Simple Solutions: Doing Dishes

I know, I know, enough of the smart phone pictures already, but at least I'm blogging again. It's so nice! And I promise I'll break out the real camera again soon.

For now I wanted to share this little solution with you!

Do you have a dishwasher? Lucky! Not me. Starting about six years ago, we've only had a dishwasher for a few months at one of our temporary houses. I used to hate doing dishes, so I procrastinated until there was a huge pile... I also had tiny kids, so even the 15 minutes it takes to do the dishes after a meal was overwhelming. I had similar issues with the laundry, waiting until everyone was out of underwear or jeans and there were intimidating piles all over. So maybe I've matured a little in my seven years of being a stay-at-home mom.

Anyway, one simple solution to doing dishes (or laundry) is to tackle things as soon as they start adding up. I now wash dishes as I cook, if time allows, and I wash dishes as soon as each meal is over. Nevermind that I'm completely weird about running water constantly and not filling a sink with sudsy water for all of the gunk and funk and germs to collect in. I seriously have issues sticking my hands in dirty sinks of tepid water!

Solution number two is to make it pretty. Why not display your dishwashing supplies on a pretty plate or a cute basket lined with a towel to catch drips? Right now I'm using my cake plate. I also chose a bright turquoise blue with accents of yellow. Blue soap and dispenser, blue bowl to hold the dish brush, a blue jar for flowers. The lotion is kind of yellow, as is the DIY sugar hand scrub, and of course the flowers my son picked.

Also on the tray is bamboo air freshener sticks and another vase that holds a bottle brush for washing inside glasses, a stopper for the sink, and a sponge.

So there you have it, my way of making a daily, annoying chore somewhat more tolerable, and keeping my kitchen looking cute!

What handy solutions have you found? Any procrastinating on your chores? My dishes are done but the laundry is piling up. Gotta run!

Life Lately {April}

Might as well keep plugging away! I'll feel somewhat caught up just getting these monthly Instagram recaps up. Yay me!

I've always liked hats but never felt that I looked nice in them. I really wanted to find one for THOSE hair days, and windy days and just for fun. Imagine my surprise when this little thing actually looked flattering!

Meanwhile... Jonathan has become completely obsessed by space shuttles and rockets and such. It's the subject of most of his conversations, the books he chooses at the library (and then I have to read over and over for story time), he pretends he's an astronaut and builds intricate Lego shuttles complete with boosters and a launch pad. Oh my. He also made a parachute (pictured) and was quite convinced it slowed his fall when he jumped down three or four steps. I'm sure!

Grandma and Grandpa visited! We got to show them "our" zoo! It was a cold and kinda rainy day, but there were plenty of exhibits that were warm, especially the butterfly house and the desert animals.

Look who else went to the zoo!

And Grandma and Grandpa!

Unfortunately, Jonathan didn't feel 100%, and by the next day, Grandma had it too. :(

Look! Spring is actually happening!

Grandma Joycie sent the boys a craft! Markers and glitter glue on cute little wood cut outs. Fun!

My baby isn't much of a baby anymore. I can't dwell on it much, or I'll be bawling. Why is it sad when kids grow up?

Do you  know how much energy it takes to scooter a mile? It's hard work! Jared was great about it though! He usually rides his bike. So proud of him!

Jonathan gets a such a thrill from his bike. He goes so fast too! He's usually a cautious kid, but put him on a bike and he's going so fast it looks like he's going to crash right into something, but he always manages to turn or stop or whatever. No fear there! He also just got a new bike! He's pretty proud of it. It's not the one pictured, by the way.

In other news, I'm sure I've alluded to it, but communication is not my strong suit. We had originally planned to be in Lincoln (where we've lived since August) until May when we'd go to Michigan for missionary training. But we're not at that point in our budget, so we're not going to training yet, meaning we'll be here in Lincoln for another year. So Gary is going to go to school part time and finish his theology degree! I'm super proud of him!

This is one of my favorite family traditions. We wave to Gary as he drives away in the morning. First it was just tiny baby Jonathan and me at the window, but it's grown to three little boys, and I love it! Gary loves it too. It's the little things!

I got a hair cut! At last! Seriously, it had been since July. Ugh! I feel ready for spring now. I'm also in need of a long vacation, but life doesn't usually offer that. Here I was watching a pack of little boys play--mine plus two or three extras. There was a lot of arguing and power struggling that day. I hate that. Can't we all just get along? I made reference to "Lord of the Flies" in my original post on Instagram. Know what I mean?

This was also a good picture for me to see the exhaustion in my eyes and resolve to babysit less. Seriously, I was watching extra kids this month while their mom filled in for a maternity leave. Let me tell you, it was hard! Most days I had 5-7 kids under 7 years old. Thankfully the maternity leave is over and we're back to an easier schedule. At least I hope.

And it's spring! Most days I can count on several hours of outside play for the boys and a walk for me. Not to mention seeing flowers and green things and getting sunshine makes me feel better!

I've been enjoying tea lately! My favorite is decaf green tea with Truvia (a brand of Stevia) and lemon essential oil. So yummy and refreshing and good for me!

But I'm also trying to consume more coconut oil. It's amazing for everything, my two issues being thyroid issues and super slow metabolism. So I'll blend almond milk, coconut oil, Truvia, cocoa powder and ice and enjoy a chocolate frappe!

And yes, I have a thing for canning jars and spring flowers. And icy beverages. What are your favorite spring treats?

Life Lately {March}

Is this thing on?

[taps mic]

Testing, testing [SCREEECH]

Um, hello! How are you? I've missed you! There's been... well, life happening. Boring, normal, daily grind stuff, not much to write home about, but I miss blogging! I miss documenting the boring, normal, daily stuff. I miss you!

So I'm going to see how this blogging thing works again. At least for now. Right now this moment is all I can promise.

So. Let's review life lately. Via Instagram, naturally.

And be warned, I'm going to back up. Last time I did this was recapping February, so it's March's turn.

Here we go!

Gary's alter-ego is a pirate! Just kidding. The picture seemed artsy and cool when I took it, now it just  is wonky. Whatever. Gary was presenting our mission plans to the Beginner's class (ages 3-5) at church and showing them where the British Isles are. The little kids caught on so quickly that if other kids don't know that Jesus loves them, who's going to tell them? WE ARE!

My sweet Josiah actually enjoyed drinking this charcoal slurry. We had some awful bugs this winter. I think it was all the babysitting, actually. You know? We didn't get out much, other people were constantly coming over and we seemed to get whatever they had... At least the kids did. Sigh. I'm so glad winter is over!

Along that vein, I ordered the medicine cabinet makeover kit from doTerra. Love it! I've used several of these little bottles up already. I'm going to try to do more posts about essential oils, although a simple google search will turn up more information about oils than I know... But at least I'll have it on record.

One tip: Jared was coughing one night. Just a little tickle that was bugging him. I put honey on a spoon and added a drop or two of essential oil and had him swallow it. I tell you, he didn't cough even once more. Amazing!

Oh man. I didn't grow up in the midwest. I grew up in California, mostly. Usually by March we'd be wearing shorts and working on tans, but here in the midwest, March is just an ugly month! It's still cold but there's not much snow, so it's all brown and muddy and you just ache for spring... So to see these geese flying NORTH was a huge sign that Aslan had returned! I mean, spring was coming!

We ended winter by teaching the kids how to play a couple board games on Saturday nights. Fun times! This is Rummikub, in case you didn't know.

Jellyfish from the aquarium at the Omaha Zoo. Love that place!

My trio. I love them. They mean everything to me, yet drive me nuts at the same time! They look like cherubs here, but I remember having to get after them for running up and down the aisles of Sam's Club just a few minutes later.

I swear, it looks like we're always out and about, but this Sunday was an exception and I needed to prove it! Meaning, we were home so much we HAD to spend a day away from the house or go crazy! So we went out for breakfast, killed some time at Barnes & Noble, then drove around outside city limits.

We found a great place to go camping!

And found a great CSA farm with free range chickens and everything! Haven't signed up yet, but maybe we will.

Here's another great camping spot. We actually camped here once when Jared was a baby. It was October and we borrowed a pop up. It was fun, but Gary got so cold at night he promptly got sick. Not a fun drive back to Iowa! I did a lot of the driving that day. Poor guy! Anyway, on this day we saw a bald eagle and all the sunshine was a promise of green things and warm days ahead!

This tree is in our back yard. The kids have a fun time climbing it. I loved doing that when I was a kid!

Any time it's warm enough and we have time and not too many extra kids with us, we head to the park. This one is just about half a mile away, so it's not too far for short legs.

And it's so nice to have somewhere else for the kids to play for awhile!

Spring cleaning! Temps above freezing, snow, ice, mud, salt... My car was dirty! And as much as they say they like it, these drive-thru car washes freak my kids out!

Mmmm! Mom's granola! This was a double batch and it was gone in less than a week. The recipe is on this blog, if you do a search for "granola" it should pop up.

My sweetheart surprised me with flowers! And I was focusing so much on getting the right light and angle and everything that I didn't smile. I really am pleased with the flowers and completely love my husband, with or without flowers!

Jonathan loves his ants on a log! Celery + peanut butter + raisins = nasty! I mean, I'm glad he likes it.

After their ants-on-a-log, I made the boys "chocklick" smoothies with almond milk, frozen bananas and cocoa powder. They loved the treat and I loved that it was actually quite healthy!

Jared is really catching on to Rummikub!

This was a Sabbath afternoon outing to Pioneers Park. We walked a couple miles, then checked out the animals at the nature center.

Daddy is teaching his boys to fish! I was sitting in the sun thawing out from a long winter! We'd love to come back here and camp!

This was the sweetest thing. Josiah wanted "hewp" walking, so Jared took him by the hand. Love that relationship and when the loving, helpful, selfless side comes out.

Ok, so that was March! Along with lots of babysitting, some great weather and some reminders that Old Man Winter wasn't quite done with us yet.

And, yay! I blogged!

[pats self on back]

More later!

Jared's Birthday

Today is Jared's birthday.

I can't believe he's 5! It was just yesterday when he was born! At home. With a midwife and doula. And a million and 6 hours of hard labor... It was brutal. He was almost 10 lbs too!

Really, this is what happened yesterday. His Sabbath School class celebrated his birthday with a fake cake and real candles. Super cute! (I got his little outfit at Sam's Club for $4! His brothers got similar ones. Score!)

Today we took Jared and the rest of the family out to breakfast. We also shopped for his present, a fish tank, but the lady at PetCo said we shouldn't get fish cuz the tank had to be set up for like a week first. Stink!!! Why didn't we think of that!

We grilled veggies and veggie burgers, the first of the season. It tasted like summer!

We played together. Me thinking of the chubby happy baby who is now the adorable 5-year-old. Seriously, why do I want to cry?

We had planned to take Jared out for dessert, but his big brother didn't feel good, so we got ice cream at the store and brought it home. Candles and birthday songs made it perfectly wonderful for the birthday boy! He sure looks serious though, doesn't he?

I love you Jared, and I'm so glad you're mine, at least for a few more years!