Little Helper

I love that Ready to Go (21 mo) enjoys helping me in the kitchen. Whenever I'm cooking, she grabs her little chair and brings it right next to me so she can stand and help. I was cutting up vegetables to place in the crock pot and she gently placed her hand on top of mine while I cut. Then she placed the items in the pot to cook. I had to cut a little slower but the opportunity to teach her in the moment was worth it!

Quiet play

I did two quiet activities that the kids really enjoyed.

First, I played "What's Moving" with Ready to Go. I got the idea for this at Chasing Cheerios.
I was surprised at how much she enjoyed playing this game and remembered it the next day! It's very simple- just tie a string around an object and hide it under the blanket and then slowly pull it out. She loved peaking under the blanket to see the object.

The next activity helps develop hand coordination, concentration and exploration. I had a jar of old unused beans so I let Eager to Help and Ready to Go have at them. They sat on a mat (for easy clean-up) and I gave them two small bowls with various spoons to carry the beans from the jar to their cups. They requested a large bowl to make soup in. Eager to Help was calling out measurements! They enjoyed this for at least 30 min. and then we used a fun slotted spoon to pick up the extra beans off the mat.

I hope to post more quiet activities as I find them. I love finding things for them to do that helps them focus and slow down once and a while! If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Welcome!

In an effort to spruce up our front entrance my son and I put together this pumpkin display. I was afraid the pumpkins would begin to rot before I actually had time to do this. Fortunately we had some warm weather and I finally found all the right size pumpkins. So we went to work!

The idea and tutorial came from one of my favorite blogs girltalk.

I must say the hardest thing about this project was tracking down the various pumpkins! Once I had all my material, Eager to Help and I put it together in about 20 minutes while waiting for Mr. Active to come home from school. My son really had fun helping to saw off the stem, find the little nails and help stack the pumpkins.

Here is the full picture with our friendly scarecrows. I must admit, I'm ready to say goodbye to the scarecrows but it's so fun to see my little girl bend down and say "hi" to them everytime we enter the house! (Note to self- remember to carve our extra pumpkin before doing this project so Eager to Help doesn't remove that stem too!)

Do I need to repeat myself?

How many times did I say that this week?

I've been paying a lot of attention to my words lately. Psalm 19:14 says "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." I also read a great post here and added to my list Ephesians 4:29 "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

Some of the questions that have come to mind as a result are:

How often do I try and communicate with someone in the other room?
Ask a question while looking in the other direction?
Apologize to someone without even facing him/her?
Carry on conversations in my own mind?
Bring up a hot topic conversation at the wrong time?
Choose words that I know will hurt the other person?
Talk more than I need to?

I have been guilty of all of these not just this week, but sadly more often then I care to count.

Some examples:
I’m trying to teach my 4 yo to listen to others.
Me: Sweetie, you just interrupted me.
4 yo: MOM, that’s because I was still talking!
Me- thinking to myself- well, he never stops!

Me: I’m telling my son something I think is very important.
Son: MOM, can you please be quiet because I’m trying to think!

Now shift gears- two conversations this week with hubby, right before going to bed.
Hubby- where do we stand on our finances? Did we pay that bill? How much do we have left?
Me: what? I’m falling asleep. Can we talk about this when I’m coherent?

So the next day we reviewed the bedtime guidelines- especially the rule- NO talking finances while in bed trying to sleep! (Well, we don’t have any bedtime guidelines, but if we did this rule would be right up there!)

NEXT night while lying in bed trying to sleep
Hubby: One thing we need to get together for taxes this year are those Home Depot receipts. Do you know where they are?
Me: What? Didn’t we just agree NO talking finances?
Hubby: Yeah, but this is tax related.
Me: Ok, no talking finances or TAXES while lying in bed.

Now, I had a few of those timely conversations with him too. He calls and lets me know he's leaving work to come home and I decide this is the best time to unload the "do you know what happened today?" or "guess what our son did?" Now I don't have time to give him a full story but just enough to raise his blood pressure all the ride home. How helpful!

I’ve also noticed how much time I waste rehearsing, thinking and retelling scenarios in my mind. I play out whole conversations thinking I can predict how the other person will respond.

It's no wonder the Bible tells us to "take every thought captive" 2 Cor. 10:5. So, first we must equip ourselves with God's word and meditate on it. Then we must guard our hearts and minds on what we think and say. And, finally, be intentional about saying things that will build up and give grace.

What better way to head into Thanksgiving than by building others up, saying encouraging words, and giving thanks!

Check out Company Girl Coffee over at Rachel Anne's Home Sanctuary. Have a great weekend!

Week in Review

Hello Company Girls and good afternoon!

We had an early start this morning with Mr. Active waking up at 6 am ready to eat breakfast. He must be going through a growth spurt because he is constantly hungry! I gave him 1/2 pb sandwich to take back to his room while I finished my quiet time. Our new routines have helped out a lot with our early morning risers and reminding them when they can come for breakfast. Today was the first time that he has come out THAT early. I think he was excited to prepare his hair for "whacky hair day" at school. Hopefully I can post pictures later.

The biggest change this week has been establishing our evening routines. I love that God is faithful to answer our prayers and we can have confidence in His watchfulness over our lives. For about 4 months, little Ms. Ready to Go (19 months) has had her own way when it came to bedtime. Whenever I put her in the crib she would say "ssss" for potty. So I would take her out and she would sit, then get up & play and occasionally go. Finally I just let her sit until I finished with the boys and then addressed her issues. But it was getting later each night until it was 9:30 pm and my hubby and I said "this has got to change!" So we have implemented a much more structured evening time infused with grace :) and have seen an amazing difference. She is no longer screaming for 45 min. and goes down within 10 min. by 7:30! Hallelujah! I'm glad that even in the trivial things we serve a BIG God who cares for us!

The other exciting thing happened yesterday and you can read about here. I have not investigated whether the snake is still in the bucket this morning- we will see!

I hope you all have a great weekend. We don't celebrate Halloween but will be joining friends for fun & fellowship at Chuck E Cheese! I don't imagine it will be too busy :)

Twas the Night Before another Day of Raking Leaves!

The leaves continue falling on the ground below
our endless efforts raking- when will they go?
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a little tan snake, all coiled up in fear.

I thought, “Oh, it’s dead!” poking it with a stick,
Then before I could blink it was gone oh so quick,
When my boys heard what happened, running they came,
with a bucket and shovel, a new pet to tame!

Searching the leaves we tossed them to the sky.
It was like trying to play a game of “I Spy.”
Not knowing where this little snake withdrew,
I suddenly saw him looking frightful again too!

One scoop of the shovel he was finally caught,
I ran for my camera to get a good shot.
Now the question remains do we put him back?
What if he is poisonous and soon would attack?

Lying under a leaf, in his bucket he will rest
We’ll call the Nature Center, they know what’s best!
As for me, I’ll think twice before jumping in leaves,
Or catching a snake for boys, just to appease!

This little incident happened this afternoon. It is the second snake we have seen around in less than a month after discovering a long, dead, skin in our garage! Hopefully we will find some remedy soon. Any suggestions? We will keep you posted as the saga continues!

Start Small, Think BIG!

Our new family theme: Start Small, Think Big

This week we are focusing on the little tasks that can become habits that fit into our daily routine.

I must admit, I always think Big and then try to accomplish the end goal all at once. The end result? An unfinished task and an overwhelmed and frustrated Mama!

So I have thought about some of my goals and have broken them down into smaller ones.

For example: I am trying to manage my home better and not be the only one who does everything for everyone. The latter may produce the results that I want but it is not helpful in equipping my kids or helping me focus on other things that interest me.

So my goal: to equip the kids & hubby to be responsible for various jobs around the home

Smaller goals: identifying specific areas that need attention
1. Entrance: keep shoes orderly, pick-up clutter, sort incoming mail
2. Dining Room- meal prep- silverware, plates, napkins, drinks, meal, sweep floor
3. Hallway Bathroom- wash around the toilet, wash down the sink, straigthen towels
4. Kitchen- dishes loaded & unloaded, sweep floor, mop floor
5. Living Room- pick up clutter
6. Boys Bedroom- clean up, maintaining individual routines

Now that I have narrowed down some main problem areas, I pick one area to focus on and assign jobs to various people. They own that job and I teach them if necessary how to do it. Then I follow through with the most important part: Inspection. They have to know I'm serious and that consequences will follow.

So for this week:
6. Boys Bedroom-
7:30 am- the boys understand that they need to be dressed w/bedroom picked-up for breakfast. If they do this everyday they get 1 minute added on to their 10 min. video game playing on Friday.
7:30 pm - the boys understand that they need to have brushed teeth, use potty & in pjs for a story before bed. If they do this everyday they get 10 minutes added on to their 30 min. video watching on Saturday.

Now if they are not ready or they get out of bed after saying goodnight (except maybe to use the potty), then the consequence is subtracting the appropriate amount to their overall time.

Bedtimes have been such a struggle since school started we are focusing on this one first in terms of applying consequences.

2. Dining Room- we are also giving each child a little job to help prepare dinner. There are no consequences at this point since we are teaching this idea (although I did share the story about a mom who served food directly on the table since the child responsible for plate setting was watching TV and the other kids quickly got his attention and made him do his job!) The kids loved this!

The tasks:
Ready to Go (almost 2) - puts her plastic plate and her brothers on the table
Eager to Help (four) - puts the napkins out
Mr. Active (six) - sets the table with silverware
Hubby- gets drinks & side dish
Me- all things food related

It has been so helpful just to think through this! I must admit it requires me to let go of the "control" factor that I like to depend on but it is SO freeing knowing that I can delegate and expect results. We will see how this week goes!

Do you have any helpful routines or tips on including the kids in getting the job done? I'd love to hear them!