Day 327: Bruce's Chili

Tonight we made Bruce Nielson's famous chili for dinner.  It was as good as we remembered and guaranteed to become a regular part of our winter menus!  The kids fought over the little wienie sausages! 

Three for Three...

I remember when Cami was a toddler, some older, wiser mother told me that there would come a day when Cami would cut her own hair.  That it was inevitable.  Every girl does it sometime.  It's some combination of being fascinated with scissors, playing pretend, and interest in their own appearance.   I listened intently, but naively believed that only careless mothers would ever leave children unattended around scissors. 

Haha!  It wasn't but a couple of years later when the day came that I became that careless mother.  I remember gasping horror when I found a long lock of Cami's blond hair on the floor.  I begrudgingly took her into the hair salon to get 6 or 7 inches lopped off and swore it would never happen again.

A few years later, on a hot summer day Emma's hair was making her "sweaty" and getting in her face, so she lopped it off.  Right at the scalp in the front.  There was no need to take her to the hair salon, since there was nothing left to cut.  (Sound like any famous movie scenes you've seen?)

Well, as you've probably guessed by now, we've recently completed the circle and made it 3 for 3 deal with Ellie joining in the "fun". 

And out of all three of my girls, Ellie was by far the maddest at the consequences. She cried when I even mentioned having to cut her hair to even it out. 

 And when I actually did it tonight, yikes, we saw a whole new side of Ellie.  Apparently she was quite attached to her hair....except for that one lock in the front.

And now that we've got that girly rite of passage out of the way, I guess I get to be the older, wiser mother who gets to dish out advice to everyone. 

My tidbit for the day:  All girls cut their own hair. 

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Day 326: Self-Grooming

Ellie cut off a big hunk of her own hair a few days ago, so tonight we got out the hair-cutting shears to even it all out.  She was NOT happy at all! 

Day 325: New Moon

No middle of the night movie tickets for us.  9:00pm was late enough for us. 

PS  We loved the movie!

Day 324: Preschool Thanksgiving Party

First things first,  I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired of this Project 365.  If it weren't so close to the end of the year there is no possible way I would finish it.

Today was the preschool's Thanksgiving celebration at the church.  Everyone brought a dish to share ( I made Fresh Fettuccine with Roasted Chicken and Spinach) and the kids just ran and played together...

Ellie likes this co-op preschool as much as I do! 

 

Day 323: Gratitude at Preschool

Today at preschool we learned all about gratitude and Thanksgiving.   We reviewed the story of the Pilgrims and how the first Thanksgiving came to be.  They seemed to remember it perfectly!  

Then we went outside and gathered our own bountiful harvest---these carrots from our garden.  Once again the kids were thrilled!  

They were completely enraptured by this Thanksgiving sticker scenes from OTC and spent a good 20-25 minutes laboring over them.  I actually ended up having to pry them away after a while. 

Then we made this harvest blessing mix where each child contributed their own part.

Then we made these little gratitude trees.  The kids were so cute and loved talking about what gratitude was and what they were grateful for.

Another fun day at preschool and now I'm done until February!

Houston, We Have a Problem...

Actual papers I found hidden on the shelves in one of my children's rooms: 

Translation (sic): 
Work work work is all you ever asked me to do.
I'm not your maid I'm your daughter. 
For once in my life I want to be treated nicly by anybody in this world?
I never in my life have been fed or treated like a normal girl would be treated.
For once in my life I want to be treated like a normal girl?


Your making me mad inside my head but I never express it.
You know you have other kids why can't they help me.
I think you will make me blow.


Work work work is all you ever made me do.
I never even get a break.
I think at least I should sleep on something other than a straw mattress with sheets?
Work work work WORK!

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After Glen and I started researching child therapists, reevaluated our chore plan, and wondered what made her think her  mattress was made out of straw I noticed this inscription on the other side....

Translation: 

My Songbook

(songs that maids would sing in movies about work mostly)

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Fie on you Cinderella...

A new princess is in town.

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Day 322: Beautiful Cello Music

With Cami's entrance into middle school has arrived the much more frequent practicing of the cello and we LOVE every second of it!!!

Day 321: Pilgrims at Preschool

Today at preschool we learned all about Pilgrims.  I was amazed at how much the kids just "ate" up all this information.  As I was telling them a little flannel board story about the Pilgrims they were completely enraptured and were later easily able to retell the story back to me. 

We went on a ride on the Mayflower and went searching for a land where we could worship God they way we wanted. 

We painted little turkeys starting with their own footprints

and later made little turkeys out of apples. 

Once again, it was days like today that remind me why I do this preschool thing year after year after year. 

Day 320: Cute Little Turkey Treats

For our FHE treat tonight we made these cute little turkey cupcakes.  The kids thought they were fun and adorable and consumed far too much sugar in the process!

Good-bye Old Friend...

    For so many years my church bag has weighed about as much as my youngest child.  Diapers, wet wipes, crayons, books, snacks, toys, and stray socks were stuffed into every nook and cranny  and heaven help the person who actually had to dig for some stray object.  Dried cheese sticks, crumbs, melted crayon remnants, and tampons that had fallen out of the wrappers were there to assault anyone who dared delve beyond the top layer.

Finally sometime last year I realized that  the hideous red Jansport backpack I'd carried to church for years was ready to retire and without diapers, wipes, snacks, or lesson manuals to tote around I was ready for something cute, sassy, and completely crumb free....

I got to take something CUTE to church and after 13+ years of utilitarian, boy was I happy! 

Alas, as luck would have it,  my glee was short-lived.  It took one week into my latest calling as the nursery leader to realize that there was no way my nursery paraphernalia was not going to fit into cute anything. 

Good-bye old friend, it was nice knowing you.  I'm onto bigger and bulkier things now....

Certainly far from cute and already too over-stuffed....

but well worth it for my 25 new best friends! 

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Day 319: New Best Friends

With my new calling as nursery leader I am quickly discovering that I have twenty five little cuties waving and smiling at me during sacrament meeting.  I've never felt so popular!

Day 318: Phew!

We spent the day dismantling Emma's closet and throwing away a good 80% of what was in there.  In the process we found this note and were seriously FREAKED out by contents...

Then we saw the other side.....

Phew!

Confession of the Guilty

since somehow my crude photoshopping skills have managed to fool even my own father.