I've been thinking a lot lately about priorities. Jared and I have discussed it some as well. We are really making an effort to make the time we spend together as a family count. It is so easy after a long day to just want to chill out in front of the tv.... but we don't want those to be the memories we make with our girls. So far, we have been so much happier as a family. In fact, the girls and I left Saturday to visit my dad for a few days. When I talked to Jared after we got here we both agreed that this was the hardest it has been on us to say goodbye. It is really crazy how much more I miss him right now than I ever have before. We decided it is probably because we have been really cherishing our family time together lately. Not that we didn't before, but something has changed.

So all of that has brought me to a point where I am trying to figure out where my priorities are now and what needs to change. It is the end of the year, after all. Isn't this when everyone starts evaluating their lives to see how to make them better?!

One thing I have really let slide this past year is blogging. I can justify it by saying it isn't really important for my family that I spend thirty minutes on the computer each day. But the truth is, it really is. Not because I'm blogging to be known or whatever, but because I am blogging our memories. This is our family scrapbook... because you know I don't have real scrapbooks for my family. I can't even comprehend how much work that would be. Ugh. :)

I am also really REALLY bad about taking pictures of my babies. My goal is to start taking at least one picture a day. One memory each day that I don't want to forget. Maybe this will help me record those memories on the blog as well.

I am so thankful for my family. We are having the most fun this Christmas season. The girls are all old enough to enjoy some parts of Christmas and I must say, I never knew Christmas could be so fun! I will save all of our Christmas activities for another post though.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be preparing my 2012 goals and looking at my 2011 goals. I'm looking forward to spending some time reflecting on the past year. I need to get myself organized and my priorities set straight so I can make the most of every day I'm blessed to spend with my family.

But for now, I need to go raid the pantry at my dad's house.... there are some shortbread cookies calling my name. I'm taking advantage of this time of year but in a few weeks, I'll be cleaning up my act. :)

Love.

A little list to remember...

I have been so behind on all the many things I try to do around here. I haven't read too many blogs lately. I haven't been much for fb/twitter updates. I have this one pesky dish in my sink that I refuse to handwash even though it is almost too big for my dishwasher. I have 2 laundry baskets with my girls' clean clothes in them sitting in my bedroom floor because I haven't taken the time to put them all away. I have boxes of stuff in my garage that needs to go to Goodwill but it is still here. I have so many worksheets waiting on my girls to do them. Shall I go on???

So what have I been doing? I've been...

Snuggling my not-so-baby baby girls every day while we watch Lion King.
Making homemade soups.
Having a garage sale and selling so much of our stuff.
Watching my big girl play her last soccer game of the Fall season.
Reading.
Playing.
Having sweet family time in the evenings with all five of us.
Planning our Christmas cards.
Visiting old friends and their new babies.
Getting started on Christmas gifts.
Waking up at the crack of dawn.... thank you, Time Change.
Watching my baby turn into a little girl.
Eating apples and dreaming of apple pies.
Dreaming of the future with my sweetie.
Laughing as Pull-Ups have become the newest trend in dressing up in our house.... I'm trying to get a picture of this silliness.

I've been feeling lately like I don't have any good enough ideas to put into a blog post. But I am so thankful for this wonderful way to remember things about my sweet littles. So this is a little list to help me remember these days. We have some big/fun things happening in our family and I don't want to miss out on this exciting time because I'm so wrapped up in emails, facebook, twitter and blogs. But I still want to document this exciting time for our family. I will be back with so much more... I just need to figure out a better schedule for getting all the things done that I need to do each day.

I'm so thankful for these girls for filling up my days and bringing so much love and joy to our lives.

Love.

The day after...

Our church had its first Harvest Fest last night. A few words to describe it: fun, success, joyful, candy, candy, candy.

This is the first year we have let the kids dress up. I wanted to make their costumes so we brainstormed ideas and came up with the perfect idea for each girl. Peyton asked for her costume specifically. She couldn't decide between a princess and a ballerina so we merged those two ideas into one. And Laila asked for her costume as well. I, of course, chose Mika's. They were all quite cute and had fun helping me put together their costumes.

Let me introduce:

Princess Peyton the Ballerina

 RoboLaila

 Old School Mika (thank you, Peyton, for naming her costume)

I loaded up Princess Peyton the Ballerina, RoboLaila and Old School Mika and headed to the fest. I was working the crafts booth so the girls and I were there the whole time. Needless to say, the had a blast and we came home with three buckets FULL of candy.

For a while, the girls thought we would have all of these fun games at church every week. Ha!

We were all exhausted when we got home and went straight to bed.

But there were three buckets of candy awaiting the girls this morning when they got up. After I allowed them one piece each they decided it was "so much fun" to play with the candy.

There have been piles sorted and piles counted and buckets filled and dumped and filled and dumped.

And I'm afraid in all of their candy sorting fun there have been a few casualties. I noticed Mika was being awfully quiet so I looked at her candy pile she was playing with. This is what I discovered....

You can bet we will be heading to the playground at Chick-Fil-A today to burn off some sugar energy. It is all worth it because last night couldn't have gone better. It was a perfect day and perfect evening. Hello November!!!

Challenge?

Ok y'all.... I have a challenge for you.

I am so very interested to know who reads my blog. I read a few blogs but never comment so I'm definitely guilty of this. :) However, I'm curious to know who out there is reading my little story. And if you are reading I would love to know so I could visit you on your blog.

So challenge: If you are reading this, please leave me a comment. Maybe we can make some new friends. Either way I would still like to "meet" you, so leave me a comment. Besides all the comments would totally make my day and I know you all want to do that. Ha!

Challenge accepted??

In the Kitchen with Mommy

Y'all, I love to cook. I love being in my kitchen creating things for the people I love to enjoy. I love all things foody (except for the actual foods as I am a very "selective" eater - doesn't "selective" sound better than "picky"??). I love kitchens. I have a dream kitchen.... well, actually I have a lot of dream kitchens (thank you Pinterest).

Want to know what's great?? My kids love being in the kitchen too! They love to cook and help me in any way they can. It is wonderful and precious and frustrating! Ha! If you have little ones you know what I mean. I love that they love to help me though. I hope I am setting a good example for them. I try.

I haven't always been one to jump in the kitchen and cook. But now, I do it without thinking. I cook supper every night at home. I haven't always been that way but I truly enjoy it now. I make meal plans and do the grocery shopping once a week. It is fantastic and makes my life so much easier.

I am even turning into one of those moms who tries to be super-healthy. I use the word "try" but that's not exactly the right description. My family is just as picky (if not more) than I am and I am having such a hard time making healthy foods for them. But I really want to.... really.

I read all these studies about how this food and that food contribute to cancer risks and this health problem and that. Its overwhelming and scary. And I feel like the study writers opened my pantry and used that as the basis for their conclusions. Seriously? I feel like anything I buy in the grocery store is bad for us.

So I'm deciding right now to make a change. I don't want to serve food just because it is easy. Yeah, it is so much easier to open up a can of soup rather than make my own... but don't you think mine is much better tasting? And much healthier too? At least my home-made foods weren't listed on any of the studies I've read as bad for us, so they are good right?! I want to really be that good example for my kids. And I want them to be as healthy as possible. There is enough junk food out there, they shouldn't be surrounded with it at home. (Note: I do not serve my kids much junk food, but they do get some. They are not surrounded with it at home, by any means.)

I love that my girls are interested in cooking and I want them to develop a love for healthy eating. I am going through all of my cookbooks today searching for kid-friendly, healthy, not too difficult, and yummy recipes that we can add to our meal rotation. Does anyone have any suggestions? Perhaps I need to start posting some of our favorite meals on here... Maybe I just will.

Love.

For Love of the Game...

We decided this summer to sign Peyton up for soccer. We both thought she would love it.... and we were right! I got a call a few weeks before the season started asking if I wanted to coach. I actually laughed at the question.... I am such a great athlete and all. Ha! Anyway, Jared said he would love to, so we were signed up to coach P's team. Jared coaches and I handle all of the other things that go along with coaching a U-6 soccer team..... you know, coordinating game day snacks. Actually there are quite a few things that we have to stay on top of so it works out nicely for us to do it together.

Ok, this is not a post about how we coach a soccer team.... it is, in fact, a post about my oldest girl and her love for soccer.

Girl likes to show some attitude :)

Peyton loves, I mean LOVES, scoring goals. She gets so excited anytime she scores (even in practice) and she gets a little bummed when she doesn't score a goal.

Jared loves coaching. He is in his element. The kiddos love him as well. We have a great little team with some really cool kids. Jared tries so hard to make things fun for the kids. The other night at practice, the kids were just a little chatty and not wanting to do their practice games. So Jared decided to have them run "line drills" on the field. Wouldn't you know, they thought it was super-fun.... silly kids.

Games are every Saturday morning. The kids always look so cute in their uniforms.

And Miss P is always ready with a silly pose. She also likes to call in a sub so she can have a snack on the bench or get something to drink... seriously, she asks for a drink every 3 minutes or so. So funny.

I need to get her a black long-sleeve shirt to wear with her uniform... Pink and purple are all we have.

Peyton is all smiles when she is playing soccer. She loves it and I am so glad we are able to do this for her and with her.

I am usually found on the sidelines with my other girls. Needless to say, they both love the game as well and I imagine we will be playing soccer for quite a few years. It is a struggle for me to keep them in their seats and off the field during practice and games. You should see me and all of the stuff I bring to practice and games - it is borderline ridiculous. The other moms laugh at my giant bag of stuff that I bring in case we need something, like extra socks or donuts or another ball or a lamp or a down comforter. I kid, kind of. It is tons of fun though. And the smiles that we see on the field make everything worth it!

A Day in the Life....

I've been wanting to document what our days are looking like for a while. I want to remember how we spent our time when I'm thinking back in 20 years. So here is a look at our typical Tuesday.

7:00 Wake up
This morning Mika Lynn woke up first. When that girl gets up before anyone else, she likes to go to each sleeping person and say their name loudly. Like her Momma, she doesn't want to be the only person awake!

7:15 Breakfast
Once diapers have been changed and everyone has had their morning potty break, we head to the table. Today's breakfast was granola bars (don't judge, they all LOVE them and ask for them daily), Cheerios, bagels with grape jelly, milk, and coffee for Momma!

7:45 Let's Play
The girls head off to their rooms to play for a while. I clean up breakfast and get myself organized for the day.

8:30 TV Time
I usually turn on PBS Kids about this time. The girls love their morning shows and will sit and watch them while I finish getting ready for our day.

9:00 Girls Get Dressed and Ready

9:30 School Time
We always start with a Bible story and prayer. Then we have our first lesson (or two) of the day. Today we did a color/shape coded color sheet and we learned how to write a capital "A". We work on our memory verse. After our lessons we color and read some books then the girls pick up things while I fix lunch.

11:00 Lunch
While the girls are eating, I usually do the dishes and whatever else needs to be done right then. Today I started some laundry and took out the trash. The trash is one of my most dreaded chores. I could do a whole post on the chores I love and the ones I hate.

11:30 Naptime
Laila and Mika lay down for naps in their beds and Peyton had rest time on the couch. I usually let her watch a movie or some more PBS Kids. During naptime, I grab something quick for lunch, check emails, blog, etc. I always make time to snuggle P some before the other girls get up. :)

1:00 Wake Up/Snacks
Laila is usually up by 1:00 so we have a little snack then. I also get to spend some time snuggling Laila when she wakes up. I so treasure this sweet time with her.

1:30 Chores/Errands
This is when I usually go to the store or run our errands. We also do our daily chores during this time. Today we put away our laundry and cleaned the kitchen. I try to get the girls involved in doing the chores around the house. They love helping and I feel like we are teaching them some responsibility by having them help with things at home.

2:30 Story Time and Lessons
We pick up another worksheet or two. And since I have three little girls who love to read books, we make time in our afternoons for more stories.

3:00 Craft Time
Lately the girls have been obsessed with watercolor painting.... so we have been doing that every day. They are actually quite good at it and they feel so proud of their work. I love that they love to create things like I do. I hope they always love to create things.

3:30 Play Time
We usually take the rest of the afternoon to play. I mean, isn't that what kids are supposed to do?! My girls love to play outside and I am happy the weather is cooler now so they can spend more time outside without melting in the heat.

5:00 Clean Up
Jared gets home between 5:30 and 6:00 so I usually start cooking dinner around 5:00. The girls are responsible for cleaning up their toys when I get started with dinner. Once they get their toys picked up they like to do puzzles before dinner is ready. Some days it takes so long to get them to clean up that we don't make it to puzzles.... we barely make it to dinner!

6:00 Dinner

6:45 Bath Time!
I give all the girls a bath together so it makes the process so much quicker. After baths we all gather in one of the girls' rooms and read a story. Then we pray together as a family. This is one of our sweetest moments of the day. I think we all love this time together.

7:00 Mika Goes to Bed

7:30 Laila Goes to Bed

8:00 Peyton Goes to Bed

Once all the girls are in bed I finally get to relax. Ahhhh.

I always wonder what other people's days are like.... And I often wonder how I filled up my days before I had babies. I am so thankful I am able to make this daily memories with my girls.