the early bird gets whatever it wants

So this morning I was just a little slow on the go. Ok...I laid on the couch until 8am leaving fifteen minutes to get everyone ready and out the door to school. While I was "resting", Leah decided to be helpful and pack her own lunch. She used a brown paper bag instead of her lunchbox. She commented to me that her lunch was so full, she had to tape it shut. That peaked my interest and so I asked her to show me what she had packed for lunch.

She opened the bag and pulled out a honey sandwich, a tupperware container filled with sugar and cinnamon (followed by a shocked look and an exclamation of, "How did that get in there?!") a chocolate granola bar, two hand fulls of frosted animal crackers neatly wrapped in a paper towel and taped shut, and five pieces of Halloween candy.

I realize this has only slightly less nutritional value than the lunches served at school, but still...as a parent I had to regulate. So out went the sugar and cinnamon, out went the frosted animal crackers and out went the Halloween candy. In went some celery and an apple. I can guess where those ended up, but at least I tried. Right?

Gratitude

"When gratitude fills our hearts, there is no room for unhappiness. Happiness does not depend on obtaining all the desires of our hearts. In large measure, happiness depends on our ability to feel gratitude for the abundance we already have."
- Carolyn Wright-

I was asked by the leaders of the Young Women in our ward at church to speak to them tomorrow night on the topic of having an "Attitude of Gratitude." In doing some reading on this topic, I came across this great article, "A Thankful Heart" by Carolyn Wright in the Liahona magazine, November 1994.

Then it listed ten ways to cultivate Gratitude. #3 was to "Carefully nurture every feeling of gratitude, no matter how small." That got me thinking of all the spectacular things I enjoy everyday and don't even give a second thought to having.

Here are 10 small things I take for granted but am VERY grateful for:
1. Music
2. My classy mini van, even if the windows don't roll down, one headlight is out and the brake pads need replacing :)
3. Dishes
4. Shoes
5. A computer and the internet
6. My talents
7. A safe, warm and dry place to live
8. Always having food
9. A comfy couch
10.Warm showers

I'm just getting started. I have SO much to be thankful for. I'm glad I have this opportunity to reflect on all these things...just in time for Thanksgiving.

"eye-eye" mate-y

Yaya has had two close calls with her eyes this week.
Episode 1
I asked Leah to unload the dishwasher. She opened it up and then got distracted. Heidi seized the opportunity and grabbed two sharp knives, one in each hand, and took off. First she went after Naomi, but Naomi screamed and ran away. Yaya wasn't paying attention, until she (and I) heard Naomi scream at her "Heidi has sharp knives!" Well, it was just a second too late and Heidi hit Yaya in the face with one of the knives. Thankfully Heidi is shorter than Yaya because the tip of the knife hit her just under her left eye. And thankfully Heidi isn't that strong because it gave her a nice poke, but didn't cause any major damage. That would have been a fun one to explain in the E.R.

Episode 2
Yaya was at her friend's house and they decided to be helpful and "clean" the bathroom mirror. Well, they were using shampoo...and teetering precariously on the edge of the sink to get to the mirror. Yaya ended up slipping and fell onto the faucet. She hit her face in the exact same spot, but under her right eye. So now the poor girl has a puncture wound under her left eye and a black eye on the right.

Too bad Halloween is past so I can't dress her up as a pirate and cover up some of the damage with an eye patch.

Cleaning Fairies

Today I thought I would try a new tactic to encourage the girls to clean...and be happy while doing it. I was in the kitchen making bread and I said to the girls, "I wonder if the cleaning fairies are going to come and clean up the living room." I had three very different responses from the three girls, none of which actually involved any cleaning.

Leah immediately ran into the living room, drew a picture of the cleaning fairy, taped a bottle cap to it and taped it on the wall.

Naomi sat right where she was and demanded to know who the cleaning fairies were. "Are you talking about me? Because I'm not going to clean."

Yaya moved to the chair in front of the computer and said, "I know where one of the cleaning fairies is! She's listening to music on the computer!"

Well, they're clever, I'll give them that.

Head in the Clouds

I was helping Leah with her homework tonight. I explained something to her and then asked if she understood. She looked at me and said honestly, "I don't really know what you're saying because I just keep thinking of the flute on Peter and the Wolf."

30-minute meals

You know, I really really like the idea of cooking a meal in 30 minutes. The reality of that happening in this house is just a pipe dream. Let's observe the differences between Rachel Ray's kitchen and mine.

RR has an idea for dinner before she starts making it.

I have that nagging thought all day until 5:30 when I finally open the fridge and start cooking something...and often I'm STILL not even sure what it will be.

RR has all the ingredients on hand.

When I finally decide what I'm cooking, I usually have to change my idea in the middle of cooking the meal anyway because I don't have half of the ingredients. Otherwise I have to run to the store if I can't find a suitable substitute, or send my most charming daughter to the neighbor's house and beg for any missing ingredients.

RR has clean dishes.

I generally have to wash a load of dishes so I actually have counter space. Then I have to wash all my pots and pans so I actually have something to cook in.

RR magically seems to have all the spices she needs at the forefront of her cupboard.

I spend at least ten minutes digging through my awkward spice cupboard, lifting each bottle, reading the label, dropping it, knocking over eight bottles, half of them fall out onto the counter and one inevitably ends up in the butter dish. Clean off spice jar, replace and repeat.

RR doesn't have kids.

You can just add 15 minutes per kid onto any recipe prep. time. I always end up getting someone a drink, or running from the kitchen to see if there was any blood accompanying the scream, answering the phone, or shuffling slowly from the sink to the stove with a pot of water in my hands and a baby wrapped around my legs.

In the end, I consider getting ANY meal on the table a feat worth a cooking show of my own. The only problem with that is "30 Minute Meals" seems so much more catchy and optimistic than "90 minute meals with two time outs, fourteen homework questions and a minor concussion".

Get this message

We live in a college town. It is interesting to observe the students as I sit at the stop signs and watch them cross the street in front of my car. I am always amused at how many people have their heads down and are so engrossed in "text-ing" that they don't even look up before they cross the street. True, pedestrians do have the right-of-way on a cross walk, but sometimes a car is already crossing the street and they will walk out two feet in front of the car without even knowing it!

Up to this point in my life, I have yet to hit a pedestrian on foot. I have hit one on a bike before, but there were no injuries sustained and it was in high school (sorry mom, never told you about that one!) But as far as I'm concerned, if you can't even look up from a text to save your own life, you might have your priorities a little mixed up.

A New Phase

Heidi has developed a couple new talents recently. Thankfully she's really really cute.

Talent #1. Climbing onto everything, including the kitchen table.

Talent #2. Meticulously emptying out the kid's dish drawer and sitting in it.

It's just a phase. It's just a phase. It's just a phase. It's just a phase.

Barfy Halloween

Leah

Heidi and Heidi

We missed Halloween this year due to the stomach bug/flu. Leah and Heidi held strong and avoided the whole illness, so Leah got to go out with her friend to the Trunk-or-Treat at church. Naomi just accepted it and didn't put up a fight. She really got the worst of the sickness. Yaya, on the other hand, put forth her best effort to convince me (between dry heaves) that she wasn't really sick and she could still have her birthday party and go trick-or-treating. We postponed her birthday party for a week and I'm going to take the girls trick-or-treating around to our friends houses tomorrow night :) They have some super cute costumes that I want to get some use out of!

Since Leah went out, she did get dressed up. My little tree hugger here made her cat tail out of old socks. She sewed it herself and stuffed it with recycled plastic bags. Leah will single handedly save the planet. (Just ask her.)

Klepto

Yaya came up to me crying. "I was showing Heidi my gum, but she took it and stuck it in her mouth." Sure enough I looked over and Heidi was standing there, innocently, chewing Yaya's piece of gum. Yaya solved the problem by reaching into Heidi's mouth, stealing it back and putting the gum right back into her own.