Mischief, Foiled Again!

The Boy is known as the Screaming Monkey Goat around these parts.  Mainly because he screams a lot, climbs onto things and then likes to jump off.

Lately the big scale-able obstacle in the house has been the kitchen island.  It has drawers that he loves to pull out and use as a stepladder to get to the top of the island.  And then he proceeds in playing with the flour, sugar and anything else on top, never mind the inherent danger in falling of the thing.

I stumbled across some child-proofing safety straps while cleaning the other day.  Glory, hallelujah!  Installed those bad boys on the bottom two drawers.

This was his reaction.

He wants to know what the heck this thing is.

And now he's not so sure.

But I guess it won't stop him from getting into the top drawers.

And this was his reaction when he realized he could still climb up in the third drawer, much to our dismay.

Yesterday, I went to Target and bought another package of safety straps.  He has NOW officially been foiled.  Little stinker!

A Smart Neat Person by Savvy

Go to your HOME! (A Happy Gilmore Reference)

Every time I clean the kids' room, or just glance in at the job they've done on it, I hear Adam Sandler's voice screaming "Why don't you just go HOME!" a la Happy Gilmore.  I tell the kids everything has a home, so just put it in its home already!

They don't get the reference, nor do they understand why I chuckle a little under my breath every time I say that.

Sort of blurry, sorry.  Green ribbon for "done"
and gets moved to red for the next day.

Yesterday was an exercise in patience.  Riley lost her Chorepack -- which should have been clipped to her clothing -- and after listening to her whine about not being able to find it, I went into the bedroom and tossed it.  And when I toss a room, I toss it Marine Corps boot camp style.  Hey, it's what I know.

And then I just got mad.  Mad that they weren't really cleaning the room every night like they told me they were. Mad that I wasn't checking it.  Mad that they took advantage of me and my kindness like they were.  (Which I know is a totally ME issue, now that I've had time to cool down and reflect.)

So I cleaned.  And cleaned.  And cleaned.  For five hours I cleaned a room that I have previously spent about 48 hours cleaning in the past.  But not only did I clean, I labeled.

I labeled the home for everything I could think of.  I taped notes down that said, "Do NOT put ANYTHING under here!" at the bottom of the dresser and under the closet rod of shirts.

Even the Chorepacks now have a home at the end of the day.

Maybe it will work.  Who knows?  If these kids can be diligent and I can monitor it daily, we'll pull it off and their stuff won't be too good for their homes.

A Little Organization

This winter I am determined to be more organized when it comes to winter gear being tossed about.  A basket where we throw hats and gloves ain't gonna work.

I rearranged the "multipurpose nook" into a mudroom.  This little room off the kitchen has also served as an eating area, a sewing room and the school room.  For the next six months it's the mudroom, plain and simple.

After browsing blogs and Pinterest, I found this idea ... use a hanging pocket shoe organizer for hats and gloves.

This one works well for us because it has six rows.  Six people, six rows, four pockets each.

There are also at least 24 hooks on which to hang coats and snow bibs.  Next on the project list is making a little clothesline to dry gloves before putting them back in the pocket organizer.

If I get nothing else for Christmas, this will do it.  Organization equals peace of mind.  And less mess.  Always a good thing, huh, Martha Stewart?!

The Pursuit of (Chore) Happiness

Every day is a battle in this house.  Just one day I'd like to have my children joyfully and willingly do their chores, without whine or complaint, rolled eyes or barely veiled malice.  ONE DAY!

But until I am blessed with self-parenting children, I will suffer one day at a time, trying to instill a good work ethic in this heathen little bodies I call my heritage.

They've been assigned chores on a daily basis.  Maybe I exaggerate a tad bit.  The older girls DO their chores, but there is normally a lot of attempted negotiation and complaining along the way.  And as I heard a friend say years back ... I don't negotiate with terrorists.

To simplify things, I thought I'd try out the chore system the Duggar Family uses.  Titus2.com has a chore system called "Managers of their Chores".  It looked like a great way of organizing and breaking down chore responsibility.  And it is ... but WOW.  It's a bit overwhelming.

I took their main idea and made Chorepacks with the clip-on badge they sent in the kit.  I also used the same method they use, with writing down each child's name on each card with a designated time of day in which to do the chore.  Since we already were doing chores with everyone except the little guy, I was able to take the main idea and apply it to us.

So far, we've had the Chorepacks for three days.  Within 24 hours, one of the girls lost theirs; but it was recovered, so no harm no foul.  If I can make it a habit to get those hooligans to clip on their Chorepacks every morning and turn them in every night, we'll be in business.

Maybe I should make one for myself.  Hmmm.

Vacation!

I sat down this morning at the computer to type in my lesson plans for the day.  Yes, I wait until the morning to do it.  I'm a horrible procrastinator.  Sue me.

Anyway ...

When I sat down to delinquently plan my school day, I realized, "Hey, wait a minute!  We're on Thanksgiving vacation.  Heck yeah!"

So the superintendent, principal and primary teacher for this homeschool decided to have a piece of apple pie to celebrate our independence from sighs, complaining, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

And Snow It Begins!

The time is upon us once again, way up here in the Frozen North.  Snow is falling, chimneys are smoking and salty snow-mud is being continuously tracked into the house.

Ah, winter.

Low tonight is 7 degrees.  I'm just happy when it's above zero.  Pretty sure this Texas gal has acclimated to the harsh Minnesota winters.  I can go outside in short sleeves in the 30s, although not for too long.  Long enough to take out the trash or walk the dog.  Cold is below zero, a little chilly is above.  (But I am so thankful for our modern gas furnace that keeps the house warm!)

I actually enjoy shoveling snow.  It gets me outside in the crisp, fresh air and I get a little exercise.  I also get a little peace and quiet, since I normally do this when little ones are napping, or the big girls can watch the little tyrants.

The kids have played in the snow.  And left toys, hats, scarves and mittens in the snow.  Had to do a little rescue mission just this morning on a pair of errant mittens.  Soon, Jesse will take the big girls to Giant's Ridge to learn to use their snowboards.  I like to just sit at home and drink some hot cocoa.

I wonder when we'll see the ground again.  April, May?  I know by then I'll be tired of the white and want to see some green.  But the white stuff suits me just fine now.

Witty Title ... Nope

So, um, yeah.  Been a month since my last post.  Gee.  A lot can happen in a month.  Like this:

Yep, Baby #5 is due June 18th!  Today I am right at 9 weeks along, and things are going great.  We saw a tiny little heartbeat at our six week mark, and we are so excited for our little surprise.

School has been going great.  I moved teaching time to when Isaac is napping, so that I don't have to recover a climbing mountain goat-boy off various tall pieces of furniture or countertops while trying to teach the big kids.  We've gotten into the groove of learning at home, and I must confess to being more relaxed now that I am not so uptight about everything.

Biggest thing is not making school like a brick and mortar school.  We learn traditionally, with books and worksheets.  And we learn hands-on by doing.  The toughest part is not being too relaxed, especially when the morning sickness from #5 drives me to the couch.

Other than school and new baby, life is much the same as it was a month ago.

No real snow yet, although we've had two "dustings".  I both anxiously await and dread the first big snowfall of the year.  If it is like last year's first big snow, it stayed on the ground until May.  And the experts are predicting a year like the last.  Thank God for shovels, salt and snowblowers.

So I bid you adieu from the not-too-frozen Tundra.  Hopefully, I will remember to post more often.  :)