Sunday Stations

Let's see if I can remember how to post from this thing...

My cousin posted this idea on her blog a few months ago, and she got the idea from the Friend. We tried it today and it was a smashing success.

SUNDAY STATIONS!

This was a great way to have an organized, productive Sunday afternoon. Once Jaren went down for a nap, we set up four areas. The girls spent 15 minutes in each area. In one area, they read scriptures or looked at scripture stories or books. In the next area they wrote in journals. Joelle can't write yet, but she drew a picture of things she did this past week, then Brian wrote down the date and what it was a picture of on the back. In the next station the girls got to spend time with me. Joelle practiced her reading by reading a book to me, Jillise and I used the time to pass of a Faith in God activity. For the last station, the kids get one on one time with Brian. It could be used as a Father/Child interview, just to chat, to read a story, work on Faith in God, whatever.

I think that 15 minutes was a bit short. Joelle barely finished her story, and we were a bit rushed with the Faith in God activity. Twenty minutes might be just right. In the future we may add a station or two. But for today this was GREAT. The girls couldn't wait to get started when we got home from school.

After the stations I took a nap. Aaaaaahhhh. Life has been a bit crazy the past month and this was the first Sunday where I felt things got back to normal. I need to blog about Jillise birthday, baptism, Grandma Joy's visit, Katie's baby blessing, Cherise's wedding reception... and who knows what else. Man. I'm behind.

Miracles Do Happen

Tonight I was teaching a voice lesson when Jillise came RUNNING downstairs hysterically screaming. Jaren had fallen out of the window. The second story toyroom window. The window that I have been nervous about ever since he has been big enough to climb on things. I guess he was standing on something and leaning on the screen and it gave way and he went with it.

I went tearing out the door, trying to prepare myself for what I might see. What I saw was Jaren pushing himself up on his arms, crying that he was poopy. I scooped him up and brought him inside where I could look him over for broken bones or bleeding. He could move all his fingers and toes, he was talking, there was no blood. Brian was home teaching and could not be reached ANYWHERE. (Tomorrow he is having his phone surgically adhered to his hip.) I called his companions wife, who sent over her mother in law, who is a nurse. She did a quick exam, then suggested that we go to the ER just to be safe, but that everything looked good in her opinion. Jaren was in a bit of shock. He was really shaky and couldn't stand up. My voice students mom came over and volunteered to ride to the ER with me to keep Jaren awake. Her daughter stayed with my girls (poor Jillise was in hysterics still). I said a prayer with the girls and with Jaren that everything would be okay. Our home teacher lives around the corner, so he came over and gave Jaren a blessing. He blessed him that all would be well physically and that there would be no lasting emotional or bodily trauma.

We got to the ER and got taken right back to a room. Jaren was more awake by now and was talking and moving around. He was able to walk for the doctor. They pushed and prodded and rubs and looked. He didn't even have a SCRATCH on him. Literally. No broken skin. The doctor ordered a CAT scan to be safe. Jaren was SO good during the scan. He stayed still and we sang Popcorn Popping. The doctor said he gets the best kid of the year award. The scan came back normal and we are back home -- three hours after it all started.

I went back to the side of the house to get a better look. He landed on dirt. It has been raining, so the dirt was very soft. Six inches away from where he landed is a retaining wall made of railroad ties. Six inches to the right is the metal air conditioning unit. He landed in just the right way, in just the right place that everything is fine. He is safe. He is upstairs reading books with Brian (who I'm sure was very shocked to come home to find my voice student and the neighbor sitting on the couch, with hysterical girls, no son, and no wife).

I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who watches out for us. Who not only protected my son, but placed people around me who could help when I was too panicked to know what to do. For a home teacher who was home and worthy to come give him a blessing at the drop of a hat when my husband could not be reached. I know I am blessed. My brain keeps going over what COULD have been and I just want to throw up. I still just might.

Hug your little ones tonight. You never know what could happen in the blink of an eye.

A New Fun Way...

...to avoid cleaning!!

My mom got me a really fun set of books for my birthday on making cookie, candy, and fruit bouquets. True to my obsessive, impulsive nature, I went out and bought supplies this week and made these for my visiting teach-ees:

I think only one of them reads this blog, so the rest will be surprised. These were really fun to make and the decorating was much less time consuming than I thought. I went through two different batches of sugar cookies before I found one that didn't rise so much that it obscured all of the nice lines from the cookie cutters. The biggest mess was made by my kids, who were given the left over frosting and the cookies that were too puffy. My dining room table is covered with pastel blobs, crumbs, and sprinkles. Oh well. All in the name of a good time, right?

Be on the lookout for other really cute gifty things. These books just had WAY too many fun ideas in them!

Mmmm... Cake...

Is this not the cutest cake EVER??? So sassy!

I found it on this blog that I stalk: http://thegoodapple.blogspot.com/ She has the most AMAZING cookies and cakes on there. And she is relatively new to cake/cookie decorating. She took all the Wilton classes just a few years ago. I tell ya, some people got it. I don't. So I just check out her blog and admire her creativity and patience. My birthday is in a week. Do you think a cake like that would survive the USPS?

Mmmmm Mmmmm Good

(Since this is St. Patrick's Day (Happy Birthday, Dad!!) I will use the obligatory green font color.)

I have another product endorsement.

I am back on the weight loss wagon. Again. I'm on week two. It seems that I am all or nothing kind of a gal. If I am eating right, I am exercising. If I am exercising, I am eating well. So the law of physics says that if I am NOT doing one of those things, I am not doing the other, either. One of my biggest problems is that I do not like to deny myself when it comes to food. I have a hard time choosing something small and tasteless when I could have something filling and delicious. That's why I love these:

YUM-O!! And here's a trick: when I make them, I use unsweetened applesauce instead of oil, I use egg substitute instead of whole eggs, so it adds NO FAT. I will often sprinkle some ground flax seed in there too. It adds a trace amount of fat, but it adds all sorts of good stuff, too -- like even more fiber. And the muffins are moist and yummy and they have only 3g of fat, and 5g of fiber per muffin. Yay!!! I can have two for a snack with a big glass of water or fat free milk and I am good until dinner.

Here is my weight loss chain I have hanging in my kitchen:

Every link represents a pound. After I pass the weight on that link, I can tear it off and move on to the next one. Every fifth one is yellow and it means I get a reward. There are seven links in the last set, but that's because I am my mother's daughter and I needed to land on a nice round number. Once I reach that weight I get something BIG.

SO... Bunco gals... if you see me stuffing my face on Thursday, STOP ME. Maybe I will bring some muffins to share...

Too True...

I asked the Lord to tell me
Why my house is such a mess.
He asked if I'd been 'computering',
And I had to answer 'yes.'
He told me to get off my fanny
And tidy up the house.
And so I started cleaning up...
The smudges off my mouse.
I wiped and shined the topside.
That really did the trick...
I was just admiring my work.I didn't mean to 'click.'

But click, I did, and oops...

I found
A real absorbing site,
That I got SO way into it...
I was into it all night.
Nothing's changed except my mouse.
It's very, very shiny.
I guess my house will stay a mess...
While I sit here on my hiney.

I guess my house will stay a mess....
While I sit here on my hiney.

Branching Out

I could have titled this "Taking the Plunge," "Into the Wild Blue Yonder." But I am trying not to psyche myself out by telling myself this is going to be too hard. What am I talking about???

*I* am going to make a quilt.

I am cheating on my beloved aprons. I have been following Oh, Fransson! for a while and I just LOVE her quilts. I appreciate her talent for putting fabrics and colors together. And I love that they don't look really country cottage when she is done (not that there's anything wrong with that...). A few weeks ago she posed the idea to do a Quilt-a-Long. I was on the fence while reading all of her tutorials and I decided this week that I was going to DO IT. I read her post on choosing colors (anyone who has seen my house in it's various half painted stages knows that color paralyzes me) and headed to the fabric store with Michelle. There I ran into a gal who is doing the same Quilt-a-Long. Small world!

Here is what I chose. We needed six pairs of coordinating fabrics -- for a total of 12. The blue is going to be my binding (unless I change my mind after seeing everything together). The off-white is going to be the sashing between the quilt blocks. The back will be a mixture of the solid green and the pink patterned fabric.

SO - my fabric is in the washing machine. I will probably try to start cutting tonight. I still need to finish Jillise's baptism dress and do two more personal progress wraps (with a tutorial). Something tells me both of those will seem like a piece of cake once I am surrounded with dozens of fabric strips. Wish me luck!!