A Most Excellent Solution

So I put my kids in bed at 8:30 tonight. By 9:30 I had had it. I was trying to clean the kitchen so I could get ready for bed and I had to stop what I was doing every 2 minutes to tell one of them to get back in bed, and tell the other one to stop reading and turn the light off, or stop jumping on the bed or whatever else it was that they were doing to keep from going to sleep. I am in the kitchen thinking how mad I was that I couldn't get anything done because I had to keep dealing with the whole bed time thing. Then it came to me. If they were so wide awake and wanting to be out of bed, they could come and help me clean the kitchen. Well, let me just tell ya. Cleared that whole problem up right then and there. I have never seen three children get so tired so fast. They started crying that they needed to go to sleep because it was late and they are doing testing in school this week and their teachers said they needed to get a good nights sleep. Well "TOO BAD!" was my reply, "YOU ARE HELPING ME GET THIS KITCHEN CLEAN!" By the time they were finished they ran right back into bed and I haven't heard a thing from them since. Why didn't I think of that 10 years ago??? Ok, so I didn't have any kids 10 years ago but still.

Ode To Joy #5 - I Am Doing God's Work

Steve and I go to the "Marriage And Family Relations" Sunday School class. Today our lesson was about the Sacred Roles of Mothers. In the class we read a quote from Elder Jeffery R. Holland. There are some things that really stuck out in my mind. He is talking about a mother who was discouraged. Here is the quote:

“But one thing, she said, keeps her going: ‘Through the thick and the thin of this, and through the occasional tears of it all, I know deep down inside I am doing God’s work. I know that in my motherhood I am in an eternal partnership with Him. I am deeply moved that God finds His ultimate purpose and meaning in being a parent, even if some of His children make Him weep.
“ ‘It is this realization,’ she says, ‘that I try to recall on those inevitably difficult days when all of this can be a bit overwhelming. Maybe it is precisely our inability and anxiousness that urge us to reach out to Him and enhance His ability to reach back to us. Maybe He secretly hopes we will be anxious,’ she said, ‘and will plead for His help. Then, I believe, He can teach these children directly, through us, but with no resistance offered. I like that idea,’ she concludes. ‘It gives me hope. If I can be right before my Father in Heaven, perhaps His guidance to our children can be unimpeded. Maybe then it can be His work and His glory in a very literal sense’ "

Wow. That really puts a different perspective on motherhood. To look at it as a partnership with my Heavenly Father. What kind of partner am I??? Scary question. I really like that last half of the quote that says that if I can be right before my Father in Heaven and go to Him for His help in raising my children he can give unimpeded guidance to my children. Again, wow! I guess I have a lot to think about today....

Ain't It Great To Have Friends

Meg, Kierra, Maddy, Cammy & Aubrey

It is such a beautiful day today. Aubrey, Addison and I went to the park with our friends and had lunch. We had so much fun. We have been cooped up inside for too long.

Loves To Read

Zac LOVES to read. He started reading the Harry Potter books about 2 or 3 months ago and is on the last one right now. He read one of them in 2 days and they were school days at that. He is always reading. He even gets in trouble sometimes because I catch him reading in his bed at midnight on school nights.

Ode To Joy #4 - The Voice Of Heaven

A few weeks ago our Sunday School teacher passed out quotes to our class to read. I don't think it was by accident that I got the quote I did. Here it is:

"We seldom get into trouble when we speak softly. It is only when we raise our voices that the sparks fly and tiny molehills become great mountains of contention...The voice of Heaven is a still small voice; likewise, the voice of domestic peace is a quiet voice." -Gordon B. Hinckley

I have to admit, I have a problem with yelling at my children and it is something that I have tried to work on for a long time. I always use the excuse that my children don't listen to me unless I yell. And it is true. I could ask them very nicely and sweetly to go clean their rooms 20 times and they don't even know I am talking to them. In fact they act like they don't even know I am in the room. But when I finally get mad and yell, "GO CLEAN YOUR ROOMS NOW!!!" They jump up and go clean their rooms. Or at least they jump up and go into their rooms. So over the years the time between my asking nicely and then reverting to yelling has become progressively shorter. I feel like I am yelling all the time and that that is the only way I can be heard. But I hate yelling and I don't want to be the crazy yelling mother that all the neighbors look at with raised eyebrows. I don't want my kids to grow up and have memories of their childhood filled with their mother yelling at them all the time. So after I read this quote in Sunday School I really was determined to stop yelling. It isn't easy and I was at a loss until I talked to my friend Betsy who was going through the same struggle I was, for the very same reason. She said she started taking her child's face in her hands and very firmly, but nice and calm, says, "I want you to go clean your room now, please." And that way she knows the child is listening to her and knows that she means business and that they need to obey. I have been trying it for a couple of weeks now and it actually works! No yelling, imagine that. It doesn't work 100% of the time but it probably works about 95% of the time and that is much better than before. It is nice to not have to yell all the time to be heard and obeyed. However life is not perfect and neither am I and I got really angry with my children last night and yelled at them for the first time in a while. I felt really bad after and that is why I chose this as my ode for today. I felt I needed a little reminder. I love this quote from our prophet and I really would like for my house to be peaceful and a little bit of Heaven on earth.

Ode To Joy #3 - Leave Something Good

A while back my sister Farrah put some quotes on her blog. I love them all but there is one that really stuck out in my mind and that I printed out and read often. Here it is:

"This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind...let it be something good." -Author Unknown

We only have one life and that life is made up of days and those days are made up of hours which are made up of minutes. I love every part of this quote because it says so many things. We are given each new day to do whatever we want with it. We don't know how many days our lives will be made up of, and each day that we live is another day of our life gone by and we can never get it back. And it is true that we leave something behind each and every day. It is our choice what we leave behind. I would hate to look back on my life and see waste or hate or sadness or ingratitude behind me. I want to leave something good behind in the place of each and every day of my life so that when I look back, I can look back with no regrets, no sadness, nothing wanting. I want to look back and see joy and love and fulfillment and a life lived to its fullest. So go out to day and make it something great. You hold that choice in your hands.

It's A Complete Mockery Of The Institution Of Marriage (but it's funny)

I just watched the funniest show. It is called "The Real Wedding Crashers" and I loved it. It has a group of people crashing a wedding. The Bride and Groom are in on the whole thing. They do crazy stuff. They even set up the friends of the bride and groom before the wedding. In the one that was on last night, the grooms friend goes to take the brides dress to be pressed. When he isn't looking they hang the dress out of the car door so it drags on the ground the whole time they are driving to the cleaners. The minister answers his cell phone in the middle of the ceremony, the groom almost gets arrested the night before the wedding, they trip and drop the cake in front of everyone at the reception, the waiter is eating food off the trays he is carrying. Anyway it was so funny. I am not a laugh out loud kind of person when I watch TV, especially when I'm watching it by myself. But I was laughing out loud the whole time I was watching this.

Ode To Joy #2 - The Power of the Post It

So much for my posting an Ode every day. I had a busy weekend. Oh well. I'm back. I was listening on BYU TV to a fireside by John Bytheway. He was talking about how to be better parents. One of the things he talked about was how we need to praise our children more when they do something good. It is easy for us to say something to them when they are doing something wrong but they need to hear more than that from us. A lot of times we forget to compliment them on things or say, "Thank you for clearing off the table", or "thank you for obeying me the first time". Things like that. He read a story about a mom who left post it notes every day for her daughter that said something nice on them or that thanked her for something she had done. I have been feeling like a lousy horrible mother so I thought that was a great idea. It was something I could get in the habit of doing and it would help me remember to point out all the good things they do each day and help them feel better about themselves. So a few weeks ago I started writing them each a little note on a Post It and sticking it up in their room where they can see it. They love getting them and on the few days I forgot to leave them one, they came to me and said, "where is my note from you?" I went to the store the other day and they really have some cute Post It notes now. I got some that are in the shape of stars and hearts. I am glad I started doing this because it helps me to have to pay more attention and look for the good things that my kids do that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Ode To Joy #1 - i thank you God for most this amazing

I have been having a little bit of a struggle lately dealing with the monotony of day to day life. Since voicing my struggle a while back it seems like everywhere I go or everything I hear is about having joy in your life. I don't believe in coincidences and feel that these things were put on my path of life for a reason. I have learned some amazing things in the past few weeks and I thought I would share them with you. Maybe they can help you with the things you are dealing with in your life. I am going to call it my Ode To Joy series and I will share one thing each day that I have learned that has helped me to find joy in my life. I am calling it Ode To Joy because Beethoven's 9th symphony has always been one of my favorite pieces of music, and the 4th movement entitled "Ode To Joy" has always been my favorite part of that symphony. So for my first Ode To Joy I would like to share a poem that my sister Kristy shared on her blog a while back. Since she shared it I have not been able to get it out of my mind. I think it is a beautiful poem and I decided to memorize it. I have and I find myself repeating it several times a day. It is the first thing I say to myself when I wake up in the morning before I get out of bed. I am so not a morning person and there is something about this poem that wakes me up and excites me about the day that lies ahead. Whenever I start feeling blah about my day I repeat it to myself and somehow it helps me feel better. It makes me realize that each day is AMAZING in it's own way and a is gift to us from our Creator. A gift that needs to be lived and loved and appreciated to it's fullest. The poem is by E E Cummings:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings;and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any - lifted from the no
of all nothing - human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

A Conspiracy Against Mothers

I am of the strong opinion that toy manufacturers have entered into a conspiracy against mothers everywhere. I spent the majority of the day yesterday cleaning Emily and Aubrey's room. If you have seen their room recently you will understand why it took all day. So about the conspiracy theory, how else do you explain the fact that every little girl toy out there comes with 5,000 little teeny tiny parts? It makes me CRAZY! I remember several months ago when I was going through toys and getting rid of a lot of stuff, I got rid of about 20-30 little tiny hairbrushes. Every toy comes with a hairbrush. It is ridiculous. Especially when any hair that you would brush on a toy gets messed up when it is brushed. This thrilling reading material for you I am sure. Anyway. After cleaning their room I had Steve come in and take their bed frames out of their room. You see they have developed this great system of cleaning called, "shove it all under the beds". I was so mad yesterday when I was cleaning it out. And I am sick and tired of them never being able to find shoes that match or clothes or homework or library books because it all get shoved under the bed. So if they think that is an option, well, I have taken that option away. And I would just like to clarify that the above picture was found on the internet, that's not all our stuff.

Oh Sweetheart, You Did Such A Great Job!

Does it make me a bad parent if I look at my kids papers and art projects when they bring them home from school and tell them what a great job they did and then as soon as they aren't looking, throw them in the trash?

Oh Yeah! I'm Doin' The Happy Dance!

La, la, la, la, la! I am so very excited. Woo hoooooooooooooooooo! Sanjaya is off American Idol. I just finished watching it and I screamed right out loud with delight when they said he was going home. Then I jumped up and down and did a little happy dance in my room. Thankfully no one else was there to witness it. Sanjaya, Sanjaya, goodbya, goodbya!

New Form Of Punishment

I really like Zac's teacher. She really does a great job in not only teaching her students to be good students, but also to be good people. She has a rule in her class that when someone gives you something you have 3 seconds to say "thank you" or they get to take it back. She also has them write thank you notes whenever anyone comes into their class to help. They have written thank you notes to me and they also made b-day cards for me on my b-day (since I'm the PTA president) and they made cards for me when Addison was born. Yesterday Zac forgot his homework folder at home. I was gone all day and didn't realize it until school was almost out or I would have taken it to him. Whenever someone in her class misbehaves or forgets their homework or anything she makes them stay in from recess and write a "responsibility". This the the responsibility Zac wrote yesterday. I share it with you because I love it and have decided to come up with "responsibilities" of my own to have my kids write when they misbehave at home. Here it goes:
I am an intelligent and responsible person. I want to be happy and successful in my educational experiences. I realize that certain good habits and behaviors can contribute to my success. I will make more of an effort to take personal responsibility for meeting our class expectations. I wanted you to know that I am trying to make the needed changes and I need your parental support. I need to complete my homework everyday and bring it to class.
I love it!

Miserable Failure

My attempt to launch a political debate failed miserably. On my previous post "Irritation In The ER" I expected some feedback. I figured at least one of you (whom I shan't name) would disagree with my viewpoint. But nobody said anything. I was in the mood for a good argument and everybody just ignored me. Oh well. Maybe another time.

Dinner Out Doors

We eat dinner at my parents house every Sunday after church. It was such a beautiful day yesterday we ate outside on their deck.

Isn't She Just The Cutest Thing Ever?

Addison has a new toy. So it's not really new. My parent's gave it to her for Christmas. She was too little then to use it, but She is the perfect age now. I just put it together the other day and she LOVES it. She gets so excited when we put her in it. I just couldn't help but take 500 pictures of her because she was being so cute. Click here to see the pic's.

He Actually Wanted To Poke His Eye's Out

My sister Kristy got me started on this Newsies kick last week. She had watched The Prestige and was talking about how it reminded her of when she was a young girl watching Newsies and falling in love with Christian Bale. And then I went OH MY GOSH! That's who that is! DUH! He is just all grown up now. I can remember watching the new Batman movie when it came out and asking Steve, who is that??? And I knew he was so familiar and I just couldn't remember. Steve never having seen Newsies (tragic) had no idea that he was the star of Newsies. Then I remember watching The Prestige and asking the same thing and Steve said "he's Batman" and I was like, "I know, but he is someone else too." Thanks Kristy for getting it all straight in my head. So since she brought up the who Newsies subject I haven't stopped singing the songs from it yet. The kids and I have been listening to the CD all week. So I could stand it no longer. I went out and bought the movie yesterday and declared "Family Movie Night". I kept the movie top secret because I knew that someone very near and dear to me would not be too thrilled to be watching that movie. He just likes Batman so much and I felt like he needed a new perspective on him. The dancing and singing side of Batman. So we watched it and it was even better than I remembered and I had so much fun watching it. Steve on the other hand said something about wanting to poke his eyes out, but I wasn't paying too much attention, I was busy singing along. I just knew once he watched it he would be like, "Honey, that was such a good movie, thank you for introducing it to me. I really have been missing out all these years." But he wasn't. He said it was the worst awful movie he has ever seen and the accents in it were horrible (duh, Jersey accents are horrible) and the singing was horrible and Christian Bale was the worst of them all!!!! Can you believe that? He even asked if we had actually spent money on that movie. Oh well. He said now I have to watch 2 movies with him of his choosing. Ok honey. Like he doesn't know I fall asleep in the first 20 minutes of movies anyway. (except the one we watched last night)

Irritation in the ER

I just watched last Thursday's ER. (I never watch anything at it's scheduled time, I record it on my DVR and watch it when I have the time) I am so irritated! I have been watching ER since it began over a decade ago. In the past few years though it has really been bugging me because the writers use the show sometimes as a forum for their own political beliefs, which are not my own political beliefs. It really bugs me when they do that because they don't even try to do it covertly. It is just so blatant. I am thinking, are you that talented of a writer that you can't slip it in there more non-chalantly, you just have to stick it in there just to stick it in? Anyway, the latest episode had one of the EMT's on the show with a really bad cough and he thought it was from when he went to help at ground zero after 9/11. He was blaming the government for not telling them that they needed to wear a mask when cleaning up the debris. Ok, I feel really bad for any heros of 9/11 who spent countless hours sorting through the mess and cleaning up and who might be suffering health problems now due to their courageous efforts. But really, is that the governments fault? I mean think about what was going on right after 9/11. No one was prepared for that. Everyone was in shock. Everyone was doing the best that they knew how. No one had dealt with anything like that before. But, don't you think people might think, maybe perhaps, they should put a mask on, all be themselves? I wasn't there, but I could see the smoke and debris in the air for weeks after when I watched it on TV. I wear a mask at my house when Steve is sanding drywall. No one had to tell me to do it. I just figured it out all by my little old self. I just think that people should be able to think for themselves, like big grown up people and not have to have someone constantly telling them what to do. Is that what the government is for anyway? I don't want the government constantly telling me what I have to do in my life. Do you need the government to tell you to wipe your butt after you go to the bathroom? Hello, we live in AMERICA, land of the FREE and home of the BRAVE and sometimes bravery has a price. Can't people make decisions for themselves and then face the consequences of those decisions, weather good or bad, knowing that it is a result of their own choosing and not have to pass the blame onto someone else- especially when they do it only when it is convenient for them. Grrrrr....

Get On The Bus

How sad is it that my current favorite song is "Get On The Bus" by the Doodlebops??? I seriously can't stop singing that song. It is even getting on Aubrey's nerves. She started crying yesterday and said, "Mommy PLEASE stop singing that song." Sad when your 4 year old has to ask you to stop singing a song from her favorite TV show. I don't know what my problem is. I really like Bus Driver Bob for some strange, and slightly disturbing reason.

Books, Books, And More Books

You might notice a few things have changed around here. I got tired of my old template for my blog. I have also changed the name. When I first designed my blog, I did it as an easy way to share pictures of my kids and stuff with our family who live all over everywhere. Hence the name "Steve & Allyson's" blog. I felt a name change was due since A) Steve has never posted anything on here what-so-ever and B) it has kind of evolved into mindless ramblings on my part and C) my last post was about pantyhose and I am sure my husband wants no part or credit for that. I have also added 3 new page elements all to do with books. My sister Kristy added one to her blog and it is "On my nightstand" and pictures the current book she has, well, on her nightstand. I was also reading my cousin Kathy's blog yesterday and she was talking about books and well, by golly I got all excited. I love books and I love to read. I am always reading 3 books at once. I started a book club in my neighborhood about 4 years ago and so I read a new book each month for that. The book this month is "The Wedding" by Nicholas Sparks. I have to tell ya. I never ever ever EVER planned on reading this book. Too much hype and I just wasn't interested. But it was selected by others as our book club book for April. And I must say, it is so good. Who knew? I guess all them millions of people who made such a big deal about it and gave it so much hype in the first place knew. Oh well, live and learn. I am also always listening to a book on CD in my car. Right now that book is "Rachel and Leah" . I also read to the kids and the book we are currently reading is "Ida B. ...and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World". Kathy asked for recommendations for books so I thought I would take a minute here to recommend some of my favorite. These are some that we have read in my book club that I have really enjoyed: Eat Cake and Julie and Romeo Get Lucky. Carry On Mr. Bowditch which is a juvenile book but I loved it. The Kite Runner which is about 2 boys who grow up in Afghanistan-good,good,good, Mrs. Mike from which I learned not to judge a book by it's cover, The Hiding Place which was an excellent book about the Holocaust- you know how most books about this subject matter are depressing, this one is actually very uplifting. Girl With A Pearl Earring is excellent and I have read all this authors other books (hey, I just found out she has a new one I haven't read yet!) and they are wonderful also. They are all historical fiction. Follow The River is a great book. It is a true story about a frontier woman who gets kidnapped by Indians and escapes and makes her way home. It starts out gory but if you get past that you will NEVER NEVER NEVER forget this book. One of my favorite books we have read in book club is The Time Travelers Wife. Sounds science fictiony, but really isn't and I loved it! I am warning you that is does have some language and adult situations so it might not be the book for you. Kristy I know I have talked to you about this book before and you said you didn't think you could read a book about time travel but I know you would LOVE this book if you read it. Oh, and Rebecca is another one of my favorites but it takes a while to get into it. And my favorite book of all time that I have read at least a dozen times since I was about 12 years old is A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. The book we just read last month in book club is The Goose Girl which is very good. I recommend listening to it on CD because it is not just a person reading it, it is acted out by different actors and it is very well done. And I also really like the Women of Genesis series by Orson Scott Card. Ok so there are a few of my suggestions. Happy Reading.

Spanx Me

I have found something every woman should have. I learned about Spanx on Oprah and have wanted to get some ever since. I bought some the other day when the girls and I were at the mall and I LOVE THEM! They are footless pantyhose and a body shaper all in one. And they have a new product called the High-Falutin' Pantyhose. I love them because they go all the way up to the bra line. I have always been a firm believer in the body shaper, slimmer, whatever you want to call it. Even if you are skinny. It just helps to (slurp) suck everything in and make things smooth. I love the High-Falutin' one because most slimmers stop right in the middle of the stomach and so you have tight and smooth goin' on below and mushroom cloud above. And then if you wear it with pants, HELLO! You can see the band around your leg. These are footless and you can adjust the length to anywhere you want. I wore them on Sunday with the leg band all the way up above my knee because I didn't want them to show. The girl in the store who sold them to me was wearing black ones with the leg band about mid calf like leggings and it was so cute. So there you have it. You can order them off the website, I got mine at Nordstrom's.

Hippity Hoppity

I asked Zac this morning what the date was and he told me it was the 10th. Hello! April is 1/3 over and I missed the whole first 10 days somehow. We had a fun Easter. Steve and Zac went with Steve's friend Scott and his little boy to Moab on Friday and Saturday to ride ATV's. They had lots of fun and came home dirty and tired on Saturday night. The girls and I spent Friday and Saturday at the mall (malls) shopping for Easter dresses. We came home clean and tired. We quickly boiled Easter eggs while I gave everyone a bath, then the kids decorated the eggs in record time. I knew we would be doing it late and I had a ton of stuff that I need to do before I went to bed so we cheated and just stuck Easter stickers on our eggs. We went to church on Sunday morning. My sweet little Aubrey Anna gave her first talk in Primary. She did a wonderful job. She spoke loud and clear so everyone could hear her. That night we went to my cousins house for our annual family Easter egg hunt. There were over 400 eggs and under 10 children hunting so the kid LOVED that. It was fun. Click here for more Easter pictures.

Tree Climbing Cutie

Aubrey has learned a new trick. She has learned how to climb a tree. She had me come out back and watch this wonderful feat. Then she said, "Mommy go get the camera and take a picture of me". After I took the picture she said, "now all my cousins can see me climbing the tree". I took that to mean that she wanted me to put her picture on the blog. Here she is my little tree climbing cutie.

The Big 4-0

My dear husband turned 40 yesterday. He is officially an old man. He even has the gray hair to prove it. We woke up yesterday morning to find our house had been TP'd and this lovely coffin was on the front porch. Our friend Max and our neighbor Levi are the responsible parties. Steve went golfing with his friend Scott later that day and then I had a B-day party for him. We went out to eat at a restaurant with 6 other couples. It was a lot of fun. Click here to see the pictures. For his b-day the kids and I bought him an x-box 360. Sam, I am sorry you have to learn about it like this, but your x-box doesn't work with the new games. It overheats and freezes. Sorry. So now Steve has his very own. Happy birthday honey. I love you, you old man!

Oh, and my neighbor thought she would be funny. She said to me, "Allyson, I didn't know you were 40!". I have a long way to go 'till I'm 40. Thank you very much!

Feeling Better

I am feeling better. Or I guess I should say I was feeling better. I left the kids with a babysitter this afternoon and went to get waxed. I was going to take Addison with me because I have never left her with a babysitter before, other than my mom or one of my friends. I decided at the last minute that she would probably be ok to leave. She was just fine and wow. For the first time in a long time I went somewhere by myself. I felt much better when I got home. No more blah. I guess there is something about getting all the hair ripped out of your body that is invigorating and rejuvenating. That didn't last too long. You see I thought it would be fun to take the girls to the mall to buy Easter dresses. I have always picked out their Easter dresses by myself. I thought they were getting older and it would be a fun mom/daughter thing to do. Learned my lesson. Taking all 3 girls to the mall. They were pulling every dress off the rack. They loved them all, they wanted them all. Emily's favorites were the immodest ones. Why do they make clothes like that for a little kid in the first place? We were at the mall for a couple of hours and we ended up with 1 dress for Aubrey. So much for that. The best thing? We get to do it all again tomorrow.

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH

That's how I feel right now. BLAH! I don't know what my problem is. You know last week I wrote a post titled "Undone". I talked about how I feel like I work and work all day and at the end of the day I have nothing to show for it because it has all been undone. Since then I have come to the conclusion that my life is too cluttered. We have too much going on and we have way too much stuff in our house. The less stuff we have the less to clean up, right. So I have really been doing a good job of going through things room by room and getting rid of as much stuff as possible. Throwing things away has always been one of my favorite pastimes. I love it. It is so freeing. I just don't do it much anymore because I just run out of time at the end of the day. I barely get the stuff done that HAS to be done as it is. So it is going slow because I don't have a lot of time to devote to it. But what I have done makes me feel good and I can tell it does make a difference. I have reminded myself that I need to be more careful about what I let into my house. So much comes in each and everyday and if I am not vigilant in sorting through it and throwing it away, it really stacks up. For instance, Zac and Emily go to school 5 days a week, Aubrey 2. They each bring home at least, AT LEAST 5 papers every day they go to school. That is 60, yes 60 papers a week. If I am really busy one week and don't have time to go through their stuff we have 60 papers floating around the house. Anyway, I have been doing a lot of purging the last little while and it has helped me feel better. But today is just....I don't know. I fell so...I don't know any other way to say it except BLAH. BLAH BLAH BLAH. And it's not because I have been cooped up in my house for too long. The kids and I went to the Children's Museum and spent the day there yesterday and Steve and I went out to dinner last night with friends for his b-day. And I am leaving in a few minutes to go to a waxing appointment. And I was going to take the girls later today to go shopping for Easter dresses. But I really don't feel like doing any of that. I just feel like sitting and doing nothing. Maybe crying. I don't know. It is making me crazy though. I hate feeling this way. I thought writing about it might help, but it hasn't. Oh well. I have too much to do than just sitting her typing away. I have a baby to feed before I have to leave. And laundry to do and dishes to wash and BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH.....

Revenge of the Toothbrush

I am getting the girls ready for bed tonight. I am in their bathroom brushing Emily's hair while she is brushing her teeth. She can't find her toothbrush. I find it stuck in the middle of the toilet paper roll on the floor between the sink and the toilet. Emily gets mad and says, "OOOHHH Aubrey! She always does that to my toothbrush". Then in one swift continuous motion she picks up Aubrey's toothbrush, holds it under the soap pump and squirts hand soap on it. She didn't even have time to think it through and I am wondering how she came up with it. It was so funny the way she didn't even hesitate, just acted, that I couldn't help but laugh. I tried to cover it up with a cough but it just turned into an all out belly laugh. Emily looked up at me with her sweet innocent toothless grin and said, "What are you laughing about mommy?"

The Return Of The Cookie Dough Nightmare

Ya know how I had my whole fun experience of collecting and ordering the cookie dough for the PTA fundraiser? Well the nightmare continued today. It was delivered. Kind of. It was supposed to arrive at the school at 8:30 this morning. It was well after 9 before it came. Then the cookie dough man came and said that the double chocolate brownie cookie dough did not come in and it would not be in until tomorrow. Well it's like this. I had all my volunteers there this morning, a good portion of which was spent just sitting around waiting for the truck to arrive. We had to pull each individual child's order and fill it and deliver it to the classrooms. I already had a ton of people calling telling me they were leaving to go out of town because the kids get out of school early tomorrow and don't come back to school until next Tuesday. (it is spring break and it is the stupidest way to do spring break ever). So I already knew we were going to have a problem with people not getting their orders today, let alone tomorrow. And how am I gonna get volunteers to come and help me again tomorrow. And to have to go through the whole ordeal of sorting and delivering again. Please. But what do you do? So we dealt with it. We sent a note home in the orders saying that the double choc. cookies would be coming home tomorrow. Then we start sorting orders and find out that we are missing a ton of stuff. If you read my previous post about the cookie dough you will remember that after I called in the order we realized that we were missing 2 classes orders. I called those in and he said it would be no problem to add them. Well apparently it was a problem because they didn't come with the other order. I called the guy and called him and called him and called him and called him. Finally he answered and apologized and said he would go to the warehouse and pick it up and bring it to us. Can I just tell you how confusing it makes it to be trying to sort orders and have a ton of orders missing stuff? He finally brings that and I am checking what he brought against the list of things we need and he still didn't bring everything. We were still missing 7 CASES! So he said he would bring them tomorrow with the double chocolate. I said uh, no. You will bring it today so it can go home and the only thing we will be missing tomorrow is the choc. whatever. How crazy would that be to try and figure out that mess?! Please. So he went back to get that and brought it this afternoon. And as people started picking up orders, problems started rollin' in. People were missing things, they had the wrong stuff, there was one lady whose child's order wasn't even there. So I got out my copies of the orders and we had nothing ordered for her kid. She found the order form and $ in the kids backpack. I am scared to wake up tomorrow and find out what other problems we have. Seriously. Scared. Not to mention the fact that I kind of had other stuff I need to take care of tomorrow morning before my kids are out of school for 5 days. My friend who was PTA president last year said they were dealing with problems with orders for weeks after. FUN! What in the heck was I thinking???? Gettin' myself into a mess like this.