Home or Hotel?

I recently read a book that asked this question, "Is your house a home or a hotel for your children?" At that time, I was definitely running a hotel. I was doing everything for our kiddos and starting to resent the fact that they expected it. Well after I read this book, things got shaken up!! The girls have regular chores and certain expectations of what they need to do everyday. It has changed our home drastically. A few of the things the girls do are: Empty the dishwasher (Reagan does the dishes, Rebecca does the silverware 2. Help pick up the house at the end of the day 3. Clean up their dirty clothes after a shower 4. do their own laundry and keep their rooms clean with a vacuum and dusting once a week. They do get an allowance, but they can only lose money if I have to do a job for them or if they hire someone else to accomplish their responsibility. At first I wasn't sure how this was going to work, but I have to say it has helped relieve my burden a ton! Anyway, the best part so far is this, yesterday I noticed Reagan's room was getting a touch messy and her bed wasn't made. So I did it for her. It was so cool to see her come home from school go up in her room and yell, "THANKS MOM!" I got the opportunity to bless her instead of feel taken advantage of. That has been awesome. It has given me joy back in surprising them with a job already done! The other great thing is we have started giving them allowance. They are a bunch of savers!! LOL No one wants to spend their money now that they are seeing it add up. It's cool to watch them learn that not everything is worth having. Lastly, I have to tell you about Ryan who is picking things up just by watching. Lately his favorite past time is to play in the sink. With a stool he can reach to turn the water on and play. Last night I let him play for a while so he got out some cups and was having a grand time. At some point he decided while he was there he would brush his teeth. So I told him to brush his teeth and then he needed to be done. I could not believe it when I walked in the bathroom after he was done...we'll I couldn't believe he actually turned the water off the first time I asked!...He had put all of his cups away and done his 2 year old best to clean up without me asking!! That was so cool. Is it really possible that I am going to end with an easy child??? I guess the lesson that I have learned is that I can do everything for everybody thinking I am being a great mom and in the process burn myself out into a resentful mess. Or I can delegate some of the responsibilities to my children and give them a happy mom and teach them to contribute to our family. When the choice is home or hotel, we remember quickly that a hotel is only fun for so long but it always feels great to come home!

Back to School

Sorry it's been a while since I posted anything. The beginning of the school year is always a little crazy. I started to realize just how lax our routine had become over the summer. Now we have our feet under us again and things are running nice and smooth. The first day of school is always interesting. Each child deals with it differently and I find myself dealing with each of their emotions all at once. Reagan is always nervous.
She is so much like me. She sat at the breakfast table unable to eat because the inevitable stomachache had shown up. I couldn't say I blamed her because I had the same one. I was busy hoping she'd like her teacher and that she would find a friend in her class, and countless other thoughts that every parent of every child has. Then there was Rebecca just as excited as ever.
Not a care in the world just ready to get going. The ache in my heart was for her. The fact that she is growing up faster then I can keep up with gives me that ache in my chest. For her I hoped that she would find her class room. She seems so small to me, yet the confidence she has makes me so proud! We are two weeks in and everyone is doing great. Reagan pulls out her daily homework and gets it done right after school. It helps that the neighbor and I have a deal and both of our children must do their work before they can play. It works wonders. Rebecca is doing so well at getting ready for school and coming home and telling me everyday that, "someone has homework!" however it is NEVER her...always me. LOL Before I know it all three will be getting on that school bus and I am told that I will rejoice. For now, I nurse the ache in my heart knowing that being a parent will always be bitter sweet and it will always go too fast in some ways and not fast enough in others. I am just thankful that I get to be here to witness their lives. That is truly the best gift I've ever been given.
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Getting Creative

Well I finally took some time to create something!! This is a desk calendar for 2009! In the blank areas I can put pictures of my family or a trip or nature or whatever. I am super pleased with how this turned out. Ron wants me to make him one, but I need to make it a little more masculine!! Wouldn't want him to get picked on for the girly calendar!!

Busy Boy

Well Ryan has been in rare form lately. I'm still not sure if I should be disturbed at his latest experiments! However, he was slinging a hammer just yesterday so I guess we are OK still. Anyway, I came upstairs and found my son with purse in hand wielding it as if he were a professional! This face cracked me up because it's like he knows I busted him doing something interesting. He quickly changed that face to one of his contagious little smiles. As if the purse wasn't bad enough, I happened to look at the floor. At his feet lay my high-heel boots. Now I am getting the picture. He was trying to get the boots on as well, but the boots went clear up to his hips. Every time he would bend over to pick up the boot the purse would fall off of his shoulder. He figured out that if he held up his arm the purse would stay on. This was a priceless thing to watch. However, in true guy fashion, he decided to give up and go play with his balls!! HA!! That was not meant to be rude, but since it's so funny, I will leave it. I meant his basketball and soccer ball with bat!! Never mind...

Ouch!

Poor Ryan was having such a good time last night and then it happened! One trip of the foot and SLAM!!! Right into the coffee table. I have never seen anything swell this fast before!! He usually doesn't cry as he is pretty tough...but as you can see
some well deserved tears did fall. I tried to put frozen veggies on it, but have you ever tried that with a kid this age who is in pain??
Good Luck! This morning there is a nickle size bruise and he seems to be fine. Reagan was the one playing with him and of course was crying because she felt horrible. However, after Ryan said..."I OK Reaggie, I OK." It seemed all better. I am sure this is just the first installment of bumps and bruises for him, but this one gets the gold for now!!

Dump and Run

A friend and I were conversing through email today about the trouble our sons cause. Her son puts Butt Paste in the toaster and turns it on, all the while turning the crock pot off, my son has more of a dump and run thing going on.
Now it would appear that I am just a neglectful parent, but what I was doing at the time was helping Rebecca clean her room. The vacuum was going and so I did NOT hear a brand new box of cereal dump on the floor. Be sure to notice that some of them got stepped on and ground into the carpet!! Imagine my surprise when I just finished one big mess and came down to this. This is a fine example of why I blog...otherwise I would be insane. Perhaps instead of Fruit (ha right I think "fruit" is a little misleading)Loops, I should buy Raisin Bran...Less sugar and I can kill two birds with one stone...I'll let you figure out which birds I am referring too!! Ryan has provided a few more interesting things as of late. I will be posting them as well. Gotta love little boys!!

Rude Awakening!!

My girls have been involved in Vacation Bible School all week. It has been great fun! Unlike most VBS groups ours is at night. I pick up the girls at 8:40PM which means they get to bed around 10PM. That also means ZERO down time for me. Well it all started to catch up yesterday. Ron and I spent a good portion of the day building the shed so by 10PM I was tired! I am sure I fell right to sleep. Did I mention that earlier in the day, Ryan was ALONE in my bedroom??? Somewhere around 11:30 or Midnight TWO alarm clocks start going off! Not quietly, but blaring loud. Since it's dark and my faculties aren't in high function I am fumbling around trying to find the dang off button. Once found I pushed it and nothing happened. Now I get to assault yet another of my senses and flip on the bright bedroom light. I am already aware that my mouth is going to get me a session of repentance with God, so I take little heed to the words coming from my mouth at this point. Frustrated I just start pulling plugs from the outlet. On try number THREE (how much crap do we have plugged in and does it go to anything???) one obnoxious buzzer stops and then, thank the Lord, the other goes off too. Take a guess at how long it took me to fall asleep after that?? Oh, yes a good hour or two!! Needless to say my door is closed this morning. God help me when Ryan figures out how to open the doors!! I am sure you are all wondering why we have two alarm clocks? Well shortly after Ron started his new position the one alarm clock decided to not go off and he was almost late for his first day of opening the store. So as extra insurance we brought in the other. It was my son who really wants to fly across the room with a bolt of electricity that plugged the other in and so sweetly set BOTH alarms. He's lucky he's cute!!