A Day at the Park

Last week, we went to the park to meet up with some people (only to find out that they had canceled). We spent some time playing on the playground and then walking on the nearby running trail. The kids loved it. Seth said, as we were leaving, “This was really an adventure, Mom. I love adventures.” So great that a simple outing to the park can be such an adventure! :)

Happy Father's Day

So, since it's Father's Day, I thought you might like to hear from my other half, Aaron. His contributions to the blog are usually, "Marissa, you should put that on the blog." So in an effort to elicit more from him, and feeling inspired by Simple Modern Mom's week of dad blog interviews, I borrowed these questions from her (and added a few of my own) in an effort to dig into his dad psyche.

What do you now do that is something you would never thought you would do but have done since becoming a dad?
Touch poop...cleaning up a child who is being potty-trained is horrible

What is your favorite thing to do with your children?
Camping is my favorite way to spend time with my children because we are separated from all distractions. I can concentrate on developing my relationship with each of them.

In your family, what roles or tasks do you have as a father? What are your daddy duties?
work, finances, yard work, and disciplinarian

When it comes to parenting, what are your strengths and weaknesses? What about your wife’s?
 My strengths are providing my children with security, structure, rules, and discipline. Marissa's strengths are providing our children with knowledge, love, kindness, service, sacrifice, and creativity.

What is the best parenting advice you have received?
The best parenting advice I have received came from President Monson, "Don't let the problem to be solved become more important than the people to be loved."

What are your hopes and dreams for your children?
My ultimate hope for my children is that they are strong, righteous, and temple worthy, with a love of God and life.

What do you love most about each of your children?
 I love Seth's creativity, imagination, desire for learning, and sensitivity to the spirit. I love Josh's wit, sense of humor, strength, and the way he challenges the reason for things. I love Aubrey's smile, laughter, and the way she looks at me when I dance with her.

What would your ideal Father's Day be like?
 Yummy breakfast, clean house, and a whole day to spend with my family.

What is something you learned from your father that has helped you as a father?
 My dad was always there for me when I needed him and I will do the same for my children.

What is some fatherly advice that you hope to impart to your children?
Take pleasure in the small things

Thanks Aaron! We love you and we know that you love us. I am so thankful to be married to such an amazing man. You are a wonderful husband and father. We are also thankful for all of the other great fathers out there, especially our fathers (a.k.a. Grandpa P. and Grandpa C.). Thank you for all you do for all of your children and grandchildren. Happy Father's Day!

Sharing the Craftiness

Is craftiness a word? I don't think so, but it should be. Anyhoo...

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a crafty person. I love to create. Much to my husband's dismay, I am constantly trying out new crafty endeavors. Everything from sewing to painting, wood burning to scrap booking, (okay, so I haven't tried crocheting and have yet to master knitting,) I have tried it all and loved it all. I am also addicted to craft blogs. What is a craft blog, you ask? Basically it is a blog where people share ideas and post tutorials on how to make different things. Right up my alley. I will admit that I have a long list of blogs that I like to read on a regular basis. I needed a place to keep all of the wonderful ideas I was collecting, so I started a second blog, Crafty Kricket (www.craftykricket.blogspot.com). This is basically just a place for me to put the inspiring ideas I find with links to find them later when I'm ready to try them. I also record the things I make, especially the ones I give away as gifts. So I went to my sister's house this weekend. After sharing some craftiness and a short tutorial on blogging, I felt inspired to share my craft blog with her. My first follower, woohoo! So thinking about it the rest of the weekend, I decided I will officially share my craft blog. I know that some of you who read this blog are also crafty, some more so than me. I don't know if you'll learn anything from me but maybe you'll be inspired by a something you see or a link you follow. So enjoy and revel in the craftiness!

Music Week

Being a former teacher, I often feel the need to have "lessons" and activities planned for my kids when they are at home on break. Not so much to keep them busy, but more to keep them thinking and creating during the summer. So, I've picked a theme for each week and we'll do activities and such that coordinate with our theme over the course of the week. Feeling inspired by Clean Mama, who is also doing themed weeks with her kids and blogging about it every Monday, I decided that I would also share the fun things we've done. Last week's theme was Rock Star/Music week. It was kind of laid back since it was the first full week of summer here. Here are some of the things we did:

• Listened to our favorite songs
• Played with the "baby" toy musical instruments: guitar, piano, and xylophone
• Had a dance party
• Made recycled musical intruments: cereal box guitars and egg carton maracas
• Wrote our own songs (though we forgot to actually write them down)
• Watched a couple musical cartoons, like Little Einsteins
• Made chocolate-tipped drumsticks (pretzel rods dipped in melted chocolate) and chocolate music notes

• Made our own music videos

Here are couple of the more finished videos:

Once There was a Snowman  (with baby singing back up)

Book of Mormon Stories

Pop-Ice Mistake

Me: Okay…who gave Aubrey the open Pop-Ice?

Josh: You did mom.

Me: No, I gave her…oh…I did give her one but it wasn’t open.

Seth: Why?

Me: So she could chew on the cold for her teething gums.  Wow, Aubrey what sharp teeth you have.

Aubrey (in thought of course): All the better to chew through Pop-Ice, dear Mommy.

On a side note, I did take it away when I realized that she had ripped the plastic…and she screamed furiously at me.  Looks like we have another Pop-Ice junkie in our family…

Look at all those teeth!

Old School Sheets

So, while perusing the streets of Ebay, I took a trip down memory lane. I began looking at vintage sheets (they make great/cheap fabric). I stumbled upon this beauty  and knew it had to be mine. I had the exact same sheets as a kid. I love it! I immediately bid on it (with only 15 minutes remaining) and won.  An impulse purchase, I know, but for less than $3 (with shipping)  it can’t be beat! I think I’ll make a quilt for the kids (or myself). I can’t wait for my treasure to arrive…(the pic is from Ebay).

Check out these other vintage kid’s sheets that I am very tempted to buy …

 Care Bear sheets (Love these!!!)

 Snoopy sheets

Rainbow Brite Sheets

E.T. sheets (Wouldn’t this make a cute skirt?)

Smurf sheets

Bambi sheets

Cabbage Patch Kids sheets (very tempted on this one, too cute!)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Not our picture but we currently have one of the sheets from this set. I think it once belonged to Aaron or else we got it at a garage sale.)

Aren’t they so cool?! Being a child of the 80’s/90’s, I loved seeing these old characters. If I had the money, buy every set, turn them into quilts to share with my kids and someday grandkids. I would just love to have one of these, cuddled up with my child, and say “when I was a kid….” Does that make me old?

Thankful for Me

So, we had a wonderful lesson in Relief Society (the women’s organization in our church) today.  Thanks Wendy! I just wanted share a few thoughts, especially with my wonderful friends who serve in Primary and Young Women’s (organizations for the youth of our church) who didn’t get to hear the wonderful lesson.  The lesson was  about dealing with feelings of inadequacy.  As women, we tend to beat ourselves up about how much we are not perfect. We compare our worse to everyone else’s best. We see the “Mary Poppins” of our friends who always seems to have her act together, doing a million different things, and magically getting her kids  to do exactly what she wants.  Well, Mary Poppins is fictional! Even though we may think we see this magical woman in our friends, she has imperfections and weaknesses too and chances are she sees someone else as a “Mary Poppins” rather than herself.  These feelings of inadequacy are what Satan wants us to feel. He wants us to feel horrible and give up on ourselves and yell at our kids when they aren’t being obedient. That is not what our Heavenly Father wants for us. He made us  and loves us the way we are. He gave us weaknesses to learn to overcome them and to rely on our Savior.  During the lesson Jami made the comment that we do not have to be without flaws or weaknesses. Being perfect means being whole or complete. We can do that by taking our flaws and weaknesses to Jesus Christ and he will complete us.  He will strengthen that which is weak and he makes up the difference when we trust in him.  I also liked the story that Wendi shared that she had heard of a women trying to run a race with her friend. They were running together most of the race, but at one point the woman began to struggle to keep up the same pace as her friend. At that point she received the inspiration “Run your own race.”  She let her friend pull ahead and finished at her own pace. She was then able celebrate in the fact that she had finished her own race, rather than comparing to herself to her friend’s achievement. From that she learned that you don’t have to be in the same place as everyone else nor do you have to keep the same pace as everyone else. You have to run your own race, do your best, and not get caught up in what everyone else is doing.  What great advice! Run your own race! I think I’m going to put that up somewhere in our house to remind me daily.  I included some pictures of myself because I’m usually the person behind the camera not in front of it. Also, sometimes we find it hard to display pictures of ourselves because we focus only on the negative. So I share these pictures with you as therapy, this is me flaws and all. I will be the first to admit that I am not perfect. But I am thankful for who I am.  I am kind, resourceful, and creative. I love to make things. I have a wonderful family. So, dear sisters, be thankful for who you are,  don’t let Satan discourage you, and run your own race.  :)

*Check out these great books about loving who you are:

• My Dear Sisters by Gordon B. Hinckley
• No One Can Take Your Place by Sheri Dew
• Being the Mom: 10 Coping Strategies I Learned by Accident Because I had Children on Purpose  by Emily Watts

New Computer

So, just before Aaron lost his job, we finally had enough money in savings to get a new computer.  Those plans were put on hold as we used savings to survive unemployment, but now that Aaron has a job (and is receiving paychecks!) we can use  some of what we have left in savings. We found a great deal and “my” new computer came today! Yeah! I have been waiting a very long time.  Right now, I’m just trying out this new feature on the computer with Windows 7, that connects Windows to the blog. If you are reading this, it worked! Hopefully, my new love for my computer will mean more posting. (Don’t hold me to that…)