Real Life Here at the Maust House

This is what the kids are doing right now. Fusion beads are made into objects, then I iron them together. I am amazed that all three kids think this is the coolest thing ever!

This next shot is the amount of dishes I do everyday, besides running my dishwasher once or twice. Fun fun!
Next, you see the wet towels on the floor by the dishwasher. A couple hours ago I stepped into the kitchen and soaked my socks, then realized water was spilling out of the dishwasher. I used a plunger on the sink, which for who knows why?, was clogged up, then I had to use a cup to get all the water out of the dishwasher, then clean up all the water. Oh the joys of owning a home.

Next is the living room floor. It actually looks pretty good right now, but batmans, polly pockets, markers and doggies are always somewhere in sight.

Oh Yes, that is my daughters bedroom. And this photo is not unusual. She is a very creative, loving, joyful girl, and she loves to clean and help. Her one very large weakness at the time is her room. She can't seem to keep it clean/organized for more than 24 hours. It doesn't help that she changes clothes 4 times a day, and that she is home all day everyday, so she plays with everything all the time, and she just doesn't mind it one bit. So once a week I go in and help her clean and re-organize, and she loves it. She loves doing it with me and she likes how it looks once it is done, she just needs a buddy to do it with.

And this is Jalen's room. He likes to make his bed each morning, and he is all about NO CLUTTER. His room looks like this pretty much all the time (without me saying a word).
I really would blog more often if I wasn't cooking, cleaning, reading bedtime storys, gymnastics, fractions, spelling words, ironing, folding laundry, plunging toilets, filing taxes, balancing checkbooks, paying library fines, sending out birthday cards, scrubbing playdough out of the carpet, etc, etc etc. It seems a mom's job is never ending. Most days I do what I can and let the rest go. My home is never all clean or even all picked up. Usually there is at least one room that looks presentable. One room at a time. But, we all pitch in and do our share. The kids a great at helping, it's just they are also great at living. And living often makes messes.
Well enough of my ramblings. This is just a look into our home on one random Tuesday evening.

Perseverance

Winter Winter Winter... so thankful for winter. I know I will appreciate summer so much more because I have persevered through the winter. Kind of like life. If you press on through the hard times, good times will come. If we don't give up and don't run from our problems, we will actually grow stronger as we press on through them. So many times I have prayed and wished and dreamed of my problems/issues/difficulties to just magically disappear, but so far that has never been the case for me. Taking one step at a time, doing the right thing, and persevering has always brought me out to the other side. The the sun will shine and the temperatures will rise and we will wear flip flops again soon. When the time is right. For today I will focus on this part of the bible and let it take root inside of me.

2 Peter 1:2-12
2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Prophecy of Scripture
12So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

Fruit Cup Recipe

Okay, this is just a little twist on the original "fruit cup" recipe that we all love. It is Justin's favorite. So I have tried to make it a few different times, but I like to take out the sugar ingredients but, still make it taste yummy. Here's what I did. We all liked it.

3 banana's
1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
4 cups strawberries
Juice of one Lemon
Bolthouse Farms "Amazing Mango" Juice - 25 oz.

Cut everything up really small, let the frozen fruit unthaw some, add the juice and mix up really good, so it looks like soup, then pour into individual bowls and put in freezer. We like to take them out of the freezer 1-2 hours before we eat them, so they soften up. Enjoy!