Can I breathe now?

So I know that I haven't blogged for so long but I have a totally valid reason. Tanner turned 4 and I was so busy with 800 things last week. Okay, well, not literally 800 but I had SOOOOOO much to do to get ready for his party. I had snack for both his schools, so that was a lot. Then cake and food for his friends party, plus cleaning for that. Then I had to make and ice his Cars cake for the family party on the weekend and clean up for that. Plus decorate. It was hectic to say the least. Tanner had a perfect birthday day. It was so awesome. He had lots of fun and the day went off without a hitch. He was spoiled rotten, to say the least, at both his parties.



I haven't hardly had time to breathe. At least I feel like that. I had to write myself a note to remember to breathe. Then my dear, sweet friend called to leave a message to remind me to breathe on Thursday night. Needless to say, I have paid for the craziness that I put myself through this week. I have a really bad cold. I am in Calgary for the week and most of my time I am having down time with Tanner.



I have had a lot of reflective thoughts about Tanner and about being a mother. Tanner has been my greatest joy. I knew that I loved him even before I knew I was pregnant with him. How is that possible is what I'm sure some of you are asking but it just is. The love you gain when you are a mother is one that you can not describe in words. Having Tanner has blessed our lives in ways I never thought possible. Having a baby put you on a rollercoaster of very high highs and very low lows. It's incredible. So in honor of my son, I will tell you what I love the most about him.



1. His laugh is infectious at every level. When he laughs, you can't help but laugh along.



2. He is a total free spirit. He knows no limits. The world is his. He has rules, don't get me wrong but he is happy to do just about anything.



3. He is SUCH a ham!



4. I LOVE that when he smiles, his eyes smile too. Those of you who know him, know exactly what I'm talking about. It's awesome.



5. I love that he's so tiny. It makes me feel like he's still my baby



6. He likes to help out with just about anything. I love it that he can help out.



7. He is a fish in the water...literally. He sticks his head under the water and swims around like a fish.



8. He loves his little monkey (Dangles) like it was a real person. It's the sweetest thing.



9. He doesn't walk. He runs everywhere. He has so much energy and just wants to go.



10. He has a scar on his head from his head surgery that matches the scar on Matt's head that Matt got when he burnt his head with hot oil off the stove. I love this scar because it reminds me of all he has been through and how we lucky we are to have him with us.



So that's it for now. I could write more, but I don't want to expose it all...lol.

My 5k

Today I ran my very first 5k run. Okay, I sped walked the whole way, but at least I was in a run for a good cause. My friend was looking for someone to go with and I've always wanted to do one so I offered and off we went. She's a runner and I'm not so much. She can run up to 28 minutes (I think that's what she told me) and my max is about 7 and a half minutes. I'm such a slow poke. Anyway, we didn't run because she had her little 3 month old in a snugly and it would be hard for her to run with her. That's okay, though. I didn't mind. She would have been done the race 15 minutes or more earlier than me if she didn't have her little one. It was a pretty good day. Not overly cold but not warm by any stretch of the word. Anyways, we came in at 46:02 which is good for me since it was my first time doing something like that. I'm just sorry that she couldn't get a better time because of my lack of ability to run. Oh well...I'm going to train for a 6k in March and we'll go together and do it. I'm looking forward to it. I've always kind of secretly wanted to be a runner and do marathon's and stuff but didn't have the guts to do it alone. Now that I have a 'partner' I have more motivation to get in shape.

I am looking at an insanely busy week. This Wednesday is Tanner's 4th...yes 4th birthday. It's hard to believe that time has gone by so quickly. I have baking to do every day this week. I will try to remember to breathe and relax, but there are no guarantees. I am really excited for his part on Saturday with the family. It should be fun. I'm mostly looking forward to my family coming down and seeing them.

This week was just an okay one. Nothing extreme happened...okay that's a total lie! On Tuesday night, Tanner was in the bath having fun, and I don't normally supervise him because he's old enough to be in there on his own and I can always hear him. Anyways, he has some toy buckets in there and he likes to fill them and dump water on himself. Well that night for some random reason, he decided that he was going to dump at least 4 big bucket fulls out of the tub and onto the bathroom floor before it clicked in my brain what he was doing. I thought he was just splashing around but nope. I went in and told him to get out of the tub and go to his room. He asked for a towel and I said "no, just get to your room right now and I'll talk to you when I clean up this mess". So I cleaned it up. Then I went in to talk to him and I told him that I was disappointed that I couldn't leave him in there without him making a big mess and that he was not allowed to have a bath for a very very very long time. Maybe until he was 10 years old. I told him no more baths with Mommy or Daddy and only showers. He said sorry to which I replied "I'm sorry that you won't be able to have baths for a very long time because I know how much you love them". He didn't cry about it, he just got dressed and went back to playing. So tonight when Matt had a bath, he of course wanted to get in and we told him he couldn't. He was not happy about that but we are standing firm in not allowing him to have baths for a long time. This is not the first time he has made a mess of water on the floor and we remind him every time he gets in the bath that water has to stay inside the tub. So, that was Tuesday. Not the best night but at least it could have been worse. I recognized that I stayed in complete control of my frustration about the situation and was amazingly calm about it. I didn't raise my voice at all and when I sent him to his room, I asked him nicely (I actually said "Please go to your room right now!). So, that's a positive thing.

We made cookies on Thursday. Tanner LOVES to help bake things, which I do on a pretty regular basis. Weather it's bread, or cookies, or squares, it's a weekly thing. I usually give them away except for a small amount for us. I like baking and giving it away, but I like eating it more so I have to be careful. I have to watch how many treats I eat because of my pre-diabetes. It's something that I have to watch more than before. Plus, I can't eat enormous amounts of food. When I go to a buffet, I take one spoonful of each thing I like instead of 2 or 3 spoonfuls. So if you want some baking, let me know.

It was a pretty windy week this week so we didn't get out too much. Luckily, I had the car for about 3 days this week so that was really helpful in preventing long, hard bike rides to school or to the post office. It's kinda funny that ever since we moved here, my life is about walking or bike riding everywhere. I'm really lucky to have the car. In Calgary, it was the opposite. Matt was lucky to have the car because I ALWAYS had it. I like walking everywhere. It seems kind of silly to get in the car to drive 1 or 2 blocks to go to the store or to a friends house. It makes me realize how lazy people can really be...including me when we lived in Calgary. It was really funny because if I offered to walk anywhere that was a distance, people would look at me like I was crazy. I remember I walked to my Mom's house with Tanner in the stroller one time and it took me 2 hours and 45 minutes. I could have taken the car (which would have taken me about 15 minutes) but I wanted to walk. It was a beautiful spring day and I was up and needed the exercise. I was tired at the end but I enjoyed it for the most part. Then we got bikes and everything changed. And we got a double bike trailer for Tanner to go in that converts into a stroller so it's really handy. And it glides through snow like butter. So smooth and nice.

So I've had a physical 5k and a 5k kind of week. Slow but now at the end.

So these are my random thoughts for tonight. I don't have anything deep to say. No opinions on anything in particular. But that's okay. This will be an 'easy' post. Not a 'hot topic' post.

Well, I think that's it for now.

Sorry

I'm sorry that I haven't written lately. I guess I was going through a really intense transition with all the last posts. Maybe it's better that I keep a low profile and keep my opinions to myself for a bit. I think I need an emotional, thinking rest. This week has been kind of blah...not much happening and not too many opinions or thoughts or feelings on anything particular. I do have parented pre-school tomorrow, so I may have more to write about then. We'll see.

Until next time, I think that's all for now.

Isn't it sad?

As I was preparing my talk that I have to give tomorrow I was thinking...well, first I should tell you what Matt and I were asked to talk on. The 11th article of Faith. For those of you who might have forgotten it: We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own concience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where or what they may.



As I was thinking about this topic, I realized that in a previous post ( see 'Almost Fuming' 9/17/07) I had talked about not being able to, or should I say refrain, from religious talk/conversation in Tanner's parented pre-school. I was thinking about how sad it is that we are not able to exercise this privilege of worshiping how, where, or what we may when these types of restrictions are placed upon us. I get both sides, I really do. I understand that some people may feel uncomfortable about religion but it's not as if we talk about it constantly in the parenting class the adults have. It gets hinted to, I feel, a lot but never directly talked about. I believe there is (and I have said it in my previous post) a line between preaching your religion and talking about it. Preaching, to me, is more to do with actually teaching the principles to someone and talking about it is just what it is. You don't talk about your religion with the intent of trying to convert someone or "teach" them. It's just talking about it. Talking about things you learn or commenting on the great lesson you had on Sunday.

I feel that because there are many religions in the world, we should be at least tolerant of each other and our beliefs. If you're uncomfortable about talking about other religions or even hearing about other people's religions, then just say so. But if you don't mind, I'd like to share my experiences sometimes of what has worked for me and what I've learned. I could be wrong on this, I've never studied other religions, but I think unless you're an athiest you believe in God or some higher being. So if people believe in a higher being or God, why can't we talk about it?

I certainly wouldn't be opposed to hearing other people's beliefs and the things they believe in. I've had discussions with friends about why they do what they do because of what they believe in (I hope that makes sense). That doesn't mean because we don't believe the same things we can't be friends or talk about what we believe in.

Why can't we exercise our privilege of "freedom of speech" because people don't all believe the same thing?

I think there are people out there that are super hard core in preaching and talking about God and maybe it's because of those people that are so forcefull and overbearing about their beliefs that the rest of us can't talk about religion in schools. I'm talking about those kind of people that talk and talk and talk about the gospel and have to prove that what the other person is saying or what the other person believes in is wrong. That's not how we are suppose to be examples of Christ. We're not out to prove other people are wrong, we are out to add to other peoples knowledge about Christ and his teachings.

I hope that one day, we will all be able to just tolerate each other and our beliefs and be able to talk about what we choose to without the restrictions.

OH! Here's a funny a story

I was studying and I had the music on that I usually only turn on before church on Sunday's (it's church music) and Tanner said "we going to church in a bit?" and I said "no, not for a few more days". He was a little perplexed because it was Tuesday and I normally just play that music on Sundays but I just felt like I wanted some calm music. So he asked "why you have the mormon tabernacle choir on?" and I replied "I just wanted to listen to some good, calming music while I was reading". The answer satisfied him because he didn't say anything more about it.

I am happy to say that I have all my Christmas shopping done. I have made most of my gifts because we are being careful with our money (okay let's just face it, we're poor...lol) and don't have a lot of extra money to spend so I made my gifts. It's a good thing I got my sister's name and not my brother in law because I don't think he'd appreciate the gift that I made for my sister even before I knew I had her name. Matt got his name (yes, we all know who got each other this year) and so he (okay truthfully I do the shopping) had to buy him something. We have an amazing dollar store here that has some really good stuff. So that's where I headed. I was very successful and even got a christmas pen with bells on it for me and a balloon for Tanner. Everything is truly and honestly only $1. They have things that are 2 for $1 or 4 for a $1 but unless it has a little tag that says that, it's really only $1. Even the Helium balloon I got for Tanner was only $1. They even take credit and debit cards. I hate those dollar stores that are cash only. It is so annoying sometimes.

Then we headed over to Toys R Us and spent about 1 hour or more just looking and playing with the toys. Tanner knew it was just a looking trip and that he wasn't getting anything, though he tried to get me to buy him this huge plastic dinosaur. But I stood firm and said no. I did find a little cheap (okay, on sale) gift for one of the girls that I use to nanny for her birthday and Megan's stocking stuffers.

Then it was to Superstore to get milk and butter and a few other things. $40 later and we were good. About $15-$20 of that was exclusivley for us and not gifts so that was good. I did find some really cute black, peek toed pumps that I really liked but of course I had to walk past them. Oh well, maybe another time.

I'm pretty sure Matt will have to find another job. His pluming job is not giving him enough hours right now. We'll see how it goes. I'm trying to get my cards to be sold in this craft store here so hopefully I'll be successful at that. That'll be a little bit of extra money. Oh well, I know it will all work out somehow.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I should get going and wash my floors and clean my bathroom...ugh! Not something I'm really over motivated to do but it has to be done.

Until next time...

A bad day

So, for Sharon, you already know my feelings on this because you were there so this will be a repeat for you but I am not sure why, but today I feel a little bit hyper-sensitive to my parenting skills and abilities. On a normal regular day, I don't feel so sensitive about the subject but for some reason today, I do. At pre-school we were asked about how we were disciplined as kids and if we thought it helped and how we discipline our children.

When we were young, we either sat on a chair, went to our room, or for me...I got spanked if I was especially bad (which was about maybe 6 times in my childhood that I was spanked). I just want to say that I do not believe in spanking kids. I don't threaten to do it but that said, I have spanked Tanner twice in his life. I am not proud of that but I'll be honest in saying that I did it. I felt horrible and guilty and like the worse parent ever after I did, but it takes a lot, and I mean A LOT for me to even think about spanking. Nevertheless, my normal method of discipline is to sit Tanner on a chair for things like hitting others, throwing his toys (and by throwing I mean actually aiming them at a specific person or potentially breakable object), or refusing to listen (which, actually doesn't happen all that often). He gets sent to his room for yelling or making lots of noise when he is playing his musical instruments and we are trying to study or have a quiet time. Tanner is generally a good boy and behaves reasonably well and is generally obedient. But like all kids, they have their moments.

My feelings are, and my experience with Tanner has been, that just sending him to his room does not work for him. He thinks it a play time and so if he does something negative or "breaks the rules" it's not really a consequence for him to go to his room. So we put him on a chair for "breaking the rules". He knows, when he gets off the chair, why he was on the chair and he says sorry.

Well, I got the impression from the teacher at pre-school that putting him on a chair is not discipline but punishment and we as parents should discipline, not punish, our children. I don't agree that putting a child on a chair is punishment. My opinion is that the child should think about what they did wrong and try not to do it again. Obviously, sometimes they are going to do the same "bad" thing they did to get the original time out, but at least they know what the consequence is.

Other people talk about natural consequences, but what is the natural consequence for hitting or hitting with a toy or throwing toys at things and people?

In my heart, I know that ultimately I am the parent and if it works for Tanner, then it should probably be okay.

I know that I frequently praise Tanner for being good and being helpful and doing kind things and for listening etc, etc, but why should a negative action equal a positive reward like playing in your room for breaking the rules?

Again, I know this is a "hot" topic for some, but I am interested in what other people have to say about this.

I'm just wondering, what other people's opinions on this are and if this has worked for them.

Well for now, that's it.

This is a gooder

Last week in our package of weekly flyer's came the Toys R Us Christmas catalogue. I really haven't had a chance to look at it because I can barely take it away from Tanner long enough to get a good look at it. Well last night when he went to bed at 7:30 I decided I was going to waste time looking at it. I had to laugh at some of the things in it. I will share with you some of the things I found quite funny.

First a digital photo frame with a remote control. So now when your guests least suspect it, you can switch the picture and they think they might be crazy because they are sure there was a different picture there 30 seconds ago but are too embarrassed to ask so they keep quiet. Then later in the evening, there's another picture there...how did that happen??? Mmmm....I wonder.

A nintendo DS game called "Master Chef". Unless it can actually cook gourmet food in real life, I'm not interested. Who comes up with these things?

Digi Glam Makeover. You can change your hairstyle, make up and accessories. It has a built in digital camera so you can give yourself or friends a makeover. I'd like a makeover at least once a week so will it actually do it in real life? What is the purpose of this thing? So you can look different every 20 minutes? To see what you could potentially look like. Show that to your Mother when you want green hair and see what she says.

Roboquad. This is an actual robot with mulit-directional movement capabilities, advanced sensory awareness and advanced movement control. Do I need to even say anything about this one? Could people get any lazier?

Remote control dragon Fly or Bee. Now there's more ways to annoy your parents and siblings with a flying bee/dragon fly that flies inside or outside of the house. Awesome!

Thomas Whistle Lounger. With real "chugga chugga" sounds and train whistle. Wheels really turn. So while watching your favorite show, you can have train sounds and move your "lounger" around. Sounds like fun to me.

Girl Crush Hair Streaker. Now little girls can streak their hair any color they want, whenever they want.

Society has become bombarded with toys of all sorts. Some of them are useful/helpful and even fun. But then there are some of them that I wonder "how can a company get away with such random toys/things?" Like it's a competition to see who can make the neatest, coolest, funnest item. I remember as a child, we didn't have many toys. We had tons and tons and tons of Barbie's and Barbie clothes and accessories. That's pretty much what we all got (except Melany) for Christmases. We had other toys, but not that many. My Mom and Dad and Aunt built us this huge massive Barbie house to play in. Just ask anyone who ever came over, they can attest to how big this thing was. It was a 9 room house that stood about 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide. It had real carpet and wall paper in it. There was even a room or two with lino. It was the sweetest house. We played a lot of house and dress up and store when we were kids. We didn't have the latest and greatest in toys. It makes me realize how spoiled children (including my own) are these days. Why does every child you have need a T.V. in their room? Why does a 6 year old need a Nintendo or Sega or Wii? What happened to good old fashioned imagination and crafts. Lego, trains and dinosaurs for boys and barbies and dress up for girls? In the summer time, we were rarely found inside the house. We ran through the sprinkler, played on the slip and slide, jumped on the trampoline, had fashion shows in the backyard, rode our bikes. We hated to go inside and now, you can't get a kid to even think about leaving the T.V. or the game they're playing. The latest thing I've seen is grade 6's having cell phones, texting their friends. Why in the world does a 12 year old need a phone? Where is that child going that they feel they need a phone? What happened to carrying .25 cents...well, .35 now.

I have also come to realize that I am very much a simple kind of person. When we get a house, there are maybe 2 things we are going to splurge on...a shower head that is one of those super huge ones and Matt wants this type of toilet that has 2 different kinds of flushes. One for small jobs and one for big ones, if you get my drift. But it doesn't really matter to me if I have the latest style of kitchen cupboards, or even a dishwasher. My feelings and theory is that if it's functional, why pay mega bucks on something that is just the style. If it's not broken don't fix it. If it's less expensive and still functional then why not save the extra money. That is my thinking on the subject.

Anyway, that is it for now. I should get back to my catching up that I need to do. Plus I need to make bread because we are on our last half a loaf. I refuse to buy bread, now that I know how to make it and it's probably cheaper to make it. But it's a weekly job that has to be done. So, I'm off until next time.

Slow down

A friend recently sent this to me and I really liked it so I thought I'd share it.





Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine. I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you? How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, "How about going to lunch in a hal f hour?" She would gas up and stammer, "I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain." And my personal favorite: "It's Monday." She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together. Because Canadians cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college. Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to oursel ves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of "I'm going to," "I plan on," and "Someday, when things are settled down a bit." When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord. My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process The other day , I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy. Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to......not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to youHave you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply? When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow." And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost t ouch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say "Hi?When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away. ... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

AGAIN???

People really like to Tag me and to tell you the truth, I don't mind it at all. So I have to write 6 habits or things people don't know about me that I haven't written about before (which is going to be hard because I've written plenty of this stuff before)

1. I'm like Adrienne in that I'm in a clothes crisis. I feel like nothing fits, nothing looks good and I don't like the style right now. I just wear what is comfortable and I don't really care. I use to be a little bit trendy/school girly but now, I don't know. Clothes is too expensive. I like JOE, LOVE LOVE LOVE Reitmans, and sometimes I like Old Navy. Also, I am in a music jam. I don't really know what I really really like. I love The MTC, and most country and old stuff. I don't really think the stuff they play now is worth listening too. I listen to it sometimes but it get's on my nerves pretty quickly.

2. When I am having a really challenging day I have a bad habit of thinking that life as a pioneer would be easier than what I'm dealing with at the moment. I know, totally unrealistic, but, whatever

3. I believe in the natural, homeopathic stuff. I believe oils and herbs are better for a person. I wish we had more money so that we could do all that stuff full on.

4. I have to sleep with a pillow between my knees. Ever since I was pregnant, I have to have it.

5. After my Dad died, I had to sleep with something in my arms every night. When I got the Jordan doll from NKOTB, I slept with it. Then I slept with a dinosaur that I got from someone when I got my wisdom teeth out. It's not so bad now but for a very long time, I couldn't go to sleep with something in my arms. It could get a bit akward at sleepovers but I didn't really care.

6. I have a habit of when I get a needle to have my blood drawn or having any kind of pain, I dig my thumb nail into my pointer finger to lessen the pain of where I feel it. It weird, I know.

***I know we are only suppose to do 6 but I thought of one more that is kind of funny. I got a new set of scriptures for my birthday and I can't bear to mark them up yet. I carry my old BofM around so I can mark it up like crazy. I did't have a seperate Bible before my new ones I got for my birthday, so I carry around my new (seperate) set of The B of M and the Bible and my old B of M. It's too pretty to mark up yet. Next year I'll be braver and do it really nice. I should have arms of steel pretty soon with all that weight in my church bag.

So I am going to tag Christine, Amanda, Malauney, Juliette, Kim, and Brooke.

Also, besides being tagged I discovered that a mouse ate through some of Book of Mormon study guide. So I said to Matt "that mouse better be super smart from Alma 1-15 because that's where he ate through". It was pretty funny. He laughed at me.

In other news, my sister came to visit and we had a wonderful time. I always love when my family comes down. I always have a good visit with them.

So I think that's it for today.

mama called the doctor and the doctor said...

Tanner had a virus, that is gone thanks to faith and a priesthood blessing, and it caused him to cough a lot. Becuase of all the coughing, he got a minor type of asthma and the doctor gave us perscription for a ventilator (which I know we can't afford because they are super expensive) and a puffer if I felt we needed it in a couple of days. He said the cough will go away but the puffer might help if I wanted to get it. So thankfully he doesn't have brhoncitis. I have a very wonderful mother type lady here that does natural oils and I got some oil for his breathing/coughing troubles from her. It works like magic on him so I will keep trying the alternative method first. I hate to give Tanner perscription medicine if I can do a more natural thing first. Anyway, that's the update on Tanner.

lessons learned

As I was making bread today, I realized how retarded (not literally but you know what I'm talking about) I am. I was thinking about how when I was baking bread with my Aunt last week, she doesn't even measure her stuff. She just knows how much to use. I think that is so amazing! I am a measure it freak. I measure everything I bake. Even my laundry detergent I measure. Okay, well that's partly because the pre-measurable pump on it is not working properly, but I don't just add a random amount to the wash. It's a bad habit. I always worry that when I'm cooking with my Aunt that what we are making won't turn out, but it always does. She is a wonderful cook. It makes me realize I have a lot to learn. I guess if you bake enough, you know how much 1 cup of flour looks like, or 3/4 cup of sugar looks like. I believe that there are recipes for a reason. I guess that's why I'm not a professional baker or chef. My skills are in cleaning and organizing other people's houses...which is ironic given the last post. I can organize and clean and actually really love doing it for other people, but for myself....that's a different story. When I organize my house, Matt asks me for about 2 days where things are. Crazy, I know.

Tanner and I have just been hanging out the last 2 days. I am finally taking him to the Doctor this afternoon to be checked out. I would rather do it now than have to take him to the hospital this weekend when my sister is here. I have a feeling he has bronchitis (or however you spell it). It would be the first time if he did have it. We have a terrible time at getting colds. I think it was partly because we moved and it was a new environment and we had a couple of colds at the beginning of the year. Though none of us have had a cold since April or May. So I guess that's good. Tanner's had 2 bladder infections since May. They were right after each other so that wasn't good. But I guess not being sick for 5 or 6 months is good. We went through a period when he was 2 that he was sick with a cold or something else about every 6 weeks. And last year, he wasn't hardly sick at all. I think it helped that I switched him to Soy Milk and took him off of Cow's milk. I know that is a huge topic to discuss, so I won't. I know everyone has their opinions and I have found that it has helped us. Not everyone thinks it's good for you or thinks that it's helpful, but I do. My friend sent me an article about Soy Milk verses Cow's Milk and I found it quite interesting. Anyway, I have found that it helped him not get sick.

I really enjoy being more of a homemaker and doing things like baking bread and making jam. I would really like to get into canning. I am hoping next year I can do it. I need to get some more mason jars. If any of you have any that you are not using anymore or have excess and would like to give away, let me know. I am more than happy to take them off your hands. I would have made more jam this year but I didn't have enough jars so next year I'll do more.

Well, I think that's it for now. I'll update you later as to what the Doctor says about Tanner.

Match maker, match maker....

I only have about 30 minutes before I have a lady from Tanner's school coming over for a home visit. I was going to clean my house perfectly but then I thought, NO! I have a 4 year old and if she or anyone for that matter, expects me to have a perfectly cleaned house with a 4 year old, they are crazy! I'm not typically a showy kind of person. If you come to my house in the middle of the day and it's messy, oh well. If I know you are coming over, I will 99% of the time clean it so it looks nice for when you come. I would have made the beds (which I am SO SO SO bad at doing on a daily basis), picked up the toys in the bathroom, done the dishes, wiped off the counters and table. Some days are better than others to do that stuff. If we make a big mess at the table, I wipe it off but if it's just a little bit, I think, "ah, I'll do it tomorrow". I use to be way better at keeping it nearly perfectly clean on a daily basis but now, I have Christmas projects to work on and service to give and bread to bake and school to take Tanner to and other things. Maybe that will be my new year's goal is to be in a better routine to do that stuff on a daily basis. Plus, we are not a very dirty family. With Tanner and I just home, we don't make a big mess. Maybe I'm just lazy. Lately, it's not what's important to me. Plus, I rarely get people showing up at my house to hang out or pop by for a visit. I have a friend that we go over to each other's houses at 10-15 minutes notice, but that gives me 10-15 minutes to improve my house a little bit.
I know of people and have been to people's houses where every time I go over, their house is perfect. Not a thing out of place. This seems a little weird to me. How do people get their house to be perfect all the time? Especially if they have kids? I could understand if you had older kids and they helped to keep it clean by putting their coats away and not leaving their shoes in the doorway, but if you have little kids, how do you motivate or teach them to keep their toys in certain places so they aren't all over the house?
I'm not even sure why I lack the motivation to be a better housekeeper. My house isn't dirty...please don't think that. I just don't mind if there are a few dishes in the sink or on the counter, of it I haven't vacuumed for 5 days, or if my bed is unmade (you can ask my Mother this, I have NEVER been good at making my bed), or if there are toys in the living room. We certainly don't live a pigsty, but some days, I feel like there are more important things. I do get the things done within a day or two, but I'm not an immediate, get it done right now or you'll think about it for the rest of the day kind of person.
So that's my opinion on that for today.

We had a huge sign up last night that said we had no candy (we are watching our budget and candy wasn't in it this month) and we had a group of teenagers come and knock on our door regardless of the sign. We didn't even bother opening the door. I thought it was kind of funny. Only teens would ignore the sign and do it anyways. We took Tanner to a few houses, even though he was sick and we weren't going to take him but he was really upset when I said no and I didn't think that a few (4) houses would kill him. He had fun for the short time and we got a couple of cute pictures.

My Mom sent him a package in the mail last week and she sent one of those garbage bags with the pumpkin face on it. So we filled it up with leaves for FHE and he was pretty happy about that. It's really cute.

Well, I think that's it for now. Until next time....