Why is it?

• Why is it that on the day's when I need it most, the twins won't take a nap together?


• Why is it that when we already knew we needed some car repairs, we find out we need even more?


• Why is it that I can't keep my kitchen island cleared off?


• Why is it that I can spend two days reading a great book, but can't spend 15 minutes reading my scriptures?


• Why is it that kids can be so dang cute, and so dang frustrating at the very same time?


• Why is it that I can spend fifty bucks on a cool toy, but the kids prefer to play with my el cheapo plastic containers instead?


• Why is it that I just can't get beyond the front room?

It's not a rant, really. I'm not even really discouraged. I'm taking another day off today. We went to the park. Jon's bringing dinner on his way home from work. I'm being totally LAZY. Which is probably the answer to most of those why's!!

AT THE PARK:

Swinging, swinging.....

what's this stuff?

Muddling

Part of an email I received. I love this, because that's what I do--muddle through.

"Muddling is not mediocrity. Muddling allows us to stop keeping up appearances or worrying that we'll never measure up. Muddling is accepting our humanness and inadequacies. Muddling is realizing there are some messes only Christ can clean up. And muddling is seeing our worth through God's eyes and never giving up hope that things will work out."

BABY PICS

Sister Rasmussen posted the boys pictures. Just click on "BABYPICS" to see them.
I think she did a great job. Now, which is my favorite...?

Hooked!

So, it looks like I'm the latest person to fall prey to the Twilight series of books. Sister Bly lent me her copy this week, and I've been reading it since I woke up this morning at 5. Definitely very good reading.
How can I be reading with two little rugrats running around? Don't know, but somehow I'm managing.
What this definitely makes me realize is that I have plenty of time in my day for scripture study. If the little guys will let me read for a couple hours while they just play, then I can definitely be squeezing my scripture study into the early morning time slot. Of course, I don't think that's happening until I finish this book. I'm about halfway there. The other glaring truth I need to face? I need to work on my priorities.
Oh yeah, the housework has also gone by the wayside.

More rambling

Well, Jon stayed home from work yesterday, and I actually got something done. Yay!!! I suggested to Jon that we re-arrange the living room, which is something we've both been thinking about lately. I was hoping he would be agreeable, because I find it to be the best way to do a good cleaning. We get the whole room vacuumed, i.e. under the couches, and everything dusted, the computer area gets a good cleaning, etc. etc...
So, he took the bait, and we (I should say, mostly he) rearranged the living room. I'm quite happy with how it looks. Now I just need to get the kitchen cleaned up.
Ashley and Haley began work on their bedroom. They cleared up the floor quite a bit. I can actually walk through there now without feeling like I'm climbing a mountain. They still have a way to go, but I get to help them with the rest, which is going through everything they own, and deciding what to do with it.
So, todays projects are the kitchen, the laundry, and the girls' room.
Since the girls are on track break, I also need to think of some cheap, fun, cool things to do with them. I'll probably be hitting Michael's later this week for craft projects. I also think we'll be hitting the community center swimming pool as much as we can.
Last night, after FHE, we had family game night. We played UNO. So much fun. The girls really love it when we have game night. I usually don't really want to play a game, but once we get started we always have so much fun. I have to remember how much fun we usually have whenever I start to say no when they request it.
The reason Jon stayed home today, was so he could take the car in for it's 60,000 mile tune-up. He called me at about 8:00 saying we will be needing more work on the car than we already anticipated. On top of the tires and breaks that we need, we'll also need some belts and hoses changed. Ah well, better to get it all out of the way I guess. Instead of complaining, I'll count my blessings. I'm grateful to have a car, I'm grateful to have a house to clean, I'm grateful I have beautiful children to mess it up, I'm grateful that all I have to deal with here is the heat, and not some of the other disasters facing the nation right now. I'm grateful for clothes to wear, food to eat, a loving husband, and the wonderful gospel.

Say What?

Did you know there is a Rock, Paper, Scissors League? And that they're holding their championship tournament in Las Vegas today? I had no idea.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eanWnL3FtM

the latest scoop

Well, the boys were pretty good yesterday for their pictures. Jason was more cooperative than Justin, the opposite of how I initally thought it would be since Justin is the one who ended up taking a nap, and Jason skipped his. I can't wait to see the finished product.
I'm joining a family home evening blog, the link is on the side bar. I'm hoping that if I feel like I need to post a lesson each week for this blog, it will be the impetus I need to institute FHE more regularly in my home. It's one of those things I still struggle with. My problem is usually just in the preparation. The kids are always more than willing to have family home evening, I'm just not great at getting a lesson together. So, maybe now that will change.
Today, I didn't get much done again--2 1/2 loads of laundry, my toilet cleaned, and the dishwasher loaded and started. I did clean out and fill up 12 2-liter soda bottles with water for my food storage. I emptied out the bottom of the linen closet to store them. I need to fill about 10 more in order to finish filling up the space. After that, I'm not sure where else I can store water. I have three cases of bottled water in the garage, that I'm hoping to have on hand for an emergency. I'm not sure the garage is good for water storage though, or if the temperature is a consideration. I'll have to read up on it. I need to begin stocking up on food storage items. This issue is still weighing pretty heavily on my mind. I'm not sure if it's just because of all the commotion in the world right now, or what.
I was thinking at work last night, that I would so love to be able to work from home. But I just don't know what I could do. I do have some sewing skills, and I adore purses. So, maybe I'll try making a few and seeing if I could sell them on-line. I don't know that I'd ever be able to sell enough to make much income at it, but hey, it might be interesting anyway. So, I'm gonna' give this a little more thought and investigation.

My eyes are so tired. I had to work last night, which means I got to bed about midnight. Of course the boys were up at 4:45 this morning, not counting the 3 times they woke up during the night. Yes, I was bad and got up with them. I am so weak sometimes about letting them cry it out. Especially, on the nights I work. I usually feel like I need to nurse them (ya' know what I mean.) I'm going to have to work some more on this issue.
So,any way, I have to work tonight too. I'm covering for one of the girls at work who needed a couple of days off. She's working for me Friday night, because there's a mother/daughter Luau at the church. I need to take a Hawaiian dessert. Anybody know of anything besides Pineapple upside down cake?
So, since I'm exhausted and we have to go to Sister Rasmussens house today for a photo shoot with the boys, (I'm very excited about this, can't wait to see how they turn out) I plan on getting absolutely nothing done. I do have a load of laundry in, but I'm not going to kill myself over it. I don't plan on organizing anything (didn't organize anything yesterday either, seems I've fallen off the wagon again). I'm giving myself permission to take a day off. I might not even get supper together tonight. There's leftover spaghetti in the fridge, if it comes down to it, I'll reheat that for a 3peat.
Thought I might post a list though of what I would like to accomplish this week. It goes something like this:

• clean the bathrooms
• focus on the bathrooms for organization projects this week
• get my kitchen island cleared off (yet again)
• tackle the mountain of laundry, bring it down to maybe a mole-hill
• keep the dining table cleared off and dust-free

I think that's going to be it. I want to keep it manageable.

Today should be interesting. The boys took an early nap this morning. I don't know if I'll be able to get them to take another nap before noon, when we're supposed to do the pictures. So, hopefully they won't be crabby. I hope it goes well.

some of the reasons I love you honey.

1. You let me sleep in on the weekends. You take the babies and play with them so I can catch up on sleep, even though you have to wake up early every other day of the week and never get to sleep in.
2. You love, love, love me! (Don't know why, but you do.)
3. You mow the lawn, so I don't have to.
4. You keep the car running.
5. you take care of all the computer issues.
6. you do the dishes sometimes and surprise me.
7. You're a great cook! (better than me)
8. You're patien with our kids when I am not.
9. You give great back rubs.
10. you're very generous and self sacrificing.
11. You're smart!
12. You're handsome! (getting more so all the time)
13. you always make me feel good about myself.
14. You vanquish cockroaches and other nasty bugs. (You're my hero!)
15. Sometimes you cry.
16. You know how to laugh.
17. You have a great smile.
18. You play with our kids.
19. You love our kids.
20. You make me happy!!
21. You're a terrific poppa!

I love you honey. Hope you had a great Father's Day, despite all the other junk this weekend.

My Dad

• smart as a whip
• opinionated
• jack of all trades
• when he tucked me into bed at night, he didn't just cover me up, oh no. He made sure I was tucked in. He would tuck the blankets under my legs and arms, I felt like a mummy.
• we would wake up almost every Saturday morning to the music emanating from dads reel to reel. He would play his favorites--country music oldies. Whenever those infomercials for TimeLife cd's come on, I can pretty much sing along with all the songs.
• he's a little nervous holding babies, most especially newborns.
• I used to think he would be a great stand-in for the Incredible Hulk. He was always very strong.
• He always plants a garden. He has a green thumb.
• he told us he loved us every day
• He nicknamed me Schatze (shotzee), when I was little, which is German for sweetheart.
• He is always calling us funny names, like Herkamer George. My brothers, he would call Jamie, or Daisy especially if he wanted to get their goat.
• He is always making up funny songs. One he always used to sing to me was: (to the tune of Georgie Porgie)" Schatzee Watzee pudnin' pie, kissed the boys and made them cry, when the girls came out to play, Schatzee Watzee ran away."
• He likes to sing, and has a pretty good voice too.
• Patriotic
• I was named after his nickname.

Happy Father's Day dad. I love you!!

Happy Radiator...I mean Father's Day Jon!!!

UUggh!!! it never rains, but it pours ya' know?
So, when Jon got home from work yesterday he had this "#@!@#!!" look on his face. "There's a leak in the radiator ." he tells me. Great!! Well, we tried to baby it last night. I had to go to work, so I kept an eye on it. I got to work and home ok. So this morning when he went out to check on it, the crack had grown to like eight inches long!!! He's stressing out about it, I'm just trying to be like "It's ok. we'll figure it out." I ask him if he wants to take it in Monday for repairs. He say's he doesn't even want me driving it to work today, because he's afraid it will break down on me on the freeway, and he doesn't want me stranded. Here I am thinking he's freaking about the money it's going to cost to get it repaired, and he's more concerned about my well being. What a guy. (Of course, he was concerned about the money part too.)
So, anyway, I run down to the bus stop to catch the bus to work. Yippeee!! And lucky Jon, got to spend the day before Father's Day with all four kids in the auto repair shop, shelling out $636 that we really don't have to get the wonderful car (that's too small for our over expanded family) fixed. Poor guy.
Needless to say, when he picked me up at four, you could cut the tension in the car with a (insert blunt object of your choice here).
I think he's entitled to all the game time he wants tonight.
So much for the gift I was going to pick up for him after work tonight. :o(

Freaky Friday

OK, so, it's freaky Friday the 13th. I just can't get motivated to do anything. There is a load of clothes in the dryer, clothes all over the couch. Dishes all over the kitchen and baby toys all over the living room. I don't even know where to begin. Do you know what this place is going to look like come Monday?

Eek!

Maybe a match will solve my problems?Just Kidding!!

(If my house goes up in smoke this weekend, it wasn't me, really!)

Happy Friday the 13th!!

AFTER

Believe it or not, I did throw out about a dozen containers of old stuff!

Much better! The empty space on the top left is for the crock pot. Supper's cookin' in there right now.

Today's challenge

Ok today, on the Flylady site, the zone mission is to clean out the fridge. I think that goes splendily for my organization challenge. So, I'm trying to decide if I'll count that, or do it in addition to ...














this. My dish storage cabinet under the island. It's not always looking like this, really. This is what happens after I've thrown all the plastic bowls back in after the boys have gone through them for about the 3rd time in a day.









I've been thinking about putting the locks on the doors, but it seems like they need some area in the kitchen that's safe for them to get into. But, I'm getting tired of tripping over the mess on the floor, not to mention re-stacking the containers.

So, anyway, if I'm really good I'll do both challenges today. If not, then one will wait for tomorrow.

Just some cute and funny pic's from this week. The only time I get any work done is when the little guys are asleep-usually in their crib, but I'll take it in the high chair. It works for me!





Justin playing with a bowl. He's got the funniest look on his face if you view it close up!








Love this one of Jason! Little froggy lips!!





Ashley and Jason. So cute!