Hillsong United

Finally posting pics from the Hillsong Untied concert we went to in Des Moines Monday night. It was Awesome! I would recommend seeing them the next time they come to Iowa!!

When I Grow Up

I often find myself wondering about my future and what it will look like. One question that continually runs through my head is what will I do with myself when all of my kids are in school, or even when all of my kids have graduated and moved on with their lives?? This is some what of a haunting question for me. I am the kind of person that mostly lives in the moment and kinda goes with whatever direction the wind is blowing that day (Thaddeus is teaching me to be more patient and to listen for what direction God is calling me). I went to college for 1 year so I have no college education with a degree, which most of my generation does. This makes it very hard for me to get a job other than retail or fast food... don't get me wrong, I've done both and respect those who do retail and food, it's not easy. But I aspire to more than that. When we lived in Ames and in Iowa City I had retail jobs at party stores... I won't name them, but if you know me well you know where I worked. One party store was pretty amateur and had a long way to go to become a thriving business in the community. And the other party store was top of the line in every aspect. I learned a lot from both experiences from a business/manager perspective and also from a personal perspective. The other day, I needed some party supplies so I wandered into Mason City's only party store, that I know of (if there is another one somebody please tell me where it is!?) It was a bad experience! I am overly critical of party stores, seeing as I have worked at a very good one and a not so good one, but this store was the worst I have ever been in! I'm not going to bore anyone with why the store is so bad... if you really want to know e-mail me and I'll fill you in. I was telling Thaddeus just how bad this store is and he told me that I was, in fact, being overly critical in the sense that people in Mason City who have never been to a different party store have no idea just how bad it is. And it hit me... someday, I want to own a party store and show everyone in Mason City what they have been missing out on for all of these years! The first step, besides money, would probably be going back to school and getting some form of business degree... the idea of school makes me feel sick, so we'll see about that! Obviously, this is a long term goal and it may never happen, but it would be cool. (And I mean no disrespect to those who enjoy the party store in MC, I'm just overly critical in the area!)

Spring Time

Swing Baby Swing

Crawling Contest

We entered Bennett in a crawling contest yesterday at Health Fest 2010... It turned out to be more of a watch fun, look at the cute babies kinda thing, instead of a race. There were 7 babies and each had their name put into a drawing for a free photo session with a local photography company. Bennett didn't win the drawing, nor did she make it to the end of the race mats, but we still had fun cheering her on!

Teeth!

Bennett finally pushed out her first tooth!! And the second one is very close to popping through too! She will be 11 months old next week, and I was beginning to wonder if she would have any teeth before she turns one. So far all of our kids have handled teething differently. We never even knew Gunnar was teething until we actually saw the tooth, he must have a high pain tolerance! Conrad on the other hand was a bear! He didn't get teeth until he was 10 months old and he would get 2 teeth at a time which probably made it harder for him! His teeth came in very slow... at 2 he was still missing some, besides his molars. I would say that Bennett is more like Conrad... after 2 weeks of sleeping through the night, last night she was up a couple times crying. I'm happy to say that I now can tell the difference between Bennett with an ear infection and Bennett teething, which is so helpful!! I can't get a picture of her new tooth yet, but this one will do!

The Pick-Up

As a stay at home mom I am always looking for new ideas and ways to keep my home clean and organized, or at least appear that way! I am currently reading a book by Claudine Wolk called "It gets easier!... And other lies we tell new mothers". I was so excited when I read this section on the art of the pick-up. It is something that I try to do (my home is not always clean, nor does it appear this way) but, when I follow the pick-up rule I found that my home is a little bit cleaner and my head is a little clearer... something about having a messy home makes me want to just shut down sometimes! "The first rule of housekeeping and the most helpful one is the art of the pick-up. Through the years I've actually encountered women who appear to have a perpetually clean house. Eventually I had to ask them how they do it, and they revealed their secret. The secret is that their houses are not always truly clean. The fact that the house looks clean is just an illusion. Quite simply, if you keep your house picked up at all times, it looks clean, even if it isn't. The added bonus of the picked-up house is that when you finally have time to clean something, you can get right down to the cleaning without having to do the hour-long pick-up first! Picking-up is always the best place to start, too. Just start putting things away. The more organized an area is, the clearer your head becomes and the more ready you will be to deal with the tasks at hand." Having three kids means that my house has toys spread out everywhere pretty much all of the time... this becomes overwhelming to me sometimes! But, by picking things up throughout the day I can at least feel like I have done some sort of house work for the day and feel good about the state of my home. I usually try and pick-up during nap time, before Thaddeus comes home from work, and at bedtime. Hope this gives you some ideas on how to maintain a cleaner home and a clearer head! What are some ways you keep your home clean?

Easter Egg Hunt