5 Percent of Your Life

"We live twenty-four hours a day. Could you use one hour or just half an hour seeking the presence of the Savior of this world? If you really knew that 5 percent of your time would influence the other 95 percent of your time, that even your sleep would be more peaceful, more restful, and your communications would be more authentic and peaceful, particularly when the stress conditions come - if you knew really that you would be more successful in 95 percent of your life by being true in 5 percent of your life, would you neglect or superficially use that 5 percent? I don't think you would."

~ Stephen R. Covey

Am I Crazy? Yes. I. Am.

For January, today's weather was AWESOME!! I thought it would be great to go on a walk with the kids, play at the park and have a picnic. Also, Mr. Fielding needed quiet sleep.

WARNING: contains gross content

I went around informing everyone that we would be leaving as soon as I finished up some work and packed the lunches. I go outside and JC is by himself. "Where's Joey?" "He's over there by the poop." HOLY COW! Joey pooped in his pj's and let it roll out onto the driveway. So of course I start yelling and he's pointing saying, "...and I peed over there." (picture giant pee spot rolling down the driveway)

Okay, one mess cleaned up.

Jaida is awesome and starts helping me make sandwiches. While she does that I have to clean up Kylan because he went out back and got in the muddy garden. I put him in the tub and find out that he is also poopy! Undress Kylan, rinse and wash, dry off, put on diaper and redress... huge energy drain.

Two messes cleaned up.

Finish making five lunches. Five sandwiches and five chips each in their own little bag.
Joey and JC come in the house and Joey wants his feet cleaned. No, you can just have muddy feet... No no, it's not mud. CHICKEN POOP! ULG! Eew, yuck, disgusting, gross!

Three messes cleaned up.

Between all the mud, poop, arguing, back talking, complaining, crying and whining I'm already done for the day and it's only 12:30pm. We got this far so now we just have to make it to the park. We end up staying for 2.5 hours!

Everyone ended up making it through the day and the best part? I GOT A NEW COMPUTER!
I didn't take my camera to the park and fortunately for you there are no poop pics.

(Can I just add that before bedtime I had to bathe Joey again. FOUR messes cleaned up)

Twin's New Job

This is Tara my twin. When we were little our friend couldn't tell us apart and would just call us "twin". I still remember playing on the swing set and our friend saying, "Hey twin!"

Anyway, to get back on topic my twin just got a NEW job! CONGRATULATIONS!!

Way to stay in the workforce for so long AND take care of a family.
Working mom's are definitely amazing, which means everyone in my family is amazing.

Twin is the sexy twin, I'm the cute twin?? Someone once told us that...do you remember?

You're Stuck in the Prayer

The other day we were saying the prayer at dinner and when we finished Jaida says, "Kayla, you're stuck in the prayer. You didn't say Amen." I laughed and now we use that saying all the time.

If you've ever said a prayer with my kids you know this picture is staged. Can you believe they sat like this for 8 seconds?

Any ideas on how to have your kids sit quietly while a prayer is being said? (butt kicking has crossed my mind)

Food is Better With Toothpicks

Do you have a picky eater? Give them a toothpick! My kids LOVE them with their lunch. Obviously it's hard to eat some things with a toothpick, but I'm sure there's something on their plate they can use it for. It does call for playing while eating and it takes double the amount of time to eat but whatever works I always say.

Joey made an "I".
Kayla has a girl with a dress, shoes and hat. You can also see the front tooth she most recently lost.
...and here is Kayla's "I".

Maiwwage

marriage can make "the struggle" easier, rather than be "the struggle" itself
~ Sherri Dew

Dear Mr. Fielding, hopefully I can remember this quote daily. Love, Mrs. Fielding.

p.s. thank you for taking this picture with me. When I squint you are almost smiling. (hee hee)

(photo by Kayla)

Pirate Island Fun

Dear Pirate Island Pizza, wow, who knew you could be such a motivator.

Dear Jaida, thank you for sticking to the deal and sharing your reward of going to PIP with all of us. We all had a blast! Monty and I got a kick out of the deal you wanted to setup next... just remember that it will still have to be on mom and dad's terms. Love ya Jaida Poopypants Fielding!!

Ho McDonalds

Grandma and Grandpa Fielding stayed with us this weekend and when they asked the kids what they wanted to do that was fun, it was unanimous. Dear Ho McDonald's, our family loves you.
(pictures by Grandpa Fielding)

Dear Mr. Fielding, you missed a great day of fun with the kids. Luckily we have all these awesome photos that show you what we did.

What in the world is Na Dja!?

Dear Joey, I'm so relieved I figured out what "na dja" was. I'm glad we got to eat popcorn and watch "Fantasia" (aka na dja) this morning. Two days of listening to you cry while I tried to figure out what "na dja" had me pulling my hair out!

Dear Mr. Fielding, when you are away, the house is 10 degrees colder. Kayla wanted to use the rice bag for her feet so I was freezing. Can't wait 'til you get back!

Singing to the Moon

Dear Kayla, you helping Joey with his list of chores was one of those rare, totally awesome moments. Plus I couldn't believe how excited he was to let you help him brush his teeth, his hair and cross the items off the list.

Dear Jaida, when you do all your chores with determination and no complaints I remember it for a LOOOONG time. I'd say you went the extra mile today. Good job!

Dear Monty, when you took Joey out of the window (because you didn't want him to fall) he thought you were not letting him sing to the moon. It broke his little heart.

Happy Birthday Joey

Dear Joey, Happy 3rd Birthday! I absolutely LOVE you. I love that you always fall asleep on the couch for your nap time. I love that you want to play cars in the "car house." I love your knock, knock jokes (knock, knock. who's there? Banana. Banana who? The banana talks to the cow! hahaha). I love that you're not a bully in nursery. I love that you always say, "I love you mom," at any random time. I love that even though you were all having a sleep over in the living you still wanted to sleep by me. I love how excited you were for your Blue Dragon birthday cake and presents. I love the head-slide-across-the-floor you've started doing. Can't wait to see what this year brings!

Dad Is A Popscl

Kayla is learning to spell by sounding out the words. Isn't this great?

She turns the board around and I say, "Dad is a popsicle!" Kayla says, "No. Dad is a POOPSICLE!"

Toilet Paper Roll Village

The other day we created little houses out of toilet paper rolls. The rooftops are just a piece of paper cut into a circle, cut up the middle and then wrapped around and glued/taped. They looked like tiki huts. The girls painted the cutest designs and had lots of fun.

We Love Excitment!

Dear Kayla, your excitement and enthusiasm is one thing that makes our house so exciting! I love that you get soooo excited about putting the roofs on our little village houses and they, "look so cuuuuuute!" It's so great when you burst through the door yelling, "Today was the BEST day EVER!" Was it your first day at the library? I can't remember... Peanut Butter cups make your eyes get really big, your feet start wiggling or stomping and your hands can't clap fast enough. When some one gives you a gift you always have a little squeal to let them know they got the perfect gift (when you got makeup for your 4th birthday you ran around in circles screaming). Every time we guess right you say, "How did you know?!" with a look of amazement. You watch plenty of tv, but when I give you permission to watch something you jump for joy! You have an amazing, energetic and creative little spirit and we LOVE it!

p.s. sorry Jeep - I know, I know...no shirt (she is going to hate all these pics when she gets to be a teenager)

Big Date

Dear Monty, dinner and grocery shopping dates are my favorite! Thanks for letting me multitask. Remind me next time that "under 550 calorie" meals are not as good as "over 550 calorie" meals. Love ya like Steak Quesadilla Towers!

"One-In-A-Million" Guy

Dear Monty, did you know you are one of those "one-in-a-million" guys? Thank you for everything you did last night. Even though that 2.5 hours of sleep the night before was kicking your butt you still got out of bed to help me figure out what was wrong with my finger. You encouraged me to get some medicine from the store (at 10pm), you talked me through taking off the muffler so I didn't drag it all the way to Walmart, you texted me to see if I had found what I needed and then got up to walk Kylan around until he fell asleep while I took care of my finger. And you still made it to work on time at 5:45am. I love you like Kayla loves Peanut Butter Cups!

Fashion Designer

Kayla is our at-home fashion designer. She is always putting together the best outfits. Lately she is into tails and will make these tails using ANYTHING.

Today Kayla is wearing fuzzy cheetah ears as a fashionable headband. She looks very chic in her mother's lace bottomed shirt. Sammos' dog bed strapped on as a tail is the perfect accessory. Kayla will look ravishing at any dog themed party.

Happy 21st Birthday Danny

Wow, you would be 21 today and giving Mom and Dad fits over girls, cars and college. Would you have let us throw you a birthday party or would you be too old for that? :)

We all love you, think about you daily and miss you thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! xoxoxoxox

Kylan Loves to Climb

Yeah, I guess you could say he's a Fielding! ALL my kids have LOVED to climb. Kylan is only 11 months and his love of climbing brings too many bumps, bruises and crying for my liking. I can't stop him though so I guess I'll just have to kiss lots of bumps and bruises.

Oh, just a warning...you may want to watch this video on mute.

It's The Little Things

Dear Jaida, yesterday when you had me smell the marker and then you smelled it and got marker all over your nose made me laugh until I cried. I'm not sure why it was so funny but I love to laugh with you!

Dear Monty, thank you for letting me know about 'dripping' the drops for 5 seconds instead of' squirting' the drops for 5 seconds. Squirting for 5 seconds is so wasteful. :) Hey, it's the little things.

Dear Kylan, this morning when I heard your little feet patter down the hallway and into the living room made my heart jump for joy! It reminded me of when Joey would do that each morning and come and sit on my lap while I finished up on the computer. You gave me the biggest smile and it was the best thing in the world!

Inspiration?? We'll See...

Monty will never let me hear the end of it, but I was up 'til 12:30am reading blogs! I couldn't help myself, and was up for at least an hour after that with ideas running through my mind.

Yesterday - with only three kids - made me realize that I need to personalize more time with each of my kids instead of grouping them all together - which leads to fighting for my attention or fighting with what ever we are playing with.

It made me also want to pick out the little things that happen each day that make our family fun, unique, crazy and chaotic.

Once I figure out my awesome new camera I will post more pictures!

So what's my inspiration? Letters. Life gets so crazy, but my goal is that I will be able to find "the little things" from the chaotic day that stand out in my mind and write a letter - small letter, to that person.

Isn't this a cool picture? Just to give props, I found it here. I love the quote too.

Three vs Four

Yesterday Monty and Joey went to Jared's house for a few days. I kept telling Joey, "No you can't go, I'll be so lonely." I even did my best cry to which Joey said, "Moooom, don't cry...." I think he knew I was faking.

After they left, the house was so quiet and I got so much stuff done. Even when the girls got home from school we had dinner, read Kayla's library book, made Kayla's number train, did homework, had family home evening, watched a movie, popped popcorn and played with Kylan. I even let the girls sleep upstairs in Joey's bed - they were SO excited!

So is it just the ages of the kids? Or is Joey high maintenance? It must be a bit of both.

Happy New Year 2011!

New Year's Eve was pretty mellow at our house. We had another candle light dinner and then watched Shrek 4. No party favors, fire works or snack food. Monty had the kids play a funny game where you tape a number to their back and they have to hop around on one foot trying to see the other person's number. Kayla won the first game and Jaida won the second game. Then they tried to play Guestures which is kind of like charades. From the bedroom, where I was trying to put Kylan to sleep, I could hear Monty yelling, "Look at me!" Then Kayla was crying because she wanted to do it... when I finally came out Monty had turned on the tv and Jaida was whining that she didn't want to watch anything. I could not stay up any longer. Being sick AND having a sick baby wears me out more than usual. At 10:30pm the fun-hater (me) went to bed.

I only remember Monty coming in and saying something to me. The next morning there were pans and wooden spoons out in the living room - how could I not hear that??

We didn't set any resolutions, but we did get out of the house for dinner. You'll never guess where we went?! In the words of Kayla, "Ho Mcdonalds." Kids had a blast and Joey kept taking everything off after I would put it on because he didn't want to leave. I also made him pee all over the back of his pants because I'm a girl and have no idea how to get a little boy to go to the bathroom that has a toilet that's five feet off the ground (I told Monty and he of course knew exactly what I should have done). hee hee hee

Here's to a new year of funny words, getting rid of our noisy rooster, Kayla learning to read, Kylan starting to talk, no more pooping on the floor from Joey and Lots of Love for Monty!

Happy New Year!