My First...

My First Blog Giveaway...The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me. My choice. For you. (I know...a little scary, but maybe fun, huh?)

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like it .

2- It will be just for you.

3- It'll be done by the end of December.

4- You have no clue what it's going to be.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did it will then win a Fabulous homemade something made by me! Ready, Set,....GO!!!

Sorry it took me so long, Lisa!

Ramblings

It never ceases to amaze me how different my kiddos are. When N was a baby, she didn't care about stuffed animals, dolls, or blankets. I made her a special feely blanket and it was old news in less than a day. A, on the other hand, loves stuffed animals, his feely blanket (yeah, N's was inaccessible, so I made him a new one) continues to be a good distraction. N has grown into the blanket loving stage and also loves her Teddy, but that's it. I keep trying to introduce new dolls and animals, but none of them have taken. They are just so different! Which apparently is normal....

I have a hard time finding hair-dressers. And so I'm currently stuck. I can tell on the first cut if it will be a good relationship. I haven't found one here yet. My favorite girl needs to move a bit closer. 5 hours is a bit of a distance for a haircut.

A threw up. It's the first time that one of my children has been throw-up sick. Not that it's a new thing or that it has never happened to anyone else. Because I'm sure it has. And I'm sorry. Because when it's your own child you feel so helpless. So now you all know, even though you probably didn't want to know.

Because of the A's sickness, I went to church today by myself. DH took N to our ward, then came home so that I could attend the next ward. It was strange to be sitting all by myself. I mean, I shared the pew with other people, just not my family. I was definitely able to listen better, which was a nice change, especially since it was a missionary homecoming talk. She got back from Taiwan on Tuesday. She and her brothers spoke and they all had some really good thoughts. I'm glad that something good came out of today.

My neighbor is publishing a book. When I make my bucket list, I think publishing a book will be on there....

DH and I decided that N should start watching movies. She needs to experience new things. Because of Wii Fit, she's very good at doing the hula-hoop (without the actual hoop). And she does it everywhere. So we've starting watching movies. We're currently about half-way through Mary Poppins. And she's seen Chicken Little. She is really enjoying the movies, though she gets caught up in little things (like the first time we paused Mary Poppins, Jane had her eyes closed. Now N can't wait to see Jane with her eyes closed, even though we've watched it at lease twice since then. N's attention span isn't up to an entire movie).

Just "Flew In"

My uncle "flew in" to visit for a couple of days. Literally. How cool is that? He's working on his pilot's license. I've decided that I'll add "Pilot a plane" to my bucket list. Wait a minute... I don't have a bucket list. Maybe I should start one... Does it count if I put things on the list that I've already done? Hmmm...

Halloween

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. When I was little I had fun with it. I enjoyed dressing up, eating candy, making donuts, drinking cider. Then I grew up. And became a teacher. And began disliking the holiday. Chaos in the classroom. Students on a sugar-high. Big mess. Unending parade through the school, in front of all of the parents. AHHHH!!!

Then I had a baby. And she was fun to dress up. And this year she's been able to do some simple halloween crafts. And I started thinking that maybe halloween wasn't so bad. The night before halloween we decorated pumpkins. DH and I carved ours and our daughter used a Mr. Pumpkinhead kit. Isn't it cute? Doesn't it scream, "Some child created me and likes me?" Definitely not an adult pumpkin, right?

SO WHY SMASH IT????

I don't understand the thinking behind smashing jack-o-lanterns. But when I found that they'd smashed my daughters OBVIOUSLY child-decorated pumpkin I was FURIOUS. Luckily, she wasn't as shook up as I thought she would be. And I was able to salvage the pieces (except for the ears. Why would somebody smash a pumpkin and then steal the ears? I tell you, I'm clueless!). BUT STILL!!! Our neighborhood streets were lined with all of the pumpkins that had been smashed. And I realize that after halloween, the jack-o-lanterns aren't good for very much, but they could at least ASK to smash my pumpkin!

Next year I'll have to begin again to start liking halloween...

Wonderment #2

Why do hunters wear camouflage when they still have to wear a bright orange vest? And aren't deer colorblind anyway?

Moose Sighting

This past weekend we visited my Uncle and Aunt. We'd heard stories of the beautiful area where they live, how moose pass their back fence often, deer graze within view daily, the river is a walk away, the voles digging in the backyard. So we decided to see if the stories were all true (besides which, we wanted to visit). My personal hope was to see a moose. So we went.

And it lived up to all the stories. A picturesque (I love that word!) place. It was completely peaceful. The kiddos had a great time, DH and I had a great time visiting with my aunt and uncle, and we saw not one moose, but FOUR! Two cows walking through the trees, and a mama with her calf as we were taking a walk by the river.

This is our first moose sighting. By the time I got the camera out, they were deep into the trees.

It was a five hour trip to get there and five hours back (it would be shorter without kids:) but well worth the time. The kiddos had so much fun that they were exhausted and slept more than halfway back home.

This is the view from their deck. Who would ever want to leave this place?

Next time I'll be more specific and hope to see a Bull Moose...

What?!?!

Dear Readers, Friends,

My daughter has a favorite color. It's PINK. What?!?!

Love,

Me :)

P.S. I've recently come to the point of liking (and admitting that I like) purple. But my toddler daughter insists on everything being pink. Her halloween bucket - a pink pumpkin. Her shirt everyday - pink. Her hair elastics - pink. She loves her shoes because they're pink. And her boots. And the mittens that are too small for her that she found and insists on wearing - because they're pink. Where did I go wrong? What am I going to do?

Cashew Cake, drizzled with white chocolate (instead of the usual brown), is delicious!

I Won!

I recently went to a Taste of Home Cooking show with my mom and sister-in-law. It was a really good show, with a lot of great recipes demonstrated. There were a bunch of companies that set up booths to look at, trying to get you to buy their wares. And yes, I did buy something. Avon had a booth and had some really great earrings for sale at a really great price. They're larger than I usually wear, but I'm excited to try to wear them.

Well, at the end of the show a lot of local companies had donated items to for a giveaway. And I WON!!! I never win door prizes, so I was pretty ecstatic. Almost as amazing - the emcee pronounced my name CORRECTLY. Strangers never do that. First graders do. Adults don't. It was fantabulous!

A Wonderment

From the story of the Ugly Duckling:

How did the swan egg end up in the middle of a duck's nest? Especially without the Mama Duck knowing it had been added? Wouldn't she have realized that there was an extra egg in her nest? And hadn't she ever seen a baby swan before to know that it wasn't really a duckling?