$2 DOLLARS…

 

$2 dollars…ok and $12 for the Ariel nightgown.  But this little girls attitude and personality plus is PRICELESS to me.  She just kills me.  She begged for these lovely long extensions at the dollar store.  They come in a variety of colors.  (As if her Red Ariel wig is not enough)  Really though, the best thing about these are that they come attached to a headband that stays on really well while she plays/dances.  She’s in heaven when she wears these.  I love this top photo, cause she just thinks the world of herself.  I think at 4 years old….that is just fine.

WHERE’D HE GO?

The other night, Tyson and I watched a show downstairs.  I nudged him when it was time to head upstairs for bed.  I helped him get to the stairs with his blanket and I went back into the kitchen to grab a few things before I went upstairs.  I headed up and into my room, then went to make sure Tyson had made it to bed.  He wasn’t there.  I then checked with Alyssa- nope, asked Todd if he was under our covers, or on the floor in there- nope.  I went ino the other two rooms he could’ve wandered into and- nope, still not there.

I finally checked his closet, for sure he’d ended up in there.  NOPE.

I headed back down stairs, thinking where is he?

He was here- on the floor- in the ….KITCHEN.

I seriously must have been blind and def not to have seen or heard him turn around from the stairs and lay down basically right in front of my face.  He was with in 3 feet of me when I would have walked out of the kitchen to go upstairs.

I guess this is one ya had to be there for…I just at least had to document it.

 

MY BAD

 

This little lady was just in heaven.  For I had told her a few minutes earlier that she could use some of my lip gloss.  So off she went in the other room, while I continued my phone conversation.

I got off the phone and came into the kitchen where she was so happy to show me how beautiful she was, and that she had even made Sparkles look fabulous too!

Yah, Lipgloss- Eyeliner, Lipliner…it’s all the same diff right?

The next mistake I made was showing Alyssa how to wash Sparkles with Shampoo and give her a bath.  Ohh, the pup smelled soo good when we were done.  But now….EVERYDAY, Sparkles gets a bath in the sink and get’s lathered with WAY too much soap.  She sure smells good though. 

REMINDER

I’ve heard these suggestions before. When I read this again today it was a great little reminder for me.

President Benson’s 10 Suggestions for Successful Parenting

“Thinking of the example of his own mother and that of his beloved and faithful wife, Flora, President Benson has offered ten specific suggestions for mothers as they guide their precious children:

1. Take time to always be at the crossroads in the lives of your children, whether they be six or sixteen.

2. Take time to be a real friend to your children.

3. Take time to read to your children. Remember what the poet wrote:You may have tangible wealth untold; Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be— I had a mother who read to me.

4. Take time to pray with your children.

5. Take time to have a meaningful weekly home evening. Make this one of your great family traditions.

6. Take time to be together at mealtimes as often as possible.

7. Take time daily to read the scriptures together as a family.

8. Take time to do things together as a family.

9. Take time to teach your children.

10. Take time to truly love your children. A mother’s unqualified love approaches Christlike love.

SOO FUN

This past weekend, Todd and I ran away with some friends of ours.  We took a little road trip down to where the weather was warm and the sun was plenty.  We enjoyed relaxing by the pool, shopping, eating, playing games, hiking a little bit of nature, the hot tub and of course getting a great massage.  Oh yeah, well…Todd was a party pooper with the massage thing, so he went to a movie alone while the rest of us enjoyed our massages.  He missed out.  If Todd asks me to massage his shoulders any time within the next 3 weeks…I’ll kick his fanny!

Carson and Ang watched Tyson and Alyssa for us.  The kids had a ball and loved staying over there with the cousins.  Thanks again you guys!

Anyway- we had such a great time getting away for a few days.  If it weren’t for kids, job, responsibility, family, well LIFE…I guess, then we would’ve just stayed a few months longer. ;0)

Todd SOOO loves it when I do this in photos. 

Have I said how much I love this guy lately??

Cause I do…SOO much.

And we are SOO Thankful to have such great friends.

   

When we arrived at the Red Rocks to wander a little, we were SOO intrigued with these little creepy crawlies.  We couldn’t believe how many there were.  We saw about 5 different nests full of these caterpillars.  It was fun to show Alyssa these photos when we got home.  Her and I had just had an in depth discussion a few days before about the difference between worms and caterpillars and how they transform into beautiful butterflies. 

    

 

While these two Yahoos squeezed through this fun narrow passage way, Todd and I hovered overhead like guardian angels to show the way.  Ok, so really we just didn’t think we would fit.  No biggie!  Maybe next year, huh??? But for now I’ll just blame it on claustrophobia.  ;0)

 

One night we went down to the temple grounds to take a few pictures.  This building is SOO beautiful.  We read up on some of it’s history.  Did you know that Brigham Young wanted the tower taller when they first built the temple.  After he died, a short later, lightning struck it and burned down the tower.  When they rebuilt it…it was…taller!

I loved taking this photo below.  The lights were slowly being turned off one at a time.  And I enjoyed the thought of knowing how beautiful the inside of these rooms can be, and what wonderful things take place with in them.

 

HONORARY LEPRECAUNY

Leprechauns, castles, good luck and laughter.

Lullabies, dreams and love ever after.

Poems and songs with pipes and drums.

A thousand welcomes when anyone comes...

That's the Irish for you!”

-author unknown

 

 

So last years March 17th pretty much came and went with mere a thought.  However this year, seems to be a little different.  The past two days we have enjoyed having a little fun with this quirky little holiday. 

We’ve had our cute LUCKY banner to remind us of this fun day to celebrate.  And, well, the Luck  O’ Irish does run through our veins from ancestors past.

Alyssa called from the “pot” yesterday as she usually does… “come and wipe me.” (sorry- but this is pertinent here)  So I walked in to for my usual responsibility, and what to my wondering eyes should I see but a little present colored … BRIGHT GREEN! …REALLY.   Luckily ;0) I knew all was ok, because she had devoured 2 fruit by the foot and some gummy snacks the day before.  So thinking quick on my feet, I grinned and said;

“ALYSSA, LOOK, LOOK!!  You’re an Honorary Leprechaun.  You are!  You are!”

She was puzzled as I explained what Leprechauns were and that they are magic and slide down rainbows into gold.  They had chosen her to be one of them for the next few days, and how I knew, is because her “pooplet” was GREEN!   THEY COLORED IT GREEN!  (just roll with me here, will ya?)

The rest of the day she was very excited and asked lots of questions, to which I found many made up answers for.  It was fun.  We printed off some coloring pages and her and Tyson colored them while eating Green Crepes with golden sugar sprinkles on top for dinner.  Alyssa danced around singing that she was an “Monitary Leprafaun.”

This morning was fun when we all put on our brightly colored shirts.  Daddy was being a poor sport, so we pinched him a little.  I randomly had some green hair goop in our junk draw, so I gussied Tyson’s hair up a bit and off he went.  Alyssa wanted some too.  But then somehow she started to NOT like the whole idea of being an HONORARY LEPRECAUN.  Maybe it had to do with the little reminded I explained to her.  That of “If you don’t hold still, then the you’ll turn green.  Your skin will turn green.”  OK, not so nice to say.  Sometimes thinking quick on my feet gets me in trouble.  For the next 20 minutes I had to assure her that her skin was not going to turn green as she repeatedly said “I don’t want to be a Monitary Leprafaun anymore.  I don’t want to go to preschool and eat green treats, because I don’t want to turn green.” 

She ended up at school just fine .  She made a St. Patty’s day necklace with horseshoes, rainbows, pots of gold & shamrocks.

I stopped at the store while she was gone to see if I could grab just a few fun treats for the kids for the afternoon.  I saw one of my cute neighbors there doing the same thing.  She said she hadn’t really thought about it until her girls decided to set a trap to catch leprechauns last night.  So she’s fixing a green colored dinner tonight with a few treats.  I put together a little baggie of Leprechaun droppings for the kids, Todd and for Visiting Teaching.  The great part about doing these little things today, is having the time to do them.  It made me happy- and it made me realize that I am LUCKY to recognize I can enjoy it. 

  

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The belief still exists that finding  real four leaf clovers, which are  very rare, is an omen of good luck. Each of the four leaves has symbolic meaning:

one leaf is for hope, the second for faith,

the third for love and the fourth for luck.

 

* I thought this was a fun little Folk Lore of Luck also.  I have never known these Lady Bug Legends until now.  I thought they were cute.

In many cultures the precious little ladybug (called ladybird by the English) has been believed to bring good luck. To the English farmer and the French vintner it signals good weather.  If one lands on a person’s hand or dress it will bring good fortune, and If one lands on you when you are ill, it takes the illness away. The more spots on the back the better the luck; each spot represent a lucky month. If a young girl catches a ladybug and then releases it, the direction in which it flies away will be the direction from which her future husband will come. In Sweden, a ladybug on a young woman’s hand signifies that she is being measured for wedding gloves. And children just love them, and seem to communicate with them directly.

DREAM BIG

Tonight Todd thought it would be fun to tell Tyson that Bill Gates lost $18 billion in the market.  (The conversation got started by looking at the list of top 20 richest people in the world)  He then tried to explain just HOW much

‘billions of dollars’ really is.  He gave Tyson a quick visual exponential run down and Tyson’s eyes widened.

The discussion progressed to Warren Buffet who was the richest man in the world last year, and how much he had lost over the past 12 months in the markets.  Then we again started to discuss the new list of the top 20 richest people in the world.  Who they were and how they made their money.

Tyson interjected a few times with comments of…

“Wow, that could be me when I’m older cause

I’m already off to a good start. 

I have like $xxxx in my bank account already.”

Again towards the end of the conversation after we had gone down through the list, he said…

“Yep, I really think that could be me in a few years.”

…………………………………………………………………

This conversation reminded me of one we had last year in the car with Tyson when he said he might just become the richest kid in the world because he already had a list of inventions he had created in his notebook.

 

DREAM BIG MY BOY…DREAM BIG!

6:45 AM

This morning I was blessed to have awakened from a peaceful slumber and walk to the window to look out at the world.  This is what I saw from our West window.  Only it was clear…crisp…BEAUTIFUL! I cannot explain, and these pictures are almost a mockery.  I still don’t know how to give my camera justice, hence this is the only way I could capture a glimpse of what I saw.  Todd heard me grab the camera, and I told him it was a must see.  Tyson was already awake as well. (very unusual that any of us wake this early, let alone…take step out of  the warmth of our beds)

It was a stunning view- really!  Just imagine these photos being crystal clear.  We watched this full moon seep in and out of the clouds for a short while, and then slowly set just as if it were the sun at dusk.  Only with it’s setting on the west, the sun soon rose in the east, bringing promise of another day.

 

These photos are both of the moon setting to the west behind the mountain and shining on the lake. At least they will give me some reminder.

This, to me, is JOY.  Then again listening to Christopher Cross '“Sailing” brings me JOY as well. :0) 

But yet OF COURSE, all three of us headed straight back to bed for another coveted 30 minutes of sleep!

PS.  Westward neighbors…sorry if you saw a flash, or if you happened to see a camera pointing your way—I promise…it really was the moon. ;0)

Oh, and by the way…here’s the sunset the night before…

Isn’t GOD great!

WOW…WINDOW…WHERE?

 

Alyssa spent a great amount of time building a princess castle on Tux paint the other night.  Brick by brick she built it high…and when it was done, she came to show Todd and I. 

“Look, it’s a princess castle…and there’s the window.”

SINCE FEBRUARY 23rd

The past few weeks, Our family has enjoyed competing for and breaking each others Guinness World Records on Tyson’s DS.  So once again a few days ago Tyson and I were hanging taking turns playing.  As I was playing Tyson say’s:

“Hey Mom, I have a surprise for you.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.  It’s a project I’ve been working on for a few weeks.”

“Oh?  Did you beat another record, which one?”

“No, it’s in real life.” 

“Wow- what is it?”

When I finish the DS game (gotta hold the record for the furthest washing machine throw, sheering sheep, and Trolly pull)

Tyson pulls his shirt sleeve up and majestically places his arm into a right angle form.  Then he looks directly at me with beaming eyes and says:

“See!”

“WOW Tyson!  Look at the bicep.  You really have been working on that.  What have you been doing to get so strong?  Push ups?”

“No… Well, a few.  But something else.”

“What?”

“Eating Chicken Patties.  I’ve been eating them everyday at school for lunch.”

“Awesome, Tyson.  How long have you been doing that?”

“Since February 23rd.”

“Now THAT’S STRONG.”  I say as I feel his slightly molded arm.  “I just might need to take a picture of that.”

“Yeah, mom. You could even put it on your blog if you want to.”

TWO-FER TOOTHER

TJ worked and worked the other night to lay claim to the rare title of a Two-fer.

Both his bottom teeth were very loose and only needed a little extra twisting and tweaking to make their way from his mouth to cozy underbelly of his pillow for the tooth fairy to find that night.

He was so excited to get both of them out.  He was apprehensive with the second one causing a little more pain than the first.  So he finally allowed Todd and I to rope his tooth with fishing wire, and when it was pulled tight, he changed his mind.  At that point , leave it to good ol’ dad to pull a fast whip at the wire and have the tooth out before Ty could move.  That one was a definite bleeder.  After Tyson wiped a few tears, he soon perked up and showed off his toothless grin.

He knew that a Two-fer was pretty rare, so he was excited to see what additional surplus the tooth fairy might be so inclined to leave.

When he woke in the morning he came right in to show me the note that she had left, and also the cool gift card of $15 to TOYS R US.  He was hoping for a $5 bill.  So we told him how lucky he was.  Good thing the tooth fairy explained it was a once in a life time loot for working so hard on his Two-fer Title. 

 

HOOKED

 

I’m hooked on making these fun things. 

.

They are super simple, and a great way to add

.

a little brightness for happy days.

.

I need more ribbons!

=

 

    

RED FISH BLUE FISH

I’ve been helping with the PTA bulletin board at Tyson’s Elementary again this year.  At the moment I can’t think of any that I have posted up until now.  This year’s theme has been THE ART OF LEARNING.  It’s been fun, but I’ve not been very creative with the boards, until this month. (at least nothing like how fun it was to create the boards last year.)  But When I have Dr. Seuss as part of the theme- how can it not be a fun one to do.  I loved looking up some of his great quotes and photos.  I know most people don’t even notice the boards- then you have the one’s who will critique every detail…then I have to say to myself…it is fun to be involved and know that I am contributing where I can.  However, I am a little embarrassed that some months I have all but slapped that paper up and stapled the pictures with EVERY intent to go back the next day and finish it with a title or something else, and well- life brought other events to fill my time, some worth while….probably some I could have put on the back burner.  I think that must be a reason why I haven’t posted any of them until now.  But I want to look back and see what I did. 

 

Literature-Music- Painting- Drawing-Music-Singing-Dancing-Poetry- Play writes-Shakespeare- Landscape- Design-Instruments

     

 

 

 

TODAY I AM THANKFUL…

That I am ABLE to cook dinner

for my family.

I read this post (click here) today.  It touched me.  She touches me.  I am so thankful to be right where I am today.

I try to prepare for the future whenever I can, or at least when I am reminded.  However there are so many ‘surprises’ in life that don’t allow for specific preparation.  They jump out of nowhere and alter us forever .  I am still learning how to take,  well, rather experience JOY in each and every day I wake to breathe.  I am also reminded that it is never a bad thing to

DREAM.

 

A BEAUTIFUL DAY

 

Todd had the opportunity to  Baptize Tyson on Saturday.  It was such a neat experience for us.  We had a wonderful day and Tyson seemed to take it all in stride.  I loved sitting next to him during the program while he looked up at his Grandfathers’ when they individually spoke to him, seeming to listening intently to every word they said.

Instead of feeling older with this event for my child, I actually found myself feeling so young and inadequate to be a Mother and Parent to this very precious child that God has entrusted to me and Todd.  Yet I felt so at peace knowing that through God’s plan for us, we can learn and grow with each step along life’s path. 

I didn’t take many photos that day.  I thought I would, but somehow the moments passed by while I captured them in my heart.  I snapped a few before we went into the church, and this one below makes my heart sing.

This photo below is so cute to me.  I just love my little boys smile.  I didn’t have time to tell him to tuck his shirt cuffs into his suit coat… and to me that adds all the extra charm.  This is actually Tyson’s favorite painting of Christ.  He pointed it out to us a few years ago, and he has loved it ever since.  So that too is what makes photos like this sentimental.

I told this little one he could not grow up… but he is.  He is.

And I love him more for that each passing day.

I took this photo below because it reminded me of the painting of Christ standing at the door with no doorknob, knocking…waiting for it to be opened.  I hope and pray that Tyson will always have that light and truth in his heart to lean on.  That he will remain close to the spirit and choose to follow the path of light.  I hope with the promptings of the Holy Ghost that he will hear the quiet knocking of the Lord, when he finds himself at different crossroads in life.  I hope he will open the door to his heart and let Christ be his guide.

 

After the Baptism we had our family and loved ones over to our home for a small luncheon.  I didn’t realize till afterward that we had 38 people over here.  It is a blessing to have a place to hold them.  It was such a nice feeling to have all that love and support surrounding us and Tyson on his very special day.  Thank you to all who came,  and also those who traveled from out of town.  We love each of you very much.

Tyson,  You are on your way…

Always remember,  One step at a time.  And never forget to pray!

GROWING UP

Our little TJ is growing up so quickly.  This was a fun week for him.  He started scouts 2 weeks ago and last Thursday was his first official pack meeting which happened to be our Blue and Gold Banquet that I was partially in charge of, yep, I’m the assistant cub master.  And I must admit that I have an great cub master who went above and beyond in her calling with this Banquet.  I made the invitations and 100 servings of Chili.  FUN huh! :0(

But I do wish I could’ve done more.  We all had a nice time, and Ty looked so cute in his scout shirt.