Handmade Baby Items

I made these items (blanket, onesie, birp cloths, and hooded towel) for my sister-in-law who is pregnant. I threw a shower for her along with my mother-in-law, Jean, and sister-in-law, Erin. These were super fun to make. I want to make more!

Feeling the Spirit in Primary

At church on Sunday Ethan didn't want to go to his class. I went and sat with him in Primary. Normally I would have hated this and tried to avoid it, but I am really glad I got to go to Primary. A member of the Bishopric and his wife gave the sharing time about mothers. They had a little trivia game about mothers in the church.

After the sharing time the song leader had a song game for the kids. A child would pick a card off the chalk board and the piano player would play the first few notes of the song. The kids would then guess what the song was. The first song was "A Child's Prayer". I love this song and use to sing it to Audrey quite often. It's one of those songs where the child sings a verse then the adult sings a verse and then they sing their separate verses together. On the second verse it says "Pray, He is there. Speak, He is listening. You are His child. His love now surrounds you." When I began to sing "His love now surrounds you" I felt a warmth fill my body and I began to cry. The song leader was crying, the Primary President was crying, the Primary counselors were crying and a few female teachers were crying. It was a really amazing feeling. The spirit filled that room and I knew that Heavenly Father loved those children. I felt his love and the spirit very strongly. I am so glad I got to go to Primary. If I hadn't, I would have missed out on such a beautiful experience.

Time Flies!

I can't believe how fast time flies by sometimes. I keep meaning to write, but then the day gets away from me and by the end of the day I'm exhausted and just want to go to bed. Since it is the last month of the school year there are lots of graduations, class programs and other activities. Audrey's teacher sent home a whole page of things that are going on from now till the end of the year. Everything from spelling bees to read-a-thons.

We have been doing a program called "Children's Miracle Music" to help get the kids to self motivate and get ready for school on time. The program includes two cds, a chart, stars, and a marker. The cds have instructions on them like "Eat your breakfast", "Do your act of kindness", and "Brush your teeth". The kids must pick an act of kindness. We have chosen things like dusting, cleaning rooms, unloading the dishwasher, cleaning the bathroom. It has helped get things done around the house. There is a morning cd and an evening cd. If they get the tasks done during the song then they get a point for completing int he task. It's been going so-so. Ethan whines and gets mad almost every time I put the cd in. By the end of the cd he's happy and wants his points. There have been a few times when he has thrown a fit the entire time and then been sad at the end that he didn't get points. He hates it when he doesn't get points. I try to not micro-manage them while they are doing the cd. I try to just let the cd tell them what they need to complete, but sometimes they don't care about getting the things done and they either whine about doing it or they just don't do anything. It's hard sometimes for me to just step back and allow them to have the consequences of not getting the task completed and the points for completing it. Ethan has been unloading the dishwasher for his act of kindness. It's been awesome! My dishes are always done now. It's really strange, but I HATE unloading the dishwasher.

I took the kids to the dentist the other day. I really love their dentist. After a horrible experience taking them to the dentist for the first time, I talked to some friends in our ward and he was highly recommended. He's not a pediatric dentist, but his office is EXTREMELY child friendly. They have TVs on the ceiling and headphones so the kids can watch TV while they get their dental work done. My kids haven't ever had cavities, but Audrey has weakened enamel on one of her molars. The dentist said that it isn't anything she did wrong with her teeth, but this can happen when the tooth is developing under the gums. It's usually caused from either a high fever when they were young or antibiotics. It stunts the growth of the enamel on the tooth. When she was 4 she had an ear infection and had a high fever (her only one ever, YAY!) and when she was 5 months old she got a bladder infection, had a high fever and was on antibiotics. Those are the only two things I can think of that may have been the cause of it. She has to have a filling in that tooth. She's really nervous about it. She doesn't want the shot to numb the gums. She will also be getting her molars sealed on the same visit.

On Wednesday last week I drove to Logan and picked up my sister-in-law, Erin and my nephew Hayden. I really missed her and she wanted to come down. It was fun to hang out with her. We hung out at my house a lot and did fun things like make cards and played with fondant (that stuff is kind of yucky!). When her husband finishes school, I hope they move closer. Our little boys are only 9 months apart and I know they will be good buddies as they get older. When I was young I had a bunch of cousins around my same age. We were pretty close, we would hang out at our grandparent's and have sleep overs and do a bunch of stuff together. I love that my kids have cousins now!

Sunday was Mother's Day. I know I am super behind, but I've been busy. We had some family over for dinner on Sunday. TJ cooked marinated flank steak and salmon on the grill. I made rice, rolls, and super yummy cream cheese cookies. It was fun to get together.

When I was in jr. high and high school I had a best friend name Michelle. We use to hang out a lot together. We had so much fun! We were obnoxious, loud, and annoying to others, but we always had a good time together. In high school we stopped being friends. All these years I have missed her. We have another friend whom I've been friends with since 2nd grade (that's 20 years!). This friend is Maurine or Mimi. Michelle and Mimi stayed friends and Mimi still see each other (she is the only one I trust to cut and color my hair, she's been doing it since we were 14). I've kind of kept up on Michelle's life through Mimi. Well a couple of months ago I noticed she was on Facebook. I decided to talk to her. We are friends again. I'm really glad that I decided to put the past behind me, grow up and speak to her again. She is one of those people that have a really bright shining personality. I can't really describe it, but when we stopped being friends there was a big hole in my life. It's like the sun got a little darker. I'm so happy to have her back in my life. On Wednesday we got together at my house with all our kids. It was a little crazy, but fun!

Well, I think that is all for now. I had an experience at church on Sunday, but I think it is so special that it deserves it's own post.

Skin MD Natural Review

A few months ago I received a sample of Skin MD Natural Ultimate Skin Care Treatment. I had really dry hands at the time, to the point of cracking and bleeding. I put it on and really liked how it felt initially. The lotion is a nice consistency, not greasy. It spreads nicely on the skin and leaves skin feeling silky. Because of the consistency you don't have to put very much on to cover a large area. After about 15 or 20 minutes the nice hydrated feeling went away and I put more on. In the next day or two I saw a difference in my dry skin. It wasn't as dry any more. It seems that this lotion lives up to it's claims. However, I found that I had to put it on pretty frequently and my skin was still left feeling dry after some time.

My son has eczema and he really liked the lotion. We put it on his dry skin patches a few times. Most of the other lotions we use give him a burning sensation because of the broken skin. This lotion didn't and he didn't mind me putting it on him.

I also used the lotion on my chest. I have noticed lately that my skin isn't as smooth and nice on my chest and neck as it use to be. It seemed to smooth out the wrinkles.

I like the lotion and may purchase some if I find it somewhere while shopping. I don't think I'd seek it out. I didn't find that it was superior to any other lotion that I currently use. Maybe if I could have used it for a longer period of time I may have changed my mind. I just found that I had to apply it so often for it to make a difference and I don't have time in my day to continue to apply lotion.

Edited: I added a link to their website. If anyone is interested in a sample of Skin MD Natural, go visit their website www.SkinMDNatural.com

I've used up the rest of the bottle on Ethan's eczema. He is now asking that I use it all the time. Guess it's time to either get another sample or go buy some.