Category: One Step

April, here we are!  I feel like I’m headed up the last big hill before the home stretch.  The big hill consists of my taxi driver schedule with 5 soccer players, 3 gymnasts, 4 piano students, etc. etc. and the last 2 months of school.   It’s going to get insane, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  If only the sun would shine a little more!

This week:  66 steps.
Summary for the month of March:  353 steps.

A few highlights:

1.  My brother, his wife and three children drove from Spokane Washington to spend a few days with us.  It was SOOOO great to see them, to have our children play together, to visit and enjoy being together!  I loved it.  My only regret:  I was so busy enjoying myself and the children that I forgot to get out my camera like I intended to do.  I also forgot to have them sign the guest book.  Bummer!

2.  My parents also flew into town to spend a few days.  This meant that my other three brothers who currently live in Utah came over a few times, and my 5th brother flew into town to surprise us.  This meant that on Saturday night I had my parents and all 5 of my brothers in my home!  SO GREAT.  It also made me miss my sisters.  I’m grateful, though, that I have really awesome sisters-in-law who are so much fun to be around.

3.  Because we had company, my house got much cleaner this week than I typically manage.  That is always a good thing, especially when all 5 bathrooms are clean AT THE SAME TIME.

4.  I walked into my bathroom this week and saw this:


My oldest daughter had turned the bathroom into a salon and was doing everyone’s hair… at the same time.  Every source of water had a head uncomfortably under it.


The girls all came downstairs looking lovely, but I have to share this picture that my daughter took.  It’s out of focus, but still so funny.


This was by far the most memorable hairdo of the day:


Creativity certainly makes some messes, but I’m a fan of good, old-fashioned fun!

5.  We re-discovered a childrens book that I had forgotten about.

6.  Because I am LDS, I spent 8 hours this weekend sitting with my family to watch General Conference.  I feel anxious to study the messages I heard and work much harder to strengthen my family.

7.  While watching, I made progress on the binding of a quilt I’ve been working on for a long time.

8.  I’m joining my sister in a little 10 week challenge.  It should be fun.

9.  My parents bought some baby chicks for my children as an Easter memory.  My dad remembers the chicks being for sale everywhere before Easter when he was a kid, even at gas stations.  It was fun to watch the chicks and to watch my children watching the chicks.   I’m on a mission to get some great pictures if someone would just remove the gray paint that has been plastered to the Utah sky this winter.




10.  Thanks to my Mom and Dad, along with some “Bunny Servants” as my oldest son dubbed us, we had a really fun little egg hunt for the children on Saturday.  It was so cute to watch them run around filling their baskets.  I wish I had a picture of my oldest son taking my book page wreath off the wall to hunt for his egg, not seeing the egg, searching for the thumb tack that fell while he held the egg behind his back in plain sight for all of us who were silently laughing before he saw it.  The things kids will endure to find an egg with a bit of money in it!

Overall, I feel very thankful for the gift of time spent with family.  Relationships are what matter most, and this week was full of opportunities to renew and strengthen relationships.  What a blessing!  I’m also thankful that this next week is spring break in our school district, for that means I can let the children sleep in tomorrow and hope they catch up on their rest before more cousins hit town in a few days!   It should be busy but fun.

I hope your Easter weekend was wonderful.  I’ve never been so thankful for Jesus Christ as I am at this point in my life.  I am grateful for so many opportunities to grow and change from the inside out.

Wishing you a great week, Jennifer

Here I am again with another report on my goal for the year.  I’m almost three months into this and am beginning to see a difference.  Oh, the state of my house improves and regresses as often as waves break on the beach and recede with the tide.  What’s different is how I feel about it.  I still have moments of discouragement, but I’m getting better at focusing on the good things that are happening instead of allowing all the things that aren’t done to stand as indictments against me.  All in all, it’s becoming a habit to look for the good, to pray, to let go of my worries and to simply do my best with what I’ve got.   In short, I think it’s working.

This week:  72 steps.  I’m pleased with that and feel like some of the steps were very meaningful ones to me personally.

Highlights:

1.  Spent a lot of time at the school supporting my oldest daughter at various events.  She had a lot of work to do this week and she managed to get it all done.  It was fun to help her.  I love her so much and she’s growing up awfully fast!


2.  I finally found a minute to sew the borders on my Wild Thing quilt!  This one I’m sending to the quilter’s for stippling.  I’m excited to finish it.

3.  We ate dinner late.  More than once.  And one night it looked like this.


I don’t share this because I think that picking up pizza is an accomplishment, or even a highlight, but because soccer season has started and what follows is the list I had in my car with me that night (minus names) so that I wouldn’t forget anyone.  Keep in mind that these events were taking place in 4 different cities.  Small cities, to be sure, but most of the gaps between each drop off and pick up was exactly how long it takes to drive from one to the other.

2:45   pick up 3:00 drop off 3:00 pick up 3:45 pick up 4:00 drop off 4:45 drop off 5:00 pick up 5:20 drop off 5:30 drop off 6:00 drop off 6:15 drop off 6:30 pick up 6:45 pick up 7:00 pick up 7:00 pick up 7:15 pick up Somehow we got everyone where they needed to be (and on time!) and we all managed to stay happy and cheerful during the driving.  I wish I could say as much for the 2 hour game the next night in poor weather when I had 5 children climbing all over the car while I tried to help my kindergartener with her homework.

3.   I had this idea kicking around in my head for a recipe and I tried it.  The family liked it, so I’m going to perfect it and then I’ll share it with you.

4.  Made it through a bunch of paperwork and re-organized the desk in my family room.  I think it will meet our family’s needs much better now IF I can only stay on top of the papers!

5.  We had a fun little birthday party for this guy, who very kindly blew out the candles on his “cake” while we were still singing and before the bearer of the cake could even get it on the table.  Oh well.  He’s “alarious” as he likes to say.  I guess he can’t hear the “h” on the front of hilarious when we say it.


6.  Today we re-instituted an old Sunday tradition and it felt so good.  I’m happy to be back  in gear on this one.

7.  I was home from Church today with two little ones with runny noses.  During that time I was able to do some reading and I feel so spiritually fed by it.  I wish I could have a whole day or two to digest all of the thoughts and feelings I had so I could really implement them in our home, but I’ll work at it.  It’s been a while since I started a new week with such a great feeling in my heart.

I hope your weekend has been wonderful and that your new week is full of meaningful steps!

Jennifer

Wow.  Another week gone, and before I know it, April will be here!  That’s both good and bad, because it means the weather will get better but I also have a lot to do before then… wish me luck.  We’ve had blue skies and sun for two days in a row, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.

Steps taken this week:  83 steps.  Wow.  That sounds like a lot.  I must admit that I’m tempted to penalize myself 20 or 30 steps because my house is so messy right now BUT the purpose of this program is to focus on the positive.  Hopefully I’ll be more successful in the housekeeping department this week.  If not, we’ll still live.

Highlights from the week:

1.  I finally chose a pattern and cut into my Rouenneries layer cake that I’ve been saving since last October.  The pieces are all  cut and waiting to be put together.  I’m excited about this quilt! (Look at that aqua…)


2.  I was able to attend a gymnastics meet that my oldest daughter was competing in and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was one of those experiences when you sense how much your child is growing up and you feel so happy for them and so happy about who they’re becoming.  I’ve been consciously working on my interactions with her and I feel pleased with what’s happening.

3.  We had our first soccer scrimmage of the season, and I’m taking a deep breath.  The next 9 weeks are going to be CRAZY but I’m going to do my best to enjoy it instead of stress about it.

4.  When a bit of rough play caused an electrical problem in a bathroom this week, my husband and I were able to take a deep breath and handle it calmly.  This allowed us to let our son spend time helping repair the problem and created a memorable father/son experience.

5.  I had a couple of brief but good conversations today with other mothers while I was in the hall at church with a noisy baby.  It’s such a blessing to connect with other women I admire, even if it is only for a minute or two.

6.  Today I made some homemade peanut butter cups.  YUM!


On that sweet note, I’ll wish you a wonderful week!

Hopeful Homemaker