A lesson from me....for me.

Do you ever feel like, "why do I never learn"? That's me.

Like most people in our area, we started school this week.

While some may feel that life gets more difficult when that happens...it is quite the opposite for me.

Sure...we have actual things that NEED to be accomplished each day but I must admit that I thrive on being busy.

I don't just say that. I really mean it.

I know that everyone is different and some people truly need down time (ahem...that would be my husband!) but down time to me is sitting on the sofa while we watch a movie and I work on something...writing, cross stitching, crocheting, a photo album, coupons, a sudoku puzzle...anything!...etc.) I feel the need to be accomplishing something at all times or I simply cannot relax.

So...my point.

I get so much more done when we are busy and I have a set schedule. While I am sure that the years ahead of homeschooling 4 children will take up much more time than doing 1st grade with Keira and some Pre-K with Libby, I have to say that I love it.

We use a fantastic curriculum that tells me exactly what to do each day and I have an intense Calendar that maps our days out. Living on a schedule goes much smoother [most of the time] than summer days when we can "do whatever we want".

So, why do I do that to myself. Next summer I need to just remind myself to make a set schedule for us and stick to it!

The house ends up cleaner, the kids more content, I feel more accomplished and most importantly, I end up spending SO much more time reading the bible and praying!

So...the lesson for myself. Just because we don't have to do school, co-op, set dance class, Community Bible Study, Pioneer Girls, Choir...etc. doesn't mean I can't make a schedule for myself and the kids so we can feel like we are doing something worthwhile.

Maybe next summer I will look into different ways we can serve in the community together to give us something that we are committed to each week, I could be better at making actual play dates with poeple and we could visit a different park for a picnic each week. Simple. Fun. Scheduled.

I am a happy mama to be on a schedule again! What about you?

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My Perfect Life: Part 2

If you haven't read My Perfect Life: Part 1, this is a continuation....sort of.
:
6:50 am:  The 2 year old starts knocking (loudly) on her door. One of us jumps out of bed as quickly as possible and tries to convince to her to back to sleep....because no one is allowed out of bed before 7!

Tom gets ready, makes himself a protein shake while I grab a shower and throw something clean on. All of the kids are up now because of course she woke the whole house. I quickly throw bowls of cereal and cups of juice in front of the 3 oldest while I make the baby a bottle and feed him.

8:30 am: Kids are arguing about wanting the same toy. Baby poops up his back (again) and requires a new outfit and a bath. The 2 year old won't let me out of sight and while I am not looking, the two oldest turn on the computer and start watching Netflix.

9:30am: I just finished the dishes (from this morning AND last night) and need to start doing school with the girls...oh no...the girls have been watching shows for an hour already! whoops!

11:00 am: We somehow managed to get through all of the necessary preschool and Kindergarten worksheets while the baby napped....but not without 4 timeouts and the 2 year old coloring all over the wall.

11:30 am: Feeling frantic, this is when I realize that I have not prayed yet or read any part of the bible. Maybe I can read something quick on the ipad. Then, I pray while I am preparing lunch. A lunch that no one wants to eat despite it being EXACTLY what they asked for!

1:00pm: 2 year old naptime...aka...Heaven. Force the 6 year old read to me for 15 minutes. It takes 30 minutes because of all of the fighting.

2:00 pm: The 4 year old forgets about her sister sleeping and goes into their bedroom for a toy. End Naptime. Grumpiness begins by all....including mommy.

3:00 pm: ooops...forgot to take the meat out for dinner. Maybe it will thaw quicker if I put it in water.

4:00 pm: Crazy time. Everybody needs mommy for no good reason at all. Dinner needs to be made but the baby needs to eat and we need to get the 6 year old ready for dance class. The 4 year old doesn't want to wear shoes and mommy just wants to lock herself in the bathroom for 5 minutes of peace and quiet. But this is when I realize that we were supposed to return the library books.

5:00 pm: Daddy comes home. Mommy runs away.

haha....ok, this is clearly an exaggeration (or maybe it isn't) of my day. Sometimes it feels like this though. I know so clearly how I want my day to go and yet, I don't always start my day with Jesus. If I did, it wouldn't necessarily mean that everything else went perfect, but it always helps.

It is having this image of what a perfect day is that makes me a feel like a failure. It is the pressure that I put on myself of what my life should look like that make it feel so impossible to be a great mom and wife.

But, it just isn't real. The real me is exactly the way that God made me. He made this life just for me. Despite the days that I feel crazy and completely unglued, I love it. I am so in love with my husband. I love my children more than I ever thought possible. I love homeschooling. I love planning. I love it. It is a mess...but it is my beautiful mess.

Maybe your life isn't as chaotic as mine...or maybe its worse. No matter the circumstance, let's try to encourage each other as mommies that we CAN do it. We can do it the way that God wants us to. We can give our days to Him and then do our best.

Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Tomorrow...when the knocking starts, I need to recite that verse and start my day by serving the Lord by serving my family. Join me, will you?

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My Perfect Life: Part 1

Every morning, I wake up and before I even open my eyes, I pray. "Lord, help me to be a woman for You today. Let me share my faith with anyone and everyone that I come in contact with and let me be the wife and mom that shows Christ in everything I do.

Then, I get out of bed,  get myself a cup of coffee and settle in for a good hour of quiet prayer time and bible reading. Thirty minutes of exhilarating exercise comes next, then I quickly take a shower (and shave my legs of course) and do my hair and make up, quietly of course, so as not to disturb my husband and children who are still sleeping.

A little while later, the husband and children awake to a hot breakfast on the table. I sit with the family and feed the baby. I'll eat my fruit and cottage cheese later.

Then the hubby heads out to work and the kids happily play while I do the dishes and clean the kitchen. We manage to get all of our homeschooling done as well as some time at the playground all before lunch.

My kids eat a perfectly balanced lunch with no complaining and then the babies settle in for naps while I spend time reading to my oldest two girls. Then, they help me with the laundry and go to back to playing while I scrub the bathrooms.

After naps, we have a healthy snack and I start dinner prep while the children have their 30 minutes of screen time...where of course, they all choose the same show to watch. PERFECT!

The hubs comes home to a hot meal on the table that tastes perfect and we all sit down and have a lovely conversation about our day.

After dinner, I do the dishes while the kids play with daddy. Then, we spend some time playing worship songs and singing together.

The kids get their baths and off to bed they go. Family devotions and then lights out. The hubby and I spend some time talking about our plans and then spend some good time reading and praying together before we turn in for the night.

The house is clean and peaceful and we all go to sleep with smiles on our faces.

The real title to this post should be, "Why I always feel like a failure", because it would be a BIG, FAT, SCARY, LIE to say that this is what happens on a daily basis...or ever for that matter. So wait for Part 2 of My Perfect Life to come in just a couple of days to find out reality!

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The Laundry Monster

Do you ever feel buried in laundry...I do...most of the time!

I actually think that I have finally found a system that works for our family right now. I have tried a few different things that have all worked at different times but right now, I am feeling like I am winning the battle...well....most days.

For the first few years of our marriage (and only 1 or 2 kids), I just did a load of laundry here and there. Some days I wouldn't do any and other days I did a couple of loads. My problem here was that I was really bad at sorting, folding and putting away. I would put Tom and my clothes away but the girls would be sleeping or something and we ended up living out of laundry baskets a lot! Also, I am only OCD about a few things in life but one of them is matching tops to bottoms with the kids clothes. I don't like to put a shirt away without its coordinating pants...so...often, they were separated in the laundry and it would be awhile before I could find the matches. Silly...I know.

Then for about a year it worked for me to do ALL of the laundry in one day of the week. It was the only "chore" I would do that day but as each load came out of the dryer, it would get folded and as soon as that kids rooms was free, it was put away. That worked for a while but when I did have something else to do that day, I would get behind and it was nearly impossible to catch up.

Then...Levi was born. My snugly, content, happy, giggly love-bug....who happens to have a diaper explosion AT LEAST once a day!

I needed a new system. For a while, I just did laundry all the time again and it never seemed to be caught up. But, because I was constantly doing his laundry, I realized how much easier it was that all of his laundry stayed together. It came from his hamper, down to the laundry, then folded and back to his room.

So, I adapted this system for the rest of the house. The girls laundry (because they all share a room) stays together. Every day, I do a laundry for a different room of the house. If I have time, I will get two rooms done in  a day but it has made a world of difference.

Once each bedrooms laundry is done, I will do whites and towels. It works great!

I finally have stopped feeling overwhelmed by laundry and this really helps with my matching clothes OCD.

Now....If I could figure out how to make socks stop separating from each other that would be great!

Comment below with ideas and tell me how you win your battle with The Laundry Monster!

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My Weekly Chore List

I am a checklist person. When I used to work in medical records and than later in medical coding/billing, I always had a daily task list made. It always included eve the most mundane tasks because if I got to check them off the list, it made me feel like I was doing something.

Well, as a stay at home mom, I have found that the same thing works for me. Even though the same tasks need to be done every week, it makes me feel like I am doing something when I can check it off of my list. I have tried all different kinds of lists that included assigning specific chores to specific days of the week but found that I need to be able to be more flexible than that. So, I came up with this:

It works for me. It motivates me to get things done earlier in the week so I can be done with them. It makes me feel like I am accomplishing something. If I post it on the fridge, when hubby wants to know what he can do to help, he can see where I am with the checklist. It is easier to find things for the kids to help with. I love it.

I have a Home Management Binder that I use each week as well. It might sound silly but it keeps all of my papers in one place and helps me keep track of what needs to get done. I will post more about all of those things sometime soon I hope!

If you would like me to send you the word file for this so you can make it your own, I am charging $1.50. You can paypal it to me at my e-mail address mcmillan(dot)chrissy at gmail(dot)com (no spaces) and send me a quick e-mail letting me know that you did so. I will get it to you the same day!

Happy Chores!

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What is "normal" life like?

As Tom's completion of his Bachelor's degree draws near, I have begun to realize how much life is going to change for us. These past few weeks and months have been especially crazy for us as a family. He works as a co-op full time during the day, Tuesdays and Thursdays he goes straight to school until almost or after the kids bedtime. Wednesday nights are crazy too as Keira takes an Irish dance class from 5-6pm before we head to church from 6:30-8:30 for various family activities. Then, usually one (if not both) of us stay after that time to rehearse for Sunday Worship.

So there you have it. We have the weekend together and MOST Monday nights we get to sit down as a family and eat dinner. Before children, I would have never imagined life this way. I see the importance of family dinner...at least most nights...for multiple purposes. Time for the family to put aside everything else and talk and also a time to teach our little ones Table manners. I would be lying if I said that when Tom is not home, dinner runs smoothly....most of the time, it is survival of the fittest....and I lose. haha.

I digress....in a few short weeks, life will change to something we haven't experienced in over five years. Time together. Now, I am not dumb. I realize that there will be other things that take our time, but oh how careful we will be when committing to anything other than our family.

My husband has worked hard, has maintained what I think of as at least a mostly healthy marriage, awesome relationships with all of our kiddos, full time work (other than about 8 months) all while working hard, first on an associates degree, then on to his Bachelors. He has gotten really good grades despite having a wife [me] who wants to talk his ear off sometimes while he is trying to do homework. (oops!).

So...in a few short weeks, this long journey that had a finish line that seemed so far away, will end. Just. Like. That.

And we will have a "normal" life. Like this...with more kids...haha

No really, I can't wait to see what God has for us in terms of a job for him among many other things but I know that He will not fail us...because He never has. His plans have been so much better than our all along and although right now, we don't know where Tom will work or exactly where we will be living, it is exciting and I know that God is holding us in His hands.

So....if you know of any entry level computer programming jobs...I know a great guy, full of integrity, committed, loyal and amazingly hard working :)

(Photo Credit)

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Garden (Five Minute Friday)

Well, it's Friday and the word to write about today is Garden...so here goes.

When I think of the word "Garden" it literally makes me think of the kind of garden that you would grow in your yard. This is probably because for the last 5 years I have talked about starting a garden. I still want to. However, we have been renting and it seems like a lot of work and/or money to start a garden that we move away from and have to start all over again so for now we wait.

Photo Credit

On that note, it is probably good because Gardens do take a lot of work to keep up. Right now, time is something that does not come to me in plentiful supply. I do feel that in a year or two, more of my kids will be able to take on or at least be helpful in the care of a garden.

It is something that I believe we will have someday but right now, the word "Garden" represents the things in my life that I need to wait on right now....and that is ok.

We are blessed to live in a time when I can run to the store or the Farmers market and get wonderful produce for our family so that will just have to suffice for this family right now.

I could have written about the beautiful day, almost 7 years ago now that Tom proposed to me at the Botanical Gardens in D.C. when we were visiting one of my besties and her husband with some of our friends....but I guess that will wait for another time :)

This blog is liked up with Five Minute Friday!

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Mexican Monday--Chicken Enchiladas

I'd like to say I'm one of those people who has nights of the week for different types of food. You know...Mexican Monday, Taco Tuesday (ooops...that's  Mexican too)...but you get my drift, right?

Well...tonight...it really was Mexican Monday in our house. I had this Kraft Recipe Makers box that I had gotten with a coupon so all I needed to buy at the store was Chicken (which I already had) and 12 corn tortillas. I already had [several] cans of black beans and I also grabbed a box of Spanish (Yellow) Rice.

I should mention that I have given up entirely on trying to cook food that my kids will not complain about. 

I have come to a complete reality that it doesn't matter what I make. Someone will cry. Someone will gag. Someone will not get a snack later. 

It really doesn't matter so I now just cook what I want to (and that I think the hubs will appreciate) and they can just deal with it. 

Ok...I'm really not that mean. Our rule is that they have to try at least one bite of each thing and then they are allowed to be done and can also have a healthy snack later if they are hungry.

Tonight it was ice cream. Um...whoops on the healthy but I am just trying to get it out of the freezer. It was left over from a birthday party!

Anyways, dinner was great...and super easy! I have had to come up with ideas that can be made AFTER Tom gets home...and this tasted great!

Of course, not every one was pleased...

Libby tried everything without complaint (PURELY SHOCKING)

Keira liked the Chicken Enchiladas and Rice but normally HATES any kind of bean. She did eat one bean tonight....without gagging. (Actually, she really likes Green Beans...hehe)

And Janessa....

Well...

She pushed the plate away from her after taking one look and preceded to throw a fit for the next 25 minutes. 

I guess you can't win them all.

But seriously, I highly recommend these Kraft Recipe Makers for a night when you are looking for something quick and easy, but good. I have used a few of them now and they are helping me get out of the rut of cooking the same things over and over.

Link to Recipe

Also, did you know that if you needed shredded chicken, you can take FROZEN boneless chicken, boil it until cooked and throw it in the Kitchen Aid Mixer with the regular paddle attachment  and it is perfectly shredded in a few seconds! A---MAZE---ING!

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