my extraordinary girls

40 Bag Challenge Update

I am up to 20 bags. I can't believe how much stuff we have!! I said that I didn't really notice a difference, but I was wrong. Our house is so much less messy all the time. Even at its messiest lately it is still pretty straightened up. It has been a lot easier to keep on top of it. I can't wait to finish. I did our bedroom, except under the bed. Hopefully I will have time to do that this weekend. Then on to the shelf in my dining room. All of that goes, then I can move our dog crate to that side of the room and it will look so much better. I need to do the bathroom bad! I have had to stay more on top of our laundry lately (which is easy because it is never more than three loads) and I have found out that we have too many towels, they all do not fit in the closet.

My children do not miss the toys we got rid of, nor do they play with the ones we kept anymore than before. It is still books, dolls, blocks, and anything that belongs to me that they want to play with.

40 Bag Challenge

A few months ago just before Lent I participated in a discussion about what to give up. Of course I suggested that I would like to give up sweets knowing full well that I would fail after a few days, I know the weaknesses that I have that I am ready to work on and chocolate is not one of them. One of the women gave us a challenge she called The 40 Bag Challenge. In this we would commit to taking one bag of "stuff" out of our house each day of Lent until we had taken out 40 bags. I really wanted to do this, but my baby was just too small to start a project like that then, but I am ready now.

I started this weekend by going through our clothes and then I slimmed down our toys today. So far I am up to 9 1/2 bags of "stuff" and 1 1/2 bags of garbage, I don't mean the small grocery store bags, but the large outdoor garbage bags. I only kept a few toys that my children really play with; dolls, art supplies, dress up clothes, and a hopscotch. I am still on the fence about the Mr. Potato head toys. I really love that family of spuds, but my children only like them. Next will be the shoes and then onto my bedroom. I am saving my books for last in hopes that my 40 bags will be full or almost full before I get to them. How do I choose which ones to keep and which to not. It is too much for me to think about right now.

I have some pictures of what all of this stuff looks like, it is amazing because there is not a lot of difference in our house yet, except that I can now remember the color of the carpet in the girls' room (ugly orange) and why I wanted to forget it in the first place. I have 11 bags of stuff in my dining room that we don't need, I am amazed and embarrassed at the same time.

Tiddely Pom

Late last night, 8:45 pm, Daddy-O put the last of the swnigs on the set and this morning we were ready to go. We were momentarily disappointed when we saw the snow. We sang Tiddely Pom, got our snow clothes on, and headed outside. Even Our Angel had her snow suit on. It was a blast The girls were out for almost two and a half hours before they were cold enough to come in for hot chocolate. I will not complain about the snow because I thank God everytime he blesses us with life sustaining water, so thank you God for the snow this morning and for warm clothes so we could still have fun on the swing set.

Tiddely Pom

The more it snows

(Tiddely pom),

The more it goes

(Tiddely pom),

The more it goes

(Tiddely pom,

On snowing.

And nobody knows

(Tiddley pom),

How cold my toes

(Tiddely pom),

How cold my toes

(Tiddley pom),

Are growing.

A.A. Milne

A week off and my Suburban tried to kill me

We are taking this week off of school and although it is only Tuesday, I know that this is not the lifestyle for me. I need more direction in my day. I feel like we are just floating around waiting for something, but I don't know what. Next week we are going to get back on it. We are half way through our first official term of Kindergarten (We call it Year 0.5). It is very casual and simple. We (Mallorie and I) are learning how to do school so in September when we start Year 1 we will be ready.

Yesterday we picked up our new swing set from Pitcher Sports. I almost died doing this. I pulled our trailer with our Suburban into Sandy to get it. When I got off the freeway at 106Th South I could not stop. I pushed as hard as I could on the brakes and still could not stop. I ended up pulling up onto the rocks in the middle of the off ramp and came to a stop about three cars in front of where I should have stopped. It was so scary and I am sure all of the those drivers thought I was a maniac. I figured I must have just been going too fast (it is a very heavy trailer), but it turns out that my gas pedal was stuck under the floor mat. I was still shaking almost 1 hour later when I met up with Matthew to trade vehicles. My Suburban tried to kill me and some complete strangers!!!! That may be a little dramatic, but you didn't see the faces of the drivers in front of me.

The set is all put together and if the wind ever stops we will cement it in place so we can play. It has a huge slide, monkey bars, and six swings. I think before the summer is over we will change out two of the swings for rings or a bar and add a fireman's pole.

Miss M and Miss Mae went to the doctor this morning for a checkup. The doc told me what I already knew, that they are perfect. She did say that it was perfect weight and height, but I know that was code for all around perfect. Miss Mae did get immunizations, I have mixed feelings on this (Sis. Sue had a really bad reaction to immunizations and became like a newborn at six months old). She is doing alright so far, but is taking a nap, which is very abnormal. I have been praying for and will ask Daddy-O to give her a blessing when he gets home.

By the way, we ended up with two extra really nice American flags. If anyone wants one just let me know.

WARNING: Proud mother gushing

I am going to gush about my daughter. Miss M spent all day (8:00 am until 5:30 pm) on a Saturday auditioning for Annie. She is usually not a very patient person or easily entertained, but she really wanted this. Her hard work paid off and she was selected to be one of the orphans. Everyday she asks me if it is the day to start rehearsals. We are so proud of her and can't wait to see her perform in June.

Also, kudos to Matthew for spending his Saturday with her because Erin and I would not have been so patient.

Princess Projects

As part of school we do handicrafts that we call Princess Projects. This is a time when I teach them anything that I think they will need when they (the princesses) become Queens of their own kingdoms (their houses). Some of the things on this list are sewing, cooking, cleaning, organizing, budgeting, and the list could go on forever.

This week I got serious about teaching the girls how to sew. I sew all the time (at least I would like to) and Miss Mae and Miss M always beg me to teach them. I ordered some books by Winky Cherry to use in school next fall, but pulled them out now. I am so glad that I did. These books are very simple they use rhymes to teach things and have some great ideas that I just never thought of. Now they are sewing all the time. They are working hard to make all of the animals so they can move on to learning how to embroider so then they can make the dolls.

So far they have made birds, unicorns, a bear, a moon, and are currently working on an alligator and cat.