Trying to stay balanced

I have felt lately that I'm not getting done what I want to/need to everyday and this blog is proof since I haven't written since Tuesday. I've thought about making a chart of the things I want to accomplish everyday, but I have yet to do that either. It's important to me to have a balanced day meeting physical, spiritual, and emotional needs for myself and for the kids. It can be overwhelming to think of ALL the things that need to get done each week. It helps me to stay focused and to be productive when I take one day at a time and set little goals for each day, but lately I have just felt overwhelmed. Finding the balance between cleaning and taking care of/playing with the kids can be tricky and stressful. Wednesday, I spent the majority of the day cleaning the kids' room. It really needed it! I did take time to play with Zach, but I had a hard time enjoying that time because I was surrounded by messes that needed to be put away and I was focused on what needed to get done. Yesterday, I had a few things I wanted to get done, but I never got around to them. I did play more with the kids, which was fun, but at the end of the day I focused on what didn't get done. I feel good about my day when I am able to do a little bit of cleaning, a little bit of playing with the kids, a little bit of blogging, a little bit of preparing for my Sunday School lesson, and when I take the time to pray and read the scriptures.

Anyway, here are a few highlights from the week. Awhile ago, I played a game with Eleanor after school that I made up to find out more about her day. I told her I would tell her something about my day and then she had to tell me something about hers. She thought it was fun and I had fun because I learned specific things about her day. It was funny because I had noticed a lot of marker on her hands and arms the day before and when we were playing this game, she told me that her class couldn't use the markers anymore. Why she had marker all over her made sense after that! I think the kids in her class took advantage of the sub they had while her teacher was out due to surgery. I'm glad Mrs. Pelletier is back now! So, Wednesday night as we ate dinner Eleanor thought it would be fun for us to go around the table and share something about our day. It was fun! That was my cleaning day and I had found some things of Eleanor's that had gone missing, so I revealed to her what I had found during this game. One of the things I had found was her Nintendo pen...which is now missing again!

Yesterday morning, I loved watching Kate sit in the middle of the living room with a basket full of board books. She took one out, looked at it, then put it aside and picked up another one. She was so content and so cute.

Jerry and Judy came over for a visit yesterday. They brought Zach a toy crocodile that grows in water and a little toy robot for his birthday, which is tomorrow. Zach has been counting down the days this week! Zach was afraid the toy crocodile was going to bite him, but after awhile he realized it wasn't going to bite him and he played with it. Kate loved the crocodile, which caused fighting between Zach, who didn't want to touch the crocodile, but didn't want Kate touching it either, and Kate, who kept taking the crocodile to play with it. Now the crocodile is sitting in water to grow.

I took Zoe to Activity Days last night (I've been calling Activity Days Achievement, but I am going to call it by it's updated name now...you know like calling Enrichment meeting Homemaking meeting because old habits are hard to break...) at Sunshine's house. I took Zach with me to play with Kai and Koa. Zoe and Kayla made a crossword puzzle to use during a Family Home Evening lesson. We stayed an extra hour when it was done, so Zoe could play with Kai and Koa. She loves playing with them and being at Sunshine's home! I didn't mind because I enjoy visiting with Sunshine. Matt had his High Council meeting last night, but he asked if he could call in because his car won't start, so we are down to just the Yukon running right now.

We are disconnecting our phone today, so for those of you who have our number, you'll be getting a new number soon...unless you are long distance because we're only going to have local calling. We'll probably get a calling card for long distance calling at some point. We have Vonage, which is a bargain, but it connects through our cable and we are disconnecting our cable next week. It was a hard decision to make since we won't have internet in our home anymore, which means I won't be able to update my blog everyday...or every few days, and get on Facebook everyday, etc..., but we are focusing on needs right now and having the internet hooked up at home is not a need...really, it's not. I'm hoping to get over to my parents' house once a week to update my blog and get on the internet. We have one more week to enjoy this luxury!