I kept trying to get this post done earlier, but it only seems like I can get to it once the kids are in bed because just when I think I am caught up on the stuff I need to do around the house, it is time to get the twins up and feed them again. I have learned that I have to stay on top of the laundry and do 3-4 loads every day or I pay for it. It is funny to think that when Andrew and I first got married I did laundry just once a week (and he helped with it :-)), then it slowly started growing. Before the twins came, I was still just doing it every other day but that isn't possible anymore. And Andrew thinks it is crazy that when I clip nails (I have started doing them all at once now or I end up forgetting that I didn't do someone and the next thing I know, they have nasty, long toe nails) I end up clipping 100 nails. I know there are many much larger families, but I feel like we are big and sometimes get stares. Like, last Tuesday, Jackson and Lincoln both had hair appointments. I took all of them with me and the salon is kind of small so I felt like we took about a lot of room. Lincoln had another successful hair cut sitting by himself while Miles and Bennett were entertained for awhile by another stylist doing her hair. They did very well for most of the hour, but then I had to get Miles out for the last 5 minutes. Then Tuesday night Jackson and Ellie both had ball games. Ellie's was in Novinger, so I convinced Andrew that he should go to that game since he is going to have to help out more with Jackson's games when Joe is gone. So they headed to Novinger while I stayed in Kirksville for Jackson's game. My parents ended up keeping Lincoln and the twins.
This past week I also worked on getting a schedule together for the kids to use during the summer. Each day of the week for Monday through Friday has a theme. They also have their basic chores of getting dressed, brushing their teeth, cleaning their rooms and making their beds. Then I also write in different chores for each day along with a different activity for "brain time". We started last Thursday and it has gone well for the 3 days we have done it :-). For Jackson's reading time one day, he read "The Monster at the End of This Book" to everyone and the twins loved it. The theme for Thursdays is "Think of Others" so we headed over to my parents and cleaned the pool house together. I want them to be grateful that they are able to go over there and swim and realize that it takes work to keep all of that going. So I plan on doing this with them every few weeks.
On Friday, we made our first trip to Wal-Mart with all five kids. It went pretty smoothly. I reminded Jackson and Ellie several times that they could not walk away from the cart to look at something or else Lincoln would too and it was much harder to get him back. I let them pick out something to paint and they got a donut at the end if they were good. After lunch that afternoon, we headed to the conservation department as our Fridays are "Do Something Fun". We met Leah and her kids out there and they had a good time exploring all the exhibits in the center and then we walked the trail outside. Towards the end of the trail, Jackson, Zach's cousin, found a little snake. Zach was determined to pick it up and he did.
Friday night Ellie had another ball game and then we just relaxed at home. Andrew took the older three out to the ranch Saturday morning. Lincoln has picked up a new habit from checking the cows with Andrew. To get the cows attention, Andrew will whistle. Well now Lincoln thinks he can whistle too to get your attention when saying your name a couple times hasn't worked. Of course he can't whistle, but does a high-pitched short scream of sorts several times in a row. He does it all the time now when I don't answer him right away. Saturday I worked on putting a couple coats of polyurethane on our dining room table. It is a good size table for our family because it seats 8 without leaves and 12 with leaves, so I wanted to keep it for awhile. We got it from Pottery Barn when Lissy was working there and we could get a discount. The chairs that we got with it were nice and so were the legs of the table, but the top would always scratch easily. You never know what you are getting with Pottery Barn, especially for the money you pay for it. Anyways, I got a couple coats on in between other projects and preparing for our first babysitter for all five kids outside of a family member. We were going to AJ's with some couples from our small group and a brave girl from our church watched our kids for us. I had pizza ordered for her along with a movie and popcorn for the kids and I think it all went pretty well. Lincoln cried for about 15 minutes but Ellie made him feel better by finding his Tadbit for him and getting him a Mickey Mouse shirt to put on. While the twins were napping, they all went outside and made chalk race tracks for their bikes. They were finishing up their movie when we got home. It wasn't a late night, we were home by 8:30. It was great getting to go eat with friends and I am glad our kids had a good time too. And as I was getting Miles and Bennett ready for bed that night, they both rolled over from their backs to their bellies for the first time within minutes of each other. Crazy. They are starting to get better at it too. Saturday was also my parents 39th wedding anniversary-Happy Anniversary you two love birds :-).
Sunday morning, Andrew headed to the office early while I finished up the last coat on the table and got everyone ready for church. Andrew was back at the office for a few hours after church, but then I convinced to make a PVC sprinkler for the kids. He picked up the stuff on his way home and got it put together pretty quickly. I think it was a hit and the neighborhood kids enjoyed it too.
 |
| Alex thought that maybe if he crawled through it he wouldn't get as wet |
It was such a beautiful evening out Sunday and we enjoyed spending time outside together without having an activity to go to. I took some quick pictures of the twins when they were being all smiley.
We were able to follow our schedule again today and I think it helps us all out because the kids know what I expect of them and I plan activities ahead of time and therefore, we actually do them. After the kids got their chores and school work done this morning, they got to paint the items they got at the store last week. Ellie had a heart picture frame, Jackson had a wooden airplane that he could put together too, and Lincoln had a little wooden school bus. Some of our paint had dried out but once we got all that figured out, they had a good time. Then it was lunch time and off to my parents pool for the afternoon and an evening ball game for Ellie. So we had a first week of summer. The kids aren't bored yet and I'm not ready to send them back to school yet :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment