Yay for decluttering!

Zach is over his spoon obsession, but now he's liking everybody's shoes...
Here he is with Emily's flip flop and Eleanor's sneaker

Here he is with my flip flop
It's pretty funny to see him try to walk in Matt's shoes.

I got my haircut yesterday :-) I wanted to show you a picture, but the pictures I tried taking of myself this morning were not appealing, so you'll have to wait. My hair is chin length with some layers. I like it. I'm usually one to wait and wait and wait to get my hair cut, until I can't stand it anymore and I go to Walmart where you can just walk in and get it cut. Sometimes I like the cut, but the majority of the time I don't. So, I finally came up with a new plan, which I thought of in June after my last haircut. I'm going to get my hair cut at the start of every season. Whether it's just a trim or a new style, I'm going to have something done. I've been wanting to go to a hairdresser in the same town I live in and start going to her on a regular basis, and I finally went to her salon yesterday. This is quite an accomplishment for me, so I'm very proud of myself! I enjoyed every minute of my haircutting experience...which took an hour and 15 minutes, and would have been longer if I hadn't told her I needed to leave. My dad was so kind to watch Eleanor and Zach for me and I made him late for work!...sorry again dad. My dad goes to the same hairdresser, so he knows how much she likes to talk. I really like the cut she gave me and I will go back to her at the start of winter...this time prepared to be there awhile.

What's under the bed?...
Microsoft PS/2 installation instructions...toss it
Microsoft registration card...toss it
Microsoft paper cd holder with no cd...toss it
Tithing receipts from 1993-2002...I'd like to toss them, I'll check with Matt first
Movie receipt from November 23, 2001, the movie we saw is not stated...toss it
An envelope with our well test included...AWESOME...I was just at the doctor on Monday with Zach and the doctor asked me if I could provide a copy of our well test to see what the flouride level is...I knew we had a copy...somewhere...wow, I just saved myself A LOT of wasted time looking for this...this just made my day :-)

His and Hers

The disappearing sandals reappeared when I did laundry yesterday. They were in the laundry basket...now why didn't I think to look there???

What's under the bed?...
An old binkie, which I threw away.
A car radio, which I think came out of our Jeep Cherokee when we had a CD player installed. We don't need this radio, we just need to decide what to do with it.

Are you noticing that under our bed has been a storage place? Space is limited when you live in a two bedroom trailer with 6...soon to be 7 people! I've been thinking lately that I need my own shed. We can put household items in my shed and then Matt's shed can be for tools, camping gear, and other things he uses. I'd like to buy a shed that's already built so we just have to buy it and plop it somewhere. I think I'm going to look more into this.

More stuff

What's under the bed...
Another baseball trophy with no information on it...I'll toss it.
A fake pizza slice and fake banana...I'll put in the kids' shopping cart.
Green thread...I'll put in the sewing box.
A Mag-Lite flashlight...I think I'll put this in my car.
A sound card with manual and A Microsoft Getting Started manual...I'll check with Matt to see if he wants.

I have more laundry to do today since I was gone most of the day yesterday. Zach's appointment went well, although he is the worst patient of all my children. He does not like to be weighed, measured, talked to, or looked at! He got one shot and actually took that pretty well. Maybe because he sensed it was the end of his visit.

I took Zach and Eleanor shopping for sneakers yesterday. Eleanor outgrew all her shoes over the summer, so she has been wearing Emily's flip-flops, and Zach has been wearing his sandals which have mysteriously disappeared. It was the perfect day to shop for some fall footwear since I had the car, I had some money, and Zoe and Emily were at school :-)

You're going to school!

I'm feeling better, but I'm still not 100%. All the kids have colds now. I stayed home from church yesterday with the kids and we played church, sort of. We decided the living room and kitchen would be the quiet area where we would have BYU-TV playing on the computer, and if they wanted to play then they could go in their room. They started off so well...

but by early afternoon there was no quiet anywhere and I finally turned off the computer because I was tired of reminding the kids to be quiet and not being able to hear the computer.
I figured since Zoe and Emily's energy level hasn't seemed to be affected by their colds, they could go to school today.

What's under the bed...

I'm thinking this emergency lighting kit would be more effective if it was opened and put somewhere easily accessible.

It's laundry day and Zach has his 18 month check-up this morning, so I better get moving. Happy Monday!

Kids DO share some things...

Here I sit with a sore throat and no energy...I'm back, you find energy when you need to. Eleanor just peed on the kitchen floor and she had a bloody mouth. I think she bumped her mouth on the table and she cut her gum. When I asked her why she was bleeding she replied, "I'm not bleeding!". She's fine now, washed up and dressed...Need to go wipe Zach's nose...It may take me hours at this rate to write this short entry!

What's under the bed...
My farm league Champion trophy from 1986. I learned in a decluttering class once that it's a good idea to take a picture of things that you want to remember, but you don't want to take care of anymore. I think this trophy is one of those things. I thought of putting it on a shelf (what little shelf space we have), but then the thought of having to dust it was unappealing. Looking at a picture of it would be just as meaningful to me.
But what do I do with the trophy???

Tis the season

Emily and Zach have the first colds of the season. Emily has had a sore throat the past few days and her nose was stuffy this morning. Zach came down with a runny nose yesterday and he was sneezing all day. It's time to stock up on tissues.

Zoe's class put on a short play yesterday for their families. It lasted about 2 minutes I think. Here's a picture of Zoe playing the part of a flower...



What's under the bed...

When I first took this box out I thought it was ammunition, but I think they are pen tips.
And then I pulled out these...

Two more cigar boxes. One has Matt's old passport in it. So now there sit three cigar boxes at our computer that I need to find a place for. I think Matt should be quite pleased that I'm finding all these treasures for him.

It's time for me to go wipe Zach's nose...

So nice to hear

I have a new favorite sound. The sound of a newly potty trained 3 year old in underwear saying, "I need to go potty!"...especially at 5:30am when she wore underwear to bed for the first time :-)

What's under the bed...
A size 1 diaper, which I will put away in the baby box.
A piece of paper that has the Chinese dragon on it, which is Matt's year...I'll put in the cigar box which is still sitting here by the computer. When I asked Matt what he wanted to do with the cigar box he said, "Put it under the bed." Um, that kind of defeats the purpose of cleaning under the bed doesn't it? It looks like he hasn't caught the decluttering under the bed bug yet, but I'll press forward anyway.
Some Dell computer books and disks which I don't think we need anymore, but I will double check with Matt before simplifying them. If we keep them, I'll put them in our computer armoir where they belong.

What's under the bed?...

One of my strengths is goal setting. I set a goal and the majority of the time, I meet the goal. I've been wanting to clean under our bed for a long time now, but the thought of taking everything out at once, going through it, and finding a new place for everything sounds exhausting and frankly impossible with 4 kids needing my attention every two seconds and my energy level is low due to pregnancy. So, I had the thought several nights ago to take one thing out from under the bed a day, decide if we need to keep it, then find a place for it to go if it's a keeper. Well for the next few days, I wouldn't think to take something out from under the bed until I was in bed, ready to go to sleep. But last night I had the thought to do it in the morning and then blog about it. So here I am this morning doing just that. The first item to come out from under the bed is...

a cigar box. When I married Matt, I discovered he liked collecting cigar boxes. Luckily, we only have a few because we don't share the same interest in collecting cigar boxes...which is probably why it's under the bed! I've come to a halt here in my goal because the rule in decluttering is that you can't simplify something that is not yours...unfortunately. Now I have to wait for Matt to go through what's in the box...old business cards, an old Borders gift card (which I hope was used), an old truck key, old receipts...and decide what he wants to keep. At least I've done my part and the ball to a cleaner room is rolling.

Wishes and Success

Zoe's wish list is not grantable at this time...


Eleanor has been doing GREAT on the potty. She has had 2 accidents in 7 days. Her accidents happened when I was busy and I didn't hear her say she needed to go potty. In the morning she asks if she can wear underwear. I think it's safe to say that she is potty trained :-)

Binkie Con

I find it interesting that when Zach loses a binkie, I find a different binkie that had been lost. It's like they're taking turns hiding out to have a break for awhile. One pretends to be lost while the other is in use, and then the one being used disappears and the lost one reappears. Wierd.

A Generous Gift

Out with the old...

In with the new...


We got rid of our stove on Labor Day. We don't use our stove much during the summer because it gets too hot in our trailer to cook. When the weather started getting cooler and we turned the stove on, whoa!..the gagging smell clued us in on where the mice we had been catching had been living. We had planned on getting a "new" stove eventually, but then a call came the other day saying someone had purchased a stove for us and it would be delivered today. Isn't it nice?! We only told a few people that we were without a stove, so we have our suspicion of who our secret gift giver is. We will be forever grateful for this kind deed!

Big steps for little ones

It is now Tuesday and I'm finally going to tell you that Zach went to nursery for the first time on Sunday. Matt brought him in because I knew Zach would put up less of a fuss with Matt than with me. Zach did end up seeing me before the nursery door closed and he cried, but the nursery leader shut the door and he settled down quickly. I think it helped that Eleanor was in there with him. He stayed in nursery the entire 2 hours :-) He cried a little bit when Eleanor left the room to go potty, but he didn't cry for long that time either. The nursery leader was impressed at how well he sat at the table during snacktime and ate...yes he is serious about his food. I'm a little surprised that he did so well staying in nursery...but I like it!

I am spending this week at home to potty train Eleanor. She's pretty much trained already, but she was wearing pull-ups, so she wouldn't go pee on the potty all the time. Yesterday morning I told her there would be no more pull-ups during the day and she could either wear underwear or nothing. She opted for underwear and she stayed dry all day yesterday :-) I hope today goes as well. We were outside yesterday afternoon and Eleanor was acting like she needed to go potty, so I was hurrying her inside saying, "quick, quick, quick" She annoyingly replied back, "I'm quicken, I'm quicken!"

And the ultrasound reveals...

Can you believe I'm halfway through my pregnancy already?! I had an ultrasound yesterday and our baby girl is doing great. We're all in a bit of a shock that we're having another girl, but I'm excited. Hopefully Matt will get more excited as we get closer to the birth, it's typical for him to take that long to get used to the idea of having a girl. I was hoping Zach would have a little brother to chum around with, but he is just going to be surrounded by girls. Here's baby ?...



Matt received the devastating news (as he puts it) of having another girl on his birthday. I think he managed to have a good birthday anyway.
Notice the pink candle...not planned, that was the only color candles we had.

The Dora banner has been up since Eleanor's birthday. Zoe asked me the other day when I was going to take it down. I thought about doing it yesterday, but then got distracted by something else, so there it remained for Matt's party...no wonder he doesn't want another girl!

After Zach devoured his piece of cake, Matt washed him up to go play. The rest of us started looking at the ultrasound pictures and didn't pay much attention to where Zach was. I looked over at the table and saw a very happy Zach in Eleanor's seat enjoying the rest of her cake. He ended up having a bath when he was done that piece.

Homework

Zoe and Emily enjoyed their first day at school. It was very quiet and clean here until they came home and were both telling me about their day at the same time, while pulling papers out of their backpacks and spreading them out everywhere. It was fun, though. It may wear off, but I think Emily is going to be better at telling me things that happened at school than Zoe has been, and I'm hoping that this will get Zoe talking more. It did yesterday. Zoe thought it was great that I got the homework on the first day of school instead of her. I spent my evening filling out paperwork for both Zoe and Emily. That should be my only night of homework, Zoe will have many more-ha ha ha! Zoe remembered this morning (right before it was time to get ready to catch the bus) that she was supposed to do some homework yesterday. So, we endured our first meltdown from Zoe for the schoolyear. I'm not convinced she really had to do what she said she needed to, but she got it done anyway...and then cried because she didn't like her drawing of a deer. She wanted me to draw a deer, and I must admit that it would have passed for a 2nd grade drawing, but I said no. She needs to do her own homework, plus she draws much better than I do. Just ask Eleanor who asked me to draw a horse for her, and she got an ant eater instead!

First Day of School

Can you tell how excited we are to start Kindergarten and 2nd grade?


No really, I am excited! I'll even show you my new backpack.


Me too!


Now here's some real excitement.



*sigh* There go my breakfast dishwashers.

My Life Monday and more

I like things to go in order, so I'll start with a video of Zoe riding her bike one day last week WITHOUT training wheels. I decided it would be easier for her to use a bike that is too small for her, than one that is a little too big. She really hasn't been on a bike most of the summer, so I finally took her training wheels off last week and after a day of riding, she was riding like a pro. Matt, she does come close to your truck, but she DOES NOT hit it...and it's the closest she got to it all day.

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing

I've wanted a little slide for Zach for awhile now, but I didn't want to pay full price for one. I thought it would be nice to go to some yard sales to see if I could find one. I went to a yard sale a few weeks ago and bought some outside toys for Zach and Eleanor, but no slide. My mom and I were driving home from having breakfast together on Saturday and we saw some toys by the road at someone's house, not far from our house. We passed and wondered if the toys were being given away and my mom decided to turn around. I'm glad she did because we got this slide for...free! Matt had to go pick it up with his truck...which is kind of fixed...and when he brought it home all the kids had fun playing on it.


*Truck update* Matt had his truck towed to a local shop, they did about $300 worth of work on it to say that the steering is fine...which is the problem that Matt wanted fixed because one minute the steering would be fine, and then the next it wouldn't be. Not good. So, we are still using one car, which I've become used to, and it is saving us money on gas which is helping us pay other bills and get out of debt. So, I don't wish for things to change right now.

We all took turns shooting at a target on Saturday. Zoe and Emily had a great time! The target we used is an old griddle.








We wore Zach out on Saturday sliding, swinging, bike riding, and eating ice cream.


Eleanor's face looks pretty bad with mosquito bites and scratches. This evening Matt told Eleanor that right now she has a face only a mother can love. Giggling, Eleanor replied back, "Yeah! look at YOUR face!" The girls and I thought it was funny!



On this Labor Day, I am celebrating my job as a full-time Mother. I am surrounded by love, fighting, cuddles, hitting, laughter, crying, singing, yelling, sharing, selfishness, excitement, boredom, dirty diapers, potty training, constant hunger...for food and attention, dirty faces and hands, smiles, frowns, learning, playing, Dora, paper dolls, trucks, binkies, blankies, silly songs, bedtime stories, and so much more, but I am tired from all the work I have done on this Labor day and I am going to bed. In my opinion, I have the BEST job a woman can have :-)
P.S. The worst job I have had was washing pots and pans at a university dining hall when I was in high school. I definitely DO NOT miss that.

Family Time

We went to Emily's open house at her school yesterday when Matt got home from work. Emily met her teacher. She has the same teacher that Zoe had for kindergarten, so I'm happy about that. Emily found her cubby, she found her name on a clothespin that she will move each day she gets to school to let the teacher know she is present that day, she found her name on a poster that tells her which colored table she will sit at each day, which will change day to day, she went to all the centers in the room to see what she will be playing and learning with (her favorite area was the play kitchen), and we all rode a schoolbus around the block. It took some time for Emily to feel comfortable in the classroom, but we almost had to drag her out of there when it was time to leave! She is ready for school to start on Tuesday.

When we got home from the open house, Matt set up a tent in our backyard for us to sleep in last night. Our first family campout (does that reveal how much I LOVE to camp???). I don't like to be cold, and my experiences of sleeping in a tent have involved freezing, and I can't sleep when I am cold. Matt took good care of me last night and gave me the best mattress and blanket, so I was very comfortable and warm. We read some books after we got in the tent, read our scriptures, said our prayers, and then it was lights out. Zach crawled around a bit, tortured Eleanor by pulling her binkie out of her mouth while she was trying to go to sleep, we realized he didn't have his binkie, so we searched a few minutes for it and found it, and then everyone settled down. Eleanor and Zach woke up throughout the night, Matt froze and slept a little, I slept good when Eleanor and Zach were sleeping, and Zoe and Emily slept great. When Zoe and Emily woke up this morning, they laughed when they realized that Eleanor was in Emily's spot, Emily was in Zoe's spot, and Zoe was on the grass. I'm glad we camped out. It was fun to sleep outside under the stars together.