Happy Birthday Cephas!

Today is Cephas' twelfth birthday, which I wrote about here but I have something special planned to surprise him with today. While he is gone this morning, I plan to work in his and Koren's room and get it 100% clean and spotless. This accomplishes two things. One, he doesn't have to do it on his birthday. Two, it gets done the way that I have been wanting to have it get done for a long time now.

There was a second plan that I made for his birthday today. It was a last minute plan, but since I found out that Cephas and his group will be back in town tomorrow by noon, I decided that I would put together a quick party for him. Poor Cephas has only had a few birthday parties in all of his twelve years. And most of those were when he was too young to remember them. But since this is such an important day for him, I really wanted to do something extra special for it and for him. So, while he was at school yesterday, I called around to some of his friend's parents and asked them all if a party today would work for them and explained that I did realize that since it was last minute, that it might not work out. However, it (surprisingly!) worked out for every family that I talked to, which I was super excited about!

I went to one of our YMCAs here and reserved a party room and so the kids will be able to swim and use the gym both. I'm thinking we will spend the first little bit of time getting everyone ready and then we'll either do the pool or the gym for the first hour, followed by the opposite activity for the second hour and then the third hour, we'll use the party room for cake and ice cream and snacks and presents.

I invited family and friends and a number of youth from our church and from my son's school as well as a few from our neighborhood. I just spent a week's grocery budget on party food and that didn't even include the cake or ice cream! I'm hoping it will be enough and that the kids will enjoy their time and the food and everything else. I'm just beyond excited to have this time for him to spend with his friends and our family and to be able to do something that he enjoys so much as well.

I was trying to make it a surprise party, but the fact that he is going to be with a number of his friends tomorrow morning for about five hours will be the deciding factor of whether or not it is an actual surprise. I am assuming that the parents I spoke to today have told their children about the party and I just don't know if they all passed on the message that it is supposed to be a surprise or if the kids will be able to contain it either. I may just go ahead and tell him about the party before he leaves this morning before his friends have the chance to spill the beans about it.

Then, for the evening we might just have Bree and her kids over to watch a movie and eat more of the junk that's possibly left over. Or we might end up going back over to my inlaw's house to just hang out. The evening is very much up in the air and we are completely open to ideas. But I'm thinking that something low-key to follow the major excitements from today is in order. That and the fact that Cephas has to be up around 6 am on a Saturday, so he may be tired (and Mom most certainly will be!).

I'm also super excited about a gift that I got for him. I wanted to get him a suit jacket but the places that I had looked for one wanted $45 and up for just a jacket! Hubby told me that I might just have to do what his cousin did and just buy one at Goodwill for Cephas. I had planned to go look but have been so busy lately that I just never got around to it. Well, tonight I just happened to be looking around at a consignment group in my area on Facebook and came across someone selling a full suit for only $20. I know Cephas' measurements for pants but since he has never been fitted for a jacket, I wasn't sure of his size for that. So I did the next best thing. I asked the seller what size shirt the person (most likely her husband - but I didn't want to assume it was) wore with it. Turns out that the shirt the person wore with it is only one size up from what Cephas wears and the pants are one size larger as well, which works out really well for us because Cephas' current slacks are just a smidge tighter than I'd prefer for him to wear. I was ecstatic to find that available for the price!

Now, I just need to get him some more ties. I think I'd like for him to have something like 5-10 ties, but I'll be buying them as I can afford them and as I find them here and there. I just love seeing him (and all of my kids really!) dressed up. They just look so nice and they seem to feel better and more mature when they are all dressed up.

More fun will be had later today and I promise to post some about it later on this evening. Until then...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CEPHAS!!!

(in orange because it is often his favorite color)

Not Resolutions, per se...mid-January update

Back on December 31st, 2012, I posted about some changes that I have been wanting to make. I didn't call them resolutions because I just didn't think that was quite the right term for them. But I did want to update you on those changes I wanted to make and how they have been going. So here goes:

Personal Scripture Study: F
Between doing the reading for Sunday School (which I don't attend because I'm a Nursery leader) and Relief Society (which I also don't attend for the same reason) as well as the reading that relates to my Visiting Teaching message and to my Nursery leader role, I really haven't been doing any personal reading. I do still plan to do it though.

Scripture Study with Bree: F
I had planned to order our Seminary books so that we could start as soon as the kids were back in school on the 7th of January, but time got away from me and I ended up not ordering them until the 9th and as of yet, we haven't received them, they are due here though, on the 22nd, although I anticipate them actually showing up before then.

Tackling a particular area of the house each week: C
I had planned to start with the den. And as far as this goes, I forgot to do a post the next day with pictures of the items and then the finished product. However, I will say that nearly all of the homeless items were either re-homed to someone else's house, discarded or given a proper home here. The one exception to that would be the things that are under my husband's desk. Practical excuse: When I have the time, his legs are usually under his desk. In reality: I have more time than when he is actually using his desk, but when he's not, I push the chair in (out of habit) and the chair essentially hides those few remaining homeless items. Therefore, out of sight, out of mind. I WILL get that done (with pictures to prove it) before this week is over.

For next week's tackle, I plan on attacking laundry in a major major way. It just needs to be done.

Meal Planning: A
Week 1 (aka 1-1-13 to 1-6-13) was planned and followed
Week 2 (aka 1-7-13 to 1-13-13) was planned and followed
Week 3 (aka 1-14-13 to 1-20-13) was planned and is being followed but I didn't blog it because I was busy and forgot to do it.

Savings Goal of $1200: A+
I have saved up an additional $300 already this month, on top of the $300 that I already had. In reality, Hubby's check is going to be short this next pay period so most likely the extra $200 that I have saved will be re-routed to make up the shortage on his check. However, it will not affect the amount that I have saved this far and it also won't drive me off track with my goal either. Hubby did see something this one idea on Facebook though and while it does seem interesting, I'm not sure that it is entirely practical for our family.

Someone had commented that they were doing it backwards so that it would get progressively easier as opposed to progressively harder. Plus, if you put away the most amount of money early on, and you have it in a bank or someplace where you are earning interest on it, you're making more interest earlier on. Not to mention, you are more likely to save more money at the beginning of the year when your resolve to save is at it's freshest. I hope that makes sense.

Chores: B
Our chore system is still going strong. I have tweaked it and will post about it (and some of the previous tweaks that I have done to it). Who knows? Maybe this current system (or one of the previous tweaks) will work for you as well. Or maybe give you something to start off from.

Use our gym membership at least once per week: F
Week 1 - 0
Week 2 - 0
Week 3 - 0 so far and likely 0 for the remainder of the week

However, I did just sign the kids up today for swim lessons (Oralee and Jeriah) and swim team (Cephas and Koren) as well as for Recreational Soccer (Cephas), Flag Football (Koren), Micro Volleyball (Oralee) and Micro Soccer (Jeriah). So, that kind of used our membership...kinda. Once we are already at the gym for those lessons, it's so much easier to just go ahead and work out. Funny how things work out like that.

Losing 2% of my weight per month: F
At this point, I'd have to go weigh myself, but I don't believe that I have currently lost any weight at all.

Eating more meals prepared at home: D
We have definitely done better in this department. There is still room for improvement though. Ideally, we would be eating out once per month, twice in a birthday or anniversary month.

Cutting out soda: F
Complete fail at this point in time. My plan was to trade soda in for decaf tea, but I haven't gotten there just yet. If I were to just make some and have it ready to go in the fridge, I'd set myself up for success right there. However, I haven't as of yet. There's nothing like the present to get started on that one though!

Cephas and his 12th Birthday

There is subject matter in this post that I have not revealed before, not because I was hiding it, but because it wasn't relevant to my topics. However, for this topic, it is indeed VERY relevant and I appreciate your kind words. 

On Saturday, my oldest son, Cephas, will turn twelve. We are members of the LDS church, which means that this is a monumental birthday for him. When a young man turns twelve, he is ordained with the Aaronic Priesthood and is able to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead. It's an incredible gift that he will receive. However, usually boys will turn twelve, have their interview with the Bishop (the head of our group, kind of like a pastor in other religions) and will then be sustained by the congregation as a member of the Aaronic Priesthood, after which he will be ordained and will receive the Priesthood. At that point, they are free to go to the temple and participate in ordinances there. Well, Cephas just so happens to be turning twelve on the exact day of our ward's youth temple trip. He had his interview last Sunday with the Bishop and then in Sacrament Meeting, he was sustained by our ward and so this Saturday, he will be ordained as a Deacon and actually receive the Aaronic Priesthood at that time. Five minutes later, he will leave and be on his way to the temple. It is such a cool way to spend his twelfth birthday and I am so excited for him!

A great friend of mine, who also happens to be my co-teacher in our Nursery class as well as one of the women that I visit teach each month, offered to stay back from the trip and babysit the other kids so that I could go and be with Cephas for his first experience at the temple. As much as I would love to go and be a part of all that, it's not going to happen, because I don't have my temple recommend.

A temple recommend is something that you need in order to be able to enter temple. For youth 12-17, that happens after a meeting with the Bishop. When you are an adult (age 18), you need to have an adult recommend, which I believe happens after an interview with first your ward Bishop, then the Stake President. There isn't time for me to get a temple recommend for myself, so I will sit this one out. But I will be taking those steps towards receiving my temple recommend so that maybe on the next trip, I can be there as well.

I do have a meeting set up with the Bishop for later today about getting my recommend as well as receiving my Patriarchal Blessing, which is an inspired prayer given by your Stake Patriarch. I don't really know a whole lot about it, but I am anxious to receive mine. Quite nervous, but excited nonetheless.

I kind of went off on a tangent there and I apologize for that. That's just the way my mind works.

So on Saturday, Cephas will have to be up super early in the morning so that he can get ready to go and be at the church by 6:45, so that he can be ordained by the time that they are planning to leave, which is 7:00. Reality is that they probably won't leave until closer to 7:30, but 7:00 is the planned time for departure so we will be there at 6:45.

Climbing, Unearthing and Tackling - Challenge 2013

I don't know how else to phrase it, but I have a ton of work to do around the house. I have totes that need to go out to the shed filled with Christmas decorations, wrapping papers, trees, etc. I have filled boxes that need to be donated, I have filled another box that needs to go to my inlaw's house, I have another one that needs to go to my best friend's house, I have a cooler that needs to go to my Relief Society president's house (because in all reality, it is her's! It just so happens that I have had it for about six or eight months), I have toys to donate to our church nursery. I also have clothes for every.single.child. I take care of. (Boys ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 and girls ages 3, 4, 7, 8, 12) Plus, I have additional clothes that I just need to donate. Right now, all of these items still taking up space in my house is driving me just a little bit slightly insane! It's time to start a new project on here, one that I started and completed last year, but just did not blog about in it's entirety. And now, I'd like to present:

Challenge 2013

The challenge is to get rid of 2013 items in 2013.

You know, like, apart from regular household waste. This is the stuff that is taking up residence in your residence that you'd rather have used for other purposes. The rules are pretty loose. You can count individual items or you can count boxes or bags. But the idea is to get it OUT. We live in a society with so much excess that we don't even realize how much extra we have!

For instance, somehow this past winter, I went from having one set of dishes to having five sets. We have our normal set of dishes that we use everyday, but we were wanting something that was white and simple, so we found these plates at the Dollar Tree that we really liked and we bought 12 of them. $12 for 12 plates, not bad. But then, I found this other set of dishes that someone locally was selling for $10. Two complete dish sets (service for 8) for $10. Even better, right? Then, my mother-in-law bought us two complete dish sets (also service for 8) for Christmas. And then our friend who was moving out of state decided that he wanted to give us one of his dish sets. So now...if I need to plate, oh, let's say somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60 meals at once, I could. But here's the crazy reality - I don't need to. The most that I need to plate at any one point in time is like 20, give or take. And most of the time, it's not more than 10. So I have decided to keep the plates that we got new for Christmas, the ones that we were using full time anyhow (at least until they all break or something) and maybe the simple set of 12 plates from Dollar Tree. I really do love them! I plan to sell or donate the set that I bought for $10 and to keep one of the plates from our friend to use on my plate rack. So, that would leave us with roughly 30 plates. Still more than we need, but in all reality, we lose one plate from our regular plate set about every month or so. We have kids and lots of extra kids around. They get used a lot. It happens.

I also inherited about $900 worth of yarn recently from one of my husband's co-workers. His mom had been a stockpiler and had purchased SO much yarn! Most of these skeins of yarn were probably about $3 each, so I ended up with roughly 300 skeins of yarn. Plus sewing patterns, supplies and notions, crochet patterns, stuffing for toys or pillows or something, Just lots and lots and lots of crafting materials. I had Bree come over and I sent her home with all but one (minor) sewing project, all of the crochet patterns and half of the yarn. But that also means that I still have somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 skeins of yarn. I do plan to make LOTS of scarves and hats this year to donate to the those who are on the tree at our church at Christmas time. And if I make enough, maybe some to give to a facility for seniors in our area. I'm not quite sure yet, but I do have lots of ideas! But whatever I haven't used, I plan to donate at least 50% of it to an organization that can use it. I might even make some prayer shawls a hospice facility that I am familiar with and which is very dear to me.

There are lots and lots of other items that I am wanting and needing to get rid of, because in all practicality, we don't use these things often, if at all and I'm just done with it. I don't want our home to be overloaded or for me to be overwhelmed by caring for all of this stuff that doesn't really matter.

So, here I am starting this challenge for myself (and for any who may want to join in) of making 2013 items disappear from my home this year. Although, in actuality, I would strongly prefer the number of items to be at least double that figure. If you're in and would like to participate, leave me a comment and I'll make a button (I'll make one anyhow, most likely) for you to place on your page as well, if you want to join in.

Menu Planning 1-7-13 to 1-13-13

Jan 7 (Hubby home, I'm at work)
B - quick shake
L - at work
S - Beef Stroganoff

Jan 8 (Hubby home)
B - quick shake
L - leftovers
S - Baked Swiss Chicken

Jan 9 (I'm at work, Scouts night)
B - quick shake
L -leftovers
S - Pork Teriyaki

Jan 10 (Scouts night)
B - quick shake
L - leftovers
S - Raspberry Chicken

Jan 11
B - quick shake
L - leftovers
S - homemade pizza

Jan 12
B - cold cereal
L - grilled cheese and tomato soup
S - Vegetarian Penne

Jan 13
B - ham egg and cheese bake
L - bean and cheese burritos
S - Herbed Slow Cooker Chicken

Exciting News!!!

Okay, so I have told you all about Calla, my best friend's daughter, who is like a niece to me. Well, she was over to our house yesterday while her dad was at work and I got some SUPER exciting news!

About a week ago or so, my best friend's dad posted a picture on his facebook page of his new granddaughter. He has three children. My best friend is the oldest, then there's little sister and baby brother. Little Sister isn't THAT little - she's almost 25 and Baby Brother is like 20 or 21. Well, anyhow, the picture was posted of a new granddaughter and I knew it wasn't Little Sister's baby, so I assumed it was Baby Brother's baby. This "new" granddaughter is six months old. As it turns out, even Little Sister initially thought that the new baby was Baby Brother's. But it's not. It's my best friend's newest baby. Squeal!!!

Okay, I know it sounds crazy to be THIS excited over my friend finding out that he has a baby that he didn't know about. But, he and the baby's mom get along really well and he has seen the baby every week since he found out that she was indeed his. He has a great girlfriend and a stable life (the most stable that I've seen him have in probably 13 years or so) and I'm just so excited for him!

Not to mention, that also means that I have a new baby "niece" to dote on and I cannot wait to meet her! She is such a beautiful baby and Calla tells me that her new little sister looks a lot like she did when she was a baby. I don't know what Calla looked like when she was a baby so I'm taking her word for it. Calla is like exactly 50% like her mom and 50% like her dad.

So that is my exciting news! I told best friend today that once he works out his visitations with the new baby, if the need should arise, I would totally be willing to babysit for him. Now to plan for things to make for this new wee one. Swoon! I'm thinking blankets and hats and sweaters and all kinds of fun stuff and then for this next Christmas, when she will be almost a year and a half, I'll make her lots of other fun stuff too. I think it's time to learn to knit or needle felt toys for a toddler! I have nearly a year to do it! And of course, there is her birthday as well. Oh, I'm just so far beyond excited! I love babies anyhow, but I love this particular one even more because she is the daughter of my best friend.

Small Things

Rachel Anne Ridge from Home Sanctuary is starting her daily Small Things again. Today's Small Thing is super easy. All that I needed to do was to print off a Tally Blank Sheet for 40 points. This month the prize on top of bringing Sanctuary into my home is the possibility of also winning a Kindle e-reader. Not a bad prize for just doing a few extra things around the house.

Today's total: 40 points
This month's total: 40 points