Holding Back

The TreeMy girls in Front of the Tree

Around our house at Christmas we try to keep things really simple. We made a decision the first year we were married to not go overboard. We really wanted Christmas to be more about spending time together than getting lots of presents. Once we had kids we decided even Santa should keep it simple. Santa brings one present for the kids and fills stocking for everyone. He does not bring the grown-ups gifts. Then each of us gives a present to the others. About this time every year I start getting anxiety because the pile of presents looks so small. I have to constantly remind myself that we have everything we need. Cam really helps me stay focused on our goal to keep it simple. I would probably go broke at Christmas without him- or crazy- maybe both. We are constantly bombarded with images of what Christmas "should" look like. Stacks of presents- all in coordinating wrapping paper and bows, a giant tree with matching ornaments and ribbons, trays of goodies, fancy meals, clothes and toys and lights and the list keeps going. Not that any of these things are bad but..... It is easy to get caught up in other peoples ideas of what Christmas should look like. I am finally starting to figure out what I want my Christmas to look like. I don't have the biggest best tree, my decorations aren't fancy- in fact I made most of them myself or got them as gifts. My Christmas is a modge podge of memories all put together in a way that makes me feel happy and loved. I love looking at my Christmas tree and not seeing tons of matchy matchy ornaments that I just bought. I love that almost every ornament reminds me of someone or something. Christmas is a great time to remember not only Christ and the gift his life is to us but also remember all those around us who bless our lives every day. This is me wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful new year full of new memories to last a lifetime and beyond.Our Gingerbread cookiesUs singing the Christmas song we wrote( I couldn't get the video to upload here so I posted it on Facebook if you missed it)

Below are the words and Chords of Our song- for fun.....

All Aboard!!!

Today was one of my favorite days at school. It was Polar Express Day. Let me start by saying I don't love the book or the movie- but the concept I love. I read about polar express parties about 4 years ago and couldn't wait to have one. Sooo I convinced my co-teachers to go along. We now look forward to this day all year- almost as much as for the Fairy Tale Ball. We go on a fake train ride, sing carols, make train ornaments, drink hot chocolate, and do cotton ball "snow" in the parachute to songs on the Polar Express Soundtrack. We sing "When Christmas Comes to Town" in Sign Language. We do watch the movie at nap time as well. This year I had another idea (which usually means a lot of work cuz I have no idea how we are gonna pull it off) - I admit I come up with a lot of ideas. You should see the look I get when I say to Diana (my co-teacher) "I have and Idea." She is excellent at helping me realize my visions. I am slowly learning from her how to do and make-do to create a lot of fun things. Not all of my ideas are good or work out but this time it did. We made some big gingerbread houses out of cardboard boxes. My class looks so cute right now! Anyways I promised I would try and post some pics. Oh and I forgot the best part of Polar Express Day is that we all wear PAJAMAS to school. I have to buy a new pair every year just for Polar Express Day- silly me......
My gingerbread VillageMy class holding up their ticketsMe and Bananas in our Jammies

Blast from the Past- High School

I was going through some Pictures today and found a few from High school I just had to share....Sorry if anyone wanted those days to be buried and gone- I just dug them up....!
Child Development 2 class
Emily's Blue tounge
Yes that is N'SYNC and yes it is upside down on purpose.
I love this one of Kat curled up in the best chair that ever existed- notice the journal clutched to her chest:)
Me Tonya and Emily at a sleepover- one of MANY
Backstreets Back! That is all I have to say about that:P
Kat's House in hills- I miss the log walls!
Dec.31 1997 New Years Eve. Ready for a Region Dance Lookin' Good!
Tonya and Kat- This was a makeover night. I remember waving hair then wetting it down and blow drying cuz someone didn't like how it turned out....
Both of these dresses were mine...How many times did we switch clothes. Stylin' for yet another Region Dance- Let's get ready to Macarena (sp?)
I can't remember what we did this night probably not just drive around in Tonya's car and honk at the houses of the boys we liked... WE were much to mature to do something like that!
Me and Emily- let us just note that once in my life my room was CLEAN.

I had a lot of fun coming across these pictures. Those were fun years full of great friends and fun. This is dedicated to all ya'all. I love you still. Even though we aren't close like we used to be I think about you all the time and send good thoughts your way. Thanks for all the FUN!

Halloween

Little Black Cat

Scary Witch

Whole Family at Grandmas Halloween Party

By the time Halloween rolls around I am ready for it to be over. We dressed up for the 3rd time tonight to go Trick- or- Treating. Maybe I should say Trunk-or-Treating.... In our area everyone goes to the church for a Trunk-or-Treat. I had never been to one before tonight it was a lot of fun though. My girls were so cute. So far I have only gotten 1 trick-or-treater at my house. We had mummy hot dogs for dinner- I saw them on line and had to try them. They turned out really cute I think. Hope everyone had a Fabulous Halloween! Next on my list Letters to Santa:) I am really terrible getting the pictures to lay nicely I'll work on it.......

Square Pumpkins

I really love to do crafty projects-especially fall ones. Of all the things I have made for my house probably 80% are fall oriented. This year as I was unloading my box of decorations I fell in love all over again with my square pumpkins and thought they would be fun to post. I got the idea for these when I was at Roberts making a Halloween card. I made mine a little different than theirs. That is why I like this project- there is a lot of personalization that can go into it. I will tell you what I used then you can make it fit your personality.

What You Need

1 4x4 cut into a 6in, 5 in and 4 inch rectangle these are the pumpkins- (we actually used an old fence post I like the weathered look)

1 dowel I used 1/2 inch but you may like yours wider... cut 3 1 inch stems or shorter you choose:)

rafia in orange and green

Orange and green acrylic paint- my orange is Americana brand "Burnt Orange" the green was dark green but I can't remember exactly

Sand Paper

glue Gun

-First Cut and sand your pumpkins to the desired texture

-paint all three blocks orange you can paint all the sides but I left the bottom brown

- when they are dry sand the edges; I rounded my edges and corners and roughed up the sides a bit for the weathered look

-for the stems I rounded the top a little before I painted- then paint green- after it is dry sand with sandpaper until desired look has been achieved.

-hot glue stems top middle of painted orange blocks and you have a pumpkin.

-I used rafia to tie around in a bow. You could also use wire twisted to look like vines, ribbon, leaves or whatever else

This was a simple craft that was so much fun. I thought I should share it. Every year when I pull them out I love them more.

Hope you enjoy

7 things about me

So Katherine gave me a creative blogger award cuz she wants me to write more stuff so Thank you Kat. You get a post but since I can't figure out all that link stuff right now I will just do the most important thing write the 7 things about myself.
1- I have written 3 childrens books none of which will be published but I love to make up stories to tell to my kids and preschoolers. I especially like to tell Fairy Tales- I love Fairy Tales.
2- I am also a reader. My favorite book is most likely Pride and Prejudice. My husband got me Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for my birthday and I am quite enjoying it- (especially the appalling things they have Mr Darcy say to Miss Bingley;)
3-I always need a creative outlet of some kind. I often hop from obsession to obsession. My new hobbies are making bows and digital scrapping. I have actually made about 40 dollars selling bows at my school- Mostly I just give them away as presents.
4-I teach preschool and have been doing so for 10 years- The longer I teach the more I am convinced that I know nothing about children.
5-I made a meal plan for the month of September for the first time in my life and I am surprised to say that I follow it most of the time. I really only have to do dinner because we eat Breakfast and Lunch at my School. Still it is better than the frozen dinners we were eating nearly every day.
6-I love music. I am not good at music. I sing okay and play the flute a little-(mostly at Christmas just like Katherine- there is something about Flute music at Christmas I love). But I probably know more kids songs than the average person- Sometimes we play a game and school where the kids say a topic and I try to sing a song I know about it- fun but sometimes I have to make one up on spot.
7-I find that I am more comfortable in a space if there is just a hint of chaos about it. When things are too clean it make me uncomfortable. Does that make me obsessive non-complusive (the opposite of OCD).

I hope that is enough to satisfy the Kreative Bloggers(sorry don't know how to post it-I will learn how another time perhaps)
If you read me Seven things about you would be awesome to hear as well-( considering that I haven't talked face to face with most of you in years).

Fall is ALMOST in the Air

I love Cache Valley in the Fall!! I don't remember fall being like this where I grew-up. I can't wait until we drive up Logan Canyon and all the leaves have changed. It is really breathtaking. Even Sardine Canyon is beautiful this time of year. Fall is my favorite time of year. Teaching Pre-school in the Fall is so fun with themes like apples and leaves and pumpkins. So much to do and learn... About this time of year I start to get excited about Halloween too. Halloween was a big deal at my house and it is my bosses favorite Holiday. I am gearing myself up for the Carnival, and the contests for the best decorated classroom, pumpkin and staff costume. I won the pumpkin contest last year-it was the first time I ever won anything so that was cool I made a Cinderella Coach (I knew who the voters were). On top of all that it is time to figure out costumes. I am required to dress up and we all know how much I hate that;). I still haven't decided what to be usually I know by now. Hannah is old enough to choose her own costumes so I have to go along with her choice to be a witch. Clara is going to be her black cat. I bought part of her costume today. I always feel better if I have costumes done early so I can relax and enjoy the rest of the fun. Fall is coming. I feel a hint of it every morning and I can't wait.

Trying something new

This weekend I started a new hobby- or obsession as we call it here. I really wanted to try digital scrapbooking so I asked around and everyone said Photoshop was the best. I believed them and I was terrified. All previous attempts to use that program had ended in frustration but I decided to give it a shot. So with a little help from Cam and some free downloads from Scrap Princess and Free Scrapbooking.com I got started. Now I am gonna try to post a few of my pages. We will see if I can figure that out!!

Back to School

So I am going back to school, Well sorta. I have been working in Child care pretty consistently for 10 years now. I have a lot of experience but not a lot of certificates to back it up. Sure I have my Associates Degree but that is a whole lot of whoopee. I decided it was time to go for my CDA (Child Development Associates). So I ordered a through the mail training course pack and it came yesterday. I am really excited to finally be on my way to a CDA and kinda be back in school. I just have to finish 120hours of training, put together a professional file full of mission type statements and then pay like 300 bucks to have someone observe me teach. I do wish they accepted my college courses but since they are more than 5 years ago they do not count. If they did that I could probably skip the training hours cuz I would already have them. It is really frustrating to spend money on a child development and guidance course when you can pretty much pass the quiz without ever reading the material but.... I will do what it takes so my boss will finally take me seriously as a Teacher.

I Used to be Smart

So this weekend my parents gave me a box of my stuff that they found in their storage shed. As I went through the box I found an AP scholar award- I jokingly held it up to Cam and said "Look your wife used to be smart." (to be honest I forgot I ever was an AP scholar) Of course he just laughs at me but the truth is, when I look at my life now and my life as a student I sometimes wonder what happened. I do not feel smart like I used to. I told my sister what I had said to Cam and she said "you're still smart you just use it in a different way. " I agree that I am not some dummy on the street but I think it is hard to feel smart as a mom and pre-school teacher. Sure I know more than the 4 year olds but, they are constantly challenging what I thought I was good at. This last year of teaching has been a total overhaul of every technique I ever used. But that is another subject all together. Have you ever read one of your old High School or College essays and thought man that person sounds like they know their stuff. Now I am lucky if I can get out a coherent sentance once or twice a week. So what happened. Why can I not punctate a sentence correctly or spell with out spell check. Where along the line did I loose that knowledge?
I always joke that my kids were made from my brain cells- anyone who has become a mom might agree with that. But really I used to use big words!! Now it is all about dolls and dinos, bugs and babies. I just hope that one day I will be able to reconnect with the scholar in me. Until then though I will say I used to be smart.

The Birthday Conundrum

As we get closer and closer to Bears 2nd birthday I ask myself this question. Should it really be this hard to figure out what to get a two year old girl for her birthday? No brainer right.... not for me. Am I the only one that has this problem. Stuffed animals- no we already have like 600, clothes- yes but we already got one outfit so we need to find something cooler than that. Dress-ups good but everything I see I could probably make myself and it is all soo expensive, movies- does she really need to watch more TV, a bike, got that already, a kitchen got that already- Plus how much it too much to spend on your kid for their birthday. 30, 40 50 dollars. But I think I have come to the root of the problem. As I look around my house all I can think of is what can I get that will not just end up strewn about. What will be easy for me? OH NO here comes the mommy guilt!! I just need to stop thinking about what I would like and get her what she would like. Any suggestions?

I Did This All By Myself

So anyone that has every seen me try to do anything on a computer will be proud to know me today because.... I put this blog together by myself. Cam did not have to help me at all- in fact he is at work so I couldn't even ask for help if I needed it. He will be very impressed when he gets home and, you should all be too. I started this blog because everyone (okay 2 people) said I should join in. So I thought I should give it a try. Maybe if I type a blog every now and then I will feel like I am talking to an adult. As a mom and pre-school teacher those moments of feeling like you are conversing with a grown-up about grown up things are few and far between. So here it goes. I am not great at sticking to projects so we will see......