The Philips Family

What do you do for a Christmas shirt when your child will ONLY wear a shark shirt to school?  I have a simple solution.  Cut out a Santa hat, and glue it on with Elmer's  glue.  It will come right off in the wash.  You will only get one wear, but it is perfect for the last day of school before Christmas break.

 Mallory wouldn't ask Santa for anything because she just wanted a "candy can".  David asked Santa for a hot wheels track that you stick on the wall.  My sweet little angel, Bree asked for Rogue to get something in her stocking.  And, Donny.  Donny asked for a dragon.

Happy 11th Birthday to my sweet boy.  So excited to get $10 from a friend.  Almost as exciting as getting his very own box of hot cocoa.  Overwhelmed, and planning his breakfast for tomorrow.  Mallory was excited for her Donny, Big Big. Fished what I wanted!

Happy birthday to my sweet Mallory! I think Shalayne wanted to put this doll into her own private mommy stash.

I would like to personally thank Little Tikes for the special kind of "heck" that is wrapping a Lalaloopsy doll.  If you have ever wrapped one, you know exactly what I am talking about.  If not, just buy a bag if you ever plan on giving one as a gift. I do not consider myself challenged at gift wrapping.  In fact, I would say I slightly excel.  But this whole lalaloopsy thing made me feel as though I had never wrapped a gift before in my life.  I am happy to report that after many folds and a whole lot of tape I wrapped the doll.

This idea for this Christmas tree came from this blog: http://www.hometalk.com/2529806/diy-pallet-christmas-tree-tutorial

Reindeer.  It really isn't the best picture, but here it is.  Oh, and that dust! I got the idea from this cute blog: http://wmcraftgoodies.blogspot.jp/2010/12/reindeer-upgrade-and-sleigh.html  

I have been getting my craft on lately! Here's a peek.  The turkey face is made from a paint stir stick. Of course we hot glued the feathers on the back.  I did not make the star on top of the tree.   I got it at a Relief Society activity years ago.  I mitered (I'm not sure about the spelling) all the edges.   I'm not gonna lie, it made me feel like a champion. I also made the little stand that the turkey is on, with mitered edges as well. **I got the ideas for the tree and turkey on Pinterest.  I just changed them to suit my style.

Here is the after picture.  I am done with this coat rack.  I forgot to put the baskets on before I took the picture. 

Bree's 9th birthday party.  It was so much fun.  She had a Monster High Spa party.

We needed a coat rack.  I priced them out and thought the prices were a little out of control.  So what did I do, suck it up and just buy one like normal humans?   No!!  I thought, (now stop me if you've heard this one before) "I can totally make that!"  I told Ed that I was going to look around the house to see what I could come up with.  This is the point that he should have said, "let's just buy it."  But, my wonderful husband, with his need to feed my obsession of trying so hard to craft, just said, "okay". I literally stared out the window several times looking around the yard to see what was available to use.  Remember that refrigerator that broke in the summer?  Well, we did not get rid of it, so I used the produce baskets for boot baskets. So much frustration.  And one tiny little tantrum later, I'm almost done. I'm not done with it, but thought I would post what I came up with.  The total of this project was $4.69, the cost

Welcome to the Children's Republic of Mom.  It's not so much a republic, as a...Momocracy.  Here there is a tax of a sweeter variety.  You never know when your time will come to pay taxes, and you don't know how much.  Here, I sit on my throne of wrappers and laugh when they all go to school.

I have never really had a super strong testimony of fasting.  I do it because I know I am suppose to, and I am ashamed to admit it, but halfheartedly.  Then last month when it was my turn to give the lesson to my Beehives (the 12 and 13 year old girls at church) I was able to choose from several lessons.  Fasting kept coming to my mind.  The lesson did not seem like it would be as much "fun" to teach as the other lesson, so I decided to print out the other one.   Two times the other lesson would not print out.  I thought my computer was broken.  I asked Ed and we printed something else out.  It worked just fine, so I tried to print the other lesson out again.  Guess what?  No printy.  I took that as a hint from the Lord and printed out the Fasting lesson, and you know what?  It was a miracle!  My computer printed that lesson out just fine. I gave my lesson and it was great!  I learned that I was not a very good "faster".  I knew the next Fast Sunday had to be

I meant to do this yesterday, but the day went by so fast.  Ed and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary yesterday.  We have an amazing marriage.  Just the kind I imagined I would have when I was a little girl.  I was so blessed to meet and marry the love of my life.  Sure we have trials like everybody else, but our marriage remains strong and happy.  I still look forward to the rest of my eternity with my wonderful husband. ♥♥♥I love you so much, Ed.  Happy Anniversary!! ♥♥♥

A couple weeks ago in church, David dumped the rest of the month old bag of pretzels (now a powdery mess) into his lap in an effort to get every last crumb into his mouth. Tiny pretzel particles were all over his lap(and the pew, and the floor).  I made him lean over my bag as I brushed them in.  If that had happened with Donny, I would have been a mess.  But now, being a mom of four kids, I have learned to chill just a bit.  Sometimes I'm a fruitcake, but for the most part I roll with the punches(sometimes literally). There was a time when I wondered why I even went to church.  I spent most of sacrament meeting in the foyer, and every now and then some of the women at church would make a comment to me about how their children never acted that way.  ( Well, good for you, Supermom! I wish I had a sarcastic font.) I go, and have always gone to church because that is what I am suppose to do.  It is what I promised to do when I chose to be baptized.  I promised to take upon myself

Me(while looking at Monster High dolls on ebay)- Wow!  That thing has been played with to death! Donny- How can she die if she is already dead? David- She got resurrected!

 I was sitting at my computer (I deserved a little break, right?) when I heard that sound.  The one that makes your heart stop beating and pound harder at the same time.  The scream from your child.  The one that you know is real.  Somebody is hurt.  And by the sound of that scream, we will be going to the ER. I ran the 40 feet to the front door as my blood seemed to drain from my body by osmosis.  I reached for the front door about the time my sweet three-year-old, Mallory did, her shrieks ever increasing the closer she got.  We opened the door simultaneously and she screamed, "David got me all wet!" I rolled my eyes, helped her get out of her wet clothes, told her to go get some dry clothes on and thanked my maker that she wasn't hurt. I'm not sure that my heart is strong enough for this kind of scare again.

I had the most amazing time with my dad, sister and nieces and nephews!  This is a ton of pics, but not a ton of jibber jabber.  I hope you enjoy.♥♥♥