To Do List

This isn’t me, but it could be… If I ever ironed.

Well, so much for getting a peaceful Christmas season. Maybe next week, but for now I can’t belive how much I need to get done between today and Sunday.

1. Solicit parents in Emma’s class for $ for teacher’s Christmas gift.

2. Solicit parents in Hunter’s class for $ for teacher’s Christmas gift.

3. Solidify plans for Hunter’s and Emma’s class parties next week. Yes, I am a room parent for both classes, crazy I know.

4. Drop off the girls at Gretchen’s house (thanks!) so I can go work at the school’s holiday shop. I’ll be helping the kids buy little things as gifts for their family. My job is to keep them withing their budget.

5. Finish sewing costumes for the ward Christmas activity, A Night in Bethlehem. I have one tunic finished so far, but have 4 others that are only just cut out.

6. Get fabric to make some humanitarian blankets for the victims of flooding in Mexico. They have to be turned in on Sunday.

7. Sew the blankets, I have one finished already.

8. Start to Pixie !

9. Clear a path through the house so that the repairman coming this afternoon can find the repairs he needs to make on our running toilet, and exposed carpet tacks.

10. Trip to the post office to mail a package.

11. Finish shopping for Christmas.

12. Keep up with Secret Siblings – we all drew names on Thanksgiving and are supposed to do something nice for the person we picked every day until Christmas. I’m also doing Hannah’s and Sabrina’s. Maybe should have thought this through a little better…

13. Grocery store trip for the basics.

14. Write off any cleaning, because realistically, it’s not going to happen this week!

15. Send Rob a cute email message or call him because this is our only communication until his deal at work closes on Friday.

I’m stopping here, because I just can’t spend any more time on the computer, too much to do!

Christmas Pixies

As we enter December and the Christmas season, let us remember the true meaning for this holiday. That has become sort of a trite little phrase that is easy to say, but not always easy to implement amidst the hussle and bussle of life. I am trying especially hard this year to make this a memorable Christmas, and not because of the magical gifts that were received. I took step one by committing to a three gift Christmas. Rob and I will give each of the children and ourselves: Something to read, something to wear, and something to do. We’ll let Santa take care of the toy. 🙂

I have such happy memories from my childhood when we would leave gifts for a family on their doorstep, ring the doorbell and run. It is one of my fondest memories of the spirit of Christmas and was so much fun for my family. I still vividly remember laughing quietly with my Dad as we hid behind a parked car when the kids came running out their front door to try and catch us. We called it “Pixies.” It was done ward-wide then and we would all meet at the ward Christmas party to discover who our “Pixie” family was. I decided to organize this on a smaller level with some of the families in our ward. I sent out an email message, and there was a great response. There will be 19 families participating and I am so excited! I have several ideas already, but can’t share them here because I happen to know that many of them read this blog (even if they don’t comment 😉 ).

If you’d like to start up Pixies in your area, here’s the information:

Pixie 2007

1. You fill out my questionnaire and send it back to me by November 30th. Then I will put all families in a hat and draw names to assign each family to another family (from those who gave me a questionnaire) to pixie. I will send you the information for your family to pixie by December 4th.

2. You will be the pixies to this family for two weeks (December 7 – 21). You can leave homemade goodies, crafts, decorations, notes, flowers… anything fun and festive.

These are the rules:
*You must leave at least 2 pixie surprises each week. More if you like… You can either doorbell ditch or wait until you’ve made a safe getaway and call with a pixie message (although with caller ID this is a bit tricky), or even mail a package etc.
*There is a $20.00 spending limit (total for all gifts). Please don’t go over, it will just make the family feel awkward if the gifts are too expensive. Homemade is best and the more creative the better!
*The goal isn’t really to catch your pixies, so the family inside the home must count to ten before answering the door.

3. On your very last pixie you can either choose to remain anonymous or reveal your identity!

—As a side note, if you’re feeling ambitious, you can also do a pixie on your own for someone who would not be participating, but could use some special attention this season!

Pixie Questionnaire

Participating Family Name:
Parents or Head of Household:
Children (name, age, and gender):
Pets (name and type of animal):
Any allergies:
Days you are planning to be away or on vacation:
Your address and phone number (and gate code if required):

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I hope this will help build the joy in giving and serving, and don’t forget to read the scripture story of Christ’s birth:

Luke, Chapter Two
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Living Vicariously Through My Sister

Erica sent me an email with this story, and I laughed so hard. She said it would be ok to share it here. Those crazy kids!!…

Do any of you remember the Christmas light “war” we had with our neighbors two years ago (last year they went to Hawaii, so things were calm on the battle front)? As a brief summary, we went back and forth stealing lights off the other’s house and adding them to our own. Well, we are at it again (I know, I know, we are like 15 years old at heart!). We took this old nasty couch that was left here in our out building (where we park our lawn mower and that’s about it), wrapped it in Christmas lights and put it in front of their house. When they came home from their Thanksgiving in Arizona it was there to greet them.

Then this morning when I left to take the boys to story time this is what I found….

That’s right, that is the roof of our house!!!!!!!!!!

Gotta love good neighbors!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nana’s Cool Machine

It’s 10:30 on Friday night and Rob just got home. It has been one of those long weeks. Rob billed over 60 hours this week so far (tomorrow he will add a few more). Rob is missing the kids because he has worked so much this week that he hasn’t really seen them. I am missing Rob because I’ve been around the kids so much…

I thought I’d try to do some catching up. My mom came down before Thanksgiving and we had a Totally Ready Open House for her products. (By the way, the site was just redesigned, very chic.) She also brought with her a brand new dreamy sewing machine and we all had to try it out, including the kids. It has all kinds of bells and whistles, a self threading needle, thread cutting feature, a zillion decorative stitches, etc. etc. She is so into quilting now, and I have never seen her this excited about any machine in my life! She taught me how to do “paper piecing“, her newest favorite that simplifies the patterns, but makes things look so complicated and impressive. I’ll show you what I made another time… It’s so fun. We all were amazed and look forward to seeing the projects Nana comes up with next.

Nana shows the girls how to program a fancy stitch into the machine.

Hunter had fun trying it out too!

Hunter took this picture and I just thought it was a great one.

A Letter From My Dad

When I set up WhiteBinder a year and a half ago, I had a couple of items in mind that I wanted to make absolutely sure got posted there. One of those items I finally posted this weekend. It’s a letter from my dad that he wrote to me when I was on my mission. Posting this letter was really important to me because of the experiences my dad writes about in the letter and because I knew that this was one of the few things in my collection of articles, spiritual thoughts, etc. that really couldn’t be found anywhere else.

Hopefully, you’ll see why it took me so long to get the story posted. I had to edit my dad’s letter to remove the personal parts that weren’t relevant to the story and I had to transcribe a number of follow up letters between my dad and others that he sent me which continue the story he starts in the letter.

My dad wrote me the letter when he was an officer in the Air Force and stationed on Guam as the Chief of Safety for the Air Force’s Pacific region. There had been an accident involving an Air Force plane in New Delhi, India and my dad led a team investigating the accident. My dad’s story starts after their investigation is over and they’re given a tour of the Taj Mahal and other sites in the city of Agra. I don’t want to say any more because I really want you to go and read the letter yourself and come back and tell me what you think.

I’m very proud of my dad. He’s the most compassionate person I know. As a lot of you know, after he retired from the Air Force, he went back to school and earned a Masters and a Doctorate in Audiology. Right now, my dad is spending his Thanksgiving in the same place he’s spent it for the last several years. He’s in Ghana as part of a humanitarian aid group he organized shortly after he became an Audiologist. He’s there with other medical professionals and volunteers (26 this year, a record) operating a free clinic and distributing free medical supplies.

I am grateful for the example my dad has always been of love and sacrifice. He loves everyone he meets, and everyone he meets loves him. I hope by sharing his letter to me, other people will have a chance to “meet” my dad and feel that love, too.

Hannah Turns 3

I started this post on Hannah’s birthday, November 16, and never posted it until today:

I know there has been some debate about this, but as her mother I can say with confidence, “Happy Third Birthday Hannah!” Hannah is so tall, articulate and social that sometimes it seems like she should be turning four today, but our little Hannah was born in North Carolina about halfway through Rob’s last year of law school. It seems like we have known her forever though.

Hunter and Emma woke up early this morning to decorate the house as a surprise for her and when she woke up and saw it… she cried. She wanted to be the one to decorate. She eventually got over it and realized there was still a lot to help with. One of the things Hannah says most is “I do it my-sef.” She wants to do things on her own whenever possible. She is a sparkly girl and usually happy and sunny. She loves her “own milk” as it is known in our house. She outgrew her lactose intolerance long ago, but still will only drink soy milk. If she mistakenly picks up someone else’s cup of regular milk, she instantly makes the yucky face. That’s our girl, so unique!

She loves everything princess and sings along to all of the princess and Barbie movies and songs. Her favorite colors are pink and purple and she keeps telling me she needs more princesses in her bedroom. She is sharing a room with Emma, so we still have some compromising to do on that request. She loves to play and keeps me busy playing in her imaginary world. She is a super little sister and a great big sister too. We love you Hannah!!!

Preschool Friends

Ryan, Hannah, Krista, Lindsey, Joey

Hannah has preschool every Tuesday morning. The mothers of the kids participating teach the lessons, and it was my turn yesterday. Because it was Veterans Day, we talked about our country. We had a brief talk about why it’s great to live in a free country and did this fun flag craft. This group is still pretty young, so there isn’t a strong structure to the class, but we played freeze dance to some patriotic songs, played outside some of those classic kids games like Duck duck goose and London Bridges, marched around with the flags they made and had plenty of play time. We talked about the different colors on the flag as they ate their snack of jello (red), banana (white), and sprinkles (blue). This is a fun group and I always enjoy teaching them!