The good in the Cold

This morning we woke to a winter-wonderland of sorts! I was blessed to have Robert stay home for a while this morning, long enough for breakfast and playtime in the ice! The kids are always thrilled when he gets to stay home later! Our dear little girl used it to her advantage when I told her no to candy and many other things she would make her way to find her Daddy who would console her - more than she gets from me!

Here are some more pics of the ice ....

Anyway, our day proceeded as usual even though Daddy was home, so he saw school take place first hand. The boys knocked out their copy work & handwriting at the table before and right after breakfast was served. Then they did their math sitting by the fire keeping warm! I must praise both boys - they are doing so well with their math - very few errors and are just doing a great job! Their brother did get another reading lesson yesterday too so now he points out every S, M or A he sees and sounds them out! Boy do we love How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons!! If only I would do it daily, the boy would be fighting his brothers to read their books already.... no rush though!

Then we moved in the school room temporarily to do our reading and Dad was able to listen in. Then they told him some about some of our other books we read for school. It is fun to hear them recount the stories we have read.

Here are some pics of our early recess - we had to "seize the day" while the ice was still here!


For our PE the boys played wii Fit for quite a while, I sewed and watched - not sure I burned as many calories...oh well! Still a fun day!

Not Me weeekend summary!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

As for me, there is not chance that I would actually thoroughly enjoy about 36 hours without the 4 most important boys in my life. No way! And If those boys happened to leave town and a group of friends suggest having a girls night out, I would never call and practically insist they come to my house to play wii and hang out in PJs since my house is free of all testosterone! Nor would I, on a Saturday night (before 1st grade Sunday School), stay up talking politics and other crazy things until midnight! No way!
I mean, I would dread my boys being gone and would mope around and just have a tough time! I mean I love them! Right?

Okay so that all being said, I am not trying to convince my husband to make "guys time away" a monthly deal where I promise to have the house spotless if he will just leave for 24 hours with those dirty, messy & "counterproductive to a clean house" boys! I mean that is crazy!

Seeing Pink in a BIG way!

Here is our new Big Girl Room!

Do you think she likes it?

She has lots of company in her bed - and demands to have them all to sleep.

We even found room to keep the rocking chair for now -

she loves it so I am glad it can stay!

So fun!!

Girl Time

Today me and my dear little girl headed to a local antique mall with a friend to have lunch in the tea room and shop a bit! The boys are in Vernon to pick up our bed to move into our big girl room. So we are having a girl day! About is a pic of my pumpkin eating my orange from my tea - look at those blue eyes!

Here is one of my finds today!

These goblets match a 24 place set of snack sets I recently received from my mother-in-law! She also passed along a punch bowl with the same (or very close) pattern. So now I have a punch bowl, 24 place setting of snack sets and 2 goblets! I think it may be time for a party!! I found these for $5 each which I thought was a great deal! I am sure Betsy could find them for less, but hey, for me this was a steal!

Here is the tea cup set I found for my daughters new collection. Well, soon to be collection since we only have 2 and I think you need 3 for a "collection".

THis is a plastic set - but the last one I bought her in May (last time we ate in the Tea Room) is the same material and here they both are:

And lastly, here is my last "find" - here are 3 pics in cute frames of Peter Rabbit characters. They were $5 each and I got all 3 for $9! I thought that was great too! They are very cute and will look cute in her room once we move it all around!

So, I think we had a good day and got some good deals! And the day is not even over yet. Not sure what we are going to do tonight, but it will be fun to hang out and just enjoy having the house occupied by girls (even our little dog is on the girl team!)!

Movin' on up!

It is almost that time! The often dreaded, sometime inevitable, but occasionally a reason to celebrate! It is Big Girl Bed time!!

Many (okay maybe not many) will rejoice in this move, parents, friends, and of course dear little (getting bigger) girl! We are re-acquiring our long lost bed to add to our princess room!!

So with a new bed comes new bedding - right? Well that was the plan - "new" bedding. I was planning to make her a new set for her room. I picked out fabrics, and even got approval from a few key people (Robert, and those with decorating skills that far surpass my own!) and started budgeting to afford it all.

I did trek out though about 2 weeks ago to check a deal at Target to have some bedding for the near term when family get here in 3 or so weeks. I found a steal at $30 for this great comforter! I figured it matches the room already and will be a great short term solution. This way no pressure to get the room done in 3 weeks and still looks cute (so important!). I found some sheets too that will match now and match the "planned make-over".

Then my frugal friend who helped redesign the school room said "Why not make that the new bedding and not make it from scratch?" I figured she was just trying to help my stress level and make it easier. Then today I am cleaning out the baby bedding I made 3 years ago for little girl's room to possibly sell at a consignment sale coming up. Then I found a changing mat I made and never used and decided to start playing. So the changing mat is now this pillow:

And then I took some scraps to cover an old pillow form I found and this is what it looks like:

I think I am going to take apart the bumper now and make some pillows with that fabric - like big Euro-Shams to put up against the wall to make her bed less intimidating at its size and kind of like a day bed. Can you make a queen size bed look like a day bed with a little 3 year old in it? Well, we will see.

Anyway, here is her name pillow I made her for Christmas that seems to fit in perfectly.

And here is a blanket that I started before she was born and finished today! I love it and I think it will be a fun blanket to play with on the floor with babies or tea party or just draped across the foot of the bed.

So to sum it all up, I just redid this room for FREE! Yes so far, well that is except the sheets which I would need no matter what. And then I did spend that $30 on the comforter - but really that is not too bad!! I am pretty excited. And when Robert's folks get here in about 3 weeks they will have a darling pink and green room to relax and sleep well in - I hope anyway!

Fun, Fun, and Historic!

We had a great time today with our friends - even though one had a tough time getting here! Once they arrived it was a full out party! Yeah! We were sure thankful the Wright Family did not have any thing more than a bumper to replace after having a fender bender on the way to our card making party!

While the kids crafted, the moms were able to watch the inauguration ceremony too. I have to say that there were lots of emotions about the whole thing. Not necessarily bad - just lots of emotions. I think this whole process is a way of getting us on our knees in prayer to the only perfect leader and the only one who does not make poor choices - our God. So I will pray for Mr Obama while he is the President of this amazing country and I hope to instill that desire into the hearts of my children so that no matter who leads our Free Country, they will still pray for that person! So we did participate and watch for the historical value it brings to the table - my kids will remember the first time our nation celebrating the swearing in of a black President! It is about time!!

Okay, anyway, we had fun! Lots of cookie and cupcake eating and decorating! Even some crazy play outside, but we won't talk too much about that. Here are some pics of the fun creations and the concentration too!

And here are some pics of my hard work yesterday - with the help of my good friend! We re-designed the school room and I love the new set up!! The kids even said they love it too! I think it will make school an easier process!

Thanks to Jennifer for your great whip cracking and stern leadership! I could not have done it without you!!

Pre-Valentines Day Party ~

Well we are either really excited about Valentines or just ahead of the power curve!

Today we are hosting a valentine making party. I thought we would do this early so we have a stack of valentines to send overseas to the troops and to give to KCBI for the Valentines for kids in the children's hospitals. Plus it is always fun to be crafty with friends and everyone seems to have a good time.

So we did school a little earlier than usual so we are done in enough time to head out to pick up our veggies from Co-op and get back before our friends get here! What a day - fresh fruit and veggies and friends! Does it get any better than that?

I am still working on the felt food - so fun! I have been working on it at night and it is a slow process, but I will post the results soon. I had to stash it away for today - I did the house pick up for our friends sake! But it will slow my progress a bit.

Last night we watched Swing Vote - I thought a perfect night, the night before the Inauguration and all. Not sure I loved the movie, lots of cursing especially the dad in front of his young daughter. But politically was enjoyable. And it seems the masses (republican that is) are going to avoid today's event on tv. Not sure how you can miss it or have missed it at all this weekend! It is everywhere. The only thing I wonder, okay 2 things, is where is Obama's humility in all of this? Is he so convinced it is all about him? And second if the first Black President were a Republican would we be celebrating like this? I am quite certain we would not be - I mean the media loves this man, and when was the last time they loved a Republican? So anyway, I would like for my kids to watch today for the historical value and for me to teach them that this is a Public-Service office and that the man (or woman) who fills it should do so to serve the people and not themselves. Okay, I am stepping down now, off my soap-box that is!

We are off to enjoy our fun day! Happy Early Valentines Day to you and yours!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So what have I not done lately? Well I most certainly did not break the door knob to our back door this last week. And since I did not break the door knob I did not need to open the window about 10pm to try and beg the dog to come in through the window since the door will not open. I mean she loves to stand on the window ledge and stare at us trying to get back in all the time. So why would she not welcome the idea of coming back in the house through the window?

I certainly am not the kind of mom who says no as soon as my child starts to ask a question before even thinking if I could say yes. I mean that would be a mean mother to do that. I mean kids just want to do fun things and safe things, right? Well except for my 3rd born boy! But of course there are fun things that the others ask to do.

I also did not have to cut the 550 cord off my sons waist this weekend when he tied himself to the playground equipment. He thought he was going to be on some kind of climbing expedition and need to be safety corded for "safety reason" - and while I most certainly did not tell my 2nd son that I was not going to rescue him - I mean that goes beyond mean for saying no all the time. While trying to decided what to do I looked out and saw that he was fine waiting, he was getting comfy up there and just waiting, so I finally did rescue him, but I don't think making him wait was too bad!

(Do you understand why I say no to most requests when you hear about one child tying himself to the playground? I may not be quite so mean now!)

Please keep praying for Kelly and Harper - visit their blog to see details HERE.

Prayer Needed!! UPDATED!!

UPDATE as of 4pm: God is so good and not because Harper is doing better, but because he is GOOD!! And oh yeah, Harper is doing better and responding well to what is going on!! So head over to her Kelly's Blog and check them out!! Blessings!!

As of Lunch Time-ish: Okay, it is a small world! Yesterday I stumbled (not by accident) on this blog. It is a woman who was delivering her first baby yesterday after years of trying. So I was of course excited and prayer for her. Then this morning my friend Jeremy mentioned the same blog on his facebook entry and WOW! A lot has happened since I looked at her site. Her baby is in the NICU - has pneumonia and will be on the heart and lung machine asap. Mom will be on her way as soon as she can, Dad and family are with Harper (little precious baby) - so Please, Please Please be in prayer for this precious little girl and her dear parents.
Thank you!

Fireside Friday

We have spent the day playing by the fire and I so love cold days that we get to enjoy by staying home and staying warm! (Robert would say "Amen to that" for the money factor! He is trying to keep me from spending his hard earned money these day!!:))

While staying warm and watching the boys play with their lego-like toys I got some sewing in! Yeah! I have been working on making stockings for our family - yes I know Christmas is over, but if I do not do them now, they will not get done!!

So here is what I have so far....

I am so excited about what I have so far - and am so glad my dear friend encouraged me to go ahead and do the crazy quilt thing. So after the first four, I think I have this down. I have 6 more to make! I cannot wait to start embellishing and adding all the fun stuff once I get them all pieced together! Then I get to pick the back - not sure what I am going to do for that - we will see! anyway, I love them so far!!

Still to come ...felt food! Maybe I will work on that in front of the tv with Robert tonight!

New Creation(s)

New Creations - what a concept! This is going on in my life on so many levels!!

First, I wanted to share my Bible study for this week. We are in Titus 3 still, our memory verse is verse 3 and I am not firm on it yet but here it is:

“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.” Titus 3:3

These are the six points that Heather (our fearless leader) is asking us to focus on before bed and when waking. I have the waking down, the before bed is some how forgotten.... oh well.

1. I am a sinner, no more perfect than any of these who have offended me.
2. I can only pray for these men or women, and I need to commit to do so. I can not control their attitudes or choices.
3. I need to ask myself, am I living as the new creation God created me to be? (See 2 Cor 5:17.)
4. I need to ask myself, “Am I foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved, envious, or hate-filled?”
5. God is the only one who can change me.

6. I need to ask Him to show me the areas where I have slipped back into my old ways, because He made me a new creation!

Okay, so the most profound part of this week's study is almost a footnote..(see 2 Cor 5:17) with point #3. I was out with the ladies this week one evening and was in a discussion with a great friend about an issue she was struggling with from her past. It reminded me of how I continually struggle with certain issues from my past too. And how we both can deal with certain parts, but others we continue to struggle with. The next morning (Wednesday) I looked up Corinthians and that is what I chewed on for a while and journaled about. Then God gently asked me to share with this friend my thoughts. I of course thought it was a silly thought and disregarded until he told me about 2 more times. So some of what I shared with her is here:

17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

I just thought and prayed that I am that new creation - it is the new me - not the old. The old is that person I was before I knew him - or even before my walk became more intimate. I just asked that he would help me to delight in the new creation that he created me to be. To help me take off the "old" creation that I still so often pick up and carry around as my "responsibility" - and to leave it for him to deal with. I can let Satan whisper in my ear that no one likes me, no one wants to be my friend - they just are stuck with me, blah blah blah - but last night I felt like many of those people really like me. I told him that I am so quick to believe what (someone who does not like me) may think about me and believe it to be true, but then someone like (a person who is highly esteemed) seems to think higher thoughts of me and I just chalk that up to "she does not really know me" - you know? I think this is part of that new creation - if we are really His NEW CREATION then we need to really delight in that new creation - in who we are in his eyes and allow the people he placed here (to bless us) to allow them to really bless us.
Okay - so I just thought about our past that we carry - and that it is Satan who reminds us each day to pick that old self back up and drape them over our shoulder - we need to tell him NO - I am not doing it anymore. I am God's I am NEW and I am going to delight in the person he calls me to be.

So today I chewed on Romans 6:6-7 - I heard it on the way home from church last night...go figure! You think God is drilling something into my head or what? I do not take to subtleties too often and he knows it!! Thank you Lord!

6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

So now, I am a new creation, that OLD YUCKY person I was is no longer - that person was crucified and it died with Christ, but why then do I do CPR on that person every morning just to lug them around and help remind me of my past? Why? I need to let Jesus deal with the past and those who are there with my old self and again - Delight in the new!!

----------------------------------------------

So onto other creations, want to see my latest? And one that was given to us by my Mom for my dear little princess? I finally got it on her and she did like it - and it is just OH SO CUTE!!!

I have been bouncing around in the blog world and have found some great craft blogs!! My latest favorite is Pink Penguin I love her stuff and some great tutorials!! I love it - I cannot wait to make some of her projects!!

Here is my new reversible kids apron! I love them - the kids love them! I can't wait to make more!!

Christmas side....

Fun boyish side for the rest of the year!!

So we are creating lots of fun stuff here as part of the new year! I love to play!! My next new creation......felt food!! Bet you can't wait to see it!!

Thank you to my dear friends who are praying for Jim, I will keep you updated - but yesterday all three boys received a letter from him - there were thrilled!!

New year - New habits

What a good day we are having. We started out with noisy kids - which really is standard - and not oatmeal this morning - much to the delight of the kids! My pumpkin seemed to know it was eggs this morning and asked for them first thing. So we are forming a habit of writing people each day. I decided that Monday is for Jim, my brother. (more about him later) Tuesday for my mom and her husband, Wednesday for my in-laws, and Thursday & Friday for grandparents or Aunts and Uncles. We have been consistent about writing Jim, but not really anyone else. And since I have 2 young artists and 2 about to bloom, I feel I need to bless those in our family who are not local with lots of works of art of their own! So we write a short letter (often after asking, how many lines today mom? - with a whine added) and then copy a verse and then the best part color or draw on the back or another page. So the kids love it, they are actually doing school work (writing and copy work) and they are busy while I pick up the kitchen or make breakfast. It is a win-win & I love those!
So that happened this morning with letters off to Oregon. Then we had school by the fire and read several items including a great story by Shakespeare (thank you again Renee for encouraging me to get this) and my 2nd grader was even able to narrate it back to me - he is getting it! Math happened at the coffee table and then we transitioned into play time.
We are trying to memorize more scripture too - which I have alluded to before - and we now have a whiteboard at the kitchen table and we try to remember to say our verse at each meal. My eldest is picking the verses up pretty quickly - the others will get them. I figure we will aim for a verse a week alternating between easier and a bit more difficult. I think the kids will love it at the end of the year when I show them all the verses we have learned this year!
THis week Numbers 6:24-26 The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord shine his face upon you and be gracious, the Lord turn his face to you and give you peace. What a great one to have in your heart!!
Well, if you are reading this I have a prayer request for you. My only brother (Jim) is currently in prison. Yes, he deserves to be there for what he has done. We have been in touch now for about 8 months (after about 18 years of no contact) and we are writing on a regular basis. Anyway, he has turned his life around, he is a Christian, he has stopped smoking and lots of other bad behavior. He has really cleaned himself up and is looking forward to getting out soon. That being said the prison he is in recently got a new warden and is shaking things up. While I think I would support this normally it sounds like it is getting crazy there too. Please pray that Jim would have a peace. I am not asking God to release him or give him favor, just to give him a peace about his situation and circumstances. He knows he deserves to be there but he is worried that they may close his prison and move everyone which could result in a new environment with worse people and challenges. So please pray for peace and courage to do the right thing no matter what happens. I honestly appreciate it! Please let me know if you are praying for him as well, I would love to know that.
I have to get back to the kids - I was taking a break after my 35 minutes of wii-fit time - I was worn out. Now they are about to get crazy with some wii fit balance exercises! It had only been 189 days since I stepped on it! I expected more of a tongue lashing, it just told me I had been gone a while! Maybe I will add this to our daily routine - make it a new habit! It was fun!

Not Me Monday!

Okay, so I am going to make this my first not me Monday.


The morning started great today - usually we start off horribly - not to say that I would start the day by getting out of bed to spank my 3 boys - no, not me. Just because they are wrestling in their rooms at oh, say 5:15? Would that send me off the edge? No way, I would calmly ask them to be quiet and wait patiently for 7:00 when they may quietly get out of their room. And there is no way our dear little girl is in her room sobbing at the bottom of the door (well wailing is more like it) because her rambunctious brothers woke her up. Not a chance that I would just let her cry there for oh, a while.


There is no way I spent about a hour picking up my crazy house (that cannot stay clean for more than 2 minutes) because we have a friend coming over to play and craft. I mean really, if she is a friend will she care if you cannot see my counters? I would never get obsessed about something like that and almost delay the start of school just to get things "right" - no, not me!


And would I try to disguise the oatmeal this morning because my eldest claims that we eat it every morning now that I figured out if I put it in the crock pot the night before breakfast is ready at wake up? No, I would not tell him he is crazy and that this is a new breakfast (because I added pumpkin this morning! I would never do that!

Did I mention that I am not forgetful? I mean who gets the crock pot ready at 8pm the night before, sets it up with a timer so the oats can soak a couple hours before actually cooking, and then fails to turn the crock pot on? Only to wake up the next morning to soaked oats and not cooked? I would never do that - not to mention I do not think that memory is affected to child birth! I mean really! There is no way that your memory comes out through delivery whether C-section or by pushing! That is ludicrous!


Okay, enough therapy for me! I am off to enjoy my clean kitchen and finish school!!

The sun shines after the dark

We started off the year so well! A great trip to Mississippi, a happy coming home and a great first Monday of the year! I got in some much needed quiet time, we did school (which was not too bad) and then we had a great day of getting some real cleaning and organizing done.

Tuesday came and ..... well that was a completely different story! Our dear little girl woke at 4:30 - not a happy camper - she did start showing a fever Monday afternoon - and was very hot. So quiet time was, well, not so quiet or refreshing, as it did not even happen. Then all day I was holding my sick little girl and not getting much of anything done. That is a struggle for me as I am very task oriented! By about 3pm I realized I need to take her in to the Dr to get her checked. After about 3 minutes the 5 minute strep test came back positive. She would not take the Tylenol the nurse tried to give her for her fever (102.8 - on Motrin) and spit it mostly out.

We did get her first dose of antibiotics down with lots of screaming and some more Motrin too.

Wednesday, was about the same. A needy little girl, short periods of some school - not much though and a slow day. She did show improvement throughout the day and seemed to be better by that evening. Praise God for good meds!

Thursday - much better. We made it to PE - and she had fun, we all did. We all came home and had a yummy lunch (smoked cheese, from Uncle Ed, sandwiches, and other goodies) and then took good naps.

Friday is finally here and well it is so much better! My family is back to normal (not sure that is entirely good) and we are seemingly healthy. We finished school already (we may have some more handwriting this afternoon) and we are about to head out to the park to meet friends, have lunch and play! It is supposed to be in the 70's today! Yeah!

Okay, so I started this new EBible study. A lady is hosting, she sends us a memory verse, and reading assignment and some questions to ponder, journal, or whatever. The verse this week is: (from memory)

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility to all men. Titus 3:1-2

So, I put it up in various places in the house (shower door facing into the shower, bathroom mirror, kitchen sink) and by Wednesday I had it down!! I was so excited, this is not something I tend to do very well. But even better news? MY eldest had it down today by memory (with some minor help) this morning!! I did assign the verse as copy work for both boys this week and he has copied it about 5 times now. I am so excited. Want to know why aside from the obvious?
Does this verse not sum it all up for kids? Obey authority (parents, government, God) - do whatever is kind (share, help, etc), slander no one (okay the biggest one for me & my mouth - what a great lesson to learn early for the kids), be peaceable and considerate (share, hold the door, don't fight) show true humility (put others before you). I mean if they could get this verse they might really get so much more than just a verse!! Wow!

Some thoughts Heather asked us were:
Today, I would like us to take an inventory of how we show both obedience and respect to those in authority in our lives. We might ask ourselves, how is my speech seasoned when I speak about the government, regardless of my political views. How is my attitude about my boss, even when they are not looking? (By the way, I have a wonderful boss J). How obedient am I to the laws of the land, such as paying taxes, observing the speed limit, etc.? (The speed limit was a bit painful for me!) What are my attitudes toward my spouse, my church staff, or my parents? We could go on and on asking ourselves the tough questions. I believe God truly would want us to examine our hearts in this way.

My mom is also going to join our study and Kristen and I am so excited to get to talk about some thoughts, revelations, and things that God is teaching each of us through this study! I am just really looking to making this a great year!

My big resolution this year is to make scripture part of our daily life - OUT LOUD I want us to talk about verses, what they mean, what God is laying on our hearts, and how we can obey them. I hope to lead my kids to store these great verses in their hearts all year that we will look back at 2009 in 2010 and be amazed at how much we memorized and learned!!

It's a new Year!

Wow! I cannot believe it is really 2009! I mean - it just seems like after you have a child time flies by - in good and bad ways!

We had a great ringing in of the new year - photos to be posted later! We had a fondue night for New Year's Eve and turned in early since we were driving out first thing on Jan 1st to Mississippi. We then were able to spend the weekend (Thursday thru Sunday am) in Mississippi with my Aunt & Uncle. The kids had a blast and really enjoyed visiting with my relatives! The weather was fairly good despite the rainy forecast. And we ended out visit on Sunday just after attending the Methodist church in Madison and watching my Aunt sing in the choir. Just a great way to start the year, spending time with family. Did I mention that Robert got his fill of Football watching too - since both my uncle and aunt are AVID football fans! Robert was in heaven and I even learned (really relearned since it had been a while) more football jargon & rules.

Well we are into the new year today - we started back to school and even got lots done around the house. School went better than expected - but not great. So really that is just good. We hung around the fire most of the day since it is cold & wintry out - there is ice on our tree and bushes and it is just rainy too! So it has been a great day.

I actually made it up about 5:30 this morning and spent some good time alone with God and just had a great quiet time! I think this really helped get our day focused! Then I applied something I heard on Focus on the Family (on my IPOD on my way home from MS while everyone slept) about spending 15 minutes a day cleaning. I have heard this before, but tried it again. I think you are supposed to plan to spend 15 minutes, then if you spend more you do not feel bad about it. I mean if you approach it like you only need to spend 15 then you can spend more if you feel like it and it is just freeing. SO we spend "15" minutes in the boys room (more like 60) then "15" in our rooms (full of Christmas left overs, gifts, and trip stuff) which was really more like 90 - but hey - the house looks great. I feel so good about it and really just spend a few minutes in each room at a time and got so much done!

So if I keep this up we will have a very tidy and organized year. Mind you this is all new to me since we have never not had a baby at this point. This is all new territory - having some time, having kids who can play and do not need nursing or strict supervision. So I am able to actually organize something and sometimes it stays that way more than 10 minutes. It has been nice doing some deep cleaning and seeing it stay clean for a while!

Well enough about all that. So far, I like 2009. I hope to keep quiet time in the schedule and for school to keep going well. I would like to keep a cleaner house than before, but really that is not a big deal. I hope that my kids continue to long for knowledge about their Savior like they have this past year and I hope to be a mom that makes them feel loved and accepted while encouraging them to seek who God is calling them to be!