My Messy House

This week I've mostly taken a break from picking up my house.  It's summer and everywhere I turn there's a mess.  It drives me crazy but when I pick it up, it is messy again after a few hours (or less)!  Today I realized that the mess really represents what is going on around here so I decided to take pictures of it instead.  

The Pluots above are from my mom, and Macey and Mack have been loving them.

Below is a pile of clothes ready to get packed for camping.  We're leaving Thursday morning but I made my kids gather stuff for their chores this morning.

The kids scriptures are still out from Family Home Evening last night.

Macey's piano bag is out because today we went to meet a new teacher.  I love that she's so close to our house that my kids could walk to their lessons!  Life changing!  But she's more strict than our old teacher and I hope the kids will enjoy themselves as much as they did before.

Our backyard is more piles of camping gear ready to be loaded.

Macey's art projects are everywhere.  She loves to make cards right now!  But for some reason, picking up her mess is impossible for her.

Lexi's cell phone box (should be in her room!)  Yes, she got a cell phone. She had her first real babysitting job and they didn't have a land line.  She's so responsible and there are lots of guidelines she has to follow... but it is nice that I can always get ahold of her wherever she is.

Logan's Olympic torch from cub scout Olympics the other night- it was fun.  Don't know why it is STILL laying around though!

Kara's Cupcake bag filled with an amazingly delicious cupcake from a friend for my birthday.  It was like a chocolate salted carmel filled one- so good.

Towels always drying in the bathroom from almost daily afternoons swimming.

The Vitamix because I must make smoothies everyday for my baby who won't drink milk!

And that about sums up our life right now.  How exciting right?! There are also school supplies out (the kids) and peppermint patty wrappers around (mine).  And random pantry items because Mack's favorite thing to do is raid the pantry and spread it around the house!

I am looking forward to school starting so my house will stay picked up for a few extra hours a day.

The Party to End All Parties

Giant bag of movie theatre popcorn hidden under table

The chocolate is splattered a bit in this picture because the door was left open and the wind got it!

When we first told the kids we were moving I quickly told them that they could have a big end of the year/ going away party to say goodbye to their friends.  I obviously made that promise to lessen the blow of the move.  And of course they held me to it, even though they are mostly fine with moving now.

So Thursday, the last day of school, we had the party.  I knew I was in over my head when I let them each invite 10 kids and then we invited a few family friends too... and then everyone started rsvp'ing with YES.  Like, almost every single person came.  We ended up with 35 kids total.

I enlisted the help of Bremily and if it weren't for them, and the two dads that ended up staying, Mack may have gone missing and the house may have burned down, or a child may have died- I don't know.  But it was crazy and loud and wild and my kids owe me big time!

So, this was the plan of attack (and Dave even made a spreadsheet for it):

6:00- 6:45- kids are arriving, have pizza and drinks in the backyard

6:45- explain each station, divide into groups and begin the rotations (each station was approx. 15 min.)

Station 1.  Relay races in the front yard

Station 2.  Photo booth in the garage

Station 3.  Games in the backyard

Station 4.  Chocolate fountain in the kitchen

7:45- fill candy bags and popcorn cups, get blankets and settle on the back lawn

8:00pm- begin the outdoor movie

9:30- party over, kids leave

How hard could it be?

The Photo Booth was FUN!

So that was the plan... and it mostly went as anticipated. The kids were extremely hyper and the bottom line is that 35 kids together in one house/yard is just going to be crazy.  I think it went as well as it could have gone.  They did love the stations and when broken into groups they were more manageable.

My main mistake was the movie choice.  I was looking for something that would hold the attention of 7 year olds and 11 year olds.  So we got, "We Bought a Zoo."  Lots of the kids were excited to see it but some of the kids were loud and that made it hard to hear.  Looking back I think a more action packed film would have been better.

Now some info on the stations- The chocolate fountain was a hit (thanks mom!) and the dipping items included strawberries, rice crispies, pretzels, marshmallows, oreos, pineapple and nilla wafers.  Also, I called our local movie theatre and got them to donate a bag of popcorn for the movie!  It was awesome except that my house smelled of movie theatre popcorn the whole day and it was difficult to refrain.  

We did really simple games and relays but who doesn't love those?  They were easy but fun- egg race, shoe tangle, "clean your room," and tennis ball toss.  

For the photo booth I downloaded free mustache and lips etc. templates from "Oh Happy Day" and cut them out.  I also threw some of our own dress ups in the mix. I wanted to print the pictures that night and send them with the kids but that was asking too much of myself.

Dave borrowed a projector from work but because of a breeze we ended up just taping a large carstock paper to the fence to show the movie on- it worked so well!  I can't wait to do it again (the outdoor movie thing, not the 35 kid party).

After about 30 minutes of the movie we lost them all and it was mass chaos on the trampoline, popcorn everywhere, kids running about.  I'm surprised we managed to keep most of them in the backyard!  They are all really good kids so that helped- no one was being naughty, just excited and having fun.  Another small issue was that Lexi and Logan are only 17 months apart and in 4th and 5th grade so there were some boy/girl teasing/flirting/chasing going on (mostly instigated by the boys and a couple of boy-crazy girls) that added to the madness but we managed it ok.  It gave me a small, scary glimpse into our future teen years though!

My only regret is the amount of pictures.  I never got a large group photo and did not have a second to get any pictures of the games/relays.  Or any kids enjoying the fountain.  Or one of Mack wandering aimlessly, alone, eating popcorn and pizza off the ground.  Oh well.

 I've said it once and I'll say it again- my kids owe me big time!  I've already gotten lots of big thanks from them and even a thank you note from Lexi so that's good.

 And I owe Bremily huge time!  Between Dave and I and Brett and Emily, we each managed a station (and Emily managed the babies too!) and we did it.  I couldn't have done it without them!

Now that it's over... I'm glad I did it.  The kids got to say a final goodbye to their best friends and have some fun memories to hold on to!

Yesterday was a Doozy. And this post is very long and may bore you...

Yesterday the kids got home from school at 3 and we started on homework. We worked pretty much straight through until 6. I was upset. For one thing, I never imagined the multi-tasking and chaos of having three children in school at the same time. When they were three little babies it was so much fun to have them close together but now that they're in school (specifically 4th and 5th) it is very hard! Don't get me wrong, I still love that they're close in age, I just have to step up my game a bit to make sure everyone is getting everything done that they need to get done.

My kids are actually really good at homework. I read John Rosemond's Homework Hassle book and liked it. We do a lot of things he recommends like: making sure they have a space in their room where they do it (alone), setting a time limit so it doesn't last all night, doing it right after school, losing privileges if it's not done (including missing their activities that I pay for!) etc.

Overall I think my kids are good at getting their homework done and they can mostly do it on their own. It's the big stuff, the weekly or monthly projects and the studying for tests that is killing me. Yesterday I had to help with the following:

research Jackie Robinson facts

help formulate thoughts/help write Jackie Robinson Essay

Proofread another essay

help research news report article

print pictures for a news report

proofread speech

test spelling words

test sight words

check math problems

test blending lines

Some of this I probably bring on myself because I don't give the kids free reign on the computer. I'm not going to just let them sit down and type things into google for information- that is way too dangerous in my opinion. So anything that's on the computer I have to be there helping. AND I could probably skip checking their problems but I like to make sure they're getting them right. The rest was pretty much necessary.

It was exhausting and I was mad because on top of all of that, my kids are required to do at least one family job a day and practice piano. And I'm required to make dinner, play with baby, drive them to their activities and keep the house in order (kindof).

Anyway, it was a rough night. The hardest part I've decided is not physically being there and doing the tasks, it is mentally dividing my brain into 5 sections and keeping everyone in their section in my brain. Does that even make sense?

So like in Lexi's section I have to keep the following:

Wednesday she finds out if she made drama club

Thursday she finds out if she was elected vp

she needs running shoes for p.e.

what time is her dance class today? (it's different each of the 3 days a week)

when is her book report due

has she started her news report?

get her to activity day on time

print pictures that she requested

remind her to wear her retainer

sit at the piano with her and go over songs

talk to her- make sure she's feeling ok about her speech

eye contact

take her to the library- she needs more books

find the book she lost

spend time doing something fun together

Logan's section:

Talk to him about drama tryouts

help him research jackie robinson

buy posterboard

help him write his presentation

get him to soccer on time

make sure he opens his books when practicing piano

talk to him about recess

make him clean his desk off so he can find his paper

remind him to turn conference note and progress report in!

brainstorm fattening food he will eat and make sure he eats enough

remind him to swish with salt water at night and help put wax on braces

organize the playdates his wants

haircut asap

rsvp to the party he keeps bugging me about

work on scouts

Macey:

talk to her about friend situation at school

remind her of things we're working on

bath/hair

figure out how much money I owe her and help her pay tithing/savings

spend time with her

make her clean all of her messes in each corner of the house

read with her before bed

blending lines

sight words

schedule dentist appt.

find bike lock so she can ride her bike to school and the begging will stop

call the mom she wants me to call that I don't know to get her daughter over asap

make sure she gets attention because she's been on the back burner

Mack:

(he's the easiest)

feed

kiss

diaper

bath

lotion

kiss

practice sitting up

find his missing bottle (I know it's somewhere with rotting milk inside!)

Dave:

who knows... but I love you!

Anyway, you get the point. And I know you've all been there. I'm just getting it out today and it feels good. I've actually never written each kids list out like this before and I think it's a good idea! I've always tried to keep them sorted in my brain and that's what has made me so tired. So from now on they will each have a list in my phone. And I'll keep preparing for that swing shift. It really is only 5 hours (3-8 or 9). I can manage the crazy for 5 hours right?

What do you guys do to stay sane?

And last thought: I love being a mom. I am in no way complaining. I feel stressed at times and yesterday was rough but today we have a lighter load and I plan to enjoy some relaxing with these guys. And maybe more homemade popsicles. I love that I get to stay home all day and I am thankful forever that Dave provides for me to do that. There's nothing like the end of the night when I crash on the couch for five minutes and everything is peaceful. Then we go upstairs and peak at them and say how cute (and how big) they are... that's the best part.

How To Keep Your Kids Busy On A Rainy Sunday Before Church

Sunday Stations!

I have memories of my mom doing this with us when we were little. I've done it before but not for awhile. Yesterday it was a success- it kept the children busy, and they loved it! My kids are easy to please.

Step 1: Make your children get all ready to go to church before they can start stations. This is great and minimizes the rushing around to get out the door on time.

Step 2: Figure out 3-4 activities they can do on their own.

Step 3: Set the activities out in different areas of the house.

Step 4: Make a snack for the last station because who doesn't want to end with a treat?

Step 5: Send each kid to a station and set a timer for 15 min.

When the buzzer goes off, everyone switches. They're not allowed to know what each station is until they get there.

Step 6: Sit on the couch and rest your eyes while they're working. Or sit in the kitchen and eat a bunch of muffins. Or both.

Our stations this week were:

Make a crafty card to mail to Great-Grandma B

Watch Videos on "The Friend" online

Do a crossword puzzle, word search, and coloring page:

(I printed these off from "The Friend" online- they all were gospel related).

Last Station- eat some delicious muffins together.

There you have it!

A simple, easy Sunday activity that kept things quiet while I got ready and had some alone time.

AND it makes you feel like a great mom afterward.

That's the best part.

p.s. for more "how-to" posts go here.

Happy Friday!

My Opinion on Fighting Siblings

In my opinion and experience, siblings who fight end up to be better friends as adults than siblings who do not fight.  My siblings and I fought a lot.  We had fun too but there was definitely fighting going on.  Now we are great friends, have a blast together and are very similar in the way we live our lives.  There are a few other families that I know personally who did not fight as children.  Now, as adults they are not close friends and do not see each other very often, talk on the phone much, hang out or really communicate at all.  My study is very accurate and I know I'm right because I am basing my conclusion on 4 whole families and so that must make it true for everyone else in the world too.

Obviously I am kidding and know that it all depends on the people, situation, tons more factors etc. etc.  I know you all know someone though who is like that.  Totally serious in thinking that everything they believe to be true is RIGHT!!  I can't be friends with people like that.  

Moving on.

The reason I am telling you my opinion about fighting children is because this opinion makes me feel better when my kids are fighting.  I tell myself they will be best friends when they grow up and that the fighting is normal (which I know it is).

The main fighting that is going on is between Logan and Macey.  And sometimes Lexi and Macey.  Macey came into the world with a fighting spirit.  It will help her in a lot of ways I'm sure but around the house it doesn't help anyone.

She fights them and fights them and then wonders why they don't want to play with her and why they run off and hide together.  It's sad but true.  Today was extra rough because it was St. Patty's day and my kids changed their clothes like 5 times and when they ended up without green on there were some pinching fights and people defending themselves from getting pinched but in the process of defending themselves, hurting people.  It wasn't pretty.  I'm hoping to skip this holiday next year.

This post is a rambler.   Bottom line:  most kids fight.  I'm ok with mine fighting.  I think it's normal, but sometimes sad.  I think fighting is communicating which is good and means they'll communicate when they grow up and be good friends.  The End.

Break Project

I am in love with my children.

It is their 2 week break and we are working on a project.

I had been trying to come up with something we could do together everyday. I knew we needed to work on our yard (it was a foreclosure so everything is dead) but I wasn't sure if they'd be excited about that.

In the spirit of Elder Uchtdorf's General Relief Society Meeting talk, I decided to talk to them about making things beautiful and how we could transform this ugly section of our yard into a flower garden.
Surprisingly, they were totally into it.

First day of break, yesterday, we went out and started... they worked for 2 hours!! Keep in mind they are 7, 6, and 3. Two hours of working in the yard! I kept waiting for them to get tired and go in.

We tore out all of the half-dead rose buses, dug up their roots, and weeded the whole area.

They were having so much fun too.

Today we mixed a bunch of new soil in, got all the rocks and sticks out, and flattened it out. We are also going through a book of plants and flowers and trying to pick what we want.

Tomorrow we'll start planting.

Digging out the roots was the best part- they would scream and cheer when we would finally get one out.

Macey had her moments of helping ...

But definitely played around a lot too- she was busy taking calls and rummaging through her purse.

Stay tuned....