My Little Shoplifter

So today at the mall Cloey intentionally shoplifted. She took some lipstick and stuffed it into her pocket. Once we had left the store, I realized that she was acting very mischievously and she had something stuffed in her pants. I asked her what was in her pocket and she showed me her stolen lipstick that I'd seen her eying in the store. We walked back to the store and I had Cloey give it back to one of the workers and apologize. It was seriously so hilarious that she would go to such extremes because if you know Cloey then you know she is OBSESSED with lipstick!!! What is the deal?? I hardly ever wear lipstick. I just don't get it!

Best Friends

This was the conversation in the car the other day with Katelund and Cloey....

Katelund: Mom, you have to pull over right here to pick up my friend Casey (Casey and Tina are the names she uses for her Barbies, babies, and imaginary friends).
Me: Okay hold on let me pull off to the side of the road (so that I can pretend to pick up her friend).
Katelund: Oh, thank you Mommy! Casey needs a ride to school and she is my very best friend.
Cloey: I'm not your very best friend!!???
Katelund: No, your my sister.
Me: Katelund, your sister will always be your very best friend.

After I said those words, they really sank into me. How true it is. My sisters (and sister-in-laws) truly are some of my very best friends!! I love each one of them so much and each of them touch my life in their own unique way and in ways that they will probably never even know.

Trip to Fayetteville

This last week the girls and I went to Fayetteville. Amber, Stefani, and Sherrie went to New York City to celebrate Stefani's graduation from high school (she's going to the Y in April) and Amber's official graduation from BYU (she had to finish up some online credits). I got to stay and babysit my sweet little neice Brooklynn. Not only is she sweet, but also an absolute angel...seriously!!! The three girls had SO MUCH FUN playing together. They just ran around giggling like crazy. We had a great time watching Dora, playing dress-up, making and eating peanut butter play dough, coloring the driveway with sidewalk chalk, having pillow fights with Grandpa, swimming in the bathtub, etc...

The best part of the trip for me was when the girls (the big girls) all came home. Stefani had to go back to work and Grandma was just in heaven with all her grandaughters and so Amber and I got to spend an entire day shopping!!! WITHOUT KIDS!!! It was so much fun!!! We spent about 3 hours in A.C. Moore looking at and buying scrapbook stuff. In fact, it took about 20 minutes just to ring up all of our stuff. Okay, maybe about 5 minutes for me and 15 for Amber. :) Then we went to the mall to see Stefani working at the Buckle and buy some clothes, then we ate lunch/dinner at Red Robin , and then finished our shopping day/night at Target. We had such a great time. How lucky I am to have my childhood best friend as my sister!!

Here are some pictures of the trip. I don't know how I forgot to take pictures of anybody but the kids, I guess that is just part of being a mom . :)I can't believe that I didn't get any pictures of the girls with Grandma. Although, this picture is a pretty close replica of what Grandma spends a lot of time doing (wearing reading glasses because she loves to learn and read, talking on the phone--either to her kids or the sisters in the ward since she's relief society president, and playing the piano)
Grandpa and his grandaughters had the time of their lives playing and tickling each other.
Those are some pretty cute little girls!!!!
Before we went on our walk, the girls all had to climb inside the jeep and pretend like they were going on a drive. Each of them was singing their own song. It was hilarious...and a little bit weird because it brought back a lot of memories of Amber and I riding around town (specifically to the mall) in that very same jeep.
Amber and I couldn't resist buying them some matching shirts. Isn't that just a requirement??!

Citizen Times Article

About two weeks ago, I was asked by a member of my stake presidency to be one of four people interviewed from our stake for the Asheville newspaper--The Citizen Times. The interviewer asked all sorts of questions about how I felt about the transition between prophets and basically all sorts of other questions about the Mormon religion. The following quotes are found in the article.

"Melissa Mann, a mother of two and member of the Asheville congregation, said she is "grateful to know that we have a living prophet who receives direct revelation from God, and through him, God's will is made known to us."....

"One of the things I love about my religion is that it helps me to be a better person." Mann said. "As members, we don't just attend our meetings on Sunday; we try to live the Gospel everyday. We strive to study the Scriptures, say our prayers, serve others, strengthen our families, and increase our faith in Jesus Christ."
The best part of the whole thing was being able to say that my picture was on the same page as President Hinckley and the First Presidency. That will probably be a once in a lifetime happening. :)

Feeling the Love

This year for Valentine's Day, the girls and I gave Cory's office a "heart attack" while he was out for lunch (well he was supposed to be at lunch, but he was back when we got there so we had to send him out into the hall) I had cut out about 25 red paper hearts. We took about 14 of them and wrote reasons why we love Daddy. Then on the other hearts, I let the girls decorate them with glitter. We taped the hearts up all over the room and then on the door we put a big heart that said, "Why do we love you? Let us count the reasons..." It was so fun!!! I wish I could've taken a picture, but of course I forgot my camera.

Afterwards, I let the girls play in the food court at the mall to let out some energy. While Cloey is content playing by herself, Katelund, on the other hand, LOVES to play with the other kids that are there. She always ends up with a big group of friends that run around together. Well this time there were only 3 other boys there and they were not giving her the time of day. They just kept running aways from her. So she came up to me with the saddest little face and said, "Mommy, today is Valentine's Day and nobody is showing any love to me." It was so funny, sad, and adorable all at the same time. So I made sure that the rest of the day she felt lots of love!! :)

Growing Pains

I woke up this morning feeling horrible. My legs and knees are aching so badly. I'm not sure if I am just...
a. getting really old
b. feeling my arthritis because it was raining last night
c. feeling sore from the squats I did the other day
d. just literally feeling the growing pains of my little girls growing up too quickly.
I'm pretty sure the answer is ALL OF THE ABOVE.

Lessons on Love

So for the last two family nights we have tried to do things that would focus on showing love for others. Last week we made cookies and delivered them to some people in our ward. One of the people that we took them to is a girl named Mary. She is about 25 years old and she has Down Syndrome. She is such a sweetheart!!! Anyways, on Sunday I asked her if she enjoyed the cookies we made for her and she said, "well I don't want to offend you, but they were a little bit too doughy. I think you needed to cook them longer." I told her there wasn't anyway that she could ever offend me and I thanked her for being so honest with me so that I can make better cookies next time. Why is that Mary can tell me anything that she thinks, as blunt as it may be, and I would NEVER be offended, but if it was somebody else that said the very same thing, I probably would've thought to myself, "well, I guess I won't be making cookies for you anymore"?

Yesterday we took a trip to Goodwill (I hit the jackpot for the girls and Cory...I got 2 adorable dresses, 3 CUTE shirts --with price tags still on, 4 new books (all about princesses), and a really nice Banana Republic polo sweater shirt for Cory.) Anyways, for family night, we talked about how other kids gave their stuff away to Goodwill and that is why we got to buy such good stuff for so little money (the total was only $28). Then we talked about what it means to have charity. After that, we each went to our rooms and picked out things that we want to give to charity. As I was going through some of the girls' books, Katelund pulled out a book and said, "What about this one Mommy?" I said, "Well that is a really good one for us to keep because we can use it to help you in school." She then replied, "Yea, but Mommy another kid may need it to help them in school too. I think we should give it to them."

I'm trying to teach my children about love this month, but in the process I have been the one that has truly been taught by the angels in my life.

Mini Bowling at our favorite place...Fun Depot.

Fun for Everyone

On Friday morning, I met a couple of friends at the church to work on crafts/scrapbooking/cards, etc. We had a great time and we got a lot done. Meanwhile our children had the time of their lives...
They built towers and forts with hymn books....
They ran around the gym playing tag, hide and seek, soccer, and tying themselves up with the vacuum cord.
This is what I spent my time doing.

Just For Fun...

Picassos in Training...

Yesterday I turned up the classical music, pulled out the paintbrushes and let the girls go at it.

Mealtimes are always an adventure around here.

No explanation needed.
Last night for YWs, I had bought a bunch of glow sticks for teaching the girls how to conduct music (we conducted in the dark, it was so fun). So I brought home the extras and Katelund and Cloey turned out every light in the house so that they could eat their breakfast by the light of their glow sticks.

The most incredible song ever...

A Prophet's Prayer . This link will take you to Ashely Harris' website where you can read the story behind the song and listen to it. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!!!

Hinckley Challenge

Yesterday at church, our Gospel Doctrine teacher told us about the Hinckley Challenge. The challenge is to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days (a day for each year of Pres. Hinckley's life), as a way to honor our beloved Prophet. Anyways, the challenge starts today and if you'd like to do it you can click on the following link ( www.hinckleychallenge.com ) and sign up. It is pretty cool because once you sign up it will track your progress and tell you how many pages you need to read each day to accomplish the goal. As of one minute ago, there were 10,685 people that have signed up to participate. What an awesome thing to be a part of!!!

Miniature Golfing Lessons

We took the girls out for some miniature golfing this weekend. Cory took it a little more seriously than I did, it was pretty cute. I thought we were just going to have fun and just let the girls swing around a little. Boy was I wrong. Cory taught them how to hold the club correctly and how to stand correctly. He had them trained so well that before Katelund ever swung her club she took about a minute just to get in correct position and then look to her daddy for the approving nod. It was hilarious and so much fun.
Both of the girls got such a kick out of the "turnels" (when you're ball would go through the hole in the side of the rock it would shoot it under the ground and out of another hole). Cloey would scream every time she did it. We were stuck on that hole for a good 5 minutes. :)
Look at that good positioning. Daddy was so proud. He's hoping that she'll go to college on a golfing scholarship.

Consider them pros. :)