Jakie and baby M

Jakie does not "wike kisses."
also, when I ask him what he is going to do the first time he sees the baby or what he is going to do with her these are his responses:
i'm gonna' poop on her. I'll poop on her when she cwies.
i'm gonna' put her in the toilet...and flush her.
i'm gonna ' jump on her.
i'm gonna feed her to the animals.
i don't wike baby M (we don't have a spelling yet).

I think we need to keep a good eye on him!.

Stay at Home Mom

Today is Thursday and for now it is my day that I get to be JUST a Stay at Home Mom. (mostly. I have cub scouts tonight, and because I don't have a child that is cub scout age I add that to things that make me not "just" a stay at home mom).
I don't mean to trivialize the Stay at Home Mom by adding that "Just" in front of it. But some day I hope that I can do just that. However, when that time arrives I think I'll be just as busy as I am now-but busy with my own kids.
You see, I work part time. Very part time. But that part time job pays our current Mortgage and HOA and keeps our head above water in our current situation- the situation of a recent MBA graduate in a recession. (We are not in dire straights...we have an affordable home that we fit in and a nice job for Nate and 2 good cars-no complaints, just some higher hopes). So until we fall upon that great job with the pay check to help us afford a house with a yard and the utilities to go with it not to mention the student loan payments I am happy to have my one day a week job.
Now...it is more than that though. I was fortunate enough to pick up an extra day for my first few weeks back at school. I am covering another teacher's maternity leave, and because I get paid hourly those extra days will help cover us when I am out on my maternity. So, I should not complain about the extra day, it is temporary.
But that is STILL not it. I might be crazy.. but I also teach an extra hour class on Monday's at a Montessori school, and a 2x a month family class on Monday evening (great FHE opportunity). Oh, and on Monday's I also teach an art class in my home. On Tuesday's I travel to teach another art class to a different private group of kids! Theses extras are not so bad, you see they help pay for the non monthly expenses that come up... oil changes...tires...birthday gifts...paying the deductible when you get in a car accident!
With Monday pretty packed, Tuesday having an event smack in the middle of it and Wednesday's and Fridays taken over by work- Thursdays are the Day!
So, I'm sure I've documented all of the happenings in my life before, and I'm positive that there are much busier moms...and by the time that I don't have to work...I'll be busier with my kids and their activities. And although I have the best job a stay at home mom could have I would love being busy because of my own kids!

So to celebrate my Stay at Home Mom Day here is what I'll do:

• hold Jake in my lap while he sings "twinkle twinkle little star" to me with morning breath while playing with my ear.
  
• mop the floors that have been begging for a mopping for days (I've had the chairs and rugs up off the floor for a few days in anticipation)
• vacuum all of the carpet in the house.
  
• catch up on laundry- hopefully getting it all folded AND PUT AWAY
• Read Eric Carle Books to Jake (which I incidentally picked up at the library for art classes I am teaching).
  
• Hit the post office and possibly the bank!
• Make a real dinner?
  
• Set up our phone to track phone calls so we can see how many minutes we use on our regular phone and decide if we should just get rid of it!
• Go visiting teaching
• Go to a Dr. Appointment sans kids - this is my first weekly appointment where they start to check to see if I'm dilated.. not that my kids have not been in the room for a cervix check (poor kids)- but it will be nice not to have Jake there screaming to be held so that the Dr. can tell me more about my pregnancy than that she is a good size, she has a head, some eyes and an heartbeat! (gotta love Jake and all of the love he has for his mom).

So when I'm no longer required to work, but I feel overwhelmed at the days that my children and family duties bring upon me, I'd like to come back and read this post and remember how much I cherished that one day a week that was mostly JUST about being a mom and doing things at home, with my kids, with my family, for my kids, for my family and for my home. When I could take care of my family and my home without having to be gone! Because I love it.

Now, to stay off of the computer and away from distractions and get to work.

Have you ever had a $17 burger?

me neither.
But Nate ate one today for lunch.
I should have him take pictures of any food that he eats that cost over 1/5 of our weekly grocery budget so you can see just what that looks like.
I wish I knew what it taste like.




BTW
His boss took a bunch of people from the office out to lunch at the Capital Grille in Phoenix.
I ate left over jambalaya, green beans and pineapple with cottage cheese.

GIVEAWAY

My sister in law takes awesome photos. Even when she is not trying! So if you ever see an amazing photo of my kids on this blog, chances are that she took it!
She has started her own business and is doing a give away.
Check it out here:

Hurry, it ends soon!

Happy Saturday!!!

It is our first Saturday morning of the school year. The kids got up early (because they are getting used to it) and came into our room numerous times to get us up because they were hungry (Maesyn) and it is light out (Jake).
Maesyn wondered if we were going to take a trip- too many of those. I was excited for the simple day with "no plans*****..."
The kids did the Saturday morning cartoon thing while I made breakfast- Nate really wanted to make the breakfast- but I really like cooking- i burnt the sausages!
As we got ready to make breakfast Maesyn helped un load the dishwasher and Jake helped to load it. Love that they are eager to help. It makes it slow down, but the earlier I teach them then the easier it will get!
Now it is time for the Saturday Chores! Maes is going to sort and put away the tiny toys that she left out and Jake dumped all over the floor. Then she will move on to her Saturday chore list that she is really excited about. She could not wait to scrub the toilets during the week, so she already practiced that (we will see how long this lasts).
Nate is picking out some Saturday morning music... i really think Cat Stevens would be the best, it looks like we need to make some new i-tunes purchases.
Jake is just being a 2 year old= not helpful.
Once the inside toys are picked up then Jake and Nate will go wash the cars- Maes, who is being super helpful, can choose to help them or help me inside.
Is it crazy that I'm excited about a Saturday at home cleaning the house with my family?
These are the best memories from my childhood!
The only thing that would make this better...if it would only cool down!





******Ok i have plans for the day: wash sheets, new sheets on the beds, wash both cars inside and out, plan lessons for pre school art classes, bank, mail rebate forms to phone company, mail float to Julie, take changing table to friends house, drop of shower gift, clean the bathrooms really really good, take clothes to DI, shop for car seat and changing table pad, teach maes how to clean the bathtubs-per her request,and then swimming at grandpa's house.

On a side note:
Our first week of school went great. There was a problem with Maesyn's first bus ride home, but she was not traumatized, just hungry because she had to wait for someone to pick her up at the school after the bus brought her back!
She has been amazing at going to bed when asked and getting up to get ready. Jake will take a bit longer. So far so good.

First day of School!

Today is the first day of school. I took the morning off work so that Nate and I could take the kids to school. I am now in an empty house catching up on the blog while I procrastinate cleaning the kitchen, moping and vaccuming, folding laundry and sorting papers. However, sans kids- i bet I can get it all done in about an hour!

We started out a little rocky as I enrolled her in our neighborhood school not knowing if they would have a half day program. She went to an orientation there in the spring, but during the summer I found out that they only had full day so I found another school. However, I kept getting info from the first school and it was confusing. Especially when I would relay info to Maes and then have to retract it!
She was full of mixed emotions!
Her new school has a strict dress code- in fact, the pants she wore today are too short! We got some running shoes for her because she cannot wear open toe shoes and she lives in flip flops. These shoes are for running the turkey trot in Novemeber and she is pretty happy about it. (thanks grandma anderson for getting the shoes!)Here we are waiting for the bus. At first she was excited but then told me that she did not like yellow busses, only rainbow busses. By this morning she was anxious to get out the door! I hope it lasts!

She is so little. I could hardly see her curls through the bus window when she got on! I think nate and I were so nervous for her, but she did great! Jake really wanted to ride the bus too!

We drove Jake to his Montessori toddler program. I will be teaching a weekly art class for them and he gets to attend their program while I am at work. I choose to just have him attend half day and then go with the sitter the other half of the day with Maes. He loves his school but had a hard time letting me leave. I think he will get over it soon. His school seems so fun!


After the drop off we headed to Maesyn's school to make sure she got off the bus ok. She was still doing great! We walked her to her classroom and showed her the play ground where she could play until school started. She is very friendly and started talking to some bigger girls. I think she thinks that she is big because she plays a lot with her older cousins. I hope the big girls will give her the time of day and not ignore her. I think she will not have a hard time making friends.
Here she is with her class heading in. I cannot wait to hear how she did!

Up date:
"It was amazing". But they talked a lot about the rules and it was "BORING" . She only remembers the one about raising your hand.
On the second day she had PE. She loves her Gym Teacher!
She also has some girls in her class that don't listen.
Her teacher said that she loves being an example for other kids.
She is so big!

my little kids are becoming big kids.

Maesyn:
She will tell you scene by scene (including hair color of the girl characters) what happens in a movie. She will also call you up and tell you each and every event from our vacations, including what happens in each show at Sea World with songs.

Jake:
Jake can potty in the toilet and is pretty happy about standing up (he did not want to before).
He just learned how to buckle his car seat by himself.
He is really getting ready to be a big brother- however he continues to say he does not like Micah and wants to throw her in the trash. I know he will be better when she is finally here.

On another note, my kids have creative ways of trying to get out of things they don't want to do- or at least they are good at making up excuses.
Jake:
On walking- "it's too hot" (yeah it is), "it's too cold" (um... only when he is wet from swimming- mostly it is "too hot") "it's too sunny" (that comes with the heat)... and his latest...in San Diego, because it was neither too hot nor too cold "I'm too sick." In that case I told him we better go straight home and go to bed. Suddenly he could walk.
Maesyn:
On wiping her own bum:
"it's a muddy poo."
"it's a burny poo."-
I usually ask her to wipe 3 times and check the paper...then she can call me.
On the other hand, Jake does not want to be watched and wants to wipe his own poo. This is messy and sometimes (often ) ends up on his shirt. I beg him to let me wipe him for now.

San Diego 2009 Trip

So, we ventured on a last vacation before school started. To be honest, I think we should have gone a week earlier as we had not time to rest before we got busy getting ready for school.
I always try to budget stuff... I like saving money...but at the same time I sort of splurge on special occasions. A sort of double standard in money I guess. So included in our highlights are some of the ways I spent our vacation money!!!

We started out the trip leaving a little later in the morning than planned, but arrived at the hotel in enough time to hit the beach in La Jolla.

There was fun body surfing for Nate.

Jake enjoyed being buried in the sand but then noticed that it was cold after he got out.
Maes tried to explain to him that if he ran around he would not be so cold!

The next morning we arrived early to Sea World. They have specials with 2 days for the price of one and Adults for the price of kids. It was a saver!
We saw all of the shows at least once.
I brought ponchos so we could sit really close in the splash zone. Jake loved it but maesy was less than thrilled. She looks happy in this picture- it is obviously before she was splashed.
They seemed to love most of the shows- not circ de la mar though... the guys were scary! Their favorite was the pet show. Maes told everybody about it including the songs that they played.

I always feel a little sorry for the poor starfish. They are supposed to stay under water but they were not monitored at all and I watched a woman pull one completely out of the water and then drop it back in the tank upside down. I tried my best to have the kids keep them in the water. we left the park around 8 and crashed right when we got back to the hotel.

On our second day we slept in, got breakfast at Vons (like safeway) and then the kids swam in the hotel pool. There is a novelty to it. We headed out to Point Loma for lunch.
The kids watched the boats as we waited for our delicious- put pricey lunch!
We headed back to Sea World where they played at the huge play ground and then we saw as many shows as we could (most of them for the second time)
We stayed for the fun night shows (Jake even stayed awake) and the fireworks. Then headed back to the hotel exhausted!

On Sunday we found a ward building and attended sacrament meeting. Jake got poop on his shirt when wiping his bum. It did not matter, he got chocolate milk on it before we even left the hotel and then wrote on his pants with marker in the car! We left the meeting when it was over with him in just his undershirt and pants!
After packing up the car we drove to the San Diego temple, which was closed so we could not even go on the grounds. We took a photo op though!
We set out to Balboa park for a picnic and geocaching after. We got rave reviews on the park from family members, but we were not impressed. We must have been in the wrong part of the park, or they must have a thing for crazy people, homeless people, toilet paper and lots of volleyball players (i think there is a strong gay presence in that part of San Diego!)
We did find this beautiful tree to eat under. Jake and maes loved it and were building a "tree house" under it. Jake gathered a lot of sticks that made it all the way back home with us.
This was my view of the tree. I was very tired that last day in SD.




Eating:
I think we are in between cheap and having fun on trips. Ordering pizza is cheaper than going to a restaurant with the whole family, but we splurged on a fancier pizza.
The picnics in the Park were so nice and tasted yummier than the food we bought during our last sea world adventure!.
Our travel day the kids and Nate got a little fast food on the drive here, and then we ordered a pizza at the hotel. It was very good. If I get the name of the place then I'll add it.
On our first Sea World day we ate our own food for breakfast and had a great picnic lunch of our own food in the park. For dinner Nate got sombreros- cheaper than Filibertos but not nearly as good.
On our second sea world day we picked up bagels at Von's (Safeway)- they have chocolate chip. And we plan to lunch in Point Loma and then picnic dinner at the Park. We spent around $30 at Vons to get additional food (cream cheese, chocolate milk and hummus- as we have a fridge) and some summer sausage, fresh breads, apple sauce and juice boxes. We have quite a few snacks left from home but we wanted to get dinner supplies and breakfast, lunch and dinner so that we don't have to shop on the Sabbath as we drive home Sunday.
The plan is to hit the temple and church before we head home... maybe a little more site seeing as well.

San Diego - Places to remember

So, Nate and I were discussing some of our favorite places we have been in the San Diego area and he kept getting two different trips mixed up. So here is my little list of what I remember- if i procrastinate any longer then I will forget with time. I'm thankful that we took pictures in front of one of the restaurants so I could see the name and look it up on line!

Now, I should also mention some things not to do, eat or see as well.
Some are below-and not specific to this vacation.

La Jolla: The Children's Pool

(San Diego Summer 09 trip)

850 Coast Boulevard

There are also sea lions to watch as well. very fun for the kids!

Cornondo:Silver Strand State Beach
(San Diego Summer 07 trip)

5000 Highway 75
Coronado, CA 92118

Encinitas: Moonlight beach
(April 2008 trip)

101 Pacific Coast Highway
Encinitas, CA 92023
I think this is the beach we went to. It was good for kids. We also went to a beach a little further up the coast in Encinitas. We parked and walked a long way down some steps. There were no extras there but it was pretty nice and peaceful. No picture. Sorry.

Point Loma: Point Loma Sea Foods
(summer 2007 trip)
Point Loma Seafoods
2805 Emerson St.
San Diego, CA 92106

This places closes early, but it is really good. Or at least after a long day at the zoo getting peed on by your kids!

The thing I loved most about this is that fishermen were coming in with their catch and some were going out for the night. It was fun to watch!

The first time we went here it was just before they were closing and it was not crowed at at all. The second time we went was a Saturday at lunch time. We had to wait to park and it was so packed. I thought this was just a little treasure of a spot that we happened across on a family trip- well it is a treasure to a lot of people. It was so packed. We were lucky and got a table. The food was great- but it cost a bit. It is fun to splurge once in a while:

one kids meal, one fish and chip plate, a shrimp cocktail, a cup of clam chowder and a small root beer....just over $27! I'm glad we were cautious and got just enough to feed our family with no left overs...at that price I would have crammed it all down my throat because I hate to waste.

San Diego: Ciro's Pizza

1226 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92103-3312

(619) 296-2476‎
(no Picture)
We got a huge supreme pizza for just under $20 (splurge becuause at home we get an Hot n Ready from little Cesars- but this was cheaper than taking the family to a Resturant!)and it was super good thin crust. Nate had 2 slices left and he and Jake ate them in the morning. Had I not been so pregnant I would have eaten more than 2 slices. (2 slices was pushing it- but I did not throw up). The kids ate the sausage off of thier and Jake ate the cheese.

Hotel Circle: Courtyart Marriot
(summer 2009 trip)
595 Hotel Circle South San Diego, California 92108 USA
We just get our hotels on Priceline and find the best deal. It seems like we go all over the area so it is no big deal where we stay. However, on our most recent trip we stayed at this hotel and there was a really cool hill outside of it. I saw lots of runners or first night here and wished to run (I totally ruled it out in Hot AZ and being 7 months pregnant, so i did not bring any running things, but next time we are here- and if we are in hotel circle, I want to be dropped off by this hotel and run up and down that hill a few times). I have not figured out if there is a way to say that you prefer a fridge in your hotel room on priceline, but I'm always excited when we have one.

Do Not or do's or ho hums we have learned:
LA- we stayed at a great hotel- forgot the name, but it had a nice price on Priceline and we ran into some friends. There was a parking fee- so I've come to expect that and am happy when there is free parking.
DO NOT- take recommendations from the concierge- we asked for some good chines food. He suggested a place that delivered to the hotel- but the delivery charge was pricey so Nate picked it up for us. It was pricey, too much food, not very good and there was a hair in it. We did not have a fridge to store the left overs in .
DO- take recommendations from the locals- sometimes. We really liked this greasy hamburger place in LA. Too bad I don't remember the name of it!!!!
DO NOT- take a vacation that requires lots of walking around when you are 7 months pregnant and out of shape because it was too hot to work out because you were pregnant for your final trimester during the hottest months of the year in AZ.
ho hummm- well, we took 2 "recommendations" for places to eat. One of them was the Amigo Spot at a hotel in Hotel Circle. Our friend's husband - who grew up in SD- loves it, so we ate there and it was just OK-not bad at all- but not amazing- at least to me. I guess I love my AZ Mexican food spots better. The other was "sombreros" you know - they mention it in the BLINK 182 song "she brings me sombreros just because....)- yeah, I joke with Nate that it is is favorite band. When ever we come to San Diego and pass one we think we should try it. Just OK- Fillibertos is much better.

conversations with a 2 year old.

jake is still not in bed and it is after 10.
i told him he could snuggle me if he looked at my belly to see the baby kick. he has a short attention span so it is very hard.
at one point he saw a big wave in my belly as she shifted positions
we then had a conversation that went sort of like this
jake: is micah out?
h: no, she is still in there
j: does she need a stick to get out?
h: why? so she can dig her way out?
at this point i suggested a spoon as well, but he is pretty fond of sticks.
j: yeah, or we could put the stick in there (pointing to my belly button)? (i know this is not a question, but he will say these things with the fluctuation at the end that sounds like a question).
h: why? so we can catch her like a fish.
j: yes, we'll catch her with a fishing pole?
h: what should we put on it to catch her.
j: i don't know. Worms? micah likes worms?

trying for a "normal" bedtime...

Tonight I dropped something off at a friends house just before 8pm and their kids were already in bed. They try to get them in bed by 7. I know this is normal for a lot of people, but normal for our family has been 10ish.
It seems that the entire time we've had kids that Nate did not get home until quite late and I would either let the kids stay up so that they would actually get to see him one time that day, or let them fall asleep with me in my bed with no routine whatsoever.
The only advantage of this was that my kids would sleep in until pretty late..sometimes until 9am!
Maesyn will start Kindergarten next week and we NEED to have her get up early and eat breakfast and get ready for the day. This necessitates an earlier bed time. So our goal tonight was 9pm. I know, still sort of late, but slowly we will get them in bed by 8pm and possibly earlier. This will give her plenty of time to sleep and not have a hard time getting up early. It will also give Nate and I some time to hang out, now that he gets home at a fairly normal hour.
So how is it going?
It is just after 9:30.
Maesyn is asleep in bed (Jake's bed because she is afraid of the top bunk)
Jake is in and out of our room with excuses.
I'm hungry
I need food
My bed is too SWEATY
yeah.
he is 2 and already working it, but I just witnessed a yawn.

Meet Andrew, the newest member of our family...

He is in our family by way of my sister in law Tara. So now we don't need to get a dog. The only other dog in our family is Hamlet, a Great Dane. He lives in Korea. They eat dogs there. But not Hamlet. He is the "cousin" of my children- at least my sister calls my parents Hamlet's grandma and grandpa ..Hamlet has only met Maesyn, and she was 6 months old...and he was afraid of her. My kids skype with my sister, but request the doggie! It seems that my Children's Aunts are really into smaller animals.

I like to make charts....

I'm a huge list maker and I grew up with charts, so naturally I was excited to make charts for my kids and hoped that they would be excited to use them.

Here are some of my first charts. They are the kids morning and evening chores. The basics: Eat breakfast (a chore around here), bathe, brush your teeth, say your prayers... a simple hope to get into good habits. They are a little bent out of shape because more than once Jake was bent out of shape because he had to do some of his chores.
Here is my latest chore chart... it is a little wrinkled in the corner due to a laminator mishap, but it hangs on the laundry room freezer and perfection is not necessary (well, until it bothers me too much and I reprint and laminate it! )
As a Kindergartner she can earn an allowance if she does all of the "everyday" chores each day. (there is a spot to mark each day of the week that she completes her chores) as well as her "Saturday chores". She can choose her 3 chores for each category and Velcro them to the boxes, they will change each week. She HATES some of her Saturday chores (wiping down light switches and door knobs!).
Before this chart she had a little table that she could mark with an X every time she did a little something for me, or felt like she wanted to earn money. We would add up the X's on the chart and she would get a dime for each one at the end of the month. She still has that option and will do chores for me, but neglect to mark the boxes. She may change her mind though in the future. Initially her main motivator was to pay her tithing, but now she wants to earn money to buy things like this:
She recently reminded me to put her wallet in my diaper bag so that if she sees a silly trinket at walmart that she HAS to have...then she can get it.
For now we are letting her spend her money, after she pays her tithing... soon we will require her to save some it for special occasions...then for big things. A college education is not cheap you know!

I've got my team

Ok, this is for those that had interest in the 200 mile relay. A friend in the valley suggested that she get 6 runners and I get 6 runners. I just got commitment from the last of my 6 this evening. If you are still interested in running on this team then I can send you her way, I don't know how many she has on her team yet. Also, if you live outside the valley you might want to get a team of locals to your area, as if you are close to the race area you will need to provide 3 volunteers, but if you are from "out of town" you don't need to commit to that. On that note, we would not mind "back ups" or "volunteers". I have 2 back ups at the moment, but they are willing to volunteer if not needed to run, I just don't know how that works.
Also. If you really wanted to run this but did not get back to me and are thinking you might not be able to get a team together on your own then I could direct you to my Tucson friend (good if you are not local) or to some of the other runners in the valley that showed interest- but did not get back to me at this very early time. You might not get to be on my team, but maybe we will run the same legs together...and I plan on wearing "spanks" eventhought I'm not fast...they will show off all of my "Baby Fat" better!
JUST KIDDING!!!!

Making it work.

Earlier this summer we realized that there was a need to stay in our little condo a little longer. Our anticipations had been to move into a bigger house before the baby came, but that was not possible. So I began making arrangements so that we could all fit without feeling too cluttered.

It is fun to look back at pictures of this place when we were first married. It was just us with 3 bedrooms (although small) and very little "stuff". It was "big" and wide open.

It will be fun to look back at this place and see what we have done and how we fit our family in here as it more than doubled in size and we collected more and more things.

I'm trying not to be a pack rat and not to have too much clutter...but well....

I thought I was doing pretty good, but when I look at the pictures it feels like it looks a bit cluttered. I promise it could be worse. Here is what I have done:

Kids Room:
All 3 kids will live in this room. I wanted a little antique look all along and have modified to a more unisex looking room as Jake joined our family and the kids shared the room. I got rid of the white furniture and continued looking for more vintage, or vintage inspired items.
This area is for the baby. I got rid of our old crib and changing table in search of a Jenny Lind style crib and a dresser that I could use as a changing table. The dresser was free from my mom's neighbor and I spent about $25 on paint and casters to make it match the decor better and to make it taller for use as a changing table. It has 6 drawers and is great storage. Also, under the bed I have baskets for extra baby bedding and baby shoes...the rest of the space under there? Well, it will be used for diapers and food storage! I got the bedding at Target on clearance and the "mobile" at Cost Plus Imports. I bought the crib on Craigslist used. The seller requested $40 and I was more than willing to pay that price, especially because she delivered it to me. However, when she dropped off the crib she said that $30 would be just fine! Lucky Day.
Earlier this summer the kids got bunk beds. Maes won't sleep on the top, so we are in the process of putting and extra bar up there to make her feel safer. Also, with the old trundle gone we have room for food storage under the bed and shoe baskets (half off at hobby lobby). My kids have too many shoes. However, the shoe baskets cover up the food storage boxes! I got the kid's bedding at Target and Cost Plus World Market on clearance naturally!
I don't think this is a great photo of this area. I wanted this room to look pretty unisex as the girls and Jake would be sharing it. Near both of the girl's beds I have framed vintage pictures of little girls. This area by this old dresser is dressed up in boy style with my old Anasazi stuff, Native items from Nate's mission in Brazil and various object brought back from Nate's world traveling sister. One item is a utensil used by cannibals in Fiji. You cannot see it in this picture. The globe, which is actually a night light, sort of represents the world traveling and the old fishing boxes have my art supplies in them, but matched the decor too well to just keep them in the hall closet.
I also added an extra set of coat hooks. My kids have a bit too many bags...however they seem to remember things, so I cannot secretly give any away. I need to wait until they are ready. Maesyn has had her backpack for years and I think I'll have her use it until I cannot repair it any longer. Jake's back pack was given to him by a neighbor and hopefully he will use it until it falls apart.
I am trying to look for an extra row of hooks for our living room so that the kids can hang up their backpacks and sweaters right when they come in rather than have them walk to their room where they just drop all the stuff behind their door.
I used to joke that we could fit another child in the house, but it would have to go naked because I did not have any space for clothes. Well, you get creative when you have to make due. We are renting a small storage unit and have some stuff at my parents house as well. I bet I could fit that whole storage unit in any possible nook in our house and at my parents, but it feels nice to have some breathing room and to feel a little self sufficient. I'm glad my parents offered some of their extra space too...so we are still a little bit dependent.

Ok, this closet. I added an extra clothes bar. Maes has her stuff on the bottom, so she can dress herself. I threw a small dresser in here for Jake's clothes. We also have the Sunday box in here, but I might want to find a more accessible place for it.
The two little ones have their clothes up high and then I have some totes of keep sakes, clothing to grow into and the kid's sleeping bags.
Maesyn has a basket of her journals- she loves to write and draw in them. She also has her littlest pet shops stored in here. I put away all of the "chokeable" items a few weeks ago, but I decided that Maesyn was old enough to take care of these on her own.

The Play Room:
I've taken pictures of the insanity of this room a few times. It has not changed too much. The bedrooms are the only rooms with carpet and I thought it would be nice to use this room as the play room so that I would not have to worry about messy carpet. It is sort of a multi purpose room as I have no other place for the bikes or treadmill.
It is organized and I have a space for everything and Maes knows how anal I am about it. She was reluctant to play in a friends play room because it was "messy". I'm just a little nuts about organizing and baskets, and totes.
We gave the kids the old computer. We can play music on it and it fills the house. Maes was sure to let me know that this computer is slow. How does she remember that? We are hoping to get it cleaned up so it will speed up and get the wireless router working so that they can play PBS KIDS and look at the blogs of their far away family members.
My mom bought a cute wood table and chair set for my kids a few years ago from IKEA. She started staining it piece by piece...She had 11/2 pieces done. This week I put it together and Nate finished staining it. Under the table are stuffed animals...then under the easel we have the babies. I think I have a trash bag of stuffed animals in storage as well as one or two (i hope just one) totes of toys. We are rotating them... I sort of think it would be a good idea to give them their old toys for Christmas!!!!
Note to self: my kids don't need anymore stuffed animals...or Toys!
I'm debating if we need that TV in here. It does not get the digital signal, however it plays VHS and the kids use it fairly often...that means that we should keep it. Right?
We brought the toy box in from the living room. Now all of the toys (well most of them) are in the play room. We put a buffet table in the living room and it now stores all of my art supplies and I've gotten some pretty positive comments on it. This toy box has the bigger toys like ....hmmmmm. I cannot remember. You cannot really read all of the font on this. Here we have some baskets of toys...baby toys, horses, wooden blocks and wooden beads. The kid's dress ups have moved to the corner on hangers and the closet is mostly full of toys. I have a little bit of food storage in here, but mostly totes of legos, barbies, cars, tools, little people, dress up accessories, and a bin of balls! I also have the baby backpack in here and Nate has one of his 6 guitars squeezed in too!!!
Although there are a lot of toys in here, sometimes I want to find a way to lock the closet! - No my kids are pretty good about cleaning up, considering their ages!

The Laundry room:
I am pretty lucky to have a laundry room and it is very useful. The previous owner had installed some shelving in here and my mom helped with a second long shelf above the washing machine a few years ago. For my birthday my dad helped me put more shelving up. This is how we use this space.
We got a freezer a few years back and it is so helpful with food storage. On the other side of the freezer I have laundry sorting as well as two shelves for my art class supplies. Now I don't have to find strange places to store the kids stuff in the "seen" areas of the house. I also have my clay stored in this area.
As this is what you see if the laundry room door is open, I tried to store the "cuter" items 0n these shelves. The paper goods and food storage items are in nicer baskets. I think it looks pretty good for "clutter".
I would like to included laundry soap in my 3 month supply, but I recently went through it. Fortunate there is still room for more stuff in here. I also need to get my sewing machine back in here and I have fit some of the baby things....bib basket, booster seat.

Now that we are "mostly" organized and ready for the baby...maybe I can relax the next few days before school starts. We still need to get a car seat and I really want more hooks behind the door...I think it will never end really, it is not in my personality. But I'm glad that Nate and I worked together to get this done.
Now, we just have to keep things CLEAN!

Saturday Mornings..

The other day in the temple I told Nate that one of my favorite memories from growing up was Saturday mornings. We lived all over the place, but the location that comes to mind is Plesanton, California.
The sound, Cat Stevens or Beach boys playing in the background. Selections of my dad.
We just had some sort of breakfasty food... pancakes, or waffles...probably made by my dad, or at his request.
The next part includes the whole family at home, doing Saturday chores (my mom was big on Saturday chores, and if you spent the night you had to help us with them...not a good memory).
This particular (good) memory involves it being a cooler day in the fall.
We had an apple tree in the back yard and we had rencently picking a bunch of apples and were trying to do what we cold with them. My mom was slicing and seasoning them and putting buckets of them in the freezer so we could have pies with them later.
My dad was trying to make a cider press...unsuccessful...but fun to watch and help.

I'm sure that there were fights and contentions, but I don't remember them. (I also don't remember being "evil" as my little sister described me). I just remember the feeling, the cold air, the music and the family all together.

That is a fond memory. It did not involved elaborate expensive trips, or even leaving the house. It was just a normal Saturday at home with the family.

This weekend when Maes realized that Nate would be home she suggested that we go on a day trip...I guess I emphasize that too much when he is around. This would have to do with the fact that he has been a full time student for the past 7 years and in the bishopric for 3 of those. However, now that he has graduated, we are going to be seeing Nate a lot more on Saturdays (minus boy scout activities) and we need to make more meaningful at home memories.. I know there will be fights (but it happens at Disneyland and the Zoo and hiking as well). But I don't need to focus family time around going far out of town or to fancy pants places..

So this Saturday Morning the kids are at Tara's house, they had a sleepover. (also a good memory maker, I used to have sleep overs with my Aunt before she got married and had her little ones.) Nate and I woke up to an empty house (no fighting or whining) and got started on the Saturday chores... (bed sheets, and laundry,and then a list of husbandly projects for Nate). Also on my list...making Maesyn her a new chore chart, this time for an allowance, and with Saturday Chores!
Oh, and we have music playing. The Anniversary...but I would sure like some Cat Stevens!