On Being a Mom

Being a Mom is hard work.  The sleepless nights when you're trying to get your little baby to sleep but she's wide awake.  Rushing from basketball to scouts to some other activity.  Running something that your teenager has forgotten to the High School, even though you reminded him the night before.  Yelling at your kids because they were running around and screaming at each other and they just woke you and the baby up 45 minutes before your alarm is set to go off.  Sounding like a broken record when you have to tell your 4 year old to leave her baby sister alone.  Cleaning the bathroom door knob that's full of some mysterious sticky substance.  Being a detective in your kids bedroom trying to find all the dirty clothes that are either stuck under their mattress, under their bed, in the closet under the toys, or in the drawers with the clean clothes!  Never enjoying your clean floors for more than a few hours.  Doing loads...and loads...and loads of laundry that never seem to end.  Having to organize the books in the bookshelves AGAIN because a certain 4 year old (and I suspect a 10 and an 8 year old) keep pushing them to the back of the bookshelf.  Asking every night if they have brushed their teeth.  Having your teenager throw his stinky shoes, his school backpack and 2 handfuls of clothes on the floor as he walks in the door.  Waking up to see empty glasses of milk and bowls of cereal next to the computer because your teenager refuses to pick up after himself.  Then you walk upstairs and see empty glasses of milk in the bathroom and in said teenagers room!  These are but the few things that can drive any Mom coo-coo for Coco Puffs.

But then you have the moments when you're laying next to your little tiny baby and you look into her face and she has this tiny cute little nose and she looks at you ever so lovely and gives you the biggest little smile and it just melts your heart.  When your 4 year old says a prayer and keeps her eyes closed the whole time and says "please keep us saved" instead of "safe".  So cute!  When your kids tell you that dinner was awesome because it was made with LOVE.  When you wake up to see that the house is still clean! What?!  And they are all sitting down quietly watching a program..together.  Looking at baby pictures of your 10 and 8 year old and remembering how small they were and you wonder where the years went.  When you eavesdrop on your kids and they are being silly and giggling.  When you can't throw any of their artwork away because it is so beautiful and they are SO talented and you just know they will be famous some day.  Caressing your little baby's soft toes and she smells wonderful, like baby.  Seeing your 4 year old run up to the TV and dance to Fresh Beat Band's Rock Star song.  Eavesdropping on your 4 year old talking to her imaginary friends.  When you're angry and ask your child "Who did this?!" and he says "I did Mom" even though he knows he's in big trouble.  Or when your 10 year old gets up and bares his testimony in Sacrament.  When you get to come down and pray with your teenager before he leaves to seminary.  Or when your teenager texts you for no reason other than to say something funny that doesn't require you to run something to him.

Being a Mom IS hard work but it's extremely rewarding.  I love being a Mom!  

Make Your Own Cute Cards

So I've been doing cards for a while.  I don't have time to make super elaborate cards and I don't like to make them too busy or foofy-looking (is that a word?).  I like to keep them simple, cute, and classic.  Here's a few of them.  Happy Card Making!


These are the two most recent "Thank You" cards I made for some baby gifts I received.  The tools I use for all my cards are ribbon, Cuttlebug, round stamp cutters, Cricut machine, scrapbooking tape, stamps, inks, scrapbook paper and some embellishments.  If you have any questions about how I made something just post a comment and I'll try to answer you quickly.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having cards already made and just pulling them out when I need them.  It's such a time saver and i love giving my friends special one-of-a-kind cards.

These are some cards I made for Valentine last year I think.  I made them on the Cricut.

These were some of the first cards I made using the Cricut.  Not my favorite but it was fun making this one.

These are cute and they are so easy once you get the circles cut on the Cricut.  I made these at my friend Michelle Hamilton's house in California using just her scrap pieces of paper.  Actually most of the cards are just using scraps.

These are definitely my favorites.

Cards for Baby Boys.  They are not so cute, but again, I wanted to use up all the scrap papers I had.  I can't wait to use the cute scrapbooking paper!

These are the Baby Girl cards I made.  I LOVE THEM!  Girl stuff is always cuter isn't it? :-)

This one could be for either a boy or a girl. The colors are so cute and I NEED to find this scrapbook paper.  It is one of my favorites so if anyone knows who makes it, let me know.

Thanks!

I will post more cards as I make them.

Baby Birth Announcements

I've been working on baby announcements for baby Anna.  Here's a few to share.  I found the following websites so helpful and fun in making these lovely announcements.  I love the backgrounds and they are freeeeee. Enjoy!

http://www.backgroundlabs.com/

Our Family Values - Created using Wordle.net

My 11 year old son just got me hooked on this new website.  It is www.wordle.net.  I will post the first project I've completed so far.  It is our family values.   

A few years ago we realized that we didn't have a family motto or a list of values that our family lives by.  Why is this important you ask?  Good question!  Well, because kids test and push bounderies, as humans, we all do.  And for kids it's so important that they KNOW what they believe.  Even when you assume that they know what your family values are, it's important for kids to help set these family values.  Otherwise they are "Mom and Dad's Values" not the "Family Values"  So plan a family meeting or a Family Home Evening, as we like to call it.  Sit down and ask your kids to help make up your Family Values list.  Keep it short.  We used and added to President Gordon B. Hinckley's Six Be's.  You don't have to but we found that those first 6 values are so essential and we were already using them anyway.  They are:

Be Grateful  
Be Smart  
Be Clean  
Be True  
Be Humble  
Be Prayerful

We added:
Be Loving
Be a Team Player
Be Open

Here's the link to our Our Family Values Page on Wordle.net

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/4872179/Our_Family_Values
Some other projects that I plan to make with this website are cards for all occassions, Nolan's 12th Birthday cards, and each kids name with some of their talents or special traits and frame it to put in their rooms.  I will post those when I'm done!

Wheat Bread

Normally I get store bought wheat flour and make homemade bread but we wanted to try the grinder that we've had for years but have never taken out of the box.  I tried my normal recipe but it didn't work.  Does anyone know if freshly ground wheat has to rest or does it make a difference what kind of wheat you use for normal wheat bread recipes?  Does anyone have a good wheat bread recipe using Desseret Industry's (LDS) Hard Red Winter Wheat?  Please post your comments and recipes. Thanks!

The recipe I got was from my friend Courtenay is:

5-6 Cups HOT water
1 Tbsp salt
2/3 C honey/molasses (one or the other or mixed)
2/3 C olive oil
4-6 C WW flour
3 Tbsp yeast

Mix until ingredients are distributed evenly, then add the yeast.  Add more flour until dough reaches a moderately sticky consistency.  If mixing in a mixer, when dough no longer sticks to side of bowl.  Place dough in 2 or 3 greased bread pans and let rise at room temperature until it doubles in size.  Place in oven and turn oven on to 350 degrees and let warm up and bake for 45-55 minutes.

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