Every Day Happenings

It's been a little while since I've posted about the every day happenings of our world. So I'll take a minute to do so. Here's an idea of our typical day.

Lately I've been trying out a new concept. It's called waking up with the sun:) Once we're all settled for bed we actually open our blinds and curtains just before falling asleep. Then Leif and I are able to slowly wake up as the sun rises. This has been really helpful for both of us. It's not so hard for Leif to get up for work and I'm not as distraught when Jakob comes to my bed to ask if it's morning time (the morning sun makes it kind of obvious;).

From there, I climb out of bed and it's time for showers. During Jakob's shower I sit and read to him from the Book of Mormon. Today we read about Abinadi. Tomorrow we'll find out how King Noah reacted to his prophecies.

As Jakob gets dressed and earns his Accountable Kid's ticket for the day, I make breakfast. Lately the normal meal is fruit or oatmeal. By 9:45, it's time to meet our friends and go for our morning walk. We walk about a mile or more and our middle destination is the local cemetery at the edge of town. The kid's like to hear who is buried in the very decorated plots. This is not your "typical" cemetery.

After our walk I take Jakob to school. While he's in school Caleb naps, and I do my school work. Occasionally I'll fit in my house chores. Thanks to my sister's willingness to talk me through it, I usually manage to get the dishes done once each week (the sad thing is, you think I'm kidding;) Thank Heaven's for Paper Products!!!

A couple hours later, I drag Caleb from his deep sleep and go pick Jakob up from school. We get home in time to get a bite to eat and then Leif gets home from work. This is our FAVORITE part of the day!! Papa is very special in our home!

Once Papa's home the second half of the day begins. Sometimes we jump right into family chores. Other times (like today) Leif and I will study together while Jakob uses his AK ticket to watch a movie. After study time it's family time. Now that it's spring we head outside! First we work together taking care of the outside chores. Then we usually eat our dinner outside. After that, Jakob insists on playing together for a while. From there, we reluctantly go inside to do inside chores. We work together to get our little cottage straightened and sanitized. By then, it's quiet time. This usually means "Grandma Time" or "Story Time." If grandma and grandpa are home we usually find our way over there or they find there way over here. If it's quiet time, we'll either all do our own thing (Blogging, Jazz Game, Coloring and Clay, etc.) Or, we'll sit down together and Leif will read us a book (right now it's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.")

By the time 8:00-9:00 rolls around, it's bed time! Leif is my hero and he still takes on the roll of putting Jakob to bed. This is a whole routine in and of itself. While he does that, I get Caleb ready for bed. We all pray together, Leif finalizes Jakob, and I go finish putting Caleb to bed. Ahhh! Silence....

The in between details lately revolve around keeping/getting everyone healthy, and building our little farm and garden. Caleb is feeling better and it was time to decide whether to do tubes or not. We decided to try one more thing before we tried surgery. We took him to an osteopath today. He was able to do some adjustments, acupressure, and drainage today. All of this has very high success rates for infants with Chronic Ear Infections. So here's hopin'! Leif came down last night with a large swollen lump over one of his sinuses above a tooth that we knew needed a root canal. BUMMER! I rubbed olive, lavender, tea tree, and eucalyptus oils over it on the outside, and ground clove inside his mouth. This morning the swelling was gone. I'll do the same tonight and we'll make an appointment to get the tooth fixed. As for me, well, I have good days and bad days. I have serious issues with chronic bone and muscle pain. I'm working with my Dr as well as the knowledge that I'm gaining through school to figure it all out and create a better game plan. In the meantime, I just try to stay healthy and have as many good days as I can!

As for our little farm and garden, we are having a lot of fun! Tonight we spent our quiet time researching and deciding what chickens we're going to get. We're going to get a few really neat kinds. When the decisions are final, I'll post pictures. I really am looking forward to the chickens after reading about each of them. We're going to choose the chickens that are the most friendly and prone to becoming more like pets. It will be fun!:) Our garden will be huge this year! Tomorrow we're cleaning out the green house (NOT a small project!) Wish us luck!!!

Life is good. I am half way through my schooling. Leif is almost done with the school year. Which means work is almost over. He's doing well in school. And we're REALLY looking forward to a FABULOUS Summer together! I can't wait to tell you about our Summer Plans! That will be tomorrow;)

Until Then... G' Night!