1, 2, THREE!

Rowan turned 3 this weekend. We were a little busy on her birthday so decided to celebrate on Sunday which also happened to be Mother's Day. So on Mother's Day, the bishopric decided to do me and 2 other young moms with small children a real favor and have our husbands speak for sacrament meeting. This left 9 kids to be handled by 3 moms during the most treacherous hour of church. I begged a few people to sit by me because I knew I'd need all the help I could get. A super nice guy with 3 'older' daughters (8, 10 and 15) said they'd help me out. So his girls helped out a lot with the older girls. Lachlan and Rowan were very fussy and I gave Lachlan a cookie and he made the biggest mess ever. I was wearing a new skirt which just happened to be part silk and I did not want it to get all over me as well as everything else. I had to leave with Locke to go get cleaned up. When I came back, a wonderful friend of ours was holding Rowan in his arms. She eventually fell asleep. Another 5 minutes passed and he got up and carried her out whispering to me on the way that she had just peed all over him. So I passed off Locke and went out and cleaned her up while he went home and changed his clothes. His wife wasnt' there so he left his two daughters 5 & 7 there 'alone'. There were a bunch of unminded or half'minded children during that meeting. When I finally got back in & settled for the rest of the meeting there was about 10 minutes left and Abram was just finishing his talk. Afterward he asked if I'd heard any of his talk glorifying Mothers. I told him I didn't need to hear it, I'm living it!!
I got to teach my class, which was actually fun for once because we combined with another class and my friend and I team-taught together. Then I got Lachlan back to wrestle with the last hour of church. Which was more amusing than usual because there were 2 little boys behind us. One of them kept bopping Locke on the head as kids that age do and eventually Lachlan turned around and just rammed him. They were in a head-lock and wrestling to the ground. I was trying not to laugh becase we were having a really good lesson. But it was so funny! Even funnier than not getting peed on during sacramant meeting. ( I wonder if the friendship is over)
After church we got some stuff ready for our big BBQ potluck at the park. I made a big ice cream cake for Rowan (she kept saying she wanted ice cream chocolate or cheesecake) which was an adventure in itself. We had a great turn out at the 'party'. Everyone except my sister & her fam who were at a mother's day BBQ with her in-laws and my lil bro's wife & kids. So the guys had a great game of ultimate frisbee (until Abram pulled his hamstring again) and the kids ran around playing kid games and the adults sat around and talked. Jake & Tay & vali came over & we watched The Bourne Identity which Jake had never seen ( I know, I think we broke the Sabbath like 5 times)
It was a great day for seeing family and having Rowan's party, but a terrible mother's day. I told Abram I wanted a raincheck. :)
Rowan has been just a delight. She is so adorable mostly because of her personality and the cute things she says in her own cute way. She loves to help me in the kitchen anytime I'm making anything, she gets right up there with me. Aside from peeing on our friend, she is very outgoing and good at charming people. Everyday she runs outside to race the school bus to the corner after Aisling gets on. That crabby old busdriver never lets her win. But she never gets discouraged and just tries harder the next day. She is really sweet and likes to 'soft' people and animals. (pet them) "Mom, I'm softing him". She definitely has a mischievous side and knows how to work it. But she keeps us laughing and that's a needed aspect in our home. We love our little snuggle bug, Row-Poe.

Lachlan's Girlfriend

The 3 girls got 3 of these monkeys from the 'easter bunny' (thanks granny Margi) this year and Lachlan got an elephant. But locke is in LOVE with these monkeys. He carries at least one around with him all day, sleeps with 2 all night and rides in the car with one in his arms. He is about the same size as the darn things, and will work & work to drag two up the stairs at once and cry and cry when he can't get them up. It is so funny when you see what kids get attached to, and I think it is so cute that he has fallen for these super soft long-limbed monkeys. They make a strange sound when you squish their tummy ( almost like a toot) and make a smoooooooch!ing sound when you squeeze their hand. Too funny and endearing.
What are your kids hooked on?

Delicious!!!

I got to eat at Tucano's for my birthday in March (at tucano's birthday club you can get your 40$ meals for $10) and I had the MOST delicious 'lemonade' ever!! I am a huge fan of the new stuff you can find in the refrigerated aisle of your grocery store called Lime-Aid. It tastes a LOT like that, only even more heavenly. Abram found a recipe today that is very close to Tucano's brazilian lemonade. There is a similar recipe which calls for coconut milk. I'm going to try that next time. These ingredients are going to be on my grocery staples so we can drink this all the time. So stop on over and I'll whip some up.
He also is cooking a fabulous chicken dish right now. It's at the pre-wine stage and is SO good, I can't believe it. I am not a chicken fan. Try it out and Enjoy!

Hand-Me-Downs

I clothe my children almost exclusively in hand-me-downs. First choice is hand-me-downs and after that we resort to second-hand clothes. What do you think? Do my kids look grubby? I LOVE Hand-Me-Downs! I have been so grateful that I have a sister and a sister-in-law who pass their adorable and too-expensive-for-me clothes on for my kids to use.
just this month, I have been the beneficiary of hand-me-downs. Now, I've had a few hand-me-downs before, but they were usually of the variety of, I don't really like them, but it's better than nothing, for awhile until I finally pass them on or D.I. them. But this month I was given a bunch of name brand, stylish, super cute stuff, even shoes! Probably 2 large garbage bags of them. Seriously, if you read my blog, you've heard my lack of clothes woes. I got more clothes this month than I've gotten in at least the last 9 years that I've been married. No joke. Almost all of the clothes in that picture are brand new to me. That doesn't include the pants, skirts and shoes. I finally feel cute! It is so fun! I even got asked if I lost weight yesterday, (I've actually gained 5) cuz I look so good thanks to my closet-cleaning-out friends. THANKS a Million!!! I feel so lucky (and lookin' good) :)

Is It Spring yet?

The weather has been very frustrating here. It seems like it has been an especially cold spring ( in the 50s and 60s) oh, except those 2 or 3 days it was in the 80s. Then back to shivery cold. What I would give to have a month of 70 degree weather. Is it too much to ask? How about just a week of it? A day? I'm not trying to complain, really. I love the spring time flowers and blossoming trees. But it really has been too cold to enjoy it. (Or too hot) :)
I have been attacking the weeds and finally got rid of my abhorrent barberry bushes and a worthless mugo pine in my front bed. It looks so open and lovely. What kind of yard work are you doing?

Rice Face

Sorry it's been so long since I've written anything good. I almost forgot how to upload pictures because I haven't done it for so long.
I pre-cooked some rice for dinner later and was upstairs working out, waiting for Abram to get home. When I came down, I found the girls had gotten the rice onto the table, dumped a bunch of soy sauce in it and had helped themselves to it and put Lachlan up to eat some too. They had all finished and were off playing, so I found this sight when I came down. I especially love the rice in the nose. How Fun!

Nourish the Children

NuSkin has now delivered over 150 million meals of nutrient-rich food to third world countries. "It is 5% of what we do, but 95% of who we are."

www.nourishthechildren.com

Nourish the Children was founded in June 2002 by Nu Skin with a mission of saving malnourished children around the world.

IN JUST OVER 5 YEARS NTC SURPASSED 100 MILLION MEALS DONATED. NOW HAVING TOPPED 150 MILLION MEALS, WE ARE WELL ON OUR WAY TO EXCEEDING THE NEXT 100 MILLION IN JUST 3 YEARS.

Nourish the Children is an innovative partnership between a company and charities that was awarded the American Business Award for Best Corporate Social Responsibility Program in 2007. The food given through Nourish the Children is VitaMeal® which was formulated specifically for malnourished children with 25 vitamins and minerals.

VitaMeal is produced in Malawi where the food plant can provide income for hundreds of workers and farmers and in China so that the food can reach children in China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, etc.

It is so easy to participate. Just go to www.nourishthechildren.com to purchase and donate VitaMeal. Nu Skin participates with matching donations. Join us today.

Too keep you Busy

I've been busy getting ready for a yard sale. I haven't anything exciting or funny or charming to say, so here are two cute projects to inspire you. One is a braided rag rug and one is a bandanna skirt.

Is Nintendo Making Your Kids Stupid?

Love Note To Grandma:

Wii miss you!

Love Aisling

Explanation of Absence

Hello world! (I'm flattering myself here)
I have been very busy and preoccupied with my new 'business' venture, so I apologize for being a non-presence, oh- and my kids have been sick again. I'm starting to sound like those 'weird' people whose kids are always sick with something. ;)
So I was refraining from telling all ya'all about what I've been doing because I've been afraid of what you might think of me. But seriously, if you read my blog, I shouldn't worry about that, right? I'm sure I've given you a lot of reasons to think ill of me up til now.
I joined a company called NuSkin. It is a direct-sales company that has been around for 25 years. They are currently in 49 countries and growing. They are publicly traded on the NYSE and this year have been recommended by Forbes magazine as one of their top 10 picks for stocks to buy. They also have a 51A credit rating by Dunn & Bradstreet which less than 1% of all companies in the world receive. The exciting thing that is happening right now is that this company makes a new millionaire every 5 days. There are a lot more wonderful things to say about the company. The research I did into the company gave me the assurance that this isnt' one of those MLM things that's going to support the top people and make them rich and then eventually collapse. Most direct-sales companies have an average of 7% customer base for their sales volume, the other 93% being distributors. NuSkin has a 65% customer base and 35% distributor sales volume. That reassures me that this is not a house of cards. There are people who live right here in my valley that have replaced a better than average income in less than 4 months. So I know it's not only for the rich people in California. ;)
There are a few reasons this business is going like wildfire right now.
The products they sell are exclusive and they have several scientific and technological breakthroughs that are literally changing our world. You've all heard of the anti-aging market, but up to now that has been a bit of a misnomer. Nothing has actually stopped the aging process. Until now. And our company has the global patents on these products. It is SO exciting!! They have actually identified the 8 sources of aging in our bodies and have started coming out with products that go straight to the source of aging and STOP it! Wahoo!!! This is wonderful news for everyone! Can you see I am excited? They said they've only tapped into 5% of that potential so far. Can you imagine not having to look old, and also keeping your cells, organs, and joints young too? It is a miracle that will change the world.
Another hot item right now is the galvanic spa. It actually erases lines & wrinkles and gives you a face lift in just 10 minutes. No needles, knives or pain and only $7 a treatment that you can do in your own home. I've done it on people as young as 20 and saw a difference in their faces. It also works to thicken and restore thinning hair and believe it or not, gets rid of flabby, saggy, cellulite skin. I know it sounds unbelievable, but I've seen it with my own eyes!
If any of you want to know more, let me know. I'll be glad to give anyone a demo. The baby-boomers are going crazy over these innovations, and they are the largest market in the world, possibly the history of the world. The timing couldn't be better. Especially with the economy. A lot of people need to replace their incomes and are actually surpassing them. Can you imagine being able to dream again?
I am very happy this is a business that actually delivers and is not one full of empty promises. The people are all a big team and everyone is helping each other. It is a wonderful organization, whose focus is integrity and service. The president of the company is willing to take time for the lowliest of newcomers.
Here is a website people like to check out.
www.nsevideos.com

Have a very wonderful week!

Finally a New Post!

For my neglected readers, I posted an old draft I had been working on, however it posted back in February when I actually wrote the draft. I haven't been able to figure this one out yet... guess I'll have to try scheduling a post. Maybe that will put it in the right place. Try the link.

Not Again

This is what my kids have been doing since Sunday. The 3 little ones had very high fevers and moped about all day. They hardly ate anything and slept a lot and laid around a lot. That night the cough set in. They had milder fevers the next day and were up more. That night Aisling caught the high fever and has it still. Poor thing is the 'Star Student' this week at school and is missing out on all of it. I've gone through 3 bottles of fever reducer. There is a lot of coughing and sneezing going on and Lachlan has been very fussy. I haven't been able to get anything done. Thus, the lack of blogging this week. Hope things are going better at your house!

31

My dear friend Monica dropped by bright and early to make sure my day started out right. She brought a SWEET message for me today. My kids have already picked out the letters they want to eat. Aisling thinks she should get all the A's. Rowan wants the 'baby' R. Naturally Brenna wants the B. Which one do you want?

Tithes and Offerings

So every month I pay my tithing without a thought. It is just a habit, like brushing your teeth. I know some people have a hard time with it, but it's not one of my struggles. However, when it comes to paying fast offerings, I never know how much to pay. I've heard the guidelines "two meals' worth" but that would hardly be anything at our house, even if we ate out, cuz we never spend more than $25 when we eat out. I've also heard the adage, "if it doesn't pinch, it's not a true offering". I know you will be blessed for any offering you make, but is there anyone who can give me some guidelines to have a better idea of what to pay? I want to be generous, but I also am confused about what you should pay when you can't pay your own bills? Doe anyone have any suggestions? I keep thinking of the widow's mite, she gave all she had, but do you 'rob Peter to pay Paul'? Aren't I obligated to pay my bills before I can make an offering? You can reply anonymously if you desire.

Highlights

No make-up
I really didn't get any good pictures, but for those of you who've been asking, here are some pics of the highlights my sister did for me. I paid $1.99 for the kit and she did the magic. :)Make-up
She even spent about an hour curling it for me. So I forgive her for not getting the roots.
These pictures showed me how fat my face looks. I'm not even pregnant. What's the deal?

Kid's Clothes

I am so glad there are sweat shops in Indonesia, Vietnam, Guatemala and other third world countries so my daughter can have an adorable shirt with sequins and bead work. I am so glad there are places that employ women and children to do tedious needle work that I would never be willing to do so I can pick up these cute clothes for $3 second hand.
As long as we're on the topic of children's clothing, here are a few more things I love. I adore the clothes bejeweled and sparkly that tell my daughter and the world she is a PRINCESS and not only needs to be treated like one, but should act like one too. I also can hardly wait for my son to be able to wear clothes that proclaim, "Bet you're glad I'm not your kid" or WILD THING or some other adorable anecdote that gives kids the excuse to act like hellions.
The other thing I love is how these wonderful companies actually let me pay them to have my child give them free advertising. That's why we always make sure to wear our favorite characters on anything we can get. Spongebob, Hannah Montana, Disney anything, please let me give you money so my children can not only be a clone, but be a free advertiser for you!!

What do you love about your kids' clothes?

Feeling Crafty

I finally did a project I've been wanting to do for months. Like usual, I did it halfway, because I didn't have the colors I would have liked, but this is what I had on hand.
I took a picture Brenna drew on a fisher-price magnadoodle, made a copy of it in the printer/copier and put it inside the shirt. Then I held it up to a window and traced it the best I could. Then I 'embroidered' the design onto the shirt. It's not as sloppy as I would have liked, but it was difficult to trace it properly and also I'm REALLY bad at embroidery. The kids like it, in fact Aisling and Rowan have been drawing all afternoon and giving me designs to sew onto shirts for them. Aisling's are of course very detailed and involved and Rowan has broken down into screaming fits several times because she can't draw a snail! Too cute! (except the fit part)

Kid's Tics

My friend Jessica's daughter just started breaking her hair off. My Brenna started twisting her hair into such tight knots that it would rip out when she was about 20 months. She still twists it, but if I keep it short enough she can't get it wrapped around her finger tight enough to pull it out. She seems to do this as a comfort thing or possibly a bored thing. It is usually if she is tired, watching a movie, or zoning out while riding in the car or something. All of my kids have had a thing for hair, including Lachlan. It seems to me that most kids do. But most kids do not pull or break out their own hair.
Rowan is addicted to the binky. ( We're going to be cutting that up on her birthday in May)
Since Aisling started kindergarten she has started a new habit. She constantly blows her air out. Just this quiet little "hwew". Just like blowing out a candle. It drives me crazy! She said it is because she doesn't want air in her mouth. ?? Have any of your kids had weird tics that bother you? What did you do about it?

An Argument for Breast Augmentation

This has been sitting in my drafts for about a month, waiting for me to fix it up ready for posting, but I never have and since we are all still sick, and my brain is fried, I am giving you a poor sympathy post for your entertainment. Enjoy! ( I didn't think a picture would be appropriate for this one, although on second thought, it would be amusing!)
Of all the people I've talked to about this, it seems there are quite a few that are still undecided. I have been asking people their opinions about 'boob jobs'. I came to the conclusion last night after years of thought and decided I am in favor of 'boob jobs'. And I feel I can rightly justify my position. In my mind, I had felt it would be ok, probably, if someone got decent sized breast implants, but it was immoral for someone to get huge ones. Have you ever had thoughts like that? There is the argument about going against nature, not being grateful for what God has given you, etc. But seriously, people get corrective surgery all the time. What about braces, LASIK, appendectomy, caesarians, acne treatment etc. What about the poor gal who has been over-abundantly 'blessed' with huge bosoms, should she not be allowed to get a breast reduction? So any of you who might have been feeling the need for a refill, I wholeheartedly support you. Just make sure you email me and tell me the Dr. and the fees. ;)
Feel free to respond to this Anonymously if you choose! :)

Pride & Vanity

This afternoon Aisling went out to catch the bus for kindergarten. She was wearing a thin, poufy skirt and I asked her if she was warm enough. She said yes at first, but then as the wind continued to blow around her bare legs, she decided she was cold. I ran upstairs and grabbed a pair of pants and ran back down as fast as I could, but as I reached the door I could see the bus had arrived. I am very ashamed to say I did not run out to give my daughter some pants so she wouldn't freeze at recess. The reason is since I was doing laundry and cleaning this morning, I had decided not to get dressed 'til I could take a shower this afternoon. Normally I would jut be wearing stretch pants and a hoodie, but my sister-in-law gave me a pair of pajamas last night. These are bright blue pjs with bright yellow rubber duckies all over them. I was just TOO embarrassed for the bus driver to see me run out in these ridiculous pajamas so I stayed inside, behind the door and waited for the bus to leave. I felt so bad for my poor little girl, out in that bitter wind with nothing on her legs. I tried consoling myself with the self-righteous thoughts of, "I TOLD her to wear pants today, I TOLD her it was too cold to wear a skirt. I guess she'll learn her lesson." But the truth is I feel more bad towards myself for being too prideful to run out and giver her the pants. It was a revelation of my true nature. I, who so often have judged others too ashamed to go out without their make-up on, refused to be seen by some old guy bus driver with my greasy hair and rubber ducky jammies. Why should I care about his opinion over the comfort of my daughter? I am so ashamed.
Mine are about 20x brighter than these!
Have you let your vanity get the better of you?