Tutu

I had to chuckle as I saw this as my sweet girl walked away from me....love her. :)

stay awake

We actually got to bed fairly early last night.  We were in bed around 9:30.  I thought 7 hours of sleep will be a great thing for Nathan before he drives 2 hours to work.  (We usually try to be in bed early but usually never happens...)  So 4:30am comes and we are both feeling mostly refreshed.  Nathan leaves for work and I debate about going back to bed or staying awake and enjoying the peaceful quiet before the kids get up.  For some reason, when the clock starts with a 4, I have a really hard time wanting to stay awake, thus the bed usually wins.  The only time I've actually stayed up after he's gone to work is when my mother in law came over at 5am to help clean my house the day after we moved in.  So anyway, back to bed I went. 

It feels so good at the time, but seriously....I don't think I get that much more sleep.  And if I do actually fall asleep, it is often interrupted with 7 million questions from 4 little children coming in and out once they wake.  I know I probably should just jump right out of bed and greet my little ones with enthusiasim and joy, but let's get real....I'm not a morning person. 

So this is how it went this morning.....

Back into bed at 5am
Jaeger wide awake, clapping and jabbering.
Lay him in his bed, he cries.
Take him out and nurse him in hopes he sleeps
He'd rather play
Nurse him again
He finally falls asleep at 6am
Not long after (once I think I'm finally drifting back to sleep) Brayan comes in
"Mom! Can I have an animal vitamin?!"
Seriously, can't you see I'm sleeping?
Brayan again "Mom! Can I have an apple?"
Whatever, cant' you see i'm sleeping?
Caedmon comes in
"Mom! Can I have an apple?"
Yeah, a little one, now go, I'm sleeping...
Brings one to me...
"This is all the littler they are"
Whatever. that's fine.
Tiernan comes in
"Is Jaeger sleeping?!"
Uh, yes..and so am I...
Brayan back in
"Tiernan has green gum."
Ugh...
Ariella in
"I wanna lay with you on the white pillow"
No, lay on the floor over there if you want, Jaeger's in here.  What are you chewing?
"Green gum"
Ugh...
Caedmon back in
"Mom, I'm hungry."
OK! I'M UP!

I think I should just stay up....it takes a lot less effort :)

Habit Chart

So a few posts ago, I told you about my chore system where I include their jobs right into their workboxes for the day. (which, by the way, is working wonderfully.  I don't hear any complaining at all when the jobs are in the boxes).  Well, here is a system that I put together a couple weeks ago and it has worked with awesome results as well!  There are certain things that I want my kids to get into the habit of doing every day....brushing teeth, making their beds, etc.  I listed them on the chart.  Putting their shoes away, picking up the living room (before bed) and brushing their teeth again at night are the other ones.  Each child has a row and a sticker chart on the bottom.  Once they do their listed "habit", they flip their card over to show a sticker on the other side. (Stickers are colored in their favorite color, as are the top of the cards to keep them straight.)  Once they finish their whole row, they get a sticker on their chart.  Once all the sticker spots are full (9 days if they do them every day), then they get a "reward".  Last time it was a little "all natural" sucker.  They don't get these any other time so they think they are something very cool.  This system has worked great and I almost never have to remind them to do anything on their chart. Yippee!

 

 

Here, Kids...Hold This....

I needed someone to hold up my mattress so I could put on the bed skirt.  A few kids would do the job.  At least they are good for somethin'! :)  And nevermind the fact that my daughter is mostly naked...she must have been in between changing her clothes like she does 75 different times a day...

 

 

Crazy Sleepers

They DO *each* have their *own* bed........but by the pictures, you would never know it.

 

Laundry room makeover

 My laundry room needed a bit of a pick-me-up......



BEFORE



 

 

AFTER

 

 

I can't wait til the rest of the house has some color....these WHITE walls are driving me batty!!

Preschool activities

I've recently been busy making fun preschool activites for mostly Ariella....although my middle boys love to do them when they can. Here are a few I've made so far....

 

match paper clips to pieces of foam

 

 make your own (felt) cupcake

 

make your own felt faces

 

(sorry this is upside down....)

 

put correct amount of beads in the ice cube trays

 pick up pom-poms with tongs and place in ice cube tray

 

 

color matching with clips

 

hang the felt clothes on the clothesline!

 

pom-pom patterns

 

 



 popsicle maker...match up sticks with correct top

Workboxes

I can't remember if I did a post a while back on our workbox system or not....probably bc that's how my life is right now.  I can't even tell you what I ate for breakfast...but that's besides the point.  The point is that it is workboxes and the whole system that surrounds it is what has saved my homeschooling days.  I found out about them last fall and I will be forever grateful.  My kids love them.  It makes organizing school for more than 1 child (fairly) easy and the kids know exactly what is expected of them each day.

Here's how it works.

Each kid has their own set of 10 drawers.  In each drawer I put a different activity/worksheet/project, etc.  There are numbers labeled on the outside of their drawer.  They start at the top and once they are done with whatever is in their drawer, they take their number from that drawer (its velcroed on) and place it on their chart.  They, then, move onto the next!  The famous line around here is "Ready, Set, To your workboxes!"

They like this concept so much that I have came up with a brilliant idea!!!...I've included their chores right into their workboxes!  I sneak a job or 2 into their drawers, and they complete it just as they would any other task.  This limits the amount of complaining about doing chores I hear and also makes for everything around the house that needs to be done (school and cleaning) done at the end of the workboxes!  I even included a "clean up your work area" card for their last drawer to remember to tidy up their spot before leaving the room.  It works great.

Here are a few pictures...

T, C, & B's workbox charts on the wall.  After the 4th drawer is completed, I have a "15 min break & potty time" square on their chart so once they get to that, they know what to do.  I also keep a box with their own crayons, pencil, glue, glue stick, dry erase marker, and scissors next to them for easy access.

The boys' drawers.  Ariella's is along the other wall.

Sample drawers...

"clean bathroom"--love this one! :)

The only thing that doesn't work so great is when I forget to load the workboxes so in the morning things aren't ready....oops.