Gingerbread Houses

A couple weeks ago we made a gingerbread house for the first time in our family.  The girls had a lot of fun doing it, and I think more candy went into their mouths than on the house.  Here's the finished results:

Princess M also go invited to a Christmas Tea Party this year, where they made their own little gingerbread (or graham cracker) houses. 

 

Now we just need to help Banana Girl understand why she can't just go eat them whenever she wants. 

Princess M goes Barber on me

Last week, after being thoroughly scolded for using her scissors on her toys, and having her scissors confiscated, Princess M found mine and decided to fix her "bangs in her face" problem for both herself and her little sister. 

She actually cut a fairly straight line, since she cut them off all the way up to the hairline, so I haven't tried to "fix" it at all.  Besides, what can you really do, besides just keep their hair pulled back for the next couple months. 

So I guess, Banana Girl now has had her first haircut.  She definitely didn't need it yet, and she lost some of her beautiful curls in the back, but I tried to find a lock or two on the floor that I could save for her scrapbook.  She's had a hard enough time growing the hair that she does have.  Now she looks more like a boy than ever.    I'm going to have to dress her in pink everyday.

When sisters find the camera

Gila Valley

We did it!!  We finally got out to visit our new temple.  New in that we just moved to the area, and new in that this temple didn't exist when we lived here last.  Although it's a 2 hour drive to The Gila Valley Temple here is southern Arizona, it's still closer than the 3 hour drive to Mesa that we used to have to make.  Close enough to do in one day, without being completely exhausting.  What we used to do is stay with my Uncle Wayne and Aunt Sue in Mesa for the weekend to break up the drives a bit.  And you know, we probably will continue to do that quite a bit still, just because we love visiting them so much.  Be expecting a call from us soon, Wayne & Sue. 

But it was still very nice to visit the new temple and feel the Spirit there.  It's a beautiful temple, very small, and yet just as majestic as all the other temples I've been to.  It always feels like coming home whenever I get a chance to visit the temple.  No matter if I've ever been in that particular temple before or not.  The love of our Heavenly Father is so strong there.  I feel so grateful to live relatively close to a temple, that we can visit on a regular basis.  And I'm very grateful to our friends, the Harrises for watching our kids for us, so that we were able to attend.  It's truely been a very spiritually fulfilling week. 

Thanksgiving 2010

This year we felt very blessed for Thanksgiving.  Despite having just moved here, and not really knowing very many people, we actually got two invitations for Thanksgiving dinner.  The first came from our neighbor, Miss Roberta, a very dear old lady who has taken us in and become like a grandparent to our little girls.  She invited us to have lunch with her and her family at Golden Coral.  We had a great time, and tried to pace ourselves on the food, knowing we had another dinner to attend at 6:00.

The second invitation came from our dear friends, the Harrises, who we've known for a very long time, and we're very happy to be living in the same town with again.  Desi and her family put on an amazing spread, that was both delicious and beautiful.  We felt very lucky to be in attendance, and had a great time with them. 

Here's me with my girls (and pumpkin pie) on Thanksgiving.

 

While playing with all the kids, Alex started this story about how the Winnie the Pooh bear, that our 2 year old was playing with, was really a secret undercover dark lord syth, or something to that effect.  The story took quite the hold of the rest of the evening and blossomed into a saga.  Here's the youngest Harris showing off Dark Lord Pooh with his newly fashioned black cape.

This year in preparation for Thanksgiving, and inspired by the many gratitude talks in the last General Conference, we began a new tradition that will hopefully last throughout the year and not just this month.  After sitting down to dinner, and before saying our blessing on the food, every person at the table has to say one thing that they are thankful for.  This is something my family always did before the Thanksgiving feast my entire life, but we were hoping to make happen more than just once a year. 

At first we wrote everything down every night in a "Gratitude Journal" and the first couple nights all the "big" bases were covered (i.e. family, gospel, home, food, etc.)  However, as the days progressed (and we lost the journal) it evolved a bit.  Now we still say what we're thankful for each night, but it's more a review of that particular day and something specific that we are thankful for that day, like making cookies, or climbing trees, or feeling the baby kick.  And not only do we say what we're thankful for at the table, but we're being sure to thank Heavenly Father in our dinner prayer for every thing that was mentioned that night (no matter how silly it may sound to thank Heavenly Father for My Little Ponies.) 

At first it seemed a little contrived and trite, and honestly, the tradition probably wouldn't have made it, had Princess M not really loved it and reminded us to do it every night.  But now, I LOVE it!!!  At the close of each day, we all have a chance to think over our day, count our blessings, and discuss them with each other dinner.  I've already noticed how my daughters (even my 2 year old) are more aware of their blessings and thankful for them.  A couple times this week, Princess M has stopped in the middle of playing or watching a movie, and turned to me to tell me something that she is thankful for.  It's very humbling to see how she is internalizing Thanksgiving this year.  I'm very grateful to her for her role in establishing this dinner tradition.  I hope it sticks forever. 

We have so much to be thankful for!  There is no way I could even begin to name the blessings that my Father in Heaven has extended to me.  I only hope that I can learn to be more appreciative and find ways to show that appreciation in turn by sharing those blessings with others.  I love Thanksgiving for its yearly reminder of how ungrateful I really am.  And I'm grateful that God has called prophets in our day to guide us, and to help us recognize God in our lives, and know how we can be more grateful children.  I pray for help in bringing His Spirit more into my life; so I may be reminded of how blessed I am, guided in raising my family, strengthening my weaknesses, and used as a tool to bless others by His directions.  Maybe then will I be able to even begin to truly show my gratitude and not just voice my "Thank You." 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Even Better

Ok, so I know I just posted a picture nearly exactly like this one, but if falling asleep during a meal is cute, sleeping while eating at the same time is even better.

She was so exhausted, and yet so hungry as well.  You can't really see it in a picture but get this.  Without once opening her eyes, she would bob her head, fall asleep, Alex would touch the food to her lips, she would open up, chew the food, and resume sleeping.  It went on for about 10 minutes.  It was great.  We tried to get it on video, but I'm not sure we got it working in time.  Bummer. 

Other Randomness from the week

We had some fun painting our toesies in a rainbow of fall/thanksgiving colors.  (Thank you to Rachael for the photo choreographing idea; although I wish we had turned off the flash.)

 I don't know why I think it's soooo cute when they fall asleep in the middle of a meal. 

 Alex's brother generously sent us a new computer this week, carefully packed in PINK packing peanuts.  Princess M thought they were the most wonderful thing she had ever seen.  Feeling in a generous mood, I allowed the girls to play in the mounds of peanuts.  Here's Banana Girl "swimming" in them.

 They really had a ball, but the cleanup was a real beast!  I don't think we'll be doing that again.

Here's my beautiful princesses in their fancy Sunday dresses, that I finally go them to wear today!

 You know they make these dresses so adorable, but I can never get my kids to wear them, because they get doomed with the verdict of "Scratchy" on the inside.  The only way I could get my girls to keep them on today was to let them wear a knit t-shirt/onesie underneath to stop the scratchies.  Princess M had to wear a shirt and skirt underneath the outfit to make it acceptable to wear. 

And finally, just a few fun pictures I love that show some princess personalities: