SPT--Black & White

I love Self-Portrait Tuesday because it's different from all the other blogging days and because it forces me to think about things differently...even myself. I took about 50 self-portraits (quickly) to get a picture for this post and I can't believe how different I look from photo to photo and how I feel about those different looks (many of which are scary). But then I brought in the mail this afternoon and had a belated (always welcome) birthday present from Carlo which included this tiny envelope addressed to me this way, so I decided to take a self-portrait with it because it delighted me so.


Overall I feel like I'm happy with myself. My self-worth is not based on how I look (obviously or I'd be in trouble), but what normal woman doesn't care about how she looks?

When I look at this picture I see...

• Kind eyes that are starting to be adorned with wrinkles (I prefer the term laugh lines).
• The wrinkles, which I call "the fissure" on my forehead. These are so deeply etched that I can feel a divot in the bone under them.
• A discolored spot under my right eye (which has only surfaced in the last year or two).
• A very full face (I'm not one of those people who put on weight everywhere else, but still look normal in the face, oh no, not me!).
• Straight teeth (thanks to wearing braces for 2 years 2 months and 11 days).
• My neck area strategically cut out of this photo.
• My smile, which has been a new addition in the last few years as I've learned to naturally smile for photos without feeling self-conscious or fake.
• My family room, which though tiny is homey and mine.
• Nubby fingernails that are always splitting and never polished because nail polish gets scraped off onto the cards I'm always writing and the projects I do.
  
• Evidence of my efforts to spread generosity through good mail and the instant delight that results from receiving good mail. (Did you see that too?)
  

**What do you see?
Are you participating in this today?
Don't forget to check in with Lelly.**

Crazy Hair Day

It's Red Ribbon Week at the kids' school this week (reminder to say "no" to drugs) so each day they get to do or wear something different to remind them, and today was crazy hair day.


Landon went gel crazy and spiked his hair like a mad-scientist. He had so much gel going on that when I got a closer look I could see it all over his forehead and the sides of his face. He's probably going to feel crunchy at school today.


Whitney wasn't as adventurous as Landon, she just requested 3 pony tails. I'm not very good at doing her hair, so this sort of look was at my skill level for a change.

The back view.

After I took the kids' pictures and decided to turn the camera on my own crazy hair. This is me with bed head and bed face, first thing in the morning. Yikes. My eyes actually look lopsided. Does a shower remedy that? Oh my...

**Does your school do Crazy Hair days?
Did you do that growing up?--I didn't.
Do you scare yourself in the morning?**

I love Mondays!

{Clean Kitchen!}

I absolutely love Mondays! I love regrouping at home after the weekend, so even though that means doing laundry, vacuuming & dusting, and sifting through the rubble Whitney has left over the weekend it's also the only day that I'm usually obligation free. the only thing I don't like about Mondays is that the kids get out early from school, but I can handle that.

The laundry bins are empty!

This is what Saturday evening looked like, what in the world it's only October?

The kids actually had a successful snowball fight with the meager accumulation. They said the snow stuck together perfectly, thus making excellent snowballs.


This is what we woke up to yesterday! I couldn't believe it. It melted quickly, so there is no evidence left now. It's just not right when it snows while the leaves are still on the trees, fortunately none of the branches broke.


Good news--I found the dinosaur book I couldn't find in time for Whitney's birthday. She didn't respond excitedly at first (perhaps she had envisioned a toy of some sort), but she quickly became consumed by it and appears to love it. The crazy thing is, I found it right where I had been looking for it. I tidied up in my scrapbook room on Saturday night and stumbled on it, duh!


Last night for Family Home Evening Landon was in charge of the game and chose for us to play Life. It ended up taking over an hour to play! That was more than I had anticipated, but his excitement while we were playing made it worthwhile. I was the banker, but Landon kept reaching over to make change and do things (apparently he's always the banker when he plays with his friends) and after awhile I decided he is better at it than I am! He can calculate numbers much faster than I can--how sad is that?

**Any wacky weather at your house?
Are you any good at math?
Do you like playing Life?**

Sunday Thoughts

I was reading the homework assignment for our Marriage and Family Relations class this morning and really loved lesson 13 because is full of great information and helpful reminders about what I should be doing as a mother.

In the February letter, the First Presidency taught that by teaching and rearing children in gospel principles, parents can protect their families from corrosive elements. They further counseled parents and children “to give highest priority to family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities. However worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely-appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform” (First Presidency letter, 11 Feb. 1999; cited in Church News, 27 Feb. 1999, 3).


--Even though I have loved participating with the kids' soccer and flag football teams over the past few months, I'm looking forward to not having any extracurricular activities after this coming week. As the weather gets colder and the days get shorter we tend to stay inside together more, and that's a great time to spend together (not all of it of course) baking, playing games, hanging out and just being home together.

Homes Should Be a Safe Place

• • Make our homes a safe place where each family member feels love and a sense of belonging. Realize that each child has varying gifts and abilities; each is an individual requiring special love and care.

• • Remember, “a soft answer turneth away wrath” (Proverbs 15:1). We must never, out of anger, lock the door of our home or our heart to our children. Like the prodigal son, our children need to know that when they come to themselves they can turn to us for love and counsel.

• 

• • Spend individual time with our children, letting them choose the activity and the subject of conversation. Block out distractions.

• The importance of extended family:
• 
  
• 

• Many adult members of the extended family do much parenting in their own right. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, cousins, and other family members can have great impact on the family. Sometimes extended family members can say things parents cannot say without starting an argument. After a long heart-to-heart discussion with her mother, one young woman said: “It would be awful to tell you and Dad I had done something wrong. But it would be worse to tell Aunt Susan. I just couldn’t let her down.”

I'm loving this class and have enjoyed doing the homework. It's silly that I don't read more stuff like this on my own because it's so inspiring and helpful. If any of you want one of these books I'd be happy to send you one, just let me know.

**Do you need constant reminders like I do?
Any thoughts about this post?
Do you feel overwhelmed with outside activities sometimes?**

Amy's Book Binding Class

Amy H. (aka Book Club Amy) recently posted about book binding and offered to teach a class for those of us interested in learning, so today Michelle, Hannah, Diana and I spent the day at Amy's house soaking up her knowledge and trying to learn a new skill.


Since Amy's den/library is currently undergoing some changes (i.e., paint decisions and no furniture) she set up tables in there and made a classroom for today. It was pretty deluxe because we all had a table to ourselves, and she had every book binding supply we could have wanted.


Pretty much the only part of the process I could handle with confidence was gluing the paper onto the covers. I'm a notorious glue spazz, but know how to do it so that is the only part that made me feel like I had any skills whatsoever.


Michelle took this picture of me gluing the paper to the book board cover. Even if I don't end up retaining any of Amy's good information, at least I learned how to miter corners today!



Hannah and Michelle caught on much quicker than Diana or I. Every time I thought I had the steps down and could successful recreate them, I would walk 4 steps over to my chair, sit down at my spot and promptly forget what I was supposed to do. It was humbling and frustrating!


The sewing part was a bit complicated because of the up, down, over and around sorts of steps. It's probably not that tricky for a quick-learner, but it gave me grief. At one point I had to go stand on the front porch and take some cleansing breaths because I was suffocating in my own inadequacy.


After like 6 hours we finally finished! These are our finished books. (LtoR) Mine, Amy's, Hannah's, Michelle's and Diana's. There were no major screw-ups, and even though I struggled to learn, I enjoyed the process and am excited about the possibilities. I just don't think I'm ready to attempt another one without Amy, except for the gluing part.


We had to take a self-portrait at the end of the day right? You can see the rest of the pictures here.

We were happy to be Amy's demo class crowd, but I think she could teach to much bigger crowds. She has some serious skills and a lot of passion for book binding. It's a cool talent to have. Thanks Amy!

**Have you ever attempted book binding?
Do you have a hard time learning new things?
What would you use this kind of book for?
What kind of class would you like to take?**

Catherine Tate Show - Surpised Woman

Amanda sent me the link for this after reading my last post about startling easily. I don't react in the same way, but the skittishness is similar and made me laugh out loud.

Five for Friday

This is my first Five for Friday-type post, let's see if I actually have 5 things to post about.

1. I was working at the school this morning when they had a fire drill. It was kind of freaky to experience something like that again (it's been like 20 years since I've had to line up single file and calmly walk outside).


2. I stopped at Sonic today to get a drink for Michelle and a cup of ice for me and it took 15 minutes to get it! Good grief. There were only 2 cars in the drive thru, but I know that can be slow so I pulled into one of the carhop places. It took so long that I started looking around to see if I was on candid camera or something. When the guy finally brought the drinks he scared the crap out of me. I startle so easily, it's embarrassing.


3. I cut out 3 sets of good mail labels, made several cards, and wrote 8 cards while at Michelle's house today. Michelle had a somewhat stressful Creative Friday thanks to Eva fighting her nap for an hour and a half. Poor Michelle.

4. Adam, Amy and the girls came over for game night tonight. Fortunately I was in good form (I ruined game night due to wicked PMS several weeks ago) but we had a fun night. Megan actually slept the entire time, so we were amazingly kid-free tonight.


5. I got a nice note from Laurie M. today. We went to lunch together on Wednesday and spent 2 hours at JCW's talking. Blogging friends are fabulous. Check out Laurie's blog sometime, she posted her 100 list today.

Amanda sent me the link for this video clip after reading this post, so I had to add it. I don't react in the same way, but the skittishness is similar and made me laugh out loud. Thanks Amanda, this looks like a show I would love.

**When was your last fire drill?
Have you sent any cards this week?
Do you ever fear you're on candid camera?**

All is Well

I couldn't really think of a title for this post, but am feeling good and have no complaints (how about that?!) so I went with "All is Well". I guess that's a good thing.

Here is my day in bullet points.

• Breakfast at IHOP for Whitney's birthday.

• Home to blog, shower, tidy up the house, then watch Bleak House on the computer while putting Jenn's photos in an album.
• I found some ice trays that make pebble ice. It's not exactly like Sonic, but it's doing the job! I just need to buy more so the freezer can keep up with the rate I consume it.

• Surprise visit from Michelle & Eva who brought me roses from their yard. It's a rare treat to have them at my house, especially just stopping by.

• Another surprise visit from Amie to drop off a card and treats for Whitney, book orders, and a multiplication cd for Landon. Delightful. (She wouldn't let me take a picture of her whole self, only her hands. $%#@ Apparently the thought of me taking a picture of her was a deterrent to stopping by and Michelle agreed! I'm shocked.)

• Solitude at home while finishing my Bleak House disc from Netflix along with the first disc of Friday Night Lights Season 1 (I watched them all last year, but am refreshing myself because I love that show so much).
• Ran to the grocery store, then picked up Landon from school (Whitney was with my mom).
• Got good mail from Mique today! Thanks!
  

• Home for an hour to putter around and prep for football.

• Football, glorious football on a gorgeous, brisk fall day. We won 27-6, everyone played great, no parents wigged out, and we got Krispy Kreme Donuts for the treat afterwards!! (There were plenty even for the coaches and siblings, so nice.)

{This was part of the view from the field tonight. Wow.}

• Home for fabulous Thursday night tv.

The one really dumb and embarrassing thing about today is that I can't find the birthday present I got for Whitney! I'm sure it's buried in a heap somewhere in my scrapbook room, but I've checked all the heaps I thought it would be in and haven't found it. It's just a cool dinosaur book I bought a month ago at Costco, but she knows I have something for her and knows I can't find it. This a sad state of affairs.


Fortunately she had so much fun with my mom today and came home to find a present from Lori and the treats from Amie so she isn't questioning it. (This may be the last year we can get away with something like this.)

**Did anyone show up at your house today?
Have you seen these pebble ice trays?
Do you ever hide things from yourself by mistake?**

7 Years Ago Today

Seven years ago today I was getting checked in at the American Fork Hospital for an induction. I was hugely pregnant (though still a few days before my due date) and so ready to have this baby. Randy took this foxy photo of me in all my glory at the hospital before putting on the hospital gown. Landon was 2 years and 2 months old and was home with my mom. He was so much my world at that point in time that it was hard to imagine adding anyone else to it.


Yet Little Miss Whitney arrived 6 hours after checking into the hospital. It was a super easy delivery (especially compared to Landon's). I spent the afternoon happily progressing and feeling no pain thanks to my epidural, with the room filled with Randy, my mom, my dad, and my two sisters. When it came time to push it only took 3 pushes to get her out. It was amazing!

She was so peaceful, sweet and cute (especially for a newborn).

On her first birthday!

2nd Birthday!

3rd Birthday!

4th Birthday!

5th Birthday!

6th Birthday!

Yesterday!

I don't know how it's possible for her to be turning 7, but today is the day and she just keeps becoming more Whitney. She drives me crazy with her messes, but I love her for who she is and want her to be herself. She has always been such a character and has definite ideas and vision for what she wants to do and the way she sees things. I started to respect her as early as 6 months old when she and I flew to Michigan for Betsy's 30th birthday. Whitney was such an easygoing baby on that trip and went with the flow so beautifully that I felt like we had reached an understanding, and were in this thing together. It was surreal.

Happy 7th Birthday to Whitney!!
She is all kinds of cute.

SPT--Comfort Food

I almost didn't do this SPT because I didn't want to make any of the comfort foods I enjoy like beef stew, potato soup, lasagna, pot roast (I'm such a carnivore), or anything, but then I remembered that I had photos of two of my favorite comfort foods, so I'm giving this SPT a whirl.


Toast with lots of butter and some cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on is always a favorite. I often eat this in the evening while watching tv or even in the middle of the night when I wake up ravenous and chipper. It's quick, easy, tasty and comforting.


Ice cream is another favorite of mine whether it's chilly outside or not. I just love it. There would probably be much less of me if I didn't like it so much.

**What are your comfort foods?
Do they change with the seasons?
Did you do this SPT?**

Shock & Hilarity

Last night we had our first 7:00 football game, which meant playing under the lights. It was pretty cool, except that it was cold, windy and rainy (hence no photos). I wore my big orange jacket and tried to shield my clipboard so my stat sheets didn't get soaked (though they did anyway).


The shocking thing was that one of the boys' fathers tried to pick a fight with the coach and then later with Randy! I could not believe it. He is upset because he wants his son to be the Quarterback more often, but his son isn't the best kid for that position and threw 2 interceptions last night. The dad is all riled that the coach isn't playing his son in that position enough (though he plays all the time in other positions) and was in the coach's face about it. I was scared and could not believe a parent would do this over 9-year olds playing flag football!! Good grief. This man saw Randy talking to the coach about it and after the game came over to Randy and said, "Do you have something to say to me?" Randy just walked away and said, "I don't have anything to say to you." Oh my!

I was handing out treats to the kids after the game and was totally shocked and speechless when this father made his kid give back his treats! Can you believe that? We have 2 practices and 3 games left in the season and I am sure this boy won't be allowed to come back. What a crock. What is this man teaching his son? I ended up sending the treats to school with Landon so he could give them to him at lunch today, but he is under strict instructions not to say anything about this boy's father. I just picked Landon up from school and asked him about it and he said the boy is very sad that he can't play anymore, but that he was happy about the treats!

I feel so sick about this scuffle that I keep getting flashes of panic and disgust as I think about it. I just can't believe it even happened. This is the sort of thing you see on the news or hear about and wonder who these freaky parents are, but I saw it first hand and just can't wrap my mind around it. Sheesh.


After football, I went over to Collette's house for a nonbook discussion book club gathering. Poor Jenn has pink eye and was wearing an eye patch so as not to disgust anybody with her eye and so she wouldn't rub it. (It wasn't even bad looking and it wasn't bothering her, so she never touched it anyway.) The eye patch proved to be highly amusing to me and when we took our group self-portrait at 11:30pm I ended up getting the giggles after looking at it. Jenn is a great sport and still looked cute, it's just the thought of the eye patch that cracked me up so much.

**Have you witnessed any psycho parents?
Are you confrontational?
Have you ever worn an eye patch?
What time of night do you get giddy?**

Creativity, Correspondence, & A Photo Shoot

The kids didn't have school yesterday so we headed over to Michelle's house for Creative Monday so the kids could play together and so that Michelle and I could try to make up for missing 2 Creative Fridays in a row. Missing those is never a good idea for us, but Eva was sick and then their family was in St. George for the weekend, so we didn't have much choice.


Poor Michelle didn't get a whole lot done because she had to take Max to get a birthday present for a friend, then wrap the present, then take him to the party, etc. Interruptions like that make for choppy bursts of productivity, then add in a tired and whiny Eva and Michelle was pretty much doomed to have a disappointing day. I, on the other hand, got tons done. I made many photo cards and then wrote about 10 of them. Whitney was hanging around and ended up writing 2 cards as well (one a much needed thank you note that's about 2 months overdue...but never too late).


The kids and I left around 4:00 so that I could drop them off at home and head up the street to a park to meet Jenn's family for a fall photo shoot. It was perfect weather photo-wise yesterday so the park was full of people taking family photos. Fortunately the place is big enough that we didn't have to overlap each other too much. After the photo shoot (2+ hours!) I wanted to take a few self-portraits on my digital camera with Jenn. Her kids then wanted to take some of us, so we ended up having an amusing photo shoot that resulted in many pictures of me and Jenn. Her daughter Emily, who had been very challenging during the photo shoot, suddenly felt like being in pictures and joined us for a few. Crazy girl.


Later that night I was helping Whitney finish her homework and suggested to Landon that he needed to write thank you notes (which I had finally made) for his birthday gifts (back in August). I was expecting to meet some resistance to this and even said, "Maybe you could write one a day or something." He totally surprised me by getting into it and wanting to get them done. He wrote 16 thank you notes! I was so impressed. The kids ended up staying up 45 minutes past their bedtime, but all of Landon's birthday thank you notes are finished. I'm so pleased.


So after such a day of correspondence and thank you note writing I need to buy stamps! I had quite a plentiful supply, but after yesterday I'm down to like 2 and that just won't do.

**Did you write thank you notes as a kid?
Do you agree that's it's never
too late to send a thank you?
Do your kids cooperate during photos?**