This morning I headed out the door in a sweater and capri's - I knew it might be a little chilly, but still, this was not unusual "winter wear" for where I live. I was surprised to see a light snow falling, drifting gently from the clouds and immediately melting on the ground. It was the second time in a few days we had had these fine, tiny snowflakes. I didn't bother changing to go run my errands, I was sure that by the time I was done the snow would be gone and the sun would be warming the air.

For the days after Thanksgiving when leftover turkey is aplenty and your desire to cook was left behind with the skinny notch on your belt, here is an EASY yummy recipe. One of my kid's kindergarten teachers sent this home one year and we really like it. It goes together in a few minutes and I found that I can use up the dark meat in it that the family doesn't like to eat plain.

Gobble Good Turkey Casserole

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 package onion soup mix
1 cup uncooked white rice
1 1/2 cups milk
2-3 cups leftover turkey

Combine all ingredients in a large casserole dish. Bake covered 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

At our Thanksgiving dinner my husband asked if we wanted to go around the table and say something we are thankful for. Tabitha got to go first. She got up from her seat, went around the table, and told us she was thankful for the turkey.

The month of November has gone by very fast. I have had several things I meant to post as the month went by, but alas, they seemed to be the last thing on my list. But today is a perfect day for blogging. It is raining outside, I have the smell of homemade apple pie drifting through my home, so really it is a great day to cuddle up with a book. But since having two four year olds around is not very conducive to relaxing on the couch without being interrupted every other paragraph, catching up on the blog seems to be the next best thing.

A Close Call for the Tooth Fairy

Back at the beginning of the month Gracie lost a tooth. For some reason she thinks I am the tooth fairy. In a last ditch effort to convince herself the tooth fairy is real, she decided she'd try to catch her. Luckily for the tooth fairy, all Gracie ended up with was a jar of fairy dust.

5k Fun Run

Also at the beginning of the month I reached a goal that I have been wanting to do for a long time: run a 5K. My husband and I both ran, it was my first, but not George's. He really ran just to support me, and was an awesome coach. I was worried because I am a pretty slow runner, but there were so many people there at different fitness levels that it didn't matter. Although my finish time is nothing to brag about, I beat my practice time by seven minutes! Woo Hoo! It was a fun experience and I hope to do another one in January

Fall Decorating

I enjoy decorating for the Holidays. I remember once when I was growing up Mom saying she couldn't wait to see what I decorated my house like when I grew up. I don't think she meant holiday decor as much as she meant what my house would look like in general, but every time I put up my seasonal things I wish she and the rest of the family was closer so I could share it with them. So here is the next best thing. Nothing fancy, but still fun.


Preschool Pilgrims
Tim and Tab had their "feast day" at preschool yesterday and came out in their Pilgrim attire, having eaten chicken noodle soup, corn bread, and pumpkin pie.

Traditions
We don't have a lot of Thanksgiving traditions, other than the big feast and expressing what we are thankful for on that day, but here are a couple things we do to make Thanksgiving fun and meaningful:

Tom Turkey begins the month bare of tail feathers. We leave box of feathers out and throughout the month when we think of something we are thankful for we write it on a feather and add it to his tail. Even the preschoolers do their own "writing." By Thanksgiving Day he is arrayed in all the splendor of a Thanksgiving Turkey.
This is the second year we have made these fun Turkey Cupcakes. We make a bunch and then choose the best looking ones to take to friends.
Then we eat the mutant ones ourselves.There is November thus far in a nutshell. I hope everone has a great Thanksgiving!

Every year we do these things.

Every year I end up sewing costumes for my children. Never have I made six costumes in one year, but every year I end up in a sewing frenzy and searching stores for the accessories they "need" and I have to ask myself, "Why?"

Why, when I have a box of dress ups that I can't even get the lid on, and when the costumes I spent a lot of time constructing last year still fit, do I keep doing this every year?

Mostly, because my kids are only kids once. The magic of Halloween changes as you grow up. I can't help but want them to have fun memories in the costumes their mom made for them when they were kids. But also it's partly because (lucky for them) I like to sew and just seem to be in the mood for some creativity when the weather starts to change. This year I made three costumes, two children wore the same ones as last year (a miracle) and one child chose something from the dress up box.

They all looked fabulous and, except perhaps for an overload of candy, they had a magical Halloween. Didn't I warn them what all that candy would do to their teeth?

I had to write this down before I forgot -

This morning I was laying on the couch with Tabitha while supervising the other kids getting ready for school. Out of the blue she says:

"If we covered ourselves with peanut butter, would we stick to the wall?"

Although I don't understand it, I love the way her mind works . . .

I originally started this blog with the intention of recording sharing the joys of motherhood and the events that make up the fabric of my life with my family. Lately I have been disappointed in myself in just recording events and not so much how I feel about them. My motherhood, from deciding how many kids to have, how to raise them, where to go for guidance, and how to pick myself up and move forward when I mess up stems from the beliefs I hold dear to my heart.

I recently read a couple of posts from Jen at Amazing trips where she boldly spoke on some issues that face our society. Although I don't agree with a lot of what she said, I admire her courage in saying what she believes in. I also read in the comments on her posts many different views of God, religion, and how our own beliefs affect others. Our country wouldn't exist if not for people wanting freedom of religion - and free speech is so important to us! This post in not meant to be a rebuttal to Jen's comments. I just simply want to share a few of my core beliefs with anyone who is interested. Not interested? That's okay. Disagree? That's you're right.

I believe I am a daughter of God.

I believe my spirit existed before I was born and that I will exist after.

I believe in Christ and His atonement and Resurrection.

I believe in ongoing revelation from God - both personal revelation and revelation through living prophets.

I believe in scripture. *

I believe all mankind will have the opportunity to learn about Christ and accept Him, if not in this life, then in the hereafter - before they are sent on to their eternal reward.

I don't believe in traditional Hell.

I do not believe in traditional Heaven either.* *

I believe that we will be judged for our works in this life, the true desires of our hearts, and the extent that we accept Christ. This will determine our ongoing progress in the next life.

I believe that I came into this world with a personality and qualities that are mine, that genetics do play a role in who I am, but so does my spirit.

I believe that traditional values and traditional families are essential to God's plan and our society.

I believe the power of God on the Earth, the priesthood, is held by worthy men.

I believe in miracles.

I believe in baptism and ordinances, or covenants with God.

I believe that families are meant to be eternal, that marriages are meant to last beyond this life, as well as ties to children and parents. I believe this is possible through the power of Christ through ordinances and covenants.

I believe in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings.

I believe that Christ will come again to reign on Earth. I don't, however, believe that people of my own religion are the only ones who will remain alive on the Earth at that time.

I believe that God knows my name and cares about what happens to me.


If you are familiar with my religion you may have guessed that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormon). I do not intend to speak for others of my faith, only to convey a few of the things that I have found for myself to be true. Thank you for letting me share these with you. If you care to find out more about my religion you can go here.

*I believe in the Bible, but that it has been mistranslated throughout the years. I believe precious teachings that were lost have been restored by a prophet. These are recorded in the back of the LDS printings of the King James Version of the Bible. I also believe in the Book of Mormon, a record of God's dealings with the ancient people of the Americas.

**I believe in what Mormons call "The Plan of Salvation" or "The Great Plan of Happiness" which teaches that very few people will end up in a place in the eternities where there is pain and suffering. After judgement we will be placed in the "Heaven" (degree of glory) that we will be most comfortable in. This may be a little hard to understand at first, but I don't believe God wants his children to suffer forever.

Tim and Tab have learned a lot about the creation and where they came from. They ask a lot of questions about Jesus and what he created and so forth. Tonight Jeremy was telling us about a book he is reading that compares sci-fi weaponry with the real stuff (read on, this does have something to do with the previous two sentences). Eventually the conversation turned to the ultimate sci-fi weapon, the Death Star (Dun dun dun Duh duh dun Duh duh dun). After Jeremy reminded us how it could blow up the whole planet, Tim commented, "Then Jesus would sure have a lot of work to do!"