Super Bowl 52

This is how we celebrated the Super Bowl on Sunday.

with pedi's in the tub. It makes for the best party ever!

  In the middle of washing the dinner dishes a special Super Bowl invitation was delivered.

the place: Mom's bathroom

the time: right now

the activity: pedis in the tub

There were foot soaks, foot and leg lotion massages, nail painting, and treats. 

After-all, What's a party without treats?

I vote we make this a new tradition! Next year I'll be rooting for team SPA! Go TEAM!

Scare the Pee out of Ya

video link

My kids are really into scaring.  When I say scaring I mean hiding and jumping out at the first poor innocent victim that walks by.  Last week during a sleepover, the little girls scared 10 years off my parents' life sneaking up on them. 

This is getting to be a serious problem. I'm nervous to go anywhere in my house for fear of being scared. You always have to be on guard. If you come over for a visit, be careful, you never know who might be hiding around the corner.

 Consider yourself warned.

Gingerbread House Throw-Down 2015

 Last year, we started a new Christmas Eve tradition-

The Gingerbread House Throw-Down
Guys vs Girls

  This year, the guys meticulously planned out their design

 They really thought through how they wanted to decorate their house.
When I say they thought it through, I really mean they THOUGHT it through.

 While Team Girls was halfway through with their house,

 Team Guys was still thinking

 and thinking. . .

 Team Girls is almost finished

 while on the otherside of the table, Team Guys have finally finished all that thinking, and have come up with a plan.

 I've got to give credit to #2 who instead of going for the 'WIN', she went for the 'GIVE', and let her little sisters do most of the piping and decorating.

I love how the kids place boxes up so the other team can't see what they're doing and copy off them.

 Finally each team was finished, and it was time for the reveal. . . . .
Which team would you choose as the Champions?

Here we have TEAM GIRLS

front 

and side

 And TEAM GUYS
front

and side.

The judges (Dad and Grandma & Grandpa) chose TEAM GUYS as the winner!

Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho A Pirates Life for Me!

 

Ahoy me hearty.   

Today be Pirate Day at thar elementary school.  Arrr!

Every gent and lass who dresses up like a pirate will get free booty (a bag of popcorn.)  #5 and #6 were definitely all in! Aye, they be!

 Last night we rummaged through the Halloween costume box for piratey attire.

We used pieces from a zombie costume, a fifties costume, and even a knight costume.

 It's not authentically pirate, but the girls were happy with the hodge-podge costumes, and that's all that matters.
They're just happy to dress up period.

 When you dress up, the rule states that mom has to take your picture.

These two had way too much fun posing and pretending to be pirates.

 We also blasted and sang along with Disney's Yo-Ho Yo-Ho, A Pirate's Life for Me song while getting dressed and ready for school this morning.

It's no wonder I suddenly have a hankering to go to Disneyland!

General Conference -Women's Session

Have you seen this video put out by the Church?

"As you prepare for General Conference, I invite you to ponder questions you need to have answered." - President Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

Have you written down and are you pondering on the questions you would like answered during the sessions of General Conference?  I have.

"I promise you in [Jesus] name that if you pray with a sincere desire to hear your Heavenly Father's voice in the messages of this conference, you will discover that He has spoken to you to help you, to strengthen you, and to lead you home into His presence." - Elder Robert D. Hales

Last Saturday night was the first session of General Conference.  All three of my girls and I attended this session with my mom and my sister.  (I know my baby is technically not old enough to attend (you're suppose to be 8), but all the girls were going and she was feeling left out so we invited her along.) If you missed it, you can watch the session HERE. 

The Spirit was strong as truth was testimfied about the sacredness and importance of the family.  It was mentioned several times that The Family:  A Proclamation to the World is 20 years old this month.  In her talk, Sister Bonnie Oscarson said:

“The sanctity of the home and the essential purposes of the family are being questioned, criticized, and assaulted on every front . . .Little did we realize then (20 years ago when the Proclamation was read over the pulpit by President Gordon B. Hinckley), how very desperately we would need these basic declarations in today’s world as the criteria by which we could judge each new wind of worldly dogma coming at us from the media, the Internet, scholars, TV and films, and even legislators."

She called on the women of the Church to be defenders of the family and to use The Family:  A Proclamation to the Worlds as “our benchmark for judging the philosophies of the world.”

Boldly Stand Up for the Family.  

Be proud to be a Homemaker.  

Elevate the divine roles of mothers and fathers.

AG* Love-

Wordless Wednesday:

*This post is not sponsored American Girl (although I wish it were).

Gingerbread House Throw-Down

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Please enjoy this "super fierce", competitive Gingerbread House Throw-Down!

 Team Girls begin by making a plan and getting everything set and ready.

 Team Guys does the same.  They will not be outdone by Team Girls!

 Halfway through the competition:

 Team Girls' house is practically finished and lookin' good.

 Team Guys. . . .

well, they're making progress!

Team Guys scramble to catch up.

 Deciding that their house is not turning out quite the way they had envisioned, and they're getting a little bored, Team Guys resorts to randomly making their own contest "Which teammate can throw the most candy and make it stick?"

 A touch of green snow to the roofline adds a nice touch,

OH and it looks like the icing tube is going on as well.

Very nice creative Team Guys.

 Meanwhile over at Team Girls, we have quite the blizzard going on. . . 

 and now apparently the blizzard has crossed over to Team Guys.

 It's down to the wire.  Time to put on the finishing touches.

AND THE RESULTS:

 Team Girls- beautiful, edible house.

 Team Guys-  creative, messy, 

 definitely non-edible house.

Tender Mercies

Sometimes things happen and you just know the hand of the Lord was in it.

 Last week, out of the blue, our sweet neighbor-friend dropped off a huge pile (I'm talking crammed-packed garbage bag full) of clothes her cute little daughter had outgrown.

It couldn't have come at a better time as I had just (seriously the day before) gone through the girls' closet and assessed that #5 had outgrown most all of her clothes.  Which meant that #6 now had a ton of clothes to wear and #5 was basically down to just her underwear.  (Okay not really, but I was going to need to go buy her some more clothes.)

This girl was giddy with joy going through one by one, each and every single piece of clothing, while her little sister looked on hoping there would be something in there for her.  No such luck!

 After looking at the clothes, there was a few hours spent trying on each and every single thing.  Most of that time was spent posing in the mirror.

 Posing some more, assessing how she looked in each outfit, and then discussing with her little sister  which hair bow or accessory they each thought would look good with it.  Because that's what little girls do.?!?

She's had a blast this past week dressing up in her brand new wardrobe, and Lucky Me -all I had to buy her was a new pair of boots! 

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." 

-Philippians 4:19