August challenges and Salamanders

Today is Sarah's 2nd birthday! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. She is learning to do so many things by herself and is a fairly independent little soul who loves to run after her brothers and tries to do everything they do. She sings to herself all the time, and talks about who knows what, with great enthusiasm and drama. She likes to 'help' do laundry and sweep, and is currently pushing the boundaries at every turn.

Today, however, she played mommy with her baby doll, trying to put a diaper on it, and discussed with me matter of factly what she was doing. She will play legos with the boys, until something gets broken and one of them decides they have had enough of little sister getting into their creations.

I think she is trying to potty train herself, a little bit, because sometimes she will go into the bathroom and remove her wet diaper and then climb up on the potty and sit for awhile. Of course, it's already been done in the diaper, but she's getting the idea anyway. Also, she still nurses, but during the day often it is executed with great drama and this goofy grin on her face, like she thinks she's too big for it, but still wants to. I hate to admit it, but she's almost not a baby anymore.

Starting tomorrow, I am going to be doing some challenges that I set up for myself. Hopefully, my blog will be a good way to help me achieve my goals for the month of August.

1. I will be taking a month long break from Facebook. I really don't need to be on it all the time, and it has become an addiction for me that I really need to get under control. I literally can spend hours every day on here, doing not much useful, and getting nothing done.

2. I am challenging myself to eat nothing with sugar in it. I am addicted to food, particularly things that are not good for me, so I am starting with sugar and will work on other things later.

3. Exercise. I have been doing really good at getting some in almost everyday. The kids and I go to the pond in the afternoons after lunch to burn off some of their energy, and I really enjoy putting on my mask and swimming around enjoying nature.
I would like to see if I can add my walk back in, in the morning. It's been very hot, but not so much that I couldn't get out there and walk. I've just been lazy.

So, those are the three things I am tackling this month. Next week we are going camping with the church and we are all looking forward to the break from the usual.

Utah Animals
Tiger Salamander  This is what we discovered the last few days at the pond. I finally got a pretty good look at one, and was able to figure out fairly quickly what it was.

What we have seen is a baby larval stage Tiger Salamander. They are about 8 inches long right now and are very cool to see. When they get big they will spend most of their time on land, but at this phase in their development, they are swimming around in the bottom of the pond. So this evening, we are learning about them.

Anyway, I'll check in tomorrow as we begin the month of August.

House cleaning

Sunday and Monday, Victor had off from work, so we did a bit of housecleaning. By the time, I finished today, we put a bunch of stuff in the car to donate, vacuumed and swept and mopped the floors. The hall is clear again, the kitchen is rearranged, and the bedroom is clean enough to walk in again. It's an awesome feeling, to have a clean house. There are a few things still to clean and declutter, but some of it is just lack of storage and will be dealt with tomorrow. 

We went swimming today and the neighbors were out as well, so the kids got to play with their friends for a bit.

I managed to not snack last night before bed, and we did get to bed a little earlier and also got up a bit earlier than usual this morning.  

I should have taken pictures before we cleaned to get the contrast and taken pictures as soon as it was clean. I took these pictures Wednesday morning, so it's has a more lived in look than a just cleaned look. Three boys, a toddler and the neighbor kids can sure mess things up in a hurry, but it still looks a hundred times better than it did. 

We only have a small regular vacuum at doesn't work very well, so I used the shop vac and boy the difference was awesome! I'm going to use that from now on. If all you can do is vacuum, do that. It makes the room feel clean even if there are toys laying around and dust on the shelves. 

Living room with things now out of place again. But better than it was by a long shot.

Kitchen swept and mopped, yesterday and table moved to make the walkway wider.

Hallway after losing some shelves and trash and boxes! Yay!

My room, though the laundry is piling up again. Where did that come from? I just put a bunch away! But hey, the floor is vacuumed and I can walk in here again!

Bathroom which has remnants from swimming, yesterday. The boys did a very good job cleaning it, though.

Thoughts

So, we haven't moved yet, but are making progress with sorting stuff and trying to clean up the house. Little by little. Still hoping to move soon, but no idea where or when. 

The kids and I have been swimming almost every day in the pond. It's so nice to have that there, and it's fairly clean since we are basically the only ones using it.

My parents are supposed to come for the weekend this week, yippee! Everyone is excited, even though it is a sad reason. They had to drive over to Washington to help my uncle move. He is dying of cancer so that's not nice. :-( Anyway, they are stopping by on their way home and we will get to celebrate Sarah turning 2.

I am going to add some more exercise stuff into my routine. Hopefully. :-P I have a rebounder so I am trying to go to bed earlier and get up and bounce for a few minutes every morning before the kids get up. It works better when Victor is out of town, since we tend to stay up later when he is home. If we can just break that habit. Also, I am going to attempt to break a few other habits like eating at night. It's hard to stop, but I need to do it. I like to snack while on the iPad or watching tv. Not healthy on the digestion.

Anyway, just throwing some thoughts out since I haven't written anything in a while.

Until tomorrow! Goodnight.