My Christmas List

Like the slacker I am, I neglected to give my Christmas list to John's family. I think Kaylynn has me so, Kaylynn, here you go.
-a flash drive
-the Romance Collection (I'd chip in)
-a Remington Steele season on dvd
-Anne of Green Gables collection (again I'd chip in)
-gift certificate to JoAnn's, Costco, Shopko, or Walmart

Long Overdue Vacation Report

So about a month and a half ago, John and I went on a vacation to Florida for 10 days and I'm just getting around to posting about it. It was so great that at first, I couldn't think of what I wanted to write about, but now that I've had time to reflect on it, I have a few thoughts.

I loved having John all to myself. I could talk to him and no one interrupted our conversation. We could drive and not talk and it was quiet, which hardly ever happens at home.

I loved spending time with John's old college roommates and their wives (except Barbara who we really missed!!). They're all great, faithful people who I love hanging out with. We all had brought some of our favorite board games and John and I brought the Wii and we had so much fun playing games. I discovered a few games that I've never played before and I liked them.

I loved not having a schedule. We could get up when we wanted, go to bed when we wanted or just stay up. Now I know you can't live like that for long, but it was soooo great for 10 days.

I loved playing Dance Dance Revolution for hours at a time. I think I'm addicted. One night John stayed up all night playing games and I went to bed because I had a headache, so I got up in the morning and he didn't. I played DDR for about 1 1/2 hours straight and I loved it. I can't really do that at home because the girls like to "help" which usually isn't so helpful.

I loved just being able to read and relax.

I loved eating out a lot. I love eating out. I know it is not good for the budget, but vacation is a good excuse and I loved it. We went to a thai place, and a bunch of normal places and overall it was all pretty good.

I loved having a pool at the house we stayed at. I didn't think I would because I'm not really a water person, but I loved it. I don't know if I would have felt the same way with the kids because I hate watching kids around water, but with just John and I, it was great--WAY better than swimming in a hotel pool with complete strangers.

I loved Aquatica (SeaWorld's new waterpark)! It was really fun. We especially liked their not-so-lazy river and the wave pool. They had life vests that you could wear which were great because, like I said, I'm not a huge water person. I almost drowned once. But with the vest, those rides were really fun.

I loved shopping with John. I just love shopping but John and I don't really get to shop much together anymore because it is too hectic with all the kids. But for those 10 days we did and I loved it. I think John was a little shopped out.

And I loved getting to go to the temple without having to worry about calling a babysitter. The Orlando temple is beautiful and the people are very nice.

So I loved the vacation. I missed my kids eventually, but I knew they were in good hands (thanks Pam!!), so we had to come home. But I can't wait for the next time!!

Girl Time

I have had a lot of "girl time" this week and I have loved it. Now don't get me wrong, I get a lot of girl time every day, what with 5 daughters and all, but this week it was more like "other women in my ward" time which makes a big difference.

Thursday I went to my monthly book club. This is a book club that I've been going to since John and I got married and moved into this area. It used to be women in my ward, but since they rearranged our stake, it has become women in my stake that I hardly get to see otherwise. I think they have been doing this book club at least since the early 80's so it has been a while and most of the women are significantly older than me, most of them have grandchildren my age, but I love these women. They are so fun, and they will read anything and have read most things. And they always make me feel loved and appreciated, and most of all, they all make great desserts. This month we read a book called, The Persian Pickle Club about a quilting club, and this book really reminded me of my experience in this book club ( except we've never killed anyone).

Then Friday, one of my neighbors, who's in my ward and the book club, invited me to a quilting day at her house. They tie quilts and have lunch once a month. They have invited me the last two months, but I've forgotten about it. I also wasn't sure how they felt about my kids, because none of them have kids, just great grandchildren my kids' age. So I decided I would just stop by with my girls and see how things were going on my way to pick up my kindergartner. Well, they were super happy to see me, they found toys for the girls to play with, and the girls and I had such a great time that I was late to pick up Emma and later Kate and Mary because I forgot what time it was.

Later Friday I went to our ward's Fantastic Friday and again had a great time just talking to people. I didn't sign up for anything, I just signed up to help with the service quilts and I had a great time. I got to see and talk to lots of people that I don't normally see and it was really fun.

And then today I got to go visiting teaching to two wonderful ladies with my new great partner that I love already (who brought over her teenage daughter to watch my girls while we went). We chatted and got to know each other better and it was great.

I just was thinking tonight how blessed I am to know so many great women who want the best for me and are a real support in my life. I love Relief Society!! That's where I met all of these women.

And then tonight someone left about a month's supply of formula for us incognito. How great is that? My life is good and I should remember that when I get frustrated. And I should be better at calling other women when I'm having a hard time, and at reaching out to others. Anyway, I guess what I'm really saying is I'm grateful for girl time.

P.S. I love John for babysitting for most of these activities and letting me go and be with other women. He's a good guy and he was begging for an entry about him so this is for him.

Project Update #2

I've finished 3 more, which puts me at 35. I'm getting there. I've got a few I need to do this week for Halloween. They're not too hard.



#33: October's Block of the Month. I've really liked all these blocks. I love their relative simplicity and their colors. I've really liked this class.

#34-35: Hannah Montana skirts for Mary. Mary wants to be Hannah Montana for Halloween. We found her a wig and they had HM shirts on clearance at Wal-mart, so I told her I would sew up these little skirts to wear over her jeans. She's pretty excited about it. She'd be even more excited if I could figure out a way for her to wear them without jeans. I saw a slip somewhere for her that might work. Who knows?!! (side note: Mary is our fashion guru and always has been. I swear for months one time she would only wear pink, and then she moved onto only wearing skirts and dresses. She has to have her hair just so and her clothes just right. There's no talking her into wearing things just because they fit her if she doesn't like them. I happened to be watching Project Runway for just a few minutes the other night, and Mary saw it and was absolutely fascinated. I could be in trouble here.)

Project update

I'm up to 32 so far which puts me about on par for success. So here are a few pictures.

Projects 4-18 were projects to donate to my girls' classes at school for their fall festival fund raising thing. Their classroom themes for donation were dress-up and baby stuff. So there are 5 capes, and 3 sets of flannel blankets, burp rags and bibs. They were all very fun to make. And for the flannel stuff, I used flannel that my mom gave me like 5 years ago and I've never used (getting rid of some of that stuff that John would like gone to make him happy).

Project 19 was another quilt block for my class. It turned out pretty well.

Project 20-31 were making my friend's daughters I-spy quilts. They had several embroideries and iron-on stuff so every little bit counts. They turned out really cute and Lily really wanted to keep at least one. ( I cut out one for her while I was doing it so she soon will have one of her own.)

And Project 32, I fixed Mary's awesome cape that Kaylynn made for her. Her letter was coming off. She was very happy that I "finally" fixed it.

The Great Project Challenge of 2008

John knows me very well. He knows that I need a little outside motivation now and then to get things done. That's why I always did so well in school--the motivation of a grade was enough for me. Left to myself, I'm a pretty lazy person.

Anyway, in an attempt to motivate me and also to reclaim the fireplace (good luck!), which is currently covered by my sewing and project stuff, John has made me a deal. If I can finish 200 projects in the next year, he will pay my $5 a project, $1000 for the year, to go toward a new quilting maching for me. This motivates me in two ways: 1-I will do a lot of things for a little money, just ask me about the $5 story that was so successful for John in the beginning of our relationship, and 2-I really want either a new quilting machine to quilt my quilt tops or a fancy quilting sewing machine to do my sewing on.

Now this is a lot of projects, almost 20 a month. They don't have to be big projects, and I have easily that many projects already bought at my house. And I may not make it, but I will have fun trying. I like a good challenge.

So here are my first few projects:

Project #1: A Space Rag Quilt for my new nephew Benjamin. I almost had this one done when the challenge started on August 5.

Project #2: Quilt Block-of-the-month for August. My mom and I take a class and I do one a month so this will be a recurring theme.

Project #3: "The Five Dollar Success Story"--a transcript of my journals, beginning when I met John and going through our first five years of marriage (my 10 year anniversary present to him). I was really excited about this one. I've been working on it all year. John has mild dyslexia so he really can't read handwriting and I had a vision of me dying and him not being able to read my journals about our life together (since he really didn't keep a journal back then). It was a great project and I loved doing it. I'm going to keep working on from 5 years on and add his blog entries, from when he started writing on his blog, and eventually we'll get it bound like a real book.

I have several other projects done but they're presents that I haven't given yet so I'll have to wait to post them. All in all, I've got 9 done at present. But lots in the works. I'll post more as I finish them. It should be fun. John's a good guy who really knows how to get me going. I love him!!

Thanks Grandma!!

Grandma Oaks sent me a package in the mail. I loved all the things she sent me. She sent me an apple slicer which I've tried already and both me and the girls think is really cool. She also sent me a bag to put my plastic bags in that we use for garbage bags. It is great. And, last, she sent me an Apple Jacks dish towel that is super cute. I love breakfast cereal so this is right up my alley. Anyway, thanks Grandma! I love all of it!!

Ode to the Original Adam Payne

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this is a really long poem. See ya soon, Adam.

ARod Payne

My dad always makes nicknames for all the grandkids. It seems to really amuse him. And the girls really like it too. They are always talking and trying to remember what their names are. Kate's is Kate the Skate.

Mary's was Scary Mary, until my mom and I convinced him that this might be detrimental to her self-esteem. John called her Mary Monster (and Kate, Kate-zilla) when they were terrorizing, but my dad finally settled on Mary, the barber, Payne. He always asks how her scissors are doing and if she's been able to do any more haircuts. He really thinks he's hilarious. Mary has bought into it and considers herself our resident hairdresser. She spends hours practicing on her dolls although the scissors have yet to reappear. My dad has offered to let her cut his hair, but this has yet to pan out. My mom said no.

Emma's is Emma-skemma. I know. It is nonsense but it rhymes.

Ruth's is toothy ruthy although she's not really old enough to respond so he hasn't teased her as much.

Lily's is silly Lily.

But my dad is proudest of his nickname for Adam. I came over a few days after I'd had him and my dad proudly exclaimed, "Now we have an ARod in the family." I looked at him blankly and then he explained that Adam Roderick could be shortened into ARod. We seriously had not thought of that but it seems oddly appropriate given John's obsession with baseball. So ARod it is. And the girls really love it. My dad says as long as he shares his millions when he grows up he'll be ok. So, world, say hello to ARod Payne. ( In his OU outfit for my brother John who graduated from there. )

What Emma really thinks

In primary they asked the Sunbeams and CTR 5 classes some questions for Mother's Day. They said they only asked the little kids because they give the funniest answers. We interpreted that as meanest or most embarassing. So here are Emma's answers with a little commentary from me:

1. How old is your mom? 24 ( I thought this was pretty good since she has been telling me that President Hinckley was 21 when he died. Maybe in Emma-verse you age backwards and I'm not that far from my own untimely end.)

2. What does your mom do all day? I don't know...takes a bath. (This one got big laughs. The funniest part is that I hate baths. I'm definitely a shower person. Maybe this stems from my occassionally having her keep an eye on Ruth and Lily when I take a shower.)

3. What is your mom's favorite thing to do? Drive the new van. (I do like driving it kind of, although it has been a big adjustment. The best thing about it is that I can't really hear the girls except for Lily. Lots of peace and quiet.)

4. Where was your mom born? Provo. (This was a good guess. John was born in Provo and I grew up in Orem, although I was born in Montana.)

5. What does your mom do at church? She does nothing. (Again, big laughs. Apparently, from Emma's viewpoint, I'm living the good life: baths all week and nothing to do at church.)

6. How did your mom and dad meet? The missionaries. (No idea. Maybe she got home teachers and missionaries confused, because John was my home teacher when we first met.)

7. What is your favorite thing about your mom? She loves me. (She finally got one right. You have to love Emma who is totally off the wall sometimes but so intent about it that it makes you laugh. A lot like her dad actually, hmmmm...)

8. What does your mom love best about you? Because I'm a good helper. (She is. When she's in the right mood she is quite the cleaner and entertainer of little sisters. I couldn't do without her, but I will have to coach her on some of these answers for next year.)

The Coloring Book Prize

Speaking of being a pack rat: I can not throw away half-used coloring books. They rank right up there with unread magazines. Even if there are only like 3 pages left, I just can't bring myself to get rid of them. The problem is that my girls are always getting new coloring/workbooks so we have tons of them that are half done. I decided, in an effort to get rid of some of them, I would offer a reward to any of my girls who would actually finish a coloring book. If they did their best work and showed me that it all had been done then they would get a candy bar. I know, it really boils down to bribery to make life easier for me, but hey, it is worth it. And you should see how much my girls have been coloring. Kate actually finished one of hers and Mary, Emma, and Ruth have spent a lot of time working on some of theirs. The side benefit has been that I've gotten a lot of quiet time out of the whole plan. I know I'm crazy but there you have it.

(My plan for unread magazines is that I put them in the bathroom, and when I get stressed out, I go in the bathroom, lock the door and read a few articles. Then when I'm done reading them, I don't feel so bad tossing them in the recycling bin. It has really worked very well, and I've read A LOT of magazines if that gives you a clue to my emotional state over the past few months.)

Pack Rat Purging

I am a pack rat. I have a really hard time giving away or throwing away anything. I have gotten better over the years, but I'm still pretty bad. Well, the last two years our Relief Society has had something they call "Brunch and Swap" where you can clean your house, bring your stuff you want to give away, and they put it out so any sisters in the ward can take it home if they need it. Then whatever is left over, they donate to our local elementary school which has a huge Rummage Sale each spring as their big fundraiser for the year, and whatever they have left over, they take to DI.

So I used this as an excuse to clean out some stuff in our house. Somehow it makes me feel better giving stuff away if I know it is going to a good cause. When I mentioned that I would be willing to go through clothes and give away lots, John jumped on it and brought up ALL of our boxes of clothes from the basement. So I was so good and I sorted through all of them, plus the girls' drawers and closet and I ended up giving away a lot!! 5 big boxes (5foot x 3 foot x 1 1/2 foot deep) and a whole truckload of bikes, baby stuff, random stuff and a couch. The Relief Society thought we had gone around and collected stuff. Nope, it was all ours. And the saddest part is, our house doesn't look like we gave that much stuff away. Oh well. Some is better than nothing and I was very proud of myself because it kind of stresses me out. We can always give away more next year.

Book Review: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

So I really didn't want to read this book in the first place, but my book club was reading it, and I know lots of people who LOVE it, so I did. Having said that, I have to say for a vampire book it is a pretty good read. I'm not a scary book/ horror book lover at all and I still liked it. It is not scary and the author's concept of vampire life is very interesting and thought provoking and surprisingly non-bloody. If you can get over the fact that the 17 year old girl in the book is willing to give up her life for the love of her life (the vampire), and that this guys sits in her room and watches her sleep all night every night (which I found less romantic and more creepy), I think it's a pretty good, and easy read. I will be reading the next 3 books in the series.

However, I am not a Twilight addict. I have a friend that has a shirt that says "I love Edward" and the Twilight logo on her laptop. And when I took the book with me to a local restaurant to read while I stood in line, I had at least 3 people come up and talk to me and tell me how good they thought it was. Apparently carrying it around is a good way to start conversations and make friends with complete strangers who are Twilight addicts. But I think everyone has their favorite books. Personally I don't think I could ever be in love with Edward because his skin is ice cold all the time. I like warmth. That's why I married John. That and he doesn't suck blood.

(Oh yeah, interesting side note. Stephanie Meyer said that she loves Jane Austen and that Edward is most like Mr. Darcy and parts of the novel are loosely based on Pride and Prejudice. You see, Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austen ARE everywhere)

Baby Brother

A couple of weeks ago my sister gave me a whole bunch of boy clothes. A friend of hers had had a premie baby and had put away all the regular size clothes, and then, when the boy got big enough, she couldn't find them, so she went out and bought new ones. (I think it is the strangest story I've ever heard. I would have looked a little harder, and these people are kind of on the poor side, but it is great for me and very generous of her to give them to me.) Anyway, so most of these clothes were still on the hangers from the store with the tags on them. It was amazing!! And the clothes are pretty nice and pretty much filled up our whole dresser.

ANYWAY, so last week I washed all the clothes and sorted them and put them away. As I was doing this Ruth was very excited about the whole thing. She asked me who the clothes were for, and I told her they were for the baby brother. So after that, she would come by periodically and tell anyone in ear shot, "These clothes are for our baby brother. Aren't they cute?"

Later that same day, some one knocked on the door. As I was getting up to answer it, Ruth said, "Hurry, Mom. I think it's our baby brother. I think he's here." I tried to explain to her why that probably wasn't going to happen, but she stayed pretty excited.

Then yesterday, Ruth told me out of the blue, "Mom, our baby brother is going to be here in a few days!!" I told her that it was more like a few months and that the baby brother was in my tummy and she could feel him kick if she wanted. She proceeded to give me a disgusted look, say, "Whatever!" and run off. Apparantly she will only accept an in-person appearance. Oh well, it is good to know that she is excited. And she's not the only one, just the most vocal.

We should be happy

The scripture that we just finished memorizing is 2 Nephi 2:27. It says, "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh, and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil. For he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself."

Surprisingly to me, this scripture seems to be particularly disturbing to Emma and Ruth (the 4 and 2 year old). When we first started memorizing it, Ruth would say after every time that we repeated it, "That's not true. Heavenly Father doesn't want us to be miserable." Emma was also quick to complain that she didn't think it was true either. So after we talked about the meaning of the scripture and that it was the devil and not Heavenly Father who wanted us to be miserable, they seemed to feel a little better about the whole thing.

But still, every night when we repeat the scripture Ruth adds on the end, "Heavenly Father doesn't want us to be miserable, He wants us to be happy!" As soon as I agree to this, she seems happy enough.

And Emma says consistantly after the scripture, "The devil is so silly. We are not all going to be miserable. Nephi wasn't miserable." You can't argue with that logic.

Motherhood

My friend asked me to make a post about what I do with my girls. Now I wouldn't really consider myself a "great" mom. I have some real struggles, especially with my temper and yelling. I'm definitely not going to be the mom that my kids say (when they're 40), "I never heard my mother raise her voice." But I'm working on it. I do have to say that my voice has gotten louder with every kid. I don't think I really ever yelled until I had 3 kids, but alas, oh well. It is kind of unfortunate though that Kate and Mary will never remember the nice mom when they were little. I guess I'll just have them read my journal so they can appreciate all the good years.

Anyway, I loved Elder Ballard's talk today. It gave me some good things to work on.

When I get frustrated about motherhood, I pretty much go with my theme, "Play to your strengths." That always runs through my head when I get upset and I think it is the Lord's way of saying, "It's all right. You're doing ok. You just have to focus on what you like and do well." And I think that's pretty true. And I also think everyone has different strengths and things they like and do well. So sometimes if I go to a meeting and listen to someone talk and I start to feel guilty that I'm not as organized or energetic or something, I just have to tell myself, "Those are some really good ideas. That's not my strength, but I can work on it a little but I don't need to psyche myself out about it."

So, two things I really like are reading and music. So we do a lot of reading and music. It's kind of relaxing for me and that's when I have the most fun with my girls. We love going to the library and picking out books together and reading books together as a family. I just love it. We read picture books and chapter books and even regular childrens' fiction like right now we're reading National Velvet. We only read a little a night, and if I'm too tired or don't feel like it we don't read as much. We read non-fiction too. Recently we've found some great math books that have story problems in them with great pictures that my kids love and so do I. (I like math too.)

Going along with that, my best time of the day is the evening. Now I get tired and cranky sometimes, but I like doing things in the early evenings best. So I do a pretty complex bedtime routine. It takes me a little while, but hopefully my kids will remember this time of the day and not the rest when I was yelling at them. We put our kids to bed pretty early, but we start early doing stuff. Basically our kids' bedtime is after dinner and bedtime stuff. Usually it is around 7 or 7:30. We read stories, read scriptures, sing our weekly hymn, say the scriptures we're trying to memorize, say prayers and then they go to their beds. Then I tuck them each in by saying the memorizing scriptures with them, and singing them their bedtime song. Now I know this sounds crazy, but we're pretty flexible. We don't always do everything, but we try. If I have to leave, John puts them to bed and he does what he wants to. Sometimes we do all the stuff in the car on the way home from somewhere and I just tuck them in. I guess the key is that I enjoy this stuff. I like singing and reading stories so that's what I focus on.

So for their bedtime song, each of the girls has their own song. Like I said, I like to sing, so when I had Kate, I just sang to her all the time. I got a little Children's Songbook and I would just sit and sing through the whole book with her and I started memorizing the words for the different songs. I also made her up a song with a familiar tune but words all her own because I heard that kids like to hear their own names in songs. Anyway, the pattern kind of stuck. With every girl, I've picked out a favorite church song for their lullaby that I sing to them to put them to bed at night and I make them up a song to a tune I like. And when the girls get old enough they can pick the song I sing to them at night. Sometimes they're the songs I sang when they were little and sometimes not. I went through a whole year I think of singing "A, You're Adorable" because Kate learned it at preschool and the other girls loved it. I like doing it and the girls like it and they can even talk John into singing to them once in a while when I'm not home.

And about 2 years ago, we started the memorizing scripture thing. We started with the Articles of Faith and now we're doing the Book of Mormon scripture mastery scriptures and primary theme scriptures. We started because the primary was doing it and my kids liked it so much that we've just added it to the routine. We say it together as a family and then as I tuck them in I repeat it individually with each one of them until they can say it on their own. I have a prize box that they can pick something out of once they can say the whole thing word for word on their own. It's pretty good incentive and I just put in dollar store stuff mostly. I also make the older girls keep doing a scripture until everyone has passed it off, even if they've already gotten their prize. And we're doing the Primary scripture by month, so we don't change those until a new month starts. It works out great! I learn these scriptures which is good for me and I get to hear my girls learn them too, which makes you feel really good as a mother. I'm most amazed at my little girls. Ruth and Emma (2 and 4) do great. They take about 2 weeks longer than the older girls to memorize scriptures, but come on, two weeks. That's awesome. And I'm just saying this because it is all them. They love it. And Emma heard one of the scriptures in Conference today and she about jumped off the couch, she was so excited. It was fun to see.

Anyway, these are just some of the things I enjoy doing with my girls. I hope it doesn't make anyone feel overwhelmed because these are just my strengths. If you need to feel better, ask me and I'll help you feel better, because I probably don't do a lot of things that you do great. I love my girls and my husband and it all works out.

I Will Survive

Does anyone remember the Gloria Gaynor song "I will survive"? When I was single, this was my favorite girl power song. I still really like it although I am no longer bitter about guys; John is great!! (My girls know almost all the lyrics because I sing it really loud and play it at least twice when it comes up on the ipod.)

But ANYHOW, I survived the rest of the week without John. It was hard but with a lot of visits to my parents' house for free food and good distractions for the girls, everything turned out good. I even watched the whole Christy trilogy of movies (if you don't know what this is, ask me). They are definitely girl movies that I'm sure John could do without. They are really cheesy but I love them. They're right up there with Anne of Green Gables and all Jane Austen movies. Ruth watched most of them with me and seemed to like them. (Never mind the fact that she was supposed to be in bed. At that point at night I was too tired to care and she was mostly quietly watching the movie so I let it ride. I have a short fuse that late at night so I have to just avoid it sometimes to preserve the well-being of all involved.)

Anyway, it was all good. I only had one breakdown and that was John's fault so you can ask him about it. Everything else went really well and the girls tried hard to be good. They were a little mystified as to where John went though. Every once in a while Ruth would pop up with things like, "Where's dad? Is he STILL at work?" or "Where's Dad? Oh, he must be sleeping." Stuff like that.

So we're really glad John's home. We like having him around. And I'm glad he had a good time. He deserves a little fun in his life. For more details see his blog. He's got some great stories.

Days 1 and 2 without John

Well, we're still here and we even went to church. My mom was very surprised. (Of course we went to church!! If John can do it, I guess I have no excuse.) Not on time, but who's counting really? The girls were very well behaved for the most part. They sat quietly on the couch in the foyer during sacrament meeting and they were very good. I don't know if they would have lasted the whole time, but since we were about 25 minutes late, they lasted. They were getting a little fidgety at the end. We had a few escapees at the end of church and Ruth actually got lost for a few minutes, but we all ended up home and I wasn't in a totally bad, frustrated mood so I counted it a success.

We had lunch and they all took naps, including me and then our home teachers came over. They were very nice and agreed to take the garbage cans out for me so that's good. Then we had dinner, visited with Missy and Steve for a few minutes and then the girls went to bed. I feel like it went pretty well. There were the usual tantrums and breakdowns but nothing out of the ordinary. Our dinner was less spectacular than if John had been here (we had frozen pizza, fruit salad, toast, and brownies from our home teachers) but that's to be expected. I can cook, I just don't feel like it when I'm pregnant.

Yesterday we spent most of the day with my parents. The girls picked up the whole house so they could watch Legion of Super Heros. And then we went up to see my parents. The girls had lots of fun. They watched lots of shows and Grandma fixed one of her catered to kids meals of hot dogs, fish sticks, macaroni and cheese and green beans. She always just asks them what they want to eat and they always end up with about the same thing. But it is always good. My sister Heather also showed up with her family and it was fun to see them. She brought me a whole bunch of baby boy clothes that are almost brand new. A lot still have the tags on them. A friend of hers gave them to her to give to us. Very nice. (Her friend said she misplaced the clothes when her baby was still too small and then found them after he was too big. Odd, but I got some great clothes out of it.)

After we came home last night, we did baths, which almost did me in. Lily pooped in the bath and Mary and Emma threw tantrums. But every one eventually got in their pajamas and went to bed so it all ended well.

The girls have been really good for me so I can't complain. I haven't felt really stressed out yet so that's definitely a blessing. We miss John and can't wait for him to get home though.

My favorite thing John has ever won

About 3-4 years ago John won a 20 gig ipod at a business conference. Now when he brought it home, I was happy for him but not really that enthused for myself. I didn't really appreciate the digital music thing so it seemed kind of pointless. John spent a lot of time telling me how cool it was and that we could put all of our music on it, etc. He's a good salesman but I still wasn't buying. Then we decided we were going to drive to Buffalo that next summer and he started lobbying to buy a car adapter so we could put all our music on the ipod and then not take the tons of cds that we usually took on our trip to keep the kids amused. The adapter was like $100 which was more than I thought we should pay, but John was so excited that I eventually gave in, and tried to act excited too.

Well so we got the adapter, ripped all the cd's, and went on our trip. And I have to say that I LOVED IT!! We didn't have to mess with cd's. We could put it on shuffle and get a good mix of kid's songs and our music, and even some conference talks and BYU devotionals. It was the coolest thing ever. And it was fun to not know what was coming up next, like on the radio, but still know that you were going to like whatever did come up. And the kids got enough of their music to keep them happy and entertained without driving us crazy. It was great!!

Ever since then I've kind of monopolized the ipod. Poor John doesn't get to use it very often because I keep it in my purse to use whenever I'm driving. In fact, some times if the kids are driving me crazy, I pack the kids into the car, tell them to be quiet, and drive around listening to the soothing sounds of the ipod. I even made John buy me an ihome alarm clock so I can listen to the ipod in my bedroom. I have also since acquired an ipod shuffle (that John won at another business conference) and a regular mp3 player (because the library has a service where you can download books on tape for free, but it is not compatible with the ipod). I also have speakers in just about every room that I can plug my gadgets into and a little exercise armband. I guess you could say that I am 100% converted.

Just today John downloaded all the church music into the ipod so that it can go into our shuffle mix. I'm so excited because I've wanted to do it for a while. I probably wouldn't be as excited about these things if I didn't have John backing me up as technical support, but I do so I am.

I seriously love ipods and mp3 players (and their car adapters) and would recommend them to anyone, especially those with kids. There you go. There is my sales pitch for the day. Thanks John for winning us such great stuff. And I guess, as usual, John was right.

Goals update

1. Friday night couples: This has been on hiatus for a while, what with my trip and March Madness and John's trip next week. We'll start up again in April.

2. Scripture Mastery: The girls are up to 2Ne 2:27, which is a little longer but I'm amazed how Kate and Mary are catching on. I think they must practice with each other at night. Mary would desperately like to beat Kate in memorizing this one, but I don't think it is going to happen. Alas, at least it is good motivation for her. The little girls are coming right along too. They really get into it, but it is a little harder for them. Ruth has gotten so that if she is tired she'll say, No scriptures just my song. I'm all right with that. We say them every night as a family anyway so she's really not missing out and she's still learning them really well. I also just had John download some free scripture mastery songs to put in the ipod. I think the girls will get a kick out of them. Musically speaking, they're not the best things ever, but the girls will be excited, just judging from the fact that they made me listen to the Books in the Book of Mormon song like 50 times the other day, just because they knew all the words (we had sung it for our hymn of the week a few weeks before).

3. Exercising: John put my exerciser away while I was on my trip, but then very kindly found me a new spot when I asked about it when I got home. I've done it maybe twice this week, but I have to say that it makes me feel great so I'm going to try to be lots better.

4. Finish projects: I went up to my mom's and at least cut out my quilt block for the month and hers too. I still need to sew it but I'm getting there. I also worked on my frog book for Ruth so I'm taking baby steps toward getting something done.

5. Go to bed earlier: I've kind of given up on this goal because I can only sleep so long on one side before my leg goes numb, and so the earlier I go to bed, the longer I struggle so it seems more time efficient to just stay up and get something done--hoping that I actually do something.

6. Family indexing: I've still been doing it everyday and now they're doing state censuses. Some of them have been kind of hard, but I still get a lot of sense of accomplishment from doing them. They say that they are now indexing about a million names a day. Amazing!!!

7. Surprise gift for John: I have also been working on this daily. I've upped my amount that I do per day because I'm afraid that it is not going to get done on time. Hopefully it will.

8. Positive kid moments: None, not that I haven't had any, I just haven't been recording them all that well. I need to work on the whole journal thing a little.

What does he do all day?

About a month ago, as I was driving Emma home from her preschool, out of the blue, she says, "I think dad should get a job, mom." My response was, "Doesn't dad have a job, Emma?" "No." This made me curious so I started asking questions about what she considered a job, where she thought we got all of our money, things like that. I ended by telling her that yes, dad did have a job and if he didn't, we wouldn't have a house or any food. I found it hilarious. I think it must have stemmed from something they had talked about at school.

A couple of weeks later, just to confirm that I'd gotten my point across in the earlier conversation, I asked Emma if she thought dad had a job. "No," she said.
"Well, where does he go every day then?"
"Oh he goes to work."
"Work isn't a job?"
"No"
Trying to make sense of Emma thinking I said, "Do you have to help people to have a job?" "Yea, all dad does is play on his computer."
"Work and job is the same thing Emma."
"Oh, " in a totally surprised voice.

I laughed. I asked her again today if dad had a job. She kind of laughed and said yes. It was at his work. I think she was just humoring me.

The Big Vacation

John so kindly let me go on a vacation by myself. He's trying to keep me from going crazy and I appreciate it. I am now in Oklahoma with my older sister Michelle visiting my little brother John and his family. It has been really fun and relaxing.

We got here on Wednesday afternoon and have been having fun ever since. My brother lives in Moore, OK, a suburb of Oklahoma City and he has a beautiful house there. When we got here his wife Jani picked us up and had made up a room for us complete with lotion and chocolates on the pillows. It has been great. Both John and Jani are great cooks and we've had some great food.

We've also done a lot of shopping. Not many people have brothers who love to shop but we do. I found some great OU clothes and some baby clothes. Mostly I just love to walk and around and chat with my brother.

I've also gotten to work a lot on my projects and do a lot of reading--all things I have a hard time doing at home. I've also gotten to play games, watch movies and have fun with John's two little boys. Now I have a taste of what a having a boy in the house will feel like. It has made me even more excited for our little boy.

Anyway, it has been great and I am so grateful that John suggested it. If you can believe it, the trip was John's idea. It has been great to have a break and I think the girls have enjoyed spending time with their dad. He is a great husband and a great dad and I don't know what I'd do without him. I love him. Hopefully he's still alive and sane when I get home.

Goals update

1. Friday night couples: We resumed this week and invited Sam and Tisha and Amber and Maurice. Maurice ditched us, something about fulfilling a stake calling, whatever(J/K). We had lots of fun and talked probably more than we should have, but it was great. We're going on another hiatus this week because I'm going to be out of town. Oh yeah, and John made the best apple pie I've ever had. It was fantastic!!

2. Scripture Mastery: The girls have successfully completed their third and fourth scriptures. I was a little lax with Emma and Ruth because the scriptures for this month were very similar and pretty long and they kept getting parts of them mixed up. Plus, they had the words profit and prophet several times and it all sounds the same to 2 and 4 year olds. But they knew all the parts and every once in a while they'd get it. I also changed it so that the girls now get a treat for each scripture (before it was 2). I figured we needed to loosen up a little for the younger ones. They were working so hard and long and getting nothing. (We've been working on these for about 3 weeks.) What can I say, I'm a softy.

3. Exercising: I've had several fond remembrances of when I used to exercise, but it just hasn't happened yet. I need to start though because I think it would help with the pregnancy.

4. Finish projects: I did my quilt block of the month for my class. It took a little subtle prodding from John, as in, "Tara, you can finish your icecream bar, but then you are getting off the couch and you will do your square tonight." I love it. It is just what I need and it is why I keep him around, among other things.

5. Go to bed earlier: Well, this hasn't really happened either. Between sick kids and just being dumb and staying up working on things because I'm on a roll, I pretty much have stayed up too late the last little while. Oh well, you have to have room for improvement somewhere.

6. Family indexing: I have been doing this everyday and I love it still. It makes me feel like at least I've contributed a little to the work and it doesn't take long.

7. Surprise gift for John: I have also been working on this daily. However, I just decided to expand the scope of the project so I'm going to have to step it up a little if I'm going to have it done by our anniversary.

8. Positive kid moments: I have been recording some (or at least funny stories) but they have yet to make it into the blog. Sorry.

Valentine's Day part 2: Silk Jammies

One thing I forgot about my perfect day is that John bought me two pairs of silk pajamas. Now silk pajamas is not code word for lingerie. They are just nice big silk pajamas. They're big enough to fit me all during my pregnancy and they have a draw string. I love them!! They are so silky and nice. They're so slippery that Ruth slid right off my lap today when she was trying to sit with me. One of them is a cheetah print that matches my girls obsession with Cheetah Girls. Anyway, so although I didn't find an outfit, at least I got these PJs and I LOVE them. I'd recommend them to anyone.

Happy Valentine's Day!! (The perfect day or nearly so)

John and I celebrated Valentine's Day on Saturday and I thought at the end of that day that it was nearly perfect. I got to do most of the things that I love and I loved it. So here's what I did:

First, I had to get up and get going and get everyone going too because John had to be at the church at 9am for the World Leadership Broadcast. We got going and we dropped him off, dropped Kate off at a party and went and picked up my mom. We picked Kate back up and then made a trip to Costco and shopped and got the girls treats. I loved this because I love shopping with my mom even if it is with all the kids and I love just walking around Costco and looking and we were able to get there before things got crazy.

I dropped off my mom at her house and sped back to go to the World Leadership Broadcast myself at 12:00. I was about 45 minutes late after dropping off the groceries and the kids (John was home) but the part I saw was fabulous. I love the apostles and general authorities! They are so down to earth and make things seem so doable. I heard some things that I really needed to hear and made me feel good about where I am in my life and what I'm doing.

Next I went home, ate lunch and then had time to take Kate, Mary, and Emma to the library. I had been promising to take them for cleaning for about 3 days and it was nice to be able to go without the little girls (who were napping). I don't know if you could tell, but about my favorite place in the whole world is the library. I love it and I love to watch my girls loving it and picking out books and having fun. We had fun and were able to find lots of good books.

After we came home we packed up all the girls and took them to my mom's house to stay for the evening while John and I went out on our date. The girls love to go to grandma's and I am so lucky that my parents are such a big help to me. I don't know what I would do without them.

John and I went to Smokehouse for dinner which was great and didn't have a wait. I love going out to eat. I always have and it is twice as fun when John and I can actually talk to each other without any interruptions. Plus John picked the place which I also love. I hate making decisions so I love when he chooses.

Afterwards we went shopping for an outfit for me for Valentine's Day. While we were semi-unsuccessful in finding something I had a great time. As I said before I love shopping. And I especially love shopping with John. We get to talk and have fun. This was a big sacrifice for him because he does not love shopping for clothes but I really appreciated it.

Finally we stopped by the Stake Valentine's Party and said hi. We got to talk to some of our friends, have some great refreshments and listen briefly to some crazy music. It was fun.

Anyway, I really loved my day, and am grateful that John would be thoughtful enough to spend the time with me. It was great!

New Rediscovered Favorite Poem

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody too?
Then there's a pair of us--don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

-Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson is by far my favorite poet, and the poem quoted at the top of my blog is my all-time favorite but I read this one in a children's book I was reading and I loved it.

Maternity Clothes 2

Last time I was pregnant (with Lily), I made a post about my complaints about maternity clothes nowadays. I just read it and I pretty much feel the same so if you want to read it, refer back to the original, but I have a few things to add.

My sister-in-law is getting married next weekend and I wanted to get a new outfit for the festivities. I was telling John just the other day that being pregnant is ok except for on Sundays when I HATE it because I hate all my Sunday clothes that fit me right now. Most of them are skirts that are just bigger, not maternity so they pretty much make me look like a whale. And after 5 pregnancies of wearing basically the same 3 dresses I'm pretty tired of them plus they're kind of worn out. So I decided that if I could find a nice maternity skirt and some shirts it would make my life happier.

SO, yesterday John and I went shopping for a skirt. Having already looked at the cheap places like Walmart, we decided to go to the mall department stores because they generally have nicer things. Anyway, I actually found some cute shirts, but there was not a skirt to be found anywhere, except one acid-washed jean one at Motherhood that I was not completely sold on. (I was hoping for something a little more dressy and I hate buying clothes at Motherhood because you can't get a cash refund even with a receipt and they try to sell you all kinds of magazines and pregnancy related things AFTER asking you fifty questions and BEFORE they will ring up anything in their store. I HATE it!)

All of the dresses we found were barely knee-length which I find completely unacceptable. I didn't wear knee-length skirts/dresses when I was 16 and they're definitely not any more flattering at 31 and pregnant. Plus when you factor in the kids climbing on you at church they are really upper thigh dresses because that's where the hemline is going to end up.

The last place we went was Dillards. Now I have never been that thrilled about their store anyway. I had a friend who swore by it and was always telling me all the "deals" she got there, but often in my head I was thinking, "Is my definition of deals the same as yours?" Now I'm just going to say right here that I am cheap. I can't help it. If you knew my father (who I love but is VERY money conscious) you would understand. Anyway, we went up to the Womens section and asked a lady there where their maternity clothes were. "I'm sorry, we don't sell maternity clothes," she said in a very condescending tone. John's interpretation was, "I'm sorry but we don't serve YOUR kind here!" and I think he was about right. Well, I have to say that I probably won't be going back to Dillards anytime soon.

Anyway by the end of the trip I had concluded that pregnant women must not go to church anymore or wear skirts for that matter. I found tons of cute pants (none of which had waistbands that would stay up on me in 2 months, but at least they were cute), but only the one half-way acceptable skirt. I'm still going to try the other mall but I was very discouraged, although I had fun shopping with just John and no girls. Maybe my taste is just too weird. I don't know, but I guess I'll keep looking.

ThinkGeek@home

John often visits a website called ThinkGeek.com. It has lots of really funny techno gifts and gadgets. He loves it and I have to admit a lot of their stuff is pretty funny, although I don't get all of it. Which brings me to the admission that I am not a computer geek like my sweet husband. This is not bragging because it is because of my own personal techno ace that this blog exists today and in the great form that it is. He spent an hour today just updating the sidebars and links for me and putting it in an easier form. I basically just write and add pictures that already exist on my computer (I still haven't figured out the whole transferring the pictures from the camera to my blog). So here's to John and all he does to keep my blog alive. Thinkgeek@home is the way to go!! Hurrah!!

Goals update

I've added a couple things to my goals list:

1. In an effort to focus on the positive in motherhood I am trying to write down one good thing or funny thing that happened with one of the girls that day. Maybe I can turn these into some posts, we'll see.

2. I also am striving to do one set of family search indexing a day. This only takes about 15-20 minutes and is easy to do while the girls are watching a show. They're doing the 1850 US census right now and it is really easy, not much information to extract. I love it.

3. Work a little on my surprise 10th anniversary gift for John everyday. I'd tell you what it is but since John reads my blog that would kind of blow the surprise.

Boy clothes

I went shopping for premie clothes yesterday for some friends of ours that have a premie boy and I found the cutest boy clothes at Walmart. They were so cute that I had to buy some for our little boy, so I have officially bought my first boy outfit. And I have to say that I know people are always saying that girls' clothes are so much cuter than boys, but I have to say that after 9 years of only shopping for girls it was incredibly refreshing to look at boy clothes and they all looked super cute. It was very exciting!

It was also exciting to really shop for our new baby. The past few girls, we've had so many clothes already that I almost felt guilty buying any more because we didn't have room for them. Now I can really look and feel like we need the clothes since we only have a few boys' clothes. I love shopping so this was fun and will be fun. I'm excited.

Goals update

Friday night couples: We had over the Blackhams and Pyles. It was a good mix and John made a great dessert as always. We've also developed a system for cleaning the house by Friday. Each day the girls clean one room (and straighten any that they've already cleaned this week) and by Friday they're all clean. I focus on deep cleaning. As long as they participate each day, then on Friday they get to pick out of the surprise bag (which they LOVE). This week we added the restriction that you can't fall down and scream for an hour before participating and still get to pick a prize at the end of the week (obviously that was a problem that was driving me crazy!!!). It makes me happy to get to know people in our ward better and do something fun with John and other adults.

Scripture mastery: All the girls memorized the Primary January theme (part of the Proclamation on the Family) and first scripture mastery scripture (1Ne 3:7). They got to pick a prize for doing both of these. Now they are working on the Feb theme (2Ne 4:15) and 2nd scripture mastery (1Ne 19:23). They love it!! I don't know if they'll retain that much but Mary used one of the scriptures for Primary today and she was excited. We also started a scripture reading plan for Feb out of The Friend and I told them they get a prize if they read everyday this month and we made bookmarks to keep track. Again, they are pretty excited. It's all going pretty well.

Exercising: I exercised once this week, better than nothing.

List of personal goals: I updated and printed out a list/chart of personal daily goals to keep each day. It really helps me stay focused and makes me feel good when I see how much I've done when I get discouraged.

Scrapbooking: No actual scrapbooking but I am using my supplies to make a book of frog pictures for Ruth. (She really likes frogs and we got an awesome daily calendar at the dollar store that has great color pictures of frogs.)

Finish projects: I've been working on finishing FHE kits that I started like 3 yrs ago and also making some of the church activities I've bought for the girls more accessible to them.

Go to bed earlier: I talked to John and we agreed to go to bed earlier--between 10 and 11 (as opposed to 12:30 or 1)

New goal: I started a new quilt block of the month class this week. It's at a different shop than I've done it at before but I'm way excited. Hopefully it will get me in the mood to sew and quilt again so I can also finish some other projects I have going.

Book Review: Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach

I was fairly impressed by this book. It would be a great bridge book to get kids interested in Shakespeare since it centers around a mystery involving the present and Elizabethan England (Shakespeare's day).

It also discusses the pressures of family life and middle school life for young teenagers, (the main character is in six grade) and does a good job of portraying different situations and different aged characters (the other main character is in her 60's).

It was a quick read and a great listen (I listened to it on tape). I loved it and would recommend it to anyone.

My "Secret" Goals

Here are the secret goals that John referred to in one of his posts. They are not all of my year goals but they're a good start. I wrote them one night at like 3am when I couldn't sleep.

Things I’m thinking about:
✿ We should invite couples over on Friday nights to play games—maybe in the summer we could invite families. Then we could get to know people better and have fun at the same time. It would also help motivate me to help keep the house up better. Maybe we could have activities with the girls sometime Saturday.--We've done two Friday nights so far and it has been great. We've also done some fun activities with the girls.

✿ I want to do the scripture mastery with the girls again for the B of M. The books were a little too cumbersome but maybe if I laminated the small scripture mastery cards with a picture on the back and put them on a ring it would work better. I also want to find a music version of these that we could learn. I also want to find all the small scripture books and put them in a basket and keep them all together with the scripture mastery rings and some hymn books and children’s hymn books so we can find them for scripture study at night.--I made the girls the scripture mastery cards with pictures, laminated on a key rings. So far they have all passed off 1Ne 3:7, even Ruth. Sometime I'll make a recording and put it on the blog. It is super cute. Ruth loves "repeating" as she calls it. I also did the basket thing and it has worked pretty well. I found some free online versions of scripture mastery songs but I have yet to incorporate into our memorizing.

✿ I want to maybe arrange a weekend getaway for John and I sometime soon if funds allow and we can find a babysitter. --We'll see. Funding is still in question.

✿ I want to start exercising again everyday so I can have more energy. I also need to make time to spend more individual time with the girls and doing fun things that I enjoy with them. --I've maybe exercised twice in the past couple weeks, but I have at least been getting up and getting going in the morning instead of going back to bed. I need to work on this more.

✿ I need to sit down and make a list of personal goals for this year and kind of like a checklist like I had last year. It would help me be more productive and feel better.--still in the works.

✿ I’d like to do a featured gift of the day on my blog so the girls can acknowledge and say thank you for some of the gifts they were given by extended family. --did the Thankyou blog. I'll do some pictures when I figure it out or have John help me.

✿ I’d like to think of something to send back with Ron for Sarah’s birthday. Maybe a photo album with pictures of the girls and notes to her from the girls. Maybe some kind of special toy or book. I’m not sure. It can’t be big but I would like to show her we love her and think about her way over in France. --I made a small photo album with a note from each girl. It was very simple but it was done before Ron left to go back to France

✿ I’d still like to make a princess rag quilt and baby princess rag quilts for the Hunts. I need to get going though. --I picked out the fabric but have yet to do anything else.

✿ I need to finish the girl’s skirts. --nothing done yet.

✿ I need to start working on scrapbooking again. I really enjoyed that. And I need to use up all the supplies I bought.--nothing done yet.

✿ I need to finish sewing the back of Lily’s quilt and get it put together so I can start quilting it. --I organized it and drew a plan and cut the pieces so they fit but I haven't done any sewing yet.

✿ I want to be more of a doer and get some of the projects I’ve started finished.--well, I did make a table of contents for my FHE kits and finished a few I had started.

✿ I need to do the I spy picnic quilt--nothing yet

✿ I need to get some more flat storage containers and start on the toy room. We need one for Bratz and Barbies, one for Little people people, one for Littlest Pet Shop, one for food and kitchen stuff, one for super heros, one for baby accessories, and one for small dress-up. Hopefully if I organized it a little, the girls wouldn’t have to rifle through everything to find what they are looking for.--I bought some more bins but I haven't filled them with anything yet

✿ I want to start reading the Joseph Smith lessons together with John. Maybe we could read a section a night along with our scriptures. We need to start going to bed a little earlier so we have time for that.--we have been reading the lessons but we definitely haven't been going to bed earlier

✿ I want to organize the girls’ art supplies too.--nothing yet. I'm really going to have to think about this one.

Book Review: Bridge to Terabithia

I missed my book club tonight and for once I actually read the book. Mostly this was because it was a children's book that I could listen to on tape while I did chores.

Anyway here's my take on this book. I first read this book when I was a kid and I hated it. I've never been one for sad books and this book is definitely sad. As a result I was hesitant to read it again. However a few years ago I went to a children's book conference where Katherine Paterson was the key speaker. She was very interesting and I really love some of her other books, like Jacob Have I Loved. So since my book club picked the book I decided to give it a try.

The book is still sad but I found that it is actually hopeful in the end. And the writing is exceptional. It says a lot about families, friendship, and dealing with death. I enjoyed it and it wasn't quite as sad as I remembered. Although as I watched the movie, I definitely cried at the sad parts. It might just be because I'm pregnant.

Anyway it is a good, quick read and I liked the new movie too. It is definitely worth seeing and reading.

The Super IQ Test

My Result: Creative Theorist

People who are Creative Theorists are highly intelligent, complex people. They are able to process information of nearly every kind with ease, using both creativity and analysis to make sense of the world. Compared to others they also have very rich imaginations.

Take this test >

Book review: Austenland by Shannon Hale

First of all this is for John, who is always bugging me to do book reviews.

Second this book can be summed up by the dedication:
For Colin Firth
You're a really great guy, but I'm married, so I think we should just be friends.

If you don't know who Colin Firth is you probably won't find this book as funny as I did. There might still be hope for you if you love Jane Austen's books, especially Pride and Prejudice. John calls me obsessed and when I told him this book was about a lady who was obsessed with the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice, he asked if I was going to sue (he's the one who bought those dvds for me). Now in all fairness, this lady is so obsessed with the movie that she can't have a normal relationship with a guy. My obsession is just recreational and based more in Jane Austen's books themselves than in any particular version (although Colin Firth is the best Mr. Darcy by far).

Anyway the book is a quick read and hilarious, playing off of Jane Austen's books and stories. The lady goes to an actual resort that tries to recreate Jane Austen's day and stories so you can live them for yourself. Actors are paid to mimic different characters from the different books, clothing and accomodations are authentic, etc. It is really funny as she tries to live out her fantasy while still clinging to her 21st century lifestyle. Like I said if you like Jane Austen (even just the movies) you'll find this book amusing.

I knew there was a reason I liked Amy and Kay so much!

You Are 40% Boyish and 60% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Christmas Thankyous

I had this grand vision of posting a picture with the girls and a favorite present from the extended family every day so you could see how much they are all enjoying your presents, but since I'm having a hard time even getting out of bed in the morning (and not returning as soon as possible) and also since I am still having a hard time transferring the pictures from our digital camera to the blog, here are some verbal thankyous to tide you over until I get more ambitious and organized. (And these are just the ones I can think of right now, so if I forget anyone, the girls still loved your presents, just chalk it up to the fact that I'm also half brain-dead when I'm pregnant.)

First of all, Kaylynn, the girls absolutely loved the capes. Nothing happens nowadays without a Super (insert the name) to accompany the running girl in a cape. It's almost like their long lost Linus blankets. For a while they wanted to take them everywhere we went. Good work!!

Second the girls all loved the beautiful dresses that Grandpa and Grandma sent. They love fancy schmancy anything and are way excited to wear them to Missy's wedding.

Emma also especially liked the workbooks that Grandma and Grandpa sent with the pencils. She LOVES them. She keeps them in her bed at night to make sure that she gets her work time in and she is quickly getting better at writing. On Christmas morning, after all the presents were opened and we were waiting for breakfast, the first thing Emma did was to sit down at their table and begin copying down the alphabet in one of the book's activities.

Ruth liked everyone else's presents and her own. She especially enjoyed Lily's pull puzzle animal thing that Grandma and Grandpa sent. She takes apart and puts it back together at least once each day and loves to pull it. She knows it is Lily's but tries to avoid letting Lily know she is playing with it.

Kate loves the Webkins charms and both wears the necklace proudly and loves to play the computer game. Missy has her all hooked up and in the know about using the game.

The girls also really loved the clothes that Amy sent. Everything fit well and they love them (although Mary's undying favorite is the tank tops (underclothes) that Amy sent sometime last year). She would wear them night and day and does although we've insisted that she wear something over them, Mary is always one to push the envelope, if we let her just wear them, soon she would be wearing no clothes at all.

I loved the giftcard I received from Missy and the cute notecards from Amy--Hand-made, good work Amy!!

All the girls loved the necklaces from Adam. They wear them to church and love to look at them
as they hang out of reach to prevent them from being destroyed.

Mary loves her art sets from Grandma and Grandpa. She worked on one of the pictures for a week and still has all the colored pencils in the set stashed so she doesn't lose them so she can work on them later. She's had lots of fun.

Lily loves everything and is just glad when her sisters let her play with anything. Usually they are hiding things from her or running off to hide her toys in their room so they can play with them. Ah, the life of a youngest sister.

Anyway, thanks for everything. The girls had a great Christmas!!