Excited for Christmas

Ginny is so excited for Christmas. It's going to be a fun holiday with her. Yesterday morning when she woke up, she came into the living room and asked "Did Santa leave anything in our stockings?" She helped put up our tree and put all the ornaments at her eye level. She was very upset when I told her we couldn't move the tree to her room. I did offer to set up a little tree in her room, but she wanted to move all the decorations from the big tree to hers. So now we are making little paper ornaments to put on her tree.
She was sad when I had to throw away the huge pumpkins we had on our porch all throughout October and November. She flung herself on the biggest one and wouldn't get off, hoping to shield it with her body. I guess we could call her a "pumpkin hugger". Here's a picture of a sad girl with her friend standing bravely by for support.
So we took a picture instead and said "Bye, Bye Pumpkins" as they made their way to the garbage.

Catching Up

I can't believe it's the middle of November already! Here are a few things I've been meaning to post:
Oct 24- I ran a 5k! Ok, I jogged/walked it, but I finished! I'm grateful to my two friends, Katie and Helen, who encouraged me and kept me going. I'm not going to tell you my time or what place I took. You just need to know that I finished and they didn't even have to escort me off the route. This was part of the BYU Homecoming celebrations, and the 5k was right before the parade. Here's a picture of my bib and time card- notice that the time is covered up : > My friend took pictures of us at the race. I'll have to see if I can get copies.

Halloween! Ginny was tinkerbell this year. Very beautiful, as you can see. This was the first year she got to go trick or treating. She really got the hang of it, especially the candy. When she came home, she took out all the candy she didn't like and gave it to the trick or treaters who came to our house.

Ginny started preschool!

Ginny started preschool on Monday. I don't know why, she just seems so grown up. We always do lots of classes together, but this is the first time I've dropped her off somewhere and just had to say goodbye. I was more sad than she was. She took one look at the toys and kids to play with, and didn't even look back. She did say she doesn't like school. Surprised, I asked her why. She said because she doesn't like having to go home! I can't believe she'll be 5 in February and next year she'll be in Kindergarten!
Meanwhile, I just discovered the joy of having a few hours 3 days a week to myself! I think I'm going to like this. : >

Canning time

I am so proud of this.











14 jars (plus seven a few weeks ago ) of homemade spaghetti sauce. I have never canned on my own before. After spending the whole day doing this, I realized why, but I'm proud I did it. I know I'll be especially grateful for it in January. These were all with tomatoes from our garden this year.

I am happy when...

My sweet little 4 year old looked at me with her big blue eyes (and mischevious grin) and said " I am happy when I do mischief". I had to laugh. It has been quite the week of mischief. Starting with ripped pages from several of her books, body wash all over the wall that she "painted" on there, cutting her own hair and lipstick all over her and her doll (those were last week). How can one little child be so mischievous one moment, and the next be snuggled on your lap, hugging you and saying " I love you, Mommy". I am taking deep breaths, putting in her time out a lot, and trying to give her love and attention when she is being good. I certainly deserve my title of "Young Mother of the Year". : >

4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July. We went up to my parent's cabin in Big Cottonwood Canyon for our annual breakfast. Yummy scones, bacon, sausage, eggs and fruit. Delicious! Then Matt and Ginny went fishing. Matt showed G how to put a worm on the hook, then let her watch as he cast in the creek. He caught a few small ones and put them back. G was more interested in throwing rocks in the creek and scaring all the fish away. We did a few fireworks at Matt's Mom's house. We liked the "flower" fireworks the best that spin on the ground and have pretty colors. And the "monster snaps" are always a hit.

ZOO trip

We went to the Hogle Zoo on July 3 with my mom and nephew. We had fun admiring the elephants and seeing all the animals. I love this lion drinking fountain. I remember that from when I was a child.

Ginny and Aidan

This is Ginny (4) and her neighbor and best friend, Aidan (3 1/2). They are always talking about how they are going to get married when they get older. So I have to post this here to remember their pledge, 20 years from now. I have told Aidan that he can't marry Ginny until after his mission, though. They've agreed to wait.

Contents of my purse

I just cleaned out my purse, looking for a scrap of paper with a phone number on it. Of course I didn't find what I needed. I did find lots of interesting things that tell about me:
- Lots of receipts for groceries, gas, clothes, and two from gardening centers
- Lots of pens- that's where they all went!
- A purple plastic "locker" that was a kid's meal surprise when we were in California
- Fruit snacks and fruit leather wrappers, and one fruit leather for emergencies (hungry child and/or mom)
- Gift certificates for various local businesses from the summer reading program
-Book lists on "Fractured Fairytales" and "Historical Fiction" with books starred for me to get next time I'm at the library
- Notes from an awesome workshop that I went to today by the Storycrafters- professional storytellers. I love storytelling!! I wish I could have gone to their free show tonight at the library.
- Half of a broken tea cup
- My BYU contract
- Business cards from people I have met as Utah Young Mother of the Year.

That's all I can remember right now. I did find my wallet down there, too, and that lost chapstick I'm always trying to find. : >

What can you tell about me from this list?

A typical day

I just can't seem to keep up with keeping the house clean and taking care of the yard these days. I've never been a great fan of housework, but my house is a mess now. I wanted to write about what I did today, which seems like a fairly typical day, to see what I'm doing. I know I could get up earlier or stay up later (or not work on my blog) to clean the house, but I just don't have it in me.
Here's my day:

• Got to sleep in until 7:30. Was woken by a little girl climbing in bed with me and saying "Mamma, I'm hungry". Stretched it out to about 5 more minutes snuggling, then got out of bed to fix her breakfast.

• Did dishes, cleaned up kitchen with plan to mop and vacuum floors today.

• Read stories to Ginny instead

• Helped her do her "Rusty and Rosy" reading program on computer while cinnamon rolls baked (I love the Mrs.Rhodes frozen cinnamon rolls- take them out of the freezer, put a few on a pan, put in oven, turn on oven to 350, bake for 30 minutes. Yum!)

• Watched G jump on neighbor's tramp, got to know neighbor's Mom better as we talked

• Went grocery shopping with my little helper. On the way, she wanted me to read her a book about fish. She would say "What's this, Mama", then hold up the book so I could look at the page in the rearview mirror. Learned about frogfish. Talked about different kinds of camouflage with fish, animals and people (we've read a book the other day about a little girl's mother who was in the military and we started talking about camouflage then)

• Was Horton the Elephant's voice as we drove home. Had to respond to Ginny's questions and comments as she held her little stuffed Horton in the back. Got a lot of mileage with Horton putting his trunk in G's water bottle and pretending to squirt himself and G because they were hot.
• Unloaded groceries. Had to clean out fridge of old food to make room for new food. G kept begging me to cut up watermelon we had jsut bought. She cried when I told her we were saving it for dinner
• Made french bread sandwiches for dinner and snacked on bread and lunchmeat as we went. Finished lunch outside on porch.
• Weeded the flowerbeds as Ginny and friends played in the pool.
  
• Caught up on e-mails and registered for a class while G played with friends inside. I also worked on my Laptime on bugs for my storytime at the library tomorrow. Tried to ignore the mess they were making in her room, and checked on them when I heard large thumps coming from room. No one was damaged or injured, though.
  
• Coaxed children outside with Otter Pops. Love those!!! Watched Ginny play a bit while I talked with neighbors
• Delivered dinner to another neighbor
• Finally cut up watermelon. Ginny ate it as fast as I could cut it and shared it with several neighborhood children as far as I could tell. She kept coming in claiming that her friends needed a little taste
• Had a picnic on the lawn with Ginny and Matt
• Got to lie in Matt's lap and relax briefly. We reminisced how we used to do that for hours when we were dating and gaze into each other's eyes. Matt fed me chips and watermelon. Then Ginny plopped down on my stomach, leaned back and opened her mouth. Matt fed her, too.
• Had to have Matt help me up from prone position. Not as young and spry as I was when we were dating. : >
• Cleared up picnic, managed to knock down three things in kitchen after only taking 10 steps into the room.
  
• My dear husband took pity on me. He put Ginny in the bath, made the bed ( I took the sheets off to wash this morning, but never got around to making the bed up again), and bustled around. I sat on the couch, ate mint and brownie ice cream and left a message for my sister.
• Read 1st chapter of Glenn Latham's "Power of Positive Parenting" in preparation for my parenting group that I am starting. 1st meeting is Thursday at my house. I'm excited to learn from awesome parents!
• Snuggled with G, ignored her insistence that she can't sleep. Turned on quiet music, she was out in about 5 minutes.
• Phew! Now here I am. I still need to finalize my laptime presentation tomorrow (anyone know the words to "Ugly Bug Ball"?) . I should mop floor and clean kitchen. Should, not sure if I'll make it, though

This is a fairly typical day, too!

Daddy and Daughter bonding

I'm still here. Just been spending so much time outside lately, getting my yard and garden going, that I haven't had much time to blog. But I had to write about this.
My husband loves to play games- especially Magic, the Gathering, and computer games of world domination like Civilization. A year ago, he came home with some cards for Ginny. They were cards of horses for the game "BellaSera". You buy the cards that unlock games you can play on their website. You can take care of your horses, play games, earn points, and "buy" things for your horses.
This is one of their bonding things they do together. Last night I had to go somewhere, and Matt was supposed to put Ginny to bed early since she was grumpy from not having enough sleep the night before. As I was leaving, I heard him say "We have to play "Magic Match" one more time". I came downstairs to say goodbye and found G sitting on her Daddy's lap, playing on the computer with him.
"Magic Match" is a game where there are about 10 differently wrapped presents on the screen. When you click on a present, a little toy appears. You have 5 tries to find the three toys that are the same.
Apparently Ginny is really good at it. She seems to know which presents have the matches in them. Matt claims she wins often, and he never does! He's a proud father!
Anyway, I just think it's cute to watch them playing their special game together.

Ace of Cakes

Ginny has been in a creative mood lately. She had been making cakes in many different forms and with different ingredients. She usually makes them when I'm busy doing something else, though. I try to look past the mess and focus on the relationship. That means not sending her to time out like I want to. Instead, I check out her creation and her excitement, then help her clean up the mess. Children, clothes, and kitchens can be cleaned. and cleaned, and cleaned. : >




I came upstairs to find she had gotten into the flour. She had flour, water and an egg in here, all stirred up. I wish I were a good enough cook to take what she had and make a real cake. But we just got out a cake mix and made a chocolate cake to eat.














Her sweeping skills are really improving. : >

















This week she has been into making mud cakes. Here is one of her masterpieces in her toy wheelbarrow. At least she ses the finest ingredients. The dirt is prime "Black Gold" soil from our city compost which we spread all over our flower beds and garden.
Any tips on getting mud out of clothes?


Nothing like a bubble bath to get all cleaned up. Especially after eating a chocolate ice cream cone.

Som Tum

Not sure if that's how you spell it, but we made it. This is my husband's favorite Thai dish and he decided to make it. He bought all the ingredients and special tools. It is a spicy shredded papaya salad. He made it with only 5 peppers instead of the 8 it called for. He claims it was too mild, but I thought it was plenty hot. Had to capture my hubby and daughter in the kitchen, cooking together. Here are some pictures.

Matt checks out the papaya to make sure it is good. We discovered we need the green unripe papayas instead of the huge pink ones.














Ginny took this picture of the garlic and peppers being smashed together. I wish you could smell it. Yum!


















Ginny helps shred the papaya.






M and G add the finishing touches to the salad.

I was on the news!!

I got a call from my brother-in-law Aaron on Sunday night. He said he got a call from a local news channel wanting to interview me as Utah Young Mother of the Year. I contacted Channel 4 news, and they sent a reporter and camera man to Provo. Luckily I was at my sister-in-law, Keli's, house, so they filmed me and Ginny and a niece and nephew in her beautiful backyard. I was impressed that they finished interviewing me at about 8:30, then turned around and had a piece ready for the 10:00 news that night. I'm excited that they focused on the adoption angle. Maybe this will help us find our next child!

Newspaper Article

There was an article in the Daily Herald newspaper about me and my family on Mother's Day. Here's a copy of the text. They sent a photographer over who took lots of pictures. I am trying to get my scanner to work so I can post the pictures that were in the paper. This article is about Karmel Larsen, the President of our American Mothers Chapter, who was just crowned Mrs. Utah and Dixie Clifford, the Utah Mother of the Year. Here's the part about me:

¬

Danielle Kennington -- Utah Young Mother of the Year

Age: 37

Lives in: Provo

Married to: Matthew

Hobbies: Singing, reading, teaching, volunteer storyteller at Orem Public Library

Recently read: "My Antonia" by Willa Cather

Don't get your mother a box of chocolates or an heirloom sewing table for Mother's Day. Not that those are bad gifts. Danielle Kennington, a mother of one child (4-year-old Ginny), just thinks that there are more meaningful ways to let Mom know that you care about her. "I don't think you need to buy fancy presents," she said. "Mothers just want you to spend time with them."

Kennington, who has degrees from Brigham Young University (in education) and Utah State University (special needs education), suggested a letter or phone call if your mother lives too far away to be visited. And you should feel free to share the love.

Kennington, who was born in Massachusetts, said that you can also use Mother's Day to recognize women who have had a "good mothering influence on you" -- on a recent Mother's Day, she did that herself, writing letters to two of the mother figures in her life.

Kennington's parents divorced when she was young, and she said that she mostly learned about mothering from the example of her stepmother. "I think she taught me that being a mother is enjoyable," Kennington said. "To enjoy the little moments and different stages of your child's life."

Since becoming a mother herself through adoption, Kennington said, the hardest thing about motherhood has been learning how to manage her time. "You have to give up your time and give up some of the things that you want to do right now to take care of your children," she said. "I love to read to my daughter, but sometimes I just want to read my novels. I've had to learn that during the day is her reading time."

Kennington said she thinks a mother's most important role is to teach her children, including being aware of what your children are picking up from your example. "It's just amazing to me," she said, "how much my daughter is always asking questions and remembering what I say."

One of her favorite Mother's Day experiences is something she wishes she could share with other young mothers. Being the Utah Young Mother of the Year, she said, has made her whole life feel like Mother's Day for a couple of months now. "I wish every mother could have that kind of affirmation," she said.

American Mothers National Conference

I got back from Disneyland in time to wash a few clothes, pack my bags, and head to Portland, OR for the National Conference of American Mothers. I went representing Utah as the Young Mother of the Year. I had so much fun!! Every mother should have the chance to go on a forced vacation for 4 days. We stayed at a really nice hotel and ate a lot of delicious food. I gave my speech "I am my Mother's
Garden" that I posted on this blog in February. It went well, I think. I liked listening to all the other speeches. Even though we all had the same topic, it was interesting that each talk was diverse and unique. I attended some amazing workshops that helped me learn better parenting skills. I ate some more. I went to training classes on the different parts of American Mothers. It really is an amazing organization. The more I learn about it, the more I want to be involved in it. I love that it is an interfaith, Christian organization. The motto is "Strengthening the moral and spiritual values of the family".
Thankfully, I am not the National Young Mother of the Year for this year. Her name is Kimberly Wright, from Nevada. She will do a great job. I don't know how she will travel around the country this year since she has 4 children. But she has a great husband and supportive family, so I am sure she will do great.
My favorite part was getting to know so many amazing women. I arrived there Wednesday night knowing two people there. I left on Saturday with 14 very close friends (the other Young Mothers from the other states) and many close acquaintances. Now I have friends all over the country. It's great.
I really didn't take pictures until Friday night and Saturday. I was too busy the other days. Lots of people took pictures throughout the week, so I am hoping to get copies. Here are some pictures of Portland. We went to the Rhodedundrum Gardens in Portland which were beautiful. We also got to go to the SAturday market and China town.

Disneyland

We just got back from Disneyland. We got to go as chaperones with Matt's school's choir students who performed at Disneyland on Wednesday. The students did a great job and were so well behaved. We had lots of instant babysitters who all wanted to play with Ginny. One student in particular, Lizzy, was so nice to hang out with all day and go on all the little kids rides with us. Ginny loved Disneyland and loved having so much attention. It was a nice time for our family to be together. Ginny got to be in one of the parades that go down Main Street. We were waiting for the parade to come by, when someone came up and asked how many were in our party. She then took us to front row seats right by the street. During the show, Ginny was able to go out and dance with the dancers. It pays to have a cute daughter. Here is a collage of our Disneyland days. We had two-day park-hopper passes. See if you can recognize some of the locations at Disneyland.Ginny's favorite rides were Dumbo, The Teacups, and Peter Pan.

Huntington Beach

We got to spend a day at beautiful Huntington Beach. It was a bit cold and windy, but that didn't stop us from running in the waves and building sand castles.

Free Math, Science and Reading Classes

I am the Director of a free Learning Center in Provo. If you have a 4-6 year old, and want to know more about these free classes, see my blog at www.watearlylearningcenter.wordpress.com. There is a link there on how to sign up. I am currently enrolling people for the waiting list for the fall. Hope to see you there!

Beautiful Savior Video

Here's a video I made to teach the song"Beautiful Savior" to the Primary kids on Sunday. I love this song. It's called the "Crusader's Hymn". It was written in the 12th century and has been sung ever since. It's a great Easter song. I've never posted a video on my blog before. I hope it works out.

Disneyland, here we come!

We are going to Disneyland next month! We get to go as chaperones for my husband's school's choir who will be performing there. So we get free passes and free hotel room!!!! My husband, the one who hates crowds, hates the heat, and gets sick at the mention of a rollercoaster, suggested that we go!!! I thought about it for about 3 seconds, then agreed. Now I need some advice of Disneyland with a 4 year old. All suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!

Craft Day

Here is a talk I gave at the State American Mothers Convention on Saturday. I talk about oru craft day. You get illustrations to go with it.
Last week my 4 year old daughter wanted to have a craft day. Since we had just been talking about layered sand in a jar, I had that in mind as I got out all the materials, using sugar instead of sand. She happily added food coloring to the sugar and stirred it up. When she decided to combine two bowls of sugar, I started to make suggestions about how she should make three separate colors, but she wanted to do her own thing. She dumped all the colors into one big bowl. This soon developed into her own unique project. She got out the muffin tins, and make “cupcakes” complete with sprinkles. She then added water and turned it into paint to make a picture on paper. By this time, I had given up on any kind of direction. I sat back to watch, asking questions and making comments, intervening only when she wanted to paint the cupboards.
As an educator, I know that letting her explore and create is more important than the actual product. Through creative play, she is making crucial connections in her brain that will stay with her throughout her life. She is also learning important skills that will help her as she begins to read and understand math concepts.
I had to make a conscious choice to ignore the mess and let her discover new ideas. She played and created happily for about an hour, exploring and making many different things with the now sticky sugar water creation. She didn’t make what I thought she would make, but she learned and discovered new ideas. The creative process was more important than the end product.
(Had to show her sticky feet)

A wonderful friend and mother and specialist in marriage and family development taught me a saying she learned from her professor Bill Marshall: The purpose of the task is strengthen the relationship. This has helped me enjoy my everyday mothering even more.
When I am doing the dishes, for example, and my daughter wants to help, it’s tempting to tell her I’ll just hurry and do it myself. But if I remember that the purpose of doing the dishes is to strengthen the relationship with my daughter instead of getting the dishes done, it helps me have a different perspective. I stop and let her put the dishes in the bottom of the dishwasher. We talk about how to put the dishes in and even sing a little silly song as we go. Usually she helps for a few minutes, then runs off while I quickly finish the rest of the dishes. Not only am I teaching her important skills and the value of work, but we have a good time together. Our relationship is strengthened by doing the dishes.
Another time, she wanted to dance and play ballerina with me ( a daily occurrence). I had a whole pile of clean clothes I was trying to put away. So I suggested we do the putting the clothes away dance instead. I handed her her shirts to put away, and we danced and twirled on our tip toes into her room, where she put her clothes away in the drawer. We did the same for her pants and socks, adding different twirls for each article of clothing.
It certainly took a lot longer than if I had just done it myself, but we had a great time. Now she begs to do the “laundry dance”. The purpose of doing the laundry is to strengthen my relationship with my daughter. Keeping this in mind has helped me be more patient and remember what is most important.
Motherhood is a privilege and a wonderful journey. After 12 years of marriage, I was able to become a mother when we were adopted our beautiful daughter. Having to wait such a long time has helped me appreciate this privilege. I still have days when I am tired and frustrated and unappreciated. There’s nothing like a 4 year old’s honesty that she doesn’t like the shirt you are wearing to keep you humble.
I hope you know that as a mother, you are appreciated and so important to your family and to your community. Last week, I had the privilege of representing Utah mothers at the Utah Legislature. The Utah State Senate presented Dixie and me and our Utah AMI Chapter with an official proclamation supporting mothers. Here is an excerpt from it. "The Legislature of this state of Utah recognizes the efforts of American Mothers, Inc., Utah Association, to strengthen the moral and spiritual foundations of the family and the home.…The Legislature expresses its appreciation for the tireless devotion and hard work demonstrated by all Utah mothers in the care and nurturing of their families". The Senate and House of Representatives stood up and applauded as we and the merit mothers were presented. They were standing and applauding for you and Utah mothers all over the State.
I am proud to be able to represent young mothers of Utah this year. Remember to focus on building relationships with your children. I know you will treasure motherhood even more. Thank you for all you do as mothers.

Pictures from meeting with Governor

I finally got the pictures back from meeting with the Governor last week. Here are some pictures.

Arelene Kennington (Matt's Aunt) and I pose at the Rotunda in the Utah State Capitol Building before going up the stairs to the Senate. I loved being able to see her. I also loved hearing our Kennington name read twice each time we were presented. Go Kenningtons!

Not sure why this is so small. Arlene Kennington, Sharon Allred, me, Dixie Clifford, in the Senate being congratulated by Senator Ballantyne. Arelene and Sharon are "Merit Mothers of the Year" because they were nominated

Dixie Clifford, Utah Mother of the Year; Jon Huntsman, Utah Governor; and me in the "Gold Room" at the Capitol.

Check out our new adoption website

We just updated our adoption website. Check it out! Please share this link with family and friends. We just met with our case worker today. No birthmother has even looked at our file in the last few months. I know there are a lot of people who want to adopt, and not many birthmothers, but it's still discouraging to hear that. We know our next child's birthmother is out there somewhere. We just hope to find her.
Our new website is with lds family service's new adoption website. It's a great site with a lot of great information about adoption. It has wonderful articles for birhtmothers on different options she has if she's pregnant. It's great for anyone interested in adoption, including Bishops. It even has videos of different birthmothers telling their stories. Check it out:
www.betaitsaboutlove.org

It's Iditarod Time!!!!!!

I love following the Iditarod- a 1,150 doglsed race across Alaska that takes place each year. When I taught school it was my favorite unit to teach. Each student would choose a musher (the human part of the racing team- the one who stands on the back of the sled while the dogs pull), and we would track their progress everyday on a big map that I had made of the race trail. They would write about thier musher every day and read daily news bulletins. We would have a big party at the end and watch "Balto" to celebrate.

I was thrilled to discover neighbors last year who had gone on a dogsledding trip over Christmas. I introduced them to the Iditarod and they were excited about it. This year we all chose mushers to follow and cheer for. I even gave them their very own family trail map to keep track on.

Ginny and Matt chose mushers, too. Really they do it to humor me. In case you were wondering, and want to cheer them on , too, here are our mushers:

Danielle- Paul Gebhardt

Matt- Linwood Fielder

Ginny- Ed Iten

Ginny even made up a song and a dance for Ed Iten on Monday. That's a great honor!

You can click on the iditarod link above to get daily updates. . Right now Paul Gebhardt is in 8th place and just left Takotna, which I think is about halfway. They have been racing since Sunday. The fastest time to finish the race is 8 days. Go Paul Gebhardt!!