Going Bananas

I've mentioned before that I am a faithful company girl. There is seldom a "small thing" that I miss. I am so grateful that someone as wonderful as Rachel Anne over at Home Sanctuary (see sidebar) is faithful enough to come up with so many great ideas for us company girls. : ) Well, she's come up with yet another great idea, and it's called "Company Girl Coffee." She's encouraged us to visit one another's blogs by hooking us up through Mr. Linky. So here's my story for the week.

The small thing today was "Don't be Silly?" The task was to lighten up, and be silly in some way or another. Me, a 34yr old mom of 5 kids, be silly? No Way. (JK) Actually, I'm pretty silly with my kids most of the time, but I can also get to where I'm taking life way too seriously. Like yesterday (see previous post). So today's small thing was perfect timing.

I tried to keep it pretty light all day long, but there was one particular moment this morning where I had the kids all rolling with laughter. BC(5) came to me this morning as I was standing at the counter making breakfast. He said "Mommy, can you make me a banana on a plate please?" Before he knew it, I was sweeping him up off of the floor and placing him on the kitchen counter on his plate. "Ok, You're a banana!" Roars of laughter filled the kitchen and it took us about five minutes to recover. I'm really surprised their dad didn't wake up to see what all the commotion was! : )

So there's my Company Girl moment of the day. There's nothing better than hearing the giggles of my five little blessings. I hope that it can make someone else laugh too. Laughter is one thing this company girl welcomes in her home.

"Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, 'The LORD has done great things for them.'" Psalm 126:2

Great is His Faithfulness

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. " Lamentations 3:22-23

Ever have one of those days where you just can't wait for it to end? The kind of day when you can hardly wait to crawl under the covers, close your eyes, and wake up to start a new, better day? I have. Yesterday was that day for me. It seemed like it was never going to end.

Author Brooke Noel has good things to say about bad days. "I don't have bad days. While there are moments during the day that can be challenging or troubling, very rarely do I let that moment seep into the attitude of the entire day. If my morning is challenging, then come lunchtime I take a moment to clear my mind and "restart my day" anticipating nothing but the best for the afternoon. Surely, there is joy to be found each and every day. If we let a challenging circumstance set the stage for the entire day, we miss that joy and the opportunity of the day at hand."

She is not the only one that has good advice about bad days. The psalmist says in psalm 118:24 "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." It is a verse that I have had memorized since I was a small child. I have recited it over and over. I have sung the words many times in several different versions of song. I have meditated on it in moments of sadness, anger, and stress.

Yes. There is there is joy to be found in each and every day. Even if it is hidden in the small places of life. An answered prayer. A child's smile. A kind word spoken by a friend. If we focus on the positive things throughout our days, the not so great becomes less of a burden. Then, at the end of a tough day, we can be reminded of what the old Hymn says.

"Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be."

Love Rules

At the beginning of every year, my kids come home with a list of classroom rules for me to review, sign, and return to the teacher. Along with the rules, there is a list of what the consequences will be if they are broken. Here are a few examples of the "classroom rules":

• I will follow directions the first time
• I will listen while others are talking
• I will keep my hands, feet and other objects to myself
• I will work quietly and not disturb others
• I will follow school rules and respect school property
• I will work and play in a safe manner
• Manners matter!
• Be a friend to everyone
• Share with everyone
• Help clean up

All of these rules are important for classroom management. Not only that, but every single one of them relates in one way or another to our own household rules. I am really working on teaching my children that we have rules in this house, and there are consequences to breaking them. The number one rule in our house? Love one another. They hear it over, and over, and over again.

This morning, my two oldest children got into it and came to mom to be referee. JS didn't want RL sitting next to him, but instead of working it out with words, he pushed her right off the chair. Rachael used words, but she mostly shouted them at him. Not good, all around.

I talked them through the situation and how they could have handled it differently, and then I dealt out the consequences. Consequence for JS: he doesn't get to sit in the chair the rest of the day because he pushed his sister. Since RL didn't do anything physical to her brother, but rather just needs to work on her communication skills, she got off with a warning. Then I made them apologize to each other and hug.

From there, I took it a step further and read to them and their siblings from Colossians 3:12-14. "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." We discussed different ways that we can "put on love", and then I sent them off to school. Hopefully, this lesson will sink in and be noticeable here at home, at school, and in all other areas of their young lives.

More on Routines

Well, it's the second week of school and we are working out our routines as we go. Last week we worked on our morning routine. That seems to be running pretty smoothly now. What I noticed though, about our day, was that when my older two kids came home from the bus stop in the afternoon, things would break out into chaos. I would literally have 4 little mouths talking to me all at once! I felt like I was entering a football stadium!

This week, on Monday, I came up with a plan. I typed up our "afternoon routine", printed it off, and posted it right in the entryway for all to see. Our afternoon routine consists of:

• Take shoes off and put neatly in closet
• Take important papers out of backpack and give to mom or place in drawer
• Hang backpack neatly in closet
• Snack
• Homework
• Reading time
• Free time

It seems to be working so far. The kids can take one look at the list and know what they need to do next. There's no shouting, no questions, and mom can make it through the afternoon without losing her mind! : )

Structure and order. It's a work in progress around here. I'm learning just how important, and necessary it is when you have children.

First Day of School and Routines

Ahhh, the first day of school! It was actually yesterday, September 2nd. This year I have three out of five kids in school.

BC is entering into kindergarten, and very excited about it! JS is in first grade this year. RL, my oldest, is in second.
They only do half day kindergarten here, so I have BC home in the afternoons. JS was a little nervous about transitioning from half days to whole days, but he seemed to like it well enough yesterday. He was pretty pumped about riding the bus home with his sister. Since we only have one car, their dad can take them to school, but not pick them up. I think the idea of bus riding was more of a concern to me than my kids. It has turned out ok though.

School time means switching to school routines. We've been working on that one for a couple of weeks now. The kids no longer get to sleep in late and be lazy all morning. (That means mom doesn't get to be lazy either!) Here's what a typical school morning looks like for us:

• Wake up


• Get dressed


• Eat some breakfast, brush teeth


• Make sure everything is in backpacks and ready to go out the door

Pretty simple, right? You would think so! We try to get backpacks and shoes ready as a part of our bedtime routine so that we don't have to worry about it in the mornings. Actually, the first day of school ran rather smoothly. Everyone was very excited and we were ready to go out the door early. I was so proud of everyone for taking care of themselves and keeping on task. I even got some cute "first day of school" pictures. : )

This morning, though, was totally the opposite of yesterday. Anything that could go wrong did. I guess I need to work on being ok with that. Routine is good, but when life throws you curve balls, you gotta adjust your swing to hit them out of the park. (IDK, it sounded good as I was typing it!) Anyway, I just need to remind myself that having a routine in place is important, but it can't be so rigid that I freak out if something happens to throw it off.

For example, my toddler decided today was the day to pick up two hand fulls of cheerios and throw them across the dining room while I was trying to help JS get his folder back into his backpack. Crunch! Crunch! is all I heard as another child decided to walk all over them. Ugh. Where's the dog when you need him?

Actually, today has been the "day of spills". Cheerios, water, juice, milk, coffee...you name it and it's been spilled. Do you know what though? I've managed to maintain my composure, in spite of all those accidents. It's a good thing too, because one of them happened while I had a young friend of mine over that I am currently mentoring. It wouldn't set a very good example for her if I lost it when my coffee was spilled on the couch cushion now, would it? I simply told her that accidents happen, and messes can be cleaned. Maybe the next time her toddler spills milk, (or anything for that matter) she'll think of me and smile. I hope so. I pray so.

I guess what I'm trying to say as I ramble on about all this is that no matter what kind of perfect routine I try to put in place, there's always bound to be glitches. What matters is how I react to those glitches. At any given moment, I can have anywhere from two to ten little eyes watching me to see how I am going to react. That's very sobering to think about. Glitches are temporary. The impression that I make on their little hearts is often permanent. Need I say more?

Matthew 18:6 "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

Playroom Clean-Up

Yesterday I finally got fed up with the incredible mess that has been collecting in our play room/spare bedroom. There comes a time when you have to stop planning and talking about something and just DO IT! Just so that no one will think that I'm exaggerating over how bad it got, I have before and after photos. I'm embarrassed to admit that I let it get as bad as it did. I just felt overwhelmed and didn't know where to begin the organizing process.
BEFORE:

AFTER:










All excuses aside, I'm glad it's done. I have done a few extra things to try to keep it organized.

1. I moved the books out to a cozy little niche in our downstairs living room to make a "reading corner." That way, there is a separate place where the kids can go to grab a book and make themselves comfortable.

2. I got rid of my "misc. toys" drawer. As a girlfriend of mine pointed out, there is no reason why everything shouldn't be able to be separated into specific categories. If it's miscellaneous, does it really need to be kept around? This way there are specific "stations" that can be rotated during play time.

3. I will complete the process by labeling the different drawers and boxes of toys. I might even add a cute picture for my youngest children, who can't read yet.

4. (And this is the hard one) I will teach my kids the importance of putting things away as you go along. Before I allow them to take out something new, they are going to be required to put away what they are currently playing with. Perhaps I'll come back and touch on this one again at a later date, when I've had time to work on it!

Everyone has different ways of organizing. What works for me now will probably evolve into something different as my kids grow older. It's not really what system you use that matters, but that it works for you. For more ideas on playroom organization, check out organizing junkie's monthly roundup back in June. http://orgjunkie.com/2008/06/rounding-up-the-playroom.html There's also a great post on her site right now about organizing the entry way to prepare for school to start. But I'll tackle that one another day! : )

Puzzle Mania

Call me crazy, or just say that I love my husband, but we stayed up way too late last night working on this puzzle! It's one of those 3-D puzzles that you stare at until you go cross-eyed. Yesterday it started out as a fun project to work on with the kids. The problem is, they get past the edges and then give up because they can't find the right center pieces that fit together. (Never mind that my DH picks puzzles for age 10 and up and our kids are 7 and under!)

Anyway, it was a fun thing for us to do together after the kids went to bed. It was a nice surprise for them to see it all put together this morning. They couldn't wait to work on the next one, so guess what we're doing today!!! Yep. New puzzle. Some would say that we're a glutton for punishment. I just like that we're spending quality family time together! : )