Outfit

Thanks cousin Lillian for the hand-me-downs. Maddy is almost fully outfited by you.

Top, shoes, and ride by Lillian

time for punch

The dishwasher is going, the laundry machine is going, I have done the dishes and an apple pie is in the oven. I sang a solo in the 4th ward, I went to primary, I played a lot with Maddy. I changed her outfit twice. Today has been a productive and happy day. Amazing how when I have done something worthwhile, I feel content. When I am idle and lazy, I feel stressed and worried that I don't get anything done (which I suppose I don't!)
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Well anyhow, I thought I'd show you my primary activity for singing time today. I think it turned out well. I got the idea from The Crazy Chorister which is fast becoming one of my favorite blogs to stalk. The first thing we did did was all the kids wrote a song on a white sheet of paper. We then crumpled them up into balls. I told them how I love snow and how disappointed I was that it snowed yesterday but that there wasn't enough on the ground for a snowball fight (is it ok that I lied and that actually, I'm really glad that we didn't have any snow stick?). So, I told them we would just have to have a snowball fight in primary today. I let each row, starting with the littlest ones on the front, throw their "snowballs" at me on the count of three. When we reached the 4th row - the 11 year olds - I made a big show of being afraid that they would hit me. It was fun.
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Once we found a song to sing, a volunteer got to come and punch through one of the colors and pick out a paper that said how we'd sing (slow, fast, loud, teachers, etc).I think that they all had fun and I can re-use the board another time, I just have to replace the tissue paper. Or, when I was putting away the containers, I was thinking that I could use the holes I cut for a bean bag toss too. I'll have to think about how to tie that in to a lesson some time.

I have to say, this calling is quite fun and I enjoy the creative part of me that is being coaxed out. I just wish that I had a little more time in the day to work on these fun projects. Way too often, It's Saturday night at 10pm that I am working on something for singing time the next day!

Hey, for you who are not in primary, you ought to go to the church website and download the music for the January song we have learned for the Primary sacrament meeting program. The accompaniment is really, really lovely and it's a beautiful song. It's called I Know That My Savior Loves Me and is the last page of the linked document above.

Oh, and one more thing, lest you think I was really "miss homemaker" today. The pie filling was a Christmas gift and the pie crusts were Pillsbury. However, it smells marvelous and looks pretty and I don't care one whit that I didn't make it all from scratch!

My weekend project

I've been wanting to do something in Maddy's room for some time now and I found this picture on sale at Seagull Book and Tape a few weeks ago. I LOVE the great animals and the colors in the picture.

So, Linda and I have been brainstorming over the last few weeks (I pick her brain for design tips), picked up some decorations and little animals, and here is what I have come up with.

Saturday was a productive day for both me and Scott. He worked on cleaning out the garage and I worked in Maddy's Room. There are still a few things that I want to do (1) change out the curtains for some long ones, (2) re-stick the "Madelyn Loran" vinyl letters if it looks good, (3) find pictures to put in the frames, (3) figure out the bookshelf . . (4) clean off the top of her dresser, (5) maybe a toy chest?

I am liking the green color. I went back and forth at the store between one that had more gray to it and this one. It just looked so gray on that little paint chip. I know that things look different once they get on the wall but I didn't trust myself.

The color I got though does look good even though it is a bit more "starlight mint" that I had planned.
Recognize those little finger painted pictures Mary? You had perfect timing in sending that email!!

The Next Project

This little table stands in the front room in the "entryway". We don't actually have an entryway per se, but I call the area behind the couch the entryway because it sounds better to say "this little table stands in our front entryway" than to say "this little table is hanging out in the space behind the couch on the wall in that skinny walkway . . ."

Anyhow, I digress. I think that the light wood is not great in this room so I am going to get out the spray paint and give it a go. Hope it works out!! How hard can it be though, right?

Quote of the day

I received a Christmas card last year with the following thought. I've hung on to the card because it was such a great quote and thought I'd share it.

Silence is something valuable. We don't just use it to help recharge our batteries - it's also a space in which new thoughts and ideas can spring up as if by magic.

Over the New Year period, we hope you are able to enjoy many valuable moments of rest and relaxation. It goes without saying that we wish you all the best for whatever you hope and plan to do in 2009.

Since I didn't send Christmas cards this year, consider this my wish for you in 2010.

messes

The picture is fuzzy but hopefully you can see the mess I found last night. I put Maddy in her bed with a bottle. After about 5 minutes she started crying and I figured she must have dropped it so I went in to help her out. She was soaked!!! Her clothes, the whole back of her head - I thought she had had a major throw-up moment. I took her in to Scott in the living room and noticed that her front was all dry. That didn't really make sense if she had thrown up. I went back in and found her bottle. Can you see it in the picture? She had somehow twisted the nipple around and leaked milk all over herself. Unfortunately, that meant a bath and a change of sheets and she didn't get to bed till 9. And I had to do another bottle because based on how wet she was, I figured she didn't get much of the last one!

ahhem

I'm tired of coughing! Why does it have to hang on so blasted long?