The Backpack

Owen loves me.

His eyes light up when I walk in the room. He tracks me at ALL times and knows where I am. He smiles at me with so much sweet devotion. In a perfect world I would just hold him all day long.

Oh . . . wait. I do hold him all day long. He insists. Thankfully I have "the backpack".

Our engagement photo

15 years ago, right around this time of year Trent and I got engaged. (we "unofficially" got engaged around March 21 and "officiallly" got engaged April 5th).

I have been preparing all of my old negatives to send off and be scanned when I came across this image on a Kodak photo cd (in a .pcd file format -- which is not supported at all in today's programs like cs5). So I found a program to convert it to .jpg and discovered it was the original (we had had some edits on it made) so I have re-made the edits and here it is. Memory Lane -- it is so fun. I can hardly wait to get all the rest of my negatives scanned in -- and redo this one (since the conversion from .pcd to .jpg doesn't keep the resolution very high) Technology keeps changing. I wonder how many years will pass before even .jpg is obsolete and I wonder what file format will replace it!

Things they love --

Today I am documenting some of the things my kids love so that I will always remember them when they outgrow them.

First, Julianne -- she loves bunny. This bunny was a gift from Deann and Jason Moore when Julianne was born. For about 2 years it sat on a shelf in her room and went relatively unnoticed. But then one day, she just had to sleep with it. . . and she has slept with it ever since. She loves it. One day while walking through town she spied an identical bunny in the windows of the whitney store only it was 10 times larger. She has said she would never replace bunny -- but that she wouldn't mind if bunny had BIG bunny around too!




Next, Catherine. She loves stuffed animals and books. She has never been able to settle on just one favorite. Her bed is a constantly shifting arrangement of as many stuffed animals as her mother will tolerate. These ones have been there since Christmas and her birthday. The pillow pet dog, the porcupine webkinz, and the fureal penguin.



Then, there is Madelyn. She has had this littlest pet shop stuffed penguin on her bed for a couple of years. But the newest addition to her favorite things is the silly yellow minnion from Despicable Me. She loves the movie and loves this plastic blow up minnion.




Adam is the first of our children to become attached to a blanket. His original blankie was finally moved to "museum" status (meaning it resides in a drawer for safekeeping and emergencies. We have been able to find acceptable replacements so that blankie can be appropriately cared for (laundered). It never goes anywhere with him, but always resides on his bed, crumpled by his pillow waiting for bedtime. Adam also has a new love -- DINO DAN on nickjr.com. HE IS OBSESSED. He watches the webisodes, prints out the pages, draws and tracks imaginary dinosaurs all over. He doesn't however appreciate me calling him DINO ADAM.





Owen, is just getting into favorite things. His first toy that he shows any interest in are these little linkies that I can hook on his car seat, swing, stroller, etc. . . He loves to eat them. I even keep a pacifier hooked on -- but don't be fooled he DOES NOT like his pacifier. If you try to give it to him, he will get mad. REALLY MAD. Just ask the ladies at the gym this morning who tried. Now if he puts the binkie in his mouth all on his own he is happy as can be just chewing all over it (but not sucking on it).





Next, there is me. I am loving my new lens -- a 50 mm f/1.4. I traded my 35 mm f/1.8 for this one (and some change) and I am loving it!!!!




Last of all is Trent. He currently is loving the sun. He has gone 7 days without shoveling snow. I found him on google the other day looking up "how long does it take for snow to melt" Our 10 day forecast does not predict any snow. So he may have time to pursue some other things. He is also loving BYU basketball games with Jimmer Fredette and reading articles like this one.

this feeling that I am getting old (er)

I am walking down memory lane lately -- so here is a photo right after Julianne was born. She was born in June. I made both her and I these matching dresses for Trent's sister's wedding in August (back when I had time to sew???). I really do like sewing, I just don't seem to have the time, energy, or . . . fabric stores around me to inspire me to do any of it. I have some high ambitions for a crazy quilt or two -- hopefully soon.

I laugh at the picture -- first, I had bangs back when bangs weren't "in". And now that bangs are "in" I don't have them -- I suppose I will always be trend "reversed".

One year older and wiser too????

This birthday post has been hanging over my head. You see once you start a habit like posting your weight on your birthday it is an easy thing to do provided your weight is the same or less than the year before -- because you have already come to terms with that number. But I love having this silly accountability -- it really does motivate me.

So here are the details . . . I am 35 years old. (is that possible???) and this morning I weighed 156 lbs. (yes, I just had a baby 13 weeks ago) but I so wanted to be back at my happy 153.

I am excited for the next year. I joined a gym. I registered for a triathlon this June. I am on a biggest loser team that starts Monday. I am determined to be well below 153 by my next birthday. I have never lost weight before (besides baby weight) and have been really quite happy at 153 for probably 10 years. But that number puts my BMI slightly above the "overweight" mark and I would like to get in the healthy range. I figure now is as good a time as any.

Other than that, my goal is to post a photo / post every day this year. Last year I had the goal to do one post a week on each blog -- (i didn't make it!) but what is life if you don't have high expectations for yourself. I love the quote "Aim for the moon, if you miss at least you'll be in the stars."

The number 1 question I get asked . . .

"Are you surviving baby #5?" or "How do you do it?"

So, while this may seem boring to you to actually read, I decided to write down exactly how 1 Saturday went.  So that someday, I can remember exactly how we did it. 

• Soccer season was in full swing when Owen was born.  Normally I stay at the same park during the kids practice's and play with the other kids.  We always have a lot of fun batting with whiffle balls, playing catch, or running around.  However, once Owen was born, the weather changed dramatically and nearly every practice was FREEZING and super windy.  It meant that we sat in the car for an hour during practice.  The game days were even worse (instead of 1 hour of soccer) there was often 3-5 hours of soccer.  Trent and I came up with some pretty creative ways to see all the games and get the kids to all the other activities (that always seem to occur at the same time as soccer).   Here is how one Saturday went.  I got up, fed Owen, left him and the other kids at home while I took Julianne to her soccer game that started at 9 am.  Trent in the meantime got the other kids ready and met us at the field at 9:45.  He was able to see the end of Julianne's game and then he left at 10 with Adam for the 2 of them to get haircuts.  That left me at the park with Julianne, Catherine, Madelyn, and Owen.  After Julianne's game we went to the van (we had a 15 minute break before Madelyn's game started) and I nursed Owen in the car.  As I went to change his diaper, I realized he had a huge blowout.  I checked the diaper bag (which Trent brought) and there wasn't any change of clothes.  I got him all cleaned up, put on a new diaper, wrapped him in a blanket, put him in my sling, zippered my own coat around both of us and then wrapped a blanket around that and headed out to see Madelyn's soccer game.  With 10 minutes left of Madelyn's game, Trent and Adam came back and then I left with Owen and Julianne to take Julianne to the dress rehearsal of the musical she was in.  When I got back to the park, I watched about 10 minutes of Catherine's game and since by now Adam and Madelyn were freezing I took them and Owen and we headed home.  Trent brought Catherine home after her game and waited in the car to take Madelyn to a birthday party.  When he got back, I hopped in the car to pick Julianne up from the dress rehearsal, go to a photo shoot, and then pick Madelyn up from her party.  Now it is 6 o:clock and the kids wonder why Mom is so tired! 

Beautiful Day, Beautiful Kids, Happy Mom

Here are some more pictures taken with my new lens on a stunning fall day here in Connecticut.

My poem

I have a love-hate relationship with the fall --
I love how it looks, how it feels;
but I hate that each day means our winter draws near
oh the dark, oh the cold, my heart reels.

I love being a mom!

Things have been so busy. I don't have a lot of time to blog. I love having a newborn around. I love Fall in New England. I love watching all my kids fall in love with "the baby".

I am so happy.

The last 2 1/2 weeks

I'm not entirely sure how I made it through the last 2 1/2 weeks. Thank goodness my iphone has a calendar. My goal each day was to just focus on the next place I needed to be and not worry about anything beyond that. So in short . . . here is what we have been doing.

1. Worrying -- about my mom, she is recovering from her surgery (with 3 of her sisters there to help her). I try to call her once or twice a day (which is normal). She is doing well. Thanks to so many of you who have asked how I am doing. She will be starting chemotherapy soon . . . and I am sure that will be a new adjustment but we are just grateful for the treatments that are available.

2. Doctors and Dentists and Orthodontists (oh my) -- I thought I should get all the kids caught up on everything before the baby was born. Which means that in addition to my weekly doctor appointments I have added and completed 12 additional appointments in the last 2 weeks alone. That is a lot! We have collectively endured 5 teeth cleanings, 1 tooth pulling, 4 flu shots, 3 finger pricks (which were surprisingly more dramatic than they should have been) and lots and lots of waiting. Additionally, I am still doing my daily shots of Lovenox -- and the only one not getting the flu shot so far is Trent and I am pretty sure he now has the flu. He has been down and out for 36 hours. Literally sleeping for perhaps 30 of the 36 hours. The six hours he has been awake did not help his spirits much as all he did was watch BYU lose.

3. School stuff -- 2 open houses, several parent meetings and coffees, musical auditions, musical rehearsals, homework (don't get me started on that one), 2 different schools, 2 different bus schedules, packing lunches (my most dreaded task), explaining repeatedly to my middle schooler that she cannot buy icecream for lunch, early pickups (because of all the appointments), and more . . .

4. Music -- 3 kids on piano, 1 on flute and 1 on violin -- it sometimes makes for quite the cacophany in the house.

5. Soccer -- 3 kids, 3 different practice days, 3 games each Saturday-- Today they were as spread apart as they could be, but without giving me time to go do something in between. Julianne from 9:30 to 10:30, Madelyn from 11:00 to 12:00 and Catherine from 12:30 to 1:30. They all love it though (except maybe Madelyn -- who loves to be there and loves to be with her friends, but needs constant reminding during the game to watch the ball-- or as was the case today-- remind her that the goalie does not sit down, even if the ball is on the other side of the field).

6. Being 9 months pregnant -- there is just a certain level of endurance required this last month. The ground is so very far away. I must sit so far back from the table that I seem to spill every meal and snack on me. I can't do dishes without drenching my shirt because I am so leaned up against the counter. There is nothing remotely cute about being this pregnant. Trent said (in a very loving manner) from the front and the back you look great, but if you turn to the side you kind of look like an alien. (and the reality is that he is right!)

7. Bad hair days -- about 5 weeks ago the ignitor on our propane oven apparently got weak and so in a brilliant example of bad timing, I opened the oven door just as the propane ignited (after having some time to build up because of the weak ignitor) and was able to experience first hand a huge fireball rushing at my face and hair. Fortunately I was not burned. Unfortunately my hair was not so lucky. It was pulled back, but a good centimeter around my face was entirely singed off as were my eyebrows. The eyebrows are back, and so is the hair around my face. . . the problem is that the hair just sticks straight up and is about 2 cm long. It is going to be a long process growing it out. After 3 visits by repairmen, a lot of new parts, and them showing me a dozen times that it works, I still open ovens very, very cautiously.

8. Redecorating -- I started removing the wallpaper in Adam's room (it was halfway up the wall with a baseball border). I HATE WALLPAPER. I am convinced that when it was installed that they must have run out of regular wallpaper glue and used super glue. It is a happy moment when a piece the size of a penny finally comes off. We have bought wainscoting and a chair rail and now need to paint and install it (all before the baby comes). Unfortunately, my worker has been asleep for 36 hours and so this project is lasting a long time.

9. Photography -- My little business adventure with Lillian is really doing well. I absolutely love it. I am learning so much and getting so much better with each photo shoot. And since I am having a baby soon, we have crammed in 3 days of photoshoots this month (as well as a few extra ones) and I have probably a thousand photos still to edit.

10. Nesting???-- I really want to, but I don't have the energy. The only great thing about being this busy is that despite having a large watermelon-like protrusion trying to interfere with my sleep, I am so tired that I sleep great.

August 8, 2010 -- Our 14th Anniversary

Trent and I celebrated our 14th anniversary this past week. Time certainly puts a fun perspective on things. On the one hand 14 seems like a big number. (Am I really old enough to have been married 14 years??? It can't be true because I feel like I am 25 and I didn't get married at age 9!) But then I remember my real age (34) and then think, "Wow, I got married at age 20???? that seems so young"

On the other hand -- if 14 years can fly by so fast it is scary to think what will happen over the next 14 years with our kids growing up and stuff.

I should really dig out our wedding photos (and convert them to digital) and post them but right now that seems like too big of a project to start . . . so sorry not this year (maybe for our 15th anniversary???)

In the past 14 years, we have seen together. . .

• Jamie finishing college and grad school (1997 and 1999)
• Trent doing the same (1999)
• Moving from Provo, Utah to an apartment in Stafford TX (1999)
• Trent starting to work for Ernst & Young (1999)
• Jamie teaching school at Stafford Middle School (1999-2000)
• Our first child (Julianne) born in 2000
• Buying our first home in Missouri City (2001)
• Our second child (Catherine) born in 2002
• Our first miscarriage in 2003
• Our third daughter (Madelyn) in 2004
• Our first son (Adam) in 2006
• Building and moving into our second home in Katy TX (2007)
• Our second miscarriage (2008)
• Moving to New Canaan, CT so Trent could work in Ernst & Youngs National office in Manhattan (2008)
• Our third miscarriage (2009)
• Trent starting to work for 2 years at the Financial Accounting Standards Board in CT (2010)
• And now less than 2 months until our second son and fifth child is born (2010)

We have had highs and lows, but have always been there for each other.  In these 14 years we have seen one set of our parents become empty nesters and the other set of parents start all over (having a baby 13 years ago).  We have seen 9 (of 10) siblings graduate high school and college and 4 of them complete graduate school.  (the one born just 13 years ago obviously has not graduated high school or college yet!).  We have seen 7 of them married.  We have become aunts and uncles 14 times. 

So much has changed over the years and yet so much is still the same.

To celebrate -- we bought a new table and chairs set for our breakfast room.  (We are just so romantic that way!!!!). 



And tonight we are going out to dinner and a movie.  It may not be the most glamourous celebration, but it is the kind of low key celebration that we enjoy most-- just hanging out together!

What am I doing today, August 4, 2010?

First, I just wanted you all to know that as far as my blogs go -- I am getting caught up. On this blog (which is like our scrapbook) I am caught up to today! YEAH!!!!!!

Because today I am redoing our bar stools. Nothing fancy, just the same as before. I redid the black paint last night and today I am redoing the upholstery on the seats with identical fabric. After 2 years of daily use, the fabric needs replacing!





So if you love staple guns, come on over and hang out with me. Otherwise today I am going grocery shopping and to target.

Also, I am getting caught up with my other blogs -- I have the goal of 1 post a week for the year on both my cooking blog and my photography blog. I am 11 posts behind on the cooking blog and 5 posts behind on the photography blog. But by Sunday I should be done.

Also, Lillian and I are loving our new photography business. I have so many fun things I want to do with it, but I am making it wait until I am caught up in my personal life. So as soon as the other blogs are up to date expect more fun things at www.theportraitparties.com!

Sorry to clog up all your blog readers and facebook updates, but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. . . especially when she has her 5th baby due in 9 weeks. (but who's counting???)

Karma???

So . . .

to recap for the sake of this story

Julianne got glasses in October (frame A).
Catherine got glasses in November (also frame A -- because her mom can't be trifled with such small details)

Julianne got new glasses in April (frame B) (meaning I have an extra frame A pair of glasses lying around the house)

On Monday, Catherine came home from school, having been tackled at recess by a group of boys who wanted a ball she was holding, and her glasses were broken in the incident. (maybe at some point I will write about the "incident", but I am still too mad about it.)

However as luck would have it, despite her frames being completely ruined, the lenses were somehow unscathed.

I called the glasses place and they said since the frames were identical and I had purchased both of them there that they would put the good lenses into the good frames (julianne's old frames) for FREE!!!!

So my little lack of attention to detail saved me $250 bucks!!!!

It made the "incident" not quite as bad.

Yuck-o

I have always enjoyed watching a good cooking show and there was a time (back when I lived in Sugar Land) that Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals seemed to come on just as I was making dinner and I would watch it while I cooked. I always liked it (although rarely tried her recipes -- despite having one of her cookbooks). I have never intentionally sat down to watch her new talkshow -- but over the years there has been the occasional laundry session where I watched it. So even though I am decidely not the biggest fan of hers in the world, I was very excited to get tickets to her show to watch it being filmed.

I called my friends and found 3 others who were willing to make the sacrifice to go. And it was a sacrifice. The check in time was 1:45 p.m. on a Thursday. The email made it clear that more tickets would be issued than actual seating available (I think they learned that from the airlines industry!). We were advised that a line would form outside of the studio and despite everyone having tickets we would be seated on a first come first serve basis. We decided to arrive an hour early.

That meant -- I left my house at 10:30 a.m. I drove to Jacque's house and picked her up at 10:40. I (acting as the fashion police-- which is really not exactly my niche in society!) was concerned her outfit was too white (not ethnically, but color wise) as we were given strict dress code rules. So after driving only a block away, we re-read the rules and turned right back around to her house for her to change clothes.

In case you were wondering . . . Here is the dress code.

What to wear: Dress your best! All audience members may appear on camera. All audience members must follow a business/trendy dress code. ** PLEASE NOTE: ANYONE WEARING SHORTS/CAPRIS/GAUCHO PANTS AND/OR FLIP FLOPS WILL BE DENIED ENTRY! **
PLEASE REFRAIN FROM WEARING THE FOLLOWING:
· Sneakers
· Velour pant suits or jogging suits
· T-shirts
· Ripped jeans
· White or off-white colors
· Sleeveless tops/tank tops
· Sequins or very busy patterns
· Hats

You'll look your best wearing solid, jewel-toned colors. (deep blues, reds, greens, etc)
We have the right to deny anyone who does not follow guidelines. Please make your guests aware of these dress codes as well. Thank you.

Jacque found a new non-white, non-capri outfit and we were off to pick up Julie (where this time Jacque got to be the fashion police) and then we picked up Jana (where Julie got to be the fashion police).

We barely found parking close to the train station and walked quickly to board the 11:27 train to Grand Central.

We arrived at 12:35 and made our way to the studio (a 0.4 mile walk). Thankfully the weather was nice (we were all worried enough that we brought umbrellas). We quickly found the line and got in it. The "gatekeeper" walked through the line confirming our names and tickets. After making it through the line he came back for a second go through, but this time he was pulling people out of line for not conforming to the dress code.

THEY TAKE THEIR DRESS CODE VERY VERY SERIOUSLY!!!! There was a very nice woman in line in front of us. She was dressed very nicely and was wearing black trousers that I would call "cropped pants" They showed about an inch of her ankle. But that was too much for the Rachael Ray show. She was informed that her options were to run (race??) to the The Gap around the corner and buy "real" pants and to hurry or she would not make it.

We watched them send several people to purchase "more appropriate" clothing. Now, this is the part I have a hard time understanding. If you were wearing an extremely mini- mini- skirt, one so short you could barely sit down without sharing a lot of intimate details about your style of underclothing you were perfectly fine -- it did not even matter if the mini-skirt was very casual in style.

Or -- If you were wearing a sleeveless top -- that was not permitted, but a shirt with sleeves-- that was so low cut, we all knew you were wearing a white lace demi bra -- that one was perfectly acceptable.

Wow, talk about fashion police.

At 1:45, they began to let everyone come in to the building to go through security and wait for the elevator (that only takes 6-10 people at a time). When you stepped out of the elevator, you were in a small waiting room. When we stepped out of the elevator, we were in a small waiting room, where all of the seats were already taken, as well as all of the standing room, so we kind of just squished in. There was coffee and water and muffins to make our sardine can experience slightly more enjoyable. Somewhere around 2:30 they started calling us by ticket color to be seated in the studio.

We were happy to be the first ticket color called!

We were seated in the 3rd row on the right. The studio is quite amazing. There are 6 or 7 little scenes all around the circular room. The audience chairs are in the middle on a giant lazy susan. As the segments change (from couch to kitchen or from kitchen to garage), the audience just spins to the appropriate place. The sets are really phenomenal. The kitchen was amazing. I thought they were all so very well done.

Next, out comes the rodeo clown. His job is to entertain us during all the down time as well as direct us in our job -- when to clap, how much to clap, when to smile, when to frown, when to pick our nose, etc. . .

We do several filmed versions of us clapping very intensely. We were even smiling a lot because we felt so ridiculous clapping to all the cameras for no reason.

And then -- the rodeo clown points out the queen bee herself entering the studio. The audience erupts in "real" clapping and turns to watch Rachael walk in. She is deep in conversation with Gretta, a regular fashion guru on the show, they are arm in arm and proceed to walk to the front center couch without so much as looking up.

This is where the dissappointment began. Despite the clapping and obviuos adoration of the crowd -- there was no wave -- no head nod -- no wink -- no acknowledgement of our existence in any way. It felt awkward. Really awkward.

When one thinks of a stuck up self centered celebrity -- they are often described as being like a "rock star" -- but not to me anymore. Every rock star I have ever seen at any type of venue always waves and acknowledges their audience and fans. So -- from now on I will describe a person who is coming across as exceedingly arrogant this way . . . "Who does she think she is???? A day time television talk show host?????"

Yeah, I am not very forgiving apparently.

But it just got worse from there. The first segment was OK. A pre-taped segment on shopping for the perfect prom dresses. It ended with the girls walking out in their "perfect finds!" Very sweet and sappy. The mothers were there.

The second segment had our "celebrity" guest. They do not tell you ahead of time who it will be -- so when she announced "Damon Wayans" -- I will be the first to admit that I could not immediately produce a face to go with the name. Once he came out, I could vaguely remember him from skits on In Living Colour -- He was promoting a book (which he did not bring to give to the audience) and he also could only vaguely remember where he started his career, requiring several redo's of a question. He was nervous and his leg was noticeably shaking under the table.

Then he helped Rachael play "Stump the Rach". This section was mildly humorous.

We were served the snack of the day -- 2 not so great chocolate chip cookies made somewhere in Ohio.

Then another pre-taped segment for us to watch from Rocco Dispirito where he helps a junior high group from Vermont find something other than PB&J to take on their 4 day trip to Washington D.C. You will not believe his reccomendations . . .

1. fritatta
2. meatloaf
3. fried chicken
and
4. chicken burritos

I really truly cannot envision these kids packing these lunches for 4 days on a trip to D.C. Really???? To store them in their hotel fridge???? To carry them allover town in the heat????

Then just as they seemed to be setting up another segment, Rachael announces that ordinarily we would film until 6 or 7 but that she was going to dinner -- albeit a charity one - and we were quickly ushered out.

A lady for the show did take our audience "class picture", and we were told it would be posted on FB. So far it hasn't --

I will be surprised if it is. All the other audience class pictures have 40-50 comments like "Great show, loved the segments, loved the give aways"

I really have to wonder what our comments on our picture would (or will) be "Crazy show, no give aways" "Rachael does not even a wave" "Sure thought you cooked occasionally???" "And I bought new pants for this????"

From the grumblings on the way down, it was clear I was not the only one who felt a little dissappointed.

According to the FB page, our show will air this Tuesday. You can see a preview here http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/view/1001/?utm_source=facebook I am not in the preview, but look for me Tuesday on the show. I am the one in pants, with no flip flops and a jewel colored shirt. You can't miss me I'm sure.

In the meantime, my kids are so excited for me to pack their lunches for school. It will mean new traditions "Meatloaf Monday" and "Frittatta Friday".

Thanks to my friends for coming with me. It meant lots of babysitters and planning ahead.

Thanks so much to Trent for taking the day off and holding down the fort with our 4 little kids.

I learned a lot, had some fun, and sure wish I had a built in audience who would cheer for me no matter what I did.

Some Household and Car Cleaning Tips

I got an email from a good friend asking if I could share any tips to help on keeping a car full of kids clean and keeping up with the house. I often get asked questions like this because the assumption is that if you have only seen my house and car clean, it must be clean all the time. Trust me, it isn't. But I do try very hard to keep up with it and my favorite thing in the world is to have people over so I work hard to keep my house in that condition -- where I am ready as often as possible to have people over.

This morning was the perfect example of how I often operate. It was 9:00. I hadn't showered. The kids were out the door to school. I was sitting in my PJ's on the couch watching Diego with Adam. I knew I had several things I wanted to do, but I really was lacking in motivation. My bed wasn't made, Adam's bed wasn't made, the dishwasher had not yet been emptied, the breakfast dishes were on the table. I knew that by myself it might take me all day to get around to everything. What I really wanted to do today was make homemade granola (I had bought everything for it on Monday), but there was no way I was going to start a project in my current state. So, Looking for motivation I started to call friends. The first one didn't answer. The second one did! I asked Michelle if she wanted to come learn how to make granola. She said she did but wanted to make sure she could get her kids going so she said she would call back. I continued to sit on the couch. Fifteen minutes later at 9:14 she called back to say they were on their way (she lives 10 minutes away). Over the next 10 minutes, I emptied the dishwasher, folded a load of laundry, started another, did the breakfast dishes, took a shower, got dressed, made the beds and she still wasn't here -- she actually didn't get here for 25 minutes so I also found the granola recipe and dug through my food storage to find the oats.

Cleaning your house is all about being motivated to do it. With the right kind of motivation, it just doesn't take long. But I can promise you, that if I had not called a friend, I would barely have gotten any thing done by 3 p.m. (and definately not the yummy granola).

Anyway, here are the tips I emailed back to Andrea. Hope this helps someone out there.

How to keep the car clean??

1. Put a towel underneath the car seats (especially if you have leather seats as our car seats have actually ripped the leather because they are pulled so tight and the car seats edges are not exactly smooth). It is so much easier to take out a towel and shake it off than to vacuum in all the crevices.
2. Keep the dustbuster stored in the garage right by the car -- (then when you know the goldfish have spilled you can take care of it right away)
3. Keep a garbage can close to the car in the garage.
4. Store your plastic grocery bags in the car -- preventing mud is so much easier than cleaning it up -- I try and be aware of the kids shoes after soccer practice and the like -- if they are muddy, I have them take them off and put them into a plastic bag -- I figure this helps a ton keeping my house clean too -- if you are aware of what is on your kids shoes before they get in the car, then all that mud will never get in your house. I have put dirty soccer balls into the bags. I use them for garbage.
5. Add this routine -- while getting gas have everyone search the car for garbage, there is always a garbage can right by the gas tanks and you are doing nothing else -- my kids are great at this -- it is like a big hunt for trash at the gas station and I am not ashamed to admit buying them treats sometime as a reward for finding lots of garbage.
6. When we lived in Texas Trent washed and vacuumed the car each saturday, but here it happens more like once a month -- but even when it was every week it was never a huge task because the car was never that dirty at least on the inside to begin with.


Hope that helps with the car. . .

Now to the hard question, do I ever get worn out and just not clean up.

Yep, and I always, always regret it. I must say it happens less and less because of the reality that it never gets easier and I always want to kick myself when I do it. Especially in our circumstances right now. Trent leaves at 6 in the morning and doesn't get home often until 9:30 at night -- so there literally is no one to bail me out. My mom does not live here, my sisters do not live here. So the burden falls on just me. all the time. I constantly am talking myself into doing the little things. But here are some things I have done to help.

1. Whenever I cook a meal, I cook another meal for the same day at the same time. My goal is to be in the kitchen for only 2 meals a day (and yet eat 3 meals a day at home) -- So . . . while making breakfast and packing the kids lunches, I nearly always pack Adam and me a lunch as well. It is not any more work to pack 3 lunches or 5 lunches, but when I am done cleaning up the breakfast lunch making mess, I know that I do not have to be in the kitchen again until dinner. It also means that every day I am ready to go on an adventure with Adam. We always have our lunch packed and ready to go. It gives me the incentive to find a park or an activity to go and do with him.

2. When the girls buy lunch, which is 1-2 times a week, I always make dinner for everyone while I am making lunch. So again, when I am done with lunch-- dinner is already made. I often even set the table at lunch time for dinner. I do all the dishes and cleanup and just have to heat up dinner when it is time. That means the dinner dishes are not very many.

3. I am not afraid to use paper plates. On days when I know I am going to be tired, I make things as easy as possible.

4. Every dinner is not a big deal. My kids are just as happy with scrambled eggs as they are with shrimp and snow peas (OK, sometimes even more happy). I have sometimes said, "Kids, Mom is tired, let's have cereal." They never complain.

5. I always make a ton of food and freeze ready made plates (so that on cereal days- Trent can find a "real" dinner in the freezer.

6. Reward yourself. I love to be on the computer. So I use computer time as a reward for myself when the laundry is done. If I am posting a lot on my blogs, you can know that I was doing laundry. I also love naps. My goal each day is to be done with everything in the house by 9:30 in the morning so that I can play with friends, take a nap while adam watches max and ruby, and read a book. I am often the most productive in the house when I have a good book to read, because I bribe myself with the book. I guess I feel too guilty to just sit and read for hours on end. So I always say to myself, "I am going to let myself read a chapter for every load of laundry I do. or I am going to do a craft with Adam and then read a chapter. "

7. Become ritualistic. Every night, no matter what, I start the dishwasher. It doesn't matter if the load is small or big. Every morning the first thing we do is empty the dishwasher (all the kids help). That way I am ready to handle all the dishes of the day. As for laundry -- every day I run 2 loads (whites and coloreds). I like the loads the smaller the better. (they seem so much more manageable to deal with) -- When I do the whites and it is a very small load I run and grab some towels to add to it or some sheets. Also I always make myself finish a load before pulling another one out of the dryer. Even if I have gotten behind and have 6-7 loads of laundry waiting, I much prefer to tackle one load at a time, instead of stacking up the clean laundry for one gigantic 2 hour folding session.

8. Use your kids. Mine have become such good helpers lately. When it comes to picking up toys they are really great. I have several "tools" we use sometimes. Occasionally when there is a big mess in the toy room we play bean bag pickup. I toss bean bags at the kids and if they get hit, they have to put something away. The kids love the game and always want to play it. When it is the rest of the house I have them all go find 5 things and bring them to the table. Once on the table we group things as to what room they go in and then each kids is responsible for all the stuff in one room (often there own).

9. I have a place (here in this house it is a barstool) designated for each kid. I put their laundry on it, and all day if I find something that is their's or something they got out, I just put it on their stool. When they come home from school that is the first thing they have to do -- clear the stool, then they get to sit on the stool and have snack. I don't ever put away the kids laundry or their toys. I tell them I have enough of my own mess -- but I will gladly trade, I will do their stool if they make and clean up dinner. None of them have traded yet. They NEVER get snack or get to go to a friend's or go to soccer if their stool is not cleared. They all know this rule very well and it is just a part of their routine. Even Adam does it.

Hope this helps. I certainly learn through trial and error, no day is ever perfect, but I really try and not put off something because I know it just gets worse. I really feel like I only spend a small part of the day working on the house. I always reward myself with having friends over or going out every day to a park or something. And there is nothing like going to bed each night knowing that you are ready for the next day. there is nothing like enjoying a book and not feeling guilty about the things you should be doing. and there is nothing like having a nap and knowing you deserve it.

And if all else fails, chocolate is amazing. A small piece of chocolate is often the motivation I need to get moving!

Rachael Ray Ticket Gods,

Dear Rachael Ray TV Show Ticket Gods,

I signed up to get tickets to see Rachael Ray's show when I found out that I would soon be moving to the greater NYC area 2 years ago. A lot has happened in those 2 years like the fact that I completely forgot I had signed up to get tickets. So it was with great surprise and excitement that I read the email I recieved from you this past Friday at 3:08 p.m. informing me that my long awaited ticket request had not fallen on deaf ears. The email gave me the choice of 2 dates (May 6 and May7) and requested that I reply back with the following information.

My name
Number of tickets desired (up to 4)
Date I wished to attend
Ages of persons attending
email
phone numbers
etc. . . .

The email did remind that this was not a "guarantee" of tickets as they would be distributed in a first come first serve fashion and that I would recieve my ticket confirmation by Monday April 19.

I called my friends, told them to start planning and sent my reply at 3:28 p.m. (yes, just 20 minutes later).

Well, Monday came and went with no email confirmation of tickets . . . so it makes me wonder???? Were we too old??? too young??? did you google my profile and decide I was not worthy??? were there only 3 tickets available???? or is this just some sick game you play to get stay at home mom's to watch the show (at least for a day to see what i would have seen had we gotten tickets???)
I guess I'll never know.

Thanks for nothing.

jamie

Third times a charm???? (and BIG news)

So. . . after hearing the heartbeat again today and recognizing that I am starting to look pregnant. . . I figured I would announce it to the world! We are (once again) expecting our fifth child!!!

15 weeks along -- due October 9.

So here's to all the remarks and comments in my future

"Is this your first?? Nope, fifth" (followed by nothing but silence)

"(When seeing me with Adam since all the girls are in school) Are you hoping for a girl??? Not really, since I already have 3 girls but I'll take whatever we get!" (again nothing but silence and maybe a "you're crazy look?)

"Wow, you've got your hands full. (often said when I only have 2 or 3 of the kids with me, but I can't wait to go shopping 8 months pregnant with all 4 kids with me -- It ought to be a reality TV special)"

The good news is that I am not househunting like one of the previous fifth pregnancies. That was really fun -- looking at apartments in Manhattan while pregnant and then having to explain over and over again how this was not our first but our fifth. I swear some of the people had small heart attacks right on the spot.

And for any of you out there who may be experiencing or have experienced multiple second trimester miscarriages-- have your doctors test for blood clotting diseases (thrombophilia's). During my last pregnancy, after there was once again a seemingly perfect baby with no heartbeat, the doctor commented that she wondered if I had a blood clotting disorder. I asked her what the treatment would have been and she replied, "it is often just as simple as taking a baby (low dose) aspirin a day."

Since my diagnosis (of Factor V Leiden Thrombophilia) I have met 3 other women (just here in my ward in my small town) with different blood clotting disorders that all manifest themselves through late miscarriages. My treatment is a little more than just a baby aspirin as I get to self-administer a daily subcutaneous injection of Lovenox right in my stomach. But I have seen each of these other women have successful pregnancies with this treatment so we are ever hopeful that everything will continue smoothly.

Going Pro????

So if you ever check out my photography blog this is old news, but my friend Lillian and I hosted a portrait party. . .   and we charged money (not a lot), but still that was a big step for me.  It is one thing to just take someone's pictures and entirely another to get paid to take their pictures.  IT WAS SO FUN!  Here is the cover for the CD's that we made.  (the design came from designaglow.com)  The pictures turned out great! 

Blog Book

Way back in January of 2008 I printed my blog into a book. I used blurb. You can read about it here.  You downloaded a book software program, selected SLURP and you had a book.  I did not spend any time reformatting it.  I just ordered it and was done.  I love it!!!!  Then came early 2009 and it was time to print out my blog for 2008 --

Blurb was no longer supporting SLURP for bloggers. (although they do now -- it was just a temporary outage)  I tried several different things and after spending lots of time decided it was too much of a headache and time waster to finish it.  Some would not download pictures that were hosted on exterior sites.  Some would only do a couple posts at a time. 

Just a few weeks ago my friend told me about blog2print.  I was pretty sure I had looked at it 2 years ago.  Back then it seemed to struggle downloading more than 3 months at a time.  But not this time around.  It even downloads images hosted elsewhere (like photobucket or flickr).  (Although it will not do slideshows -- so I will probably do fewer slideshows from now on).  

They have definately improved the process.  You simply enter your blog address, tell it what dates you want the book to cover, choose the cover and in 2 minutes it is done.  It lets you choose whether to keep the formatting just like your blog or to condense it a little to save pages.  It looked awesome.  I ordered my 2008 book in under 10 minutes.  Then I ordered my 2009 book.  They came in the mail 4 days later.  I chose the soft cover option and the price includes shipping. 

I love them!!!!  So if you are looking for a great way to print your blog -- here is the link!

http://blog2print.sharedbook.com/blogworld/printmyblog/index.html

And here are my books!!!!

Happy Birthday

I am 34 years old today. Here are my posts from 33 years and 32 years. As I am nearly always the one taking pictures, I always just end up cropping a photo of the whole family to get one of me. So this year, I decided to ask my friend Lilian to take my photo for me. They turned out great. (although next year I am going to go and get my hair colored right before the pictures). 

I am still 153 lbs.

A Small Lack of Attention to detail

I really don't know why I can't focus on small details.  The first time I remember it being a problem was in my junior year of high school.  My English class was reading The Ox-Bow Incident.   I actually read it.  (I will freely admit that Cliff's notes got me through many a book -- but this was not one of them).  I even liked it.  In fact I had a hard time putting it down.  I was confident to take the test because I knew I had done the work.  I got a 46%.   The whole exam was quotes from the book and you had to match it to the character that said it.  There were seriously like 50 characters in the book.  They were split into 2 groups (the good guys and the bad guys) and I could easily classify them into the 2 groups -- but paying attention to each one of their little reasons for being there was a waste of my brain space.  NO, I do not have a clue which one always brings up the railroad in conversation -- I just know it was one of the good guys.

Anyway, this is a trait where Trent and I are completely opposite.  I even already wrote a post about it.  But I proved myself yet again yesterday. 

Catherine failed her eye exam at school and I took her in on Wednesday to the eye doctor.  Yep, she needed glasses.  Yep, her eyes were worse than Julianne's and she is a year younger than Julianne was when she first got glasses and I felt like a lousy mom for not noticing Julianne -- so now I felt even worse about not noticing Catherine needing glasses. 

After the appointment we headed to Lenscrafters.  Catherine was immediately drawn to this large, bulky red frame.  I did not like them.  It looked like she had an injury between her eyes.  I suggested she try on every pair they had and see if she liked them better than the red ones.  One after the other she said, "NO, I still like the red pair".  Finally with only 2 or 3 left she put on a very simple frame -- silver with a hint of blue, rimless on the bottom and she smiled so big into the mirror.  She turned and faced the technician who was helping us and he just said, "Wow, those look amazing on you.  It makes your eyes so blue.  It fits the shape of your head perfectly!" 

I was so relieved.  We got them, they had the lenses ready in an hour and I took her back to school.  Julianne went to a birthday party after school so it was nearly 6:00 pm when we picked her up and the two girls saw eachother for the first time . . .  and  . . .  they have the exact same pair of frames. 

This is something that would NEVER have happened if Trent had been in charge.  But to me . . .  glasses are glasses, most look about the same (except for the bright red ones).  So please don't feel bad if I don't notice something about you someday -- like new glasses, or a hair cut, or new tires on your car, or something else . . .  I really can't help it.  I have always been like this. 

I justify it to myself that my brain is just too full of other worthless dribble  interesting facts. 

Don't worry.  I will post pictures soon.