Friday, January 30, 2015

What I have learned Thursdays… I should read my blog more.

I used to do a series here on my blog called; “What I have learned Thursdays.”  I miss that series.  I am going to start doing it more.  I am not committing to every Thursday, but I am going to try hard to do it as often as I can.

This series is about sharing all the little things that I learn while on life’s journey.

I wanted to share something I have learned that has made such an impression on me. 

Over New Year’s weekend, I somehow started reading some posts from my blog; again.

I randomly went through reading posts that were from the years past.  I bet I read about 50 posts.

What it taught me?

It reminded me that I am blessed.  That I have been given so many blessings along the way.  I’m thankful I wrote them down so I could remember some of them.

I read some stories that I had forgotten about.  I am so thankful I have them recorded.  This post shares a story about Tess in it that brought me to tears.  I was happy to have that brought back to my memory.

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Reading my blog reminded me that I do more as a mom then I think, and I need to give myself more credit.  It also reminded me that I have simplified life some.  I think that is for the better, but I also wish I could do all that I used too.  Our busy life doesn’t warrant that now; and that’s ok. 

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I also had to laugh at how I used to count my days in 20 minute increments.  Now my 20 minutes are spent doing different things.  I think I take life 1 minute at a time now.  These older kids tend to keep me on my toes.  Instead of sitting around nursing babies and changing diapers, I am running kids to and fro, and mentally trying to remember every detail of 6 peoples lives.  Oh, how quickly life changes.

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It reminded me that those days of medical school, residency, and those 4 small kids were such a good time.  I wish I would have cherished them more.  You know how everyone tells you they go fast?  Well they do.  I am thankful I wrote down some of the things I was grateful for; especially during a time when we lived far away from family and our children were so little, and I was growing so much as a person.

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I am also so grateful that photos are important to me.  Sometimes the photos say more than the words.  Taking pictures can really take effort sometimes.  I am grateful I made the time, and sometimes the days that I kept it simple or just recorded the little daily moments; are the images that came out speaking the loudest.

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Spring Break Fun-29

I enjoyed reading this post about my deep sadness that my baby days are over.  It is fun to think back to the time of bringing home a newborn, and realize that even now I feel that same twinge of sadness.  Then I remember how good life is to now be raising those babies; and I’m ok again.

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I love how reading those words make me want to vow to treasure the little things all over again; just like I did that day I wrote the post.

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Sometimes when I re-read my blog, I answer my own questions.  My own words can even help me with my own self-improvement.  Many times I read ideas that helped me previously that I had forgotten all about.

For example: This year one of my new year’s resolutions is to judge less. Especially judge my own immediate family less. I found a post with this great story that I had linked to earlier.  It reminded me of the effects of passing judgments; especially to our immediate family members.  Hmmmm.  Just what I was wanting to work on.  Amazing how words from 5 years ago can help me now.Stella's Baptism day-1665

I stumbled upon these words that I wrote about Isaac when he was 3; they are helping me to understand Isaac know.  This is something I have been working on.

I wrote on Dec. 15, 2010: “Right now, I am enjoying Isaac so much.  Even when he throws fits with the best of them, I have begun to understand that he is animated in all he does.  His fits are over the top, but that just means his love, smiles, and excitement are too.”

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Even now, at age 7, I can be reminded that he is animated in all he does.  That is just who he has always been.  It helps me when making decisions for discipline and my own reactions to situations.

This is our life

This year I wanted to remember to apply one of my 10 mother’s little secrets; calm equals power.  Then I stumbled on this quote here on my blog:

“Avoid rush and haste and uncontrolled words.  Divine light develops in places of peace and quiet.” Elder Bushe

Even more reason to calm down.

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I enjoyed reading and remembering about those times in my life that defined who I am today.  Reflecting upon that only helps solidify who I am still becoming.

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Reading about our traditions reminds me why I do them.  I have always thought that traditions are the glue in any family.

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I enjoyed most reading some of my most sacred posts about motherhood.  They each reminded me that I am a daughter of God, and his gift to me are these children.

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These sacred posts taught me about sacrifice, happiness, some of my best days as a mother, some of my hardest days as a mother, and why I am the best mom for the job of raising my 4 littles.

So.

Now.

That you know.

It’s time to write. 

Write a blog.

Write in a notebook. 

Write on an index card. 

Write on a sticky note. 

I promise you that you will never ever regret having your own words in a safe place.  They will teach more than you know.

Oh, and passing the habit along to your children; is a great idea too…

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…and that’s what I have learned.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

365 week two

Saturday, January 10, 2015

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Jonathan gave me these flowers a week ago, and they opened up so beautifully today.  The secret? Jonathan added sprite to the water.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

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A perfect Sunday activity; helping the kids work on their Disneyland scrapbooks.

Monday, January 12, 2015

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I have been doing some cleaning out and moving around here in the house.  I decided to add some sparkly feathers to the mix.  I love the way they look.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

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Today is a snow boots kind of day.

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It is also a two for one day. Two pictures for the price of one.  I thought you might enjoy seeing how pretty it is where I live.  I live up near that pretty mountain. It is so beautiful here, when the snow is fresh and white, and when the sun is shining.  It’s not so pretty when the snow gets dirty and the inversion sets in.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

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It’s laundry day.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

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I have been cleaning out the house all week long. This is what clean-out looks like in my garage.  This is the second trip I will need to make to the thrift store.

Friday, January 16, 2015

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I spent the day organizing all of Isaac’s legos.  Then he decided to play with them.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Stella throws a party

If y’all remember, 3 of my kids have August birthdays.

Sometimes that poses problems when they want to have a birthday party. 

It is very difficult to throw parties, and follow through to make 3 days extra special.

We have so many traditions that happen on their actual birthday.

Those things are so important to me, because those are the things that make the kids feel special.

I want my children to be able to have parties, but not at the cost of sacrificing traditions that celebrate them.

This year, we decided that we would just host a party for a holiday or just host a fun get-together sometime during the year; in lieu of a birthday party.

Jex had a small gathering close to Halloween.

Stella decided to do something around Christmas(which next time I will try to avoid, and do a little more persuading that Valentines is a better time?)

Isaac will maybe do a little summer kick-off party?

We will still have the occasional birthday party for big birthday’s, but this compromise to host another sort of gathering has been a win-win all around.

This also makes it so parents don’t have to spend $$$ on birthday presents.  Which I love.  I hate asking parents to bring a present to my kids all the time.

Oh, and I hate finding a place for all those presents.

The other fun thing this did for my kids was teach them how to put together a party.

Stella really helped me put this together.

We made the plan together, decorated together, cooked together, and put all the details out together.

It was nice to do with her.

At one point she said, “this is a lot of work.”

It was good for her to realize how much effort it takes to have friends over.

Here is a peak at what we put together:

The invite

Stella Christmas Party for blog

The decorations

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I tried to tell her that our house was already decorated for Christmas so we wouldn’t need much.  She insisted that we do a little more.  So… I went through my party storage bin and found a few fun hangy things and we added them to our already decked out house.

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The Food

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Stella really wanted a hot chocolate bar so we decided waffles, bacon, and our favorite raspberry fluff side-dish would be the perfect items to pair with the hot chocolate.

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Stella made all the waffles.  I was so proud of her. It was so helpful to me.

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We also made her favorite kind of syrup to go along with it; cinnamon syrup.

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And the best part is seeing all the cute girls hanging out together.  It was fun because we invited a variety of ages from 6th graders to 3rd graders.  I love that they all got a long so great.  photo StellasChristmasParty-0213_zps5e55c77a.jpg

Here is the breakdown on one of my families favorite recipes:

Rasperry Fluff

The Photo Booth

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…And we can’t leave out Tessa

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The games

We came up with 5 or so games.

Here is a link to each of them:

drawing on your head

guess who I am

saran wrap candy

Christmas trivia

We gave prizes out to the winners.  They liked picking something out of our prize basket.  These were just items Stella had picked out at the $store.

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The girls favorite was the relay to turn one girl into a snowman using toilet paper and snowman features cut out of construction paper.

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The Crafts

We thought it would be fun for the girls to take home something they had made.

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We came up with the idea of making a snow globe.  They made this out of a clear solo cup and some small Christmas trinkets I had found. 

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We glued them on a circle of Christmas scrapbook paper and then filled the cup with fake snow.  Then we but the paper on the cup and glued it down. 

These were so cute, and super fun to shake.

We also thought it would be fun to make an ornament for their tree.

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I hope to do a tutorial on these fun ornaments soon.

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The party favor

Stella made an adorable necklace for each of the girls to take home.

You may remember seeing them at Tessa’s Belle Party.

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This was Stella’s little Merry Christmas to each of her friends.

All in all it was a great evening.

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It was fun to have a little party planner side-kick.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Why I write to my kids.

A few years back I started writing to my kids via a journal.

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They each have their own journal.

When I write to them, and I don’t do it often enough; I leave the journal on their bed.

Then they can write back to me and they leave it on my bed.

I hope this journal serves as a safe place for our children to share any problems or concerns that they may have; a place to share openly and freely.

I also hope that it will be a place to look back, and reflect, and realize how much I love them.

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What I didn’t realize is how much strength it would give me.

What I didn’t realize is how it could help me realize that my kids do love me and how they do realize how I try to serve them.

That’s what we as mothers do; we serve our kids.  Often times that goes unnoticed.

How wonderful it is to have kind note from your kids.

Sometimes those words help you realize that what you are doing is important.

These words have been such a gift to me:

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Everything is great! I love you and think that you are so great a being a mom.

*you blog

*you cook

*you know style

How could every kid not love you?

I hope your arm gets better and the doctors in SLC can figure it out.

                                                           Love, Jex

Reading the words, “How could every kid not love you?”, made my day.

Reading “you know style”, made me laugh. (he recently realized that he values my opinion when it comes to fashion and hairstyles; which makes me feel good that my tweenager values my opinion.)

Reading “I hope your arm gets better and the doctors in SLC can figure it out”, makes me proud that I am raising a boy who cares and shows concern for others.

This little thing of writing to my kids taught me so much about being a mother.

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So I have a resolution to write more, mostly for my kids; but also for myself.

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