"Mom, you're beautiful"

I must write some sweet moments of a new day where I am giving my 100% to my family. Yes, I am resolved to put my family's needs ahead of mine, as most moms do. I haven't lived up to that as much as I imagined I would have. I've been burnt for a long time and selfish too. But I've been climbing out of that fog recently and the sun feels good!




Up and at it at 6:15, even though I got to sleep around 12 or 1ish. No sleeping in just a little longer. I rather enjoy less than hectic mornings, as do our sweet girls.What to eat for breakfast? We love oatmeal bites. I only used a tbsp. of mini chocolate chips to make it appealing, but less sugar. There's enough! Didn't have the flax or wheat germ handy, nor the vanilla and I used agave instead of honey because Katie's not a huge fan of the flavor. Yes, I understand that agave may be as bad as corn syrup, but by golly we're using up the huge container we have of it. I seriously made a peace sign out of the balls. It was awesome. Those sat in the fridge as the sleepy heads made their way out of bed. I read a few stories from the children's New Testament stories. I'm striving to be a good Christian Mama here and it felt good inside to read about Jesus as our day began!




Clothes were actually clean, with no holes or major stains, shoes lined up at door and coats hung up on our new coat rack courtesy of Rob's handyman work. Thank you babe! I LOVE it. We made it to the bus in time, barely :-P We really need to get into the habit of heading out the door 5 minutes earlier, at least, so if anyone is taking their sweet time we can still make it.




I found an AWESOME station called Sistas in Zion and listened to a great interview of Garth Smith, a Dad of 10 kids. I appreciate hearing how FUN and GREAT it is to raise a large family. That's what I imagined before I had kids! Granted ours is half the size, but it's large, nonetheless! And yes, it is great and fun sometimes, but I want that theme to stretch a little farther and more often than it has the last few years. He had good advice, showed his imperfection, but true effort and care in the way he and his wife approached their kids. He's the author of Wiring Kids for Success in Life. Definitely on my bucket list, as I shift my priorities and interest in what matters absolutely most. My family. PS He's from Idaho ;-)




While I listened to these two sassy, comical Sistas, Addy and I folded some laundry and she wanted to put them all away, giddy as can be, for having a job and feeling big. She is our sunshine, no doubt.




My Dad came over and we visited and talked in depth as we often do. He's one of the few people on earth I do that with and I appreciate that so much. Really the only one, besides a few rare moments with friends. Just like his Mom called him once and said she missed their conversations, if he weren't around I would feel the same way by far. I miss talking to Grandma Slocum too.




We headed out to pick up Bri from school and get a bite to eat. We ended up at Olive Garden. I started counting calories today on www.loseit.com and man alive I knew Olive Garden would be tricky! I still enjoyed myself and cut my lunch right in half... and still ate 900 calories including my 2 breadsticks and salad. Wowza! So I totally went over today. Some chocolate didn't help, but I actually felt hungry a couple times today and THAT says something. If I actually stick to this I could apparently lose the 30lbs I want to, by August. Oh would that be joyous!




I quit Facebook temporarily. I said it could be for a few hours or a few days and it's kind of both. I have been on a couple times, but I've done no commenting or liking of anything so I don't get any feedback and I deactivated my account each time I logged off so it lessens the information I receive. I've also spent WAY LESS time on the computer and more one on one time with my wee ones which is the whole point. Love is spelled T.I.M.E.




Dad snoozed for a bit after we got home. I could feel that nap calling my name after all the awesome carbs we enjoyed. I had water though, not soda! Every little bit counts. Pat on the back ;-)




Oh, and this morning I whipped the upstairs into shape. Picked up and vacuumed, our home is so very pleasant and beautiful. I did get to the kitchen towards dinner and still have a few dishes, but its much better. Bedrooms are in serious need of clean-up but I'm hoping to clear some room in the laundry area before adding to it. Also threw together a crockpot meal. Getting dinner on the table consistently has not been a talent of mine, but it will be my friend. It will.




Dad left after a bit and I got us ready to skidaddle. We picked up the 3 big girls to head off to jump roping. I offered to take our neighbor girl who's babysitter lives right near the school this clinic is at. She did awesome! Bri is also getting better and holy cow, Katie can do some tricks now. Amazing how it works if you keep at it. We've only done it a few weeks. Emma didn't feel 100% today and she's not as enthused with it, but she's tried quite a bit and I hope she will continue. If they all learned it we'd have our own team right here on our street ;-) The way it works is that this is a free clinic taught weekly by ProForm Airborne Jump Rope Team. Pre-teens and teens are the teachers. The kids in the clinic have to learn several things before moving to the next group. There are several groups. If you get through it all you have the opportunity to join the team. The first thing is to jump rope 25 times in a row and then you're learning different ways of doing it right off the bat. I'll have to get a video of Katie's new moves on here!




Speaking of her, she just became a 'Star Student' which means she's being very responsible and getting her work done. 90% of the time she finishes her daily math homework before she gets off the bus for me to pick her up. Go Katie! We're determined to get busier with spelling, as that is a challenge.




Emma is happier with school these days. Sadly, a girl that used to be her best friend, but seemed to be causing issues with this group of 3 girls, left the school and Emma's been happier ever sense. I hope she's happier too. I volunteered in her classroom last week to help kids read and she was so happy I came. I'm glad too because I feel awful this is the first time this school year.




Bri seems to like school, though she doesn't like to sit too long. She thrives on being physical so if she doesn't get a long recess (they have to finish at least '3 works' during work time) she's pretty bummed. I was in her class room two weeks ago and she LOVED that I came. It is so amazing to see the work they can do. I do love the Montessori method. This week or next I plan on checking out Katie's class, though I don't know that parent volunteers are as common since it's a 5th and 6th grade class (with a few 4th graders like Katie).




So jump roping went great. We headed home and Brooklyn wanted to do her homework so Emma and Bri wanted to do theirs too! Well, they don't get homework, but we had stuff they could work on and boy were they happy to do it. Too cute. I think it would be wise to add in homework through out the week, but my focus for now is just trying to get them each to read or be read to daily which is task I have rarely met consistently. We're doing better and I can tell we're all happier for it. Katie loves finding out how many "AR points" her books are because she needs to read 25 points worth by February sometime. Gotta find out exactly when! If she likes a book she gets sucked it. If it's not her thing or too overwhelming, forget it. Her favorites are horse books of course.




After dinner Katie had her Family Home Evening lesson proudly planned out from yesterday and she did wonderfully. She chose 'service' and even made this awesome 3D 'circle of service' display. You know how you can make a line of paper dolls stuck together? On her first try she did it fine, stapled them into a circle and glue-gunned them standing up on a sheet of paper. She is so stinkin' creative, it's unreal!




The girls were happy and wild as we concluded with "Walking the dogs is fun to do," a Primary song that I made into a crazy tradition totally by accident. Once upon a time mom was showing the girls how to pretend walking an imaginary dog while singing above song. Then out of no where the imaginary dog yanked mom really hard and away I went, which followed with hysterical laughter. That was probably a couple years ago with few FHEs since but they won't forget it. We have had it for 4 weeks in a row, half of it with Rob. I honestly don't know that we've ever done that in Katie's nearly 10 years of life. I'm so glad we are.




Yes, my baby is going to be double digits. I have Art Lessons (with homework involved) planned for her starting next week. It's s surprise she'll soon know. She's wanted lessons for a few years now and the woman teaching it is a certified art teacher just 10 or 15 minutes away. The best part? She got all the supplies she needs for the class from Christmas! That was perfection. Okay, the best part is actually that she's going to get structured lessons on something she loves and has talent in. Oh the places she'll go. I know the same goes for all of our girls. She's just at that age where it's starting to shine more and more. I've told Rob that it's entirely possible that our children have more mature or older spirits than we do and they chose us, to help us get where we need to be.




Lastly, we managed to get ready for bed with only a bit of mayhem, but it was all happy thankfully. I tucked everyone in the same room, as they like to do sometimes. We sang a few songs together. I usually sing just one to Bri because she requests it almost every night. It was loverly to sing with my girls and feel Megan getting cuddling and getting sleepy in my arms in the dark. Addy was whining a bit because she knew what was coming and I admit she is my 2nd 3 year old that hasn't been taught to go to bed and stay there. I've been too lazy or 'done' which is no excuse. Bri was 4 before she went to bed properly. I plan to have Addy adjusted to a healthy reality of bed time before her 4th birthday.


Then I laid down with Megan and Addy because Megan wasn't quite ready to lay in her bed. She quickly fell back to sleep and it was perfectly quiet for several minutes. Prayers of gratitude. After laying Megan down in her bed, I laid next to Addy and our faces were close together. "You're beautiful Mom," says that sweet, honest, sincere voice of my 3 year old Adelynn Faith. I thanked her and said the same to her. THOSE are the moments that make this crazy life of a Motherhood worth it. I know I'll get to have more of them, perhaps not compliments very often, but awesome moments of enjoyment with my kids, as I put my energy into them and their wants, needs, and talents.




Eventually, everyone but Katie was asleep. I had dozed off and thought 'if I was smart I would get some pjs on and go to sleep right now.' I couldn't resist the quiet of the night and I am so happy it began at 9 o'clock, not 11!!!




I have felt the yearning of a radical paradigm shift and a Spiritual Journey NOW recently. The choices I'm making are because of these desires, which will ultimately lead to what I want most in life, a happy joyous, whole family.




Here is to a great Monday to begin our week. With love and gratitude, I thank my Heavenly Father for the gift of my life and being a part of the lives of my husband and our children. I feel humbled and grateful that I am trusted to love them and teach them what I can. I pray that I will live up to the promises I made before arriving to this earth. I am also thankful for my Savior and for the Atonement which allows me to repent of my wrong doings and heal not only myself by also for the healing of those I have hurt in any capacity. We are all truly blessed. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.


PS I discovered a blonde moment of mine which works out great. I put the WHOLE calorie amount of 'chicken scampi' into my loseit.com page and I only ate half of it! Whoops. That means I was UNDER the amount needed. High five! This is huge for me.

Food 1/4/14

Okay, so I started listing our food the other day on a different page and it looks like I can't put separate posts on there? I'll figure this out :-P I promptly stopped once 'dinner' hit and we were eating sugary cereal & treats. No planning = no good :-P

So I promise to list the good days just because I like to see it in writing and you can imagine the others :-P

PS Happiest Anniversary to Rob! 11 crazy awesome years :-)

Breakfast

Kids and Mama: 1 cupish of quick oatmeal (not as good as the real stuff... ours got ruined) with a swirl of honey, dash of cinnamon, and 1 tbsp dark brown sugar for all but Megan. She got 1/2 I think.

Oatmeal = 150 1 tbsp brown sugar = 45 swirl of honey =5 Total: 200 calories

Smoothies for kids. 1 cup for 3 eldest. 3/4 for 2 wee ones.

2.5? cups spinach
1 cup coconut milk
1 orange
1 cup grapes
slice of beet
2 cups frozen mango
1 tbsp. agave

Mom and Pop Smoothie. Split this in half...

 water
3 cups spinach = 21 calories
1 orange =59
1 cup grapes = 110
2 frozen bananas = 210
1 cup frozen mango = 90
(Thicker) slice of beet = 5
1 tbsp. agave = 60 calories

Total: 555/2 = 275 and 280 (I had a tiny bit more ;-)

Shannon's Breakfast/snack
(Still sipping on smoothie at 11am)
Total: 480 calories

2014 is here

I'm not recapping the last year and writing lengthy New Years resolutions. I may put some thoughts on the vast amount of change I want to ensue, but for now I want to pick up where I left off with no apologies for the time frame. Happy New Year!

I do love a fresh start and want to share this article that I read recently that fits perfectly into what I want right now. Forget Setting Goals. Focus on This Instead.

With that said. My theme for 2014 is (drum roll please) .........

JOY IN THE JOURNEY 

Perhaps more on that later. For now, it's to bed for me. I had a sweet nap on the coach alongside some cuddle bugs, got that second wind, and now need to finish a good night's rest. Note to self: Choose a cheerful attitude today depsite lack of sleep or anything else that is irritating me.

SS

PS If you want to catch up on what's been on my mind in the past here's my other blog. I debate combing all of my thoughts in one place, but I think I need to un-apologetically because it's who I am. I know people that don't agree with the alternative things I LOVE to learn about and believe in and that's ok. A Mama's Mind.

PPS I'm coming out here... I haven't shampooed my hair in two weeks. The shortest hair I've ever had, by the way. I got it cut on 12/13 and I LOOOVE it. More feelings on that later. Wow, I have a lot to say. I think 12/15 was the last day of commercial shampoo my friends. I HAVE cleaned my hair with a few different concoctions, but I will have to save details for another post. Yes, my hair is heavier and a wee bit greasier, but there is a PHASE where your scalp freaks out and secretes extra oils to compensate for the usual stripping that shampoo does. Then it relaxes, evens out and *hopefully* I get the best hair of my life. I'll post some articles later so I don't have to summarize it all here. I'm mostly doing it to have awesome hair and to avoid the chemicals that are in most shampoos. I'm too cheap to buy the fancy stuff and I admit I like making my own concoctions and being independent like that. Until then, my hair isn't as frizzy (duh), actually has body and some waviness, oh my.

9 is just fine!

Tonight I am spotlighting our eldest girl. She is growing by leaps and bounds, not only in her height, with lanky legs thanks to her Daddy's genes, but in maturity, ideas, reading, and creativity. And now the wee one is crying...Wasn't that a lovely post?

...Babe in arms. Let's proceed. Katie Lee has read handful of chapter books ranging from Judy Moody (which needs to be found ASAP because it's being requested at our library right now :-o), some of the American girl books, another American series of some sort, and the latest is about Annie Oakley. She plowed through a whole book today, sharing many facts that I'd never heard before.

To top off the excitement of reading, she got her first pair of reading glasses in today, right in time before her next adventure. She has a very small prescription that normally wouldn't require reading glasses, but we went in because her eyes were hurting after reading. With symptoms, it was a great idea. She may grow out of it. Either way, she was super excited to pick them out last week and absolutely squealed when she went to tell her sisters that we were going to pick them up today!

On Monday my baby girl who is nearly a young lady in so many ways, will be going to Utah to spend almost a week with her Aunt Aimee, Uncle Tyler, and lil' cousins Ace and Piper. What fun! She will remember this trip for years to come. She packed on Monday and she doesn't leave until this coming Monday :-P She meant to pack a little each day, but it was just too irresistible to not do everything. She just needs a new bathing suit since the fabric in hers is being weird and stretched out. Lastly, whatever books she's decided to bring. We got some at DI the other day. LOVE that place lately. I came away with a few books as well! Will post a picture of Katie with her new glasses ASAP.

Hi!

I hope to chronicle the happenings at the Steffler household, as well as our creations and adventures. Family is what it's about and we're striving to be more purposeful in our parenting. I want very much to create that (nearly) ideal family we'd daydreamed about when we were dating 11 years ago, where we were all super close and loved being together. Since we're human that doesn't always come naturally, but I'm striving to make it normal. I hope this will help me take more pictures as well and actually get IN some pictures too :-P I never put them on FB, mostly out of laziness. I own it! Well, I'm off to finish putting laundry away before I prep salad shtuff for dinner. Salad with chicken it is.

High Five!
SS