Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone! We had a really nice day. It was just our family and it was so relaxing and unstressful. We slept in and I didn't even put the turkey in the oven until about 10:30. We ate about 5. We had a nice little vacation just relaxing and spending time together. It was refreshing. Our dinner turned out wonderful. It was our best one yet. Delicious!

We started our Christmas Box tonight. It has become our tradition. We put a clue in a special decorated box. The clue tells what we will be doing for the evening. It's something special like play a game, watch a movie, make a treat, or go someplace. We start on Dec. 1 and do something every evening until Christmas. I started it to help us remember to spend some time together each day during a time that can be very busy and stressful. Sometimes we just do something simple like have a candy, or it can be a big thing like going ice skating. We started a little late tonight so we didn't get to do everything I had planned, but that's okay. We can do it another night. But we did something, that's the important thing! It's something that we all look forward to doing and it's fun! It's also fun to think of the things to do and to come up with the clue for it.
What are some of your family Christmas traditions?

I'm so proud of myself! I got most of our Christmas cards mailed today! I'm trying to get things done early and not wait until the last minute and have to rush like a crazy person.

Well, it's getting late and time for bed!

New Project

I think I will have a new project. Well, it's not really a NEW project, but it's one that it's time to face for real. It's called saving as much money as possible. Right now I'm focusing on groceries. I read Brooke's blog and she's not totally convinced about coupons. I'm not sure whether I am or not either. I mostly buy store brand rather than name brand items, so I'm not sure if I would save any money. I'm reading a book called "Live You Life for Half the Price" by Mary Hunt. It's very good. The author says the best way to save on groceries is to use coupons together with store sales and double coupons if the store offers it. She also suggests shopping "in reserve" as she calls it rather than for "needs shopping". I'm still reading the book, but I'll post when I learn more about the program she recommends.

We are getting to the end of football season. (Yippee!) The last game is Saturday. Neither Pasi's, nor Cody's team will be going to the playoffs, so we are done! It's been a rough season. Both teams started off really well, but have had some hard games. About 3 1/2 weeks ago Cody got a grade 2 concussion in a game. He was out of all activities for 3 weeks. It was a little scary. He couldn't (and still can't) remember what happened and was disoriented and dizzy for several days after. The kid from the other team hit him helmet to helmet right in the forehead. He was really doing well before that happened. He had scored several touchdowns (He gets to run the ball this year. It's very exciting! I'm one proud mom.) and was the kicker for the team. He didn't have much opportunity to do either in their game last Saturday because they got smashed! Pasi's team still might go to the playoffs if they win on Saturday, but that's only if a couple of other teams lose their games. Football is fun, but it is so time consuming that it's nice when it's over.

We had an awesome opportunity last Saturday to go to a Stake fireside with Sister Elaine Dalton, the General Young Womens President. It was so neat. Our stake held the fireside and invited the other two Tongan stakes in the area to come. The chapel wasn't even full!! It was very sad that so many people missed out on that great experience. Anita and I got to meet her afterward and she was so nice. She talked to everyone that wanted to talk to her. It was just a wonderful experience.

My other project is motivating my kids to do their chores. This morning I decided I was sick of running late because Pasi and Siu wouldn't get out of bed. I had bought some charts a few months ago with stickers, but hadn't decided how to use them. I put them to use this morning. The charts have 20 squares for star stickers. My program will be when they fill a paper with stickers they will get a treat. If they want to save it and cash in 5 at a time, they can get a toy. I'm still working on the list of things they can get a sticker for doing. So far I have:
getting up out of bed the first time I call them
getting ready for school by 8:00am
homework done the night before
brushing and flossing their teeth (one sticker for am one for pm)
bonus sticker if they make their bed
if their room is clean when they leave for school
bonus sticker for Siu if she doesn't take her hair out before bed (she always takes out her ponytail, braid, whatever at school and then she looks like an orphan)

These are just the things we've really been struggling with. It worked wonderfully this morning. They were both ready and happy they got their stickers and I got some peace in the morning! Even if it only works for today, I'm happy! Now I just have to think of something for the older kids. Somehow I don't think sticker cards will give them the same motivation.

Well, It's almost time for everyone to get home so I better go! Love to all!

Wishing we were there

I'm sitting here thinking that everyone is at Jenelle's wedding reception. I hope it is beautiful and will be a lovely memory for her always.

I had an interesting day. It was nice and quiet, just John (almost 3) and Wyatt (2 1/2). Lincoln was home, so that was nice, too. Wyatt's mom picked him up and as she was walking out the door just happened to mention that she is taking him to her friend to be babysat until he's potty trained. She's not sure how long that will take, but I won't be watching him until he's potty trained. I told her that after her two weeks of vacation are gone, she will have to pay me whether she brings him or not. She did not seem concerned about that, so I'm guessing that she's not planning to bring him back. That leaves me in a bit of a spot. I was planning on that money. Now it's back almost to square one. At least I still have Davyn, my other new child I started watching this week. It's a little discouraging! I need to have 7 day care kids to be okay. Without Wyatt I have 5. Pray that I'll get some calls this weekend!

Tomorrow is Cody and Pasi's first official football game. It's a home game. I hope they do well and nobody gets hurt! Cody already has some bumps and bruises and the season hasn't even started yet. I'm worried about him now that he's running the ball. When he was on the line, he never got hurt! Those blockers better protect him!

I think I'll sleep early tonight. We have to be at Pasi's game at 7:45am. Love you all!

I'm Feeling Sorry for Myself Today

Today was the day we were supposed to leave for New Mexico. The trip has been cancelled due to finances. I'm very disappointed, but I know we honestly cannot afford to go. I even looked for a plane ticket online and the lowest I could find was $345! Maybe if I would have started looking into it earlier, I could have found something. I hope everyone has a great time and we will be thinking of you!

Well, school started on Monday. It was quite an event around this house because we had our first high school student (Anita) and Faha started Jr. High. Everyone is still in the "I love school" phase. Hopefully it will last. I only have to wake up Pasi and Siu. Anita, Cody, Faha, Lincoln, and I all have to get up about 5:00am to make it to work (Lincoln) and to the bus stop (everyone else). I am in a carpool. I take my kids and 2 other boys to the bus stop about 6:10 and the other 2 moms bring the kids home. It was going to work out great, except now Anita's bus gets back about 40 minutes before everyone else's. So, I will still have to pick up Anita. Luckily, Lincoln is on vacation until Sept. 8, so he can pick her up.

Football has also started and Pasi and Cody are doing well. Cody scored a touchdown at their pre-game last Saturday. It does take up a lot of time, but it is so fun to watch them play!

I'm also busy getting ready for the Primary Sacrament Meeting program. It is Sept. 14. Siu has her part memorized, but Pasi is still working on his. To be fair, Pasi's is much longer than Siu's. All the children's parts are in Tongan and we are singing one verse in Tongan of most of the songs. It is challenging. I finally got the seating chart finished. Last Sunday we practiced and it was crazy! Hopefully this week will run more smoothly.

I started watching two new day care kids this week. One is an 8 month old boy and the other is a 2 year old boy. That gives me 6 total: the 8 month old, a 19 month old, 2 two year olds, a 4 year old, and a 5 year old. The 5 year old will start kindergarten next week. We haven't found out if he will be in morning or afternoon kindergarten, so depending on that I will either take him to school or pick him up. It definitely has been busy, but so far they have taken good naps. That's the main thing that's saving me.

I'm down to 14 piano students so I give lessons Tues. and Wed. and I hope to be able to stick to those two days. Between my two paying jobs and Primary and family I'm spread pretty thin. It's only through many prayers during the day that I am able to keep it all together. If nothing else, I am gaining an even stronger testimony of prayer in our daily lives for our little "worldly" concerns and problems. I even prayed this week that we would be able to make it to the bus stop on time. And I suppose I would rather be busy than have nothing to do.

I am interested in expanding my economical meal ideas. If anyone has any great and cheap meal ideas, please share. It's time for me to go now and check on the little ones. Have a great day! I love you all!

Thanks for the input.

Thank you Coleen and Alysha for the input on the colors for my kitchen, especially the cabinets. I like a dark cherry wood look too. How can I get that when I don't have wood cabinets? They are some kind of particle board garbage. I also like the idea for cranberry and maybe a beige.

Well, again I have spent the entire morning not doing what I was supposed to be doing. I did important things (like pay bills), but I need to be doing my shopping for the Primary Quarterly Activity today. We are leaving this afternoon for our ward campout and the activity will be at the camp. We are going to Willard Bay. I hate it there. I wanted to go to Deer Lake, where we went last year, but no, we have to go to yucky Willard Bay. The bugs are horrible, it's ugly, and the freeway is right there. It's like camping on the side of the road. If I'm going camping (and you all know what a camper I am!), I at least want to go somewhere where it is pretty and in the mountains. I offered to just stay home and let Lincoln take the kids, but he didn't like that idea.

Well, enough procrastinating. I have to go do errands and shopping. Wish me luck at yucky camp!

I'm still getting the hang of this! Anyway, here are some pictures from our day at the museum.

Our big project today is to move Faha and Pasi into the same bedroom. They decided they want to share a room. I'm all for it because whenever we change bedrooms around, they get a thorough cleaning. The boys will share the room at the end of the hall upstairs. I would like to use Faha's old room as my storage room (again!) so I can get the garage set up as another play area. I have spent so much time trying to add my pictures that the morning is almost gone. I need to get busy before Anita leaves to go with her friends to Raging Waters. I need her help!

I am getting more and more tech savvy! I'm so excited because I was able to take pictures with my cell phone (my digital camera died) and email them to my email and save them and now I shall post them here! It doesn't take much to make me happy!

Monday we went to the Utah Museum of Natural History. It was fun and educational. I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I wanted because the kids kept taking off to explore on their own and I couldn't find them! We went with my friend Kari and her kids (same ones we watched fireworks on the 4th). I felt like such a good mommy. Cody didn't go with us because he wanted to go to his friend's house. We also took one of Faha's friends with us. I only had one daycare child to take so it was a piece of cake. He was so good in his stroller the whole time.

We had a nice quiet 4th. The guys got home about 5:00. I made homemade pizza and then we went to Murray Park to watch fireworks with some friends. We had a little problem finding where they were, mainly because my cell phone died, but we eventually found them right as the fireworks were starting. It was fun especially for Pasi and Siu because our friends have kids their ages. We stayed and visited with them until almost midnight! We dragged ourselves home and went to bed!

Today we got up early and went to a baptism and after that the parents of the little girl who was baptized took everyone at the baptism out to eat. It was nice. We came home and did errands and now I HAVE to get busy and type up the children's parts, 70 parts, for the Primary sacrament meeting program. I need to hand them out tomorrow. After that I need to make the Primary bulletin board. I'm also doing sharing time tomorrow, so I have a lot of Primary stuff to get done. (I am the Primary president, by the way. A little stressful!) So I better stop playing and get busy!

Time for an Update

I've been looking at Coleen's, Alysha's, and Brooke's blogs and it inspired me to update mine. I've been trying to post for over a week, but I've been having problems with our computer. Hopefully it's fixed. Anyway...................

Happy 4th of July! I love Independence Day! We're not really doing anything exciting. Lincoln, Cody and Faha will be coming back later today from Scout camp at Bear Lake. We'll probably get some fireworks to do here at home and then we usually go up on our sundeck to watch the big fireworks shows. We usually have a pretty good view of them. I'm mostly looking forward to a day without day care kids and piano lessons!

Well, in the spirit of Brooke's blog I'll give you a view into a day in my life. I get up between 5:30 and 6:15 depending on which day care kids are coming. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually my early days. I get ready, make our bed, and eat a little something. (If I don't eat when I get up, I get sick. It must be from all those pregnancies.) My friend, Kayla, and I go walking at 7:00. We walk around the neighborhood until 7:30. We come home and wait for two more day care kids to arrive, then we leave and walk until around 8:00. I come home and make breakfast. We usually have omelets, french toast, pancakes, oatmeal or other hot cereal, or scrambled eggs. I try to make a hot breakfast most mornings. We have not been having much cold cereal lately, only once in a while. So we eat, clean up and we do house cleaning from 9:00 until about 10:00. Then the kids have free time and I usually fold clothes, feed babies, or something else that I can do sitting down and rest a little. Then I usually take the kids outside and they play until around 11:30. I start making lunch at 11:30 and we try to sit down to eat by 12:00. Two kids get picked up at 12:30. I eat lunch and clean up. By then it's usually 1:00. I read to the kids and put them down for naps. I rest, work on Primary stuff, and tidy up. The kids usually wake up from their naps around 3:00 and we have a snack. I try to start making dinner then because piano lessons start at 4:00. I usually give piano lessons from 4:00-8:00. All the day care kids are picked up by 5:30. Sometimes the family eats without me, sometimes they wait and we eat together at 8:00. The kids clean up the kitchen. I usually get to bed about 11:00.

Some things I want to improve on as I read this are:
more structure to our day
scheduling time for doing schoolwork, art projects, and music practice
more routine to our evening and bedtime

I usually have a project I'm working on and my current project is the garage. I'm hoping to have the garage all cleaned out and set up to use as another room for my daycare for the summer. I'd like it to use it for messy play and also to give the kids more room to spread out a little because I'm not using my basement anymore for the daycare. During the winter we can use the garage to park the cars in (imagine that!).

After I finish the garage I want to change some things in the kitchen. I have finally had enough of apples. My plan is to paint the cabinets black and get rid of the country look. I am trying to decide on an accent color. I'm taking ideas and input. Let me know what I should use as my accent color. I'd like to paint one wall the accent color and the other walls will be a very light beige.

The family room is next. I want it to be brown and aqua. I need ideas for decorations for the walls. I'm also thinking of painting one wall aqua.

Well, it's time to go make lunch. I hope everyone has a happy 4th! We are so blessed to live in a free country with all the blessings we enjoy and the freedoms we have. I feel very blessed to have the family and friends that I do. I hope all of us can get together to celebrate Dad's birthday and Jenelle's wedding in the fall. I'm looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible. Love you all!

Here is Cody with his ukulele. He is almost never seen without it.