Sweetness

Hey!  How was your week?
Mine was pretty good.

We started out with a visit to Grandma and Grandpa N on Monday, and that is always nice.  We did most of the puzzle that we recently gave to them...but we left the really hard part, so it's ok.

On Thursday I went to what is called a Key Communicators Meeting.  It's something that our school district does.  Usually it's a presentation with a breakfast spread, and it's at different schools each month.  They want two people from each school in the district, so sometimes I'm one of the people from my school.  Anyhow, this time was actually more of a discussion format to aid in creating an Equality Policy.  I had been dreading it, because I don't generally like to share my opinions in a big group.  Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it.  I did share my opinions, and I enjoyed hearing the comments of others.  It was all great.  But the interesting thing was hearing some of the stats.

• 90 different languages are spoken in the homes of students in the district!  I don't even think I can name that many languages!
• Our district is 50% at or below poverty level
• According to the principal of the school that was hosting this month: 92% of her disciplinary work is dealing with kindergartners.  She said that it's vastly different from even 10 years ago.  She attributes it to too much screen access at a young age, which inhibits person-to-person relationships & learning to manage personal emotions.

Ok, anyhow.  Later that night I went to a cookie tutorial night, where we watched "Alison's Cookie Party" about how to decorate cookies.  It was perfect timing because the invitations to Chick's Baking Party were going to be on cookies!  The tutorial had a lot of good information for a newby like me (I may have used royal icing once before....), but the best part of the evening was sitting around after the video and chatting with friends.  It's so nice to get out and visit with other women!  Thanks for hosting, Brooke!!

On Friday my sister was in town, so I broke my vow to stay away from the Goodwill Outlet so that I could show it to her (I did tell Mr. Fox that I was going to break my word...somehow that makes it better).  I ended up getting more than intended, but anyhow....  One of the things that I found was this painting. 

It's pretty rare that I find artwork that I like at thrift stores.  Rare as in: it's never happened that I can recall.  But I did like this one a lot (Despite Mr. Fox's response of: "What is it?  I only see dabs and squiggly lines").  It had a black scrape on it, but I was able to wash it off when I got home, and now it's as good as new.  And the best part is that it cost me $1.30!  Yay!  Also on that shopping trip: brand new looking ballet slippers for my little ballerina's (they had outgrown some, so we only had one pair that fit, and I needed to get another pair)...for 12 cents.  Seriously.  $0.12, and they were like new and just the right size.  Such a nice, unexpected blessing.

On Friday night, after a really delicious dinner of burritos/ taco salad with homemade tortillas, Mr. Fox and Moose went to watch a hockey game where our school choir was singing.  The girls had a movie night at home, and I worked on the cookie invitations.  I'll admit that they aren't perfect (and for some reason I HAD been expecting perfection despite having never really worked with royal icing)...but I was happy enough with how they turned out.  I'm planning to do some practicing in the upcoming months.  (The tray of little cookies were for my Young Womens class at church).

(Before adding the written info)

(These were all experimental, trying out different techniques and ideas)

Saturday was ballet class for the twins, and then HOURS of driving around to deliver the invitations.  It's nice that Chick gets to meet new people because of her schooling situation, but between her school classmates and her church classmates we had to drive for such a long time.  But they are all out now, and I need to hussle along with the aprons!

Today I was released from my calling at church.  I've been in Young Womens (the teen girls group) for over three years, and the past almost two years of that was as beehive advisor (teaching the 12-13 year old girls).  I'm sad to not be in there with them anymore, but it's time for a new adventure.  I'll tell you the new calling next week, when it's official.

Lastly, I'm getting ready to update the PTO bulletin board at school.  It is going to be "Favorite Books on our Shelfies" featuring some of the school teachers, staff, student leadership, etc posing in a selfie with their favorite kids book.  So here's mine:

Of Books, Vintage Sheets, and Other Happinesses

Hey!  So you know the table runner and faux flowers, etc that I wrote about last week?
I did nada. 
Well, I found a milk bottle on Buy Nothing that I'm going to paint and use as a vase, but I haven't picked it up yet.  And that is all that I did.

But what I HAVE done has been pretty fun.  I've started gearing up for Chick's birthday party that will be at the start of February!!  You know how much I love to prep for parties!!!!!
Anyhow, it will be a cake decorating party...nothing too elaborate, but the girls will all get to decorate their own little cakes to take home.  And the fun part for now: they'll each get their own apron made out of vintage sheets.  Actually, some sheets may not be vintage...I don't know dates for them, you know.  But some are vintage, because they are the same sheets that I had growing up!!  (not the same exact sheets, but the same pattern.   You know.)  It has been super fun to scour the thrift stores for cool sheets.  And what I don't use for aprons will be used for EASTER DRESSES for my girlies!!  yay, I'm excited!!

Anyhow, I drew my own pattern based on an illustration that I found online.  They are no-tie cross-backed aprons.  I've just about gotten them all cut out, and the first test apron is done and ready.  Here it is:

Stay tuned for the rest...hopefully I can get 11 more aprons done in time!  (It totally sounds do-able, but it is amazing how the rest of my life can get in the way of these fun projects).

Ok, also this week was a trip to the library to pick up an obscene amount of books that were on hold for us (I think it was 25, but I also had books checked out already).  It is a big job keeping these kids supplied with books.  Chick is currently working on reading Newbery & Sasquatch award books for school.  Monkey and Moose both read whatever they can get their hands on.  All three kids are voracious, and Mr Fox and I have to be kind of mean about taking away books when we find post-bedtime reading (which happened a lot last week).

Anyhow, with all of this demand for books, I've come across some good series, and thought I'd share.

Monkey's latest series are: Emily Windsnap, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and The Cupcake Diaries.

Moose is currently devouring A to Z Mysteries (and Monkey is re-reading them...that probably is her favorite series ever, so far).  Moose is also reading Geronimo Stilton, Boxcar Children, Magic Treehouse, Kingdom of Wrenly, and we are trying out the Owen Foote books.

Our read-aloud is The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (We are reading these before we can watch the new shows that are/will be on Netflix).  We aren't very far into it yet.

On CD we are listening to The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo (who I totally love)...it's an interesting one!  Lots of repetition...feels like a dream-like poem, and it's excellently read.

Also this week was a fun evening out with my friend, Kary.  I don't get out much, so that was fun.
 
And I watched Thoroughly Modern Millie, which I haven't seen in a long time.  It was fun to watch again.  I don't remember it having so very MANY innuendos, but maybe the last time I watched it I was too unsullied to recognize them??

I also went to the Goodwill Outlet a couple of times.  Have I mentioned that I'm feeling a bit like a compulsive shopper lately?  I did have the excuse of needing to find sheets and a vase....  Anyhow, I had a really good time.  The Outlet is a crazy shopping experience: everything is in huge carts and you have to dig for your treasures.  And pricing is per pound.  You get some amazing deals, but the shopping style is certainly not for everyone.  I like it, but after going several times already this month I promised Mr. Fox that I wouldn't go back for a month.

Mr. Fox spent some time this weekend working on our kitchen cabinets!!  We bought RTA cabinets (ready to assemble), so there's going to be quite a bit of putting together before we can actually put them in.  It would seem like a long time, but since it took us YEARS to actually get the ORDER in...well, I think my patience muscles are getting stronger.  {Not really...wish me luck.}

Hmm, I guess that's it.  Have a great week!

Checking In!

Well hello there!  Fancy meeting you here!

It is late (which tells you how well I'm doing with the 11:00 bedtime, lol)...but I wanted to write a quick little accountability note & update on the week.

As far as my goals go, some are going great. 

I've been most diligent about doing the nightly kitchen cleaning, and I must say that I absolutely love it.  It is SO nice to wake up to a clean kitchen and to not feel like I'm behind already.  It hasn't always been easy.  The other night I had to wake Chick up at 11:00 to unload the dishwasher (her chore) because she hadn't done it and I needed to load it!

I've also done well with my morning scripture reading now that I don't keep my phone in the bedroom when I sleep.

I only jogged twice.  Maybe I should be happy that I jogged twice, since that is twice more than I would have otherwise done...but I worry that it will fall off my radar if I don't do it a bit more consistently.  The weather and kids haven't been especially helpful on this one, but those are just excuses.

Ok, those are the ones that I most wanted to write about.  Now for the update.

This week  was re-entry.  And it was rough.  We'd had two blissful weeks of sleeping in, staying up later than usual, and not having to run here and there for appointments and such.  I loved the vacation.  And then school started back up.  And with it came PTO meetings/responsibilities, and homework, and choir practice, and picking people up at certain times.  And I dragged myself through the week.  It really was hard.  I hope this week will be easier.  Especially since I wasn't the only one dragging, and there was one night when almost all of the kids completely melted down and ended up going to bed quite early.  Which was sooooo needed.

The good news: I enjoyed the PTO board meeting.  We have some fun stuff coming up!!  The things that I'm most excited about (that I'm in charge of) are an Arts and Music Festival at the end of March, and teacher appreciation week at the start of May: "Best teachers in the world" theme!!!  Super fun.  I love themed events.

Owl and Otter took their first ballet class on Saturday.  It was all very blush pink and cute.  They both participated, which is great (sometimes Owl will decided to be shy and just shuts down and goes into statue mode). 

Santa brought "experiences" for everyone this Christmas.  Horseback riding for the older girls, hockey for Moose, and ballet for the younger girls.

Mr. Fox was busy this week with his scoutsing.  They were picking up Christmas trees.  I think he really enjoys his scoutsing.

Lastly, I bought some artificial flowers.  I know that's not super exciting, and I don't even have any pictures because I don't have the right vase yet.  But I'm working on redecorating my living room, and I think these are really quite lovely.  I read articles about how to make fake flowers work.  While I agreed with the tips in the articles, in the end flowers that I got won't follow the rules.  They won't pass as real flowers.  But they aren't even trying.  They have a certain artistic flair to them that I think makes them more of an art piece and therefore are exempt from needing to look real.  What do you think?  What rules do you follow when using fake flowers (or do you NOT use artificial?).  I hope to find a vase this week.  And sew a table runner.  And get some pictures framed.  And FINALLY have the living room book table nicely arranged!  I'll post pictures when it's done.

Ok, that's all.  I need to get to bed.  g'night.

Quarterly FHE Plans!

Ok, I just spent some time getting the FHE plans ready.  It turned out that it was easy enough to do three months rather than just one.  Of course, making time & having things ready each week will be the bigger challenge, but at least we have a game plan.  It isn't entirely fleshed out, but pretty much done.

Here it is:

Week 1: Seasonal Topic

Week 2: Primary Theme

Week 3: Article of Faith

Week 4: Scripture Story

Week 5: Family Council & Preparedness

January:

2nd:   New Years

Lesson	New Beginnings/Goals	Mom
Activity	Resolution Charts & thank you notes	Mom
Treat	Chocolate Fondue	Mom
Songs		Mom

9th:  Agency is the Gift to Choose for Ourselves

Lesson	Agency	C
Activity	Wise man and foolish man enactment	D
Treat	Brownies	E
Songs		A & B

16th:  Article of Faith #1

Lesson	The Godhead	D
Activity	Sarah Wagner's Sorting Game	E
Treat	Tapioca Pudding	A
Songs		B & C

23rd:  Adam & Eve

Lesson	Story of Adam & Eve	E
Activity	Coloring Pages	A
Treat	Pineapple Upside-down Cupcakes	B
Songs		C & D

30th:  Family Council & Preparedness

Lesson	Family Council discussion	Dad
Activity	Fire Drill	Dad
Treat	x	Dad
Songs		Dad

February:

6th:  Valentine's Day

Lesson	Love	Mom
Activity	Valentine's making	Mom
Treat	Rice Crispies "kisses" in funnel?	Mom
Songs	"As I have loved you" & "A Happy Family"	Mom

13th:  When we Choose the Right, we are Blessed

Lesson	"When we Choose the Right, We are Blessed"	A
Activity	Valentine's delivery to neighbors	B
Treat	Heart cut-out cookies	C
Songs		D & E

20th:  Article of Faith #2

Lesson	Own sins, not Adam's transgressions	B
Activity	Article of Faith #2 Puzzle	C
Treat	Chocolate bars	D
Songs		E & A

27th:  Scripture Story

Lesson	Jesus Healing the Lepers	C
Activity	Henny Henny Cluck Cluck	D
Treat	Popcorn	E
Songs		A & B

March:

6th:    King Benjamin's Address

Lesson	Recap of King Benjamin's address	D
Activity	Set up tent in living room & watch LDS.org videos	E
Treat	S'mores (Hot dogs for dinner)	A
Songs		B & C

13th:  Living Prophets Teach me to Choose the Right

Lesson	x	E
Activity	x	A
Treat	Fruit Rainbow	B
Songs		C & D

20th:  Article of Faith #3

Lesson	Through  Atonement of Christ, all mankind saved	A
Activity	Something to do with start of spring….	B
Treat	Root beer floats	C
Songs		D & E

27th:  General Conference Prep!

Lesson	x	Dad
Activity	Gen. Conf. Center prep & restock GC booklets	Mom
Treat	X	Dad
Songs		Mom

Resolute!

Well!  I am shocked that it has been almost TWO YEARS since I last blogged! But it is 2017 now, and my lack of blogging is going to change. 

So I've set some goals.  Not New Year's Resolutions...because really, I can't stay focused on the same goals for a whole year.  Sad but true.  But I think that I can handle focusing for a month.  So I set some January goals...and at the end of the month then I'll re-evaluate and set February goals.

Here are my January goals:

Jog.  20 times this month.  I actually did some beginning jogs this week...starting on my birthday.  Because I wasn't very excited to be turning...29.  (Ok.  40.  Now it's all over the internet and everyone knows that I'm horribly old.  Anyhow.)  I thought it was time for me to start taking care of myself again.  So I went for the first jog on my birthday, and a few others this week.  They are short jogs...I'm not setting any limits this month other than the amount.  20. 

Blog.  (look at me!  actually doing it!).  I honestly have missed blogging.  I waste so much time on the internet, and thought that it would be much better for me to spend some of that time on the blog...which is both therapeutic and fun.  I'd like to do it often, but for now I'm aiming for at least once a week (on Sundays).  If I have more time then great...if not, then once a week is better than once every two years.

Get a phone charger for out of the bedroom, start using an alarm clock, and keep scriptures by my bed for morning reading.  I didn't get a charger yet (I've been using Dave's, which he keeps by his side of the bed...which is why I need to buy one for non-bedroom use).  I did buy an alarm clock, though.  My hope is to waste less time in the morning scrolling through my phone.

In bed by 11, and start the day with a big glass of water.  Hmm...it's already 11:39.  I knew that I'd be up too late if I tried to work on some of these other goals, and chose to prioritize these over the 11:00.  I'm not sure if this one will work out.  But I do need to work on getting to bed earlier, so I'm going to aim for 11 on most nights.

Dishes done and counters cleaned by bedtime.  That has such nice alliteration.  Anyhow, I have never been so great at keeping up with dishes (or really any cleaning, to be honest)...but we're getting a kitchen update, so the least I can do is to get in the habit of keeping things cleaner.  And today I did get it all done before bedtime, but that was partly due to my SIL Becky.  They came over for dinner and games and she helped clean dishes.  So sweet, thanks Becky. 

Plan the month's FHEs (Family Home Evenings) in advance, along with crock pot meals for Mondays.  I haven't done this yet, though I have given it some thought.  I'll have to spend some time in the morning getting things ironed out and written down.

So there you have it.  The plan for January.  And now, I must rush off to get to bed...only an hour late.  Hopefully next time I'll have more time to be chatty about what we've been up to lately.  Life is pretty beautiful, so I'm excited to be blogging about it again.  And even when it's not...even when everything is horrible, I'm excited to be blogging again since it's helpful to write it all out.

Happy New Year!!  Welcome 2017!!