Busy, Busy Birthday Weekend

Whew! This past weekend went by in a blur of activity. Saturday morning started bright and early with Kaelyn's softball practice. Kate came with me to play on the playground equipment so I had to keep my eye on her as well. Afterwards, we rushed home to get cleaned up for the PARTY! Kids were already coming and going from our house. Kaelyn's party was at Buck's Skating Rink in Boonville. She had a joint party with Colton and almost all of the first-graders made it to the party to help them celebrate. I wish I had been able to find my video camera cord because I surely would have been able to get footage for American's Funniest Videos with all those kids wiping out over and over again. It was almost painful to watch.

The party went quick but was a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone who came out to help us celebrate. Next, the four girls that rode with me decided they were thirsty. I took them to Sonic for a drink. They soon decided they were also hungry. We finally made it back home.

We invited Devan and Clairice to spend the night and to have a campout and cookout in the back yard. That was a lot of fun and the hamburgers, hot dogs and s'mores were enjoyed by all. Kevin got called into work about this time leaving me with all of this mess and the tent to put up by myself. I got it done though and they had fun playing in the tent. Around 9 pm, I mentioned getting ready for bed and they asked me if I was going to sleep in the tent with them. I laughed and said no way. The girls all had stricken looks on their faces so I suggested we pile the sleeping bags on the living room floor and camp out there with a movie on. This suggestion was met with glee so in we went. Of course a movie had to have popcorn and soda. I finally got them all to sleep by 11 pm.

I was planning on making pancakes for breakfast but decided to take them to the breakfast buffet in Boonville instead. I have never seen four little girls put away so much food. After breakfast, we parked downtown and walked across the Missouri River bridge and back. This is when my purse got stolen. I had to deal with that for the next few hours. We made it back to Prairie Home in time for Kate's first ever ball practice. She was so cute running around the bases!

After practice, we went to Mom and Dad's and had cake and ice cream and Kaelyn opened her birthday presents. The kids from next door came over and had some cake with her. I left the kids at their house and went on a run/walk and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a little while. Then back home to get ready for an early bedtime!

Pictures to come...

Decluttering

I shared this picture on Facebook the other day. It got some laughs and I got some wonderful support from other Mom's who have been there, done that or doing that with the parenting thing. But that wasn't why I shared it. I shared it because I love irony and that is what the picture represented to me. I didn't place the "1,001 Timely Tips for Clutter Control" book there just to snap the picture, that is where I laid it after reading some of the tips before bed one night. I won't say when that was because it will be evident that I obviously haven't been very timely about using said tips.

I took advantage of a snow day today and tried to put Fly Lady's fifteen minutes to good use on several of my personal Hot Spots. My night stand is one of them. I cleared it in less than the allotted fifteen minutes, dusted it, and snapped a picture for good measure. But then I got to thinking about how that nightstand clutter really had a lot to say about me and my life right now.

Primarly the clutter on the nightstand was my first love, books. Any book, doesn't matter, I love them. I sneak in time with books after my motherly, wifely and household duties are done. That means the few minutes before I fall asleep every night, thus the pile on the nightstand.

Tonight I took a closer look at the picture...there are two self-help books, one on mothering and one on decluttering. There are two children books because I try to read to Kaelyn every night before she goes to sleep. The Vampire Diaries is there, for pure pleasure. My Bible is in the plaid covering, for when all the self-help books just aren't cutting it. There is a devotional book for understanding God's purpose in my life. There is a fiction book about a Deaf family because I am trying to learn about Deaf Culture.

And that is just a small representation of the million and one ways that I am pulled every day. No wonder my house is cluttered, my insides are all cluttered.

(The rest of the clutter is an art project the girls were working on, some mail, and a few stray socks waiting for their match to come through the dryer.)

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New Years Resolutions

Here it is already January 6 and I haven't done much thinking yet about resolutions or goals for 2010 and the new decade. Maybe one of my goals should be to not procrastinate! Get it? Not procrastinate, January 6?

Anyway...

I do have so many areas I want to improve: be healthier, lose weight,be more fit, be a better parent, wife and friend, keep up with housework better, save money, etc., etc. etc. But where to start? That is always the hardest part, taking those first steps. FlyLady teaches to take baby steps and to jump in where you are. So yesterday, I ordered some parenting books off Amazon yesterday (10 Days to a Less Defiant Child: The Breakthrough Program for Overcoming Your Child's Difficult Behavior, The New Dare to Discipline, One Tough Mother: It's Time to Step Up and Be the Mom, She's Gonna Blow!: Real Help for Moms Dealing with Anger) that I am looking forward to reading.

Can you tell I am struggling with parenting at the moment??

And then yesterday, I had an epiphany. I was pretty frustrated yesterday morning with the girls, trying to get them dressed and out the door for school and me to work. There was yelling and tears and the black cloud followed me through most of the morning. It hurts to think that my beautiful little girls may have had that same black cloud over them. It was the first day back, so some dawdling was to be expected. I should have planned better for that. I got up late, then tried to rush all of us to get ready and get out the door on time. Well...the epiphany part...I am a firm believer of the thought that the only person you can change is yourself. I got to thinking that I am the adult here and could certainly change my behavior. So I set my alarm clock for earlier, got up earlier, and got ready for the day before the girls were even out of bed. This made our morning a million times better than the day before.

So, I am starting to realize that change is possible with small steps and changes so for the new year, I am moving forward with that.

Barn Owl

Yesterday I heard Barko making some commotion (even more than usual) from the backyard. When I went to check it out, I saw there was a smallish animal by the side of our garage. Barko was wildly running in circles around it, barking his unhappiness at having his territory invaded. The animal had the strangest face, that it took me awhile to even identify what type of animal it was. First I thought a possum, but no. A rat? Hopefully not! "Is it a cat??" I asked Kaelyn? I ran inside to get my camera (yes, leaving my daughter outside alone with a crazed dog and an unidentified wild animal). While I was gone, the animal flew (AH HA! Must be from the bird family!) across the yard with Barko in hot pursuit. Kaelyn spoke up, "I think it's an owl. I am a bird expert." She must be, because it was a Barn Owl (verified by Google). It hissed at Barko a few times and then flew off, landing on our fence post. Barko, ran around a few times, very proud that he had done his job and cleared his yard of any dangerous tresspassers, then returned to the house to take a nap in the warmth.

Happy New Year!

I am so excited to ring in the New Year tonight. It's a double whammy of newness with the new year and the new decade...full of possibilities. I'll be celebrating the holiday with my favorite people this weekend, my parents and my siblings and families. It will be a full house as we all get together at Mom and Dad's for three days of eating, games, gifts, joking and laughing. I can hardly wait!

Christmas Jammies 2009

Starting my own little family made me consider Christmas traditions, old and new, that I wanted to implement for my children. One of the traditions I had as a child, that I have continued with my children, is the opening of one present on Christmas Eve. The first catch is I get to pick the present out. The second catch is that the present contains Christmas jammies for my babies to wear on Christmas Eve to make the visions of sugar plums especially sweet (and yea, to make for adorable Christmas morning pictures.) Here are the Christmas Eve pictures for the past four years:

2006

2007

(they were a little would up this year and I never did get a good shot of them)

2008

2009

Kate's Christmas

This first picture is of Kate's first Christmas, with a doll that Kaelyn picked out for her. I have always loved this picture, the way she is holding the package and really checking it out. The below picture from Christmas morning was so similar I had to share it. She's grown up a little bit!

Merry Christmas!