one crazy week....

so i am trying to hold up to my Sunday promise and add to my blog......so it is late but the house is finally quiet and i can hopefully piece together this week and present it in a manner that makes sense to everyone else:) rather than me typing and interjecting my "quiet boys, get in your jammies, no you can not sleep with your giant Mr. Potato Head!!!" instructions for the boys. I succesfully kicked my husbands butt at Mario Kart and sent him to bed in a muddle but at last the house is quiet....the week started with me cutting 60 fleece baby blankets for donation at McKay Dee hospitals NICU. I wanted to do something different for Isaac's class party, get out of the same ol rut and I decided it would be a great idea to teach the kids about the true meaning of Christmas and about giving back to those around us because we have been given so much. I have two absolutely wonderful friends that came and helped me to accomplish the task of cutting all those blankets so they would be ready for the first graders to tie knots in each fringe piece around the border!!! I think that friends are like angels that live on earth sometimes...

There really is so much to tell about the event and the day but I thought I would just pick out some of the highlights! It really was a huge success and the first graders responded so much better than i ever thought they would....we had about 10 volunteers show up to help out which is so totally amazing. If any of you have ever organized a class party or event you will know what i am talking about:) When we were all finished, after making our posters and taking our pictures, Ms.Boyce(Isaac's teacher) wrapped her arms around me and gave me a huge hug and with tears in her eyes, she thanked me for such a wonderful experience and said that she thought this would be a memory that kids would never forget!!! One of those aha moments for me I guess.....hadn't really thought about it much that way but it sunk in at that moment. I was just so busy trying to keep everything running I hadn't had a moment to even think twice about it. But my favorite moment of that day came in a personal and quiet moment with Isaac. We had left the class and were heading for home, we hadn't even made it out of the parking lot yet, when Isaac said "Mom, that was really fun making all those baby blankets. It kind of made me feel really good inside and maybe I was doing something that made Jesus happy"....i turned around and he had tears in his eyes. Of course then I had tears in my eyes and was able to tell him that those times that we are doing things for others are the times that we will feel happiest inside. Heavenly Father will let us know what we are doing is right and then he can bless of with those feelings of love and peace!!! in the words of my sister "That was a moment that I was so proud to be his mom". I still have to tie up the loose ends and get the blankets ready for delivery but soon they will go to many families that have had very sick babies in a hospital that is not their home and never what they had intended. They will know that someone was thinking of them and all because of these awesome little 6&7 yr olds that were so eager to help someone in need. We made posters to send with  the blankets and here they are displayed and the white notes will be attached to each blanket for their personal delivery.

 If you all were wondering, yes! that is me in my pajamas....It was polar express day in Isaac's class and so everyone wore their pajamas and that morning Isaac gave me the puppy eyes when he asked if I was going to wear my pajamas too......so he won!!! 

      Last night we had the Mills Family Christmas Party....and it was so great!!! I think they keep getting better with each passing year:) Instead of trying to hunt Santa down this year, because you know how busy he is at this time of year, I suggested that we produce the nativity scene this year with the kids as a surprise for Grandma and Papa. Charles' sisters agreed and had even pondered it themselves and so i set out with a mission and happened to come upon some really cute costumes and made some of them myself. We were supposed to practice on Friday but the weather was so treacherous that we all stayed home and the kids practiced about 5 minutes before we presented the short skit. They were so good all on their own and it was such an awesome time and we will always remember this Christmas. I think that we are also going to try starting a new tradition with this:) Maybe we will have more time next year and will be able to come up with a whole short play for the children to do. Beth, may be you could help us out with creating a short play since you are so awesome with your books and creativity....a script!!! that's the word i was looking for:) 

All in all this has been a crazy but great week for us at the Mills household!!! I had to finish it off with a bang you know.....when i was cutting those blankets i sliced my hand with a rotary cutter and now have an infection in my hand that is being treated with antibiotics and a tetanus shot that i had to get because it was out of date, whah!!!! i hate shots.....well, tomorrow brings yet another busy day so I must get my rest!!!! Happy Holidays to you all and Congrats to Jason and Kristen on their news of a healthy baby boy soon to arrive in May:)