Good Quote

I know...I know.... I'm going all serious on you. Don't worry--the Thanksgiving post and all the usual silliness is coming. I know you're anxious. But for now, the awesome D'Nell posted this quote on her blog like two years ago or something. But I still think about it all the time. You know it's a good quote when you think about it that long.... So here you go!

"Our Father in Heaven needs us as we are, as we are growing to become. He has intentionally made us different from one another so that even with our imperfections we can fulfill His purposes. My greatest misery comes when I feel I have to fit what others are doing, or what I think others expect of me. I am most happy when I am comfortable being me and trying to do what my Father in Heaven and I expect me to be. For many years I tried to measure the oft times quiet, reflective, thoughtful Pat Holland against the robust, bubbly, talkative, and energetic Jeff Holland and others with like qualities. I have learned through several fatiguing failures that you can't have joy in being bubbly if you are not a bubbly person...I have given up seeing myself as a flawed person because my energy level is lower than Jeff's, and I don't talk as much as he does. Nor as fast.
Giving this up has freed me to embrace and rejoice in my own manner and personality in the measure of my creation...Somewhere, somehow the Lord blipped the message onto my screen that my personality was created to fit precisely the mission and talents He gave me...The moment I indulge in imitation of my neighbor, I feel fractured and fatigued and find myself forever swimming upstream. When we frustrate God's plan for us, we deprive this world and God's kingdom of our unique contributions, and a serious schism settles in our soul. God never gave us any task beyond our ability to accomplish it. We just have to be willing to do it our own way. We will always have enough resources for being who we are and what we become." (Patricia Holland, LDS Women's Treasury: Insights and Inspiration for Today's Woman P. 104)

Good, huh? It's not an excuse not to work on things and try to become better. But it's a good reminder that I don't necessarily need to be more like other people. There are just some personality traits I have not been blessed with. But there are others that I have been blessed with and for a purpose. They are needed too. We don't need to compare ourselves to other people...we only need to do the best we can with what we have been given!! Love it! Yet another thing like this one (that was posted here--haha still makes me laugh) that I should probably read each and every day! :)

Thanks D'Nell!! (Two years late! :)

Made Me Laugh

Here are some things that made me laugh this week:

My little plumber in the making



The kid LOVES water and will play with it with or without my help. Sick!



Caleb LOVES to go watch Krispy Kreme make donuts when the hot light is on. It's funny because he is SOOOOO excited and then eats like one bite of his free donut. But whatever. It's cheap entertainment. So the other night, I decided to take just Caleb so we could spend a few minutes together. He kept insisting that he needed to bring his computer. Fairly normal--he usually brings a toy with us wherever we go. But when we got to Krispy Kreme, I said my usual--leave the toy in the car. But he insisted that he NEEDED to bring it and kept saying, "Mom! That sign says you need to bring your computer in and work!" I saw no such sign. But finally, just thought, what will it hurt. Pick your battles. Fine. Bring the computer. So in we go. We watch them make donuts and I laugh at how giddy Caleb is to watch those donuts being made. We get our free donut and Caleb goes to find a place to sit down. He looks and looks and looks and finally runs for a spot. He shows me--THE sign.

Ah yes. What do you know. It does say bring your computer in and work. When will I learn not to question the boy?!? I hate being wrong. Every stinkin' time! And yes, we HAD to stay until ALL his work was done. At least he leaves nothing undone, right? :)

I decided to snap a couple pictures of the boys on our way out the door for church on Sunday. When I went back and looked at them, I was cracking up at this series of pictures....:

Awwww...brothers gotta hug!!



Hmmm...what's that you have there, Caleb?!?



I'll take that! Thank you very much! (The look on Caleb's face made me laugh out loud! Priceless!! Like..."Mom! Did you see that?!? The nerve!!!")



"And now you can have it back, brother. Thanks for sharing."

Love those boys.

Changed My Life

Man, my blog posts are feast and famine lately, huh? No posts forever and them bam bam! Right now Caleb is at Joy School and Carson is napping and I'm just not sure what to do with myself. Clean? Nah. Blog? Sure. I am actually being a good citizen and sending you important needed information.

I was just giving advice to a friend on facebook about an issue we recently faced and thought I would pass it along to all of you as well. The issue? Iphone adoption. It's not a decision to be made lightly and one must be sure to consider your options carefully. Iphone adoption is not for everyone. You bring them home and suddenly you get no sleep anymore, your house is a mess...productivity is all out the window. You spend all your money buying accessories and toys for them. You have to feed them every couple hours with new apps. I'm just saying--be prepared and know what you're getting into. I felt a little unprepared for the way it has taken over my life 24/7. :)

Isn't he cute? This is his one week picture. He has certainly changed my life. :)




And then there is this little guy:

Wow! Has he ever changed our life. Best. Invention. Ever. Ok, except maybe the iphone. Maybe. This clock is the bomb. It turns blue and starts singing songs and/or telling a story (for a specified amount of time) at whatever time you set as bedtime. Then when it is time to wake up, it turns yellow. Your kid needs a time out? Just push the red button and it stays red for the amount of time you specified as a time out. As soon as time is up? It turns yellow again. There is a setting for quiet time and nap time too. It is so great! Caleb hears the music start playing and tells US it is time for bed. Yippee! For awhile, Caleb would get up at like 3am and come into our room and say, "Good morning!" Uh. No. It's not time to get up yet. Now he will now stay in his room in the morning until it turns yellow (you set the time). He also stays in his room during quiet time until it turns from green to yellow. A couple times I have wanted to cut quiet time short to go do something, but Caleb insisted that he cannot be done with quiet time yet because his clock is not yet yellow. Best. Investment. Ever. I'm serious.

Both the iphone and the clock? Worth. Every. Penny.

Halloween. Finally.

We celebrated Halloween all month long!!


We stole and combined a couple traditions from some friends of ours. Caleb and Carson woke up on October 1st to a card from us that sent them downstairs for some fun surprises, including Halloween music, new matching Halloween pajamas, Halloween window decorations and an early Halloween treat. And man did we have fun decorating the house for Halloween!!!! I love it! I have fond memories of decorating our house growing up for different holidays and I love continuing that tradition with my boys and love that they get so excited about doing it too!!

Let's see...what else, what else. It was all so last month--I can't remember what all we did!

Caleb and I made these fun Halloween puppets


He spent the rest of the month doing puppet shows from behind the couch. Very entertaining to say the least.


We went to the South Texas Corn Maze with our Joy School friends and had a blast.








We were also able to go to the Austin Dial's awesome fall festival. Already blogged about that (see here). Suffice it to say, we had a great time!

We were lucky enough to be able to host a Halloween Party for Joy School at our house. We had a lot of fun. The kids had a costume parade for their parents, grandparents and other friends. After the parade, they danced around to the song, "Monster Mash" for everybody, and then they sang three songs for them. It was soooo cute!! Unfortunately, I was busy herding kids and turning on music etc and I never did turn the video camera on. It was all set up and ready to go...just never flipped that little button. Dang! But later I got Caleb to give me an encore presentation of one of the songs. They sang two Halloween Songs and then this one:

Love the interpretive dancing thrown it too. And please just pretend Carson's room is all nice and clean. :)


We went trick or treating in our neighborhood






We also drove around and saw some great friends and went trick or treating at their houses and also went to a party that night. Whew.

And last, but not least--you can't forget the pumpkin carving. Oh wait. I guess you can. This year we ran out of time. Here is one of the pumpkins we would have carved.

Nice, huh? Luckily, I had gotten these little pumpkins as part of a lesson for Joy School and had the kids put these cool faces on their pumpkins. That counts, right?!?

They're like Mr. Potato Head pieces except for pumpkins. And yes, my friends, that bucket of plastic faces fun is now 90% off at Walmart. A whopping 35 cents for the bucket right now. Yes, we've stocked up again for next year in case we never get around to carving those pumpkins again next year.

And you'll be glad to know that those pumpkins weren't a total waste. They are very fun toys:



And they also come in quite handy when you want a place to chill and drink a soda

So there you have it. That's the November edition of our Halloween fun. Had I done the post in October, there probably would have been a bit more. You're probably glad I waited, huh? :) Oh well. All that matters is that we had a lot of fun and are looking forward to all the fun upcoming holidays as well! We have a paper chain counting down the days until Aunt Nyn comes and another until Thanksgiving. Love all the holidays!!

Revolution of Dance: Gavin Style

Not sure what was in that dinner we fed him, but it must have been something good. I don't think any youth from church will come over anymore. First Chris posted the video of Corey's dance on Facebook, and now it's Gavin's turn. What is it about our house that makes people feel the need to do some crazy dancing? And what is it about us that we feel the need to record it and post it for the world to see? We're cool like that! Right, Corey, Gavin, Caleb, Carson...?!?! (Who wants to come over next?)

Thanks for the laughs, Gavin.