Like Mother, Like Daughter

So all good outfits must come to an end, and Mae needed a change. So I put her in this lovely little Bunny Hoodie that was mine when I was a baby. The best part, the zipper goes up the entire back, genius!

Fashionista

Mae rocks pink, red, and now thanks to my sister Krista, and "Janie and Jack," She rocks Sea Foam Green. Every little girl needs a beret.

A Little Bird Told Me

Mae loves her bouncy seat.(Who doesn't love a good butt massage.) She loves to play with the toys, she figured out quite quickly that they make noise and make the birdie spin. She plays so hard she even fell asleep mid play.

Winter Wonderland

One of the things I love about Arkansas is that it doesn't snow that much. (I used to love snow when I was a kid but find it to be a dangerous inconvenience as an adult. I think it correlates with my no longer having a snow suit.) Well much to my dismay we got snow on Christmas Eve.



It was nice to play with Max in the snow though. He wanted to build a snowman cause, "Once there was a snowman," is one of his favorite new songs. Unfortunately the snow was not building snow so it was more of a snow hump. He loved making snow angels.


He had a blast but all good things must come to an end.


We finished with a warm bubble bath using new bath paints sent by Grandma Larkin.


It was a very good day.

Christmas Siblings

Professional Chef

Cause she wasn't busy enough...



Thanks mom he loves it. He said, "Just like mamma's Olivia." (Referring to the Olivia apron my mom made me a few years ago.)He and Jeff are now making sugar cookies and Max keeps shouting, "Cookie Monster."

Pretty Pretty

As if the blessing dress weren't enough this year my mom has gone above and beyond once again. In my Christmas package was a new church bag. I'm just gonna let the pictures speak for themselves.

side one


side two



lining

Spotlight

I am instituting a new segment on my blog. After the success of "Things That Must Go," I have decided to try another running segment but one that is a bit happier. So each month I am going to spotlight a person in my life that is awesome and share why they rock. Read, enjoy, and come back to see if you are the next spotlight.

Michele My Belle

My sister in law Michele is amazing! I have always felt so blessed to have her as a sister. The first quality of Michele that becomes evident upon meeting her is her incredible kindness. She is genuinely warm and caring person. Michele is very soft spoken but when she does share it is always something wise and thoughtful. Michele got her bachelor's degree in Marriage Family Human Development from BYU, and it is pretty evident that she knows what she is doing because her children and insanely smart! Every year when I get the Christmas Letter I expect it to say that my niece Elizabeth has been accepted to Harvard at eight years old. At first I was worried that Michele and I wouldn't have much in common because she does crafts and I have never been good at that, but HOLY COW the women is so talented. Every year I am so blessed to get the coolest crafts from her. I get complimented on them from all my friends whenever they come over to my house. She makes me things I never knew I wanted but I now cherish and can't live without. Thank you Michele for being such a good sister. (I am dying to see what you sent this year, but I am being a good girl and have left them under the tree til Christmas.) The following is just a small example of her hard work.

Michele made these names for the kids this summer and they look super cute on their doors which face each other across the hall.



This was made for Max after he was born. It hangs in his room.



I like this better then any picture of the temple I have. It makes it my temple.



We each got a Christmas Ornament last year. I love the homemade ones the best.



This is my second favorite craft by Michele. It is a calender that has every one's birthdays and anniversary's each month. So I am always on top of things each year. She even sends us updates with each new family member.



My favorite is the fridge Nativity! I leave it up all year long. It is the only nativity we have and the only one I want.

I am so mean!

So I have been in primary for coming up on two years this winter. I love parts of it; the teaching, the simplified but deep gospel message, the wiggle songs. I hate parts of it; (well mostly just one part,) I hate the utter chaos of the Sharing Time hour. When all the kids get together it is ridiculous. Now I know these are kids, and quite is not possible, but screaming, kicking and rudeness is unacceptable from senior primary. These kids know how to behave in church, or do they? There are no lessons about how to behave given in church and the presidency never bothers to teach the kids about proper behavior so it must be left to the parents right? Well I guess it shouldn't surprise me that I caught one of my "wigglier" eleven year olds father playing basketball in the gym during Sunday School.



I skipped the intended lesson for my sharing time this summer and gave a lesson on reverence, not that it really helped much. Reverence is something that must be constantly reminded to these kids and I can't do it by myself. Some of the other teachers try to help but it needs to be a group effort between all teachers, leaders, and parents. Even other adults could set a better example in the halls. (To be fair to some of the parents I don't think they have any idea what their kids get away with in primary.)


So do I yell at every infraction every whisper, No. I don't want primary to be a jail cell, I think occasional whispers are okay, as are wiggles and the occasional slouch. (I am talking senior primary here.) What makes me say something is loud talking during a lesson or PRAYER, hitting, KICKING, and not singing when you know the words. Our song leader is awesome and should be shown more respect then she gets. If you don't like singing then sing quietly.

Okay so story time. So a few weeks ago I go on the class of girls below my class (age 10-12). Their teacher was gone and they were being disrespectful to the leaders giving the lesson. They were talking loudly and not paying attention at all to the lesson. One girl even lifted her leg up really high to kick one of my students, (no high kicks in a skirt please!) So I told them to stop talking and stop behaving like 5 year olds, (which total unexpected slam on our five year old class which is ironically really reverent and well behaved. Sorry Guys!) So I find out from their teacher last week that they spent more then ten min of class time talking about how mean and evil I am. (One boy stood up for me because I had had him in my own class for awhile and he was able to see that I can be sweet and loving and only want what's best for these kids.) How can they get anything out of a lesson if they are talking and can't hear it. How can they feel the Spirit if they are irreverently kicking and hitting. Am I perfect, NO, I have been known to talk in church, but I try. I strive to feel the Spirit when I can, and I have a respect for the Lord. I try to show my respect in HIS HOUSE at all times.

Things that Must Go IX

1. People and places that don't take cards: Seriously people it is 2009! Carnivals, movie theaters, and craft fairs take credit cards, so should you. Who has cash on them? I have to go drop off some cash at the salon tonight cause my stylist is an independent contractor.

2. People who pay with checks in a check out line: Seriously people it is 2009! Who carries a check book with them. It seems like I always get behind these slow pokes at Sam's Club, just when Max has gotten through all his samples and is ready to start yelling. I pay the occasional bill with a check, but all other transactions take place via debit card. I have heard the argument that some people use check books to help them keep track of purchases, but isn't that what receipts are for, and don't even get me started on the people who actually take the time to enter the transaction into their balance sheet!

3. Max: Between the whining, the stalled potty training, the hit or miss naps, and the endless touching and getting into things, this kid has got to go. Why does he have to touch everything. He is in a particularly naughty stage right now where he does things he knows he is not supposed to and then giggles when I yell at him. It seems like the cute moments are getting fewer and farther between.

4. Jacked up trucks and SUV's: Unless you live in on the top of a mountain you should not have one of these. It makes me so furious every time I see one. Everybody take a minute to think of what would happen if most other cars on the road get into a head on collision with one of these aholes, their engine will go right through the other cars windshield. As if driving wasn't dangerous enough. Really what are they getting from these jacked up cars other then the thrill of having to jump into and out of their cars. These vain selfish idiots need to go!

5. Christmas Dominance: I think everyone here knows where I stand on the whole Christmas issue, but what is particularly annoying me right now is the channels and stations that convert solely to Christmas Programming. I am talking to you ABC Family and 107.9 (and to a lesser extent Lifetime.)

Stop the Insanity!

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS A POTTY TRAINING VENT!

Arrrg! I cannot take any more potty training. I am going crazy here. When will it end? I feel like we have tried everything and nothing works. He started last spring showing an interest in the potty. It was going really well and I probably should have really run with it, but the pregnancy and the move really kept me from working it too hard. This summer he was almost there. I could leave him in his under ware and we would only have problems when he pooped. He would go on car trips with out accidents. Then about a month ago it seemed like he just gave up and decided to revert on everything. I have tried working on it, and I have tried letting it go. I have tried bribes and withholding his shows. I have tried the kid potty and the kiddie potty seat. We have sat down on the potty for hours and no poop. I am going crazy. It isn't about the money on diapers or that I feel he is behind, I am just sick and tired of changing that diaper! He is so big that it just looks ridicules when he comes up to me requesting a change. He also does this thing where he poops in stages! He will take out up to three clean dry diapers with one slow bowl movement. This has gone on for almost a year now and I am sick of it. Any secret weapons I haven't tried yet? And please no karma comments from my family.

The Kiddos

Max and Mae are really good kids. I am very blessed to be their mom. Mae is getting bigger and growing out of her newborn size clothes. Size one/two diapers are a good fit right now. She has more facial expression then any baby I have ever seen. She always has a look on her face. Often her brows are furrowed, which is super cute. She has been smiling a lot of late. Her whole face lights up. She wakes up one to two times a night to feed and then feeds every one and a half to two hours during the day.

Max is still obsessed with Rock Band and drumming. I am starting to think it is not a phase but will be with us for the long run. He has regressed with the potty training and I have decided to drop it until the first of the year. It has become to much of a stress for all of us. He has been previewing primary on Sundays, Super Cute. I can't believe he is going to be a Sunbeam. He loves preschool and throws a fit, pushing me out the door when I come to pick him up. I am surprised at how well he has adapted to having Mae around. He is really cute with her. Every night he tells us all to have good dreams about Peter Pan.

Feed My Sheep

So we sign up to feed the missionaries about once a month. I feel good about that it is what I am up for right now, and they usually get a full month of meals. I sometimes try to sign up for them on special days, i.e. October 20th- Krista's Birthday, or April Fools Day. Days that I can remember! But I am in no way set on this. The calender came around two weeks ago for the month of December and I saw that there were only like one or two days open, one of which was Christmas Eve. I saw it and thought okay, that will be nice, Give the holiday a churchy feel. We actually have had them over on Christmas Eve before, it was nice. So the Elders came up to us today and asked if we could feed them for lunch because there is another family who signed up after us. We told them that Jeff has to work Christmas Eve so that won't work. They were very gracious and said they would work it out with the other family. Okay. So they come back and ask if they could come early so they can go to the other families house after!!! Apparently this family is demanding to have them on Christmas Eve. It was evident that the poor Elders were just trying not to hurt any feelings. They left before we could tell them to just come another day. I am not going to fight to feed the missionaries, but I am not going to make them a really nice dinner if they are getting another. I don't care that much. I am a bit bugged by this other family, I signed up and made plans first, you snooze you lose, but whatever. I honestly have no idea who they are, (classy points to the missionaries for not telling us,) and I don't want to know, so don't tell me. Really people I am just trying to do some good service, which is hard in my ward, you really have to fight and search for opportunities to serve and help.