We have too many toys in our house... that is the opening line to way to many conversations between my husband and I. I think because we both grew up in larger families and felt like we did with out in some areas, we over compensate with our own children. Granted we have four of them and money is always tight. But some how the toy collection just keeps growing and growing and growing! We have a playroom. A room that is a decent size and is completely dedicated to the housing of said toys. That room looks like a tornado blew through on any given day. I counted the toy boxes (rubbermaid storage containers of the medium to large variety) there are 12 of them! Holy cow 12 toy boxes!! Each of my four kids have two boxes of toys, one dress up box, 2 baby doll boxes and 1 play kitchen box! As you can see there is a good reason for a lot of conversations revolving around the amount of toys our kids have. So yesterday, feeling quiet ready to start my spring cleaning, I decided to venture into the danger zone (playroom) and started to purge. I tried really hard not to think about where the toy came from or anything sentimental. I simply looked at how much does it get played with and more importantly how tired am I of picking up said toy. Once the determination was made with the above criteria the toy was put in either the give away pile or back into the toy box to live another day. My bestest friend in whole world gave me some great advice about purging toys. She said that I should set aside one box of sentimental toys. Maybe some that really have a meaning or that all my kids got to play with. At the time I thoughtno way I am getting rid of it all. But then when I actually started the process, I had to admit to myself somethings needed to be saved. Like the it's a boy beanie baby we got when #1Son was born, the tummy time toy that all my kids have just adored, the Elmo (sack race) toy the #1Son and BB both played with so much, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet nite time toy that sings a lullaby, etc... I set aside a toy box just for keep sakes. After 3 hours I had narrowed the excess down to...

drum roll please****

Each child has one toy box!

I gave away (actually dropped off to the thrift store) 2 45 gallon contractor grade black trash bags full of toys!!!!

We have one keep sake box that will go in the attic.


And I can finally walk through the playroom. I still have a little bit of organizing to do and I may even give away some more things. But I am so proud that I was able to purge as much as I did. It felt so liberating. It was kind of weird cause I felt like that was a lot of money gone out the window. But at the same time I felt like maybe some other children would be blessed by getting some nice toys from the thrift store. So it was definatley a win win situation.

Now I am going to tackle all the clothes that are piling up around here.

Looks like this year it won't be deep cleaning and window washing its going to be purging as a theme for my spring clean.

I am determined to get organized no matter what.

Now that I am feeling better and things are relatively back in order around here...
I am the most terrible blogger. I think everyday about the things I want to blog but then life gets in the way. I guess with 4 under 6 I can not expect a lot of down time. Since we moved into our new house I have been waiting for our routine to kick in. It has been 4 weeks now. I have the bedtime thing down again. One of the best blessings about this house is that my kids are not all sharing one bedroom anymore and so bed time now takes 30-45 minutes instead of 3-4 hours. I thought when we were in our apartment that I might just lose my mind over bedtime. It was crazy I would put them all to bed around 8:30pm and the last one would fall asleep around 11:30pm. Of course I would always think that they would sleep in more but NO! The first one would wake up and the rest would follow way too quickly! SO now that the girls have a room and the boys have a room, bedtime is awesome! So the routine is re-established. Bath time is working better too. As well as meal times (for the most part). Nap times are glorious! If only I could get BB and Princess to sleep at exactly the same times I could get a full two hours of peace. OK so routines are getting back in order. So, why then is there not enough hours in the day? Did someone shorten them to 20 hour days and not tell me? Seriously, I am finding it crazy to fit everything in.
My business is on the back burner (for a little while). I just can't seem to fit in the work I need to dedicate to it. I actually feel like a slacker. But then when I have days like yesterday, where I got up and started cleaning the house and did not stop until 9pm and still had more to do, I tell my self Superwoman could not do any better. How do other women do it? I look at their houses, so spotless and orderly. I am ashamed that mine looks like a national disaster area all the time. I wonder how does one get to all the chores everyday? I mean I know I am a natural born procrastinator. Probably a little lazy, scatter brained and naturally blond. But seriously! How is it done?

OK so that is my mood today. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned yesterday. Because when Mommy gets sick the house goes to pieces and it takes twice as many days to set it straight. What do they do when I am in bed? At least no one was neglected or hurt. Daddy says that it is because only the Mommy actually knows how to do EVERYTHING...hmmm sounds good to him I think.

Right before I got sick our life got turned a little topsy turvy (again). DH's 19 year old cousin (I'll call her Silly girl) came to stay here. How this exactly happened is a blur to me. She came up from Louisiana with her Mom and Sister to see Pop. You know when the hospital mistakenly told he was going to die. BTW He is recovering nicely from a surgery and on the road to recovery. Their visit was scheduled to last only a few days. Silly girl came to visit us and DH's other cousin (we'll call her My wifey). So Silly girl decided she wanted a change of pace. Life is not so good for her in LA. She has had it really hard in her short life. Lots and lots and lots of dysfunction. I should have known DH could not resist helping someone. He has such a big heart. I think half the time we have someone living with us who is trying "to start a new life". So it is with Silly girl. We have strict guidelines for. And being a teenager she is totally finding her boundaries. But on the whole I can not complain. She lives here and right now till she gets a job, I have a live in babysitter. That is nice for sure. We are hoping she can find a direction for her life so that things will get better. If nothing else we want to expose her to a different kind of family life. Maybe she will be able to see what a functional family looks like. I am hoping and praying that things work out for the best.

I have to go and start my list of to do things...you know like set up appointment for #1Son to register for school, make BB a Dr appt, make Princess a Dr appt, clean up the house, file paper work, hmmm I know there is more but right now all I can think is pour another cup of coffee...yeah that is what I will do.

Till next time...

On Friday I turned yet another year older. I had all these great plans for my birthday. DH was going to take me out, yes just me and him, you know a REAL date! We planned on dinner, a movie and possibly a little birthday shopping. Yea!! I mean we NEVER get to go out with no children. I woke up Friday to my DH's darling cousin standing beside my bed with the most beautiful boquet of flowers (yellow and red mini roses...my favorite) and a card. I was so surprised!! And felt so special! DH told me to get dressed he was taking me to lunch. Another surprise since our plans were for Saturday! So I got ready left our kids with our new live in babysitter (more on that one later) and left for lunch and a little shopping. There was this nagging feeling of illness but I just kep thinking it was because I skipped breakfast. Lunch was great. We went to our favorite little dive. They have great food at really affordable prices and the atmosphere is great. By the time we finished lunch and walked across the parking lot to a little boutique I wanted to check out I was not feeling well at all. After glancing around the boutique I decided we needed to go home. Things were going south fast! I started to fall asleep in the car. That never happens. Of course I was totally racking my brain trying to think of any explaination that would make me not sick! I mean come on itis my birthday! I don't want to be sick on my birthday. We got home and I totally changed into sweats made sure the babies were fed and down for a nap and crawled into my pillowy soft bed. DH had not even gotten ready for work or anything. NOrmally I see him off and then decided whether a nap is in order or not. I fell asleep, you know the kind of coma llike sleep that makes you feel like you have not slept in a week straight? I did not wake up until 5pm! That is five striaght hours of completely uninterupted sleep! How that happened I am not even sure. As soon as I opened my eyes I knew how sick I was! My whole entire body hurt. And I was shivering cold despite the fact that I was wearing sweat pants, t-shirt and thick socks, not to mention the quilts on the bed. Can anyone say fever?!?! Thank God, Silly Girl, (Daddy's cousin) was here to help. I was completely out of it for 24 hours and then even today I am still feeling weak and queazy. I have no idea what this Death bug was but it was aweful. DH now has it and my kids are showing a few symptoms! I rang in my 32nd year in style! Hopefully this is no an omen of how the rest of the year will go?!?!

As I was reading all my favorite blogs today I got an award. I am so honored. Honestly I did not realize anyone actually reads my blog regularly...but now... well let's just say I am touched. Thanks Farmwife! It means a lot to me :)

So here's how it works:

The rules for the “You Make My Day” award are to re-present it to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blog land. Let them know through email or by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on.

My nominees are:

1. A wandering heart's musings

2. Zann's A Place to ponder

3. Jenster's Musings

4. Sarah's secret life

5. Farmwife (probably not supposed to pass it back but I can not help it! You make my day!

6. Caroline and Kimberly's spot

7. The life and times of HT

8. Ordinary Days

I am two short but honestly those are all the blogs I currently read. Each of you has really touched my heart and made my day. When I feel all alone in the trenches of motherhood. I am only one post away from a laugh, a kindred spirit, an uplifting remark, or a chance to be a friend to someone who is having a hard day. Thank you all for sharing your lives, it really means a lot!

What a week

Oh boy I have had a busy week! It all started Saturday. I was in a lazy mood, not wanting to do anything or go anywhere. It was a good plan. Until that evening. I discovered that Princess Fairheart had cut her first two teeth! I was so excited to find her teeth because she is the first of my children that I discovered her teeth first. With the other children it was always someone else. #1Son my sister found his first tooth. He bit her one morning. Weewee's first tooth was found by my MIL. And BB's first tooth was accidentally discovered by my MIL as well. She thought I had already found it. So, I have been anxiously looking for PF's first tooth. I found it Saturday evening! I immediately called my MIL to tell her I finally found one of the kid's teeth first! When I called her house I found out she was up at the hospital. DH's grandfather (Pop) was there. He was in really bad shape. The Doctor told us he only had hours to live. He was in multiple organ failure, or so they told us at the time. Of course we dropped everything, called for someone to watch our children and rushed to the hospital. Our whole family was sad and scared. We all went to say goodbye and hope that he passed quickly and painlessly. I spent the night in the hospital with him. Not wanting him to be alone, we all took shifts. I stayed there for more than 24 hours straight. Emotionally and physically drained, I came home Sunday night. I just needed to see my babies, take a shower and get some sleep. My phone rang off the hook. Every time it rang I expected the worst. We pretty much spent the next 24 hours in that state, waiting and fearing the worst. When the doctor came in Monday, the whole scenario changed. He was amazed that Pop was still with us. They wanted to do a surgery to explore what was going on. But our family asked them to run tests first. After more blood work and a CAT scan, they discovered that they were wrong about his diagnosis. OK there were a lot of emotions that went with that announcement! First I was mad that they got it so wrong. Then I was relieved that he was not as sick as we thought. And then there was the feeling that things could still be really bad. The doctors discovered that instead of having an embolism (blood clot) that cut the blood supply off to his major organs. He had a blockage in his intestines. Apparently he had a lot fluid on his belly (that they drained off) and when the pressure was relieved the blood flow was restored and his prognosis was much improved. He still needs a surgery to repair his bowel and stomach. Now they are trying to get his strength up so that they can operate. Tentatively on Monday.
I think it is interesting to note that you never know how much someone has affected your life until you are faced with losing them. I have not cried for anyone (who passed) since I was 7 years old and lost my Great Grandfather (my hero) and my Great Aunt in the same couple of months. I remember after Granddad passed and I cried for a week straight, I told myself that I would not cry for anyone else. I haven't. I am not a cold person. I just never have grieved like that again. I am the strong one. I don't break down. I stay strong for everyone else. But on Sunday I found myself in such a state of grief. I love Pop! He has been such a force in my life. Until this past year (his health declined so much) I had been pretty close to him. I always tried to make sure we visited him, brought him groceries, spent time with him, etc... Then he moved into my MIL's house (to have 24 hour care) and his started developing dementia. We have not been as close. Mostly because he has a hard time remembering who I am. I feel like it has been a long goodbye. One that I had prepared myself for. Yet, as we sit on the brink, not knowing how much longer he has, I am deeply sad that he will not get to see my kids grow. He has always been all about the kids. On Sunday, while his hospital room was filled beyond capacity with all the people who love him, he told his older sister that all he wanted was "his". His children, their children and their children's children. He needed his family! That really sums it up! When I first met Pop, six years ago, I was pregnant with #1Son. I will never forget what he said to me. He told me that people come and go, but our children are the only thing worth dying for. Our children are our life. They have to be the most important thing. Never choose anything over your children. He went on to tell me how many times he had been married and how it never mattered if those women came and went. All that ever mattered was that his kids were OK. Today that conversation is still as fresh as the day we had it. He was right. People will come and go but our children are our legacy. I just hope that someday when it is my time to go, I will have mattered as much as Pop has mattered to all of us!
We will see how this all plays out. The only ting I know today is that we have him for now. We are treasuring each moment until the end. And when he is gone there will be a huge hole in all of us.

I am sorry that the tone of this post is sad. But that is where I am right now. I am living in the moment.

Until next time...

When did this happen?

I totally stole this from Farmwife. How could I pass this one up?!?! I have seen these stickers on cars all over the place. I love love love them. I have even looked everywhere (OK not everywhere obviously I forgot to look online) for them. Silly me. So, I of course went to the site and played with different designs. What else is a girl to do, when procrastinating against her real responsibilities? I made up a really cute sticker (much like the one here) and showed it to DH. Who fell in love and said we had to have one for my car. He did not even blink at the price. I however, being the frugal Mommy, had to think about it for about 2 hours before I actually placed the order! I am so excited that I did. When did this happen that a sticker could rock my world? I mean seriously! It doesn't take much anymore I guess. I feel like it's Christmas or my birthday. I am eagerly anticipating the arrival (in 7-10 business days) of my package! If you want to check it out click here.

I posted the other day about A Look into my heart and I just wanted to share a couple of things that happened after that. I received an email from a dear friend of mine (who I am pretty sure does not read this blog). It was such a beautiful story about the importance of time. I would post it here but it is really long. And I have plagiarised enough for tonite. Anyway one of my deeper wishes is to know that my life matters to someone or for something. I just really wanted to know. I have no idea why I wrote that at the moment I did. But at that moment I wanted to feel like I had made a difference to someone. The next morning I woke up and checked my email and there as plain as day was a message that (in a nut shell) told me that I had made a difference to someone. I know these kind of messages go around (a lot) but the wording in this one was too close to what I had wished for. Weird huh? It gets better... that afternoon my MIL showed up out of the blue. She never does that. She just decided to stop by and see us. She was in the best mood I had ever seen her in. We had a lovely visit. During her visit she offered me new (to me) bedroom furniture. Actually it is my DH's Grandfather's set and it is very nice and high quality. She just thought I might like to have a nice bedroom set that matches! That was part of another wish I had. She also does not read this blog! How weird is that??? OK just one more. I also wished for a magic wand to organize my home. No, I did not get the wand but I was given the (financial) ability to purchase some organization things I needed. I also got to buy curtains. Now, I know you are thinking curtains?? Who doesn't have curtains?? Well, I have never lived anywhere that I needed to buy curtains for. There have always been some kind of window treatments (pre-existing) where ever we have lived. I am not a stylist, designer, or even very domestic. So I always leave up the plain blinds and go with that. It does the job. But in the past couple of years I have had the desire to create a warm and inviting home. Not an easy feat without curtains. So, when we moved into this house and there were no, none, nada window treatments. No blinds. No shades, No hardware to hang curtains. You get the picture. I decided to start domesticating our home. I know nothing about this so, we spent the first two weeks in our new home with sheets tacked to the windows. Yesterday, when I could not take it any longer I broke down and went out and bought curtains, shades, curtains rods, and hardware to install it all. I stayed up until 1:30am installing all this stuff. But I got the basics done. Hmmm....I think I have uncovered a hidden talent. I love this. I want to learn to sew, have you seen the price of curtains?!?! Again, when did this change in me take place? If you would have told me 10 years ago that any of this domestication was going to happen I would have laughed so hard I'd have fallen over. But here I am 31 (almost 32) years old and I am turning into my mother. Well, sort of. Anyway, I liked picking out the curtains and putting them up. DH better watch out I think I just learned how to spend his money on something other than diapers and formula.

I just posted a new post on We Have our own playgroup check it out :)