Gratitudes

I'm grateful today for A/C.

I'm grateful today that I have the ability to stay home and take care of our kids and home and I have the freedom to choose if I want to work outside of the home or not.

I'm grateful today that when an urgent email went out on the PTA email list- that the middle school's A/C was out and they needed ice, water, and fans to distribute around to classrooms, I was able to help out.

I'm grateful that I'm now sitting in my house with the A/C on... and I'll be meeting my 6th grader with a nice big ice cold drink when I pick him up from school in an hour.

September

How can it be the second weekend in September already??

I feel like I just want to put our life on pause and enjoy the time we are in now.  We have had a very full and fun August and begining of September.  Alyssa had her birthday, I was released from Young Womens and called into Primary as the Secretary, we went to Branson, we had a birthday party for Alyssa, we went and found out school class assignments, we had Grandparents come into town, Alex had his birthday, the kids had their first day of school, more grandparents came into town, Alex was ordained a Deacon, we found out about renting/vs/buying school instruments and hunted down a Cornet for Alex, Grandparents went home,  An Uncle, Aunt and Cousin came to visit and stay, Cub Scouts and Activity Days started back up from their summer break, Alex had his first scout camp-out, and we've had some friends spend the night a few nights.

Sigh.... I know that was a long run-on sentence... I feel like it was a long run-on month! lol! :)

Something I'm realizing is that life doesn't slow down, and it doesn't pause.  It only get's busier and busier as the kids get older.  I do have a few hours each day now while they are all at school, but that time get's filled up rather quickly with errands, exercise, appointments, and volunteering at the schools.

I do look towards next year when Angela will be at school all day long and wonder what I'll fill the time with then, but I have a year to figure that out, and I can take that time then to figure it out. :)

I've allowed my eating to pack on a few pounds again so I'm yet again going to be embarking the path of dieting...

My goal really is to just get to the point that I can comfortably maintain a healthy weight with my level of exercise, and still be able to enjoy treats on occasion.  Finding the happy medium has been my problem in the last few years, but I'm ready to try it again.

I find that I miss writing down my thoughts here... I need to try and get back to the blog more often. :)

I did put a whole slew of pictures up on the family blog yesterday.  Click on over to our Newton Family Blog to see pictures of some of the fun we had last month! :)

The summer has flown by

And I haven't posted much at all.  Angela and Ashley both had their birthday's and we had birthday parties.  We went to Tennessee for a week, and we have played with friends, swam at the pool, and watched lots of tv inside the house with the A/C cooling us off.  It has been hot this summer, and this week it is even hotter... we are supposed to be at or close to 100 + all week long.

Today is Alyssa's birthday.  She is seven years old!  We are just having a little family party for her today, and will have a "friend" party in a few weeks when friends are back from their vacations- right before school starts.

Later this week we'll head over to Branson for a few days to just get away and have some fun playing with the kids, swimming, watching some shows and just spending some good family time together without all the other distractions we have at home.

Procrastination...

I feel like that has been my achilles heel in my life.  I procrastinate doing things until the last minute.

I procrastinated sending out invitations to the girls birthday parties till almost too late...

I procrastinate cleaning the house until it is just a  mess and takes twice as long to clean...

I procrastinate gathering up library books and usually forget that they are due- until 11pm that night...

I've been procrastinating learning how to make crepes.  I have friends that make them, Ashley and Rich both love them and have been asking me to learn how to make them forever...

Ashley asked for a birthday dinner to have crepes.  And so I looked up the recipe, read up on the technique, and then made them... and was super suprised at how simple and easy they were to make...

I have leftover batter in the fridge and now I'm debating whether I should make some for breakfast... or since it's past 10am... brunch!

Time flies! Catching up and a jumble of thoughts.

I know I've used that title many times.  I find myself forgetting to just sit down and pull up this blog and update it.

So since I last wrote, Rich and I got to go on a cruise to Progresso and Cozumel in Mexico.  We loved the entire week.  It was fun to have time away from the kids, see new sights, eat food without having to prepare or clean it up, and travel with friends as well.

We've decided that we are ready for another cruise in the future, so if you have one you want to go on, and are looking for friends to take it with you give us a call. :)

School is over and the kids all passed.  Alex will be going into 6th grade next year and that's a transition that I think I'm more nervous about than he is.  He is excited.  Angela will be in Kindergarten.  I only have one more year to have her at home with me for part of the day.  It seems like she is so little, but she will be 5 next week.  Time really does fly.  I don't really have a baby, or toddler, or pre-schooler any more.

I've also realized that we have lived here in Oklahoma in one house for longer than almost any other place I've lived in my life.  The only time I've lived in one place for longer than the 5 1/2 years we've been in this house was when I was a kid growing up and we lived in Maryland from my 1st grade year through my 7th grade year at school.  6 years... that means 6 more months and I will have lived in Oklahoma for longer than any other place.  Even Utah when we lived there I was at home for 4 years, then I moved out and got married and then moved away.  I was there for 7 years, but lived in 5 different places during those 7 years.

I find myself looking around the house trying to figure out where I can move things and "change things up" around the house.  I think that's really because I'm just so used to change.  I'm used to packing up, and moving and having new places to live that I have to figure out how to arrange things in different spaces.  Our house is sufficient for our needs and while a little more space might be nice, we really do fit in it just fine.  We finally have figured out the configuration of who's room should be where and what the other rooms purposes should be.  After 5 1/2 years I'm finally getting a little tired of the same color throughout the entire house (except for 2 of the kids rooms- everything is the same color we had it painted when we built the house).  Next month while I take the kids to Nashville to visit my sister and her family, Rich will spend his evenings after work with a project of painting 3-4 rooms in the house.  I think that might satisfy my inate desire to change things up in the house. :)  I'll also be painting Alyssa and Angela's room upstairs and turning it into more of a "girly" room.

Now that the kids are all home for the summer I feel like each day is slipping past us.  We haven't done anything worthy of any great summer vacation stories.  I was able to go to Girls Camp for one night and two days and I had a great time there with the Young Women in our ward.  Other than that we've had days filled with friends playing, swimming at the pool, and lots of movies and tv and video games.  I think I'm getting past the "honeymoon" phase of summer vacation and I'm ready to start putting a little bit of structure into our days...  like requiring the kids to turn off all electronics once I'm up and we have breakfast and playing outside for a little while.  Also cleaning rooms... and maybe even sorting through toys and clothes and bagging up what we don't use/need anymore.  We can get stuff done in the mornings before the pool is open and then still have the whole afternoon left to swim and play.

But we shall see... I'll admit I LOVE that I'm able to sleep in and wake up and not worry about the messes I might wake up to- entire boxes of cereal dumped into the carpet like I have in past years. lol!