Finding Balance

Balance is hard to find because life is always changing.  I feel like I am consistently adjusting my balance to counteract the changes.  This has been on my mind lately, and since this is our journal you get the pleasure of  listening in on my thoughts... or skipping this post entirely. :)  I promise to include some cute stories though.

I have found that schedules are very important to me (a very close second would be lists).  I realized this in college and absolutely turned my life around (this is a different story though).  I have found some great ways  for me to find balance with all of the demands in my life.  Here are some things I have come up with that work for us:

• Quiet time everyday at 1:30. I feel that I must mention this first because it is the reason for my sanity. 
• I wake up at 5:50 everyday to have 'me' time.  I have found that if it doesn't happen at this time it doesn't happen.  I workout and do my scripture study.
• Tuesdays are 'Momma Days.' Logan does Elder's Quorum visits and is gone until 8:30 or 9.  I use this time to focus solely on the kids.  I make sure to have one-on-one time with each child,we have some kind of craft, and sometimes we will watch Signing Time together.
• Thursday morning is the first day without preschool in the morning.  This makes it an essential cleaning day.  I do deep cleaning in the morning and then I have one-on-one cleaning time with each child. I love this, and they love this!  I select special jobs (windows, washing stainless steel in the kitchen, organizing closets, etc) that I can do with an extra set of small hands.  The kids seriously can not wait for their turn to clean with mom! The main moral of this story is that we would LOVE to have you drop in at our house, and if you expect it to be clean then your best bet would be to come on a Thursday afternoon.
• I have finally conquered the Laundry Monster at our house!  I have found that it is completely impossible to do all of the laundry in one day.  I have also found that if it doesn't get done in one day, then there is clean laundry in baskets until the next time I do laundry. Without fail! I have found a magical cure for me!  Sunday=sorting day, Monday= get all of the laundry loads washed and sorted (unfolded) into baskets for each room (i.e. Jackson's and Evelyn's clothes in the same basket).  Tuesday = fold laundry as I put it away in the drawers. This is totally doable, and laundry never sneaks up on me!
• I have found a great way to get Heartwood marketing stuff done without totally neglecting my children and getting easily frustrated with them. That is what unavoidably happens when I try to do it during the day.  I now keep a good list of things that need to be done and my Heartwood time is on Tuesday and Wednesday during the two hours that all three older kids are in preschool.
• Shopping on Monday while Evelyn is in preschool.  I have discovered that Fred Meyer offers free childcare while you shop!  I have always thought that Fred Meyer was more expensive than Wal-mart, but I always manage to spend less at Fred Meyer.  I have tested this theory multiple times and even made absolute sure that I didn't impulse buy anything.  Cheaper grocery bills is an added bonus!
• A few weeks ago I decided that I would bring one child (plus Maren because she is too young for the childcare) with me shopping.  I have a blast, and so do Adalie and Jackson!  On our shopping 'date' he or she gets to pick out the Family Night treat (shopping day just happens to fall on a Monday).
• We have craft/coloring time after nap time on most days.
• Every Friday morning Logan takes the kids to the Library for story/craft time.  The kids look forward to "Papa library days," and I look forward to 'me' time that is not allowed to be related to Heartwood marketing.
• Every three months our ward is assigned to clean the church on Saturdays.  Logan takes the kids on 'church cleaning dates' with him.  After cleaning the church they go out for ice cream/play time at McDonalds.  The kids love this!  He has come to the conclusion that Jackson is a great cleaner, Evelyn is a good cleaner, and Adalie will one day be a great cleaning supervisor.  
• I promise that all of our one-on-one time dates are not spent cleaning! We also take our kids on random dates depending on their individual interests. 
• One of the most important nights of the week is date night!  Logan and I attempt to go on one date a week. 
• BE FLEXIBLE! It would be great if all of these things happened like clockwork, but they simply don't.  They happen most of the time, and that is perfect.

I have been thinking lately that the last few weeks have been really balanced well for my personal life.  I love it! Here are some highlights...

• I woke up at 6:00 every day and can officially say that this is a habit.
• I went shopping alone and bought clothes!
• Logan and I went on a double date with some friends together
• Logan and I passed our first Karate advancement test
• Logan and I are learning our first guitar songs together, and I have kind of figured out how to sing while I play very simple songs. Kind of.
• I had great cleaning time with each kid
• I snuck in a lot of one-on-one momma time
• We have made a lot of crafts together
• I had an interpreting job
• I was a laundry queen
• I have kept the upstairs really clean. This is cleaned pretty well at least once a day. (did I mention that I keep a pretty clean kitchen, and that having a clean kitchen is directly related to my sanity. You can pretty much gauge my mood by how clean my kitchen is).
• After traipsing around the entire valley Logan and I finally have great new bikes!
• We went on a bike riding date

Wow. You made it this far.  Here are the stories that I promised you.

On Thursday morning I had a fantastic cleaning morning with the kids. I began with Maren in her bedroom where she had strewn the clean clothes all over the floor.  I opened one drawer and gave her a few pieces of clothing to put inside.  She would put one partially in and methodically get the rest of it in little by little.  She talked and babbled the entire time.  Then, she would look at me and say 'more, more, more.' Very cute.

Next, I washed windows with Adalie and the stainless steel in the kitchen with Evelyn.  During this time Jack got out the broom and began sweeping the floor.  He made countless little piles (10-12) and would call me in  every few minutes to help him sweep each pile into the dustpan.  He kept going, and going, and going, and going until he had an almost completely spotless floor.  He is the most persistent cleaner I have ever met! He was very excited when his momma job was to clean the landing and laundry room with the Swiffer. 

After I was finished cleaning with the kids I heard Evelyn say, "Adalie- Lets go clean up the leaves and have some you and me time!" I watched them run downstairs and grab a laundry basket to collect the leaves that were in the living room.  They were both SO excited to be having their own 'time.'  I love it!

I am so blessed, and I love my life!  

I have some great pictures of cleaning time with Momma, but I can't get them off of my phone.   

On a completely random note- Check out this cool blog titled 'Drops of Awesome.'  It is pretty cool and I figured I would share it for those of you who haven't seen it yet click here.