Some Things That Are Helping Me

I thought I would share a few things that have been working for me and my family. Three of my least favorite things used to be laundry, meal time/planning, and bed time. I decided I needed to make some changes, because feeling frustrated, disorganized, and tired all of the time was just not making me a happy person or the person I wanted to feel like everyday. Here's what is helping me with each of those now:

Since the beginning of the year I have been trying to stay more on top of the laundry. When the twins were first born, I did at least a load of laundry a day to keep up because they were going through so many outfits in a day. As they got a little older, I went back to just doing laundry whenever I had time (or when everyone ran out of clothes.) What was happening with that, is that my kids have tons of clothes so they would just wear everything they had until I had the hugest mile high pile of laundry to tackle. Same with Riley, because he could wear two or three outfits a day between his day job and coaching. And you know what's not fun? Having to spend a whole day or consecutive days trying to get everything done and caught up. I would dread it and it was pretty overwhelming. I recently went back to doing at least one load a day and it has helped enormously. I start a load as soon as I get a chance in the morning and hopefully can get it folded and put away before lunch. I've found that if I just do a load of whatever clothes everyone wore the day before, it doesn't pile up and no one has to ask where such and such item is because it's always back in their drawer the next day. There might be a load of towels or sheets to throw in one or two days a week, but it has really simplified and paired down the process. Sometimes I can't get to it right away, but I've  noticed a huge difference that doing that one thing does in keeping my laundry room from being out of control with the floor clean and free and everything ready and clean for my family to wear again. And I've come to the conclusion that we all just have way too many clothes. When laundry is done every day, you realize the excess that is really there and how little you really need.  I've started making sure to put the clean clothes on the bottom so they all get rotated through. Probably a no brainer for most people - but something that is making a difference and then my kids are wearing those shirts and things that before were never quite making their way to the top of the drawer. I hear the most complaints from friends about hating laundry but I am getting to the point now where it is no longer a source of stress and sucking up all my time. Riley and I also recently organized our closet and paired down and got rid of lots of things that were just "hanging" out and taking up space.

Another thing that has really helped is the process of doing a two-week meal plan. I got hooked on The Food Nanny on the BYU channel and loved her method and style of cooking. I bought her cook book which is filled with the best family friendly recipes and ideas and tips for how to get back to having good family dinners {which was something our family needed to work on with everyone's crazy schedules}. It makes a big difference to have meals planned out for two weeks, I usually do a shopping trip for one week's worth of meals unless I am feeling really energetic and brave to get it all done at once. It is the best thing not to have to go to the store all of the time {except for diapers and milk which we go through like crazy}. I love having a theme night for every day of the week and it's helped me get out of my cooking rut and plan meals everyone is going to love. I try to make sure that in every meal there is at least one thing that everyone will like, {not an easy task}.

 Here is what our's looks like:

Sunday:
Family Traditions  (pot roast, roast chicken, mashed potatoes, ham and potato casserole, fried chicken, etc.) All those good things that make coming home after church and walking into a house that smells terrific worth it.

Monday:
Comfort Food ( stews, soups and rolls, french dip sandwiches, chicken and gravy, chicken pot pie, casseroles, meatloaf, etc.)

Tuesday:
Italian ( spaghetti, lasagna, tortellini soup and french bread, meatballs, bow tie pasta, chicken piccata, fettuccine, etc.)

Wednesday:
Breakfast/Meatless/Fish (french toast, pancakes, waffles, eggs and bacon, breakfast burritos, German pancakes, biscuits and gravy, baked or grilled salmon, fish tacos, tuna melts, etc.)

Thursday:
Mexican ( tacos, enchiladas, taco soup, fajitas, quesadillas, beans and rice, taco salad, fiesta chicken and rice)

Friday:
Pizza ( We do home made pizza unless we're going out for dinner or getting the kids a babysitter. Some of our favorite's to make are: bbq chicken pizza, pepperoni and olives, canadian bacon, hamburger and cheese, and we like to do build your own topping pizzas which the kids love. We'll also make bread sticks if there's time)

Saturday:
Grill Night/Quick and Easy (hamburgers, Frito banditos, sloppy Joe's, bbq chicken drumsticks, grilled steak, potato bar, build your own grilled hot dogs or sandwiches, ribs, etc.)

What a difference it has made in helping to simplify my life. The kids really enjoy having the theme nights and looking up on the menu board to see what is for dinner that night. It is a big money saver as well, and I find we don't really eat out AT ALL when we stick to it. I'm not scrambling at the last minute to think of something and I can prepare earlier in the day for things I know are going to take a bit longer. We have been sitting down eating all together on the nights that we can and dare I say, it is actually fun!

The last thing that has been helping around these parts is putting all of the kids to bed at the same time. I have to admit, bed time is my LEAST favorite time of the day. I'm just usually wiped out by that time. We used to let Kendle stay up later, but then Morgan would cry and ho hum around and then it was disruptive {since they share a room}. We were also keeping the babies up later to help them sleep in longer in the mornings, but now that they are sleeping longer stretches usually that's not an issue any more. We decided we needed a change and a better solution, so when 8:00 rolls around, it's time for bed and lights out for all the kids. We say "ok, it's night-night time" and the babies go running to their rooms to be tucked in. We bought the older kids head lamps for Christmas so they can read in bed, but they have to stay in bed. Sometimes I will find little toys and things Morgan has been playing with up in his bunk, but it's fine because as long as they stay quiet with the lights off I don't mind. Surprisingly there are few complaints from Kendle about the earlier bed time {she loves to read at night} and it has been working out great to have everyone in bed at the same time and the house fairly quiet that early. If I'm really feeling organized, I will have everyone get in their jammies and ready for bed by 7:30 and then they can just hang out until it's time.That means I usually have two hours before I go to bed to just relax and spend time with Riley {unless he's still at practice, and then I am just glad I got everyone to bed by myself without losing my temper 50 times}.  We definitely need that down time to regroup, talk about our day, plan for the next day, and get a breather. *And lest you are all thinking there is no way things can work out that perfectly every night, let me assure you we still have our nights where we get home late from visiting family or sporting events where we do a whirlwind pajama change/throw all the kids in bed method. And that works great sometimes too. :)

So laundry, meal planning, and bed time have gotten much better and less stressful around here. Three things that used to cause me a lot of frustration are now not so bad.

What are some things that are helping you lately?

I wuv you......

I'm wishing I had this print for Valentine's Day.

It's pretty much the cutest thing I've seen in a while.

Also, this one just melts my heart.

Can you believe next week it will be February? Time to go dig my red heart wreath out of storage and hang it on my door.  It will only clash with my Christmas lights that are still hanging up a little bit, but hopefully that will be remedied this afternoon.

Real Life

Do you ever have one of those weeks where nothing seems to be going right? Well, that was my week last week and on through the weekend. I'm hoping that ends today. I have been pretty exhausted lately and last night was another sleepless night up and down with Cooper from about 2:30 in the morning until 6:00 or so. I just feel like I've got absolutely nothing left on mornings like this. No energy to be "fun mom" or "happy mom" or "productive mom". The only thing that keeps me moving is the fact that it would be way more work to let things go for a day and then have to do damage control than to just stay with it and do what needs to be done today. So why am I so tired you ask? I think it has something to do with these two.

Busy doesn't even begin to describe these guys. I think this picture speaks for itself. Look at those mischievous little grins. They are learning to climb up on everything now. 14 months and they've figured out how to stand on other things to get up on the bench. They can pull themselves up on the couch. They can maneuver toys or other things to reach up and turn off light switches. They can stand on their tip-toes and reach the door knob on the front door. Yikes! They are also both teething again, slobbery, and cranky. They haven't been sleeping good at night like they have been and it's taking it's toll. Kale is usually my go-to easy sleeper, but even he has been waking up and crying.

Riley has to go overnight to Seattle for work again this week and those days are always hard. Especially when we have another day off from school this Friday. I really enjoyed the beautiful weather we had this weekend where I could send the kids outside and give myself somewhat of a break.

It's going to be a long week, but I'm hoping to make it a better week than the last! Those babies just need to let me get some sleep!

Week's End

It's Friday, thank heavens. Today didn't get off to the best start. I just hate starting the day grouchy with kids crying, and everyone rushing around, but at least by 8:30 or so it is semi quiet and back to normal. Even though I was tired last night, I'm glad I cleaned up the house really good before bed because at least I didn't have to worry about that this morning. Nothing is worse than being grouchy AND having a messy house. Although it doesn't take very long around here for things to look like a tornado came through.

We are starting to enter the really destructive stage with Cooper and Kale. I can't believe they are 14 months old! They like to push the bar stools and dining chairs all over the house. They like to pull out every last toy from the toy box. They LOVE to get their hands on anything they can pull out of the kitchen cupboards and I will literally catch them throwing things over their shoulders in their haste to clean everything out. And they really love to pretend they are cleaning things. What is it with my kids? Why can't they love to clean as much as they get older? Cooper and Kale will take the extra bottle brush around the house and "scrub" things. They will grab a dish towel and wipe down the walls and the fridge or any other surface. They fight tooth and nail with each other over who can push the broom around and then they will take the dust pan and act like they are emptying it in the garbage. I tell Riley I think it is because that is what they see me doing most of the day. They both have a great sense of humor and fun little personalities, but are big momma's boys and super clingy. I think they resort to screaming and crying a lot to be heard and noticed over all of the other noise sometimes. It can be a bit much some days, but I persevere for the good moments and the fun times.

Kendle has her first basketball game tomorrow which should be fun. She is loving it and practices her dribbling and bounces every day. Their coach told them she wanted them doing so many "bounces" a day or something like that and so Kendle is taking it seriously. I am kind of surprised she is loving it so much. Her coach is great and she is learning a lot. They had a little scrimmage at practice last night and Riley said she did good and was really hustling. Morgan is wishing he could be playing too. He gets his little basketball out and shoots hoops into the toy box or laundry basket. It is going to be a long wait for him to get to play sports. He is a natural and a little speed demon so we might have to try and find some pee-wee sports for him after he turns 4 in June. This kid has skills!

Well, I think after a long week of work, practices, and school we are all ready for a break. It's Friday - Pizza and a movie night!

Trip Down Memory Lane

One of things I wanted to do and be better at this year is keeping all of my photos organized that I have stored on our computer. I've been weeding out and deleting ones that aren't worth keeping and making sure dates and things are correct and so on. While browsing through some way old ones, I found this gem that was in a random folder:

This one was taken of Riley and I on the 4th of July in 2002 at my grandparents house in Hermiston. I was just a month or so away from having Kendle. That was a really fun day we spent with lots of family and my aunt had bought everyone matching shirts. It was a gorgeous day and we stayed until dark to watch the fireworks from the backyard and I stretched out on a lawn chair to prop up my swollen feet.

This is another favorite I found that is of Kendle and I when she was only about two weeks old. It was a sunny September day and we were laying on a blanket out in the shade in our yard. I was soaking up all the snuggles and hugs that I could. I thought she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I was really exhausted, but I loved becoming a mother. I think this is one I scanned into the computer since you can see some spots on it. Notice my wedding ring on my pinky? Ya, my fingers were still so swollen it wouldn't fit on my ring finger but I wanted to wear it anyway. Silly?

Maybe if I get really ambitious in the next little while I will pick out some of these old photos and get them framed to hang in our house.

What's Inspiring Me Today

Do you ever feel like you a need a little push to keep going? I do - all the time. I saw this quote the other day and absolutely fell in love with it. It applies to so many aspects of life and I will think about it all the time from now on. It is permanently ingrained in my mind.

"The minute you think of giving up, think of the reason why you held on so long."

New Book

**My newest book review is up on my book blog.**

It's a big, fat, juicy, sink your teeth into modern day love story/adventure.  The perfect thing to get you out of this dreary and gray January slump.  

Click on the link on my sidebar to jump over there and check it out.

You don't want to miss reading this one. It's a keeper!

Happy Reading!

This and That Thursday

*Today while picking Morgan up from preschool, one of the other mom's informed me that her little boy talks about Morgan all the time and just loves him. That really gave me some relief. I'm always worried how he acts at preschool, so it's good to know he is making new friends and being nice. He is such a charming boy, but sometimes he can be a handful.


*While doing my morning workout, Cooper and Kale decided they would tag team me while I was doing crunches and add some extra weight. They thought it was so funny how they could attack me while I was down on the ground. They were cracking me up how they kept mimicking my workout moves and trying to pick up my free weights. Is it scary that they are that strong?


*Kendle had another ortho appointment yesterday and got her colors on her brackets changed once again. So far she's had pink and turquoise, red and green, and now she's sporting navy and yellow. Looks like since her other side teeth have come in almost all the way she will be getting some more brackets/work done at her appointment next month. She is excited about that, those other teeth have taken forever to grow in.


*So far so good on the pink eye not spreading to anyone else (knock on wood). I don't' think Kendle had a very bad case of it, but it is pretty much gone now and almost looking back to normal. She's looking forward to basketball tonight and getting to take her new basketball with her.


*I just finished reading a fantastic book. It's a perfect story to read with Valentine's Day approaching and I'm going to try and do a book review on my book blog in the next day or so. If I had to describe it, I would say it is something like the Da Vinci code meets Romeo and Juliet. I'd love to see it made into a movie. Trust me, this is one you will really enjoy reading!


*I found this picture the other day and my inner child just about burst with envy. This is totally magical and who wouldn't want to curl up in it. So cozy. I'm in luuurrrrvvee.

via

Dirty Jobs

There is nothing quite like starting your day out with a baby that pooped in the bathtub the moment you left them to their own devices while you threw a load of laundry in to wash.  Even worse is when you have two babies in the tub and you aren't sure which one did it, (although you have your suspicions).

It's moments like this, that as a mother warrior you have to:

A.) Pray neither baby ingested said disgustingness.

B.) Try to extract both babies out of the gross bath water without letting any of that toxic goo touch your hands.

C.) Try to figure out the most sanitary and least gag worthy way to clean the tub and restore it to it's clean and bathe worthy state.

This is definitely one of the least glamorous moments of being a mom. No one is there to give you a big pat on the back for the fact that you didn't dry heave your way through the extraction process. There's no high fives for the way you got both sopping wet naked babies dried and dressed in record time so they didn't pee or have another accident all over the floor after you literally had to run, slide across the wood floors in your socks, and chase them down as they sprinted away leaving little wet footprints everywhere.

I would say by 9:00 this morning, I accomplished a feat way above my pay grade. I deserve a raise.

Swollen

Kendle started getting a puffy eye Sunday night, and I thought - eh, it's probably just from her rubbing at it and gave her some Benadryl and sent her to bed. Next day, same thing. So this morning we took her in to the doc and sure enough she has pink eye. I guess it's been making it's rounds through the school and community. She's not allowed back at school today and so once again I'm cleaning and disinfecting and trying to wipe every light switch, door handle and surface down in hopes that no one else gets it. I'm making her wash her hands every time she even comes close to touching her eye. And the bummer is she has her first basketball practice tonight which she was super excited about, but we'll just be watching from the sidelines tonight I suppose. One thing I've learned from this experience - Kendle and puffy eyes  make for one very cranky girl. I think my third grader needs a nap.

Tricked

It seems my sneaky little babies pulled one over on me once again. As I rolled out of bed this morning thinking I was too tired to get up and it was a little darker than normal for that hour, I went in to go wake up Kendle and get her up and going. I thought I was running a bit behind as I headed to the kitchen at 7:30 to hustle and get things going. Then I glanced at the clock on the microwave and lo and behold it was only 6:30! Oh joy of joys. I debated on going back to bed, but seeing how Kendle was already up and dressed and the Morgster already made his way out for some breakfast too, I decided we'd just get an extra early start to our day. Yesterday before church the babies must have been playing with my alarm clock on my night stand and changed the time? I'm not sure how they pressed the hour button enough times to do that, but they are pretty tricky like that. It was kind of nice to have a little bit of extra time to not have to have Kendle so rushed getting ready for school I will say. So thanks to those babies I had all my morning chores done by 8:30. Ha. You just never know what Cooper and Kale will be up to next.

I did it.......whew

(The After Picture)

While Riley was tackling the garage this afternoon, I got to work on the coat/storage closet by the front door.  It now looks sooooooo much better. Look at all those neatly stacked games and coats that are actually on their hooks. I didn't think to take a before picture, but trust me when I say it was horrendous. I swept up so much dirt and finally got all of Morgan's Thomas the Train and Lego pieces picked up that have been hiding out in the dark recesses for who knows how long. I made a nice little stack of old games and puzzles to donate and threw away the little odds and ends that somehow ended up there and no longer served a purpose. It was a good reminder that we have those fun games and we need to PLAY them more often and have some good quality family time with the kids. I also discovered an amazing puzzle that's never been opened and I'm going to get it out later tonight just for me.

So it really wasn't that bad. It took me half an hour or so and it was pretty painless.

Now the questions is, how long is it going to stay that way??????????

Next on my list - my bedroom closet.

Week 1 of 2011

First of all, is anyone else having as much trouble as I am writing 2011 on everything? It is just insane. I keep having to double check that I've actually written the correct date.

I am glad to say my first week of the new year has gotten off to a good start. I've worked out every day this week, changed up my workouts a bit, stayed organized and used good time management, went to bed at a good time and got some good sleep. (Well, except for Tuesday night when Cooper woke up at three in the morning and was bawling his eyes out. I really do think babies can have nightmares too.) I did good with my meal planning and my goal to stay ahead of the laundry by doing one load of laundry a day. I've tried to be diligent about taking a little quiet time each day to just relax. This week has felt great.

One thing I've put off doing is cleaning out our closet by the front door. It is stuffed with coats, the vacuum, toys, boardgames, and who knows what else. You know when you can barely get the door closed and it looks like those parts in movies where everything is going to come flying out at you that it is due for a clean up. For Christmas we received four new puzzles and board games and they've been sitting on my dining room table needing a place to go since Christmas. So, they need a home and the closet needs to be tamed. Maybe I can get to it if I'm really brave today!

Well, I am glad that it is Friday and I am ready for the weekend. I am looking forward to:
A.) Pizza
B.) Riley cleaning out the garage
C.) Getting started on a few little projects
D.) Watching some new Netflix movies

Have a fun weekend!

Daily Schedule

Do you ever wonder what someone else's typical day looks like? Well, here's the way mine usually goes:

7:00 - Wake up, get Kendle up and going for school
7:30 - Make breakfast for the two older kids, pack Kendle's lunch, do Kendle's hair
7:55 - Send Kendle out the door for the bus
8:00 - 8:30 Get babies up and feed them breakfast
8:30 or so - Put babies in the tub and get them cleaned up and dressed
9:00 - do a quick pick up and tidy up the house, start a load of laundry, think about dinner prep
9:30 - have a bit of down time, check blogs, email or facebook while I eat some toast or whatever I can grab for breakfast
10:00 - give the kids a little snack
10:30 - fold laundry if it's done and put it away
11:00 - put babies down for a nap and go work out while they sleep
11:45 or 12:00 - eat lunch with the Morgster
After lunch - any deep cleaning or other projects that need to be done
                  - try to relax for a bit until the babies wake up
2:00 or so - Babies wake up from nap, get them fed and Morgan a snack and have some playtime for a while.
3:45 - Kendle gets home from school and feed her a snack and get her started on homework, piano, or whatever else she needs to do
4:30 or so - start dinner prep and try not to let the kids drive me crazy
5:30 or 6:00 - Dinner Time
After dinner - quiet time (or not so quiet time usually) Kids usually watch a movie, read books, or just play for a while. There are usually footballs and baseballs and soccer balls whizzing around.
8:00 - Bed time. We put all the kids to bed and by the time everything is said and done it is usually around 8:30. Kendle usually reads in bed for a while.
8:30 - Quick pick up of the house, putting things away and getting ready for the next day. Me and Riley finally get some quiet time to ourselves to talk, watch TV, and just relax.
10:00 - Bed time for me.

Now when I say that is a typical day, I guess that isn't entirely right. That's if I don't have to leave and go anywhere all day. Tuesdays and Thursdays Morgan has preschool so we have to adjust nap times and things like that a little bit those days. And when Kendle has sports practices, Activity Days, or piano lessons in the afternoons/evenings and Riley is coaching that moves things around as well.  But basically it just illustrates that as a mom, my days are usually entirely filled to the brim. Sometimes it can feel like a rat race. Other times it can feel like a great accomplishment.

There are some days where I don't feel like doing anything and a lot of stuff besides taking care of the kids gets thrown out of the window. I would have to say my least favorite time of day is while I'm trying to make dinner and the kids are complaining their starving and everyone's tired and it is really, really loud in our house. Like I'm sure everyone on the block can hear the noise coming from inside our home. My favorite time of day is when I get done working out, Morgan is watching cartoons or a movie, and the babies are still sleeping and the house is just quiet and Morgan and I can just eat lunch and relax for a bit together. I do love some quiet time to myself. I do love the occasional loud crazy fun family times too.

Well, I guess it's time to go sweep up the crumbs from snack time...............

2011

While contemplating the new resolutions I wanted to make for the year and spending much time and thought on the subject, I came up empty handed. There were too many things to narrow down into a small lump. So, I decided I wasn't going to make any. Instead I decided that 2011 is going to be the year that I make life style changes that will effect my health and happiness. It is easy to get bogged down with every day life and that feeling of defeat can easily start creeping up on me. I've realized that my overall health and attitude directly affect my husband, my children, and everyone I come in contact with.  I recently read an article that listed a few simple things to do daily to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression and promote an overall positive way to take the steps toward taking better care of yourself. They are simple things most of us try to do anyways, but when looking at them in a list for some reason, it just made more sense and looked like a manageable plan for making the changes I wanted to implement in my life.

*Eating a healthful balanced diet
*Exercising daily
*Meditation
*Breathing exercises to reduce stress
*Surrounding yourself with supportive friends and family
*Making sure you get enough sleep
*Planning pleasant events into your day
*Effective time management

These can easily be broken down into categories for:
Health and Fitness
Spirituality
Fun
Organization.

I think the hardest thing that I will try to manage is the planning pleasant events into your day part. I always feel like if I'm sitting down relaxing for more than five minutes I need to get up and do something else that needs to be done. Mom guilt? Yes, I have it.

So this year, I am going to strive to take a little more time working on Sarah, so that I can be and do better.  I feel like this is really going to be a good year for me.