1 Down, and about 5000 more to go

So this week has been exhausting in a good way. We got the green light with the house and our friend/investor/blessing of a family signed the final papers. So each evening we've been heading over to paint and get some things crossed off the list before moving in. The first completed project is the laundry room. She went from dark brown paneling with a light that required you to manually screw or unscrew the bulb if you wanted to see anything. To, with a little money, sweat and skill later, we have an apple green "happy" laundry room, complete with tract lighting and a real light switch. Thank you honey! And thank you dear lady friends for blessing me with your most precious possession of time and fellowship to help me!

The Making of an Igloo

Makensie has really wanted to make an igloo and while with each snow we had good intentions and looked up directions, it just never happened. But today, we just couldn't resist. The snow was so wet and heavy and it was still raining sleet adding to the bonding power.

Inside:

Allen helped us for awhile, but had to leave. He is so generous in helping others. So the girls and I finished. Notice the heavy leaning and an architect I am not, so this was the best we could figure out.

Done! Hope it lasts at least for the day.

Shocked on a Whollllle - Notha - Levvvvvvelllll

Gabby: Mom, when our cat dies, can we stuff her like the deer? That was we can play with her forever?

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Compliments of our new neighbor we just met 1 hour ago: Can Gabby stay all night tonight? It's my daughter's birthday.

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Compliments of our new neighbor at 9pm (we just met 4 hour earlier): Do you have any chicken nuggets? My daughter doesn't want to eat what I cooked for supper.

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Gabby: What's wrong with her boobs?
Me: That's what happens when you don't wear a bra.

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Compliments of our new neighbor at the 22 hour mark: Can you babysit for the girls this afternoon? I need to go run some errands.

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25 hour mark: Since you homeschool anyway, can you homeschool my son?

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Compliments of the 7 year old neighbor girl: My mom wants to know if you can come over and talk to her?

Me: Um, can she come over here?

girl: She wants to know if you can start babysitting us?

Me: (only in my head) I thought I already was. And I thought both of your parents didn't work.

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Compliments of the 5 year old neighbor: The police have been to our house before and arrested my dad.
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Compliments of the 7 year old: Can I play now or do you want me to come back later?
Me: (only in my head) I'm guessing it's only to be both.

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After returning home and finding my front door wide open and the neighbor girls waiting across the street for us to get home:
Me: Did you see anyone come over?
Them: No.
Me: Was my door open all the time?
Them: Yes. But don't worry, we walked thru and made sure that there were no robbers here and nothing was missing.
Me: thanks.
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Compliments from our new neighbor girl after playing at our house for about an hour: My mom said to ask you that if you have to go anywhere if you would wait until they get home. They went to run errands.

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Lord unto the least of these. Help me remember that all these kids want to be at our home for a reason. Help me keep my heart and home open to witness of you. Give me patience and grace and love for them as if they were my own.

Date Night with my hero

Nothing beats rootbeer floats with Batman in March.

What's The Rule About NOT Slamming Doors?

Brian's finger got pinched in the hinge side of the door Sunday morning. We did not end up having to make a mad dash to the ER. He is not one to manage his pain well, so it was difficult to tell at first if he really was dying even though there was no blood. But I was ready as every mother of boys, I know the closest friends to drop off the other kids wit (Adelia...congratulations) on the way to the hospital in the quickest route.


After a splint and some pain medication he is now jumping on the trampoline.


He was so sweet though this morning. After the accident and he had calmed down he ate some heart shaped pancakes. He started to pick up his plate and I told him, "Honey, I'll get it." He tells me, "mom, it's not like I broke all 10 fingers and then he continued to help me pick up the entire table."


Thank you Lord for a sweetness in their spirits just when I need it most. Thank you for protecting his little finger from worse.

Household Notebook

I love lists, and schedules and 3 x 5" note cards, numbers, magazine ideas and all sorts of other ocd crazy things. This past year has been a challenge to stick with the type of schedule that my life showcased before. My dear friend Adelia, recently shared with a ladies group her control journal and I thought I would update what we are doing. Since I have taken on the office for our business, life doesn't always fit into nice neat little boxes that I can carve out and say, "from 10-noon is my work time" because when the phone rings, that is my work time. I often have to forward the phones to my cell phone when I leave the house. Which doesn't always make for the best play dates. And then if I forget to take care of something when I get home it makes it harder to fix. If I leave and transfer phones to Allen, then he has appointments and work orders started that I don't know about and we can get double booked or loose information. Our whole system needs tweaking. So I don't get to come and go freely or have the casual time with friends or even the kids as I would like because the office is always looming in the background.

We have went to block scheduling and a lot more flexibility than what we've known in years past.

6:30-7:30 - Pray, coffee, print off invoices for the day, check calendar, emails, shower, start breakfast

7:30-8:00 - Wake kids and have breakfast, clean up table, start 1st load of laundry

8:00-11:30 - School

11:30-1:00 - lunch, clean up, switch out laundry - free time

1:00-3:30 - Core work, projects etc.

3:30-4:00 - Snacks, clean up, switch out laundry

4:00-5:00 - House Blessing-
5:00-6:00 - Make supper with kid of the day

6:00-7:00 - supper, clean up, switch out laundry, after supper chores

7:00-9:00 - Family Time/movie/games/dates/baths

9:00- Kids tucked in, ,mom reads, prayers

9:30-10:30 paperwork, time with Allen, misc tasks, time for me

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This is all flexible. Sometimes, school gets finished from 7-9pm because we've had errands or lots of phone calls during the day.

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Here is a link to Makensie's chore chart, I print off one for each kid and the girls love it.

One of my many areas of failure is my housework. I am not a naturally skilled at this. I tried the Flylady and Large Family Logistics and have taken away things from both. I like their systems, but could never get everything done on specific days and then by Wednesday I'd be stressed because Monday and Tuesday's cleaning tasks weren't completed.

I then found this card file system that I loved the idea. My house keeping still leaves much to be desired and honestly if we had the money this would be the 1st thing I would hire out. Not that I mind doing it, it is just a big chunk of time that I feel could be better spent with family and friends. Anyhow, what I like about the card system is that I broke my chores down into Daily, Weekly by room, Monthly by room and extras. I did not assign a specific day, week or Month. Then I'm not behind. Well, at least not on paper and for someone with the OCD list obsessions I seem to have, this is very freeing. The goal is to make it thru all the daily and one room of weekly tasks a day, but if I don't make it thru them all I just pick up where I left off and then move that card to the back of the section when I'm done. Saves me the thought process of what do I do? And where do I start? I wish I could view the house and just run thru and just do, but for some frustrating reason my brain does not work like that.