Quote for the Day

The difference between school and life?
In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test.
In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.
-Tom Bodett

Random

I’m in the mood tonight to do a random post!

Thanks for all the comments and emails in regards to Kaylee’s room.  I’m finishing it up and will show you the final product soon.  :)

Some have asked where I am on Pinterest.  Here is a LINK to my page.  I would love to have you follow me.

My books came in!  I always get so excited, track, wait, and watch for them to get here.  LOVE how they turned out!  Each of the kids books are all of their pictures from 2012.  This year I put in some of their pictures off of their i pods and cell phones.

I give the kids their picture books on Valentine’s Day.  It has turned into a tradition.  Then the family blog book I leave out in the living room for all to reminisce.   I will share photos of the layouts in the books after the kids see them.  Here is a sneak peak of the covers and backs to their books.

 

I bought ten of these white felt hearts at Target in their after Christmas clearance.  I then found some more red felt hearts at JoAnn’s.  Jerrica helped me string them on a ribbon for a little banner on our mantel.  We need to get a longer ribbon and string more.

 

I also decorated our holiday shelf in the dining room for Valentine’s Day.  It is filled with pictures of Stephen and I.  I really didn’t think anything of it as I was decorating, but then we had the missionaries over for dinner.  As I sat there eating and heard them comment on the shelves, I looked up and beheld quite a shrine of Stephen and I.  I do love him though, and this IS the month of LOVE!

Another Target find were these dollar section clothes pins.  I thought they would be cute holding up a banner, but then when I got home I decided they would be cute as magnets to hold pictures and notes.  So once again, Jerrica helped me stick little magnets on the back of them.

We ALSO found at Target these fun heart marshmallows.  Once again Jerrica helped me with these.  We enjoyed a nice afternoon hot chocolate together!

Doors are heart attacked, (I even did Stephen’s door this year :) mailboxes are set out, chocolate is bought, Valentine pictures are hung and the holiday shelf is decked out.  We are READY for Valentine’s Day!

Dollar Days

We have Dollar Days around here.  They started a couple of years ago.  They are just random days that I pick to reward a dollar.  Some weeks there may be two dollar days, but usually it’s once a week.

How do you get the dollar?  You make your bed and pick up your room in the morning.  Sometimes I reward when everyone has done it, but usually it’s when there are only one or two kids that have done it.   Yes, it’s only a random dollar, but with 52 weeks in a year, that is a possibility of $52 extra dollars.

I smiled today as the kids asked on the way home from school if today was a Dollar Day.  As I responded in the affirmative, the big girls cried with dismay as Nathan reveled in joy.  He is actually my one that always has his room done and is quick to cash in. 

Ashley was trying to get her doll Izzy, in on the action with her bed.  I told her that she will have to reward her own doll since SHE is the mother.

It’s really a chore they should do anyway.  They are the ones that slept in their bed, and they are the ones that need to learn cleanliness.  However, random bonuses are always a bonus! :)

Weekend Update

Stephen and I had a Red Robin/Red Box date.  We ended up getting this movie, which I thought was so good.  I love sports, small town setting, and a good message.

The kids had birthday parties, basketball and futsol games, and a swim meet.  Jacob ROCKED his 100 meter freestyle.  I love watching him swim.  He had a party Friday night that ended at 11pm.  I didn’t want to go pick him up that late, nor did I want Stephen to leave me to pick him up.  We ended up going together to get him.  As he started talking and telling us about the night, I thought to myself how I would have heard none of this, if I didn’t have to pick him up.  I actually am grateful that I still have to chauffer him.  These are my last little bits of time with him.

The big girls are playing on a YMCA 5th and 6th grade team together.  I’m still wondering if this is going to work.  It is actually Rebecca’s team and Kaylee is coming in stealing all of the attention.  She is just so athletic.  Kaylee’s competitive basketball team is playing in a tournament in Chicago, and I’m realizing that I need to scale back a bit.  This Y team seemed like the perfect fit, two girls with the same practice and same game times.  The girls will eventually play ball together in high school so I figured this was good practice.

We had a Friend Friday since they had a half day.  Rebecca and Neely built all kinds of forts around the house.  Lizzie and Kaylee were crafting it up in the craftroom.

Ash walked around moping that we didn’t go to the school sock hop because she had already promised Ethan that she would be his first dance.  That girl is a tough one!  She pepped right up the next day by being able to do a zip line at Gabby’s birthday party.

AND Nathan spent the weekend teasing and tormenting all his sisters and their friends.  I was really hoping that Kaylee would beat him in this arm wrestle!  He just can’t keep his mouth shut sometimes, which gets him in trouble.

I guess that sums up last weekend.  Time just keeps on flying!

Purpose of Motherhood

I was asked to share some thoughts on Motherhood a couple of weeks ago, and thought I would share a little bit of it on here….

“There is a story about three stonecutters, each chipping away at a large block.  A passerby approaches the first stonecutter, “Excuse me, what are you doing?”  The stonecutter replies rather gruffly, “Can’t you see?  I’m chipping away at this big hunk of stone.”  Approaching the second craftsman, our curious person asks the same question.  This stonecutter looks up with a mixture of pride and resignation and says, “Why I’m earning a living to take care of my wife and children.”  Moving to the third worker, our questioner asks, “And what are you doing?”  The third stonecutter looks up, his face shining, and says with reverence, “I’m building a cathedral!”

They all have a purpose to their actions, but some see deeper.  They see the final product and what they are doing now to achieve that product.  The meaning of our actions come from within us.  When we have the purpose of our actions in our mind as we do the mundane things of life, they really don’t seem mundane.   Each action we do is a piece to our main goal.  We need the small steps to get us there, but have to keep our vision in mind.  When we have that vision and purpose, the mundane is then filled with love and purpose as well.

Love Quotes

This must be going around Pinterest because I’m getting emails for the quotes from a past Valentines post.  SO to save time, here is a link I made online with all of the quotes that I have in my Valentine basket.  We just keep it on our kitchen table and pull and read quotes as we eat our meals.  I LOVE some of these quotes!

It’s fun to discuss these and hear what the kids have to say.  Anyway, here is the link so that I don’t have to email the list anymore.  :)

Love Quote Link

Just click on View the PDF version and you can save and print it.

Words

Some people know how to express themselves eloquently.  They just have a natural way with words.  My Ash is one of these people.  She can just twist and work her words into such a way that after a while I realize that she is working ME!

 

A while back I told all the kids to come down to the laundry room to take their piles up to put away.  Ashley proceeded to start bossing Jerrica into bringing HER clothes up.  She was quite adamant about it, and Nathan broke into their conversation to let her know that she was being mean to Jerrica. 

Ashley quickly replied, “Nathan, I’m just trying to give Jerrica a chance to do some service.  I’m letting her do her good deed for the day.”  I came upstairs to hear the conversation and see Nathan give me the look.  I was just amazed at how she could turn it around to put her in the positive light, while making Jerrica do her laundry.

Of course later in the day I had to use her line when I needed a job done, “Oh Ash, I’m just trying to give you a chance to serve…”  I’ve got to just give it right back to her!

I think Stephen and I are in for it when she’s a teenager.  We will be old and won’t be able to think as clear and fast.  She on the other hand, will be even faster with those words of hers!

Reflectors

I have been following Karen Russell’s photography blog for a couple of years now.  She nails lifestyle photography, and those little glimpses into memories.

I have wanted to take her class, since I started following her, BUT with six kids I can never justify spending the money on her class.  Someday I will, and it will probably be the year that she quits teaching.  :(

ANYWAY, this afternoon I was checking out her latest posts.  She documented the cutest series of photos from a football game.  THEN she shared a lesson on reflectors.  I was excited to take a peek into her teaching.  Of course after reading the lesson, I had to try it.  Actually, I kept seeing moments when natural reflectors were highlighting sweet little faces.

Jerrica had my big bedroom window behind her that was shining on her book, illuminating her face and even creating catch lights in her eyes.

Then for some reason all of the kids practice the piano at night with the light off, and only the piano light on top turned on.  The piano light shines straight down illuminating the music books.  As I went in to help Rebecca, once again I noticed the light shining from the music on to her face.  A REFLECTOR…

Anyway, head over to Karen’s site and read about reflectors.  It will have you look at light in a different way - Natural Reflectors.

Sisters on Sunday

Rebecca was sitting in my bedroom reading the Friend magazine.  She was all ready for church and just looked so pretty sitting there.  I pulled out my camera and through the viewfinder saw little feet running in…

Next thing we know, someone was in the middle of everything thinking she was left out…

 

She was driving Rebecca CRAZY, and I thought that Rebecca was going to come unglued.  That is until Kaylee spotted what Rebecca was trying to find in her hidden picture page.

Moral of the story is to not leave a sister out for pictures.  One more girl makes the picture even that much cuter!  :)

   

Martin Luther King Jr.

“Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are."

- Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Words With Friends

Stephen and Kaylee have been playing since last summer.  I smile as each night a few minutes after the kids go to bed, Stephen’s phone starts beeping with Kaylee’s move on Words with Friends.  They tease each other about words that are played or who is beating who.

I’m glad they have this little connection.  However, I am a bit jealous as well that I’m not playing.  I rather enjoy a good game of Scrabble.

Apparently, Kaylee is getting pretty good.

Latest Read

A friend casually mentioned this book, then in a phone conversation my sister raved about this book, AND then as I was reading it, I noticed it’s my book club’s book for February.

I LOVED the book!  Stephen came home late last night from playing volleyball and I was doing the ugly cry trying to read in between tears.  I think I freaked Stephen out because I’m not a crier. 


It’s about a very wealthy man and a homeless man whose lives intersect.  

LOVEd this quote in it, “You never know whose eyes God is watchin’ you through”.  We are surrounded by so many people that God is using.  Sometimes WE are the means of helping others and answering their prayers, and most times we are the recipients of others’ love and service.  I can’t even count how many times others have answered my prayers through their actions.

Anyway, here is the Amazon link –Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together 

Really a GREAT book!

Kaylee’s Room

I need advice.  We have been doing a little room changing.  I fell in love with a Pottery Barn quilt, but didn’t want to spend the $250, so I settled for this quilt from Target.  Kaylee loved it.  We then bought some throw pillows and a body pillow to add different textures and colors.

I made the bed skirt to match the quilt and throw pillows.  Her chair on the left side there by her built in desk, I painted black and then the right hand side has a black nightstand with a mustard color drawer pull.  We did a fun wall that faces the bed filled with the mustard color, teal, and white picture frames, mirror, clock….  It is all coming together, BUT the curtains!  The curtains are making me insane.  I sewed the the ruffled white ones to bring more texture, but now feel I need to paint the Kaylee letters.  Or should I just do some corduroy mustard panels.  She has a big window on the right side which would be predominately the curtains and lavendar wall.  I don’t know if mustard and lavendar would look good together by themselves.  Yet, the white ruffles ones might be too much white in the room.  I don’t know what to do, and sometimes people from the outside that haven’t been looking at this have a better perspective.  I would love your opinions!  I want to be done with this room and move on!  :)

Bookmark Collection

“Mom, I have a huge collection of bookmarks.”  After hearing this come from Rebecca, I assumed she probably did since she is always reading.  Then she asks if I will come up and take a picture of her collection.  When I get to her room, I’m floored at how many she really does have…

She is definitely one of my readers!  Last weekend, Stephen and I took her out to Olive Garden (her choice), because she had just finished reading the Book of Mormon for the THIRD time.  I love those kind of dates with the kids.  They feel they have accomplished something, which they have, and now they get our undivided attention on a date night.

The night we took a picture of the bookmarks, Rebecca was determined to make a new one for her BFF at school.  We ended up making pom pom ones using these instructions from Design Mom -

 Pom Pom Bookmark

All of the girls had to join in because there was a project at hand.  We had quite the little yarn fluff mess going on. 

Of course we had to lay the pom pom bookmark down amidst the others and take ANOTHER picture of the bookmark collection.

Favorite Time of the Day

I snuggle and read with each of the little girls every day.  One afternoon as Ash and I were snuggling under her cheetah blanket I told her that I love to read with my kids and it’s “my favorite time of the day”.  Well, she has taken my comment and ran with it.

She will jump out of the van for school in the morning and with a wink of her eye promise me that she will be home soon to read with me, since that’s my favorite time.  She will plead to get out of a job so that we “can read together since it’s my favorite”.  The best was today when she told me, “I’m glad that I am part of your favorite time of the day”.  My heart literally melted!

Thanks for making my day each and every day,  Ash!

Reminders

Our fun California trip is but memories now.  I’m grateful for the little momentos around the house that remind us of the memories.  We have a little glass jar filled with seashells from our time on the beach.  It’s such a cute decoration, and even entertains the girls as they get them out and analyze the different shells and colors. 

 

I printed up a few pictures for the kids that are now on bedroom bulletin boards.  Kaylee also has a bird wire in her room that is filled with memories and right there on it, is her tickets from Disneyland.

I just smile as I see all of these different reminders from our vacation.  They just bring back happy memories!

Secretly Seen by All

A woman in our church today shared something in her talk that I have thought about all day.  She was talking about joining a weight loss group and how one of their quotes was, “Whatever you eat secretly in your home is still seen by all”.  I thought about how true that is with the habits and examples that are set in the home, and then reflected out in public.  We think no one will see, but the things we do, become parts of who we are.

I am anal about my kids saying thank you during and after meals.  Food around here doesn’t drop down like manna from Heaven.  It takes work to buy it and then more work to prepare it AND then even more work to clean it all up.  My family needs to recognize and appreciate the meals that they have been given.  They are WONDERFUL about showing this type of gratitude.  Even for the meals that they don’t find favorable, they still will say thank you for some aspect of it.  AND it’s not just me that gets the praise either, if someone helped make a salad, dessert or even a drink, it is recognized.  If we go out to eat, Stephen is always being praised by all for taking us out.  Our family LOVES food and we try to always be grateful for it!  Now this is something we do “here in our home”.

YET, it has become a habit for my kids to show gratitude when they are outside of our home.    Time and time again I have been told by friends, teachers, and people how mannerly my kids are.  My kids probably aren’t even thinking twice about it, they are just in the habit of doing it.  A habit that was started in the home and now is seen by others.

The problem herein lies, that bad habits can be picked up at home as well.  And heaven only knows we have quite a few of those around here too.  The things done in our homes are never really secret.  They are pieces of what makes us who we are on the inside AND on the outside.

Bananas

We eat bananas as if we had a banana tree outside.  Our favorite cookies are these banana cookies…

There is just something about their texture that makes you eat one after another.  The kids’ eyes light up when they come home from school and I have a batch of these hot out of the oven.

Speaking of bananas, my sister got one of these for Christmas and raved about it - Yonanas 902 Ice Cream Treat Maker, Black/Silver

 



This week I had a friend let me try some from her machine.  Oh my goodness, YUMMY!  It is now on my list to get.  I think even saying the name is fun… a Yonana Machine.  So awesome!

Tea Set Gift

Another one of my favorite gifts that I gave Ashley was this tea set.

Ashley LOVES to have tea parties.  They aren’t your ordinary tea parties either.  She makes place cards, picks out the perfect cookies and punch, has fresh bouquets of flowers in the summer, and ALWAYS makes sure that there is entertainment.  In the past we have sipped out of little plastic tea cups.  This year I decided I wanted to give her a little collection of different tea cups and saucers for these parties.

I’m always in the thrift shops trying to come up with costumes for my kids’ special days at school, SO each time I would go, I would browse the dishes.  By the end of the year I had picked up 10 different tea cups, all different in design.  I think I spent around a dollar or two for each set.

I put all the tea cups and saucers in this vintage suitcase that lifts from the top, AND I slipped in a beautiful vintage tablecloth.  It really turned out cute.  Ash LOVED it of course!  I kind of wanted to keep it for myself though! :)

This blue teacup set below actually matches one of my mom’s sets.  I knew it looked familiar when I saw it, and was excited after mom confirmed that it was just like hers.

Ashley had a friend over today, and of course had one of her tea parties.  I think this girl may be the hostess for MANY a party as she grows older. 

 

Random Downloads

I’m trying this savings plan this year.  It seems simple, and if I can end up with that much at the end of the year, for hardly doing anything ... then I’m DOing IT!

(from intheblack.com)

Then I saw this on Dating Divas and had to print up a couple copies for my girls to do.  I remember doing it as a young girl with my friends and KNEW my girls would enjoy it too.  AND, Let’s just say Sunday was spent playing MASH with about every aspect of life that you could think of.

(the cute printable is on www.thedatingdivas.com)

I also printed up these cute CD labels to fancify and finish off my 2012 CD’s.  The kids each have their own CD of pictures, but I use a little disc tin to keep all of the family discs.  Download is found HERE, on eighteen25’s blog.  So grateful for their time and talents spent to save time for me, and provide me with a cuter filing version.

 
Then one last link.  One of the favorite Christmas gifts this year is Nathan’s basketball hoop.  Hands down the BEST I have seen, with a sturdy frame and break away rim.  The kids are constantly playing on it.  You can drill it into the wall or use the over the door hook.  BUT seriously, the best bang for your buck on this!   Check it out here - SKLZ Pro Mini Basketball Hoop 

That’s all for my randomness!  :)

New Year Posters

Jerrica has been dying to make these.  She has asked for months now, when the holiday is that we make our goal posters.  Well, today was the day!  We cut and cut and cut, then pasted together what we wanted our year to look like.  I love goals and new beginnings.

This is my favorite FHE lesson for the new year - Using Time Wisely.  It’s filled with stories and ideas to help you use your time wisely.  I think I use it every year just for ME to hear it again and again.

 

Always have liked this quote from the lesson, “Time is all the capital stock there is on the earth; … if properly used, it brings that which will add to your comfort, convenience, and satisfaction,”