He Is Risen

I shared this video with my family this morning, and wanted to share it with you, too.
Take a moment to set aside the jelly beans and Reese's eggs to remember why we celebrate Easter.

 



I know that my Redeemer lives.

What comfort this sweet sentence gives!

He lives, he lives, who once was dead.

He lives, my ever-living Head.

 

 

He lives! All glory to his name!

He lives, my Savior still the same.

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:

"I know that my Redeemer lives!"

 

-I Know that My Redeemer Lives
Hymn 136, LDS Hymn Book

Text: Samuel Medley 1738-1799

Music: Lewis D. Edwards, 1858-1921



 

More videos like this one are available at lds.org/bible-videos



These are the Voyages...

I love Halloween. It ranks up there in my Most Favorite of Holidays. I love the costumes and the cute decorations (I do not like the super gross decorations, though) the fun music and movies-the black and whites are the best.  Around our house, we start talking about Halloween around the end of the summer. By the second or third week of school, my kids have a pretty firm idea of what they'd like to "be" for Halloween. This is done for two reasons. One, who doesn't want to plan out the PERFECT costume idea? Two, in our house, I usually make the costumes, and so need a good month or so to formulate just exactly HOW I'm going to create the vision these kiddos have in their heads. I even go so far as to make my own patterns. It sounds crazy, I know, but I try to make them as simple as possible to avoid some of the more complicated patterns that exist out there, not to mention keeping my costs down by not having to purchase the patterns. I take an item of clothing that my kids already own and use that as the template to make the pattern on newspaper. Depending on what they want to be, I just alter it until it becomes the desired character.

This year has been a little different. Instead of only 2 costumes to make, I made a total of 5 (actually 6 if you count the do-over on mine). My husband (and I) spent some time watching the original Star Trek on Netflix this summer. My kids naturally wandered in and asked if they could watch, too. Of course! was the answer. When we got to the Trouble with Tribbles episode, my kids had basically decided that they like it. Somewhere along the way, the idea came out that they could dress as Star Trek characters for Halloween. It all got sorted out, we could have Kirk and Spock, Dad would be McCoy, and I would be....a female member of Star Fleet. You see, Uhura dates Spock, and since my son is going as Spock, that seemed a little weird. So, I'm a Lieutenant in Engineering. Either way. But what about our little one? She could be a Tribble!! So, it was settled.

I spent a good month brain storming how to put the uniforms together, and we watched the newest movie a few weeks ago. I spent the entire time studying their uniforms to get the right idea. I looked up uniforms, ranks, and insignias in the Official Star Fleet Technical Manual (yes, my husband owns a copy). This was important. I needed to get the details right. This was the first time in many years that my husband has decided he wants to have a costume! I typically don't dress up, sort of because he doesn't. But this he was excited about. So I had to get it right. I don't think I've ever paid so much attention to details for Halloween. But it was fun. I sewed for a week straight.

Here is Captain Kirk. Captain of the Enterprise. His rank as Captain is indicated by the color of his tunic, the insignia on his chest and the two and one-half stripes on his cuff.

This is Mr. Spock. He is the Commander on the Enterprise, as indicated by two stripes on his cuff. He is a Science Officer which is noted by the color of his tunic and the insignia on his chest.

Here we have McCoy. He is Lieutenant Commander, giving him one and one-half stripes on his cuff. He is a Doctor on the Enterprise, and so a Science Officer as well.

This is a standard female Lieutenant (one stripe) in Engineering, as is indicated by the color of the mini dress and the insignia on her chest. By the way, according to Trek: The Encyclopedia, "women have the option of wearing pants or dresses in "Where No Man Has Gone Before,"" and so I must be from that episode because there is no way I'm wearing a mini-dress and nylons for Trick-or-Treating. Or any other occasion, really.

Here is our darling Tribble. Defined in Trek: The Encyclopedia as a ball of fur that purrs. I hope she doesn't give us too much trouble.

And more of Kirk and Spock because they look so AWESOME!

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Happy Halloween!

An Easter Declaration

Our Christmas Countdown

So I actually took this idea from my friend Carrie. I read about it on her blog and decided that this year, I was going to do it, too!

I went through our bookshelves and collected all of our Christmas books. There weren't quite enough, so I then decided to use any winter stories as well (Carrie went to the library-- I worried about not finding enough Christmas stories, and having them too long/overdue). I came up with 24 Christmas and winter stories and wrapped them up in our Christmas wrapping paper. Each night, one of my boys gets to select a story to unwrap, counting us down until Christmas. Carrie has a super cute basket that she put hers in. Mine are just stacked on the little end table. I love the idea of a basket, though.

I first started wrapping the books in the kitchen. But then I had nosy boys who wouldn't let "I'll tell you when I'm ready" be a good enough answer. I got questions like, "Why are you wrapping books that we already have?" and "What are we going to do with all those? Are we giving them away?" I wanted to tell them when it was all finished. So I took the wrapping to my room. When I brought them all out, my youngest son said, "I know those are books, Mom. Are we supposed to know they are books?" I said, "Yes, it's okay that you know they are books." He then said, "I want to open one!" Who doesn't like opening presents early? Even when you know it's a book.

It has been really fun. We have everything from How The Grinch Stole Christmas, The Queen of Christmas, and Mouse's First Christmas to Owl Moon, Snow, and Bear Snores On. Of course there is the classic The Night Before Christmas, but I forgot to mark it so it would be last. I don't remember how I wrapped it, so it'll just have to be read when it is unwrapped! Some stories are silly (There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell) and some help us remember why we celebrate Christmas (Tomie's Little Christmas Pageant).

What better way to count down to Christmas than by opening a present every night--and then reading it?

The Holiday Porch

For about 3 days this week, we had 3 holidays on our front porch. The Sunday before Halloween, while visiting my husband's parents, they gave us two HUGE pumpkins that had grown under their fence from the neighbor's yard (he said they could keep them). We brought them home and then worried about how to carve such massive pumpkins. Sometimes when a gourd gets that big, the meat of it is really thick. We didn't really want to exert the brute force it would take to carve out even just the traditional triangles and a smile. As my husband and I looked them over, our boys asked if we were going to paint our pumpkins again this year. Oh, yeah! Last year, all the cousins got together and painted pumpkins at my mom's house. We decided this was the safer route and the kids got to be more 'hands on' about it. So, they painted the pumpkins and they were placed on the front porch.

About a week into November, I remembered a pair of wooden pilgrims that I had painted about 7 years ago. So, I retrieved them from the crawl space and they took their post next to the front door. I looked at the pumpkins and decided that they were comfortable where they were. (Did I mention the massive size of those things?)

The Monday after Thanksgiving, I decided I wanted to hang the Christmas lights on the house while it was still moderately nice weather and the ice was not yet a threat. I had spent a good couple hours and a blood blister on my thumb getting the burned out lights all changed and good to go on Saturday. So, it was time. I went with the limited ladder approach this year, just wrapping them around the porch and the two window awnings instead of across the eaves of the roof.

And then, for three days, our porch celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all at the same time. I'd have left it longer, but today was garbage day, and my husband wanted to toss them, rather than have them get all slimy over the next week or 3. So, we took the kids out to the porch, had them sit by their own pumpkin and we got a shot. It doesn't show the lights very much, but if you look at the edges of the picture, the lights are wrapped around the porch railings.

Our Holiday Porch. Happy Hallow-Thanks-Mas!

And, since we are talking about Halloween, here is a bit of sew and tell that I didn't get to share yet. I love to make my boy's Halloween costumes, and they love to be involved with all the details. Here is what we had this year.


A Mad Scientist

I made the jacket pattern using a robe that my sister made and passed to us when her son grew out of it. I just eliminated the hood and sash and added a collar and buttons. My son picked out these huge toy buttons. He saved that flourescent yellow shirt all month so it was clean for his costume. He made his name tag that says, "Hello. My name is Mad Scientist." Clever. One day, he is going to be a scientist, I just hope he doesn't really go mad.



A Bat

This guy's bat ears just wouldn't stand up straight. But he never complained once. His favorite part of the costume was that the wings had handles that he could grab for flight. When he was busy with other bat things, he simply let go and the wings hung quietly behind him. I must note that the bat head and vest are made with fleece because bats have fur. But the wings are just cotton, because bat wings are not furry.

And of course, a spooky Lindsey Stirling video that would have been posted with these pics on Halloween, had I sat down and actually posted when I thought of it. Nothing like fighting off zombies with a stringed instrument and a few good dance moves. Please enjoy.

Independence Day

I know I'm a few days late on this post. But I still thought that this video was worth sharing. July 4th is the day we celebrate our Independence from England, allowing us to set up our own government with a vote. I am grateful for our freedoms. Please enjoy.