I was visiting with a girl friend of mine last night at Mom’s night out and she mentioned to me some struggles she deals with (in regards to house and kids, time really). And I told her about how I wish I could just get my house clean, and keep it clean. Why can’t I have what so many other people have? Umph as I call it. You’d think that if I’m not spending the time cleaning than perhaps I’m spending it playing with the kids. You’d think. I do play with them. I do clean. But I don’t feel like either is enough time put towards them. I think I’m spending it online. What a horrible thing. I blog (usually while kids are napping ~ or like now pretending to nap), I go on Facebook (feels like a connection to the world outside my house), I read other blogs (check them daily even 2x’s daily), and I have other websites I visit to read whatnot on. I try to do it all only while kids sleep. But the truth of the matter is, I’m addicted and I come online more often than not. NOT GOOD.
I have one friend who blogs regularly, almost daily. Today I just read that she is now stopping her blog. It’s gone as of tomorrow morning. Danica I will miss you!! You truly inspire me and help me be a better mom. I just wish I could write as beautifully as you do. Although I will miss her stories (even philosophy Fridays), I completely understand the desire to not put so much time into blogging. I have decided I do want to keep blogging. However I’m going to cut down on all my other online endeavors. I’m going to make myself have Umph, get the house the way I want it and spend that time with my kids. They are only little for a short time. I don’t want to look back and feel like I missed out on their childhood because I was online. That’s not why we decided I would stay home with them. We decided for me to stay home to raise them, and I want to raise them right.
So while Danica moves on to other things, I too have decided to move on. I have wanted to be a certain way since I got married. I keep getting there, or almost there, then falling back behind. But I’m going to just keep on trying! Flylady was working to help me reach my goals, and now I need to press on and get back into it. What is something you’ve been putting off doing? Or something you want to do?

Oops. I’ll back up before I’ll explain my oops moment.
Today has been one of those, test your patients, drive you nuts, is it over? kind of days. The only thing that helped me through was knowing that tonight is Mom’s night out. A night that mom’s from our Church (and their friends ~ out reach opportunity) get together and enjoy a hot dinner without the hubby or kids. It’s nice. It REALLY is. Well the boys just got picked up so I started to get ready. Well Joy and Olivia started begging for a snack (sad to say it that way, but they sound like they are begging). So I sat them up with some Cucumber and Tomatos to munch on until Orlund gets home and makes them dinner. I also told Joy that once she was done the veggies then she could have some Cheese. Well I went to the bathroom and got myself ready, makeup on, hair done, dressed. Joy came in and showed me she was chewing a cucumber (yummy), so I followed her out to the dining room. Figured she was telling me she was eating it. Well I wish I had of had my camera. I came in to discover OOPS I didn’t buckle Olivia in! She was sitting cross legged in the middle of our dining room table! She had found a pencil and looked like she was looking for a piece of paper to draw on. Guess I was to excited to get ready and get going! She is now happily eating her food, safely strapped into her highchair. Joy is harassing me asking for more cheese….sigh…. 2hours… just 2 more hours…

Ever feel like you just want to read something beautifully written, inspirational, and perhaps a bit random? Following the thoughts of the writer is more fitting than random I’d say. I have only a few people who actually read my blog, and Danica is one of them. I read her post tonight. It’s all I wrote about above. Check it out here. (had my hubby help link that).

ps~ on a slight side note. I must remember to never blog that I’m bored again… The cat got sick 2minutes later on the carpet.. yeah.. gross.

If it wasn’t so warm out I would turn the air con off and enjoy the peace and quiet. Instead I have it blasting away above my head. But none the less, it’s quieter than usual. I put Solomon down, then Olivia, put a movie on for Gabe and took a break laying on Joy’s floor while she fell asleep. That’s right I lay on her floor until she falls asleep (its the only way to get her to lay still enough to fall asleep ~ and yes she still needs to nap). I came out once she was asleep. Gabe was happily watching his movie still. I unloaded the dishwasher and then loaded up the lunch dishes, all dish-washable so no hands on for me today Then I came into the living room to see if I felt like working on Joy’s scrapbook and noticed Gabe was leaning over funny watching the tv. Then I walked around the couch and realized he was actually asleep! He was sitting cross legged yet he had bent over sideways so far his head was almost touching the couch… Not real comfy looking. So I paused the movie and woke him to go lay down on my bed.

NOW here I am blogging. 4 kids sleeping. No dishes to do. Kitchen is clean. Can’t do laundry. No point trying to clean the fish tank (Olivia usually wakes up sometime soonish and she would be to big of a ‘help’). So here I am. I don’t feel like scrapbooking or doing really much of anything. However I am a bit bored.. I know.. me bored? Guess I’ll email Orlund the grocery list and putt around online for a bit…

So we decided to test drive a minivan today… Just to see. Eventually we would like to purchase one. There is a brand, and kind that we would like(although after today will look at others). The one we test drove doesn’t have as big of an engine as we’d hoped for. However there is a Brand new (that one is used, 1year old) one that isn’t as ‘fancy’ with a bigger engine. Oye! I tell ya… SO much money.. Neither Orlund nor myself are wheeler dealers…. When the time comes to purchase we might take my dad along. The van was beautiful. I love it. I don’t love how much money everything costs. Oh and the guy pretty much slapped us in the face with the STUPID price he wanted to give us for our cars! What an insult! Definitely will be selling those privately. We can see through all his “I don’t normally do this” but we aren’t aggressive people…. sigh.. Oh well.. someday..

On another note, I’m finally getting some progress going on Joy’s scrapbook. I had laid out a ‘plan’ about a year ago of how I wanted to do everything… However whenever I went to work on it, I just couldn’t get it to work. So I finally scrapped the old idea and started fresh, and I like it! I’m getting it done! I would like to get it done this month. I started on Friday. I have 16 14 pages to do. I did one yesterday and one today. Pretty good progress I have to say, and I still feel like doing more Yipee! I don’t know why I ever thought doing a scrapbook was a good idea. Oh well. Once I have Joy’s done I’ll start on Olivia’s. Actually I don’t think I’ll really work on hers until October (just with all we have planned for summer). But I will slowly gather the pictures I want and print them off. I also still have my mom’s cross stitch to finish…

I also have this excruciating pain in my left shoulder. Right up on top of my shoulder, and when it flares up the pain is so much I usually end up crying. The pain travels up into my head making me want to vomit. It acted up tonight when I was driving and I almost pulled over, luckily the Lord relieved enough of the pain I could get home. I’m praying for it. Joy prayed for it too. What a cutie. Well It’s past my bedtime so I should head to bed. NIGHT!

Well after my last post I should write that today was a much MUCH better day Thank you Jesus!
Last night I found I couldn’t sleep. I was wide awake. WIDE awake. I haven’t felt that wide awake since before I got pregnant with Joy!! It felt great…. the only problem was it was after bedtime. I couldn’t make any noise. I couldn’t use this wide awakeness for progress. (yes awakeness is a word in Jenn Land). We went to bed at 11pm. I stayed up wide awake until 1:30am. I made a prayer list (specifically of babies, mommies and pregnancies ~ the devil sure has been attacking). I prayed over the list as a whole and individually. I spent some time with the Lord. Then surprisingly enough I was still wide awake (you know what I mean if you’ve ever tried to pray before falling asleep, you usually fall asleep before you say Amen). So I turned my computer on in hopes mom would be online. Nope. So I emailed her. puttered around online. The girls were up a bunch of times, so they also kept me going. Finally I decided I should try going back to sleep. And I did rather quickly, and slept GREAT!
This morning the girls and I went in the back yard, hoping to play in the pool ~ ice! So we came inside. I thought I had the boys at 10am, but nope, it was 11am. So I baked bread. Today was my day to take a meal to some new parents in our Church (Baby born on Tuesday! He’s so cute!). Once the boys arrived I made lunch while baking a desert (turns out using whole grain flour doesn’t work so good in squares). I gave Sol a bunch of time outs but over all it was a good day with them.
My Dad popped over just as the boys were being picked up. So I scooped his car to drop off the meal, then returned to enjoy dinner with him and the girls. (Orlund went on a hike with buddies until 10pm). Then we enjoyed a coffee and he headed home just as I put the girls down. They went down surprisingly well. Bonus! Then I went to have a bath, and decided the tub REALLY needed a scrub, so I scrubbed it. It was draining slow, so I dug out gunk from the drain. While I was doing that my mom called on the phone! It’s always an extra special treat when she calls. We visited then decided we should Skype as it’s free. So we did that, while I enjoyed a bubble bath (I know weird to do, but whatever. I needed the bath). So after a rather short soak, and a good visit with mom I decided to watch a movie. I didn’t like any of the choices I had, but decided on “how to train your dragon”. It’s a ‘kid’ show. My kids wont watch it until they are like 13, but none the less my brother gave it to me. And I like it! It’s cute! Orlund came home, he’s looking at his hiking pics, and all in all it’s been one of those days that at the end of, you wouldn’t mind repeating tomorrow…..Tomorrow will be even better!

Random, but cute. Our little helpers.

~~ I learned a few new things this week, 1- before promising a meal to someone, make sure you have the car to deliver it. 2- not everyone can be so last minute as me (which is completely okay!). 3- it’s more work than I thought to plan the meals, but I think next time I’ll be better prepared……Wish me luck! I do truly LOVE being able to bless others in this way, it’s just been a BIG learning curve for me these past few days.

Do you ever feel like no matter how badly you need it, you just can’t get a break?
I need a break. I’m breaking. I really am. I feel myself shattering from the top of my head down to my toes. I need to submerge myself in water and have a good long think… do you ever do that? just sit at the bottom of a pool, listening to the silence? Or wander through the woods with no destination in mind? I used to.  I think I just need some ‘me’ time. Some nice silent me time… Completely alone, and NOT at home. I need to drown myself in conversation with God. In those silent times is when I hear Him, when I feel His presence. When I come out of those times I feel like I can do anything!! (With His help of course).
Sigh.

Happy Father’s day to all you dad’s out there!! I hope you were spoiled rotten.. Orlund was. Before I get to what all we did this past weekend, I wanted to share a little ‘questionnaire’ that I did with Joy. She was SO cute when answering my questions and I hope you get as much of a kick out of it as I did~~

What is Daddy’s Name? Daddy
What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Eat eggs
What is Dad’s favorite thing to do? Go for walks with me
What is Dad’s favorite food? Cake
What does daddy always say? Daddy like baby, Daddy like Nemo (Nemo is our goldfish)
What is something special daddy does just with you? Go to Church
What is something you want to do with Daddy? Go for a walk to the park
How old is Daddy? 3
Why did Daddy marry Mommy? Want to so Mommy doesn’t cry
Why did Daddy name you Joy? Because I’m a girl

Isn’t she cute?

So on with our weekend. Saturday Morning I got up put coffee on and then made breakfast. A special breakfast, waffles with Strawberries, blackberries and whipping cream. I have to say, they were yummy! Then I got the girls ready and we went to Solomon’s 2nd Birthday party. Unfortunately it wasn’t the most beautiful day and I had figured it would be inside, oops nope. It was outside. And just as I was leaving the house I forgot to grab their jackets… So they both ended up wearing a sweater of Solomon’s. It was fun, but tiring. We came home for their naps. Once they woke up we headed out for dinner ( all you can eat Sushi!!!). Very yummy, very filling. Headed home for bedtime.
Sunday Morning we got up early and got ready for Church. 9am we got there for the Pancake breakfast~ yummy!! Had Church then headed to Orlund’s parents place for lunch ~ yummy!! Had a good visit and headed home a bit later than planned. We tidied the house and got ready for dinner while the girls napped. My dad arrived for dinner and we had a wonderful visit with him and again, yummy food

Well I guess I should get on with my day now… The boys are coming in 1hour and I’ve got lots to do before they arrive.. God Bless you and I hope you had a wonderful weekend as well!

As I sit here typing I am taking my second listen to a beautiful song that is on my friends blog…I don’t know how to do that fancy tagging but her blog is ~ dankasworld.wordpress.com Check it out

So Today I dropped Olivia off with Grandma Norstrom. It was her first time being left alone without at least one of us (as in Joy, Daddy or myself). She did great. I dropped her off as I had to take Joy to her hearing test. Babies have their hearing tested when they are first born before leaving the hospital. Joy’s test came back fine, however my Dad is deaf in one ear, so they like to retest later on. (9months and 3years ~ although that’s since changed and now it’s just at 3years old). I was so surprised at how grown up my ‘little’ girl is!! She did awesome during the check up. she knew what all the pictures were (they said the name she just pointed them out ~ didn’t know she knew what some of those things were!). Her hearing is awesome and she doesn’t need to go for another check up (Yippee!). Although I am going to take her in to meet with a speech therapist just to make sure she’s on track.

Then we went out for ice cream… which at 9:30am is harder than it sounds! DQ was closed. McDonald’s was cleaning their machines…. Joy wasn’t very happy at that, luckily Shell had some. We even had time to hit up the dollar store. Then Joy had a regular doctors apt (just to check on a funny toe nail she has). Then we went up to Grandma’s house. I still wanted to get some shopping done, so Grandma watched both the girls so I could run out and do the grocery shopping. Thanks Grandma!

Orlund is in Vancouver tonight. hence why I’m still up at 11pm! *Gasp* I find I have a hard time going to bed when he’s not home. I decided to tackle our office/craft room while he’s away (hope he doesn’t read this before coming home, although he rarely reads my blog). I put up a painting I got from my mom’s mom (she was the most talented woman I’ve ever met!). And a crafting shelf thingy (on the wall). I’m pretty proud of myself for doing that. Over the past few weeks I’ve slowly (very slowly) gone through my book shelf and boxed up the books I just really don’t need out. Tonight I took everything that doesn’t belong in that room out and organized in piles (garbage, to go into crawl space etc). I have about an hour of work left before the craft room will be done (on my side, I’m not touching Orlund’s stuff). I think Orlund will be happy to see the progress I’ve made. And of course I want the house all clean for when he gets home… but my time is going to be cut short tomorrow ~ hockey night! And I plan to go to my Dad’s house and watch the game with him and my brother.

I have also taken on a new task. I’m excited about it. Orlund thinks I’m crazy as it’s just something else to add to my to-do list. However it is only once in a while job. At our Church whenever someone has a new baby the mom’s get together and bring them meals for an entire week. It’s a HUGE blessing when you are on the receiving end. The two ladies that have been doing it aren’t wanting to anymore and they have been looking for someone to take it over for a while. I didn’t want to, however then I decided that it’s not that hard of a job, and I like the organizing possibilities. I now have a binder with papers all ready to be filled out~ Who’s baby, allergies, time for meal drop off, etc etc. I love lists and this just falls beautifully into my ‘addiction’ to having to write things out. (I find that if in the evening I don’t write anything down on paper, I feel like I’m missing something. I think it soothes me… weird I know). There are 4 babies I already know of coming to our Church in this year (okay one is at the start of January). I’m excited to give this a go!

Well my kitchen is messy, my laundry is still hanging in the living room, I’m surrounded by all my ‘organizational’ stuff, and I’m headed to bed! lol.Good night!

Well this past week has been a busy one. Worked everyday except Monday. Tuesday and Thursday we even walked Gabe to School…. that’s 1.7Km walk, Google say’s it should take only 21minutes(walking). I timed it. Just walking there with kids, without stopping, would take us 1hour!  We took a picnic lunch and had a leisurely time getting there. That was fine. The walk home, not so fine. I had the bike trailer as the stroller. the 3 little kids all weigh roughly 20-30lbs. It can hold 2 children with total weight at 100lbs. I figured I’d stick all 3 in there. NOPE. not going to happen. I figured I’d carry Olivia (lightest) as they were all to tired to walk. Joy refused to go in. We were outside a high school (that I might add was on it’s lunch break ~ so yeah, lots of people watching), Joy was screaming 1- she wanted to go to school with Gabe, 2- she was to tired to walk, 3- didn’t want to go in the stroller. Olivia was screaming, well, because she felt like it? NOT cool! I finally strapped Olivia back in with Solomon, told Joy to hold on or she’d be left behind and walked quickly. It worked, Joy was so busy trying to keep up (while holding on) that she couldn’t cry. Finally she said “mommy no run run. No run run mommy”. awww. Broke my heart. So I carried her. Yup. We had only gone maybe 5minutes before she was to tired to run anymore. So I carried her, once in a while she would throw a fit kicking and screaming. (once in a while is more like 3/4 of the way home). And Olivia was crying/screaming because she was tired but didn’t want to go to sleep. Lets just say I wasn’t very impressed by the time we got home. But they all slept good. Thursday I attached an umbrella stroller to the front of the bike trailer (sure I looked goofy!) but it worked. I convinced Joy to sit in it and get strapped in, and away we went. Unfortunately I didn’t drink enough on this walk, so although we made it home with less effort I was done in. Even zonked out for a couple minutes while the kids were down!

That isn’t all that happened this week, but that was the part that took the most effort! It was a long week, as they all are when I have the boys until 5:30pm. This next week I have 2 days off (in a row!) and they happen to be the days that Orlund is in Vancouver for training. So I have the car. I have WAY to much I want to do. lol. Got a project (or two, or three) at home to do and some much needed shopping (grocery/needs) that I need to do out. Going to have to pick and choose I guess!  (I have a few pics of my stroller contraption, I will add later tonight ~ hopefully).