Changing it up

Posted on the old blog today. Check it out.

Conference Fun

Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I always look forward to General Conference so much. I love hearing from our living prophet and being strengthened by the words of so many others.

It's really different watching and listening with kids, though. It takes a lot more concentration to be able to get something out of the sessions. And sometimes, you just won't hear everything.

But we tried to make it fun this time and do activities with the kids to keep them busy so we could keep our listening ears on while tending to them. You just can't make little kids "watch" conference.

During the Saturday morning and afternoon sessions, we stayed busy by coloring and water-coloring. We also made some paper spiders to hang from the ceiling for Halloween {I know, not exactly the most appropriate for a spiritual event...}. But hey, the kids loved them.

Today, I made peanut butter play dough, and that kept Dick and Jane busy for quite a while.

Dick thought it was pretty tasty, too, once he realized it wasn't regular play-doh. {He's tried it - not a fan.}

I printed out some coloring pages for Jane to color during the afternoon session. She wanted me to color most of the picture but then she decided to color his teeth and the right-half of his suit.

{Hand tracing never gets old.}

For some reason, I feel more edified following this conference than possibly ever before. So much rang true in my ears, and we were given a lot of hope and answers to prayers.


My favorite talk was Elder Anderson's talk on bearing children and having a family. The spirit testified so strongly to me that what we are doing right now in having our 3rd baby is the right thing to do. {It gives me hope when I feel a little crazy thinking about having three kids under 4...}


I also loved Elder Hales' talk about trials and having hope. As hard as life has been the past year for various personal and family reasons, it is comforting to know that the Lord has a plan for my family and that he is watching over us. And that if we turn to Him, he will always answer our prayers, in His time. Sometimes it's the waiting and the testing that is the hardest, but through our faith and trust in Him, He can make those hard days a little easier and our backs a little stronger. And if we choose to, we can still love life. I know I do.

Sleeping with Pumpkins

When we checked on Jane Friday night, she was sound asleep with the kids' new trick-or-treat pumpkins close by her side. 


Someone's excited for Halloween.

Playing with hair

I love doing Jane's hair lately. It's slowly getting thicker and now it's long enough for me to really experiment with.

She's usually pretty good to let me do it now, too. That took a while to establish. She doesn't usually fuss unless her daddy's home. Then, for some reason she wants him to hold her hand and if he can't, she cries.

I'm always trying to come up with new ways to do it. And I also like styles that she can sleep in and will only need minor tweaking the next day.

We do lots of messy buns. In this picture, she actually had two horizontal braids in back {one on top, one on bottom}, running in opposite directions. So she had another messy bun on the bottom-right side of her head. Whenever I braid, I usually finish it off with a messy bun.

I like to use tiny elastics to do twists and braids to keep her bangs back and out of her face. These will stay in for a few days.

I came up with this braid today. I was going to call it the "S" braid, but then I realized it was backwards. 

Yesterday, though, her hair was pretty tame after her bath Tuesday night, so I didn't do anything with it. Doesn't she look so grown up?

***

On an unrelated note, check out this link from The Idea Room yesterday on learning how to keep your children busy and quiet during church meetings. It's great!

Matching

Here is Jane with her daddy this evening, watching Strawberry Shortcake in their matching pink shirts.

Animal Doodles

Tonight after dinner Jane and I sat at the table and did these Animal Doodles. We took turns drawing.

I love these dry-erase cards. They are high up there on my list of favorites from Usborne.

These are my favorites of hers:

{Some of these horses have five or six legs.}

And this is my favorite doodle of mine:

Epitome of Summer

Does this picture just not say "summer" to you??

It does to me.

Lush greenery.

Blossoming strawberries.

Short sleeves.

Tan skin.

Messy hair.

Contentment.

And if you were to see the companion pictures to this one, you'd see she has a bug of some kind.

Summer, you've been good to us. Although I was nauseous the entire first half, we still enjoyed our days of warmth and outside discoveries.


But with school starting and cooler air blowing in, there's no denying that summer is coming to an end.

And I am fully ready to welcome Fall.

Cool, crisp air.

Changing leaves.

Apples and pumpkins.

Cozy nights in.

Halloween.

Soup and homemade goodies.

My favorite.

Bedtime, Storytime

This was a quiet time for us this evening. Both kids were ready for bed with teeth brushed and pajamas on. Both enjoying their nighttime stories on Jane's bed.

So excited for school!

Jane is officially a preschooler! Her first day was yesterday and she loved it.

Her teacher is one of my good friends and lives just a few blocks away. 

I was a little worried that I might be a little emotional sending her off to preschool for the first time, but I surprised myself being more excited for her than anything. I knew she would love it, and I'm happy for her.

{And Dick loved the two hours to himself. He had free-range of the house and wandered around without anyone taking his toys or snacks or books. And I got a few things done for my Usborne business.}

She is so social and busy and it really helps her to play with other kids and get her energy out. And she really loves it.

So it's a win-win for all of us!

{I know I've had a short hiatus from blogging...and it will probably continue off and on. My new business is taking up lots of my "free" time, but I am loving it. I'm also starting up piano lessons again next week, so it's going to get even busier. These are exciting times!}

Problem Solved

Just thought I'd drop in and share a little laundry tip I discovered a few months ago.


You know those clothes that you always air-dry because you don't want them to shrink in the dryer? The ones that always turn out stiff and starchy and wrinkly after air-drying, especially jeans?


Well I have a solution. Wait until the clothes are completely dry, then throw them in the dryer on low heat for about 10 minutes with a dryer sheet {fabric softener}.


The dryer sheet will soften them right up and the wrinkles will be gone. {Plus, they'll smell great.} And since it was only for a few minutes on low heat, you don't have to worry about any shrinkage! {At least I haven't seen any yet. I haven't had any problems with this method so far.}

Color Spectrum

I've been at both ends. I can never decide which I like better.


I love being blonde, but my color was turning brassy from the bleach kit we used at the beginning of July. And my dark roots were starting to show and so it made the blonde look orange.

So I opted for a coloring job when I got my hair cut yesterday and sort of unintentionally went darker. I wasn't really planning on going as dark as they made me, but I wanted something closer to my natural color than the bleached blonde so that my hair could grow out without routine maintenance.

Do bangs make me look chubbier? 
Or is it the shorter hair? 
Or is it the color?

I'll probably end up going back and forth for the rest of my life. It seems inevitable. I just hope I can always pull it off. Why can't I just make up my mind?

*****

{Just for fun, here's a recent belly picture.}

See my orange hair?

Half way there! 

Surprise

Today was a big day at our house.

We got to go to the doctor to "see" the baby.

I'll be half way {20 weeks} next week.

Everything looks great.

We saw fingers and toes and arms and legs.

The only thing we didn't see was...{wait for it}...the gender!

Baby #3 will remain a mystery until January!

We are so excited for this big surprise.

Counting My Blessings

This past week has been a week of blessings. I just haven't been able to ignore them.


#1 - I am finally starting to feel 99.9% myself {12 weeks later...} and with this renewed sense of physical well-being I have felt much more motivated to get things done {laundry, dishes, organizing, you name it}.


#2 - For almost two weeks now, I've been able to feel the first little flutters of the baby everyday, multiple times per day. I've never felt movement this consistent this early, so I know Heavenly Father is blessing me with yet another sense of well-being.


#3 - I have been blessed to realize again how much I love being a mom and have had some sweet moments with the kids. I'm starting to feel more like a "mom" and less like a young girl taking a shot at raising some little kids.


#4 - I have felt more motivated to prepare and plan more activities with the kids and get out of our lazy summer slum {of watching movies all the time, for example}.


#5 - This evening, for whatever reason, I received profound revelation that because I have been blessed with two {soon to be three} beautiful children, I will be given the capabilities to take care of them and fulfill any need that they have. I need not ever feel afraid or unable to take care of them. Heavenly Father wouldn't put have them in my care if I couldn't take care of them {which he makes possible}.


Sure love these kiddos.

Finding a Balance

WOW.

I've been busy these past two weeks.

Between my book party and going to Dr. appointments and having family come visit, I've hardly had time to blog.

I didn't quite anticipate how busy I'd be with my new Usborne business: collecting orders, designing business cards, making phone calls, etc. But it is fun and very exciting.

And I start teaching piano lessons again tomorrow, too.

So I am going to be in desperate need of establishing some balance between "work" and home. Something is probably going to have to fall to the back-burner, and it will probably unfortunately have to be blogging. Especially since it is not bringing in any money. We'll see. I just can't do it all right now.

I need to be able to run my little businesses and still have time to spend with my family.

And take sweet pictures like this.

Jane kissing Daddy like she's the "Princess."

I must be losing my mind.

On Friday night, I put the kids to bed.

I tidied up the house.

I put in a movie from Redbox to watch by myself since the hubby was at Scout Camp.

Then I went to grab my water bottle:

Yes, that was me that put the remote control in the fridge.

No, I don't remember putting it there but I do distinctly remember snatching it up off the floor after the kids were in bed.

Total pregnant brain.

Adventures in Business

Last week I decided to enter the world of running an in-home business. I became a consultant for Usborne Books and More.

My first home show is tonight. And I am way too excited.

Racking my brain

For whatever reason, I was at a loss of what to make my kids for lunch this afternoon. Maybe it was the lack of sandwich meat in my fridge or the one more spoonful of peanut butter left in the jar. 

And the fact that both Dick and Jane were both standing at my heels, with starving whines.

Then it came to me. I made some toasted garlic bread "sticks" {for future reference, kids seem to like things more when they're in stick form} and warmed up some leftover alfredo sauce {kids love to dip, too} from the pizzas we made last week to use as dip.

And BAM! Crunchy, creamy, cheesy goodness. It was a hit for both kids.

Twenty-fourth Fun

Where I live, the 24th of July is a big deal.

It is a celebration of the day the Mormon Pioneers came into the Salt Lake Valley.

There are parades and rodeos and community plays and everyone's family comes back into town for the weekend.

My kids loved the parade.

(It was on Saturday the 23rd.)

I always get a little emotional when the flags go by and I've got my hand over my heart. I feel so proud to be an American and so grateful for my freedom. And so indebted to those that went before me so I can enjoy these freedoms.

Awesome floats.

Dick and Jane pausing for a few seconds to oblige me. They were very concerned about missing the parade.

My camera died right after I took this picture and I didn't pack my spare battery.

So I only got a few pictures of the entire parade.

Oh well.

There's always next year.

Oh!

We had a close call yesterday. 
I had a major - and I mean major - accident yesterday morning.


I spilled Jane's cup of juice on the Mac keyboard. Like dropped it on the table and it splashed directly onto the computer. After about .5 seconds it powered down automatically.


"Oh no."


I immediately got some paper towels and wiped it down and then turned it upside down and shook it vigorously. Then I put the fan on it. I sopped up any drips I could see.


{The reason the Mac was on the table in the first place is because I was burning some cds of new music while fixing breakfast at the same time. Just multi-tasking here.}


"Ok." I thought. "It's been dripped on a little before; I'll just try and turn it back on."


Fail.


Tried again. Fail. It would turn on, but only for about five to thirty seconds before it powered down again.


So I called the hubby to see what I should do and took it in town to the computer medical center, along with our external hard drive.


{We back things up pretty regularly, but there were pictures and music from the last few weeks that weren't backed up yet. Like Jane's birthday.}


We waited a few hours for a diagnosis and received the news that it would still not turn on by itself and that it was most likely ruined. But they still had more diagnostics to do.


"Great. Like we can afford a new Mac," we thought.


After they took it apart, they determined that there were some damaged areas and parts of the motherboard were corroded. And basically it would cost $950 to replace the motherboard and another $100 for the labor. $1050 big bucks.


Or they would buy it back from us for parts for $125.


But after talking to my dad a few times {who, thankfully, had talked to a friend of his who owns a communications store}, we determined that maybe there was a possibility that it was not totally toast and that we should maybe take matters into our own hands.


That was the best advice ever.


We went in and picked up the computer {after paying them $94 for the diagnosis and retrieving everything from our hard drive} and brought it home. After dinner, the hubby took everything apart and gently {and very meticulously} cleaned it with rubbing alcohol. We let it dry and put it back together.


We said our prayers and tried to turn it on.


Success. And it stayed on for 30 minutes before the hubby turned it off himself.


Now, I know that only time will tell if it was really damaged or not. But so far, so good.


So my question is, were the computer technicians really about to totally and completely rip us off? Like extremely? Because that's what it feels like. Let's be honest, I trust that they most likely know what they're doing in most cases, but was this an exception? But why?


We could've payed half the cost of the computer to get it fixed or lost it completely for a mere $125, when in reality, nothing was actually that wrong.


I'm still a little sick about it. Sick that I caused such an unnecessary accident and sick that we almost got ripped off to the max.


I guess I can only be grateful that, in the end, we didn't lose anything. {Well, except for that $94.}

What did you have for dinner?

We grilled ourselves some pizzas.

Oh my, they were tasty.

I just made up some homemade dough and grabbed a little alfredo sauce, cubed chicken, cheese, crumbled bacon and parsley.

Have you grilled pizza before?

You must try it.

Go here for some tips.

Some Good Tunes

A girl after my own heart.

I'm so doing this sometime soon...

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2010/03/refashioned-jeans-to-maternity-skirt.html

The supply has begun.

I bought my first pack of newborn diapers last week. I like to start early so I don't have to worry about buying diapers for a while after the baby is born.

I'll admit, even though I've still got one in diapers, I love buying the tiny ones.

They just smell so good.

Look who's 3!

Jane!

First, the gifts from Grandma and Grandpa and one of the aunts.

Second, the Tangled doll from mommy and daddy.

{She peeked in the bag and saw it before I had a chance to open and read her the card. It led to a little premature excitement.}

{Notice her feet are off the ground.}

Third, cake.

A purple cake - to be exact - to match Rapunzel's dress.

Happy Birthday Jane!

We love you so much!