Family vacation Sep 2012

Last weekend we went to Raleigh, NC to celebrate Makayla's birthday! 

We do not have a big Christmas in the gift giving sense. Last year we talked with the older girls and they told us that they would rather spend Christmas focused on others (*cue proud mama tears!*) and have a special birthday "gift". Their gift is that we will do whatever they want to do for their birthday. (As long as it is in our budget of course!)

This year Makayla decided that she wanted to go to Marbles Children's Museum. Raleigh is about 4 1/2 hours from where we live now so we decided that we would stay the night down there. As the time got closer we also noticed that the weekend we were going also happened to be Labor Day weekend :) Woohoo! That meant that we could stay an extra night since Michael didn't have to work Monday. 

We were ALL so excited and looking forward to a well deserved weekend away! No school, no work, no cooking, no laundry and NO HOUSE WORK!!!

It is not often that we get away and we were going to make the most of it! 

We got up early Saturday morning and loaded everyone into the van and left the house a little after 6am.

Now, my kids are not morning people! They hate the fact that I make them wake up at 8:30 every morning, but when I came downstairs at 5:30 they were wide awake and bouncing around! It was hard for them to contain their excitement for the weekend ahead! 

We had our whole weekend planned and our first stop was Marbles. 

If you have no clue what Marbles is then you are missing out! It is a two story Children's Museum. There is so much to do there :) When we lived in NC we actually had a yearly membership because my kids loved it so much. It is only $5 a person to get in and worth every penny. 

Our first stop was the hula hoops. Now, I personally suck at hula hoops, but luckily some of my kids didn't inherit my lack of hula hoop skills :)

Go, Kay Kay, Go!!

Little Miss Mariela ROCKED at the hula hoop. Seriously, she could have done this all day. (Actually, this was one of the only things she did all day. I think her pre-teen is setting in and she thinks she is a little to old to play at the Children's Museum. Despite my very direct statements telling her that she is not....lol)

Michael, even had a pretty good go at it, too!

Off to the sports area :) The kids had the most fun here! They played soccer, basketball, gymnastics and they had a little dance studio.

I spent the day watching my wonderful family and checking out my gorgeous husband ;)

Carson liked to jump high with, Daddy!

They had a little infant area, so Blake was allowed to have some fun as well!

Off to the water area :) Carson, had the most fun here!

He kept trying to drink the water and didn't quite understand why I wouldn't let him.

My wonderful eye candy playing with Blake. I love watching my kids play and laugh more than anything in this world!

Here is Gabby just being Gabby. Most of the pictures I took of her this weekend she posed just like this :)

This is my darling husband's attempt to get me to believe that he is not tired. Yeah, I didn't give into his lies.....lol 

After a long day at Marbles we went back to our hotel. We stayed at the Hyatt Place. It was a great hotel! Our room was big enough for all of us to fit and for everyone to sleep in a bed, except for Carson and Blake, but they had a pack 'n play they put in the room for us. There was an excellent complimentary hot breakfast every morning. Probably, one of the best we have ever had at a hotel. I will definitely look into staying at the Hyatt Place more often when we vacation.

Now, with all of that said about how spacious the rooms were, some how I still ended up with this many people in my bed when I woke up! 

I actually love mornings more than any other time! All of my kids are so sweet and lovable in the morning :) I usually get the best hug for the day every morning from Carson. I really look forward to him waking up every morning and throwing his little arms around my neck and squeezing with all of his might!

We decided to spend Saturday morning and early afternoon just hanging out and relaxing at the hotel. Off to the pool we went :) Then a storm came and we had to cut our pool time short. The girls were not amused at all! Carson, could have cared less, he was terrified of the pool for some reason and would scream if you put him in it!

Later Saturday afternoon we had a party scheduled for Makayla at Chuck E. Cheese. This is the third time she has had a party there. I guess she really likes the mouse :)

Gabby is having fun :)

Vanessa was the only one of my kids who would go up and dance with Chuck E. 

Family photo - Look I am part of this family!

This year they had a package with a pinata. 

The kids had SO much fun with the pinata. It was filled with tokens and tickets :) 

After Chuck E. Cheese's we went back to the hotel and Michael and the kids went down to the pool while Blake, Carson and I hung out in the room.

Blake taught himself how to blow raspberries :)

The next morning we packed up and loaded the van to head  to the mall, but first one more dip in the pool. 

Look! After MANY attempts I was FINALLY able to get Carson to get in the pool!

Before we headed home Makayla's last request was to go to the mall! She had birthday and job money that was just burning a hole in her pocket.

The Disney Store was the main reason she wanted to go to the mall!

Vanessa walked into the Disney Store and started dressing up!

Mariela bought herself some perfume (The best part is that it was on clearance)

No visit to the mall is complete without a ride on the quarter machines.

This weekend was great! Everyone was able to relax and have fun. Most importantly, we were able to celebrate Makayla's life and the blessing that she is to this family! 

Next up is Gabby's birthday- and I believe that she wants to go camping. 

Table face lift

My husband has an obsession with bringing home things that people are throwing away.

Up until recently I really disliked this wonderful quality in my husband. 

Not a very nice thing to say, I know, but it was true.

I felt like he was bringing stuff home just to drive me nuts!

He would get all excited to tell me what he found and I would say. "What now, Dear?"

Then we would proceed to have a conversation that went something like this.....

"Michael, you do understand why people throw things in the garbage. right?  

Because. it is garbage and they don't want it. Not for you to pick up!"

Then, he would defend his actions and tell me that the little kids didn't care what it looked like. They just had fun playing with whatever it was he brought home.

I wish that I could say that I won the argument, but I didn't. 

He kept bringing things home and the kids kept playing with whatever it was he brought home.

I finally decided that this was a battle I was NEVER going to win. I needed to embrace it and figure out how to make it look like these toys were not supposed to be in the garbage where they were found.

Here is one of the things that my husband brought home.

This was going to be my first go at, "operation make garbage look presentable" HA!

 

It is a little table :) Pretty obvious why it was thrown away. huh?

 

 

I went to Wal-Mart and bought some red and black spray paint.

 

 

WHOA!!!!!!!

It looks like a totally different table :)

I think my project was a success!!!

 

Vanessa thinks so too :) She love the little table!

 

 

 

I was very pleased with how the table turned out. I am still not 100% thrilled when Michael brings things home, but now I am looking at everything he brings home as challenge.....

 

BRING IT ON, MICHAEL!

Let's see what this mama has up her sleeves.

Perfect Bacon

Today was a VERY busy day for us! We just got back from vacation yesterday and I was busy unpacking, cleaning out the van and grocery shopping. We came home to an empty fridge and needed to make a trip to Sam's. I am actually writing this from the van. on my phone as we drive home. (Sam's is an hour away from our house)

Anyways, I told you all of that to tell you that today is going to be a short blog. I wanted to blog about our vacation over the weekend, but I just dont have time today, sorry.

Instead, I am just giving you a quick cooking tip :)

My family LOVES bacon! Seriously, we probably go through about 3 pounds of bacon a week. (We really need to look into owning a farm!)

Until about 4 months ago I HATED cooking bacon! The time and mess that it took to cook it was not worth it in my opinion. 

UNTIL..... someone told me that bacon can be cooked in the oven. I was reluctant to try it honestly. I really couldn't see how baking bacon could possibly taste as good as frying it. Plus, I am really picky about my bacon. I like crispy bacon, no soggy bacon here. Yuck!

I decdied to give it a shot. It wouldn't kill me to try it once right?

I linded 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil and lined up bacon on it. 

I cooked it for 15-20 min at 375 degrees.

I pulled out the bacon and I was shocked at how perfect it was!!

It was probably the BEST bacon I have ever had in my life!

I will NEVER fry bacon again! This way is SO simple and produces the best tasting bacon!

Plus, there is almost no clean up time involved! Since the sheets are lined with bacon all of the grease stays on the aluminum foil and I just take the foil off and throw it away and all done!

They don't always cooperate

I really believe that the best gifts are gifts that come from the heart and are hand made. They get the best responses and make you feel good that someone took time out of their lives to make something special and personalized for you.

 

This year for Father's Day I had a wonderful idea to make my husband a picture. The idea was to have all of the kids hold a letter that spelled out the word, "DADDY". Then I would put them all together and have this cute picture that had all of his kids in separate pictures, but also a whole picture together.

 

Cute idea right? That is why I LOVE pinterest! I am able to get LOTS of ideas for things!!! If you are not on pinterest, I highly recommend it!

 

Anyway, as with most things that I find on pinterest I use the idea I see and I make it my own. I like for my stuff to be personalized to my family life, not someone else's life.

 

Well, my husband loves pirates/pirate theme stuff. So, I decided that the obvious thing to do with this picture was to do it in a pirate theme. I had all of my kids dress up like pirates and hold the letter for the picture :) I KNEW that he would love it.

 

The day before Father's Day I was busy getting kids dressed all up to take pictures so I could finish my project. Everyone was doing so good and I was getting some awesome pictures! Then Carson had his turn........

 

 

Why did you give me this letter?

Here mom, you can have it back.

What am I supposed to do with it?

You can have it, I don't really want it.

No, seriously, I don't want it!

WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME DO THIS???

DOGGY!!!

Thank the good Lord above that the neighbors let their dogs out. This was the ONLY decent picture that I got out of him that day! So, this is the picture that ended up in the frame :)

 

The final product.

I was EXTREMELY happy with how it turned out! My husband loved it and has it hanging above his desk :)

 

 

I was honestly getting very frustrated that he would not take a good picture. I wanted for this gift to be perfect, and he didn't seem to care about what I wanted. It ended up being even better than I thought it was going to be because I was able to catch him being himself.

 

Sometimes, I have to stop and remind myself that they are kids and they don't always want to do what I want for them to do. Either because they don't understand what is going on or just because they don't feel like it. It is my job to stop and breathe and not loose my cool and start screaming to cooperate. That method doesn't usually work anyways..... If I need to stop and come back to it, then that is what I need to do. There are times that my kids are all about doing what I want them to do and there are times they want nothing to do with what I tell them. That is called parenting :) How I respond to the situation makes more of an impact in their little lives than what they are actually doing.

 

This blog is not meant to show you that we are a perfect family who always has it all together. That would be a lie. Remember, NO family is perfect! We fight, kids act up and life happens. This is one of those times that things didn't go according to plan, but it all worked out in the end :)

 

 

How it all works together

I have spent the past couple of days telling you about my schedule, chores and jobs. Now, I need to tell you how I put it all together to make it flow :)

 

 

 First, all 3 of the older girls and myself have a "master" list that I made. This lists everything that they need to make sure they do during the day.

 

  

This is Makayla's list - the other girls are pretty much the same.

(We don't do school on Monday's because they all have piano lessons.)

The thing at the very bottom of the list is what jobs are available that day. In this case, outside is what gets done on Mondays.

When they flip the chart over, the back side will list the jobs available that day.

 

This is important!

In order to keep my sanity and order in the house the girls are only allowed to do certain jobs on certain days. If they don't do them that day, then I do them and they don't get paid. I do not allow them to do different rooms on different days. This just makes my life easier. I know what room gets done on what day and it runs better when we just focus our energy on only one room a day. If I were to focus on every room everyday, I would go crazy! (Actually, I was crazy before I started doing this!)

 These are Wednesday jobs, bathroom.

I love doing it like this because I know that every room gets a deep clean once a week :)

Monday-Outside

Tuesday-Dinning Room

Wednesday-Bathrooms

Thursday-Living Room

Friday-Kitchen

 

 

 The daily schedule- Monday-Friday

 

It runs like a well oiled machine around here every morning!

The kids wake up and I have breakfast ready. We eat and then do chores/jobs. Everyone is usually done with their chores/jobs by 10-10:30. After that they practice piano, read and exercise :)

We take a break for a little bit while I make lunch. During this time they are allowed to do whatever they want to do. They eat lunch around 12:30. After they are finished with lunch the little ones go down for a nap and I do school with the older ones.

 

Saturday- We do not do jobs or school so they have a lot of free play time on Saturday.

Sunday- Our day of rest and church. They don't do anything on Sunday except for help out around dinner time.

 

 

Here is a look at my weekly chart-

 

Pretty much the same concept as the girl's cards.

They list everything that I need to make sure I get done that day.

 

 

The most important thing about my card system is doing what the card says, AND only doing it that day! This is how I keep myself from getting overwhelmed! I tackle a couple of things everyday so by the end of the week everything has been done! I don't spend my days wondering what I am going to do because there is just too much to be done!

 

Honestly, I have NEVER had my house as clean and running as perfectly as it is now. This system has been a huge life/time saver! I can say proudly that you could come over to my house ANY day of the week unexpectedly and I would not be at all embarrassed to let you in the door :)

 

My weekly cards-

 

Monday-

 Outside (jobs)

Do any and all shopping (remember what I said on the meal planning blog?!?)

Send cards- I am TRYING to get better at sending out Bday/Anniversary cards.

 

Tuesday-

Clean animal cages

Dinning room (jobs)

 

Wednesday-

I wash our sheets and the 3 little ones sheets. The girls all have one day out of the week that they do their own sheets. (I will cover our laundry system one day too.)

We clean and vacuum out the van. Once a month I take out the car seats and wash/hose them down.

Bathroom (jobs)

 

Thursday-

Living room (jobs)

 

Friday-

Kitchen (jobs)

Cut coupons

 

Saturday-

I give haircuts to anyone who needs them.

I make any cleaners that we are running low on.

 

Sunday-

Plan menu for the week.

Make shopping list.

 

The point of my list is to make my life easier. I like to look at something and say to myself, "Yep, did that, now what?" 

Also, it eliminates me needing to stop doing something that I am doing to go do something else. Example- I am not in the middle of doing laundry only to discover that I am out of fabric softener so I need to stop the laundry and go make softener. Make sense??

 

I don't expect that everyone will jump into using my system. It took me 11 years to find a system that works and stick with it.Well, actually, it took me 10 years to give into the fact that I needed a system and actually submit to doing it...ha!

 

I hope this helps some of you regain some of your sanity too!

 

 

 

Kids Jobs

Yesterday, I said that we have our kids do jobs.
 

 What does that mean? How are they different from chores?

 

Jobs are how our kids earn money. In the real world people must work in order to make money, so if our girls want money then they must work for it :) Chores we do to help out as part of being a family and jobs we do for fun spending money.

 

 

How do jobs work?

I made a "job chart" of sorts. (Pictures at bottom) It lists ALL of the jobs that I want done every week and how much each job is worth. Unlike chores, they do NOT have to do jobs. They are extra and if the kids don't do them, then I will do them.

 (Which RARELY happens! My kids want their money....lol)

Again, this is teaching them and preparing them for the real world. Isn't that what being a parent is all about?

 

 

In the real world if you choose not to go to work, then, well you don't get paid. Same rules apply in my house. I NEVER force someone to do jobs. If they do them, then they get paid. If they feel they would rather play that day, then I clean and they don't get paid. Pretty simple concept, right?

 

Most of our jobs pay $1. There are 3 jobs that pay $2 or $3 because they are a little more involved than cleaning the bathroom mirror. If you choose to do the job system, do whatever amount of money works for your family :) I was going to do some at .50 (like the mirror), but I decided against it because of how we work our money/finances with our kids. (I will go into this on another day.)

 

 

We pay out about $40-$45 a week in job money. Yes, I know that sounds like a lot. Please, remember that we are a large family. We also have a large house- 3 1/2 bathrooms getting cleaned adds up pretty fast!

We are happy to pay our kids for doing their "work" for the week and they are happy to receive it :) Also, once you hear how we handle money with our kids you will learn that we actually save money by doing this!

 

 

A few of the jobs that they do are,
Toilets
Sinks
Shower/tub
Clean Microwave
Mop
Windows
Clean dinning table chairs

Here is the "job chart" I made :)

I bought burner covers from the Dollar Tree

 Spray painted them a pretty blue

I used sticker letters to put their names on them

I also bought decorative stones at the Dollar Tree

I used my label maker for the description of the job and price.

Then, I used magnetic strips glued to the back of the stone to make them stick to the burner covers.

 

When one of the girls do a job they take the matching stone off of the main job list and put it on their personalized chart. At the end of the week I am able to see who do what and how much money I owe each girl :)