Timberrrrrrr......!

The end of the season is coming, the air is brisk, the wind is more harsh and the plants are giving their last efforts of bearing fruits.  We still have tomato's and bell peppers coming out of our wazoo's (whatever a wazoo may be), but other plants are dwindling.  

The broccoli plant that has been near and dear to my heart all summer with its huge multi-functional leaves came down with a wind storm a few nights back.  

This plant has given me brocolli, of course, but also served as sunshade, umbrella and my greens for the last two months!  Trinity and I loved them and we could get a couple of days out of one of those big ones! Lana Banana was the only one that ever protested them, but I think that has more to do with her inability to eat anything remotely fibrous in under an hour.  She likes her greens, but is very slow in eating them.

I broke off and saved all of the leaves and in about a week I will have to actually GO OUT and get greens at the store.  Ugh...   Not to worry!  The fall/winter cycle of the Tower Garden will be in swing after the current plants have finished, we have done a cleaning overhaul and brought the Tower inside!!  

We are really looking forward to some fresh herbs and greens through the winter!  I will keep you updated as to what our choices are, why and where we put our beloved tower when it comes in.  It is on a dolly, so it is easy enough to move.

Happy Fall Harvesting!!!

*( To find out more about the tower go to the Tower Garden website or contact me directly through this blog or on facebook!  I would be happy to answer any questions)

Birthday Boy!

The days come and go in a  whirlwind.  The work, homework, chores, teaching, etc. etc....  it goes on and on and I wake up and do it again.  Many mornings I lie in bed after my alarm goes off trying desperately to remember what day it is and what that means I have to do when my feet hit the floor!

But, we always (usually always) remember our birthday!  Brian's birthday, which is equal to the entire month of September when asked, is a special time for him to revert to his child like state and be celebrated.  It all works out because he is worth celebrating.  Surrounded by great friends and family we were able to celebrate Brian a couple of times and you can't beat that smile!

But sometimes, just sometimes, a special birthday roles around.  This year was the first year in many that we were actually able to splurge a little.  Brian pooled his birthday resources and bought a toy he had been wanting for a long while.  

This is a Quad-Copter Drone.  "Huh?" You ask?  Yeah, that was me a couple of years ago too when I first heard about this toy.  Let's be clear here too.  There is NO practical purpose for this flying Styrofoam from Brookstone, but it is fun and is controlled with the iPad and the girls love it.  Although, the downward wind did allow me to dust the high shelf in my foyer that I can never get to!

This is the first thing he did Sunday morning.  Outside it goes!  There is a great range with it.  It does flips and has two HD cameras on the front and bottom that can record.  My logistical mind says that if we are to have roof storm damage then we would now have the perfect inspector for it.  

I don't understand it at all, but I don't have to.  Bottom line is that it put a huge smile on his face and he loves to play with it.  He deserved a great big toy and I am so happy we were able to get it this year.  

But, when it comes down to it...  this is what his birthday celebration really looked like.  Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!!  

Grab Today

This is the message that came to me loud and clear yesterday while driving through a packed day.

My life right now seems to be floating in limbo soup.  Sky is almost settled in school, the twins are almost to Kindergarten, Journey is almost potty trained and getting passed the baby phase and the reasonable stage is on the horizon.  I unconsciously wait for the next step, but the truth is THIS step is going on RIGHT NOW!

I don't want to forget the special moments sprinkled throughout each day.  Journey's amazing little voice, hugs, kisses and desire to be cuddled, Lana's awesome sayings, ambition and facial expressions, Trinity's stories, artistry and love and Skyla's last hints of "childness" and her attempted balance of Big Girl-ness and the fact that she is only seven.  I want to take mental pictures everyday of beautiful moments and flush away the numerous frustrations of parenting four girls that lie within four years.  The beautiful outweighs the ugly, but that doesn't mean that I don't get caught up in the ugly sometimes and have to be reminded.   

LOVE this.  

Do It Like Yur Movin'

I clean this house EVERY WEEK.  Except on the very rare (too rare!) occasion that we are on vacation, this house is dusted, vacuumed, mopped, laundered and one area is deep cleaned.

I have had many people ask how I do it and so last year I posted my schedule out there to help others get a good groove going themselves.  I also posted the formulas I use.

I rotate the schedule every seven weeks or so and this time I wanted to do a "Do It Like Yur Movin'" clean.  I always hear, and have experienced more times than I care to remember, that you get rid of so much clutter when you move.  All of those, "I can't believe I held on to that" things pile up!

So, this time through I ask myself when I opened cabinets and went through closets and drawers, "would I bring this if I were moving?"

Let's just say the Good Will bin is a bit more full than it typically is.  Just because you can squeeze it in somewhere doesn't mean that you should, or need, to.  If you haven't used it in a while ask yourself if you will anytime soon and what its purpose even is.  Is it important to you?  Serve an important function?

There are so many ways with today's technology that we can buy and sell things and you can make some great weekend money if donation is not for you.  Personally, I did the Craig's List and Garage Sale thing before and nearly broke myself doing it.  NOT worth it for me.  But, for some larger and more expensive items it is great.  Even better is giving it to a friend that might need/want it.  Always nice to help out a neighbor.

Next time you open your corner closet that usually only opens once a month or so, ask yourself "Would I take this with me if I moved?"

Why Tower Garden, What Big leaves you Have!

Can we just take a moment to remember what our Tower Garden looked like at the beginning back in May of this year!

How cute, quaint and little!  I can honestly say I never would have thought that it was going to be what it is today!!!

This picture was just taken in the fogginess of the morning today and this massiveness is 360 degrees around the tower.  As you can imagine we have saved a BUNDLE on produce this summer.  Through drought and everything else this summer threw at us, we had fresh produce out on the deck.  We have ate like kings with romaine, broccoli leaves, spinach, tomatoes...  ohhh the tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, zucchini and cucumbers.  

We are learning along the way and know that eight spaces for tomatoes with at east two plants in them each was, well, WAY too many.  They were so small before!  It is like getting a baby tiger and saying "It will be fine.  Look how cute he is!"

We have learned how to plan the tiers according to mature plant size to accommodate for shading and weight.  We have learned about more things that we would love to grow in our tower and we are looking forward to a winter harvest this year.  

I REALLY have to get a handle on this canning things before pounds and pounds of tomatoes go to waste.  Good thing I have some neighbors who like tomatoes as well!!!  

*( To find out more about the tower go to the Tower Garden website or contact me directly through this blog or on facebook!  I would be happy to answer any questions)

Seven and a Half Years to Barnes and Noble

It happened!  Seven and a Half Years and it is happening!!!  My girls are ALL in school.  It may only be twice a week for a few hours, but it is a weird, freeing, sad mix of emotions.  Like when I was pregnant with Journey, things didn't really set into my head until it was actually happening this week.  

Trinity and Lana are in their Pre-K year and go to Little Scholars Learning Academy in Fishers twice a week and then do work at home the other three school days.  We have units every month with cooking and craft projects, a book, a movie and all of our math, writing and reading centers around our topic.  We also have time to learn everyday about our topic and this month it is BUTTERFLIES!  Last month we did OCEANS and it was fun to go on diving tours with them, name the oceans, teach them that water actually does weigh something and go through all the movies and pictures of the strange creatures that live in the waters.  The girls are though the roof excited about this month though.  Little girls and butterflies?  Can't go wrong.  It is extra work, but it cuts costs and adds time for us to be together.  

First day for Lana Banana with her sunscreen soaked eye brows.  She likes to do it herself these days.  

Trinity with her new dress on her first day.  She LOVES to wear dresses.  Any day without one is a disappointment for her.

Next year they will be on that bus that they watch Sky get on every morning, so I will soak up this year while I can.  They were excited to be there for Journey's first year of school too.  They were eager to show her around and be there for her.  

Then there is Journey.  Journey could not WAIT to get to school.  She has been watching her sisters go for years now and she was ready!  With her whale bag in hand she raced from the van to the front door of the school to just look inside at all the possibilities.  She went in, grabbed a carpet piece and sat down with a huge smile on her face.  There were no tears, no hesitancy, no frowns.  She waved and said "I love you mommy" and I was free to leave.  

(excited?)

I left.  I left and got into an empty van and headed out of the neighborhood with a bag of Juice Plus materials that were begging to be worked on and this neglected blog calling my name.  When I was in college I would go to Barnes and Noble to study and have some "me" time and so that is where I headed that day.  I walked in without holding a hand and with no bee lines to the children's section.  I walked around, looked at things I never would be able to, bought a drink and sat down and got a lot of work done!

It was definitely a bitter sweet day.  It was hard to see my baby so grown up and see the time pass.  I was so stinkin' proud of all of them though and especially Journey for it being her FIRST day ever.  She exclaimed when she got in the car with tremendous excitement, "  I didn't go peepee in my pants!"

Yeah!  I'll take that.

With the tears and the proud also came the taste of some freedom.  I will admit, it was nice!  A girl could get used to some of this time every week. When I sat down I just took a breathe in and enjoyed the moment thanking God that with having four girls in as many years we have gotten to this point.  We have survived and thrived to this point.  Let's just stay here for a while now.

Hand, Foot and Mouth Blessing

Last week our little Lana Banana seemed a little warm for an evening, but her behavior wasn't off at all. She still bounced, smiled and laughed like only she can.  I didn't think much of it.  The next morning she casually mentioned that her throat hurt a little when she drank her orange juice.  Again, I didn't think much of it because of all of our girls Lana is the one that always has some ailment or another according to her.    I swear M.D. is in her future because she is so infatuated with booboo's!

It wasn't until the next morning when she said that she couldn't walk well because her feet were hurting that I started to put the pieces together.  "Wait!  I remember this!  My brother and sister went through something like this when they were young."  Off to the office to visit the doctor we call "Web MD".  Sure enough, everything she had is following suit with Hand, Foot and Mouth disease.  Very contagious and often spread through sneezing and coughs.  That means I am doomed!  I know now that I am in the house for an undetermined amount of time with some degree of sick kiddos!  "Welcome to your three day weekend!"  the fates laughed.

This was honestly the first time the girls had been sick since we started Juice Plus.  I remembered when my brother and sister had this that there was a lot of screaming and crying and very sore throats and bodies.  My mom reminded me of when I gave my sister spaghetti o's and she she screamed uncontrollably.  That was our first sign with her.  I also had friends whose children had this recently and it wasn't pretty.

With cancelled plans we had three days in Isaac inspired Indiana gloominess ahead.  Lana's feet were sore and itchy that day, but she felt fine otherwise.  Trinity started with a fever that night right before bed and crashed for the night.  Journey woke up Saturday morning looking like a leopard, but with no other symptoms of anything.  Skyla was the only one left.  Dun...dun...dun...  She never did get anything and I can only guess she was harboring some sort of immuno warriors able to combat the virus.

So, what did we do this labor day weekend?  We cleaned every carpet in our house, cleaned out the office and made more space for me.  I worked a lot.  We cleaned the mud room and arranged the hundreds of shoes we have in a way that they can actually be accessed.  We watched way too many movies, danced in the rain, ate lots of food and cuddled and slept a lot.  No one "felt" sick for more than an hour.  Brian and I battled out two great games of monopoly and watched some great shows, read books and talked and had time for us.

(Four Girls have lots of shoes!)

The girls are fine now after our three days of shut in.  School starts this week for the younger three and we are starting the fall months.  Things are great!

So, what was this weekend for us?  A blessing...  A great big, leopard print, bumpy blessing!

How was your weekend?