FHE Fun

After our FHE lesson last night we played a little game called "I Can....Can You?". It is a really simple board game where you land on different spaces of things to "do". Like, act like a lion, walk backwards, etc. just simple activities for little kids. We decided that even Duke could play this game. Here he is hopping on one leg!And Hoss, blinking only one eye.The kids loved it and I'm sure we'll end up getting it out more often now.

Other news - I was embroidering some quilt squares (more on that later) and Hoss saw a chainsaw and insisted that I make him a shirt. He ran downstairs, got a plain white shirt out of his dirty hamper and insisted it be made right then. He sat by my embroidery machine the entire time until it was finished.
I had never done any type of clothing before with my embroidery machine, so I had no clue what I was doing spacing wise. It's too low, but he loves it. And he of course chose an orange chainsaw!He even came up with the saying to go with the design. "Let's go cut some TREES!". He wore it all that day and the next day too, because he insisted that Blue Grandpa would want to see it! Yesterday was laundry day, so I grabbed it to wash. He started crying and said I couldn't wash it because the chainsaw would come off. I had to insist to him that it wouldn't. It ended up being a "see-it-to-believe-it" situation. And now, he is again wearing it today.

Duke - 3 Months

3 Months already?!?! Where is the time going? To top the shock off even more, it's already 10 days past his 3 month mark!Duke is such a happy, happy baby. He is starting to chatter LOTS and squeaks and squeals. It's adorable. He cut his first tooth, and did very well. Just a slight fever and major drooling.He's not too fond of tummy time yet. He actually falls asleep every time now. I think he's just too lazy to play, so he just falls asleep. It's funny.He sleeps through the night, which is a blessing, and it becoming quite the chunky monkey. He weighs 12 pounds and I think that maybe each of his cheeks are 2 pounds each. He recently started wanting to be held to fall asleep, which is fine, since it makes it easier for me to put him to sleep at church. It also helps me to love on him just that much more.

Derby Time

Ever seen a Pinewood Derby car like this one?Our Ward Pinewood Derby was Wednesday and since we only have a handful of Scout's they invited the Youth to make cars too. (each class was suppose to make a car) Brandon is in charge of the Teachers (14 & 15 year old boys) and they came up with this Semi. And yes, it even made weight! They had to totally hollow out the cab of the truck, but they got it to be under the 5 ounce weight requirement!
Brandon has two boys in his class, and they were super excited. It didn't win a race at all, even when they took the trailer off, but they had fun anyway.
The boys even gave it to Hoss after the Derby. Hoss was OVERLY excited! He says it's his "moving truck", and when we got home after the races, I could hear him introducing it to all of his other trucks. "Hi! I'm a moving truck, who are you?"! It was hilarious!

PPW - Faith #3, Good Works Project

Monday rolled around and I checked out the FHE (Family Home Evening) Chart to see what I would be in charge of that evening. I had the lesson, the - Mag"NAY"ficent Lesson - to be exact.
I knew there would be at least one experience about giving a lesson, so, I grabbed my Personal Progress book to find out what I would be teaching. It didn't take me long either because Faith #3 requires just that, and it's at the beginning of the book. The principle I chose was Tithing. The kids LOVED the lesson, I got it from here.

When I think of tithing it is extremely simple to me. It first started when I saw this Mormonad way back in 1991. It really is that easy. I can share one slice of pizza!
Plus, I know that my money is used to help the church grow. I have always paid my tithing, and I have ALWAYS had enough money leftover for my needs. The key word there is NEEDS. Not wants or desires, but needs. I've always had my power on, food on my table, a roof over my head, clothes on my body, and gas in my tank. Since I am a God Fearing Woman, I really don't want to test the law of tithing. You know, to find out what it would be like if I didn't choose to obey that commandment. I'm just not that brave.

Brandon shared a story from before we were married about his experience with tithing. He needed new work boots, bad. He wouldn't have enough money for the purchase if he were to pay his tithing. He went ahead and paid his tithing anyway, and within a few days, was offered to house sit for his cousin while they went on vacation. He didn't know there would be a $100 bill on the dining room table waiting for him. Some would say that is just coincidence, but we know better.

I've read many financial/budgeting books, and in them all they say to pay yourself first, because nobody else will. I agree with that, however, that is not the first check I write every month, it's the second. The first, is my tithing, my ten percent. I have the faith to believe, that if I pay my tithing, everything else financially, will fall into place.


Good Works Project
I am getting closer to finishing up all the birthday gifts. I even painted all of the boards.
I did want to make one first, before I got too carried away, to make sure that it is exactly what I want to do. So, I made one for Lilli's room.
I'm glad I did because I now know NOT to use a spray adhesive. It bubbled like crazy the next day, so it's back to mod podge. I also know that I need to work on the spacing of the letters. They started out really close together and ended up too far apart. But I do really like that I added the ribbon for the hanger. Now I just need to find out what color rooms the girls have and then start picking out the coordinating papers and ribbon to match.

Speech Update

Hoss has been taking a speech therapy class for the past year. He has a really hard time pronouncing words with the letters L, S, F, V, R, and T. When we lived in Vale we would take him to the Head Start building for his classes. However, once we moved to Ontario, they would come to our home. His teacher said that she isn't seeing as much improvement as she would like, so she asked us to go back to the classroom setting.He was so excited to go to "school". He had his backpack ready the night before and couldn't sleep at all. It was like Christmas.
He turns five this year so he is technically old enough for Kindergarten this Fall. With his speech delay and not wanting him to be the youngest in his class, we figured we would hold him back a year and send him in 2013. However, we just found out that he won't qualify for the speech program if he's not in school since he is of age.

With that being said, we are thinking about sending him to Kindergarten twice. He really needs the speech therapy and will only get it if he's in school. But I don't want him graduating at 17 years old. One of Brandon's co-workers just sent their son to Kindergarten twice and they are really happy with the outcome. Their reasoning was more sports related, but we all have our reasons, right?

The speech teacher keeps telling us that we don't want an 18 year old senior. But, Brandon and I both laugh at that because we were both 18 when we graduated and didn't think anything of it. Her reasoning is because her son kept saying he was 18 and could do what he wanted. As Brandon and I grew up, the rule in both of our homes was that we didn't have a choice until we graduated. So, I guess it's just they way you raise your kids.

Anyway, I suppose we still have a few more months to decide for sure. Until then, he's really enjoying the new setting of the classroom.

A Frame

Lilli got more awards at school this semester. She made Honor Roll, received three Stars (for helping others) and earned two free bowling passes. She improved her grades in every class but one, Math. She really doesn't like that subject at all. She really struggles with division.
She also go a new haircut! She got to the point that she was ALWAYS wearing her hair in a ponytail or bun. I told her that if she wants to have long hair, then she has to do it everyday, not just throw it in a ponytail.So, she opted to get a haircut. I guess she's too lazy to blow dry it! HA! She had the "A Frame" cut a few years ago, and loved it, so she asked to do it again.
Our neighbor went to cosmetology school, so when she went up there the other night while I went to mutual, I asked her to cut her hair too. It's gorgeous! Now I just need to figure out what to do with mine. Brandon got me a $60 gift certificate for Christmas about three years ago (no expiration date) that I haven't used yet! Any ideas?

Morning View

I woke up to a wonderful view out my bedroom window this morning!

PPW

For Mutual we taught the girls how to do their personal progress online. Not a single girl even knew they could do it that way. I was shocked! Out of the six girls there, three are already done with the program and don't seem to be even slightly interested in helping the other girls or doing it again, so that seemed like kind of a waste. But the other three, actually got working. Two of them created their own accounts and the other one worked out of her book the whole night.

As for me, I am currently working on two experiences that went along with Sunday's lesson. And I'm still working on the Birthday Gifts. Too much going on in my head at the moment or I would actually go into detail, but I can't just pin anything down with craziness inside my head. HA!

A little here, a little there

First thing I saw this morning?
I guess Hoss wanted to help with Duke. He was going to change his diaper all by himself!

Isn't she just the CUTEST 10 year old in the world?!?!
Here's a little sneak peak of the gift I am making for my 2012 Pay It Forward.
I figured it would be nice to get it out of the way early this year instead of doing it every November/December like the past 2 years!

Since Duke only nurses off one side per feeding session (yes, I'm that big, we're talking Dolly Parton here!) I have a hard time remembering which side I last fed Duke with. My mom made me a bracelet recently so I figured I would put it to work. I now wear it on one wrist, then switch it to the other, so I don't get so confused anymore. It is also helping in my effort to be more BEAUTIFUL for my husband.
I commented that it would be nice to have another bracelet so that if I'm not wearing brown, I can still use my new system. Next thing I knew, Lilli came back with one she just whipped up for me! LOVE them both!

I can't have a post without a picture of the CUTEST baby in the world!!

Remember my post about my dream come true? Well, one thing I didn't think about with that dream, was the lack of privacy it gives. Since our room is just off the kitchen/dining room/living room, we can't even change our clothes without hiding in the corner! See, there's hardly any difference between the doors being closed or open!
I've been on the hunt for some door panels, but they are just so spendy. I was shopping with my mom a while ago and we saw some window panels. I knew all I would have to do is buy one single panel, cut it in half and then stitch it up. It would totally be HALF the price too, as to buying the french door panels. They even had purple to go with my room!
I got to the register, to tell them what I wanted and it was an online/catalog purchase only. However, there is a JC Penney catalog store in Ontario, so it ended up being a WIN WIN. No sales tax (since we were in Nampa) and it would arrive in less than a week. WOOHOO! As soon as they called me to tell me it arrived, I got to sewing. Finally, some privacy!Above the view from the kitchen/dining room/living room. Below a view from the inside of my bedroom.

And what's a post without a picture of the CUTEST 4 year old in the world?!?!?!
My niece, Skyler, is getting married in May. She and my sister invited us to attend a bridal show in Boise with them. Lilli didn't want to go at first, but after one of her teachers at school told her that she gets to see wedding dresses on a cat walk, and sample food and cake, she was all pumped for the day.They had several different photo booth companies there advertising. Skyler and Lilli decided they would test one. I think Lilli liked all the glittery dress-up accessories.

As I was changing out Duke's closet from 0-3 Month to 3-6 Month clothes, I decided it was time that I changed out my wardrobe too. I boxed up all the maternity clothes and dug out my regular clothes. None of it really fits, but I guess it's all I have so I better get moving to make it fit! Should be a nudge of motivation, but until I lose some pounds, I'll probably be wearing the same pair of jeans for a while.

PPW - Good Works Project

Being a new year, I asked our Young Women's President if she already had an idea for the birthday gifts. She said no, so I asked if I could do them for the year. I figured it would be a good Value project to get marked off. She was more than happy to give me the job!

I have always LOVED this Mormonad, and I wanted it to be part of the gift. The Scripture is 1 Samuel 16:7

"The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart".

The point I'm wanting to make is for them to be themselves and love themselves. For who they are, not who they are trying to be like.

When I got to the mormonad section of lds.org I found that they have made a newer version and I love it even more. However, they don't sell the new version. So, I bought a bunch of the little postcard size in the old version, but still wanted to do something more.
Then I saw this and knew that I had to make something similar. Brandon just bought me a Silhouette Cameo, so I'm going to put it to good use. We don't have any birthdays until February, so I got a little while to figure out the machine and think of exactly what I'm going to make. I've seen some cute things on pinterest and I'm most likely going to copy this idea from this website.
The lady even emailed me the exact file. I like how crisp and clean it is compared to some of the other ones I've seen on pinterest. I have a friend in Vale who said she would router my wood for me, so it looks like I just need to get busy or find another plan. February will be here before I know it!

Duke's first fort

Duke got to enjoy his very first fort!
He got a little smothered by big brother.I think it's time to organize Duke's future food supply.
I've heard you can sell it - anyone know where? Duke REFUSES to take a bottle and I don't want to just waste it all!

Baptism Towels

I was asked by the Primary President of my old Ward in Vale to embroider the towels that they give out at the annual Great to be Eight party. She felt really bad asking me since I don't live there anymore, but I did them last year for her and she said she doesn't know anyone else with an embroidery machine. I told her not to worry, that I'd be more than happy to help again!

Last year, I just did plain Jane names, so this year, I wanted to spice it up a bit and make them cuter.I LOVE the capital letters.
However, when I did the boy names, they looked way too Christmas-yEspecially this one.
There was no way that I was gonna give those out to the boys. I search online for different fonts. Two of the boys are really western, one is really into sports and I'm not too sure about the last boy. The family just started attending church again when we moved. I found a barbed wire font, football font, wood font and a western font. But, when I started putting them on the towels, the only one I could use would have been the wood. I didn't have the right colors for the football one, and the barbed wire and western fonts were way too small.I got back to the drawing board and came up with these. I think they look much better! I found a larger western font, and then found a rope font that the capital letter has a boot & hat. Then two cute funky fonts for the other two boys.
I hope they like them!

New Goal

If only everyone was this happy to wake up every morning the world would be a much nicer place to live. NEW GOAL - to wake up as happy as Duke!