Kent, Mariam and co.

This is the time of year that we pause the think of the many, many things we are grateful for. We have seen our share of blessings and miracles this year, and we were reminded of many of them this weekend. K was so excited about her pre-school Thanksgiving play. She played an Indian woman, and she HAD to have grandma's special dress for the occasion. She was so cute. She has the best preschool teacher. I am so grateful that both kids have such amazing teachers who love them and help them in ways that I can't. Both kids look forward to school, and I couldn't be happier. I was a little edgy all day (last Tues.), I had too much to do, and the weather was supposed to be absolutely nasty later that day. After K's program, my mom called to say there was a break in the weather. I quickly threw stuff in the car, pulled D out of school and hit the road. We actually had a pretty decent trip. Weather was nasty before we left and after we got there. We continued to have...

We had lots of fun this Halloween. Here are a few of the highlights. K was such a pretty little harvest princess. I made her little dress out of some sparkly burt orange organza I (bought years ago) and brown satin. I think she looks absolutely adorable. It was funny that with her hair she pretty monochromatic. Here's Bubby the sock monkey. (I love how the roundness of the hat and ears add to the roundness of his cheeks.) K was so excited for her pre-school Halloween party. She was ready by 9:00 that morning, school stars at 12:00. Here she is with her friend Thimblenna . D was cute in his schools Halloween parade. He was strutting his stuff, giving high 5's and striking poses everywhere he went. Here we are on our dreary trunk-or-treat. It started pouring 3 seconds after the picture. I went in a Hawaiian dress. Even though it was rainy and cold, the kids had a blast. D was funny about the details of his costume. He wanted Superman hair. Problem is, he has VERY str...

We started our fall fun with an outing to the "Enchanted Woods" with some great friends. It was a non-scary Halloween adventure where the kids went on a quest (sent by King Arthur himself) to find the golden rose. We all had lots of fun. We will definitely try to go again next year. D went as Superman, and K went as a Harvest Princess. I love the look on her face in the photo below. She is in awe after seeing the Princess Snow White. What a cutie. We went to the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins, but I only got a picture of D. It was a muddy mess, and I planned on taking pictures of K at the pumpkin patch during her field trip. Unfortunately, the field trip did not go as planned. We were late, and when I tried to catch-up with the class, I got my van SERIOUSLY stuck in the mud. They had to use a backhoe to get me out, and it still took lots and lots of work. Anyway, only one pic of the pumpkin patch this year. :( I have goofy kids, what can I say. Bubby has always ha...

I promise not to make this blog about de-junking, but it has been my life for the past few days. We took an entire truck load of stuff to DI today. CRAZY! I really can't believe we had that much junk. The sad thing that is only out of 1/2 the house. The work continues. I did finally finish Bubby's Halloween costume. It took me longer that I thought, so it is a good thing he looks so cute in it. I sure love that little monkey.

In my book "Clutter's Last Stand" I just read about what to do with "personal treasures". He hit on one of the most difficult topics, gifts. Oddly enough, it was on my mind before I started my clutter diet. I don't want to give people I love more junk for their homes as my Christmas present. It bothers me that we run frantically through the stores to find a gift, any gift, for someone when they don't really want/need it. I do (usually) put lots of thought into the gifts I give. I really try to think about the likes, needs and homes of the recipients of my gifts. I made my nieces princess dress-ups for Christmas last year, and I think little L lived in hers for 3 months. I love to hear things like that, but lets be honest not all my gifts to people have been a home run. So, if I have gifted you an item that you don't really want. Something that just creates clutter and stress for you, I give you my permission to get rid of it without my fee...

Okay, confession time. Many of you who know me know I have a hard time letting go of stuff. Now, I am not a hoarder or anything but I do have lots of clutter around my house. It has bothered me for some time, but I didn't think much about it. Until last night. Some of you might remember Don Aslett (especially you S.E. Idaho people). He came and did a cleaning presentation at our Relief Society meeting last night. He had the most efficient ways to clean, and all I could think of was my mounds of clutter that are preventing me from being able to really clean my house. And, of course, he hit clutter HARD at the end of his presentation. Making me feel even worse about my junk. The nail in the coffin was a book he gave me. He saw me in the kitchen and asked if I was on kitchen duty. I said, "Not exactly, I just go where they want me." He laughed, and came back with a book (he said he liked my attitude) called "Clutters last stand". My first thought was ...

One of my greatest friends is coming up on an anniversary that no mother wants to experience. Her beautiful baby boy was born 1 year ago on Oct. 9. Sadly, he passed away later that same day due to CDH (congenital diaphragmatic hernia). He was a beautiful person, and meeting him is one of my greatest honors and has changed my life forever. The family is doing a service project in his memory. I know that any support would be greatly appreciated, not only by the family, but also by the other families in need. http://pennylongstockings.blogspot.com/2010/10/nolan.html If you are interested in donating, you can contact me (leave a comment, send me and e-mail, send a message on FB) and I will fill you in on the details.

I was tagged by a friend to answer these questions so here goes. 1. What is your guilty pleasure when you are home alone and no one to see? I watch boring craft/cooking shows and eat junk (ice cream, chocolate, hot cheetos) 2. What is your favorite movie from your kids selection? One you don’t mind sitting to watch with them? I actually don't mind most of the Disney movies and I watch them with the kids often. The cartoon I like the most is "Phinnes and Freb". It makes me laugh, alot. 3. If you could remodel any room in your house and have someone else pay for it what room would it be? KITCHEN!!! We live in a 100 year old house with a small, poorly laid out kitchen. It's not horrible, but if someone else is paying....The room I need to make over the most is my room. It is the only room left we haven't done anything (I mean ANYTHING) to. The nasty old wallpaper really needs to come down. 4. What reality show would you most likely be on? If I was on any real...

Since school has been in for a month, I thought I should catch up on the end of summer happenings. Labor Day we decided to go to Discovery Gateway museum with the kids. It was pretty fun. I love watching the kids explore and have fun. Here the family is trying to make a good pipe system (I think for a marble). The construction zone was D's favorite. He has always been my puzzle maker, so this was so fun. Life size puzzle pieces. He even tried to make some of them more dimensional by continuing the building out. It was hard to do, kids kept nocking it down. He took it really well though. K loved the stage and dress-up area. She got to be a princess in the spotlight. Problem was everyone was watching, and suddenly she was shy. I wonder what she would do on stage if she thought no one was watching. Bubby loved ridding on this little dog in the baby play area. So, this is where I spent most of my time. There was a funny mirror there too, and he looked at himself and laug...

Okay here is the recap of the rest of the trip. Here is Kent picking a fresh pineapple out of the neighbor's garden. The sweet woman gave us 4 sweet, dripping, delicious white pineapples while we were there (it takes 18 months to grow one). Here is Bubby with one of the ripe, but very little pineapples. Hawaiian graffiti is so neat. They make names, words and pictures with white coral. It stands out against the black lava rock. It was pretty cool. My sister-in-law made a big "Idaho" on the rocks, Kent and I just did a D and K for our kids. This beach was pretty cool. There were huge cement breakers along the shore line. The water was so, so blue and the waves were crashing into the wall. It just looked really neat. This in on the Hilo side of the island where everything is greener. I couldn't believe how lush and beautiful everything is. This was a waterfall on one side of the road. On the other side..... was this view of the ocean. Seriously, isn't ...