My Baby is FIVE! (Oct 20, 2008)

. Now, isn't that the happiest little birthday boy you've ever seen!

I can't believe that my sweet little Connor is 5 years old! I keep trying to hold him on my lap and cuddle with him, but he's just getting SO big! I keep using baby shampoo, though, so he'll at least still smell like my sweet little baby--with a little stinky boy mixed in with it.

We had a fun party for Connor. The pre party was a little stressful. My friend asked me to watch her little boy for a couple of hours, which was fine, but then a million other kids came over, and I really got stressed out. Which is typical for me and pre parties. But once all the kiddies went home, I took a deep breath and did away with about half of what I was planning. I'm learning that it's okay to tone things down a little now and again ;)

We decided to invite two families who have kids who are Connor's friends over for the big birthday. We had a pumpkin carving party. My kitchen is so small! Well, the dining area, anyway, so I felt a little claustrophobic! Thankfully we have the sun room. I decked it out with black balloon bats hanging from the ceiling, and creepy silhouettes in the windows. And, of course, more black balloons in the hot tub! (Had to cut back on spider webs and other decorations due to time and stress) Emily told me I was creative. That made me feel good. It's the small things, ya know. I decided to fuse Batman and Halloween Bats. It kind of worked. As far as Connor knew, it was FANTASTIC!!! James told me I seemed to be having a great time and that I seemed relaxed. Well, if I pulled that off, and everyone had fun, then the party was a success!

Blow, don't spit, Connor. (Oh, how I love cake!) Batman was from our sprinkler that broke. I cleaned it up and slapped it on the cake--PRESTO~! (yes, more cost cutting party tips)

Connor wanted triangle eyes and nose and only TWO teeth!

Connor's favorite gift was from none other, than MOM!

We invited last minute the Kilpatric family to join us in our pumpkin carving. I got to hold baby Seth so I could get out of the carving fun! As I held him, I told Connor that he used to be that tiny. Seems strange to remember that now. It seems like he was born a toddler. His infancy went by SOOOO quickly.

And of course, we LOVE those nutty Buska's. They are so much fun to have over!

Happy Birthday my little amazing five year old!

My Mini Surgery

Today I had a type of "mini" surgery. I went in for a stomach scope. All went well. Going under anesthesia was a very strange experience! I closed my eyes in the O.R. and then opened them--but 30 minutes had somehow slipped by. I have been groggy all day. A balloon was inflated in my esophagus to enable easier swallowing. I highly recommend this procedure. Yeah! I can eat again!

A taste of things to come!

To Share, or Not to Share

I've finally decided start taking care of my physical health. I have put myself on the back burner for far too long. It is time to help myself become the best--and healthiest--person I can be! I will be going in for surgery on November 13th. I will spare all of you the details, but your prayers would be very comforting!

Winter has come to Idaho!

Good Old Idaho Snowballs in October! Now, is it really necessary to pull out the Christmas books?

We went to bed last night with about an inch of snow on the ground! The kids got so excited . . . and a little confused. Connor decided to write a letter to Santa! They put on their Christmas pajamas, and had Emily read a Christmas story to them. Silly kids!

We awoke this morning to about 2 inches! The little boys were so excited and eager to play in the snow after church. They were highly disappointed as we walked out the door and saw only green grass on the ground! This crazy Idaho weather! I'm happy to see it go! We are so happy that we got an extra week of fall this year. Last year, it snowed the weekend of General Conference. Snow is a necessity here in this arid summer region, so snow, please, leave now, but be sure and come back for Christmas!

Fun and Relaxation

The kids were out of school the last half of the week, so we decided to head back down to Lava. It was fun to get away, until everyone started screaming at each other and me and the older two were complaining that they had homework they needed to get back to. So much for making memories with the family. We did find a couple of fun hot spots on the river that we played in. I'm sure someday they'll appreciate all of the work that James and I put into their enjoyment! It will probably be when they are on a trip with their kids and they are telling them how much fun they had with their family when they were kids and their kids are complaining and not getting it! Until then, we won't give up! We'll continue to drag our children to various places across this country and force them to have fun!

I also neglected to take any pictures with the camera! I had to get these off the web.

This was the view from our condo window. Unfortunately it was closed for the season. The kids loved that one.

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!