Show me the minutes

Lately I have been pondering how I spend my discretionary minutes. I decided to take a personal inventory and wasn't impressed with my findings. What I discovered is I need to be investing my discretionary time much more wisely. My husband is number one where I need to start. Quinn gets a few precious, sometimes not so precious, minutes each day while I allow facebook, children,Larry King Live, friends, e-mail, domestic duties, exercise, reading, etc . to consume my day. Quinn is a definite assesst to my life and my children's lives so I guess I better pony up and start investing my minutes in one of my strongest assests. I believe when we know better we do better. I know better therefore i will do better.

p.s. just a side note- Tonight my kids and I had the privelege (spelling)??? of co-habitating with the Walker girls (Alyssa-10, Rachelle-8, Lydia-5, Sarah-2). WOW! They are really fantastic gals. I enjoyed hearing about their school day- Since Reece is a child that reveals very little information and I teach Quincy's preschool (if you can call it that) so I know what her school day is like. I also enjoyed soaking up all the tidbits of useless -BUT very entertaining- pieces of information that only 10 & 8 year old girls can dish out.
my heart melted as I observed these girls mothering Trey, Quincy and Reece BUT by the far the most enduring moment was witnessing Sarah and Trey interact. They are both two, well Sarah will be very soon, so there were some tense moments but for the most part they played cohesively with genuine concern for each other. It was really really sweet.

I know who I am......

Today in Relief society we discussed how knowing we are divine daughters of God can assist us in navigating through this life. As I pondered that question I kept thinking about the 10k race I ran, October 25th. I trained for the race and felt prepared going into the event. Miles 1-3 were easy for me. Mile 4, I hit a wall. My legs started to ache, my breathing began to labor and I really just wanted to stop and walk. I kept telling myself, "you're a runner- you can do this. you are prepared- DON'T STOP!". I slowed my pace but kept running. Mile 5 my legs stared to loosen up again and I fell into a rhythm. Once I hit mile 6 I felt strong and was able to pick up my pace. When I crossed the finish line I was so proud of myself. Not only had I ran the whole distance I had also accomplished my goal of running 10 minute miles. The belief that I was a runner kept me running through mile 4, even though I was desperate to walk. My life has been littered with "mile 4's". I have caved into temptation and spiritually walked, even stopped, when I needed to stay running. Fortunately through the sacrifice of the Savior and His atonement I can repent of my mistakes, continue "training", for the "10k" of life and prepare myself to more successfully endure "mile 4's" -running the whole time even when I want to walk. The knowledge and belief that I am a child of God, with divine nature will keep me strong when I want to be weak. I hope that when I cross the finish line of life and meet my Savior that both He and I will be proud of me.

Falling for Fall

Fall is my second favorite season. Spring is top on the list. Two activities I love in the Fall are carving pumpkins and playing in the leaves. We have several mature, beautiful trees in our yard that provide much needed shade in the hot summer and lots of falling leaves to rake in the pre-winter months. Today the kids and I enjoyed, an unseasonably warm day, of frolicking in the leaves.

Quincy on top of her leaf pile.

Reece on top of his leaf pile.

My three little birds in their nest of leaves.

It's raining leaves.

What a cutie pie.

Quincy and I hanging out on her pile of leaves.

Last Monday we carved our pumkins.

Reece with his finished project.

Quincy with her pumkin- she really loved her pumpkin.

Trey going to town on the gunk.

What came over me?

I am not a crafty person. I also don't like messes. I realize the combination of the two might be the cause of my children missing out on some potentially, memory makin' fun, so I am trying to get over myself. I saw these Halloween shirts in a parenting magazine. The directions seemed simple enough and the mess factor was easy to control. Wouldn't ya know it- we had fun and I daresay made a memory.



All you need is: 3 white shirts, 1 box of orange fabric dye, black permanent marker, rubberbands and your imagination. You can make one big pumpkin on your shirt or several little ones, depending on how much fabric you bunch up and rubberband. After you rubberband the fabric follow the cloth dye instructions on the box. Once that step is completed your ready to make the pumpkin faces on the shirt, using the black felt pen. I outlined the faces for Quincy and she colored them in. Reece was on his own and Trey helped me color his pumpkin face. Of course Trey used a washable marker while I used the permanent one.
p.s. DO use a bucket to dye the fabric. DON'T use your white sink. Bleach will NOT completely remove the fabric dye from the surface.

Trey turns "2"

Trey turned 2 on Friday, October 17. I can't believe he's already two. Where has the time gone? And look how much he's grown. Trey has been such an amazing addition to our family. I will freely admit having 3 children has almost pushed me over the edge. C'mon 3 is a tough number but our family wouldn't be the same without this little guy and we love him so much.
His favorite activities include; playing with Quincy- he loves, loves, loves his big sister, wrestling around with Reece and Dad, riding bikes outside, swinging, jumping on the trampoline, going to "Lena's" (Selina's) house, playing hide and seek, reading books, watching Elmo and swimming. He has no fear of the water. He jumps right in, holding his breath, and floats to the top. I am trying to teach him to flip over to his back but he will have none of that yet. His favorite foods (which are limited because of all his allergies-no eggs, nuts, dairy or wheat) are: taco soup, beans, rice, instant oatmeal, otter pops, tangerines, frozen peas (thanks Walker's), corn, apple slices, grapes, veggie chips, from Trader Joe's, and popcorn. He hates soymilk and soy ice-cream. Thanks to his older siblings his vocabulary is large but the phrases he seems to use most are : "don't Quincy" (insert Reece, Mom or Dad), and "Mom (again insert Reece, Quincy or Dad) what are you doing"?and of course the ultimate 2 year old phrase.....WHY??????????

What a cutie pie.

Hey blue eyes-

All smiles

Ok where are the smiles?

Now he can't seem to smile without the tongue coming out.

Where's Waldo?


Grandma Dance flew in from Seattle to celebrate Trey's b-day with us. Thanks Grandma.

It's always fun at Grandma's house.....

Grandma and Grandpa Peterson's house is a paradise for Quinn and the kids. It has taken me years to acclimate to the dirt and ruralness of Riverside, Idaho. I am finally learning to appreciate this town for what it is and not dwell on what I wish it was. I would spend much of my time engaged in the daunting task of keeping my kids clean while on the farm. Now I don't even bother. A little dirt won't hurt, right?

Quinn and the kids hauling corn stalks to the field to feed the cows.

Quincy and Trey preparing dinner.

This is one of my favorite pictures. This is in the backyard at Grandma's house.

Every year they have a big fire, at the bottom of the field. They burn all the scrap wood and who knows what else.

Jackson brought his horse over and gave the kids each a little ride.

Quinn took the kids and some cousins fishing. Quincy was the only girl and she caught the first fish. Go Quincy.

Grandma Peterson always cooks fabulous meals. For breakfast we had crepes with homeade maple syrup and homeade raspberry freezer jam. Yummy.

Did you hear that?

Just a few random thoughts on things I have heard over the last couple of days.
1. Glenn Beck said- and I'm not quoting- just paraphrasing. Until this mess (meaning our finacial crisis) gets sorted out people should cut their discretionary income down to $0! WOW-am I'm up for that challenge? today is day 2 for me and the kids- maybe Quinn too but who knows if he secretly buys a powerade or quarter pounder with cheese while at work. Today I made my kids play-dough AND I made homeade chocolate chip pumpkin muffins that were beyond delicious. I didn't have any muffin papers so I bargained with a friend- she supplies the muffin papers and I'll send over some of the homebaked goodies.
2. My friend was explaining (lecturing) to her 16 year old son why she wouldn't talk to the school about him dropping out of algebra ( a class that has earned him a grade NOT good enough to earn him driving privleges) in the middle of her speech he simply said, " gee mom I hate to take a machete to your intellectual thicket but......." She has no idea of the verbage that followed because she was so taken a back by the first line. Sounds like a pretty smart 16 year old to me.
3. My other friend asked her 4th maybe 5th grade daughter if there was anything that kids at school might be talking about that made her feel uncomfortable or she knew wasn't right. Of course she is expecting the usual answers to follow (sex and swearing). Her daughter said, " ya mom, some of the kids have been talking about POLITICS"! I just had to chuckle at that one. Wouldn't that make a great book......