Mother's Day

Ben and I will be gone for the real Mother's Day but there is no way I'm missing out on the one day of the year that I get breakfast-a GOOD breakfast-made for me.  Plus the girls are always excited about the big day and I didn't want to deprive them of a day where they get to do everything I say without complaint because it's 'Mother's Day'.  Obviously the day never really goes like that but Kaylee has been making me cards that she is really excited to give me.  That said, we decided today would be our Mother's Day.  As always it has proved to be an awful day.  I cancelled it.  After I had bathed all the kids, yelled at Kaylee a bit, and felt so sick I decided this was NOT going to be my one day of the year.  Plus who wants breakfast in bed when I've already done a ton of work??  Here is the problem with breakfast in bed.  I'm a early riser.  So at 6:30 when I'm awake and the rest of the house is sleeping I can't just sit there and wait, and wait, and wait for breakfast to be made.  And then the kids have been crabby.  Probably because they stayed up until 10:00 watching Harry Potter 5.  My fault, I know.  Mother's Day is cancelled until further notice.  I'm starting to think that I will have my Mother's Day on a Saturday.  Sunday isn't the greatest day to begin with.  Ben always has meetings before church, the kids are tires from the weekend, and we all end up at church grouchy.  I think it will be better on a day when there are no obligations and we can relax all day.  I did get a fun Mother's Day gift yesterday.  It was really exciting.

69 Dude!!! (Name the Movie!)

69 is the number of days we have left before we hit the unknown.  Ben's residency ends June 30th and we don't know what the future plan is yet.  We are working towards a certain future but who knows what it will be in the end.  These last 69 days are going to be busy though.  It seems like we have something going for every single one of those 69 days.  I like making lists like this because I know what I have to look forward to and can see it all laid out.

69. Lunch with friends/FHE walk along Bear Creek with the kids' new bikes.

68. Book Club-Snow Girl

67-66.  Joey and Danielle visit!

65. 1st Annual International Hot Dog Hoedown Throw Down-that'll be fun.

64.  Self-Reliance workshop/Bday party for Heidi's friend

63-57. This is an empty week that should only have a temple trip and babysitting for someone else.

56.  Fly to St. Louis for Marissa's Birthday!!!  YEA!!!  Not really but that would have been awesome.

53. Babysit for the RS temple day

52. Becca comes to babysit again.

51. 10 Year ANNIVERSARY!!  Leave for Oak Harbor where we have a weekend away from the kids and a job interview.  It also kicks off Ben's week off work.

50. Job Interview

49. Mother's Day where I won't be around any of my kids...it will probably be my best Mother's Day ever.  Hang out with Rachel.

48-43.  We will be perusing the Western US for different job possibilities.  Not sure what the plan is exactly but that's the plan.

42. My belated Mother's Day where the kids will get to make me breakfast in bed...hopefully this time they will hold the ants in my syrup.

40. Book Club-Wives and Daughters

37-34. Memorial Day Weekend.  The plan is to head to CA but we will have to see if any other job stuff comes up.

27-25. Ben leaves for his presentation.

24. Employee Appreciation Day for Ben meaning he gets the day off!

18. Joe and Candy are supposed to come for their Ashland trip.  Are you guys still planning on that??

17. Babysit for the RS temple again

16. Last Day of SCHOOL!!  Hello Summer Vacation!

13. Father's Day

9. Daisy's Birthday...she is scheduled to get her shots that day too.  Sad

4. Book Club-Crime and Punishment

2. Ben's last day of work.

1. His residency is over. 

You may have noticed some key events missing and that's because we don't know when they will happen!  So getting a job, signing the contract, packing the house, moving, buying a house, etc.  Those are all things that should be happening within the next 69 days but we really have no clue which day they will fall on.  You all know I like to play little fun games on my blog.  We will hold a contest to see who can guess what day Ben will have a job (meaning everything is signed and finalized).  You can pick what day and whomever guesses correctly wins!!  It has to be somewhere within the next 69 days so just pick a number between 1 and 69 and leave it in the comments. (Let's hope it is somewhere in a double digit days:)

So I saw this on Pinterest...

There was a book called a Right of Passage book where the mom had taken a cheap photo album and instead of pictures inserted pages about each age and what their child can expect.  It's a fun idea for a number of reasons.  What really appealed to me was the idea that my kids will know, long in advance, when they will get to do what and it is all written down in a book...because anything written down in a book is official.  It also appealed to me because I hope my girls will feel a little more comfortable talking about 'girl' things with me that I didn't talk about with my mom.  I never asked about makeup and it never really came up so I never wore it.  Yes, those are not flattering pictures.  In fact one friend of mine laughed in my face when she saw my high school pictures (thank you, Micaela).  Hopefully my girls will use this book to be both excited for the future and less argumentative when "all the other girls are doing it..." and all I have to say is "it's in the book!"

 

I was really proud with how it all turned out!  It ended up being a fun project and a chance for me to add in bits of advice from me incase I die and can't be there for them.  Now they will always have this to look at.  We even went over it for FHE tonight and discussed what it means to date in groups vs. singles, what 'apply to college' means and they squealed a bit over the make up kit.  Kaylee asked why I wrote to remember I loved them so much in the book.  I guess she's like me where if I've said it once why do I have to say it again.

Pinterest Weekend

I've been trying to be a more creative mom so I've looked at pinterest.  I finally get how it works and I've gotten some good ideas from it.  From it I've downloaded a ton of new fonts, am making a right of passage book for my girls and have tons of ideas stored away for when we get into a real house.  This weekend when we were all getting antsy in the house and needed something to do besides listen to the kids bicker I showed them an idea to paint your barbies with fingernail polish so that they always have clothes even when they are naked.  I loved the idea since that is the one reason I hate Barbies-naked Barbies!!  My girls haven't been allowed to take any of their clothes off when they play with them so they were pumped to do this.

 Our fingernail polish wasn't working (it was a glittery kind so if you got plain color it would probably work better).  We switched to paint.  It took a couple of coats and I had to fix Daisy's Barbie that was painted head to toe but the kids loved it!  This was even better than cutting the Barbie's hair!

 Turns out that we need a sealer of some sort because Daisy played with them and the paint wore off in all the wrong places.  Nice.  But I'll try it again when I can buy either better nail polish or a sealer to paint over the clothes.

 My pinteresting took me from one website to another learning about stuff and one thing I cam across was kid chores and what they should be capable of doing.  It got me thinking and this morning I took the chance to let Heidi make the pancakes for breakfast.  She did awesome!!  She wanted them thick and they were all golden brown.  I'm glad I tried it because it will be nice if one day I can just ask her to make the kids something and she can!

Another quick suggestion for all those bloggers reading this.  We have found a new church song that we love.  It is called "Praise the Man" by Jenny Frogley (nice name).  It's SO good.  I though it was just another version of Praise to the Man but it isn't and it has bagpipes!  Any hymn with bagpipes is a favorite for me.  The kids love it.  I get goosebumps every time I listen to it.  I also feel a renewed vigor in my testimony that the church is true and that Joseph Smith was called by the Lord to restore His church on the earth.  I know other religions think we worship him.  We don't.  He is, to us Mormons, a mighty servant, a prophet in the latter-days, and a man who gave his life for the Lord.  He served, taught, and led the people of Israel just like Moses, Abraham and apostles during Christ's time.  He is a prophet and I know that his testimony of seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ is true.  He really did see them just as all the other prophets before had conversed with the Lord. Here are the lyrics to the song since many of you may never actually listen to the song:

One spring morning in a grove,

One boy seeking truth foretold

The heavens opened, he was heard,

One prayer answered changed the world.

Faithful to the light revealed,

With his life his words was sealed.

Now like the stone cut without hands,

Truth is flooding every land.

Blessed prophet we revere, 

Mighty servant, chosen seer,

With the father he now stands, 

Blessed Joseph praise the man.

Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah,

Jesus anointed that prophet and seer,

Blessed to open the last dispensation, 

King shall extol him and nations revere.

Feel the spirit's voice confirm, 

Living truth is on the earth. 

With the power of truth restored, 

We will stand and serve the lord.

Blessed prophet we revere, 

Mighty servant, chosen seer,

With the father he now stands, 

Blessed Joseph praise the man.

We have been saved for these latter days,

To build the kingdom in righteous ways.

Daily we'll learn until we are called

To preach the gospel to all the world.

Blessed prophet we revere, 

Mighty servant, chosen seer,

With the father he now stands, 

Blessed Joseph,

PRAISE THE MAN!

I love it.  I feel so blessed that I've been given the gift of the gospel.  I was born into it-do you realize how rare that really is?  I'm amazed that I'm a part of a great work like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I've gained my own testimony of the restored truth that has been the guiding light of my life, leading me to all that I have now.  Because of the gospel I've been married in the temple to Ben-best decision ever-which has resulted in four beautiful kids-one of which just had diarrhea in her underwear and all over her dress.  That's my sabbath day.  Not kids singing church hymns but me cleaning up poop all over the bathroom floor.  But, on a good note, as I was washing Daisy in the tub she was singing Praise to the Man so I guess that's a plus for the day.  

Dumpster Diving

So we live in Medford.  Ben has a residency here that ends June 30th.  I love it here.  I love the mountains, love the weather, love my friends, could skip over the ward but love the school and love the proximity to family.  We love it.  If Ben can find a job here then we will stay.  However it is slim pickings around Medford for the type of job Ben is going for.  He has some leads but nothing that we love.  We are looking other places as well but so far we are still in a waiting/job hunting mode for that perfect job and the perfect place to live.  We know we will be guided to the right spot we just don't know where that right spot is yet.  So for the time being I've been planning and preparing for us to move out of our apartment in a few months and into a house.  Whether we stay in medford or leave we are going to find a house.  I'm tired of an apartment with four kids.  That being said I've been on the lookout for getting things we will need for super cheap-my favorite case being free!

The other day Daisy said, "Mom, there is something big in the garbage should we go get it?"  That was a bit of a blow to me.  All that meant is she has seen me pull stuff from the garbage enough to know that I am interested if something big is in there.  And of course I went and looked.  And we SCORED!!  We found a computer desk (small and cheap but it will work!)

A computer chair

And my favorite is this MIRROR!!  I love it and someone had just thrown it away!!  It's so cute!  My plan is to paint it after we move and hang it in my dining room.  I'm so excited!  I've had the best luck with the dumpster being right outside our apartment. 

Now a year ago I would never have done this.  I even tried to dumpster dive once and it was a disaster.  Luckily only one person was there to witness the complete collapse of both mine attempt and the TV stand I was going for.  But after we sold everything we owned and moved here I've lightened up a bit (is it lightened up or given up? you decide:)  Once there was a square table out by the garbage.  It fit perfectly in my bedroom and became a fun fort for the girls.  The other day I saw a couple throw these home decor items in the garbage.  I couldn't believe it so I grabbed them as soon as they drove off.  They even match my family room colors!  

I will admit that we are running out of room.  We need to move into a house soon because our apartment  is busting at the seams with all my good finds.  The only drawback to living in a house is that we won't have a dumpster outside our front door to shop at.  It's been fun but I pick living in a house over a good dumpster location any day. 

Easter Morn

Do you ever get online to blog but read Erica's blog first and decide 'why even bother?' because your pictures/life is so lame in comparison?  Seriously.  Look at their Easter picture compared to ours.

Really?  Besides the obvious that Blake is trying to run away and I'm not even looking we have cars in the background instead of a (professionally :) landscaped yard.  Her kids are all standing straight and smiling; mine are hunched or in awkward positions and Ben is holding Daisy's hands in order to keep them out of her mouth.  Her kids are dressed to the max with super cute outfits and I dressed my kids in TJ Maxx (or in Blake's case Erica's hand-me-downs from seven years ago).  Someone once said that everything Than touches turns to gold.  It's true.  That guy has more luck than any one else I've ever met-he works hard, REALLY hard-but his life is quite golden.  I'd like to think everything I touch turns to chocolate.  It's not as shiny, skinny, fancy or as desired by others as gold but it sure does taste good and I love to eat.

Kaylee picked out her own dress and LOVED it.  Heidi picked out her own shoes and has waited all week to wear her wedge shoes.  She felt so grown up.

Blake would not cooperate.  We should have given him a car to hold.  He was pretty much awful all day on Sunday.  A basket of candy for breakfast is not a good idea with him.  

This year during spring break I was a super crafty mom.  We cut brown bags into easter baskets, decorated them and planted wheat berries so grass would grow.  Two things about that: 1-wheat berries are delicious in oatmeal.  Loved them.  2-the problem with real grass is that when the jelly beans fall into the moist grass they get all sticky and dirty so you can't eat them after that.  The girls all got a stuffed animal (Heidi has been waiting for that Thumper since last Easter!)

My parents were able to come up this last weekend.  I love when they come because we yard sale together and always score big time.  This weekend was no exception.  They are like a lucky charm.  Scotty was really good and my parents should get him a bunny.  He loved holding Heidi's little Hershey.  It brought out his gentle side.  

While my parents were here we yard selled and found Kaylee a bike!!  She was so cute.  She  didn't even want to try it at the yard sale but as soon as it was hers and at home she couldn't wait to ride it around.  She did such a great job!  It's bigger with training wheels on and she loved it.  My goal this summer is to find a bike for each of my kids and have them learn to ride.  I think Kaylee will take the training wheels off by the end of the summer.  

Some other things I did with my parents

1. Ben, Dad and Scotty went geocaching

2. I introduced my mom to Atkins-friendly potato salad using cauliflower...not bad but also not as awesome as real potato salad.

3. Bought some Christmas presents at yard sales and they were pretty awesome finds. 

4. Showed my parents the house I hope we can eventually buy.

5. Introduced my mom to some new church music sung by Micaela but she thought it was a professional CD.

6. Enjoyed watching Blake horde his cars from my dad and they got to just see how fun he is at home in his element.

It was a good weekend and I welcome any more weekends like it!

Conference Traditions

Every conference weekend we have a few family traditions. I like that we have traditions based around conference.  I feel like it will help my kids look forward to conference and also to know that we have conference twice a year and, more importantly, that conference is both Saturday and Sunday.  I didn't know that conference was a two-day event until I was a junior in high school and learned it from my seminary teacher so I'm glad my kids already realize that for two days we will be watching it.

Our conference traditions start with the priesthood session.  Deseret Book always has a girls night out but when you have small kids that doesn't really work.  I don't get to dump them off anywhere, nor do I ever see me having a night to myself since I have three girls who don't get to go.  So instead, when Ben leaves for the two hour block, I take the kids out to ice cream and then to the book store.  However we have a lot of kids now.  This year we invited other families over and had an ice cream sundae bar at the house and then played outside.  After ice cream we got our jackets on and hauled ALL the outside toys we own down to the grassy area and let the kids play.  It was fun but we had a lot of kids and it was cold.  By the end of the two hours they were all crying.  Here's a few pictures of the kids playing.

 Here's a few pictures of the adults playing!  We each raced around the complex on the flying turtle for time.  It was a good laugh and we decided it should be a new tradition for us Moms.  The kids thought it was hilariously funny that the Moms were going to ride around.  (As a side note: My brother-in-law sincerely questioned me if I had any friends.  What???  Of course I have friends!  I'm a nice person!  Why wouldn't I have friends?  So here are a few pictures of my friends down here.)

For our other conference tradition we have orange rolls on Sunday morning.  Normally I buy the Rhodes rolls (which are delicious) but this year to save money I decided to make them.  Don't they look great?!?!  I think next time I will add a little more orange flavoring to the cream cheese frosting but otherwise they were pretty good.  I hope this will be something my kids appreciate and continue in their own families.