"Look Not Behind Thee"

I came across this video this morning as I was doing some studying. This, I think is to be my motto this month, this year, from now on. Take a look at it. Tell me what you think.

http://lds.org/pages/look-not-behind-thee?lang=eng

Probably my whole life, and especially since I've been married, I have almost constantly been glancing back instead of looking forward. I have tried so hard to avoid or prevent the past from recurring, that I never totally embrace how great the present is, and how amazing the future WILL become. (Yes, I did say will. I know life is so uncertain. But this is only the case from my own limited perspective.) I can only use the word will when I consider Lord's perspective. As long as I am whole-heartedly taking myself, and my family in the right direction (that is, in the Lord's direction), there is no need to look back. Don't get me wrong, the past is important. It has made me who I am today, good or bad. But it can't be changed.

I am still explaining the concept to myself. I think it works something like this...
When walking down a sidewalk, it is pretty easy to see at least the direction I'm headed, and eventually my destination. I may have to swerve a little to avoid obstacles, or squeeze my way through a crowd to see it again, but it is still in in front of me. But if I were to glance behind me while going through these things I might lose my sense of direction, or even fall off of the path. This is all too easy to do when life is pulling me too many directions at once. When I allow it to pull me, that is.

So how do I combat this tendency? I guess I just need to face forward, keep walking, and take another step toward the lord. Sounds pretty straight forward sitting at my computer right now. I'll have to remind myself often that it is still doable. Well, the kids are officially awake and ready for the day. Miraculously they've stayed asleep just long enough to finish up here. Have a great day.

Christmas Sunday

Here's the final look for the kids' Christmas outfits. I realize now, this should have been a family picture moment, but oh well.

Projects Update

Several months ago, while perusing the dollar rack at Once Upon a Child (a used children's store in our area) I came across a cute little forrest green velvet dress that would be Heidi's size at Christmas time. To my surprise, when I went to pay for it, and a few other items, it was ALSO on sale for 1/2 price. That made it 50 cents!! The only catch was that it was sleeveless. Now really, Heidi HAS worn a couple of sleeveless dresses in the past. But I told myself that when she got older I would put a stop to that all together. And yes, I know she's only 2 years old. I decided after purchasing this 50 cent-dress that we could afford to make it more modest. That meant she had to have a cute little jacket to go with it. Thus a project begins.

So fast forward to my birthday when I was itching for a project to get started on, and remembered that I Vowed to make this jacket, and Hadn't even thought about it yet. I search though what material I've used already, and found just enough black fabric to cut out the lining. (Which is great 'cause that fabric wasn't gonna cut it as a jacket for a velvet dress.) So, with the help of my MIL and the cart pushing/kid watching skills of my FIL, I picked out some more suitable fabric. I got to work on it a couple of days later and had it pretty much done in  days. (You'll have to wait for pictures of the final set.) While I was working on this, Daniel asked if I would make him something too. He said he wanted a vest. That got me thinking again.

While shopping elsewhere a week or so later, I came a cross some very affordable ties, and thought of my best friend, who knows how to turn one into a little boy's tie so her boy and her husband can match. I had to buy them and give it a show. Then, while talking to her about it, she reminded me of a tutorial here wherein a lady made her boy super easy suspenders. I took another look at that fancy black fabric. There was enough left over for suspenders too. And because LanaMarie is such an amazing friend, she wrote this tutorial on her blog just so I could give it a try.

Okay , so sorry for all of that background info, on to the sewing. The tie: I cut my tie too short to able to sew the Velcro on. In fact, the ends just barely met each other. Never mind over lapping like they should. But I did have several hook and eye sets, so I decided to give that a try. It worked well, luckily. Also I decided not to fold and sew it in half, since my boy is a little bigger that hers, and the thickness fir in his collar just fine.

Then, with the advice of my husband, I cut the other end at the appropriate length and ironed and also sewed the ends to a point.

The fusing I bought before wasn't exactly what she uses, but I already had it, and it did okay. I didn't completely trust it on it's own, though. All in all it turned out pretty good I have to say, and I was really glad to have the tutorial to check and recheck the process.

After finishing the tie, I started on the suspenders. The girl with the tutorial used two of those elastic shirts or dress tighteners, which worked perfectly. Because I put this off 'till the Saturday before, all I could find were these. Originally intended to keep sheet corners on mattresses or covers on ironing boards.

They are pretty much the same thing, but with longer,thinner elastic, and clips that attached differently. I didn't want any if the white elastic to show for black suspenders however. So I devised a plan to hide it entirely. Here's how they ended up looking. Pretty good for my first try. 

Our 4-year-old.

Daniel just had his 4th birthday this past Thursday. We went to the museum, and took my niece, Kayla with us. We brought our lunch (sandwiches), and ate there when we were through playing. (For some unknown reason It didn't occur to me to bring the camera a for this part of the festivities.) DUH! Kayla decided she wanted to go back home after the museum. Daniel got to stay up from nap and watch his pick from the Redbox; "Super Hero Squad" (an animated super hero show on DVD.) He still says it was "AWESOME!" Later that evening, after Daryl got home from work, I made mini pizzas for dinner, and we all had cupcakes and ice cream.

We knew we wouldn't be able to plan much with Daddy for that evening. His final class for the semester fell on Daniel's birthday. So... we made awesome plans to go to the train park in Scottsdale that Saturday. This would be our first time going there, and Daniel was EXCITED. He had been saying "And thanks that we can go to the train park." in his prayers every night for 3 or 4 days leading up to the trip.

Fast forward to two days later...

Daniel was allowed to choose a friend to go with us  And of course, he chose his "best friend", and cousin, Cameron. When we got there, the first thing we did was buy our tickets to ride the train. Then, on our way

there, we took these fun pictures.

Here's Cameron in all of his gingerbread glory

Heidi and Daniel were in the caboose.

Here's the gang, minus me, getting ready for the awesome train ride.



And here's the "conductor" and the cute little steam engine that pulled us.

After the ride, we headed over to Hartley's General Store and Daniel got to pick out a new Thomas the Train to go with his wooden tracks at home. He chose a little red caboose that plays the tune of the Thomas the Train theme song. Sorry no picture. I was a little bummed to find that their penny squisher machine was out of order. We I am a big fan of squished pennies.

Then we took the kids inside a couple train cars that had been preserved as a museum. It as pretty cool to see them from the inside and how the living and sleeping quarters were arranged.

This is the ramp leading up to the museum there.



Here are Daniel. Cameron, and Heidi, in front of a mannequin modeling how the train looked when it was in use.

After we finished up in the museum, we headed over to the playground. Daryl played with the kids while I went back to the car for our lunch we packed. (Yes, sandwiches again) But this time we also has apples and little cups of caramel dip, and juice bottles to go with it. Sorry no pics of the exciting lunch. After lunch we headed over to the Snackstop train car, and bought popsicles for the kids. Daryl got himself some ice cream from the general store, and I changed my vote from ice cream and got myself some mac-n-cheese. Then we headed home.

We had a great time together. And it was so affordable. Admission is free. We bought 12 tickets total, for the boys and us adults to use. (Heidi is part of the 3 and under crowd that gets to ride for free.)  The tickets got us on the train and into the museum. We also bought Daniel's new caboose, and treats for all. Total cost was about $27. Pretty good, I'd say. We'll have to make it out there again, and bring our change, when the penny machine is fixed.

Happy Birthday

So, today is my birthday. I'm 27 now. Wow really? Daryl left for work as usual, but, when I woke up, and came into the kitchen, I found a sweet little card he made and a some sewing tools I really wanted - a rotary cutter, with a mat and ruler to go with it. I was so excited that I HAD to cut some fabric and start some sort of project. I've decided to get working on a little black jacket for Heidi to wear over her forrest green Christmas dress, which is sleeve-less. I already had a pattern from when I made Heidi's 1st birthday dress. I was able to scrounge up enough black fabric for the lining but it wasn't nice enough for the jacket it's self and there wasn't enough anyways.

For dinner, I baked a lovely-looking frozen pizza for Daryl and myself, and some little roll dough pizzas for the kids, without cheese. Oh and we also ate a tasty salad too. Later, this evening, while Daryl was at Young Men's, my mother-in-law (and father-in-law) went with me to pick out some nicer fabric for the outside of the jacket. It should be pretty cute. I'll try and remember to post pics of that whe it's finished.

Throughout the day, I've received several calls from family and friends singing and wishing me a happy birthday.Thanks family! You're the best!

I have also made lunch plans to Sweet Tomato on Friday with my mom, (her birthday is NEXT Wednesday) as a joint birthday for both of us. We'll be taking the kids too. (Daniel's birthday is the day after mom's.)
Later, that evening, Daryl and I are planning on going out to dinner, and hopefully pick up the kids and choose a Christmas tree to decorate before bed. That will be lots of fun.