Daughter's of God

I wanted to share a few thoughts and quotations from one of my favorite talks from the most recent general conference that is held by our church every six months. Although it was a few weeks ago, this talk is still on my mind. Elder M. Russell Ballard gave an extremely touching and inspirational talk on mothers, which he titled Daughter's of God. I, like many mothers, often wonder and worry if I am doing the best I can for my children. I am constantly comparing myself to other mothers and what they do better than me. I am always amazed at how well our Father in Heaven knows us and exactly what we need to hear. Here are a couple of excerpts from that talk that have given me a new peace and comfort about motherhood, just when I needed it most.

Elder Ballard said:
"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. ....... What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."

"First, recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction."

" Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”(Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11).

"I hope all of you dear sisters, married or single, never wonder if you have worth in the sight of the Lord and to the leaders of the Church. We love you. We respect you and appreciate your influence in preserving the family and assisting with the growth and the spiritual vitality of the Church. Let us remember that “the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World”). The scriptures and the teachings of the prophets and apostles help all family members to prepare together now to be together through all eternity. I pray that God will continually bless the women of the Church to find joy and happiness in their sacred roles as daughters of God."

So this last week I have tried play a little more, listen a little more intently, hug a little more tightly and take in all of the good, and bad, that motherhood has to offer and I, and my children, are better for it. I know this gospel is true and am so grateful for living prophets and apostles who are inspired by the Lord to lead and guide us.

Girl's night out

Last month Haley and I went to see Disney on Ice: Princess classics. I asked a few of my friends and their kids if they wanted to come with us, and for one reason or another none of them were able to go, so it was just Haley and I. I was really disappointed at first, but it turned out just perfect. Tickets to the show.........$50.00.
Snow cone in cinderlla cup......$10.00.

Light up Cinderella spinner........$20.00
NIght out with my favorite girl in the whole world....PRICELESS!

Why you should get a flu shot..........

We did not get a flu shot this year. After a long sleepless night or two, 10 + loads of towels, sheets, pillows, blankets, and clothes, a trip to the dry cleaners, dehydrated ,starving kids, and lots of vomit and diarrhea, I am now rethinking that decision. This is how Haley spent the better part of 3 days last week in our bed. She could actually make it to the bathroom or in the bowl next to her..... Carson on the other hand, not quite so quick or accurate.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Get you flu shot and if you don't then you will need to stock up on thefollowing items..... Lysol(wipes and disinfectant spray), Tide, Febreze(air and fabric freshener) , and carpet cleaner.

Where's me Lucky Charms?

The elusive Leprechaun has again evaded capture. After seeking the expertise and advice of my sister Amy(who has been making Leprechaun traps with her elementary students for years), Haley and I created an elaborate trap designed to catch a Leprechaun once and for all. Or so we thought. We were successful in catching one, but he somehow managed to escape.

We lured him to the trap with what else but.........Lucky Charms! He only ate the marshmellows, though. Turns out he stole our whole box of Lucky Charms after ransacking our kitchen looking for them. Who ever said Leprechauns are only after gold? In his hurry to escape, though, he actually left behind some of his gold and some green Leprechaun candy much to Haley's delight.

Before leaving a trail of footprints out our back door, he left us another present in our potty. Leprechaun pee! Nice.

Maybe next year he won't be so "lucky"!

March Break Madness

Last week was March Break(A.K.A. Spring Break) here in Toronto. They don't call it Spring Break here for obvious reasons(see photos to follow). Nevertheless, the kids had a great time getting together with friends we don't get to see that often because of their work and school schedules. We had a busy, but great, week!

The week started with more snow play and there was tons of it due to a major storm that hit over the weekend. We got about about a foot and a half of snow(or something crazy like that) on top of a mountains of snow we already had. And I do mean mountains.



(L to R)Luke Blumell(Haley's boyfriend), Haley, Carson, and Grace Blumell. They had a playdate at our house on Tuesday which included a picnic on our living room floor as you can see by the blanket. We love them soooooo much! We also had a playdate with Haley's friends William and Lydia Closson on Wednesday. No pictures of that day though. Honestly we didn't see the kids that much, they played in the basement while their mom, Taunia, and I had our own fun catching up on each other's lives.


On Thursday we went ice skating with our good friend and one of the Young Women from the ward who lived with us for a couple of months at the end of last year named Kelly Lee. What can I say? Carson started to cry as soon as he saw the rink and kept saying "I scared. I wan go home." I should have listened to him. It was a lot like when I get them ready to go play in the snow...There was lost of crying, complaining, falling, and outfit adjusting. It took forever to get us all ready to get on the ice and then after about 2 minutes Carson was done and Haley soon followed(Although, after all of that I did not let her give up that easy.) Haley said "Maybe next year mom, I will want to try that again." I don't know if I want to, though. AARRGGHH! They had more fun watching the Zamboni! We hung out in the player's box and watched Kelly skate a few laps. At least she had fun.


The only picture I think we got of Haley actually standing up on the ice.




The only picture we got of her smiling.



Kelly imitating Carson's signature pout.


On Friday one of my good friends from church,Karen Laidlaw, came over with her daughter, Emily, so she and I could practice dcorating sugar cookies with Royal icing. As it turns out we definately needed the practice and one night was not enough. We laughed a lot at our own expense(and each other's) and were too tired to do much decorating by the time we actually got all of the cookies made.

There is a cookie under there somewhere.

Birthday Girl

Last Tuesday I went to Haley's school to take treats for her class and spend a few minutes with her at her school. I don't get to go to her school that much, so it is always nice to see what she does while she is there. She really is loving it now and was thrilled to show me around and I was thrilled to oblige. No cute pics of any treats, they are very strict about anything homemade coming into the school. She has two kids in her class that have food allergies. So we just did prepackaged snack mix, cookies, and juice.

Her teacher Mrs. Walker is so great with the kids in so many ways! Instead of making everyone sit at the tahle with their snacks they got to have a picnic for the party. After we got to talking one day half way through the year, I figured out that she was LDS too. She is in a different stake, though. Small world! It's so nice to have that connection.

Although me coming to her class was a big deal, the highlight of her day was finally getting stand in front of the class for morning exercises to hold "Bertha" the Birthday bear while it sings "Happy Birthday to You" .

After school when while we were getting ready to go to the party, Brad had tulips delivered to Haley for her birthday. I love this little tradition he has started with her. She was ecstatic and it of course made her feel so special on her special day!

If I had one wish then it would be.......

A Happy, Happy birthday to Haley!

Last week, on February 26, we celebrated the amazing day five years ago when Haley was born into our family! I held it at an indoor playground and invited her friends from church and our neighbors(neighbours-for my Canadian friends). An indoor playground, for those of you who don't live in subarctic temperatures, is just what it sounds like; it is a glorified McDonalds playlandso of course the kids loved it. I did this to make this party stress free for me, but I decided if you are like me nothing is stress free. I also came to the conclusion that throwing a party is a lot like renovating; everything takes way longer and costs way more than you think it will, but totally worth it in the end(i.e. the butterfly cupcakes shown later in the post). We missed our good friends (and Haley's boyfriend), Luke, Grace and their mom, Melissa who was sick and couldn't make it. 9 of Haley's other friends did come though, and the party turned out really great! Here is some of the fun captured in pictures.

Carson as he landed at the bottome of one of the slides from the picture above
they had a moonwalk and my neighbor, Linda, and I were playing on it after most of the kids had left. So much fun! This is Haley and I waiting to slide down with her!

Melissa, the dessert decorator and some butterfly sprinkles saved the day when I started running out of time, patience, and whole pretzels while making the butterfly cupcakes. I love it so much. Thank you!

Here they are.........the butterfly cupcakes. I emailed some of my family and friends a few days before the party for any ideas they had for cute butterfly cupcakes. Almost all of them responded immediately, and this is one of the links my amazing friend Faith sent me. Thanks girls for all of the great ideas, it was hard to choose with so many cute ones. This came from a website that I am now in love with called http://www.brightideas.com/. The actual link to this particular cupcake is http://www.brightideas.com/birthdays/themes/butterfly/cakestreats/ . Mine didn't turn out like the picture, but close enough and still got rave reviews!

Make a wish!

Here is Carson sucking all of the icing off of who knows what number cupcakefor the night

And this is him feeling sick a little bit later. Could it be all the junk he'd eaten?? Notice all of the frosting still around his mouth. Hey that's what parties are for!