We all have 24 hrs a day...how do you spend yours?

Our newest adventure has been building a bunk bed.  For those of you who are asking if we are announcing something, we are not. We will put the bed in Madison's room, she will sleep on the bottom bunk and the top will be used to store out-grown kids clothes, thus freeing up some valuable closet space. 

One of the advantages of Sheramie being an engineer is all the cool software and tools he has. After he designed the bunk bed..and then re-designed it to fit the new ideas I had from one day to the next, we bought the wood. He cut all the pieces after hours at work. I spent Saturday sanding the pieces and we build the headboards. The past few days have been spent painting a couple coats of white on the wood during Miles morning nap time. Hopefully we'll build it this weekend...(crossing fingers).

TIME

I have been contemplating the use of time since becoming a stay at home mom. When I was working I was able to be at work 8-10 hours a day, grocery shop, keep up with laundry, cooking, cleaning, and my house was always clean. (I have since decided that it stayed clean because we didn't live in it...we slept in it and hung out there on the weekends.)

It seems there is less time to get things done. Maybe it is because the kids always want to read and look at books,  me to help them color or draw, or even just cuddle and be held. I am in no means complaining; especially when my sweet 3 year old says her prayers and asks that mommy doesn't go back to work. (However she does miss her friends and wants her babysitters kids to come live with us) So this year I started a new schedule. This week has involved painting, which isn't normal, but I go to bed early and get up early (I've heard that counsel somewhere before).

Here is my current schedule:

4 am-weights/stretching/abs, 5 am-morning jaunt (I don't run), 6 am-eat, open windows and start painting one side of wood (we don't have a backyard, so currently I am painting on trash bags in our living room (exciting huh?), by 7:30 the kids are up and the wood is dry so I can rest easy. They eat breakfast, Madison does pre-school worksheets, Miles plays with legos and we just hang out. By 11 Miles goes down for his nap and I paint the other side of the wood, Madison helps too. We eat lunch and by 1 he's up again and the wood is dry (if it isn't we head out to the park). Cooking, Chores, Playing, Walking about 3 miles to the park take up the remainder of our afternoon. Dad comes home around 4:30pm and we either head to the park-if we didn't earlier, or take it easy at home. Dinner around 5:30 or 6, bath-time, bed around 7 for the kids and us sometime between 8-8:30.

I have started deep cleaning one area of the house each day: Monday-Laundry, Tuesday-Kitchen, Wednesday-Bathrooms, Thursday-Bed and Bath Laundry, and Friday-Vaccum, Dust, and Windows. By doing this it frees up our Saturday for our current projects: bunk bed, house hunting, or just spending time together.

What are some ideas you have done to save time during your day? Also, what do you feed a 20 month old who refuses to eat anything but Vanilla Yogurt (no fruit chunks), Cherios, Raisins, and applesauce?

February already?

Christmas was spent in Visalia, CA this year with my parents and sisters. We had a lot of fun and the kids were of course very spoiled. Sheramie only had the Monday after Christmas off this year, the kids and I stayed and played with my sisters and parents for a little while after.

The New Year was spent with a couple of sick kids, both of them got the flu within a few days of each other, I joined the flu celebration shortly thereafter.

Since being home we have been enjoying our snow free winter. There is snow up in the mountains, but none down where we live-the way it should be! We will hopefully take a snow Saturday soon and enjoy some sledding with the kids!

Miles is enjoying Nursery at church. He plays some with the other kids, but mostly enjoys being by himself. It is really weird to not be chasing a baby at church during the second & third hour. Sunday school is almost like a mini-date with my husband!

In December of last year they started taking the older nursery kids into Primary during the last hour - Madison hated it. The kids were so big, she had to sit very still in a chair, she couldn't sing her fun songs anymore and her Nursery routine was interrupted. I was called to be the RS pianist, and so I would play the prelude and opening hymn, be asked to sit with my crying daughter in Primary, and then would end up taking her back with me to play the closing hymn. I also had Miles with me if Sheramie was teaching in Priesthood-good times. I was nervous for the new year, but I knew she would love it if she just gave it a shot.

I am happy to report that Madison loves Sunbeams, her teacher is the best one we could ever dream of. She helps Madison feel special and she really loves singing time now and class time too!

We still are doing a home preschool during Miles morning nap for about an hr M-F and she really likes it. We also try to do a holiday craft at least 2-3 times a week. We will be making Valentine's Day cards for our "Grape" (great)-grandparents and grandparents today.

We are going to start joining in our ward play group on Wednesdays next week and that will be nice to have a little bit of a change-up during the week.

That's all for now-Hope everyone is doing well--wish we all lived closer!

Catching up!

Fall & Winter Activities

One of the great things about living in this area is all the outdoor space. One afternoon in September we went for a drive and found a good place to hike near a lake. Sheramie brought his hammock and the kids loved it. We had a picnic and just enjoyed a Saturday afternoon together.

October

October was a fun month. My parents and sister came up the weekend of the 15th and we celebrated my parents birthday's! My mom, sister and I went to Time out for Women here in Reno for two days and it was a blast. I really enjoyed all the speakers and Hilary Weeks was the musical entertainment. It was really a lot of fun and I am glad they came.

We went to a pumpkin patch and corn maze on Saturday before heading out for mom's birthday dinner. It was fun to have my parents here to visit and it was nice to have Aunt Danni here too!

Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze

Halloween 2011

Halloween was pretty fun with the kids this year. I made Madison's costume, and I think it turned out pretty good. She wanted to be Princess Minnie Masquerade, from one of her movies. She also wanted to be a Fairy Princess Minnie...maybe next year! Miles was a dragon and was pretty excited to have his face painted.

We went to a church Halloween party the Friday before Halloween and the kids liked being able to go trick or treating to all the different classrooms. Different families decorated the classrooms, some were a little too scary for Miles and Madison, but once they got the "trick or treat" = candy, they were willing to go into any room!

We only had about 3 trick or treaters on Halloween, which was fine, except for the 2 Costco bags of candy in our cauldron. Watching a little Hocus Pocus ended the evening.

Thanksgiving

November consisted of us mainly in Washington. One Monday morning around 5 am I woke up, Sheramie finished packing the truck, and I got the kids ready. I drove the 12 hour trip in about 15 hours with the two kids to Shearmie's parents house in south eastern Washington. I stopped in Caldwell Idaho to visit my cousin Traci and her two kids. It was a nice break for the kids and it was fun to catch up with her-I miss living near her.

It was a lot of fun to spend time with Sheramie's family, as we had not been there since last Christmas. The kids really enjoyed grandma and grandpa Tinsley. Madison got to ride on a tractor with grandpa (wish I had got a picture) and spent the evenings with Grandma and her cousin, giggling and watching movies. It snowed once while we were there, but didn't stay longer than a day or two. I got to spend time with two of my sister-in-laws and had a lot of fun laughing and getting to know each other a little better.

Snow

Sheramie flew out to meet us on Thanksgiving morning, it was nice to be together again. Over that weekend Sheramie's brother Shad and I made a headboard for our master bedroom. I love it! We got all the materials at Home Depot and despite my "help" it turned out beautiful! Sheramie painted and added some lights to it once we got home-it looks great!

Headboard

Christmas

We set up our tree once we got home, and the kids surprisingly don't bother it. Miles seems pretty mesmerized with the lights. We're almost ready for Christmas, the only things left to get are a couple stocking stuffers and a gift for my dad.

We'll head out on Christmas Eve to my parents house and stay there for a bit. I am excited to see all my sisters as they'll be coming home from school. My brothers will not be home for Christmas this year, we'll miss them and their families.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and enjoys any time they can spend with families and friends!

This little princess of ours will be 3 this week! She is so sweet and full of energy! We love her and feel so blessed to have her in our family! Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Here's a couple more pics of the kids! Enjoy!

Madison wearing my Grandpa Boppy's U.S. Navy hat

Boppy's sailor hat

Why is it kids are always happier once pictures are over and they're in their jammies?