Gingerbread Houses

Jason went with the assemble then decorate

Before Christmas, I decided I wanted to do gingerbread houses. This is something my family did when I was little and I thought Anna was old enough to enjoy it. I made the gingerbread, and used meringue powder for the icing. Anna and I worked on one house and Jason did the second. It was a ton of fun.

I was putting on the icing and Anna added the candy. She wanted to do the icing but it was a bit tricky.

Anna loved choosing the colored sprinkles to go on our roof. We used all the colors.

Sadly, we live in Hawaii and the houses didn't stand up at all. I don't know if it's user error (I realized I don't think I've personally put up a house on my own) or weather related but the icing didn't really harden to hold things up and the gingerbread was too soft to hold up the candy.

Before, complete with cardboard for structural stability.

After (at least the cardboard wall stayed up)

Oh well. This way we don't have to wait until New Year's Day to eat them (I was worried they would get moldy before then, there is a lot of moisture in the air here).

Ward Christmas Party

This past weekend we had our ward party. Somehow I ended up on the committee in charge of the food. As we had the meeting to plan the menu, I was thinking they were planning an awful lot of food. When I mentioned this, they pointed out that it wasn't a mainland party. Apparently in the islands, they are all about food and lots of main dishes. It was good food but there was a TON of it. At the end of the night we were putting the leftovers into bags and trying to get people to take it home. I haven't cooked dinner since.

One thing we did food-wise that I thought was cool was we had a kid's table. We had chips, hot dogs, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and macaroni and cheese. I thought it was a good idea because then the kids eat what they want without throwing away plates of food. Ironically, lots of the local kids were more interested in the Kahlua pig.

For entertainment we had hula dancers. Naturally Anna loved it. At one point I thought she was going to go up and join them. Fortunately, she didn't. They also had the cub scouts read the Christmas story in pidgin. It was pretty funny if hard to understand.

This is when Santa first walked in.

They also had Santa. This was Anna's first time visiting Santa. Last year she wasn't interested and I wasn't sure if she would want to see him this time. She thought he was great. She stepped right up, was one of the first kids on his lap and wanted to go back and say thank you before going home.

Here she is on Santa's lap. The kids were all crowded around them so this was the best I could do picture-wise.

Funky Tree Friday (a day late)

I've been thinking of occasionally putting up pictures of funky trees I see around the island. I've been thinking of doing it on Fridays for the alliteration but I don't seem to be off to the best start. Hopefully I'll do better as we go. Here's the first one.


These trees crack me up. The roots come out of the tree part of the way up. As they grow, more roots come out farther up the trunk. Why they don't just grow down farther into the soil I don't know. Maybe this way gives them more stability?

Parent Teacher Conferences

Monday at Anna's school we had a parent/teacher conference. I thought it was a bit funny because I don't think of it as a 'real' school but I guess it is. Jason came with us and her teacher, Puhala, talked about where Anna is developmentally. She's doing pretty well. Puhala specifically mentioned how well she talks, sits for reading and interacts with the other kids.

Puhala also had some handouts that talked about general child development with regard to writing and talking. The writing one showed different stages of writing starting with scribbles on a page then moving onto separate shapes and then onto pre-writing. The other handout was about encouraging talking. We didn't need it but she was giving it to all the parents.

She also gave us a CD with a slideshow of pictures of Anna playing. Here it is.

As you can see, we have a lot of fun.

When I Grow Up

Recently, Anna has talked about what she wants to be when she grows up. One day we were in the car and she said she wanted to be a pirate. At first I thought she had said pilot but when I asked if that was right, she said, no she wanted to say "Arrr".

Here is a little video of what she says most if I ask what she wants to be.

Apparently I can get her started in classes when she is 4.

Christmas Project

I have a friend, Amanda, who had a baby scary premature. I don't know if I've blogged about it or not but her little girl is home and doing well. For Christmas, Amanda wants to put together baskets for families who are spending the holidays in the NICU and is asking people to send cards that she can include in the baskets. For all of the information, here is what she said about what's she's looking for and how to get it to her.

First Lesson

Yesterday I gave my first Relief Society lesson. A few weeks ago, I was called as the second counselor in the Relief Society presidency. I realized I haven't been in Relief Society since we lived in Utah and I was still in school, even longer since I taught there. I was a bit nervous but it seemed to go well and I knew exactly what I wanted to talk about: Sister Beck's talk from Women's Conference.

I loved pretty much everything in the talk and had a hard time cutting back so I could fit it in the time I had (although I did have to talk kind of fast). I wanted to share my favorite part of it here:

I have said lately that women are like lionesses at the gate of the home. Whatever happens in that home and family happens because she cares about it and it matters to her. She guards that gate, and things matter to that family if they matter to her. For example, if the lioness at the gate believes in the law of tithing, tithing will be paid in that family. If that family has a humble little portion of ten pesos coming in, that lioness will safeguard the one peso if tithing is important to her. If that lioness at the gate knows about renewing her baptismal covenants with God, she will be in sacrament meeting on Sunday, and she will prepare her children to be there. They will be washed, cleaned, combed, and taught about that meeting and what happens there. It isn’t a casual event, but it is serious to her, and it will be serious to them. The lioness at the gate ensures that temple worship is taken care of in the family. She encourages that participation. She cares about seeking after her ancestors. If the lioness at the gate knows about and understands missions, missionaries, and the mission of the house of Israel, she will prepare future missionaries to go out from that home. It is very difficult to get a lion cub away from a lioness who doesn’t believe in missions, but if the lioness believes in a mission, she will devote her life to preparing the cub to go out and serve the Lord. That’s how important she is. Service happens if she cares about it.Sisters, you are each like the lioness at the gate.

Even thinking about the term "lioness at the gate" can give me chills. I love the imagery and it makes me want to be more firm in my convictions and what I want for my family, no matter what the other people in the house say or do.