San Antonio Botanical Gardens

For our anniversary Jeff and I went down to San Antonio. While there we checked out the Botanical Gardens. Nadia wanted me to take pictures of purple roses. Unfortunately, they didn't have any, but I took pictures of other roses instead. The pictures of ducks were for Maes.

New Year's Goals

I'm back here again. I decided to revive this blog. Out other blog is still going to be our family blog, where I post pictures of the kids, and updates about what's happening in our life (when I bother to get around to it). This blog will be used for my random musings, and just a place where I can get my thoughts written down. Please feel free to completely ignore this blog.

So my goals:

Declutter, declutter, declutter. I've already started with the children's toys. I just need to move the decluttering to the other areas of our house.

Post more often on my various blogs. (Three currently.)

Keep things neat and orderly. (Hopefully the decluttering goal will help with this.)

Be more discriminating in the things that I "craft". I need to stop doing things on a whim. If I'm going to take the time to make something, it should be something that will be useful in some way. Not something that's just going to get put away somewhere and never looked at again. (Home decor counts as useful as long as it is something I'm actually going up.)

Try to use supplies I already have first. That doesn't mean make something just because I have the materials for it. However, if I have a project planned, I will go "shopping" in my stash of supplies before I hit a store.

Keep track of what I spend on crafting supplies.

Go to the Temple more.

Do more fun things with the kids. Let them craft, or take them somewhere fun. Just spend more time with them.

I'm sure I'll figure out more goals as the year goes on, but for now this is it.

My Solution

I've decided that I'm just going to start doing all of my posts on the kids blog. That way it will turn into our family blog. I'll just leave this blog here, so I don't lose any of the posts. Maybe I'll change my mind later, but for now, that's the plan.

Consolidation

I am considering consolidating this blog with the kids blog. I think I would be better at updating if I do so. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to go about doing so yet, as I don't want to loose any of the content from either blog. If anyone has any ideas feel free to leave a comment.

It's Over!

A few weeks ago marked the end of Jeff's law school experience. He's finally finished! It's so nice to finally be all done with school. Now if we could only find a job everything would be great.

Jeff spends his time applying for job after job. Me, I hang out with the children and occasionally clean. I did, however, get all my craft stuff packed up. Wishful thinking that we'd be moving soon I guess. After the craft room was packed up, we moved the kids over there so Bryan could paint the green room.

I've also been going through stuff and getting rid of some of it in preparation for moving. So far we've mostly got rid of clothes. Though we do have some toys bagged up and ready to take to a thrift store. As far as packing goes, we still have a long way to go and have way too much junk. Oh well, such is life.

Valentine's Day

We have two Valentine traditions: Jeff always brings me a bouquet of roses, and Nadia a single rose. Nadia loves this (and I think Finn feels a little left out).  Our other tradition is that Jeff and I switch off on who plans the Valentine's Day date.

This year was Jeff's turn, and while it wasn't in the line of traditional romance I loved it. We celebrated on the 16th, because Jeff had the days mixed up. Don't worry, we discovered the mix up a few days before and decided to just keep the plans the same (though the flowers came on the real Valentines day). Our date was simple. First he took me to a yarn store, and stayed with me for over an hour helping me to choose out yarn without once ever complaining (if that's not love I don't know what is.) He didn't even complain when I got us lost driving out to the store. Next we went to Old Town Spring and walked around looking at the shops. It was fun, but we weren't as impressed as we had hoped to be. We finished it off with lunch. Then it was home to the kids and (for Jeff at least) getting ready for school.

Dinner

I cooked dinner tonight. It's actually been a long time since I've done so. It turned out really good and tasted great only . . . Well it was supposed to be a 30 minute meal. I started around 3:30, took about a 20 minute break, and finished making dinner around 6. I mean I guess I double the recipe so maybe prep would take a little longer (which may not have been included in the 30 minutes) but still. I just can't seem to do it.

Today is a Glass Is Half . . .

Empty kind of day for me. I'm really struggling with the gratitude thing. I mean I know their are many things I have to be grateful for, but I'm letting the negativity get in the way. So I decided to vent here on the blog in the hopes that I will be able to get it out of the way and not let it bother me.

1. Part of my problem is I'm tired a lot of the time. Getting out of bed several times a night to feed the little one, and occasionally having an older one come in is really taking a toll. It doesn't help that I often go to bed late. I have a reason for this though. Jeff, because of the way his classes are set up and because of the demands of his job, often doesn't get home till 8:30 (next semester it will be even later). So I don't want to go to bed early, because we like to hang out in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed.

2. This morning Jeff woke up with his ankle hurting really bad. So bad that he decided to go over to Emergency Care (which means it really hurts because he doesn't go to the doctor when he should). Luckily we have insurance, but along with that is a $40 copay. Which honestly, we just don't have the budget for. Well we do, but it will have to come out of the Christmas fund. And I know we don't need a big Christmas with lots of things and the kids won't know the difference. I will, however, and it bothers me. I admit I go overboard with plans and gift ideas and things I want to do, but I can't seem to help myself.

3. Well this one is just a minor annoyance, but on top of everything else and my already pessimistic attitude just bugs me to no end. My FB account was deactivated. I guess they deactivate them when they think you're not a real person or something. I've had the account for over 4 years and I haven't done anything different lately so I'm not sure why it would be deactivated. You can reactivate it, but honestly, I don't really care enough to (at least at the moment). So if I'm no longer in your friend list, that would be why.

4. Just general mess and clutter. I talked about this in a previous post so I won't go into detail. Suffice it to say that it bugs me and the thought of cleaning also bugs me.

So that's me venting. However, my children are being super cute playing together (all three of them) which is helping me to feel a little better. I love it when they all play (especially since Maes has just started to enjoy playing on the floor!).

Cleaning

I really dislike it. It frustrates me to no end. At least the kind of cleaning where I have to try and find a place for all the clutter we've acquired. And yet, having a cluttered room frustrates me to no end and just drives me insane (no it didn't always but it does now). So I'm stuck in a Catch 22. The fact that the room is super cluttered puts me into a bad mood and the thought of cleaning also puts me in a bad mood. What to do?

Party Party Party It's the Weekend

Sort of. Jeff has to work tomorrow morning but that's okay. Because as Nadia said the other night "He's off making us more money." And well it's just for a few hours. Then after that Olivier has his birthday party. So I guess we will party party party in a four year old way.

Today has been a lazy day so far. Jeff let me sleep in because I hadn't been able to sleep all that well last night. It was pretty nice. When I did wake up it was to curl up in my chair with a blanket because it's nice and chilly here. It has been all week for the most part and I love it. I can actually stand to drink hot chocolate, wear long sleeves or sweaters. Mmm some of my favorite things that usually don't work so well here.

I got a phone call yesterday. I don't usually get many calls. Jeff will call to tell me he's on his way home, sometimes my Mom calls and very rarely Becky will call when she is out and about. But this call wasn't from either of them. And it wasn't from a number I didn't recognize (I get those too though they are usually some automated recording.) I won't really go in to detail, but it made me happy. I felt . . . I don't know . .  . really good that they had chosen to call me about . . . well the reason they called. Cryptic I know but hey.

Plans for today: Not many, but I'd like to go see if I can find a local yarn shop that I heard about on the internet. I don't know if it really exists, but if it does I'd like to check it out.

Attitude of Gratitude

I am normally a pessimistic person. Just ask my husband. However, lately, I've been thinking about the need to be optimistic in life. I can't help but notice life is a lot happier when you're optimistic. Sure bad things happen and will continue to happen no matter what. Still I can choose to be more optimistic and grateful for the things I do have. I have so much to be grateful for. We may not be where we want to be yet, but we're getting there. So I decided to do a thankful list this year.

I think my change of heart has to do with a friend of mine. She has a podcast that I've been listening to. In it she talks quite openly about her struggles with depression. Listening to it makes me wish I could live closer to her and help her out when she needs it. She also talks about how no matter what she is trying her hardest to stay positive about things, to overcome her depression. If she can be positive then so can I.

Home Made Tortillas

Yesterday, as Becky was making enchiladas for dinner she ran out of tortillas. So we made our own. Becky mixed up the dough, then she and Nadia rolled them out nice and flat (Nadia loves to help out in the kitchen), and I cooked them up. They turned out great and it was surprisingly easy and relaxing. The kitchen was nice and sunny, everything was calm and peaceful, all in all a wonderful few moments shared with family.

Nadia cleaning up.

The result.

Never mind

A couple of posts back I said I was going to combine my craft blog and this blog. I have since changed my mind. Instead I will be starting a new craft blog. You can find it here: www.craftingamidchaos.blogspot.com

And because I think it's cute, here is a picture Nadia took.

Halloween

Halloween used to be my favorite holiday. I loved the decorations, the dressing up, trick or treating, all of it. Well except for the scary movies. This year, however, I just can't seem to get in the Halloween mood. I'm usually all about dressing up, this year, maybe I will maybe I won't no big deal. I think something is seriously wrong with me. Perhaps it is because Halloween is on a Sunday this year? I don't know, but I'm definitely missing my Halloween Spirit.

Smokey Skies

There has been a wild fire down near my parents for awhile now. The valley is often full of smoke and ash rains down. Monday evening the sun was neon red.

(Unfortunately, my camera was unable to catch the color properly,as the whole sun was red!)

I've been thinking . . .

and I've come to a conclusion. I have too many blogs and I'm lousy at keeping things updated. So in an effort to make things easier I'm going to consolidate two of my blogs: this blog and my craft blog. I'm pretty sure no one other than Becky or Traci ever even looked at the other blog anyway.  Hopefully, this will make me update more often, and as much of my time is occupied with crafting it makes sense to just include it here too. Now I just need to remember to take pictures.

Before and After

Here I am 2 days before Maes was born.

Now that a week has passed I look like this. Nadia informed me she was glad my pregnant belly is gone because now she fits on my lap better.

Me at 38 Weeks

Jeff took this picture on Thursday because his Mom demanded it. The more I look at it the more I realize I don't look that big, but I feel big.  We're just hanging out right now waiting till Tuesday when I'll be induced and baby Maes will join our family. Maes has strict orders to wait till then though. No coming early because Grandma Becky is out of town.  Hopefully he'll obey.

36 Weeks

Only 4 weeks left till the due date. My last shot was yesterday and we're already 3 weeks past when Finn was born. I think we've done well and if I didn't have a few more projects I wanted to complete before baby gets here I'd be ready for him to come.

Super Tired

Well, I've now reached the stage where I seem to be tired all the time. It doesn't help that I'm not getting much sleep at night, especially when little munchkins come to join us in bed. Well it's usually just one girly munchkin, but still she likes to cuddle up to me and there really isn't much room.

On a happier note, Jeff is done with classes this semester and only has 2 finals left! On a not so good note, the class he was supposed to teach this May got canceled. However, they gave him a class that starts in June and goes till the end of August, so more work overall.

As for my previous crafting, I'm finished with the onesies. Although they say they are 3-6 months, they don't seem much bigger than some newborn onesies I have so . . . Oh well. As for the blankets: I finished 1, but have now decided to give that one to Finn. They are huge and he really likes it and I figured Maes doesn't need 2 like that.  So I still have the 1 blanket to make him and then I should be done.

I ended up spending more money for something for Nadia's birthday, and then decided maybe it won't be a birthday present after all and will wait till Christmas. Don't know for sure yet (I haven't finished it and don't really feel like finishing at the moment, which is why I'm debating). I have a hard time sticking to one project at a time and finishing it. I get bored part way through. Darn it. So who knows what will happen.