Outtakes

There was a time when I wanted to have the perfect Christmas picture, card and letter. Now I settle. For whatever I can get.

One day, after pulling into the garage after church, I told the kids to not change clothes and to stay in the yard.

I ran in, got my camera and ran back out.

My threat bribe? As soon as you smile nicely, you can go take your church clothes off and eat. Worked like a charm.

However, I still got some cute ones...

Halloween by the numbers

the last 2 weeks on my wall calender

There are some holidays, that just never seem to end. It feels like it is celebrated over and over and over.

Halloween is one of those holidays. I can't believe all that has gone on in such a short time! So here it is, by the numbers...

5 costumes to buy/put together
4 bins full of Halloween items
12 pumpkins
1 trip to the pumpkin patch
3 dozen sugar cookies baked
2 dozen cupcakes baked and decorated

21 goody bags filled
6 coupon books purchased for free Frosty's
3 costume parades

3 class parties
8 bags of candy purchased
1 trunk or treat
1 fall festival
4 days of spooky Halloween themed lunches

countless readings of "Five Little Pumpkins" and "10 Ghosts in a Haunted House"
2 times getting boo'ed by neighbors
tons of pictures, laughs and of course...candy!

Halloween has now come and gone...and we are all suffering from a bit of sugar shock!

Drowning...

Over Memorial Day, our family headed to the beach. We packed snacks, buckets & shovels, towels, chairs and all the items needed for a day of sand & surf.

There was a time where being at the beach was 100% hands on. Our kids were little and had to be watched every second.

This time however, Ben & I sat in chairs and watched them play in the water, build sandcastles, lie on towels reading magazines. I was able to take pictures, look at a scrapbook magazine and sit and talk with Ben. Keeping a very "lazy eye" on my kids.

Ivan has no fear. Never has. He scares me. Sometimes I hold my breath just waiting to see what he will do.

 The Pacific Ocean is anything but warm, and yet he stayed in the whole 3 hours we were there.

The tide was coming in, and he would get swept up in the waves. He popped right up and did it again and again. He would scare me as he got knocked off his feet, repeatedly. I would  hold my breath as I waited for his head to pop up out of the water. I was sure that one good wipe out and he would be in the sand for the rest of the day.

But he showed me. He kept on smiling, laughing and playing. Followed by going back in. Never staying down. Never giving up.

For the past few weeks, I have felt like I am drowning. In basic day to day Mommy tasks, in keeping up with schedules, meals, church callings, in keeping up with my coupons, blogging. My life. Being a wife. Being me.

My lack of organization does not help in the slightest.

I have been tired. I have been stressed. I have been handling things as best as I can.

And yet I still feel like I have been knocked down and am having a problem getting up. And when I do, my smile is nowhere to be seen.

So, today I am going to take a cue from Ivan. To get back up when  I am knocked down. Not only to get back up, but to do it with a smile on my face.

No more letting life sweep me off my feet. Bring it on world.

sneak peek at my week

This Saturday I sat and updated my calender. It was just my daughters activities. For school, band and church.

Holy cow our family is busy. I am always surprised by how much we have going on when, outside of church activities and school, we really don't do anything else. No sports practices, no lessons....

I have been spending Sunday evenings trying to plan for my week. It really helps me keep my head through out the week.


Monday:
Surprisingly un-busy!
My errand day
Ben has class in the evening

Tuesday:
Early morning band practice for Harmony
my stay at home day (housework & coupon organization tasks)
scouts for the two older boys

Wednesday:
An errand day if needed
Ben has class in the evening
Harmony has Young Womens (church)

Thursday:
my stay at home day
Ben in class
early release day for my 2nd & 5th graders
cub scouts for Ivan

Friday:
errand/grocery shopping day
Ben has 1/2 day of class
unless there is a birthday or something, we are generally home on Friday evenings

Saturday:
service project for our church (for whole family)
major clean up day
31 party for me
family movie night

For your benefit, I didn't include...the errands that need to be run, the day to day things like (laundry, dishes, making meals, helping with homework, shuttling kids to and fro...)

How do you prepare for your week? Or do you just take it one day at a time? I love to hear how others run their homes & schedules.

Changing it up...

I have almost 15 years of on the job training, as CFO of Turner Family inc.

So you would think, with all that training, I would have a lot, if not all the answers. And yet...lucky for me, I still have the ability to learn new things. Phew. Thank heaven.

A couple of nights ago, I was getting caught up on some blogs and 2 of my favorite Mom bloggers had some interesting posts. I found myself doing a lot of reflecting and wnting to try some new ideas.

One of the Moms has young kids. I believe Three kids under 3. I have been there, done that. While I have no desire to be in that position again, I enjoyed reading about her day to day life.

I remember those days when I had almost 100% control of our life & schedule. Where a routine was my best friend, and naps were a must...for all of us.

The other Mom, is more in a situation like mine. With a mix of older and younger. Where life is constantly busy. Trying to be there for all of the different events and moments. Finding that balance that is not easy to come by but that I crave.

In reading those blogs, these are the things that I want to change up, based on some of the things that I have learned...

1. I am going to start taking showers at night. I have always taken them in the morning, but lately, I can't get my bum out of bed. I find myself hurrying to get a shower in or drop the kids off looking like...well like I just rolled out of bed. No more. Save time in the mornings by doing things in the evening.

2. Routine, routine, routine. While my routines no longer include naps and diaper changes, I do have a certain ebb and flow to my days. Kids have to be out of the house at the same time every morning. They come home at the same time. Etc. I am making a routine for myself as well as them.

3. More family dinners. Whether it is hot dogs or filet mignon (lol like I ever make that) we need to sit at the table together. Ben is at night school every day but Tuesday. This does not make it easy as he leaves at 5:00. But, we can on the weekends. We can eat together when he is gone.

4. Be more present in my family life. Obviously we spend a lot of time together. However, a lot of times my mind is elsewhere. On errands, on projects, on church things on...Because of this, I will no longer be on the computer while my kids are awake. This is not going to be easy. At all. I am not saying I won't check in on my phone, but I won't be sitting down with my laptop during waking hours.

(picture by Mason)

5. Don't start the day out behind. I need to straighten the house and especially the kitchen in the evening. So I can start out with a clean slate.

Is there anything you want to change? What have you learned?

2013 * Just keep swimming*

Last night I did the math and I realized that the last time I stayed up until midnight was 1997. What can I say, I know how to party!!!

However, last night my kids insisted that they could stay up until midnight. I had planned to celebrate at 9:00 instead of midnight but they all promised that they could stay up.

By 8:30, the two youngest were out.

By 9:00 Ethan was out.

My husband and I plus Harmony and Connor were the only ones who made it. The only way I made it was that I sat and organized coupons. Otherwise I would have been out by 7:00!

Before everyone fell asleep, we filled out a "Year in Review" sheet and decided on a new family motto.  It was cute because everyone tried to guess one anothers answers on their review sheet. I was pretty impressed with how well my kids know each other!

After thinking of many different mottos, we came up with, "Just Keep Swimming".  So no matter what happens, our family is just going to keep on swimming. Doing the best that we can and just leaving the rest. Works for me!

Just for kicks, I thought I would share my answers:

Name: Marie
Age: 34
Favorite color: pink and blue
Favorite food: pizza
Favorite activity: couponing, reading, blogging, crafting
Favorite book: Harry Potter series. I can't pick just one of them :)

Highlights of 2012:
Greatest lesson learned---> That while people may do things I don't approve of, it is THEIR problem and not MINE. Just support them and move on. Let them find out for themselves.

Hardest thing of the year---> deployment...'nough said!

Saying goodbye

Favorite memory: meeting my husband at the airport after his return from deployment...on our 14th wedding anniversary

What I loved most about 2012: Spending time with family and friends, trying to enjoy the little things...learning, growing and moving on!

Looking forward to 2013

Want to learn---> not to be so hard on myself. I am my own worse critic
Want to get better at---> keeping my home clean and organized
Biggest goal---> to SAVE MORE MONEY and to track it so I know how much I saved!

So what are you looking forward to this new year? What were your highlights of the last year? Lessons learned? Feel free to answer the same questions on your blog or in the comments. I would love to hear!

I will be sharing the rest of my goals in a later post.

the Christmas clean up

It happens to me every single year. I spend sometimes months or weeks preparing for Christmas. As the holiday draws closer, and the busy-ness of the season consumes us, some of my daily to do's get put on the back burner...


 --->  laundry
  ---> couponing/keeping my binder organized
   ---> dishes
   --->  planning meals (instead of just throwing a pizza in)
    ---> going to the gym ( I had gone for almost 2 months straight!!!)
---> blogging
---> keeping the kids on a good schedule
---> making my kids nice healthy-er lunches, instead of a lot of processed foods

Just some of our trash from the holiday

Have I ever mentioned that I am not very organized? Or a good housekeeper? Well it is true. But after Christmas, I just have this hankering to get things cleaned and organized. To put all of the Christmas decorations away, and put a new schedule into place.

Is it a New Years thing? A type of "nesting" thing (can you nest if you aren't preggo?) I don't know what it is. But I have that feeling.

While making Christmas dinner, I started putting things away into bins for next year. I didn't take down the tree or anything like that, but I am feeling that urge. The urge to purge!!

I keep thinking to myself that I don't want to make any resolutions because I don't want to be dissapointed if I don't do it. However, aren't we supposed to try and improve ourselves?

Well I know that keeping a clean house, an organized schedule and nicer meals on the table would be a good thing. It would improve our lives. So the quest to be better continues.

I just have to get all this Christmas stuff put away...