40 Days and 40 Nights

So I think that every mother in the world wants to have only two things in life (other than a wheat grinder apparently) and that is a clean house and kids who don't fight. I don't have either one (or a wheat grinder) I refuse to give up hope though because that is all I have so I decided to do something about it.


I am not sure if it was the start of a new school year but my kids have been at each others throats!! By the time they get home from school they are acting so tired that I am tempted to give them a snack (mustn't forget the after school snacks) and send them to bed. Oh and can I just say that I have been looking forward to Kaylee being in school ALL day instead of just half day Kindergarten for over a year. I had somehow fooled myself into thinking that my house would be SO clean because I would clean it in the morning, then keep the kids busy with piano and homework after school. But alas, I am still living in the same stinky mess that I always have. So what is my wonderful plan you might ask, well, plane and simple....we bought a Nintendo Wii.


That's right. I have heard great things about the Wii. It lets you exercise while playing and it is suited for even the youngest of players. I figure before and after school I will just sit them down in front of the TV and let them play the Wii all they want. We can then get rid of all the mess making toys and books and my house will stay clean.


Ok, so my plan is a little more complex than that. We did purchase a Wii, but it is still in the box along with all the necessary accessories (is there really any point to a Wii if you don't have all this stuff?:
Then we went to Walmart and got some motivational stickers:In order for us to earn the Wii the kids have to fill in these charts:They earn one sticker for each day that they do each thing. For example, if everyones room is clean and beds are made BEFORE they leave for school in the morning (including mine) We get a sticker on that chart, then if we clean up dinner right after dinner instead of the next day (who really leaves dishes til the next day right?) we get a sticker on that chart. Once all of the charts are full of stickers (there are 40 spaces on each chart) We will get our Wii!!! (oh and the No Fighting or Yelling chart, in case you were wondering...If I hear them start to fight, they get one warning to stop before they lose the sticker for that chart...we actually have one sticker on that chart now!!) And I know my kids should be old enough to be sleeping through the night, but we usually wake up to find at least one of them camped out on our bedroom floor.


We had thought about getting a Wii for Christmas, but decided that they kids would appreciate it more if they earned it, and who knows, maybe it will help with the fighting and house cleaning right? I will keep you updated on the progress! Wish us luck!

My Superior "Mother" Skills

I just thought I would share the monumental accomplishment I achieved yesterday. My older two kids were at a friends house so I only had my youngest two. I was also watching my niece and nephew (ages 2 and 8 months), and my friends two youngest (ages 2 and 1). To most this by itself might seem an amazing feat, however, I have MORE to add. I know, brace yourself. I swept my kitchen floor. Amazing right? Both of the crawling babies were even in the kitchen when I did it. Now if that is not skill I don't know what is. I know this might sound like tooting my own horn, but you know someone has to toot it.

Unfortunately, when you are that good at something, there is normally something else that has to give. I am pretty sure the better I get at such amazing skills as sweeping, the sanity of my children seems to suffer. Now I understand that many of you are wondering how they manage to have any sanity in the first place, but I am pretty sure they did. Anyway, here is an example:

And in case that wasn't enough for you here is another one:

Oh and on a side note, when I went to spell check my post, there were NO misspelled words!! I even had some big ones in there. That ranks right up there with being able to sweep my floor with two babies and a bunch of toddlers!

Cereal Anyone?

I have always prided myself on not being a pack rat. I was raised in a very strict environment of "if you don't need it right now.....throw it out" My mom therefore was blamed for anything that went missing from car keys to birth certificates, if it was not where it belonged we all assumed that Mom threw it away. This is not always the most cost efficient way to live, but it does make for a nice organized house.

Ahhh, organization. There is nothing quite like walking down the plastic bin isle at Walmart just to browse the newest in organizational items for the home. But recently I have begun to notice that I have started hanging on to stuff. I have always tried to hang on to important things like car keys and birth certificates, but in other areas I am afraid I am becoming a pack rat.

This realization came to me about a week ago when I went to cook breakfast (and by cook breakfast I mean get the bowls, spoons, milk and cereal out for the kids) I nearly told them "sorry we are out of cereal" when I realized that we were not even close to being out of cereal. We still had at least 6 boxes/bags of cereal in the pantry...SIX! Now given each one only had 1-3 servings left, but there was quite an array. The kids were actually excited saying things like "WOW! We still have some Chocolate Marshmallow Mateys!" Or "I want the honey buzzers...No I want the honey buzzers....No ME!" (that is the problem when there is only one serving left) So gratefully we had cereal galore that morning and I realized that we probably had enough to last through the week. But did that stop me?? NO way. I marched right over to Walmart and bought 3 more boxes/bags of cereal, then then next morning did we continue to finish off the 6 almost empty bags? No way, we opened up those new boxes and dug right in.

This got me thinking...what else to I do this with. A few things came to mind. The first was toothpaste. Just last night while Bryan was brushing his teeth he said "Wow, the last of this tube of toothpaste is lasting FOREVER!" Then he looked at me and said "Ah! You have been using the new tube haven't you!!! Here I am working hard to squeeze the last of this tube out and you are just starting a fresh tube! No wonder it is lasting forever!" I had to admit he was right. Although for my own arguments sake I HAD to open the new tube to take a picture of it for my favorite things post (I couldn't put the old crusty tube right?). Other items that I tend to start fresh before the old one is gone is soap in the shower. I mean how many old stubs of soap does a person need in one shower (Bryan is probably just finding out that I get a new bar out instead of using those little stubs) But really it is to hard to get a good lather with that little tiny thing. But why not just throw it out? Who knows.

The last (and possibly worst) item I could think of was ice cream. We have so many "almost" gone tubs of ice cream in the freezer that I don't even want to count them. But you just CANT throw them out (maybe the kids will eat it...right?....with the magic "crystals" on the top?) But there is no WAY Bryan and I will eat it, so we keep buying more....Mmmmm....Ice Cream!

It is hard to live an organized life when I have these fatal flaws, but I will continue to try (I am so addicted to the organizational isle I don't think I can stop!) So if you have any suggestions they will appreciated because seriously....I NEED HELP!

Trevor's Cookies

Our primary program for our church is in a couple of weeks so the kids brought home their parts. Because I am in the primary this year I was determined to help my kids memorize their parts by the first week of practice. I still did not start working with them until Sunday morning though so I needed to somehow motivate them. I had been wanting cookies so I suggested that if Trevor memorized his part before church he could not only make cookies, but do it all on his own. If the other kids did their parts they could be Trevor's special helpers. Before I knew it Trevor was off memorizing the 4th Article of Faith. Kaylee and Nathan worked pretty hard, but didn't want to continue after a while. Church came and went and Trevor did his part flawlessly during the practice so after dinner I let him make cookies.

After he got the mixer out I looked up the recipe and realized that we were out of flour! Oh no! Now we were not completely out of flour because I had just canned a bunch of flour for our food storage, but I had JUST finished it. It seemed a waste to open one of those, so I tried to convince Trevor to just eat a left over brownie. Luckily for Trevor, Barlow and Andrea were at our house and just happened to have a bag of flour in their car...yeah I know...weird. So he was off making cookies and for the most part did it himself. I told him what to put in and how much and he did it (occasionally letting Kaylee and Nathan help) It wasn't until it was time to put in the eggs that I said I would help. That is when it hit me.....Oh no..we are out of eggs! Well almost we had one left but the recipe called for 2. What to do, what to do. I was pretty sure that Barlow and Andrea did not have a dozen eggs sitting in their trunk, but I guess I am not sure because I didn't ask. We looked up egg substitutes in cookies on the Internet and had to choose from a strange list:

Milk

Applesauce

2 tbsp corn starch = 1 egg

2 tbsp arrowroot flour = 1 egg

2 tbsp potato starch = 1 egg

1 heaping tbsp soy powder + 2 tbsp water = 1 egg

1 tbsp soy milk powder + 1 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water = 1 egg.

1 banana = 1 egg in cakes

1/4 cup silken tofu pureed

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

half a banana mashed with 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon powdered flax seed soaked in 3 tablespoons water

Powdered flax seed?? silken tofu? arrowroot flour??? Lets face it. If I don't have any eggs, I am NOT going to have any of that stuff! That was the strangest list I have ever seen. Who thinks "oh darn, I am out of eggs, honey, will you pass me the silken tofu so I can puree it? Anyway, we opted for the milk. Trevor did a great job and the cookies turned out wonderful. If you don't believe me....here is some proof:

These are a few of my favorite things....

There has been NOTHING to blog about at my house lately so I thought I would share with the world a few of my favorite products starting with my stinky old shoes.














1. Sketchers: I LOVE Sketchers. They are my all time favorite brand of shoes. I have a few pairs, but these are my all time favorite. I have never been a "shoe" person and shoes are always the first thing to come off when I walk in the door, but these are SO different. I find myself keeping them on for hours, they are SO comfortable.



















2. Grease Lightning: This stuff is a miracle cleaner, no joke! It gets out everything. I use it to pretreat my laundry and have successfully gotten out marker, baby poop, baby spit up and blood. Even if it has already been through the washer and drier....it STILL gets it out. It also takes pen and marker off walls, and gets grease of dishes. I can not clean my house without it.















3. My Sunglasses: These are $200 sunglasses...you heard right. Now I did not pay for them so here is how I got them. My health insurance covers $400 worth of eye hardware every year. I wear rigid gas permeable contacts (aka NOT disposable at all) So I could use all of my money towards glasses. After picking out a pair of regular glasses I asked if I could have a pair of NON-prescription sunglasses. They said sure and low and behold....the insurance paid for them. Go figure.

4. Crest Pro-Health: I have always been a Crest Kid (the other stuff is just....eewww!) And I have to admit that I have a love/hate relationship with this particular toothpaste. I hate how it smells, tastes and feels in my mouth, but LOVE how it works. It really whitened my teeth and leaves them feeling clean. But I will warn you now...do not brush your tongue with it!!














5. Bare Naturale by Loreal: To most I realize that Loreal is a "drug store" brand aka, you can buy it at Wal-mart, but to me it is an expensive brand, meaning it is more than Cover Girl. I started using this system of foundation after a recommendation from my mother and have gotten 2 complements on my face complexion since starting to use it. It is around $12 per bottle and you need to buy 3-4 bottles for the whole system. I only bought three...I skipped the sparkly one.














6. Clorox Wipes: This is all I will use to clean my bathrooms. I use it on the counters, toilet and floor, doorknobs, lights switches etc. Not only can I just throw it away when I am done, but if I give one to Nathan he will go to town!! He cleans walls, dusts off the tv's, wipes tables and shelves and anything else I tell him to do. I have also tried Lysol Wipes and Kirkland Signature and love them as well I just happen to have the Clorox ones at the current time.

First Day of School

Here are my thoughts this morning:

Boy, my house is a mess, I really need to clean it

Maybe I can scrapbook today.....no I have to much laundry to fold (2 weeks worth! Vacation really threw me for a loop)

Maybe I can hurry and get my housework done, then scrapbook.....no, don't feel like doing the house work

I do have all these cans and food to put in them for my food storage, maybe I should get started with that.....no I have to clean the kitchen first..........don't feel like cleaning the kitchen

Maybe I should clean up the house really quick, then get started on my food storage.....no if I clean the house then I should scrapbook

What else can I do before I start my housework? Maybe I should blog about something....no nothing to blog about

Maybe I should check other peoples blogs to see what they are blogging about (anything to not start housework right?)

Lets see.....This person blogged about the first day of school....this person blogged about first day of school....first day of school.......first day of school again....wait a minute!!! I have not blogged about my kids first day of school!!!! What is wrong with me???

Here goes:

Kaylee is starting first day. She is super excited to use her littlest pet shop lunch box every day. When we took her school shopping she surprised me at how stylish everything was that she picked out. She has a great eye for fashion (she did not get that from me.) Her reading skills are improving everyday and I know she will do great this year in school.

Trevor who is getting less thrilled about getting his picture taken, is still very thrilled to be starting second grade. He has several friends in his class and is ready to get back into things. I love that he is there to help Kaylee and show her things like where to turn in her lunch money. I have heard though that he avoids her at recess (who can really blame him right?) Trevor was much easier to take shopping, mostly it was...does it fit? Ok then, lets get it.

Of course Nathan and Ashton are still stuck with me in the messy house all day, but if you ask Nathan he will tell you that he does go to school. He can even tell you about his teacher and what his lesson was about that day. I am reminded as I look at these pictures that I still have not scrapbooked my kids first day of school last year!! What am I thinking sitting here on the computer when there is so much scrapbooking to be done? Oh yeah, the housework, better get started.

Give me a break......but not a crack!

Ok, so I sat down this morning to post about our trip to Bear Lake. I got a sneaky suspicion that Ashton needed some attention. I am not sure, but after 20 minutes of screaming at my feet I decided to scrap the post and change his diaper. (it was not a good post, I could not concentrate through the crying baby and the constant asking of Nathan if it was his turn on Nick Jr) I went to change Asthon just to find out that his diaper rash again is worse than yesterday! But I am getting ahead of myself so lets start at the beginning.

We didn't leave our house until 6:00 pm and drove through the night. (I guess now I know what happens when you blog first and pack later) We stopped by to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Bodily:

Then left Monday afternoon for the campground and got there with enough time to set up camp and have hot dogs and smores. The lake was amazing. It stayed shallow enough for the kids to play safely in. They had tons of fun.

We went on a hike to see a really old tree and on the way we found several crystals. Now my kids have claimed to have found crystals before (you know in peoples yards where they have landscaped with they sparkly white rock?) But this was different...real crystals. I am not sure what kind they are but he kids loved it. Uncle Ben was really good at finding the crystals and Kaylee's eyes sparkled like diamonds when he gave them to her.

(I told Kaylee to go get her crystals so I could get a picture and she brough her whole collection. The first three are from the hike the others are from peoples yards....see I told you so)

Speaking of diamonds. On the second day at the beach it was SUPER windy. The sand started to blow hard enough that it was pelting us and hurt, so we were packing up and heading to the cars. On one trip back to the car I just happened to look down at the right moment and saw a wedding ring on the ground....just sitting there! I picked it up and made sure it did not belong to anyone around. It looks real so I figure I will let the city know I found it in case someone claims it, but if not I will clean it up, have it appraised and find out how much my little treasure find is worth. (I am not posting a picture of the ring so that none of you can falsely claim it as your own....not that you would, but you know)

The day before we were going to leave Ashton's bum started getting sore (hence the title...no "cracks") I know it is not a funny joke if you have to explain it, but oh well. I had thought to bring Desitin, but decided against it. Well if you have ever been to Bear Lake you will know that the closest store within an hour of the place is a gas station, so we looked for some Desitin and found that a small tube was almost $8! We opted for the Vaseline ($1) thinking this would work until we got home.....it didn't. On the drive home we had to stop almost every hour to change a diaper. At least for the first half of the trip. The Vaseline did not seem to do much and I even looked at two other gas stations on the way home thinking I would just give in a buy the dumb Desitin, but they did not even carry any! So I was so excited when I got home to be able to sooth my poor baby's bottom.

I would like to say that as soon as we got home and started treating him with Desitin the rash went away, but it didn't! It is even worse now that before and I swear he goes to the bathroom every hour. Nathan was actually allergic to Desitin and Vaseline so maybe Ashton is too. I have resorted to letting him air dry after I rinse him in the sink after each diaper change (yeah that gets old FAST) I am about at my wits end. I am SO tired of changing diapers and nothing is helping the rash go away. So please forgive me for taking so long to post about my trip, it is hard to come back to a weeks worth of blogs to read, only having small breaks between diaper changes to work in!