A Little Bit of Me

I love being a mom.  I love staying home with my girls each and every day, getting to teach them, and also to learn from them.  It is what I have wanted to do my entire life, and now I get to live that dream. That being said, I still love to do "me" things, such as sing/perform, read, and sew. Singing/performing has definitely been put on the back-burner, except in church choirs, and that's ok.  I love singing songs with my girls, and even though I know my voice is not the quality it used to be, they don't judge me for it.  In fact, they think I'm the best singer in the world, and nothing tops that.  

As for reading, I have a new years resolution to read more non-fiction, to educate myself better.  My goal was to read one nonfiction book per month, but I've already had to tweek that goal.  Now, as long as I am reading some non-fiction book continuously, I'm succeeding.   A few months ago I began reading the biography of Thomas S. Monson.

 It took me a while to finish it, but... wow.  What an amazing man.  My testimony of him as a prophet, seer, and revelator has grown so much as I've learned about his life and ministry as an apostle, and now head of the church.  It is truly an inspiring read, if you haven't read it.  Since finishing it, I have set a new goal to read biographies of all the latter-day prophets.  I feel like as I learn about who they were as men, their adversities and triumphs, their testimonies, I can learn how to become a more faithful latter-day saint myself.  

My current read, however, is not another biography.  It's the Home-buying Kit for Dummies.  We are hoping to buy a home sometime this year, and I am trying to understand the ins-and-outs of what that entails.  Hopefully it will be a smooth and exciting experience for us.  

As for sewing, I try to be working on at least one project at a time.  I love learning new techniques, especially in making clothes for my girls.  My mom always made my Halloween costumes, and I am excited to do the same for my kids (hopefully).  I also have discovered that I love quilting.   However, quilting and sewing clothes both are fairly expensive for my small craft budget, especially since we are trying to save money for when we get a house.  So, my main sewing projects right now are cross-stitching.  Two Christmases ago I made a cross-stitched a stocking for Julie.  Last year I began one for Arek.  But with making Julie's Halloween costume, and moving right before Christmas, it didn't get finished.  So I set a goal for this year to have both his and Kallie's stockings done before Christmas this year.  For those of you who cross-stitch and know how long it takes, this is a pretty big goal for me, especially since I only get time for maybe an hour or two (max) a day, after the girls have gone to bed.  However, this weekend, I finished the cross-stitch part of Arek's stocking. Hurray!  I'm going to wait to finish putting it together until Kallie's is done, so I can do them at the same time.  Here is is.  Arek loves it, and I think it turned out very nicely, too.  (ignore the wrinkled look... I haven't washed or ironed it yet)

 

That's the little bit of me for the day.  Next time I'll be back to pictures and thoughts on my girls, because they are the reason I blog.