A day in my life

I am sitting enjoying a bit of quite after another busy day, the youngest two are off to Kid's Club till 8, the husband is at play practice, and oldest dd is off with friends and the two boys left at home are off reading.

I decided to take a minute and look back on today and share a bit of my day with you. It starts bright and early at 5:30 this morning,  made the husband his coffee then remembered that he took today off of work. Oh well, move on to making the kids lunches, and starting a load of wash. Start waking up kids at 6:30 and the house starts hoping from now until 7:15 when they all head out the door. There are kids getting dressed,showering, eating, packing there lunches and so on, every time you turn around you risk stepping into someone.

Once they leave on the bus, I change the wash around and get the dining room cleaned up. Then it's time for my breakfast and a show on the computer. After that a quick shower, change the wash again and Aidan wakes up. Make him a bagel, and promise him that once he is dressed we will go outside to play.

Change the wash again and outside we go, we try to play baseball but mom is not much of a pitcher and Aidan takes a hit to the side. So it's on to another activity this time getting some seeds into the garden. Aidan helped to plant some lettuce and spinach and we talked about the other veggies that we need to plant and were they were going.

It was still pretty wet out from the storm the night before, so we head inside to watch some bob the builder and cuddle. Then it was 10 o'clock time to wake the daddy, once dad was ready we headed out to drop of the car at the shop and since we were already out that way a stop at K-mart for sandals for Kathryn ( found a great pair in her size, no heel, and with a back, covered toe and 1/2 the price this week) and some other things, and Mc Donald's for lunch.

Then time to drop off Aidan at school, talk to someone about Conner and homework, and finally a reward ceremony at school . Watched Conner and Nolan both get awards , then headed home. I enjoyed a bit of computer time, then Aidan was home time to try out the t-ball thing we got to hold the ball. No more mom injures, it is a success.

 Then I headed inside to get some fabric cut out, and to think about dinner. 5:30 time to drop off the dad at the school for practice and pick up Kathryn and Nolan from after school activities. Home dinner is sloppy joes and french fries, feed the kids and then back out to drop Kathryn and Aidan off at kids club at 6:15.

Home again for me a bit of quite and computer time, then at 8pm pick up the kids, get there showers done and pj's on, bedtime, pick up the house, and try to stay awake long enough to pick up the husband at 11pm. Then bedtime for the mom ,and some sleep before getting up in the morning do to this all again.

Spring clean up

This year I was worried that we would never see the grass again or have a day nice enough to get the yard cleaned up. Well earlier this week after looking at the weather report, and the kids activies ,today was going to be the perfect day to get this done. We were even lucky enough that my oldest was home for the day and Nolan had a friend over who was willing to work along side him.

Kathryn hard at work picking up 6months of dog mess

                                The driveway mess, this is what happens when you can't park in your driveway for almost 6 months out of the year.                                  
                                 
Conner and Sarah working on pulling out all the trees that are around the pool, getting ready for some weed block and stone to be put in later this month.

                                Dad in charge of the fire, kids job find things to burn

                                the front is looking better, more to do, but a big improvement

The driveway, some trash to take to mom's, and a shed that is job for another day.

A very big trash pile, might need to pay the trash lady extra this week

Aidan ready for hard work, he was great at taking branches to dad, and using his wagon.

Sarah trying to get dad to sing Girl Scout songs.

There is more to do like digging garden beds, cleaning out flower beds, stones around the pool, and more picking up to get done. One or two more work days and it will be done just in time for the mowing to began.

                        
Today would have been a great day to hang out laundry  but the yard clean- up was a bigger job. In order to get this done we had a nice breakfast looked at what needed to be done and split up the jobs.

I was in charge of the front yard and my work crew was Kathryn and Aidan, before they headed off to help in other areas. Don was in charge of the back yard and his crew was Conner and Sarah , Patrick was in charge of the driveway with Nolan and his friend . In the end we all helped where we were needed, and the fire was more fun then picking up trash in the front yard.      

Reward Charts

Reward charts are a form of positive reinforcement that we have used many times over the years usually between ages 4 and 10. In order for charts to work you first need a goal what is it that you want to change in your child.


This time around it is our 4 almost 5 yo who needs to go to bed in his own room each night, next you need a reward. Aidan really wants his own t-ball bat and while this was going to be his birthday gift it will make a perfect reward for him.


Next you need to set a time in which to earn the reward, this time around it is 10 nights in his bed, we are not expecting him to do this 10 nights in a row,even though that would be really nice. Each day he wakes up in his own bed he gets a sticker to place on his chart, which is a piece a paper numbered 1-10 taped to his bedroom wall.


This is a multi step plan, the first is 10 nights in his bed - reward t-ball bat, next it is 10 days in bed staying there after a story- reward lunch out with Mom, and then 10 days in a row. Of course we are going to hopefully meet these goals just in time to travel for a month which will totally confuse him. There never seems to be the perfect time to get this done.