A Glimpse of One Moment in Time

As I was folding clothes a few days ago, I began listening to the sounds of my children. None of them were within eye-shot, so I started wondering what they all were doing. As I walked toward the sounds of activity, the first thing I saw were the twins playing quietly together with a box of blocks in the entryway...


This scene enchanted me, probably because I had waited for moments like these for so long during the grueling first year, times when they would simply play together and enjoy each other's company without me having to be right by their sides. I wanted to save this moment on film, so I did, then I thought I would catch what every other child was doing at that exact moment in time and save it to the camera as well. Here's what I found...


This is the 9-year-old boy vacuuming fruit flies from off the peaches. His brother is apparently advising him. A few months ago I posted photos of how our family does fruit, depicting bowl after bowl of various produce on our island and a commentator asked how we dealt with fruit flies. Question answered.


This is the 3-year-old boy trying to vacuum the fruit flies as well, but he can't figure out why he isn't having as much success with his attachment as his brother is with his.


Here we have the 14-year-old girl making cabbage soup. We had received three cabbages from some friends earlier that day and she knew it would be wise to use them as soon as possible. She suggested that she make cabbage soup for dinner, I stated that I thought it was a fine idea, she googled a recipe, and here she is carrying out her well thought-out plan.

When it came to finding the 7-year-old girl. It took a while. I looked in her room, the game room, the front yard, the side yard, and finally I found her in the back yard. I called her name, but she couldn't hear me. As I got closer, I heard her singing her heart out to a favorite song on her shuffle while admiring her dad's gardening. It was pretty dang precious.


And here is what I was doing before being distracted by wanting to document a moment in time...


P.S. If you're wondering where the other three children were, the 20-year-old girl lives on her own, and I actually tried to call her to see what she was doing, but couldn't reach her, the 17-year-old boy is in Alaska with his uncle and the 12-year-old boy was in scout camp!

P.P.S. Sorry about the bright window lighting in almost every photo!

I am pleased to list this post @...


Angie hosts "Wordful Wednesday" for those of us who don't like to keep our mouths shut for Wordless Wednesday. It's totally fun!

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Join Me For The "Make It From Scratch" Carnival!

Welcome to this week's...


...blog carnival! Being the host, I got to be the first to see all of the wonderful things people are making from scratch in the blogosphere. Rather than tell you about them, here - let me show you!

IN THE KITCHEN...

Seabird Chronicles presents "Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Frittata"...



It's Frugal Being Green presents "Mom's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies"...



Munchin' in Manilla presents "Homemade Banana Cue"...



Organizing on the Go presents "Easiest Birthday Cake Ever"...



The Austerity Kitchen presents "From the Viennese Woods: Bärlauch Soup"...



The Daily Balance prsents "Make it? Easter Desserts and a Special Chef"...



Funny About Money presents "Potatoes 'N' Cheese"...



Barbeque Recipes presents"Pineapple Barbeque Sauce".

The Digerati Life presents "Cheap Meals and Easy Dinner Ideas: Recession Dining For Under $10"...



Local Nourishment presents "Vegetable Soup".

The Smarter Wallet presents "Cheap Family Lives The Frugal Life With Ease"...



MV Legacy's Weblog presents "Hobos".

WParent.com - Wise Parenting Guide presents "Quick and Easy Wonton Soup"...



Christ's Bridge presents "Strawberry Gelatin".

Lamp Unto My Feet and Light Unto My Path presents "Great Grandma's Sugar Cookies - Shhhh!"...



Simply Forties presents "Cajun Spiced Grilled Shrimp and Corn Salad"...



11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven presents "Vegan Lemon Cheesecake"...



IN THE CRAFT ROOM:

Grandmother's Pattern Book presents "A week of Spring Crochet for your little ones - beginning with this Dropwaist Dress"...



How To Me present "How to Decorate Paper with Bubbles"...



Simply Beck's Bounty presents "A Gift From Dad to Cherubs"...



Taking Charge presents "Plastic to Picasso: Painting with a credit card is new artistic trend"...



IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM:

Bargaineering presents "Homemade Laundry Detergent Rocks!"...



So there you have it! Hope you have a great time perusing all of the awesome "Make It From Scratch" posts. Don't forget to leave comments to let our writers know they are appreciated! Next week's carnival will be hosted at Make It From Scratch. Make sure you don't miss it! Have a great day!

I am pleased to list this post @ Biblical Womanhood's "Frugal Friday". Check out her blog for TONS for great money-saving tips!
I am also pleased to list this post at...
-Tip Junkie's "Talk to me Tuesday",
-5 Minutes for Mom's "Tackle It Tuesday",
-Tammy's Recipe's "Kitchen Tip Tuesday",
-Blessed With Grace's "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday",
-Mary's "Tightwad Tuesday",
-Kim's "Tasty Tuesday" and
and -The Lazy Organizer's "Talk About Tuesday".

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Homemaker Monday: I have an unatural obsession with my oven timer and I'm okay with it.

Welcome to...

Thank you for joining us! If you're new to this carnival and would like to enter your post, please check HERE for the rules and regs. (By the way, if you have been featured on Homemaker Monday in the past, your name is on my left sidebar. Check it out!)

YOURS: This week's "YOURS" goes to "The Homemaker's Cottage" . She posted a recipe for an adorable cheese ball snowman. Here, check him out...


(Photo courtesy of Bettycrocker.com)

When I saw him, I fell in love with him, and I wanted to create him, show him to my friends, then eat him. If you'd like to create him and eat him yourself, click HERE for the recipe. Thank you, Homemaker's Cottage, for this lovely addition to our Homemaker Monday and please feel free to grab the "I Was Featured" button from my left sidebar. We'll look forward to more great ideas from your cottage in the future!

MINE: I'm scattered-brained. I'm pretty sure that's what it is. I feel that I'm too young to be senile, so that must be it. I guess my brain has room to process only one pressing issue at a time, and the most pressing issue right now is feeding the babies and trying to keep the toddler from pinching them. And so... I forget things. I forget that I put the toddler in time out, I forget that I have to meet with the 12-year-old's teacher after school to discuss why he wakes up too late to eat breakfast, I forget that I have to pick the hymns for Relief Society, the women's organization in our church, I forget that I have cookies in the oven, I forget that my visiting teachers are coming over, I forget that the kids get out of school early on Tuesdays and when I finally remember my kids half an hour later, I get to listen to the six-year-old girl exclaim, "Mom?!? What were ya thinkin'?!?"

In an effort to solve this problem, I have begun to utilize the timer to help me remember things. Here is a list of things I time with my oven timer:

1. 2 minutes for the toddler's time out
2. 10 minutes for the 8- or 6-year-old to take a turn caring for a twin
3. 20 minutes for the 12-, 13- or 16-year-old to take a turn caring for a twin
4. As a reminder that I need to start making the kids' lunch
5. As a reminder to check the bread rising
6. 20 minutes to clean something, anything, after the kids go to bed
7. 4 minutes to blend my wheat and milk in the blender in preparation for blender wheat pancakes
8. As a reminder to put another log on the fire
9. As a reminder that I have something in the oven (This is an important one.)
10. 10 minutes for a family clean-anything party right before bed each night

So there you have it - my obsession with my kitchen timer. Does your kitchen timer make your life better? If so, tell us how in the comments!

OURS: Okay, now it's your turn! And let me take this opportunity to thank all of you who participate regularly here at Homemaker Monday. When I view my site meter, I can see that so many visitors click on your links and I know your ideas, recipes, hints, and how-tos are much appreciated! I can't wait to see what you've got for us today! Have a great Homemaker Monday and a wonderful Christmas!



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The Lamest Laundry Post Ever Written

Here's what...


Baby Steps.

When you have babies around, sometimes you have to take baby steps when it comes to accomplishing things around the house, such as cooking dinner, cleaning a bathroom or doing laundry. Running a household of ten can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to laundry. We run the washing machine and dryer no less than three times a day, sometimes more, and, unfortunately, no one has invented a clothes folding and hanging up machine, so that is a task left to real live people. Here's what my laundry looked like from one day's washing...


Tackling this pile may seem overwhelming, even to the most enthusiastic homemaker, and with two babies constantly hanging on my pant legs, some days it's nearly impossible. What I do to make it managable is to take baby steps. Every time I walk by the laundry room, I pause to fold FIVE articles of clothing. This may seem absurd to some, but look what happens when I do it this way...

(DISCLAIMER: You may want to scroll down the page very quickly. I have actually chronicled, through photography, the decrease in pile size with each 5-article folding.)

Okay, here is the previous pile after folding 5 articles. It really helped to get that large, furry animal blanket folded. Definitely instant gratification there...

All right, now the clothes that fell onto the floor are all picked up and folded neatly...

Here you can see that we got another large blanket out of the way, again, making a significant, rewarding dent in the pile...

Here, we've folded 5 more articles...

...and 5 more... (yes, it's dark now)

...and again, 5 more...

Okay, it looks like our basket is empty now, so on to hanging up 5 articles of clothing with each pass-by...

I guess there were only ten articles of clothing to hang up. Sweet...

Now onto putting 5 piles of clothes away with each pass-by... (and yes, it's day again)

...and 5 more...(again, I guess there were only ten piles!)

Now to place the hand soap back where it goes and put away the Scout book and the maraca...

...and...PERFECT!

Looking at THIS sign the 13-year-old girl make for me in shop class makes all of these baby steps worth it...

And guess what? I get to do this all over again the next day!

Maybe if THESE little boys could take a break from hanging on my knees, I could do this pile in one pass-by. Wish me luck!


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