Harvest

I've been a little quiet in the blogging world.
We've had some LONG weeks here lately.
I've been tired.
I've been a little down.
Lots going on in my head and heart but why bring you all down with me right?

We just finished our FIRST CORN HARVEST on Monday.
You may be laughing that I said "we".
What did I do?
No I did not drive a tractor.
No I did not haul corn in a semi.
Do you need me to list how I contributed?
If you are a mom I'm sure you can fill in the list for me.
If you need help let me just say it's comparable to a long road trip with a van full of kids; which seat do you think is the most "fun"???
You don't ever hear the driver say, "You can drive, I REALLY want to sit in the passenger seat, it looks so relaxing!" HA!
Did I mention I've been tired?


Harvest started the end of September.
Weather made it drag out a little longer this year.
We knew we would be starting out with a bang this Fall . . . HARVEST AND SEMINARY!!
Could we have added anything else to our plate??
Actually I'd say I did pretty well with the season (minus the last two weeks).
I've never claimed to be superwoman!
In the mist of the long days their were great moments too.
All four kids really enjoyed individual time with daddy in the semi or in the grain cart.
Sending them out to ride with Jason was a highlight for me; not for the obvious reasons, but because I knew they were getting great one on one time with daddy.
Great conversations were always had.
Their voice is heard.
Our kids adore him!!
I do too!
Here's some pics of some of those great moments!

SMILE!! It's DONE!

My Turn to Need Water

With the last two posts of mine being about WATER I found it ironic that for the last hour or so I've been WITHOUT water. I turned on the sink and it sputtered and then quit! I know it doesn't COMPARE to the water crisis in South Africa, not even close,  but it made me think.  What do you do when you have honey and bread and then you are sticky? How do you wipe the counter with a dry dish rag? (WET ONES, we still have those in the house!) I was just about to make plans to leave the house for awhile when it came back on so we're all good but it was interesting after giving other's water to then do without for just a little bit.  How different our worlds are? How different our needs are? How different our options for solutions are?  Something to think about.

TODAY - DON'T FORGET

Did you purchase your first Christmas gift today??
WATER!!

Don't forget.
Scroll down to my last post and click on the link!
Something we take for granted is the very thing they need to survive!
I know we are all mentally preparing for Christmas . . . starting to form lists!!
TODAY choose COMPASSION over CONSUMERISM!!!

FIRST GIFT

Have you started Christmas shopping yet??

Make your FIRST GIFT a LIFE CHANGING GIFT!

On NOVEMBER 13 (Friday)

bloggers all over are joining together in a

campaign to buy water for Christmas!

Everyday 4,500 mother's bury their children due to contaminated water. 

That is not right!!

 

These are all pictures from Jody's blog. She just returned from Africa from the very villages where lives are being changed by your gift and my gift of WATER!

ONE DAY

FRIDAY

$10.00

(you can donate more if you'd like)

Just think what could happen??

$10 will provide 1 person in Africa clean water for 10 years!!

Think of all the things you and I spend 10 dollars on?

I decided to do a quick experiment before posting this.

I put a sticky not by my kitchen sink and every time I turned on water

 for 24 hours I made a mark.

26 TIMES

That was just my kitchen sink.

Didn't count my bathroom sink, laundry room sink, water hose outside, shower, bathtub, water that goes into my dishwasher, flushing the toliet, water that makes ice in my fridge or water that runs water into my washing machine! We were even gone many hours during that time and slept through the night.

$10

WATER

click HERE to be directed to the secure donation site of

charity: water

Use the YELLOW button on the site to donate.

All donations are tax deductible and

100% of the profit goes directly to clean water solutions in South Africa.

Do this on FRIDAY!

Pass this on.

Post it on your blog.

Put it on face book.

Twitter.

Share it!

Day after Day

What's on that list today?
Laundry?
Dishes?
Making beds?
Carpool?
Making lunch?
Making dinner?
ALL THE THINGS WE JUST DID YESTERDAY!!
AHHHHHHHHHHH!
I'm so sick of laundry and dishes!
Well, while you work down that list today turn up the sound on your computer and listen to the first song on my playlist.
"Say Hey - I Love You" by Michael Franti and Spearhead
Dare you to listen to it and not dance!
Just a fun one to make you forget you are doing the same thing day after day!
"I know one thing . . .I LOVE YA!"

More Like Triplets

Lately it's feeling like I have triplets instead of twins!
Tatum is catching the twins in height and when Ian's not home those three are like the Three Amigos.
They fight well. Play well. Laugh well. Wrestle well. Tease well. Imagine well. Copy well.
What a trio!
When they are all bouncing off the walls or all throwing a fit that's when I feel like I get a glimpse of triplet life!

Lately I've also been trying to wrap my head around TWIN WORLD.
It really is different.
I'm patienty waiting for 2 books I ordered from Amazon on twins.
I haven't read specific twin book since the boys were 2 or younger.
It's time!
Some things are just different.
Some of you are twins.
Some of you have twins.
I wish we could all sit down at Starbucks and have TWIN conversations!!

While waiting in the van the other day waiting for Jason I pulled out all my wallet pictures of the kids. I showed Carter and Coleson the pictures of them together from birth on up! It made me want to CRY looking at them!! Oh those babies were cute!! I asked them each which one they thought was them. They didn't see each other's answers. EVERY TIME they chose their brother as themself!! EVERY TIME!! Obviously in infant pictures they don't know but it happened in each picture.
All I could figure is their entire life they have been looking in a mirror. They know they look very similar and they see the other one more than they see themselves so those differences they see they must think is them!! Crazy???!!!  Coleson did say to one picture. "They look the same."  Thought that was funny, "they" look the same, as if he isn't in the picture. HA!

Don't you just want to squeeze them!!??

Twins!!
I'm thankful for the experience!

5 Things You Probably Don't Know about Me!

5 things you probably don't know about ME!

1.  I'm a crazy LIST person. I have lists for my lists. I write things on a list that I already did just so I can cross it off. It's how I stay sane! Sometimes I even write "take a shower" on my list. Hey with 4 kids that counts as an accomplishment.

2.   When it's my turn to drive Ian to school (Jason does it if he's here) I go in my pajama pants, a sweatshirt, no bra, and slippers.  If the teacher ever comes out to talk to me I'll leave the window rolled up, put my hands to my ears to motion "call me" and I'll drive off!!

3.  I sing in the car really loud when I'm driving alone as if I was on stage.  Try it it's fun! I talk outloud to myself too.  Why process in your head when you can process out loud?

4.  I almost started crying during my first Jazzercise (like aerobic) class this week. I don't think I realized how much I NEEDED THIS STRESS RELEASE. Could it be from the stress of four kids all within 4 yrs 4 months of each other? Or the stress of a husband whose going back to school full time and working full time? Or the stress of wondering what's next for our family and when is that next? Or could it be from our financial stress . .. we still haven't sold our stinkin house in UT? Exercise is a good stress reliever.

5.  I've been known to eat parmesan cheese by the handful!! YUM!  Haven't done it in awhile. I think I'll do it now!!

The list could be longer but you get the point . . . I'm weird!

Now that you know I'm weird . . . what about you???