A mere year and a half or so later...plus, I am sharing our January Family Scripture Study Plan if you want to use it too!!!

Yes, it has been a long time.  Oh well.  This blog will always be here when I feel the need to express myself in more than a couple of sentences on facebook.  2013 was a fabulous year, and I'm hoping 2014 will be even better!  We got through Erick starting a new business, Cash was the craziest 3 year old I have EVER had, Cora and Bryant are nearly half way through the school year, and so on and on.  The real reason I decided to blog was because I want to share our scripture study plan for January.  That is probably my best success of 2013--getting my act together in a lot of ways after having a baby, who is not so much a baby anymore.

A big way I got things together was in really getting serious about family scripture study.  I realized nighttime study was just never going to work for us.  My kids go to bed at two different times, and everyone is crazy right before bed.  CRAZY.  After trying for years to make it work, it just clicked that it was NOT going to happen.  So I realized we needed to do mornings.  Simple as that.  I started making all of the lunches the night before which shaves off 5 minutes of time and then set the alarm clock back another 15 minutes to give us enough time for 20 full minutes of study and discussion.  The best part of all is that Cora and Bryant are still young enough to where they really don't care if we wake up earlier and they really have enjoyed the studies so far.  I thought this might be something a lot of people would like to do a better job at, so that is why I am sharing our plan.

I was torn in two ways for this year/month.  I also reserve the right to study any topic at any time I see fit!  I think it is always a good idea to change things to fit your family's needs.  Also, on a side note, Bryant, Cora, and I all started a "read the book of mormon in a year program" back in the beginning of November so we are doing daily reading of the BOM even though there is not a lot of BOM reading in this month's plan.  The Friend magazine from January has an entire year's plan to read through the Old Testament which is awesome.  I love all of those old stories and am so excited to go through the scriptures and read them all with my kids!  But then I looked at the Primary 2014 Sharing Time Guide thingy and it is also awesome.  It is all about teaching about Christ and Eternal Families and I wanted to do it all.  So my plan incorporates them both together.  Monday through Thursday is Old Testament Stories and Friday's are "Primary Focus Day" where you Focus on the Primary theme of the month.

So how we do each study session is we begin with a prayer and then start with an Article of Faith.  We work on a new one each month. This month is #4 for us.  I also ask the kids to recite a couple of other ones to keep their memories fresh.  Then, we do a "scripture of the month."  It is a scripture we are working on memorizing.  For Dec. we did Moroni 7:45. I do not know why, but it was SO hard to memorize.  Anywho, this year, I think we are going to memorize the Primary scripture of the month each month.  So we recite that.  Then we read the assigned reading.  The assigned reading is sometimes just one verse, and sometimes several.  It just depends.  I try to ask questions and discuss.  This whole process usually takes 15-20 minutes.  I can skip the Article of Faith and the "SOTM" if I have to (but that is really the kids' favorite part) if we are running late and cut it to 8-10 mins.

Alright, here it is:

January: Primary theme:  Learning about the Saviour

January memorization scripture

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in

him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Article of Faith #4

Week 1 Plan of Salvation

Dec 30-Moses 1:39

Dec 31-Abraham 3:12

Jan 1   -Abraham 3:22-28

Jan 2   -Abraham 4:1

Jan 3   -(Primary focus day) How we can follow Jesus’ example John 13:14-15

Week 2 The Creation

Jan 6   -Genesis 1:1-15

Jan 7   -Genesis 1:16-24

Jan 8   -Genesis 1:25-31

Jan 9   -Genesis 2:1-3

Jan 10  -(Primary focus day) How we can follow Jesus’ example Matthew 5:1-2

Week 3 Adam and Eve

Jan 13  -Genesis 2: 7-9

Jan 14  -Genesis 2: 15-18

Jan 15  -Genesis 2: 19-22

Jan 16  -Genesis 2: 23-25

Jan 15  -(Primary focus day) How we can follow Jesus’ example Luke 15:4

Week 4 The Fall

Jan 20  -Genesis 3: 1-6

Jan 21  -Genesis 3: 7-12

Jan 22  -Genesis 3: 13-18

Jan 23  -Genesis 3: 19-24

Jan 24  -(Primary focus day) How we can follow Jesus’ example 3 Nephi 17 1-10

Week 5 Cain and Abel

Jan 27  -Genesis 4: 1-4

Jan 28  -Genesis 4: 5-8

Jan 29  -Genesis 4: 9-12

Jan 30  -Genesis 4: 13-16

Jan 31  -(Primary focus day) How we can follow Jesus’ example Acts 10:38

Hopefully the kids like all of the Old Testament Stories!

Lately

We' ve been busy around here as of late.

A few weeks ago Erick's parent's came to town and Wesley had his baby blessing.  Here's all the cousins together from the Baker side, our kids and then the wonderful Rex and Alice.  It's so nice when they come to play.  Usually Rex is following Cora and Cash is following Rex.  Alice is always eating something, and then Bryant is usually off complaining in a corner somewhere hoping we'll cave in and just let him watch a movie (seriously, he does this at every single family event and holiday).

While Erick's parents were here I thought we would do something special so we went to Old Salem.  It was alright.  Cash didn't like it much so we mostly hung outside with Wesley and the stroller while every one toured.  Cash was kind of scared of all the old people dressed in period clothing.  Either way, it's always fun to spend time as a family.  Here's the family in front of an old something-or-other.

Cora has had her heart set on having Grandma Janette at her birthday for a LONG time.  So it worked out nicely that Grandma was able to come for her friend-party this year!  We did a "Fancy Nancy" party with manicures, bracelet making, facials, silly masks, fancy cup cakes, pizza and fancy princess drinks!  This picture was taken right before everyone started to arrive.  Cora was soooo excited!  Aunt Andrea and Uncle Mike came to help out too which was great because it turns out that five year olds making bracelets need help!  Mike did his job by holding Wesley the entire time.  The party was a great success! 

And since then school has started, which is fabulous.  I have time to clean my house again, I've even started going to a gym and doing classes (seriously, I hate the huge mirror at the front though...I feel like a stick figure drawing with all of these amazing looking ladies!), and am happy that I am actually keeping up!  I may only be using the 10lb kettle bell, but I'm keeping up till the end!  Anyways, It's fun.  I especially love the extra time I get with my two sweet, sweet little boys.  I love being able to focus on what Cash wants to do each day.  When the older kids are home, I have to cater more towards them and their friends, etc. but I love being able to tailor our days to Cash now that the older two are at school.  On the other hand Miss Cora is still claiming that she doesn't like school, and I do miss her a lot... so we'll see if we decide to stay in past Christmas.  Her teacher seems very nice but does not send home any home work, and I'm not sure about the level of teaching going on, so I'm having Cora do 3-5 reading lessons at home each week...because she WILL learn to read this year one way or another!  I'm starting to wonder about math...I'm going to be keeping an eye on what completed work they send home.

I'm also hoping to start some little preschool activities for Cash soon...anyways, that's what's been up with me lately!

School Lunch!

Can I just tell you about something that excites me?  First off, having a baby five days into summer vacation can hamper a lot of the normal things you may do in the summer, like being outside a lot, swimming, etc.  I am just not down with taking a newborn in the sun for a few hours, so a lot of my summer has been inside.  I also got tired of CONSTANTLY being asked "mom whats for dinner"  "EWWW!!! Gross!"  and "mom, whats for snack?"  "when am I getting my snack?"  repeat a million times.  Sooooo, a month ago, I started doing a menu that included breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack for each day.  It took a bit of time to do, but the effect was marvelous.  I knew what I was making, and was so much more prepared than I had been before doing the menus just for dinners, and even better, the kids knew what I was making.  Now, they just look at the menu to know what we're having instead of pestering me (and I didn't know half the time either!).  I also instituted a rule that no one is allowed to criticize the meal made BEFORE trying it.  A certain somebody was always grossed out every night by whatever I said we were having, and then would usually end up eating it just fine, so now, that is simply not allowed!  You have to try it first!  

Now, with school starting on monday, I decided to make a meal calendar for the entire month.  Another big decision was to make the snack the SAME every day for a week instead of coming up with varied things--too complicated!  So now, there is the same snack each day, and it changes each week.  I do choose something that everyone will like, like a cereal/pretzel snack mix, popcorn, etc, so that no one is miserable all week!  I have found this simple thing has also made my life slightly simpler.  They know what to expect, and it calms things down a little around here!  Also, I am sending Cora to Kindergarten, and she is a total foodie, so I know she will not be okay with a pbj every day, unlike Bryant who basically ate a turkey sandwich every single day happily last year.  He is okay with variety as long as it's bland (seriously, the boy does not like a lot of flavor, I think he is what we in the psychology world call a "super taster") So, in making the menu, I've got some fun new ideas that I am excited to try, and most of them can be made in advance and stuck in the freezer.  On Saturdays when I come home from shopping I've started making the foods like muffins/ pancakes and just freezing them for the rest of the week (very exciting weekends around here!  But like I said, newborns do not equal lots of crazy activities! And I actually really like baking).

To simplify the lunches, they will eat the same lunch twice each week (so two lunches) and then buy lunch on Fridays.  And, no, there is no treat in their lunch.  I'm so mean.  But they get so many treats shoved down their throats from parents (myself included) bringing in stuff for birthdays, etc. and we make a dessert once a week.  I'm not worried about it and don't want to set a precedent.  I do throw in the occasional treat, but kids typically just eat what you give them, and they can buy an ice cream with their lunch on Fridays.  Last year I actually made Bryant take fruit every day for his snack, but this year, I'm doing different things...I'm trying to compromise (fruit will be their afternoon snack). Finally, I know I am weird that this stuff excites me, but it simply does.  Sams club also excites me.  I take joy in the simple things, I seriously do.  These are the things that make up my life. I spend a lot of time making food, eating food, and cleaning up food!  So I think it's a good thing I like it!

Anywho, for those who are curious, here is my Sept lunch menu:

The first line is the snack item.  

September 2012

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
						2
3	4 crackers/chz	5 crackers/chz	6 crackers/chz	7 buy lunch	8	9
	Hard boiled egg Mini bagel sandwich Apple slices	Home made pop tart Cheese stick grapes	Hard boiled egg Mini bagel sandwich Apple slices	Crackers/chz snack
10 snack mix	11 snack mix	12 snack mix	13 snack mix	14 buy lunch	15	16
Pin wheels Triscuits Apple slices	Pumpkin muffins Cheese stick grapes	Pin wheels Triscuits Apple slices	Pumpkin muffins Cheese stick grapes	Snack mix
17pumpkin muf.	18 pumpkin muf	19 pumpkin muf	20 pumpkin muf	21 buy lunch	22	23
Pickle roll ups Apple sauce Ww crackers	Pizza bites Grapes yogurt	Pickle roll ups Apple sauce Ww crackers	Pizza bites Grapes yogurt	Pumpkin muffin snack
24 crackers/chz	25 crackers/chz	26 crackers/chz	27 crackers/chz	28 buy lunch	29	30
Turkey sandwich Grapes Apple sauce	Pizza bites Apple slices yogurt	Pbj sandwich Grapes Apple sauce	Pizza bites Apple slices yogurt	Crackers/chz

Here you go.

I thought I'd share a few pictures because, well, Emma asked me to, and there may be a few random people out there, that might want to know what I look like these days...so here I am at 33 weeks.  Now I am 36.5 weeks.  I probably weigh about 3-5 lbs more now, so I probably look about the same.  Moving on...

Since I'm posting pictures, it was easy to go ahead and down load a few more.  I have absolutely loved decorating my mantle this year.  I don't know what it is, but I have just gotten so much joy from doing a little something fun with each season.  I did this after Valentine's day, and love it so much, I will likely leave it up for a while-through the summer, as I may not feel up to changing it for a while when the baby comes!  I like that it works for spring and summer.  I am however, still planning on buying a patriotic wreath for the front door!  Right now I have a really pretty/glittery sunflower hanging.

I like this picture because it does two things--shows off two of my goofy kids who LOVE to pose in any picture possible.  And it shows their personalities--Cora is striking a pose, and Bryant is just happy to be in a picture, getting attention!  And of course, the original reason I was trying to take a picture was to capture my Easter-egg center piece!  I try to keep the mantle a little more dignified, but in the kitchen I like to do fun, silly decorations.  The kids love it.  I think they rearranged the egg ornaments a hundred times.  On Easter day, I actually had an egg table cloth and Easter egg plates, and a big banner to make it even more fun!  I know I am turning into one of "those" people.  And it's funny, because I used to be so uptight, judgmental and snooty about how people celebrate holidays.  Now that I have these children, I have just realized, I love to make them smile, I love to celebrate with them, and do silly things, and create memories.  That's why I do it.  I think that's what these little kids need.  I am sure there are other kids given to other parents with other needs, but, I always do what I feel is good and right, and this is what feels good and right to me.  And I know it could be exactly the opposite for another family, and that's just fine.  And any time my kids ask me if "such and such" character (like the Easter Bunny) is real.  I always just say "he's real, if you want him to be!" or "he's real to people that believe in him!"  Or, I just say "what do you think?" They seem pretty happy with those answers.  Any who...here's the super-cute picture:

Finally, I had to put one with Cash in here!  Here he is on Easter, hunting down eggs in our family Easter-egg hunt.  I was surprised at how well the little guy did!  He found a lot of eggs.  I also love this because he's just in his undies--this was just a week into being potty trained, and I have him in super loose undies so he can easily maneuver them.  Every body thought they looked a little funny, but I do what I have to do!  And he didn't have any accidents!  He is such a sweetie pie!

There you go!  

Dare to blog?

Erick isn't home from work yet (had to drive to Charelston, SC and back), so I'm home, alone, and I've read all the huff post, drudge report, and other news sources (I like to be well rounded!) that I'm going to read, the kids have LONG been in bed, and the kitchen has LONG been clean.  For some reason when I know Erick isn't going to be home, I am super efficient about getting stuff done because I'm worried that I'll get too tired if I put it off, and I am really pregnant...so yeah.  Anyways, so now I look very pregnant.  Any time I go out into public, at least 10 strangers feel the need to comment, sometimes even more.  I asked Erick why he thought this was so and he said it's because a lot of times people are not very sure if someone is pregnant or just a little overweight, but when they see this skinny lady with an enormous belly, they feel very confident that yes, I am pregnant, and like to say all the things they would say to all of those pregnant ladies...blah blah blah.  I kind of think this is true.  A week ago the cashier at Aldi actually physically poked me and asked how much longer I had to go.  I thought that was crossing the line a little.  Come on, look but don't touch!  Here are some of the comments I have received from complete strangers in the last week:

"Wow, ANOTHER baby!!! You already have two!!!"  "Actually, this will be number four, thank you, I have one at school."  "oh my!"

"Oh, this little guy (Cash) isn't going to be the baby anymore!  I bet he won't like that!"  Huh, I guess we'll find out.

"Is it a boy or girl"  "boy"  "oh, he'll be a great big brother"   "that's what I'm hoping for!!!"

"Oh, I love children, I hope you're enjoying it!"  "Don't worry, I am"  What do you say to that???

"Oh, is it a boy or girl?"  "Boy"  "Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?"  "Um, yes, don't worry, we're good"  Walk away quickly.

And repeat, repeat, repeat (except that last one.  It was a one-timer).

Also, I have been nesting like crazy.  About a month ago I was blessed with an AMAZING amount of energy, and I worked as hard as I could every single day to organize, organize, and organize some more.  I probably spent about one or two hundred dollars (who's counting!!!) on sterelite, rubbermaid and other various organization thingys from Target, but it is SO worth it.  My closet is organized, actually ever single closet is organized. And it feels wonderful.  Okay, the kids have put some loving touches/changes on a couple of the closets, but each closet is at least within five minutes of complete organization-ness.  Good enough for me.  I also purged all of Cora's clothes and gave all of her small ones away (kept a few mementos for future grand daughters of course), and went through every single baby boy up to 4t item I own, and sorted them.  It took forever, but now, when the baby comes home, I will have everything I need in an extremely large rubbermaid ready to go! The best thing of all, is that I feel a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.  It feels good to know everything is in it's very own place.

Now, I feel free to do some other things like make some things and store them in the freezer for post-baby (including plenty of popsicles and treats!).  During the last month or so I also had a great desire to take care of some big projects that involved Erick.  We have had tile for three years that has been waiting to go into our downstairs bathroom.  Cute ideas from pinterest finally pushed me into begging Erick to stop working on his trucks and give a little TLC to our bathroom and laundry area.  Of course, when Erick is going to do something like tile, all of a sudden we need to completely redo everything including toilet, vanity, sink, paint, the works.  That was fine with me.  So he did; heaven bless that man.  I now have an amazing bathroom, and laundry area that I really like.  I really detested our old bathroom.

A couple of weeks later, I noticed that I suddenly hated our front land scaping.  It had so many weeds and was so hard to maintain, I wanted to re-do it, but that's really hard when you can't bend over a lot, and you have no idea what you are doing, or what to do.  I told Erick that I didn't know why, but all of a sudden all I could think about was how much I hated our landscaping, and if he would just help me plan a new plan, I would start working on it, and he could just help IF he wanted to.  So we made a new plan, and I did start to work on it.  And Erick, being Erick, saw me using the manual clippers, and then came over with some electric ones and trimmed all the bushes 1000 times faster than I could.  I started raking away all of the weeds for a couple of days, and one night he came with his rake and did it all and I just wheeled away wheel barrel load after load.  Finally he just told me not to worry and spent an entire Saturday laying weed barrier, mulch, and then some gorgeous decorative stone, topped off with a few accent planters with monkey grass.  It looked so good, I wanted to cry.  I really don't deserve him, but I certainly will keep him as long as I can!!!  Which in my case, is eternity.  Phew.

Finally, in all of my nesting, I decided that I didn't know how I would ever potty train Cash with a newborn, or any-size baby.  I know people do it all of the time, I have never been one of those people, so I was scared.  I decided to go ahead with it.  Cash was right at 22 months old when I did the big "training day" and all I could think of was how crazy I was for trying it, but I knew it would work, and did my best to make it a positive experience.  For anyone who wants to potty train...22 months is a little too young in my opinion.  I think it would have been easier if he was 24-28 months (the sweet spot for training in my opinion), but I did not have the luxury of waiting if I wanted to do it before the baby.  I did prepare like it was a marathon.  I was ready, and I did it, and it was a long morning, but he figured it out and went on that potty.  The next week, he felt the need to test me in every single situation possible--you mean I still have to use the potty when I'm in the play room?  What about the kitchen?  Oh goodness, but now, a month later, he uses the potty.  And anyone that thinks that they can truly potty train a child in a day is kidding themselves.  But I've found it's a good start, and it really takes about a month, a little less if you're lucky.  It certainly has not made my life any easier though.  I have to bend over all the time, and he now is insulted when I put on his diaper at night and does everything in his power to escape his lumbering, slow, mother.  It is pretty exhausting.  I just tell myself, we would have had to do it eventually either way, and now it's done (mostly).  Besides, he is so proud of himself, and has earned tons of jungle animal figures, which he loves because he was afraid of going #2 for a while, so I used the animals as a motivator.

Okay, Erick came home a half hour ago.  I should go talk to him.  I hope you have enjoyed my little slice of blogging.