Things We enjoy Doing.

           Things that work for us

   Every family looks different!

    

Suger Cookies! Classic!

We didn't have Christmas Sprinkles so use what you have!

A little young for baking....

Yes, I said yes. He did ask first.

Going to give these away! 

Sickness is never fun so I tried to make this last round fun.

Bringing the beds down to the living room was also practical I was able to meet needs with out waking Paul up who was also sick. 

Had a hard time getting anything in #2. We used this medicine spoon and put broth in it from special soup. We just talk it all up. We had success! 

Sanding wood! Who knew it would be so much fun? Uncle Matt!

I let the boys eat on the counter! They were so excited. I was

able to clean the kitchen while still being apart of conversation.

This is not any everyday thing just a fun every once in a while to

mix up the everyday. 

We have a sand box that we paid $5 for at a garage sale.

Never got sand but man they love to play in it with toys and

it keeps the deck looking clean when they are not out there.

we also use it for a pool in the summer. Keeps the water warmer

for several days and bugs out. 

We love a basic park day. If there are no

other kids i even let them go up the slide. 

Oh yeah rebelle Mom! 

As soon as they walk they do chores.

So sort of calm activity while waiting for

breakfast.

Let them play in the RAIN!

TOYS

        I have been asked by several friends, "How do you organize your toys." Well here it is. The first picture is our basement. That big cabinet thing holds all the toys all the time. We have baskets that live up stairs in our entertainment center in the main living space. The goal is once a week we re-organize. We take all the baskets down to the basement. We put everything in containers of like kind. We all dislike this part of the process. Once the basement is picked up they each have their own designated basket. They go shopping! They also know that just because they picked it doesn't mean they get to not share up stairs. The baskets live in our IKEA entertainment center. It is just shelving that we mounted our TV to. It does make me kind of sad that we buy IKEA when my man is a finish carpenter...but you do what you gotta do or the budget. The bottom center of our shelves have doors that lock. We keep busy boxes, play doe, DVDs and other such things that I don't want the 3 having access to with out asking. 

This is the basement.  We play down here sometimes or the boys
go down by themselves if they choose not to have conflict.  Our craft
table is down there too.  Nothing fancy but it is space utilized and it
works for us. 

This is how I feel about this chore every time. Heads up it takes
us about and hour and 1/2.

     The shopping part is super fun and then when we go up stairs they play for a good 2 hours with their "new" toys! 
I would do things a little different if there was a budget for house hold items but there isn't in this season so I working with what I've got and am super thankful for it! Even if we had a room designated for a "Toy Room." I would still rotate because it forces me to keep things organized in like kind which helps with development in play. It also keeps the kids thankful for the same toys we have had for years.

End result

A main living area not completely taken over boy toys.

Wa Wa Advent Day 6

     OK, its getting a little harder to think of ideas for Wa Wa and Velcro!  I am just drawing off of things that are happening day to day at this point.  I need to get back on Pintrest and see if I can snag some ideas from Elf on the Shelf.  Its just that Wa Wa's MO is to bless the kids not get in trouble.

     My Mother and Father in Love came over last night for a few minutes and while here Granny gave #1 a magazine.  Its about birds and blooms I think.  When #1 is at Granny's house they enjoy her love for birds together.  The magazine was on the end table so I snagged it and set it up on the deck were we have our bird feeder. Velcro is trying to refill the feeder and Wa Wa is reading the magazine to him.  I learned my lesson the night before.  When I snuck in to get the animals I threw them down stairs. Just in case some one got up at 3:30am. Thankfully there was no getting up or calling last night!

EXPECTAINIONS

That's me getting our invatations to our church of my Wednesday
pin on the week board for cookies. 

   
     I ardently love to make things special and wonderful.  So much so that I have to be careful with my expectations and my kid's.  I got on a kick a few months ago with surprising my 3 with "something fun" a little to much.  When my 4 year old says to me, "OK, what surprise is next," the moment you finish the last one, its time to take a break.  I have to be careful with my heart as well.  With our #2's Birthday this last week I some how got it in my thinking that I wanted the day to be amazing and there wasn't any room for my 3 to be the children that they are.  I was so disappointed every time I had to break up a fight or deal with a bad attitude. Not because that is different than any other day with 3 little sinners under one roof but because I had decide the day SHOULD be perfect.  As my 3 were their usual childish selves, I found myself increasingly more frustrated! By the time the actual party came around in the evening and the 3 families with kids let me know they couldn't come. My #2 was balling as was I. (Families if you are reading this, you know my heart and it is totally fine that you couldn't come!)  When I'm crying with my 3 year old on his birthday there is a problem.  So, I asked the Lord to show me the bottom line. I like asking that because I really don't want to  waste time on my sin.  I rather get to the heart of it, repent and move on. I then had a check in my heart about my EXPECTATIONS.   If I set my hope on a perfect day I will aways be disappointed.  If I approach special days in prayer asking God to make it wonderful and give me creative ideas and not set my hope on it going perfectly then I know it will be more enjoyable for everyone. Especially my Husband as he is super laid back. He loves that I can make the ordinary exciting but doesn't love the emotional fall out if things are perfect and I melt down over it. Rightfully so! 

     Our #2 was just fine once he got done crying and the party was wonderful. So laid back and just a blast celebrating his little life. We got him a used beat up scooter that he and paul are going to fix up together. Once he had his helmet and pads from Granny and Grand Dad on and was scooting around the house no one else existed! 
     God has gotten my attention about this issue of expectations in the past. I just keep messing up.  To His glory less and less each special event.  I was encouraged last night when I took our 3 out to give cookies to our neighbors. We had made sugar cookies for two days straight with the intent to give them to the neighbors with an invitation to our church for the month of December. We bundled up, stuck #3 in the stroller and were off! We had 5 plates of cookies and only one neighbor was home. I had visions of getting to share the love of Jesus and interact with my neighbors! The one neighbor that was home was a 9 year old little girl who hardly said, "thank you!"  In the past I may have been super disappointed but I wasn't!!!  Yay!  I am growing! There is hope for me! The greatest part of it all was that I wasn't in and altered emotional state. So, when I said, "OK, guys that's it lest go home,"  and my oldest flipped out I was calm. Why did he flip out? Because he was disappointed that there was only one neighbor home and passing out cookies didn't go the way he thought it would!!! Blahhahaha! Either he learned that from me or we are very much alike.  Either way if God can change me He can help me train my oldest in the area of expectations! 

I know Ugg's and shorts is so 10 years ago but I still rock it!

Boys with their flash lights, before the melt down of course!

Wa Wa Advent Day 5

     Yesterday our #1 said, "Wait a minute I want one of my animal's to sneak out of my bed while I sleep."  I responded, "Well I guess you better ask Wa Wa to invite one."  #1 promptly asked Wa Wa, "Could you please take Tiger with you when you sneak out of bed tonight?"  "Tiger," is a Tiger stuffed animal we where given.  #1 calls him Tiger and #2 call's him Velcro.  No, we don't have a clue why! So there is an addition to the festivities.  This makes my job a tad bit harder in that #1 wakes very easily!  Last night I snuck into the Boy's room and got Wa Wa and Velcro.  I had them set at the top of the stairs out side the Boy's room so I could set up in the morning.  Little did I know that our #2 would get out of bed at 3:30 am. because he had to poop!  When I got up, Wa Wa was GONE!!!! NO!!!  I had to sneak back in and both boys woke!  I told them I was checking on them.  They went back to sleep!  Score!!!  So this morning our 3 found Wa Wa and Velcro in the car!  The par of them went to Sam's club to get the 3 cliff bars!  Velcro drove of course! 

This is what we do with the Advent Stickers Wa Wa 

give us.

BATMAN BIRTHDAY

Sprinkles on everything he eat all day!

#2 Keeps talking about how he eats mice and rats so Aunt Shell
Shell made him one for his cup cake! 

Wa Wa Advent Day 4

Our #2 got some Batman boots for his birthday yesterday. Wa Wa thought it would be fun to wait for the rain in the boots on our front porch.