Manic Monday

So, with the boys at camp all last week....we didn't do a lot of "school."  We did a little here and there, but mostly because I'm anal about checklists and there are a handful of "preschool" things I wanted to get done before we officially start Kindergarten on the 27th.  I'm a psychopath (oddly enough, I've said this about myself three times today.)  Anyway...we did get to see my great-niece and great-nephew, and my oldest two nephews (one of whom is the father of said smalls that I got to spend the afternoon with.)  I heart babies, and my great-nephew is 14 months old...but I had forgotten how IN to EVERYTHING kids are at that age.  He ransacked our house.  His dad was fully apologetic, but I loved it, in reality.  I liked watching him check out all the "new" stuff (since he's not here very often it's ALL new!)  I also really loved watching him knock over the block towers his dad was building just as fast as he could.  It was FUN.  OH-and in BIG news, my 5 yr old great-niece finally likes me!  I won her over with Wedgits.  Word.

This weekend was rainy and grey, so we played a lot of board games.  We played Candy Land, and Hi-Ho-Cherry-O!  Uno-Moo is another favorite around here.  We tried Sorry...but we had already been playing games for awhile, and while Three was excited to give it a try (it says 6 and up on the box...we were breaking all the rules!) he didn't have the attention span for it by that point.  We will give it a shot again, soon, as a first option.


My baby isn't a baby anymore.  Last week, he gave up his nap.  It was the right choice.  He has been having a horrible time at bedtime...up and down, up and down for at least an hour every night.  I suggested we stop putting him down for a nap--the last few times it's happened because of other stuff, he hasn't been HORRIBLE in the evening--so it was worth a shot at least.  Turns out, I was right, he wasn't trying to be a pain in the ass.  He really just wasn't tired.  Since giving up the nap, he goes right to sleep at bedtime.  And, as an additional bonus, for the first time in almost 6 years, I don't have to work around a napping child!  The freedom is overwhelming.

My baby isn't a baby anymore.  Last week, I threw away all of our sippy cups.  *hangs head in shame*  Yes, my three years and three month old child still used a sippy cup.  In my defense, he had a cup at nap time, and a cup if we went OUT, but 95% of the time we were home he was drinking out of a regular cup.  He would ask for a sippy, but I've been a hard ass for the last couple months about switching him over.  Three didn't use a sippy cup anymore after he turned one.  But, I was hanging on to all things baby with this one...I have ruined him.  I know it.  But, it's whatever.  At his three year old checkup, the doc and I discussed his speech.  It's not horrible.  It's also not great.  *I* understand him probably 80% of the time, but people who aren't around him often have a harder time.  She said we could give it another 6 months (so, til Christmas) and if he still wasn't "on par" we'd give him some speech therapy.  I think part of the issue is the sippy's.  I mean, I could be grasping at straws, but I know that my neighbor's kids both needed speech therapy and the first thing she got yelled at for was the fact that they still drank from sippies!  Now, we did buy two straw cups (the speech therapist my neighbor's kids said those were fine because the way their mouth grips it is different) for when we go out and for when he has Green Goodness juice (because it is evergreen in color...and scary on my light carpet.)

Manic Monday officially starts back next week with the kick-off of our bowling league.  The older three kids will all be bowling for the league this year, and Four will do "tot bowling" since he gave up his naps last week.  

Wordy Wednesday

A great link to read through when you have a few minutes, about organizing your homeschool when you have a small house.  We have a small house.  It's 1300 sq. ft, and that includes the attic.  There are 6 people living here, and a dog the size of a lot of humans.  We're a little cramped.  Organization is key.

Organizing Your Homeschool in a Small Home

Another link about getting back to school ready:

Back to School

In case you can't tell, I'm in full overhaul mode.  Cleaning out the clutter, getting good routines in place, and re-organizing my life.  I'm blissfully happy about it too.

The boys have had camp every morning this week, today and tomorrow (provided my computer co-operates with me) I'd like to plan some preschool units for Four, and round out my Kindergarten plans for Three.

Lazy Housewife Skinny Housewife

Lazy Housewife Dinner:

Angel Crockpot Chicken

I made this last night.  Sadly, that means that One and Two didn't try it, since they left just shy of dinner for a last minute sleepover with The Bestie's kids.  The three of us who ate it, enjoyed it.  I made it with out the mushrooms, because, alas they had gone bad (this happens to me A LOT with mushrooms, i need to remember to make the recipes with them EARLY in my meal plan.)  I don't think it will make it into my regular rotation, though.  It was good, but not wonderful.  It might be a quick, and easy go-to on occasion, but for me, it's not a "I want that again!" sort of recipe.  Try it out, see what you think. :)


Skinny Housewife/Allergy Mama

I made these chicken nuggets for my baby boy.  I was able to leave out the panko (just increased the number of regular breadcrumbs) and since they are not dipped in egg, they were safe for Four with just that one alteration.  I tried them, Two, and Three also tried them, and honest to goodness, these are so good we could have eaten the entire tray ourselves!  I froze them for easy, quick lunch or dinners.

Healthy Chicken Nuggets


I may go back and post a wordy Wednesday post, right now.  I spoke too soon about my computer, and yesterday I couldn't get it to stay awake all day!  This morning, it seems to be doing...ok *hesitant*

Two For Tuesday

Occupying Toddlers

Active Play

Flashback Friday.

We didn't do a lot this week.

Monday-Zumba. We had a sleepover.

Tuesday-We (The Bestie and I) took the kids-minus Four-to the mall for the afternoon. One an Two spent the night with my mom.

Wednesday-the girls spent all day at my moms.

Thursday-I don't remember anything exciting from yesterday! That says a lot huh?

Friday-everyone made a big trip to BJ's, everyone but me! As I have mentioned before, I LOATE shopping with the children and avoid it at all cost.

My computer is being less than compliant. The Punk replaced the fan but it keeps putting itself into stand by mode for no reason he nor I can figure out. Sometimes it is fine for an hour or more, then sometimes it goes Ito standby mode every minute or two until I'm ready to throw it against the wall.

Wordy Wednesday

It may not be so wordy, as I'm still having to use only my phone.

My new chore system is working really smoothly and I'm loving it beyond all measure.

How I came up with it:

I found these great "To Do" list printables on Pinterest (check out my 'cleaning and organizing' board because I can't link via my phone. ) They print four to a page which works well for me since I needed two for each day for four days a week.

Then I made a 'master list' of things that I can delegate to One and Two. This will vary, of course, but my list includes:

Sweep
Laundry
Vacuuming
Clean the hall bath
Dust
Mop
Clean their bedroom
Vacuum their brothers room
Clean the hallway walls
Help me sort the toy bins
Wipe down doorknobs and light switches
dishwasher

Then I broke it down by things that need to be done daily: dishwasher, , laundry, sweeping; and things that need to be done once a week.

Last I wrote out two lists for each day, in the morning the girls each pick a list. This also solves the problem of them always being the one to have to do a certain chore because this way it's a random draw.

We are halfway through the second week and my house looks great and I have been able to get an incredible amount of stuff done by having help in these areas.

Three's chores are simple: he helps put away toys, puts out the napkins and silverware for dinner and takes out the recycling, as well as the bathroom trash.

Four helps with toys and recycling and trash as well.

Manic Monday

Zumba this morning. The kids did "mini Olympics" while in childcare. They played ping pong, tennis, had races, and played basketball. They were all excited.

The Bestie's kids are on their way over for a sleepover. All three of them. Seven kids for the next 24 hours. Yeah man.

Our fall Monday schedule should be less Manic, since dance class for One has moved to Wednesday this year. That actually works splendidly for me since our parks and rec dept never schedules games for Wednesday nights. This means there won't be any conflict in Two and Three's sports schedules and One's dancing. Yay! I'm already feeling more relaxed.

One and Two want to give up doing 4H. I forced them into it this year hoping they would learn to like it enough to learn the parliamentary processes and other great skills that come from 4H. I'm bummed that neither of them are into it. I've decided to let them quit. But they have to replace this activity with something else. One has decided she will join bowling league, which is just sort of a cop out. She doesn't like bowling any more than she likes 4H. Two will probably take guitar lessons. She's wanted to for awhile, and she owns two guitars and can sort of play already.

Off to enjoy the last few moments of quiet I'm going to get for the rest of today...

Sunday snapshots

Flashback Friday

My computer's fan died on Monday night, so my Internet access has been limited to my phone. Now, having an awesome phone makes this really no big deal with the exception of blogging. While, clearly, I *can* blog from my phone (as I'm doing now,) long posts are more difficult to do and posting pictures is problematic because I can't figure out how to order them properly or size them down to a viewable size. The Punk ordered my new fan Tuesday morning and I hope it will be here soon. I had big plans for my Wordy Wednesday post, and this week has gone so smashingly good I want to share....