Yoga Lesson: Potential

Have I mentioned that I've been "teaching" (I use the word teaching very lightly because, well, I've never taught it before and I most certainly don't think I'm particularly good at it....it's just something I enjoy doing) Yoga once a week to a group of friends from church? Well, I am. At first I was really nervous about it. It's one thing to practice Yoga, but quite another to verbalize instructions out loud and making one movement flow into another.

Now that I've been doing it for a few months I'm really enjoying it! I try to have a word that they concentrate on during our practice and some quotes to take home and think about at the end. Here's tomorrows:

New Beginnings '09

The theme for this year's New Beginnings Program was.....

We had SO much fun with this program! Here are some highlights of the night:

1. Seeing most of the parents brave the attire for the night (modest PJ's). However, when I called the Branch President out for choosing to wear his suit over PJ's, he assured me that that is what he sleeps in....hmmmm...not too sure about that one! LOL!

2. We really got to see in the minds of the YW in our branch when we asked them to make and think of future dreams and hung them all over the room. Here a just a few that they made:

3. Reading the "bedtime story" and using pictures of the YW to represent princesses and who else but a picture of Robert Pattinson (aka Edward Cullen) as the prince who was looking for a queen. SO funny to see and hear the reactions to the pictures!

4. Highlighting the YW who moved into the Branch this last year!

5. Our own little piece of "heaven".....refreshments, of course!
6. Kami looking at me so excited and knowingly when she realized that one of hymns that was sung was "I am a Child of God" and she could sing all the words! (This was the only time she sat still the entire night)
7. Another realization that I CAN actually sew! I had a last minute thought to make "Prayer Pillows" for the YW. And it must have been meant to be, because not only did I find this super easy pillow case tutorial , but I also found this adorable and most perfect poem to go along with it!

....and on a separate note - sort of, here's a little idea I did with the Activity Day girls the very next week after New Beginnings. Okay, to back up a little, I few months ago as I was getting ready to talk to the YW Class Presidencies about what we were going to do for New Beginnings, I had been hearing and reading conflicting data that some Wards/Branches include the 11 year-olds who would be turning 12 years-old that year in their New Beginnings program. For some reason this bothered me that there would be so much conflict. So, I set out to research church manuals and http://www.lds.org/ for guidance. No where did I find that the 11 year-olds were to be included in New Beginnings. In fact, every where I looked stated that New Beginnings was for Young Women who have already turned twelve, moved into the Ward/Branch or new to the church in the past year.

I guess since most everyone else around the world included the 11 year-old girls, it would have been easily justified. But, since I had gone out of my way to research the answer for myself, it would have felt wrong to do so knowing what I knew. But, not wanting to leave the younger girls out of the excitement of turning twelve and advancing from Primary to Young Women, I knelt in prayer looking for a solution. Everything after that prayer just kind of fell into place. I talked with the Primary Presidency and asked if we could go to them. So, for one of the Activity Day activities, I talked with the girls about the YW's program using an excellent article from the July 2006 (I think that's right) Friend magazine. Then we split into teams and played a Jeopardy-type game. We had a good time and I thought it was a great comprise. And of course, I left them with candy bars with the YW theme on it. This idea was of course a last minute idea and there is a typo.

OH! FUN! I just got an idea! Let's have a contest! Be the first one to comment and point out my mistake and I will send you one of these super yummy, ultra cute candy bar w/wrappers!! Good luck!! :^)

Apron, Revisited

Okay. As promised, here a picture of my apron (yes, apron, not plural...there is only one apron you see here!) on me.

Walking Already?

Seriously. Can 6 month olds walk? I swear they can. At least mine can. I'm almost sure.

I've been trying so hard to get AJ to sleep in his own crib in his own room for the last few weeks. We've gotten to the point where he falls asleep in his crib, but, each morning I find him in bed with me! Okay, I'll admit it. He cries at night, and I go in and get him (because I'm just too lazy to sit in the rocking chair and rock him back to sleep) and then I'll never bring him back to his own bed.

BUT sometimes.....I honestly have no recollection of him crying or me getting up in the middle of the night and bringing him back to bed. But, yet, I wake up and there he is....sound asleep right next to me in my bed! This is where I'm pretty sure he wakes up, climbs out of his crib and walks the short hallway to my bedroom, climbs up in my bed and falls back asleep.

Okay, now that I've just written it out, that seems a little creepy to me. A 6 month old that can walk? That kind of freaks me out. Now I'm pretty sure it's me. I'm the one who probably subconsciously hears him, not really awake myself make the trip to his room and bring him back with me. A mom that sleep walks? That's pretty creepy too! Now I'm pretty sure no one's going to want to stay the night at our house! Weird things happen at night! Muahahaha!

The Comeback

Okay. OKAY! So, you know those cookies that were on their way to Drew's work the other night? Well, some of them that I sent were a little "well done" on the bottoms. Since I was trying something new, the timing and temperature was a little off, so I was modifying it here and there. But I assure you that I wouldn't have sent them along had they not tasted yummy anyway (this I know for a fact. I ate the worst of the "well done" ones). So when Drew got home in the morning, I asked Drew if he told everyone they were made with wheat flour and if they liked them. He said that everyone thought they were great and the cookies didn't last more than an hour. However....he said that his commander (who is a big jokester) told him, "maybe next time they could be a little less done".

(HUMPH!)

To which I replied:

Excuse the Dust!

Just playing around with some html....I've never done this before so I hope I don't do something stupid like accidently delete my blog! Wish me luck! :^)

Cookie Success!

What do you do when you're pretty sure you've perfected the chocolate chip cookie? You start experimenting, of course! Today's experiment? Swap out the white flour for whole wheat! The result? A cookie that's good for you!

Okay...maybe I won't go that far, but it at least has to be better for you, right?
I guess what matters the most is my toughest food critic thought it to be a complete success! And I thought they were so yummy, I had to get them out of my house! So as I type, they are on their way to Drew's work. That'll make the guys that have to work night shifts the next two weeks happy!

(by the way...see what I mean about sweets in our house?)

Pool Fun!

So, since the CDC (Child Development Center) decided to undergo renovations here at Osan sometime in the either near or not so near future (that's the government for you), they cut all part-time care contracts. Bummer for Kami because she so enjoyed her time with friends at "school", and bummer for me because I too enjoyed time getting errands done without both kiddos in tow. BUT, be that as it may, we've been trying to get out and do some fun things. One of these is a weekly dip at the pool (this was week one!). Our attempt to have friends join us failed this week (everybody else was busy that morning), so we enjoyed an entire 1 1/2 hours at the pool all by ourselves. No kidding. We were the only ones there!

This was AJ's first trip to the pool - ever! He loved splashing and watching his sister play in the water and I enjoyed getting use out of his new swim trunks and listening to my children laugh at eachother! All in all - a good day!

What Happened to My Angel???

And what, I ask myself, did my baby do to deserve this????
I dunno, but, while I was 'ranting', Kami must have thought he needed devil horns on his head. This is what I found when I came back into the playroom! Kami was innocently sitting on the beanbag chair reading a book.

What. a. turkey.

A Small Rant: Eating Food

Okay, so you know those people who say how it's not good to make your kids eat their food?

Well, "those people" must not have met my daughter. I cannot even count how many times I hear the words, "...but...I'm VERY hungry!" throughout the day (don't believe me? ask my mom!). And I why is she VERY hungry? Okay, most of the time it's because she's tired and fighting sleep (I won't go into that one on this rant), but then there are times like this morning when I make healthy eggs, peel a tangerine and fill up her cup with milk, she'll do a once over searching - I know - for anything with sugar in it, and then decides she's not very hungry right now.

So, this morning after she did that I did the unthinkable. I wouldn't let her out of her chair until everything on her plate and in her cup was in her stomach. *gasp* I know, I know! BUT, now I don't expect to hear the words, "...but...I'm VERY hungry" quite so much today. Or at least this morning.

Rant over.