I realize I may be speaking to a very specific kinda nerd here...

but anyone else can't help but think of Sonnet 116 when altering clothes to fit a loved one?

"Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds..."

What's that? Just Shakespeare's wife and no one? No one then?

Ok, good me neither....

It has become evident...

1. When I am making designs and patterns up as I go I encounter interesting road-blocks... like, what exactly was my game plan for the straps for these backpacks I made the boys? I still don't know. I will have to make that up sometime when I haven't been making things up all night.

2. I sure do have a "look" I keep going for don't I? What would happen if the next thing I made had nothing to do with anchors, sailing, red, mustard, navy, or turquoise? Would I die?

3. Hours were spent on details my kids won't give a hoot about. I lined this bag and gave it an interior pocket and made sure the top flap was lined... my kids surely won't notice the adorable vintage, nautical fabric inside--they just want to make sure one doesn't have more fruit snacks than the other.

4. It's also apparent that I go to great lengths for even a glimmer of promise of silence at church. That's what these are for. One day a week. Lined and hand-stitched and lined again and my own pattern... for one hour, really, a week. Great lengths my friends.

5. In spite of all these earth-shattering revelations, I still had a fantastic time making these backpacks with good music in the background and the image of how excited they'll be to have something their very own with their names hand-stitched on that their Mama made with love .... and the hope that they'll zip it for a few minutes, I'll take just a few, at church.

Did you watch that video I just posted?

It explains a little about what Daughters in My Kingdom is all about.

You can click on the title of the book in this post for more info. If you haven't already received a copy in your ward you can go to that link to buy or read a copy and most smart phone owners can even read it on their phone!

I just finished reading it and I cannot recommend it enough. Chapters 4,5,7,9, and 10 in particular if you don't want to read the whole thing, but really the whole thing filled me with such a sense of purpose, light, happiness, and optimism for the future that I suggest you read it all if you haven't already!

Some favorite passages:

"Hold your head high, you wives, you mothers, homemakers. You engender life and enrich it. Don't trade that pervasive force for fleeting, surface trinkets. Cherish it, enlarge it, magnify it. You hold a mighty office" (159).

"Whenever a woman strengthens the faith of a child, she contributes to the strength of a family - now and in the future" (159).

And so many others like it and the history of the women in the church and the countless stories of people who gave so much of their time, talents, and all that they had to help and serve others. Smart women, good women, imperfect but willing women.

I think women are pulled in so many directions today- which can be wonderful sometimes and completely defeating at other times. It is so refreshing to feel a part of something so large and noble that is a part of everyone's heritage. It is empowering to know that not only is this our legacy, but we can also feel the same pure joy by doing all we can to bless the lives of our families and those who need our help- and the amazing thing- in turn we will be blessed too!

Who else has read it? What was your favorite part?

Watch this!

So this is Christmas.

After over a month of making all kinds of crafts and singing all kinds of songs and reading all kinds of stories and eating all kinds of treats revolving around Christmas....

the time finally came to put out milk and cookies for Santa


and then try your best to sleep all night long in spite of a four year old coming in and waking you up at 2, 3, and 4:40AM with excitement.

Finally, just before 7AM, Asher couldn't take it anymore so we had to wake up Ambrose (who had finally crashed after being up so much in the night) and thankfully Thomas and his camera captured all the cuteness that is two precious little boys running out on Christmas morning with glee!




I love how busy Asher has been in his new kitchen that fits nicely under the bunk beds. He's been cooking away!




Blurry, but pleased as punch. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins for getting him some nice wooden play food too! I love it so much more than the plastic 1-million piece ugly set I almost got him.

And thank you to G&G Robertson for the Christmas quilts! Grandma Linda kills herself off every Christmas making the most beautiful quilts for the grandkids and it was our turn this year to be the grateful recipients!



Just a jolly holiday all around!




Have you heard of the find the sock monkey game? We love it. It's adorable. Great FHE game for all ages. We played it tonight!
Some stocking loot:
Thomas knows me well and got me a nice set of pinking sheers and an extended fold out table to go with my sewing cabinet for larger projects. I decided not to get a juicer since my in-laws juice for me already and am now spending way too much time deciding wether to get a VitaMix or BlendTec blender.... I just need to go ahead and get one of them already, because they are both great so it's a win/win but still the debate continues! haha
Oh, and here is Thomas before church wearing the Aloha shirt I took fifty years to make for him! HA! He looks handsome in anything, but I am pleased with how it turned out. Lots of blood, sweat, and tears. I will never make one again, but HOORAY! I made one.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We didn't get cards out again this year. I am officially declaring NEXT YEAR FOR SURE! And giving myself 12 months notice to get it done. We sure enjoyed hearing from many of you and seeing your bright, smiling faces so thank you so much! Here's to a great New Years Eve up next!

They shock me sometimes.

Last year I was trying to get them to wave hello to Santa from afar and they trembled nervously, clinging to me, asking to go home. They wanted to, but he was CLEARLY terrifying....

This year they dragged me over to him, forced me to wait in the longest line ever, endured the annoying little girls behind us in the princess costumes who kept trying to hug everyone/pet Asher's hair/and lay on my feet, and boldly marched up to Santa to tell him they wanted another train set so they could build the biggest track ever (he randomly said that to the school Santa too.... I quickly sent Thomas a text asking him to hurry and pick one up after work or Christmas would be ruined!), and to take sassy pictures with him. Asher, who still is not much for talking, simply pointed silently to the ice cream cone picture on his shirt when asked what he wanted for Christmas before casually mounting Santa's knee like he'd done this countless times before.

Normally I would never pay like $25 for a package of 80s themed, semi-blurry photos, but how could I look into the face of sass and elation and not cave? How I ask you?

Kids are awesome.

Some happy changing and re-arranging

Just like every other mom I know, I am always re-evaluating what I am doing and how it is affecting my children.

I love my job and have received some pretty clear assurances that I am, in fact, supposed to be an English teacher at BYU-Hawaii. I get joy from it, I learn, I grow, I get to meet some amazing souls, I get frustrated, I get offended, I love it so so much.

But I love my kids way more and it was having a negative effect on my family despite all the positives.

Thomas never complains because he loves that I teach (and I am sure he doesn't mind my paycheck too), so he kills himself off to get home from wherever he is on the island three times a week in the afternoon so I can stop what I am in the middle of doing with the children, shower, try and look presentable, sneak out of the house so the kids don't throw an absolute fit that mommy is leaving again, rush off to find a parking spot on campus, jog to my office, make copies, beat my students to the classroom (not that hard to do), and whew, finally muster up whatever energy I have left into trying to make 20 or so reluctant 18-23 year olds of varying English speaking levels care about what I have to say. Oh, and I have two classes in a row, so lather, rinse, and repeat.

Once two classes are taught I come home and help get dinner made, kids to bed, and collapse. It worked ok, but it wasn't great.

My kids missed me, my husband was starting to look worn out, and I felt frazzled all the time. It just didn't add up.

I think almost every mom in this fabulous economy has to do something or will try to do something to make ends meet. It's just how it is. The trick is to make it work for you as best you can.

My job is usually one hundred percent rewarding and awesome. I feel lucky to have something suited to my needs and talents as a human being, but why am I writing the same blog post about it's problems over and over?

The only real answer I can come up with, is for me, no solution will ever be perfect because I will always feel that I am torn a little. I will always feel guilty for not being able to give more to a job that treats me so well and for missing a single precious moment with my children.

So, again, I am re-arranging and crossing my fingers that this new method sticks. That my children will grow in my brief absence each day and my job performance won't suffer from my obvious preference of my children over my students.

I must say though that I might just have the best boss of all time. Keith Peterson, if you ever read blogs (which I cannot imagine you doing at all sir) just know that you are THE MAN in the very best way. I tell him my troubles, with all apologies for seeming ungrateful, and he makes magic happen for me. I love my job.

Starting January 9th I will be working EVERY MORNING at 7:30AM for about an hour. I will teach a MWF class and a T TH class... that's right, at 7:30AM. I am looking froward to becoming a morning person. I have taught a 7:30AM class before and the kids were surprisingly alert and attentive.

Ambrose will be at school then anyway and Asher will get some quality time with daddy or grandparents. I will be in and out and done.

Most of all I am ecstatic about my free days, evenings, and nights with my family. Uninterrupted. Dinner together. Family home evening all night if we want. FREE. Change will be good- I can feel it.

What should I give the best Sunbeam teachers ever?

I am really grateful for Ambrose's primary teachers. The certainly do a lot more prep for their lessons than I ever did as a Sunbeam teacher and I am so inspired by them!

Ambrose comes home with all kinds of facts, for instance, out of seemingly nowhere at the dinner table last night, "When Jesus Christ returns the sun and the moon will turn to darkness and the stars..... will fall from the sky."

Me: "Oh my goodness yes that's true I guess wow Ambrose! How did you know that?"

A: "My teachers at church."

Me: "Good for them!"

I need to take them something for Christmas- with all the costumes, crafts, and facts he comes home with they've earned a fruit basket or fudge or something!

I traded my serger in for a juicer. For now.

I'm as bad as my children when it comes to holidays. I am so excited about all the sparkly, dangling possibilities that I flit around from one enticing option to the next with reckless abandon. But each promise of what could be mine feels as sincere and real as the next- for the week or so that I entertain it's possibilities that is.

First it was a banjo for Christmas. It is No.7 on my 27 before freaking 28 list after all.

I still really do want a banjo and the musical know how, of course. I just wanted a serger more and I never honestly thought Thomas Robertson would entertain the idea of so lofty a gift, but I think he was just relieved to put off the banjo idea for a while. Every time we get out a guitar or ukulele in our house the boys become a little too enthusiastic and they take over. Let's not kid ourselves, no one's learning how to play anything around here until Asher is a little older or until we covert a shed in the yard to an ultra-sweaty practice room or something.

It's a big deal having a serger. You are announcing, loud and clear, to yourself that you are serious about sewing. You are also opening yourself up to a lot of people harassing you about using it, but that's ok. You could start a side business renting it out for a small fee until it paid for itself. You could, but why would you? Wait, this is a serger we are talking about! Stop worrying so much about people harassing you about borrowing it and enjoy the anticipation of all the straight, finished seams that await you! All the easy as pie projects and that professional finish. All the hours you'll spend sweating profusely, hunched over it with a manual, feeling like that Massachusetts couple who were lost in a corn maze and called 911! Help! How do I thread this thing!

I still want a serger and I am happy to wait for one now that I know it's a real possibility. But instead I think I am going with a juicer this year.

It's a crazy, stupid fad. It's so annoying when someone starts juicing and making you feel bad about the giant, artery clogging piece of delicious in your hand. You're just trying to savor every last sugar and salt particle and their barking in your ear about antioxidants and how their bowel movements are changing.

So, naturally I'm jumping on this bandwagon and have been slowly for the last two months (maybe?) anyway. My in-laws juice my breakfast every MWF morning and have been for quite a while. I help pay for supplies and in turn they help make me healthy. I like it. It makes me feel good and at this time of year, when let's face it-- you might be juicing for breakfast and eating trays of treats your neighbors brought you for every other meal-- you could use a little help in the nutrient department. And by you I mean me here.

Getting a juicer is also a big deal. You are announcing, loud and clear, to yourself that you are serious about your own health. And when you're sweating profusely, hunched over the sink cleaning it all by hand, you'll be double sure that you're serious, which will certainly make you think twice about consuming trays of treats for lunch. And by you I mean me here.

So, juice for breakfast every day instead of a serger right now. I can handle that.

Because I'd just be serging the hem on some fat pants at the rate I'm going.

My birthday is in six months and that serger is calling my name. I can wait.

And the winner is.....

Photos and video by: A Mermaid (Stephanie Robertson)
acrosstheseashop.blogspot.com
tote, cup, locket too

Party Accessories by: Sheila Rich
http://partyaccessories.blogspot.com

Song by: A Fine Frenzy (You Picked Me)

I vote Jill gets extra entries!

She posted this on facebook and I love it so much I might die. hahahahaha Best ever!

A love letter of sorts.

I love Christmas because I finally get new toys to play with. What? Don't you get tired to playing the same stuff with your kids over and over?

And I am in-love with anything that makes my life easier as long as we're being selfish here.

What did moms do before online shopping with free shipping? I wish Amazon were paying me to say this, but shopping is so easy with them! Shhh don't tell the kids what their main presents are this year:






Because who has time to run around from store to store and clip coupons and hunt for deals? I love just reading reviews online and clicking for deals in two seconds and FREE shipping to Hawaii. That is a Christmas miracle in and of itself. Amazon, are you listening? I love you.

My first real giveaway awwww.

It wouldn't be an etsy shop without a giveaway right? See this bag (The Clara to be exact) modeled by the lovely Sheila Rich from Party Accessories? I'm going to give it to someone!





So if you're a lover of nautical totes with seafoam blue lining and you want to take The Clara home for free-- here's what you do:

1. Snatch up one of these photos and blog it with a link back to me.

2. Comment on this post once you've blogged it- make sure your comment enables me to check your blog!

3. If you want extra chances to win: Twitter or facebook this post and comment about that as well so I can count you in twice or three times as the case may be! If you don't actually have a blog then this will be your only option so go for it! If you don't have a facebook.... you are my mother. :)

4. Do this by Thursday 12/15 at midnight Hawaiian time.

5. Sit back and wait for the winner to be announced on Friday morning along with a peek at the rest of the pictures I took from this fun collaborative shoot with Party Accessories.

Easy as that mermaids and sailors! Get to it and good luck!

Festive