Unexpected

I have known for about 6 months now that there is another child in our future.  But we cancelled the maternity portion of our insurance for this last year, so getting pregnant has been put on hold until next month.  We went to my good friend's baby blessing yesterday and my emotional reaction was not what I thought it would be.  I LOVE babies!  If I haven't just had a baby, I get very baby hungry when holding and loving on cute cuddly babies.  Now, my friend's baby is ADORABLE!  He cuddled right up and fell asleep in my arms.  Cute little face and so tiny.  But the usual emotional stirrings weren't there.  So I thought about that for a while last night.  Is it because I've known for quite some time that there is another one and so I don't need the emotional charge?  There are certainly days when I am fine (read: am hanging on by my fingernails) with the 3 I have.  But knowing there are more is just the way it's been.  It was about 18 months after having Joseph that I realized I had postpartum depression.  I've heard that it's either evens or odds that gets you, but anything over 4 is not much different than what you have so it starts to not be such a huge adjustment.  So I wonder now if I'm going to have a hard time with evens and #4 is going to knock me down again.  Only time will tell I guess.

Feb 2012

 HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

 

Frosting Valentine cookies

Valentine breakfast and the Valentines they made for the Homeschool Party we went to.

Joseph's beautiful hair-do

Yummy treats!

 

Monitoring the melting...  (200 degrees for 2-4 minutes)

And the finished product!  Fabulous!!
Left: pretzel, raspberry Kiss, M&M; Right: pretzel, regular Kiss, almond

Silly "Spout" Heads

One of the few times it snowed this year
The kids had a blast though!!!

Juliette's first sledding experience
She actually had a lot of fun!

Daphne's playdough art

Joseph making a mess  :)

Twins!!  Which one is the real one?

 

January 2012

I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that I will actually be more consistant with blogging.  Homeschooling takes a lot of my time.  Not including maintaining the household.  But I will do what I can.  It may be every three months, but it's something.  :)

My Sweet Juliette

Poor Joseph was sitting on timeout and fell asleep

I know that he could use a nap during the day most days, but by the time he would be willing to go down, it's almost dinnertime.  So this is what happens some days.

Other days he is "on" all day and this is what I have to entertain me.

Went down the stairs to find Juliette lounging.  She was very much enjoying herself.

My little reader

Cooking 101: Delicious lemon bars

Then spaghetti

My class made sugar cube castles in elementary one year.  At least that's what we were supposed to do.  My friends and I decided it would be more fun to make castles out of moving boxes.  So to recify past offenses, I showed my kids how to make them.  It was quite the learning experience!  I think I'll stick to moving box castles.  Much less mess and you can actually play in them.  More fun for everyone!

Obey Bucks

I saw on Pinterest last night a cool idea for a Chore Card.  So I made one.  Then I started thinking about what I could do to help my kids be more obedient.  I am tired of asking a bajillion times for some thing to be done.  1-2-3 and Timeouts don't seem to have the same effect for Daphne anymore.  Joseph still responds well enough to them.  I made "dollars" for a different project a few years ago for Daphne and they have sat in a drawer since.  

So I started the Obey Bucks Bank.  I would have made it all cute, but my printer quit working, so this is what it is for now.  The rules are:  I ask one time for a task to be completed.  It gets done, they get a Buck.  If I have to ask again, no buck.  Three times, they give me one.  If there is ANY whining or complaining, they give me one.  If they have to go to TimeOut, they give me one.  They can use their Bucks for treats (I have the "prices" labeled on the new bins in my pantry), Wii or TV time ($1/10 minutes), or playdates ($5/hour).  Prices may change as we go, but I wanted to keep the rewards simple enough in the beginning to keep them interested.  Daphne caught on quickly and did really well.  Toys got put away, she set the table, put her shoes and coat away, etc.  After dinner she was trying to figure out how much TV time she could get and get a cookie too.  :)  Joseph gets a few reminders more along the lines of the 1-2-3 approach.  But it is still working, just a little slower for him.

My mom reminded me that obedience is different than perfection.  Very much so!  I don't feel that I'm asking anything beyond what the kids are capable of.  They know where their shoes and coat go.  They know where toys go (I've labeled all the bins in the toy closet so there's no excuse!), etc.  I just don't want to repeat myself 50 times a day for one thing to get done!

BONUS:  She's learning about money too!  We don't do allowance.  We are all part of a family so we all contribute.  But rewards are important.  Everyone deserves and needs them.  So for me, this is an effective tool in many aspects.

I have to say that the 2nd half of the day was much nicer than the first.  The kids know the consequences and the rewards.  If they choose not to do something, I'm not upset because they know rules and they don't get the reward.  My stress at the end of the day was lessened considerably.

Valentine's Day

The kids Valentines cards

Decorating cookies

Breakfast:  Pink heart pancakes and pink eggs (with their finished valentine cards)

 

Homeschool learning!  Joseph worked on putting the pretzels in the right direction and Daphne counted out the kisses and then the almonds and M&Ms we put on top.  She got a brief intro to times tables as well.

  And the finished product!!  These bowls were much fuller...

Today has been eventful

Juliette made a break for it in the middle of her diaper change. Seeing her cute little bum running to the kitchen made me smile. Then she peed on the floor. As I was running to cover her naked tush, Joseph excitedly ran into the kitchen to show me the cool new Lightning McQueen ball he found. Guess where he ran? Yup! Right into the puddle. He slipped and fell. When I told him we needed to go change he said, "Why, it's not my pee!" And that's why my floor got mopped and kids were bathed at 7 am.

I attempted to save me some work on Thanksgiving by making the rolls today. I love my recipe and they always turn out perfectly. Except for today. I haven't a clue as to why, but they were BLACK on the bottom and nicely golden on top. That has never happened before. I just baked bread two days ago and they came out fine.

After the roll disappointment, I ran to the store to score an awesome deal on a Christmas turkey (already got the Thanksgiving one) and some other needed items. I loaded all the kids into the cart and headed inside and suddenly realized I locked my purse in the car. With my keys. And my phone. My hide-a-key disappeared long ago, so I walked to customer service and called Andrew. Five times. I figured he didn't recognize the number, so I called his brother to see if he could get a hold of him. He called 50 times. Adam called me back at the store and told me he would go over to my house. I then remembered Andrew lost his keys. The ones with the only other car key on it. At that point I figured I may as well do the shopping because I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The kids were less than cooperative and of course they didn't want to go to the playland today, so that made it more fun. I called Andrew at the end of shopping to hear that the Lord answered his prayer and that he was on his way with his keys. By the time he arrived, the kids had completely melted down (Joseph needed a BAG of suckers and Daphne needed make-up) and we quickly checked out. Good news is I saved over 50% on all my groceries and then we went and got pizza.

Came home, fed the kids, saw the burnt rolls and remembered that I still had rolls to make. Hopefully these turn out better or I will be back at the store tomorrow.

How was your day?