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.

May I have a shot please?

Eleanor went to see the doctor yesterday for her 3 year check-up. She was very excited to get a shot...yes, you read that right, a shot. She told everyone in the doctor's office that would listen, "I'm getting a shot!" She watched Emily get 3 shots over the summer, so I think she figured since she was going to the doctor, she would get a shot, too. At one point she happily exclaimed, "I'm going to get a booboo, just like Emily!" After the nurse took Eleanor's blood pressure, Eleanor told us with a big smile on her face, "I got my booboo!" She didn't need any shots yesterday, not until she is 5...we'll see how excited she is about them then.

Monday news

Another day of laundry done...very exciting, I know! I did learn a few minutes ago that My Life Monday starts back up again next Monday, that's exciting, right? You do look forward to hearing about my life don't you?...well, I know my mother does. The only other news I have is that Zach does not go anywhere anymore without carrying a spoon. I try to pry the spoon out of his hand after he eats, but he has quite a strong grip and he will.not.let.it.go! Matt and I conclude that he's so hungry all the time that he feels the need to be ready to eat at a moment's notice.

Camping with dad

Matt, Zoe, and Emily went on a canoe/camping trip last night. Emily wasn't planning on going, but Matt and I decided she would have fun if she went, so we packed her things and at the last minute when she was holding onto the canoe for Matt while he was loading it, I said goodbye to her and told her she was going. She cried, screaming that she didn't want to go, but when I saw her this morning she said, "I didn't like it, I LOVED it!"...which I guess is what Matt told her to tell me, but she really did mean it. I dropped them off yesterday around 5pm and they canoed to their "secret hideout" which is about an hour away. According to Matt, Zoe and Emily set up their own tent. He would show them what to do and then he would take it apart for them to do. They ate dinner and then they roasted marshmallows for a treat.
Emily said the boring part of the trip was waiting for Matt to pack up this morning.
Zoe and Emily love the movie "Parent Trap" (both old and new versions), so I think as in the movie, the father/daughter campout before school starts has officially become a tradition for them.

They're keepers today

The kids and I left our house this morning at 9:45am and got home at 4:30pm. Zoe and Emily had swim lessons and then we went shopping. The kids were GREAT today. Every once in awhile people will come up to me in a public place and tell me how well behaved my kids are. Usually I think they're mistaken, especially the time a lady was telling me how good my kids were in a restaurant as Eleanor was standing on her chair, dancing to the music. But today if someone would have said something about my well-behaved children, I would have agreed. It was a good shopping day. So, here are 13 things we bought today...



1. Stamps
2. Backpack x2
3. Lunchbox for Emily
4. Box of crayons x3
5. crayon holder x3
6. waterbottle x3
7. craft toy x3
8. A puzzle for Zach
9. Easy Ups (Dora, yay!)
10. Diapers
11. socks x2
12. Sneakers x2
13. A birthday gift for my mom

If someone knows who created the Thursday Thirteen theme, I'd be delighted to know.

I really like the girls' new crayons and holders. I like how the holders zip up so Zach can't get into them, and if the holder gets knocked over the crayons won't spill out. I wish the crayons and holders would look this neat and wonderful all the time!

Perfection isn't always the best, right?

I'm feeling better about Emily's hair today. It's not perfect, but it does look cute and she likes it, although this morning she asked me if it has grown any yet. Thanks for your encouraging comments!

Delete hairdresser from my duties

Zach discovered the fun of playing "ring around the rosies" this morning. He did it over, and over, and over again with Eleanor. Luckily, Eleanor enjoyed it just as much as he did.

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Emily has wanted her hair cut for a few weeks now, so I decided to cut it this morning. I thought it wise to cut it myself and save some money, but now I'm wishing I would have paid money to have someone else cut it. I did a great job on the left side, but the right side doesn't look as good, and the back could use some more work. Emily wanted her hair shoulder length, but when I got done, it was chin length. Lucky for me, she likes it. By the end of the evening, Emily was tired of me looking and playing with her hair. I'm not sure if she's going to let me do some touch up work on it, maybe in a few days.

Sad, but cute

When I asked Eleanor what happened after Emily chased her down the hall and pushed her (I assumed that is what happened from the noise) Eleanor replied in tears, "Emily threw me away!" It was so cute that I silently laughed while I comforted her...while Emily was laughing hysterically out loud. She thought it was very funny that her sister thought she was throwing her away.

Playing, organizing, and teaching

Zoe and I had the opportunity to volunteer at a local theater last night and then we stayed to watch the play "Fiddler on the Roof". I collected tickets with another lady and we let the people know which side of the theater they would be sitting. Zoe handed out programs with a friend. It was worth working half an hour before the play to watch it for free, plus get free popcorn, candy, and drinks. The play was fun to watch, especially since I knew two people in the show. Zoe enjoyed it as well. I had done volunteer work at this theater before with our church youth group, but that was when I was pregnant with Emily, so it has been awhile. I hope to do it again soon.

I started and finished Zoe's first grade scrapbook today. I save papers that I want to put in her scrapbook throughout the school year and today I put the papers in plastic covers and put them in a 3 ring binder. Now she can start second grade and Emily can start kindergarten without me stressing that I still need to organize things from last year. Yay!

Emily and I had an interesting conversation today about marriage. It started out by talking about houses. She asked how we got our house, so I told her that Matt and I bought it, and I said that she and her husband could pick out a house someday. In a disgusted voice she tells me that she is NOT in love with anyone. But then she was curious how people decide to marry each other and she asked about me and Matt. I told her that we met at church, Matt asked me out and we saw a movie, we had fun so we spent more time together, and we liked spending time together and liked each other, so we got married. Then Emily got concerned and asked, "But what if the boy likes me, but I don't like him." I told her she didn't have to marry anyone she didn't like and she announced that she would NOT marry someone she didn't like. Then she wondered how she would meet someone to marry. I told her they could meet just about anywhere, and I mentioned that maybe a friend of hers would introduce her to someone, and I named a few friends of hers at church. She told me that she would get married before a certain friend at church because her friend only comes up to Emily's neck, and then another friend only comes up to her forehead, so she wouldn't get married before Emily either. I told her that her friend that comes up to her forehead is older than her, so her friend might get married before her, and then Emily said that Zoe would get married first. I of course then took the opportunity to talk about marrying in the temple and she would need to find someone of our faith to marry if she wanted to marry in the temple. It was good that Zoe was listening as well. It's nice when these teaching moments come up in a conversation :-)

TGIF

I've been thinking all morning that it is Thursday, so I was going to post a "Thursday Thirteen" list, but guess what?...it's FRIDAY! When I realized it was Friday, I thought about the babycenter site because today starts my 17th week of pregnancy. So, the food our baby is compared to this week is a large onion. I guess that would be an onion bigger than an avacado.
Speaking of food...Zoe and Emily are hungry. They don't seem to get hungry until I am doing something that I don't want to stop doing. I just asked them why that is and Zoe says it's because they get bored watching me doing what I'm doing. So, when they're bored they get hungry...yeah, that is why we eat sometimes. They were very content a few minutes ago playing paper dolls while I was doing the dishes. I would have gladly stopped doing the dishes to get them something to eat.

Zach has had enough of the girls having their own chairs in the living room, but not him. He took matters into his own hands by bringing Zoe's old "blue's clues thinking chair" from the bedroom down the hall into the living room to sit on. It fits him very well.

What comes next?

Since I found out I am pregnant, I have been checking out the babycenter site to get an update on the development of our baby. You would think that by baby #5 I would have this all memorized by now, but I don't. I don't remember my babies in the past being compared to food so much, but our baby has grown from the size of a sesame seed, to a lentil bean, to a raspberry, to a kidney bean, to a grape, to a kumquat, to a fig, to a lime, to a jumbo shrimp, to a lemon, and now is the size of an avocado...at least for a couple more days. I must admit that I've become addicted to the knowledge of what food our baby will be compared to. Although I've delivered 4 babies, I'm a little nervous to find out what size food our baby will be compared to at 40 weeks. Getting a picture in my head of delivering a watermelon might put me over the edge and force me to opt for a c-section.