Colette's Face

This is for you mom. :)

Children's Gardens

Last week we went to the Thanksgiving Point Chilren's Discovery Gardens with my mother in law, brother in law, sister in law, and her 4 kids. It was wild a crazy and super fun. Colette waded, the kids ran and splashed, they found their way through the hedge mazes, built sand castles, and had tons of fun together. Enjoy the pictures! (I know, mom, I don't post enough)

It's not my fault

Really truly, it's not my fault that I have dropped off the edge of the blogosphere earth. It's my computer. After Media Fast was over we were so excited to be reconnected with all the great things about computers, and then mine decided to get a virus (I KNOW, this wouldn't have happened if we had a MAC, My husband reminds me of this frequently). Anyway, I just got it back yesterday. So here we go!

Jeremiah's Stiches:

Simple story, he was riding down a somewhat steep driveway with a swivel scooter, biffed it at the bottom, and got three stiches. 

Pony Express Days

 The kids had fun at the parade on Colette's birthday.

Colette's Birthday

Colette wasn't sure about the cake. She initially tried to pick it up with both hands:

Then she just shoved it off the tray so she could get to the strawberries at the edge of her tray. 

But don't worry, Leah did the army crawl under the high chair and flipped the cake onto a napkin to take over colette's cake responsibilities.

Colette loved her gifts.

Girly Hair:

This was my first attempt at girly hair. I did a braid into a pony tail, nothing big, but compared to her usual ragga muffin look, it's a step in the right direction.

Ah yes, her usuall raga muffin look, with pig tails... tutu over her pjs, helping me mix up some brownies.

More photos to come!

Lesson Learned #2 and #3... through #8

 (the kids at thanksgiving point riding ponies)

{{So, the kids took exceptionally long naps this afternoon and I felt like reflecting on April while it was fresh in my mind, so instead of posting all these lessons throughout the month, you get it all in one shot.  Sorry, it's a lot of writing.}}

#2 I don't care about you people as much as I thought I did.

While it's nice to know what is going on in the lives of old friends, distant family members, and neighboors, i find that I get along just fine without reading their facebook status changes on a regular basis. In fact. I really didn't miss reading what people were doing, what they ate for lunch, or the latest book they read.

I do, however, cherish good conversation with friends and family. Those I call, or call me, who I visit, sit next to at church, yell to across the street, or yard, and I deeply appreciate getting to know people and who they are, including what they are doing, what they ate for lunch, and the latest book they read. I really appreciate my friends and family.

#3 I can get a lot done when I don't waste my time finding things for myself to do.

There are some brilliant people out there who do brilliant things, and they are kind enough to post their brilliance on blogs to inspire me and encourage me to try new things too. HOWEVER, the more time I spend looking at new things to do, the less time I spend actually DOING them. I am, by nature, a dreamer, not so much a doer. So being forced to find something to DO, rather than search for projects to add to my list, really helped me.

#4 I'm not as ugly as I thought.

Turns out I'm a lot happier with myself, my body, my clothes, my children, my husband and my home when I don't seek out supermodel women, with J Crew husbands, and Baby Gap children, who live in Pottery Barn/Antique store homes to compare my life to. :) Weird.

#5 I DON'T OWN A PHONEBOOK

A few things i never use because I have the blessed internet: A phonebook. A map. A recipe book. Who knew I was s reliant on those things for functioning. However, I will say that this is not something I am going to choose to change moving forward. I am GLAD I have dex.com, google maps, and All Recipes to reference in my daily life. I'm not giving it up, and I don't care.

#6 Movies can be a fun, positive thing. Intention should guide me.

You know how lame a movie is for a date night or a family night? Turns out, it wouldn't be if you never watched them any other time. This is what I decided. If I want to turn on a movie I need to decide what my intention or motive is. if it is to merely occupy (the kids, or myself) then it doesn't get turned on. No questions asked. If it's because we want to watch a specific show together as a family, then I think that's great.

#7 Media isn't the only noise in my life

I suppose I expected great spiritual revelations when I turned off the worldly noise in my life. And at the end of each week I thought. Ok, this next week will be different. I will make it a point to listen for the Spirit and be available for promptings. And each week I was dissapointed that I didn't feel a huge change in myself. This is something that I'm not done working on. But I think I found it so hard to do because my life is loud even without movies and blogs and email. I have three children under the age of 5 so that creates a lot of noise, audible, and not. But beyond that, I think that I have a very loud and talkative inner voice. My mind is constantly on full speed and I have a hard time turning it off, even to go to sleep. So, I need to work on that.

#8 My computer is my personal assistant

Do you know how many meetings I missed because I didn't have the calendar from my computer, or my email? MAN! Sorry everyone!

Off the Grid

The Experiment: One month with the computer, tv, and radio off, completely.

At the beginning of the year the thought came to me to have a sort of media fast, no tv, no computer, no radio for a month. I've been asked a lot about my reasons. Some people think I'm crazy, some think I have some special powers that allow me to survive off-line for any amount of time, some think I have a vendetta against techonology and I think it's evil so I want to rid it from my life. None of these things is true, except maybe for the crazy part.... I've never been officially diagnosed. :)

Reason #1: Elder Bednar's talk about techonology inspired me to be less dependent on it, and more reliant on the gifts God has given me to experience this wonderful beautiful world, and everything and everyone on it.

Reason #2: Psalms 46:10 "Be Still and know that I am God." I've heard many talks about how the "noise" of the world, literal and figurative, can prevent us from feeling the promptings of the Holy Spirit. I wanted to see if I could open myself up to those promptings by eliminating some of the noise.

Reason #3: I wanted to see if I could do it.

Reason #4: They say it takes 20 or so odd days to develop a habit. I was hoping it only took 30 or so to un-learn one.

I learned a lot about myself, and it was a great experience, albeit difficult. I would recommend it to anyone. Although I will say that this was not intended to last forever. I am not writing off all technology or media. I appreciate it perhaps more now than I did before. But seriously, a month? Anyone can do this for a month.

I'll share a few of the things I learned on the blog over the next month, in case you were curious. :)

Lesson Learned #1: The kids don't want to watch movies nearly as much as I want them to watch moveis.

I thought this experiment would be most difficult on the kids who wouldn't understand the purpose. Jeremiah often said "Hey mom, can we watch a movie on netflix!?" So I thought he was as addicted to media as I was.

I was wrong. First day I explained my plan like this: "We're doing a little experiement. We're not going to turn the tv or the computer, or the radio on all month long, which means no movies, and no games on the computer. But that means that mom won't have any work to do on the computer, so I'll have more time to play with you guys. That is our experiment and our hypothesis is that we will be able to find so many new and exciting things to do instead!" His response "You mean you could play games like TAG with me?!" Yup. he was so excited about the opportunity to spend more time with mom, that he didn't care about not having movies or the computer. And I could probably count on one hand the number of times during the month that he asked me to watch a movie or play a game on the computer. When he did he was easily redirected to a different activity. But there were a lot of times that my mind automatically thought "boy, if only I could put a movie on for the kids."..... But I did it! I managed an entire month without the tv-babysitter for even a minute and I STILL managed to get a TON done, play with the kids, have cheerful children, and a relatively clean house, run all my errands, fulfill all my responsibilities, and read a book!

Conclusion: I can do this! Parenting is really hard, I'll be honest. But I can do hard things. the TV doesn't make it as easy as I always thought it did. It was just as easy (most of the time) without it. I can do this! And my kids are not the ones propelling our media consumption, it's me! I really never knew this! I always thought that they fought for it. I was truly surprised.

More lessons learned to follow, and pictures, mom, I promise. Have a FANTASTIC week of Spring!

Picture Post

My mother chastized me for starting my media fast without first posting pictures, which I hadn't done in a while anyway. So this post is dedicated to her:

{{Post-Edit: Greg built shelves in our garage. He did a great job, with enough room underneath that we can pull our cars forward still if we wanted to, or if we got a longer vehicle like a van and needed the space. The kids helped a little.}}
 

 

{{Post Edit:  the carseat is one that I re covered for my sister in law, having her first girl after three boys. She picked out such great fabric, that it turned out so well. I was pleased.}}

 

 

 

 

 

{{Post Edit: Leah and Jeremiah were playing Dragons and Knights. Jeremiah helped Leah slip into Colettes halloween costume from last year.... she was 4 months old. SO funny!}}
 

 

 

 

{{Post-Edit: sorry I look gross. I was getting read for a CERT training exercise, but it was my birthday, and I was so excited for everything the kids, and Greg had planned for me. It turned out wonderful. PS, the kids can't keep secrets very well.}}
 

 

 

Media Fast

Dear Friends and Family,
In the month of April I've decided to have a media fast, or, an electronic media fast. Which means no computer, radio, or tv for the entire month. This includes email. Since I won't be checking my email this month (something I do multiple times a day now), it would be best to call me if you need to talk to me. I'll check my email again May 1. and I'll also write about my month and what I learn (I hope its a lot) on the blog, so check back may 2. Thanks everyone. I promise I will keep my phone charged and I'll try to answer it when it rings. :) Thanks!

Compelled

I've been reading a lot about these two concepts, and thought I'd share.

Zero-Waste
Yes, I'm on the band wagon. I've been doing a ton of reading and I love the idea of making the transition to zero-waste in the next few years. I'd love to do it all at once, but I know it will be a transition, as we wear out our current stuff and replace it with zero-waste stuff. (sorry, I couldn't find a better word than STUFF)

Zero-Net-Energy
Ok, so its not going to happen in our current house, but in a few years, when we move, I'm going to have a new wish list, and going to look a lot closer at the energy efficiency of a home. I had no idea that homes were built so Inneficiently, and this website has so many ideas and suggestions for things we can do our current homes to improve it! Hurray! We're insulating our garage this week, and putting up insulating curtains in the kids room. I'll let you know when we see an improvement.

Any fantastic ideas that you've read about?

Problem Solved

I figured it out.

My mom is my bosom friend.

:) Now if only she lived closer.