Christmas Break Painting Activity

Years of being Amelia's mom has taught me that she needs things to do. Without new engaging and fun things for her to be involved in- read: why I have my four year old learning to read and taking violin lessons, disasters happen. It is no fault of her own, she is just VERY into creating and creativity. As a result a simple painting activity was drawn out into a three stage activity. We 1) drew shapes on some dollar store sponges, 2) "snipped" them out with scissors, and 3) finally used them to paint. Stages one and two were done a previous day. I made the kids wait until I had the house in order enough that the added mess of painting wouldn't make me loose it while giving up control and my kitchen table for the painting. I admit it. I'm not a perfect mom. Control is something I want, but I'm learning more and more, that I have less and less of it.

Behold the painting fun:

The mess wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. We will for sure do it again. Amelia and Miles both LOVED it.

Oh, Christmas Tree

Decorating the Christmas tree can be stressful with the little ones. They all want at the ornament boxes at the same time. Its a bit chaotic. This makes it into a lesson of patience for everyone, but mostly for me.

The Tree. Notice now, that there are no ornaments below a certain level, and the lowest hanging ones are non breakable. The paper chain was made by Amelia and daddy.

We have needed a tree topper for some years now, and I just haven't gotten around to going out and buying one. As a solution, I got the idea from pinterest and made our 3dementional star.

I have bought ornaments the day after Christmas when they are half price for years. Since having kids, I haven't been as eager to brave the stores the day after Christmas, so there are a few years where I have no new ornaments. I have many favorites and thought it would be fun to share pictures of a few of them.

"Joy to the World" Love the globe as the balloon and different colors of skin on the kids.

...because Christmas isn't complete without goodies...

Image of sugar plums- you pull the string and the little heads move back and forth while the circle with candies rotate.

Dec the Dog- look at the eyes on that dog. Reminds me so much of the face our lab Lola makes when Amelia dresses her in her cloths.

Flash back from 2001- I was 15 when I bought this ornament, and its still one of my favorites. This one was a big hit with the kids. It's a clip on the branch sort and was lower on the tree, Amelia and Miles kept moving it around to different branches.

I make a point of putting the tree up before December starts and taking it down before New Years so we get a good month's enjoyment out of the tree. Its amazing to me to think that its up 1/12 of the year. I love it.

Christmas Morning

This Christmas was a lot of group gifts. As in, all of the kids could play with all of the toys so it was hard deciding who got to open what. Everyone still got an individual gift or two, but most are to be enjoyed by all. Everyone was awake by 5 am.... After presents ate a bit of breakfast and moved the toys down stairs for more playing room, then I crashed on the couch (lets be honest, I don't do well with early mornings) and didn't wake up till after our church had started. :( We still maintained our Sabbath day observance and spent extra time pondering the true meaning of Christmas.

This is the best picture I got of Amelia or Miles. They (especially Miles) had a hard time holding still for a picture. They were much more interested in making their new toys do things.

Brodrick has recently learned the fun that is yelling "Cheese" at the camera when he sees it.

...opening presents...

Lovin' the bed head hair...

Playing with one of the Imaginext toys. Brodrick found this one on Christmas morning and still likes it the best out of all of the choices.

All in all we had a great Christmas. Tim and I didn't give gifts to each other, which was kind of nice. We didn't have to worry about buying/wrapping them for each other. Instead we decided to give the money that we would have spent on each other to families who are trying to raise money for their adoptions. I know many families who are ready and able to open their homes to children in need of families and the only thing that stands in the way, is money. Sadly, we didn't get the idea via fellow blogger at scooping it up to not give gifts till we had already done all of the shopping for our children. I'm not gonna lie, but after reading how calm and bright scooping's family's Christmas was, I'm pretty sure I want to attempt doing something like that for our whole family's Christmas next year.

Our family has been so blessed and are so grateful that we could help directly bless the lives of others. We donated to this family- who is adopting two teens from eastern Europe. They are LDS and already have a large family so we knew they would be blessed by a monetary donation. The second family we donated to is adopting a little girl who has down syndrome from eastern Europe. You can see her button on the right had side bar. This is a military family so the father is gone a lot. They also have three boys almost the exact ages of our children which added all the more to the tugging of my heart strings. Our contributions were not too significant in the large picture, but I know that both families will benefit for our gifts.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Our Family's 2011 Christmas Card and Letter

In the case that some of our friends and family out there did not receive a physical copy of our Christmas letter, here is the online version for you to enjoy! We hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The 2011 year has been filled with adventures and milestones for our family members.

Brodrick (almost 17 months) has grown into himself this year. On March 29^th he fell off the changing table while I was right next to him, and he broke his right tibia and fibula. He ended up with a little orange cast for more than a month, and learned to scoot on his back side dragging his cast leg instead of learning to crawl.  In July he got tubes in his ears to help with his chronic ear infections. His left ear tube got completely blocked and his ear kept getting infected so he had the left tube replaced at the end of Oct.  Now that Brodrick can hear he tries hard to use words just like his older brother and sister. In addition to incoherent gibberish he says, Mama, Dada, dog, bath, bot bot (robot), woof-woof, turtle, this, ball, football, soft, shoe, juice, baby, brrum brrum (car), and signs more, fish, please, all done, eat, water, and hurt.  He has started to climb onto chairs and desks and does his best to keep up with the big kids. A great dilemma he dealt with a few weeks ago was deciding which was most important- to cover his eyes with his hands or to fold his arms for prayers. Brodrick is a smiley boy who loves his green blankey, to look at books, to be read to, and play with toys-especially cars. 

Miles (3 years) is a fun yet serious boy. On Feb 1^st he had tubes put in his ears to help him hear and remedy chronic ear infections. His vocabulary took off almost instantly afterward. He is a great communicator using his words most of the time to let us know his wants and feelings.  In March after only a week he was completely potty trained staying dry 24/7. He loves to run, jump, and get physical but is also a tender little guy who gets his feelings hurt easily, and still loves to snuggle. He loves super heroes like Superman and Spider man, and spent almost every day for more than two months in his Spiderman dress up suite.   Miles is a thinker and problem solver and especially loves puzzles and games that require attention and concentration. This summer he perfected riding his strider running bike. He loves to throw things to see how far he can make them go and can make his little football go in a spiral most of the time. Miles loves to sing the ABC’s, I Am a Child of God, and I Love to See the Temple.

Amelia (5yrs old next month) is such a sweet girl. She loves dressing up (herself and our lab Lola), ponies, horses, princesses, and fairies. This fall, her wardrobe expanded from exclusive dresses and skirts to include pants.  At the beginning of the year she started taking violin lessons and for the first few months would ask to go to lessons every day. Though playing is very demanding, her love of the violin has nicely overridden any negativity regarding the related challenges. Amelia has a love of learning. Her reading has taken off this year and she is also happily working on simple mathematics, penmanship, and spelling. This year marks the acquired abilities of doing a cart wheel and whistling. She loves to sing, have dance parties with her brothers, and to color and draw pictures. She is eager to serve others and is my right hand girl. Getting out the door is so much easier since she can get herself all ready and also helps me with the boys. Each night Amelia reflects on what she is most thankful for and her favorite part of her day.

Tim traveled outside of the US for the first time in September to present and attend a convention at Oxford University. Tim’s mom, Therese, willingly came down and watched our small brood so I could go with him! It was wonderful to spend 8 days together while also enjoying science (Tim), London (me), and all the nostalgia of Oxford. Though our time abroad was enchanting we were so relieved to return safely home to our children. We love being parents. It continues to be the hardest thing either of us has ever done but we wouldn’t trade Amelia, Miles, or Brodrick for the world! 

We are so grateful for all of our blessings especially our knowledge of the restored gospel and our testimonies of the Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. We pray this letter finds you well and that you will feel the special spirit that accompanies this Christmas season.

Making Ginger Bread Houses aka Grahm Craker Houses

As soon as Amelia found the making for a Gingerbread house, I didn't hear the end of it till I finally buckled down a few days later so we could make them.

Building a house is serious business.

...very focused...

This girl of mine, loves to create. Anything in the crafting or cooking departments are sure to be winners. Making the gingerbread house was a HUGE hit.

Brodrick did mostly eating.

And smiling for the camera.

Great Information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

I know a lot of speculation goes on about what members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe. I recently received this information in an email and thought it would be a great way to share accurate information about my church, that was written and distributed by a company who is not directly affiliated with my church. Usually I would not recommend this, as there are a lot of people and sources who give inaccurate information to read about what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes. So, for an unbiased, purely information stand point here is some information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 

Following is an interesting article written by Ford Motor Company for its employees. It was presented by the ‘Ford Interfaith’ group as a message about the LDS Church .
 
Ford Motor Company – Message About The LDS Church (Mormons)

The Ford Interfaith group promotes unity by sharing information about all faiths and features these types of articles about various religions and faiths.

QUICK FACTS & INTERESTING TIDBITS about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Fleeing continued mob attacks 158 years ago, the first Mormon pioneers desperately started their Westward trek from Illinois in the dead of winter. Of the 70,000 who began this 1300-mile journey, 6,000 were buried along the way, including many children. The following are quick facts and interesting tidbits about this now flourishing church.

OVERVIEW
* Named “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”; informal nicknames are “LDS” or “Mormon” -named after the prophet-historian

* Believes it is the Lord’s restoration of original Christianity as foretold to occur before Christ’s Second Coming.

* Core focus is that Christ and His teachings bring happiness in this life and exaltation in the next.

HISTORY
* In 1820 14-yr-old Joseph Smith told of a vision of God and Christ foretelling a church restoration.

* Organized in New York in 1830, the church moved to near Cleveland, then near Kansas City, then Illinois .

* Fleeing Illinois , Mormon pioneers founded Salt Lake City in Utah and over 600 other Western communities.

SALT LAKE CITY
* Temple Square in Salt Lake has over 5 million annual visitors, more than the Grand Canyon .

* The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is the world’s most famous choir and has the world’s oldest radio program.

* The Salt Lake Temple is the most famous, but there are 128 other temples built here and around the world while others are under construction.

* Home of the world’s largest genealogy database; visit it online or
through 3,700 free branch libraries.

ACTIVE CONGREGATIONS
* Sunday services entail a three-hour block of three meetings; about
27,000 congregations exist worldwide.

* Highly vibrant programs exist for youth, children, singles, men, and women; very strong family focus.

* Everyone has a calling; some surveys show LDS have the highest U.S. attendance and service rates.

* Families receive personal fellowship visits at home from other members on a monthly basis.

FINANCES
* Members tithe 10 percent, plus donate generously to the needy the first Sunday of each month.

* Clergy and all other congregational positions are unpaid (however, much of the janitorial is paid).

* The church has no debt; all buildings are paid for in cash (average of two new congregations a day).

* The paid positions in Salt Lake are famously low-salaried; funds are frugally used and tightly audited.

HEALTH CODE
* With a health code from 1833, LDS avoid alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs, coffee, and tea (herbal tea is ok).

* This 1833 code also teaches grains (especially wheat), fresh fruits and vegetables, and sparing use of meat.

* A UCLA study showed that active LDS live longer than most Americans, men by 11 years, women by 8.

* Utah is 50th in smoking, alcohol consumption, drunk driving, heart disease, cancer, and sick days.

EDUCATION
* With four colleges, Utah ‘s BYU with 30,000 students is the largest
single-campus private college.

* BYU Independent Study with 130,000 students is North America (340 web courses, 530 via mail).

* Seminary, a daily class usually held around 6:00 A.M., serves 376,000 high school students.

* There are Institutes of Religion at 1,950 colleges worldwide that serve 367,000 college students.

* The church operates schools in parts of the Pacific Ocean and Mexico for 10,000 students.

* Utah is 50th in spending per pupil, but first in adults that graduated from high school and attended college.

WOMEN
* In 1842 the “Relief Society” was organized; it’s the largest women’s
organization in the world.

* Wyoming was first to allow women to vote; Utah was second, two months later, in 1870.

* Women preach from the pulpit and serve as organization presidents, teachers, committee chairs, etc.

SHARING CHRIST’S GOOD NEWS
* 61,000 missionaries serve in 165 countries; 93 percent are college-age; 22 percent are female.

* Unpaid and paying their own way, most work 65 hours a week for two years, often in a new language.

MEMBERSHIP DISTRIBUTION
* LDS are 70 percent of Utah, 30 percent of Idaho; after Catholics, LDS are the largest sect in 10 states.

* The church has 5.5 million members in the U.S., making it the fourth largest individual U.S. denomination.

* Some memberships: New Zealand 95k, Japan 115k, UK 175k, Philippines 500k, Brazil 900k, Mexico 925k.

* Worldwide 51 percent are female; about 55 percent are not Caucasian; about 70 percent are converts.

MEMBERSHIP GROWTH
* For the last 15 years, every day an average of 800+ people worldwide joined the LDS church.

* Half of the growth is in Latin America, but the rate of growth is highest in Africa and the former Soviet bloc.

* Worldwide membership just passed 12 million, a tenfold increase in 50 years.

* In 1984 a non-LDS professor estimated 265 million members by 2080; so far growth has been faster.

* As this growth has been steady, it will be the next major world religion since Islam.”

CHARITY/SERVICE
* Members in need obtain welfare from the LDS Church (thus Utah
government welfare spending is very low).

* LDS donate time at 220 welfare storehouses or canneries and about 400 farms.

* There are 210 employment centers placing over 175,000 people annually, and 64 family service centers.

* The church operates 46 thrift stores, in part to provide employment for the disadvantaged.

* The 61,000 missionaries spend half a day each week doing

HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
* Over 200 million pounds of food, clothing, and medicine were donated in the last 20 years in 147 countries.

* Almost all of this help is to non-LDS; LDS charities also work with and donate to many non-LDS charities.

* Very rapid disaster relief has been given in 144 major disasters since 1986.

* Almost 3,000 welfare “missionaries” work without pay in 55 countries (farm instructors, doctors, teachers, etc…).

* LDS charities fund a wide variety of projects like drilling water wells or funding small business startup loans.

* New in 2001, members in poor areas can get low-rate college loans; 10,000 loans have been made to date.

GRAB BAG
* Utah is first in: charitable giving, producing scientists, household computers, children with two parents, and birth rate.

* Noted LDS included five senators, and other famous dignitaries
(click on link)
the Osmonds, Gladys Knight, Steve
Young, and the inventor of TV -Philo T. Farnsworth.

* LDS played a key role in the 2002 Winter Olympics; the chair was the former governor of Massachusetts .

* Hawaii ‘s #1 tourist site is the LDS Polynesian Cultural Center ( Tonga and the Samoas are one-third LDS).

* LDS have sponsored Boy Scout troops since 1913; 23 percent of all Scout troops are LDS.

* The BYU Women’s Cross Country were national champions or in second place each of the last seven years.

DETROIT AREA
* The Detroit metro area has 30 congregations; the Dearborn chapel is on Rotunda by Ford’s Building #5.

* Detroit has a temple, storehouse, cannery, employment and family
service office, and family history libraries.

* LDS include former Governor Romney, three former Lions quarterbacks,
and hundreds of Ford employees.

A member of Ford’s Interfaith Network,
the author of this note sends out monthly interfaith notes to thousands of Ford employees who have asked to receive them.