Overheard

The Brains dialogue to his younger siblings:

"You know who are heroes?"

"Nephi, Lehi, all the people from the scriptures"

"They are the true heroes"

"They don't use super powers they have glowing rocks, the Spirit, prayer, and the brass plates"


I'm loving it!!!!

No More Garage Sales For Me!!!

I started organizing and cleaning out the house at the beginning of the year and I started pricing and boxing up stuff and putting it in the attic for a garage sale. The thought of having a garage sale is not appealing to me at all. My time can be better spent and is worth more than I could make sitting in front of my house for 2 days. I have donated over the years to Salvation Army but it was this box is worth $5.00, this bag is worth $2.00 you get the picture.

I was explaining this to a friend and she lead me to a friend that lead me to this wonderful website:

www.itsdeductible.com

You just type in what you are donating and it prices it for you(the govenrment allowance for said items)and it saves it for you for the year and you just print it out and attach it to your receipt from donated charity.

We have just donated over $1,000 in stuff this month!!! And I haven't even went and fished the stuff out of the atttic yet!

What have I done?!?

That is what I kept saying to myself last week!!! WHAT HAVE I DONE!!! What started out as a small organization project(and I wish I had taken a picture on Monday night)turned into a full blown disaster and project. What do they say it will gets worse before it gets better!?! Well it certainly got worse and so bad that on Monday night I developed a twitch in my eye! On Tuesday morning I sat on the floor looked at what was ahead of me and the twitch returned as well as a few tears I might admit. Then in true Julia fashion I decided I might as well dig in. Empty boxes were being filled and cataloged at rapid pace 6 boxes to be exact and 3 garbage bags! Then furniture pushed and pulled! Bins sorted through! Sweeping and Vaccuming! Dusting and Washing! Organizing and Tossing! And some shopping!!! Finally on Friday night around midnight my project was 95% done! That is were it sits today 95% done and I am happy with that!!!

A project that honestly I could have had done Tuesday took all week and I look back and ask myself why did it not get done until midnight on Friday? The answer to that.... I made the right choices! When the kids asked to play a game or do a puzzle...we did! When they wanted to read a story...we read! We played outside, made dinner together, and read some more. It was hard to leave a project undone everynight I went to bed but at the end of the day I can truly say I made the right choice....a mess with happy kids!!!

Kids say....

"Mom I am going to live with you forever and ever" the princess

"You are?" me

"Yep and I am going to have lots of babies...100." the princess

"You are going to be one busy mommy." me

"I think I am going to have 200 babies!" the princess

"You are going to be a very busy mommy for sure." me


I love seeing how much she looks forward to being a mommy. For those of us that know her know she will be a great one!

The Joys of Nature

I just got back inside after being out digging in the dirt since 9:00 am(it is a bit after 3 now). First I would like to thank a friend for stopping her husband from killing off a bunch of plants(lily of the valley) so I could scoop them up this morning.Now for the reason for the post:

My kids got busy helping and then went on their own little adventures. Our neighbors have a tree in front of their house right next to the sidewalk. It is a home to a very large colony of ants. Last year they used to draw circles with sidewalk chalk and if the poor ants went outside of the circle the were dead, well ever since we watched the movie Antbully(highly recommended) they have had a different attitude towards the ants. Today as morbid as this might sound whenever they came across a grub in our digging adventures they would go feed the poor thing to the ants. They would watch the ants drag it into their lair and then happily try to find another grub to feed their new found friends the ants. It got so funny because the kids would start taking the ants orders right down to dessert. The ants apparently really liked dessert because they ordered it 3 times! I love watching my kids use their imagination and love the world around them except the grubs apparently!!!

a week

Do you ever have a week when you start out first thing Monday morning behind? And you have lots to do? Not because you sat around all weekend but because you were doing things everywhere but at home. And now it is Wednesday and you are still behind and you are not wanting to do anything and haven't since Monday? But you have been pushing through at a snails pace...welcome to my week thus far! I am not complaining by any means, I am just having a good old fashion vent and hope that those of you out there have had a week like this at some point so I know I am not alone!

Books, Books, Books!!!

Okay this week it is just one book but honestly I think it might be one of my new favorite children's books of all time.

Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud

Did you know we each have a bucket and the things we do can empty or fill each others buckets? If you didn't you find out when you read this great book!

When you are keeping your fingers crossed!

I love being in Primary. I love the children and the feeling their wonderful little spirits bring every Sunday.

I however always have moments when my fingers are crossed and my heart starts to pound and that is when my own children are called on to answer a question that has no specific answer. I am always surprised by the answers and sometimes I get a glimmer that I might actually be doing something right.

Here are some questions my kids have answered in Primary:

Q:What is something your mom says that makes you happy?
A:When she talks to me about Jesus.

Q:What is something your mom teaches you?
A:How to melt things.(we had done a science experiment about melting the day before)

Q:What is something you got to choose today?
A:To paint and color.
Q:Was this while everyone was getting ready for church?
A:When I was snuggling with my mom this morning.

Kids say....

"Mom you are my person." With a little nuzzle into my leg.
-the laid back boy

Chronicles of Spring Break 2009 the Finale!

What a way to end Spring Break with both parents running fevers much like it began! We stayed home all day and vegged. We did manage to read the story of Easter and watch a movie about it too!

I did buck up and make 3 meals and their bunny cake too! We as parents I will tell you spent a good portion of the day napping and then having little bursts of energy to try to have a decent day for the kids. David even managed to make bird houses with the kids!

CHronicles of Spring Break 2009 Day 8

We went to Grandma and Grandpa K's today and had lots of Easter fun!!!! First the kids were showered with gifts from the California Great Grandparents. They had gotten all the boys water shooters which Grandpa K was right ready to have fun with these, they were soon escorted out of the house to have they water fight fun.

Granny, Aunt Sarah, and Max showed up and showering continued. Once Aunt Shannon came we were able to dye Easter eggs and read the notes the Easter Bunny had left and the tromp through the forest began in hunt for our Easter baskets. Once everyone had found their baskets there happened to be another note to were the Easter egg hunt was and so the fun continued. It ws a beautiful day and so everyone opened their eggs and baskets on the deck of the Log House. What a fun part of the Holiday for the kids.

We ended the day with a wonderful dinner and dessert and when we left for home all were exhausted some more than others. Come to find out a couple of were running fevers!!!

Chronicles of Spring Break 2009 Day 7

Up and at them early we got ourselves already to go to the Mid-MI Children's museum. The kids were very excited about this. They had been before and couldn't wait to go play at the huge water table. It was a big of hit this time as it was the last time we were there.

After the museum we went to see David's new store and to go out for lunch. After lunch we went home for rests and naps and when we awoke off we went to get secret supplies. The list: magnets, PVC pipe and all different shapes of connectors, and bouncy balls. The kids were perplexed by all the supplies. They helped dad cut he pipes and while they were outside doing this I was hot gluing magnets on the connectors. Once the pipes were cut and washed and dried, magnets were applied to them as well. TaDa project done. Now they have there very own marble maze using PVC pipe and bouncy balls. They are loving it!!! It attaches to any magnetic surface it is currently in the kitchen but will be moved downstairs soon enough o be used on their magnetic easel.

The Princess and Brain had their last swimming class of the week and they are doing great. Now if we could only get he Princess to deliberately put her face in the water it would be great. The Brain went down the big slide for the first time all by himself. He was so proud of himself and so am I. We finished off the night with ice cream cones and then they were off to bed and David and I had a much needed date!

Chronicles of Spring Break 2009 day 6

The kids awoke to trails of chocolate Easter eggs leading to the room where the Easter baskets were hidden and they readily found every ones even those of us that were not awake quite yet. They re hide them and peace was restored again.

The kids did notice outside their bedroom window that he Easter bunny also hide eggs and were ready to go get them from their hiding places. Apparently my husband has a close relationship with the Easter bunny and said the Easter bunny froze his paws putting out the Easter eggs and we should eat breakfast first so it can get warmer out. I thought this was a wonderful idea. We had eggs, toast, sausage and fruit salad for breakfast. Everyone loved the bunny imprints on the toast(take a bunny shaped cookie cutter and press it into a piece of bread not all the way through and toast it and butter as usual).

After breakfast we all get ready to brave the cold(by the time we got out there it wasn't that cold)and go have and Easter egg hunt. With the rules explained and the timer on the watch set(the teen starts 2 minutes after everyone else) off they went with me following with my camera. I love watching the kids finding their special eggs and also grabbing the others they find along the way. As soon as their basket is full they are done and they get to watch the rest of the action which you might think this would not workout so well but they love cheering each other on and pointing out the missed eggs to their siblings. We soon return inside and the ritual of dumping the eggs out and opening them into their baskets begin. It is soon realized that green eggs were hiding just that green and the older kids start trading the younger ones for their green eggs. Only one would trade and he only had one green egg. Our Brain had a good majority of the green eggs and he understands the mighty dollar enough to know this is a good thing and is quite excited. He also found the super egg which contained more money than all the other eggs. A quick side note-this is the first year we put money in the eggs but we have a teen that is limiting his candy in take to almost non-existent so this was a good alternative for him. This process is also fun to watch "the giving of candy" if you don't like it give it to someone that does. The teen dumped his entire basket into the laid back boys basket ultimately giving him the fullest basket.

After all the excitement was over we quickly had home blessing hour(cleaning and picking up the main parts of the house) and ran to the recycling center. With the house back into some sort of order we were able to play games and have lots of fun coloring,drawing, and writing words.

We had a restful afternoon as dad left for work. Of course that only lasts for so long. Soon we found ourselves outside playing b-ball and getting ready for swimming class. They learned water safety at class today and had lots of fun doing it!

Chronicles of Spring Break 2009 Day 5

Today was a laid back day for the kids. The teen of course did his running and played basketball with a friend. Other than that they just played with their toys and hung around and they did have a movie in their big brothers room which is a special event for them.

The Teen held down the fort today while I painted, painted, painted and grocery shopped. We did have McDonald's for breakfast and leftover pizza for lunch all things the kids love to do, but it was a working day for me today!!!

Chronicles of Spring Break 2009- Day 4

In my research from the previous day I suddenly realize the Children's Museum we were planning on going to today is not open on Tuesdays. Tuesdays why Tuesday! Anyhow with some more research I find another children's museum to go to and another carrot to dangle in front of the Teen for being so cooperative in these young children adventures. The day went fabulously and we were home around 2pm despite the near white out that occured moments before we were going to leave for home.

The other endeavor that we had set in place for spring break which had been put on hold due to several illnesses was painting a certian pink fancy nancy room. To be honest as more of the walls have been painted I was thinking who decided to let her pick these colors? My husband readily reminds me we are not painting this room for resale value. We are painting these colors because she is going to love it and when she turns 13 she will have a project. I decide it is not so bad and once the white furniture enters it will be great...hopefully.

I paint the afternoon away and clean up just in time to have dinner at our favorite pizza place with Granny and Grandma K. This place is great because it is more of an experience for the kids. They get to make their own pizza and watch it go through the oven and watch them make pizzas too.

We return home in time to get the kids ready for swim class and I stay behind to paint and I really didn't want to miss the beginning of American Idol which I did anyway because I was into the painting. After AI I resumed my painting craze until I near dropped and this was the end of day 4.