52 Blessings Project~ Week 3!

This Week I Am Grateful For~Being Able To Live Under such Favorable Circumstances In A Wonderful Country!

I have been somewhat mesmerized this past week watching the news to see the latest developments in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. My heart hurts for these people. The children. The families. They were so poor to begin with and now they have lost everything.The devastation is so extreme for them.I just don't know how I would handle being in that same situation.

As I watch what is unfolding I can't help but feel so blessed to live in a country where I am free to come and go as I choose. To worship as I choose. Where I have not just adequate housing but a very nice place to live and raise my family. We have such a abundance of things. We never have to know hunger. We are clothed. We have every need possible met. And many times I tend to overlook it all.I don't even give it a second thought! I have many times found myself wanting more. Wanting better. Kinda shameful to think of it now. I think the time is now for me to take a good hard look around me and see how truly fortunate I am. I DO live in incredibly favorably circumstances in the BEST country there is~ And for that I am truly GRATEFUL!!!!

Today There's A Crap Storm Raining Down On Me And I Don't have A Umbrella!

My husband came home from work today and asked how my day was. And I found myself laughing~in a kinda crazy/I may never stop laughing~kinda way. Cause that's how I handle stress.I figure it was either laugh or cry and I was NOT going to cry NOT going to let the animals know they had gotten the best of me!
Oh yeah...It's been one of THOSE days!

Some of the highlights of the day began with chocolate milk spilled on my carpet,Grace hitting me and screaming cause I wanted to brush her rat's nest/hair,cleaning pee off the floor cause my once potty trained for months and months child has now decided to pee her pants instead. Every time! And the fighting. OH the fighting.over and over again. The biting, scratching, punching, pinching,Screaming. We had it all. Oh yeah UFC you got nothin on us!

And with that fighting they kept waking Adelynn over and over and over. The poor baby was so tired and now cranky too!
So in total frustration I sent the kids outside to play while I got Adie back to sleep. Then I went in my room to pick it up.Then maybe ten minutes later Bailey told me I just had to come see Adelynn.What?? She was sleeping! Well Bailey had woke her up and taken her out of her swing and taken her outside!And propped her in a chair so the baby could watch her hula hoop! Oh my hell! I about died! But the baby was cracking up. So hard so I had Grace go get me the camera. And as I was taking pictures I noticed Ethan down on all fours. Eating something off the ground like a dog.Oh not a dog. A Cat! He was eating cat food he had spilled all over the floor.Apparently it was delicious cause that's what he told me! A little later the neighbor next door came over (you know..the one who if I say "Hi" to either of them they pretend not to hear and ignore me) She was really pissed. Cause our garden drip system was flooding the rocks on the side of her house. I told her I'd have my husband take care of it but No, she wanted me to see it! So here is a pic of it! I noticed the dog crap in her rocks and thought at least she can't blame that on us. But then I had the horrifying thought maybe it wasn't dog crap and maybe she could blame it on us! Ughh. Whatever!

Once she pointed out the water flooding to me the kids saw it and then I couldn't keep the kids out of it! Ethan kept taking his diaper off and "swimming" in it!

Burnt out with crying, fighting kids, rude neighbors, cranky baby who had no sleep I was bout done! Then mouthy teen who is grounded for a month came home from school with a buddy telling me he was going to the game and he'd like to see me try to stop him!

It was then that I asked Rach to watch the kids and I grabbed my keys and took off. Finally settled on going to the library.The nice QUIET library. Then just as I was settling in I got a phone call from the hubs. I forgot to leave money for the maids so I had to return home!

Sighhh.....Some days it just feels like there's a crap storm raining down on me and I don't have a umbrella! Now where the hell is that emergency stash of chocolate???

52 Blessings Project~ Week 2

This Week I Am Grateful For~My Sweet Baby Adelynn!

This little girl is such a sweetheart! I love that she is such a mama's girl! One of the tricks that the older kids like to do with her is to turn her around so that she sees me whenever I ask them to hold her. Cause without fail, once she sees me she will start to complain. And if I don't give in and pick her up she throws a full on tantrum! They know it is a sure fire way to get out of holding her!

During the day if I am trying to get something done I will try to put her in her swing. And if I ignore her and keep picking up, she yells and yells at me. But as soon as I turn around and talk to her she stops immediately and starts to smile! She can be crying and then will stop instantly and smile. She is trying to sweeten me up so I will get her! Her little arms start pumping like crazy and she coos and smiles at me. I love it! I love kissing those chubby cheeks, and tickling her fat little ham hocks (thighs!) I am so in love with this little girl and feel so happy having her in my life!

She is one of the best surprises ever!

This past week has been hairy! Issue after issue with one of my kids. To say the least it has been a very stressful week.

Then a few nights ago it was about midnight and I was laying in bed. Couldn't sleep. Thinking of ways I could help things turn around. And frustrated with the tension between me and my kid! My heart was heavy. And then little Adie started crying! So I got up and put her in bed with me. She was hungry and wanted to nurse. I laid down next to her and she turned into me to nurse. She was all business. And my mind went back to my other child. And I wondered if I am just screwing them all up. If it was my fault that they are struggling. And just as I was wondering this Adelynn pulls off from nursing rolls back onto her back and looks me straight in the eyes. And just stares at me with such a intense gaze. Then she gives me the sweetest smile, rolls back on her side and goes back to sleep while nursing. And crazy as it seems it comforted me! Her little smile reminded me I am just doing the best I can. Yeah~ She probably was just being her sweet little self but that look, that smile was just what I needed at the moment!

When dealing with older, mouthy kids, what a breathe of fresh air she brings to my day! I will take a fussy, cranky, baby over a hormonal teen any day of the week~ And for that I am very grateful!

52 Blessings Project~ Week 1!!

Cara has once again decided to do the blessings project and I am excited to participate again! If you are interested in being a part of it check out her blog here! I missed doing it last year. I probably should have continued last year on my own.

I find it helpful to acknowledge the good in my life since it seems when life gets too busy or hard that becomes my focus and I loose sight of how blessed I am!

So here we go again...

Week 1

This week I am grateful for ~ My maids!!

Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith,a house of learning, a house of glory,a house of order,a house of God D&C 88:119

How many times have we heard this scripture? I remember sitting in relief society hearing lessons on the importance of creating a house of order. And I longed for that! And I felt ashamed that my house wasn't on of those. When Tony and I got married I went from having a two kids to having five! It threw me for a loop! As hard as I tried it seemed I just couldn't keep up with everything!I wanted to be one of those ladies who was so on top of it. So organized.But I am NOT one of those ladies! I had a girlfriend who would give me "tips" on how to be more organized and keep a spotless house. She told me how she woke up at 5 am and couldn't go to sleep so she decided to get up and organize her linen closet. And it was then that I thought NEVER,EVER will I be one of them! First of all...I'd never wake up at 5 am and not be able to go back to sleep, and if it did ever happen, cleaning my linen closet is not what I'd do!

Over time I got better at cleaning and keeping on top of things but it is still a struggle. Seven kids is alot of work and alot of mess! And I know that when my house is together, I tend to be too. It just makes a difference!

After I had Adelynn, we started having a maid come in weekly! I was so overwhelmed and having them come weekly just took that edge off. It motivated me too cause I know they are coming so I have to keep up with the house.

Christmas and New Year both fell on Friday this year. And that is my cleaning day. So I missed having them show up for two weeks in a row.

But they came this past Friday. And I felt such a sense of peace when they left and I walked through my spotless house. I went in my room and sat in my chair and read my book and had a half an hour of quiet, just sitting in my clean house! Delightful!

It restores a feeling of peace to our home and takes a huge load off for me. I feel so grateful that we are able to be able to have them come at this time. For that I am truly Grateful!

My Word Of The Year!

I saw last year on Cara's blog that she had something called a word of the year. It intrigued me so I read about it then I did a search on the Internet on it and found I really love this idea!

One of my favorite blogs that had a explanation of it that really resonated with me was

Christine Kane's. If you aren't sure what it is all about check out either of these.

Basically you choose a word that inspires you. Whenever you think of that word throughout the year you let it guide you into taking action! It is a way for me set my intentions for the year.

I have so many little things that I know if I would make a change my life would be easier. But I seem to be stuck. No forward progression. It is something that I have spoken with Tony about at great lengths. How do I find the motivation to make the change? Especially when I feel overwhelmed most of the time?
We both know we need to change and we know the time is now. So we would go out to dinner and make lists of what we wanted to change and then we would prioritize them.
Then we talked about what it would take to make those changes. We then threw around words to each other to narrow down what our word of the year would be. It had to have impact to us when we heard it!
He chose the word NOW!
I had a much harder time finding a word that made me think change! I finally settled on the word BECOME!! The definition of it says it all for me!
1.) To come into being
2.) To come, change, or grow to be
That's my goal of the year. To grow to be, to come into my being. To BECOME more organized, To BECOME fit, TO BECOME healthy, To BECOME more spiritual, To BECOME a better example to my kids.This is my year To BECOME all that I want to be!

Christmas Eve

Some of my fondest childhood memories are those of Celebrating Christmas Eve with my family! I loved the excitement I would start to feel when Mom would take us to pic n save to pick out that perfect gift for our secret brother or sister we had gotten for the gift exchange on Christmas Eve.

I loved the Nativity we would reenact each year. I was jealous of Cari getting to be Mary and Eddie being Joseph each year. I wanted to be Mary instead of a Shepherd, but once we began, it seemed that being a Shepherd was just right!

Remember that house we went to every year? It was decorated like you wouldn't believe! And the man that played Santa...Freak but It was fun seeing him every year!

I loved how as I got older it was still one of my favorite nights of the year.The traditions changed a bit as we added to them. My favorite new one of course was the caroling to neighbors and friends. We would all put on reindeer antlers and pile into the car and head out to the families we were gonna sing to. The little kids were forced to be up front. Maybe so they drowned out the voices of some of us not so talented singers! And they were so dang cute too. So full of excitement! I think our huge family was a sight for all to see!



Christmas Eve was pretty low key for us this year. I am kinda at a loss of how to celebrate it when we are not home at Mom's for it! It just feels off to me! We've tried caroling with just our little family but Tony is the only one with a good voice and since we don't have a huge group it feels a bit like we are torturing the families we visit rather than delighting them!
And it doesn't feel right with so few people here! When my step kids are with us it seems to feel a little better but they decided not to come out this year. I need to establish some of our own traditions so that I can reclaim Christmas Eve as one of my favorite evenings of the year!

This year I put out a bunch of snack foods, some ham and some rolls. I just didn't want to cook since I was going to be cooking all day on Christmas morning. Then against my will I gave in and we decided to open presents. Weird to do it so early and not save it for the last part of the evening!
We all then put on our Christmas PJ's and then got in the car and drove around looking at lights! That was pretty fun for the little girls. They were anxious to get home and get in bed though! They were worried Santa was on his way!
So even though it isn't as fabulous as my memories of it are it was still a fun night.
Maybe next year we will come up with something to make it fabulous!