Moran Family Fun

Some weeks seem to fly and others last forever. This week was a week that flew by but it wasn't really because we were busy. It was just regular life moving swiftly and as I looked back over the week I was a little stumped. Was there even anything to write about? But as they say, everyday moments make the best memories so here we go with our weekly run-down. I mentioned to someone the other day that I only see Jared in three things - his uniform, his pajamas, and his church suit. I should probably amend that to include workout clothes since he wears them out the door each morning.  Jared's favorite pajamas are these amazing flannel pants he got for Christmas. As you can see, he can really rock some plaid flannel. Look at that power pose! In my first art of homemaking post , I wrote about the first facet of homemaking which includes appearance. I've made an effort over the past month to get all the way ready every day, including makeup. It's honestly a big ch...

Sometimes I am the lady in this picture. Sometimes I don't care if the house is a mess, or there's nothing planned for dinner, or I'm still in my pajamas at 11 am, or that all I've eaten that day is chocolate chips by the handful. On days like this, I am what Mrs. Hoole would call a "Don't Care" homemaker. It doesn't happen often but there are days when I'm happy to live with the mess, dust, and chaos. The only problem is that eventually I do care  and I'm left with even more mess, dust, and chaos than before because I've fallen behind. Other times I'm what's considered an Almoster. I almost make it, but I don't quite finish all the work for the day, or I don't quite get the job done. I was an Almoster today when I swept but didn't mop our hard floors so now the floors are almost  finished. If I were an Almoster all the time I'd never be quite ready for my day, I'd feel as if I were always running just a bit...

This is our family blog but somehow lately I've been writing more about my own life than the life of our entire family. I read an article yesterday about Sunday journaling or using Sunday as a day to reflect on the past week and record in some way the events of the previous week. It immediately brought to mind this little corner of the internet where I share the events of our life. When I first started writing here, almost exactly eight years ago, my plan was to write each Sunday about what had happened in our life that week. For a little while, I was consistent but there have definitely been times when I've not posted for weeks and weeks. I've found that during those times when the blog goes silent my thoughts are still here, I miss writing, and I'm sometimes even formulating posts in my head. Anyway, after reading about it I want to try to get back to the original intent of this blog, which was to keep our family and friends up to date with our lives. Since we live...

"And please bless Mom with...um...the things she has to do at home?" Each evening and morning we kneel down as a family and pray together. We'll often ask in our prayers for specific blessings for things that are coming up in each person's life. This might mean that we pray for the girls to do well on a test or in some other school-related activity, or that we pray for Jared to be safe and successful at work. Almost without fail, when it comes to praying for me, some version of the first sentence of this paragraph is offered. While I know it's meant sincerely, I can't help but feel the question behind the sentence is this - What exactly does Mom do all day? Answering that question was easy when the kids were younger and I always had a child or two underfoot needing my attention. Back then there were days when I couldn't seem to get anything done because I was so busy just caring for children.  The benefit of having older kids is that I'm no longer in...

This year for Christmas I received a sewing pattern I've had my eye on for a while, The Building Block Dress from Oliver + S. It's actually more of a book than a single pattern. The beauty of this book is that it guides you through the process of altering a pattern in endless ways. You start with the basic pattern, or your building block, and make various alterations to it to design an entirely different dress. I could sew over 60,000 dress styles using the basic pattern and the alteration ideas in this book. Some options are simple, like adding on-seam pockets, while others change the look of the dress entirely. I kind of want to work my way through the book changing one thing at a time (first testing out the different sleeve variations, then moving on the silhouette, pockets, necklines and collars, closures, hemlines, and linings) but Natalie and Samantha have absolutely no need for that many dresses. For my first attempt at sewing the Basic Dress I ig...

A few years ago I read about a book called The Art of Homemaking  by Daryl V. Hoole on a sewing blog I read, and have kind of wanted my own copy of this retro, slightly kitschy book ever since. This year I finally bought a copy and it was my Christmas gift to myself. It's a simple and fast read that was originally published in 1962 and is filled with slogans and examples that I'm sure weren't meant to be hilarious, but totally are. Most of that humor comes because what was normal in the 1960s quickly has quickly become outdated but I've loved reading about a time when roles were black and white and life seemed simpler. In the end, her advice is as relevant to life in 2016 as it was in 1962. The book emphasizes time management, creativity, and seeing the big picture in homemaking. It also focuses on the fact that homemaking can be an art and, if done correctly, leaves stay at home moms with more time for their lives outside of keeping house. Plus the illustrations alwa...

Another benefit of older kids? They sleep in on Christmas morning! Jared and I were up until almost two in the morning not because we were feverishly wrapping gifts or anything, but because we like to hang out together and then when it was time for bed I was on the phone with family in the States. Being able to sleep until almost 8 was the best Christmas gift our kids could give us.  Once we did wake up it was a great day. We started with stockings and then had a nice breakfast before heading to church. We put off opening gifts until after church. Christmas on Sunday is the best! I love that taking the Sacrament and thinking about His atonement and resurrection are the perfect reminder of why Christmas is so important. I think I've heard it said before that without Easter there would be no Christmas. If He hadn't atoned for us, died for us, and been resurrected then His birth wouldn't be celebrated.  Last year we made a change to our gift-giving philosophy and ga...

Like many families, it's our Christmas Eve tradition to have a little program where our kids reenact the Nativity and we sing songs and read the story of Christ's birth. This year I left it in the kid's hands and they came up with something a little different. A dance off - Emily and Natalie vs. Abigail and Samantha - and some singing with Madison at the piano and Natalie conducting. Jared missed the reading of Luke 2 and the Nativity play so we added that in as well. It's nice to have big kids who can plan and put together things like this without much interference from their parents.  In the week leading up to Christmas Eve these three would gather in Abigail's room to practice, a cappella, the songs they were preparing. It warmed my heart to hear them singing together all week. Abigail's red cheeks are a remnant of the wooden soldier dance routine she and Samantha performed. Cute, right? One of the girls favorite activities is practicing and pe...

I know it kind of stinks to have a birthday at Christmas. I know this not from personal experience, but from my perspective as the mom of two December birthday girls, one of whom was born on Christmas Eve. It's hard to have a day that should be about celebrating you overshadowed or forgotten entirely because of Christmas. I guess if your birthday is going to play second fiddle to another birthday, you could do worse than Christ's, but it's still hard.  Samantha used to love having a Christmas birthday but over the last few years has started to dislike it more and more. In the past, our tradition has been to celebrate Samantha's birthday until about dinnertime on the 24th and then switch over to celebrating Christmas. She rightly pointed out that everyone else gets an entire day for their birthday, and many times we'll spend a few days doing special things for the birthday girl while she didn't even get a whole day. This year she asked to celebrate a day ear...