The Haywards Missionary Adventures

Tasha had a vocal recital tonight it was postponed because of weather. She was great like always! We recorded it but I have no way of downloading it to the computer(at least that is what my husband is saying.. tomorrow he'll say something else.lol) The Christmas recitals are held at a retirement facility and the residents that attended were hilarious! First..they all speak really really loud! Second..the ladies were making comments about the men who where scooting in with there walkers. And then there was one lady who kept coming up to the kids saying let Grandma help you and then slapping them on the behind.(the kids started running away from her when they saw her come.)(CRAZY!) She was a cutie and nobody was hurt except for Kyle when she surprised him with a few taps on his buttocks. (I am a terrible mom, because I chuckled)you should have seen his face he didn't know what to do except for smile at her. (I am still laughing) Another funny story.. Andrew and Callie were jumpin...

Sunday Activities... Today while the kids were playing Der Grobe Dalmuti (The great Dalmuti, a card game) I caught this little cutie coloring on his coloring pages that his sister printed off for him (Callie gave them to him for Christmas). Callie is learning young to multi-task. They really do play well together. However I wonder if playing games is a Sunday activity. Because everything is wonderful until someone is blamed for cheating and then cards are thrown, words are exchanged and the wonderful fulfilling moment is over. What do you do on Sunday to keep the family and spirit alive?

Christmas made it's way to the Hayward's despite the weather. We started our festivities with our annual pinata. This year we decided to make our own (it's supposed to be a ornament) The kids did a great job decorating the pinata. All the kids plus Kyle's friend had a chance to be the lucky hitter but it was Tasha's mighty pow that tore this ornament into pieces. And then down to the floor with a couple of tears and a few not fairs they all came back up with a bag full of candy and smiles on their faces. After the pinata we normally open two presents one being p.j.'s this year because presents were like gold we only opened one and waited for Christmas to open the others. When we were all settled into our p.j.'s the lights went out and we nestled by the Christmas tree for our traditional Story time "When he comes again" and then after all the festivities were over to bed they rushed (yea right) and it was movie time for me (Mamma Mia) The kids woke ...

Here are some pictures of our neighborhood. The kids have had a blast in the snow. Some of the kids comments ... Callie.."It's a miracle" Andrew.."I want to go play in it" (this being about 11p.m.) Brandon .. "I need water to build a snowman"(?) Kids..."It's cold outside" Being so cold outside it is great weather for soup! I used my soup making skills (lol) and tried my hand at French Onion Soup! It turned out very tasty! Next time we will brown the onions more and hopefully we will have the right types of cheese. But no complaints from the kids (surprising) I will definitely make this again. For recipe click here .

This year I have decided to venture out into candy making. Peanut Brittle recipe click here Fudge recipe click here And let's just say I have made two batches of the fudge and it disappears so quickly my kids forget to hide the evidence. I had the ingredients and figures with all the snow fall it was a perfect day to try my soup making skills out. Yes you heard me right I have never made homemade soup before but now I can check that off my to do list. I didn't use a recipe just put carrots, celery, onions, garlic, seasonings and a combination of bouillon and chicken broth. I substituted egg noodles for bow tie noodles which worked fine. My kids aren't typical soup eaters but devoured their Chicken soup and begged for more until all that was left was one lonely onion. O.K. The kids took this picture of the newly fallen snow. Isn't it beautiful! The beauty only lasted a couple of minutes which was exchanged for smiles and laughter. I know what you are all thinking it...

Last Friday the Elementary had backwards day and of course we had to celebrate. I don't know what Callie is doing but I'm sure she was defending her outfit. lol. So the weather here is fightful! I love snow! And yes it is snowing plusslushing and then snowing and melting and freezing what a mess! I wish it would just snow !!

I sit here today wallowing in self pity. I wish I could say things didn't bother me but that is not the case today. I wish conversations came easy for me that life wouldn't pass me by. That I didn't care so much about what others thought. I wish there was a magic wand to take all these feelings away. I apologize to you all for reading this. Here is a smile from me for subjecting you to my emotional roller coaster

This week has been a crazy one. Tuesday... Cody went to the Dentist and had two teeth pulled and I also had an appointment for myself. I talked my husband into making a white bean chicken chili yum!! Wednesday... Kyle and Tasha went to the Dentist. Kyle also had two teeth pulled. After the appointment I had the privilege of going shopping with a friend. (yeah)(I love having friends). I also decided for Dinner that I would make a cream of broccoli chowder with bread bowls (both made from scratch). Yum! As soon as dinner was over we ran off to Mutual, Scouts, and Achievement Days. Thursday... We started early Callie had a field trip to see the Wizard of Oz. And had to be at school an hour earlier.(they had too many parents volunteer so I couldn't go let's just say I threw a little tantrum. jk) After making sure the kids were in school safe and sound I went to a meeting for Enrichment. After the meeting we meet at Applebees for lunch. Andrew thought it was fun eating with a bunc...

We did this for FHE Monday. (we didn't make the treats because we were missing ingredients but plan on making them sometime this week) Christmas is a time for humility. Sing Be thou Humble Hymns pg.130 What does it mean to be humble? Where were we born? Where was Christ born? What are differences between those 2 places? Enjoy the following (and remember to make together as a family!): Baby Jesus Haystacks Ingredients: • 1 package choc chips, • ½ cup peanut butter, • 4 cups chow mein noodles, • mini marshmallows. Directions: 1. Melt choc chips and peanut butter together for 1 min in microwave, stir and microwave for additional 1 ½ min until melted. Add chow mein noodles and stir with 2 spoons/forks as tossing a salad. 2. Drop onto waxed paper. 3. Add a marshmallow to represent baby Jesus.

Yes! We did have a bathtub party! And for the most part they enjoyed themselves until one of the kids decided to push the other one under the water. The joy's of parenting! Yesterday I left the house with Tasha in charge so I could pick Sam up at the Train Station (like everyday). I was gone for 15 min. We came home to Tasha crying hysterically after surveying the front room we noticed the mirror that we got as a wedding gift 14years ago was on the floor. (this is pretty much the only mirror in our home right now)(no, we don't have one in the bathroom yet). It took us quite some time to get the story after allot of blaming others and stories that don't even pertain to the mirror were said and done. The answer we came up with is that the nail just gave in. (luckily no one was hurt). But after listening to their stories we found out that the two oldest were fighting and threw a skateboard at a different wall ending in a small hole. And all this in 15 min. I could see Sam get...

I have finished Callies pajama bottom's. Yea! I have also made Andrews bottoms complete with pockets. And now I only have 6 1/2 pairs to go. How cute are these? I found the Christmas tissue paper at the dollar tree and then took one roll of toilet paper wrapped it up with the tissue paper added the cute little sayings and ta da! You have a cute gag gift. We are using these for our cast party tonight. They are having a white elephant gift exchange and I thought these would be fun. I also bought hangers from the dollar tree and I am going to download these days of the week tags and package them together for another gift. What are some other gift ideas? I need four more presents. Merry Christmas! I wanted to get you something different, Something special for this year... It is always such a challenge to buy for those that you hold dear. But when you see this special gift, I know that you will sigh... It’s a special tissue just for you, To pat your booty dry! Just Thinking of You! I w...

ABC 25 days till christmas has a few fun things on their site to waste your time with. so see you there.

This Year I decided to make pajamas for Christmas Eve. I usually purchase their Pajama's from a qualified vendor like Walmarts, Sear's, Target or JcPenny's but this year I thought I would put a little more heart into their pajama's. My mom donated the fabric (thank you!) to this great cause. I have only one top done(I still need to add a bow and buttons) and the bottoms are just missing their ruffles when I get them done I will post a finished product. Now all I need is time.. Does anyone know where I can find some?

The past few days I have been pondering on what I have to be greatful for. I don't want to bore you with my whole list which is miles and miles long. But I will share with you some of the highlights of my days... Cuddling with my darlings and Husband. Butterfly kisses, staring into my children's eye's, playing games with them. Saying family prayer, reading Scriptures as a family, Cooking together, helping them through rough times, loving them unconditional, Weekend dates, And knowing that Sam and I will be together Forever. I am also thankful for the opportunity to Raise 6 beautiful Spirits who keep me on my toes, and my spirit young. Happy Holidays!

So My Sister has been working non-stop on this Gingerbread House. I think it's amazing!! So Amazing I thought I would Post it on my blog as well! The past few weeks When talking to her on the phone she would mention her gingerbread house and silly me thought o.k. she's building four walls and putting candy on it. Oopps my mistake ! I didn't realize that she was building a mansion! Check out her other pictures on her post Way to go Julie and Jim!!

I made these today for an afternoon snack. Just getting in the mood for Thursday. They are very easy to make you take marshmallows, Chocolate chips, striped shortbread cookies and yellow icing. (I wasn't paying attention and bought gel) 1. Melt Chocolate 2. I took a fondue fork and put through the hole of the cookie and held out of the way. 3. Put the marshmallow on fork and dip in chocolate when covered move the cookie toward the marshmallow and pull off the fork. 4. let cool and then decorate. I actually got this Idea from Fun Snacks for Kids They turned out way cute! What are you going to be snacking on before Thanksgiving Dinner?

This last week has gone by so fast. If it wasn't for pictures I would have a hard time remembering what happened this week. we had a few school functions that happened this week. Tuesday Stewart had a library night. Wednesday Fawcett had a math night complete with hotdog dinner. Friday Stewart(middle school) honored the students who had a 100% turned in homework. And they let them leave school 30min. early if their parents were there. Yea for Tasha!! Boo for Kyle!!(hopefully he will get the message and work harder from now on) And of course I forgot my camera on the first two occasions. And Tasha ran away from her parents on the third occasion.(can you believe that she expected us to take her home when she wanted nothing to do with us just moments earlier.) I made 6 Family Home Evening packets for an exchange that happened on Thursday. And I saw these cupcake pops on Bakerella and had to give it a try. Mine aren't as cute but o.k. for my first attempt. I sent these to the FHE...

O.k. so I got a little carried away today making a new header. Now I need your help!! which one do you like? The Red Holly was my first attempt and is currently being displayed. Snowmen was my second attempt And third was Let it Snow. Let me know what you think, I like them all.

So first of all it's... National Homemade Bread Day and I really had every intention to make bread but it just didn't happen. I did however make Focaccia Bread does that count? Click here for recipe It was yummy! Next time I am going to add garlic. Second... For Family Home Evening we talked about gossiping. The title of the lesson is... The Ugly Truth ( found here ) We started off by putting chocolate syrup in Cody's hand and then we passed it along until we completed the circle. I then explained to them how ugly gossiping can get and how what we say sticks and can never be taken back. After we cleaned our hands with wet wipes we played a little game of telephone. We ended with a story called "Girlfriends and Gossip" from the friend. We had a great time tonight and I sure hope that my kids learned something from the object lesson other than playing with chocolate. What is one of your favorite topics for Family Home Evening?

Cody**Tiny Tim Kyle**Young Scrooge Brandon**Poulterer Boy Tasha**Choir Girl Sam**Poulterer, Grocer and in the FezzyWig Party Cindy**Towns Woman and in the FezzyWig Party Our first three shows had some rough spots but ran nicely. We have four more left. Yahoo!! I'm Sorry about the pictures I will get a better Family Picture next week.