her.

She had to wait to start school a week after all the other children.
She was not happy about that.

I still cannot believe that my youngest is in school.  It seems just last year I held her in my arms as a baby.  And now I spend a few hours each weekday with no kids in the home.  A weird feeling.

 

But I have also come to realize a few things in this "new" phase of life that I am in.

• Going to Costco and other stores takes a lot less time and energy when I don't have any kids with me.  But it is also a lot less interesting and more lonely.
• I spend more time at the elementary school now than I ever have before.  At least two, sometimes three days a week volunteering with the reading program in my two youngest kid's classes.
• I have crossed off a lot of the "to-do" items on my list that I have been meaning to get around to, some items have been waiting for years.
• The house is really, really quiet with everyone gone but me.  Sometimes too quiet.

Right now the three youngest are actually off-track, which is nice because it breaks up those long, long school weeks where we are so busy doing school work and extra activities-sports, scouts, dance, etc., that we sometimes don't get the chance to just play.  And for now we can do just that.  

The First Snowfall

 The first SNOWFALL

 of the Season

 is the BEST

and the YUMMIEST

 is the most DANGEROUS

 and the best for SNOW ANGELS

 is the COOLEST

 and great for AMBUSHES

and just the most FUN.

Where in Utah Are We?

 

 Here, in our own backyard, looking over our next door neighbor's fence. Can I just say...

I Love Where I Live!

 

Ms M and I spent a few moments in the morning spying on the new baby horse that lives near us.  At first she couldn't see it because he had sat down in the tall grass but then as the foal got up and moved towards it's mama she was sooo excited.

We then spent the afternoon at a park that is sooo close to where we live that we could walk to it if there were an easy way to get over the river that separates it from our home.   The thing I love most about this park is that it is surrounded by it's original, natural landscaping which pretty much makes it hidden and there is a fishing spot just on the other side of the pavilion.  Plus, this park is never busy crowded like others we have been to.  Sometimes it is just us there and it is like having our own personal playground.

 

 

 

As a side note-our busy soccer schedule is winding down and it has been interesting to see the difference in how each of the four who participated attack the game.  More fun soccer times ahead, at least for some of them.

Where in Utah Are We?

Welcome to the first edition of Where in Utah Are We?

Each month I hope to show a picture (hopefully a picture showing something unique or unusual) and then you can try to guess where we are.

So can you guess from the picture where we might be?

We are in our own neighborhood.

Yep, that's right. Just a few streets over from where we live is a house that has this bear and wolf carved out of wood and proudly displayed in the front yard I might add. Along with an eagle that perches over the mailbox and a buffalo resting under a tree. It is quite the unique landscaping but every time the kids and I go for a walk they want to walk by this house so that they can see all these interesting animals made out of wood.

Tuesday is Wash Day

for washing the clothes that is
because I don't like doing laundry every day,
I like to get it all done in one day.

So here is a glimpse into what goes on around our house on wash day.


645 - wake up and eat a bowl of cereal
655 - two dirty clothes baskets in my room
700 - family scriptures and prayer
715 - get two oldest off to school
720 - begin sorting dirty clothes
730 - first load of laundry in washer
740 - two more dirty clothes baskets in my room
750 - more sorting
800 - take two youngest boys out to the bus stop
815 - finish sorting out the dirty clothes
830 - second load in washer
835 - take a quick bath and get dressed
900 - go upstairs, take off dirty sheets so they can be washed
915 - first load of laundry out of dryer, third load in washer
925 - sort and fold whites, put them away
935 - put clean sheets on my bed, make the bed
945 - clean up breakfast dishes/mess in kitchen
1000 - tackle some of my primary to-do list
1030 - load finished dump clean clothes on couch, fourth load in
1045 - leave house to run some errands
1130 - get home, dump clean clothes on the couch, fifth load in
1140 - welcome home my favorite kindergartener
1145 - begin folding and sorting clean clothes
1200 - lunchtime
1250 - another load done dump on couch, sixth load in
100 - down time with two youngest kids
215 - load finished, dump on couch, seventh load in
220 - second round of folding and sorting clean clothes
310 - oldest son home from school
315 - load finished, dump on couch, eighth load in
320 - take miss m to dance class
430 - back home, all kids are now home
445 - start on dinner
510 - eat, eat, eat
525 - take oldest to bball practice
530 - load finished, dump on couch, ninth load in
535 - no, stall last load so that I can add a few more items later
545 - take second son to karate
625 - unload dryer, dump on couch, final fold and sort
645 - pick up second son from karate
700 - get two oldest boys to mutual
720 - get clean sheets back on the beds upstairs
730 - have younger kids take clean clothes baskets up to room, put their clothes away and get pajamas on
745 - add last few items to last load of laundry and run it
815 - put last load into dryer, where it will sit until tomorrow to be put away
840 -boys home from mutual, they take their clean clothes baskets to their rooms and put their clothes away
900 - bedtime, for the kids

*sidenotes

*Tuesday is not just wash day it is also our busiest day of the week as far as the kids activities.
*I usually have an angel that helps out with driving son #2 to/from or both to karate. She is a big help to our family (and not just on Tuesdays)!
*I have always thought I did around eight loads of laundry on Tuesdays but never counted, so it is good to see that my estimating skills are still in tact.


I know a lot of people who do a load of laundry a day and if it works for them that is great but this is what works for me and my family so this is what we do.

Happy Tuesday!!

Napoleon Dynomite

You've seen the movie but have you played the game?

My husband received the game "Napoleon Dynomite" around Christmas and so the boys and I decided to give it a try.

It is a drawing game.

And I thought I was bad at pictionary. This game is even more challenging for me because it limits what you are drawing.

Animals.

But not just any animals.

You pick two cards from the card pile. Each one has written on it a type of animal. Your task is to then draw a combination of the two animals within a certain time limit. Then, you get points based on if others can guess (within that time limit) what two animals your drawing represent.

Once I realized this was a drawing game I knew right away one of my kids would have an advantage over all of us. And I was right. Just look at the evidence.

Can you guess what this is?

Yep, a fox-alligator. A drawing by Mr. P.

How about this one?

This one is a penguin-goat. And it happens to be my creation that my kids only half-guessed. So I only got half the points.

Here are two of the creations my creative son who loves to draw made.

A horse-rabbit.

And an osterich-bee.


Both drawings earned him full points. Because he is good like that.

And I am not.

OFF TRACK

The boys (except the oldest) have been off track now for a week-
and we have another two weeks to go.

So here are a few things we do when we don't have to get up and go to school.

First of all we sleep in. This is the best part.
We have long, slow mornings. It is a nice break from the norm.

J and P get to practice their typing skills on the computer. Here J is trying to not look at his hands while typing. It is good for them to have this practice time at home since they don't get a lot of keyboarding time at school.


There is a lot of rough housing going on-
which sometimes turns into a pose for the camera session.


Some of the kids try out their spinjitzu moves.


We play board games.



And thanks to this nice, mild winter weather we are having-
we have spent a few afternoon hours outside practicing our kicks and showing off our lightsaber skills.



There is also much reading going on (especially the day we visit the library), as well as playing with friends and having friends over. I really enjoy these long full days that I have with my children. Some days I don't see it that way, but I am always grateful for it in the end.

Boots and a Brush

I enjoy SPRING,
and this spring has been especially wet
with SNOW and RAIN.

And along with all the wet weather
out comes the RAIN BOOTS.
I loved it when my boys were younger and
would stomp around in their rain boots,
and now I enjoy watching our little girl do the same thing.

But I have to admit
the boots seem a little cuter on Miss M.
It has something to with the joining of an adorable little girl in a skirt
and a pair of rain boots.


And "for like the first time EVER",
she LET me brush her hair.
Every morning it is struggle to comb out her hair
as she screams and grabs
and I try to do something with it.

But last week she sat and let me brush it for 5 minutes,
however, that was only because
she was being Rapunzel and needed her "golden" hair brushed.

Mid-Wash

This is what you get when you are in the middle of washing dishes,
and your 2-year old tugs on you and says
"Hold You"

Everything is put on hold,
just to hold my child,
that won't stay little for long
and won't be asking to be held for much longer.

The dishes CAN wait.
I will try again in the morning.