Good Morning Glories

Congratulations, No Whey Mama!

You were my randomly drawn winner for your choice of apron from RickRackAttack:

A HUGE thank you to Lisa at RickRackAttack for donating the apron for my giveaway! Thank you! Thank you!

Now, it is my bloggiversary, so I think I'm just going to have to get myself one, too! That just seems, right... right?! :)

Here's the one two I'm choosing:

Do you know how long it took me to choose! Ugh. There are SO MANY CUTE APRONS over there!!! It's so difficult being me. LOL!

Thanks again, RickRackAttack!

Organizing Roundup: The Entryway

Our family enters our house through the garage and into the mudroom. As soon as we walk in from the garage, we're greeted by the mudroom sink. Unfortunately, it can be a catch-all.

BEFORE

I removed the tray to the left of the sink and added a shelf. If you can't go out, go up!

AFTER

To the right of the sink, there is a nice set of cabinets and crates to hold our shoes. I have always been a big fan of crates for shoes. It's just easy. Each boy has his own crate and Jeff and I share one.

BEFORE

(Yes, I've used this picture before.)

We added some hooks above each crate to hold the boys' backpacks and diaper bags. We also added a set of hooks to the far wall to get the church bag and my purse off the floor. (The hanging monkey is actually one of those backpack kid-leashes. My MIL bought it for Nathan, and I just don't know if I really want to use it or not... a leash for a kid??? IDK. Anyway...)

AFTER

There's usually a Thomas the Train backpack on the third hook, but it's at Kindergarten today. :)



On the opposite wall of the cabinets is where the hooks for backpacks, diaper bags, purses, coats, etc used to be. Oh, and if you look to the back you'll see a little chair. That's our naughty chair. It's in the mudroom, too.


Now we just have a rack of 5 hooks waiting for our Fall jackets. Oh, and the naughty chair. ;)

A special thanks to our good friend, Deborah, who painted the mudroom. That helped tremendously in pulling it all together! Thank you!!

Memory Lane

Super B's Mom found rolls of film from years ago and recently had them developed. She posted a picture of her hubs (Super Dad) and son (Super B) from about 5 years ago and talked about all the memories that came flooding back. I'll admit, my first thought was, "Wow, Super Dad had hair! LOL!" And then I commented on how Jeff had hair back then, too... both Super Dad and Jeff shave their heads now.

So, just for fun, I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane from Will's 2nd Christmas in 2003 when he was 15 months old.

Here's our family back then (Will has always had a sense of humor):



OOOHHHH.... an airplane from Nana and Grampa!



Just hangin' out with the Christmas decor:



"No, Mom, I'm not going up the stairs, I'm just eatin' a candy cane...



...and hoping the tree doesn't eat me!!"

(Will literally crawled under the tree and then stood up in the middle of it!)

A typical Christmas morning at my house growing up... and there's more stuff that isn't pictured!

We always had lots of Christmas presents. Mom wrapped everything separately so we had a bunch of gifts to open. If she bought a 3 pack of socks, we had three different presents! Christmas morning lasted hours! Oh, what fun! :)

Yes, Will is in the picture... can you find him? LOL!

Granny Pant.ies Turned Superhero Cape

(Ok, I think I need to add some words to this Wordless Wednesday post... I did not give Nathan my underwear for a cape. I walked outside and found him this way! This should teach me to put the laundry away faster, huh? LOL!)

"Nay Spae Ma!" - and other Tiny Talk

I was telling Will, almost 6, that I was trying to keep him and his brothers occupied while Jeff worked on something. He told me, "Well, we're not occupied, and we're not impressed." LOL! Where does this stuff come from????







Nathan, 2 1/2 years old, is hitting the terrible 3s; he's realized that he has emotions and opinions. The most common phrase out of his mouth is, "Nay Maa!" (Nathan's Mad!)

He also likes to turn the tables when he's in trouble. I tell him, "Mama's going to spank you if you do that," and he replies with, "No, Nay spae Ma!" (No, Nathan spank mom!) He's going to be a hard headed little booger!

Witt's vocabulary is coming along pretty well (15 months). His newest words are:

Bawww (Ball)

Bup (Bump)

Doe (Go)

And I think he's saying "Buu" for book, too, I'm just not certain quite yet! :)

Happy Bloggiversary to Me!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED: click here for winner!

Update #2: Why was my entry deleted? If your entry did not meet all of the qualifications, I deleted your comment to easily choose a random comment at random.org.


UPDATE: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A BLOGGER TO ENTER!!!
(I have many readers that don't blog, so please feel free to stop lurking and enter my giveaway... comment as ANONYMOUS, but be sure to leave your email address in your comment. Good luck!)

Here are the rules:

1. One entry per person.
2. You must include your apron choice in your comment as that will be the one you receive. (If you change your mind later in the week, delete your previous comment and add a new one.)
3. I'll notify the winner via email/blog site and you'll have 3 days to get your mailing address to me.
4. Winner will be drawn randomly.
5. US Residents only.
6. You do not have to be a blogger to enter.
7. I reserve the right to include more rules as I see fit in case I've forgotten something. LOL!

Good luck!

**********************

Ok, let's lighten things up around here!!! Yes, parenting IS hard work, but it's so much more fun to

GIVE THINGS AWAY!!!!




I would love to give you one of these, but I need to talk with the hubs-man first on the financials. It's not terribly expensive, but we're in major save-mode right now. I want to do something for my bloggy buddies though! One year is cause to celebrate! Wooo Hoooo!

In the mean time, please feel free to browse around over there just in case! Let me know which one interests you... I have several favorites! :)

Parenting is Hard Work

This parenting thing has not been too easy lately. Whew. Will has been misbehaving in school and Nathan is coming up on the Terrible Threes (the 3s are much worse than the 2s in my opinion!). To top it off, Witt's teething and has slept through the night twice in about 10 days (so that means I'm not sleeping either...)

Anyway...

Will's school has a system of pulling cards when children misbehave. If I understand it correctly this is how it works: Everyone starts on a green card at the beginning of the day. If they misbehave, a warning is given. Then after that the cards start to get pulled. The card after green is yellow, then orange and then red. Orange includes a note sent home from the teacher. Red includes a phone call from the teacher. Every day the child stays on green they get a hole punch in a different card. Once there are 5 punches, they get to go to the treasure box.

Will has been in school a total of 11 days and only has 4 punches on his card. You can do the math - there is lots of misbehavin' going on. Two days ago he got up from his chair and went to cut a little girl's hair instead of doing his art work. Yesterday he licked the inside of the bucket that holds their cartons of milk on ice. He won't keep his mouth shut or keep his hands to himself. I feel like the mom with the "bad kid", but he's not a bad kid. I just don't know how to help him make better choices.

His teacher is great. Last night was Open House and she allowed me to talk with her about Will even though it was mostly a night for the kids to show off what they've been doing. (Side note: I didn't realize it was a night to bring Will; I was by myself.) So while all the other kids were showing their parents around the room, I was talking with Mrs. P about Will. In fact, when I walked in she greeted me with a smile and "How are you?". I almost welled up in tears to that question. I'm really not doing all that great (see first paragraph...). To add to it all, I feel like I'm letting her down because she has to deal with his misbehavior and I've let Will down by not training him correctly to be more obedient (and quiet).

I don't want to be a super strict mom (which I'm not) nor do I want to be a lazy walk-all-over-me type of mom either (which I'm not). I want to be the mom that does the right thing. That disciplines correctly. That says the right thing at the right time in the right way. I want to be the mom with the child that behaves and obeys the first time. And the parenting I've been doing, well, I guess it's not really producing the fruit I had hoped it would.

Will and I have talked every day on the way to school what he needs to do and then each day I pick him up to hear, "Sorry, Mom, I'll do better tomorrow." It's very disappointing.

We are talking so much about how he needs to behave that this morning when I came and sat down next to him, his first words were, "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" He knew something was coming and he was right. We went over AGAIN that when he's in school he needs to sit & stay, zip his lips, and obey. Obviously we're talking about this a lot, but talking is not helping him make good choices.

So, what to do? How strict to get? What form of discipline to use? We've got some decisions to make and some action to take. Something more than a time out, nose in the corner, or occasional spanking. I think the only thing we haven't tried is taking something away. What's going to hit him the hardest is to loose his trains. I don't look forward to that meltdown.

I know this is a personal decision for each family, but what works for you? If you don't want to leave it in the comments, please feel free to email me... I'm looking for suggestions!!!

First Soccer Practice

We decided to give Will a shot at soccer. He didn't ask to play, but he's the type of kid that doesn't ask, but will do it if you put it in front of him. If that makes any sense at all... :)

We had fun picking out all the soccer gear: cleats, socks, shin guards, and shorts - the poor kid didn't have any sports type shorts! We already had the size 3 soccer ball, though.

He's got six kids on his team: 2 girls and 4 boys. This is the first year playing for all of them but one and this is the first year for the coach, too. I think that'll be great for our first year - just having fun and learning the rules.

So here are the pictures... I know that's why you're here! :)

Just kickin' it before practice

- - - S T R E T C H - - -

Team lap

Poor Nathan! He wanted to play so badly, but he was stuck on the sidelines with his parents! Ugh!



At least Daddy tried to have some fun with them.

Sign reads: No Animals Allowed!
I think we broke the rules by letting those three in there! LOL!~

Thumbs up!

Way to go Will! He had a great time, but said he was tuckered out and could sleep for a million years on the way home. :)

Turning the Pile

Jeff opens the gate and empties the bin to help turn it. Here's the vlog.

Our Second Compost Bin

It took about two months for us to outgrow our first compost bin. We weren't anticipating the phenomenal number of apples our tree produced! This was the first time in three years that it gave good apples, so needless to say, we have a compost pile full of rotting apples.

When we saw that the first bin was filled to the rim, we decided to try the popular pallet idea. We loaded up the kids and drove around town to the garbage areas of local grocery and home improvement stores. We saw several stacked, but figured they were being recycled for future use.

There were a few next to a dumpster that looked like they were in good condition, so Jeff hopped out with Nathan and asked if we could take them. Turns out that the store earns $5 per pallet, so no, we couldn't have them. Bummer.

Then we traveled to the back of our mall and found 4 next to a dumpster. Jeff went in and they said we could have them! Woo Hoo! Free compost bin here we come!

Jeff's really handy and had this put together in what seemed like no time at all:


Three sides are fixed and the fourth is like a door that he keeps tied with the rope.

We have had some smelly days and the flies do like the pile, so Jeff put out a fly trap using my shepherd's hook!



And some fly paper right down to the center of the pile:



Now, the compost is supposed to stay damp like a sponge, but if it doesn't you'll probably end up with some mushrooms like we did! No biggie, though, just turn the pile and add some water.