Our "Family Date" Night

It's been a while since we went out and did something fun as a family. Tonight the kids did a good job of cleaning the playroom while I made dinner (beef and barley soup with biscuits), so after dinner we loaded everyone in the car and took off. We went to Half Price Books, a used book store chain down here. On the way there we sang songs and it was so much fun :) The kids were laughing at Rob because he changed the words, as always. When we sang "5 Green and Speckled Frogs", Beth was supposed to say "yum-yum" at the end of one of the measures (it comes right after the phrase "eating some most delicious bugs"), but made us all laugh when she aptly piped up "ICK!" instead :)

Half Price apparently just got new shopping carts that are double decker and so Jack sat in the baby seat at the top and Beth happily crawled into the basket on the bottom. I think I should buy one - except there wasn't much space for anything else. It did keep the two younger kids pretty contained though :) Each of the kids got to pick a book from the kids clearance section and I found a few children's chapter books to add to our shelves. We also got the new Grisham (or maybe it's not the new one any more? "Playing for Pizza") from the clearance section and both Rob and I found a few random books. I splurged and bought a $3 Anne McCaffrey book that I'm missing. I'm currently on an Anne McCaffrey kick and have had a lot of fun tracking down incredible deals on ebay. She's written 60 or so books, so there are quite a few to choose from :) I don't read a lot of fantasy or sci-fi, but I really like her books.

Anyway, after our visit to Half Price, we went and got ice cream at the Marble Slab Creamery. For those of you who are not familiar with it, they have multiple flavors of homemade ice cream and you can have them mix something in to it (such as cookies or fruit or candies). The kids all wanted strawberry, so I just bought a pint of strawberry with fresh strawberries mixed in and got four empty cups. Rob got double dark chocolate with peanut butter mixed in and I got mint with oreos. I usually go with sweet cream with fresh fruit mixed in, but that didn't sound good tonight.

Beth fell asleep on the way home, but the other three stayed awake and trotted upstairs with their books in hand. Kylie is sleeping in Megan's room tonight since Beth is already asleep and Meg and Kylie are ensconced in a pile of stuffed animals and blankets (shaped into a "nest") in the playpen that is still up in Megan's room from when we were painting Jack's room. Meg doesn't want us to take it down. I think she likes having a nest. Megan is reading one of the new books to Kylie :)

Megan has a fever again, by the way. She made it through three days this week without one, so I don't know if this is a continuation of the 10-day fever from the last two weeks or if she got sick again at school. I know that our area has been hit pretty hard this year by flu season. I sent a note to Meg's teacher, asking her to send home Megan's work so we could make sure she stayed caught up. Her teacher told me not to worry about it because half of Meg's class is out sick. Anyway, the dr said if the fever didn't stay away to try antibiotics, so we started that tonight. Hopefully that will clear whatever it is up!

Spring is here!

First, a picture I took the other day of our newest bookworm :) Rob and I are so glad our kids love books!



Considering that it's been in the mid-80's for the last two days, everyone's allergies are acting up, and the tree across the street is now veiled in white blossoms, I've come to the conclusion that it's spring! The last two days have been absolutely beautiful; although it still strikes me as odd to have 80+ degree days in February. I had to dig out the capris today and the kids are in shorts and t-shirts. Yesterday all the kids played outside in the backyard while I tried to catch up on scrapbooking. It made me once again appreciate the set up of our backyard. It is so helpful to be able to see the whole yard from the windows in the dining room, kitchen or library! The wildflowers/weeds have started blooming down here and every time the kids go outside I am presented by handfuls and handfuls of flowers, with the roots still dangling, that have been ripped from the yard to give to me.





I love getting flowers from my kids! Jack brought me flowers for the first time yesterday. I feel so privileged to be the first girl to get flowers from him!



Megan made a necklace by splitting the stem of a dandilion ~



The kids enjoying the spring weather ~







Today we had several friends over to play after school. The kids got popsicles that I found at Costco the other day. They are 100% juice, but are in containers similar to the pop-ice containers. I'm so glad I found them as the kids love popsicles and I don't like feeding them all the dyes and refined sugar in most popsicles.

Everyone just left and it's not quite time for dinner, so we're all relaxing. Kylie decided she needed "alone time", but Megan didn't want to leave the library, so Kylie took up residence under the desk in front of my feet. She told me that it was "perfect - because it's too squishy for anyone else to fit!" Now all three girls are settled on the playroom couch and Megan is reading to them. Beth has fallen asleep in between her older sisters.



Jack is sitting on my lap talking to himself as I type. It's difficult to believe that just 15 mins ago, Jack and Beth were screaming at each other as they fought over a toy, and Megan and Kylie were yelling at each other because they both wanted to be in the library :)

Megan's at school!

Megan finally went back to school today. She only went one day last week and ended up coming home early with a fever. (She seemed better the day before, so we thought she was over it.) She's had a fever for about a week and a half. We finally got her checked out by the dr yesterday who verified that she did not have an ear infection or a sinus infection or pneumonia or a kidney infection or pretty much anything else that he could find. She did not have a fever yesterday afternoon, however it had been spiking at night and so we weren't sure she was over it. He gave us a prescription for antibiotics and told me to fill it if she got a fever again last night, then to bring her back on Friday if the fever wasn't gone by then and we would run some tests. Fortunately, she did not develop a fever again last night. We got her off to school today and she seemed to be doing much better, so we'll see if she gets sent home again today. I hope she is better! I hate seeing my kids feel sick :(

The other kids are doing well. Kylie is learning to read and doing really well :) She is a whiz at math, but it's taken her longer to learn to recognize letters and their sounds. She remembers how to make an L by picturing it as an upside down 7. She understands the concepts behind addition, subtraction, fractions and multiplication already. Beth is working on colors, shapes and numbers, although she's picking up on a lot of what I'm working on with Kylie. Jack loves to color and he now "reads" out loud to himself and "talks" on the phone - even pretends to laugh and throws his head back as he does it :) That always makes us laugh. We're working on teaching him more words. His favorite song is "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree", which has hand gestures. We usually end up singing it about 4-5 times at each family home evening. Jack loves almost any kind of music though and sings along with me when I sing during the day.

Rob and I don't have a whole lot to report. Everything is on track for me to start my first class in two weeks and I'm looking forward to it. Rob is done with his boxing classes, which he really enjoyed. We're sorry he can't continue them, but we just have too much else going on and too many other things we need to spend the money on. He has a good work out routine that he's been doing at home for quite a while now and I'm getting back into doing it with him.

We are all looking forward to the arrival of spring, which should be within the next few weeks :) I have to admit that is one part of living in TX that I really like :)

Getting Organized

Let's see how long this lasts ;)

Inspired by our now incredibly organized and uncluttered downstairs, we are attempting to figure out how to keep the house more like it's current state, rather than it's normal just-been-hit-by-four-tornadoes state. We have created weekly chore charts for each of the kids where they can check off their chores as they do them (these are basic chores including things like "put pjs in the laundry basket" and "brush teeth"). The girls are going to take turns helping Daddy with the dishes after dinner each night and they need to help tidy up their rooms, but most of the stuff on the list is pretty simple. We're just working on developing responsibility. It also helps with reading skills :) We've also (with the kids' help) created a list of family rules (such as "be nice" and "no food in the playroom").




The item I am most proud of though is our reward chart. We've used reward charts before - I created one that had a bunch of squares that we would have the kids put stickers in when they did something good and we would take the stickers off when they did something bad. When they filled up the chart, they would earn a Mommy or Daddy date. The concept worked well, but it was difficult to peel off the stickers. I used a piece of posterboard, some left over elastic from a bracelet-making kit, and some beads to make a new reward chart. Now we can move the beads forward or backward along the elastic and reuse the same chart over and over again! Megan helped me with it and it turned out really well!



The pictures I posted of our playroom did not include most of the kid's stuff. We took it down so that we could fit enough chairs in there. This is what our playroom actually looks like (when clean)~




I also took a few pictures of Kylie and Beth's room. K & B helped me deep clean it yesterday morning and it looks really good :) Their top bunk still has their fan on it as we haven't gotten a chance to install it yet, but everything else is put just where it belongs!





One final picture - I thought this was funny. Many pictures of model kitchens in magazines like "Better Homes and Gardens" have bowls of fruit sitting in the middle of the table or counter. We have that too (probably the ONLY thing from those pictures that we have ;) ) as we get our produce from an organic co-op and I like my kids to snack on fresh fruit. I wash all the fruit when we get it and then fill my grandfather's old wooden salad bowl. Apples and bananas are a favorite snack in our house, which I'm glad about, but there are some negative aspects. I need to make sure to search the whole downstairs each night for apple cores and sometimes the younger kids leave surprises such as this one ~


I figure it gives my fruit bowl an unique look missing from all those magazine-featured homes :)

To parents of toddlers

From a forwarded email . . .

A Toddler's Mantra
If it is on, I must turn it off.
If it is off, I must turn it on.
If it is folded, I must unfold it.
If it is a liquid, it must be shaken, then spilled.
If it a solid, it must be crumbled, chewed or smeared.
If it is high, it must be reached.
If it is shelved, it must be unshelved.
If it is pointed, it must be run with at top speed.
If it has leaves, they must be picked.
If it is plugged, it must be unplugged.
If it is not trash, it must be thrown away.
If it is in the trash, it must be removed, inspected, and thrown on the floor.
If it is closed, it must be opened.
If it does not open, it must be screamed at.
If it has drawers, they must be rifled.
If it is a pencil, it must write on the refrigerator, monitor, or table.
If it is full, it will be more interesting emptied.
If it is empty, it will be more interesting full.
If it is a pile of dirt, it must be laid upon.
If it is stroller, it must under no circumstances be ridden in without protest. It must be pushed by me instead.
If it has a flat surface, it must be banged upon.
If Mommy's hands are full, I must be carried.
If Mommy is in a hurry and wants to carry me, I must walk alone.
If it is paper, it must be torn.
If it has buttons, they must be pressed.
If the volume is low, it must go high.
If it is toilet paper, it must be unrolled on the floor.
If it is a drawer, it must be pulled upon.
If it is a toothbrush, it must be inserted into my mouth.
If it has a faucet, it must be turned on at full force.
If it is a phone, I must talk to it.
If it is a bug, it must be swallowed.
If it doesn't stay on my spoon, it must be dropped on the floor.
If it is not food, it must be tasted.
If it IS food, it must smeared on every possible surface.
If it is dry, it must be made wet with drool, milk, or toilet water.
If it is a carseat, it must be protested with arched back.
If it is Mommy, it must be hugged. I am toddler!

Always Remember,
Our children are a precious gift,
Our children are Our future!!!

After Book Club . . .

Tonight I hosted my monthly book club meeting. We used it as an excuse to deep clean the whole downstairs - even down to shampooing the carpets. They needed it :) We spent yesterday cleaning and the last half of today (from experience I know that if I clean in the morning, it does not last until evening) finishing the job. I don't think our downstairs has ever been cleaner! (It probably never will again unless I host book club again or something.) Rob and I put the kids to bed before the other women showed up. Megan was very disappointed that she didn't get to go. She told me that I should not be having "fun" if she was not allowed to come. I told her she got to go to all sorts of things that I didn't, such as her valentine's day party at school. She told me that I had my chance to go to valentine's day parties when I was in school. I told her that she could go to book clubs like mine when she was a mom.

I had a wonderful time at the meeting. We discussed a book called "Freedom Bound". It's an incredibly interesting book about an African princess who is captured and sold as a slave, but eventually works her way up to owning her own plantation. It just happens to be written by my aunt (Rosalie Turner) :) By the way, it's based on a true story, but since there are no diaries or similar items, so the book had to be considered fiction as the thoughts and feelings of the main character are assumed.

After everyone left, I went upstairs and checked on the kids. Beth was still awake and happily trotted downstairs to feast on the leftovers. She sat in Jack's high chair, surrounded by trays of leftover food and chowed down :) She had so much fun! I love my little Button-baby! She is so incredibly cute! :)

About Rob

There are a bunch of these questionnaires floating around Facebook, but I thought rather than adding this to my "notes" page, I would post it here. I don't think Rob would ever see it if I posted it to my notes page . . .

Here's a chance to see how well you really know your Husband.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? UFC, boxing

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ranch

3. What's one food he doesn't like? Jello or stuffing

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order? Water - with lemon if possible

5. Where did he go to high school? Vernonia High School

6. What size shoe does he wear? 10

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Boxing/Ross training equipment and books

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Reubens or French dip

9. What would he eat every day if he could? Pizza (no peppers)

10. What is his favorite cereal? Granola - all natural, organic, no cinnamon flavors

11. What would he never wear? pink

12. What is his favorite sports team? Red Sox

13. Who did he vote for? Bob Barr

14. Who is his best friend? Me :) also Wayne, Scott, Deric, Damian and Justin from Vernonia and Dan and Garrett from down here.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? yell when I'm mad

16. What is his heritage? English, Scandinavian

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? Either coconut or German chocolate

18. Did he play sports in high school? No

19. What could he spend hours doing? playing on the computer (chess at the moment, usually Age of Empires, but we can't get it to work on Vista), surfing through sherdog (a website for strength training)

20. What is one unique talent he has? He does not get mad at me - ever :)