Feeling definitely lighter!

I am not a "minimalist" by any means but I do think kids these days are bombarded with too many toys, too many video games and way too much television. I admit we own a wii and also have an old gameboy. Other than that we have a DVD player and dish network with a DVR which is awesome but allows us to veg more than if we did not have it. In addition the kids have a plethora of toys...too many in my opinion. The wonderfully sweet Mr. Carter is a big kid himself and loves to go down the toy aisle at stores and inevitably we buy more toys than we should. In our little tiny house we live in, this is getting to be more and more of a problem. So...what can we do?

I have not been an active fly lady user in a long time so it surprised me the other day to get an email from fly lady. Ironically it was about decluttering and some tips. One of the tips was to think of things like toys and clothes as consumables instead of things to get emotionally attached to. If a toy costs $20 and it makes your child happy for 2 months and breaks, consider it $20 well spent and move on. It really helped me look at the children's toys and clothes as disposable instead of potentially permanent fixtures in our homes.

Let the decluttering commence!!!

There was excitement and enthusiasm as well as some tears shed. In the end, we all feel lighter and happier!! 6 trash bags of garbage and 8 trash bags to donate and the floors are clear....until its time for a tea party!!! After that, game time! The kids are super happy even though they hardly have any toys...who would have guessed?? I love it!!

On another note, little Sam busted his lip again tonight! Poor baby's lip was bleeding and is bruised pretty good. Didn't slow him down much! He is a moving machine!!

It wasn't so bad!

At least that's what Lily told me when she fell off her horse today during riding lessons. Some railroad ties were dropped off (literally) in the middle of Lily's lesson and made the horse jump from all the noise and she fell off. Fortunately she didn't have her feet in the stirrups so she just slid off the side. She still hit her back and behind so she's pretty sore tonight! In spite of that, she says she loves horseback riding and does not want to stop! I say good for her! Nothing like literally getting right back up on the horse!!

After lessons Lily, Noah and another girl that was there helping out took a tractor ride! They were so excited to get to ride the tractor they will probably big Bill about it every time we come for riding lessons!! He was super great with them and very patient. We just love Mountain View Equestrian Center where Lily rides!!

Another thing that was fun today was Lily finished her doll quilt!! We machine quilted it and then I added binding for her. She also cut out pattern pieces for next weeks project of an apron for her doll. She seems to love sewing, which is nice. Grandma even gave her her very own pair of sewing scissors!! She was so excited and told us all she needs now is a sewing machine! :) It's been a really good day!

To cure what ails...

There is nothing like a bath to cure what ails you. At least that is what my 7 month old son believes and he would prefer to play in the tub the majority of every day. Today when he was being fussy and nothing really seemed to make him happy, I decided it was time for today's dose of tub time! He loves the bath so much and today was no different. The only problem is that he is getting so fast it is hard to catch good pictures of him anymore. Here's what I caught today...

Lazy day

Today we didn't have anything important to do or anywhere to be so today we dubbed "lazy jammie day" and spent the entire day playing together and watching a movie or two. It has been so much fun and I actually got quite a bit of knitting done while supervising appropriate sportsmanship and watching shows on Netflix the kids just HAD to show me. :) I even rewarded them with the Smurfs dance game on the wii when they were finished with baths and were ready for bed!! Overall it's been a wonderful and enjoyable day. The children have gotten along the majority of the day which has made it all that more enjoyable! Now it's time for sleep and quiet...tomorrow comes way too quickly. At least we get to go to church!

While taking the included picture, I said 1, 2, 3...and Gwenna started to say 4 as I snapped the picture! What cute kiddos!! We also have all gotten to take turns today being the Incredible Hulk! Sam even wants a turn. :)

A wonderful Valentine

2 dates in a week is a record I think!!! I am such a lucky girl!!! Mr. Carter had a training class today so he got the evening off...first Friday night off in over a year! So it totally screamed date night for me and as soon as I heard he was going to be home I arranged for the one young woman in our ward to babysit. She is such a gem and the kids just love when she babysits!! Everyone wins!!! We didn't do anything super exciting but did manage to get to a yarn shop for me and got birthday gifts for Noah. Top off the evening with a DQ blizzard and everything's just peachy! What a wonderful end to a wonderful week.

Hard working Thursday

We have had a garden every year for as long as we have been married and so this year, we are going to have a garden as well. The difference? The kids are going to be the ones tending it, under my watch of course! I have always been the one to do almost everything from starting seeds to endless hours of weeding to harvesting, mulching and composting. I am ready to share the jobs!! That being said, today we all went outside while baby Carter and Mr. Carter were napping to do a little more hand tilling and weed/brush removal of our garden space. Lily, Noah and Gwenna worked alongside me for over an hour and a half!!! I was beyond grateful for their helpful and happy attitudes and hard work. They worked carefully and diligently almost the entire time. Korey and I went to the store yesterday and got a child size hoe and shovel along with a pair of work gloves for each of the children. They like to dress the part if they are going to be asked to work! :) I know that planting a garden is important for our family. It isn't just about having fresh veggies that will feed our family, but it also about teaching the kids about hard work and the blessings of the harvest that we get to enjoy. They get to see that patience, planning and hard work will pay off and that we will have enough to bless us and our neighbors as well. They are excited about it and I am too! Here's a quick picture of everyone hard at work! (except me of course since I am behind the camera!)

On another note, the hat I made for Gwenna last night conveniently fits Lily as well and so I took some shots of them outside today in it! Here those are :)

Wednesday

Today was a good Wednesday. The kids were happy and getting along most of the day. My sister in law Korey came over and we enjoyed spending some time together before she was so good to tend our children so Mr. Carter could take me out for a pre-Valentines Day outing. We were able to go out to a nice dinner alone at a local Mexican restaurant we had never been to before. It was really nice just getting out and being able to talk and enjoy each others company without the constant chattering of children. Then we went to DQ and got a delicious chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard, which we shared. It was really great having time together tonight and we cannot thank Korey enough for all her help! Especially since she kept baby Carter at home!! He was mildly cranky and did not take a nap like he was supposed to but overall, I think he did very well for being away from his parents for the second time in his life.

On a separate note, I have been working with the kids during school time on memorization, music and reading. We are currently singing lots of primary songs from our church's children's hymnbook and the kids just LOVE to sing them! They are doing so well and are so enthusiastic I just am so excited that they are anxious about having school singing time. It is so refreshing after all the grief I used to get about having school time. We are reading the scriptures (currently in the 1 Nephi in the Book of Mormon right now) and are working on memorizing 1 Nephi 3:7. The kids are doing very well with it and will have it down very soon. They are also memorizing the Articles of Faith and are working to pass them off with their teacher at church on Sundays. We have down Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 and are working on 6 this week. I am so very proud of them and feel so lucky to have such wonderful children!!

On a crafty note, I am still diligently working on a dress for a very special little girl...it is taking much longer than I had supposed but is turning out more beautiful than I hoped! So that's good. I whipped up a hat tonight for Gwenna to match the one I made for her American Doll she got from Aunt Sarah for Christmas this year. She loves to be matchy and I made 2 others before this one trying to get the sizing right! Very tedious but worth the smiles I get in return. I am still being playfully teased by Mr. Carter for not finishing his scarf that I started last year for him or the socks I told him I would make him years ago!! I feel just awful about it but I keep putting it off for whatever reason I am not really sure....hopefully I will get to them very soon so he will have to find something else to tease me about! :) I still have a couple other projects in the works that I need to get done. It is hard to find the amount of time needed to complete the projects I have going while juggling homeschool, house work, cooking, cleaning, nursing and mothering. I love what I do and I do my best to manage my time the best I can.

Ooh! I almost forgot! I added sewing to Lily's curriculum this past Monday and she took to it very well! She told me repeatedly how fun she thought sewing was and is already starting a list of things she wants to make. I helped her get started on the sewing machine and she sewed a patchwork quilt top for her American Girl Doll! She had to do quite a bit of seam ripping but did a very nice job! Next Monday we will work on putting a border on the quilt, adding batting, hand quilting it and then binding it. I hope her enthusiasm remains as we progress to harder projects! Sewing is rather rewarding in an instant gratification type way, much more so than crochet. Lily has been taught to crochet by myself and a friend of ours and it is just not something that she is interested in doing. At least she is discovering what she enjoys and that really is the point.

I hope to get to blogging a lot more so look for more coming your way soon!! Thanks for reading :)

Loving life!

My 7 year old is taking riding lessons and today was her 3rd lesson. She has been learning to ride on a lunge line and has been walking and trotting without hands to help her learn balance on the horse. Well today she learned to post trot without hands and she did VERY well!! I am so very proud of her and a tad jealous in the whole, "I wish I could have done this when I was younger so I will live vicariously through my child" kind of way. She loves riding (as I knew she would!!) and is doing very well so we are looking into buying her boots, a helmet and some kind of breeches. Fun = expensive when it comes to horses and the more fun it is, the more money it costs!! Oh well. I would pay for it 3 times over to see the look on her face!

I just wish her sister was as thrilled...and I am sure she would have been had she not been FREEZING!!

Life is good. What more could I ask for?