Can someone please tell me this....

How do I find more time in the day? I feel like I have something to do every waking minute of my life. While I love my life, I would really like some extra time to get things done. I feel like I can never dig myself out of the hole of things I need to do. The last few weeks have been particularly busy with vacations and school and baseball. One week we had something to do for every single night for a week straight. We had no time to even sit down for dinner as a family. As soon as school is over I will be working and I do not think things will slow down then. I am trying to get myself to just be okay with never having EVERYTHING done at one time. I guess it is a journey, right...not just a destination?!?!

I typed this up really quickly as my handouts for my project tonight are printing...and now they are done, so, time to move on :)

Nervous mommy!

So, I took Carter to the third Dr. today to find out what this weird growth is on his head. Again, he had never seen anything quite like it. In fact, his reponse was, "interesting." I really wanted to walk in there and hear, "Oh, yeah, we see this all the time, it's nothing to worry about." He did say he did not think it was anything to worry about, but wants to remove it just to be sure. So, the surgery may be as early as tomorrow...I know I am going to be super nervous when I take him in to be put under anesthesia!

On a positive not, I once again got compliments about how well behaved my kids were at Kaiser today. A couple of weeks ago I took Kenzi to get her thumb x-rayed and ended up sitting in Radiology for about 45 minutes. The kids were so amazing and well behaved. I got a few compliments that day too. As a parent, I think that is one of the best compliments I can get. It makes me so proud when they are polite and follow directions! I think there are a lot of parents out there now-a-days with out-of-control kids that people are so amazed when my kids are so well behaved! Believe me, they are not always angels, they are just really good at making people think so :)

So tomorrow I may take one of my well behaved little angels into surgery...wish me luck!

Sick day

Carter stayed home from school sick today. That means I have been in my jammies all day doing odds and ends. Let me tell you, you can add as many odds as you want together, they never make a whole! I always think I will get a ton of stuff done on days like these, but, I end up doing a whole lot of nothing. Not one thing gets all the way accomplished. As I have mentioned previously, I think I have adult ADD, the inability to focus on one task. Today I: started a load of laundry, started organizing pictures for my scrapbooking marathon on Saturday, did the dishes (of course this is NEVER all the way done), did a pilates DVD (actually finished this task, but barely made it as the baby woke up right at the end), made the jello to make jello jigglers for the kids, started to put away the laundry that has been sitting in a basket in our room all week (I have started this many times this week), started reading with Carter to finish his reading log (just a couple more chapters and we are there), started my final project for the class I am in this session, started looking at recipes for next weeks St. Patrick's Day dinner... I started a lot today! I think the point is, I will never be finished with anything. Life is a journey, not a destination, right?!?! I would like to finish things once and awhile though...

What a difference a day makes

As beautiful as it was yesterday, it is that cold and gloomy today. This weather is mother nature's reminder to all of us that life can change daily. You never know what tomorrow will hold, so live today with joy and love! I know, cliche, but oh so true...

I love running! I actually crave it, I think I am obsessed. This morning, as most mornings are, was stressful. Getting all three kids fed, dressed and out the door seems like a monumental task, one I must conquer every single day! After finally getting Carter off to school and driving to the gym, I could not wait to get on the treadmill and run as fast as I could. Now, I feel so relaxed and my mind so much clearer. I wish I could take back the mean, stressed out mom I was this morning and replace her with the post-run, calm, collected mom. Maybe tomorrow morning I can remember the post-run clarity and get through the morning a little less stressed!

What a beautiful day!

I am sitting outside watching my three little angels play in the backyard. I love it when the three of them can play together without screaming and fighting. Why does it take the sun to make my kids be civil to one another? The weather really does make me a happier person, so I guess I see where they are coming from.

Carter started little league practices this weekend. He is on the Angels (notice the hat in the picture). I think this is a very fitting name for my little guys baseball team as he is my little Angel (at least about 30% of the time). Nate is the coach which makes it extra fun to watch. What a great weekend, baseball and sun...spring is indeed in the air!

I have two vegetarian recipes picked out to try this week, stay tuned for reviews!

Healthy(ish) meal #1

So, I have made this before, but it is so good I am using it as the first healthy(ish) recipe I am writing about. I made these Asian Lettuce Wraps from Allrecipes.com. I love that site. Whenever I am in the mood to try something I log on and find a great recipe. My husband is gluten intolerant so this is a good meal for him. First of all, I used ground turkey instead of beef to cut some fat. I also added a packet of frozen organic brown rice from Trader Joe's to make the meal a little more hearty. They were delicious. The kids even loved them!

Laundry

This morning in bed I was contemplating the enormous task looming over my head for today...laundry! It's not like I have not done plenty of laundry this week, it's a constant battle. I broke done the process into these 10 simple steps:

1. Gather laundry (includes gym clothes, work clothes, play clothes, pajamas, underwear, socks, towels, wash clothes, etc...from 5 people) from all three bedrooms.
2. Sort on my bathroom floor.
3. Lug one basket at a time down the stairs (praises to home builders who went the extra mile to put the laundry upstairs...ours apparently didn't think of this!).
4. Start the washer, add soap and dirty laundry.
5. 45 minutes later, take the clothes out of the washer and put in the dryer.
6. Another 45 minutes later take the clothes out of the dryer and take to the couch to fold.
7. Fold all clothes, towels, sort socks (carefully deciding which ones belong to whom), set aside clothes to hang in all three different closets.
8. Place clean clothes back in the laundry basket and lug back up the stairs (why oh why is our washer and dryer not upstairs?).
9. Sort and put away everything in all three bedrooms.
10. Hang all hanging clothes in appropriate closets.
*Repeat above 10 steps about 10 times per week.

When you looking at laundry as the daunting task that it really is, you can appreciate why most women have precious little free time to do anything else, like cooking, cleaning bathrooms, dressing, undressing, feeding, bathing and hopefully occasionally loving their children!

This is why we need to take a step back and focus on the specific task at hand. Life should be lived taking baby steps. Right now I am just thinking about going upstairs and collecting one load of dark clothes. If I thought about the 9 other steps involved in that job I would probably just give up right now! Just don't forget to make time for the really important steps, like snuggling your kids on your lap and reading them a book. This step often gets lost in the constant footrace of life! Take each step in your race carefully and with love.