Mother-Daughter Christmas Baking

All the sisters got together with their girls on Saturday for a Mother-Daughter Christmas goodie-making day. We had such a good time laughing, joking, visiting, working, singing. We hope to make it a new annual tradition.

The girls had fun assembling their Rudolph cookies, dipping Oreos and pretzels in chocolate, making popcorn balls, Magic cookie bars, Cheese balls, and chips and salsa.

Heidee and Mykaela

Mandee and Isabella

Trish and Hali, Melody, and Leah (Teagan stayed home with Jimmy)

Aunt Leslie and her nieces (no girls for her...just three boys!)

Papa and his girls! He snuck by to steal a fresh popcorn ball.

Some pics of our goodies!

Warmth...

I caught Leah sitting in front of the fire this afternoon with the new Book of Mormon her primary teacher gave her for Christmas. It was one of those moments in time you wish you could capture forever and I'm glad I was able to. It warmed my heart to see her sitting so innocently, seeking comfort and warmth in front of the fire. Hopefully she'll grow up and come to really understand that the greatest comfort and warmth she'll ever find will come from the book she held in her hands.

"Having children is a lot of work.
And we have to not be afraid of that, because it's that very element of working hard and being willing to do whatever it takes that makes us who we are. It's the sacrifice that makes us who we are. I want to bear my testimony of the joy that comes from having families, from having children, because there's not only the commandment of the Lord to do it, but there are great promised blessings."

Cheryl C. Lant, General Primary
President

An aFOURdable Good Time

.Roman turned four on Saturday! We had all the cousins come over for games, pizza, and goodies. It's fun to watch them all interact with eachother. I think everyone had a good time winning prizes, playing 'dog catcher' and hanging out together. This is the gang...

Intent: to Vent

I've been thinking about 'venting' lately. We all know what it is though it's called by different names sometimes. It's getting out our frustrated, angry, annoyed, negative feelings and telling them to someone else: our best friend, our husband, our sister, a blog. Anyways, I'm wondering if this 'venting' business is a good thing or not. It seems to be the theory behind it is just letting off some steam, to help us cool off, to get someone else's opinion. But in the end, does it help or does it just create more problems? Are you relieving yourself of the negative energy and by doing so are you really getting rid of it or are you simply creating more by sharing it? If you're talking about someone else who had upset you is it really 'venting' or would it better be called (deep breath here) "gossiping". Nobody wants to be a Gossip, right? So as long as we just call it 'venting' does that make it any better? And....if you happen to be on the receiving end of someone else's venting session what do you do? Do you sit quietly and listen to what they have to say, realizing they are just 'venting' or do you voice your disagreement? Do you form judgments of your own based on what is being told you or do you let it go and allow the other person to own their own feelings? Hmmm...it's go me thinking. Do you think it's okay to 'vent' frustration or should you keep it to yourself and find another way to work it out? (If you don't want to leave a comment or don't know how, just take a second to click on the poll on the sidebar.)

A Sticky Situation

Roman and Teagan were playing one morning in the family room while I finished my breakfast. Pretty soon Teagan started to get fussy. I went to check on her and found THIS:

Gee, I wonder who was responsible??? Perhaps....

HIM?

They'll Melt in Your Heart, Not in Your Hand...

I found these cute little snowmen ornaments here: http://www.betterbudgeting.com/ and they are adorable. I'm making some for an ornament exhange this weekend and I promised the girls they could make some for their Christmas tree in their bedroom. Aren't they sweet?

This guy is my favorite so far.

Here's a sideview of him. I love the tassel idea on top. People are so creative!

Papayas and People-Pleasers

When I was in junior high I had two best friends. We were all alike in some ways. Very different in others. One of my friends (since I don't exactly have her permission to write this, let's call her "Gene"...she'll know why!) was a people-pleaser. Never liked to hurt other people's feelings. Agonized over saying the 'wrong' thing all the time. One day, "Roxy" (the other friend in beforementioned trio) brought dried papaya in her lunch. She offered Gene a piece and--of course--she accepted. Gene chewed. And chewed. And chewed. Then finally swallowed. Yuck! She did not like that dry, rubbery stuff at all! "What do you think? Do you like it?" Ahhh, the moment of crossroads. Should she be honest and say 'no'? What would Roxy think? Would her feelings be hurt? Would it be rude to tell the truth or should she be nice and claim to love it? Guess which one she chose? She's a people-pleaser, mind you. Of course she raved about it! So....every day for the rest of that year and off and on for the next several years Roxy would bring papaya for Gene thinking she was being nice and doing her a huge favor. After all, she LOVED it...right? Well, finally our senior year in high school Gene confessed the truth about papaya which caused us all to laugh. Me, because I knew the truth the whole time and would snicker to myself each time Gene actually continued to eat the stuff. Roxy because she thought it was ridiculous that Gene felt like she had to pretend to like something just so she wouldn't hurt her feelings. We still get a laugh out of it to this day. It's so easy to look at an example like that and realize how trivial it was, but I think a lot of us can relate to that in a lot of ways. I am a self-admitted people-pleaser and I hate being that way sometimes. There are times I disagree with something about someone but remain quiet because I feel like it's not my place to step in or it's just 'my opinion.' So I guess the question is...do you call it "people-pleasing" or just trying to keep the peace? Is it okay to speak your honest opinion and if so when? Sometimes? Always? Only if it doesn't hurt someone? Only if they're your really good friend? Only if you don't care if they like you when you're done speaking? What do you think?