by the end of the night.  Some people are just so quick witted and clever with words.

Then Saturday looked ugly.  I started to get an ulcer just looking at the calendar.

We had SIX games to go to and of course all of them were at different places.  Rebecca and I went to Emma's baptism in the morning.  Before we left we made her a little CTR necklace.

Then Saturday night our family went over to the Wright's for dinner and games.  They have seven children.  We had so much fun because they have kids every age for my kids.  I was also VERY grateful to not have to worry about dinner after such a busy day. 

When the day was over I thought about the many emotions I felt throughout the day.  The peace at the baptism.  The competitive fire during the close games.  The sadness at still missing my Ashley.  The pure joy watching my kids interact and play games at the Wright's.  It truly was a day filled with many different emotions because of the various settings!

Valentine Quotes

A friend just asked for my love quotes and so I thought that I would share them.  Quite a few years ago I made these love quotes for Stephen.  There is one a day for the entire month of February.  Every year they find their way into a different box or basket.  Heaven forbid if I toss or throw anything out!
Last year we would draw one out at dinner and talk about the quote.  The girls are always, "That is soo beautiful, I hope a boy tells me that someday" whereas the boys are like, "Why would anyone say that to someone else?!?"  And yes some are quite dreamy/sappy -
   "If I had a single flower in my garden for every time that I think of you, I could walk forever in that garden" - Unknown
But some are deep and fun to discuss -
    "Where there is love there is life." - Gandhi
    "Love and you shall be loved" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Some are poems.  And some are scriptures or quotes from talks.  At any rate they are a fun little basket of love thoughts!  Comment or email me if you want a copy of the list.

Update on the Bump

I have had a lot of emails from family and friends about Jerrica so I thought I would do a quick post before the weekend.  They are not sure if her cyst is a bone cyst or soft tissue cyst.  So they are going to do a skull x-ray to determine what type it is first.  Then we will go from there.  I really don't think that it has increased in size, AND it is not affecting her development, which are both good signs.  She will probably have to have it removed though.

Like I said the post before, always something to worry about!

Jerrica's Bump

Jerrica had all kinds of trouble when she was inside of me.  We didn't even know if she was going to make it here.  One thing that she had and still has is a bump on the back of her head the size of a quarter, but round like a ball.  I guess you could say its like a half of a bouncy ball stuck on her head.  The pediatrician kept reassuring me that all was fine and it would probably just go away.  Well, it hasn't and now we have to see a specialist today.  I'm a little worried and hope and pray that it is nothing.  I have a feeling that they might want a biopsy of it. 

Oh, there is just always something to worry about!!!

Wish us Luck!

Idea Room Projects

Tanya came over last week and we did our little count down blocks in black and white.

I guess there still are uses for my scrapbook paper.

The other project that I saw on the Idea Room was her Valentine wreath.  When I first saw it I thought WOW, but that looks a little time consuming so it's probably NOT going to happen. 

However the majority of the week are "No Screen" days, which means I have kids asking, "what can I do?...."  This especially happens with my older girls.  SO one night when I went to run errands I grabbed the felt and styrofoam heart thinking this would be a fun and easy project for THEM to do.  I showed them the instructions and let them have at it.  I was thinking that it probably wouldn't be "perfect", but fun for them to do.  Little did I know that you can't really mess this project up.  You just stick in your folded circles here and there and it is truly beautiful.  They finished about 3/4 of it and thought they were done.  That's when I stepped in and we finished IT!

Amy, I'm sure glad that you find and share sooo many fun ideas because we sure LOVE to do them!

Guest Post

I'm guest posting today on www.SimplyModernMom.com.  She asked me to share more about the date packets.  For those of you wanting to know what some of the dates were that are in them - go check it out!

AND for those of you here from her site, take a minute to check out my other husband ideas.

AND mental note to self, take more pictures of ME, instead of staying behind the camera!  I didn't really have a picture of Stephen and I that was recent!  The one I used was taken by one of my kids with THEIR camera.

I am SO Sad!

I am so sad today!  I clean a little, do a little laundry, play a little with Jerrica, even a little crafting, and now on the computer AND I can't stop thinking about MY Ashley!

She is gone today and won't be home for a WEEK!  A week seems so long to be gone, but she was sooo excited to go.  I know that she will have a lot of fun with my parents.  My mom adores her, probably because they are so much alike.  They are both quite busy! 

I get sad when Jacob goes on his scout overnighters.  Even when Kristy lived here and the kids would spend the nights back and forth, I would be sad when mine were over at her house, which was 5 minutes away.  What am I going to do as my kids start leaving the house!?!

At any rate we are sure going to miss that intense little personality around here.  But like I said before she was sooo excited about the trip and the undivided attention on her.

We love and miss you Ash!

 

Game Try

Have you ever heard of a "GameTry"?

I have because of this little missy.

She has a Leapster and then this Leap frog keyboard game.  They are both ALWAYS referred to as her "GameTry", even after correcting her with the correct names.  I finally asked her why she calls them that, to which she told me, "Because they are Games that I Try". 

Well I guess that explains it! 

You sure are good at your "GameTry", Ashley!

Holy Ghost FHE

Yesterday I had to talk in church and can you guess what they asked me to speak on ... the Holy Ghost.  I really enjoyed preparing and learning from my talk. 

SO we had a FHE on the Holy Ghost tonight.  My parents were actually in town so that made it exciting to have them with us.  The object lesson part was fun.  To start I went around the room and whispered something in everyone's ear to do.  I had them each making a sound - my dad was clapping, Nathan went and turned on the Wii, Rebecca had to slam a door over and over, Kaylee and my mom started the stereo, Jacob had a TV blarring, Ashley had to pound a song on the piano, and then I had Stephen start a clip of President Monson speaking on the internet.  Of course the house was LOUD!  Jerrica was covering her ears and looking around like we were nuts.  I then had the kids listen and try to think with all the noise.  Then I had them one by one go and turn something off or stop someone from making the noise that they were doing.  Slowly the noises decreased.  And pretty soon it was VERY quiet and I asked them if they could still hear something.  Nathan quickly said, "I think there is still a TV on somewhere."  We all went to find it and talked about who it was and why we couldn't hear him.

I told them how hard it is to hear the Holy Ghost when there is so much commotion around us.  We talked of the importance of quiet time to yourself to ponder and think.  I then shared the verse in 2 Ne 33:1  It states that the Holy Ghost carries the message UNTO and not necessarily INTO our hearts.  We HAVE to be open to receive his guidance.  I then closed with this poem from the Friend that I love because of the rhyming and message.

LaFond Hall, “The Holy Ghost Speaks Softly,” Friend, Jul 1997
The Holy Ghost speaks softly.
He never shouts, you’ll find.
Instead, He whispers gently
An idea in your mind.
When you’re deciding something
And aren’t sure what to do,
Just listen hard within your heart—
His voice will come to you!
It may be He’ll remind you
Of something Mother said.
Perhaps a verse of scripture
Will pop into your head.
Sometimes you’ll get the feeling
That tells you it’s OK—
Or one that lets you know it’s wrong,
That you should turn away.
And if you want this gift to use,
Each morning when you pray,
Ask Heavenly Father to help you
To listen through the day—
To listen to the promptings
That softly come to you
To bless and help and guide you
In everything you do.

It was a special night.  We felt the spirit and learned together.  I LOVE nights like these!

Photo Shoot

I just had to post this particular photo shoot because all of my sisters know this dear friend.  She was a roommate at BYU with me.  She was always so sweet to me and I have always thought that she was as beautiful inside as she is outside.  ANYWAY, she called me a few weeks ago wanting a picture of each of her kids.  I was excited to do it, because as you will see her kids are like models. 





Your kids are so beautiful Trenya!  I had a hard time picking favorite pictures of each.  There are SOOO many fun ones.
We made a night of it with dinner and games, but as usual what I enjoyed most was visiting with Trenya.
Thanks for letting me take your pictures!  AND thanks for the fun evening!

Little Monster Friends

I have a few little friends that I have been creating.  Take a peek at them ...

My friend was right when she said, "Oh Shauna those are sooo 70's"  They are!  I had one myself when I was growing up IN THE 70's.  In fact I think that my sister remembers mine quite well.  (She stole my tithing money from it)  Yes I did say tithing money.  They are actually jars that have a lid access on the bottom so that you can put things inside.
My Aunt Kathy made mine when I was a little girl.  Then last month when I started thinking of making one for each of my kids to keep their tithing in, she was there again to help show me and give me a pattern.
Stay tuned for a reveal of all six little monster tithing jars!

Trenya's Cornbread

You know when you have a friend and every recipe you get from them you just LOVE?  Well, this is one of those kind of friends.  AND this recipe is DIVINE!  It reminds me of the cornbread from Frontier Pies.  My kids get WAY excited when we have it and even ask to take it as leftovers for school lunches.  I think we LOVE it because it is so fluffy and sweet.

Try it!

AND Thanks Trenya for all your yummy recipes!

Classic

I kept nagging Ashley over and over to do something when she said,

"How many times do I have to LISTEN to you telling me to do that?!?"

Uh, as many times as it takes for you to do it My Dear.....

Kaila

Do you remember this little baby?

 

She looks like this now ...

Thanks for coming over and crafting with me on Monday, Tanya!  And thanks for yet another photo shoot Miss Kaila!  And thank you Stephen for taking the kids to the movie so that I could have some sister/crafting time!

Poked My Heart Out

I picked Kaylee up from basketball practice tonight and the first thing she said was

"Mom I thought I got My Heart Poked out tonight!"

"Oh no what happened?"

"Well, a girl was boxing me out and her elbow hit my heart, and I thought she had poked it out, but then there was no blood on my shirt so I knew she hadn't poked it out, but it just felt like it WAS poked out, and then I thought maybe it was just poked back into my back....."

On and on she rambled about her poor little heart being poked out.  I just thought it was cute how she was describing it all!  And rest assured it is NOT poked out, she is just fine!

Friend + Fish Bowls = Frosties

We went out with some good friends over the weekend, and when we picked them up look what was waiting for ME!

She had inverted fish bowls into each other and put them in a sock.  The fun part is that inside the fish bowls are filled with ...

... little white lights!

The cord fits perfectly out the side of the fluted edge.  And then the scarf covers the hole where the cord is coming out.

They are soo cute and I LOVE them.  The little girls LOVE them too because they are always fighting over who is going to plug them in at night.  Thank you Kim for thinking of me!

Mormonad Booklet

I LOVE this little booklet.  It intrigues my little ones AND they are learning from it at the same time.

I made this years ago with my creative friend Becki.  It was one of the projects for a Super Saturday that she came up with.  It is all of the little postcard Mormonads bound together in a little book.

Since we made this years ago, I have had to make others with the new Mormonads.

Anyway, saw the kids looking through it today and thought I would share it with you!

Weekly Update

Ashley had a little lunch date with her dad.  She was soooo excited to go.  I curled her hair and helped fancy her up.  I have a feeling that she is probably going to have this same exhuberance when she is older and dating.

She kept reminding her brothers and sisters where she was going and that they COULD NOT come.

Stephen took her to the Elephant Bar.  Ash was in awe of the animal decor.  Here is a picture when they came home with her tiger glasses still on.

And of course Stephen pulling away from her kiss, just as he does with my kisses!

Nathan played the piano for his scout talent show.  He was going to juggle his soccer ball on his knees and feet.  His record is 64 without letting it touch the ground.  He decided to do the piano instead.  I'm glad he played.  He sure is getting good. 

Kaylee got a sewing machine for Christmas and was busy with a new little project.  She has been making rice heat bags.  She made one for her teacher, brothers, sisters, grandma and herself.  They are the perfect project for beginning sewing.  It's fast and easy to create one.


Rebecca is determined to finish the Book of Mormon before she is baptized in August.  She is on page 144.  I know she will make her goal, because she is reading it all the time.  The day I went to volunteer at the school I was picking up the kids from their classrooms and she emerged down the hall looking like this

I still had my camera from the buffalo eye dissection so I snapped a quick one of her coming toward me.  She asked me, "Why are you taking a picture of me at school?"  I told her that she looked too cute carrying all of her stuff with her Book of Mormon down the hall.  She is such a determined girl when she sets her mind to do something.

Jacob - He had an overnighter camp-out this weekend.  It was cold, but he LOVED it as usual.

Me - I had a fat bruised upper lip for most of the week from a hard elbow hit, while playing basketball.  Ash reminded me quite regularly that my mouth was ugly.  It hurt to smile, and I realized that I kinda smile as I talk.

I also went to a good friend's retirement ceremony and left feeling depressed.  She served 21 years in the Air Force and now gets retirement pay as she stays at home.  She had a very high rank and had done so many things and recieved so many honors.  Many around me were surprised by some of the high ranking people in attendance.  They said that she was over a team of 200 people and had a 98 percent mission success rate with them.  I just sat there wondering what I have really done with my life, and got a little bit depressed to tell you the truth!

Anyway, that is our week synopsis.  On to a NEW week!!!

Buffalo Eye Dissection

I went in and volunteered in Kaylee's class to dissect a buffalo eye.  Can I just say that I have done a few of these dissections and have never seen such amazing specimens that you could actually find and see all the parts.  Buffalo eyes are BIG!

The girls first looked like this

And then they couldn't stop touching it!  I love the touching and hands on because that is how you learn.

We found the optic nerve, muscles, the fat that supports the eye, the cornea, lens, aqueous fluid, but our favorite part was the beautiful blue/green retina.

There was an optic surgeon there that explained all about the parts of the eye.  He explained how the cornea acts like a windshield in protecting our eye.  He also told us that the eye is a pocket of the brain because of the incredible amounts of information that it can process.

My favorite part of the day was finding out where they got the buffalo eyes.  They were bought right here in the Springs for a dollar a piece, and have them ready for pick up every Friday.  Nathan keeps crying to me that we do too many art projects and not enough science, SOOO I think I have my next science project for them to do.  My poor boys did sheep eyes when they were in third grade.  They are NOT big enough to see all the amazing parts that work together.  I have always loved and been in awe at how the body and organs all work!

Chubby Hands

I LOVE these chubby hands!

They always beg for snacks,  and always want to have PINK nail polish on them.

These chubby little hands drag me around the house saying, "I NEED you mommy".  Then after they get their sippy they drag me around to help with something else.

I know that I will miss these chubby hands someday because they will turn into hands that think they don't need me, that makes me sad just typing it!

Drawing does NOT mean Drawing

Jacob came over from school this week VERY stoked about a drawing contest to win tickets to the new Percy Jackson movie.  He analysed and talked over different ideas with his brother, who also read the series.  Then he sketched a rough draft one night and wrote down pages on his sketch of the different monsters in the book to get details on. 

He decided to draw an open book at the bottom and then Percy standing against all the creatures.  He was sooo excited at his idea and came to ask me to call the Public Library to find out what size the drawing should be and if it could be colored.

I called the library so that he could get started on his project only to find out that the Percy Jackson poster stated that there would be a "drawing" for a free movie ticket and NOT a drawing "contest" for a ticket.  We signed up anyway, for the Percy Jackson night.

He was SOOO sad to leave his ideas and sketch to never REALLY come to life.  However, Stephen and I have something fun planned for the boys when the movie does comes out. 

I do wish that there were more art contests that he could enter, he just gets sooo excited.

Kids' Photo Books

I have been way busy organizing photos, my blog book, and the kids' school scrapbooks.  I saw this idea last year on Sherelle Christensen's blog and LOVED it!  Here is her link to the idea -  http://sherellechristensen.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/02/soive-told-you-that-i-have-finally-come-up-with-a-way-to-satisfy-myself-i-love-scrapbooking-both-digital-and-paper-but.html#comments

You can slurp an entire folder of pictures in a matter of minutes into Blurb and then print them out into a book.  When I download photos I have a folder for each month which then goes into that year's folder.  I then have a folder for each of my kids' for the year.  So all I had to do was slurp the folders for each of my kids.
After the slurping you can then go through and decide the sizes of the photos and where you want them in the book.  I tried to just keep it chronological.


Some have more than just the 8 pictures, and some are full page spreads.

I KNOW that my kids NEVER see some of the pictures I take.  This way they have all the pictures of 2009 and can actually look at them.  I then save the folder to disc and know that all the pictures contained in this book can be found on their 2009 disc. 
And yes I still have scrapbooks for each of the kids.  I will have to share what those are in another post.  There is organization over here at the Thompson's, it's just getting it all caught up.  I was jealous when my sister Alesha announced last week that she is completely caught up on her scrapbooks of 2009. 
At least I have all of my kids pictures books done.  But then again, that wasn't too difficult!
Here is the back of Ash's book -


Now to just get each of the kids' scrapbooks all caught up!

My Pioneer and the Cell

Just a few happenings at the kids' school that I need to get posted.  The first is my little pioneer girl.

She LOVED all of the activities at each station on pioneer day.  She told me that she would have loved to live back during that time.  I looked at her nail polish, jewelry, and fancy stuff and thought that she probably would NOT have faired that well.  She is just a little to prissy for trecking times.

The other school event to post is from Nathan's science class.  He had to make a model of a cell.  We used play-dough, pasta and beans.

As we were driving home from school Nathan told me "I didn't throw mine away after the teacher graded it because I knew you would probably want to take a picture of it".  Of course I would Nathan!!!

Favorite Gifts

Thought that I would post a couple favorite gifts from Christmas.  It seems like every year there are a few that surprise me with how neat they really are.  The first one was the book I got for Jacob this year.

Have you read this?  Have your teens read this?  Jacob devoured it on our trip.  It was driving me nuts that he kept reading instead of talking with relatives.  Then Stephen picked it up while we were still in Washington and he too, devoured it.  As we traveled through Utah I bought a copy for my nephew who LOVED it, and declared it his new favorite book.  SOOO as we were driving back to Colorado I decided to pick it up and see what it was all about.  I read a few pages and couldn't put it down!  I read all the way home and kept reading into the night once we got home until I finished it.
The author just develops the story and characters so quickly that you can't put it down.  There are twists and turns.  She is just an amazing author.
Check it out here - The Hunger Games

The other gift that was a hit is the Project Runway design projection kit.  Rebeccas ALWAYS loves to draw dresses with different designs.  This kit has different discs with different dresses, skirts, tops and accessories on each disc.  You put the disc in, it projects down on your paper and then create your outfit, switching out your discs as you go. 


You can check it out here - Project Runway Fashion Design Projector Kit

Over the Christmas break quite a few aunts, cousins, mom, and grandma tried it out.  Rebecca even designed Aunt Erin's wedding dress for June.  I love when gifts surprise me and are a hit!