Slumber Party

Whole wheat pizza Hot wings Bacon wrapped lil smokies


For the past couple Fridays we have had slumber parties with Lydia. She loves them and looks forward to them all day, looks outside to see if it is dark yet because evidently we can't have a slumber party when it is still light.

Tonight's slumber party had a dual purpose, we were celebrating Joel's first completed rotation in Pediatrics. He loves working with children but hates the office visits (colds, shots, well visits etc) So we will see if he does anything with children.

We are all looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning, sweet Lydia has been amazing and has slept until at least 9:00 each morning this week, and I have to admit- I am LOVING it!

No more diapers!!!

It's funny how when you want time to slow down, it seems to just speed up. It was a quick and mostly painless process for us to transition from diapers to panties. I say mostly painless because for the first day there was nothing that I could find that would give her an incentive to potty train. She kept laying down and pleading, put my diaper back on!!! Finally, and after *many* prayers I made the poster that you see in the background. I tried the idea of giving her a sticker for using the toilet, but in her words- "I'll just go on the floor" great. So this poster has little squares with this picture on it:Every time she used the toilet, she could watch for 3 minutes. And so by that evening she was potty trained, so much that when Sunday came (4 days into the PT) she told the teachers 2 times that she needed to go, and HELD it until I could take her! I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father who is so interested in my efforts as a mother and who daily lifts me up and inspires me. I don't know how moms do it without the knowledge of prayer. This quote of President Gordon B. Hinckley always precedes my prayers to Heavenly Father: "Never forget that these little ones are the sons and daughters of God and that yours is a custodial relationship to them, that He was a parent before you were parents and that He has not relinquished His parental rights or interest in these little ones."

Painting

I've been having a lot of fun with our house lately. Lydia is getting to the age where I am able to actually do something in the evenings after she goes down. I was feeling for a while that I was 'losing myself' and so I made of list of things that I wanted to do. If you know me very well you know that I didn't do them one at a time, but I am doing them all at once! So I painted 3 rooms at once, and am working on 2 different quilts, I have also refinished 3 chairs and can't decide on the color of the last. I'm having so much fun, and so is Lydia!
We have been married for 7 years now and for 6 of those years we have been students (we will still be students technically for 1 1/2 more years), so of course funds have been tighter than a fat man's speedo. It has been fun though to discover our tastes, which are a lot different than they used to be (and are goverened a lot by our non-existant budget). Out of necessity most of our furniture has been rummage sell finds, hand-me-downs or bought new in the 'damaged item' section. I actually really like buying this way because I have no guilt and have had so much fun refinishing quality furniture. I really am a bargain shopper (and always will be), and get so many compliments from everyone I know. I also like that I don't have a cookie cutter home just like everyone else, it has a very nice feel that everyone comments on.

This is the paint before, I do like it and it is still in the rest of the house, but the builder did flat paint and everyone knows that you can not clean anything off of it. We did just an eggshell finish and i LOVE IT!

These two temple pictures are from the Distribution services for my Church. The frames were actually $7.00 each from Michaels clearance section

I bought 4 of these chairs for $5 each and have painted them each different colors.

these are the first 3 squares of the quilt I am making for Lydia's bed (an antique store find, that I also refinished.) After I finish the quilt I will show her room.