Busy..but not too busy for thoughts....

Tis the season for BUSY me! The vocal group I am in has officially started it's holiday mayhem so I might not be the best at updating my blog, but I did want to record a few things that have come to my mind this week.

As I was getting ready for a performance on Thursday, Jack fell down a few stairs. Luckily he didn't get seriously injured, but he tore the flap of skin that connects his upper lip to the gums. I called the pediatrician, and she said those kind of injuries can't be stitched.
She said it would heal fast, but it will be very tender for a few days. She was right!! He had a very restless night to say the least. Lots of whimpering and full on screaming at times. I ended up holding him and rocking him for most of the night. It's so hard when someone you love so much is suffering. I just kept thinking about how innocent and sweet he was, and how he didn't deserve to suffer like this. It was then my thoughts turned to gratitude for my Heavenly Father. When I think about Christs sacrifice for me, I usually focus on what he was going through. The pain he felt. As I sat there rocking Jack and wanting so much to comfort him, I started to think about Heavenly Fathers sacrifice for me. He had to watch his precious, innocent son suffer. A son that loved and served others. A son that had no sin. A son that loved him and trusted in him. And the pain he had to suffer was greater than anyone can comprehend. It was such a powerful reminder of Heavenly Fathers love for me. It amazes me that he loved me enough to let his son suffer for me. After seeing my own son suffering just a little bit, it makes it even harder to understand. I don't think I will ever feel worthy of that kind of love, but I am so grateful for it.

Ellie: (with a ball in her shirt) Look, Mom, I have one big boob.

Mom: Ellie, let's not say boob.

Ellie: Look Mom, I have one big nibble!(she misunderstood me a while back when I told her that everyone had nipples....I thought it was cute so we went with it)

Mom: Ellie, don't say boobs or nibbles, say breast. That's what they are called and it's a nicer word for a sweet little six year old to say.

Ellie: Mom...look at my one big breast!

Annie: (approaching) Ellie, do you have a ball in your shirt?

Ellie: no, it's a boob.

Come on...don't tell me YOUR family doesn't sit around and sing songs about Cheese.

I thought Mike's enormous belch at the end was particularly special.

Learn to love what's good for you......

OR.....try to love what's good for you until you realize they are quite NASTY and give the rest to your hamster.

(Although these are very cute and we had fun pretending we were giants eating whole heads of lettuce, I just can't say that I am in love with brussel sprouts. And if I didn't like them, you can imagine what the rest of the family thought of them....Anyone have any ideas on how to make these babies taste good? I just roasted them in olive oil and added them to our pasta dish.)

But all hope is not lost............there's always dessert.

I like tall... men and I can not lie.........

One dirty,..dirty,..diiiirrrrty chandelier and one treacherously high entry way were no match for this one time Kleaning Kousin and his trusty Little Giant Ladder. Grime be gone! Let there be light!!!

After living with the dirty eye sore for over two years...(I am talking about the light fixture, not the one time Kleaning Kousin,) I feel words aren't enough to express my joy at having it clean. So here is a little song that just came to mind.....

(clear throat)...I can see clearly now the muck is gone!

I can see all obstacles in my way...(meaning the obstacles that occasionally crowd the stairs. like...toys,... shoes..banana peels)

Gone are the dark layers of filthy sludge....it's gonna be a bright....bright.....artificially lit daaayyyy....(that would be so nice for you)

ok, I'm done.

Jack Frost

Jacks first experience with snow

Family Pictures

Reflections

This year the theme for reflections is "Beauty is..." Casie took a picture, and wrote a poem, and Annie drew a picture. Ya, I know...my kids are amazing. :-)



Casie's Picture

Casie's Poem
Beauty Is.....
beauty is the smell of breakfast in the early morning
beauty is a rain fall with no kind of warning
beauty is spending time with a loved one
beauty is swinging in a hammock and having a lot of fun
beauty is feeling light like a feather
beauty is having wonderful weather
beauty is the garden just outside
or the sky that stretches blue and wide
beauty is having a nice clean house
beauty is Christmas Eve when your as quiet as a mouse
beauty is a soft comfy bed
beauty is feeling the white, soft, snow on your head
beauty is wild flowers as they dance in the sun
beauty is having all your homework done
beauty is cooking dinner with your dad
beauty is comfort when you're sad
beauty is a picture that an artist just drew
beauty is a baseball a picher just threw
beauty is when everything is fair
beauty is when all people care
beauty is you
beauty is me
beauty is everywhere as you can see

Annie's Picture

Refinement

Last night I was reminded how grateful I am to have friends who refine me and take me to a higher spiritual plain.

The sights and tastes of HALLLOOWWEEEENNN

Peanut Butter Eye Balls

Pumpkin Pancakes

Spooky Tortilla's with spooky cheese. :-)

Sadly, I didn't take a picture of my "Dinner in a pumpkin" I was too busy grabbing hot pads and spatulas and laughing my head off as our pumpkin fell apart in the oven. It was still yummy, but we re-named it, "Dinner in a huge heap,.... mingled with pumpkin"

Mysteries of the Universe

Ellie came to me this morning with a brain full of questions.

Everything from,

"How do they make it not hurt when you have a baby?"
to
" Are we just floating in space?"

She ended her inquiries with this final thought:

"How did Jesus even afford all that!?"

Crazy Hair day

Casie: Had her hair style planned out for weeks. Made me practice several times, and LOVED the way it turned out. (she also had a hard time fitting through door ways, and poked Annie in the eye at the bus stop)

Annie: Had no idea what she wanted, but as we started doing her hair, she wanted it more, and MORE, and MORE crazy. She had pipe cleaners hanging from her ears at the end, but I made her take them out. She went to school proud as punch with her look.

Ellie: Was going to copy Casie, but chickened out when it came right down to it. She barely let me do this! She DOES have an image to uphold people.

How to get your kids to eat left overs....

This worked like a charm! Add a little dinner entertainment...(me dramatically singing "You light up my life") And my kids didn't even notice they didn't get a fresh cooked meal.

fun, fun, fun, till her daddy takes the skinny jeans away...

Mike and I recently took a trip to South Carolina with Voice Male. John Luthy lives over there and set up a show for his Stake.

It would be a novel of a post if I were to try and write down all the details that made the trip enjoyable, so I will have to be content with one-liners and hope they will serve as a reminder as the years go by. :-)

Here are a few of the things that made our trip so much fun.

*Being away from the kids....sorry kids, but it was awesome to be footloose and fancy free! (I love you!)

* Doing a crossword with Mike on the airplane. How often do we ever do that?? Never!

*Staying at hotels that had semi-yummy breakfasts

*Getting to see John and Valaries awesome home!

*Going to the beach...in the rain.

*Getting to know all the VM wives better

*Having good Southern food...I had a hot dog with Cole slaw on it..and I liked it.

*Laughing and laughing and laughing

*Going to Charleston and dreaming of owning one of the ocean view homes...."I call the yellow one!"

*Going on a dinner cruise! It was so much fun and a highlight for all of us. It ended with all of us busting a move on the dance floor, and my husband..(aka Funky White Boy) doing a crazy dance solo that ended in the half splits. People cheered. I laughed....hard.

*Shopping for skinny jeans and boots....happy for Layne, sad for me...:-)

*Giving Valarie a glamour make-over in the dressing room at Kohls

*Having a few short hours of sleep at an AMAZING home! It was surrounded by a forest!

*Steamers

*Seeing two famous people at the airport (Kristin Chenoweth and the Dad from Little people big world)

*Just having a great time with our friends!

So, in true Jill fashion, I brought my camera on our awesome trip to South Carolina, but failed to bring the battery charger! I got three shots, and one of them is of me and Mike, but my eyes were closed so I didn't bother to post it!

Jack in the Box

What have I done????

A couple of days ago I had lunch with Ellie at school. At the lunch table one of her little friends leaned over and said to Ellie, "Do you like Mason?" Ellie got so nervous and looked at me and said, "No!" I thought it was cute, but it also made me think that Ellie thought it was bad to like boys and that she thought she would get in trouble if she did. That night while I was tucking the girls into bed, I told them that it wasn't wrong to think boys are cute and nice. I told them it was normal and it was ok. Here are the reactions I got:

From Casie: " Mom, I don't like this conversation!" "Can we please end it now!?"...(although when I came right out and asked her is she liked someone she said "NO!", but I noticed her fingers were crossed)

From Annie: Of course she was quietly thoughtful for a few minutes, then she shyly told me that she thought Ian had a cute face. She also added that she mostly liked him because he was nice...(that's my girl!)

From Ellie: She was as giddy as if we had just told her that we were moving to a candy store! She immediately took advantage of her new found freedom and spouted off all the boys that she liked. She was literally bouncing and giggling with excitement! In the morning I found a list posted on her wall entitled, "My bofrens" There were five names on the list.

Like I said, WHAT HAVE I DONE???????

I have a feeling we are in some serious trouble with this one!!

No comment...

I was reading through my blog a couple of nights ago, and realized I rarely post any pictures of myself. I don't really do that on purpose, but my kids and husband are so cute that I want to occupy my space with them. But then I realized that 20 years down the road, (when I am even more wrinkly and saggy then I am now) I will wish I would have posted a few pictures of myself....this is just for posterity....Oh, and this is one of like 50 pictures that I took! It's not easy to get a good shot when you are holding the camera. Can we all say double chin??

Dear posterity,

Back when your great great great grandma Jill was a young mother, there was a wonderful tool called Photoshop. We used it to fix the little imperfections on our photographs. Probably by now a special cream or pill has been invented to keep blemishes and sunspots off of your face, but back in my day we had to rely on computer programs to make us look all pretty. I'm not saying that I used photoshop at ALL in this picture, but I just wanted you to know a little about my day. Thank you

Sometimes I think I need to wait for something big, or cute, or funny to happen before I blog, but tonight I just wanted to share some thoughts I have had this week.

Yesterday Mike and I had the opportunity to attend a funeral for the mother of one of our friends. She was only 54 and had battled cancer for the last three years. I sadly didn't know her very well, but I was so impressed with her funeral service. SO many wonderful things were said and expressed. She really made an impression for good to so many people. I was so touched by the things her children said about her. She seemed to emulate what every mother should be to her kids. She left this world leaving no doubt in her families mind about her feelings for them. She served and played and loved to the fullest. I truly left the service feeling edified and with the desire to be a better person. Hearing about her life through her kids made me wonder how my kids would remember me when I leave this earth. After attending the funeral as well as remembering a few talks from conference, I am determined to tell my kids and loved ones that I love them more. I don't want to assume that they already know. I'm so grateful that I have good examples and inspiration around me.

A tender heart

Yesterday, while we were on our way to the store, Annie and I saw a homeless man at a freeway exit. It was snowing and he was holding a sign that said, "Hungry n Homeless." I don't think Annie ever realized that such a thing as "homelessness" could exist. She was astounded that anyone would be without a home and food and warm clothes. She asked me where he slept, and why he didn't have a house. With each question I could see her concern growing and growing. I gave her all the answers I could think of, and let the subject drop as we pulled up to the store. As we were shopping I noticed Annie was very quiet. I asked her what was wrong and all she said was, "I can't...I can't". Then I noticed she was crying! She said she couldn't stop thinking about the man on the freeway. She wanted to stop shopping,,(for HER school clothes) and go back and give him her money. All I could do was hug her. We talked about how it didn't feel right to be shopping while he was out there feeling cold and hungry. We also realized how blessed we felt to have a warm house to go home to. We decided to try and give more to those in need. I know it was a sad moment for her, but it was such a sweet moment for me. I loved seeing how tender and caring she is becoming. I love her so much!

Just playing with punkins'

He's not too sure about these pokie punkin's