WOW!

I can't believe its been almost a month since my last post. Lots has happened this last month, but I'm not going to talk about that right now because I want to just talk about today.

Today:

1. The four oldest kids got themselves dressed.
2. All the animals got fed including the stray kitten we found two days ago.
3. The chickens got let out. We've started letting them roam free in the yard during the day. SO FUN!!
4. Jarom made us pancakes (with Morning Moo because we're out of Milk). They were yummy.
5. We had devotional. We read the story of the widow who has 10 pieces of silver and looses one and then finds the lost piece of silver and celebrates. I had the kids do narration with the story. Its been fun to start using narration more!
6. I read to the kids from the History of the World all about slavery. We pulled out the globe and talked about where Africa, England, Spain, North and South America are which was related to the history we were talking about. Of course then we also looked for Puerto Rico where Grandma and Grandpa are, Hawaii, Canada, Chile, Peru, and Portugal so other hot spots for our family right now.
   
7. Megan read a science book to herself about outer space and stars while the boy played a game of some kind which involved Tinker Toys and running around the house.
8. I read a little from The Well Trained Mind (very interesting book) while #7 was taking place.
9. Now we're in the school room. Some kids are playing with the toys that are messily spread out over the floor, and the older kids are working on puzzles of Greek Myths.
   

Its been a good day. Even though the kitchen is still a bit messy from breakfast...life is good and we've gotten a lot done. WOO-HOO!

Plugging away...

{the path to organizational BLISS}
I started working on organizing our school room today, but didn't make as much progress as I'd have liked to. I hope if I can get more kid participation tomorrow I can get it done and functional for me!! That would be awesome. Its so strange...I am discovering that I don't work well when my life isn't orderly and organized. However, the attribute of organization doesn't come naturally to me. I am trying to retrain myself to BE an organized person. If I could just start thinking like an organized person I know I could BE organized and live an organized life. Its a struggle. I think its especially hard because you can't follow someone else's plan for organization...its such an individual thing. I feel like the book Organizing From The Inside Out did a great job of teaching organizational principles that I am trying to apply in my life and create my own recipe for being organized. In a month or so hopefully I'll be well on my way!! So far the few spaces I've organized have resulted in a huge boost in my effectiveness.

{Structure time...KEY to my success}
I feel like I've been getting better and better at structuring my kid's 'school' time. We do school time for 3 or 4 hours in the morning and its been going great. However, I still have my occasional freak out sessions when I start to worry that my kids are behind or I start to feel like I don't know what the heck I should be exposing them to. For instance last week I started having a melt down worrying that my kids weren't learning enough. Finally after a lot of prayer and soul searching a thought kept coming to my mind. The thought was...

You can try to cram lots of knowledge into them and force them to learn things they aren't interested in or not really ready to understand. They might even remember some of it in a few years. BUT for what purpose? Its not about the amount of knowledge they acquire by a certain age...its about who they BECOME as a result of that knowledge!! Its all about who they are BECOMING while they are DOING their education.

{Inspire NOT Require}
Right now for me its all about exposing my kids to lots of great things so they can get inspired and have a desire to learn these things because they want to NOT because they are forced to. With my oldest only 9 we do a lot of educational games and TONS of reading during our three hour structured school time. We start with devotional, which usually lasts for about 15-20 minutes and then go right into kid's school. I choose a subject that interests me and that I want my kids to learn about (this month its all about outer space). We spend on average about 30-45 minutes depending on how interested the kids are before moving onto open 'school' time. This week the kids have just been reading their brains out during open time. We went to the library on Monday so they have lots of books they are excited to read. Megan is totally into Junie B Jones books and Jarom is into Pillage and The 13th Reality...he goes between the two depending on his mood. If my kids seem like they can't figure out what they want to do and start roaming the house looking lost I try to help them find something they are interested in and I volunteer to engage with them on that activity if possible.

{afternoons}
From 1-3 is quiet time...and its my time to study what I am into. Sometimes I use the time for other things like preparing dinner or doing the laundry or whatever else needs to get done. The kids can either play with toys or color or something, but can't watch a DVD, play computer, Wii, or DS until after 4. Between 4-5 I let the kids do electronic forms of entertainment, however, I'd prefer they only did TV and electronic stuff on Saturday. I may change this rule in the future. Its such a balancing act.

{Tomorrow's Goals}
Organize: Finish organizing the school room!!!
Spiritual: Personal Scripture Study before the kids get up!! Finish Devotional with a prayer.
Kids: BE present with the kids during the entire 3 hours of education. FOCUS all my energy and attention on them and their needs
Personal: Find 2 hours of personal study time.
Spouse: Do something thoughtful for my hubby.

Life on Venus...

{Venus}
During the month of April for our 'kid school' time during the morning we are focusing on Space. I've always been fascinated with our solar system, galaxy, and universe. Its so amazing to me how complicated and well orchestrated it all is. Anyway...we started Space last week and one day the kids picked out the book on Venus. So we sat down and began to read all about this strange sister planet of ours. It was fascinating. Sometimes I swear I learn more than my kids learn. For one things its almost the same size as earth and has many similar components found on Earth...oh yes except oxygen. The strangest thing we found out about Venus is that its day is longer than its year. Yes you heard me right.

{All the things I could get done in a single Venus Day}
If we lived on Venus, a day would be very strange. Venus rotates the opposite direction of the Earth. So sunrises would be in the west and sunsets in the east. But the most interesting thing to me was that a day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days and a year on Venus is only 225 Earth days. From sunrise to 'noon' it takes three months. According to the Venusian calendar, WWII only ended 56 days ago!

That got me thinking of all the things I could cram into a day if I lived on Venus. I could really use all those extra hours...I swear right now the days are going by way to fast. I never find the time to fit everything I want or need to do. I guess since I'm not relocating to Venus I better start prioritizing and cutting the 'good' things out so I can make time for the 'best' or most important things in life.

{Organized+Andee=Happy}
The mess during the 'organizing' process is a killer. I just hate to see the space get worse and worse before it FINALLY gets better. AHHHH!!!


[The Kitchen]

On Friday I really cracked the whip and got my kitchen mostly done. I was amazed when I realized was my biggest problem in keeping an organized kitchen was a big bag of garbage that I collected from all my 'neat' drawers and cupboards, and TWO boxes of random non-kitchen items that had somehow found their way into my kitchen.

After about 4 or 5 hours of steady cleaning, de-junking, thinking, and organizing I finally figured out where I wanted everything so my kitchen 'flowed' and what I DIDN'T want in the kitchen. It was such a huge relief when I was done. Now my kitchen works, and its clean (at least it stayed clean for the picture). WOO-HOO!! Now I've got to tackle the 'school' room where I dumped all the non-kitchen items. That is my organizational project for Tuesday.


{Conference}


I LOVED conference this year, and thanks to our 'sugar them up' reward system our two oldest kids listened to 2 1/2 sessions quietly and without complaining. It was awesome. We had 8 bowls filled with different candy, and each bowl was labeled with a different 'key' word. When they heard the word they could cash in for a piece of candy from the bowl. What we didn't plan on was them eventually getting so much candy that they'd lose the motivation to listen for the key words. Oh well it still worked really really well!!! Maybe next year we can figure out how to get the kids excited about cashing in for veggies and fruit instead of candy. Wouldn't that be cool?

On the move again...

{from stuck to slowly moving}
I think that is a good way of describing my week. On Monday I was STUCK!! Thank goodness the week got better. One of my huge issues on Monday was how unorganized I was which was effecting my ability to function as a mom, homeschooling mentor, cook, nurturer, etc...

I've actually known I needed to fix my unorganized home for a few weeks now, and last Monday I even checked out a book recommended my good friend Verena called Organizing from the Inside Out. I was about 40 pages into the book on Monday during the 'break down.' By Tuesday I was emotionally with it enough to start reading the book again, and today I finished!! WOO-HOO, and tackled my first problem area. The 'Kitchen Desk.' It has been a magnet for clutter...paper, books, mail, keys, anything brought in from the car, gum, CDs, whatever. It drove me crazy, not to mention I was always loosing my important mail and papers within its messy realm. So today I tackled it with a new set of skills and objectives thanks to this awesome book. I was able to get it done in a few hours and I feel so much better. I still have a few more finishing touches to put on the space, like getting a filing system figured out and assigning a home to a few more drawers, but it looks and feels so much better.

[Before]

[After]
The book suggested making your 'Household Information Center' pretty. So I added a plant and a cute picture thingy (which we already had). I also moved my calendar from my laundry room, where we never used it to the 'info center' so we could remember birthdays and scheduled events. So fun, So visible, So MUCH BETTER!!

**I also made a home for my keys and purse. I had these hooks in our other house and I loved having a place to hang my purse and keys. It feels so great to have a hook they can call home again!! Its in my laundry room (which is right by the back door) so its out of the way, but where I can always find them.


{Motivation works}

Last week I came to a situation with my kids where I could choose one of two paths. My kids were getting a little out of hand and it was time for a behavioral change to take place. In a rare moment enlightenment I decided to choose the path of positive motivation vs. negative discipline. I told the kids to hold on I had a surprise for them. I rushed into my kitchen and started racking my brain to find/create something I could use as a reward system. This three tier holder thingy caught my attention and I figured I could put something in the bottom section and allow the kids to move them to the center section when they did something positive and the kids could earn a reward. I couldn't find anything to use as chips so I ran to where we store our games and found Rummy Cube. In a rush I dumped all the tiles out into the bottom section ran back to the kids and explained the 'new system.' They were thrilled. We decided once all tiles were in the middle section we'd go to Cold Stone as a family, and then they could work on moving all the tiles to the top section which would result in a family trip to the ZOO. It really turned the day around and I am proud to report that yesterday we went to Cold Stone, and today Megan said, "I can't wait until we get to go to the ZOO." Positive motivation does work...even if you use Rummy Cube tiles and a random kitchen thingy.

{Burn baby burn}


This is a totally random story that I want to document for posterity. Last weekend Scott went on a camp out with the scouts in our ward. On their drive back the bed of the truck he was traveling in started on fire thanks to them not putting their camp fire out enough. They thought they had really soaked the fire, and since it was a carry out policy had loaded the dead fire into the back of the truck. However, once they started gaining speed the coals must have started up again. Before they knew it 4 foot flames were leaping out of the truck bed. A lot of their stuff was burned up including Scott's sleeping bag, foam pad, and pillow. As they were trying to put out the flames the other guy who was driving grabbed a shovel that was in the bed of the truck to give to Scott so Scott could shovel dirt on the fire. The fiberglass handle had burned and when he grabbed it the fiberglass began to burn his hand so he threw the shovel instantly and it hit Scott in the ear. Isn't that strange?! The other two guys both burned themselves, but Scott got a random really strange cut inside his ear.

I am grateful for...

A while back Rachel (one of my best friends from HS) commented on her blog that too many of us only blog about the wonderful things that happen to us and omit all the challenges and struggles we go through. So in honor of Rachel I decided to be REAL and go ahead and post this one on my public blog. So here you go...the down and dirty good stuff. :)

{Go ahead and kick me why don't you...}
Yesterday was one of those down in the dumps, terrible, poor me days. Have you ever had one of those? I felt like I was buried under a huge pile of overwhelm and could only think of all the projects and to do's that I couldn't image I'd ever get to.

I'll admit it...my life is a bit unorganized right now which is totally unacceptable and makes life even harder. Especially because I am trying to do a million things including...trying to figure out where things go in the new house, struggling with getting everything organized, learning all about animal care (I am such a city girl and totally clueless), attempting to homeschool (I am loving this, but its always a struggle), worrying about the fact that I haven't started my garden, trying to slowly build my food supply up so I'm more prepared and following the prophet, stressed out because I decided to sign the kids up for infant survival swimming lessons every weekday for six weeks (which includes the rigors of no food 2 hours before swim lessons and its killing me...ahhh, but its worth it to have peace of mind), struggling to sprinkle in a bit of music and art each week, personally trying to read at least 2 books a month (I should probably be reading right now instead of typing this), trying to squeeze in personal prayer and scripture study every day, and the list goes on and on.

It only makes logical sense that after a while of thinking and worrying about all those things I'd end up a little freaked out...right? Oh and I forgot to mention that I'm also trying to figure out how to cook for 8, become an inspirational mom, and a hot mama for my husband (I've got to start working out and eating better). Shoot! I'm never going to get it all right.

So I am sure you can guess that yesterday wasn't all that of a productive day with those kind of thoughts flooding my brain. I tried to escape from my problems by staying busy and running around, but when I finally came home my little pile of issues was there waiting for me. Don't you just hate that!?

I went to bed early and prayed to have peace and understanding on how to manage my list of projects and to do's, and the Lord has blessed me. This morning I woke up refreshed, peaceful and with the ability to look at my huge (still overwhelming) list of things I need to accomplish with hope and faith. Somehow I feel that I'll be able to get them all done eventually...somehow. Even my kids have been well behaved and got along great all day so my home feels more calm and pleasant. I am so grateful for answered prayers. I still have a huge long list of stuff to get through, but now I actually feel like I might be able to tackle it.

{impossible...to possible}
After that long rant...please forgive me for doing that, but I just had to get it all out, and now I feel even better and more empowered to conquer the world. Yesterday I felt so inside myself and today I feel almost outside myself. That probably doesn't make sense. What I mean is I feel like I am able to look at my unorganized house, huge list of to do's, homeschooling issues, and everything else from an outsider's perspective. You know how its always easier to clean someone else's house...that's kind of how I felt today about my life. I was able to look at everything that yesterday felt impossible from a new perspective and now it feels possible...not easy but something I can do! WOO-HOO!!

{gratitude}
After my 'poor me' attitude yesterday I woke up this morning with the feeling that I needed to be grateful for my many many HUGE blessings!! Especially my family...all of whom I LOVE!!! So I am going to take a minute and talk about how grateful I am for each one of them.

(We took these pictures in January at our home with our Apple tree in the background. It felt like fall...this is as close as we get to seasons here is Arizona...notice the apple trees beautiful orange/yellow leaves. So cool! So NOT Arizona.)

{Brea}

Brea is a bubbly spunky ball of energy. Even as a small infant she could not hold still and that attribute has carried on as she's gotten a bit older. Sometimes I feel bad she wasn't able to be the baby for very long, but it doesn't seem to bother her a bit. She just loves on her little sister and keeps right now smiling. She's starting to really talk and its been so fun to see that part of her come alive. I love how girly she is always wanting to wear a necklace or bracelet if she spots one. She's a total Daddy's girl but also loves her Nana, Bompy, and Darby. One of my favorite things about Brea is how she loves to give goodnight kisses to everyone before she heads off to bed. LOVE you!!!

{Cooper}


Cooper was named by my dad. We couldn't decide on the right name for our second little boy and when my dad suggested Cooper (a family last name) we thought it fit perfectly to our new little guy. Going with the Grandpa theme we ended up giving him the middle name of Stanley (Scott's dad's name) so he's our grandpa boy. Cooper loves being outside with the animals and riding his bike. He is very independent and doesn't have to do what the other kids are doing just to fit in. He's perfectly fine doing his own thing if he'd rather do that. I'm hoping that means I have no worries about peer pressure. :) Cooper is a funny life of the party kind of guy. Always being silly and making jokes I think he's going to be quite the social butterfly when he gets a bit older. He's also so kind and loving and seems to be keenly aware of other people's feeling and emotions. He loves making other people happy and is willing to give up treats or comfort to make one of his siblings happy. What a sweet boy!!! I love my Cooper.

{Hyrum}

Hyrum's big smile and fun loving personality are always a hoot! I especially love his little freckles that appeared when he was only two. Hyrum's our most memorable birth story baby...unexpectedly arriving during a 3 night/3 day trip to Ohio. Its a long story...but the short version is he came almost 7 weeks early and Scott and I ended up hanging out in Ohio for almost 3 weeks waiting for him to be discharged from the NICU. CRAZY!! Every since then Hyrum's been full of surprises not to mention a stubborn side that matches his determination to come at the wrong time and wrong state. Hyrum loves his big brother Cooper and Jarom and is a mama's boy...I LOVE THAT!! He's amazingly athletic and super competitive especially with himself. He get really down on himself when he doesn't get something down right the first time. Love you Hyrum!!

{Jarom}

Being the eldest of 7 I can kind of relate to what its been like for Jarom to be the oldest in our family, and he is such a great sport and so helpful. I don't know what I'd do without him. He's awesome at entertaining the little ones, and often ends up giving up his treat or drink when one of his little brothers or sisters asks for it. He's recently discovered the wonderful world of skateboarding and is loving it, and also has really taken a liking to golf carts. He's so kind and responsible with all his chores around the house and incredibly knowledgeable about almost anything...but especially animals. His keen mind and thirst for knowledge constantly amaze me. I am grateful for all his help around the house, and for being my buddy!! Love you J-dog!!

{the oldest 4}

Normally we aren't allowed to jump on the couches, but the rules didn't seem to apply when they were out in the middle of the front yard!!! SO MUCH FUN! This is a good illustration of how life is in our home on a daily basis.

{the whole gang}

I love having my kids so close. Even though it gets a bit hectic sometimes...I am grateful for each and every one of them and the friendships they have with each other!!!

{Megan}

When I looked at these pictures I couldn't help but think what a big girl Megan is turning into!! She is so awesome and I LOVE HER to bits. I can still remember when she was born. Dark hair and a loud voice...boy nothings changed. Megan is awesome and so smart and so sweet especially to her two little sisters. She waited a long time to get sisters and she is SO HAPPY to have them finally. I am grateful for Megan and her love of learning. She is really turning into such a great reader which makes my job as a homeschooling mother a whole lot easier. Megan loves to look good and always has me help her pick out her outfit for the day. LOVE LOVE LOVE her!!

{Rebecca}
Our sweet little chunky baby is a DeLiGhT!!! She's been smiling since she was to little to smile...I swear. Even her first little noises sounded like laughing...it was a riot. I have to admit having her only a year and five days after Brea was a bit of a whirl-wind and honestly scared me to death. Most people start spreading their kids out by the time they hit number 5 and 6, but not us. We did the exact opposite, and you know what I wouldn't have it any other way!! I am loving my two little Irish twins and grateful for my girlies. Becca is starting to scoot...almost crawl, and today I caught her trying to pull herself up on one of the couches. Man I am not ready for all this progress because then I'm going to have two little mobile girls who I am sure will always be on the run and getting into trouble. I am loving my little angel baby and so grateful she's part of our family!!!

{the whole Schnepf clan}

My mom and dad's family is sure growing in numbers and I am so grateful for all of my siblings and their spouses and of course my parents. It was so fun to hang out over the Christmas holiday and spend time with all of them!!! I don't know what I'd do without all of their support and love!!!

{the hot couple}

I am so grateful for my amazing husband. He is everything to me and such a support in all I do. It will be 12 years this September and man has time flown. I think we're officially a big family now, and I can't figure out when that happened. It seems like yesterday it was just the two of us and now its the 8 of us. WEIRD!! I don't feel like a mom of 6 and it doesn't feel like its been 12 years. I think I'll be 20 something forever...or at least I am sure I will feel like I'm still 20ish.

Its such a wonderful time to be alive. I know times are tough and kind of dismal right now, but I view this crisis as an opportunity to re-evaluate what's really important in life and get back to the basics. Even though I want to be perfectly organized, always have a perfect house, and a clean kitchen I know that what's really important is my relationship with my family and my relationship with God. If those two relationships are strong and flourishing then everything else falls into place.

I am grateful for my life and I am grateful for the miracle of being able to have an amazing perspective of my life today. Now I know that I can accomplish what's really important even though it might not be on my time table or the way I thought it would be done. With God nothing is impossible.

All I need are the simple things...

{our baby goat...saved!}
A few days after our baby goat was born we noticed that he was all stuffed up. What I mean is that his poop had dried into a hard ball and was blocking any more poop from getting out. We could tell he was is a bit of distress and so even though it was a dirty job we felt like we needed to help the little guy out. I know it sounds...okay it was gross!!


First Scott and Jarom doused his back side with water to try to soften it up. It helped a little...I think. Then Scott held the little guy and went to work. It took a while, but eventually we got him all cleaned up. His mom was so worried about him the entire time we were working on him, and kept circling us in the garage. Mama goat is a bit of a nervous Nelly. Once we finished Scott put the little one down and mama and baby ran to their favorite spot behind the garage happy to be together again.



{Irrigation...oh what fun}
So we just got our first dose of irrigation and all I can say is we never need to go to Disneyland again!! Irrigation is just as fun, loads cheaper, and an entire day of entertainment. WE HAD A BLAST!!



The kids thought it would be awesome to bring out our three little ducks so they could swim around and enjoy the water, and boy did they love every second of it. It was hilarious to see them swimming and splashing around. I am sure bringing the ducks out for a swim will be part of our irrigation ritual from now on. They weren't the only ducks that enjoyed our irrigation...I think we counted six or seven other ducks swimming around the front yard at one time. Not to mention the other hundred or so birds. CRAZY!!!



{A Simple time}
I think what I've enjoyed the most about our new simple lifestyle is the increase in relaxed, simple, fun, quality time we've spent together as a family. We don't feel like we need to be running around the city to find things to do...we just look in our yard or home and create things to do here. Some of our favorite things lately have been kickball, Frisbee, bike riding, climbing trees, and just sitting on a blanket reading books. Family work projects have also been simple activities we've done more of like pulling weeds, cleaning the yard, organizing the house, doing the irrigation, harvesting the pecan trees, etc... Simple is the new complex!! :)



Right now I am reading the Little House on the Prairie to my kids, and before that we read Little House in the Big Woods. As I've read about their simple lives I often wish I could have lived in that type of uncomplicated world. What would it have been like to have my husband home every day working on our farm? AMAZING!!! I can't imagine how wonderful it was being as self sufficient as they were. The family work she describes them doing is fantastic! What a great time to live.



As their evenings are described I long to have every evening in my home spent like theirs...simple and with family. Their evenings are powerful time spent together as a family. She describes her family sitting around their one room cabin talking and just being together...her mother busy with a sewing or handicraft project, the girls busy with some useful project, and her father preparing for the next day (sometimes cleaning his gun or making bullets) as well as often telling a story, reading, or playing his music.


I am inspired and comforted as I read the description of life back then. Even though part of me wishes I could have lived then I am grateful for this day in age, and the many conveniences I enjoy. Even though this is a crazy busy world we live in I am in control of my life and I am capable of keeping my life simple and focused on what is really important in life...family and God.