It is 8:19 am and the children have left the building.

Whew.  I can take a breather.  Here were bits and pieces of my morning:

1. Have Brian rummage around for the car keys so we can get him to seminary the customary 5 minutes late.  Seminary is 4 blocks away.
2. Listen to Natalia yell and stomp on her way to the shower because "you didn't wake me up early enough".  One would think that an hour to get ready for school is plenty of time.
3. Make pancakes in the shape of easter bunnies that husband says look like something unmentionable, since this is a family blog.
4. Pack lunches into three lunch bags while piling the fourth onto the counter because the youngest is too busy to track down his lunch box.
5. Rummage through magazines to find 10 for the oldest to take to school for extra credit.  I'm not really sure why he needs magazines, but it's a good way to purge them.
6. Make sure everyone gets out the door with what they need for the day.

My next steps?

1. Clean the filthy kitchen and put the meat in the crockpot to make taquitos tonight.
2. Check that the stained up baseball pants are as clean as I can get them for another game tonight.
3. Get ready for work. 

Achk!  I'd better get moving...

Trying...

I spend a good portion of my time searching for things.  For example, today I am on a rescue mission to locate Brian's Scout information back to the date of his Arrow of Light award.  I'm sure those cards and things are spread from here to the ends of Missouri.

But one of the Scout leaders gave me a great idea for organizing the little cards that come with the achievements and merit badges and rank awards.  Get the plastic baseball card sleeves and tuck everything in the pockets.  How easy is that, and why didn't I think of it?


Something else I am always searching for are the elusive papers from school.  The papers that need signing, initialing, or any other attentioning from me.  We are usually scrambling at the last minute to try to locate those.  I've tried putting information in folders, but then I'd forget that I put it there.  I'm a very "out of sight, out of mind" type, so I came up with a clip-up method to help with that.

I just used plain clothespins (thought about painting them, but why mess with a perfect product?)  I punched out a 2.25" scallop circle,  then a 1.5" circle to go on top.  Then I used an initial for each of the four kids.

Since I did not want to mess with drilling holes in the pins or nailing into the wood, I used some extra Command strips to hang the clothespins on the inside of the computer cabinet.

So far, so good.  I've been able to locate login information for the kids' school accounts and class lists, and even homework for the two little boys.  At least I can find SOMEthing!

Too bad I can't use this clothespin system in my brain. Life would be a whole lot easier.

They tend to surprise me...

Just when I'm at my wit's end, after an evening filled with rushing around to get dinner made and kids fed, to get to a basketball game on time, to track down the two youngest boys so we could leave the basketball game, then going back to track down the lost soccer ball, finding the soccer ball, driving home with tired kids and an even more tired mom, kids who don't want to do homework, or take a shower, or go to bed. 

So I threw my hands in the air and left them to it and pretty soon I hear some animated voices coming from upstairs.  I listened a little bit closer, and it was my 16-year old reading a bed-time story to the younger two boys.

So sweet and unexpected.

Unwritten...

I don't know what it is, but I almost always like the accoustic version of a song much better than the original version.  It's true for this Natasha Bedingfield song with the amazing guitar accompaniment.

"Today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten"

So true, and something I want my kids to remember.  No matter what everyone wants for them or from them, they print the words onto the pages of their lives, good, bad, or inbetween..  They have a fresh page every day!

All That Jazz...

This is Jazz. 

She has a funny, crooked cowlick on her running down her nose.  She also has batwing ears.

We adopted her from the shelter a month ago.  Did you know that adopting a dog from the animal shelter is almost as difficult a process as adopting an actual human child?  True Story.

Jazz likes to steal seats.  She also likes to dig holes, run for the door whenever it opens, and lay her head on your lap or a pillow, whichever is most convenient.  Most convenient for her, that is.

She answers to the name Jazz, which is on her adoption papers, and would probably take an act of Congress to change.  She's also known as several aliases.  "Jazzercise", when she's feeling a little bit 80's retro, "Jazz-manian Devil", when she's a little bit rambunctious, and "Jazzers" when you're sitting with her head on your lap and playing with her batwing ears.

 

She and I share a common bond.  We both have the ability to plop right down and fall asleep.  Anywhere.  And snore loudly. 

'Night, Jazzers.

He really is ruggedly handsome...

I'm looking forward to the new season!  Not great acting, but I love the whole premise of author working with detective and basing his main character on her.  Now where are they going with this storyline?






Also can't wait for this one!




The jury's still out on this one, since I haven't seen all of the episodes.  I liked the beginning of the season.  And Anna the Visitor is just amazingly creepy!

Fried food and chicken poop

So, yesterday I made an 8 hour round-trip drive with Andy. Well, 3/4 of the drive was with Andy and the other 1/4 I drove a mini-van back to his place of employment. This drive was made in the afternoon and evening, so the kids arrived home on the bus from their place of education. When they left for said place of eduction that morning, I didn't know that I would be gone when they came back to the home-base, so I didn't have dinner made for them.

Their Auntie Tara (sometimes know as Auntie Booby) came over and made cookies with Nattie, so I called her up to tell her that the kids could cook up some hamburgers and throw some salad on their plate and call it good. She took me up on it, and when Andy and I arrived at home-base the smell of fried food hit us like a brick when we opened up the door.

Andy's way to solve the problem of the smell was to open up the window in our bedroom. Whoa. Fried meat is not pleasant. The chicken barns are not pleasant. Add them together and you have downright biological warfare possibilities. I'm thinking about bottling it and contacting the Pentagon. There are possiblities here, I'm telling you.

Spring is just a far away dream

Yeah, it's snowing here. Not just a sprinkling, or a dusting of the stuff, it's actual big, wet, fluffy snowflakes covering the ground in inches.

I thought it was spring! Today is the first day, but I guess the calendar did not get consulted. It's a good thing I didn't get all wound out and start "spring cleaning" or anything. Just sayin'. Cuz I was really going to do it! Guess I better put it off for another week.

I ran across this idea for storing some of my scrapbooking supplies. I've got some CD cases lying around that will be put to good use when I get to that spring cleaning.

Instead of actually starting my spring cleaning, I thought I'd read some articles to get me inspired. Really, that's what I'm doing. I'm not just wasting time surfing the net, there's a method to my madness. Here's a good article about curing clutter and spring cleaning.

Family Home Evening has a giveaway going on right now with just a few more spots. Leave a comment on their post here and you could win a copy of 52 More Weeks of Family Night: Scripture Study edition.

I'm contemplating whether the weather will be keeping us from going to church tomorrow. Since I have sharing time and am in charge of a Teacher Training meeting that includes lunch, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. But then all of that work I've done getting ready for them will be wasted, and I'll have to reschedule the training. So I'm hoping that church is on. By the way, this picture is from the last storm and not today. But it's looking pretty close to that right now! And Easter is just 2 weeks away.

CRAZY!

And then it was October. I think I missed September. Really. I don't even remember it!



I've been busy with, well: kids, chickens, Mellisa's kids, PTO, and it still feels like I'm more behind than ever.



But, since I should be doing something productive, I'll forget about work and share some of my new favorite things:



The Black Apple is awesome. I love Emily Martin's art! Now Jenny Hart from Sublime Stitching has Black Apple patterns. Makes me want to take up embroidery.



This is my favorite song right now. Something about the guitar. Mmm.



Sunflower seeds. I just read in a magazine that if you crave something salty, eat sunflower seeds. The magnesium in them gives you a natural energy boost. I can totally justify my addiction to seeds now. Need I say more?

When I'm in a scrapbooking rut, I go here to PageMaps. Love it!

Can't wait for conference!

Un-venting.

1. Grandma is still sick, but Andy and I are not.
2. Aren't these tool boxes just adorable? I think they're going to be my next project.
3. Summer school started and all of the kids are going.
4. Getting ready for a garage sale takes a bit of time.
5. I'm hosting my book club for June and this is the book we're reading.
6. Brian has a baseball game tonight, and I'm ready to scrub the mud off his pants, cuz it's been raining ALL week!

VENTING...Warning. Reading the following post may be hazardous to your health.

My grandma is sick, and there is nothing I can do about it but pray.

I'm sick.

Andy's sick.

Bad weather.

Kids with attitude.

Out of control.

AHHHH!

It's madness, I tell you...

My kids are funny. I know every mom thinks that, but really, mine are funny. And a little irreverent. I don't know where they get that from, though.

Monkey always has something funny to say. Last night it was just him and I, and we were watching a little TV. The show was very appropriate until the actor said, "Damn, she's good". Which, of course, Monkey repeated. As I opened my mouth to tell him that it wasn't a nice word, etc., etc., he said, "Damn, I farted." How could I not laugh? I know, I should have used it as a teaching moment, but he caught me off guard!

One Sunday, Emily waved me over her in Primary and said, "Monkey has three Books of Mormon that he checked out of the Library. I just wanted you to know so you make sure he gets them all back there."

I sat down next to Monkey and asked him if he checked the extras out for his friends in class. He said, "No, I wanted three so I could have a triple!"

Joe has turned into a real food expert. We were at a potluck dinner at the preschool, and Joe cut a bite from a meatball, then chewed it up, tilted his head and pointed his fork at me and declared, "Homemade!"

Another day, he was helping me make pasta for dinner. We cooked and drained the pasta, then he added the pesto and tossed it around. He then informed me, "Mom, I need to taste the pasta, cuz that's what all of the professional cookers do!"