"Clinging to our guns and our religion"

As I opened up our blog to share this experience I had today, I saw the last post that Tim made (without my consent.) and laughed. One week we are talking about guns, the next, prayer - I new EXACTLY what this post title needed to be. . .

Maya's class had a Thanksgiving lunch today and there were a few parents there helping. The teacher, who I really enjoy the more I get to know her, was reading to the kids while the parents were serving up plates. The teacher would send a few at a time to come get their plates and sit quietly at their desks. As it got down to the last few kids getting food the kids started getting a little impatient since they had to wait to eat until everyone was served. First, the teacher started to tell them to smell there yummy food. "Clothes your eyes and smell." Then I about fell over when I heard her say, "Think of all the things you are thankful for. Thank God for all those things you are thankful for." I was so glad. I wondered what the other parents were thinking. I looked around the room and they didn't seem to mind. The teacher continued, "Ok, what's the first thing you should do?" All of a sudden a kid shouts, "PRAY". The teacher said, "Uh, well - uh, no we can't - well, wait, yes, we can. If I make it into a lesson I can." She sort of looked around the room and looked at me. I was thinking, what in the world is she going to do? From everything I know, we are FORBIDDEN to pray in school, I mean, I think it's up there now with, Thou shalt not kill, isn't it? She then just said, "OK, bow your heads like we do for our moment of silence in the morning. Ok, Dear Father we are thankful for . . . ." And ended with Amen. The kids all had their heads down and eyes closed. I loved it. I have to say, it was the best feeling I've ever felt in a classroom and the quietest and most respectful I have ever seen a classroom of children. I can only imagine that's how it was back in the day.

By the way, to answer a few questions about my first shooting experience - I thought it was pretty cool. I think I'd like to try skeet shooting sometime. We haven't bought a gun but I seriously have been thinking about discussing it more with Tim. That's as far as I have gotten with it. I would be fine having one in our home with our children - I think I'd be most concerned about Maya though. When she came outside and saw the gun, she, of course, asked if she could have a turn. That girl can't let anything happen without her.

The new look of Casey!!

Well, we do live in the South, and as many of you may or may not know, Casey is quite fond of politics. Recently she was saying that with the current governmental regime in office, maybe it is time to start collecting some guns (or a single gun).
While at our friends house over the weekend, we were talking about this very topic and the following is what resulted from that simple conversation.
I have kept this post very short, sweet and to the point becasue Casey is out of the house right now and will be mad as HE%% when she sees this post. Enjoy--

PuMpKiN FuN!

Our scary pumpkins

Recreating the pumpkin

Livie with her pumpkin.

(That's all she got from her $15 fieldtrip. - Don't EVEN get me started.)
I realized that I am terrible at recording memories. I think this is the first video taken of McKenna talking. Enjoy Grandmas!



Of course, it wouldn't be a post without showing off how AWESOME my husband is. Not only did he do all the carving but he cleaned up after himself. You go, GUY!
All Lit up!

How did this happen?

How did I become the mother of a 12 year old? A young women? A middle schooler? I know it was just a few days ago that she was sleeping in her crib. Nevertheless reality is that Alexa had her 12th birthday. She is such a doll. We absolutely love her. The nice thing is that we know we aren't the only ones. I don't know anyone who doesn't just see what a wonderful girl she is. She is kind and loving. She is so good with little children. She is responsible, fun and level headed. She is creative, smart and thoughtful. I could go on and on but I'm sure you just want to get to the pictures.

On her birthday she wanted to come with me to a craft show where I tried to sell some of the things I have made (that's a whole other story.) While we were there one of the other vendors let her pick something from her booth since it was her birthday. After we got home and I rested up a bit we opened presents and then went and saw the movie 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' in 3D. The girls had never seen a 3D movie before so it was a lot of fun for them. Then Alexa picked Jason's Deli for dinner which we all love so it made it nice for everyone.

The Birthday Girl

Opening presents

She always wanted a vest (when she was little she used to call them zeffs.) So that's what we call them around here.

Jason's Deli

(If you have never been there, you gotta try it. Great sandwiches, soups, kids meals and free ice cream cones. We can eat there for less than it would cost to take the fam to McDonald's.)

While we were at the craft fair the YW came and heart attacked Alexa's room and through candy all over the place and hid some in drawers and in her closet, etc. She was so excited.

The traditional in front of the decorated door picture.
We love this girl and enjoy teaching her and learning from her. She is a great example to all and basically just a lot of fun to have around.

(if you're counting, that's birthday #2 down for the season.)

School Projects! (This is a definite Grandma post.)

The other day Alexa and Olivia both had projects due on the same day. It made for a busy afternoon for all. I had to run to the store because, of course, Livie didn't tell me that she needed a poster board. Not to mention it was family night. Then she had to cut out pictures of food for the board. Luckily we have a few cooking magazines (thanks Maren!) I figured I better blog this since so many of you were involved with it. Livie had to find out what foods people would want to eat at a fall festival (carnival.) Here's the final project.

Alexa had been studying Greece and she did her project on the coliseum. She decided to make it out of clay. The only thing I had to do was find the clay in the closet and cut some off for her. Then she obviously had to do some research and junk. This picture doesn't do it justice. The inside had seating and everything. She did a pretty good job and worked hard on it. I love that she is so confident and just figures out what she wants to do and does it without complaining or questioning if it's going to be good or not. Or if it's good enough. (I have so much to learn from her.)
Since I had to run to the store for supplies and the other girls were busy I pretty much put Maya in charge of playing with McKenna. When I got back they had made there own project. They recycled our recycling (beat that Al Gore.) They pulled out all the things they could find from our recycling bin and made this great train. Complete with stickers and art work.

It's BIRTHDAY Season!

While most people are gearing up for the holidays our family is getting ready for all of our birthdays. 4 out of 6 of us have our birthdays from October to December. (All about a week before every holiday - I know, bad planning.) We started birthday season off with my birthday. Tim invited a few close friends of ours to have cake and ice cream. In fact, he had them bring the cake and ice cream. Talk about delegating. It's always nice to know that others are thinking of you on your birthday.

You can't tell here, but this cake says 36. Yes, I'm closer to 40 now. YIKES!!!!
The Robinson's.

The next day my visiting teacher's took me out to lunch. It was nice to get out since my days events included laundry, picking up Alexa from school early because she wasn't feeling well and cleaning.

Neighborhood Block Party

When I was a kid I remember our neighbors had a few block party's. I also remember that as a kid I wasn't invited but loved the idea. We live in a new neighborhood and so EVERYONE is new. My neighbor, Heidi and I decided to put one together. We DID include the kids however. We put out fliers, set up tables, and rolled out the bbq's in the middle of our cul de sac. It was so much fun. Everyone brought a side dish, drink, or dessert and their own meat. We sat around and visited while the kids ran amuck. It was a great way for all of us to meet each other. We had about 15 families show up. We are hoping to have another one in a few months. I love going out for a run now and waving at my neighbors and actually calling them by name. Here are just a few photos (I was so busy talking that I forgot to take more.)

You can't see it in this picture but we had a ton of food and all different sorts. We have such a melting pot in our neighborhood - people from the Phillipines, South Africa, the Middle East, India, etc. With backgrounds like that, you can only imagine the wonderful food that was brought.

Merry Christmas to Us!

We scored big time. A guy in our ward GAVE us this great sink that he had laying around in his garage. So for Christmas we bought ourselves the faucet to go with it. It's so nice not to have an "apartment sink" in our kitchen. I love it. Oh! And yes, those veggies in the window were grown by me. The first produce that actually survived my black thumb. Can't wait for next year.

Close up of the tomatoe!

Asamom.org

You have GOT to go to this new website: asamom.org.

If you feel like me and are frustrated with what is going on in our country and are concerned for your children's future - come join the site. I just did.

I recently watched an episode of Glen Beck where he had a panel of concerned moms. Moms that are concerned about their children's future. They discussed things like What the schools are teaching, the taxes that the next generations will be paying, loss of freedom, etc. I loved it. All these women came from different backgrounds and different parts of the country with the same concerns that I have. My own conversations with some mothers led me to believe that maybe I was the only one with these concerns. So many that I have spoken with are so complacent and don't see any problems or even a reason to be concerned. After watching the show I realized I was not alone. Every single topic that was brought up I completely related with.

About a week later, Glen had a few more women on again. One woman started a website after watching the same show I had the week before. She felt so compelled to help all of the mothers in the country come together and have a place where we can gain support and strength. Come join the site and find other mom's in your own area to converse with. Here's the website again: asamom.org. See you there.

Freedom, Where has it gone?

Yesterday, Tim informed me of a headline he saw in the newspaper. (I think he likes to tell me these things to see how high my blood pressure will get.) The paper said that now in NC it is illegal to throw away a plastic bottle. WHAT? ILLEGAL? I am now being told what I can and can't throw away?

Now, before I get all the comments about the environment and how we need to save the planet, this message is NOT about "Going Green". However if it was, I would have to say that our Heavenly Father is in control of what will happen to this earth, whether we spend our lives trying to "save" it or not. What we should be spending our lives doing is saving souls, not the planet.

Back to the subject at hand, I am getting pretty fed up with the government telling me what I can and can't do. Why is it that these politicians think it is their responsibility to tell me what kind of light bulb I can have in my home, what kind of toilet I can have and when and how often I need to give my child shots? Who do they think they are?

I remember when the seat belt law first came out. It was taught at school about the importance of wearing a seat belt. I remember one day we were picking up my older brother from high school and I was wearing my seat belt. I thought, oh, Dave is not going to want to put his seatbelt on right here in front of all his friends. That would be so uncool. I was obviously a child and my concerns were very shallow. As time went on, the law was reinforced and I heard it told over and over again that we needed to "buckle up" for our safety. One day, I heard someone comment that this law is a terrible thing. It's taking away our rights and what will they come up with next to control us. I didn't understand, I just remember thinking that I couldn't believe that someone wouldn't want to be safe. It was years later and many laws passed when I finally figured out that it wasn't about the seat belt at all.

It saddens me to think that there are people who are fooled by the idea that socialized medicine, government health care, or what ever you want to call it would be good for this country. I can't believe that people don't see it for what it really is, a way for the government to control us. They are trying their hardest to spend money like crazy and get our country into so much debt so that it will ruin our lives and we will all be dependent on the government to take care of us. Sick, I tell you.

I have recently heard that Mr. Obama wants the government to take over all student loans. The only way to get a student loan is through the government. If they take control of that, will they next be telling us what we can and can't study in school? Will they say there isn't enough money in one subject or another? If this healthcare passes and doctors decided to quit practicing will they force people to become doctors? Where will it end?

Like I said, the plastic bottle isn't about the environment, just like health care isn't about everyone having health care. It's all about the control the government wants to have over us. I have to say I am grateful for those that are standing up and trying to do something to save our country. We can NOT be complacent anymore.

I can't believe that I am going to have to tell my children, "Don't throw that plastic bottle away, you might get arrested!"