19 Days and Counting…

There are only 19 days left of the summer for my kiddos! Boy did this “summer” fly by. It is currently 55 degrees at 9:15am!! Not my idea August in Michigan. Feels more like the middle of October! Never the less the end of summer is here which means schools supplies, new clothes and of course a brand new routine. This time of year tends to make me go a little crazy getting it all together.

One thing that has made our life easier is having the kids eat lunch at school. Not to start a debate but with Michelle Obama’s healthy eating thing I at least know that there are healthier options for my kids to choose from at school.

The other thing I have found and going to try is making and then freezing breakfast muffins for the kids in the morning. In our area different schools start at different times so making breakfast can be a pain. With the muffins, the kids can grab some out of the freezer, pop them in the microwave and have a yummy and filling breakfast. (I don’t have to do anything!!) Hehe!! Pintrest was my friend when searching for muffin recipe’s.

Creating a Ready Station is something I am currently putting together. This station will be used as a central location for the kids and their stuff. In the evening they get everything together for the next day (including book bags, snacks, sports equipment, musical instruments, ect.) and put it in the Ready Station. In the morning, all they have to do is get their breakfast, brush their hair/teeth and get dressed. I have a feeling our mornings will be going a whole lot smoother. 🙂

Routine is important to me and for my kids. With our family’s schedule getting ready to go nuts, they need to have some sense of what to expect. So here is our current schedule as we head into the new school year.

We do not have the schedules for fall sports yet so I’m sure this routine will change a little as we add and subtract sports.

Organizing Myself

Getting organized can be tiring but once it is all done, life somehow becomes easier!!! I found some amazing printables last week and I got to work. Printing, hand laminating (I NEED a laminator) 🙂 Here is what I have:

 

So this is an over the door shoe organizer. Last week I posted the job chart and the stone explanation. As you can see the kids starting earning stones!!

 

 

 

In this one I printed and laminated a Weekly Dinner Chart as well as a Monthly Dinner Chart. I got these from 30 Handmade Days. Her site has SO many printables to get you going.

 

The top half is my Mom calendar. I cannot live without this calendar. I get it usually at Walmart or some other office supply store. The bottom 2 are also from 30 Handmade Days; Daily To Do and Goals For The Week. These 2 are great at helping me see what is needed to be done daily as well as weekly.

I just wanted to give an update and show my appreciation to Mique at 30 Handmade Days for helping me get organized in my new home!!!

 

Chores!!!!!

Chores are one of those things that you know your kids need but it just seems easier to let them have fun while you do it because its faster. Summer time in our house leaves something to be desired when it comes to chores. I want them to have fun but I also know that housework/chores are not a seasonal thing. I have been putting together a system from ideas I got looking at several other sites. Here is what I have come up with so far. (Sorry I do not have pics of everything yet.

First I created a basic job chart for each kid every week.

 

 

I had these fish tank stones around the house so that is how I decided to keep track of everything. They each have their own little cup to place the stones in. I would like to get one of those over the door shoe organizers to be able to keep everything in the same area.

They get 1 stone for every job, nice thing they say/do, helping me or Dad out. They lost 1 stone for every job they do not complete, not nice thing they say, ect. They are able to earn 2 stones for completing jobs without being asked. Occasionally there will be extra jobs that I will assign a $$ amount to. Those jobs they will be able to receive that dollar amount and cannot lose it.

 

We also have a place to keep track their money as well as their tithing. For us their money is split into 3 areas. 1 for spending, 1 saving and 1 for tithing. 10% of what they earned goes to tithing, then half of what they have left goes into each of the other places. For example: If they earned $8 for the week, .80 would go to tithe, $3.60 would go to savings and $3.60 would go to spending. They also have the option to save more if they want to.

I got most of this from http://www.shescraftycrafty.com/2011/07/choresreward-system.html I loved it so much that I practically adopted the whole thing for my family and I am now sharing what mine looks like to all of you!!

 

My kids are already getting excited about earning some money for themselves and helping out!!!

 

Signing Off

Helping kids save Money w/o losing your mind!!

One of the biggest responsibilities of raising kids is to teach them about money. Tithing, saving and responsible spending. I found a tool to help me with that. Its called Bankaroo! I use it for my android phone and I love it!!! The kids get to see where their money is and how much they have. They also get to set goals!

I heard iAllowance for iPhones and iPads is really good too. They actually have a lot more than just money savers.

 

Here is a screen shot on my computer of what it looks like. I just quickly put in what they had on them.

 

Here is a screen shot after I added what she had to her goal.

 

A great little program to help your kids learn about money!!

Summer Worksheets

Worksheets for the summer really do help my kiddos retain all that knowledge they worked so hard to learn during the school year. Here are a few sites that I use to get my printable worksheets.

 
This is great for Math, Geography and English. You can customize them depending on what your child knows. I just asked them what they had learned last year and created worksheets to keep that going.
http://www.worksheetworks.com

This site is great if you have younger children. They are working on worksheets for older kiddos now.
http://www.itsybitsyfun.com/

This site is great for just about anything!!
http://kidsactivitiesblog.com

This one is good but I like Worksheet Works better.
http://www.worksheetplace.com/

This site has great printables too! I love the new Frozen worksheets!
http://www.royalbaloo.com/

This site is great and broken down by grade. The free account allows you 10 free downloads per month!
http://www.education.com/worksheets/

 

Please feel free to share your favorite printable worksheet sites!!!

Signing Off!!

Its been awhile!

Its been a while since I have posted, sorry about that 🙂 A few things have changed since I last posted.

The biggest being that WE MOVED!!! We moved from the Northern Lower Penninsula to West Michigan!! We LOVE it!!!!! This move was 5-6 years in the making. God took his sweet time (really it was His perfect time) moving us. We have been trying to move to this area for so long and every time God didn’t even crack the door. This time he ripped the door off the hinges. God’s timing truly is amazing. He has blessed us greatly with this move. We moved from the Northern Lower Penninsula to West Michigan!! We LOVE it!!!!!

We got a dog! His name is Barnaby and he is a nut case. We haven’t had a dog in about 5 years, our last one we had to give away due to housing issues. The kids just love him so much!! We are very blessed to have rescued such a great dog!!

 

One of the best things about moving to West Michigan is my nephews!! They are 7 and 5 and we get to spend so much more time with them!! Today for example the 5 YO nephew (C) is here right now and his brother (J) will be here this afternoon!! I am enjoying getting to know them.

Another great thing about moving to a new area is visiting new places. We traveled over to Lansing last weekend and went to the zoo with our nephews just because we could!! There were no zoos close to where we lived before.

On the agenda the rest of the summer is taking advantage of the free gym membership provided by my husbands work, making sure the kids keep up with their summer worksheets and having fun visiting new places!!

How about your plans for the rest of the summer??

I hope to share some great links to summer worksheets for your kids today or tomorrow. Thanks for reading!!

Signing Off!!

Just gets crazier!

I haven’t written in a while but sometimes life and kids just gets plain crazy. We are a 1 car family and have been for a long time. My husband and I work opposite shifts so there really hasn’t ever been a need for a second car. Until now….

Just this week alone my oldest has an after school activity everyday this week, My 2 youngest have a music informance and sports sign ups. My life today consists of running to Walgreen’s to pick up photos for my oldest’s science fair project which is tonight at 5:30pm, picking up prescriptions for my youngest 2, dropping off Alanah’s t-shirt for the science fair and sign up the 2 youngest for soccer and t ball at 5pm. That is just today!!

I love it but sometimes I feel like I am going insane!

Go to go now, off to the science fair and sports sign ups!

A Stark Realization

Do you ever have those moments where you look at your life go “WOW!”? I did that yesterday.

I had my children young, Alanah at 17, Mikaylynn at 22 and Lyam at 24. I knew that when my son graduated from high school and I became an empty nester I would be 42 years old. Still plenty young enough to do anything. Then yesterday I thought about how old I would be when my oldest, Alanah graduates. Yikes! 36 years old!! Some people start having their families at that age. Six years and my baby will graduate! I literally had to take a step back. Time really does fly and it is true what people say. Enjoy every moment (good and bad) with your children because they will not be children for long.

Alanah told me the other day that she wants to be a Special Education teacher when she grows up. If she sticks with that we can start her on a path to college. Maybe being a student aid in a special ed class or any class. I think she would be a wonderful teacher and can’t wait to see her grow into her own. Its hard to believe that I had so much anxiety over her entering Middle School this year. Our Middle School is grades 6-8. However, in 6 very short years she graduates. It feels like its happening so fast!!

My middle kiddo Mikaylynn will go into High School (grades 9-12) the fall after Alanah graduates. It truly is amazing how fast childhood really goes. She wants to be an art teacher 🙂 She told her current art teacher that when she grows up, she is going to be an art teacher and take over her job!! Haha we both had a good laugh at that. According to her teacher, Mikaylynn has the talent and passion. So we’ll see, she is only 8 years old so she still has time to decide for sure.

Anyone else have a stark realization?? Please feel free to share!

Crazy Mom, Signing Off

 

Families, Breakdowns and Illnesses….Oh My!!

Hello blogger world! You know that being a mom isn’t always about just being a mom. Typically moms are wives, aunts, sisters, daughters, granddaughters and friends too. Dealing with families and not just your little unit in your home can be just as challenging and amazing. Today I got onto a social media site and found that 1 of my family members had deleted me again. I don’t know why (I didn’t the last time either), but it threw me for a loop. So I took a step back and thought about the possible reasons. So far, nothing. I took some time to pray about it and hopefully I will be able to talk to them about it. We don’t see each other much but I love them just the same. It hurts to think that I may have offended them and they felt it best to delete me instead of coming to me with the issue. My point is, is that families can be difficult but they are your family and you have to make the effort to make it right. You also have to be able to deal with that and still go on with your life. You don’t want to show your kids the ugly side of people/situations right in the moment but what happens when they ask that question…..

“WHY?”

“Why don’t we see so and so anymore or not as much?” “Why are you mad at them?” “Why are they mad at you?” These questions I think should be answered because sometime in their life it will happen to them.

While dealing with family emotions my husband informed me that our alternator seized up in our car. Ahhhh cars!! Horse and buggies are sounding good right now. 🙂 He managed to drive it to the shop but they informed him that they couldn’t get to it until at least tomorrow. I do have to say and I am so thankful that it happened at this time of year when we get our taxes back and not when we are low on money to pay for the repairs. So right now we are just praying that it’s just the alternator, easy fix and on our way. We only have 1 car so getting our 1991 beast up and running is essential!

LOL on top of all of that plus you know normal mom stuff…..I’m sick! AGAIN!! This is the 3rd time this winter that I have been sick. Not sure what is going on but spring can’t come soon enough. I have to laugh sometimes when I get sick because when my husband gets sick the whole world comes to an end and everyone waits on him hand and foot. We all drop everything to take care of him. When I get sick, he says, “Go lay down.” HA! I can’t go lay down because I will wake up thinking a F5 tornado blew through my house. Women/Moms get better quicker if we aren’t stressed (IMO). The last time I listened to him and laid down, I woke up to kids still in their jammies at 2 in the afternoon, hair not brushed, teeth not brushed, medicine not given, cereal all over the floor, dishes all piled up (and an empty dishwasher), no laundry done, rooms destroyed, kids screaming at each other (which is what woke me up) and Dad on the computer playing a game. I started crying. I couldn’t help it. It feels like I don’t really matter when I’m sick. Where are those cute cards and soup in bed like in the movies???

I guess my point in this ‘rant’ post is that being a mom/woman isn’t always pleasant but you really have to remember to just take a moment. It’s not easy, it’s completely against my nature but just something simple as a moment can change your entire outlook on that day. I look back on the verse I put at the bottom of my last post: Do everything without complaining or arguing ~ Philippians 2:14. It is very hard to do everything without complaining. I guess you could say I complained or it may have come off as complaining in this post. That is not my intention. My intention was to shine light on the not so bright issues in my crazy life. Maybe other people can relate to what I am going through.

Crazy Mom, Signing Off

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

It’s Valentine’s Day!!

So if you are like me you go back and forth on this “holiday”, I mean some years it feels like a Hallmark holiday and other years I just want some romantic gesture from my husband. This year happens to be a year of wanting some romance. My husband always says he doesn’t know how to be romantic. He used to be and think over the years of kids, playdates, homework, work, life in general, he may have forgotten a lot of what he used to do.

Every year I know that I am going to get one of those pillow and throw things from Walmart.

So this morning when he text me (he works midnights) to let me know he was at Walmart and asked if I wanted/needed anything I almost told him not to get the pillow/blanket thing. Not because I didn’t want it but because our kids have developed a habit of taking them almost as soon as I get them. 🙂 I didn’t say anything and let him buy it. When he gave it to me this morning I told him that I almost text him not to get it. He says,

“Well I have gotten you one every year since we’ve been together.” *Heart melt!! It turns out that I did get a little romance in my Valentine’s Day after all!

I tend to look at romance as something like the movies. The thing is, is that I can see romance in all of the little things he does. It doesn’t always have to be this huge gesture.

Today our kids don’t have school (Professional Development Day), so instead of us getting a nice relaxing day together we get 3 loud and crazy kids running around destroying our nice clean house. Not romantic! We were thinking of going out for dinner ALONE but not a babysitter to be found. Thank God my mom was available. My husband hasn’t had Valentine’s Day off from work since we’ve been together. We have just always celebrated it on another day. Today we looked at each other across our messy house and said

“I’m too tired to go out tonight.”

WHAT!!! That just won’t do so we are going out (thanks to my mom) and at least share a dinner without the usual reminders; stop tapping, eat your dinner, no you can’t get up until you eat your broccoli, ect. YAY Another point for romance 🙂

Getting to celebrate even the smallest holidays with my husband means a lot to me. We tend to focus so much on the kids that we neglect each other. Take some time today and focus on each other. Your kids will always be there, let them see you take some time for each other.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Crazy Mom, Signing Off

Do everything without complaining or arguing ~ Philippians 2:14