Rebekah's Manger Craft

So today Rebekah wanted to make her own nativity, which she did out of some fabric, beads, hot glue and felt.  I think it turned out really cute, and wanted to share the pictures she took of it.  I love the Sundays when my children choose to spend there time productively.

  

 Baby Jesus

Mary

 Joseph

The complete set.

Lydia's Baptism

Lydia was baptized on December 4, 2010.  This was a great day.  She was so excited for her baptism that she woke up early, and was right ready to go.  She let me do her hair all girly which isn't normal for her, and had fun putting on her dress.  The baptism service was nice, her teachers gave some good talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost and Lydia got to be baptized the same day as her one of her closest friends--Erika M.  The R.S. room was crowded, which we recognize with gratitude for the many people who took the time to be part of this great day.  After the baptism we had the family come over for a crepe bar.  Ryan spent 3 hours making the crepes and they all got eaten.  The hardest part of the day was Matthias wasn't feeling so good.  But my favorite part of the day was the comments she made after the baptism and after all the company left.  She just kept saying I wish I could repeat this day over and over again.  I wish this day could be every day!  What a sweet girl she is.  Here a couple of pictures from her day.

 My super excited girl!

 My camera died right before the picture above and below.  Thankfully our great primary president was there taking pictures and sent these to me.

Lydia's friend Ashyln gave her a sweet gift of a towel with the CTR symbol sewed onto it.  It was the perfect gift, as Lydia had wanted a special towel for this day.

Matthias and Jackson

So Matthias has this friend who lives across the street. He and Matthias play really cute together and have a lot of fun.  I've been able to capture a couple of those fun moments on camera and wanted to post the pictures.  This first set of pictures was taken on a summer day where the two of them had fun with sand, a bucket and a whole bunch of water.

 Ty

 Jack

They tried to fit both of them in the bucket, which they seemed to have made work, but had the potential for falling out occasionally.  

This second set of pictures is from some fall fun!  It was on a day that Matthias and I raked a big pile of leaves up and thought it would be fun to jump in so we went and grabbed Jack and the fun was made.  

What cuties these boys are!

Halloween pictures and fall fun.

So this is random to post about Halloween around Christmas time, but I had to include these pictures as I was the seamstress for most of the costumes my kids wore this Halloween.

 Yes, this is me in my 80's getup.  I had a lot of fun putting this costume together, and I really enjoyed the crimper that I bought for the hair.  Sarah calls them crickles and asks me to do them in her hair weekly.  

 One of the costumes I made was this poodle skirt for Rebekah.  She sure looked cute in it, and she really appreciates the things I make for her.

My batgirl and batboy costumes turned out great.  I sewed an umbrella I had cut out onto black hoodies and made ears out of felt.  Mr. Karate Kid and Ms. Witch were bought and borrowed costumes.  Halloween ended up being a serious rain storm and the kids were soaked.  We ended up having friends at the house for Hot Chocolate and a movie.  Still a lot of fun!  Happy Halloween 2010

Pictures Not Required

So I have gotten in the mindset that I must post a picture with every blog I do.  But there is a folly in that as sometimes I need to jot down a few words about experiences I have and there is no picture to show for it.  And seeing as I use this blog partly as a journal of my family, I need to include picture and non-picture moments.  Here is one of those non-picture moments.

My sweet Lydia was baptized last Saturday.  It was a great day and one that I won't forget.  Also one that deserves a picture and a separate blog post, which will be forth coming.  But since that great day she has been worked on quite a bit by the Adversary as well as experiencing the trials of life on Earth.  I have never been more grateful for my scripture study and knowledge than I have been this last week.  On two separate occasions it has been the use of scriptures and scripture stories that have been the key to teaching my daughter the why of a question and solution to the problem.  Saturday was a hard day for her.  Things weren't going her way and her attitude went south.  When I started talking to her immediately the 1 Nephi 17:1-4 came to mind.  This great passage about Nephi and company and their struggles in the wilderness as well as blessings was exactly what she needed to hear.  Then today she had no desire to pray, read scriptures or write in her journal, and so we were talking about the Adversary and how there is opposition and she asks me why there has to be opposition.  Well thankfully 2 Nephi 2 came to mind and i was able to explain why we have opposition and the blessing of agency in our lives.  I am thankful for the guidance of the Holy Ghost as a mother.  I honestly don't know how parents do it with out that guidance!  What a blessing it is.

Happy Birthday Lydia on Nov. 11th

I know this post is late, but November was really a busy month and so I am just getting to posting the happenings of the past month.  Anyway I wanted to post a few pictures of Lydia through the first 8 years of her life.  She is my little firecracker and I love her to pieces.  She has a passion for life that I love, and I learn so much from being with her!

 You know she knows what she is doing, with that mischievous smile.

 Animal lover from a young age.

 Started reading at a young age, and continues to amaze me.

 Pre-school Graduation, with her friend Erika

 Tolerates dance, but would rather be playing soccer or wishing for Karate.  (If money grew on trees maybe she could do karate)

 Love you Lydia!  Thanks for 8 great years!

Favorite Recipe Find of the Season

So, I like to read the newspaper in the morning while I eat my breakfast, and usually I pass over the recipe section, because I figure I don't usually have time to try something new.  But as we grew butternut squash this most recent gardening season I thought I would try this Butternut Squash Bread Recipe.  Anyway it was a big success and I made it for my family while I was up in WA.  They loved it.  So I thought I would post it on my blog!  Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Yeast Bread 

(From Taste of Home Magazine)

3 Pkg. Dry Yeast
1/2 C warm water
2 T. sugar

2 1/2 C. mashed cooked butternut squash. (baked squash in oven, cut in half, remove seeds, and place down in an inch of water)
2 C. warm milk
2/3 C. packed brown sugar
2/3 C. butter, softened
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 t. salt
13 C. all purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar. Let stand for 5 min. Add the squash, milk, brown sugar, butter, eggs and salt. Mix well. Add 6 C. of flour. Beat on med. speed for 3 min. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface, knead until smooth about 10 min. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled about 1 1/4 hours.
Punch down. Divide into three portions; shape into loaves. Place in three greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled about 45 min.
Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 min. or until golden brown. Cool for 10 min. before removing from pans. Yield: 3 Loaves (I actually got 4 loaves out of it)

My Second Photo Shoot

So about two weeks after I took Lydia's pictures we ventured out with the children to a nearby park to take there school pictures.  I completely dislike the pictures that they take at school, so I usually only order those if it's either their first or last year of school at the particular school they are in.  Then I get their picture taken by someone else.  This year with the new camera I opted to do it myself.  This photo shoot turned out much better.  I really can see the difference lighting makes, and as I don't have the money for a great flash or reflective mattes (or whatever they are called)  I have to learn to work with the light nature gives me.  I am learning so much about lighting and how it effects pictures.  Here are a few of the pictures I took: