My New Life

Since the kids started school this last week, I decided I needed to get my life on some sort of schedule, and get organized. My goal is that I can keep things in order around the house so that I can free up more time to spend with my kids. Does anyone else feel like they spend too much time doing things for their kids, and not enough time being with their kids? I feel like I show my love to them by washing their clothes, feeding them and doing dishes, keeping a clean house, but I'm starting to understand that while those things are important to me, they are not as important to my kids. I need to be "in the moment" with them a little more.

My plan is to get up in the morning and accomplish a list of chores before they wake up (a load of laundry, bed-making, dishes, pick up). Then, I have set a chore for each day of the week: Monday is vacuuming; Tuesday, toilets; Wednesday, dusting; Thursday, sinks; Friday, mop floor. Saturday will be family chore day. It seems to be working OK. I like doing only one load of laundry a day, but I don't like that my basket is always full. This is a work in progress, so I'm willing to entertain any ideas as to how you all keep it together!

Grouchy Missionary

Here is a picture of Seth from the past Sunday. We had gotten him some new church clothes along with his new school clothes, and I was excited to see him look so handsome. He was not pleased with the outfit (he is so texture-sensitive, it drives me bonkers), but he wore it anyway. When his dad came home from meetings he told him how awesome he looked and that they could look like missionaries together. (What a good dad!)

A Week of Firsts

Today I have a whole two hours to myself and I'm not sure what to do with myself. I guess I'll blog...


Abby started first grade on Monday. She was a little nervous, so I took her to school and picked her up that first day. The Friday before, we were able to go meet her teacher and learn a little about what to expect. She had to line up outside the building and I think she was worried she wouldn't get to the right place. Once we got there Monday morning, she found a couple of her friends that are in her class and was just fine.


Making the transition from kindergarten to 1st grade is a lot harder than the transition from preschool to kindergarten because of the major increase in time away from home. The have-to-eat-lunch-there thing makes it a little bigger also. I am making Abby's lunch, for the most part, but she has money in her account, so she can buy lunch when they are having something she likes. Today she was excited to be able to get pizza. Abby has a really good teacher and we are looking forward to all she will learn this year.


Seth had his first day of preschool today. He goes with his neighbor buddy, Eric. When his teacher had an open house a couple of weeks ago, I had to drag him literally kicking and screaming from the car and into her home. Once he got there, he was fine, and I've been talking it up a lot since then, so I'm hoping he will do OK. He was ready to go as soon as he woke up this morning. I offered to take him and pick him up, even though it wasn't my day for carpool, but he wanted to go with Eric, so I think he'll be just fine.


Now TJ is down for a nap and I'm not quite sure what to do. I guess I could dust, go weed the yard, pick up the playroom, organize my desk, clean some toilets... but, I think I'll just go read a good book!


Future Preschoolers, Ashton and TJ.

The color of watermelon

I got a seedless watermelon at Costco today. I have had nothing but success in picking watermelon this year. I've been told that you are supposed to look for a large pale spot on the bottom of the watermelon which indicates that it has sat on the vine to ripen. After dinner I decided to cut up our watermelon for dessert and this is what I saw:



John took one look and told me I had to take it back to Costco to get a refund. (The picture doesn't show the color all that great - it is orange with a yellow tinge.) I was sorely disappointed in myself. Before spending the $4 in gas to take back a $6 watermelon, I decided to just taste it. To my utter surprise, it was the sweetest watermelon I've had this year! Maybe it crossed with a cantaloupe - so its actually a cantamelon or a waterloupe!?! It just goes to show you that you can't judge a watermelon by its color!

Jenni

Our Cabin Trip

This past weekend we spent some time at our family cabin in Sanpete. My sister, Jody, and her two kids went with us, along with some of our neighbors. We had a relaxing, yet eventful time. Our cabin has this huge swing that is pretty hard to describe in words. You just have to experience it to get the full scope of "The Swing." You climb up to a platform that is about 20 feet up, climb onto a piece of wood tied to a rope and swing out over a slope. Maybe some of you who have been there can add some additional descriptions in the comments. Anyway, Abby, Seth and TJ have all been on the swing, although they had never climbed the platform and jumped off. This trip Abby and Seth both took the big leap! Abby first went with her cousin Melanie, and then ventured a jump on her own. Just before we were to leave, Seth decided to jump off with cousin, Melanie, but didn't have time to work up to jumping on his own. He says he'll do it this next week at our family reunion, so I'll let you know. I went off the platform once to fill my quota for the year.




My neighbor and friend, Jenalyn, took the plunge off the platform without incident the first time. The second time, she seemed concerned about running into the big tree to which the swing is attached. We told her she was fine, as she was actually swinging away from the tree, but during her dismount, she didn't let go of the rope and was dragged down the hill right into the tree! After I was sure she hadn't done major damage, I proceeded to laugh until I about peed my pants.


When we got to the cabin, it was pretty chilly, so my sister proceeded to TRY to start a fire. It had rained and all the kindling was pretty damp, so she struggled a bit. She started looking for some "scout juice" (lighter fluid), but could only find some lamp oil. She poured a little on the wood in the fireplace and then threw a match. The fireball that erupted from the fireplace was a sight to behold. Luckily, everyone's eyebrows and hair were intact and the cabin is still standing. I think Jody has learned her lesson about combustible versus flammable, and won't be doing that trick again.

We had a beautiful thunderstorm while we were there and it was the most beautiful that I have seen the mountain in August. There were tons of wildflowers still in bloom and millions of butterflies. I hope all you Andersons who read this post are planning on coming to the reunion this weekend!


It was a wonderful couple of days away from all the distractions that the world has. We read, played games, told stories, swung, hiked, and sang.

Happy Birthday TJ!!

It seems like all that I have posted about lately has been our
family celebrations. July and August are busy months for my family in the celebration department.

Last night we had TJs birthday party at my mom & dad's house. The theme of the party seemed to be water as he received several water guns and a pool. He had a fun time squirting everyone and getting squirted. Notice the picture where he is getting Grandma L pretty good.

We had cupcakes and ice cream. TJ did a good job blowing out the candles - blowing them out just as we finished singing "Happy Birthday".

I can't believe my baby is now a two year old boy. His new short haircut really makes him look like a big boy.

We had aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmas & a grandpa there to celebrate with us.

TJ is a great kid to have around. TJ is short for Timothy John. He is a really tough kid, having had to put up with an older sister and brother knocking him around. He is the only one of my kids who sucks his thumb, and while I would like to break him of the habit, he has been the easiest to put to bed because of his ability to soothe himself. He is also the only one of my kids who has a security blanket that he carries with him. He loves hot dogs, pizza and his daily chocolate milk.

Like his big brother, he is really good at anything that has to do with balls. John spent some time with him kicking, and he thinks he'll be a really good soccer player. He likes going to his nursery class and is slowly starting to understand the concept of reverence in sacrament.

We're so glad TJ is a part of our family.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!!

Today is my mom & dad's 49th wedding anniversary. I'm sorry I didn't have any pictures of them together - I'll have to work on that.

My parents have been through so much in the 49 years they have been together. They have successfully raised 7 children and are enjoying being grandparents to 31 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.

Their family started as a Brady Bunch - my dad brought my two oldest siblings with him and my mom brought two boys with her. Together, they had three children (of which I'm the last). Although this wasn't a typical family, no one would ever guess that the seven of us are not all full-blood relation. My parents never made the distinction of "his, mine and ours". I've never called any of my siblings half- this or that. We have always just been a family. In fact, I didn't even know about the unique circumstances under which our family was started until I was a teenager.

I'm so grateful for my parents and the example they have been to me. Theirs is not a perfect marriage, but I have learned from them how to get through the ups and downs of life - you do it together.

John's Fishing Trip

I spent my last Friday night setting up this blog because my husband was otherwise occupied with a fishing trip to Idaho. He was able to meet up with his brother, Rick, and they went to Rick's in-laws special fishing spot where John caught this beauty. He says that this picture doesn't do it justice: it was a lot fatter than it looks in the photo ;-).

I'm pretty good at maintaining a good food storage, but I'm glad my DH has some skills that would help us survive in a major disaster. Although I must say that I detest fish and I would need to be nearly starving before I would resort to eating anything that comes from any body of water.

Note that his shorts are wet: he had to wade in to land the fish. What a stud!