Another Laundry Room Make-Over

After my last laundry room makeover, the laundry room was organized and functional, but of course it never stayed this neat.

And these ugly (albeit functional) brown shelves,

 well, I just couldn't handle looking at them any more.

Ew.

So one evening, while the kids had cereal for dinner, I painted them white.

(Editor's Note:  The shelves, Aunt Shirley, NOT the kids!  It's safe to eat cereal at my house again!)

A few weeks later, I inherited the crib that my grandpa built in the 40s.

It was the excuse I'd been waiting for...I tore out the cheap cabinets in the laundry room to create a space for the crib, and I only lost two inches of walkway.

(If it's quiet, and I can't find my girls, I look here.  They've been known to curl up in the crib together to read - all three of them!)

The laundry room is still not my favorite room in the house, but at least the new look makes me smile when I walk in there instead of cringing!

It Has Begun

It has begun.

This school year marks the beginning of my last 13 years of teaching.

Let's pause and let that sink in for a minute.

Yeah.

I only have 13 years left before I retire.

Amazing.

Anyway.  Moving on.

We started our new school year on Monday, and for the first time, all four kids are "officially" in school.

I have two 5th graders, a 4th grader, and a Kindergartner.

All of the books that are scheduled to be read in the first 12 weeks barely fit on the school shelves in the living room,

(although some of these books will carry through the whole year)

(The top two shelves are alphabetized by author, and the bottom row of over-sized books is too.)

and our school cupboard in the kitchen is full of the workbooks and notebooks we use (almost) every day.

(Workbooks are grouped by subject, and notebooks are color-coded according to each child's signature color...which also happen to be their favorite colors.)

Am I organized?  Why, yes, yes I am.

Maybe a little bit too organized?

Maybe.

But I'm OK with that, and so is my family.

It helps keep the chaos under control, and everyone knows where to find what they need.

And if they can't find what they're looking for, I know exactly where to tell them to look!

***

(Can anyone guess what song is now stuck in my head?)

Naptime

For several weeks now, Isaak has been protesting against naptime. He lays down readily enough and falls asleep almost instantly. That part has never been a problem.

The issue has been that once I announce that naptime is either approaching or imminent, he stages a protest using one or more of the following arguments:

"I'm NOT tired!"

"It's NOT naptime!"

"I don't WANT to take a nap!"

"Naptime is bah-humbug!"

Coincidentally, we have also been working on not talking back.

So, today, with half an hour to go until naptime, he came looking for me.

Isaak: "Mommy, is it almost naptime?"

Me: "Soon."

Isaak: "Good!"

He just likes to keep me on my toes.

Tips for Preparing to Go Grocery Shopping

Today's tips are brought to you by the need to go buy some groceries.

Before backing the van out of the garage, you should:

*Make sure daughter #1 has a right shoe and a left shoe, not two matching right shoes.

*Make sure daughters #1 and #2 are in their assigned seats so there is no fighting.

*Make sure son is in his own carseat, not sitting, grinning, in daughter #2's seat.

*Go back inside and grab the diaper bag.  

*Check to be sure you have your wallet and military ID.

*Go back inside to fill and hand out water bottles to all four kids...it's gonna be a hot day.

*Go back inside and get one for yourself, too.

*Go back inside again to get the cold bags, re-usable grocery bags, and milk crate full of empty bottles.

*Make sure daughter#3 has her seatbelt on properly, and while you're at it,

*please be sure to notice that she is also wearing two right shoes, and

*go back inside to find the matching left shoe.

*Grab your car keys on the way back out, and since you are going grocery shopping, you should also

*go back inside and get your grocery list off the fridge.

*Get in the van.  Do not look at the clock to see how long that took you!

Have fun grocery shopping!

Mondays

Before we had kids, I used to absolutely DREAD Monday morning.  Monday morning meant that the weekend was officially over, and I had to go back to work.

Now that we have kids, I still dread Monday mornings, but I don't have to go anywhere.  Monday mornings now mean that I can count on the entire house being a disaster.

After Sunday School and church, a late lunch and a late nap, Sunday afternoon is spent relaxing.  No one does any housework or cleaning up.  

The kids play, color, read, or watch football with Mommy.

Daddy plays with the kids, does his own thing, or sometimes watches football with Mommy.

Mommy just watches football.

So, on Monday mornings, my house usually looks something like this:

(and it only looks THIS good if I happened to clean it really well the week before!)  :)

(I'll give credit where credit is due:  the kids DID pick up this room completely before they went to bed Sunday night.  They also very obediently stayed in bed until their clock said 7:00 this morning, then colored and drew until almost 9:00.  I can't really complain about THIS mess!)

Nope.  Monday is not my favorite day.

A Brief Glimpse

A brief glimpse into my day (any deeper of a glimpse, and you'd either be bored to tears or as exhausted as I am!):

Dirty laundry waiting to be sorted and washed, and clean laundry waiting to be folded

I barely made a dent in either pile...

On the other hand, I cleaned and tidied up the ENTIRE house, taught school, ran a few errands, and picked up a few groceries!

And at the end of the day, there are clean dishes waiting to be put away, dirty dishes waiting to be washed, a full garbage waiting to go out...

...and two freshly baked loaves of bread waiting to be sliced and put away.

A very satisfying end to a satisfying day!  :)

Cookin' and Cleanin'

This was what my kitchen looked like around 4:45 this afternoon:

(Isaak was "helping" me take the pictures.)

I had my doubts about whether or not Jaela and Macey could safely handle raw chicken, but they did very well, and I was pleasantly surprised!  This might become one of my favorite meals...because I (kind of) didn't have to cook!  :)

I later pondered the wisdom of letting a sick little girl wash the dishes...but she had so much fun that a few germs might be worth it!

They ARE listening!

Just before we started school this year, I found a verse in Jeremiah that I returned to for encouragement almost every day for a few weeks straight.  God is talking to Jeremiah about the people of Israel and Judah:

"They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline."  Jeremiah 32:33 

God had the same problem with his children that I have with mine!  But He didn't give up, and taught them again and again.  I try to remember that when I find myself saying the same thing over and over and over again to my kids.  And eventually the lesson sinks in!  I wasn't paying much attention to the girls this morning as they were playing, but I tuned in just in time to hear Jaela say to Macey and Anya:  "Hey guys!  Let's pick up this big mess before we start our next project!"

There IS hope!  :)

Meandering Monday

After school this morning, we loaded up and headed out to a Mennonite farm in Kentucky that grows and sells THE best hydroponic tomatoes.  After we left there (loaded with tomatoes...and okra, although I have NO idea what to do with it -- she gave it to me cheap because I told her I was experimenting with it, and SHE had no idea what to do with it either!), we stopped at another (absolutely BEAUTIFUL) farm's little produce stand and picked up some squash, eggplant, peppers, and sweet potatoes as well as the pickles the girls begged for -- how could I resist?  I also got them some pickled beets.  :)

And then we went to the commissary.  Talk about culture shock!  We went from being closer to the immodestly dressed, liberal end of the spectrum to being closer to the oddly over-dressed, strangely conservative end of the spectrum in less than half an hour and about 10 miles.

It was a wonderful, thought-provoking adventure -- and we all learned a lot too!  We learned about bees, horses, and a little about life as a farming family.  We learned about vegetables, politeness, and the vast variety of southern accents.  (Ever heard English spoken with a German accent strongly, well, accented with a southern drawl?  It's an adventure in linguistics all on its own!)  And last, but not least, we learned that we can live in Tennessee but still be close enough to "KEN-tuck" (there's a story behind that!) to go there, at least according to Anya, "any time we want to!"

Back to our other normal routine!

We have two normal routines in this household.  There's the routine we have where we stick to a pretty regular schedule, I get a lot done in the evenings, and the house stays fairly neat and clean -- and Daddy's gone.  Then there's the routine where no two days ever follow the same schedule, I never get anything done, and the house is in a constant state of disaster and dirty dishes -- and Daddy's home!  We all MUCH prefer the second daily routine!  :)

Mike got home tonight around 7:30, and after working 12-22 hour days for 24 days straight, he's ready for a day off (or more!).  And he was asleep tonight before the girls were, too.