Deep cleaning

Yesterday I thought I'd clean off the messiest shelf in the pantry (kid's snacks) while Ally was asleep. Her naps have been pretty short lately, so I didn't think I'd get to much more than that. Well, she kept sleeping, so I kept cleaning. Pretty soon the whole pantry was clean! YAY! Last Mon. when the kids were home from school the boys and I went through all their toys, threw a lot of junk away, bagged up a bunch to donate and then put everything away where it actually goes. Maddy and I went through her dresser shelves and did the same - toss, donate, clean. I also went through all the baby clothes that Ally has out grown and Bryson's too small clothes and got a bunch to donate as well. It feels soooo good to be able to get rid of all the excess. It's hard to play if you can't find your toys through the junk! Hopefully it will be easier to keep cleaned up as well.


Poor Ally! Just when I thought she was getting better, she got something else! Her long nap on Mon. lulled me into a false hope that her good sleeping habits would be coming back soon. Not to be. She threw up twice last night and woke up several other times just not feeling well. She threw up again this afternoon, but I'm hoping that was it. I'd much rather deal w/ throw up in the day, but it always seems to happen at night. I wasn't nearly as productive today with a sick baby and both of us being exhausted. Oh well, at least the pantry is still clean. :-)

Dances and sleep deprivation

Maddy and Travis went to the Daddy Daugter Dance at school on Friday night. Travis is a really fun dad and Maddy LOVES to go to the dances with him. He'll spin her around, dip her, throw her up in the air, do silly and funny dances (Maddy loves to be the center of attention!), etc. It's a really fun time for just the two of them!
On Tuesday afternoon Bryson fell asleep on the stairs! Of all the uncomfortable places I can think of to sleep, the stairs are right at the top of the list! I guess all his partying over the weekend wore him out. ;-) As I took this picture of him, I couldn't help feeling a bit jealous that he was able to just stop and sleep. Allyson had been up most of the previous night and most of the sleep that she got was while I was holding her listening to her whine and whimper. One of the 2 chunks of sleep that she let me have was interupted by Maddy throwing up (at least it was in the toilet!!! Whew!) I think I got 3 hrs. of sleep, all in bits and pieces. I was able to get Ally in to see the Dr. Tues. afternoon hoping it was an ear infection that was keeping her awake and not just the cold she had that was making her cough and the fact that she was teething. I feel bad that I was rooting for an ear infection, but at least that is treatable and I knew she'd be feeling better soon; the other problems were just wait it out problems and I don't think I could take another night of no sleep. Turns out she did have an ear infection and was put on antibiotics. The ear infection wasn't too bad, but I think the combination of all 3 things was just too much for the poor little thing. She was miserable! Fortunately she's feeling much better and is only waking up once or twice in the night where she just nurses and goes back to sleep. I can handle that. I do miss the days of her sleeping through the night though. With colds, teething, a previous ear infection, etc., she lost her good sleeping habits a couple of weeks before Christmas. Hopefully we can get her sleeping through the night again in a week or two, but as long as there aren't any more completely sleepless nights, we'll be OK.

I forgot to post the pictures of our new couch and love seat. All but the middle seat of the couch recline, so we all enjoy kicking back and relaxing. The kids enjoy it a little too much I think! Now the trick is figuring out how we want to decorate the room before my mom comes in Feb. I'd love to have her help shopping for things and especially sewing curtains or at least designing them. Everything in the room is really neutral right now - oak entertainment center, beige walls and carpet, brown couches. The only color we have right now is the blue rocker/recliner that we've always had. Hopefully we'll come up with something fun soon!

Happy Birthday Bryson!!!!

Happy Birthday Bryson!!!!

Today Bryson turned 4! It's hard to believe that he's that old. He is such a funny and energetic boy! He makes me smile and laugh several times a day. I'm so happy to have him in our family!

Bryson's goal in life is to turn 5 so that he'll be big enough to ride the bus like Jacob and Maddy. He just turned 4 today and he's already saying, "I'm almost 5!"

We had a little birthday party this morning with a few of his friends. I love that even in January we were able to play games outside! First, the kids decorated goodie bags with foam dinosaurs. Next came pin the spike on the dinosaur's tail. Then we went outside to find eggs that dinosaurs hid in our yard. Then the kids did a relay carrying a dinosaur egg on a spoon wearing big foam dinosaur feet. Next they got to dig for dinosaur bones buried in our sandbox. Then we came in for cake and ice cream. Bryson made it easy on me - he wanted cup cakes with little dinosaurs on top. After presents, we had a pinata. I think all the kids had a good time. At least Bryson did, and that was what was most important.

Here he is waiting for his party to start. He was so excited. He and Jacob were watching out the front window and ran out to meet the first guests before they even got out of their cars!

They had a great time decorating their bags!
It takes so much concentration to keep that egg on the spoon! :-)
They all started out together digging for bones. Soon they were spread out and had fun finding what the dinosaurs had buried!
I hope his wish comes true! What a fun day!
We're going to open all his family presents after dinner. He chose pizza - once again making it easy for me! I'll post more pics later.

Growing up too fast!

How did my baby get so big?!?! She loves pulling up on everything now. Notice how long her hair is on top - She pulls everything out of her hair that I put in. The thing that works the best is a pony right on top of her head, she has a harder time reaching it. You'll see that at the end. My kids think it's hillarious and always ask me to put it in.

Mom's goal was for my bow and pony to stay in until church was over. Some of the bangs came out, but I kept it in until the drive home. Aren't I good little girl?
I started climbing up the stairs Sat. night - so up goes the gate. At least I have something new to pull up on. Don't I look so big!
I'm so proud of myself!
I wish she could stay my little baby forever, but I still enjoy her little milestones!

Getting Organized

Well, I'm not much for New Year's Resolutions, but last Sunday our Bishop talked about goals and the importance of writing them down. My goal for as long as I can remember is to get more organized, but I never write it down or the steps necessary to actually get more organized. This is my attempt at not only writing down my goal, but hopefully I will feel more accountable since all of you know about my goal too.

I'm starting kind of small because Ally is still nursing and demands quite a bit of my time, but that should be coming to an end in the next few months and at least she doesn't need me quite as much as she used to. I really want to focus on the kitchen to start. I am a piler, I admit it. I tend to leave things out that I'm going be using later and I pile things up that I intend to go through later when I have more time (like all the stuff the kids bring home from school, mail on the table, etc. when it's all of a sudden time for dinner and we need the table - to counter it all goes in a nice neat pile). Well, as we all know, you're just as busy later as were right then, so I'm really trying to put things away right away, or toss, shred, file, etc. I'll have to take pictures, but I hope that by the end of the year my kitchen counters will always look clean, especially the little one by the phone where everything ends up. It's not that my house is super messy, but I know that if I'd get rid of the extra clutter and put everything away immediately, then I wouldn't have to spend so much time going through piles later. Doing a little all the time is easier than a lot all at once - plus it really doesn't take that much more energy or time to just put something away than to just move it to a pile.

I decided to try using flylady.net because I have heard that this website has helped a lot of people to get more organized and keep a cleaner house. I have been getting emails and have been reading things on her website for 4 or 5 days now. I know that it isn't very long, but I have to admit that I'm not super impressed so far. The emails seem more distracting than helpful and the website seems kind of jumbled and a little confusing. I think I need to get more into it and adapt things more to what will work best for me. I can see the value of a lot of the ideas I've learned about so far, I just need to find what works for me. Hopefully I'll be able to establish some new routines that really get me going and keep things up better rather tackling things once they've built up.

I'll keep you posted with some before and after pics of things that I've let build up and then finally get organized; like the den, pantry, etc. Lucky for me I have a super organized and clean husband. I never have to put away any of his things. Now if I could just get the kids to do their part I'd be in great shape. I know I haven't set the best example of putting things away before you get something else out, so we'll all be working together, one babystep at a time.

On a fun and postive note: We just bought a new couch and love seat yesterday! They will be delivered on Wed., so I'll post pics then. We wanted leather because they're nice, durable and very kid friendly. We drove about 45 mins. away to go straight to the supplier, rather than the retailer by us and saved close to $400. YAY! My mom is coming in Feb. and I hope to utilize her talents and creativity to help me decorate our family room. We got a big screen TV and new entertainment center in Aug. and I haven't really done anything with it because I was waiting to decide on furniture first (and I could some advice). Now I need to do curtains, pillows, decorations, etc. I'm excited to get started, but I'm sure it will be a work in progress for some time.

Happy Birthday Dad

Today would be my dad's 76th birthday. I've been thinking about him a lot over the holidays. It's hard to believe that it's almost been a year since he passed away. We all sure miss him!

Here are the two of us on a "Daddy / Daughter Date" when I was in Young Womens.

Here are some of the things I love most about and some of my favorite memeories of my dad:

• I used to love to have him tuck me into bed when I was little. What I remember most was him saying and me repeating “I, Love” and then together we’d say, “Yooooouuuuu!” Then he’d give me a kiss goodnight. I often do that now with my kids.
• Whenever my dad saw a need, he just did whatever was needed; he rarely had to be asked.
• He never wanted to be the center of attention. He always helped, but behind the scenes.
• My Dad always thought of others first. He was always in quiet service. My Mom would be cooking or working on something and discover she was missing something and Dad would calmly show up in minutes with whatever was needed. – Even if he had to go to the store, often without anyone noticing.
• My Dad could calm down any baby and rock them to sleep. All my kids loved to have grandpa hold them.
• My Dad would always make jokes whenever I called. If I asked if mom was around, he’d say something like, “No, she’s a square”.
• Dad taught me how women should be treated. I never heard him raise his voice with my mom, even when they disagreed. He never tolerated us being disrespectful to her either. It was always clear how much love and respect he had for her.
• My Dad always honored his priesthood. He was able to give us blessings whenever we needed them. He always gave us a blessing before each school year. He also participated in my blessing when Maddy was breech and I was worried about having a C-section.
• Once when Travis was out of town and I was really frustrated with Maddy, he drove 1 1/2 hours each way to our house to pick her up and bring her back up to their house to give me a break.

There was no one else like my dad. He was such a great example to me. I am so grateful and feel so blessed to know that we are an eternal family and that I will get to be with him again!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Zoo with friends

Yesterday I drove up to see my friend Melissa and to go to the zoo with them. It's probably been around 10 years since we've actually seen each other! When I got to her house, her parents were getting ready to leave after having been there for New Year's. I almost felt like a teenager again getting to see all of them - but then who are all these kids and why do they keep calling us mom?!?!

Here the kids are at "Stingray Bay" where they get to pet stingrays and sharks. They were all bent over up to their shoulders in the water until we finally made them leave. Bridget wasn't sure she wanted to feel the slimy stingrays at first, so she's in the background. My kids had a wet sleeve for most of the rest of the day - good thing the weather was nice!

This is what they concentrating so hard on petting. Poor Bryson had a hard time since his arms were so short. He finally touched one that flapped it's fins up at just the right time on his hand. He was thrilled!

Maddy was trying her darnedest to reach the shark, but they are nocturnal and just wanted to sleep right at the bottom of the side. She just didn't have arms long enough - though her wet sweater proved that she really, really tried.

Here is a cute one of Bridget, Bryson, Jacob, Hannah, Emily, and Maddy with the zebras.
My kids love getting to be so close to the little monkeys. We got to go into a big enclosure to see them up close - no cages, unless you count the one we were in! We were warned not to touch anything, because the monkeys like to "mark" their territory with urine - so basically everything! The girls were extremely careful not to touch the chains. They did have sinks and sanitizer before you leave - thank goodness!
I always feel bad that I miss pictures of Ally at places like this. She is such a good baby and just enjoyed all the kids and being outside. Here she finally crashed in the late afternoon after no naps all day. Everyone wanted to pose on the turtle outside of the zoo before we left. The older girls wanted one of just them, but Briget didn't want to be left out of a picture - and who could blame her!
Bryson is pouting because Jacob wouldn't let him sit on the turtle's head for the picture. Jacob is so happy because he finally got Bryson off of the head. I guess you just can't please everyone!Here are all the kids, excluding Tessa and Ally - they got the short end of the stick when it came to pictures.
Thanks Melissa for inviting us to go to the zoo with you guys! It was so fun! My kids and I had such a good time. The kids were really sad to leave. I promised that we'd see you all again, but Maddy was afraid it would be another 10 years! I told her that since we live closer now it would be much sooner than that! Let me know if any of your family come to visit and I'ld love to come up and see them too. We should get together every once in a while anyway - my kids and I would love it! Bryson has already asked to have Bridget come over and play. :-) I meant to have Maddy take a picture of Melissa and I, but forgot, so next time I'll be sure get one of the 2 of us! Anytime you want to come down this way, we'd love to have you!