Missed a few day

I planned on being up extra early on Thursday to post for a 3rd day in a row, but I didn't make it. Wednesday night we got an offer to go pick up some fresh from the bay Alaskan oysters. I myself don't eat them, but my husband and 2 boys can eat about 2 dozen raw in a sitting! So we spent most of Wednesday night driving and driving around delivering oysters to friends and family. We go 10 dozen and made it home with 18. It was the last trip of the season for oysters so we had to share the wealth.
As a child I hated Alaska. I counted the days till I could move away and never look back. But once I did leave I realized just how blessed I was to live here. I'm am so lucky to be able to raise my kids here. To take them fishing and hunting and clamming, berry picking, mushroom picking. I love to come home and make a meal for my kids that we have harvested from our Earth. Don't get me wrong, I love to be able to go into town and buy dinner but once in a while I just need to harvest.
Not really sure where I'm going with this post. I guess just counting a few blessings.

Maybe just one more..

We have 3 amazing kids and at this point in life, that is all we will have. In another life I would be one of those woman with 20some kids, but not this life.

 

So that being said you would think that I have no baby stuff around, but I do. My whole crawlspace was full of baby clothes, bouncy chairs, strollers, swigs, car seats, etc. I have always had this weird theory that if I get rid of the baby stuff, I will instantly get pregnant and be left with nothing and have to start all over and find new stuff. 

 

But my crawlspace was so bad I wouldn't let my husband even go down there in fear of what he would do when he saw it all. I wouldn't even take pictures so there was no proof.

 

Time to let go.

 

Do I really need newborn baby boy clothes when my youngest boy will be 6 in a few months?

 

 No!

 

 Luckily a friend is due in January and they don't have a bunch of money so last night I pulled all the gear up. OMG how do little babies need so much?

 

See when my daughter was born I would full time nights (more evenings 5pm-mignight or later) at a gas station. I went back to work about 3 weeks after she was born and she started coming to work with me when she was a month old. So I had all the gear there and all the gear at home and extra to keep in the car for trips to Grandmas and stuff like that. Too much baby stuff.

 

I should be excited to get rid of it, to have extra space, to know I'm helping others by giving what I no longer need.  

 

But a part of me deep down longs for more babies, the tiny little clothes and the new baby smell, the 2 am feeding, the no sleep, the cuddles, the hurt nipples and spit up. I of course had a full on balling fit holding on to little clothes my daughter wore when she was a new born but it turned to a smile when she walked over to hug me and say "Momma baby". We sat down and looked at her baby clothes together and we decided to pull some out for her baby doll to wear.

 

Some tears, some laughs and a car full of baby clothes to a friend, a truck full of baby gear to them too and a van full of boy clothes to donations.

 

 

 

Did you notice?? 2 days in a row! Oh Ya! :)

Cold Morning

Once again, I have wondered off and forgot to post on here. Who would have thought?

It is a freezing Tuesday morning, -20 freezing cold morning. Im so glad I don't have to leave the house in the mornings. No cold car trips to the bus stop for this Momma! Winter is here, we have 2-3 inches of snow that came a week or so ago and hasn't left yet.

Monday Morning Temp

 

First Snow

With all the snow and cold I have been inside a lot! Im still trying to organize my house. But on a good note I have taken probably 6 garbage bags and several boxes full of clothes and toys to donations!!

In an effort to tame toys before Christmas I have started a toy rotation program. I was always skeptical of this because I thought my boys would freak out when it was all gone.
I actually told them that Santa came to visit and that it was Santa's idea because they didn't clean up their toys and he wanted to try something new to see if they deserved new toys for Christmas. They cant get mad at Santa, right?
But just like all the webpages say, they didn't freak out. They didn't cry, they didn't yell. 

They played!!!

They played better than I have seen in a long time and they fought less and enjoyed the toys!!!!!!!
And they actually put them all away every night, because it is not so overwhelming. Now if I can just keep up my end of the deal and switch the toys.





 
 
 

Before, as you can see we had way to much stuff. I had tried to separate it all and keep it in the boxes.
But that just looked horrible and they never actually opened the boxes to play.










 

I separated it all into like categories and then boxed it up and put them all in the bottom of the linen closet. I left out a few toys on the bottom to work on the ABCs and the big Legos stay. 
 After:




Rotation #1 castles

 

 

 

It has been almost 2 weeks and the kids are still cleaning up and having fun with the toys. Not I need top get them changed out before they lose interest. 

My next project is coats and shoes (as you can see in the background). Since winter is here and it is cold cold cold, Im really trying to get the coats we don't use and get them to donations so they can be keeping someone warm this winter instead of laying on my floor.






Just clean the hall

I have been on a mission, for years, to get organized. I'm always trying to find something that works for my family and me. We built our house for My husband and I and our 2 sons. Well now we have 3 adults and 3 kids living in the same house. I feel like I'm drowning in toys and clothes most days. I have a decent cleaning schedule and if I actually stick to it the kitchen and bathroom stay ok. But my hall was starting to look like a Hoarders episode. It was truly a fire hazard. So over the weekend I started on the hall linen closet, which the door hadn't been able to close on in who knows how long. I emptied the whole thing and actually got rid of some stuff and got the door to close. Then started putting actual lines in it, instead of skirt guns and old Easter candy. I unfortunately stopped there to cook dinner. My hall is still messy, but its a start.

A month?

A month? A month? Really? Did I really not come post for a month. Wow well at least no one reads it anyways, so I should be ok. I wish I had some profound reason why I haven't posted anything, but no I'm just a bum.
So new goal, daily post. Even if next to nothing is going on, I'm going to try to post something everyday. If I can actually keep it up, I might start promoting my blog instead of hiding it.

Where Ive been

Been slacking a little on the blog, which I knew would happen. But on the up side, I have gotten some actual homeschooling done.








Tern Lake, Alaska
 

We also got a good road trip to Seward to the Alaska Sea Life Center. We go at least once a year, but this was the first trip where Princess was able to walk around and enjoy it all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She was in love with the baby sea lion, Ellie.

Ellie and Eden, Steller Sea Lions



One of our projects have been to observe caterpillars change to a butterfly. We got 2 caterpillars and I'm happy to say Ms Beautiful Wings came out of her chrysalis yesterday. We are eagerly waiting for the arrival of Mr PomPom.
(For some reason my camera wont download the new pics of Ms Beautiful wings. So hopefully next time.)

Our Caterpillars

Butterfly unit
 

I am still trying to get our schedule together. It seems like the more I plan the more off track I get and then if I plan nothing I feel overwhelmed by the lack of plans! But we are getting work done and we have actually had days where no one cries (not even me) and it makes it all worthwhile. We are struggling with Mr reading. He can do it, but he is always in a rush. He looks at the first letter and guesses words that are so far off. I have decided to step back and extremely slow down on his LA curriculum and just work on reading. Reading everything. He hates it!! But it seems to be helping and I know once he gets it he will love reading. Bubba is a new challenge also, he is a mover. Mr loved workbooks, Bubba wont do a workbook to save his life. So Im working on finding all hands on, movement learning. Princess is getting better at playing on her own, she is still usually attached to my hip. But she had fallen asleep in my arms more than once well I taught the boys and I swear it was the most amazing thing ever. Im working on getting her more activities that tie in with what the boys are learning.
Im convinced that if I could just have a weekend without kids and husband I could actually plan this all out and deep clean the house. But with fall in the air Im not seeing any camping trips in the near future so I don't know where they will go. That's ok, I got this.

More About me

So Im still trying to figure out this blog thingy. I cant seem to get everything on it I want, but I will get there. So when I typed up the About me it wouldn't let me put everything in there,  (rambling) so here is the rest of About me...

My name is Carrie and I live in Alaska. I have recently married my high school sweetheart after 13 years and 3 kiddos.
*Mr. is 7 but I swear he was born a teenager. He is very smart and loves music and has a true rock star attitude.
*Bubba is 5 and he is our emotional goofball. He can be quick to get upset but he would rather make you laugh.
*Princess is almost 2 and she is pure girl. She is just as tough and fearless as her brothers but she does it in a dress.
This is my first year homeschooling with all of them home (last 2 years Bubba was in Head Start for half the day) it has proven to be the most stressful yet most rewarding adventure.
I am also a full time caretaker for a disabled adult family member who lives with us. It can add a lot of stress but it is best for all of us. The kids get to know family and we know she is getting good care. It also gives me the opportunity to stay at home full time and still earn a paycheck.
We try to enjoy as many of Alaskans wonders as we can. We have moved school outside many days to go fishing, camping, canoeing, mushroom or berry picking and moose hunting. One of the many reasons we decided to homeschool was so our kids could be able to learn life in Alaska.
I love to bake(bake not cook). I love to try out new recipes on my family, Thanks Pinterest! I have days where every meal is found off of Pinterest. They don't always turn out so good, but I have fun. I love to travel but don't make it too far from home anymore. ( I watch a lot of the travel channel to make up for that) But we do try to make several road trips a year around Alaska. Less since Princess was born because she hates the car for some reason.
I'm not perfect! My house is a mess, the laundry mountain is almost big enough to climb, I tend to yell, my hair hasn't came out off a ponytail in longer than I would like to admit, at least once a week I somehow forget to cook dinner and I have been known to have a drink (or 5) after the kids go to bed. But I'm working to find a way to make my crazy life a little less crazy. Not just for me but for all 6 of us!

No more excuses..

I have wanted to start a blog for quit awhile. I have been coming up with every excuse why not to, Examples:
*I couldn't decide which part of my crazy life I wanted to highlight: stressed mom, homeschooler, caretaker or just everything and anything life throws at me.
*I cant type. Well I can type, but I cant express feeling on keys, I need pencil and paper to write. That can be very time consuming to prewrite every entry.
     -I'm actually handwriting this by candle light with help of the Harvest moon. The power is   out, the perfect time to start, when I cant do anything else.
*Time!! Seriously I don't see how some bloggers can do all the stuff they say they do and still have time to run a family and blog. I'm always running out of time.
* I will admit, I have a hard time finishing projects. I'm great at planning, starting and getting 3/4 done then wandering away. Not sure if its adult ADD of just lazy. Hard to tell.
*I tend to ramble when I write. I'm famous for leaving little notes that turn into 2 pages front and back. Another time consumer. See there is that time problem again.
*One more, :)
 I wasn't sure how far unto my life I was willing to post. My husband hates the internet and wants nothing of him on it.  I'm a caretaker for a family member so legal I cant post much about that. And I do post pics of my kids on my personal Facebook page, but do I want them everywhere? That being said, I'm really starting a blog as a stress release. Writing is how I made it through my teens so it should get me through 30 something insanity. So I guess I will be teetering back and forth about all that.
Rambling again....
Excuses aside, I'm starting a blog. A blog about a mom, who doesn't have all the answers but is willing to search for them.