Christmas Cards

I am running a Christmas Card special on my photo blog.

I am in love wth my new blog book

I AM IN LOVE.

UPS delivered it last night, and honestly I didn't know how much I would love it. Truth be told, I should REALLY love it since it cost me about 70 bucks to print it out, but it's SO nice to have it all here, for all of us to thumb through.

I've had a few questions about the balck book, so let me answer those now that I've seen it in person.

Font size: The font size is fine. Yes, it's smaller then your average reading book but I'm not straining to see it at all, and neither would my mom (sorry mom, you're the first one that popped into my head)

Quality of the pages: They're great, nice and thick, I can't see one thing to complain about.

My like my friend Brittany told me, I wish I had more picture pages in it, they are so fun to look at with my post, and like all stories they add interest, so I'm gonna try and post pictures more.

Honestly, this is making me want to go all digital with my albums, and then just print them as a book, and while I don't think I'm quite there yet, it's still delightful to look at. Shout out to Brittany who held my hand during the process, and told me it wouldn't take over my whole life, just a few weeks. :) For anyone else interested I used http://www.blurb.com/ -- it's expensive but I didn't find anyone else cheaper.

Christmas and Fatness...

First off, did a GREAT Christmas craft with the kiddos yesterday. Truly proud of this one people. We took jingle bells (on sale this week at Michael's for 2.99 -- I'm wondering if you could get a GIANT bag of them and make a big one from someone like Oriental Trading Co.), strung them on wire and then twisted the ends together to make a circle. I hot glued that twisted part to make sure it all stuck (also hot glued the last jingle bell in its place so it wouldn't shift around. Then, I twisted the ribbon (both on sale at Michael's this week for 99 cents) around the ugly hot glued part, and tied a bow. Before tying the bow I hot glued the little wire ribbon pieces which we later curly-Q'd on a pencil. Then, after tying the bow (and get it to look pretty-much the way you want it to look) I looped more ribbon around it and made a hanger. Anyway, the kids LOVED it. They both had a great time stringing jingle bells on the wire (you need to use a heavier gauge wire, I used two strands for Spencers, but Conner had some smaller jingle bells that wouldn't fit on 2 strands, so his is only one, and it is a little less stable, but it's easy enough to just pop it into the position you want). They also loved twisting the ribbon on the pencil to make the curly Q's. I am feeling very fancy with these on our doors. FYI, Spencer's is on the left, and Conner's is on the right. They strung them all by themselves (and I had to restrain Conner from making a pattern out of his).

THEN, last night I went to Layne Bryant to use my Layne Bryant bucks, I wanted to get another pair of their jeans. So, I tried a few on, found the pair I want (because they all vary, quite a bit) took it to the register and tried to ring-up. Found-out I had to spend FIFTY to use the bucks (which I also had to spend fifty to even get), so my friend Shery and I spent a good half an hour trying to find SOMETHING in the store that I might like, I wanted another long sleeved top. No avail my ladies. I swear everything in that store is for those with a VERY large chest AND they like to bedazzle everything within an inch of their lives. Finally found your basic V-neck in a nice shade of purple, and was HAPPY to leave the store.
But, Layne Bryant here's a clue for you.
FAT PEOPLE JUST WANT TO LOOK LIKE REGULAR PEOPLE. WE don't want to show our chests off (and some people aren't lucky enough to have their fat deposited there), we don't want to wear gold lame or tiger prints when we drop our kids off at school (or, frankly anywhere). I swear, if someone would figure this particular principle out, they'd probably make a mint.
Anyway, thanks to Shery for sticking it out with me. She was a great shopping pal. :)

The World is my Oyster

This is just one of those days when you feel like you can make it better. YOU are in charge of the day, you can get a lot done, you can have a positive attitude. You can sing the sponge bob square pants song while making breakfast. You are a fun mom.
I'm loving it.
Not exactly sure what's causing it, but I do have 3 new goals:
1. Better prayers. I don't know what's wrong with me but honestly, I'm not the best at prayers. Don't get me wrong, I've said some pretty fervant prayers in my life, I have a testimony that prayers are answered and I know God listens to my prayers... I just have a really hard time sitting there, kneeling and talking to God without thinking what's for dinner, or what's on the schedule for the day. So, I'm going to be better about it.
2. I'm going back on The Firm. The weightloss has plateaued, and while I'm fairly sure that doesn't have much to do with my workouts (I am of the camp that working out is good for your body but it's not gonna do much for your weightloss -- it's been proven with me, but I hope that with my sensible eating and the firm I'm gonna get past the 190 barrier that's holding me back right now). That's right, I just typed my weight. Sue me. So, this morning it was me and my fanny lifter. I'm fairly sure I'm going to be sore tomorrow. But, I've already asked Drew to get me 5 more of their tapes for Christmas. Go me.
3. No More Snacking. It's written on the white board, I've told all my kids to catch me eating snacks and remind me not to eat them. It's probably the biggest killer. I'm slowly getting into the right portions. I often eat off the kid's plates (I fill it nice and full, don't get me wrong, and I'm really working hard not to have second helpings) and I feel like that part of my life is going OK but then I feel like I need something a little salty or just something to munch on. So, no more snacking. End of story. I did read on my Hungry Girl newsletter this AM about peppermint making it so you're not hungry any more. I am hoping to brush my teeth right after dinner and have some sugar free mints around in case my body needs a little extra reminding. Also, I have plenty of craft projects just WAITING to keep my hands busy. Instead of with food.

So, there you go. Those are my big goals. I'd also like to get back to making "to do" lists -- they make me feel more positive about my day and more likely to work on other stuff (like crafts) around the house in my free time. Maybe I'll even wrap a few presents.

Elder Ballard's Talk

Last night I was reading through my general conference Ensign and I ran into this talk. For those of you who have questions about the LDS religion, it's a great reference. More then that though, it's a great reference for those of us LDS who need to answer the questions we are so often asked.

Just SO thankful that the church is getting more and more into it's own PR. We aren't freaks people, most likely there's a Mormon on your school's PTA, there's one on your block and they're often friendly and willing to help out.

Mormons, they're not freaks. It's a good thing. :)

Having a Hard Time... with my attitude

Dang, Thanksgiving just passed in a blur. I was either, shopping, eating, or working most of the time. It hasn't built a relationship of trust with my scale either. BUT, Wednesday was a hard day for me.
O'Connor called at 5, and wanted me to work. We'd already scheduled to take our car in and Drew and I were already wide awake so we hauled the kids out of bed (that's right, at 5 am) and took the Subaru to the dealership, left the keys in their lock box and they took me to work (btw, the kids went back to sleep once we got home and slept til' 9 -- Drew is a lucky man). I proceeded to work 12 hours... from 5 am to 5 pm -- all of it being my on call/called back pay. Which is a lot.
I was dreaming of the dollar signs that our family would have in our bank account when Drew called me. It was 800 dollars for our Subaru to just have a check-up (we rarely take our cars to the dealership, and the Subaru rarely gets much more then an oilchange period, so we thought it was time). "800" I thought, but we gave-in since it was already there and I Was makin' the bucks. LAter in the afternoon I found-out it'd be more like 1200... since we needed new brake pads. Guess how much Hilary made on her special day at work. Probably somewhere between 1200-1300...
So, there it went, all to Stevens Creek Subaru.
Yes, the car drives better.
Yes, it's a relief to have it serviced and have that out of the way (since Drew has to be to work so early every day it's difficult for us to take our cars in for service).
But MAN... EVERY PENNY I EARNED? Youch.
I was really having a hard time with it on Wednesday evening. We are really focusing on saving this year, and so far it's been going well. Of course, when we're saving we tend to also do things that we've put off for a long time that need to be done (like taking our car in for a check-up)...
It's so hard to shift your mind to the fact that I should be grateful we made the money to pay it.
But, it's a shift that needs to be made.
The glass is half full Hilary. Get on with it. :)

It's Dark out at 3:30....

That's right, I trudged to Mervyn's this AM at 3:30, and a small part of me wonders why I don't get up that early every day to get stuff done. But, get my 10 dollar gift card I did, and I am pretty-much done with Christmas Shopping HORRAY. We hit Mervyns, Toys R Us and Target before 6:30, then we had breakfast at I-HOP and now I just baked an apple pie.
CHECK
ME
OUT.
However, I'm fairly sure it's time for a nap now.
Just know that I got some deals, and more importantly I was able to shop with a friend and child-free.

You can play, play, play with playmobile

We are huge playmobil fans around here. However, I don't want anyone to think that you have to spend the big bucks to get that kind of fun. My kids just love the whole imginative play of it. Playmobile isn't forcing you into a situation where Dora and Diego go on a safari. There are so many great simple sets that kids can have fun with. We also have a castle and a pirate ship that offer the same imaginative play. This time of year you'll see knock-off sets in Walmart or Target -- simple things -- jungle safaris, polar explorers (we have been playing with our Playmobile Polar explorers all week), farms. Things where kids can pretend they're in the situation and fun things they'd like to do when they're hunting for dinosaur bones in the ice. Anyway, big fun. Do you guys have playmobile sets that you love?

In other news I made another (my second) bundt cake last night. It's not my arch nemesis. The first one, it fell apart when I inverted it. This one got a weird hole in it and it sunk once it came out of the pan (but it did come out of the pan beautifully). My next crazy idea is to make an apple pie for Thanksgiving. From scratch. Go me. Anyone have a recipe they love?

Cape Fear

Today's favorite toy is a simple one. I made Conner 2 capes for his 5th birthday and MAN are they well-loved. Thankfully I made two, and I made them with velcro closure becuase both of them can play now, and they both can do them on their own.
I did one as a two-sided cape, one side is spiderman and the other side is star wars. They're just the crappy character material you buy at Joann's. So, that one did require some sewing. HOWEVER, I also made a black fleece cape, which, although less stable, woudln't require any sewing. I did, however sew some twill tape in at the neck to make it so it wouldn't stretch-out. I also sewed the velcro on. I guess you could use the sticky kind, but I'm not sure how well it would stick to the fuzzy fleece.
Anyway, simple dress-ups that can be used to be many things (sometimes we're villans, sometimes we're magicians, sometimes we're harry Potter) are always a good thing to have around.
In other news, it's my turn for ABC school today. I always think it's so great til' it's my day. Although I always get through it, and I usually have a good time as well. It's J day and we're making jello, heaven help us.

Toys We Love

Today as we were playing our family game (we try and plan one family game every Sunday), I realized that there are just SOME toys that we have that our kids just LOVE, and we love them too. So I thought I'd post a few of them this week, in case you have grandmas that are wanting to buy your kids gifts, or if you're stumped yourself.

Anyway, today's game is Whoonu. It's actually the one we were playing today. There's a stack of cards, and you have to pick the cards out of your stack that you think a certain person will like the most. I just read Spencer's aloud to him, and he picks his own (although it's not a surprise to the person who we're ranking them for). It's interesting to see what he thinks I like the most.

Anyway, it'd be interesting to see your families love as well, so I tag everyone to put their top 5 favorite toys/games on their blogs. :) I'll try and figure out 4 more for the week as well. '

And a layout for the record books. Not only am I totally using my stash (hello letter beads and fibers) but this is the beginning of album #21. Go me.

Put a fork in them, they're done!

SO, SO, SO glad they're done! Too much creative force involved in these! Drew and mine are on the left, I LOVE mine, so that's made it all worth it. :) For mine I used little pom-pom balls, rick-rack and a fancy button. Drew's also has buttons and pom-pom balls (his are either black or dark green, can't really decide the color -- but it looks stately regardless. Anyway, I thought I'd share the finished project. Go me. :) On a sadder note, I have lost my regular black Friday pal. She's going to AZ For Thanksgiving, dang her. So if anyone's wanting to go let me know. Of course, you need to live near me.... sorry Lara. :) If anyone's interested at looking at Black Friday ads you can always go to http://www.blackfriday.info/ and they already have most of the sales posted.

You people

All the people, wanting photos (coughcoughkent)... so I thought I'd take some of the stockings that are done.

The kids opted for an Elf look (the curled toe), Drew and I have the more mature regular stocking look {smirk}. Spencer chose the snowman jingle bells, and Conner has the Christmas lights one. They both adore them.... and they're growing on me, although the back sides aren't my favorite to look at...

In other news, Conner's home sick today. I am finding all the perks of not being pregnant like sucking down the airborne and popping a few sudafed. We just had about blowing our nose, if I hear much more sniffing I'll probably land in the funny farm (which most likely woudln't be that much differen then where I exist right now).

The Osmonds

Can't believe I didn't put the final finish in my Osmond entry.
Yes, I watched the Oprah show, and it was just another instance that I am in LOVE with my DVR. I rewinded the part where they show the family, it was fun to see the kids I went to HS with... and frankly, I think we're all aware that's as close to the Oprah show that I'm ever gonna get (unless my blurb blog book gets big press, which I doubt).

Today I saw Marie on the Today show, it was really sad. I guess her son's in rehab, and Larry King pulled that out without her prior knowledge. She is a tough woman with a tough life. I admire her perseverance, because as we Mormons know, it's about pushing through all this life's stuff to make it to the next one. I am just as apt to judge her as anyone else but I hope I'll bar my tongue next time I think her dress is a tad slutty on Dancing with the Stars, or I hear someone saw her in the celestial room... She's trying just like the rest of us, at least we don't have Larry King pulling up our dirt in front of us.

The Guilt that's all Home-made

I'm working on making some stockings for our family. We've always had REALLY ugly ones, and I've always thought I'd like to have individual ones with a unifying trend. So, when my mom was here we set-off for the fabric store. We found some great red courderoy with snowflakes (love courderoy) and some stuff for the tops, and notions to help everyone individualize theirs. I've sewn the kid's and I'm jsut disappointed, I see flaws in all of them. I mean, when I hang them and look from across the room they're pretty dang adorable but up close I see ALL these flaws, and I just want to rip them to shreds and throw them away.

So, as I was cleaning this morning I was thinking what I'd think if I had a stocking that my grandma had hand-made. I know I'd cherish it. I'd probably give it a place of honor in our Christmast decorations just because it was from her, and now she is no longer with us. And it hit me. The reason I make things is to leave a legacy. It's not to save money (because, regardless of all the good intentions they rarely do save money), it's not to be better then what's sold at Pottery Barn (I wish), but it's to show my kids that I care enough about them, and Christmas to spend some time sewing a bit of myself into the season.

I think home-made has gotten a bad rep lately. It either needs to be amazing as Martha Stewart would do, or it's worthless. That's not how I feel about the things people who I love had made for me, and I need to place the same measurement to myself.
Go me. :)

Update Wednesday

Been feeling the need to update a few things I'm not sure I ever talked about. This blog's been getting BO-ring, so it's time to spice it up:
Thumb Sucking -- I believe I talked about our magical bandaid already. To recap, we went to the store and bought some of those cool tatoo bandaids (I believe they stay on longer, but most any bandaid would do I believe)... put one on twice a day for about a week and voila, the kid's no longer a thumbsucker. He also didn't take naps for about 3 months but now we seem to be easing into a pattern of a couple of naps a week. If I knew it was going to be this easy, I might have let it continue longer.
Second Grade -- LOVING it. We have a loop teacher this year. For those of you without kids in school, that means Conner had a teacher last year, and then she looped up with the same kids this year. However, since he was in a 1/2 combo last year we got half a new class so it seems like we got the best of all worlds, having new friends and a techer who already knows where Conner is at and whom we adore. Conner just seems to be moving along at warp speed... dang him.
ABC School What started as traumatic has turned into a really great thing. We now have 5 kids and do it once a week. Even when I do it I'm not overhwhelmed with children-ness... Spencer is having a GREAT time with all of it. It's nice to have something of his own, a good transition into preschool for next year. I also really appreciate how he's forming bonds with the children his age at church. It's good to have those as our starter friends.

As a sign-off, I'd like to point you to my friend Lara's blog: Overstuffed, her entry today is SO DANG FUNNY. She IM'd me about it last night and I was crying I was laughing so hard. I mean, imagine if it hadn't gone this way.... {sigh} she's basically my sista' from another mother. Love her.

New PIctures on Photography Blog

Just a little taste. If you want to see more....

Body Worlds

First off, I'd like to say that last night's post isn't a "woe is me" type thing -- not at all. Once Spencer was born I was fully aware why it took so long to get pregnant with him. God makes my life completely perfect for me, of that I'm aware... although I wish I could be done with the baby period of my life. I'm fairly sure at some point our garage will collapse what with all the baby clothes stored in the ceiling. But I walk by faith, and that's that. Just wanted to share that part of our lives with my peeps, I've had some great responses, which is just what I wanted. :)

NOW, back to our "holiday" yesterday. That's right -- it's an exhibition of cadavers that have had their skin removed and have been plasticized, and we LOVED it. If you go, be prepared for questions from your kids (the site actually recommended it for kids over the age of 10 -- I for SURE wouldn't send my kids without me til' that age, but if your kids are squemish or bodies aren't something you're willing to talk openly about, I would use 10 as a guideline, however my kids LOVED it). Yes, these cadavers are completely nude (both with no skin and with no clothes). So, I just made it a game to see if they could tell me the gender of the cadavers. Conner got pretty good at it, Spencer still thought they were all boys. :) Except for the one with ballet slippers. :) The best parts for me were when they showed diseased organs. To see how the organs actually look, with smokers lung, or an anurysm, or kidney issues, it was just AMAZING to me. I'll tell you that my kids are fully aware of what smoking does to a person. It was so interesting to see them walk up to a body and say "he smoked, ewwww!" -- the lungs are SO dark. Disgusting.
Anyway, good luck to Ms. Dodson during morning meeting. Conner said he had a lot of things he wanted to share about going. I am hoping none of them revolve aroudn finding the boys and the girls.
Oh, and I sent my blogger book in for publishing. Total cost is going to be around 65 dollars, but I think it will be worth it. I crammed all of my 2005-2006 entries in one book. It took a fair amount of time, but less then I thought it would. I will let you know when it comes.
Also, I'm trying to change my banner (I am shocked that it's the 13th and I still haven't made a new one)... stupid blogger isn't uploading it. Will try again later, sorry for the eyes until it's fixed. :)

No bambino

Alright, the Ericksons have a little secret. We've been trying to get pregnant for about 2 years... a little under that. Of course, the word trying means different things to different people. We haven't done ovulation kits or fertility. I just don't feel like that's the way to go.

Anyway, we have now come to the marching band break (we take 3 months off so that a prospective child isn't born during marching band season -- plus, it's important for me to have a break). I really feel like I need breaks in this process. Although it's nice to know that I can use sudafed and xicam for the next few months it also comes with a big sigh... I've gotten prepared to parent three. We bought bunk beds, we bought a minivan, I measured to make sure a crib could still fit in the kids room...

I'm sure many of you have been in this position. SO many people wonder why we aren't flowing with kiddos. Truth is, it took about 18 months to get pregnant with Spencer. I had NO idea it'd take this long this time. Being Mormon brings the pressure of having loads and loads of kids, and let's not even go into the people who think I need a girl...

I've had suggestions to get the sticks, I've had suggestions to go on clomid....problem is, I'm really happy with the way my life is now. My mind keeps going back to Nephi and his bow, long story short -- Nephi learns that God doesn't give us trials that we can't withstand. However, I have always also believed that we can bring upon ourselves trials that will perhaps be more then we can take -- and honestly, perhaps child #3 would be my trial, the one that would bring me to the brink. I don't deal well with chaos, I don't deal with without individual time for my kids. I am a very hands-on mom. I watch shows with big families where the older kids parent the little ones and I get sick, it's just not my style. That doesn't mean that Conner can't put toothpaste on S's toothbrush though. :)

Anyway, I thought I'd just share this part of our lives. So far it's mostly been people who we're really close to that I've told. However, I know a lot of my blog readers have been in similar situations. I was hoping to get some kind words and thoughts. None of them involving ovulation kits, or thoughts that perhaps I truly am a man. I can think those thoughts on my own. :)

Do you know who I am?

So, the marching band competition didn't go as planned. When we got there, they had a note in the information, that if it started to rain they would move the competition inside and basically just do a concert. Of course, it was just trickling, not a downpour, but they decided to move it inside. We had to wait FOREVER for them to put out all their mats and protect their precious gym floor.... and THEN we find-out they're not scoring us or giving out awards (but we would get some lovely comments from the judges).
So, the band director for Logan High School comes by and asks if we have any questions. Drew is just really frustrated. This is our last competition of the year, the seniors were really bummed it was inside and to hear there wouldn't be awards was just a big bombshell -- and frankly, we didn't understand why they couldn't at least score our music and percussion, if nothing else. So, we asked the band director "why." He said because he was the band director and it was his decision.
So, I asked "why" again.... why they couldn't score music and percussion?
"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM", he responds (doesn't that sound like something Bionce or George Clooney would say -- surely not a near-retirement band director would say, who just berated us for wanting awards). "I have 31 years of experience, and as a music educator let me tell you this is the right decision." Basically, after this response we just starred at each other, speechless (mostly of the "do you know who I am" comment. Of course, that's now the cliche line of the band. All night long we kept asking each other if they knew WHO WE WERE). Obviously, we are all very important people. He did share with us that our kids would get a lot of great comments (for a show that we will never perform competitively again).... As Mrs. Ross would say, it's time for the grumpy bear to go back into his cave (and retire).
Apparently, in their contract they can cancel it at any time without refund... that's quite a way to run a "business" (we do have to pay fees to go to competitions).
Of course, NOW I have about 30 snappy comebacks coming to my head to for this particular band director, the favorite coming from my friend Karen "You know, after 31 years (which, by the way is as long as I've been alive) I'd think you'd have a better way to handle this."
Actually, I think it boils down to an overwhelmed band director, who thought Drew was fresh out of school (Drew hasn't been to this competition before, and shockingly I doubt we'll go again) and he knew much better. Little did he know that Drew and I have marched in blizzards while the opposing team was pelting us with ice balls.
These CA bands, they're pansies. :) DO THEY KNOW WHO WE ARE?
Does anyone really know who they are?
Perhaps I'll ponder that while I snuggle with my heating blanket.

Run for the Roses

Paste a smile on your faces folks, it's the last marching band competition today. And, while I'm sure the drama associated with marching band will live out all year it's fairly exciting to see the end in sight.
Drew's bestest cousin ever, Valerie, is going to watch our kids while I go up and see the whole competition. Of course, there's also a 60% chance of rain.... better bring my stadium seat eh?
Anyway, it will most likely be a long day and we're snack mom for soccer so I'd better get on cutting my little dear some apples.

Slurping

So, I'm obsessed with this blog book. It's nothing that I'm proud of, but it is the truth. It's not really helping with my computer fast, I must admit.
Some annoying issues:
1. They put each entry on a separate page, and since I'm not usually a long-winded blogger it's not really working for me (esp. since you pay per page). I started out with over 300 pages (like 380) and I'm down to 200 right now, I bet it'll be around 150.
2. I am hoping to add 2005 to it. I'm worried it's gonna mess the whole book up. {sigh}.
Anyway, I think it's a good service but don't believe that you can just upload your blog and whamo they'll send it to you in the mail.

Slup it

I'm using Blurb to slurp my blog to make a book.
Almost sounds a-moral, doesn't it?
Anyway, I've had friends do it and when I first tried it slurped it REALLY weird, making over 400 pages for just 6 months of blogs. So, this time I tried it (they've updated their book smart software) and it's a bit easier, although it's going to be a bit of time regardless.
Anyway, I think the finished cost will be around 50 dollars, but it will be nice to have it all down in a hard copy form.

This just shows I need a life...

This Friday, on Oprah:
Reunion of over 100 Osmond families.
Just read that on my DVR, and I'm absolutely giddy about the show.
Called my friend Becky, because I figure everyone in Utah must know about 5 Osmonds.
Turns out she doesn't...
Anyway, I've calmed down, I'm not living my whole week just to see the show, but it's close.
Sad, but true tales from the life of Hilary. :)
And now I'm off to clean the shelf above my sink...
Uh huh, also true.

My mommy's leaving me

My mom's been here for over a week, and it's just been devine. We've done some shopping (hello new black boots, making me feel all fancy and fine), we've gone to the forever-long halloween parties. Yipes, it's just been the best time evah! So nice to pull myself out of the dulldroms of marching band season.
Thanks to my dad for missing out on birthday festivities with her so she could come be with me. Props to dad. :)
It's amazing what a mom can do. I hope someday to do this type of thing for my kids. So glad you could come mumzy!
In other news, I am shocked at myself for not haivng a new November page up.
Bad me.