Happy Halloween!

Getting to Know You part 6

Q: What is your favorite part of Halloween?

A: Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but I do love the chocolate! I also really enjoy carving pumpkins.

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question!

Pass the Pumpkin

I guess family games have been on my mind a lot lately. We like playing games as a family. But it can be a little difficult deciding what to play sometimes. Everyone has different favorites and dislikes and abilities and attention spans. So I am always on the lookout for new games to try that we can all enjoy together.

Last night for Family Home Evening I came up with a new version of hot potato for us to try. We all sat in a circle and passed around a small pumpkin instead of a potato. I turned on some music, let it play for a minute or so then turned it off again. In regular hot potato games the person holding the potato (or pumpkin) would just be out. But in this game the person holding the pumpkin gets to draw one thing on the pumpkin. An eye, a nose, an ear....whatever they want. (James pointed out to me that everyone will want to hold on to the pumpkin as long as they can instead of passing it on quickly. He was right. But usually a quick reminder was enough to get the pumpkin going again.) After drawing on the pumpkin that person takes a turn at running the music. We had them turn away so that they couldn't see where the pumpkin was. It helped to keep things a little more random.

This is what we ended up with:

Isn't he cute? Perfect for Halloween! We only did the one pumpkin last night. We all had a good time together and now have a fun new addition to our porch.

What kind of animal am I?

While organizing our games last week I came across a favorite. I made it a couple of years ago. Since it was out I thought I would take a couple of pictures and share it.

Without looking, everyone gets one card taped to their back.

Then we have to try to figure out what animal is on our back. We take turns asking questions. But they have to be yes or no questions. Things like,

"Do I live on a farm?"

"Am I a mammal?"

"Do I have feathers?"

The first person to figure out their animal wins. Everyone else still really wants to know what animal they are, so we just keep going till we are all done.

We love this game! It is great for Family Home Evening. Or for rainy/snowy/cold afternoons when the kids are bored. I also like it because the kids don't fight with each other while we are playing. They want to know what animal they are, but they also know they can't figure it out without help so they are as nice as can be.

Friday's Fix-up: games

This isn't much of a fix-up but at least it's something, I guess. This closet has always been a problem area. It is finally starting to shape up! This week I straightened up the two bottom shelves. They weren't terribly messy, but that tub really needed to be organized!

Nice and neat! (that blob of black stuff is just some black paint that some child thought should be there.)

I'm very happy to say that the next shelf up doesn't need any straightening! Last winter when I posted my very first Friday's Fix-up I decided to store our games all on their sides (except a select few that really couldn't be on their side) in the hopes that they would be easier to put away and would then become less of a mess. It worked! The games are still nicely stored on their sides and we even tend to get some of them out more often because they are easier to get out too!

Next week I'll do that last shelf and this closet will be done! Hooray!!! It feels so good to be making some progress!

If you have a fix-up to share please leave a comment telling about it or with a link to your own blog post about it. I will add your link to the bottom of this post.

Getting to Know You part 5

Q: What was the last song you had running through your mind?

A: I Think We're Alone Now

I just got home from the grocery store...I think that's where it came from. I really don't remember hearing it though! Brains do such funny things sometimes!!

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question!

What's in my name?

For Wordfull Wednesday today, we were asked to explain our first name. Why we have it and what it means.

My name is Aimee. It is the french form of the name Amy and means beloved. I've always loved that it is french! And spelled just a little differently. My parents really liked the name Amy, but then saw it spelled Aimee and liked that even better. Growing up I rarely ever heard of anyone else named Aimee. Just lots of Amy's. My mom even cut out a picture from the newspaper in 1983 showing the family of Ferdinand Marcos, including a niece named Aimee who looked like she was about my age. I still have the clipping. In the last year or so it seems that I've run into all kinds of Aimee's. Even one with the same maiden name!

To read other's Wordfull Wednesday entries, visit Chocolate on My Cranium.

Scraps, Beautiful, Scraps!!!

Last week was a very nice week. On top of every other good thing that went on, I won a bag of scraps from Sew, Mama, Sew. And oh my, are there some amazingly beautiful scraps! This picture really doesn't show it all very well. My favorites are hiding way back there on the right. Four pieces of Heather Ross's Far Far Away fabric line!!! I knew I wouldn't ever buy any because it's SO expensive. But it is so pretty!!! And now I have a little bit to look at and do something with, if I can ever decide what to do with it.

I've had lots of fun just looking at all of these different scraps! Thank you Sew, Mama, Sew!!!

Getting to Know You part 4

Q: How tall are you?

A: 5' 5"

Please leave a quick comment with your own answer to this question!

A Day Off

Today my super, amazing, and wonderful husband has taken all the kids out for the day and I get a day off. I'll be spending most of it here.


I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

The Pledge of Allegiance

Instead of a fix-up

I had every intention of getting my fix-up done for today. But I kept putting it off and having other things to do. Then I thought I would try to do it real quick this morning, but I've decided to do other things today. It is my birthday, after all. So I'll have a fix-up next week.

I wasn't going to blog about my birthday, but I've had some really nice thoughts today and wanted to share them. Mostly I've felt very loved. Encouraged. Liked. (which is very different from being loved I think, and just as nice.) And thought of. I don't quite feel deserving of all of this, but I'm very grateful for it.

The picture is of a card I received. It's so lovely. Inside was a quote from Louisa May Alcott. It fits me so perfectly that I had to make it part of my blog. It's at the top of the left sidebar.

Thanks for loving and liking and thinking of me today! It's been a very nice birthday!

Getting to Know You part 3

Q: If you could only eat one food all day long, what would it be?

A: pumpkin pie! mmmmm

Please leave a comment with your own answer to this question!

Getting to Know You part 2

Q: What time of day were you born?

A: 11:42 pm

Please leave a quick comment with your own answer to this question!

Park City Girl Quilt Festival

Amy at Park City Girl is hosting a Quilt Festival. So I'm blogging about this little quilt again so that I can participate.

Last spring I joined in a swap from Creative Chicks and got some great fabric from my partner Michelle. We both enjoy making skirts for ourselves and daughters so that is what we had in mind when choosing fabric to swap. I made a cute skirt for my 3 year old, and still had some fabric left over. So I decided to make a little doll quilt out of the rest.

I used an old white pillowcase to make the border. It is SO soft! This was my first time quilting with a walking foot. I enjoyed the process and really like the way it turned out!

For the back I used orange with a very small white polka dot. I had just enough of the bright flowery print to make the binding. I tried sewing the binding on by machine with this quilt. It looks ok. I am very far from being a perfectionist so this was alright with me. It was very fast, and I really liked that.

I love this little quilt! My girls use it for their dolls, but sometimes I just like to pick it up and look at it. It always makes me smile!!

Friday's Fix-up: I can see the floor!

This week I tackled the bottom of our hall closet.



I sorted out the puzzles and they are now stored in the top of the closet where little people cannot dump them out. I took everything else out and the only thing that got to go back was our bocce game. Don't you love that carpet? I think it must be the only place in the whole house that still has the original carpet.

Now if I can only keep it from turning into a dumping ground again, all will be well! Next week I'll move up a little higher in this closet and organize a shelf or two.

If you have a fix-up to share leave a comment telling about it or leave a link to your blog post about it. I will add the links to the bottom of this post.

Lynsey

Getting to Know You

One of the things I like so much about blogging is getting to know other people. Some are new to me, and some are people I've known for a long time, but blogging helps me to learn more about a person. So I'm going to try something new on my blog and I'm calling it Getting to Know You. Every Thursday, and maybe on other days too, I will post a simple question. I would like you to answer it in a comment. You could leave a one word answer or a few sentences. Something quick. I just think this could be fun!

My question for today is:

What color shoes are you wearing right now?

My answer for today is:

BLUE

Six Little Words

Today's assignment from Chocolate On My Cranium is to describe ourselves in only six words.

I am very much a girl.

Balance and Prophets

I haven't blogged all week. I missed it! I have to admit that I am very happy just to be writing another post.

I've been working this week on finding the right balance. Life changes now and then, throwing new things at you or taking other things away. And I have to adjust and shift things around to find a new balance. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this particular balance. Maybe a little more tweaking, but it's looking and feeling good so far.

My mind has also been occupied by thoughts of this weekend. My parents are coming to visit. I am so excited to see them! And I get to listen to a prophet's words. The 179th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be held tomorrow and Sunday, Oct. 3-4. I am so grateful for a modern day prophet to give us counsel and guidance from the Lord!

President Thomas S. Monson

Friday's Fix-up: clearing out the junk

I have too much stuff. I try to keep it spread around the house in different places so that it doesn't look so bad. But there is one place in my laundry room that is really just a pile of stuff. It is in boxes, but they are overflowing and it is not a nice thing to look at.


My goal was to get rid of at least one box.


I got two!!! It seemed like such a daunting task, but when I started out thinking that I didn't have to do it all at once it wasn't so scary. I actually had a hard time stopping at just the two boxes. But I really had to move on to other things.

For next week I'm going to do more clearing out. Maybe another box, or maybe stuff from some other part of the house.

If you have a fix-up to share, leave a comment telling about it and/or leave a link to your post. Sorry, but I still can't get Mr. Linky to work. If you leave a comment with a link I will come back and add your link to the bottom of this post.