November (and GIRLS room!)

Every year when November rolls around, I'm so excited about all the time I'm going to have now that both gardening and volleyball seasons are over. So what did I do with November this year??? FILLED it with all sorts of things!

The first week was spent cleaning house and potty training Mariah (or at least trying to do so). She did really well that week, and has gotten progressively WORSE! I've about given up on it. I think I'll wait until she actually wants to do it. It's just frustrating because she knows how! Oh well. That weekend, we headed to Rexburg to visit my sister, Violet, and her husband, Austin. We had a great time there. It was a beautiful weekend, and we went to a park, a movie, and a fun place in IF called Blast Off. Vi and Austin also watched the kids at another park while I did a bunch of project shopping at Home Depot. Thanks again, guys!

From Idaho Falls, I headed to Pocatello to watch the Idaho State volleyball team, which my uncle, Chad Teichert, coaches. It was a fun game, and the kids were pretty good about letting me watch most of it. From there, we headed to Cokeville to spend Sunday with my family, then home that night.

Monday I loaded up the girls and we headed back to Pocatello with my sister-in-law, Angela. We went up to watch Chad's practices on Monday and Tuesday to learn some things that will help us in our coaching. We had such a great time, and Chad's wonderful wife, Susie, watched our kids during the practices.

I was home again on Wednesday and Thursday--just long enough to do laundry, clean house, and get ready to head out again on Friday for a weekend in Laramie and Cheyenne, where we visited family and friends and watched the high school state championship football games.

The next day was Mariah's birthday, and I was SO ready to just stay home for awhile--and that's what I've done. And although I haven't left the house much in the last week or so, I have stayed plenty busy working on some super fun projects!

We have had a room in our house that, for the last 5 years, has been the guest/workout/storage/if-you-don't-know-where-to-put-something-put-it-in-there room. I decided that it is time to have the girls share a room, so I emptied it out and created a girls room that I am so excited about! The girls love it, too, but I think I might love it more! Here are the pics:

So, of course, the paint colors look just a little different in all these photos, but basically, the bottom is a bubble-gum pink and the top is a warm yellow (not a NEON yellow like it looks in some of these pictures).

These cute little jacket hooks are one of my favorite things. Mylie painted them as well as some of the other frames in the room and the walls! We had a great time working on it together.

This was a fun and simple project using 1x3 boards, clothespins, spray paint, and scrapbook paper. I was really happy about the way these turned out, and Mylie can't wait to hang up some of her own artwork on the bottom side of these.

I built both of these book shelves using plans from www.ana-white.com They were so simple and turned out so cute! The one above will have three light pink storage baskets that are on their way via UPS. Also the project above for displaying the girls' names was from the ana-white site. I'll have to wait to post my favorite thing I built, however, since it's a Christmas gift. But I'm SO excited. I just want to build all kinds of things now!

And now, I'm ready to finish out November with some relaxing and spending quality time with family! Happy Thanksgiving!

It's hard to believe that my baby is 2!! Mariah is such a fun girl. She's always making us laugh and I just can't get enough of her chubby cheeks and belly. She's starting to talk more, even though I can't understand her half of the time (which, of course, is a major cause of frustration for both of us). We've also been busy this month working on potty training. She is very capable, but not sure she wants to do it EVERY time yet (another cause of frustraion for me). Despite the typical frustrations of having a 2-year-old around, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this little girl!!

Kids say the AWESOMEST things!

Last weekend, my kids said some really awesome things, and I want to document them before I forget.

Friday morning as I was getting Mariah dressed, she patted herself on the tummy and said "Chubby, chubby," with a big smile on her face, so proud of her pot-belly. I thought that was so cute, until later when I was getting in the shower and she pointed at my belly and again said, "Chubby, chubby." Rude!

Later that day, we were at Violet's house looking at all her cute baby clothes for the little girl she is expecting. Mariah was really excited about the cute clothes, and so I tried to explain to her that Violet had a baby in her belly. She looked at Vi's belly and didn't say anything, but I could see the wheels spinning. The next morning as Mariah got in the bath, she patted her belly, and then got an "aha!" look on her face and said, "Baby!" That explains the chub, I guess!

Saturday night, we went to a college volleyball match in Pocatello. After the match, I asked Mylie if watching that college volleyball makes her want to play. She replied that it looked like so much fun and she definitely wants to be a volleyball player. I then asked, "So, do you want to be a libero, setter, or hitter?" She answered, "Libero." Then I asked her why, expecting an answer that had something to do with how great it would be to dig those hard hits. I had to hold in my laugh when she said, "Well, those hitters really sweat a lot, and I don't like to sweat so much." Hahaha!

That same night on the way home, Connor and I were visiting and whenever there was a lull in the conversation, he would say, "What do you want to talk about now, Mom?" We did a few different topics before I asked him, "What are you goals for yourself when you grow up? Do you have any dreams?" He answered quickly and matter-of-factly, "Mom, I've got lots of dreams and they are really good ones. My basketball team is going to win a state championship and I'm going to score 40 points in the championship game. Then I'm going to play college basketball, then go to the NBA for 10 years." Sounds like he's really thought things through. Retiring in your early 30s sounds pretty good to me!

Finally, I have to tell a story about my nephew, since his mom probably won't post it, and I think it beats all the things my kids said this weekend. They were in Idaho Falls, and drove past the temple. He pointed up at the Angel Moroni statue on top and said, "Look! It's Jesus-oroni! Tell it to the world!" What a kid!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Witch Doctor,

the SkeleCutie,

and Princess Mariah.

Once again, I was in Casper for state volleyball and missed Halloween, so we did pumpkin carving, while wearing costumes for FHE activity last Monday night. The kids loved it, and had a great Halloween with their dad!

Harvest (just in time)

So, I'm SO glad I got this done last week before the SNOW hit! (I'm not happy about the storm, but we DID have a beautiful fall.)

I finally got all my root vegetables dug up. Here's the loot.

(Top to bottom: carrots, yukon gold potatoes, red potatoes, russett potatoes, red onions, white onions, yellow onions)

I'm especially happy about my carrots this year. It's my first SUCCESS with carrots.

We're trying an experiment this year. We're not going to be able to eat all of these vegetables in the next month or so, and our basement isn't a great place to store them, since it gets too warm down there. My mom heard about this somewhere and has always wondered if it would work, so we're giving it a go.

You take an old dead deep freeze,

dig a big hole in the ground,

and then bury it and put your bags of vegetables inside. Right now the buried freezer is covered with snow, but it should melt off in the next couple of days, and then I'll open it up and see how it handled the days of cold. Kind of fun. We hope it works!

Time-Waster

So, I've just wasted an hour or so reading THIS blog. I know a lot of you have read it, but if you haven't, it's a must. Check it out and get a great laugh! (Although I must admit that every once in awhile, I get just a little offended--"Is she making fun of ME?") Hahahaha.

Worth

Sunday morning, Mariah came into my bedroom looking like this--covered in little pink stickers that I had left in a drawer after a yard sale a couple summers ago. They ranged from 25 cents to $3 to Make Offer.

At first, it made me laugh. Then a thought came into my mind: "Maybe you need to teach Mariah about her worth." The more I pondered that thought, the more I realized how important that truly is. As a woman myself, I know the struggles that we as females in this world face with truly understanding our worth. Many different factors made me question my worth throughout my growing-up years: if I was popular or not, whether a certain boy paid attention to me, what my skin looked like, what my body looked like, what my talents were (or weren't), etc. As a mother, I have found peace with many of the issues that used to bother me, but now I find myself questioning whether or not I am measuring up as a wife and mother, and when I feel like I'm not, I begin to question my worth once again.

I LOVE my daughters, and never want them to feel this way. A couple of years ago, I read an article about how the interactions young girls have with others impact their formation of their self-worth. Most people, when they see a little girl, first mention something about how she looks. With only good intentions, they say things like, "Your hair sure is pretty," or "What a cute outfit you have on today!" But what happens is that young girls begin understanding that their appearance is what others appreciate about them, and therefore, that is where their value lies. I think this is extremely dangerous, and so I truly try to compliment my girls on things other than their appearance, and I don't put much work into their appearance on a daily basis. In fact, those who see my girls very often may judge me as a neglectful mother based on how their hair usually looks. But it's not neglect--it's purposeful. They are beautiful--not because their hair is perfect or they have the cutest outfit ever--but because they are beautiful just the way they are.

I do teach them that there are times to look our very best (church, for one), but I also teach them that it is okay to have people see us not looking our best. I also try to model this thinking, by going to the grocery store without makeup on occasion, not ever making negative comments about my body or appearance, and not talking much about how other people look.

I thought things were going pretty well with this and that my girls weren't going to be too concerned about always looking a certain way. But last week I found out that maybe all girls will feel inferior at some point, regardless of the efforts of their mothers. Mylie came home from gymnastics, and when I asked her how it went, she was nearly in tears as she told me that she wanted short hair again. WHAT? We've been working on growing it for almost a year, and she has been set on having long hair by kindergarten next year. She then informed me that AVERY has short hair and she needs short hair so she can be like Avery. Also, she needs a leotard with a ballerina on the front of it, since that's what Avery has. I didn't know what to do for sure, but I wrapped her in a hug and told her that I loved her just the way she is, and that she doesn't need to try to be like anybody else. And then I've worried about it all week.

I'd love to conclude this post with the magic answer, the sure thing, the never-fail tip for making sure that our daughters understand their worth. But I don't have it. In fact, I don't think there is a "magic bullet" for teaching self-worth. I think it actually comes bit by bit, with small doses of love, listening, teaching, being an example of confidence, and by complimenting the things that are truly "worthy" of our compliments. And as I look at my beautiful daughters, I pray that I can do this incredibly important job of helping them shed the "price tags" and understand that their worth is INFINITE.