Reflections Contest - Paige

Paige entered a picture in this year PTA Reflections contest. My old camera stopped working if the flash was needed. So on a nice sunny day I sent Paige outside with it and told her a few tips in taking pictures. Then I let her do her own thing. I was so surprised when she came in and we looked at her pictures on the computer. This is the picture she took and a picture of her receiving her award tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving

Paige, Sadie & Trenton with their Thankful Turkeys. Every year we make the hand-print turkeys where they write on the fingers the things they are thankful for. Always fun! For Thanksgiving this year we headed down to my parents house where my brothers and one of my sisters came with their families. My Grandparents also came. It was a great weekend with family. My mom made an amazing feast and we ate on it for three days. I asked my kids what their favorite part of the weekend was: Paige loved playing with her cousins and Trenton liked sleeping with Grandma and Papa out in their trailer!

Here's the guys helping with the potatoes

My sister, Heather, with our Grandma
The cooks! Mom and Dad
The weather was nice enough to eat outside.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Literally Cute

I was in Costco the other day with Trenton and Sadie. Matt was meeting us for lunch so I had some extra time to just walk the isles - which I usually don't do when I have kids with me. I saw some pans I liked and said out loud, but mostly to myself, "Those are nice pans." Trenton said "They're not nice, they're cute." I responded that they weren't cute pans but that they were a nice set of pans. I finally caught on when he said "They aren't nice pans, they can't talk." I tried to explain that I wasn't using the word nice with the meaning of friendly, but I don't think I was successful.

Paige's New Room

Well, I did a big switch-a-roo today. Sadie has been going into Paige's room and playing with her toys and making messes. Paige doesn't play with most of the toys in her room anymore and she was tired of cleaning it up, so I decided to swith Paige to the smaller room and let Sadie have more room for play. I bought a desk for Paige's new room and spent the last couple weeks transforming it from forest green to white. Big thanks to my sister, Heather, for coming up and helping me with it. I am so excited with how her new room came together. It's a small room and I was concerned with how the furniture was going to layout. Paige was so excited when she came home from school to see her new room. Here's the new desk:

I seem to have deleted my before picture - but here's one of the chair and the nice green color.

Thanks for being our Heros

I am so proud of Matt's service in the Army. He has a different view of freedom and service that I am happy to learn from. His patriotism runs deep and is being taught to our children. I am grateful for the sacrifices of other family members as well. Matt's dad, Mike, served in the Air Force. My Grandpa Worthen (pictured below with his brothers) served in the Army. My Grandpa Jenkins served in the Marines. And we are so grateful for those currently serving in our armed forces.
The following is a message Matt wrote at the beginning of the year for Church. I loved his words and want to share it again.

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After Graduating from High School I enlisted in the U.S. Army. I still remember the feelings I had as I swore to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I would bear true faith and allegiance to the same.” When I took this oath, I was dedicating more than my time and service. I was dedicating my life to my country and to my fellowman. It was a great honor to serve in the military and to gain an appreciation for the freedoms that we cherish.

A quote attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, a French historian, explains the greatness of America in these stirring words: “I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there. Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America, will cease to be great.”

This ‘good’ that Tocqueville speaks of does not refer to the land itself, but to the people – you and I. As a soldier, I learned that there is a love and compassion for others that comes only through service. In 2nd Nephi we are promised that when we spend our days in the service of our God our “souls shall be blessed and we shall dwell safely with our brother.” During the past few months our economy has turned sour. People are losing their jobs and feeling financial strain and worry. There is a great longing for safety and security. In times like these the Lord needs us to reinforce the good in ourselves by serving our neighbors and giving of ourselves. Let’s replace worry and fear with hope and faith. The Lord calls on us to be “humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity.” From this day forth let us take upon ourselves an oath to support and defend our families and neighbors; to bear true faith of our Father in Heaven. From this day forth let us remember that the good found in this country is determined by our service to each other and to our God.

Happy Veteran's Day to all those who have sacrificed on my behalf!

Quick Kid Update

Sunday was our ward Primary program - which turned out fabulous! Since the kids were dressed up cute, I tried to get a picture (tried being the key word). Here's a quick update! Paige missed another day of school, yet again, with strep throat. Not sure why she has caught everything this year. I think she's filled her quota. Trenton has been a madman on his bike. Last week I saw him riding down our steep driveway - across the street - straight into the curb - and then he would fly over his handlebars into the grass. Of course there was a friend over to laugh, which is probably why he did it more than once. I just told him to put his helmet on. Sadie has been quite ornery without naps - but I still try them every now and then hoping she'll sleep! She's pretty cute the rest of the time. We watched Ice Age 3 the other night and she was shaking scared for about half of it. Then at the end where there's the big-scary-run-from-the-big-dinosaur part she started waving her arms around telling them to run and go. It was pretty funny.

Blasted Daylight Savings

I don't mind being on a different time than my parents, in-laws and sister. But I hate the change. The transition for kids is brutal for parents. My kids were up at 5:00 this morning! I'm more a fan of the 7 o'clock hour. So with the time switch I can handle anything after 6:30 - but COME ON - 5:00! That's just too much!! Sadie was still asleep so I spent the next 2 hours trying to get Paige and Trenton back to sleep and quiet enough not to wake Sadie. So I'm guessing this evening is going to be an ornery one.

SIDE NOTE:

While I was outside taking some Halloween decorations down, Sadie decided to take her shirt off and run down the street. She made it to the park before I got her shirt back on. She's a fast little sucker and never slowed. I only walked after her, figuring that she would stop running sooner than later - next time I'll have to run to catch her. Makes me think about one of my very first blog posts - when Trenton peed himself while playing on the golf course. He just stripped down and walked home. If my neighbors are looking out their windows even half the time - they should get a good dose of laughter.

Happy Halloween

We set out on our pumpkin-carving adventure Friday evening. You never know how much help you'll get from little kids. Paige did pretty good cleaning out her pumpkin, even though she was grossed out by it! And Trenton and Sadie did their best - one seed at a time.

We decided to let Paige have a go at the carving this year. She loved it and was so excited by the finished product.

And here's our three musketeers before heading out Trick-or-treating (hmmm, maybe that's an idea for next years costumes). Sadie was so cute to run and catch up with Paige and Trenton. She made it down a street of two before heading back with Matt.
With Sadie's antics lately, this is the perfect costume for her. She was an adorable clown. I wore this same costume when I was a toddler and I loved having her run around in it also.

Once again, an appropriate costume. Paige was a bit witchy before heading out - it must be a pre-pre-teen thing. She loved trick-or-treating though! This was also one of my childhood costumes that my mom made. I'm so glad she held onto them.

Finally, Ironman! He tuffed it out pretty good until he was finally cold enough to want to go home.

Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

When the weather forcasted snow, I was expecting the kind that melts as soon as it hits the ground. The kids were so excited about the snow, that I let them run out and catch a few flakes before bed. I am completely unprepared - all our snow gear is packed (and buried). I may have to pull it out. Well these pictures were taken 3 hours ago and now we have about 4 inches on the ground and it's still coming down. It's crazy!!!! And I still have tulips to plant.

Here's my fall decorations covered in snow - and this is on the porch.

Halloween Party

I wanted to do a Halloween Party for my kids and got the idea to do a "progressive" party, where they go from house to house doing different activities. With the help for 3 other willing mom's on my street, we put together a fun and easy party. The kids had a blast. At the first house they drank "bug juice" and made these great mummy pizzas. Next was my house where we made ghost windsocks and these cute bat clips. They also enjoyed Halloween books and songs, Halloween Bingo, and finally costume awards.

NOW - my life during the couple hours preceding the party... as of Thursday afternoon our party was rescheduled for next week. It looked like a few of the kids were going to be sick. Friday morning came, however, and none of the kids were sick. So, after talking with the other moms - I decided to go ahead with the party; all kids were healthy for the day and there was no guarantee that they would all be well next week. This decision was made at 1:00pm - party at 4:00pm, and I had nothing together for our crafts. Made a mad dash to the store and came home, fed the kids and starting cutting out and gathering supplies.

THIS is what Sadie was up to while I was frantically trying to get ready ... while I thought she was in her room for her quiet time, she had gotten out of her room and was in my room, in my makeup!!! She got everything out; painted with my powder brush and foundation and got lipstick on her shirt and pants. I was ticked - to say the least (but no time to deal with it). She got into the glitter, she dumped out a tote of clothes in the basement, she got into the crayons and scissors that I had out for the craft, etc. I was pulling my hair out. Gotta love 2 year olds!