My Sweet Boys!

It is almost a year since we have lived in this new home. And in the front of my house for almost that entire year has been a big pile of dirt and usually many weeds. I am not really a gardener in fact some may say I have a "brown" thumb (he he he). I usually kill plants that are put in my care, mostly because I forget about them. My Mother's day flowers I got from church almost died in only a 2 week period of time. But then I decided to plant it in my big pile of dirt out front. Then a sweet elderly neighbor gave me a tomato and cucumber plant from her green house. And that's how it really started. I felt obligated to make sure those plants didn't die, yet I knew nothing about taking care of them. (actually Kent revived them from a lack of water) So then I had a dirt hill with 3 little plants that really didn't look like much. But there it was. I was embarrassed and hoped that my neighbor who gave me the plants didn't see my yard because I thought surely she would have wanted them back. But I have to thank her because she started something wonderful. I had always been meaning to plant a garden, I just didn't have the time to study up on it.

Now, Michael loved my "little garden" and was always wanting to water and take care of the plants. So on Saturday when Kent took Michael with him to the Hardware store and Michael saw all the flowers he asked "can we get some flowers for Mommy's garden?" Kent thought it was a wonderful idea. I was delighted to have such thoughtful boys that came home and worked in the garden to plant more tomato plants (I LOVE tomatoes!) pumpkin, green beans, carrots, strawberry, and pretty flowers as well. My pile of dirt in front of my house turned from my embarrassment into something I am happy for neighbors and visitors to see, and it reminds me each night as I go out and water them, how much my boys love me!

Finding Joy in the Smiple Things

Ok, so I know most, if not all, of you will think I am completely crazy. But I learned something new today. I love the sunny weather because I get to do laundry! And I love it so much that by the end of the day it is hard to find a dirty article of clothing left in the house. Usually laundry is not a fun task for me. Sure the sorting, washing, and drying are fine, but the pile of clean clothes to then fold and put away, not so much fun. Yet, I learned that I truly love warm, sunny days simply because I get to hang my clothes out to dry. And although it does take more time to finish the laundry, I love doing it so much more. I suppose being out in the sun, feeling like the world has slowed down in it's rotation, or that I have some type of connection to my ancestors, or even the joy of fulfillment, I'm still not quite sure why? But I love it. And the folding? I get to do it as I take the clothes off the line, so there is never a daunting pile staring me in the face. Sure it takes all day, but it is slowly progressing all day and never takes a big chunk of time. Just the simple things.. I'm amazed at how much joy I found, but I found it and I will enjoy it!

Another Day is Done

Michael is fast asleep, and Emma in daddy's lap soon to join dreamland. I finish cleaning the kitchen from crumbs of dinner and the leftover chocolate Father's day cake. The dishes are washing, the laundry is finishing up. I head outside to take down the diapers from the line to see the sun setting. The light slowing leaving us in the most beautiful way. As I pause at the door I see a light rainbow telling me all is right with the world, that I have fought a good fight, and though all is not easy, it is very much worth it! And as a reward we are blessed with the beauty all around us, in the sky above and in the smile of a baby!

Cloth Diapers

So you may have noticed but I am trying the cloth diapering thing again. I wonder how many of you do cloth diapering too, and why? I would love to hear your feedback as to what you like and the reasoning behind it.

Me? I started when Emma was little because nothing would hold in the breastfeed poo. (Michael had that problem too, but I was too busy with other things to worry about it). But with Emma I figured if I’m going to be washing poo off of clothing I might as well wash diapers and keep her cute outfits clean. So I switched then. It wasn’t hard as my sister-in-law did cloth diapers and loaned me all she had. So really it cost me very little (a few covers because I liked the prefolds with Bummis covers, they dried quickly and the urine smell was only in her crotch area and not on her waist). I didn’t have to pre-wash the poo off because the breastfeed poo dissolves in water just put it in the diaper bag and then wash day throw it all into the washer. And interestingly enough (I know I didn’t think it would be this way) with the diaper bag there was no smell in the house, it was actually better than disposables because we would put disposables in the bathroom trash can. And nicely my leaky poo problem was solved!

But then Emma graduated to solid foods and I just couldn’t stand the thought of dunking diapers in the toilet to get them clean to then put them in the diaper bag. So I switched back to g diapers, flush it away and I was done! But the cost was up there with disposables.

So what prompted the switch back you ask? Two things. First the economy. I have been looking at our budget and knowing that there are numerous ways we can cut to make things less tight. To start we went down to one car, (it is amazing how much a car costs even after it is paid for!) then switch to line drying clothes (ok so I still machine dry the underwear, don’t feel like airing them out for all the neighbors to see. ;) he he), then the switch to all store brand products, and then cloth diapers. If you really look at the numbers it is amazing how much you can save, and for me it was even better as I was getting all my cloth diapers for free! (Thanks again Nancy!) The second thing that really sealed the deal was the discovery that they have these wonderful paper liners for cloth diapers. You buy a pack of 100 liners for $7.50 (I happened to get mine free again, love being the youngest!) and you just put the paper liner inside the diaper. It lets the urine go through but the poo stays on the liner. When you change the diaper pull out the liner and flush it away, you are left with urine and some poo stain, just put the used diaper in the bag and wash at washing time and you are good! I love it!

Now I know there are those out there that are purest and say the paper is too rough against the baby’s skin. Me? I’m fine with that, really I would be using disposables/ g diapers if it weren’t for the cost. So anyways I hope this may have helped someone who was interested about cloth but really didn’t know. I am still learning as I go, so any advice anyone has I would love it.

I wonder what my great-great grandmother would think of me? Would she think I’m crazy still doing cloth when I have the blessing of technology that gives disposables? Or would she be proud of how economical I am being?

Summer Haircut

So I went drastically shorter than normal on Michael's summer haircut. Partly because I wanted to see how a short haircut would look on him, I wanted something cool, and I wanted to go a little longer between cuts. We'll see how it goes, but so far I am loving the short hair. I think it makes him look so cute!

Very LONG Day!

• Early morning, get everyone ready, feed, dressed, diapered, etc.
• Load of laundry ran and hung outside to dry
• Out the door to run errands: four hours later; 5 returns, 4 purchases
• Lunch from home while on the run.
• Gardening some:
o Emma finding and playing with black snake in the yard
o Michael filling up toy watering can at least 20 times to water the dirt and rocks.
• Washing cloth diapers and hanging them out to dry
• Collecting dry clothes and folding some
• Emma’s nap time, mommy trying (unsuccessfully) to get 5 min. nap too
• Tutoring time
• Start to make dinner to find Michael pulling Emma out from playing in urine filled toilet!
• Now bath time!
• Back to cooking dinner time.
• Eating dinner, clean up toys, stories, diaper change, pajamas, scriptures, song, and prayer.
*Daddy home to say "hi" and off to a church meeting
• One little girl down to sleep (or so I had hoped)
• One summer hair cut for a little boy!
• Shower for Michael
• Vacuuming for mommy
• Cuddling little girl and putting back to bed
• Gathering diapers from the line
• Watering plants
• Cuddling little girl and putting back to bed!
• Pajamas and story time for a little boy
*Daddy finally home, yeah!
• Visit from Grandma!
• Prayers for Michael and tucked into bed
• Pruning roses
• Time to breath and enjoy some adult conversation
* Try to post about very long day and text will not copy and paste! 5 min. later figure out another way
• Better get to bed so I can wake up and start all over again!
• How was your day?

Family Birthday Banner

So after talking to Nancy about how her family keeps a bin of birthday stuff, that they use each birthday I started thinking. I really liked that idea, and loved how it created a tradition that the family would always remember. But I didn't know what I wanted in our birthday bin. Then a friend mentioned how they were making a fabric birthday banner for their family. I loved the idea, but didn't get to see it so wasn't sure how she did it. I then came across some blogs where people had made them, and there it was. I joined the ban wagon. I did however make my own changes and sewed it and created it differently than the blogs I found (each one had a different method, and mine was different from them all). But I liked the end result. I just looked in my scrap pieces of fabrics and found ones I loved and put them together. It was actually very easy and I finished it in 3 days (inbetween everything with the kids and all). So here is our birthday banner. I guess this is just a little show and tell. Maybe it will inspire you to do something you've been thinking of too. :)

Emma's Birthday Party

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. Life has been busy, busy, and I have been enjoying every minute of it that I just haven't had the time to post anything. But I had to get some pictures of Emma's birthday party on here! The pictures are in reverse order (it won't let me move them around). Sorry, but I'll just have to explain them and you can enjoy them at the end.

On Emma's actual birthday Kent had to work super long (a 36 hour shift) So I did little things with Emma and Michael. The next day we did a family party. I thought it would be fun and easy to make her cake, 3 toy blocks stacked on top of each other. (I have been watching too much Food Network Cake Challenge. :) I made it but it was a little lop sided. But Emma didn't mind. Then she opened some family gifts.

Then Saturday we had a big family celebration. It was a full house (my home is not that big, so it doesn't take many people to fill it up). One of the games we did was to set out food, a favorite toy, the scriptures, and money and set Emma down to see what she would crawl to and try to predict her future with it. :) She went for the money and scriptures. So I'm figuring she will be very rich and spiritual. :)

My little girl is growing up. 1 Year old! I am loving it, she now can tell us what she wants (most of the time) and is now happy to play in the toy room with (ok actually just near by) Michael. Gives me more time to get things done, like a fabric birthday banner. I'll have to get pictures of that up in a post soon too. Hope you enjoy the pictures of my baby girl getting bigger. :)

One Year Old!

Discoveries

So I have learned that when I get frustrated I growl. Yes, really, don’t ask me why, and how I started, I don’t know, and actually I didn’t even know I was doing it, until my shadow (Michael) started to growl when he got frustrated. I started to wonder if it was something he picked up in nursery, until one day I did it and realized he learned it from ME!

On a completely different topic:

Michael has also discovered the Cars movie. He has had some Cars toys that he has gotten as gifts, but he was never a TV/Movie watcher until he turned 3. I know the movie has been on a couple of places we have been, but he was always too busy playing to notice it. Since he has gotten into the movies we have started a family movie night each Friday. So 2 weeks ago we borrowed the movie Cars from a sister-in-law, and Michael LOVES it.

The cutes part about it was that he really caught on to the “best friends” part between Lightning and Mater. Since then he has been calling Kent his best friend instead of daddy. He would tell people, “My best friend just left to go to work.” And when daddy would have to run errands without him he would cry “My best friend just left and I wanted to go with him!” It is just sooo cute!

Frustrating

Can I just say I haven't posted in a while because the blog was doing funny things and wasn't letting me paste text in and move pictures around. My time on the computer is limited. If I can't get it done in 5 minutes it will not happen. And thus the blog posts have not been happening. Finally I took the time after all are in bed to get the last one up. But to be honest if it keeps taking me this much time, the posts will be fewer and fewer.

Redecorating

So I don’t have a clue when it comes to decorating. When I got married and got an apartment of my own to decorate I just did what I had grown up with, put all the chairs facing the TV, random pictures that you like around the room and call it good. So that is what I did. I’ve always known I wasn’t a “decorator” type and felt that there wasn’t really much I could do, I didn’t have “the gift.”

One day I was at my sister-in-laws, and commented to her how I just loved how she decorated her home. It wasn’t my style of decorating, but it was beautiful. And what did she tell me? She told me that at first she had no clue how to decorate, but she found a book that told her step by step directions that told her how to decorate. She gladly loaned me the book.

I am very much a book learner. Tell me step by step what to do and why with some examples and I can do it. This book was just what I needed to learn how to decorate my own home. It is called, “Use What You Have Decorating” by Lauri Ward. I love it because first it tells you how to use what you currently have in your home (because most likely it is what you like already) and then tells you step by step what to do and why. It is my type of book. So I have already redecorated the play room, and living room, put together the entry way, rearranged the kids bedroom, and straightened up the kitchen. I am still working on the artwork on the walls. I don’t have exactly what I want (a big picture of Christ, preferably with children, and two other gospel related artworks) as a focal point in the living room behind the couch. But I can say that rearranging the furniture has made such a big difference. Now I’ll just improve on it step by step as I find what I want at garage sales, and have time to make things I want. Step by step I am working on it. Improving a little here and a littler there as I have time and as I figure out how to use what I have in other rooms. It is a constant work in progress.

Here are some before and after pictures. It’s funny I didn’t do much, but rearrange the furniture. But really that makes a huge difference in the feel of the room and how comfortable it is.

The entry way

The toy room before (ok so it was messy too, I didn't feel like cleaning up just to take a "before" picture)


and after

Our living room before (ok here it really was cleaned up but the bookcases just gave it a messy feeling anyways)

Our living room after. It still needs work, but it is so much better, I feel so much more relaxed in it. :)