Example

I have been trying very hard to religiously (no pun intended) read my scriptures.  I have probably read more consecutive days in a row this past month and a half than I have since high school.  I have really felt the need for extra strength, and there are just a few sure places I know to turn for that.

This afternoon, I was trying to work on DG's quiet book.  DG just wanted loves, not a distracted mom, so since I had a few minutes before Matt needed to go to piano, I asked her if she wanted to cuddle and eat a graham cracker with mom while I read my scriptures.  After I sat down and was looking for the page I had left off, she walked up with a mini Book of Mormon we bought for Lily years ago.  She said, "Scriptures!" and climbed up on my lap to read her little book as I read mine.  They are always watching what we do, and the fact that I've never had one of my 1 year olds do this before but DG has shows I am improving at last in an area I've struggled with for too long, and with that, my little girl notices I am a woman who loves to read words from the Lord...and eat graham crackers with this cute little girl.

Even Dinosaurs?

You'll be happy to know that the day after this picture (today), I tamed the beast and got Daphne's hair pulled back out of her eyes, and she even kept her hair elastic in until 6 p.m.  Woot, woot!

Last night as I was preparing dinner, Daphne took me to her room and asked for the dinosaurs.  I obliged and soon she was pulling them out one by one, asking names and making a little dino scene.  I immediately had to text her dad a pic because she is so awesome at playing with toys!  Which makes me want to buy her ALL THE TOYS for Christmas.  I have a long list of what I'd like to spoil her with, and I am really having to keep myself under control.  It is so rewarding to ban kids from tech as much as possible (the poor boys think they are pretty deprived at times) and to see them actually play with toys and each other, to write and draw and act and be what I consider NORMAL KIDS (thought not normal by today's standards).  It is a battle, sometimes every day, to say no to tech and yes to being just kids, but it is very rewarding...the one draw back is a way messier house but it's worth it!!!  And Dapherdil will be playing with toys and not tech for a long time yet...so maybe I can spread my spoiling out over a few years.  On the other hand, though, they are only young once.  Sigh.  Can we coin a term, instead of first world problems, I shall call it "this is the last one problems" -how not to spoil an adorable little tasmanian devil rotten but actually nurture her into a good-hearted, giving, non entitled adult.  It.  Will.  Be.  Hard.

Bathroom Cleaning

 Nothing, nothing around mi casa happens normally, including cleaning bathrooms.  First, Shawn insisted on playing music because the silence was scaring him.  You can tell what our house must sound like on a regular basis if 3 people is just too eerily quiet.  Then, naturally, a dance party ensues...which is probably a good thing because I don't go to dances any more, but I do dance with my kids...and it makes them laugh...like it would probably make most people laugh...but their laughter is loving and amused and happy...no mocking...maybe when they are teenagers...













WARNING:  WAY TOO MANY PICTURES OF LITTLE GIRL USING THE TOILET AS HER THRONE.

Naturally, DG must, must, MUST be in the middle of the cleaning...kind of like the cat when I'm sewing, so once the toilet was clean, she got very proud as she learned how to climb onto the toilet.  A new skill.  Who knows where this may take us.  DG is in a make ALL THE FACES stage.  She tries them all out, so I had to take a bunch of pictures as she was in one of her moods.  Below you can see happy, shy, sad, angry, and more, including stop trying to do my hair mom, I will just rip it out (that is a face I know well).  May your bathroom cleaning be half as lively as mine, although I guarantee it will probably go a lot faster for you if it isn't.

Yep, we make a good, though absolutely ridiculous, team for Project Disinfect the Bathrooms! 

Halloween Hangover

Yes.  It's so sad but so true.  Our house has a Halloween hangover.  It ain't pretty.  Wrappers everywhere, every day, even after all the warnings, even after knowing this happens year after year.  And that huge candy haul means candy bags all over the kitchen counters and in cabinets because if you let kiddos take those in their rooms....MESSY! (messier, I should say).

Evidence (blech):

In other, perfectly pleasant, news, my husband is wearing a homemade gelatin pore-cleansing mask at my strong urging request.  A big deal that he even agreed to it.   Hehehe!

Ode to my bathroom heater?

It's a no picture post because who wants a picture of my bathroom heater?  Remember me talking about being the hibernating bear?  Well, said bear likes to crank up the bathroom heater on cold winter mornings and enjoy a hot shower, knowing when I step out the bathroom will feel like a sauna.  Leaving the bathroom, that's a whole different problem, and we won't even talk about how bad hot showers are for my skin and hair.  I am SO, SO, SO THANKFUL for hot water and bathroom heaters.  Huge blessings I take for granted.

'Tis the Season

This will be what today looks like.  Daph got our first stomach bug of the 2015-2016 season.  After all that sanitizing of grocery carts and only 3 kids in the nursery on Sundays, I'm not sure how she is first to be contaminated, but here we are.

In other thoughts, I have got to up my exercise game this winter.  I love outdoor exercise.  I do not like gyms.  I do not like exercise videos.  I like to be outside.  When it turns cold, I turn into a hibernating bear.  I want to stay warm inside and eat lots of food.  I took the below pic this morning on my extremely brief walk.  With my bum destined for an office chair 10 hours today, I thought anything to get my blood pumping beats nothing.  6 days a week lady!  You need to be doing something, anything, for 30+ minutes 6 days a week.

Sshhhhh!

I have this huge need to create.  Great talk about that by Dieter Uchtdorf.  My schedule now allows no completely alone time...except for sleep...and sleep is VERY important to this lady.  The problem with this is I like to be alone for hours when I create.  Um, not gonna happen, so I try my best to breathe deeply, realize it may not be my best work but it beats doing nothing, and I play away as the cat lays on my work, kids crawl on me and the table and pull all my stuff out, and take lots of breaks to make meals, work, help with homework, do carpools, etc.  Not ideal but doable when I desperately must create.  When I think about creating this way, I cringe sometimes, but on the days I just bite the bullet and do it, I feel very happy and fulfilled, as imperfect as the whole process is.

My current project is kind of big as I am making Daphne a quiet book...actually not to be used while she is quiet but just to teach her skills and occupy her hands, hand which demand to be doing something always, and I would prefer that something to be direct and productive.

Here it is so far.  I went with a jeans cover out of nowhere...maybe resourcefulness?  It buttons shut, plus has handles to carry it by.

 Had to do a ladybug page with magnetic spots.

Nod to my love of gardening and orchard hopes with carrots and apples to "harvest."  Then with all that produce she can bake a pie and weave a lattice pie crust.

And I loved the idea of putting together a teddy bear.  My children assure me it does not look to macabre when the teddy is missing his arms and legs.

 And the back of the cover has mittens to slip your hands into.

Remember how I said I have no time to work on this project alone?  It's true, not even late at night because I work every night late except Saturday night (by which time I am exhausted, brain dead, and really only good for cuddles and a movie) and Sunday night, which I like to dedicate to relaxing, studying and mentally preparing for the week.  So the kids, including Daphne (I can't even do it during her nap time because, alas, I work then, too.  ACK!), are watching the whole process.  I try to not let Daphne play with it so most of it will be a surprise...hopefully????...but Shawn and Ben have certainly dug in and played with the finished parts and seem to really like it.  Daddy DID let Daphne put her mitts in the mittens, and she thought that was hilarious.  I am hoping it is still a fun surprise, maybe made sweeter by the fact that she wanted to touch it so bad all of this time, and finally, on Christmas (or her birthday if all heck breaks loose), she will have sweet victory at last.

I read somewhere that it is important to make sure your kids see you doing things you enjoy and not just the work, work, work of running the household, so I hope even though it is a me thing, and occasionally I shove the cat off my sewing or desperately squeal, "Don't touch that!" that it is doing them some good, knowing that you can do what is important and matters most, that you can be really, really busy with the essentials of life, but you can still do what makes your heart sing, too, even if it isn't up to snuff, and it is squished and shoved into little bits and pieces of the days and weeks and months of life.

I am so excited.  I already have pieced together a horse page with a tail and mane to bread and 2 flower pages to lace a bee through flowers #1-10.  Desperately hoping those are sewn by Saturday but the forecast says meh.