Candies and Cookies and Cupcakes- oh flop?

I was in total awe last year, when I read this Candyland post at Bakerella. I could never have anything so extravagant as that (except in my dreams), but I was still inspired to make some fun new ornaments for our tree in the playroom.
I drew up sketches, colored them, made patterns, then set to work making 36 new decorations for the tree.

Some gingerbread boys and girls.

Some peppermint candies and lollipops.

Some cupcakes and ice cream cones.

In my mind's eye they were to-die-for cute, so I was really disappointed when the real things fell short of my expectations. I am such a perfectionist and have already thought of new patterns to make so they will be even better. My husband and children think they're adorable, so I'm trying to accept that good is okay- perfection is nearly impossible.
*This makes me think of another internal battle I've had this year- Perfectionism versus Good Enough. I was taught if you're going to do something, do it well- otherwise why bother doing it? I want everything I do to be done to the best of my abilities. However, there are too many things I want to get done, so I can't make everything as perfect as I would like. I was talking to my friend, Mary about this and she said not everything she does deserves her best. There is simply not enough hours in the day, so she accepts that some things she does will just be done good enough and she is happy with that. My problem is that I am not happy with that. I guess I'm a glass half-empty girl afterall. I really want to be a half-full girl though and I will try to be happy with my "good enough."

Warm Fuzzies

Last week for our YW Activity I wanted us all to work on something for Personal Progress together AND to do something for our Community. I decided we could make little chenille sock dolls (aka Warm Fuzzies) to donate to the Women's and Children's Crisis Center.

Anngela and her oh so original and oh so cute vampire bat!

Christina's cuties remind me of Napoleon Dynamite and his girlfriend.

Dayna's non-doll, I love it! (tee hee)

We ran out of stuffing, so I got some more to fill afterwards. Here is Emilee animating her 2 sweet sisters.

Jenn's has such a stylish hat.

Julia's is all pretty in green.

Katie made Santa and Mrs. Claus- so cute!

Shazel's cute pinkie.

Sierra's rock star.

These 3 cuties convinced me into letting them make sock puppets for themselves. Their puppets are almost as cute as they are.

*This past year being the YW President has been a total "yin-yang" experience for me (thanks Leslie for the term). I have experienced moments of sweet white where I have felt the Spirit and I know the girls have too. Unfortunately, I have also had moments of despondent black where I have wanted to curl up in a ball and shut out the outside world. This calling is very demanding of me and my family has had to sacrifice a lot for me to run all of the programs involved. My body has been responding to the stress in a very negative way with the ligaments in my joints flaring up- my toe, my knees (super ouch), my lower back, my fingers, and now my left shoulder (major ouch). The doctor has mentioned the words rheumatoid arthritis and lupus a few times now. Those are scary words! I need to take care of myself and my family, but I do love the Lord and I do love my girls (they give me Warm Fuzzies). I will try to run for as long as I can, but I also hope I'll get to pass the relay baton soon.

I heart dollies!

I was at Toys 'R Us the other day, and look who I saw...the original Strawberry Shortcake doll! She was in a box with her friends Raspberry Tart and Orange Blossom celebrating their 30th birthday. I was so tempted to buy them, but as I had all 3 of them as a child I couldn't bring myself to buy them again. But oh, how I loved all of my Strawberry Shortcake dollies back in the day. She has changed her look through the years and I thought you might enjoy a little fashion show. She was originally drawn by Muriel Fahrion for American Greetings. She became so popular that Kenner manufactured her as a doll with all of her friends.

In 1991 THQ redesigned her. I think I remember seeing her at the toy store when I was a teenager, thinking that she was cuter than the version I had.

In 2002, Bandai took over and I was thrilled as that was the year my own daughter was born, and I couldn't wait for her to be big enough to play with the dolls.

By the time she was big enough to play with them (2006), Playmates Toys had taken over and these are the dolls my daughter has.

Last year, Hasbro took over and the new dolls are super cute!

*Not only did I love Strawberry Shortcake as a kid, but of course Barbie, Cabbage Patch Kids, Care Bears, Poochie, My Little Pony, and lots more!

It's so fun to have a daughter to get to play dolls with. I love all of her dollies too- the Disney Princesses, Tinkerbell and her Fairy friends, Snap 'n Style Dolls, Yummi-Land Dolls, Littlest Pet Shop, Hello Kitty, and lots more too!

*I did design my own line of dolls back in 2005. I have an entire portfolio of sketches and my first story written about them to prove it- ha ha! But, the portfolio is sitting on the shelf waiting for the day when I can work in the Toy Industry- sigh! I haven't given up my dreams though yet. Long live cute dollies!!

Candyland Christmas

Now don't get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving! But, being in Canada it's a little difficult to celebrate in November. First of all, Canadians celebrate their own Thanksgiving when we celebrate Columbus Day. Secondly, everyone still has to go to work and school. We were going to have Len and the kids take the day off, but the kids are going to a super cool all day field trip to the Museum of Nature that day, so they're going to go to school after all. Len will still take the day off and we will cook all day while the big kids are gone, then when they come home we'll have our feast.

Rather than be disappointed because of this, I'm starting to jump ahead to the Christmas season! I'm so excited because this year we're putting up 3 trees- one on each floor of our home. Our basement tree will have a "Candyland" theme and I have been inspired by the tree above. I have lots of ideas for ornaments to make, and even have bought lots of supplies to make them. Now I just have to find the time to do that!

Two Book Clubs

Kaleb and Noe are in a book club in their class, so now I get to read for TWO book clubs myself!

Fairest, was October's book and it is a fun and interesting take on the classic Snow White.

Helen Keller's The Story Of My Life is November's selection. I read all 3 parts, the original story, followed by Helen's letters, and concluding with her teacher Anne Sullivan's letters. I am simply amazed by both of these women!



Of couse, I have more titles on my nightstand than I can keep up with, but I'm excited to read the above 3.

This was Kaleb and Noe's first book club selection. Each day we'd read a new chapter together. The 3 of us would take turns reading each page. This story is set during the Holocaust and told through a child's eyes. I read it for my Children's Literature class back in the day and really enjoyed it then. I enjoyed it again with my own kids, but it was a tough read somedays. Both of the kids cried during parts and several times Noe came to me after she was tucked into bed at night asking questions about death. She was so worried that she would never see me again after I die. I told her that is the beauty of the gospel- that families can be together forever!

This month the kids are reading Sarah, Plain and Tall. Last year, Kaleb and I read it together along with Caleb's tory. This year we want to read all 5 books in the series. The only problem is that we've only been able to get 4 of the titles from the library. We need to find More Perfect Than The Moon!

We own the first 2 movies, and yes this is where I got my son, Kaleb's name. The actor playing Caleb here was just so cute that when I watched these movies as a teenager I decided I wanted a Kaleb of my own someday. I just learned that Winter's End existed, so now I must find it too!

Cool Chiasmus Quotes

*While we try to teach our children all about life-

Our children teach us what life is all about.

*We do not stop playing because we grow old-

We grow old because we stop playing.

*The happiest people don't have the best of everything-

the make the best of everything they have.

*FAMILY- We may not have it all together-

but together we have it all.

*Out of love God created all mankind-

therefore we must love every kind of man.

*Grace is getting what we don't deserve-

Mercy is not getting what we do deserve.

Dress-up

I found this wig in one of my daily e-mails from Etsy. It's a little extreme, but wouldn't it be so fun to wear for a night? I think one year my whole family is going to have to wear different colored wigs for Halloween. I could just see us now: Len in yellow, myself in purple, Kaleb in blue, Noe in pink, Gavin in green, and Teague in orange. We could go as the rainbow!

Success!

With help from our friends- Laura who lent us the Dorothy dress and Mary who lent us the lion suit we were able to add a pillowcase, face paint, a funnel, and a monkey suit and we pulled it off. We really enjoyed dressing up with a "theme" this year. I think we'll make it an every other year tradition. It's fun to let each person choose their own costume some years, but it's also fun dressing up as a family!

The Wizard of Oz

Halloween is coming! On Friday the kids are having a party at school, Saturday is our Ward Halloween party and trunk-or-treat, then Sunday we're going to take the kids to the Prime Minister's house to trick-or-treat. This is our goal for our costumes, we'll see what we end up accomplishing!

Len as the Scarecrow

Jen as the Wicked Witch

Kaleb as the Tin Man

Noe as Dorothy with Toto

Gavin as the Lion

And Teague as our Flying Monkey

Simplify

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" - Leonardo da Vinci.

Just some words that I'm pondering and thought I'd share!

Buttercream

I am not a "from scratch" girl. If I can get it from a box or a can, then I'll save myself some extra work. However, I have become infatuated with real buttercream frosting that I have given up the canned version. I still make the cupcakes from a box, but they taste extra special with homemade frosting on top!

Beat together:
4 cups Powdered Sugar
1/2 cup Butter (or Crisco, but I'd recommend butter-flavor Crisco for the real "buttercream" flavor)
5 tablespoons Milk

Now here's the fun part:
Add 1 teaspoon Vanilla
OR
2 teaspoons Almond Extract
OR
1/2 teaspoon Peppermint Extract
OR
1/2 cup melted milk chocolate chips
Plus add food coloring!

Above, the "pink" cupcakes are vanilla with almond frosting and the "blue" ones are chocolate with peppermint. Yummy!

On my nightstand

The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie was September's book club selection and it was the funnest murder mystery I have read. I love Flavia DeLuce! And yes, I am in the camp that is glad that funner and funnest are now in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. English is a LIVING language!


This was an extra summer selection for book club. It was written well, but was just sadness followed by sadness followed by sadness. I prefer happy endings.


Another extra for the summer, but I haven't read it yet. It takes place in Ottawa though, so I'm curious to see if I'll "recognize" some places.

I loved The Hunger Games and I think I might have liked Catching Fire even more!

The conclusion to the trilogy did not disappoint. Of course, the premise of all the books is horrible- corrupt government, greed for power, materialism, war... but love is prevalent too and I enjoyed the ending.

I felt obligated to read this since I read the whole Twilight series. It was somewhat interesting, but I don't think it was 178 pages interesting. I felt sad for both of Bree's lives and I don't like the Volturi!

I've only heard good things about The Host, so I thought I'd finally try another flavor of Stephenie Meyer.

I did enjoy the first 4 books in this series, but I can't get into book 5 yet. This series is just so colossal!

I saw my toe surgeon this summer and he said when he did my surgery 2 years ago he was afraid the scar tissue would fuse with the joint and that's exactly what has happened. The only way to "fix" it is to have another surgery removing the 2 pins and then correct the hammer toe it's become. I asked if my toe problems could have caused the problems I had with my knees this summer and he thought they were unrelated, but told me to get this book and start swimming instead of running. I've got the book, now I just have to read it and find the time to swim...

Since we've been married I've been in Young Women's or Primary, except for 1 year I taught Relief Society in Taiwan. I want to go back and re-read all the of the Teachings of Presidents of the Church. I just finished Joseph Smith's. I am always inspired by his faith and dedication. Each day I have to remind myself to endure to the end.

*Also on my nightstand is Fablehaven 5, but I put it's picture on this blog earlier, so I didn't want to again. I'm excited to see how the series wraps up. I also have the 4th House of Night book, Untamed. I'm embarrassed to admit I continued reading the series after we read the first one for Book Club, but I am curious to see how this one will wrap up too. I also have more chapters of my friend, Laura's book. I love it so far and can't wait to read it when it's been published! Some books I want to have on my nightstand soon are: Daughter of War, The Forgotten Garden, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And I need to make time to read The Goose Girl trilogy I bought last year. Next month Kaleb and Noe will start their own book club with their school class and I look forward to reading Number the Stars again with them!