Life is cake...

Usually I'm not too big a fan of forwards, but every once in a while I come across a really good one (usually from my mom or mom-in-law)! This one was sent to me by my mother-in-law and I just keep thinking about it. I wanted to put it on our blog so I don't forget it. (It was originally called "God's Cake" and I changed a few things to apply it more personally.)


"Sometimes we wonder, 'why are things so difficult?' or 'why/how long do I have to struggle with this particular trial?' Here is a wonderful explanation!

A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong: she feels inadequate as a mother to her young children and wife to her sweet husband; she can't seem to stretch their income; and she doesn't feel like she connects very well with her friends.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a piece. 'Absolutely, Mom! I love your cake!'
'Here, have some cooking oil,' her Mother offers.
'Yuck' says her daughter.
'How about a couple raw eggs?'
'Gross, Mom!'
'Would you like some flour then? Or maybe some baking soda?'
'Mom, those are all yucky!'

To which the Mother replies, 'Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves, but when they are put together in the right way, and in the right time, they make a wonderful cake!'

Our Heavenly Father works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. He know that when we go through these thing all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will make something wonderful!!"

2 minute hair dos...

Sadly, no...I haven't found some great site with extraordinary hair dos for your little girls that can be done in under 2 minutes. No, these are some hair dos that have been UNdone in under two minutes by my little girl! I've been so excited, having a girl, to play with her hair. When she was a baby, I put a head band on her every day so she'd get used to it...or so was my theory. As soon as she figured out how to pull them off, I haven't had a chance! When I'm getting ready for the day, she likes to come in and play with my make up and brushes, etc. So, I thought I'd give it a try. She sits really still and lets me put things in her hair (which is a huge improvement) but it doesn't last long at all! So, here are some pics I grabbed real quick before they came out!

Her own creation... (that's like 5 headbands around her neck)

It's hard to tell, but she has 3 clips in her hair...on top of her head.

Taysum and Bailey were both kind of sick for a while at the beginning of the month. Their favorite thing to do was "rest" on the couch. Taysum loved it when Ken would join them.

Ken has been working SO hard studying for his PE Exam coming up in April (yes...two weeks after the baby!) It drives Taysum crazy that he can't be with his Daddy. So, we let him play the computer quietly so they can at least be in the same room. :) We just thought he looked SO little sitting at this computer.

CATCH UP FROM FEBRUARY...

Going backwards...Valentine's Day was a lot of fun. Ken and my anniversary is on the 5th, so we just enjoy being together and making it fun for the kids on Valentine's Day. Ken did get some flowers for me and a movie, which was really sweet. I made him a nice dinner. It was kind of fun because we also had the missinaries over for dinner that night as well. Taysum loves having the missinaries over...he thinks they're just great! Any time we put the extra leaf in the table, he thinks the "teachers" (as he calls them) are coming for dinner. The kids got A LOT of balloons for Valentine's Day. Growing up, my Dad always got balloons and candy for us kids and my mom. I LOVE that he's kept that tradition going with the grandkids as well. It's so thoughtful! He also brought them each a book, which they love! Ken and I got a movie for them. They went absolutely NUTS over it! It's a video with different episodes from their favorite Nick Jr. cartoons. Their expressions were so funny and they couldn't hardly contain themselves!! It made our day!

Our anniversary was very nice as well. Ken got off work really early, which was really nice and I was able to attend my great Uncle Ed's funeral. We went up to Powell and had dinner at The Lamplighter. Then we went to "Sherlock Holmes" which was pretty intense! I realized that Ken and I had never both been away from the kids overnight. It's going to be a while before we're able to do that again, so we gave it a try. The kids stayed at my parent and we just did fun things we used to to before we had kids. We had grown-up conversations without interruption! We played board games and just enjoyed being together. It was sure weird without the kids!! We had a great time, though! I am SO blessed to be married to such a wonderful man! He is my best friend and the love of my life! Everything is just so much better with him in my life! He is a wonderful husband, dad, worker, friend, brother, son, you name it and he's just wonderful!!

Other:

I don't even really remember what happened here, but we were all laughing at his pouting. He started laughing, too, so he's trying to look grumpy for the picture.

Taysum's best friend, Kyle, moved away. It's been pretty hard on Taysum, but I'm proud of how well he has done with it. His teachers at school were so good to him and really helped him with the transition as well. He asks about him every now and then.

Family Home Evening has never been the highlight of the week at our house, so I've been trying to make it a little more fun for the kids. A while ago, my sister did a "Creation Cake," so we tried that again since we've started the Old Testament in Sunday School. The kids LOVED it! It was really fun! The next week we talked about Noah and the Arc and played animal charades and that was a big hit as well. Now the kids are starting to get more excited for FHE and it's exciting for me, too! Last week we planted grass and it was so fun to watch them get so involved!! Last night we learned about working together as a family and had a good time cleaning out our van together. It has really strengthened my testimony of FHE and of being consistent in teaching our children!! SO FUN!!