1. Monday night is FHE at our house and of course that means we must have a treat. Monday was Ari's turn to chose the treat. She wanted an apple pie. I figured I would just do an apple crisp until I found this recipe online. The pie took 15 minutes to make. The crust was so easy and I got to keep reusing the same bowl for crust, filling and topping. I just made 3 changes to the recipe. I added 1/2 oats to topping, made the filling with Granny smiths and a little less sugar because it gives you more reason to add ice cream. I would have taken a picture but we ate it too fast. 2. Nothing brings me back to my youth like some good old JKP songs. I recently heard from a friend about a sale Janice Kapp Perry's music here . Everything is 50% off with code 2009MEGASALE. I know the promotion says Christmas but I just got some great stuff for less than 30 bucks. I am especially excited about the 70 song Childrens CD and Lift your Mind Higher CD-borrowed that from a friend ...

We started out our morning at the dentist today. Lily had a discolored tooth that needed some work. It was right by the missing tooth- for a recap . Sure enough her tooth was DEAD. So the infection was cleaned out and a white cap was placed on it but now I am feeling like the mom of the year for having a two year old that already has two teeth gone though the one is capped.But she was a trooper for the procedure. Our dentist takes them back on their own because he doesn't want us worrying parents messing them up. And he definitely does something right because she was just fine and ready to hang out in the dentist's office playing with toys. We stopped for ice cream on the way home but it had to be vanilla because she can't eat anything that could stain the tooth in the first day. Then we got home and she emptied out the puzzle drawer. There are like 15 puzzles spread out all over the floor. So if you are looking for something to do this afternoon head on over.

Our new emphasis in 2010 is getting back to a budget. We finally got a program for our Mac that we hope will work. So back to entering bills and receipts and and watching my money be spent. As we were looking for a recent budget we came across some from our glory days as students. And I know why I struggle to spend money here was our budget as newlyweds in 2001. Expenses: Rent $450 Grocery $120 Tithing/FO $150 Telephone $35 Medical $84 Gas&auto Maint. $50 Savings $150 Investments $50 (this one never happened) Entertainment $50 Clothing $50 Misc. Household $20 Total Expenses $1240 Income: BYU $908 Pruning job $330 Total Income $1238 My favorite line item was the Entertainment budget. That was the money that we would use for our dates that consisted of dinner out 2 times a month usually splitting the fajita entree and then $1 movie rentals at Albertsons. When we moved on from BYU and finances were especially tight, (and we now had a baby)we dramat...

I am a book banner. As Jacob left the house this morning he complained that he doesn't know what to do anymore because he has no books left to check out of the library because I have banned him from reading "like all of them." Really Jake what books are those? I have only let him read the first 4 Harry Potter books and I won't let him read any more InkHeart books after the first. It is hard having a kid who would be satisfied reading the encyclopedia with his dad, feeling like he isn't dumbing down by reading a book with "only 150 pages." This morning I just told him to toughen up cause that is life and you just don't get to do everything your friends or you want to do. But really I am glad that he is a reader. He knows all sorts of crazy information because he also retains a ton of what he reads. There are some negatives though and here they are: 1. If he is not doing what he is supposed to be doing you know that he is reading. 2. When I walk...

Bright and early at 5:55, I awakened to my son emptying the dishwasher. 15 minutes later I finally pulled myself out of bed and got going. Chores done, lunches packed, family scripture and prayer, and breakfast served, the boys headed out the door with Dad at 7:20. Luckily the girls have the most sense and slept in until 7:30. School and work is officially back in session. We have had a fabulous Christmas break. It started off with a bang and all the kids except Tom came down with fevers at the start of the week of Christmas. It made me thankful that I had not made any Christmas party plans that week and angry that I had to reschedule the girls' eye specialist appointment for another 2 months in the future. Christmas Eve we got together with friends for dinner and the nativity reenactment. After having to recast Mary with a less hormonal substitute, we had a very enjoyable evening with some great music-the dad of the family is a great pianist. Before bed we opened our Christ...