Visiting Family

We were blessed to be able to spend time with Mark’s brother, wife, and four children, while we were up for the reunion. Not sure why I don’t have that many pictures but here are some of the sweet ones. I guess Papa and others took all the pictures. I was a little preoccupied playing with my nephew and nieces and taking care of Josiah. Here’s what I have:

I absolutely love this picture of two of my four. How sweet is that!!! And that they did it volunt

Ol’ blue eyes!
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P-Day Is Coming!!

Tomorrow Night, 7:30 p.m., My House…be there or run and hide under the covers! Come what may, we are going to tell Liam’s sweet Paci “bye bye” Uggghhh!

We’ve really got to do it and get him situated. I believe we’re waking Josiah up at night from tossing and turning and bumping into his bed. So, we want to move him to his room with “the boys.”

Nighttimes are really hard for Liam to actually settle down and go to sleep. I think it’s a lot of the independence of a big bed. The novelty of rooming with brother Ace has worn off…It’s been so easy to just give him a paci and let him go…all that will change tomorrow.

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Chores

We have chores around the house. I’m from the Dr. Kevin Leman school of “familyology” (my word, not his) that says, “Your children don’t live in a hotel. You need to teach them to be a part of the family.”

So, we started the kids out early learning how to help around the house. Does this mean I get a break from doing things around the house? Far from it, I’m not training them in household chores so that I can sit around and do nothing. I wan them to learn how to help in our family and also so that when they get out on their own, they will be able to do things on their own to maintain their home.

They all start learning to clean up around 15 to 18 months. Liam has taken the longest to teach this but he’s finally picking up on it.

After learning to clean up, I observed Zoe dragging her laundry hamper bag downstairs. She was about 2 then. She also was very interested in helping me clean the bathrooms. Zoe’s always been a big helper and loves doing things around the house. Her chores right now include, cleaning her bathroom with me, washing the morning dishes (because they’re plastic). She can empty the dishwasher and knows how to sort the silverware. She knows how to sort clothes and is teaching Ace how to do that. She can empty the dryer and is now learning how to put clothes from the washer into the dryer and how to operate the washing machine and dryer. She’s also learning how to make her bed.

Ace can do a lot of what Zoe is doing but is still too short to reach the washing machine.

Liam likes to “help” with the dishes…mainly playing in the water. He can take the clothes downstairs and he can help put clothes in the washing machine.

I’ve heard people complain because their children don’t do anything. Or they say they are too young. I think people can underestimate kids abilities. However, I also know that adults can expect perfection. My children don’t do all of their chores correctly, and I don’t punish because of that. I don’t expect perfection from them when they do chores. My main goal is to teach them how to do it right. It’s a learning process and when you start early, I think it’s easier because they know this is how it’s going to be and they need to contribute to the family just like mom and dad do.

I wrote all of that because I was so excited when Zoe wanted to empty the washing machine and she was able to get up on a step stool and do it. She was so excited about learning how to use the machines…stay tuned for the post on how all my whites turned pink because I let Zoe do the wash 🙂

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Zoe

Well, yesterday she had speech and her speech teacher said she was doing so good that she would re-evaluate her on Monday and then probably dismiss her. YIPPPPPPEEEEEE! Even though it’s 30 minutes it’s a strain to have to pack up four kids for 30 minutes twice a week.

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We’re back

from all travels to our native land…Alabama. Mark’s reunion, visiting with lots of family, and a trip to see a dinosaur were all part of our weekend. It was great. I’ll post pictures later this week.

New things from the kids:

Zoe: Is really getting in to the dancing thing. She moved and grooved (as demonstrated in a video in an earlier post) through a wings restaurant. Mark was taking care of Liam and Ace and Josiah and I just walked-eyes facing forward-while Zoe did her “thing” behind me. I tried really hard not to laugh. She’s getting a bit goofy.

Ace: Has started saying, “I’m going to be shy.” when he doesn’t want to speak to people. I think his ballet teacher has said that around him and now he thinks it’s an excuse. He looks really sweet when he does it.

Liam: His new phrases include, “mon” for “c’mon” and “up, up waaaay” for “up, up, and away” The latter phrase is usually used when we are picking him up from a booster seat or high chair. He’s also enjoying giving and receiving kisses and had me give his cuddly toy, a lamb, night night love tonight.

Josiah: Is really starting to get his strong belly laughs. He gave me one yesterday and gave Mark a big one today. He’s such a joy and traveled so well to be 3 months and only his second long trip. He slept great too.

Now it’s three days of school and the dreaded P-day next week. P-Day is when Paci goes bye bye. That will be on Thursday. Let the countdown begin 🙂

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Playing Hard to Get

Zoe, apparently, doesn’t want to do this. While talking with some friends after church yesterday, Zoe snuck around a chair and gave a little peck to our friends’ son. Aggghhh! Not ready to deal with this. Not sure why she did it. We don’t tease about boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s. I guess she just felt compelled to show the love to her friend and that’s how she wanted to do it. It’s also very odd because Zoe isn’t affectionate. I tried not to make a big deal about it but I was flabbergasted. I talked to her about maybe showing she cared in other ways besides kissing and that seemed to help. At least it was on the cheek.

Ace, on the other hand, is really starting to warm up to the girls in his ballet class and has one picked out as his favorite. Which he displayed by giving her a big ol’ bear hug in class last week, while we were watching. I was really embarrassed but the mom said she was a luvey dovey kid and let’s face it, they’re three and only showing how much they care for each other. I’m sure Ace will be pushing her over and not talking to her in another class soon.

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Ummm…gross!

We had spaghetti for lunch. It was really good. Liam enjoyed it three times!

Once at the table. Once on the way to speech as I pulled a noodle out of his nose. And once when on the way home from speech when I, yet again, pulled a noodle (this time a long one) out of his nose.

Can you say gross? Gag? Uggghhh? Mommyhood and all the risks and challenges we face including wet noodles!

I’m still not sure how it happened.

By the way, I’m still a Top Momma! Thanks everyone for keeping me on there…it’s been four days now.

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The Bee Project, Day One


Okay, Zoe and Ace’s fighting has gotten out of hand, so I was reading an article that quoted Ephesians 4:32 in it. I knew this was something I could possibly use to help the kids learn to get along. I brainstormed and came up with the above picture. It’s a bee hive. Zoe and Ace each have five bees (Zoe’s bees have bows and Ace’s bees have hats) to start the day. If they fight with each other or Liam, then they have to give me a bee. If they have all five bees at the end of the day, they earn a bee buck. Five bee bucks equals a trip to the Dollar Store. No bee bucks equals a privilege taken away for not getting along with your brother or sister or both.

We are trying this and hopefully, it will keep me more diligent on catching the good sibling behavior and the bad sibling behavior.

Today is day one. They are excited about it but have both lost one bee as they were arguing while washing dishes.

I’ll keep everyone posted on how it works!!

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