The PERFECT Planner

On my quest for a planner, that I seem to search for every year. I have found the perfect one....at least for me. I am a stay at home wife and mother. We live very busy lives here. And to keep up with everything I chart and write down almost everything....including whats in my pantries and freezers.
I found my planner while searching for some cookie paddles for my Bosch mixer on www.marmeedear.com

To see an image of the planner and more info about it, go here.

I recommend this if you are a home keeper. There are charts and places for menu planning, home school planning, and a list for everything.

Baby Steps Days 13-17

We've been super busy around here! So far I am still keeping up with Fly Ladies baby steps program. I will be on Day 17 tomorrow....almost half way done. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures soon.

Day 17:
Set a bed time and stick to it!

May seem easy, but I think this one will be difficult for me. ;) We get up every morning at 4:30 and I try to be in bed by 9:30 although many days its 10:30 or later...like tonight.
I'll be trying to stick to my 9:30 routine and see how it goes for one week.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

More pictures

Levi's new trick. Sticking his tongue out, although you can't see much of it here. Its the cutest thing ever.

Annabelle being goofy..haha.

Day 12

Day 12:

Today we are deleting all fly lady e-mails and continuing with our routine! An easy day I must say.

Here are some pictures of the past two days.



Eating pizza...her favorite!!

Know All Done!

Still eyeing the dog treat....I caught her eating it! YUCK!

Feeding Sarah, its one of her favorite things to do every day. She gets 4 dog treats and puts them into the jar then takes them to the puppy.

Days 10 and 11

Day 10:

Today we are learning that we can do anything for 15 min. Set your timer and clean for 15 minutes.

Day 11:
Today we are going to add another page to our Control Journals. We are going to call this our Inspirational Page. On this page I want you to spend 15 minutes writing down some of your favorite inspirational phrases. Some of mine are; You can do anything for 15 minutes, Housework done incorrectly still blesses your family and You can’t organize clutter; you can only get rid of it. I know you have others that you love. Use this page as a place to write them down when you see something that touches your heart.
Taken from http://www.flylady.net/

Levi

I couldn't pick a favorite so I posted them all! He is becoming such a big boy in all sense of the word. It won't be long before he is crawling. He already is getting on all fours and "rocking". He is watching Annabelle next to me. He loves that little girl and gets much more excited to see her than either me or Shane.

A little this and that...

Here are just a few pictures to let you know what we've been up too.
Organizing the canning pantry. I put up 36 pints last week so I needed to make more room. This is what happened. ;)


Annabelle wearing one of her Christmas presents Jena (a dear friend of ours) got her.

Helping pick up the puzzle pieces. She isn't able to really put it together yet but she does sort the colors out into there own groups. Not sure if you can tell in the pictures but Jena cut her hair and layered it. It looks much better now and much more girly.

Day 6, 7, and 8

So far we've just been doing the same things. Although today (day 8) we are introducing someting new (below). So far my sink is still shining, another picture below. And the house is looking much better.

Day 8
Here you are; you have been FLYing for a whole week. I am so proud of you. Lets review your new habits. I am going to break them down into what you do each morning and what you do each evening.
Morning Routine
- Get up and get dressed to lace up shoes; fixing your hair and face- Looking at your posted reminders in the kitchen and bathroom- Reading 2 minutes of reminders- Recognizing the negative voices and changing them; YOU ARE FLYing NOW!- Put out your Hot Spots for 2 minutes
Before Bed Routine
- Keep your sink shining- Lay out your clothes for tomorrow- Put out your Hot Spot (I have to do this twice a day) It makes me smile in the morning!
Over the last week we have introduced you to our reminders and the basis of our routines. As you establish these habits it will become easy to add another habit for you to practice.
Today I want you to find an old three ring binder and just put some paper in it. Then at the top of one page write Morning Routine and on the top of another page write Before Bed Routine all in pencil. This is a working document; do not allow your perfectionism to interfere with the process. Now you can write your simple routines on each page.
taken from www.flylady.net

Day 4 and 5

Day 4:
We are writing down what we are doing everyday. So far that is:

- Getting Dressed to lace up shoes- Keeping our sink shining- Reading 2 minutes of Reminders

Taken while they are watching their reading movie.

Day 5:

Today we are writing down what we hear. You know those "voices" that come and go throughout your day. The ones that tell you your not doing enough, or getting no where in you cleaning. Write those down...all of them and replace the negative words with nice positive words.

Taken from http://www.flylady.net

Day 3

Things have been crazy today. Yesterday our fridge went out, so we had to empty it into ice chest (3 matter of fact). Thankfully all I needed to do was what I was already doing.

Today you are doing what we have already done.
-Getting up and dressing to lace up shoes
-Keeping your sink shining
-Reading your reminders for 2 minutes.
Taken from www.flylady.net

Day 2

Today is day 2 of the baby steps challenge. Get dressed to lace up shoes. The thought here is that when you are dresses, hair and make-up done, and have shoes on you will feel better about yourself and more motivated to "get the job done" whatever it may be. Don't forget to shine your sink before going to bed.

Baby steps

I have known of Flylady for quite some time now, although I never really put it into practice. I always kind of figured I could go at it on my own. Maybe its just the Christmas season, but recently our home is looking shaggy, no matter how much I clean. Now, I do have a toddler but she can't make all the messes right?!?!? I know that both I and the husband are at fault too. I am hoping by taking "baby steps" I can conquer the clutter with God's help, of course.

For the next 31 days I will give you a glimpse as to what is going on in our home while I the the baby step challenge!

Day 1: Shine your sink!

The stars in my life

Annabelle is giving the "look". She is mad for me making her sit there.

Now giving a half smile. Levi as always is happy. Such a wonderful baby he is.

Christamas and the leaning tree

Merry Christmas to you all. A glimpse of some pictures to come. We have family pictures taken recently and when the other ones come in we will be sending some out to family. And posting others on the blog for all to see.

Our lovely leaning Christmas tree. Hey, its adds character. ;)

Pictures....new and old

Annabelle a couple months ago when the grass was still green...LOL. She must have a jacket and purse at all times....its a requirement when you go somewhere ya know.

The beautiful baby Vi now. Sitting up, such a big boy.

So much for the new socks. They are supposed to fit babies from 6-18months... The heels of the socks are in the middle of his foot. = (

Back in late Oct. Playing with Daddy.

Belle dancing with Daddy.

It's been a while...

It's been a long time since my last post. We are still trying to get onto a routine again. Today is Shane's first day back at work, although he will only be there for two days before he gets 4 days off for Thanksgiving. Then he'll go back again for 2 weeks and get 2 weeks off for Christmas. So sometime after Jan. we will be back to normal.
Since my last post we have managed to lose the charger to the camera...again. I am not sure if we are misplacing it or if Annabelle is running off with it. So we have no recent pictures to post, although we did get a family portrait taken and I'll have that up soon. Until then....

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas.

On a routine...somewhat.

It's 5 am here and I am up. So far I've cooked breakfast (pancakes and eggs) and both me and the man have eaten. He's left for work and now I am here. After checking my mail I'll jump on the elliptical before I turn on the heater (its 36 degrees out) to warm up the house before the kids get up. After being able to sleep in for so long, it just doesn't seem right to be up at 4:30am cooking! I'm sure I'll get used to it...soon I hope.
After I "work out" I'll cozy up next to the fire and read from the good word!...Best part of my day. I hope you all have a great morning.

He's finally home!!!!!!!!!

Finally after 7 months in Iraq he comes home. You did a great job honey, I am very proud of you!



The buses pulling in....there was a lot of screaming going on here!

Annabelle getting picked up by her daddy.
Shane and Levi meeting each other for the first time!
One happy family again, finally! Levi is still gazing at him..LOL. He did that all night.
Hmmm... He kept doing this for a good 10 minutes.

Levi and his daddy.

The picture taker (Jena) and Annabelle.
Annabelle getting swung by the picture taker.

Away we go walking to the van.

Pumpkin picking

Today we went on a hayride to get some pumpkins for the kids.
Annabelle checking out all the other little kids.


Levi and his first pumpkin!

Annabelle talking away.

Giving Levi Kisses! He is such a lucky boy, he gets all of her kisses always. He only leaves about 2 a day for his momma.

Did you say pumpkins??????

Oooooo there the pumpkins are.

Belle's pumpkin!

What we've been up too..

We've been busy lately.

We have been reading......Daddy has all the good books.

And flying.
And shopping. I just love the carts that seat two!
Coloring.
And cleaning.
This is the closet under the stairs. It was full of sewing things. I took them all out to make room for a small "stock pile". Now that we have over 150lbs. flour, 10 gallons of oil, and way too much other stuff to list. I am feeling pretty good. God is so good! He has provided so well for our little family, especially considering the times. That little closet is now full and still growing as I keep moving food from the garage into it.