Playroom!

Never, in my entire life, have I ever experienced my very own room for toys! Never, ever, ever! To say that I am in love with our new playroom, and my very talented husband for making one for me (*cough*cough...I mean, our children) is an understatement. I am having a ball making it FUNctional for our children. I decided to start out with some wall art. I am not good at picking actual art, made by real artists. It always looks different, and not quite as good as I expected when I bring it home. There is something to be said about making art yourself. It may not look the best, but it is meaningful and it seems to fit. Plus, I am cheap. So, this is how I have been decorating our play room. So far, it has only cost me about $15, and I haven't even used up all of my supplies yet. These are the supplies that I have used thus far:

11 old frames that I have been saving for no good reason until now
A left-over swatch of fabric from when I recovered my lamp shade, and other fabric scraps
A can of white spray paint
glue and hot glue gun
Paper from craft store
Camera/printer
Scissors
glue stick
Magnets from old job board
Felt and Velcro that I had laying around

I whipped up some super cute silhouettes of my children and their best kitty friend. I love how it gives the room a certain "Dick and Jane" vintage feel.

I made some frames that I could display the kid's art and easily change it out for new art whenever they bring home a new masterpiece.

I just glued fabric into the old frames and glued little pockets onto the back to hold magnets. I realize that I could have just as easily used a sheet of metal, but I didn't have any on hand, and I like how this turned out. Just place a magnet on the other side of each pocket to hold the picture through the fabric.

We got some storage bins from IKEA. Thanks to my neighbor, Bonnie, for the great organization idea. But I must be one of the last to realize how great these organization shelves are because I just found out that another friend of mine is using the same kind also. I made labels out of felt, and attached them to the fabric bins with Velcro. They are so easy to change and so cute, I think. Plus, Maddie and Lucy actually like to help clean up because they know where everything goes now. Hannah helped me make a few of the labels, nothing gives character to a playroom like a purple teddy bear to label the stuffed animal bin.

This wall is still a very bare, I want to put a full length mirror somewhere on it so that the girls can see how they look in their dress up clothes, and maybe some hooks for their princess dresses and butterfly nets. I also have a plaque that I haven't made yet (but I have the supplies) to put above the little door.

We have a few more pressing projects to do before we are able to put carpet in the basement, but we are hoping to get it in before next year this time. Until then we get to admire Johnny's artwork on the floor. I was pretty upset about it at the time, but knowing that it will be covered up in a year helped me to relax and try to find the positive in the situation. The only thing that I could come up with was, "I'm just glad that he has feet." I really am! Because as far as feet go, I couldn't have picked a more perfect pair to decorate my playroom. I have to admit that I got this next idea from my sister, Kathleen. She has an awesome reading room under her stairs right now. Our reading room looks a little cold still, I am planning on making a shelf to put in here for books and getting a soft beanbag for relaxing. I'm not quite sure how we are going to decorate it, I was thinking about getting some fun wall stickers, but the other day Hannah asked "why don't we just paint a mural on the wall." That's my girl! I don't know if I can, but I'm sure I can try. And if I fail...well, that's what paint is for.

Our Growing Nativities

I mentioned our "Growing Nativities" in a previous post. We keep Christmas pretty simple around here, and this is basically our only tradition (besides a tree, stockings and presents), but this is my favorite.  This is one tradition that I started just for our family, and I have been doing it every year since Hannah's first Christmas. It started out as an alternative for not having enough money to buy a nativity set for our family, and it has turned into something so special that I am not sure I will ever love a store bought nativity as much as I love these little handmade nativities. The kids look forward to this tradition more than I ever expected. It takes a little work, but it is worth it when I see how excited they get about it. Every part of the growing nativity is made up of Terra-cotta pots and wooden shapes that you get from the craft store. It just takes a little imagination to figure out how to glue them all together to make something that looks like a part of the Nativity. I made a list of what piece they will make each year, and they label each part with their name and year that they made it. They love getting the nativities out each year and figuring out how old they were when they made certain pieces.

This year, I took them to my craft room, one at a time to make a new addition to their nativity and we talked about the new addition and how it's special to the story of Christ's birth. This year was the year that Lucy got to make a bed for Baby Jesus. She doesn't have a stable yet because I didn't think ahead the one year that I saw them at Walmart for $7.00. I am still kicking myself for not picking up one more! I may have to make one myself this year because I have only been able to find them on the Internet for $25.00+. Maddie added a Joseph to her Nativity this year, she has had so much fun playing with her nativity this season. It's like a little dollhouse for her.

Hannah made a lamb for her Nativity set,

and Johnny got to paint and glue a star above the baby Jesus.

This year we had them show their new nativity pieces to the rest of the family on Christmas Eve and tell about why that part is important to the story of Jesus' birth.  This is my vision for future Christmases, I'll let you know how it goes---

Christmas Nativity Tradition:

--That evening, as a family, we read the Christmas story and sing songs.  

*Luke 2:1-14

*Matthew 2:1-15.  

--Afterwards the kids get to show what they made and tell the family why the new addition is important to the story of Christ’s birth, life and death.  (There are so many connections between Christ’s birth and ultimate sacrifice, that we try to make those connections at this time and then again during Easter time.)  

Year 1:  Baby Jesus (a little wooden ‘doll head’ dowel with a face painted on it, and I try to find a stable for the nativity as it grows.)

*Luke 2:11

“Christmas is a celebration of the day Jesus was born.  He is our Heavenly Father’s Son and he came to Earth to help us so that we can live with Heavenly Father again.”

Year 2:  Wrap a cloth around baby Jesus (we glue it on)  

*Luke 2:12

“When Jesus was born, he was wrapped in swaddling clothes to keep him warm.” (We mention to the older kids that Jesus was wrapped in cloth again when he died.  When we see the swaddling clothes, we can be reminded that Jesus’ mission here on Earth was to give his life for us.)

Year 3:  Make a manger for baby Jesus filled with straw.

*Luke 2:7

We explain what a manger is and then make a comfortable bed out of it for baby Jesus.

Year 4:  Mary

*Luke 1 and 2.  

This is where it gets fun, we get to start talking about Mary’s experiences.  

“Mary was Jesus’s mom, she had a lot and faith and took very good care of Jesus.”

Year 5: Joseph

*Matthew 1: 18-25

“Joseph was a kind and loving man who took care of Mary and Jesus, he was Mary’s husband but he was not Jesus’s real Father.  Who was Jesus’s real Father?”

Year 6: Donkey

Mary probably rode on a donkey during her trip to Bethlehem with Joseph though there is no scriptural reference to this.  

Jesus also rode on a donkey during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem just days before his crucifixion.   Both journeys were very important.

*Luke 19:29-35

Year 7: Chicken

We only decided to add a chicken because Hannah had a fetish with birds when she was this age.  This is how we tied it into Jesus’s love for his earthly brothers and sisters and his mission here on Earth.:

*Luke 13:34.  

Year 8:  Star

The Star guided the wisemen to Jesus.  

*Matthew 2:2-10

“What do we use to guide us nowadays?” (This is a fun conversation and can be pretty deep for an 8 year old, it starts out with GPS’s, road signs, teachers, parent’s and then moves into the scriptures, the Holy Ghost and living prophets.)  “How is Jesus Christ’s life a guide for us?”

Year 9:  Angel

*Luke 1: 26-38

The angel Gabriel came to Mary (in the Bible Dictionary we are told that the angel Gabriel is Noah. (HC 3:386))

*Luke 2:8-14  

“the angel of the Lord,” proclaimed Christ’s birth to the shepherds.

Year 10:  Lamb

We talk about the angel coming to the shepherds in the field to proclaim Christ’s birth, then we mention that Jesus is called the Lamb of God in the scriptures.

*1 Nephi 10:10

*John 1:29

We usually talk a little about the Law of Moses, how the Children of Israel were commanded to sacrifice a perfect lamb *Exodus 12:5, and how Jesus is the “ great and last sacrifice” *Alma 34:10

Year 11:  Sheep

Again we highlight the angel coming to the shepherds in the field to proclaim Christ’s birth, then we talk a little about some places in the scriptures where Sheep are mentioned.

*Luke 15:4-6

*John 10:2-5

*1 Nephi 1:22-25

Year 12:  Shepherd

Again we talk about the angel coming to the shepherds in the field to proclaim Christ’s birth.

*Luke 2:8-18

There are so many scriptures that liken Jesus to a Good Shepherd, we talk about these scriptures at this time.

*John 10:11

Year 13:  Camel

We read about the camel in the Bible Dictionary.  It is an interesting animal, and though there is no scriptural reference to this, the wisemen probably rode it on their journey to find baby Jesus.

Year 14:  Wiseman (Gold)

*Matthew 2:11

Ask the question: Why do you think that the Wise men presented Gold to Jesus?

Year 15:  Wisemen (frankincense)

*Matthew 2:11

Ask the question:  Why do you think that the Wise men presented Frankincense to Jesus?

(Read about Frankincense in the Bible dictionary)

Year 16:  Wisemen (Myrrh)

*Matthew 2:11

Ask the question:  Why do you think that the Wise men presented Myrrh to Jesus?

(Read about Myrrh in the Bible dictionary)

Year 17:  Yourself with heart (made the same way as all of the other characters, but holding a heart.)

Ask the question:  What role does Christ’s Nativity play in your life?....What can we do to make Christ’s birth, life and death meaningful in our lives.

*2 Nephi 2:7

*D&C 59:8

*Psalms 147:3

Year 18:  “Wisemen still seek him” quote (tiny easel and canvas)

*1 Corinthians 2:5

*James 1:5

*2 Nephi 9:28

Ask the question:  "At this time in your life as you are heading out on your own, what does this quote mean to you?"

Bear testimony of Christ’s birth, Atonement and Resurrection.

Update 2014: Here are a few pictures of their nativities when they pulled them out this year. I love how unique they are. As you can tell, they did most of the work themselves and they are heavily played with. We have had to re-glue quite a few pieces, but they love them so much. Recently we took them to a Church Christmas party to display as centerpieces for tables. I have never seen kids so proud to share their nativities and so careful to make sure that no pieces were lost. They have really put their hearts into them each year and making them together gives me a sweet opportunity to share my love for our Savior and my testimony of his love for them.

Hannah's Set at age 12

Johnny's set at age 10

 Maddie's set at age 7

 Lucy's set at age 5

 The Mary's

 The Babies

 The Angels make me laugh

 The Camel was designed by Hannah, I just got the same pieces for all of my kids and put them in separate ziplock bags for when they turn 12.

Christmas after 8:00 a.m?

There is one downside to being a parent to young children on Christmas Eve. You stay up so late trying to get everybody to settle down, that it is difficult to wake up in the morning. I told everyone the night before that we weren't going to open any presents until after 8:00 and not until everyone had eaten a good breakfast. I said this without any faith that it would actually happen, but look at this picture! There is sunlight streaming through the windows and presents are still waiting to be unwrapped. It is possible, children do actually sleep in on Christmas morning! Especially when all hope of opening presents early is dashed by their stubborn mother. They believe me more than I do. The kids enjoyed their presents very much, and spent every spare moment playing with them. We were lucky enough to be able to have Grandma A spend Christmas with us this year. And after lunch we were able to go to Grandma MaryAnn's and visit her for a few hours. It was a wonderful Christmas. In the background of this picture, if you look hard enough, you can see a Wii box. It has a tag on it that says. "To Nikki, from Santa. You have been a very good kitty." We love that Santa decided to give the Wii to our cat because every time we hear fighting over it we tell our kids that they shouldn't fight over Nikki's toy, because they are lucky that she is letting them play with it at all. It works like a charm.

Hannah and Grandma A. Spent hours putting together Hannah's playmobil "Animal care center." Hannah was in heaven.

Maddie still gets her big Christmas toy out every day and tells me how much she loves it. Good job Santa.

I didn't take a picture of it, but Lucy got some princesses and a little castle, and Johnny got an awesome playmobil dragon. He was a little sad that he didn't get a toy that had a million little pieces like Hannah did. We'll see, maybe for his birthday, but in the meantime he has really enjoyed Nikki's Wii. I love Johnny's Sponge Bob P.J.'s he looks so cute in them.

Christmas Eve

As I was at the Craft Store on the morning of Christmas Eve, picking up a few things for our Christmas Eve craft, our "Growing Nativities" I came across a mistletoe for $1.00. I decided that I couldn't pass it up because I haven't had mistletoe in our house since our kids have been old enough to remember. When I brought it home and hung it up that night, I explained to them that every time they stand under it, they get a kiss. Hannah asked me, "Is it a curse or something?" I didn't quite know what to say. Well, yes, I guess it would be a curse to a nine-year-old girl. Although, not even a very careful nine-year-old girl could escape that curse. I had to laugh at Johnny though, he would just stand under it and wait. He must be his dad's boy, he can't pass up a good opportunity when it presents itself.

Hannah and Johnny carefully decorated the cookies for Santa that night, I loved the Grinch cookie. And I am sure that Santa thoroughly enjoyed the pumpkin roll.

The Reindeer loved the apples that were set out for them too. They weren't very clean eaters though, there were chewed up apple pieces floating in the left-over water the next morning.

Isn't it funny, with how magical Christmas was when I was a child, I find it even more magical now. Nothing beats being a parent to young children during Christmas time.

But when it was bad it was HORRID

This seems to be my motto lately, actually, I can't think of a time when it wasn't. I remember my mom reciting the limerick: "there was a little girl who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead. And when she was good, she was very very good, but when she was bad she was HORRID." When I was a little girl, I tried very hard to be good, but occasionally if things didn't go my way, I could scream and kick with the best of them. Happily, I have grown out of the kicking and screaming tantrums, but I have never grown out of the tendency for things to turn from bad to horrid quickly. Take this hair, for example. Thin hair that can't decide whether to be curly or strait, but is determined to never ever be long. Mix this with a shower before bed a few tosses and turns, and you get a hair-do never to be forgotten. If hair could throw tantrums, I am pretty sure this is what it would look like.

Or this dinner as another example. See that lovely ham in the background of this picture. It was delicious! Our home teachers brought it over a week or two before Christmas. We were also given a turkey from John's work, so we decided to spread the feast out over two nights. I've always had a soft spot for yams with toasted marshmallows on top, and I had a bunch from Bountiful Baskets that needed to be cooked up. It sounded like a perfect dinner to me, and I was happy...until I noticed that I was smelling smoke! I opened the oven to just to have FLAMES burst out of the door and reach up over the top of the stove. Startled, I closed the door and tried to decide what to do. I've had a gas explosion in the oven before, but that was quickly finished, along with the hair on my arms. What do you do when there is an actual sustained burn with flames. Finally I decided that I would handle it just like I would handle a burning marshmallow over a campfire. I opened the door slowly this time and blew air onto the fire. Slowly the flames died down. And just like a burned campfire marshmallow, I was able to peel off the black part, dispose of it and toast the remaining marshmallows nicely before anyone noticed. The only evidence that John had when he came home a few minutes later was the smell of something burning. Sadly, that is pretty common, so he didn't suspect a thing. After the adrenaline rush wore off, I did show him the burnt marshmallows that I tossed in the garbage. I couldn't resist.

Gingerbread houses

I have been wanting to write about our lovely Christmas for the past month, but life keeps getting busier, albeit lovelier. Still, I don't want to let time pass without writing this memory down. During Christmas Vacation, I decided to indulge the kids desires to make gingerbread houses. About 4 years ago, I made our gingerbread house from scratch, I don't think that I will do that again anytime soon, especially since my kids are easy to please as long as they have candy and frosting. I did try something new this year though. The lady that I teach with in primary taught me this handy little trick. This is melted sugar! I had no idea that you could do this. Just put a cup or two of sugar in a pan and cook it on medium-low heat until it melts. Then you can dip the sides of the graham crackers in it and stick them together. It sticks like super glue and it hurts like a bugger if you get it on your skin. I still don't have the technique down, so I got quite a few burns.

This is probably one of the happiest times that they had together during Christmas break. Their imaginations ran wild, and they feasted on candy for at least an hour around the table.

Lucy insisted on frosting the whole roof herself...that is until she needed help, and then refused it, and then needed help, and then refused it again. I am so confused!

Maddie put solar panels on her roof, her dad was so proud.

Hannah's house doubled as a teddy graham cloning machine. You can't see it in the picture but one of the "head" bears is holding a remote that controls the cloning device.

Johnny created a machine in the yard of his gingerbread house that could melt bears. It was only when he asked me to melt some chocolate chips for him that I realized why he had a line of bears waiting to enter a little box made out of candy. They would step into it shaped like bears and come out shaped like a gooey puddle of chocolate. That's my mad scientist boy for you.

Mind your manners

Sometimes I wish that I could peek in on other families during dinner time and see how they teach manners. Hypothetically, lets say that there is a family with 4 young children who's mom makes a great meal for them. Maybe it could be goulash, with lots of little elbow noodles. In a perfect situation the children would come to the table, sit quietly while the prayer is said, eat everything on their plate and then graciously thank their mother while taking their plates to the sink when they are finished. But just for fun, lets pretend that they are not a perfect family, and as soon as they are served up, one child complains about the tomatoes while another starts pretending that an elbow noodle is ringing. As soon as he answers one, another starts ringing, and then another, until he starts acting exasperated and begins telling the imaginary callers to stop calling because he is trying to eat. by this time, every child's plate becomes a mini call center and they are all trying to manage their mini telephones and eat at the same time. Now what would a normal mom do in this situation? I wish I knew. Would she laugh and take a picture, just like I did, just to realize a few days later how incredibly out of control her children are becoming at the dinner table? A few weeks ago, I decided that I had had enough, and I decided that it was time for the dreaded Mean Mom to make her appearance again. My children always know when I am going to morph into Mean Mom because I grab a paper and a pencil and start writing down rules. This is what I came up with:

Rule #1: No roughhousing or touching each other
Rule #2: No tipping on your chairs
Rule #3 No Knees above the table
Rule #4 Use words, not noises
Rule #5 Sit on your bottom until you are finished

It's a work in progress, but after a few days of repeating the rules before eating, and enforcing them mercilessly, my children are starting to get the idea. Once in a while I still relax and let them play . I figure that if they have it down by the time they are adults, I will feel that I have successfully taught them manners.

One year older and wiser too

One of our favorite things to do on John's birthday is make a treasure hunt and hide his presents. This year I put Johnny in charge of the treasure hunt, and he did an excellent job. He took pictures of about 10 places in our house with the digital camera and then we printed his pictures and hid them around the house. He was excited to hide each picture, and even knew how to place them so that they would lead to the next picture clue. It was fun for the kids to follow him around the house and watch him find the clues. Johnny decided to have the last clue lead to the "chokey", where we hid his presents.

It was a wonderful birthday filled with his favorite things, chocolate, family and radio controlled helicopters. I provided the first two, thanks to my ability to have children and a "Bed Bath and Beyond" coupon that I used for the chocolate fountain. But in keeping with tradition, John ordered his main present. The radio controlled helicopters have been a source of endless entertainment.

As Vera would say, "Happy Birthday, John. Thanks for being born."