Strawberry Cake

Today I was asked to have the missionaries over for dinner. I thought I'd make them something special for dessert and this is what I came up with (with some good advice from Juliette).

Homemade Easter Decorations

This week Michaels craft store is having a wonderful sale! 40% off Easter decorations and baskets! Today Juliette and I decided to go to see what we could do about our lack of Easter decorations. I came up with this idea when I saw these paper mache eggs.

First D.O. Spring

Today is the First Day Of Spring and I cannot express how happy I am that winter is "officially" over! I say "officially" because there is still a good chance that we'll still get another snow storm, freezing rain, and freezing cold weather because who am I kidding? Its New England! Anything can happen!

But, soon enough we'll have warm weather, sunshine, and green grass! Winter is beautiful, but I have not yet embraced winter in my entire 24 (almost 25) years of living here.

To honor Spring and the promise of warm weather to come, here are some photos that I absolutely love!

The new McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center

On March 6th, the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center opened its doors to the brandnew discovery center, formerly known as the Christine McAulifee Planetarium. The new discovery center has 2 exciting floors of exhibits with fun hands-on learning just for kids! Juliette and I loved it. Here are some pictures we took.

Who Nose?

It was a normal Wednesday morning. Wake up at 7. Breakfast at 8. Get ready at 9, then ballet and tap at 11. As usual Juliette enjoyed her ballet/tap class. When it was over, she greeted me with a huge smile and a shiny sticker. "Look mom, this time I got an apple sticker!" "Good," I replied and took her by the hand as I led her down the stairs, out the door and into the car. But something on the ground caught her attention, "Look Mom! Its a special rock just like the one on Dragon Tales, can I keep it? It can be my special rock!" "Sure," I replied as I placed her into her booster and fastened her seatbelt.

Not even 5 minutes later Juliette started crying. "Whats wrong?" I asked. "Mommy, I can't tell you, I can't tell you what I did..." I was surprised by this sudden onset of unhappiness, "What hunny, what happened?" With hesitation in her voice and tears streaming down her cheeks, Juliette replied, "I stuck the rock up my nose."

I don't remember what I said, but in less than 2.2 seconds the car was pulled over and I was examining her. Yup, theres the rock! It was past the nostrils and buldging out the side. I tried to touch it but Juliette batted my hand away saying, "no mommy, don't touch it!" I made a quick call to my mom (an RN) and asked her advice. I asked Juliette to blow her nose. Nothing. I held one nostril shut, blow again I demanded. Nothing. I started to panic. The realization was setting in that we needed to make a trip the the Emergency Room. Juliette could see it in my eyes, "Mommy am I going to die?!" No, honey, you're going to be fine!

I hopped back in the car, buckled myself in, and started driving. Except I couldn't remember where the nearest hospital was. Thankfully we have Nancy (our family's Global Positioning System) I scrambled as I searched for the nearest hospital, drove there, and admitted my four-year old.

Thankfully, we were seen right away. Before we knew it, the ENT was ready to remove the rock from Juliette's nose. I was instructed to lay across Juliette's lap and to hold her hands down with my arms, similar to the physical restraints I've done in the past. The ENT picked up his scizzor-looking instrument and removed the rock on the first try! "Wow, thats quite a rock, one of the biggest I've seen," the doctor said. Juliette smiled. Not because she broke the record, but because she was happy to have that darn rock out of her nose!

On the way home Juliette and I talked about what happened. She said, "Mommy, I think that rock was trying to hibernate in my nose!"

I'm glad her sense of humor is back!

Penacook Fire Dept.

A group of stay-at-home mothers from our church (and coincidently law student wives) get together once a week for a playdate. These playdates not only allow our children to play together, but allow the moms to have some adult interaction time too. Usually the playgroups are hosted at the church and involve some sort of craft, but this week one of the moms decided to contact our local fire dept to get a tour! What a great idea, huh? So this morning we met in the parking lot then went inside as a group and had our very own tour of the fire station and the fire engines! Here are some of the pictures I took. In addition, Juliette informed me that she no longer wants to be a builder- but would rather be a firefighter when she grows up!

Families Are Forever

"Families Forever" is engraved on the inside of my husband's wedding bands, as well as our wedding date of 08-08-08. I couldn't fit "Families Forever" on the inside of mine, so I settled for "DL + AL 8-8-08".

Last week our family went to the Boston Temple to be sealed together for Time and Eternity. It has been something I have longed for even before I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints.

I remember the first day I was introduced to the Families are Forever notion, I was sitting in the living room of an old apartment in Bangor, Maine when the missionaries told me that it was possible to become an eternal family even though Juliette had not been born in the covenant. I was estatic, but like most things- there was a catch! Not only would I have to marry, but I'd have to marry in the temple!

Getting married was the last thing I had in mind-being a single mother, working full-time, and going to school full-time, but I kept the idea in the back of my mind (for future use).

About two years later, I got engaged to Daniel. I knew we would be married in the temple so I thought why not have Juliette sealed the same day? It wasn't that easy. I was told that in order to have Juliette sealed to us, her biological father would have to give up legal rights to her which I knew he would not agree to. So once again, I kept the idea in the back of my mind...

Until about a month ago.

A month ago I learned that it was possible to seal Juliette to Dan and I in the temple for Time and Eternity. Without going through the legal system, without giving up parental rights! What a BLESSING this is to our family! I am thankful for the temples that exist here on earth in these latter days so that people may covenant with Heavenly Father and so that families can be sealed together.