Day 10- 12 day walk with Christ

How can the Holy Ghost help me become more like Christ?
Read: John 14:26, 3 Nephi 27:20, D&C 11:12, D&C 50:24, D&C 121:45-46, Moroni 10:4-5
Is it important to know the truth? Do I really desire the Holy Ghost to be my constant companion?

There were some great scriptures here.. a few of my favourites

That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day

And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit

The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.

Christmas Cards

The great plans for Christmas always go awry. I had planned to make personalized holiday photo cards to send out this year. Last year I recieved a gorgeous photo postcard from my really good friend living in London. Those lovely cards are beyond my budget, but I had the thought of making my own and printing them at a photo place for 14 cents each and posting them like a postcard -no envelope. I had my wonderful photographer Sister In law take a family photo (nearly impossible with my kids) and was set to go.. but whoops too late now.

I personally feel that since you only can display christmas cards for a short time, I like to send mine off at the very beginning of December, to enable ample viewing time :) This is also important for the many friends I have that live Overseas. I may have missed the boat and not to mention that I haven't printed the cards yet so these digital photo cards will be sent exactly as they are.. DIGITALLY via email :) Plus I also read some website begging people not to send cards especially to work clients (only to very close friends and family) as billions of tons of waste paper/cards end up as junk a few weeks later.

So in my bid to save the environment ;) *wink wink* I hope all my friends forgive me when I send them an email card.

I am getting slightly addicted to making them.. watch out friends I might send you 2 or 3 or 4!! Here are some samples.. of course the real ones have our names on them :)

Day 9 - 12 day walk with Christ

How does the Lord want me to serve?
Read: Mosiah 2:17, Moroni 7:5-8, D&C 4

By their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also (I hope my works are good), that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God (anyone need some service? or have some ideas?) Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work (I have desire, therefore I must work :)

Homemade Christmas Presents

So christmas is almost here, and I don't think I will be making any more handmade presents except for some Play Silks (I will post later about these) but here is what I started making back in October and am now finished most of what I wanted to make for the girls.

Felt Board

I am going to have this present out under the tree unwrapped so they can see it first thing Christmas Morning. I have make some other shapes and seasons that are stored in ziplock bags. The felt board was made by purchasing some felt and stretching and hot gun glueing it around a small painting canvas which I got cheaply at a dollar store.

Felt Food
I grabbed these cute picnic ziplock bags and thought they would be perfect storage from some felt food I have been slowly making over a few months, one piece a night.

Fruit
pineapple rings, apple slice, orange slice, strawberries,watermelon slice

Lollipops and Biscuits


Breakfast
Eggs, Pancakes with maple syrup, bacon, tomato slice

Doll Nappies
Pattern found here at Skip to my Lou after I saw some inspiration on Chasing Cheerios

Being Modelled by one of the many dolls we have


I made these just now after feeling guilty that I didn't have many presents for my 2 year old. She doesnt want nor need anything. She loves those doll bottles that have milk or juice in them that look like they are emptying to the dolly. I bought her those for $1.99 and that is all the gift I had her (we have plenty of dolls and don't need anymore) then after seeing the idea on Chasing Cheerios I thought I will add these nappies and wrap up one of the exisiting dolls in our house and now she will have a great present she will love. I am also making the play silks with her in mind and now I don't feel so bad :)

I also have been collecting pom poms, pipecleaners, and lots of crafty bits and sticky tape and glue to be put in a "Creative Box" for the older two girls.

I have plenty of bought presents for the older girls - Swimming Goggles, Tiny Pony collectable things, electric toothbrushes, paper doll cutouts, books, DVD,Hair accesories, make up kit .. they will be spoilt that is for sure :)

The Easiest Treat you will make this Holidays..

cranberry, pistachio and white chocolate shards



Take 3 ingredients


melt chocolate and spread out on some foil


Sprinkle on chopped craisens and pistachios


Enjoy


Want some other cute Christmas/Holiday food ideas? Check out my friends blog Cupcakes and All Things Sweet She has some really easy and cute ideas on their for both kids and adults. I LOVE the Truffle Snowmen. Now I just got to get her to drop treats off at my house ;)

Day 8-12 day walk with Christ

How is the Lord my light?
Read 2 Nephi 4:15-35, Helaman 5:12, D&C 84:43-47
This week I will try to make decisions on the basis "what would Jesus do if He were here?"

A favourite scripture of many people would be the first one listed sometimes known as Nephi's Psalm. Someone who was close to perfect feeling like they are a wretched man. I love after his agony he says "Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin..Rejoice"

and this is my favourite part of the third scripture
For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit. And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father.

I love how it is sort of a flow chart- this leads to this leads to this and that EVERY man has the spirit/light of Christ. I hope that I may be able to have mine shine more brightly each day my whole life

Day 7- 12 day walk with Christ

How do I guard against pride?
Read: Proverbs 6:16-17, Proverbs 8:13, Alma 5:28, D&C 38:39, D&C 90:17
Am I prideful? Do I do the right things for the right reasons? Are wordly possessions and entertainment my focus?

Pride is a snare on the soul
Are you stripped of pride? If not, you are not prepared to meet God
The lord hates evil- pride, arrogancy and a froward mouth, a proud look, a lying tongue

Day 6 - 12 day walk with Christ

How do I guard my speech?
Read: D&C 42:27, D&C 88:121, D&C 136:23, 3 Nephi 12:33-37
I will speak only kind, uplifting words to everyone I talk to today. I will not gossip, criticize or speak ill of others

Lucky it is the weekend.. should be easier for me to do it :) Guarding speech is a hard thing when you like to talk alot :)

Sabbath

He maketh the storm a calm ~ Psalms 107:29

Activity Advent Review

Here are the activities from our homemade advent calendar that we completed this week

Put up the Tree


Make Paper Snowflakes for our window
and then make virtual snowflakes at Make-A-Flake - Totally addictive by the way even for Adults.. the scissor even make cutting sounds :)

Decorate Gingerbread house (like how I coordinate our activites for what needs to be done? ;)


Make Cinnamon Ornaments

Easy and smell lovely - 3 ingredients - 1 cup cinnamon, 1 cup apple sauce and a little glue!! Recipe Here It surprising makes quite a few so you can do the recipe smaller.. (It is hard to find cinnamon in bulk in Australia.. I only found the IGA had a jar in the size I wanted at a cheap enough price. It was $2.50 for a jar, I used one and a half.. all the other shops just sold cinnamon in tiny bags a 1/4 of the size for the same price)

The Girls slept under the Christmas Tree - I forgot to get a photo!

Make jar lanterns to go on a lantern walk tonight looking for christmas lights

We used old jars, some wire for a handle and decorated with red, green and gold tissue paper and PVA glue and some glitter

Day 5 - 12 day walk with Christ

How can I improve my thoughts?
Read Alma 37:35-37, D&C 6:16, D&C 88:124, D&C 121:45-46
Do I really want to keep all idle, unclean or negative thoughts out of my mind? Do my thoughts affect my attitude?

I am going to start adding my favourite parts/thoughts because while I am posting these each day, some of the days I have been too lazy to deeply read and learn from the passages!! Naughty me!! So some bits I pulled from todays reading:

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings and he will direct thee for good
Let thy heart be full of thanks
Noone by God knows the thoughts and intents of your heart
Cease to be idle(does this include blogging and reading blogs?), cease to find fault, retire to bed early
Be full of compassion towards all men
The holy ghost shall be your constant companion

Take 2

So I did another gingerbread house today.. I am getting quicker :) My 7 year old is going to be very happy to take hers to school tomorrow. After this effort I am not doing any more baking for a few days!

The problems I encountered this time.. I was just doing the finishing touches and I looked to the other side of the kitchen and saw all the lollipops in the broken house - STILL there - NOT inside the new house!! whoops!! I shoved as many as I could through the tiny door, but will just have to give the rest to the teacher to hand out.

Buy yourself a icing bag and kit... I just used ziplock bags and the one icing tip I had.. Royal Icing is thick and hard to push through, I popped so many zip lock bags the last two days - more than I care to count.. So to forget that hassel... buy an icing bag!!

Day 4- 12 day walk with Christ

Wherein lies the power of Christ?
Read 2 Nephi 9:6-11, Mosiah 4:2-3, Alma 7:11-12, D&C 19:15-24, D&C 122:8
Do I understand what Christ did for me? Do I comprehend the great love He has for me? How can the Atonement cover my sins?

Why you shouldn't do two things at once

A gingerbread tale

Last year I went to a gingerbread house making class at church. The lady who showed us make a gorgeous house in minutes right in front of us, so I went home and gave it a try. I made 3 gingerbread houses last year and learnt lots on the way! It is HARD and takes A LONG TIME!!

After spending all the time making them (and them not being attractive enough to gift ;) the last thing I wanted to do was eat it. I ended up sending one of the houses along to my daughters school. The teacher read "The Gingerbread Man" and "Hansel and Gretel" to the kids and then they devoured that house.. they licked the plate clean :)

So apparently this makes up a family tradition and now both my girls want to take a Gingerbread house to school. So I spent today making said Houses to take to school tomorrow

Here is house number 1 - I am very happy with the way it turned out for only my second year trying.


Here is house number 2 - Do you think I can tell the kids it's just a gingerbread house that was in a snowstorm/cyclone/hurricane/typhoon/tsunami/insert calamity here?


I am bribing older daughter (who got to take a house last year) to forgive me and I will attempt again later in the week. If not I suppose I will owe her big time

Here are my gingerbread house tips for any of you first timers (or second timers like me)

It can take up to a day- so split the steps up for quicker finishing. This year I made the dough on one day, cooked it early morning another day and iced it together in the afternoon

Don't let your kids help! The first year I let my older daughter stay up to help me.. It took hours and their help is less than helpful :) Make the house and ice alone then allow children to attach the candy.

Gingerbread dough is really sticky from all the butter - You must refridgerate the dough for atleast an hour, or if you want to cheat like me, I put mine in the freezer

I learnt this tip this week - Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper

Like this


Then place the rolled out dough into the freezer - baking paper and all

When it is harder, but still pliable take out of freezer and cut the house shapes out with scissors!!

Like this


I then placed all the pieces in the freezer wrapped in cling wrap (this is all I did on that day- I made the house another day)


When it came time to make the house it did not take me so long as the shapes were cut and ready to cook and then decorate the house.

Fill the house with wrapped lollies (candy) before you put the roof pieces on

You need LOTS of icing. The royal icing is the glue/mortar to hold your house together. You will need probably two packets of pure icing sugar. I find the houses fall down without enough icing... you can never have too much icing to keep it together.

So there is my advice for you all.. or maybe the best advice.. buy one already made :) But that takes the fun out of it :)

Side view


I used Coco Pops Chex for the roof tiles, sour straps for door and window, smarties, mint leaves, Musk Sticks to make my house.

Day 3 - 12 day walk with Christ

Do I really understand repentance?
Read: Mosiah 2:38 , Mosiah 4:9-12, Alma 36:6-25, D&C 58:41-43
Have I truly sought forgiveness from the Lord? Do I really believe He will forgive me?

*Note I have linked the scriptures for you to make it even easier for you to participate :) Click the scripture reference and it will take you there :)

And this is why you pay insurance..

On Sunday afternoon I was driving home from doing my Visiting Teachers a favour I had a car accident... YIKES!! My first one.. so I was totally in shock.. the poor people who were also involved had to comfort me!! Once they knew I had insurance ;) they were all friendly and caring telling me that anything can be fixed by a panelbeater and as long as no one was hurt it's all going to be ok.

Best of all was my lovely husband who didn't get mad or even raise his voice :) He got on the phone to the insurer, and the other people involved in the accident and had me a rental car by the morning... What a gem :) Though he was the one who suggested totally outing myself by blogging about it!

And this my friends is why you pay Insurance :)

The TREE is UP

Our family tradition is to put the tree up on the first Family Home Evening in December. I start to get a bit antsy if the first monday is like the 7th - A waste of a week in December :) But this year was kind to me - The first Monday was the 1st!

First we sort the 100s of branches into sizes


Building and "FLUFFING" out the branches - a very important step - the girls enlisted the help of our Japanese student (who had a great time as Christmas isnt as important in Japan)


The longest step - untangling the lights and fixing broken bulbs - The MR got them all working - what a feat!


We dance around the tree as we put the lights on


This year Miss A thought it good to sit on my shoulders to be able to reach and put the star on


And just for cuteness Miss G posed like this for me


And FYI Advent went spectacularly well - so much that we lit all four candles.. whoops!! and the girls have asked for it everynight!

Day 2 - 12 day walk with Christ

Day 2
Am I seeking Christ's Help?
Read: Duet 4:29-31, Prov 3:5-6, D&C 11:7, Ether 12:27, D&C 88:63,83,118,119
Ponder: Am I seeking the Lords help in all I think and do? How can He help me overcome my weaknesses?

12 Day Walk with Christ

I recieved this 12 day challenge at a recent Christmas Enrichment Meeting. I did not come up with it and would love to link to whoever made it, but it did not come with its origins. I thought I would share it with all of you. Feel free to join in, comment, link to your blog, blog your thoughts on each of the topics for 12 days.

I think this will be a perfect start to the month of December for me to remind me about the real meaning of Christmas and to help simplify my life at the time of year.

Day One
How can I follow in His footsteps?
Read: 1 Peter 2:21, Abraham 1:2, Moroni 7:48, John 8:12, 1 Cor 14:1
Ponder: How can I follow in Christ's steps today? In all my decisions today I will ask "What would Christ do?"

Twelfth day of Christmas

my true love gave to me.. Pencils for everybody!


I thought I better squeeze the last Day of Christmas post on the last day of November !! I found the idea for these pencils at One Crafty Mumma They make great gifts for end of school (which is in two weeks!! Here comes SUMMER HOLIDAYS!)

I pretty much detest candy canes.. they don't taste that great, my girls make STICKY horrid messes with them, they pretty much melt and wilt on the tree as we don't have airconditioning, I find half sucked ones being saved for later in the fridge... I am guilty of giving my fair share away.. Well...I mean they are the easiest thing to pop in a Christmas card for my daughters school class friends, But not this year!

I am just finishing up like my 45th pencil topper - enough for everyone in each of my daughters classes.

I was lucky enough to find these lovely Christmas pencils at the local $2 shop, then I cut lots of Christmas Trees out of felt (see One crafty Mumma's link for the pattern)


I sewed some on the machine around the edges and some are handsewn leaving a gap in the trunk to put a pencil in, and a little glue to keep the tree on. Then I dotted PVA glue and sprinkled on glitter.


Attach a ribbon for girls if desired and give to all your friends


Thanks for all your lovely comments on my 12 days of Christmas - they made my day!! Enjoy the Christmas season and check back in December for my 12 Day Walk with Christ - A wonderful way to begin the Season :)