Today's Tip

Okay, today's tip is: For a very clean house, get rid of half you own!

My Laundry Taming Tips

I know all of you out there are in desperate need of LAUNDRY REFORM! Well, you've come to the right place. I spent countless moments pondering the great theory I have of doing laundry, and I came up with these helpful tips for all of you! Hope they help! If they do, I'll be posting more fabulous ideas to help you get your home in order. Now, if only someone could do the same for my brain!

If you have tips of your own, feel free to include them in the comments. We could all use a little help now and then! Watch out Fly Lady, here we come!

Laundry Taming Tips

1. Decide how often and when to do laundry.
A. Do one to two loads EACH Day; having everyone take their laundry to the laundry room each day and sort it into bins by color. Then, first thing in the morning, run the loads through.
OR

B. Pick two days a week to spend all day running laundry through. Choose days that you are home and not out running errands and make it the same two days each week. Have everyone take their laundry to the laundry room on specified days and sort into bins by color.

2. You can’t do it all alone! It is a privilege for your family to have their laundry done. Teach children to appreciate that their laundry is being done for them. When they grimace when you ask them to help, tell them that you worked really hard to wash and fold their laundry and that you appreciate them for putting it away, and then make sure they put it away. You can reward an empty laundry basket, if you want.

3. Set the buzzer on the washer and drier and keep up with it. Each time you hear the buzzer, run to the washer and switch loads. Keep it moving. This is the best advice for getting it done in a timely manner. If you’re heading out the door, switch loads. During the commercials, switch loads. It is very quick to switch loads. Commit to doing it when the buzzer rings!

4. Fold and hang as you go. This step makes doing laundry much EASIER! When the drier buzzer rings, immediately fold or hang the laundry as it is coming out of the drier. This is also the time to sort each person’s clothes. Set aside a basket for each person, and fill it as you go, making stacks for pants, shirts, stack underwear, and socks. Create a place to hang laundry and lay it over the kid’s full baskets.

5. Sorting Socks. Never, I repeat, NEVER create a sock pile. Instead, sort socks as you go. The best way to stay organized is to have a specific set of socks for each person. It may be a little boring, but when you have a lot of socks to sort, this makes it much easier! This works for underwear too! Hang the socks on the sides of the baskets and when you find a match, roll them together. If you end up with a sock without a mate, put it or have the kids put it in the drawer and match it when the mate comes through. You may need to periodically go through everyone’s sock drawers and mate socks. This should be quarterly.

6. Have each child put their own laundry away. Even the little ones can help push baskets of laundry around for you! Remember you’re a TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More).

7. Tidy up your laundry room and make it a nice place that you will want to visit!

8. Make sure you tell your husband and kids how much you appreciate them often, especially when they are doing only what is expected of them. Gratitude makes life more beautiful!

MY DAY!

Okay, okay, okay, it is finally my birthday, my FAVORITE day of the year! I'm not ashamed to say that I'm 38 today! Maybe in two more years, the shame factor will start creeping up on me, but for now, I'm going to embrace and celebrate! I know that I'm supposed to be humble on my birthday and quietly let it slide by--hoping that people will remember, but yet not being so bold as to remind anyone, but Today I am shameless! I shout to the world, "IT"S MY BIRTHDAY!" (It's also the birthday of two other people who live on my street).

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to crop on this computer. Hunter was so cute, he came to me with the Primary Children's Song book and asked me which song I would like sung for my birthday. I said that I wanted ALL of the birthday songs, so they spent 5 minutes--pre-cake--singing to me. It was very sweet! My family takes birthdays very seriously. They really spoiled me!

Today, I was pondering why I get so excited about birthdays. I mean, most other days, I don't really care much for myself. But on my birthday, I feel that I should be treated as a princess! There are many frivolous reasons for my excitement; #1 I can eat anything,without guilt, including as much birthday cake as I want (that will stop when I eventually have to join Weight Watchers which will sadly change my relationship with birthday cake). #2 It only comes around once every 365 days. #3 EVERYONE calls or emails and tells me how much they love me (this is important, cuz you know how I feel about calling). #4 I get to be lazy and overlook all of the dirty dishes lying around, and the dirty socks, and the dirty clothes, and the naughty children, etc. (yes, today I had all of those). #5 I get showered with lots of presents (even if they were purchased for the purchaser who used it as an excuse to get what he wanted).

These should be reasons enough, however, I wanted to delve even deeper into my shallow brain for a substantial reason. I was not disappointed! I discovered that the true reason I get so excited for my birthday--or any one's birthday--is because it is a celebration of the greatest magnitude; on our birthdays, we are celebrating fulfilling one of God's most important steps in returning to Him. We are celebrating the day when we received a mortal BODY! It is remarkable to know that I made the choice to come down to earth and take on the "world." Now, don't you think that deserves a celebration? I most certainly do! And it justifies my great feeling of self importance on this one day of the year.

On my birthday, I will always think of my good friend, Ira Sharp, who always celebrated her birthday with pizazz. She had the most amazing costume parties! She loves that day too and I will forever feel connected to her because of it!

I am living up every moment of this day, although, half of my family was ill and feeling a bit unbirthdaylike. I have a mere 6 minutes left of this wonderfully fabulous day, and I am doing what I love best; sitting in my office, creating cards, and blogging. Life doesn't get much better than this.

I am expecting another great year--until the return of this, the most fabulous day of the year! I appreciate all of YOU who constantly add to my joy and happiness!

Trojan Spirit Week

I love having a high schooler! Last week was Spirit Week and Alex thoroughly got into it. He spent countless hours and dollars in prep for each day. He forgot about it on Monday, but called home to have us send him a couple of items for Pirate day. The next day was Senior Citizen Day. This will be Alex in 50 years!

Look! It's Mr. Rogers!
Then he had Hippie Day. It was all I could do to get Alex to do his homework before he started putting his costumes together! I ended up cutting a really good pair of jeans to make these bell-bottoms, but they look so good, I think he could wear them any day of the week and look stylin'!

I might be a little biased here, but can't you see this child in the movies? He's beautiful!There was a super hero day thrown in the week somewhere, and Alex was debating between Darth Vadar and Batman. He settled on Batman, thankfully! He wore his costume from a couple of years ago.

Lastly, was Spirit Day. Alex stayed up until 3 AM and created this costume out of cardboard. It was amazing and I am so proud of his artistic ability! Of course the girls loved all of his costumes, and I think the guys respected him for being so daring. He got a lot of compliments, but his favorite was that he was the best dressed for EACH day!

We ended the week attending the Homecoming game. Alex invited Hannah and I and then ditched us as soon as we entered the gate. Ah, teenagers! I enjoyed watching him from my seat--in his Trojan gear--with his friends.

It's Getting a Little Fruity Around Here!

Fruit, Fruit, Fruit! This is the place to be if you want to can fruit! Everybody does it. For the past couple of weeks, I have been canning apples! I made a batch of very sour apple sauce that I sweetened with local honey. And Friday, I made apple pie filling. The prep work was excruciating, but the end results were magnificent! It is now SO easy to make an apple pie or an apple crisp, and it is so yummy, and the best part is that the apples are from my OWN tree! Yeah! Definitely well-worth the work.

My apple tree is dropping its apples as if it knew it was the first of fall! So, today I plan to make MORE applesauce. Then I will be able to donate the rest of the apples to others who are in need of excruciating, time consuming, yet well-worth it, work.

Last month, I was given raspberries and apricots, and I made some delicious jam. People are very generous here with all of their excess produce. It is actually a lot of fun.

I bought a case of peaches and a case of pears, and you guessed it, I'm going to be canning them too! Next week will be salsa with a case of tomatoes! Somebody STOP me! The main problem is that I keep running out of jars and I have to keep running back and forth to the store for more.

I really feel that Heavenly Father has blessed us with a very good crop this year so that we can get ourselves prepared for the future! Every little bit of added food storage helps! If you haven't done so yet, I encourage you to get going on your food storage too! It's getting tricky in this little old world, and we need to be prepared!

Best of canning to you!

Unspectacular Quirks

I was tagged last month by Connie (Girls just wanna have fun), and I finally decided to get it posted. This is a hard one--difficult to expose my quirks to all of you who think I'm perfect!

1. Post these rules.
2. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
3. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them

1. I am obsessed with watching 7th Heaven reruns right now. I didn't see them the first time around. I block out 11-1 daily to watch. It's almost to the point where I want to get tivo!

2. When I have company over, the house has to be immaculate. It usually gets immaculate, but at the expense of my poor husband and children! Working on lightening up.

3. I like routines and get grouchy when plans change.

4. I am horribly embarrassed to drive my van that is missing 3 hubcaps! But I think it's humbling for me, so I do it with a smile--or rather a grimace!

5. I work best under pressure, so I usually wait until the last minute to do things, and somehow manage to pull it off at the expense of my nerves!

6. One more--phew, this is really hard! I hate to make phone calls. It kills me to even have to call to make a hair cut appointment. I never want to inconvenience anyone.--On the flip side, I LOVE it when people call me (as long as 7th Heaven isn't on).

Okay, having to make 6 other people do this is stressing me out. So, you don't have to do it if you're busy or don't want to!

I'm going to tag Sylvia, Amber, Julie, Susanna, Audrey, Jenny. Good Luck!

Hurricane Ike

Our Thoughts and prayers go out to the people in Hurricane Ike's wake. Especially our good friends the Allens in Houston Texas! God be with you! And PLEASE let us know you are okay as soon as you get phone service back!!!!

Connor's First Day of Preschool

Connor finally got to join the ranks of school kids! He was so excited for his first day of preschool. He showed a little worry, though, when he asked me if daddy had to work that day. I thought he wanted his dad to be there after that first day away from home or to pick him up from school or something. I told him that he was going to work. He puffed out his lower lip and said, "I don't want you to be lonely." He wanted to make sure that James would be home to keep me company. It was so sweet. I made sure he knew that Mommy would be just fine all by herself. And she was!

Craters of the Moon Memorial Day

We have tried a couple of different times to go to Craters of the Moon national monument, but at 90 miles away, it has eluded us. So, Memorial Day was the day! It was very cold that day, so the beach was out. We packed up the kids and the car and headed out. No one but James was thrilled to be going. I was Switzerland--neutral.
See how tiny those people look in the distance?!? Big hill!

Everyone ended up having a lot of fun! It is a very strange and unique place. Craters of the Moon is a vast ocean of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones and sagebrush. It can be seen from outer space! http://www.nps.gov/crmo/

We started out at this hill. It was very strange. It was made up of little bits of lava. It sounded squeaky when you walked on it. The kids energetically ran up the hill. James and I ran up the hill after them. Then we started walking, then wheezing! I thought my lungs would burn up! I am definitely out of shape! Emily actually found snow in the crevasse of a tree on the top of the hill! Usually it is extremely hot there. The lava can get up to 150 degrees! I was grateful for the cool weather!

I know they post these signs for my family! Hunter got a sprained ankle and had to sit out for a while.
The exit to the cave. We had to climb up the rocks to make it through the passage way.

Next we took a guided tour of the lava tubes--or caves. This was called Indian Tunnel because it had ancient rings of rocks surrounding it from previous Native American ceremonies. The kids had a great time exploring the lava rocks and caves. We were able to climb and explore all over the place.

Proof that people did land on the moon--Craters of the Moon!
Alex tried to make the ride home a little more exciting by wearing a turban and listening to his tunes!

It was a fun family day!

Goldfish

Hunter's wish was for a fish, so for his birthday we surprised him with 3 goldfish. They died 3 days later. What is it with goldfish anyway? Thankfully, and quite morbidly, I had already taken Hunter aside to explain that goldfish are very fragile and they don't live very long. He didn't seem to mind too much that they died. However I found poor Connor on his bed hiding underneath his covers crying. I guess I should have given him the morbid fish talk too! We won't be getting any more.

August 30 Hunter's Birthday

Our joyous little Hunter is now 7! We always start out with breakfast in bed, but never has the birthday person gotten up before the breakfast is served . . . until now. Hunter came bounding in our room at 7 am on Sat morn asking me when he was going to get his breakfast in bed. Since we had stayed up very late, I was hoping for a little later breakfast, but I plopped Hunter in my bed and trudged into the kitchen to make his breakfast. He is always so happy, I couldn't help myself! (James was still trying to sleep)


I recently saw an Oprah episode in which parents were spending outrageous amounts ($10,000) for their children's parties. So I decided to blog about how to create the most amazing birthday party on the teeniest budget! I was even going to display a detailed list of the cost of everything. Well, I am proud of how little we spent on the party, but I almost wiped myself out putting it all together! So, as the saying goes; give me your time (and effort) or give me your money! If I were to put an amount on the time I spent, it would have been an outrageously expensive party! But since I love party planning and party throwing so much, I feel my time was well spent!

I will spare you all the details of the exact numbers of the party, but I'll tell you all of my cost cutting ideas, you know, in case you were wanting to throw a wedding reception for under $100 or something.

We'll start with the invitations. Hunter chose his theme; AVATAR. I found several great images on google and ran with it. I created the invite on the computer and then we hand delivered them (no cost).

Decorations and paper products. I went to my stash and found that I had yellow plates and napkins from a previous party as well as random party hats and blowers. Since the colors for the party were orange, yellow, and blue (I know he's only 7--let me have my fun!), I knew these would work! Since Avatar is not that big of a theme, I would have had to order it online, and it would have cost about $30. I used plain Sam's Club cups. To spruce them up, I printed off another image and with "Happy Birthday Hunter," cut them and wrapped them around the cups. I ended up having to buy a table cloth, which I wanted orange, but had to settle for yellow because there are no orange tablecloths anywhere in Idaho! A couple of bucks for the table cover.

Every party needs a pinata! I made one by using a jumbo (Sam's Club sized) cereal box and, once again, printed off some images and glued them to the upside down box. Then I cut tissue paper into strips and cut fringe into them. I glued these all around and voi la Pinata! I put all of the prizes and candy into baggies so that each child would have the same amount. I also added extra shredded tissue paper and extra candy. I filled it and closed the bottom (top) by inserting the tab into the slit. I didn't know if this would hold, so I put a little tape over the seam. It turned out to be extremely durable. After Alex ripped the rope from the pinata in one aggressive hit with a bat, I had to slit the tape with a knife, and kind of let everything fall out after a final whack by Hunter.

The costume (I know it's a little overboard, but I was also thinking toward Halloween)! I went online and got a few ideas on how to make an Aang costume. Connor wanted one too, so I made two. I was able to find some fabric for $1 a yard at Walmart. I loved how the nylon stocking made the perfect skull cap! Blue painter's tape made a great arrow on Aang's head. This was a very time consuming process, but it made the party more festive to actually have two Air Benders running around. I neglected starting this project until the morning of the party---bad idea!

That brings us to the cake. Once again, I went online to get some images of Avatar cakes. They were few and far between, but I did find this design which I knew would be quite easy! Unfortunately, I ran out of my one true commodity--time--in order to get the cake finished. The guests arrived, and I hadn't even started decorating it yet. We changed plans and let the kids watch an Avatar episode so they would be up on all things Avatar. It ended up being a very good idea because I was able to finish the cake and decompress before the fun began!

Water Bending. Don't the kids look thrilled standing in line?

Earth Bending (funny we don't have any pictures of the actual birthday boy here).

Air bending. This was the favorite part of the game!

The Games. I also left planning the games until the morning of--bad idea! It turned out great, but was just a little stressful until I had the plans nailed down. We had an Avatar obstical course. The first thing they did was "water bending." They took the hose and sprayed balloons attached to the trampoline. Then they "earth bended" by throwing rocks into a box. Then they jumped over a "burning" ball to represent "fire bending" then they ran into the solarium and went "air bending" by blowing the balloons in the hot tub with the vacuum! We also played a few other games found on Family Fun.com.

All in all, I think I spent less than $30 on the party (not including gifts)! It ended up being a very fun party and I think the birthday boy really enjoyed it! My favorite part was telling the kids that it was time to go home!

First Day of School

We have survived the first day of school! It was a little rough in places, but as of right now, all of the kids are in bed in preparation for day #2.

Despite my efforts at being organized, my grand flow chart schedule (mentioned before) caused more disappointment than help. Somehow I forgot to include bus numbers on it, so I ended up having to drive all of the kids to school since we didn't know what buses to put them on!

I stayed up way too late last night, so felt very groggy this morning. I feigned cheerfulness, however, and got everyone off without too much contention. I even sang Zippity Doo Dah as we drove along. It seems that everyone was a little on edge this morning, not knowing exactly how this day would play out.

Yesterday, I was so excited for the big send off, that I invited a couple of friends over for a celebratory breakfast after the kids left, but I felt so down in the dumps, that I called and cancelled. I then put myself back to bed. When I woke up, instead of feeling free and excited to tackle many new projects like I usually do on that first day back to school, I sadly sat on the couch and stared at the school across the street.

Could this really mean that I was sad to see my children leave? Am I getting to the point in my life that I can see the end coming more quickly? Does this mean that I really love my children? I felt like the Grinch when his heart grew two sizes. I just sat there, loving my children, and missing them. It was a good feeling.

After moping most of the day, I finally got moving and made the kids oatmeal raisin cookies, and Connor made them some mini-muffins. We wrote a welcome home message on the dry erase board, and by then it was time to welcome Hunter home. He was amazingly cheerful and chatted about his day. Emily popped in surprisingly soon after Hunter. She too had had a terrific day and told me all about it. We waited a long time for Alex and Hannah to get home. Apparently the buses were all messed up. They finally rolled in at 5pm right as I was backing out of the driveway to go and find them. They, too, were in high spirits, excited about their new year at school!

Tomorrow, the party is back on! I'm sure I'll be back to my old partying self; ready to tackle the entire house and any new project that may come my way!

The Toothless Wonder

Hunter lost his second front tooth. It was much less traumatic this time! Each day he would ask me if it was time to pull out the tooth. His smile was priceless with his one tooth sticking out through his closed lips. He looked like a true West Virginian! Now it is so funny because he has so much space in front where there are no teeth. He talks pretty funny too! I keep thinking of that line in the movie Babe where the pig bites the sheep and the sheep laughs because Babe doesn't have any teeth. Hunter is my own little toothless wonder!

Getting Ready to Camp

Alex was able to go on a three day backpacking trip in Yellowstone last weekend with the scouts. He had a great time. They had to carry all of their supplies with them, including their food! Alex packed a lot of Ramen noodle soup, jerky, and dried apples. I'm sure his stomach wasn't doing too well on the trip.

When everything was packed, his pack weighed between 55 and 60 lbs! What a hike!

It's The MOST WONDERFUL Time of the YEAR!

I just love that Office Depot or Staples commercial with the parents gleefully shopping while dragging their grumpy faced children along collecting school supplies to the Christmas tune "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!" I can SO relate! I wasn't feeling schooly until last week, and then it hit me HARD! I couldn't stand one more rip roaring fight between my girls, one more high pitched scream from the boys or the constant mess of my house! I became very ready for them to go back! I long for the days when I can walk from room to room and view the cleanliness in quiet solitude. I long to sit on the couch and read to my heart's content. I long to make myself a nice, healthy lunch (no more pb&Js) and eat it on the couch in the living room while watching TV without feeling guilty! Oh, the blissful joy! Next Thursday can't come soon enough. And then I remember that I will have 5 kids in FIVE DIFFERENT schools this year!!! That's a lot of running back and forth, and what to do about parent teacher conferences!?!

Here is the rundown; Connor starts pre-school but thankfully not until after Labor Day. Hunter will go to 1st grade in the Elementary School, which was so crowded, that they had to send the 5th graders to a different Elementary School, which of course is Emily's grade. Hannah will go to Middle School, and Alex will go to High School. We are missing the Jr. High, but will catch it next year when Hannah moves up. If I had another child Jr. high age, it could be 6 schools! But we won't even go there.

Since we live in town, the bus situation is a little sketchy. They don't specifically accommodate in-town kids. The kids have to catch the bus at one school, and transfer to another bus at the next school, and then hopefully make it to their own school. It could be tricky the first day of school.

It is so complex, that I made myself a diagram (if I end up typing it, I'll post it here for your entertainment); 5 different start and stop times, bus times, oh, and they get out of school early on Wed. I think the Middle school also gets out early on Thursdays, but I haven't worked that one out yet. All of the times have changed since last year, and I haven't discovered when High School starts yet. Alex was supposed to have orientation tomorrow, but he'll be camping in Yellowstone. So we'll have to make a trip to the HS next week.

I'm sure that my anticipated relaxation will have to wait at least until the second week! We will win Olympic medals if we don't lose anyone on that first day! It makes me tired just thinking of it all!

Good luck out there to all of you parents sending kids off in the next couple of weeks. We'll all need it! Maybe those home schoolers have something going for them after all!!!

The End of Soccer

I am surprised to find myself somewhat saddened that soccer season has ended. I thought I would really dread having two kids in soccer, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm sure the fact that we live right across the street from the field helped a lot! Emily practiced a block away, and Hunter practiced a few blocks away. Emily would walk to her practices and we had to drive Hunter, but most of their games were across the street. The weather was always wonderful!
Most of Emily's teammates had played soccer before, but this was Emily's first year. Her team was undefeated (even though they don't keep score). I think she preferred the social and snacking aspects of soccer to the actual game! She did not like running on the field and I was constantly "cheering" for her to get into the game, but she was content to just walk and chat with her friends. I doubt she'll be playing again next year. The best was that she got a trophy and a gold medal! Way to go Emily!
Of course, I had to make a soccer ball cake for the last game! The colors look strange, but it was neon yellow to go with their shirts and green grass on the bottom.
Hunter also had several teammates who had previously played. This is Hunter with his friend, Blake. Blake broke her nose last year playing soccer--WOW, I can't believe she came back this year! It was so much fun watching Hunter play soccer. He was so enthusiastic. During the games he would just run around behind the crowd and follow everyone. Before his game tonight, I gave him a little pep talk. I told him to chase after THE BALL rather than the other kids. He played his best game tonight. He actually got in a couple of really good kicks. Now if he'll just remember that for next year! His coach was AMAZING!!! After each game she would give the kids a soccer ball patch for attending practice, and another patch to signify their contribution to the game. Each child was MVP at one game. The red patch was the blood patch for the child who got hurt. After the last game tonight, she had a barbecue for all of the families. She really was a great coach!

I will really miss the excuse of getting out and enjoying the fresh air. We have a tendency to stay couped up inside too much. All of the kids will be taking art classes in the fall for their extra curricular activity. Go Picasso! It will be good to spend the days indoors as it grows cold all too soon here in Idaho. Summer. . . until we meet again!

Newspaper Hats

We got an unexpected package from Grandma Moore today, and we excitedly tore it open! I was excited to find a Pampered Chef Grilling Spatula, a napkin folding book, a stained glass window book, and some yummy wheat recipes (yeah! Thank you Grandma!).

The kids, who had about 10 friends over today, discovered the newspaper Grandma used to stuff the box to protect its contents. Hannah decided to entertain the kids and made a paper scalp cap out of the paper which she put on and then chased all of the kids around the house. After a little while, Connor came to me and asked me to make him a knight helmet, sword, and armour. His little friend, Aiden also wanted knight gear. One by one they all came begging for hats. I started making sailboat hats for the rest. They had such a great time running around with their newspaper attire. Who knew how excited they would be by Grandma Moore's wonderful gift? Way to go Grandma, you knew just what they would want!

Allen Reception

On Friday we took a trip down to Logan to attend a wedding reception for Jared and Rachel Allen. We had no idea that our friends from VA who moved to TX and sent their son to IN to school would have a reception in UT!!! It was a wonderful way to see our long lost friends, Mike and Karrie Allen and Michelle Hart! Although short, our visit was well worth the 5 hour drive!

Jared and Rachel Allen

A sweet Moment with Connor.


Emily and Karrie adore each other. I wish we were closer so Karrie could be more a part of Emily's life (and all of us, of course).

Michelle Hart, Karrie, Sunny
Michelle's new boyfriend (you go girl!) Michelle, and me.
James and Emily.

Also on Friday--8/8/08, at 8:08 AM, my aunt Nancy Kirkham got married to Chris Saby in Kamas. We are excited for them. Congratulations Nancy!