Busy Little Bees...

I have been reorganizing EVERYTHING in & outside of the house this past month- I feel AMAZING!!! You can see my projects & inspire yourself to start on your own! Click on my link on the right hand side to see my new blog: Even the house cleaner needs a maid!

Project for the next few days: Shed # 2. Yesterday we began the insain project of working on our food storage shed. Talk about crazy! We moved a few hundrend pounds of food out there, plus our water storage & tools before dark- it is still a work in progress, but how lovely to get started!
Shed # 1- is almost done. I just have a few more labels to make and then it will be finished (or as finished as it will get! I went through storage bins and reorganized them, moved them around and made more space!Good enough!)

The important stuff...

When my children look back on their childhood, I want them to remember the days we spent going on walks, making forts with blankets, having family movie nights, playing Monopoly,making fires, reading bedtime stories, going on family trips, doing our family exercices after FHE, taking noodle baths & having ice cream parties- but in order to do that, I have to make the time for them, which means I have to stop what I'm doing and play, and laugh & have fun too.

I know having a clean home is important (and to me, super, super important) but I have to realize if I am not careful all they will remember is how much Mom cleaned growing up, how Mom got mad all the time because the toys were in the living room, how much Mom hated dirt in the house, how Mom made them wash our hands a million times a day and change out of their clothes after school because she didn't want the "school germs" in the house, how Mom wouldn't allow blanket forts because they were too messy and if you wore your shoes in the house you would be in HUGE trouble. I want them to look back on days that we made Rice Krispie treats and painted rainbows instead...

My Crafty Little Man...

After Tristin started feeling human again, he wanted to start the projects, so a few nights ago, I stopped what i was doing and helped him make his first freezer paper stencil shirt! He LOVES it! P.S. I am not a fan of skulls- but he's a boy & loves them- so I allow just a few...

Feeling Better...

All I can say is: I ADORE antibiotics! What on earth did they do 100 years ago??? There is nothing worse then having really sick children. It's so painful to watch their frail little bodies throwing up for days, running fevers and holy cow, breaking out in horrible rashes over their ENTIRE body! That was pretty crazy. Mr Tristin is doing much better and I am SO THANKFUL!!! After talking to my MIL whose a retired nurse,I'm going to keep him home 1 more day from school and see how he's doing then. He's still couging alot- but after that He will have taken antibiotice for 4 complete days. I kept Tristin, Grace & Willow home from church today because I HATE it when sick kids come to church! I think it's SOOO rude. Grace of course has a cough right now and I'm waiting to see if it turns into anything more- I hate the flu season!
One thing I did this morning was put hand sanitizer next to the door outside (hopefully it wont freeze!) that way they can get rid of a few nasty germs before coming inside to really wash their hands. ( My kids ADORE the nasty neighborhood cats and i want to vomit every time they touch them- so this will help, big time!!!)I used to have these hanging in all the bedrooms of the house, but when Grace was younger, she would pull them down and squirt 100 drops in hands & then lick it, rub it all over her body or just let it drop all over the carpet, so I had to put them away for awhile. I will be adding them back now!

Here are the kids making pizza for lunch.

Strep throat, Scarlet fever, shots & double ear infections...

The past few days have not been fun around here. There's been lots of fevers, vomiting, sore throats, coughs, green snot and unhappy kids- not to mention a tired Mama.
Tristin has been miserable for days now- the poor thing has had fevers, tons of vomiting, a sore throat and then yesterday he broke out in a rash that covered most of his body. It was pretty freaky, but I gave him alergy medicine thinking it might have been caused by the new laundry detergent- but by last night- it was awful. I was going to take him in to Quick care, but they were closed and I didn't think an ER visit was necessary because he had not been throwing up for awhile and his fever was only 99.9
I waited until this morning and got him in right away to his Dr. He tested positive for strep and Scarlette fever (an itchy, rough, sandpaper like rash that covers most of the body. It used to be super awful, but now is very treatable. It is only contagious if passed through salivia and enters the other person's mouth- so hopefuly we won't be catching that!) Strep & Scarlette fever are caused by the same bacteria, and treated with the same antibiotics! Good news! We picked up his medicine, bought popcycles and he is now being treated with rest and endless eposides of SpongeBob!

Willow recieved her 2nd flu shot while we were there and I had the Dr look in her ears- sure enough- she had another double ear infection! No wonder she was feeling so yucky these past days. Her cough, green snot and overall unpleastness finally had a reason! I talked to the Dr about tubes for her ears because it is so common and she's had A LOT of ear infections, but he was hopeful that by Feb. they would start declining- so nothing more was discussed. I just want her comfortable- she is such a sweet happy girl, I just hate knowing she's hurting if I can do something to help the situation.
So, here we go again with another 10 days of pink goopy stuff, and charts to keep track of each kid and their medicine feedings- of course that I am beyond grateful for! We are blessed to have Dr.'s and medicine, thank you Lord!

Little Willow...

Willow has been climbing into cabinets lately- it's so cute! She loves to hide in her toy box, the towel cabinet and here she was when I was organizing the books.. cute little thing!

My new Blog: Even The House Cleaner Needs A Maid!

I have wanted to share my cleaning obsession & organizing tips with you guys for awhile now- but most of you have already been to at least a dozen of my cleaning & organizing classes, so there hasn't been a need. Plus I didn't want my organizing posts to interfere with my family blog, so I just started another one! There I can post the projects I am working on, share my weekly goals, inspire you to declutter your homes, follow a Menu plan, tips for the day, while holding myself accountable too! Lets work on projects together!
go to:eventhehousecleanerneedsamaid.blogspot.com

When the pressure cooker attacks...

It was close to 3:00 PM yesterday and I thought I would organize the shed for a little while. It was sunny out so I took the girls out in the back yard to play while I worked on labeling the totes & boxes, and that's when it happened... the unfortunate event...

I wanted to see what was in one of my plastic totes (i'm redoing my labels)but it was buried by 2 other totes on top of it and then my food dehydrator and GINORMOUS, metal old-Gma pressure cooker. Not realizing it would cause a problem, I was lifting up on the end of the tote to peek inside so I would know what label to make. So, with my head tilted to the left, I continued to wiggle it a bit to pry open the end- and then out of nowhere I felt the worst pain hit my head, my jaw and my neck! The pressure cooker fell from 4 feet above me and crashed into my head and face! I was honestly dazed for a minute, fell to the ground holding my head crying. I cannot remember another time a 20 pound meatal object has fallen onto my face and it hurt SO BAD! It was crazy because my first thought was: I'm going to die, my brain is going to swell in my skull and I am going to die. My second thought was; What if I broke my jaw! And my third thoought was- my neck, the Chiropractor bills are going to be crazy!
The pain was awful and I took a few more minutes to gather myself and figure out what had just happened and then kicked the stupid pressure cooker to the side. I sat down still clutching my head & face and could feel the pressure under my skin spreading- I gathered the girls and went inside to take some Advil ASAP. I knew that little accident was going to leave a mark! My head and face was throbbing so I laid down with a box of veggies and whinced as the cold box sat on my face forever. By dinner time, my jaw felt like someone took a baseball bat to it, my head was already bruised and I could hardly open my mouth to eat. I couldn't chew on that side AT ALL and even the other side was almost impossible- HOW FRUSTRATING!! AND PAINFUL! Good greif! So now I have a brusised head and face, a jaw that feels broken and a neck that is really sore- talk about a super reward for wanting to organize the shed a little!
So, lesson learned: Don't put your ginormous pressure cooker 4 feet above your head and then try to look inside a plastic tote to see what's inside so you can make a cute new lable for the outside, while tilting your head to the left- Because it will fall on your face and you will think you are dying as your head and face swell and bruise!
I'm not sure if I want to can green beans next year now- I think I hate that stupid thing...

Confession...

I've been examining my life lately trying to see if my emptiness and sadness was based on anything I was doing or not doing in my life. And after looking inward for about 3 seconds, I pretty much concluded- yeah, it's been my fault.
I have every oppertunity for peace, wholeness and joy-right at my fingertips and what have I done to make it apart of my life lately? Nothing really.

I pulled out my scriptures last night to read, and they were covered in dust. Seriuosly. It is so sad to admit, but I'm being honset with myself so I will hold myself accountable for my feelings and where I am right now. I have such a gift in my life that has been collecting dust. People gave their lives and sacraficed everything they had for the scriptures- and mine have been under my bed just sitting there. How can I expect God to fill me when I am making zero effort? How can I expect to receive blessings when I am running the other direction? My lack of happiness has been based on my choices to let God in my life and heal me or not. No wonder i don't feel him anymore- I've been running from him for so long that he just had to stop and wait for me to return.

And what about prayer? I hardly ever kneel and pray by myself. I am fantastic about praying in my head, my heart, out loud- often to the point I God is sick of hearing my voice- but kneeling- nope.

When was the last time I went to the temple? A really long time ago. It's the only place on earth I have felt such love and peace and I cannot recall even the month I attended last.

The sad truth is- I make time for everything else in my life- The Office, couponing, friends, organizing & cleaning, but the most important gifts Heavenly Father has given me have laid unopened for a very long time. How sad he must feel. How would we feel if we had the most beautiful present for a loved one and after giving it to them it just sat on their table unopened? i know I would feel hurt, and probably angry at them for being so rude to not even care enough to look inside.
It isn't that I've been doing anything terribly wrong or bad in my life, I just haven't been doing anything terribly right either. I've just been coasting, just trying to stay above water. But I want more. I want peace. I want to feel God's love. I want to shine and radiate like I used to. I want to feel so much joy in my life that it brings me to tears. I want to be fullfilled.

As I was reading in the scriptures this morning I read:But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquites;the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and with his stripes we are healed. (Mosiah 14:5)

All I could do was cry. And then pray. And then ask for forgivness. I need my Heavenly Father. I need Christ in my life- and when I put all my craziness aside, I realize that they have been right there just waiting for me to return to their arms.

When Grace cuts her hair...

I found a chunck of hair half way under the couch the other night and went straight to Grace to question her. Sure enough, she confessed. It was a good chunck, and I could have left it alone, but decided to cut it short and try to blend it in a little. She has such wild hair anyway, so no matter what we do, it always looks a little crazy (except for braids and pony's which are super duper short right now!)I thought she could use a haircut and hopefully it will be ok.